Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Terminal Disclaimer
The terminal disclaimer filed on 9/2/2026 disclaiming the terminal portion of any patent granted on this application which would extend beyond the expiration date of U.S. Patent No. 12,231,883 has been reviewed and is accepted. The terminal disclaimer has been recorded.
Response to Amendment
This is in response to the amendments filed on 9/2/2026. Claims 1, 5, and 9 have been amended. Claims 3, 7, and 11 have been canceled. Claims 1, 2, 4-6, 8-10, and 12 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 9/2/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. On page 9 of Remarks, Applicant contends that Voyer fails to teach or suggest, “… that the terminal receives certificate information…”. The examiner respectfully disagrees.
First, the examiner notes that the term “terminal” is not specified within the claim as being a “client terminal”, and thus a server and/or base station may be considered as a generic terminal under broadest reasonable interpretation. Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993). The examiner thus recommends Applicant formally clarify the generic recitation of “terminal” to be a “client terminal” (or similar) in order to specifically recite Applicant’s intended claim scope.
Second, none of the respective independent claims require any of the recited functional steps be performed directly by the “terminal”. For example, the preamble of claim 1 recites a “network access method, applied to a communications device, wherein the communications device is a terminal, and the method comprises”, but the phrase “applied to a communications device” does not necessitate that the communications device actually perform each and every step of that method. In other words, the limitation “applied to a communications device” may be interpreted as the method merely affecting, involving, or using the communications device. Each of claims 5 and 9 recite similarly broad language with respect to their “communications device” as well. Specifically, claim 5 recites a “communications device, wherein the communications device is a terminal, and the communications device comprises: a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein when the computer program is executed by the processor, following steps are performed”, but does not specify as to what entity is actually performing the “following steps”, nor are the steps recited as being explicitly executed by the “communications device” processor. Claim 9 recites a “non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor of a terminal, following steps are performed”, which also does not specify as to what entity are performing the “following steps” for the same reasons noted above.
Third, and in view of the above interpretations, the examiner maintains that Voyer teaches “… that the terminal receives certificate information…” by virtue of the previous mappings. Specifically, in the Non-Final Rejection, the examiner cited to paragraph 287 of Voyer to disclose this limitation, where a processor 400 (of a third party) builds a certificate by receiving location request data from a base station, information identifying the base station, and information identifying a third party (i.e., the claimed “certificate information”). Once the certificate is built from this information, it is then provided to a network server 10 via communication link 60 (Fig. 8a, step 807), wherein step 601 of Fig. 6a receives it. The server then utilizes information in the certificate (steps 602-603) to perform a transfer operation for a cellular network of a base station.
Thus, the examiner maintains that Voyer fully teaches at least “… that the terminal receives certificate information…”, and thus the rejection is maintained.
On page 9 of Remarks, Applicant further contends that Voyer does not teach that “… the terminal receives certificate information, and the certificate information includes at least one of validity time information of a certificate or the TA identifier”. The examiner respectfully disagrees. As noted above, the examiner cited to paragraph 287 of Voyer to disclose this limitation, where a processor 400 (of a third party) builds a certificate by receiving location request data from a base station. Further, the claim additionally specifies that the certificate information includes “… at least one of validity time information of a certificate or validity area range information of the certificate” (emphasis added), thus the “validity area range information” (which includes the aforementioned tracking area (TA) identifier) is recited in the alternative. Therefore because the claim does not require said TA identifier as being a part of the certificate, then the prior mapping of the “timestamp” of a certificate being checked as being obsolete or not (see paragraphs 254 and 256 of Voyer) fully teaches “… at least one of validity time information of a certificate”. Thus, the rejection of Voyer for this limitation is sustained as below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4-6, 8-10, and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) & (a)(2) as being anticipated by “Voyer” (US 2010/0260145).
Regarding Claim 1:
A network access method, applied to a communications device, wherein the communications device is a terminal (Fig. 8a; ¶0271, “FIG. 8a depicts an algorithm executed by the third party 40 when the third party is a mobile terminal”), and the method comprises:
receiving certificate information related to a non-public communication network (¶0287, “At next step S807, the processor 400 builds the certificate by combining the contents of the location request received from the base station BS, information identifying the base station BS, information identifying the third party 40 and signs the combined data with the private key of the base station BS”), wherein the non-public communication network is a network comprising a core network element (Fig. 1, element 10; ¶0110, “In Long Term Evolution (LTE) network currently under discussion in 3GPP, the network server 10 is named a Mobility Management Entity (MME)”; i.e., the server 10 acts as an MME in a 3GPP (non-public) communication network); and
performing an operation of accessing a first network based on the certificate information related to the non-public communication network (Fig. 6a, step 604 based on step 601; ¶0205, “At step S604, the processor 200 commands the transfer, to the base station BS, of a command message for enabling the transmission of radio signals transferred by the base station BS in the cell 15 of the base station BS”),
wherein the first network is a network supporting a non-public communication service (¶0107, “Such wireless area 15 will be called hereinafter a cell 15 managed by the base station BS or a cell 15 of the base station BS”);
wherein the certificate information related to the non-public communication network comprises at least one of validity time information of a certificate (¶0254, “The certificate comprises at least the identifier of the third party 40, the identifier of the base station BS, a timestamp and a signature”; ¶0256, “The processor 200 checks if the timestamp is not obsolete and if the timestamp is too old, the certificate is not considered as valid”) or validity area range information of the certificate;
wherein the validity area range information comprises a tracking area (TA) identifier.
Regarding Claim 2:
The method according to claim 1, wherein the certificate information related to the non-public communication network further comprises at least one of the following:
dedicated security information (¶0185, “The certificate comprises at least the identifier of the third party 40, the identifier of the base station BS and a signature. As example, the third party 40 generates the signature using its Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) key and information comprised in the certificate”), information of non-public communication network, information of non-public communication service application, or dedicated access control information.
Regarding Claim 4:
The method according to claim 2, wherein the information of non-public communication network comprises any one of the following: a non-public communication network identifier (¶0186, “A certificate is considered as valid, if the identifier of base station BS included in the certificate is the same than the identifier the base station BS used to previously authenticate itself to the network”), non-public communication network type information, a public land mobile network (PLMN) identifier of the non-public communication network, service area information of the non- public communication network, and information of non-public communication network application.
Regarding Claims 5, 6, 8-10, and 12:
Communication device claims 5, 6, and 8, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium claims 9, 10, and 12 each correspond to respective method claims 1, 2, and 4 above, and contain no further limitations. Therefore claims 5, 6, 8-10, and 12 are each rejected by applying the same rationale used to reject claims 1, 2, and 4 above, respectively.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: “Nair” (US 2018/0124697), which discloses a system that allows a client terminal to authenticate a base station by receiving and verifying an information block from the base station, where the information block contains a signature value and a tracking area code (see paragraph 0006 and 0072).
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL B POTRATZ whose telephone number is (571)270-5329. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 10 A.M. - 6 P.M. CST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, William Korzuch can be reached on 571-272-7589. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANIEL B POTRATZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2491
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