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 .
This communication is in response to the application filed on 05/12/2025. Claims 1-7 are currently pending in the application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-3, 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US. PGPub. No. 2090270107 to Lee et al. (hereinafter Lee) in view of US.Pat No. 10448251 to Maria; Arturo (hereinafter Maria) and further in view of US. PGPub. No. 20180213472 to ISHII et al. (hereinafter ISHII).
Regarding claim 1, Lee discloses a system comprising:
a radio node electronically connected to the Internet, the radio node is configured to connect to a core network through the Internet (¶0006, FIG. 2B, “… The home eNBs are connected to the core network through an Internet Service Provider (ISP) network, which differentiates the home eNB from the conventional base station…”, wherein the ISP provides the internet service through which the eNBs are connected to the core network);
a load balancer electronically connected to the Internet and the radio node (FIGs 2B and 2C, “interface S1”, wherein the interface S1 is connected to eNB 100 and ISP 600);
a mobility management entity electronically connected to the Internet and the core network (¶0042, ¶0044, FIGs. 2B and 2C, “MME 410 or MME 510”); and
a packet data network gateway electronically connected to the Internet and the core network (¶0042, FIG. 2B, “Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW) 430”),
wherein the load balancer is configured to receive a plurality of separate Internet connections and consolidate the Internet connections into a single Internet connection to be provided to the radio node (¶0042, ¶0044, FIGs. 2B and 2C, wherein the Internet connections of the MME 410 or MME 510 and S-GW 420 or S-GW 510 are provided to eNB 100 as a single internet connection by the interface S1)
However, Lee does not explicitly disclose the following limitation:
the mobility management entity is configured to verify a core network connection request from a user equipment using a private blockchain network, and
the packet data network gateway is configured to establish a virtual private network connection between the user equipment and the core network in response to successful verification of the core network connection request.
Maria discloses the mobility management entity is configured to verify a core network connection request from a user equipment using a private blockchain network (Col. 4, lines 33-56, “Continuing with FIG. 1, blockchain authenticator (BA) 110 communicates with MME 108 through HSS 112. The purpose of the BA is to authenticate mobile devices requesting to be attached to the carrier radio access network and to gain access to services provided by the EPC 106 such as gateway services to the Internet or services such as voice-over-LTE (VoLTE)…”), see also Col. 6, lines 35-61.
Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to modify the system of Lee to include MME authenticating a connection request using a blockchain as disclosed by Maria and be motivated in doing so in order to decentralize trust, eliminate single points of failure and speed up cross-operator validation.
The combination of Lee and Maria does not explicitly disclose the following limitation:
the packet data network gateway is configured to establish a virtual private network connection between the user equipment and the core network in response to successful verification of the core network connection request.
ISHII discloses the packet data network gateway is configured to establish a virtual private network connection between the user equipment and the core network in response to successful verification of the core network connection request (¶0094, “A VPN apparatus (VPN router) is installed in the first gateway 51 and functions as a VPN gateway. The wireless LAN access point 41 is connected to the WAN 1 (31) via a wireless LAN router (not shown), a modem (not shown), and so forth. The terminal 1 is equipped with a VPN apparatus and functions as a VPN client. In the terminal 1, the VPN connection with the data center 50 is set via the wireless LAN. The VPN connection includes tunneling and encryption. When the WAN 1 (31) is the Internet, this VPN is a so-called Internet VPN.”), (¶0128, FIG. 4, “In FIG. 4, there is schematically shown an example of an operation sequence of the terminal 1, the WLAN 40 (WLAN AP), the first gateway 51, the vEPC 52, the second gateway 53 (GW 2), and the connection destination on the side of the WAN 2 (32) in FIG. 2. The numbers assigned to each sequence operation are sequence numbers for explanation.
1. The terminal 1 establishes a connection with the wireless LAN (WLAN) 40, and authentication and authorization (authentication & authorization) is performed by, for example, HSS/AAA (not shown) in the vEPC 52. In the example of FIG. 4, it is assumed that the first gateway 51 is set as a gateway to which the terminal 1 is connected, when accommodating the wireless LAN 40 which is non-3GPP wireless access (Untrusted Non-3 GPP IP Access) which is not reliable for security.
2. From the terminal 1 side, the IKE authentication/tunnel setup procedure with the first gateway (GW 1) 51 is executed. This corresponds to the IKE phases 1 and 2 described above. It may be an IKEv2 authentication tunnel setup.
3. The vEPC 52 includes an SGW and a PGW. When the setting of the bearer is required, the first gateway (GW 1) 51 may function as an MME and transmit a bearer setting request (Create Session Request) to the SGW. In this case, a PGW connected to the packet data network of the connection destination is selected, and a GTP (GPRS (General Packet Radio System) Tunneling Protocol) tunnel is established in the S8 interface between the SGW and the PGW.
4. A bearer setting response (Create Session Response) is transmitted from the SGW of the vEPC 52 to the first gateway (GW 1) 51 functioning as the MME.
5. This completes the setup of the IPsec VPN tunnel.
6. The IP address assigned to the terminal 1 is notified to the terminal 1 from the first gateway (GW 1), using the IKEv 2 message.
7. The IP connection from the terminal 1 to the first gateway (GW 1) is set at this point. The above corresponds to the sequence of the attach process.
8. Upon reception of a connection request to the connection destination on the WAN 2 (32) side from the terminal 1 side, IP routing from the first gateway (GW 1) 51 to the connection destination (WAN 2 side) is performed.
9. This completes the setting of connection, from the terminal 1 via the VPN and the vEPC 52 of the data center 50, with the connection destination on the WAN 2 side. A packet in a downlink direction from the WAN 2 (32) side to the terminal 1 is forwarded by the PGW in the vEPC 52 to the first gateway 51 according to a policy such as PCRF, and then forwarded from the first gateway 51 via the VPN tunnel 60 to the terminal 1.”).
Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to modify the system of Lee and Maria to include establishing a virtual private network connection between the user equipment and the core network in response to successful verification of the core network connection request as disclosed by ISHII and be motivated in doing so in order to forward packets in a downlink direction from the gateway to the terminal (user equipment) via the internet VPN-ISHII ¶0128 in parts.
Regarding claim 2, Lee in view of Maria and further in view of ISHII discloses the system of claim 1.
Lee further discloses wherein the radio node is further configured to: connect to the packet data network gateway using the virtual private network connection for user plane handling (FIG. 2C, connection between eNB 100 and Home eNB 200, S-GW through IPSec tunnel), (¶0042, “…Here, the MME 410 is an entity for managing the UE's mobility, and S-GW 420 is a gateway connecting to the macro-BS 100 by means of an S1 interface. The MME 410 and S-GW 420 are integrally called an access Gateway (aGW). The P-GW 430 is a gateway connected to a Packet Data Network (PDN), and the core network 400 connects the other network 700 by means of the P-GW 430. The secure GW 460 provides an Internet Protocol (IP)-based Iub interface for the interconnection of the femto-BS 200 and the RNC 450. The RNC 450 is an entity that manages the radio resources of the femto-BS (NodeB) 200, and the SGSN 440 is an entity that supports the GPRS.”), (¶0094-¶0095, “…Upon receipt of the Path Switch Request message, the MME 510 sends a User Plane Update Request message to the S-GW 530 in step S725. Upon receipt of the User Plane Update Request message, the S-GW 530 switches the DL path in step S727. At this time, the S-GW 530 switches the DL path to the macro-BS 100. Next, the S-GW 530 sends a User Plane Update Response message to the MME 510 in response to the User Plane Update Request message in step S729.”), and
connect to the mobility management entity for signaling and control plane handling (FIGs. 2B and 2C, MME 410/510 are connected to eNB 100), (¶0076, “… the event can be a handover. In an embodiment of the present invention, when handover occurs, the femto-BS 200 enters the UE mode for exchanging control data related to the handover with the macro-BS 100.”, wherein the handover execution and exchange of control data belongs to the control plane), and
Maria discloses connection to the mobility management entity for signaling and control plane handling using the private blockchain network (Col. 4, lines 33-56, “Continuing with FIG. 1, blockchain authenticator (BA) 110 communicates with MME 108 through HSS 112. The purpose of the BA is to authenticate mobile devices requesting to be attached to the carrier radio access network and to gain access to services provided by the EPC 106 such as gateway services to the Internet or services such as voice-over-LTE (VoLTE)…”, wherein communication between a blockchain and a mobility management entity to handle device authentication and signaling control in interpreted as control plane handling using a blockchain network).
Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to modify the system of Lee, Maria, and ISHII to include connection to the mobility management entity for signaling and control plane handling using the private blockchain network as disclosed by Maria and be motivated in doing so in order to replace vulnerable central databases with a distributed ledger and thus, leading a secure handover validation via smart contract.
Regarding claim 3, Lee in view of Maria and further in view of ISHII discloses the system of claim 1.
Lee further discloses wherein the load balancer is integrated into the radio node (¶0042, “…Here, the MME 410 is an entity for managing the UE's mobility, and S-GW 420 is a gateway connecting to the macro-BS 100 by means of an S1 interface. The MME 410 and S-GW 420 are integrally called an access Gateway (aGW). The P-GW 430 is a gateway connected to a Packet Data Network (PDN), and the core network 400 connects the other network 700 by means of the P-GW 430. The secure GW 460 provides an Internet Protocol (IP)-based Iub interface for the interconnection of the femto-BS 200 and the RNC 450. The RNC 450 is an entity that manages the radio resources of the femto-BS (NodeB) 200, and the SGSN 440 is an entity that supports the GPRS.”, wherein the lub interface acts as the termination point on the base station (Node B) side, linking the radio node directly to the radio network controller (RNC)).
Regarding claim 6, Lee in view of Maria and further in view of ISHII discloses the system of claim 1.
Maria further discloses wherein the mobility management entity and packet data network gateway are nodes on the private blockchain network (Col. 3, lines 56-67 to Col. 4, lines 1-10, FIG. 1, system 100, “…The system 100 can further include an evolved package core (EPC) 106, providing services using a mobility management entity (MME) 108, including session state management, user tracking, and authentication services. MME 108 in EPC 106 authenticates users using blockchain authentication as described herein by accessing the blockchain authenticator (BA) 110 through home subscriber server (HSS) 112, which also provides a central database that contains user-related and subscription-related information. EPC 106 also includes serving gateway (SGW) 114, which routes data packets through the LTE network 104, packet gateway (PGW) 116, which acts as the interface between the LTE network 104 and the Internet, and policy and charging rules function (PCRF) 118, which provides policy enforcement and tracks subscriber charges.”, wherein mobility management entity (MME) 108 and packet gateway (PGW) 116, are nodes on system 100 comprising blockchain network).
Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to modify the system of Lee, Maria, and ISHII to include the mobility management entity and packet data network gateway are nodes on the private blockchain network as disclosed by Maria and be motivated in doing so in order to create a shared, secure, and clear log of all user movements and data traffic, thus, a trust is built for multi-operator networks.
Regarding claim 7, Lee in view of Maria and further in view of ISHII discloses the system of claim 2.
Maria further discloses wherein all signaling and messaging in the control plane are handled through the private blockchain network (Col. 4, lines 33-56, “Continuing with FIG. 1, blockchain authenticator (BA) 110 communicates with MME 108 through HSS 112. The purpose of the BA is to authenticate mobile devices requesting to be attached to the carrier radio access network and to gain access to services provided by the EPC 106 such as gateway services to the Internet or services such as voice-over-LTE (VoLTE)…”), (Col. 6, lines 35-61, “When the mobile device attaches to the public wireless network and requests authentication, the mobile device access the blockchain element 207, flash memory 209, or other storage and provides the blockchain record as an authentication value. The blockchain authentication value is transmitted from the eNodeB 119 to the MME 108. The MME 108 forwards the provided blockchain value to BA 110 through HSS 112. The BA may be implemented as a stand-alone server or may reside in a network server that is also used for other purposes. The BA 110 receives the blockchain record in order to validate the transaction and authenticate the mobile device to the public wireless network 104. At this point a user would have previously stored a hashed identity key (blockchain with at least the initial block) in the BA repository for future authentication purposes. The user, through the mobile device 102 treats the repository used by the BA 110 as a trusted entity.”).
Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to modify the system of Lee, Maria, and ISHII to include wherein all signaling and messaging in the control plane are handled through the private blockchain network as disclosed by Maria and be motivated in doing so in order to provide high security and strict data privacy.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US. PGPub. No. 2090270107 to Lee et al. (hereinafter Lee) in view of US.Pat No. 10448251 to Maria; Arturo (hereinafter Maria) and further in view of US. PGPub. No. 20180213472 to ISHII et al. (hereinafter ISHII) and further in view of CN 115701721 to YAN et al. (hereinafter YAN).
NB: A PDF of YAN reference is attached to this OC set as an NPL.
Regarding claim 4, Lee in view of Maria and further in view of ISHII discloses the system of claim 1.
Lee further discloses wherein the radio node is further configured to: broadcast, in response to a user equipment entering a radio coverage range of the radio node (¶0031, “…In an embodiment of the present invention, the femto-BS 200 provides the service to UEs located in its radio coverage and communicates with the macro-BS 100 directly. For this purpose, the femto-BS 200 operates in two operation modes: a BS mode for serving the UEs located in its coverage, and a UE mode for communicating, as a UE, with the macro-BS 100.”), (¶0036, “In order to be served by the macro-BS 100, the femto-BS 200 transitions to the UE mode periodically or when a specific event occurs. For example, when the UE 300 associated with the macro-BS 100 enters the femtocell area and requests handover to the femto-BS 200, the femto-BS 200 transitions from the BS mode to the UE mode.”)
However, Lee in view of Maria and further in view of ISHII does not explicitly disclose the following limitation:
wherein the radio node is further configured to: broadcast, in response to a user equipment entering a radio coverage range of the radio node, system information comprising a block hash key associated with the radio node, to the user equipment.
YAN discloses wherein the radio node is further configured to: broadcast, in response to a user equipment entering a radio coverage range of the radio node, system information comprising a block hash key associated with the radio node, to the user equipment (page 2, paragraphs 5-11, “…receiving the broadcast message sent by the base station, receiving the integrity verification request of the broadcast message sent by the AMF network element;
generating a verification code according to the broadcast message, sending the verification code to the AMF network element for integrity verification;
receiving the integrity verification result returned by the AMF network element to the block chain corresponding to the base station; the block chain stores the broadcast message and the corresponding verification code;
and adding the integrity verification result to the first list of the broadcast message which is not passed.
In some embodiments, the broadcast message comprises a SFN field and a field representing the physical information of the base station; generating a verification code according to the broadcast message, comprising:
performing Hash operation to the field representing the physical information of the base station to obtain the verification code.
In some embodiments, the integrity verification result is the broadcast message through, the user identity information is sent to the AMF network element”);
Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to modify the system of Lee, Maria, and ISHII to include wherein the radio node is further configured to: broadcast, in response to a user equipment entering a radio coverage range of the radio node, system information comprising a block hash key associated with the radio node, to the user equipment as disclosed by YAN and be motivated in doing so in order to protect the integrity of the broadcast message and ensure that the broadcast message is not tampered in the communication process-YAN abstract in parts.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US. PGPub. No. 2090270107 to Lee et al. (hereinafter Lee) in view of US.Pat No. 10448251 to Maria; Arturo (hereinafter Maria) and further in view of US. PGPub. No. 20180213472 to ISHII et al. (hereinafter ISHII) and further in view of US. PGPub. No. 20190207762 to XIE et al. (hereinafter XIE).
Regarding claim 5, Lee in view of Maria and further in view of ISHII discloses the system of claim 2.
Maria further discloses the mobility management entity is configured to verify a core network connection request from a user equipment using a private blockchain network (Col. 4, lines 33-56 and Col. 6, lines 35-61 as discussed in claim 1).
However, Lee in view of Maria and further in view of ISHII does not explicitly disclose verification using a smart contract comprising data associated with a service provided by the core network.
XIE discloses verifying using a smart contract comprising data associated with a service provided by the core network (¶0091-¶0092, “In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the foregoing device information, the authority information and the like are stored in the smart contract. When the initiating host (or the accepting host) is the node in the blockchain and storing the complete blockchain or the block header, the initiating host (or the accepting host) can activate the smart contract through time or event driving (for example, executing a corresponding instruction message) after determining the storage block of the smart contract (for example, determining the storage block of the smart contract in a query mode), thereby to read the related information stored in the smart contract…”), (¶0094, “The reading authority control of the smart contract may be implemented in the following manner: when the blockchain account requests to read the information stored in the smart contract, a signature is provided. The signature may be verified in the smart contract, and only when the verification is passed, the smart contract is executed to return corresponding information.”), (¶0156-¶0158, “a verification module 1303, configured to verify the to-be-verified information according to the public key of the initiating host and a private key of the accepting host… a second connection establishment module 1304 configured to, when the to-be-verified information passes the verification, receive a communication connection request sent by the initiating host to establish a communication connection with the initiating host; and.. an access control module 1305, configured to control the initiating host to obtain data within the data access authority from the data subjected to the data access protection through the communication connection according to the data access authority of the initiating host stored in the blockchain”).
Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to modify the system of Lee, Maria, and ISHII to include verification using a smart contract comprising data associated with a service provided by the core network as disclosed by XIE and be motivated in doing so in order to improve anti-risk and anti-attack capabilities of the communication system by the decentralized features and security features of the blockchain-XIE abstract.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. (US 20210288881, US 20100034160).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MUDASIRU K OLAEGBE whose telephone number is (571)272-2082. The examiner can normally be reached MON-FRI. 7.30AM-5.30PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Farid Homayounmehr can be reached at 5712723739. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MUDASIRU K OLAEGBE/Examiner, Art Unit 2495
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