Ex Parte CHO et al

Patent Trials and Appeals BoardApr 25, 2019

14879034 - (D) (P.T.A.B. Apr. 25, 2019)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE 14/879,034 10/08/2015 68103 7590 04/29/2019 Jefferson IP Law, LLP 1130 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 420 Washington, DC 20036 FIRST NAMED INVENTOR Song Yean CHO UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www .uspto.gov ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 0203-0970-1 1002 EXAMINER SHAHEED, KHALID W ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2643 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 04/29/2019 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address(es): usdocketing@jeffersonip.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte SONG YEAN CHO, HAN NA LIM, CHAE GWON LIM, SUNG HO CHOI, and BEOM SIK BAE Appeal2018-006494 Application 14/879,034 Technology Center 2600 Before DAVID M. KOHUT, BETH Z. SHAW, and STEVEN M. AMUNDSON, Administrative Patent Judges. AMUNDSON, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Appellants 1 seek our review under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 134(a) from a final rejection of claims 1, 2, 4--7, 9-12, 14--17, 19, and 20, i.e., all pending claims. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 6(b). We reverse. 1 Appellants identify the real party in interest as Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. App. Br. 2. Appeal2018-006494 Application 14/879,034 STATEMENT OF THE CASE The Invention According to the Specification, the invention concerns "a wireless communication system and method for establishing connection between a User Equipment (UE) and a Mobility Management Entity (MME) in the wireless communication system." Spec. ,r 2. 2 Exemplary Claim Independent claim 1 exemplifies the claims at issue and reads as follows: 1. A method by a mobility management entity (MME) in a communication system, the method comprising: receiving, from a terminal, a first request message; transmitting, to a home subscriber server (HSS), a second request message related to the terminal based on the first request message; receiving, from the HSS, a first response message in response to the second request message, the first response message including subscription information of the terminal; allocating a tracking area update (TAU) timer value based on the subscription information of the terminal and information on an operator policy; and transmitting, to the terminal, a second response message including the allocated TAU timer value. App. Br. 13 (Claims App.). 2 This decision uses the following abbreviations: "Spec." for the Specification, filed October 8, 2015; "Final Act." for the Final Office Action, mailed May 25, 2017; "App. Br." for the Appeal Brief, filed September 28, 2017; "Ans." for the Examiner's Answer, mailed April 11, 2018; and "Reply Br." for the Reply Brief, filed June 11, 2018. 2 Appeal2018-006494 Application 14/879,034 The Prior Art Supporting the Rejection on Appeal As evidence ofunpatentability under 35 U.S.C. Â§ I03(a), the Examiner relies on the following prior art: Y ano et al. ("Y ano ") Shuai US 2010/0184432 Al July 22, 2010 US 2010/0210269 Al Aug. 19, 2010 The Rejection on Appeal Claims 1, 2, 4--7, 9-12, 14--17, 19, and 20 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. Â§ I03(a) as unpatentable over Shuai and Yano. Final Act. 4--9. ANALYSIS We have reviewed theÂ§ I03(a) rejection in light of Appellants' arguments that the Examiner erred. Based on the record before us and for the reasons explained below, we concur with Appellants' contentions that the Examiner erred in finding that the cited portions of Shuai and Y ano teach or suggest a mobility management entity (MME) allocating a tracking area update (TAU) timer value "based on the subscription information" of a terminal received from a home subscriber server (HSS) as required by each independent claim. TheÂ§ 103(a) Rejection of Claims 1, 2, 4-7, 9-12, 14-17, 19, and 20 INDEPENDENT CLAIMS 1, 6, 11, AND 16 Appellants argue that the Examiner erred in rejecting independent claims 1, 6, 11, and 16 because Shuai and Y ano do not teach or suggest the following limitations in claim 1 and similar limitations in the other independent claims: an MME (1) "receiving, from the HSS, ... subscription information of the terminal" and (2) "allocating a tracking area update (TAU) timer value based on the subscription information of the terminal." 3 Appeal2018-006494 Application 14/879,034 See App. Br. 6-7; Reply Br. 3--4. Specifically, Appellants assert that an Attach Accept message in Shuai with a Tracking Area Identity (TAI) includes the TAI elements "a mobile country code, a mobile network code, and [a] tracking area code" but "not subscription information." App. Br. 6 ( citing Shuai ,r 55). Appellants also assert that these TAI elements "correspond to a tracking area, not a terminal," and do not constitute "subscription information of the terminal" received from an HSS. Id. In addition, Appellants contend that "Shuai does not disclose how the TAU timer [value] is allocated." Reply Br. 6. Further, Appellants urge that Y ano' s disclosure of "a home subscriber server is not enough" for the Examiner "to assert that a TAU timer value is based on subscription information of the terminal received from the HSS." Id. at 4. In response, the Examiner explains that Shuai "discloses, 'the MME sends a TAI list to the UE according to the TAI and may also send other parameters like Periodic TA Update Timer to the UE'." Ans. 5 ( quoting Shuai ,r 63). The Examiner also explains that Yano's "Home Subscriber Server (HSS), as the name suggests provides subscriber information and is designated as a server for tracking user location and user subscription information." Id. at 5---6. Further, the Examiner finds that Y ano' s HS S sends tracking-area-update information and subscriber information to an MME. Id. at 6 (citing Yano ,r 151, Fig. 12). The Examiner similarly finds that "the subscriber information based Location Update" in Y ano "is provided between the HSS and MME." Id. at 7 (citing Yano ,r,r 92, 116). Based on the record before us, we agree with Appellants that the Examiner has not adequately explained how the cited portions of Shuai and Yano teach or suggest an MME allocating a TAU timer value "based on the 4 Appeal2018-006494 Application 14/879,034 subscription information" of a terminal received from an HSS as required by each independent claim. That Yano's HSS sends tracking-area-update information and subscriber information to an MME does not mean the MME employs the received subscriber information as an input to allocate a TAU timer value as an output. The Examiner fails to provide sufficient technical reasoning to establish that the cited portions of Shuai and Y ano teach or suggest that the MME employs the received subscriber information as an input to allocate a TAU timer value as an output. See Ans. 5-7; see also Final Act. 4--8. Hence, we do not sustain theÂ§ 103(a) rejection of claims 1, 6, 11, and 16. DEPENDENT CLAIMS 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, AND 20 Claims 2, 4, and 5 depend from claim 1; claims 7, 9, and 10 depend from claim 6; claims 12, 14, and 15 depend from claim 11 ; and claims 1 7, 19, and 20 depend from claim 16. For the reasons discussed for claims 1, 6, 11, and 16, we do not sustain theÂ§ 103(a) rejection of claims 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, and 20. Because this determination resolves the appeal for all pending claims, we need not address Appellants' other arguments regarding Examiner error. See, e.g., Beloit Corp. v. Valmet Oy, 742 F.2d 1421, 1423 (Fed. Cir. 1984) ( explaining that an administrative agency may render a decision based on "a single dispositive issue"). DECISION We reverse the Examiner's decision to reject claims 1, 2, 4--7, 9-12, 14--17, 19, and 20. 5 Appeal2018-006494 Application 14/879,034 REVERSED 6