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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment filed on 01/22/2026 has been entered. Independent Claims 1 and 10 have been amended. Dependent claims 19 and 20 have been amended. Claims 9 and 18 have been cancelled. Claims 1-8, 10-17, and 19-20 are still pending in this application, with Claims 1 and 10 being independent.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 01/22/2026 on pages 6 to 7, with respect to the rejection of Claims 1 and 10 under 35 USC § 103. The applicant argues that Qiao in view of Jun fails to teach the amended claim of a Radio Cell Identifier and Subscriber Identification, as is failed to be mentioned in the Abstract. However, the cited elements in the paragraph 0129 of Jun, which states “The ATSSS information may be composed of the access traffic information (SDF (Service Data Flow)), the source PDU session ID, the target PDU session ID, the source access network type, the target access network type, and the ATSSS path rule.”, which shows that the information can include both the source PDU session ID and the target PDU session ID. The associated mapping for Jun has been updated to show this situation. Thus, the applicant here fails to patentably distinguish the claimed invention of the amended claim of a Radio Cell Identifier and Subscriber Identification from the teachings of Qiao in view of Jun. The applicant’s arguments have been fully considered, but are not persuasive.
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.
Claim(s) 1-8, 10-17, and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qiao (Pub. No.: US 20190109823 A1, hereafter “Qiao”) in view of Jun (Pub. No.: US 20190373505 A1, hereafter “Jun”).
Regarding Claim 1 and Claim 10
A system for subscriber awareness for traffic flows (Qiao Fig. 23; 2307, subscriber retrieval) in a computer network (Qiao Fig. 3: 322), the system comprising at least one processor (Qiao Fig. 3: 324) configured to execute computer readable instructions (Qiao Fig. 3: 326) stored in a memory component (Qiao Fig. 3: 328) wherein the computer readable instructions (Qiao Fig. 3: 328) provide for modules (Qiao ¶0281: computer-executable instructions can be implemented in one or more program modules), comprising: a Subscriber Awareness Control Plane (SACP) module (Qiao ¶0244: UDM) configured to register as a network node (Qiao ¶0244: SMF may register with the UDM) and subscribe to at least one network function (Qiao ¶0244: UDM may subscribe to be notified) on the network, the SACP comprising (Qiao ¶0042: UDM may be in charge of processing credentials, location management and/or subscription management) at least one processing module (Qiao Fig. 3: 324), a subscriber awareness (Qiao ¶0049: UDM gives access authorization based on subscription profiles) module (Qiao ¶0050: any device can compromise any of the devices in an LTE, 5G, or similar networks, e.g. an UDM), and an SMF event subscription (¶0039: SMF may compromise session establishment) and processing module (Qiao ¶0050: any device can compromise any of the devices in an LTE, 5G, or similar networks, e.g. an SMF; Qiao teaches an SCAP module for managing subscribers, subscribed to another network function, comprising a session establishment function and a session management function with a UDM and an SMF);
and a subscriber awareness module (Qiao ¶0050: any device can compromise any of the devices in an LTE, 5G, or similar networks, e.g. an SMF) configured to map subscribers (Qiao ¶0223: SMF may map information received from AMF, step 2206) to traffic flows (Qiao ¶0223: SMF may map information based on received information from the NEF, step 2202), based on the received traffic flow parameters (Qiao ¶0222: 2206 may contain S-NSSAI) and subscriber parameters (Qiao ¶0222: 2206 may contain PDU session ID; Qiao teaches an SMF mapping configuration information from traffic flow information, including multiple sessions, and an ID), wherein the SMF event subscription and processing module (Qiao ¶0244: SMF) is configured to receive events on session creates (Qiao Fig. 23: 2306), session updates (Qiao Fig. 23: 2307, Namf_PDUSession_CreateSMContext) and deleted sessions related to the subscriber (Qiao Fig. 18A: 1807, Policy Delete Request) and for processing these received events (Qiao ¶0244: perform secondary authorization) to determine any changes to the subscriber mapping (Qiao ¶0244: SMF may trigger a PDU session establishment authentication and/or authorization; Qiao teaches the SMF receiving a PDU relating to session establishment or authentication, and, that the SMF can be used in response to a policy deletion request).
Qiao does not explicitly teach
at least one processing module configured to request and receive information of traffic flow parameters and subscriber parameters for the traffic flows from the at least one network function, wherein the traffic flow parameters and subscriber parameters comprise Radio Cell Identifier and Subscriber Identification determined via attributes seen on a data plane of the computer network and location of a subscriber;
However, Jun teaches
at least one processing module (Jun Fig. 10: 310, AMF) configured to request (Jun Fig. 10: S1003) and receive information (Jun Fig. 10: S1004) of traffic flow parameters (Jun ¶0129: information associated with traffic to be transmitted) and subscriber parameters for the traffic flows from the at least one network function (Jun ¶0129: ATSS AN), wherein the traffic flow parameters and subscriber parameters comprise Radio Cell Identifier (Jun ¶0129: ATSS AN may comprise the source PDU session ID) and Subscriber Identification (Jun ¶0129: ATSS AN target PDU session ID) determined via attributes seen (Jun ¶0129: associated with traffic to be transmitted) on a data plane of the computer network (Jun Fig. 3: 100, UE) and location of a subscriber (Jun ¶0129: user location information; Jun teaches an AMF requesting and receiving subscriber parameters, including the session ID and location information);
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Qiao by way of Jun, to include an element that teaches an AMF requesting and receiving subscriber parameters, including the session ID and location information, as taught by Jun in Fig. 10 and ¶0129, to improve support for the ATSSS function to improve communication systems and reduce traffic usage in a switching cost associated with additional information requests.
Regarding Claim 2 and Claim 11
Qiao in view of Jun teaches the system and method disclosed in Claim 1. Qiao further teaches
wherein the SACP module is further configured to provide at least one traffic management action (Qiao ¶0244: SMF/UDM may correlate) based on the mapped subscriber to the traffic flow (Qiao ¶0244: SMF/UDM correlate map information from the AMF; Qiao teaches the SMF/UDM can correlate map information from the AMF).
Regarding Claim 3 and Claim 12
Qiao in view of Jun teaches the system and method disclosed in Claim 2. Qiao further teaches
wherein the traffic management action comprises instructions to another network node to implement the traffic action (Qiao Fig. 23: 2308, PolicyControl_Get; Qiao teaches a secondary message corresponding to implementing the previous action, Fig. 23, 2307).
Regarding Claim 4 and Claim 13
Qiao in view of Jun teaches the system and method disclosed in Claim 1. Jun further teaches
wherein the SACP module comprises an AMF Event Subscription and Processing module (Jun Fig. 10: 310, AMF) configured to determine all network subscriber location updates (Jun ¶0129: user location information; Jun teaches the AMF receiving the user location information).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Qiao by way of Jun, to include an element that teaches the AMF receiving the user location information, as taught by Jun in Fig. 10 and ¶0129, to improve support for the ATSSS function to improve communication systems and reduce traffic usage in a switching cost associated with additional information requests.
Regarding Claim 5 and Claim 14
Qiao in view of Jun teaches the system and method disclosed in Claim 4. Jun further teaches
wherein the AMF event subscription and processing module is further configured to determine location updates for active subscribers (Jun ¶0130: When receiving S1004, AMF transmits a context update; Jun teaches the AMF updating the context message after receiving the user location information, S1004).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Qiao by way of Jun, to include an element that teaches the AMF updating the context message after receiving the user location information, S1004, as taught by Jun in ¶0130, to improve support for the ATSSS function to improve communication systems and reduce traffic usage in a switching cost associated with additional information requests.
Regarding Claim 6 and Claim 15
Qiao in view of Jun teaches the system and method disclosed in Claim 1. Qiao further teaches
wherein the SACP module comprises a UDM event subscription and Query Processing module (Qiao ¶0244: SMF and/or the UDM) configured to determine updates related to the subscriber parameters (Qiao ¶0244: perform secondary authorization; Qiao teaches that a UDM can be used for a secondary authorization).
Regarding Claim 7 and Claim 16
Qiao in view of Jun teaches the system and method disclosed in Claim 1. Qiao further teaches
wherein the SACP module comprises a Radius Subscriber mapping module (Qiao ¶0054: UPF) configured to retrieve Radius mapping events associated with the subscriber on the network (Qiao ¶0054: uplink traffic verification, e.g. QoS flow mapping; Qiao teaches a UPF configured for QoS flow mapping for uplink traffic).
Regarding Claim 8 and Claim 17
Qiao in view of Jun teaches the system and method disclosed in Claim 1. Qiao further teaches
wherein the SACP module comprises an NRF registration and topology module (Qiao ¶0044: NRF) configured to discover at least one other network function in the network (Qiao ¶0044: NF discovery requests) and track the interactions of the at least one other network function with the subscriber's traffic flows (Qiao ¶0044: maintain the information of available NF instances and their supported devices; Qiao teaches an NRF being used for NF discovery requests and maintaining the information of supported devices).
Regarding Claim 19 and Claim 20
Qiao in view of Jun teaches the system and method disclosed in Claim 1. Qiao further teaches
wherein the traffic flow attributes (Qiao Fig. 23; 2307, subscriber retrieval) and subscriber attributes (Qiao ¶0244: wireless device identifier) comprise one or more of: IP Address (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), location (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), Network slice (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim) and Slice differentiator (Qiao ¶0244: PDU session ID), Access & Mobility Management Function handling subscriber's Protocol Data Unit session (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), Radio Access Technology Type (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), gNodeB details (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), Session and Subscriber Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate values (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), and device identity (Permanent Equipment Identifier (PEI)) (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim; Qiao teaches a subscriber retrieval with a device identifier, that’s a session ID for the PDU).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN MICHAEL WHITAKER whose telephone number is (703)756-4763. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 7:30am - 4:00pm.
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/JUSTIN MICHAEL WHITAKER/Examiner, Art Unit 2415
/Sudesh M. Patidar/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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