Detailed Action
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 5/11/2026 has been entered.
Claims 31-50 are pending and ready for examination.
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Applicant's arguments filed 5/18/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant’s newly amended claims comprising catalogs is contemplated by Applicant Admitted Prior Art:
Applicant’s Specification [0103], [0104] referencing ETSI GR MEC 035.
The Examiner notes Mahdi (US 2020/0336376) also provides one of ordinary skill in the art to contemplate Applicant’s claims and/or limitations (see e.g. [0009] – [0010], [0042], [0236] – [0238])
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.
Claims 31- 34, 36-38, and 40 - 44, and 46-49 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Ojanpera (“Application Synchronization among Multiple MEC Servers in Connected Vehicle Scenarios”, December 2018) in view of Lee (US 20230283511) and in further view of Celesti (“Three-Phase Cross-Cloud Federation Model (The Cloud SSO Authentication”, 2010)
Regarding claim 31, Ojanpera discloses an edge computing system to host a first edge federation manager to enable edge federation management in an edge computing network, comprising:
identify system data attributes to establish a partnership among one or more respective edge computing systems as a federation (Ojanpera; Ojanpera teaches independent mobile network operators (MNOs) may collaborate with each other (i.e. partnership) to exchange system data between their MEC platforms to simultaneously enhance services for subscribers. Because the MEC systems remain independently administered by their respective operators while cooperating to exchange information, this interaction constitutes a federation of edge computing systems;
see e.g. Page 4, Section D. Management of the MEC Applications
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See e.g. Page 2, Section B. Shared World Model
“... requires information exchange between MEC servers and in some cases even between MEC servers hosted by different operators”
see e.g. Abstract “... geographical areas or being hosted by different network operators ...”)
identify availability zone data attributes to define multiple zones applicable in the federation (Ojanpera; Ojanpera teaches zone data comprising Cell IDs which are geographically distributed is readily available;
see e.g. Page 4, Section D. Management of the MEC Applications
“ ... rely on the location service (e.g. geolocation or Cell ID based) of the MEC system. Third, the vehicles or platoons need to connect to the MEC host, serving the geographical area ...”), the availability zone data attributes comprising a region identifier and a catalog of offered computing resources provided from at least one of processing resources, memory resources, or storage resources (Ojanpera; Ojanpera’s cell ID may be utilized as a base key for a region identifier or modified to the extent desired by one of ordinary skill in the art. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to generate and subsequently utilize a catalog as operators can expose the services based upon Ojanpera’s explicit teaching of collaboration between operators. Ojanpera’s resources may be virtualized (e.g. containters) thereby providing one of ordinary skill in the art to contemplate processing, memory, and/or storage resources;
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The Examiner notes the catalog feature is contemplated by Applicant Admitted Prior Art (see Applicant’s Specification [0103], [0104] referencing ETSI GR MEC 035)
)
The Examiner notes the cited context is within the context of implementing the Business Model detailed above); and
communicate the system data attributes, and the availability zone data attributes, via respective connections with the one or more other edge managers (Ojanpera; System data attributes and availability zone data attributes may be shared between the MNO’s per the Business Model and/or Collaboration;
see e.g. Page 4, Section D. Management of the MEC Applications
“... resources, services, location, and performance ...”
“ ... rely on the location service (e.g. geolocation or Cell ID based) of the MEC system. Third, the vehicles or platoons need to connect to the MEC host, serving the geographical area ...”);
wherein the respective edge computing systems are multi-access edge computing (MEC) systems that respectively support a plurality of MEC hosts (Ojanpera;
see e.g. Page 4, Section D. Management of the MEC Applications;
see e.g. Fig. 1 illustrating MEC systems in conjunction with a plurality of hosts;
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wherein the federation operates to manage compute operations in the plurality of MEC hosts and assign the compute operations to use the offered computing resources in a specific zone of the multiple zones, based on the region identifier,
, with management of at least one of: MEC applications, MEC services within a MEC application, MEC services within a MEC platform, a data plane within a respective MEC host, or a virtualization infrastructure within a respective MEC host (Ojanpera; Ojanpera teaches within the context of MEC services implemented between MNO operators (i.e. federation) MEC application, MEC services and virtualization; These compute operations are readily able to be assigned based on the cell ID and/or region identifiers associated with the particular MEC Edge node;
see e.g. Page 4, Section D. Management of the MEC Applications)
Although Ojanpera teaches a federation where MNOs execute a business model and/or collaboration, Ojanpera does not address the conventional trend of utilizing a federation manager to exchange system information between MNOs and therefore doe not expressly disclose:
communications circuitry configured to communicate with a plurality of federation managers, the plurality of federation managers located at multiple computing nodes in the edge computing network;
processing circuitry configured to operate the first edge federation manager to:
identify system data attributes to establish a partnership among the first edge federation manager and one or more other edge federation managers to coordinate respective edge computing systems as a federation;
identify authentication data attributes to enable the one or more other edge federation managers to securely authenticate in the federation;
identify authorization data attributes to enable the one or more other edge federation managers to perform authorization operations in the federation;
identify availability zone data attributes to define zones applicable in the federation among the one or more other edge federation managers;
However in analogous art Lee discloses:
communications circuitry configured to communicate with a plurality of federation managers, the plurality of federation managers located at multiple computing nodes in the edge computing network (Lee;
see e.g. [0144] In this way, the present disclosure enables communication between the MEC system A (or the MEP A) and the MEC system C (or the MEP C) through an embodiment in which the information about the MEC system C (or the MEP C) is transmitted using the interface between federation managers, thereby enabling the MEC App X to be linked with the MEC App Y (S9′).);
processing circuitry configured to operate the first edge federation manager to (Lee;
see e.g [0066] a processor for controlling operation in the federation manager 100, and these instructions may be installed in a memory of the federation manager 100):
identify system data attributes to establish a partnership among the first edge federation manager and one or more other edge federation managers to coordinate respective edge computing systems as a federation (Lee; Lee teaches an inter-MEC architecture in which a federation manager is provided for each MEC provider, enabling federation managers to search for an transmit information among MEC systems in order to support linkage between services installed in different MEC systems;
[0051] Accordingly, the present disclosure is intended to support linkage between services in an inter MEC environment by realizing a structure that allows direct linkage between MEC services installed in different MEC systems.
[0053] As shown in FIG. 1, in the present disclosure, an edge integration control device (hereinafter, federation manager) is provided for each MNO (or MEC provider) for operating MEC, thereby implementing a structure in which each of federation managers 100(1), 100(2), . . . can search for/transmit information among MEC systems managed thereby.
[0057] For example, when there are multiple MEC providers in one MNO, each of the federation managers 100(1), 100(2), . . . may store/manage information about an MEC system provided by each MEC provider, and may transmit/exchange the information managed/held thereby to/with another federation manager.
[0058] Of course, each of the federation managers 100 (1), 100 (2), . . . may be provided for each MEC system or for multiple MNOs.
see e.g. Fig. 2 [0063]
see e.g. [0072] That is, the information register 110 may receive, from an MEO A, information about an MEC system A associated with the MEO A and about MEC Apps A, B, . . . installed in the MEC system A, and register/manage the information, and may register/manage information received from each of the MEOs B, . . . in this way, thereby registering/managing information related to the MEC systems A, B, . . . existing in MNO 1.
see e.g. [0073] The information received from the MEO (e.g., the MEO A) and registered may include information about each MEO (e.g., the MEO A), may further include system-related information including at least one of MEC system resource information, network status information, and system location information for each of the MEC systems (e.g., the MEC Apps A, B, . . . ), and may further include MEC application-related information including, for each MEC system (e.g., MEC Apps A, B, . . . ), at least one of identification information and KPI loaded in the MEC system.);
identify authentication data attributes to enable the one or more other edge federation managers to securely authenticate in the federation (Lee; Lee identifies authentication data comprising MEO identification;
see e.g. [0076] MEO information: MEO identification information (e.g., MEO identifier), etc.);
identify availability zone data attributes to define zones applicable in the federation among the one or more other edge federations (Lee; Lee discloses system -related information, such as IP information. Such location information identifies the network location of a MEC system and can be used to determine the corresponding geographic region, service area, or zone in which the MEC system operates;
see e.g. [0077] System-related information: Supportable (computing) resource information, current NW status information, MEC system location information (e.g., IP information, etc.), etc.); and
communicate the system data attributes, the authentication data attributes, the and the availability zone data attributes, via respective connections with the one or more other edge federation managers (Lee;
see e.g. [0057[ “... the federation managers 100(1), 100(2), . . . may store/manage information about an MEC system provided by each MEC provider, and may transmit/exchange the information managed/held thereby to/with another federation manager ...”
see e.g. [0060] Assuming an environment in which the basic role of the broker is the same as those of federation managers and in which the federation managers communicate with each other in a mesh structure, );
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Lee’s Federation Manager scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a know technique resulting in increased efficiencies of providing services to mobile subscribers traversing various independent MNOs.
Ojanpera and in further view of Lee does not expressly disclose:
identify authorization data attributes to enable the one or more other edge federation managers to perform authorization operations in the federation;
However in analogous art Celesti discloses:
identify authorization data attributes to enable the one or more other edge federation managers to perform authorization operations in the federation (Celesti; Celesti disclose that authentication authorization assertions are exchanged between security domains using SAML technology such as between an identity provider domain and a service provider domain. These assertions constitute authentication and authorization data attributes used by participating domains to perform authentication and authorization operations within the federation;
see e.g. Page 5 Section V. AUTHENTICATION PRACTICE USING SAML
“In order to explain the authentication process (step 5 of Figure 3), we consider the SAML technology. SAML is an XML-based standard for exchanging authentication
and authorization assertions between security domains, more specifically, between an identity provider (IdP) (a producer of assertions) and a generic service provider (SP) (a consumer of assertions). SAML consists of: a subject, a person or a software/hardware entity that assumes a particular digital identity and interacts with an online application composed of several heterogeneous systems; a SP or relying party, a system, or administrative domain, that relies on information supplied to it by the Identity Provider; an IdP or asserting party, a system, or administrative domain, that asserts information about a subject. In literature, such model is also referred as IdP/SP”);
identify authentication data attributes to enable the one or more other edge federation managers to securely authenticate in the federation (Celesti;
see e.g. Page 5 Section V. AUTHENTICATION PRACTICE USING SAML
“In order to explain the authentication process (step 5 of Figure 3), we consider the SAML technology. SAML is an XML-based standard for exchanging authentication
and authorization assertions between security domains,)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Celest’s authorization and authentication scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of delivering mobile services to subscribers.
Regarding claim 32, Ojanpera in view of Lee and in further view of Celesti disclose (Currently amended) The edge computing system of claim 31, wherein the edge computing system provides a first edge federation broker functionality for operating in a first region, and wherein the first edge federation broker functionality coordinates the partnership among the first edge federation manager and the multiple-one or more other edge federation managers (The combined solution per Ojanpera and/or Lee provides for edge federation brokers associated with their own particular regions or zones (Independent claim 31) and Lee teaches the utilization of brokers;
See e.g. Lee [0059] A broker implies an entity additionally provided for communication between each of federation managers )
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Lee’s Federation Manager scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a know technique resulting in increased efficiencies of providing services to mobile subscribers traversing various independent MNOs.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Celest’s authorization and authentication scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of delivering mobile services to subscribers.
Regarding claim 33, Ojanpera in view of Lee and in further view of Celesti disclose the edge computing system of claim 32, wherein the communications circuitry is configured to cause the respective connections with the multiple-one or more other edge federation managers to be established; wherein a dedicated interface is used to communicate between [[a]] the first edge federation manager of the edge computing system and a second edge federation manager of a second edge computing system (The combined invention per Lee provides for an interface to be utilized for communication between federation managers. Implementing the interface as a dedicated interface for such communication would have been a routine design choice within the level of ordinary skill in the art consistent with the principles set forth in KSR Int’l CO. v. Teleflex Inc. 550 U.S. 398 (2007)
see e.g. [0144] “... interface between federation managers...”)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Lee’s Federation Manager scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a know technique resulting in increased efficiencies of providing services to mobile subscribers traversing various independent MNOs.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Celest’s authorization and authentication scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of delivering mobile services to subscribers.
Regarding claim 34, Ojanpera in view of Lee and in further view of Celesti disclose the edge computing system of claim 32, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to cause performance of an attestation-augmented authentication procedure among the multiple-one or more other edge federation managers, based on authentication performed using the first edge federation broker functionality and a second edge federation broker functionality of a second edge computing system (The combined solution per Celesti provides an attestation -augmented authentication procedure in which one security domain attest to the authenticity of attributes of an entity, and another security domain relies on that attestation to perform authentication
see e.g. Page 5 Section V. AUTHENTICATION PRACTICE USING SAML
“In order to explain the authentication process (step 5 of Figure 3), we consider the SAML technology. SAML is an XML-based standard for exchanging authentication
and authorization assertions between security domains, more specifically, between an identity provider (IdP) (a producer of assertions) and a generic service provider (SP) (a consumer of assertions). SAML consists of: a subject, a person or a software/hardware entity that assumes a particular digital identity and interacts with an online application composed of several heterogeneous systems; a SP or relying party, a system, or administrative domain, that relies on information supplied to it by the Identity Provider; an IdP or asserting party, a system, or administrative domain, that asserts information about a subject. In literature, such model is also referred as IdP/SP”);
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Lee’s Federation Manager scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a know technique resulting in increased efficiencies of providing services to mobile subscribers traversing various independent MNOs.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Celest’s authorization and authentication scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of delivering mobile services to subscribers.
Regarding claim 36. Ojanpera in view of Lee and in further view of Celestin disclose the edge computing system of claim 31, wherein the federation is established to join at least the edge computing system located at a first region with at least a second edge computing system located at a second region, and wherein each region comprises a plurality of zones for operation of the federation, wherein the plurality of zones correspond to respective mobile network operators operating in each region (Ojanpera per Independent claim 1 provides for MNOs operating independently in their own geographic region and/or zone in conjunction with Lees’ Federation Manager associated with their own MNO;
See e.g. Ojanpera , Abstract “... geographical areas or being hosted by different network operators)
See e.g. Ojanpera, Page 4, Section D. Management of the MEC Applications
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Lee’s Federation Manager scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a know technique resulting in increased efficiencies of providing services to mobile subscribers traversing various independent MNOs.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Celest’s authorization and authentication scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of delivering mobile services to subscribers.
Regarding claim 37, Ojanpera in view of Lee and in further view of Celisti disclose the edge computing system of claim 31, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:
determine management and settlement information data attributes to enable management of resources in the federation among the multiple-one or more other edge federation managers, in response to establishment of the federation of edge computing systems (The combined solution per Lee;
[0071] The information register 110 may receive, from MEO A, B, . . . of MEC systems A, B, . . . possessed by multiple MEC providers existing in MNO 1, information related to an MEC system associated with each MEO and at least one of MEC applications (hereinafter, MEC Apps) installed in the MEC system, and may register/manage the information.
[0072] That is, the information register 110 may receive, from an MEO A, information about an MEC system A associated with the MEO A and about MEC Apps A, B, . . . installed in the MEC system A, and register/manage the information, and may register/manage information received from each of the MEOs B, . . . in this way, thereby registering/managing information related to the MEC systems A, B, . . . existing in MNO 1.
);
manage operational properties in the federation using the management and settlement information data attributes, wherein the management and settlement information data attributes define the operational properties for at least one of: types of resources; amount of resources used; number of application instances; number of user sessions; usage time; or an identification of additional services (The combined solution per Ojanpera and/or Lee
see e.g. Lee:
[0073] The information received from the MEO (e.g., the MEO A) and registered may include information about each MEO (e.g., the MEO A), may further include system-related information including at least one of MEC system resource information, network status information, and system location information for each of the MEC systems (e.g., the MEC Apps A, B, . . . ), and may further include MEC application-related information including, for each MEC system (e.g., MEC Apps A, B, . . . ), at least one of identification information and KPI loaded in the MEC system.); and
communicate the management and settlement information data attributes, via the respective connections with the multiple one or more other edge federation managers (The combined solution per Lee;
[0057] For example, when there are multiple MEC providers in one MNO, each of the federation managers 100(1), 100(2), . . . may store/manage information about an MEC system provided by each MEC provider, and may transmit/exchange the information managed/held thereby to/with another federation manager)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Lee’s Federation Manager scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a know technique resulting in increased efficiencies of providing services to mobile subscribers traversing various independent MNOs.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Celest’s authorization and authentication scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of delivering mobile services to subscribers.
Regarding claim 38, Ojanpera in view of Lee and in further view of Celesti disclose the edge computing system of claim 31, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: manage trustworthiness properties in the federation using the authentication data attributes. wherein the authentication data attributes define the trustworthiness properties for at least one of: the edge computing system, hosts or cloudlets of the edge computing system, a platform of the edge computing system, an application programming interface of the edge computing system, an instantiated application of the edge computing system, a data plane of a host or cloudlet of the edge computing system, a virtualized infrastructure of a host or cloudlet of the edge computing system, a processing unit of a host or cloudlet of the edge computing system, a storage unit of a host or cloudlet of the edge computing system, or a connectivity unit of a host or cloudlet of the edge computing system.(The combined solution per Celesti provides a trustworthy implementation facilitated by authentication agents that exchange authentication metadata between federated edge cloud domains to establish a security context.
See e,,g Celesti, Page 4, Column 1:
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The combined solution per Lee in conjunction with Celisti’s Trust model (See e.g. Celesti, Fig, 3) comprises at least edge computing systems, application interfaces, and virtualization
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Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Lee’s Federation Manager scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a know technique resulting in increased efficiencies of providing services to mobile subscribers traversing various independent MNOs.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Celest’s authorization and authentication scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of delivering mobile services to subscribers.
Regarding claim 40, Ojanpera in view of Lee and in further view of Celesti disclose the edge computing system of claim 31, wherein the federation and the MEC systems operate according to a European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) specification (Ojanpera recognizes the strategic importance of ETSI and one of ordinary skill in the art is readily able to implement by design choice the necessary features from ETSI as required
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Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Lee’s Federation Manager scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a know technique resulting in increased efficiencies of providing services to mobile subscribers traversing various independent MNOs.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Celest’s authorization and authentication scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of delivering mobile services to subscribers.
Regarding claim 41, claim 41 comprises the same and/or similar subject matter as claim 31 and is rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claim 42, claim 42 comprises the same and/or similar subject matter as claim 32 and is rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claim 43, claim 43 comprises the same and/or similar subject matter as claim 33 and is rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claim 44, claim 44 comprises the same and/or similar subject matter as claim 34 and is rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claim 46, claim 46 comprises the same and/or similar subject matter as claim 36 and is rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claim 47, claim 47 comprises the same and/or similar subject matter as claim 37 and is rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claim 48, claim 48 comprises the same and/or similar subject matter as claim 31 and is rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claim 49, claim 49 comprises the same and/or similar subject matter as claim 38 and is rejected under the same rationale.
Claims 35 and 45 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Ojanpera in view of Lee and in further view of Celesti and in further view of Mahdi (US 20200336376_
Regarding claim 35. Ojanpera in view of Lee and in further view of Celesti disclose the edge computing system of claim 31, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to initiate computing operations in the federation with at least one of the multiple-one or more other edge federation managers (Per Independent claim 31); OJanpera does not expressly disclose wherein the respective connections include an east-westbound interface (EWBI) of the federation, the EWBI configured to perform information flows and coordinate the computing operations among the multiple-one or more other edge federation managers.
However in analogous art Mahdi discloses:
wherein the respective connections include an east-westbound interface (EWBI) of the federation, the EWBI configured to perform information flows and coordinate the computing operations among the multiple-one or more other edge federation managers (Mahdi;
see e.g. [0042] “... the pervasive cloud is implemented with a federation of disparate entities in a hierarchical pattern (east-west interfaces for a federation of peers...”)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Mahdi’s interfaces. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of providing services to subscribers.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Lee’s Federation Manager scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a know technique resulting in increased efficiencies of providing services to mobile subscribers traversing various independent MNOs.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Celest’s authorization and authentication scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of delivering mobile services to subscribers.
Regarding claim 45, claim 45 comprises the same and/or similar subject matter as claim 35 and is rejected under the same rationale.
Claims 39 and 50 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Ojanpera in view of Lee and in further view of Celesti and in further view of Mahdi (US 2020/0336376)
Regarding claim 39, Ojanpera in view of Lee and in further view of Celesti disclose the edge computing system of claim 31, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: manage resource availability properties in the federation using the availability zone data attributes, wherein the availability zone data attributes define the resource availability properties for at least one of: offered central processing unit (CPU) resources; offered memory resources; offered storage resources; offered specialized computing resources; offered graphic processing unit resources; offered vision processing unit resources; offered neural processing unit resources; or offered field-programmable gate array (FPGA) resources (The combined solution per Ojanpera provides for the management of resources associated with resources with respect to geographic regions and /or zones and where the virtualized resources are readily able to span CPU resources, memory resources, storage resources, and customized (i.e. specialized resource) by design choice (set forth in KSR Int’l CO. v. Teleflex Inc. 550 U.S. 398 (2007) ;
See e.g. Fig. 1 illustrating Virtualization Infrastructure amongst different MNOs for different geographic regions.
see e.g. Page 4, Section D. Management of the MEC Applications), wherein the federation operates to assign the compute operations based on (i) a comparison of the region identifier with location information from a request (The combined solution operates within the MEC framework in which requests for services are processed using location information associated with the request entity. Accordingly, comparing a region identifier with location information form the request is the operational implementation of Ojanpera’s location-aware MEC host selection using its geolocation/cell ID services) and (ii) a determination that the catalog of offered computing resources satisfies a resource requirement of the request (The combined solution as Ojanpera teaches that the MEO is aware of deployed MEC hosts, their capabilities and services, and is responsible for ensuring that requirements in terms of resources, services, location, and performance are met before selecting a target MEC host. Thus Ojanpera teaches determining whether the computing resources offered by candidate MEC hosts satisfy the resource requirements associated with the request prior to assigning the compute operation;
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As evidence of the rationale above Mahdi discloses:
requests (Mahdi; Mahdi within the context of Federation Managers and catalogs of services teaches requests;
[0236] The aggregate of all of these resources, regardless of their distributed nature, can be viewed as a single fabric used to deliver services. Each resource has two fundamental behaviors that can be leveraged to assemble this distributed fabric. First, a resource can be queried (sensed) to gather information on its current state, and, second, each resource can be requested to take a specific action (act). Using these fundamental properties, each resource can be equipped with a software process that has a control loop that continuously senses the state of the resource, discerns key information, infers and decides on some action, and then requests that the resource take action.
[0237] These software processes also possess the ability to communicate with each other, which enables them to collaborate and construct fabric-based services from individual resources. Each of these processes is independently able to receive an intent request and then work with peer processes representing other resources to assemble the service represented by the intent. This fully distributed model allows new resources to be added or existing resources to be removed with very little operational overhead. The new resource “looks” for other peer processes and automatically integrates itself into the overall fabric.
[0238] Using this approach, one need not worry about the individual components or where they're located and how they're interconnected. The software processes are able, through collaboration, to establish the most optimized placement
[0245] The service management domain fabric 302 is composed of several functions that have the capability of working with each other: These include Assurance, Orchestration, Policy, Inventory, Analytics, and Catalogue functions. The functions can then be made accessible to application platforms via APIs, and partnering with a marketplace provider will create a storefront. All of these service domain management capabilities can now be used overtop existing wireline or wireless networks to achieve a primary NaaS offering.
[0042] The network architecture includes a notion of a “pervasive” cloud, which is different from current cloud systems as follows. The pervasive cloud evolves the current cloud resource units of Compute, Connect, Storage, (with the cloud being a static construct of physical resources) to Compute, Storage, Connect (Networking), Sense, Act (evolving cloud to an intelligent dynamic construct, with ‘Sense’ and ‘Act’ elements providing the intelligence [adaptive/self-optimizing] and dynamism [fungible distributed compositions]). In essence, the cloud is adaptive, dynamic, and pervasive. The pervasive cloud is implemented with a federation of disparate entities in a hierarchical pattern (east-west interfaces for a federation of peers at the same tier of the hierarchy, north-south interfaces for client/server relationships across multiple tiers of hierarchy). A SOF (Self Optimizing Fabric) is an enabler for the implementation of the pervasive cloud.
The present disclosure relates to a next-generation network architecture for connect, compute, sense, store, and act resources, and specifically a Self-Optimizing Fabric (SOF) architecture. Specifically, the present disclosure includes a federation of controllers that work together to deliver a service, across different domains, different providers, different technologies, etc. That is, the SOF architecture includes an arrangement of intricately intertwined, but “self-contained” intelligence components, systems, and fabrics that strive to dynamically organize and optimize itself, as these entities collaborate to deliver shared goal(s), while also serving their individual goal(s) which may be collaborative or competitive with respect to each other.
[0010] The SOF can be viewed as an assembly of heterogeneous components, systems, and fabrics contributed (with varying degrees of intelligence) by disparate producers (who may also be consumers), and consumers (who may also be producers), for an end-to-end intelligence fabric optimized to meet the overall objectives of business collaboration. The ultimate ambition with SOF is a fluid federation of self-organizing and self-optimizing entities that will dynamically discover, attach, and detach with their peer entities, contributing to the higher order of organization and optimization that emerges from this federation. Put simply, SOF aims to be an emergent ‘fabric of fabrics’ that is both self-organizing and self-optimizing.)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Mahdi’s Federation scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of delivering services.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Lee’s Federation Manager scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a know technique resulting in increased efficiencies of providing services to mobile subscribers traversing various independent MNOs.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Celest’s authorization and authentication scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of delivering mobile services to subscribers.
Regarding claim 50, claim 50 comprises the same and/or similar subject matter as claim 39 and is rejected under the same rationale.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to TODD L. BARKER whose telephone number is (571) 270 0257. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday, 7:30am to 5:00pm.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner's supervisor Vivek Srivastava can be reached on (571) 272 7304.
/TODD L BARKER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2449
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