DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
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 allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). 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, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 6/5/2025 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Youn et al. (US 2017/0339609 A1), hereinafter “Youn” in view of Bharatia et al. (US 2017/0332226 A1), hereinafter “Bharatia”.
Claims 1 and 15:
Regarding claim 1, Youn teaches, a method performed in a User Equipment (UE) ([Abstract]), the method comprising:
receiving a Radio Resource Configuration (RRC) message (implied by disclosure in Youn: [0101], “The RRC layer controls a logical channel, a transport channel, and a physical channel in relation to a configuration, a re-configuration, and release of radio bearers.”, wherein the first request includes at least one session ID (implied by disclosure in Youn: [0157] “The UE may send the allocated network slice identity and PDU session ID through a session-related message whenever it sends the session-related message.”; user plane resource release message is session related), and
the at least one session ID corresponds to a first core network node (Youn: [0135] According to a conventional method, since the SMF manages a PDU session, a PDU session identity is allocated by the SMF, and it is used by UE and other network functions for session management (e.g., session modification and session termination); SMF of Youn may be considered as the first network node.).
Regarding the claim, sending, to a second core network node, a first request so that a User Plane resource is released, Youn teaches the following:
[0379], as disclosed above, “[0379] “At the set-up/modification/release of a PDU
session: the SMF interacts with RAN via MMF for setup, modification and release of radio and NG3 resources for the PDU session.” (see also Fig.10); and
[0331] “when the PDU session is released, the PDU session identity deallocation request/ response messages are exchanged between the MMF and the SMF.
In Figs. 8-10, Youn shows that session related communications between the UE and SMF is happening through the MMF. The request to release PDU session and response is also received through the MMF.
In the same field of endeavor, Bharatia teaches in [0085], “the user may initiate release of the session which is handled by the SM or the SM processes a session release request received from a peer.”. In Fig. 11, Bharatia discloses the request and response to PDU session release messages are sent from the UE to the SM.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine disclosure by Bharatia regarding request and release messages being handled by the SM and disclosure by Youn regarding PDU session related messages via MMF, and come up with the claimed invention motivated by separation of session management function (first core network node) and direct communication with the UE (MMF as the second core network node), the first core network node being different from the second core network node, by separate entities of the core network to simplify session management including PDU session establishment and release.
Claim 15 is a change in category with respect to claim 1. Presence of memory, processor and program instructions is implied. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 1.
Claims 2 and 16:
Regarding claim 2, combination of Youn and Bharatia teaches the method according to Claim 1 (discussed above), wherein the RRC message is received to release an access node resource (implied by discussion above in claim 1 and related to disclosure by Youn: [0101], “The RRC layer controls a logical channel, a transport channel, and a physical channel in relation to a configuration, a re-configuration, and release of radio bearers.”).
Claim 16 is a change in category with respect to claim 2. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 2.
Claims 3 and 17:
Regarding claim 3, combination of Youn and Bharatia teaches the method according to Claim 1 (discussed above), wherein the User Plane resource is released by the first core network node (implied by disclosure in Youn: [0184] Furthermore, in addition to the example of FIG. 9, when the MMF (or AMF) receives a message that accepts the release of the PDU session from the SMF, the MMF may recognize the message and has to deallocate the PDU session ID allocated to a corresponding session”, and that the first core network node is the SMF, as discussed above in claim 1; see Fig. 9, steps 906 and 908 where the PDU session is released by SMF in combination of disclosure in [0379] “At the set-up/modification/release of a PDU session: the SMF interacts with RAN via MMF for setup, modification and release of radio and NG3 resources for the PDU session.”).
Claim 17 is a change in category with respect to claim 3. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 3.
Claims 4 and 18:
Regarding claim 4, combination of Youn and Bharatia teaches the method according to Claim 1 (discussed above), wherein the first core network node is a session management function (SMF) (discussed above in claim 1 and based on disclosures in Youn).
Claim 18 is a change in category with respect to claim 4. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 4.
Claims 5 and 19:
Regarding claim 5, combination of Youn and Bharatia teaches the method according to Claim 1 (discussed above), wherein the second core network node is a mobility management node (discussed above in claim 1 and based on disclosures in Youn).
Claim 19 is a change in category with respect to claim 5. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 5.
Claims 6 and 20:
Regarding claim 6, combination of Youn and Bharatia discloses all the claim elements of this claim as discussed above in claim 1.
Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 1.
Claim 20 is a change in category with respect to claim 6. Presence of memory, processor and program instructions is implied. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 6.
Claims 7 and 21:
Regarding claim 7, combination of Youn and Bharatia teaches the method according to Claim 6 (discussed above), further comprising: receiving, from the first core network node, a protocol data unit (PDU) session release command; and sending, to an access node, information including the PDU session release command (discussed above in claim 2).
Claim 21 is a change in category with respect to claim 7. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 7.
Claims 8 and 22:
Regarding claim 8, combination of Youn and Bharatia teaches the method according to Claim 6 (discussed above), wherein the User Plane resource is released by the first core network node (discussed above in claim 3).
Claim 22 is a change in category with respect to claim 8. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 8.
Claims 9 and 23:
Regarding claim 9, combination of Youn and Bharatia teaches the method according to Claim 6 (discussed above), wherein the first core network node is a session management function (SMF) (discussed above in claim 4).
Claim 23 is a change in category with respect to claim 9. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 9.
Claims 10 and 24:
Regarding claim 10, combination of Youn and Bharatia teaches the method according to Claim 6 (discussed above), wherein the second core network node is a mobility management node (discussed above in claim 5)
Claim 24 is a change in category with respect to claim 10. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 10.
Claims 11 and 25:
Regarding claim 11, combination of Youn and Bharatia discloses all the claim elements of this claim as discussed above in claim 1.
Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 1.
Claim 25 is a change in category with respect to claim 11. Presence of memory, processor and program instructions is implied. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 11.
Claims 12 and 26:
Regarding claim 12, combination of Youn and Bharatia teaches the method according to Claim 11 (discussed above), further comprising: sending, to the second core network node, a protocol data unit (PDU) session release command (discussed above that SMF releasing the release command in claim 2).
Claim 26 is a change in category with respect to claim 12. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 12.
Claims 13 and 27:
Regarding claim 13, combination of Youn and Bharatia teaches the method according to Claim 11 (discussed above), wherein the first core network node is a session management function (SMF) (discussed above in claim 4).
Claim 27 is a change in category with respect to claim 13. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 13.
Claims 14 and 28:
Regarding claim 14, combination of Youn and Bharatia teaches the method according to Claim 11 (discussed above), wherein the second core network node is a mobility management node (discussed above in claim 4)..
Claim 28 is a change in category with respect to claim 14. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 14.
Conclusion
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/INTEKHAAB A SIDDIQUEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462