DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-20 are presented on 09/08/2023 for examination on merits. Claims 1, 10, and 20 are independent base claims.
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 .
Examiner's Instructions for filing Response to this Office Action
When the Applicant submits amendments regarding to the claims in response the Office Action, the Examiner would appreciate Applicant if a clean copy of the claims is provided to facilitate the prosecution which otherwise requires extra time for editing the marked-up claims from OCR.
Please submit two sets of claims:
Set #1 as in a typical filing which includes indicators for the status of claim and all marked amendments to the claims; and
Set #2 as an appendix to the Arguments/Remarks for a clean version of the claims which has all the markups removed for entry by the Examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 3-5, 10, 12-14, 18, and 20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 1 and 20 each recite “Authentication Server Function AUSF” wherein AUSF appears to be the acronym of Authentication Server Function. If so, the acronym should be inside parentheses.
Claims 1, 3-5, 10, 12, and 20 each recite acronym “EAP”. The acronym should be spelled out for the first time of use.
Claims 3-5 and 12-14 each recite acronym “DSRK” and its related terms. The acronym should be spelled out for the first time of use.
Claims 3-4 and 12-13 each recite “EMSKname” wherein the acronym EMSK should be spelled out for the first time of use.
Claims 4 and 13 each recite “a SWa protocol” deficiently. The acronym SWA should be spelled out for the first time of use.
Claim 10 recites the acronym AUSF. The acronym AUSF should be spelled out.
Claim 18 recites “iii) a UE identifier” as a second element of the list. As such, it should be “ii) a UE identifier” instead.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(B) CONCLUSION—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
The rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) is/are determined by the following reasons:
Claims 1, 10, and 20 each recite two instances of “an ER indicator” unclearly or lacking sufficient antecedent basis.
Claims 4 and 13 each recite “the DSRK” without sufficient antecedent basis. It is noted that Claims 4 and 13 depend from claims 1 and 10, respectively. DSRK is not introduced in claims 1 and 10.
Claims 7 and 17 each recite “an ER indicator” without sufficient antecedent basis.
Claims 2-9 and 11-19 are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, because they depend from the rejected base claims 1 and 10, respectively.
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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
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 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.
Claims 1-3, 7-12, and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PALANIGOUNDER (US 20230044847 A1; hereinafter “Pala”) in view of Gupta (US 20240251239 A1).
As per claim 1, Pala teaches a method for use in a communications system, the method comprising:
operating a Non-Seamless Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Offload Function (NSWOF) including an EAP Re-authentication (ER) server (Pala, par. 0008, 0012 and 0016: a UE for 5G network authentication to support 5G Non-seamless WLAN Offload (5G NSWO) on a non-3GPP access network; the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) protocol.) to send a first User Equipment (UE) authentication request message to an Authentication Server Function AUSF for a first UE (Pala, par. 0042-0043: a 5G NSWO Function implemented in a network element of the home 3GPP network; such as an Authentication Server Function (AUSF)), said first UE authentication request message including an ER indicator indicating support by the NSWOF sending the first UE authentication request indicating that the NSWOF has ER server capabilities (Pala, par. 0042: forward the authentication request to an authentication function in the 5G core network, such as an Authentication Server Function (AUSF). For example, the 5G NSWO Function; par. 0138-0139: a 5G Non-seamless WLAN Offload (NSWO) Function, an authentication request including the SUCI from the non-3GPP access network [with] an indicator stored in the UE, [indicating] the UE is configured to perform 5G NSWO);
However, Pala does not explicitly disclose an authentication response message from the AUSF is received with an ER indicator. This aspect of the claim is identified as a further difference.
In a related art, Gupta teaches:
operating the NSWOF to receive a first UE authentication response message from the AUSF with an ER indicator (Gupta: par. 0087-0090: transmit the EAP-Response of identity type encapsulated in the link layer protocol packets towards the NSWO NF. It is noted that the EAP is an extensible authentication protocol that is use for identifying a request message and generating an EAP identity response message; the NSWO indicator is mapped to the ER indicator. Note that the NSWO indicator conveys the information to the AUSF 136 for authentication purpose; see par. 0091-0093 and 0113).
Pala and Gupta are analogous art to the claimed invention, because they are in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, or reasonably pertinent to the problem faced by the inventor, which may be in a different field. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine them and to modify Pala’s UE authentication system with Gupta’s teachings of “the NSWO indicator” which conveys the authentication information to the AUSF. For this combination, the motivation would have been to improve the level of security with better resynchronization.
As per claim 2, the references as combined above teach the method of claim 1, and Pala also discloses:
wherein the first UE authentication request message is sent from the NSWOF in response to the NSWOF receiving a message from a WLAN access node (AN) to which the first UE is seeking to establish a connection (Pala, par. 0008-0010: 5G Non-seamless WLAN Offload (NSWO); receiving messages from the non-3GPP access network by a 5G NSWO Function of a network element of a home 3GPP network; par. 0035: Most UEs require authentication to access a communication network. NSWO using 4G protocols enables authentication of a UE attempting to connect to a non-3GPP access network (e.g., a WLAN) via network elements).
As per claim 3, the references as combined above teach the method of claim 1, and Pala also discloses:
further comprising:
operating the NSWOF to send a second UE authentication request message to the AUSF for the first UE (Pala, par. 0042-0043: forward the authentication request to an authentication function in the 5G core network); and
operating the NSWOF to receive a second UE authentication response message, from the AUSF, in response to the second UE authentication request message, said second UE authentication response message indicating EAP success and including a MSK and one, more than one or all of: i) a DSRK, ii) a EMSKname and iii) a DSRKLifetime (Note that optional limitations are recited herein) (Pala, par. 0043: authentication response to the non-3GPP access network; verifying the UE authenticating response, and may send the MSK to the 5G NSWO Function. The AUSF may include the SUPI (e.g., IMSI or NAI based on the SUPI type) as an Identity for the MK (master key) key derivation).
As per claim 7, the references as combined above teach the method of claim 1, and Gupta also discloses: further comprising:
operating the AUSF to communicate to a UDM information corresponding to the first UE as part of a UE authentication Get request message relating to the first UE, said UE authentication Get request message including an indicator indicating that re- authentication is supported by the NSWOF (Gupta, par. 0037: The AUSF 136 may operate as a control plane function that supports subscriber and network authentication. For example, the AUSF 136 may verify that the UE 104 is an authorized subscriber and may also allow the UE 104 to verify the 5GS; par. 0041-0042: AUSF to support the EAP-AKA′ authentication method using an EAP-Response/Identity messaging, such as using the GET IDENTITY command as specified in TS 31.102; see par. 0081-0089); and
operating the AUSF to receive from the UDM a UE authentication Get response message with an ER indicator indicating whether ER services are to be provided to the first UE (Gupta, par. 0090-0092: send an authentication-request message; the authentication-request message may trigger an authenticate service operation that permits NSWO NF 132 to initiate authentication of the UE 104. The authentication-request message may provide the AUSF 136 with the following information: the SUCI,).
As per claim 8, the references as combined above teach the method of claim 7, and Gupta also discloses: further comprising:
operating the UDM to determine if ER services are to be provided to the first UE (Gupta, par. 0039-0040: extensible authentication protocol (EAP)-based method and a 5G authentication; par. 0092-0098: the UDM to determine how ER services operates for the UE) based on one, more than one or all of: (note that optional limitations are recited herein)
i) a service subscription associated with the first UE, iii) a UE identifier; iii) operator policy; iv) a profile associated with the first UE, v) a domain associated with first UE, vi) network usage information associated with the first UE, and vii) a security status associated with the first UE (Gupta, par. 0170 and 0175: an EAP identity response message to include a subscription concealed identifier (SUCI) in a network access identifier (NAI) format; par. 0081-0090: the UE shall … construct an EAP-Response/Identity message and the protection profile shall be one of those defined in Annex C of 3GPP TS 33.501 or one of those specified by the Home network).
As per claim 9, the references as combined above teach the method of claim 8, and Gupta also discloses: wherein the UDM controls re-authentication services provided to the first UE at one of the NSWOF or AUSF by sending re-authentication control information to the NSWOF and/or AUSF (Gupta, par. 0095-0099: the UDM 140 [associated with] the authentication get-request message; the UDM 140 may respond with an authentication get-response message (for example, Nudm_UEAuthentication GetResponse message) to the AUSF 136. The authentication get-response message may include an EAP-AKA′ authentication vector (AV) and a SUPI.).
As per claim 10, Pala teaches a communications system, comprising:
a first Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Access Node (AN) (Pala, par. 0008, 0012 and 0016: a WLAN with a 5G Non-seamless WLAN Offload (5G NSWO) on a non-3GPP access network; base station BS 110d in FIG. 1A is an access node);
a second WLAN AN (par. 0047: the BS 110c in FIG. 1A may be another access node); and
a Non-Seamless WLAN Offload Function (NSWOF) including an EAP Re- Authentication (ER) server and a first processor, the NSWOF being coupled to the first WLAN AN and the second WLAN, said first processor being configured to operate the NSWOF to (Pala, par. 0008, 0012 and 0016: a UE for 5G network authentication to support 5G Non-seamless WLAN Offload (5G NSWO) on a non-3GPP access network; par. 0042-0043: a 5G NSWO Function implemented in a network element of the home 3GPP network):
send a first UE authentication request message to an AUSF for a first UE, said first UE authentication request message including an ER indicator indicating support by the NSWOF sending the first UE authentication request indicating that the NSWOF has ER server capabilities (Pala, par. 0042: forward the authentication request to an authentication function in the 5G core network, such as an Authentication Server Function (AUSF). For example, the 5G NSWO Function; par. 0138-0139: a 5G Non-seamless WLAN Offload (NSWO) Function, an authentication request including the SUCI from the non-3GPP access network [with] an indicator stored in the UE, [indicating] the UE is configured to perform 5G NSWO); and
However, Pala does not explicitly disclose an authentication response message from the AUSF is received with an ER indicator. This aspect of the claim is identified as a further difference.
In a related art, Gupta teaches:
receive a first UE authentication response message from the AUSF with an ER indicator (Gupta: par. 0087-0090: transmit the EAP-Response of identity type encapsulated in the link layer protocol packets towards the NSWO NF. It is noted that the EAP is an extensible authentication protocol that is use for identifying a request message and generating an EAP identity response message; the NSWO indicator is mapped to the ER indicator. Note that the NSWO indicator conveys the information to the AUSF 136 for authentication purpose; see par. 0091-0093 and 0113).
Pala and Gupta are analogous art to the claimed invention, because they are in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, or reasonably pertinent to the problem faced by the inventor, which may be in a different field. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine them and to modify Pala’s UE authentication system with Gupta’s teachings of “the NSWO indicator” which conveys the authentication information to the AUSF. For this combination, the motivation would have been to improve the level of security with better resynchronization.
Regarding claims 11-12, they are similar to claims 2-3 in view of the inventive features recited, respectively; and thus, claims 11-12 are rejected for the same reasons discussed above.
Regarding claims 17-19, they are similar to claims 7-9 in view of the inventive features recited, respectively; and thus, they are rejected using the similar rationales.
As per claim 20. A non-transitory computer readable medium including machine executable instructions, which when executed by a processor of a Non-Seamless Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Offload Function (NSWOF) including an EAP Re- authentication (ER) server (Pala, par. 0008, 0012 and 0016: a UE for 5G network authentication to support 5G Non-seamless WLAN Offload (5G NSWO) on a non-3GPP access network; the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) protocol), cause the NSWOF to perform the steps of:
operating the NSWOF) to send a first User Equipment (UE) authentication request message to an Authentication Server Function AUSF for a first UE (Pala, par. 0042-0043: a 5G NSWO Function implemented in a network element of the home 3GPP network; such as an Authentication Server Function (AUSF)), said first UE authentication request message including an ER indicator indicating support by the NSWOF sending the first UE authentication request indicating that the NSWOF has ER server capabilities (Pala, par. 0042: forward the authentication request to an authentication function in the 5G core network, such as an Authentication Server Function (AUSF). For example, the 5G NSWO Function; par. 0138-0139: a 5G Non-seamless WLAN Offload (NSWO) Function, an authentication request including the SUCI from the non-3GPP access network [with] an indicator stored in the UE, [indicating] the UE is configured to perform 5G NSWO);
However, Pala does not explicitly disclose an authentication response message from the AUSF is received with an ER indicator. This aspect of the claim is identified as a further difference.
In a related art, Gupta teaches:
operating the NSWOF to receive a first UE authentication response message from the AUSF with an ER indicator (Gupta: par. 0087-0090: transmit the EAP-Response of identity type encapsulated in the link layer protocol packets towards the NSWO NF. It is noted that the EAP is an extensible authentication protocol that is use for identifying a request message and generating an EAP identity response message; the NSWO indicator is mapped to the ER indicator. Note that the NSWO indicator conveys the information to the AUSF 136 for authentication purpose; see par. 0091-0093 and 0113).
Pala and Gupta are analogous art to the claimed invention, because they are in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, or reasonably pertinent to the problem faced by the inventor, which may be in a different field. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine them and to modify Pala’s UE authentication system with Gupta’s teachings of “the NSWO indicator” which conveys the authentication information to the AUSF. For this combination, the motivation would have been to improve the level of security with better resynchronization.
Claims 4-6, 13-14, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pala and Gupta, as applied to claim 1, and further in view of Khare (US 20240224028 A1; note that the foreign application date 2022-12-29 is relied upon).
As per claim 4, the references of Pala and Gupta as combined above teach the method of claim 1, but do not explicitly disclose storing context information such as store the DSRK, a EMSKname and a DSRKLifetime. the references of Pala and Gupta are also silent about sending a SWa protocol message to a WLAN AN indicating successful authentication This aspect of the claim is identified as a further difference.
In a related art, Khare teaches:
further comprising:
operating the NSWOF to store the DSRK, a EMSKname and a DSRKLifetime corresponding to the first UE for possible re-authentication of the first UE (Khare, par. 0012-0013: the information previously stored by the non-seamless wireless local area network offload function comprises user equipment context previously acquired from a unified data management function; par. 0085: storing the NSWO authentication status); and
operating the NSWOF to send a SWa protocol message to a WLAN AN indicating successful authentication (EAP-Success) of the first UE and including said MSK but not said DSRK (Khare, par. 0079-0082: The EAP-Success message is forwarded from WLAN AP 304 to UE 302; par. 0061-0080: FIG. 3 illustrates a procedure 300 for UE authentication in an NSWOF access environment wherein a messaging protocol is used with the SWa interface towards NSWOF 306).
Khare is analogous art to the claimed invention in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, or reasonably pertinent to the problem faced by the inventor, which may be in a different field. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the Pala-Gupta system with Khare’s teachings of “context information” and messaging using a SWa protocol. For this combination, the motivation would have been to improve the level of security with context information and a Secure Web Authentication (SWA) protocol which allows users to access multiple applications with a single set of credentials.
As per claim 5, the references of Pala, Gupta, and Khare as combined above teach the method of claim 4, and Khare also teaches:
wherein said first UE is a UE which is capable of supporting re-authentication through interaction with an ER server (Khare, par. 0011-0012 and 0083-0085: The user equipment then participates in one of the reauthentication, which is supported by the UE), the method further comprising:
operating the NSWOF to receive from a second WLAN access node with which the first UE is attempting to establish a connection, an initial EAP re-authentication message (Khare, par. 0079-0082: initiate reauthentication; a secure connection with WLAN AP 304 thus enabling routing of specific IP flows between UE 302 and WLAN AP 304 without further traversing the 5GC.); and
operating the NSWOF to use the stored DSRK corresponding to the first UE to re-authenticate the first UE (Khare, par. 0082: If NSWOF 306 maintains the UE context, then it falls under home network (HN) control for primary authentication defined in the above-referenced TR 33.741, par. 0089-0092: UDM 310 triggers an NSWO reauthentication procedure with SUPI or GPSI. UDM 310 could trigger this reauthentication due to various reasons such as, but not limited to, an operator policy, a subscription change, etc. [0091] Step 6. UDM 310 sends the reauthentication request with an NSWO reauthentication (reauth) indication and SUPI/GPSI to NSWOF 306).
As per claim 6, the references as combined above teach the method of claim 5, , and Khare also teaches: further comprising:
operating the NSWOF to signal successful re-authentication to the second WLAN access node (Khare, par. 0096-0100: the UE which is NSWO authenticated can be revoked at any time; After a successful NSWO authentication, NSWOF 306 stores the NSWO UE context (step 2a), and AUSF 308 triggers (step 2b) the authentication result confirmation request towards UDM 310 with the NSWO authentication result).
Regarding claims 13, 14, and 16, they are similar to claims 4, 5, and 6 in view of the inventive features recited, respectively; and thus claims 13, 14, and 16 are rejected using similar rationales.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pala, Gupta, and Khare, as applied to claims 4 and 13, and further in view of Salkintzis (US 20250254639 A1; hereinafter “Salk”).
As per claim 15, the references of Pala, Gupta, and Khare as combined above teach the communications system of claim 14, but do not explicitly disclose wherein the re-authentication of the first UE by the NSWOF is performed without the NSWOF contacting the AUSF as part of the first UE re-authorization procedure. This aspect of the claim is identified as a further difference.
In a related art, Salkteaches:
wherein the re-authentication of the first UE by the NSWOF is performed without the NSWOF contacting the AUSF as part of the first UE re-authorization procedure (Salk, par. 0092: the AUSF does not generate the security key KAUSF; par. 0101-0102: allow the UE 201 to register/reauthenticate with the 5GC network… without executing an authentication procedure, which means AUSF is not contacted).
Salk is analogous art to the claimed invention in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, or reasonably pertinent to the problem faced by the inventor, which may be in a different field. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the Pala-Gupta-Khare system with Salk’s teachings of “re-authentication”. For this combination, the motivation would have been to improve the level of security without executing a routine authentication procedure.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure as the prior art additionally discloses certain parts of the claim features (See “PTO-892 Notice of Reference Cited”).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DON ZHAO whose telephone number is (571)272.9953. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday, 7:30 A.M to 5:00 P.M EST.
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/Don G Zhao/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2493 01/06/2026