ENTITY ACCESS FOR AN APPLICATION

DETAILED ACTION Claims 1, 3-10, and 12-19 are presented for consideration. 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, 3, 4, 6-10, 12, 13, and 15-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ge et al. [ US Patent Application No 2021/0136716 ], in view of El Essaili et al. [ US Patent Application No 2022/0329994 ]. As per claim 1, Ge discloses the invention as claimed including a method performed by a first entity, the method comprising: receiving an application registry request from at least one application [ i.e. a MEC may send a MEC registration request to the first network element ] [ paragraphs 0098-0105 ], wherein the application registry request seeks to register the at least one application with an application programmable interface (API) management service of at least one management entity or at least one managed entity [ i.e. instance of an API invoker in the CAPIF ] [ paragraphs 0070, 0102, 0120, and 0174 ]; determining that the at least one application is enabled to access the at least one management entity or the at least one managed entity [ i.e. after receiving the registration information of the MEC, the first network element may further send the registration information to another network element, to register the information about the MEC with another network element ] [ paragraphs 0106-0110 ]; and in response to determining that the at least one application is enabled to access the at least one management entity or the at least one managed entity, configuring a gateway entity to enable the at least one application to access the at least one management entity or the at least one managed entity [ i.e. deploy MEC proxy/gateway ] [ paragraphs 0208, 0209, and 0230 ]. Ge does not specifically disclose wherein the application registry request comprises an identifier of the at least one application, authentication information for authenticating the at least one application, and an indication of the at least one management entity or the at least one managed entity for which the at least one application is seeking registry. El Essaili discloses wherein the application registry request comprises an identifier of the at least one application, authentication information for authenticating the at least one application, and an indication of the at least one management entity or the at least one managed entity for which the at least one application is seeking registry [ i.e. first registration request includes one or more of the following: an identity (ID) of a first V2X application specific client associated with the first VAE client, an ID of a V2X application-specific server to which notifications of the one or more conditions should be sent, a V2X service ID ] [ paragraphs 0034-0043, and 0208-0215 ]. It would have been obvious to a person skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Ge and El Essaili because the teaching of El Essaili would enable to discover and provision of intelligent transportation system (ITS) and/or V2X services using device-to-device unicast communication [ El Essaili, paragraph 0001 ]. As per claim 3, Ge discloses wherein the application registry request comprises one or more of: a network operator; a level of exposure; management services to be exposed; management data to be exposed; information object classes to be exposed; management object instances to be exposed; or an associated managed entity [ i.e. exposure function ] [ paragraphs 0016, 0072, and 0077 ]. As per claim 4, Ge discloses transmitting first information corresponding to the application registry request to an approval device; and receiving second information from the approval device indicating whether the application registry request is approved [ i.e. authenticating and confirming the authorization ] [ paragraphs 0070-0072, and 0085 ]. As per claim 6, Ge discloses wherein third information is transmitted to at least one second entity, and the third information indicates one or more of whether the application registry request is approved, at least one approved management entity, at least one approved managed entity, information for accessing the at least one approved management entity, information for accessing the at least one approved managed entity, a description corresponding to the at least one approved management entity, or a description corresponding to the at least one approved managed entity [ i.e. sends to the second network element information about a MEC corresponding to the target reference information ] [ 402, Figure 4; and paragraphs 0093, and 0094 ]. 7. As per claim 7, Ge discloses wherein the at least one second entity comprises one or more of a trusted application, a gateway, an application programming interface registry, or the at least one application [ i.e registration information ] [ paragraphs 0102, 0107, and 0108 ]. 8. As per claim 8, Ge discloses wherein the at least one application is configured to run on a near real-time random-access network (RAN) intelligent controller [ Figure 3; and paragraph 0065 ]. 9. As per claim 9, Ge discloses wherein the first entity comprises one or more of a telecom management system, a management domain, a middleware, a trusted application, an application programming interface, a management service implementation, a management function, a management entity, or an entity for approving authorizations [ paragraphs 0012-0017 ]. 10. As per claims 10, 12, and 13, they are rejected for similar reasons as stated above in claims 1, 3, and 4. 11. As per claim 15, it is rejected for similar reasons as stated above in claim 6. 12. As per claim 16, Ge discloses receive the application registry request from the at least one application or middleware [ i.e. IoT or V2X application ] [ paragraphs 0070, and 0077 ]. 13. As per claim 17, it is rejected for similar reasons as stated above in claim 8. 14. As per claim 18, Ge discloses stored on a plurality of memory devices, and the plurality of memory devices are physically in different locations [ Figures 12-15 ]. 15. As per claim 19, it is rejected for similar reasons as stated above in claim 9. Claim(s) 5, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ge et al. [ US Patent Application No 2021/0136716 ], in view of El Essaili et al. [ US Patent Application No 2022/0329994 ], and further in view of Lynch et al. [ US Patent Application No 2016/0212695 ]. 17. As per claim 5, Ge in view of El Essaili does not specifically disclose wherein the second information comprises one or more of a list of management entities approved, or a list of managed entities approved. Lynch discloses wherein the second information comprises one or more of a list of management entities approved, or a list of managed entities approved [ i.e. pre-approval or post-approval exposure of the network ] [ paragraphs 0447, and 0600 ]. It would have been obvious to a person skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Ge, El Essaili, and Lynch because the teaching of Lynch would enable third party network-based connection management services to not conflict with native connection managers [ Lynch, paragraph 0105 ]. 18. As per claim 14, it is rejected for similar reasons as stated above in claim 5. Response to Arguments 19. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 3-10, and 12-19 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. 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. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Hedman et al. [ US Patent Application No 2023/0388909 ] discloses ensuring network control of simultaneous access to network slices with application awareness Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DUSTIN NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-3971. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9-6 PST. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brian Gillis can be reached on 571-2727952. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. 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