DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 01/23/2026 has been entered and considered by Examiner. Claims 1-6, 14-21 and 29-34 are presented for examination. Claims 4-6, 14-21 and 29-34 are withdrawn. This Action is made FINAL.
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 of this title, 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 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou et al. (US Pub. 20230098362 A1) in view of Raleigh et al. (US Pub. 20200045519 A1).
For claim 1, Zhou discloses a method for providing a pre-paid service in a cellular communication network, the method comprising:
sending, from a node of an application function, AF, to a node for exposing network capabilities and events, a request to subscribe to an event where a quota of resources has run out for one of a group of subscribers managed by a node for one of a Policy and Charging Rules Function, PCRF, and a node for Policy Control Function, PCF (Figs. 6-7, 11, AF request to initiate a task for adjusting a performance indicator e.g. data transfer policy, when approaching a threshold e.g. QOS, authorized bandwidth etc., the policy is managed by PCRF and PCF) [0254, 0278, 0160, 0020-21]; and
in response to a notification message based on information from the PCF node or the PCRF node on occurrence of the event from the node for exposing network capabilities and events (Figs. 6-7, 11, step 1101-, step 701, or S619) [0254, 0278, 0126, 0305],
sending, by the AF node to a terminal device a notification (Figs. 6-7, 11) [0254, 0278]; and
the node for exposing network capabilities and events being one of a Service Capability Exposure Function, SCEF, node and Network Exposure Function, NEF node [0126, 0305].
But Zhou doesn’t explicitly teach sending, a node to a terminal device using the quota of resources, a notification that the resources quota has run out;
However, Raleigh discloses sending, by the AF node (Figs. 14 and 27, in this setup, the first node is an “Application Function”, it manages app-related network features) to a terminal device using the quota of resources, a notification that the resources quota has run out (Figs. 111, 116, 126, 129, , e.g. Steps 708-1 to 712-1/ 808-1 to 812-1/ 1008-1 or 1108-1, when the second node reports that a user has used up their prepaid resources, the first node then sends a notification to that user’s phone or device telling them their resources are not available) [1355-1358, 0372, 1023, 1028];
Since, all are analogous arts addressing data usage tracking used in a mobile system; Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teachings of Zhou with Raleigh to enhance data usage tracking, thus, improving data accounting and processing for the mobile network.
For claim 2, Zhou as modified by Raleigh, Raleigh further discloses sending to the node for exposing network capabilities and events a request for Quality of service, QoS, to downgrade a QoS level for the one of a group of subscribers (request to downgrade service options, e.g. quality, capability, usage, time, etc., for a group of users) [1209, 1281, 0357, 0362, 0731]. See motivation to combine the references from the above.
For claim 3, Zhou as modified by Raleigh, Raleigh further discloses the resources quota is measured in at least one item selected from a group consisting of storage volume, bandwidth, and time length [1040, 1120, 1357]. See motivation to combine the references from the above.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to all the claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
In view of amendment, a new reference has been used for new ground of rejections.
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Inquiries
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to PAKEE FANG whose telephone number is (571)270-3633. The Examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 9:00AM-5:00PM.
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, Armouche, Hadi can be reached on 571-270-3618. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/PAKEE FANG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409