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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to application filed on 12/31/2025.
Claims 29-38 & 40 have been examined and are pending with this action.
Election/Restriction
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II, claims 29-38 & 40 in the reply filed on 12/31/2025 is acknowledged.
Priority
Examiner acknowledges that the Applicant claims a priority benefit of PCT/CN2021/141905 filed on 12/28/2021.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 7/17/2023 and these drawings are accepted.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 7/17/2023 & 8/16/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Oath/Declaration
The OATH was received on 7/17/2023.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 5-8 & 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chen (CN 110769412 A).
As per claim 29, Chen discloses a method at a network exposure function (NEF) for dynamically discovering a Policy Control Function (PCF) for an Ethernet type session (Chen: “the network security, 5G the core network into the Network ExposureFunction (network opening function, NEF) open to the third party service & N5 or Rx interface request message NEF (Network ExposureFunction network capability open function) receives the third party AF (application function) (i.e., AF2) to the BSF and PCF address query session binding information”), the method comprising:
Examiner Note: Ethernet type session is defined as a 5G network includes, but not limited to, 5G Local Area Network (LAN) type services, Time Sensitive Network (TSN), etc in [0003] of spec.
receiving a service request message for the Ethernet type session from an Application
Function (AF), wherein the service request message comprises network related identification information for the Ethernet type session (Chen: “after receiving the application request of the user application function, when the identifier or address unknown session binding function, the application function to the network discovery function sends session binding service discovery request,”), and
discovering, based on the network related identification information, a Binding Support
Function (BSF) that holds binding information of the PCF for the Ethernet type session (Chen: “when deploying multiple PCF, defining a BSF (Binding Support Function session binding support function) to realize session binding and storing the session binding information. ”),
Claim 40 is rejected based on rationale provided for claim 29.
As per claim 30, Chen discloses the method of claim 29, wherein the service request message further
comprises a User Equipment (UE) Media Access Address (MAC) address of a UE associated with the Ethernet type session (Chen: “session of the UE when a UPF control by a SMF & local area network or local area network mark sub-domain. when the user triggers the application request of the UPF AF, the user plane will detect the Ethernet frame related to the user MAC address. ”).
As per claim 31, Chen discloses the method of claim 30, further comprising:
discovering the PCF using the UE MAC address received from the AF by querying the BSF (Chen: “AF also sends N5 message to the PCF (which carries the AF and MAC1). sending the upper row data access AF UE2, which carries MAC2, UPF2 detecting the source MAC is an Ethernet frame of MAC2. ”).
As per claim 32, Chen discloses the method of claim 29, further comprising:
discovering the PCF based on the network related identification information (Chen: “the PCF access by the NEF AF, the AF initiates the application request to the NEF, carry local area network identifier ”).
As per claim 33, Chen discloses the method of claim 29, wherein the network related identification information for the Ethernet type session is preconfigured in the AF (Chen: “If the AF can directly access the BSF, PCF, associated user face local area network/local area network sub-domain identifier and the control surface responsible for the mapping relation between the user Non IP PDU session session bound SMF/BSF by an AF. (AF pre-configured region belongs to the local network identifier or the mapping relationship between the domain identifier and SMF/BSF)”).
As per claim 36, Chen discloses the method of claim 29, further comprising:
transmitting, to the PCF, another service request message to invoke a requested service for the Ethernet type session (Chen: “further transmits AF information to the PCF service response (which carries the PCF address), NEF (which carries MAC1)”).; and
receiving, from the PCF, a response indicating whether the requested service is
successfully invoked for the Ethernet type session (Chen: “receives the third party AF (application function) (i.e., AF2) to the BSF and PCF address query session binding information. in the AF1 N5 interface request message, inquiring the BSF session binding information. wherein, BSF separately deployed with the SMF fusion with the PCF.”).;
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.
Claims 34-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable of Chen (CN 110769412 A) in view of Han (CN 114268975 A).
As per claim 34, Chen discloses the method of claim 29 wherein the network related identification information for the Ethernet type session (Chen: “the network security, 5G the core network into the Network ExposureFunction (network opening function, NEF) open to the third party service & N5 or Rx interface request message NEF (Network ExposureFunction network capability open function) receives the third party AF (application function) (i.e., AF2) to the BSF and PCF address query session binding information”), comprises at least one of:
Chen does not explicitly disclose Data network name and Single-Network Slice Selection Assistance Information.
Han however discloses a Data Network Name (DNN) for the Ethernet type session (Han: “ the SMF can according to the S-NSSAI and DNN carried in the session establishing request of the UE.”). ; and
a Single-Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI) for the Ethernet type session (Han: “the UDR can send the 5 G LAN configuration information to the SMF, the S-NSSAI and the DNN, for SMF determining the session associated with the S-NSSAI and the DNN.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Chen in view of Han to figure out Data network name and Single-Network Slice Selection Assistance Information. One would be motivated to do so because this technique advantageously aids in the management efficiency of the 5 G LAN configuration information can be improved.(Han).
As per claim 35, Chen discloses the method of claim 29 (Chen: “the network security, 5G the core network into the Network ExposureFunction (network opening function, NEF) open to the third party service & N5 or Rx interface request message NEF (Network ExposureFunction network capability open function) receives the third party AF (application function) (i.e., AF2) to the BSF and PCF address query session binding information”),
Chen does not explicitly disclose Data network name and Single-Network Slice Selection Assistance Information.
Han however discloses wherein the BSF is discovered by the NEF querying a Network Repository Function (NRF) using the at least one of the DNN for the Ethernet type session and the S-NSSAI for the Ethernet type session (Han: “the UDR may also send a second message to the NRF, the second message is used for indicating the corresponding relationship between the UDR and the S-NSSAI and the DNN. For example, UDR can request NRF to store the corresponding relation between UDR and S-NSSAI and DNN, so that NRF can address UDR according to S-NSSAI and DNN.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Chen in view of Han to figure out Data network name and Single-Network Slice Selection Assistance Information. One would be motivated to do so because this technique advantageously aids in the management efficiency of the 5 G LAN configuration information can be improved.(Han).
Claims 37-38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable of Chen (CN 110769412 A) in view of Han (CN 114268975 A).
As per claim 37, Chen discloses the method of claim 29 (Chen: “the network security, 5G the core network into the Network ExposureFunction (network opening function, NEF) open to the third party service & N5 or Rx interface request message NEF (Network ExposureFunction network capability open function) receives the third party AF (application function) (i.e., AF2) to the BSF and PCF address query session binding information”),
Chen does not explicitly disclose QoS request,
Li however discloses wherein the service request message comprises a request message for managing required Quality of Service (QoS) for a service data flow of the Ethernet type session, and is received via an Nncf_AFscssionWithQoS Application Programming Interface (API'. (Li: [0060 & 0094 & fig 5 c “An NCE request may comprise for example request for installing UP path selection or reselection policy, request for end-to-end QoS policy, request for changing chargeable party, query for UE location, and query for UE connectivity status & At step 71, the AS sends an API-based request for session QoS setup to the NCEF.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Chen in view of Han to figure out API based request. One would be motivated to do so because this technique advantageously aids in the path selection to the network capability exposure function (Li).
As per claim 38, Chen discloses the method of claim 29 (Chen: “the network security, 5G the core network into the Network ExposureFunction (network opening function, NEF) open to the third party service & N5 or Rx interface request message NEF (Network ExposureFunction network capability open function) receives the third party AF (application function) (i.e., AF2) to the BSF and PCF address query session binding information”),
Chen does not explicitly disclose API based request,
Li however wherein the service request message comprises a request message for managing a chargeable party for the Ethernet type session, and is received via an Nnef_ChargeableParty API (Li: [0060 & 0094 & fig 5 c “An NCE request may comprise for example request for installing UP path selection or reselection policy, request for end-to-end QoS policy, request for changing chargeable party, query for UE location, and query for UE connectivity status & At step 71, the AS sends an API-based request for session QoS setup to the NCEF.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Chen in view of Han to figure out API based request. One would be motivated to do so because this technique advantageously aids in the path selection to the network capability exposure function (Li).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. This includes:
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/SIBTE H BUKHARI/Examiner, Art Unit 2449