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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 6/3/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The rejections have been revised based on the applicant’s amended claim language. The applicant argues that the Examiner evaluates paragraphs 287-297 published disclosure in isolation. This is correct because the description of the functionality in paragraph 118-175 of the specification is not described as having any particular relationship to the claimed protocol layers so the examiner cannot read limitations of paragraph 118-175 into the claimed subject matter. See section 2111.01(II) of the MPEP. If the applicant wanted to claim the subject matter of paragraph 118-175, they could have done so. Instead, the applicant has presented a broad claim context of publishing and subscribing, which are well known concepts, with control planes and user/data planes, which are well known concepts, as illustrated by the prior art, and not described coherently, as illustrated by paragraph 287-297 of the applicant’s published disclosure.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Written Description Issue #1
The applicant does not have support for the following amendment to claim 1:
communicate with the one or more publisher devices using a first plurality of protocol layers including at least a publisher-subscriber application layer terminated at the broker system and configured to register, at the broker system, the publisher device as the publisher for the data category and the at least one subscriber device as the subscriber for the data category;
The applicant did not disclose that the “a publisher subscriber application layer terminated at the broker system”. The only use of the word “terminated” in the disclosure appears to be at page 26 which states “The pub-sub protocol is terminated at UE and MEC (cloud) in the application layer”. This is clearly not describing a termination at the broker of a publisher subscriber application layer as claimed. Figures 13 and 14 show the pub-sub layer being implemented through relay 50 to connect the publisher to the subscriber and thus does not appear to show any termination of a publisher subscriber application layer”.
The applicant did not disclose that “a publisher subscriber application layer” is “configured to register, at the broker system, the publisher device as the publisher for the data category and the at least one subscriber device as the subscriber for the data category”. The applicant disclosed functions of the broker system for managing registration of the publishers and subscribers to data categories through publisher (page 11) and subscriber (page 14) functions but there is not disclosure of how these functions are related to a “publisher subscriber application layer”.
Written Description Issue #2
The applicant amended claim 1 as follows:
providing the publisher device with information that allows the publisher device and the at least one subscriber device to establish the user plane using a second plurality of protocol layers including at least a publisher- subscriber application layer, and participate in the user plane using the allocated communication resources, the second plurality of protocol layers being different from the first plurality of protocol layers.
The applicant did not disclose providing the publisher device with any information that “allows the publisher device and the at least one subscriber device to establish the user plane using a second plurality of protocol layers including at least a publisher- subscriber application layer, and participate in the user plane using the allocated communication resources”. Figures 7, 9, 11, and 12 show embodiments for providing the publisher with information but none of these embodiments describe this information as allowing “the publisher device and the at least one subscriber device to establish the user plane using a second plurality of protocol layers including at least a publisher- subscriber application layer and participate in the user plane using the allocated communication resources”. See description of reference number 203 on page 22, lines 22-27, reference number 213 on page 23, lines 26-30, reference number 223 on page 25 lines 15-18, and reference number 233 on page 25, lines 27-30.
Written Description Issue #3
Claim 1 features the following limitation:
circuitry programmed to:
communicate with the one or more publisher devices using a first protocol plurality of protocol layers including at least a publisher-subscriber application layer terminated at the broker system
providing the publisher device with information that allows the publisher device and the at least one subscriber device to establish the user plane using a second plurality of protocol layers including at least a publisher- subscriber application layer,
On page 23, the applicant states that the “pub-sub layer” is a new protocol layer and not known in the art. Page 23 states:
The user plane is in charge of actual data transfer from publisher to subscriber(s). In terms of user plane, this is a reuse of existing sidelink communication (see 3GPP TS 23.303 V13.3.0 (2016-04), 5.1.2.1) user plane protocol stack. However, a new protocol layer (pub-sub layer or publisher-subscriber layer) is proposed, which supports pub-sub model and is introduced on top of the current 3GPP protocols, which also applies to other embodiments of the present disclosure.
Based on this disclosure one would expect a description of this new layer.
There are two problems with the applicant’s limitation. First, the applicant did not disclose a single protocol stack that is used for control plane communication. Second, the applicant did not disclose how the functions of the Pub-sub application layer are actually performed in order to broker by participating in a control plane using a first protocol stack in the manner claimed.
The first problem with the applicant’s claim is that the applicant did describe participating in a control plane using a single “first protocol stack” as claimed. The paragraph beginning at the final line of page 25 of the applicant’s disclosure describes Figure 13 as illustrating a block diagram of the “control plane protocol stack”. Figure 10 and the corresponding disclosure show the broker as covering all of relay 50, gNB 51, 5GC 52, and MEC 53. As illustrated in Figure 13, each of the four devices that make up the broker implements its own protocol stack that is unique to that specific device for implementing communication and control plane functions between the MEC cloud (which is disclosed as holding registration information for the publishers and the subscribers) and the UEs which embody the publisher and subscribers. The applicant does not disclose any embodiment where only one of the disclosed protocol stacks is used.
The second problem with the disclosure is that the applicant does not describe how the control plane is implemented according to control plane stack. The following is disclosed about the control plane from page 25, line 32-page 27, line 11:
Fig. 13 schematically illustrates in block diagram an embodiment of a control plane protocol stack.
The control plane is in charge of management such as registration of publisher and subscriber UEs, mapping between publisher and subscriber(s), resource allocation for sidelink and so on.
The pub-sub protocol is terminated at UE and at MEC (cloud) in the application layer. However,
some of pub-sub functions relies on network functions like resource management, QoS management, security and so on. Therefore, the pub-sub layer needs to request the necessity functions to 3GPP protocols such as core network (5GC) and radio access (NR, LTE).
Thus, a network-based API ("Application Programming Interface") in 5GC is proposed, which also
applies to other embodiments of the present disclosure.
The control plane of network-based API with 3GPP access relay (broker device 50) and UEs (31/32(32a, 32b)) is shown in Fig. 13 (see also 3GPP TS 23.501 V15.4.0 (2018-12), 8.2; 3GPP TS 29.500 V16.4.0 (2020-06), 5.1; 3GPP TS 38.300
V15.7.0 (2019-09), 4.4). Basically, Fig. 13 is a consolidated figure of different interfaces below:
" between 5G core network node and external API (MEC) protocol stack;
" between RAN node and core node protocol stack;
" between UE and gNB (NAS: between UE and core network); and
" between UE and external (broker).
The 5G core network supports service-based architecture. An application can request the service via application interface (API) to 3GPP core network. The pub-sub protocol generates the message and parameters and describes it with a common format (e.g. JSON ("Java Script Object Notation")). The20 description of message and parameter is sent from MEC to 5GC with HTTP2 protocol and other low layer protocols.
The new pub-sub APIs for pub-sub model are proposed. One APIs implementation is between MEC and 5GC via HTTP2. The other APIs implementation is between UE and MEC (pre-configuration or via user plane).
Same control plane protocol stack can be used for Uu based solution (see section V).
a) APIs between 5GC and pub-sub layer in MEC:
For broker function:
" Request the setup virtual personal IoT Network (e.g. network slicing, closed group cell)
under the specific cell coverage.
" Request the establish bearers between UE and broker, or between D2D UEs if direct
communication for data distribution.
" Request push communication (e.g. trigger of paging) to subscriber UEs.
b) APIs between UE and pub-sub layer in MEC (via user plane):
For publisher UEs:
" Registration of publisher.
" Registration of data category/topic.
" Sending the data from publisher to broker or D2D UE.
For Subscriber UE:
" Registration of subscriber.
" Send the data from broker to UE, or from UE to UE (D2D).
The applicant does not provide a coherent disclosure of the publisher-subscriber application layer that their disclosure alleges is new technology. The applicant references a “pub-sub protocol” that is implemented at the application layer between the relay 50 and MEC 53, via communication through gNB 51 and 5GC 52. The applicant provides no description of this “pub-sub protocol”. The applicant states that this “pub-sub layer” needs to request necessary functions of 3GPP protocols, but the applicant does not disclose what 3GPP protocols they are referring to. The applicant states that a network-based API in the 5GC device 52 is “proposed”.
It is not clear what the concept of the “control plane of the network-based API with 3GPP access relay (broker device 50) and UEs” is supposed to cover. The network based API is supposed to define the communication which defines the control plane so it is not clear what the applicant is referring to by stating that the “control plane” is part of the “network-based API”. The applicant then, in parenthesis, cites three 3GPP documents but does not explain how these documents relate to any of the control plane, protocol stack, or “network-based API”.
Figure 13 is then described as a “consolidated figure of different interfaces” and lists the interfaces shown in Figure 13. The applicant then states that “the pub-sub protocol generates the message and parameters and describes it with a common format (JSON)” but provides no description of what message and parameters they are referring to. The applicant further states that “the description of message and parameter is sent from MEC to 5GC with HTTP2 protocol and other low layer protocols”, but there is no description of what “the description of” message has to do with the actually message generated by the pub-sub protocol and how sending a message from the MEC 53 to 5GC 52 has anything to do with any of a control plane, protocol stack, or “network-based API”.
The paragraph beginning on line 22 of page 26 states that “the new pub-sub APIs for pub-sub model are proposed” but there is not discussion of any “new” pub-sub APIs previously or how they are “proposed”. This statement is incoherent in the context of what is disclosed previously. This paragraph then references an API between MEC and 5GC and “other APIs implementation” but there is no description of either of these different types of APIs so this statement too is incoherent in the context of what is previously disclosed.
The applicant is claiming the function of using a first plurality of protocol layers including at least a publisher-subscriber application layer but the applicant’s description of the claimed “publisher-subscriber application layer” is not coherent. Section 2161.01(I) of the MPEP states when an application is claiming the performance of a function without describing how the function is performed, a written description rejection should be made.
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.
Claim(s) 1-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2019/0028414 by Walker et al.
As to claim 1, Walker teaches a broker system (server 102) in an internet-of-things network (paragraph 55, the breadth of the description of the devices used covers IoT devices) that based on a publisher-subscriber method for data distribution between one or more publisher devices and a plurality of subscriber devices (clients 104 and 106) where a publisher device of the one or more publisher devices is registered as a publisher for a data category at the broker system in the internet-of-things network and at least one subscriber device of the plurality of subscriber devices is registered as a subscriber for the data category at the broker system in the internet-of-things network (paragraphs 110 and 111), the broker system comprising: circuitry programmed to:
communicate with the one or more publisher devices using a first plurality of protocol layers (system functionality 210) including at least a publisher-subscriber application layer terminated at the broker system and configured to register, at the broker system, the publisher device as the publisher for the data category and the at least one subscriber device as the subscriber for the data category (paragraphs 67 and 87);
communicate with the plurality of subscriber devices using the first plurality of protocol layers (paragraphs 67 and 87);
and broker the data distribution between the publisher device and the at least one subscriber device, including: participating in a control plane established between the publisher device and the broker system and between the at least one subscriber device and the broker system using the first plurality of protocol layers (paragraphs 67 and 87), allocating communication resources for use by a user plane between the publisher device and the at least one subscriber device (paragraph 51 and 56, server 102 can manages publisher-subscriber data connections through resources it allocates internally based on message type), and providing the publisher device with information that allows the publisher device and the at least one subscriber device to establish the user plane using a second plurality of protocol layers including at least a publisher-subscriber application layer (paragraphs 68 and 89, different threads or different processes, which are considered a second plurality of protocol “layers”, are used to complete the publisher-subscriber data connections. The claims do not specify any relationship between the publisher-subscriber layers in the plurality of protocol layers and the publisher-subscriber layers in the second plurality of protocol layers so the claims do not require them to be the same “layer”), and participate in the user plane using the allocated communication resources, the second plurality of protocol layers being different from the first plurality of protocol layers (paragraph 89).
As to claim 2, see Figure 6,
As to claim 3, see Figures 6 and 10 and their corresponding disclosures.
As to claim 4, see paragraphs 110 and 111.
As to claim 5, see paragraphs 90 and 120 which describe user plane 606 and 1016.
As to claim 7, see paragraphs 56 which allows for the direct path shown as ref. no. 606 and 1016.
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 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DOUGLAS B BLAIR whose telephone number is (571)272-3893. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Glenton Burgess can be reached at 571-272-3949. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DOUGLAS B BLAIR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454
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