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 .
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 5, 17, 18, 21, 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhang (U.S. PG-PUB NO. 2016/0149876).
-Regarding claim 1, Zhang discloses a method for direct communication, performed by a user equipment (UE) receiving a proximity based service (ProSe) (Proximity based Service ProSe, abstract), comprising: acquiring a security policy corresponding to the ProSe (policy, paragraph 113); and establishing direct communication security with a UE initiating the ProSe based on the security policy (using the session keys Kpc and Kpi for ProSe communication setup and direct communication between the requesting and receiving devices, paragraph 8).
-Regarding claim 2, Zhang further discloses the security policy comprises at least one of: a signaling security policy; a user plane (UP) security policy; wherein the security policy comprises at least one of: a signaling integrity protection policy (Kpc is a confidentiality key and Kpi is an integrity protection key, paragraph 116); a signaling encryption protection policy; a UP integrity protection policy; e a UP encryption protection policy, REQUIRED; NOT NEEDED; and PREFERRED.
-Regarding claim 5, Zhang further discloses acquiring the security policy corresponding to the ProSe comprises: acquiring a REQUIRED ProSe sent from a policy control function (PCF) and a security policy corresponding to the REQUIRED ProSe, or acquiring a REQUIRED ProSe sent from a ProSe application server and a security policy corresponding to the REQUIRED ProSe (the ProSe server sends the key Kp to the requesting UE L01 and the receiving UE(s) L03, paragraph 125), or acquiring a REQUIRED ProSe configured on a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) and a security policy corresponding to the REQUIRED ProSe.
-Regarding claim 17, Zhang discloses a method for direct communication, performed by a user equipment (UE) initiating a proximity based service (ProSe) (Proximity based Service ProSe, abstract), comprising: acquiring a security policy corresponding to the ProSe (policy, paragraph 113); and establishing direct communication security with a UE receiving the ProSe based on the security policy (using the session keys Kpc and Kpi for ProSe communication setup and direct communication between the requesting and receiving devices, paragraph 8).
-Regarding claim 18, Zhang further discloses the security policy comprises at least one of: a signaling security policy; a user plane (UP) security policy a signaling integrity protection policy; a signaling encryption protection policy (Kpc is a confidentiality key and Kpi is an integrity protection key, paragraph 116); a UP integrity protection policy; era UP encryption protection policy, REQUIRED, NOT NEEDED and PREFERRED.
-Regarding claim 21, Zhang further discloses acquiring the security policy corresponding to the ProSe comprises: acquiring a REQUIRED ProSe sent from a policy control function (PCF) and a security policy corresponding to the REQUIRED ProSe,or acquiring a REQUIRED ProSe sent from a ProSe application server and a security policy corresponding to the REQUIRED ProSe (the ProSe server sends the key Kp to the requesting UE L01 and the receiving UE(s) L03, paragraph 125), or acquiring a REQUIRED ProSe configured on a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) and a security policy corresponding to the REQUIRED ProSe.
-Regarding claim 24, Zhang further discloses establishing the direct communication security with the UE receiving the ProSe based on the security policy comprises: sending a direct communication request message to the UE receiving the ProSe, wherein the direct communication request message comprises a signaling security policy of the UE initiating the ProSe (Key Kp is a key related to the ProSe service ID, and has an indicator KSI_p related to it. Kp can be sent from the ProSe Server to UEs in a ProSe Service Result message, or can be sent from the ProSe Server when UEs are registered to the ProSe Server, paragraph 153); and acquiring a first rejection message sent from the UE receiving the ProSe, wherein the first rejection message is configured to reject the direct communication request message sent from the UE initiating the ProSe, or acquiring a direct security mode command message sent from the UE receiving the ProSe, wherein the direct security mode command message comprises a negotiation result of the signaling security policy.
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) 33 and 35 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (U.S. PG-PUB NO. 2016/0149876) in view of Rohini (U.S. PG-PUB NO. 2021/0258793).
-Regarding claim 33, Zhang discloses a user equipment (UE) a proximity based service (ProSe) (Proximity based Service ProSe, abstract), comprising: wherein the processor is configured to: acquire a security policy corresponding to the ProSe (policy, paragraph 113); and establish direct communication security with a UE initiating the ProSe based on the security policy (using the session keys Kpc and Kpi for ProSe communication setup and direct communication between the requesting and receiving devices, paragraph 8). Zhang is silent to teach that the UE comprises a processor; and a transceiver, a memory storing instructions executable by the processor. However, the claimed limitation is well known in the art as evidenced by Rohini.
In the same field of endeavor, Rohini teaches a user equipment (UE) initiating a proximity based service (ProSe), comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions executable by the processor, wherein the processor is configured to implement the method for direct communication according to claim 17 (processor, paragraph 8; memory, paragraph 11).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of A with the teaching of B in order to provide processing ability.
-Regarding claim 35, Zhang is silent to teaching that a user equipment (UE) initiating a proximity based service (ProSe), comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions executable by the processor, wherein the processor is configured to implement the method for direct communication according to claim 17. However, the claimed limitation is well known in the art as evidenced by Rohini.
In the same field of endeavor, Rohini teaches a user equipment (UE) initiating a proximity based service (ProSe), comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions executable by the processor, wherein the processor is configured to implement the method for direct communication according to claim 17 (processor, paragraph 8; memory, paragraph 11).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of A with the teaching of B in order to provide processing ability.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8, 10-13, 15, 16, 26-28, and 30 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/PING Y HSIEH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2664