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 .
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 5/27/2026 has been entered.
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, 6-7, 9-10, 14-15 and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Jardim et al. (US Publication 2025/0227631 A1).
In regards to claims 1 and 14, Jardim teaches, a method for operating a network exposure function (NEF) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: receiving, from an application function (AF), a first message for a group of user equipments (UEs) identified by an external group identifier (ID) (see figure 5A and step 1; from AF to NEF; see paragraph 83; The AF creates a time synchronization service configuration for a PTP instance, to request time synchronization service, by invoking Nnef_TimeSynchronization_ConfigCreate service operation for a UE or a group of UEs. The request includes information indicating time synchronization and may include parameters related to time resiliency service (if request is for time synchronization service with time resiliency service). The request could contain a Subscription Correlation ID and user-plane node ID as a reference to the target of the UEs and AF-sessions), the first message including the external group ID (see paragraph 83; user-plane node ID as a reference to the target of the UEs); transmitting, to a unified data management (UDM), a second message for requesting service authorization for group related data of the group of UEs (see figure 5A, steps 2-3a; NEF to TSCTCF to UDM; see paragraphs 84, 85 and 86; he NEF (optional, only if AF is 3.sup.rd party) authorizes the request. After successful authorization, the NEF invokes the Ntsctsf_TimeSynchronization_ConfigCreate service operation with the corresponding TSCTSF, with the parameters as received from the AF; The AF that is part of operator's trust domain may invoke the services directly with TSCTSF; The TSCTSF interacts with the UDM to get time synchronization and optionally time resiliency subscription data); receiving, from the UDM, a third message as a response to the second message (see figure 5A, steps 3b-3; see paragraphs 87-90; The TSCTSF receives the subscription data for time synchronization. if the subscription data indicates subscription to time synchronization service is enabled, then the TSCTSF will proceed to activate the service; if the subscription data indicates subscription to timing resiliency and timing resiliency service is enabled or authorized in addition to time synchronization, then the time synchronization service is updated to support timing resiliency or timing resiliency is activated, respectively. If timing synchronization service is disabled or not authorized then timing resiliency is also not authorized, however UDM can authorize time synchronization service while not authorizing time resiliency. Time resiliency service can only be authorized if time synchronization service is authorized; The TSCTSF responds with the Ntsctsf_TimeSynchronization_ConfigCreate response. The Ntsctsf_TimeSynchronization_ConfigCreate response includes a PTP instance reference); receiving, from the UDM, information for a member change in the group of the UEs identified by the external group ID (see paragraph 92; the TSCTSF can subscribe to UDM for any changes to the subscriptions related to time synchronization and time resiliency); transmitting, to a time sensitive communication and time synchronization function (TSCTSF), a request message based on determining to invoke the TSCTSF (see step 1 in figure 5A, steps 1-2, and paragraphs 83-84; The AF creates a time synchronization service configuration for a PTP instance, to request time synchronization service, by invoking Nnef_TimeSynchronization_ConfigCreate service operation for a UE or a group of UEs; the NEF invokes the Ntsctsf_TimeSynchronization_ConfigCreate service operation with the corresponding TSCTSF, with the parameters as received from the AF); receiving, from the TSCTSF, a response message corresponding to the request message (see figure 5A, step 3 and paragraph 90; The TSCTSF responds with the Ntsctsf_TimeSynchronization_ConfigCreate response. The Ntsctsf_TimeSynchronization_ConfigCreate response includes a PTP instance reference); and transmitting, to the AF, a fourth message corresponding to the first message (see step 3 in figure 5a, from NEF to AF; the response is sent AF; see paragraph 90; The TSCTSF responds with the Ntsctsf_TimeSynchronization_ConfigCreate response. The Ntsctsf_TimeSynchronization_ConfigCreate response includes a PTP instance reference).
In regards to claims 2 and 15, Jardim teaches, mapping the external group ID into an internal group ID used inside a network (see paragraph 52, SUPI/Internal Group Identifier (if AF 212 is in the operator domain) for a group of UEs).
In regards to claim 6, Jardim teaches, receiving, from the UDM, information for a member change in the group (see paragraphs 58-62; the TSCTSF 400 may subscribe to UDM (using Nudm_SDM_Subscribe service operation) to get changes in the time synchronization and timing resiliency subscription data, in which case: [0059] if a subscription to time synchronization service is added, then the TSCTSF 400 will proceed to activate the service; [0060] if subscription to timing resiliency is added in addition to time synchronization subscription, then the time synchronization service is updated to support timing resiliency or timing resiliency is activated, respectively; [0061] if subscription to time synchronization is removed, then the corresponding service is deactivated and timing resiliency is also deactivated if it was also active (unless AF 212 had requested for deactivation first, or temporal validity condition had expired first); [0062] if timing resiliency alone is removed, then this service is deactivated (unless AF had requested for deactivation first, or temporal validity condition had expired first)).
In regards to claim 7, Jardim teaches, wherein the first message is related to group provisioning or group monitoring (see paragraph 83; The AF creates a time synchronization service configuration for a PTP instance, to request time synchronization service, by invoking Nnef_TimeSynchronization_ConfigCreate service operation for a UE or a group of UEs. The request includes information indicating time synchronization and may include parameters related to time resiliency service (if request is for time synchronization service with time resiliency service)).
In regards to claims 9 and 19, Jardim teaches, a method for operating an application function (AF) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: transmitting, to a network exposure function (NEF), a first message for a group of user equipments (UEs) identified by an external group identifier (ID) (see figure 5A and step 1; from AF to NEF; see paragraph 83; The AF creates a time synchronization service configuration for a PTP instance, to request time synchronization service, by invoking Nnef_TimeSynchronization_ConfigCreate service operation for a UE or a group of UEs. The request includes information indicating time synchronization and may include parameters related to time resiliency service (if request is for time synchronization service with time resiliency service). The request could contain a Subscription Correlation ID and user-plane node ID as a reference to the target of the UEs and AF-sessions), the first message including the external group ID (see paragraph 83; user-plane node ID as a reference to the target of the UEs), the first message including the external group ID (see paragraph 83; user-plane node ID as a reference to the target of the UEs); and receiving from the NEF, a second message corresponding to the first message in case that information for a member change in the group of the UEs is received by the NEF (see step 3 in figure 5a, from NEF to AF; the response is sent AF; see paragraph 90; The TSCTSF responds with the Ntsctsf_TimeSynchronization_ConfigCreate response. The Ntsctsf_TimeSynchronization_ConfigCreate response includes a PTP instance reference); see paragraph 92; see paragraph 92; the TSCTSF can subscribe to UDM for any changes to the subscriptions related to time synchronization and time resiliency);wherein a request message is transmitted from the NEF to a time sensitive communication and time synchronization function (TSCTSF) based on determining to invoke the TSCTSF (see step 1 in figure 5A, steps 1-2, and paragraphs 83-84; The AF creates a time synchronization service configuration for a PTP instance, to request time synchronization service, by invoking Nnef_TimeSynchronization_ConfigCreate service operation for a UE or a group of UEs; the NEF invokes the Ntsctsf_TimeSynchronization_ConfigCreate service operation with the corresponding TSCTSF, with the parameters as received from the AF), and a response message corresponding to the request message is transmitted from the TSCTSF to the NEF (see figure 5A, step 3 and paragraph 90; The TSCTSF responds with the Ntsctsf_TimeSynchronization_ConfigCreate response. The Ntsctsf_TimeSynchronization_ConfigCreate response includes a PTP instance reference).
In regards to claims 10 and 20, Jardim teaches wherein the external group ID is mapped into an internal group ID used inside a network (see paragraph 52, SUPI/Internal Group Identifier (if AF 212 is in the operator domain) for a group of UEs).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5, 8, 11-13 and 16-18 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.
Prior art Fard et al. (US Publication 2025/0267023 A1) teaches, example messages being sent from NEF to TSCTSF; The NEF may send a Npcf_PolicyAuthorization_Subscribe message to the PCF to subscribe to notifications of Resource allocation status and may subscribe to other events. The TSCTSF may send a Npcf_PolicyAuthorization_Subscribe message to the PCF to subscribe to notifications of Resource allocation status and may subscribe to other events. When the event condition is met, e.g. that the establishment of the transmission resources corresponding to the QoS update succeeded or failed, the PCF sends Npcf_PolicyAuthorization_Notify message to the NEF notifying about the event. If the AF is considered to be trusted by the operator, the PCF sends the Npcf_PolicyAuthorization_Notify message directly to AF (see paragraph 311).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAY P PATEL whose telephone number is (571)272-3086. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-6.
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/JAY P PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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