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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 06/09/2026 has been entered.
Claim Objections
Claim 22 is objected to because of the following informalities: On line 5 of the claim the phrase “…station on the a geographical map…” needs to be corrected for an apparent typographical error. Appropriate correction is required.
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed 06/09/2026 has been entered.
Claims 2, 10 and 18 have been canceled.
Claims 24-26 have been added.
Claims 1, 4, 9, 12, 17 and 20-21 have been amended.
Claims 1, 4-9, 12-17 and 20-26 remain pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 4-9, 12-17 and 20-26 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claims 1, 4-6, 8-9, 12-14, 16-17 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krishan (US 20220070648 A1) in view of Cui et al. (20200336926 A1) and further in view of Lee et al. (US 20230413210 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Krishan teaches a method comprising:
querying, by a network management function (SCP 101), the network repository function (NRF 100) to obtain the identifying data for each of the plurality of radio base stations (the SCP sends the discovery request to the NRF, [0124]; NRF 100 creates a list of potential NF profiles with service instance information that can be provided in a discovery response, [0133]; any of the nodes (other than NRF 100) can be either consumer NFs or producer NFs, [0049]; Radio access network 120 may be accessed using a g-Node B (gNB) or other wireless access point, [0051]).
However, Krishan does not clearly teach initiating, by the network management function and based on the identifying data, a ping test to be performed between at least one access and mobility management function (AMF) and each of the plurality of radio base stations to determine latencies between the at least one AMF and each of the plurality of radio base stations; and
initiating a connection between the at least one AMF and a first radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations based on identifying a lowest latency between the at least one AMF and the first radio base station.
In an analogous art, Cui teaches initiating, by the network management function and based on the identifying data (RAT field 306 of Fig. 3), a ping test to be performed between at least one access and mobility management function (AMF) and each of the plurality of radio base stations (The instruction component 106 can provide an instruction to send one or more Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) traceroute echo packets to the second device, [0038]; the RAT field can be marked (e.g., by the insertion component 108) to distinguish or identify the access technology over which the end-to-end delay is measured, [0047]; The enhanced ICMP traceroute message (e.g., the message format 300) can be used over an N1 interface 428 and an N2 interface 430, which can enable automatic detection of the latency between UE and core control plane, and between RAN node and core control plane, [0061] and a message can be sent between the RAN 420 and the AMF 416, which is information about the control plane latency e.g., over the N2 interface 430, [0062]) to determine latencies between the at least one AMF and each of the plurality of radio base stations (The one or more traceroute echo packets can comprise fields that facilitate automatic latency discovery and dynamic network selection, [0039]); and
initiating a connection between the at least one AMF and a first radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations based on identifying a lowest latency between the at least one AMF and the first radio base station (If the determination by the analysis component is that the end-to-end latency satisfies the defined latency threshold, the first device 102 (or another device) can use the radio access technology defined in the message (e.g., the radio access technology for which the total latency was determined) for service to the second device 104 or to another device, [0049]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application was made to have modified the node discovery of Krishan with latency determination of Cui to provide a method for dynamic intelligent RAT selection for user applications based on network performance as suggested, Cui [0067].
However, Krishan and Cui do not clearly teach configuring Service Based Interface (SBI) logic for each radio base station of a plurality of radio base stations; registering, by each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations with a network repository function, wherein the registering includes providing identifying data by each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations to the network repository function using the SBI logic of each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations.
In an analogous art, Lee teaches configuring Service Based Interface (SBI) logic for each radio base station of a plurality of radio base stations (a radio access node device (RANF) that is embodied as an NF and is configured as an service based architecture (SBA) may correspond to each RAN equipment (e.g., a CU, a DU, an RU, and the like) included in a 5G base station, [0051]; RAN equipment (e.g., a CU, a DU, an RU, or the like) embodied as an RANF may embody a function (feature), provided by the equipment, as an SBI for each NF service unit, and may contain an SBI module (described later) that is in charge of such a processing, [0053]); registering, by each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations with a network repository function (in the case of performing registration that registers an NF of the RANF 100 (e.g., a CU-CP NF) with an NRF that manages/controls information associated with each NF in a network, the NF communication unit 110 (an SBI module) may directly perform communication using an SBI, [0128]; e.g., an NRF Regi of Fig. 12), wherein the registering includes providing identifying data by each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations to the network repository function using the SBI logic of each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations (a message (SBI Msg.) that the SBI module interfaces with may be a data packet including a header of an application layer, such as HTTP, HTTP/2, QUIC, and the like defined in an SBI, [0082]; information included in the header in the message may include a source address, a destination address, a port number, and the like to enable transmission/reception, [0084]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application was made to have modified the node discovery of Krishan and Cui with the RAN interface of Lee to provide a method that allows the function of RAN equipment evolve to a 5G architecture and be implemented as an NF, so as to uniformly implement the functions of all equipment (RAN, core) including the RAN and the core of 5G as NFs as suggested, Lee [0011].
Regarding claim 4, Krishan as modified by Cui and Lee teaches the method of claim 1. Lee further teaches wherein the SBI logic configured for each radio base stations of the plurality of radio base stations includes Hypertext Transfer Protocol 2.0 (HTTP2) logic that enables each radio base station to communicate with the network repository function using the HTTP2 (Here, a message (SBI Msg.) that the SBI module interfaces with may be a data packet including a header of an application layer, such as HTTP, HTTP/2, QUIC, and the like defined in an SBI, Lee [0082]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application was made to have modified the node discovery of Krishan and Cui with the RAN interface of Lee to provide a method that allows the function of RAN equipment evolve to a 5G architecture and be implemented as an NF, so as to uniformly implement the functions of all equipment (RAN, core) including the RAN and the core of 5G as NFs as suggested, Lee [0011].
Regarding claim 5, Krishan as modified by Cui and Lee teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the identifying data includes a network address and an identifier for each radio base station (The NF profile definition includes at least one of a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), an Internet protocol (IP) version 4 (IPv4) address or an IP version 6 (IPv6) address, Krishan [0048]).
Regarding claim 6, Krishan as modified by Cui and Lee teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the identifying data includes latency data or location data for each radio base station (For example, NRF 100 may send a list of NF profiles and associated service profiles with SCP-specific latency adjusted priorities to SCP 101, Krishan [0145]).
Regarding claim 8, Krishan as modified by Cui and Lee teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a table identifying the latencies between each AMF and each corresponding radio base station (SCP 101A further includes producer NF latency database 410 that stores SCP-specific producer NF latency information calculated by SCP 101A, Fig. 4, Table 3, [0105]).
Regarding claim 9, Krishan teaches a system (system of Figs. 1 and 6) comprising: one or more computer processors (proc 600); one or more computer readable storage media (mem 602); and program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more computer processors (SCP discovery/service 604), the program instructions comprising instructions to:
query, by a network management function, a network repository function to obtain identifying data for each of a plurality of radio base stations (the SCP sends the discovery request to the NRF, [0124]; NRF 100 creates a list of potential NF profiles with service instance information that can be provided in a discovery response, [0133]; any of the nodes (other than NRF 100) can be either consumer NFs or producer NFs, [0049]; Radio access network 120 may be accessed using a g-Node B (gNB) (not shown in FIG. 1) or other wireless access point, [0051]).
However, Krishan does not clearly teach initiate, by the network management function and based on the identifying data, a ping test to be performed between at least one access and mobility management function (AMF) and each of the plurality of radio base stations to determine latencies between the at least one AMF and each of the plurality of radio base stations; and initiate a connection between the at least one AMF and a first radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations based on identifying a lowest latency between the at least one AMF and the first radio base stations.
In an analogous art, Cui teaches initiate, by the network management function and based on the identifying data (RAT field 306 of Fig. 3), a ping test to be performed between at least one access and mobility management function (AMF) and each of the plurality of radio base stations (The instruction component 106 can provide an instruction to send one or more Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) traceroute echo packets to the second device, [0038]; the RAT field can be marked (e.g., by the insertion component 108) to distinguish or identify the access technology over which the end-to-end delay is measured, [0047]; The enhanced ICMP traceroute message (e.g., the message format 300) can be used over an N1 interface 428 and an N2 interface 430, which can enable automatic detection of the latency between UE and core control plane, and between RAN node and core control plane, [0061] and a message can be sent between the RAN 420 and the AMF 416, which is information about the control plane latency e.g., over the N2 interface 430, [0062]) to determine latencies between the at least one AMF and each of the plurality of radio base stations (The one or more traceroute echo packets can comprise fields that facilitate automatic latency discovery and dynamic network selection, [0039]); and
initiate a connection between the at least one AMF and a first radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations based on identifying a lowest latency between the at least one AMF and the first radio base stations (If the determination by the analysis component is that the end-to-end latency satisfies the defined latency threshold, the first device 102 (or another device) can use the radio access technology defined in the message (e.g., the radio access technology for which the total latency was determined) for service to the second device 104 or to another device, [0049]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application was made to have modified the node discovery of Krishan with latency determination of Cui to provide a method for dynamic intelligent RAT selection for user applications based on network performance as suggested, Cui [0067].
However, Krishan and Cui do not clearly teach configuring Service Based Interface (SBI) logic for each radio base station of a plurality of radio base stations; registering, by each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations with a network repository function, wherein the registering includes providing identifying data by each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations to the network repository function using the SBI logic of each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations.
In an analogous art, Lee teaches configuring Service Based Interface (SBI) logic for each radio base station of a plurality of radio base stations (a radio access node device (RANF) that is embodied as an NF and is configured as an service based architecture (SBA) may correspond to each RAN equipment (e.g., a CU, a DU, an RU, and the like) included in a 5G base station, [0051]; RAN equipment (e.g., a CU, a DU, an RU, or the like) embodied as an RANF may embody a function (feature), provided by the equipment, as an SBI for each NF service unit, and may contain an SBI module (described later) that is in charge of such a processing, [0053]); registering, by each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations with a network repository function (in the case of performing registration that registers an NF of the RANF 100 (e.g., a CU-CP NF) with an NRF that manages/controls information associated with each NF in a network, the NF communication unit 110 (an SBI module) may directly perform communication using an SBI, [0128]; e.g., an NRF Regi of Fig. 12), wherein the registering includes providing identifying data by each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations to the network repository function using the SBI logic of each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations (a message (SBI Msg.) that the SBI module interfaces with may be a data packet including a header of an application layer, such as HTTP, HTTP/2, QUIC, and the like defined in an SBI, [0082]; information included in the header in the message may include a source address, a destination address, a port number, and the like to enable transmission/reception, [0084]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application was made to have modified the node discovery of Krishan and Cui with the RAN interface of Lee to provide a method that allows the function of RAN equipment evolve to a 5G architecture and be implemented as an NF, so as to uniformly implement the functions of all equipment (RAN, core) including the RAN and the core of 5G as NFs as suggested, Lee [0011].
Regarding claim 12, Krishan as modified by Cui and Lee teaches the system of claim 9. Lee further teaches wherein the SBI logic configured for each radio base stations of the plurality of radio base stations includes Hypertext Transfer Protocol 2.0 (HTTP2) logic that enables each radio base station to communicate with the network repository function using the HTTP2 (Here, a message (SBI Msg.) that the SBI module interfaces with may be a data packet including a header of an application layer, such as HTTP, HTTP/2, QUIC, and the like defined in an SBI, Lee [0082]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application was made to have modified the node discovery of Krishan and Cui with the RAN interface of Lee to provide a method that allows the function of RAN equipment evolve to a 5G architecture and be implemented as an NF, so as to uniformly implement the functions of all equipment (RAN, core) including the RAN and the core of 5G as NFs as suggested, Lee [0011].
Regarding claim 13, Krishan as modified by Cui and Lee teaches the system of claim 9, wherein the identifying data includes a network address and an identifier for each radio base station (The NF profile definition includes at least one of a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), an Internet protocol (IP) version 4 (IPv4) address or an IP version 6 (IPv6) address, Krishan [0048]).
Regarding claim 14, Krishan as modified by Cui and Lee teaches the system of claim 9, wherein the identifying data includes latency data or location data for each radio base station (For example, NRF 100 may send a list of NF profiles and associated service profiles with SCP-specific latency adjusted priorities to SCP 101, Krishan [0145]).
Regarding claim 16, Krishan as modified by Cui and Lee teaches the system of claim 9, wherein the program instructions further comprise instructions to display a table identifying the latencies between each AMF and each corresponding radio base station (SCP 101A further includes producer NF latency database 410 that stores SCP-specific producer NF latency information calculated by SCP 101A, Fig. 4, Table 3, [0105]).
Regarding claim 17, Krishan teaches one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media having program instructions embodied therewith (MEM 602 of Fig. 6), the program instructions executable by a computer to cause the computer to perform operations including:
querying, by a network management function, a network repository function to obtain identifying data for each of a plurality of radio base stations (the SCP sends the discovery request to the NRF, [0124]; NRF 100 creates a list of potential NF profiles with service instance information that can be provided in a discovery response, [0133]; any of the nodes (other than NRF 100) can be either consumer NFs or producer NFs, [0049]; Radio access network 120 may be accessed using a g-Node B (gNB) (not shown in FIG. 1) or other wireless access point, [0051]).
However, Krishan does not clearly teach initiating, by the network management function and based on the identifying data, a ping test to be performed between at least one access and mobility management function (AMF) and each of the plurality of radio base stations to determine latencies between the at least one AMF and each of the plurality of radio base stations; and initiating a connection between the at least one AMF and a first radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations based on identifying a lowest latency between the at least one AMF and the first radio base stations.
In an analogous art, Cui teaches initiating, by the network management function and based on the identifying data (RAT field 306 of Fig. 3), a ping test to be performed between at least one access and mobility management function (AMF) and each of the plurality of radio base stations (The instruction component 106 can provide an instruction to send one or more Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) traceroute echo packets to the second device, [0038]; the RAT field can be marked (e.g., by the insertion component 108) to distinguish or identify the access technology over which the end-to-end delay is measured, [0047]; The enhanced ICMP traceroute message (e.g., the message format 300) can be used over an N1 interface 428 and an N2 interface 430, which can enable automatic detection of the latency between UE and core control plane, and between RAN node and core control plane, [0061] and a message can be sent between the RAN 420 and the AMF 416, which is information about the control plane latency e.g., over the N2 interface 430, [0062]) to determine latencies between the at least one AMF and each of the plurality of radio base stations (The one or more traceroute echo packets can comprise fields that facilitate automatic latency discovery and dynamic network selection, [0039]); and
initiating a connection between the at least one AMF and a first radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations based on identifying a lowest latency between the at least one AMF and the first radio base stations (If the determination by the analysis component is that the end-to-end latency satisfies the defined latency threshold, the first device 102 (or another device) can use the radio access technology defined in the message (e.g., the radio access technology for which the total latency was determined) for service to the second device 104 or to another device, [0049]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application was made to have modified the node discovery of Krishan with latency determination of Cui to provide a method for dynamic intelligent RAT selection for user applications based on network performance as suggested, Cui [0067].
However, Krishan and Cui do not clearly teach configuring Service Based Interface (SBI) logic for each radio base station of a plurality of radio base stations; registering, by each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations with a network repository function, wherein the registering includes providing identifying data by each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations to the network repository function using the SBI logic of each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations.
In an analogous art, Lee teaches configuring Service Based Interface (SBI) logic for each radio base station of a plurality of radio base stations (a radio access node device (RANF) that is embodied as an NF and is configured as an service based architecture (SBA) may correspond to each RAN equipment (e.g., a CU, a DU, an RU, and the like) included in a 5G base station, [0051]; RAN equipment (e.g., a CU, a DU, an RU, or the like) embodied as an RANF may embody a function (feature), provided by the equipment, as an SBI for each NF service unit, and may contain an SBI module (described later) that is in charge of such a processing, [0053]); registering, by each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations with a network repository function (in the case of performing registration that registers an NF of the RANF 100 (e.g., a CU-CP NF) with an NRF that manages/controls information associated with each NF in a network, the NF communication unit 110 (an SBI module) may directly perform communication using an SBI, [0128]; e.g., an NRF Regi of Fig. 12), wherein the registering includes providing identifying data by each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations to the network repository function using the SBI logic of each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations (a message (SBI Msg.) that the SBI module interfaces with may be a data packet including a header of an application layer, such as HTTP, HTTP/2, QUIC, and the like defined in an SBI, [0082]; information included in the header in the message may include a source address, a destination address, a port number, and the like to enable transmission/reception, [0084]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application was made to have modified the node discovery of Krishan and Cui with the RAN interface of Lee to provide a method that allows the function of RAN equipment evolve to a 5G architecture and be implemented as an NF, so as to uniformly implement the functions of all equipment (RAN, core) including the RAN and the core of 5G as NFs as suggested, Lee [0011].
Regarding claim 20, Krishan as modified by Cui and Lee teaches the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 17. Lee further teaches wherein the SBI logic configured for each radio base stations of the plurality of radio base stations includes Hypertext Transfer Protocol 2.0 (HTTP2) logic that enables each radio base station to communicate with the network repository function using the HTTP2 (Here, a message (SBI Msg.) that the SBI module interfaces with may be a data packet including a header of an application layer, such as HTTP, HTTP/2, QUIC, and the like defined in an SBI, Lee [0082]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application was made to have modified the node discovery of Krishan and Cui with the RAN interface of Lee to provide a method that allows the function of RAN equipment evolve to a 5G architecture and be implemented as an NF, so as to uniformly implement the functions of all equipment (RAN, core) including the RAN and the core of 5G as NFs as suggested, Lee [0011].
Claim 21 and 25-26 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krishan (US 20220070648 A1) in view of Cui et al. (20200336926 A1) and further in view of Lee and Srivastava.
Regarding claim 21, Krishan as modified by Cui and Lee teaches the method of claim 1.
However, Krishan, Cui and Lee do not teach wherein the identifying data includes a gNodeB IP address; a gNodeB identifier, and latitude/longitude data of each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations.
In an analogous art, Srivastava teaches wherein the identifying data includes a gNodeB IP address (e.g. ipv4addresses, table 1), a gNodeB identifier (e.g. nfintanceid, table 1), and latitude/longitude data of each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations (locality string O 0 . . . 1 Operator defined Information about the location of the NF instance (e.g. geographic location, data center), table1; The NF profile is a data structure that includes the attributes illustrated in Table 1, [0048]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application was made to have modified the node discovery of Krishan and Lee with the SBi registration of Srivastava to solve the problem of inability of NFs not supporting SBI service operations to communicate their identities to 5G NFs and to update their statuses with 5G NFs by communicating with the NRF over the SBI as suggested, Srivastava [0045].
Regarding claim 25, Krishan as modified by Cui and Lee teaches the method of claim 21.
However, Krishan, Cui and Lee do not teach wherein the identifying data further includes Public Land Mobile Network (PLN) identifying data for each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations.
In an analogous art, Srivastava teaches wherein the identifying data further includes Public Land Mobile Network (PLN) identifying data for each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations (plmnList array(PlmnId) C 1 . . . N PLMN(s) of the Network Function (NOTE 7) This IE shall be present if this information is available for the NF, [0048], Table 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application was made to have modified the node discovery of Krishan, Cui and Lee with the SBi registration of Srivastava to solve the problem of inability of NFs not supporting SBI service operations to communicate their identities to 5G NFs and to update their statuses with 5G NFs by communicating with the NRF over the SBI as suggested, Srivastava [0045].
Regarding claim 26, Krishan as modified by Cui, Lee and Srivastava method of claim 25.
Cui further teaches wherein each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations is a gNodeB (In 5G terminology, the network nodes can be referred to as gNodeB (e.g., gNB) devices, [0059]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application was made to have modified the node discovery of Krishan, Lee and Srivastava with latency determination of Cui to provide a method for dynamic intelligent RAT selection for user applications based on network performance as suggested, Cui [0067].
Claims 7 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krishan (US 20220070648 A1) in view of Cui et al. (20200336926 A1) and further in view of Lee and Theimer et al. (US 20220303886 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Krishan as modified by Cui and Lee the method of claim 1.
However, Krishan, Cui and Lee do not teach further comprising displaying, by the network management function, a map indicating a location of each radio base station in relation to a location of each AMF.
In an analogous art, Theimer teaches displaying, by the network management function, a map indicating a location of each radio base station in relation to a location of each AMF (the database structure comprises a table listing all combinations of locations, e.g. for RAN and UPF nodes, [0081], Fig. 2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application was made to have modified the node discovery of Krishan, Cui and Lee with table of Theimer to provide location of potential network functions to be selected, topology to the customer as suggested, Theimer [0042].
Regarding claim 15, Krishan as modified by Cui and Lee teaches the system of claim 9.
However, Krishan, Cui and Lee do not teach wherein the program instructions further comprise instructions to display, by the network management function, a map indicating a location of each radio base station in relation to a location of each AMF.
In an analogous art, Theimer teaches display, by the network management function, a map indicating a location of each radio base station in relation to a location of each AMF (the database structure comprises a table listing all combinations of locations, e.g. for RAN and UPF nodes, [0081], Fig. 2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application was made to have modified the node discovery of Krishan, Cui and Lee with table of Theimer to provide location of potential network functions to be selected, topology to the customer as suggested, Theimer [0042].
Claim 23 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krishan (US 20220070648 A1) in view of Cui et al. (20200336926 A1) and further in view of Lee and Heikal et al. (US 20230319919 A1).
Regarding claim 23, Krishan as modified by Cui and Lee teaches the method of claim 1.
However, Krishan, Cui and Lee do not teach further comprising: identifying a plurality of latencies between the at least one AMF and the plurality of base stations; and illustrating, using a graphical user interface, a geographical map corresponding to the plurality of radio base stations, each of the plurality of radio base stations indicating a latency from the plurality of latencies.
In an analogous art, Heikal teaches identifying a plurality of latencies between the at least one AMF and the plurality of base stations; and illustrating, using a graphical user interface, a geographical map corresponding to the plurality of radio base stations, each of the plurality of radio base stations indicating a latency from the plurality of latencies (FIG. 4 is an example diagram illustrating latency of communicating data between a mobile communication device at multiple different locations and a remote management entity in the network environment, [0096]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application was made to have modified the node discovery of Krishan, Cui and Lee with illustration of Heikal to provide improved implementation of wireless access networks and expand use of limited wireless bandwidth in a network environment as suggested, Heikal [0003].
Claim 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krishan (US 20220070648 A1) in view of Cui et al. (20200336926 A1) and further in view of Lee and Seenappa et al. (US 20200177457 A1).
Regarding claim 24, Krishan as modified by Cui and Lee teaches the method of claim 1.
However, Krishan, Cui and Lee do not teach wherein the registering by each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations is performed automatically by each radio base station after configuring the SBI logic for each radio base station.
In an analogous art, Seenappa teaches wherein the registering by each radio base station of the plurality of radio base stations is performed automatically by each radio base station after configuring the SBI logic for each radio base station (when a new network function 333 attempts to register with the appropriate network repository function 313, the network repository function 313 communicates with the test automation engine 308 requesting performance (or results) of an acceptance test…the network repository function 313 and test automation engine 308 can communicate using SBI (Service Based Interface); the network repository function 313 to test automation engine 308 communications can be optional and can be configurable in the network repository function, [0031]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application was made to have modified the node discovery of Krishan, Cui and Lee with the registration of Seenappa to provide to registering certified network functions for use in a wireless network as suggested, Seenappa [0001].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 22 is 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 after correcting the typographical error.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Benito Diez et al. (US 20260213917 A1): The first node (111) receives (205) a first request from the second node (112) indicating the information. The first node (111) determines (206), based on the obtained information and the information of the first request, whether the second node (112) is a node expected to operate in the communication system (100). The first node (111) sends (207), based on the determination, a second request to a fourth node (114) operating as a PKI-RA. The second request is to register the second node (112), so that a later request for processing of a certificate from the second node (112) is accepted.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICOLE M LOUIS-FILS whose telephone number is (571)270-0671. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday.
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, Charles Appiah can be reached at 571-272-7904. 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.
/NICOLE M LOUIS-FILS/Examiner, Art Unit 2641
/CHARLES N APPIAH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2641
Prosecution Insights