Office Action Predictor
Last updated: April 15, 2026
Application No. 18/366,535

DATA OBTAINING METHOD AND APPARATUS

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Aug 07, 2023
Examiner
IQBAL, KHAWAR
Art Unit
2643
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Huawei Technologies Co., LTD.
OA Round
2 (Final)
73%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
3y 5m
To Grant
98%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 73% — above average
73%
Career Allow Rate
466 granted / 639 resolved
+10.9% vs TC avg
Strong +25% interview lift
Without
With
+24.7%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 5m
Avg Prosecution
34 currently pending
Career history
673
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
3.2%
-36.8% vs TC avg
§103
52.9%
+12.9% vs TC avg
§102
30.8%
-9.2% vs TC avg
§112
5.4%
-34.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 639 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 with respect to claim(s) 1-17 and 19-20 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. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. Claim(s) 1-17 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al (20220369145) in view of Ryu et al (20230337089). Regarding claim 1, Park et al discloses, a data obtaining method (abstract, fig. 7-12), comprising: determining, by a data analysis network element (v-NWDAF) in a first network, to-be-analyzed data in a second network (NRF/ h-NWDAF/NF2) (¶ 0070, 0076, the NWDAF having received the analytics request message determines data that needs to be collected to generate an analytics result, fig. 7-12); and sending, by the data analysis network element (v-NWDAF), a first request message to a first network element in the first network, wherein the first request message is used to comprises a request to obtain the to-be-analyzed data, the first request message comprises first indication information, and the first indication information indicates that the to-be-analyzed data belongs to the second network (NRF/ h-NWDAF/NF2) (¶ 0070, 0076, 0079, the NWDAF requests NF information for data collection request included UE id, DNN, NF2 ID, NF type, S-NSSAI etc.., fig. 7-12). Park et al does not specifically disclose, wherein the data type information in the second network is different form data type information in the first network. In the same field of endeavor, Ryu et al discloses, wherein the data type information in the second network is different form data type information in the first network (¶ 0070, 0231-0232, FIG. 22, there is a N26 interface between the MME and the AMF. The N26 interface may be an inter-core network interface between the MME of 4G system and the AMF of the 5G system. The N26 may enable interworking between the 4G system and the 5G system. Networks that support interworking between the 4G system and the 5G system, may support interworking procedures that use the N26 interface). Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claim invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the device of Park et al by specifically adding feature in order to enhance system performance to improving N26 interface is an inter-CN interface between the MME and 5GS AMF in order to enable interworking between EPC and the NG core as taught by Ryu et al. Regarding claims 2, 13, Park et al discloses, wherein the first indication information comprises at least one of the following information: network type information of the second network, network identification information of the second network, area information corresponding to the second network, or information about a second network element in the second network, wherein the second network element is configured to provide the to-be-analyzed data (¶ 0070, 0076, 0079, the NWDAF requests NF information for data collection request included UE id, DNN, NF2 ID, NF type, S-NSSAI etc.., fig. 7-12). Regarding claims 3, 14, Park et al discloses, wherein the method comprises: determining, by the data analysis network element, the first network element, wherein the first network element is configured to obtain the to-be-analyzed data from the second network (¶ 0070, 0076, 0079, the NWDAF requests NF information for data collection request included UE id, DNN, NF2 ID, NF type, S-NSSAI etc.., fig. 7-12). Regarding claims 4, 15, Park et al discloses, wherein the determining, by the data analysis network element, the first network element comprises: determining, by the data analysis network element, data type information of the to-be- analyzed data; and determining, by the data analysis network element, the first network element based on the data type information (¶ 0070, 0076, 0079, the NWDAF requests NF information for data collection request included UE id, DNN, NF2 ID, NF type, S-NSSAI etc.., fig. 7-12). Regarding claims 5, 16, Park et al discloses, wherein the determining, by the data analysis network element, data type information of the to-be-analyzed data comprises: determining, by the data analysis network element based on identification information, the data type information of the to-be-analyzed data, wherein the identification information indicates a type of a data analysis task performed by the data analysis network element (¶ 0070, 0076, 0079, the NWDAF requests NF information for data collection request included UE id, DNN, NF2 ID, NF type, S-NSSAI etc.., fig. 7-12). Regarding claims 6, 17, Park et al discloses, wherein the method further comprises: receiving, by the data analysis network element, a second request message from a consumer network element, wherein the second request message is used to comprises a request the data analysis network element to perform data analysis, and the second request message comprises the identification information; or determining, by the data analysis network element, the identification information based on a pre-configured task, wherein the pre-configured task indicates a data analysis type corresponding to the identification information (¶ 0070, 0076, 0079, the NWDAF requests NF information for data collection request included roaming status, PDU session ID, UE id, DNN, NF2 ID, NF type, S-NSSAI etc.., fig. 7-12). Regarding claims 7, 10, 19, Park et al discloses, wherein the second request message further comprises second indication information, and the second indication information indicates at least one of the following: area information corresponding to the second network, network type information of the second network, or network identification information of the second network (¶ 0070, 0076, 0079, the NWDAF requests NF information for data collection request included UE id, DNN, NF2 ID, NF type, S-NSSAI etc.., fig. 7-12). Regarding claims 8, 11, 20, Park et al discloses, wherein the determining, by the data analysis network element, the first network element comprises: determining, by the data analysis network element, the first network element based on a preset condition, wherein the first network element meets the preset condition, and the preset condition comprises at least one of the following: having an interaction interface with a network element in the second network, being co- located with the network element in the second network, or being associated with area information corresponding to the second network (¶ 0070, 0076, 0079, 0083, the NWDAF having received the analytics request message, the NWDAF determines data that needs to be collected to generate an analytics result. At this time, when it is determined that the UE is in a roaming state through the message received, fig. 7-12). Regarding claim 9, Park et al discloses, a data obtaining method, comprising: receiving, by a first network element in a first network, a first request message from a data analysis network element, wherein the first request message is used to comprises a request to obtain to-be-analyzed data, the first request message comprises first indication information (¶ 0070, 0076, 0079, 0083, the NWDAF having received the analytics request message, the NWDAF determines data that needs to be collected to generate an analytics result. At this time, when it is determined that the UE is in a roaming state through the message received, fig. 7-12), and the first indication information indicates that the to-be-analyzed data belongs to a second network (¶ 0070, 0076, 0079, the NWDAF requests NF information for data collection request included roaming status, PDU session ID, UE id, DNN, NF2 ID, NF type, S-NSSAI etc.., fig. 7-12); and obtaining, by the first network element, the to-be-analyzed data from a second network element in the second network based on the first indication information, wherein the second network element comprises a network element having at least one of an interaction interface with the first network element [[and/]]or a network element co-located with the first network element (¶ 0070, 0076, 0079, the NWDAF requests NF information for data collection request included roaming status, PDU session ID, UE id, DNN, NF2 ID, NF type, S-NSSAI etc.., fig. 7-12). Park et al does not specifically disclose, wherein the data type information in the second network is different form data type information in the first network. In the same field of endeavor, Ryu et al discloses, wherein the data type information in the second network is different form data type information in the first network (¶ 0070, 0231-0232, FIG. 22, there is a N26 interface between the MME and the AMF. The N26 interface may be an inter-core network interface between the MME of 4G system and the AMF of the 5G system. The N26 may enable interworking between the 4G system and the 5G system. Networks that support interworking between the 4G system and the 5G system, may support interworking procedures that use the N26 interface). Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claim invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the device of Park et al by specifically adding feature in order to enhance system performance to improving N26 interface is an inter-CN interface between the MME and 5GS AMF in order to enable interworking between EPC and the NG core as taught by Ryu et al. Regarding claim 12, Park et al discloses, a data obtaining apparatus, wherein the apparatus is located in a first network, and the apparatus comprises: at least one processor (¶ 0110); and one or more memories coupled to the at least one processor and storing programming instructions for execution by the at least one processor to cause (¶ 0110) the apparatus to: a processing unit (NWDAF, fig. 5), configured to determine to-be-analyzed data in a second network; and a sending unit, configured to send a first request message to a first network element in the first network (¶ 0070, 0076, 0079, 0083, the NWDAF having received the analytics request message, the NWDAF determines data that needs to be collected to generate an analytics result. At this time, when it is determined that the UE is in a roaming state through the message received, fig. 7-12), wherein the first request message is used to comprises a request to obtain the to- be-analyzed data, the first request message comprises first indication information, and the first indication information indicates that the to-be-analyzed data belongs to the second network (¶ 0070, 0076, 0079, the NWDAF requests NF information for data collection request included roaming status, PDU session ID, UE id, DNN, NF2 ID, NF type, S-NSSAI etc.., fig. 7-12). Park et al does not specifically disclose, wherein the data type information in the second network is different form data type information in the first network. In the same field of endeavor, Ryu et al discloses, wherein the data type information in the second network is different form data type information in the first network (¶ 0070, 0231-0232, FIG. 22, there is a N26 interface between the MME and the AMF. The N26 interface may be an inter-core network interface between the MME of 4G system and the AMF of the 5G system. The N26 may enable interworking between the 4G system and the 5G system. Networks that support interworking between the 4G system and the 5G system, may support interworking procedures that use the N26 interface). Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claim invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the device of Park et al by specifically adding feature in order to enhance system performance to improving N26 interface is an inter-CN interface between the MME and 5GS AMF in order to enable interworking between EPC and the NG core as taught by Ryu et al. 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 KHAWAR IQBAL whose telephone number is (571)272-7909. The examiner can normally be reached M-F. 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, Jinsong Hu can be reached at 5712723965. 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. /KHAWAR IQBAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643
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Prosecution Timeline

Aug 07, 2023
Application Filed
Oct 15, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Dec 26, 2025
Response Filed
Jan 28, 2026
Final Rejection — §103
Apr 08, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
73%
Grant Probability
98%
With Interview (+24.7%)
3y 5m
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 639 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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