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 § 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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent No. 9,479,917 (“Gota et al.”) in view of US Publication No. 2020/0092424 (“Qiao et al.”).
Regarding claim 1, Gota et al. discloses a method comprising:
receiving, by a processing system in a cellular core network including at least one processor and from a session management function of the cellular core network, a query for a policy rule associated with a subscriber who has requested a packet data unit session and querying, by the processing system, a charging function of the cellular core network for a charging counter associated with the subscriber (col. 7, lines 8-30, an operator and/or an external entity, such as a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) entity, provisions charging client 10 with one or more PCC rules that each specify a set of information enabling the detection of a service data flow and providing policy control and/or charging control parameters);
receiving, by the processing system and from the charging function, the charging counter, wherein the charging counter contains a value identifying a service package to which the subscriber is subscribed (col. 11, lines 9-27, The PCC rule policy and charging control information may depend on subscription information such as subscriber profiles configured within PGW 30 and associated with subscriber sessions for the subscriber, as described in further detail with respect to FIG. 3)
determining, by the processing system, a rating group associated with the service package (Subscription information of PCEF 32 includes one or more rating groups 64 that may each represent one of rating groups 16 of FIG. 1. One or more of rating groups 64 may be associated with SDF templates/PCC rules bound to bearer 50 such that PCEF 32 associates service data flows transported by bearer 50 with the associated rating group(s) for charging control purposes); and
Gota et al. discloses charging information associated with a rating group that identifies applications/services corresponding to the subscriber charging treatment. However, it does not specify: sending, by the processing system to the session management function, a set of application identifiers associated with the rating group, wherein each application identifier of the set of application identifiers identifies one software application that is included in the service package.
In the same field of endeavor, Qiao teaches a policy and charging control framework in which subscriber-specific charging information and policy information are used to determine application-specific handling of network traffic. Qiao further teaches dynamically applying charging and policy treatment according to subscriber subscription information, service information, and application information (Qiao [0035]–[0058]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify rating-group-based charging architecture of Gota et al. using the subscriber-specific policy and charging determination techniques of Qiao in order to provide improved charging accuracy and scalable policy enforcement for different subscriber service offerings.
Regarding claim 2, Gota et al. discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the processing system is part of a policy control function of the cellular core network (col. 10, Application function 38 is communicatively coupled to Policy Control and Charging Rules Function entity 24 (“PCRF 24”) via Rx interface 49. Application function 38 receives resource requests 40, which each comprise a request for a different service session, such as an IMS voice call, from wireless device 6).
Regarding claim 3, Gota et al. discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the charging function comprises a data access indicator (the rating group identifier corresponds to the data access indicator).
Regarding claim 4, Gota et al. discloses the method of claim 3, wherein the value identifying the service package to which the subscriber is subscribed is contained in the data access indicator (col. 12, an identifier for a particular rating group, e.g., in a rating-group attribute value pair (AVP)).
Regarding claim 5, Gota et al. discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the data access indicator is defined by an operator of the cellular core network (col. 3, a mobile network operator may configure the online charging system by defining signaling message triggering and failure handling for rating groups associated with a subscriber session rather than, or in addition to, definitions for the subscriber session as a whole).
Regarding claim 6, Gota et al. in view of Qiao et al. discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the service package corresponds to a set of applications, including the one software application, to which the subscriber is permitted access via the cellular core network (Qiao, [0110], [0139] Application identifier may be an identifier that may be mapped to a specific application traffic detection rule. Upon request from an application server, the 5GC may be able to trigger a specific application in the UE 100).
Regarding claim 7, Gota et al. discloses the method of claim 1, wherein each application identifier of the set of application identifiers is mapped to a rating group identifier of the rating group in a data network name definition (col. 8, lines 12-35, Each of rating groups 16 may be associated with a charging key that provides rating information for matching service, such as cost per service unit. In this way, rating groups 16 each gather a set of services subject to the same cost and rating type).
Regarding claim 8, Gota et al. in view of Qiao et al. discloses the method of claim 7, wherein the data network name definition further maps each application identifier of the set of application identifiers to a packet flow descriptor (Qiao, [0110] Application identifier may be an identifier that may be mapped to a specific application traffic detection rule).
Regarding claim 9, Gota et al. in view of Qiao et al. discloses the method of claim 8, wherein the data network name definition further maps each application identifier of the set of application identifiers to a service identifier (Qiao, [0139] Upon request from an application server, the 5GC may be able to trigger a specific application in the UE 100).
Regarding claim 10, Gota et al. in view of Qiao et al. disclose the method of claim 9, wherein each application identifier of the set of application identifiers is associated with a unique combination of rating group identifier and service identifier (Qiao, the rating group identifies a charging category which is associated with a service identifier, creating unique combinations as the PCF may select a CHF based on one or more combination information received from the SMF [0224]).
Regarding claim 11, Gota et al. discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the processing system further sends to the session management function a set of application identifiers associated with another rating group that corresponds to a set of applications that the subscriber is always allowed to access, regardless of the service package (Gota, based on priority a subscriber may access a set of applications regardless of the rating group- a charging profile 76 may be selected for a subscriber according to a subscriber priority such that different priorities are accorded different charging control actions for actionable events).
Regarding claim 12, Gota et al. in view of Qiao et al. discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the session management function determines a set of identifiers, wherein each identifier in the set of identifiers corresponds to one application identifier of the set of application identifiers (Qiao, [0224] the PCF may select a CHF based on one or more combination information received from the SMF. As an example, the PCF may select a CHF based on the PLMN identifier received from the SMF.).
Regarding claim 13, Gota et al. in view of Qiao et al. discloses the method of claim 12, wherein the set of identifiers comprises a set of service identifiers that are mapped to the set of application identifiers in a data network name definition (Qiao, [0110] Configured NSSAI may be an NSSAI that may be provisioned in a UE 100. DN 115 access identifier (DNAI), for a DNN, may be an identifier of a user plane access to a DN 115).
Regarding claim 14, Gota et al. in view of Qiao et al. discloses the method of claim 13, wherein the session management function sends the set of service identifiers to a user plane function of the cellular core network for use in monitoring usage of a set of applications identified by the set of application identifiers during the packet data unit session (Qiao, [0112] a user plane function, UPF 110, may include one or more of the following functionalities (some of the UPF 110 functionalities may be supported in a single instance of a UPF 110).
Regarding claim 15, Gota et al. in view of Qiao et al. discloses the method of claim 14, wherein the usage of the set of applications identified by the set of application identifiers during the packet data unit session is periodically reported by the user plane function to the session management function ([0127] the UE 100 may update its registration with the network periodically in order to remain reachable (periodic registration update), or upon mobility (e.g., mobility registration update), or to update its capabilities or to re-negotiate protocol parameters).
Regarding claim 16, Gota et al. in view of Qiao et al. discloses the method of claim 12, wherein the set of identifiers comprises a set of packet flow descriptors that are mapped to the set of application identifiers in a data network name definition (Qiao, [0237] the service data flow detection information (e.g. service data flow template) may comprise a list of service data flow filters or an application identifier that references the corresponding application detection filter for the detection of the service data flow. As an example, the service data flow detection information (e.g. service data flow template) may comprise combination of traffic patterns of the Ethernet PDU traffic).
Regarding claim 17, Gota et al. in view of Qiao et al. discloses the method of claim 16, wherein the session management function sends the set of packet flow descriptors to a user plane function of the cellular core network for use in monitoring usage of a set of applications identified by the set of application identifiers during the packet data unit session (Qiao, [0213] In an example, the SMF may request quota from CHF, e.g. “start of service data flow” event may need quota from CHF. The SMF may send a message to the CHF (e.g. Charging Data Request [update]). As an example, for online charging or converged charging, the SMF may request quota from CHF when allocated quota is consumed or a trigger is met to request a quota).
Regarding claim 18, Gota et al. in view of Qiao et al. discloses the method of claim 17, wherein the set of packet flow descriptors is one of: statically configured or retrieved from a network exposure function of the cellular core network (Qiao, retrieved and dynamically handled, [0219-0220] CHF may have various charging methods, and there is a need to dynamically coordinate the charging method between a CHF and a PCF. Provides enhanced mechanisms to coordinate charging policy information between a CHF and a PCF).
Claim 19 recites a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processing system in a cellular core network including at least one processor, cause the processing system to perform operations of claim 1. Thus claim 19 is rejected in view of Gota et al. and Qiao et al. for the same reasons discussed with respect to claim 1.
Claim 20 recites a device comprising: a processing system in a cellular core network including at least one processor; and a computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to perform operations recited in claim 1. Thus claim 20 , is rejected in view of Gota et al. and Qiao et al. for the same reasons discussed with respect to claim 1.
Conclusion
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/JIRAPON TULOP/Examiner, Art Unit 2693
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