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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the application filed on 02/22/2024.
Claims 1-18 are currently pending.
Claims 1-18 are rejected.
Claims 1, 10 and 16 are independent claims.
- Claim Objection
5. Claim 18 is objected to because of the following informalities: “bye” in line 4 should be “by”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
7. 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 of this title, 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.
8. The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) 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.
9. Claims 1-2, 5-6, 10-11 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Genadi Velev et al. (US 20240236912 A1), hereinafter Velev.
For claim 1, Velev teaches a communication method, comprising:
receiving, by an admission control network function, a first message comprising first parameter information used to update a number of terminal devices or sessions in a first network slice (Velev, Fig. 5B step 7b and paragraph 119.);
verifying, by the admission control network function, validity of the first parameter information (Velev, Fig. 5B step 8b and paragraph 121.); and
based on the first parameter information being valid, updating, by the admission control network function, the number of terminal devices or sessions in the first network slice (Velev, Fig. 5B step 10 and paragraph 128 teach the NSACF 501 determines whether to remove or keep the UE 205 in the list of UEs registered with the S-NSSAI #1 based on the reply in Step 9b (see block 539). If the result in step 9b is positive (e.g., “result=yes”), then the NSACF 501 determines to keep UE 205 in the list of UEs registered with the S-NSSAI #1. However, if the result in the reply in Step 9b is negative (e.g., “result=no”), then the NSACF 501 determines to remote the UE 205 from said list. If the NSACF 501 removes the UE 205, then the NSACF 501 also reduces the counter of registered UEs for the S-NSSAI #1. Velev, Fig. 5A and paragraph 74 further teach at Step 0b, the AMF1 240 updates the NSACF 250 to count the UE 205 for S-NSSAI #1, i.e., the NSACF 250 inserts the UE 205 in the list of UEs registered with the S-NSSAI #1 (see messaging 307). For example, the AMF1 240 may invoke a service request to update the NSACF 250 by including at least the following parameters: UE-ID, S-NSSAI #1, and an indication to add (or insert/count) the UE 205. Here, the parameter UE-ID may be the Subscription Permanent Identifier (“SUPI”) of the UE 205. Note that the parameter S-NSSAI #1 is network slice identifier for which the update is performed. The NSACF 250 maintains a list of UEs registered for the S-NSSAIs to which NSAC is applied. This list includes the UE-ID (e.g., SUPI) of each UE. Therefore, It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have Velev teaches “based on the first parameter information being valid, updating, by the admission control network function, the number of terminal devices or sessions in the first network slice”.),
wherein the first parameter information comprises at least one of:
a terminal device identifier, an identifier of the first network slice, an access management network function identifier, first indication information for requesting registration or deregistration, second indication information for requesting session establishment or release, a terminal device access type, a session identifier, a data network identifier, a session management network function identifier, or a session status (Velev, Fig. 5B step 7b and paragraph 119.).
For claim 2, Velev further teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the verifying, by the admission control network function, the validity of the first parameter information comprises one or more of the following:
verifying, by the admission control network function, whether a terminal device corresponding to the terminal device identifier has subscribed to a service of a network to which the first network slice belongs or a service of a home network corresponding to the first network slice;
verifying, by the admission control network function, whether the terminal device has subscribed to a service of the first network slice or has subscribed to a service of a network slice of a home network corresponding to the first network slice;
verifying, by the admission control network function, whether the terminal device has registered with a network to which the first network slice belongs (Velev, Fig. 5B step 8b and paragraph 121.);
verifying, by the admission control network function, whether the terminal device has accessed the first network slice;
verifying, by the admission control network function, whether the terminal device has registered with a network by using an access management network function corresponding to the access management network function identifier;
verifying, by the admission control network function, whether the terminal device has accessed the first network slice by using the access management network function;
verifying, by the admission control network function, whether the terminal device has accessed a network via the terminal device access type;
verifying, by the admission control network function, whether the registration or deregistration request indicated by the first indication information matches a stored registration status of the terminal device;
verifying, by the admission control network function, whether the session establishment or release request indicated by the second indication information matches a stored session status of the terminal device;
verifying, by the admission control network function, whether the session identifier or a session corresponding to the session identifier exists;
verifying, by the admission control network function, whether the session identifier or a session corresponding to the session identifier belongs to the terminal device;
verifying, by the admission control network function, whether the session identifier or a session corresponding to the session identifier belongs to the first network slice;
verifying, by the admission control network function, whether a session corresponding to the session identifier is managed by a session management network function corresponding to the session management network function identifier;
verifying, by the admission control network function, whether the session status is consistent with a current status of the session; or
verifying, by the admission control network function, whether the first network slice matches a data network corresponding to the data network identifier.
For claim 5, Velev further teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein before the verifying, by the admission control network function, the validity of the first parameter information, the method further comprises:
determining, by the admission control network function, that a first condition is satisfied, wherein the first condition is deemed to be satisfied based on at least one of: a duration of a timer reaching a first duration, a number of times the first message is received reaches a first count threshold, a number of accessed terminal devices or sessions reaches a first number threshold, or indication information for triggering verification is received (Velev, Fig. 5B and paragraph 39.).
For claim 6, Velev further teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the first message is sent when an early admission control mode is inactive (Velev, Fig. 5B and paragraph 111.) and a number of terminal devices that request access to the first network slice reaches a second number threshold (Velev, Fig. 5B and paragraph 39.).
For claim 10, Velev teaches a communication apparatus (Velev, Fig. 9), comprising:
a processor (Velev, Fig. 5B item 905); and
a memory (Velev, Fig. 5B item 910) coupled to the processor, the memory having stored thereon processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
receive a first message comprising first parameter information used to update a number of terminal devices or sessions in a first network slice (Velev, Fig. 5B step 7b and paragraph 119.);
verify validity of the first parameter information (Velev, Fig. 5B step 8b and paragraph 121.); and
based on the first parameter information being valid, updating, by the admission control network function, the number of terminal devices or sessions in the first network slice (Velev, Fig. 5B step 10 and paragraph 128 teach the NSACF 501 determines whether to remove or keep the UE 205 in the list of UEs registered with the S-NSSAI #1 based on the reply in Step 9b (see block 539). If the result in step 9b is positive (e.g., “result=yes”), then the NSACF 501 determines to keep UE 205 in the list of UEs registered with the S-NSSAI #1. However, if the result in the reply in Step 9b is negative (e.g., “result=no”), then the NSACF 501 determines to remote the UE 205 from said list. If the NSACF 501 removes the UE 205, then the NSACF 501 also reduces the counter of registered UEs for the S-NSSAI #1. Velev, Fig. 5A and paragraph 74 further teach at Step 0b, the AMF1 240 updates the NSACF 250 to count the UE 205 for S-NSSAI #1, i.e., the NSACF 250 inserts the UE 205 in the list of UEs registered with the S-NSSAI #1 (see messaging 307). For example, the AMF1 240 may invoke a service request to update the NSACF 250 by including at least the following parameters: UE-ID, S-NSSAI #1, and an indication to add (or insert/count) the UE 205. Here, the parameter UE-ID may be the Subscription Permanent Identifier (“SUPI”) of the UE 205. Note that the parameter S-NSSAI #1 is network slice identifier for which the update is performed. The NSACF 250 maintains a list of UEs registered for the S-NSSAIs to which NSAC is applied. This list includes the UE-ID (e.g., SUPI) of each UE. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have Velev teaches “based on the first parameter information being valid, updating, by the admission control network function, the number of terminal devices or sessions in the first network slice”.),
wherein the first parameter information comprises at least one of:
a terminal device identifier, an identifier of the first network slice, an access management network function identifier, first indication information for requesting registration or deregistration, second indication information for requesting session establishment or release, a terminal device access type, a session identifier, a data network identifier, a session management network function identifier, or a session status (Velev, Fig. 5B step 7b and paragraph 119.).
For claim 11, Velev further teaches the apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the processor executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to verify the validity of the first parameter information by one or more of:
verifying whether a terminal device corresponding to the terminal device identifier has subscribed to a service of a network to which the first network slice belongs or a service of a home network corresponding to the first network slice;
verifying whether the terminal device has subscribed to a service of the first network slice or has subscribed to a service of a network slice of a home network corresponding to the first network slice;
verifying whether the terminal device has registered with a network to which the first network slice belongs (Velev, Fig. 5B step 8b and paragraph 121.);
verifying whether the terminal device has accessed the first network slice;
verifying whether the terminal device has registered with a network by using an access management network function corresponding to the access management network function identifier;
verifying whether the terminal device has accessed the first network slice by using the access management network function; verifying whether the terminal device has accessed a network via the terminal device access type;
verifying whether the registration or deregistration request indicated by the first indication information matches a stored registration status of the terminal device;
verifying whether the session establishment or release request indicated by the second indication information matches a stored session status of the terminal device;
verifying whether the session identifier or a session corresponding to the session identifier exists;
verifying whether the session identifier or a session corresponding to the session identifier belongs to the terminal device;
verifying whether the session identifier or a session corresponding to the session identifier belongs to the first network slice;
verifying whether a session corresponding to the session identifier is managed by a session management network function corresponding to the session management network function identifier;
verifying whether the session status is consistent with a current status of the session; or
verifying whether the first network slice matches a data network corresponding to the data network identifier.
For claim 14, Velev further teaches the apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the processor executable instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to determine that a first condition is satisfied, wherein the first condition is deemed to be satisfied based on at least one of: a duration of a timer reaching first duration, a number of times of receiving the first message reaching a first count threshold, a number of accessed terminal devices or sessions reaching a first number threshold, and indication information for triggering verification being received (Velev, Fig. 5B and paragraph 39.).
For claim 15, Velev further teaches the apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the first message is sent when an early admission control mode is inactive (Velev, Fig. 5B and paragraph 111.) and a number of terminal devices that request access to the first network slice reaches a second number threshold (Velev, Fig. 5B and paragraph 39.).
10. Claims 3-4, 7-9, 12-13 and 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Genadi Velev et al. (US 20240236912 A1), hereinafter Velev, in view of Sheeba Backia Mary Baskaran et al. (US 2025/0310777 A1), hereinafter Baskaran.
For claim 3, Velev teaches all the limitations of parent claim 1. Velev does not explicitly teach sending a verification request and receiving a verification result.
However, Baskaran explicitly teaches sending a verification request and receiving a verification result (Baskaran, Fig. 9 and paragraph 286.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method taught in Velev with sending a verification request and receiving a verification result taught in Baskaran to have sending, by the admission control network function, a second message to a data management network function, wherein the second message is used to request verification of the first parameter information; and receiving, by the admission control network function, a third message, wherein the third message comprises a verification result of the first parameter information in order to get successfully authenticated and receive the network subscription information to enable network service access. [Baskaran: paragraph 56].
For claim 4, Velev and Baskaran further teach the method according to claim 3, wherein the second message comprises at least one of:
the terminal device identifier, fourth indication information for verifying a subscription status of a terminal device, fifth indication information for verifying an access status of a terminal device, the identifier of the first network slice, an identifier of a slice corresponding to the first network slice in a home network, the access management network function identifier, the first indication information, the second indication information, the terminal device access type, a session identifier, the data network identifier, the session management network function identifier, or the session status (Velev, Fig. 5B step 7b and paragraph 119.).
For claim 7, Velev teaches all the limitations of parent claim 1. Velev does not explicitly teach sending a verification request and receiving a verification result.
However, Baskaran explicitly teaches sending a verification request and receiving a verification result (Baskaran, Fig. 9 and paragraph 286.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method taught in Velev with sending a verification request and receiving a verification result taught in Baskaran to have receiving, by a data management network function, a second message used to request verification of first parameter information, the first parameter information being used to update a number of terminal devices or sessions in a first network slice; verifying, by the data management network function, the first parameter information based on obtained second parameter information about a terminal device or a session; and sending, by the data management network function, a third message to an admission control network function, the third message comprising a verification result of the first parameter information, and the verification result comprising an indication that the first parameter information is valid or false in order to get successfully authenticated and receive the network subscription information to enable network service access. [Baskaran: paragraph 56].
For claim 8, Velev and Baskaran further teach the method according to claim 7, wherein the second message comprises at least one of:
a terminal device identifier, fourth indication information for verifying a subscription status of a terminal device, fifth indication information for verifying an access status of a terminal device, an identifier of the first network slice, an identifier of a slice corresponding to the first network slice in a home network, an access management network function identifier, first indication information for requesting registration or deregistration, second indication information for requesting session establishment or release, a terminal device access type, a session identifier, a data network identifier, a session management network function identifier, or a session status (Velev, Fig. 5B step 7b and paragraph 119.).
For claim 9, Velev and Baskaran further teach the method according to claim 8, wherein the verifying, by the data management network function, the first parameter information based on the obtained second parameter information of the terminal device or the session comprises one or more of the following:
verifying, by the data management network function, a subscription status of the terminal device based on the fourth indication information;
verifying, by the data management network function, whether a terminal device corresponding to the terminal device identifier has subscribed to a service of a network to which the first network slice belongs or a service of a home network corresponding to the first network slice;
verifying, by the data management network function, whether the terminal device has subscribed to a service of the first network slice or has subscribed to a service of a network slice of a home network corresponding to the first network slice;
verifying, by the data management network function, an access status of the terminal device based on the fifth indication information;
verifying, by the data management network function, whether the terminal device has registered with a network to which the first network slice belongs (Velev, Fig. 5B step 8b and paragraph 121.);
verifying, by the data management network function, whether the terminal device has accessed the first network slice;
verifying, by the data management network function, whether the terminal device has registered with a network by using an access management network function corresponding to the access management network function identifier;
verifying, by the data management network function, whether the terminal device has accessed the first network slice by using the access management network function;
verifying, by the data management network function, whether the terminal device has accessed a network via the terminal device access type;
verifying, by the data management network function, whether the registration or deregistration request indicated by the first indication information matches a stored registration status of the terminal device;
verifying, by the data management network function, whether the session establishment or release request indicated by the second indication information matches a stored session status of the terminal device;
verifying, by the data management network function, whether the session identifier or a session corresponding to the session identifier exists;
verifying, by the data management network function, whether the session identifier or a session corresponding to the session identifier belongs to the terminal device;
verifying, by the data management network function, whether the session identifier or a session corresponding to the session identifier belongs to the first network slice;
verifying, by the data management network function, whether a session corresponding to the session identifier is managed by a session management network function corresponding to the session management network function identifier;
verifying, by the data management network function, whether the session status is consistent with a current status of the session; or
verifying, by the data management network function, whether the first network slice matches a data network corresponding to the data network identifier.
For claim 12, Velev teaches all the limitations of parent claim 10. Velev does not explicitly teach sending a verification request and receiving a verification result.
However, Baskaran explicitly teaches sending a verification request and receiving a verification result (Baskaran, Fig. 9 and paragraph 286.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method taught in Velev with sending a verification request and receiving a verification result taught in Baskaran to have sending a second message to a data management network function, the second message being used to request verification of the first parameter information, and receiving a third message, the third message comprising a verification result of the first parameter information in order to get successfully authenticated and receive the network subscription information to enable network service access. [Baskaran: paragraph 56].
For claim 13, Velev and Baskaran further teach the apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the second message comprises at least one of:
the terminal device identifier, fourth indication information for verifying a subscription status of a terminal device, fifth indication information for verifying an access status of a terminal device, the identifier of the first network slice, an identifier of a slice corresponding to the first network slice in a home network, the access management network function identifier, the first indication information, the second indication information, the terminal device access type, a session identifier, the data network identifier, the session management network function identifier, or the session status (Velev, Fig. 5B step 7b and paragraph 119.).
For claim 16, Velev teaches a communication apparatus (Velev, Fig. 5A item UDM), comprising a processor (Velev, Fig. 9 item 905); and a memory (Velev, Fig. 9 item 910) coupled to the processor and a communication method, comprising:
receiving, by an admission control network function, a first message comprising first parameter information used to update a number of terminal devices or sessions in a first network slice (Velev, Fig. 5B step 7b and paragraph 119.);
verifying, by the admission control network function, validity of the first parameter information (Velev, Fig. 5B step 8b and paragraph 121.); and
based on the first parameter information being valid, updating, by the admission control network function, the number of terminal devices or sessions in the first network slice (Velev, Fig. 5B step 10 and paragraph 128 teach the NSACF 501 determines whether to remove or keep the UE 205 in the list of UEs registered with the S-NSSAI #1 based on the reply in Step 9b (see block 539). If the result in step 9b is positive (e.g., “result=yes”), then the NSACF 501 determines to keep UE 205 in the list of UEs registered with the S-NSSAI #1. However, if the result in the reply in Step 9b is negative (e.g., “result=no”), then the NSACF 501 determines to remote the UE 205 from said list. If the NSACF 501 removes the UE 205, then the NSACF 501 also reduces the counter of registered UEs for the S-NSSAI #1. Velev, Fig. 5A and paragraph 74 further teaches At Step 0b, the AMF1 240 updates the NSACF 250 to count the UE 205 for S-NSSAI #1, i.e., the NSACF 250 inserts the UE 205 in the list of UEs registered with the S-NSSAI #1 (see messaging 307). For example, the AMF1 240 may invoke a service request to update the NSACF 250 by including at least the following parameters: UE-ID, S-NSSAI #1, and an indication to add (or insert/count) the UE 205. Here, the parameter UE-ID may be the Subscription Permanent Identifier (“SUPI”) of the UE 205. Note that the parameter S-NSSAI #1 is network slice identifier for which the update is performed. The NSACF 250 maintains a list of UEs registered for the S-NSSAIs to which NSAC is applied. This list includes the UE-ID (e.g., SUPI) of each UE. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have Velev teaches “based on the first parameter information being valid, updating, by the admission control network function, the number of terminal devices or sessions in the first network slice”.),
Velev does not explicitly teach sending a verification request and receiving a verification result.
However, Baskaran explicitly teaches sending a verification request and receiving a verification result (Baskaran, Fig. 9 and paragraph 286.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method taught in Velev with sending a verification request and receiving a verification result taught in Baskaran to have receiving a second message, the second message being used to request verification of first parameter information, the first parameter information being used to update a number of terminal devices or sessions in a first network slice; verifying the first parameter information based on obtained second parameter information about a terminal device or a session, and sending a third message to an admission control network function, the third message comprising a verification result of the first parameter information, the verification result comprising an indication that the first parameter information is valid or false in order to get successfully authenticated and receive the network subscription information to enable network service access. [Baskaran: paragraph 56].
For claim 17, Velev and Baskaran further teach the apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the second message comprises at least one of:
a terminal device identifier, fourth indication information for verifying a subscription status of a terminal device, fifth indication information for verifying an access status of a terminal device, an identifier of the first network slice, an identifier of a slice corresponding to the first network slice in a home network, an access management network function identifier, first indication information for requesting registration or deregistration, second indication information for requesting session establishment or release, an terminal device access type, a session identifier, a data network identifier, a session management network function identifier, or a session status (Velev, Fig. 5B step 7b and paragraph 119.).
For claim 18, Velev and Baskaran further teach the apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the processor executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to verify the first parameter information based on the obtained second parameter information of a terminal device or a session bye_one or more:
verifying a subscription status of the terminal device based on the fourth indication information;
verifying whether a terminal device corresponding to the terminal device identifier has subscribed to a service of a network to which the first network slice belongs or a service of a home network corresponding to the first network slice;
verifying whether the terminal device has subscribed to a service of the first network slice or has subscribed to a service of a network slice of a home network corresponding to the first network slice;
verifying an access status of the terminal device based on the fifth indication information;
verifying whether the terminal device has registered with a network to which the first network slice belongs (Velev, Fig. 5B step 8b and paragraph 121.)
verifying whether the terminal device has accessed the first network slice;
verifying whether the terminal device has registered with a network by using an access management network function corresponding to the access management network function identifier;
verifying whether the terminal device has accessed the first network slice by using the access management network function;
verifying whether the terminal device has accessed a network via the terminal device access type;
verifying whether the registration or deregistration request indicated by the first indication information matches a stored registration status of the terminal device;
verifying whether the session establishment or release request indicated by the second indication information matches a stored session status of the terminal device;
verifying whether the session identifier or a session corresponding to the session identifier exists;
verifying whether the session identifier or a session corresponding to the session identifier belongs to the terminal device;
verifying whether the session identifier or a session corresponding to the session identifier belongs to the first network slice;
verifying whether a session corresponding to the session identifier is managed by a session management network function corresponding to the session management network function identifier;
verifying whether the session status is consistent with a current status of the session; or
verifying whether the first network slice matches a data network corresponding to the data network identifier.
Conclusion
11. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILL W LIN whose telephone number is (571)272-8749. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-5:00.
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/WILL W LIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412