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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-6 and 21-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. It is unclear if the steps are performed by a single device or multiple devices. Please clarify.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-5, 21, 23, 25-29 and 35-37 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP TS 23.501 V17.5.0 (2022-06) in view of Cherian 20140359148.
As to claim 25, 3GPP discloses a method comprising:
generating, for transmission, a network function (NF) discovery request to discover NFs that can provide services defined for operation of a user equipment (UE) [In order for the requester NF or SCP to obtain information about the NF and/or NF service(s) registered or configured in a PLMN/slice, based on local configuration the requester NF or SCP may initiate a discovery procedure with the NRF by providing the type of the NF and optionally a list of the specific service(s) it is attempting to discover.] (see section 6.3);
identifying access information, received for an NF that can provide the services defined for operation of the UE, an access procedure for the NF to be utilized by the UE identified based on the access information [For NF and NF service discovery across PLMNs, the NRF in the local PLMN interacts with the NRF in the remote PLMN to retrieve the NF profile(s) of the NF instance(s) in the remote PLMN that matches the discovery criteria. The NRF in the local PLMN reaches the NRF in the remote PLMN by forming a target PLMN specific query using the PLMN ID provided by the requester NF.] (see section 6.3); and
performing the access procedure for the NF to access the NF [For NF and NF service discovery across PLMNs, the NRF in the local PLMN interacts with the NRF in the remote PLMN to retrieve the NF profile(s) of the NF instance(s) in the remote PLMN that matches the discovery criteria. The NRF in the local PLMN reaches the NRF in the remote PLMN by forming a target PLMN specific query using the PLMN ID provided by the requester NF.] (see section 6.3.1.0-6.3.26). 3GPP fails to disclose to and from a base station. In an analogous art, Cherian discloses network function/service discovery request [302] to a base station [104] and access information [314] [service info] from the base station (see par. 0078-0080, 0084). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to combine the teachings for the simple purpose of allowing discovery of services to the UE while having an efficient infrastructure and security.
As to claim 26, 3GPP discloses the method of claim 25, wherein the NF discovery request indicates characteristics of the UE, and wherein the NFs that can provide the services defined for operation of the UE are selected based on the characteristics of the UE [any factor of the UE considered such as location, access technology being used by the UE, etc.] (see section 6.3.1.2-6.3.26).
As to claim 27, 3GPP discloses the method of claim 25, wherein the NF discovery request indicates a selected public land mobile network (PLMN) associated with the UE, and wherein the NFs that can provide the services defined for operation of the UE are selected based on the selected PLMN associated with the UE [For NF and NF service discovery across PLMNs, the NRF in the local PLMN interacts with the NRF in the remote PLMN to retrieve the NF profile(s) of the NF instance(s) in the remote PLMN that matches the discovery criteria. The NRF in the local PLMN reaches the NRF in the remote PLMN by forming a target PLMN specific query using the PLMN ID provided by the requester NF.] (see section 6.3-6.3.26).
As to claim 28, 3GPP discloses the method of claim 25, wherein the NF discovery request indicates an identifier of an NF instance which had previously registered the UE (see Table 6.3.1.0-1; section 6.3.1.2-6.3.26).
As to claim 29, 3GPP discloses the method of claim 25, wherein the NF discovery request is carried (see section 6.3) and an uplink (UL) transport message (see section 5.32.2). 3GPP fails to disclose both teaching together. However, in an analogous art, Cherian discloses wherein the NF discovery request is carried in an uplink (UL) message (see par. 0078-0080). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to combine the teachings for the simple purpose of allowing discovery of services to the UE while having an efficient infrastructure and security.
Regarding claims 1-5, they are the corresponding non-transitory, computer-readable media claims of method claims 25-29. Therefore, claims 1-5 are rejected for the same reasons as shown above.
As to claim 21, 3GPP discloses the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the services defined for operation of the UE include support for internet of things (see section 5.31.1) and wherein the NF provides services for UEs (see section 6.3). 3GPP fails to disclose specialized industrial internet of things (IIOT) features. However, it is noted that specialized industrial internet of things (IIOT) features is an intended use and the teachings of the 3GPP will bring the same predictable result of supporting the desired available functions and services. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to support specialized industrial internet of things functions in the same way that network functions are supported for an efficient discovery of functions and services.
As to claim 23, 3GPP discloses the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the access information includes internet protocol (IP) information for the NF [The NRF may provide the IP address] (see section 6.3.1).
Regarding claims 35-37, they are the corresponding apparatus claims of method claims 25-27. Therefore, claims 35-37 are rejected for the same reasons as shown above.
Claim(s) 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP TS 23.501 V17.5.0 in view of Cherian as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of de-Gregorio-Rodriguez 2022/0272622.
As to claim 24, the previous references fail to disclose wherein the access information includes an indication of a version of a service application programming interface (API) supported by the NF. In another analogous art, de-Gregorio-Rodriguez discloses wherein the access information includes an indication of a version of a service application programming interface (API) supported by the NF [wherein the information about one or more services supported in the network comprises a version of one or more Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) supported by the first network function] (see par. 0136). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings for the simple purpose of indicating available functions while maintaining version compatibility.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6, 22 and 30-31 are would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the limitations of performing a random access procedure to establish a transport session, wherein the NF discovery request is carried in a radio transport message associated with the transport session; or generating, for transmission, an uplink (UL) transport message requesting registration with the NF, the UL transport message including a UE context create request in combination with all previously claimed limitations have not been found nor having fairly suggested in the prior art search.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARCOS L TORRES whose telephone number is (571)272-7926. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM M-F.
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MARCOS L. TORRES
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2647
/MARCOS L TORRES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
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