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 .
Status of Claims
The following is a non-final, first action on the merits, in response to application filed November 08, 2023. Claims 1-20, are currently pending.
Priority
Certified copy of priority document GB 2216802.5 dated November 10, 2022, is acknowledged which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 11/06/2024, is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kunz et al (hereinafter Kunz) (US 12,143,812).
Regarding claim 1, Kunz discloses a method for use in a network control element, the method comprising:
allocating (provisioning authentication and the security context to the network function) a network security function between a visited network and a home network of a user equipment (a visited public land mobile network (“VPLMN”) that is different from a home PLMN (“HPLMN”) associated with the UE) (abstract; col. 1, lines 38-49), and
controlling (access network (120) that may include one or more controllers communicatively couped to one or more corresponding cellular units (121)) domain name system related signaling between an edge computing related network element in the visited network (VHPLN) and a network element in the home network (HPLMN) such that the domain name system related signaling is subjected to the network security function (the cellular base units 121 transmit DL communication signals to serve the remote units 105 in the time, frequency, and/or spatial domain. Furthermore, the DL communication signals may be carried over the 3GPP communication links 123. The 3GPP communication links 123 may be any suitable carrier in licensed or unlicensed radio spectrum. The 3GPP communication links 123 facilitate communication between one or more of the remote units 105 and/or one or more of the cellular base units 121. Note that during NR operation on unlicensed spectrum (referred to as “NR-U”), the base unit 121 and the remote unit 105 communicate over unlicensed (i.e., shared) radio spectrum. …… The AF_ID, in one embodiment, consists of the fully qualified domain name (“FQDN”) of the AF 215 and the Ua* security protocol identifier. The latter parameter, in one embodiment, identifies the security protocol that the Application Function (AF 215) will use with the UE 207) (col. 8 to col. 9, lines 65-67 to lines 1-14; col. 12, lines 41-48).
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 14, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Howe (US 2022/0408255).
Regarding claim 14, Howe discloses a method for use in a network element, the method comprising:
receiving domain name system related signaling from an edge computing related network element in a visited network (the access control can include Domain Name System (DNS) filtering, etc., ……… proposed solution delivers ubiquitous secure, zero-trust enabled workload access for User Equipment (UE) on any network, including but not limited to Mobile Networks (home, visitor, other, etc.) should the user be authorized to access the workload, regardless of the workload location, and methods could apply to any edge compute platform, the system 100 provides a key feature, that is, security at the edge) (paras. 0060, 0091, 0282, 0283),
performing a security check on the domain name system related signaling (system 100 ensuring that security and access policies are enforced, regardless of device, location, operating system, or application, the system can provide security at the edge (paras. 0079, 0091, 0098), and
forwarding the domain name system related signaling towards a network element in the home network, in case the security check is positive (policy can include access privileges for users, websites and/or content that is disallowed, restricted domains, DLP dictionaries, etc., all enforcement nodes 150 are informed when there is a policy change. Any enforcement node 150 can then pull the change in policy when it sees a new request) (paras. 0075),
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.
Claim 19-20, 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.
Claim 19, recites the limitation "a network element" in line 8. It is not sufficiently clear if the recited “a network element” the same to that recited in line 5-6 There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 19, recites the limitation, “the home network” in line 6. There is no antecedent basis for this limitation anywhere in the claim.
Claim 19, recites, “sending received domain name system…..) in line 10. There is no antecedent basis for it in the claim, Suggest the limitation, “sending received domain name system related signalling to a user equipment’s data session.”, be amended to recite,
-- sending the received domain name system related signaling to the user equipment’s data session. --
Claim 20, dependent to claim 19, rejected likewise.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-13, 15-18, 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.
Conclusion
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/QUTBUDDIN GHULAMALI/
Primary Examiner,
Art Unit 2632.