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 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant has incorporated the details of claims 2-5 into the independent claims.
Applicant argues that the access tokens and identifiers are used for authentication consistency and not for the profile based token reuse mechanism.
Examiner points to Khare [0045] which states that an access token for an Nfp service is cached for “re-use” in a subsequent service request. Examiner argues this is the point of the profile based reuse in the current claim set.
Examiner points to Kuravangi-Thammaiah [0044] which states that the SCP may “cache the access token” which enables “subsequent service requests without having transmit token requests to the NRF, thus conserving resources. Examiner argues again that the prior art teaches reuse of the access token.
Examiner has interpreted the ““NF Set ID” in Khare as the “TokenProfileID” Khare teaches the request for access includes this as part of the CCA request. Khare and Kuravangi-Thammaiah both clearly teach reuse of access tokens in appropriate situations, meaning only for approved consumers and for the proper producers, and thus the “profile” limitation is met. The access token would be unable to be used if there was no method to map the CCA identifiers onto the profile and associated token.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 22, 25, 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claims 22, 25, 28 state “without storing the set of Access of “storing the AccessTokenProfile without storing the set of AccessTokenRequest parameters”. This is a negative limitation and Examiner failed to find support in the instant specification. Examiner welcomes Applicant to point out support to overcome this rejection.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 6-8, 13-15, 20-29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khare US 2022/0217127 in view of Kuravangi-Thammaiah US 2024/0236080 in view of Khare US 2023/0030315.
As per claims 1, 8, 15. Khare teaches A method comprising: generating, by a Network Function (NF) consumer, a token profile identifier (TokenProfileId) parameter for a set of access token request (AccessTokenRequest) parameters; sending, by the NF consumer, a service request for a NF producer to a service communication proxy (SCP), wherein the service request includes a set of network repository function (NRF) discovery parameters, the set of AccessTokenRequest parameters, and the TokenProfileId parameter; receiving, by the SCP, an access token (AccessToken) for the NF producer from a NRF based on the set of NRF discovery parameters and the set of AccessTokenRequest parameters; storing, in the SCP, the AccessToken for the NF consumer and an access token profile (AccessTokenProfile) for the NF producer; [0033]-[0047] [0060](teaches that a NFc a CCA, including sending a service request for a NFp to an SCP, the SCP issues request to NRF based on discovery, and storing the access token for the NFc to access the NFp)
Kuravangi-Thammaiah teaches receiving, by the SCP, a subsequent service request from the NF consumer to the NF producer; and retrieving, by the SCP, the AccessToken for the subsequent service request based on the AccessTokenProfile. [0028]-[0032], [0042]-[0044][0048][0050] (teaches a subsequent request from NFc to the SCP, and using the cached token for NFc for subsequent requests until token expires; therefore there is a profile associated with the NFc consumer based on the CCA requests and identity of the consumer mapped to the access token.)
Kuravangi-Thammaiah teaches wherein the AccessTokenProfile includes a consumer identifier (Consumerld) parameter, a producer identifier (Producerld) parameter, and the TokenProfileId. (CCA authentication request for access token) [0028]-[0032], [0042]-[0044][0048][0050] (teaches a subsequent request from NFc to the SCP, and using the cached token for NFc for subsequent requests until token expires; therefore there is a profile associated with the NFc consumer based on the CCA requests and identity of the consumer mapped to the access token.)
Kuravangi-Thammaiah teaches the subsequent service request includes a same set of AccessTokenRequest parameters as the service request. [0042]-[0044][0048][0049][0050] (subsequent access to same provider, same CCA, same token usage)
Kuravangi-Thammaiah teaches storing the AccessToken for the NF consumer and the AccessTokenProfile for the NF producer further comprise: mapping the AccessTokenProfile for the NF Producer to the AccessToken for the NF consumer. [0028]-[0032], [0042]-[0044][0048[0050] (teaches a subsequent request from NFc to the SCP, and using the cached token for NFc for subsequent requests until token expires; therefore there is a profile associated with the NFc consumer based on the CCA requests and identity of the consumer mapped to the access token.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to use the teaching of Kuravangi-Thammaiah with the prior art because it conserves resources [0044]
Khare“315” teaches the mapping reflects a consumer identifier (Consumerld) parameter, a producer identifier (Producerld) parameter, and the TokenProfileId parameter for the NF Producer to the AccessToken and an asccoiated expiry for the NF Consumer. [0034]-[0042] (more explicitly teaches access token parameters)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the teaching of Khare “315“ with the prior art because it more explicitly teaches the access parameters as used in the prior art.
As per claims 6, 13, 20 Kuravangi-Thammaiah teaches The method of claim 1, wherein the SCP stores a different AccessTokenProfile for each different NF Producer. [0028]-[0032], [0042]-[0044][0050] (teaches a subsequent request from NFc to the SCP, and using the cached token for specific NFp so the NFp is of a different profile.)
As per claims 7, 14. Kuravangi-Thammaiah teaches The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the SCP , a second subsequent service request from the NF consumer to the NF producer, wherein the second subsequent servicer requests includes a same AccessTokenRequest parameters as the service request; and retrieving, by the SCP , the AccessToken for the subsequent service request based on the AccessTokenProfile. [0028]-[0032], [0042]-[0044] (teaches a subsequent request from NFc to the SCP, and using the cached token for NFc for subsequent requests until token expires)
As per claims 21, 24, 27 Khare teaches the subsequent service request corresponds to a different session than the service request and wherein the SCP retrieves the Access Token for the subsequent service request from the mapping without sending an additional access token request to the NRF. [0041] [0043][0045][0060] (teaches a service request and a cached access token for subsequent use for access where the service request includes a Consumer ID Producer ID and “NF Set ID” interpreted as a profile ID. The token is cached in association with the Producer ID and NF profile obtained by the SCP.)
Kuravangi-Thammaiah additionally teaches the subsequent service request corresponds to a different session than the service request and wherein the SCP retrieves the Access Token for the subsequent service request from the mapping without sending an additional access token request to the NRF. [0043][0044] [0048] (caches the access token for use in subsequent service requests, conserves resources) (access token includes a plurality of identifiers including NF instance identifier and scope)
As per claims 22, 25, 28 Khare teaches the SCP stores the AccessTokenProfile without storing the set of Access Token Request parameters [0041] [0043][0045][0060] (teaches a service request and a cached access token for subsequent use for access where the service request includes a Consumer ID Producer ID and “NF Set ID” interpreted as a profile ID. The token is cached in association with the Producer ID and NF profile obtained by the SCP.)
Kuravangi-Thammaiah additionally teaches teaches the SCP stores the AccessTokenProfile without storing the set of Access Token Request parameters[0043][0044] [0048] (caches the access token for use in subsequent service requests, conserves resources) (access token includes a plurality of identifiers including NF instance identifier and scope)
As per claims 23, 26, 29, Khare teaches retrieving the Access Token comprises identifying the mapping entry using the ConsumerId and the ProducerID in combination with the TokenProfileID [0041] [0043][0045][0060] (teaches a service request and a cached access token for subsequent use for access where the service request includes a Consumer ID Producer ID and “NF Set ID” interpreted as a profile ID. The token is cached in association with the Producer ID and NF profile obtained by the SCP.)
Kuravangi-Thammaiah additionally teaches retrieving the Access Token comprises identifying the mapping entry using the ConsumerId and the ProducerID in combination with the TokenProfileID [0043][0044] [0048] (caches the access token for use in subsequent service requests, conserves resources) (access token includes a plurality of identifiers including NF instance identifier and scope)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER BROWN whose telephone number is (571)272-3833. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Luu Pham can be reached at (571) 270-5002. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER J BROWN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2439