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 .
The following is a Final Office action in response to communications received 11/05/2025.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/17/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
Claims 5 and 10 have been cancelled.
Claims 1, 16, and 19 have been amended.
Claims 1-4, 6-9, and 11-20 have been examined.
The objections to claims 8, 9, 11, 13 and 14 are withdrawn in light of the applicant’s amendments to the claims.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 16, and 19 regarding the new limitation: “wherein the meta information includes called-station-id”, have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground of rejection presented in the current office action.
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-4, 6-9, and 12-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over prior art of record US 20200145432 to Verma et al (hereinafter Verma) and US 20220029976 to Ericksen et al (hereinafter Ericksen).
As per claims 1, 16, and 19, Verma teaches:
A system, comprising:
a processor configured to:
monitor network traffic on a mobile network at a Security Platform to identify a new session, wherein the Security Platform is located at a perimeter of the mobile network (Verma: [0120]: monitoring network traffic on a service provider network at a security platform to identify a new session. [0148]: FIG. 1B is an example service provider network environment for a multi-edge 5G network architecture that includes Security Platforms in various locations on the edge of the 5G network as shown at 102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d for monitoring communications),
determine meta information associated with the new session by extracting the meta information from the network traffic via one or more interfaces, wherein the network traffic includes a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) (Verma: [0120]: extracting subscription and/or equipment identifier information (meta information) for user traffic associated with the new session at the security platform. [0124]: The security platform parses Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) messages over an N4 interface between a Session Management Function (SMF) component/element and a User Plane Function (UPF) component/element); and
enforce a security policy on the new session at the Security Platform based on the meta information to apply context-based security in the mobile network (Verma: [0120]: determining a security policy to apply at the security platform to the new session based on the subscription and/or equipment identifier information); and
a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions (Verma: [0030]: a processor, such as a processor configured to execute instructions stored on and/or provided by a memory coupled to the processor).
Verma does not teach: wherein the meta information includes called-station-id. However, Ericksen teaches:
wherein the meta information includes called-station-id (Ericksen: [0023]: For example, some embodiments may include a server computing device that is configured to determine whether a resource request received from a UE device includes a called station identifier parameter (e.g., Called-Station-ID, etc.) that identifies a media access control (MAC) address of an access point (AP) associated with the UE device).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teachings of Ericksen in the invention of Verma to include the above limitations. The motivation to do so would be to determine whether the UE should be granted access to a requested service (Ericksen: [0027]).
As per claim 2, 17, and 20, Verma in view of Ericksen teaches:
The system recited in claim 1, wherein the Security Platform is configured to process PFCP messages to extract the meta information from the network traffic via the one or more interfaces (Verma: [0124]: The security platform parses Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) messages over an N4 interface between a Session Management Function (SMF) component/element and a User Plane Function (UPF) component/element. The security platform is configured to extract, for example, subscription related information and/or equipment identifier related information from the parsed PFCP messages).
As per claims 3 and 18, Verma in view of Ericksen teaches:
The system recited in claim 1, wherein the Security Platform is located at the one or more interfaces at the perimeter of the mobile network (Verma: [0124]: The security platform parses Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) messages over an N4 interface between a Session Management Function (SMF) component/element and a User Plane Function (UPF) component/element. [0148]: FIG. 1B is an example service provider network environment for a multi-edge 5G network architecture that includes Security Platforms in various locations on the edge of the 5G network as shown at 102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d for monitoring communications).
As per claim 4, Verma in view of Ericksen teaches:
The system recited in claim 1, wherein the Security Platform is located at the one or more interfaces at the perimeter of the mobile network selected from one or more of the following interfaces: SGi, Sxb, N4, and N6 (Verma: [0124]: The security platform parses Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) messages over an N4 interface between a Session Management Function (SMF) component/element and a User Plane Function (UPF) component/element).
As per claim 6, Verma in view of Ericksen teaches:
The system recited in claim 1, wherein the meta information includes International Mobile Subscription Identity (IMSI) information (Verma: [0126]: the security platform parses Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) Session Establishment Request and PFCP Session Establishment Response messages to extract the subscription and/or equipment identifier information, and wherein the subscription and/or equipment identifier information is identified by an International Mobile Subscription Identity (IMSI)).
As per claim 7, Verma in view of Ericksen teaches:
The system recited in claim 1, wherein the meta information includes Subscription Permanent Identifier (SUPI) information (Verma: [0065]: applying service-based security per Subscription Permanent Identifier (SUPI) that can be applied using a security platform by parsing HTTP/2 messages to extract SUPI information).
As per claim 8, Verma in view of Ericksen teaches:
The system recited in claim 1, wherein the meta information includes International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI)/Permanent Equipment Identifier (PEI) information (Verma: [0126]: the security platform parses Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) Session Establishment Request and PFCP Session Establishment Response messages to extract the subscription and/or equipment identifier information, and wherein the subscription and/or equipment identifier information is identified by an International Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI)).
As per claim 9, Verma in view of Ericksen teaches:
The system recited in claim 1, wherein the meta information includes Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI) (Verma: [0049]: based on the security platform deployment topology in a given 5G network, S-NSSAI information can be extracted using one or more of two options).
As per claim 12, Verma in view of Ericksen teaches:
The system recited in claim 1, wherein the meta information includes user location information (Verma: [0112] In some embodiments, based on the security platform deployment topology in a 5G network, User Location information can be extracted using the following two options).
As per claim 13, Verma in view of Ericksen teaches:
The system recited in claim 1, wherein the meta information includes User Equipment (UE)IP, International Mobile Subscription Identity(IMSI) / Subscription Permanent Identifier (SUPI), International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI)/Permanent Equipment Identifier (PEI), Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI), and/or radio access technology (RAT) Type information (Verma: the security platform parses Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) Session Establishment Request and PFCP Session Establishment Response messages to extract the subscription and/or equipment identifier information, and wherein the subscription and/or equipment identifier information is identified by an International Mobile Subscription Identity (IMSI), International Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI), and/or Mobile Subscriber ISDN (MSISDN) related information).
As per claim 14, Verma in view of Ericksen teaches:
The system recited in claim 1, wherein the Security Platform is configured with a plurality of security policies to apply vulnerability protection, intrusion prevention, antivirus, antispyware, Domain Name System (DNS) security, denial of service (DoS) protection, and/or cloud-based security (Verma: [0149]: one or more of Security Platforms 102a-e can also be in network communication with a Cloud Security Service 122 (not shown in FIG. 1B) (e.g., a commercially available cloud-based security service, such as the WildFire′ cloud-based malware analysis environment that is a commercially available cloud security service provided by Palo Alto Networks, Inc., which includes automated security analysis of malware samples as well as security expert analysis. For example, Cloud Security Service 122 can be utilized to provide the Security Platforms with dynamic prevention signatures for malware, DNS, URLs, CNC malware, and/or other malware as well as to receive malware samples for further security analysis. [0218]: As an example for one DNN, a mobile operator can define an action block (e.g., to drop and log) for all Mirai Command and Control traffic using antispyware signatures Threat ID: 13999 and 13974 https://threatvault.paloaltonetworks.com/.).
As per claim 15, Verma in view of Ericksen teaches:
The system recited in claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: block the new session from accessing a resource based on the security policy (Verma: [0127]: blocking the new session from accessing a resource based on the security policy).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Verma in view of Ericksen as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of prior art of record US 20180367578 to Verma et al (hereinafter Verma’578).
As per claim 11, Verma in view of Ericksen does not explicitly teach the limitations of claim 11. However, Verma’578 teaches:
wherein the meta information includes RAT Type information (Verma’578: Abstract: monitoring network traffic on a service provider network at a security platform to identify a Radio Access Technology (RAT) type for a new session).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teachings of Verma’578 in the invention of Verma in view of Ericksen to include the above limitations. The motivation to do so would be to perform RAT based security in mobile networks using a security platform that can implement security policies based on RAT information (e.g., RAT Types supported by GTPv2-C) (Verma’578: [0130]).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MADHURI R HERZOG whose telephone number is (571)270-3359. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30AM-4:30PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Taghi Arani can be reached at (571)272-3787. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
MADHURI R. HERZOG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2438
/MADHURI R HERZOG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2438