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 .
Claims 1, 3-12, 14-16, and 18-19 have been examined.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 05/06/2026 has been entered.
Terminal Disclaimer
The terminal disclaimer filed on 04/15/2026 disclaiming the terminal portion of any patent granted on this application which would extend beyond the expiration date of U.S. Patent No. 11979746 has been reviewed and is accepted. The terminal disclaimer has been recorded.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 08/21/2025 and 04/13/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
Claims 1, 16, and 19 have been amended.
The double patenting rejection has been withdrawn in light of the terminal disclaimer filed on 04/15/2026.
Claim objections to claims 1, 16, and 19 are withdrawn in light of the applicant’s amendments to the claims.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 limitations: “wherein the Radius protocol and/or the Diameter protocol includes Accounting-Request(START)/Accounting-Response(START) and Accounting- Request(interim-update)/Accounting-Response(interim-update) messages, wherein the Accounting-Request(START)/Accounting-Response(START) and the Accounting-Request(interim-update)/Accounting-Response(interim-update) messages include the meta information”, have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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, 3-6, 11, 12, 14-16, 18, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over prior art of record US 20190253389 to Verma et al (hereinafter Verma), CN1921404A to Mo (hereinafter Mo) and prior art of record US 20130322327 to Jorgensen et al (hereinafter Jorgensen).
Examiner’s Note: The examiner used an English translation of CN1921404A which is attached to the end of the original document.
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: [0040]: the security platform is configured to monitor traffic in the mobile core/service provider's core network. [0064]: communications can be monitored using security platforms 152, 156A, 156B, 156C, 156D, 156E, 156F, and/or 156G as shown in FIG. 1B (e.g., the security platforms can be located at various locations/interfaces within EPC 170). As seen in fig. 1B, security platforms 156A and 156B are located at the perimeter of the EPC 170. [0077] As shown in FIG. 2B, a Create Session Request message is sent from MME 252 to SGW 254 as shown at 260 and then from SGW 254 to PGW 256 as shown at 262. [0168]: Flow 708 identifies the packets as being part of a new session and creates a new session flow);
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 one or more of the following: a Radius protocol and a Diameter protocol (Verma: [0053]: the security platform (e.g., a next generation firewall (NGFW)) monitors Diameter signaling traffic. [0076] Referring to FIG. 2B, various Diameter messages are sent from MME 252 to Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 258 and Equipment Identity Register (EIR) 274, as well as between PGW 256 and PCRF 276 as shown at 264. In one embodiment, various information/parameters (meta information), such as further described below, can be extracted from such Diameter messages/session traffic based on a security policy. [0076]-[0077]), wherein the determining of the meta information comprises to:
extract the meta information from the Radius protocol and/or the Diameter protocol, wherein the subscriber-ID includes one or more of the following: International Mobile Subscription Identity (IMSI) and/or Subscription Permanent Identifier (SUPI), wherein the equipment-ID includes one or more of the following: International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) and/or Permanent Equipment Identifier (PEI) (Verma: [0078]: For example, the security platform can monitor GTP-C messages and extract the location, hardware identity (e.g., IMEI), subscriber identity (e.g., IMSI), and/or radio access technology (RAT) from the Create Session Request message); 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: [0040]: the security platform can be configured to dynamically apply security policy per IP flow for wireless devices by monitoring signaling traffic. [0168]: policy enforcement (e.g., policies can include one or more rules, which can be specified using domain and/or host/server names, and rules can apply one or more signatures or other matching criteria or heuristics, such as for security policy enforcement for subscriber/IP flows on service provider networks based on various extracted parameters/information from monitored GTP-C messages and/or packet content inspection of monitored GTP-U, SCTP, Diameter over SCTP, SIGTRAN, SCCP, and/or layer 7/application layer signaling traffic, including CAP, MAP, and/or INAP traffic as disclosed herein) is applied as described herein. [0202] At 1108, enforcing the security policy using the security platform is performed); and
a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.
Verma does not teach: wherein the Radius protocol and/or the Diameter protocol includes Accounting-Request(START)/Accounting-Response(START) and Accounting- Request(interim-update)/Accounting-Response(interim-update) messages, wherein the Accounting-Request(START)/Accounting-Response(START) and the Accounting-Request(interim-update)/Accounting-Response(interim-update) messages include the meta information, wherein the meta information includes the following: User Equipment (UE) Internet Protocol (IP), wherein the UE IP includes IPv4 address of UE, IPv6 Prefix assigned to UE, and Access Point Name (APN). However, Mo teaches:
wherein the Radius protocol and/or the Diameter protocol includes Accounting-Request(START)/Accounting-Response(START) and Accounting- Request(interim-update)/Accounting-Response(interim-update) messages, wherein the Accounting-Request(START)/Accounting-Response(START) and the Accounting-Request(interim-update)/Accounting-Response(interim-update) messages include the meta information (Mo: [0066]: Specifically, the widely used Radius protocol can be adopted, fully utilizing existing Radius messages with only a small number of new attributes. [0166]: The AAA Proxy/Client sends an Accounting-Request/start billing message to the Home AAA Server, which carries the User-Name attribute (meta information). [0168]: When PPS determines that the prepaid user's balance is insufficient, it sends an Accounting-Response/start billing message to the Home AAA Server, which carries the attributes User-Name and Vendor-Specific (meta information). [0174]: The Home AAA Server forwards the Accounting-Response/start accounting message to the AAA Proxy/Client. [0202]: The AAA Proxy/Client sends an Accounting-Request/interim-update billing message to the Home AAA Server, which carries the User-Name attribute and should include a suffix that identifies the prepaid user (meta information). [0204]: If PPS determines that the prepaid user's balance is insufficient, it sends an Accounting-Response/interim-update billing message to the Home AAA Server. This message carries the attributes User-Name and Vendor-Specific (meta information). [0205]: The Home AAA Server forwards the Accounting-Response/interim-update accounting message to the AAA Proxy/Client).
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 Mo in the invention of Verma to include the above limitations. The motivation to do so would be to prevent malicious non-payment or unauthorized access, increasing profits (Mo: [0066]).
Verma in view of Mo does not teach: wherein the meta information includes the following: User Equipment (UE) Internet Protocol (IP), wherein the UE IP includes IPv4 address of UE, IPv6 Prefix assigned to UE, and Access Point Name (APN). However, Jorgensen teaches:
wherein the meta information includes the following: User Equipment (UE) Internet Protocol (IP), wherein the UE IP includes IPv4 address of UE, IPv6 Prefix assigned to UE, and Access Point Name (APN) (Jorgensen: [0053]: DRA 142 may be an intelligent Diameter Routing Agent. [0121] Method 900 may begin in step 905 and proceed to step 910 where the DRA may identify one or more subscriber identifiers carried by the received Diameter message. For example, the DRA may extract an IPv4 address, and IPv6 address, and an APN from the Diameter message. It was well known to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that an IPv6 address includes an IPv6 prefix. Also, [0058]-[0061]);
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 Jorgensen in the invention of Verma in view of Mo to include the above limitations. The motivation to do so would be to enable robust and dynamic handling of various Diameter messages at a diameter routing agent (Jorgensen: [0129]).
As per claims 3 and 18, Verma in view of Mo and Jorgensen 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: [0064]: communications can be monitored using security platforms 152, 156A, 156B, 156C, 156D, 156E, 156F, and/or 156G as shown in FIG. 1B (e.g., the security platforms can be located at various locations/interfaces within EPC 170). As seen in fig. 1B, security platforms 156A and 156B are located at the perimeter of the EPC 170).
As per claim 4, Verma in view of Mo and Jorgensen 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, N6,Gx, Gy, and Sd (Verma: [0064]: communications can be monitored using security platforms 152, 156A, 156B, 156C, 156D, 156E, 156F, and/or 156G as shown in FIG. 1B (e.g., the security platforms can be located at various locations/interfaces within EPC 170). [0198] The process begins at 1102. At 1102, monitoring Diameter protocol traffic (e.g., the Diameter protocol refers to an Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) protocol, and Diameter applications such as S6a/S6d, S9, Gx extend the functionality of Diameter base protocol for mobile network specific use cases) on a service provider network at a security platform is performed).
As per claim 5, Verma in view of Mo and Jorgensen teaches:
The system recited in claim 1, wherein the meta information includes User Equipment (UE) IP information (Verma: [0045] In one embodiment, a security platform (e.g., a firewall, a network sensor acting on behalf of the firewall, or another device/component that can implement security policies) is configured to use existing 3GPP to dynamically apply security policies (e.g., granular security policies, which can be applied per subscriber (e.g., IMSI)/IP in real-time, per mobile device (e.g., IMEI)/IP in real-time).
As per claim 6, Verma in view of Mo and Jorgensen teaches:
The system recited in claim 1, wherein the meta information includes International Mobile Subscription Identity (IMSI) information (Verma: [0068]: extract the subscriber identity (e.g., IMSI)).
As per claim 11, Verma in view of Mo and Jorgensen teaches:
The system recited in claim 1, wherein the meta information includes Radio Access Technology (RAT) Type information (Verma: [0068]: extract the radio access technology (RAT)).
As per claim 12, Verma in view of Mo and Jorgensen teaches:
The system recited in claim 1, wherein the meta information includes user location information (Verma: [0068]: extract the location).
As per claim 14, Verma in view of Mo and Jorgensen 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: [0039]: the disclosed techniques facilitate applying security policies based on an application, IP address, content ID, subscriber location,… to solve signaling security problems and facilitate enhanced security on service provider networks (e.g., throttling specific messages/traffic to prevent/mitigate denial of service (DoS) attacks or to counter other attacks/vulnerabilities in one or more signaling protocols), and/or any combination thereof using next generation firewalls on service provider networks).
As per claim 15, Verma in view of Mo and Jorgensen 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: [0202]: For example, the security platform can block a message filtered in the Diameter protocol traffic or a lower/higher layer of signaling traffic based on the security policy).
Claims 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Verma in view of Mo and Jorgensen as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of prior art of record US 20200128399 to Verma et al (hereinafter Verma’399).
As per claim 7, Verma in view of Mo and Jorgensen does not teach the limitations of claim 7. However, Verma’399 teaches:
wherein the meta information includes Subscription Permanent Identifier (SUPI) information (Verma’399: [0059]: using a security platform by parsing HTTP/2 messages to extract the Subscription Permanent Identifier (SUPI) information in mobile networks for service providers).
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’399 in the invention of Verma in view of Mo and Jorgensen to include the new limitations. The motivation to do so would be to provide service-based security per Subscription Permanent Identifier (SUPI) in mobile networks (Verma’399: [0065]).
As per claim 8, Verma in view of Mo and Jorgensen teaches:
The system recited in claim 1, wherein the meta information includes the IMEI information (Verma: [0068]: extract the hardware identity (e.g., IMEI)).
Verma in view of Mo and Jorgensen does not teach: wherein the meta information includes the PEI information. However, Verma’399 teaches:
wherein the meta information includes the PEI information (Verma’399: [0072]. [0147]: In one embodiment, the disclosed techniques perform inspection of signaling/control traffic in service provider networks, such as HTTP/2 traffic, to extract information exchanged in the HTTP/2 traffic (e.g., parameters, such as …, Permanent Equipment Identifier (PEI), etc.).
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’399 in the invention of Verma in view of Mo and Jorgensen to include the new limitations. The motivation to do so would be to provide service-based security per Permanent Equipment Identifier (PEI) (Verma’399: [0069]).
As per claim 9, Verma in view of Mo and Jorgensen does not teach the limitations of claim 9. However, Verma’399 teaches:
wherein the meta information includes Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI) information (Verma’399: [0146]: the security platform can monitor these messages and extract the Nsmf_PDUSession_CreateSMContext Request message and/or other messages to obtain network slice information (e.g., S-NSSAI). [0147]: In one embodiment, the disclosed techniques perform inspection of signaling/control traffic in service provider networks, such as HTTP/2 traffic, to extract information exchanged in the HTTP/2 traffic (e.g., parameters, such as Network Slice information, etc.).
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’399 in the invention of Verma in view of Mo and Jorgensen to include the new limitations. The motivation to do so would be to provide network slice-based security in mobile networks (Verma’399: [0039]).
As per claim 10, Verma in view of Mo and Jorgensen does not teach the limitations of claim 10. However, Verma’399 teaches:
wherein the meta information includes Data Network Name (DNN) information (Verma’399: [0087]: using a security platform by parsing HTTP/2 messages to extract the Data Network Name (DNN) information in mobile networks for service providers. [0147]: In one embodiment, the disclosed techniques perform inspection of signaling/control traffic in service provider networks, such as HTTP/2 traffic, to extract information exchanged in the HTTP/2 traffic (e.g., parameters, such as …, Data Network Name (DNN), etc.).
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’399 in the invention of Verma in view of Mo and Jorgensen to include the above limitations. The motivation to do so would be to provide service-based security per Data Network Name (DNN) in mobile networks (Verms’399: [0093]).
Conclusion
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.
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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.
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MADHURI R. HERZOG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2438
/MADHURI R HERZOG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2438
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