DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 07/16/2026 has been entered.
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 with respect to claims 1, 11, 16 and 20 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejections.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—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 or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
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.
Claim 1-5, 9, 11-12, 15-17, and 19-21 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 newly added limitation “wherein the DCS is separate from a unified data management (UDM) in a standalone non-public network serving the AUSF and the UDM”, 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. It is requested that Applicant points out specific section the specification where this limitation is described.
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 1-5, 9, 11-12, 15-17, and 19-21 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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “wherein the DCS is separate from a unified data management (UDM) in a standalone non-public network serving the AUSF and the UDM”. It is unclear for the following reasons:
if the UDM is in a standalone non-public network
Is the DCS or the standalone non-public network that serves the AUSF and the UDM.
Claim 11, the newly added limitation “wherein the DCS is separate from a unified data management (UDM) in a standalone non-public network serving the AUSF and the UDM” It is unclear how the newly added limitation ties to the rest of the limitations in the claim.
Claims 16 & 20 are rejected for the same rationale as claim 11 above.
All dependent claims 2-5, 9, 12, 15, 17, 19 and 21 are rejected for the same rationale as their independent claims above.
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)(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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kweon et al. (US 2023/0209339 A1-hereinafter Kweon).
Regarding claim 1, Kweon discloses a default credential server (DCS)(at least figure 3, element 340, DCS, comprising:
at least one memory (at least [0095], memory); and
at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory (at least [0095], processor) and configured to cause the DCS to:
communicate with a user equipment (UE) via an authentication server function (AUSF) (at least figure 3A, communicates with UE via 5G core network (5GC). The 5GC implies that it includes AUSF);
receive an authentication request from the AUSF (at least figure 3A, step S307, [0082], authentication request is received from the 5GC/AUSF); and
transmit a response message to the AUSF, wherein the response message comprises a provisioning server address, and wherein the provisioning server address is different from the address of the AUSF (at least figure 3A, steps 309 & 311, [0083]-[0084], a response is transmitted to the 5GC/AUSF, the response comprises address information of a selected provision server (PS), and the address of the PS is different from the address of the AUSF),
wherein the DCS is separate from a unified data management (UDM) in a standalone non-public network serving the AUSF and UDM (at least figure 3A, DCS is separate from functions of 5GC (i.e.: AUSF and UDM)).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHY ANH TRAN VU whose telephone number is (571)270-7317. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7 am-1 pm.
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/PHY ANH T VU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2438
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