Response to an Amendment
This office action is a response to a communication made on 07/16/2026.
Claim 19 is canceled.
Claims 1, 17 and 18 are currently amended.
Claims 1-18 and 20-21 are pending for this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 and 17-18 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.
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks on page 10-13, filed 07/16/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 and 17-18 under 103 have been fully considered and regarding the argument feature of “said response identifying at least one service offered by the network control entity or resource managed by the network control entity” are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Yang et el. (EP3716692) in view of De-Gregorio-Rodriguez et al. (US 2022/0272622 A1), and further in view of NOKIA ET AL, "Content encodings supported in HTTP requests", vol CT WG4, no. Montreal, Canada; 20190225-20190301, 15 February 2019(2019-02-15), 3GPP DRAFT; C4-190107,3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT (3GPP), MOBILE COMPETENCE CENTRE; 650,ROUTE DES LUCIOLES; F-06921 SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS CEDEX; FRANCE.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-12 is 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. Claims 9-12 are objected because they are dependent upon objected claim 8, but claims 9-12 are not necessarily include allowable subject matter.
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) 1-7, 13-18 and 20-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et el. (EP3716692), hereinafter “Yang” in view of De-Gregorio-Rodriguez et al. (US 2022/0272622 A1), hereinafter “Rodriguez”, and further in view of NOKIA ET AL, "Content encodings supported in HTTP requests", vol CT WG4, no. Montreal, Canada; 20190225-20190301, 15 February 2019(2019-02-15), 3GPP DRAFT; C4-190107,3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT (3GPP), MOBILE COMPETENCE CENTRE; 650,ROUTE DES LUCIOLES; F-06921 SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS CEDEX; FRANCE, hereinafter “3GPP TSG-CT”. Yang and 3GPP TSG-CT are cited in applicant IDS filed 09/29/2023 and 02/18/2023. An English translation has been added with this application.
With respect to claim 1, Yang discloses a management method for managing, by a network control entity (Fig. 3, NRF is a network control entity), a plurality of application entities offering services in the network (Fig. 3, NF1 and NF2 are the plurality of application entities), said management method comprising:
receiving, from a first entity (Fig. 3, NF2), a request of services offered by the network control entity or resources managed by the network control entity that enable access to the services offered by the network control entity (Fig.3, step 302a, teaches discovering request from NF2 to NRF, ¶0009, teaches the NRF (i.e. network control entity) supports the following functionality: 1) maintains the NF profile of available NF instances and their supported services; 2) allows other NF instances to subscribe to, and get notified about, the registration in NRF of new NF instances of a given type; and 3) supports service discovery function. It receives NF Discover requests from NF instances, and provides the information of the available NF instances fulfilling certain criteria (e.g., supporting a given service), ¶0036, Fig. 5, step 505, teaches NRF 502 receiving a request 505 (see FIG. 5) for the object (e.g., receiving an HTTP GET request (i.e. request) for the object)); and
sending a response to said the request (Fig. 3, step 302c, teaches discover request response from NRF to NF2).
Yang ¶0018, teaches the NRF sends a Discover request Response to NF2 in action 302c, which response comprises repository information indicating one or more discovered NF instance(s) and/or NF service instance(s) that supports the expected service, i.e. that can produce the expected service. However, Yang remain silent on bootstrapping request aimed at discovering at least one of services, said response identifying at least one service offered by the network control entity or resource managed by the network control entity.
Rodriguez discloses bootstrapping request aimed at discovering at least one of services (¶0020, teaches receiving the request comprises receiving the request for a bootstrapping service of the first NF, ¶0048, teaches a bootstrapping service is provided that allows NFs in a vPLMN to learn dynamically about the services exposed by NFs in a home PLMN (hPLMN), ¶0066, teaches the bootstrapping information received to build the effective Uniform Resource Indicators (URIs) used for the different services exposed by the hNRF),
said response identifying at least one service offered by the network control entity or resource managed by the network control entity (¶0017, teaches responsive to receiving the request, sending, to the second NF, information about one or more services exposed by the first NF, ¶0049, teaches the services offered by the NFs in the hPLMN can be “discovered” by NFs in the vPLMN).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Yang’s NRF as control entity and discover request response system with bootstrapping request aimed at discovering at least one of services, said response identifying at least one service offered by the network control entity or resource managed by the network control entity of Rodriguez, in order to allow a client or network node to instantly learn the specific capabilities, services, or resources managed by a central network control entity (Rodriguez).
Yang Fig. 3, teaches NRF is a network control entity. However, Yang remain in view of Rodriguez remain silent on response furthermore comprising at least one encoding format supported by the network control entity.
3GPP TSG-CT discloses response comprising at least one encoding format supported by the network control entity (page-1, Tables 5.2.2.2-1 and 5.2.2.2-2 of TS 29.500 specify the following mandatory standard headers to support in HTTP request and response respectively, teaches Content encoding- This header may be used in some responses to Encoding indicate to the HTTP/2 client the content encodings (e.g. gzip) applied to the resource representation beyond those inherent in the media type).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Yang’s NRF as control entity and discover request response system with encoding format of 3GPP TSG-CT, in order to help maintain data accuracy and allows different systems to communicate effectively (3GPP TSG-CT, see page-7, Table 6.1.6.2.3-1).
For claim 17, it is a non-transitory computer readable medium claim corresponding to the method of claim 1. Therefore claim 17 is rejected under the same ground as claim 1.
With respect to claims 2, Yang in view of Rodriguez, and further in view of 3GPP TSG-CT discloses the management method as claimed in claim 1, furthermore comprising:
registering each application entity managed by the network control entity, comprising storing a profile of said application entity (Yang, Fig. 3, step 300a, registration request (NF1 profile, e.g. NF service A, step 300b, store NF1 profile, ¶0013, teaches A core network NF instance in the service based 5G core network registers its NF profile at the NRF. Thus, NF1 (e.g. a AMF) sends a Registration Request to the NRF in action 300a, which request comprises the NF profile of the registering NF1), this profile comprising a plurality of attributes including at least one encoding format supported by said application entity and able to be used when accessing a service offered thereby (Yang, ¶0032, teaches discovery response 503 includes a SearchResult data structure that comprises a set of attribute values and the set of attribute values may include the values described above as well as the array of profiles, 3GPP TSG-CT, page-1, Tables 5.2.2.2-1 and 5.2.2.2-2 of TS 29.500 specify the following mandatory standard headers to support in HTTP request and response respectively, teaches Content encoding- This header may be used in some responses to Encoding indicate to the HTTP/2 client the content encodings (e.g. gzip) applied to the resource representation beyond those inherent in the media type); and
in response to a request originating from a second entity, providing this second entity, for at least one said application entity managed by the network control entity (Yang, See Fig. 3, step 302a, 302b and 302c), with at least a portion of the plurality of attributes of the profile of this application entity (Yang, ¶0032, teaches discovery response 503 includes a SearchResult data structure that comprises a set of attribute values and the set of attribute values may include the values described above as well as the array of profiles), said portion comprising said at least one encoding format supported by this application entity (3GPP TSG-CT, page-1, Tables 5.2.2.2-1 and 5.2.2.2-2 of TS 29.500 specify the following mandatory standard headers to support in HTTP request and response respectively, teaches Content encoding- This header may be used in some responses to Encoding indicate to the HTTP/2 client the content encodings (e.g. gzip) applied to the resource representation beyond those inherent in the media type).
With respect to claims 3, Yang in view of Rodriguez, and further in view of 3GPP TSG-CT discloses the management method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said request is a request to discover at least one said application entity managed by the network control entity (Yang, see Fig. 3, 302a, teaches discover request to NRF as network control entity, Rodriguez, ¶0020, teaches receiving the request comprises receiving the request for a bootstrapping service of the first NF).
With respect to claim 4, Yang in view of Rodriguez, and further in view of 3GPP TSG-CT discloses the management method as claimed in claim 1, furthermore comprising:
receiving a subscription request, originating from a third entity, to receive information regarding at least one event affecting at least one profile stored by the network control entity (Yang, Fig. 3, NRF is a network control entity, ¶0009, teaches The NRF supports the following functionality: 1) maintains the NF profile of available NF instances and their supported services; 2) allows other NF instances to subscribe to, and get notified about, the registration in NRF of new NF instances of a given type), this subscription request indicating at least one encoding format supported by the third entity (Yang, ¶0019, teaches allows other NF instances to subscribe to, and get notified about, the registration in NRF of new NF instances of a given type, 3GPP TSG-CT, page-1, Tables 5.2.2.2-1 and 5.2.2.2-2 of TS 29.500 specify the following mandatory standard headers to support in HTTP request and response respectively, teaches Content encoding- This header may be used in some responses to Encoding indicate to the HTTP/2 client the content encodings (e.g. gzip) applied to the resource representation beyond those inherent in the media type);
following detection of an event corresponding to said subscription request, a-step notifying said third entity comprising information relating to said detected event encoded by way of a said encoding format supported by the third entity and indicated in said subscription request (Yang, ¶0019, teaches allows other NF instances to subscribe to, and get notified about, the registration in NRF of new NF instances of a given type, 3GPP TSG-CT, page-1, Tables 5.2.2.2-1 and 5.2.2.2-2 of TS 29.500 specify the following mandatory standard headers to support in HTTP request and response respectively, teaches Content encoding- This header may be used in some responses to Encoding indicate to the HTTP/2 client the content encodings (e.g. gzip) applied to the resource representation beyond those inherent in the media type).
With respect to claims 5, Yang in view of Rodriguez, and further in view of 3GPP TSG-CT discloses the management method as claimed in claim 4, wherein said event comprises modification, deletion or creation of a profile of an application entity managed by the network control entity, and/or said information contained in the notification comprises all or part of said profile (Yang, ¶0031, teaches the object identifier can point to a stored object that contains each NF instance profile that matches the search criteria (or each NF instance profile that matches the search criteria but was not included in the discover response 503). In some embodiments, the stored object is removed or marked as deleted at the time indicated by the object expiration information).
With respect to claim 6, Yang discloses a method comprising:
discovering, by a first entity, at least one of services offered by a network control entity or resources managed by the network control entity that enable to access the services offered by the network control entity (Fig. 3, discover request from NF2 as first entity and NRF as network control entity, ¶0009, teaches the NRF (i.e. network control entity) supports the following functionality: 1) maintains the NF profile of available NF instances and their supported services; 2) allows other NF instances to subscribe to, and get notified about, the registration in NRF of new NF instances of a given type; and 3) supports service discovery function. It receives NF Discover requests from NF instances, and provides the information of the available NF instances fulfilling certain criteria (e.g., supporting a given service)) the network control entity managing a plurality of application entities offering services in the network (Fig. 3, NF1 and NF2 are the plurality of application entities), said discovering comprising:
sending a request to said network control entity, aimed at least one of the services that said network control entity offers or the resources managed by the network control entity that enable to access the services offered by the network control entity (Fig.3, step 302a, teaches discovering request from NF2 to NRF, ¶0009, teaches the NRF (i.e. network control entity) supports the following functionality: 1) maintains the NF profile of available NF instances and their supported services; 2) allows other NF instances to subscribe to, and get notified about, the registration in NRF of new NF instances of a given type; and 3) supports service discovery function. It receives NF Discover requests from NF instances, and provides the information of the available NF instances fulfilling certain criteria (e.g., supporting a given service), ¶0036, Fig. 5, step 505, teaches NRF 502 receiving a request 505 (see FIG. 5) for the object (e.g., receiving an HTTP GET request (i.e. request) for the object)); and
receiving a response to said bootstrapping request (Fig. 3, step 302c, teaches discover request response from NRF to NF2).
Yang ¶0018, teaches the NRF sends a Discover request Response to NF2 in action 302c, which response comprises repository information indicating one or more discovered NF instance(s) and/or NF service instance(s) that supports the expected service, i.e. that can produce the expected service. However, Yang remain silent on bootstrapping request aimed at discovering at least one of services.
Rodriguez discloses bootstrapping request aimed at discovering at least one of services (¶0020, teaches receiving the request comprises receiving the request for a bootstrapping service of the first NF, ¶0048, teaches a bootstrapping service is provided that allows NFs in a vPLMN to learn dynamically about the services exposed by NFs in a home PLMN (hPLMN), ¶0066, teaches the bootstrapping information received to build the effective Uniform Resource Indicators (URIs) used for the different services exposed by the hNRF).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Yang’s NRF as control entity and discover request response system with bootstrapping request aimed at discovering at least one of services of Rodriguez, in order to allow a client or network node to instantly learn the specific capabilities, services, or resources managed by a central network control entity (Rodriguez).
Yang Fig. 3, teaches NRF is a network control entity. However, Yang in view of Rodriguez remain silent on furthermore comprising at least one encoding format supported by the network control entity.
3GPP TSG-CT discloses furthermore comprising at least one encoding format supported by the network control entity (page-1, Tables 5.2.2.2-1 and 5.2.2.2-2 of TS 29.500 specify the following mandatory standard headers to support in HTTP request and response respectively, teaches Content encoding- This header may be used in some responses to Encoding indicate to the HTTP/2 client the content encodings (e.g. gzip) applied to the resource representation beyond those inherent in the media type).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Yang’s NRF as control entity and discover request response system with encoding format of 3GPP TSG-CT, in order to help maintain data accuracy and allows different systems to communicate effectively (3GPP TSG-CT, see page-7, Table 6.1.6.2.3-1).
With respect to claim 7, Yang in view of Rodriguez, and further in view of 3GPP TSG-CT discloses the method as claimed in claim 6, furthermore comprising:
registering an application entity of the plurality of application entities (Yang, Fig. 3, step 300a, registration request (NF1 profile, e.g. NF service A, step 300b, store NF1 profile, ¶0013, teaches A core network NF instance in the service based 5G core network registers its NF profile at the NRF. Thus, NF1 (e.g. a AMF) sends a Registration Request to the NRF in action 300a, which request comprises the NF profile of the registering NF1), said registering comprising:
performing the discovering of the services and/or resources managed by the network control entity (Yang, Fig.3, step 302a, teaches discovering request from NF2 to NRF); and
registering the application entity with the network control entity, comprising said application entity providing the network control entity with a profile of said application entity (Yang, Fig. 3, step 300a, registration request (NF1 profile, e.g. NF service A, step 300b, store NF1 profile, ¶0013, teaches A core network NF instance in the service based 5G core network registers its NF profile at the NRF. Thus, NF1 (e.g. a AMF) sends a Registration Request to the NRF in action 300a, which request comprises the NF profile of the registering NF1), this profile comprising a plurality of attributes including at least one encoding format supported by said application entity and able to be used when accessing a service offered thereby (Yang, ¶0032, teaches discovery response 503 includes a SearchResult data structure that comprises a set of attribute values and the set of attribute values may include the values described above as well as the array of profiles, 3GPP TSG-CT, page-1, Tables 5.2.2.2-1 and 5.2.2.2-2 of TS 29.500 specify the following mandatory standard headers to support in HTTP request and response respectively, teaches Content encoding- This header may be used in some responses to Encoding indicate to the HTTP/2 client the content encodings (e.g. gzip) applied to the resource representation beyond those inherent in the media type).
With respect to claim 13, Yang in view of Rodriguez, and further in view of 3GPP TSG-CT discloses the method as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one said encoding format aims to encode content transmitted in a body of a request or of a response compliant with a version of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) (3GPP TSG-CT, page-2, II. 2-5, teaches to allow support of gzip in HTTP requests (e.g. in PUT request for Update Service Operation of Nnssf_NSSAIA vailability API), it is proposed to define a new attribute in the NFService data type indicating the content encodings supported by the service in HTTP requests).
With respect to claim 14, Yang in view of Rodriguez, and further in view of 3GPP TSG-CT discloses the method as claimed in claim 2, wherein, in at least one profile of an application entity managed by the network control entity (Yang, see Fig.3, step 300b), at least one said encoding format is provided in an attribute applicable:
to all services offered by this application entity (Yang, ¶0009, teaches The NRF supports the following functionality: 1) maintains the NF profile of available NF instances and their supported services); or
to a given service or to a given version of a service offered by this application entity; or
to a given resource managed by a service offered by this application entity (Yang, ¶0019, teaches specifies the API for each service offered by the Network Repository Function (NRF)); or
to a given operation on a resource managed by a service offered by this application entity (Yang, ¶0014, teaches the registration may take place when the NF instance becomes operative for the first time or upon an activation of an individual NF service within the NF instance, e.g. triggered after a scaling operation).
With respect to claim 15, Yang in view of Rodriguez, and further in view of 3GPP TSG-CT discloses the method as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one said encoding format is a data compression format (3GPP TSG-CT, see page-1, Reason for change-teaches The HTTP payload may be compressed using the gzip coding).
With respect to claim 16, Yang in view of Rodriguez, and further in view of 3GPP TSG-CT discloses the method as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one said encoding format supported by a said entity is included in a data structure comprising at least one communications option supported by this entity (Yang, ¶0032, teaches discovery response 503 includes a SearchResult data structure that comprises a set of attribute values and the set of attribute values may include the values).
With respect to claim 18, Yang discloses a network application entity offering at least one service in a network, said application entity comprising:
at least one processor (¶0042); and
at least one non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon which when executed by the at least one processor configure the network application entity to implement (see ¶0042) a method comprising:
sending a request to a network control entity managing a plurality of application entities offering services in the network (Fig. 3, NF1 and NF2 are the plurality of application entities), said request aiming to at least one of services offered by the network control entity or resources managed by the network control entity that enable to access the services offered by the network control entity (Fig.3, step 302a, teaches discovering request from NF2 to NRF, ¶0009, teaches the NRF (i.e. network control entity) supports the following functionality: 1) maintains the NF profile of available NF instances and their supported services; 2) allows other NF instances to subscribe to, and get notified about, the registration in NRF of new NF instances of a given type; and 3) supports service discovery function. It receives NF Discover requests from NF instances, and provides the information of the available NF instances fulfilling certain criteria (e.g., supporting a given service), ¶0036, Fig. 5, step 505, teaches NRF 502 receiving a request 505 (see FIG. 5) for the object (e.g., receiving an HTTP GET request (i.e. request) for the object));
receiving a response to said request comprising said services offered and/or resources managed by said network control entity (Fig. 3, step 302c, teaches discover request response from NRF to NF2); and
registering said application entity with said network control entity, said registering providing the network control entity, upon said registration, with a profile of said application entity (Fig. 3, step 300a, registration request (NF1 profile, e.g. NF service A, step 300b, store NF1 profile, ¶0013, teaches A core network NF instance in the service based 5G core network registers its NF profile at the NRF. Thus, NF1 (e.g. a AMF) sends a Registration Request to the NRF in action 300a, which request comprises the NF profile of the registering NF1), this profile comprising a plurality of attributes including at least one format supported by said application entity and able to be used when accessing a service offered thereby ( ¶0032, teaches discovery response 503 includes a SearchResult data structure that comprises a set of attribute values and the set of attribute values may include the values described above as well as the array of profiles).
Yang ¶0018, teaches the NRF sends a Discover request Response to NF2 in action 302c, which response comprises repository information indicating one or more discovered NF instance(s) and/or NF service instance(s) that supports the expected service, i.e. that can produce the expected service. However, Yang remain silent on bootstrapping request aimed at discovering at least one of services, receiving a response to said bootstrapping request identifying at least one service offered by the network control entity or resource managed by the network control entity.
Rodriguez discloses bootstrapping request aimed at discovering at least one of services (¶0020, teaches receiving the request comprises receiving the request for a bootstrapping service of the first NF, ¶0048, teaches a bootstrapping service is provided that allows NFs in a vPLMN to learn dynamically about the services exposed by NFs in a home PLMN (hPLMN), ¶0066, teaches the bootstrapping information received to build the effective Uniform Resource Indicators (URIs) used for the different services exposed by the hNRF),
receiving a response to said bootstrapping request identifying at least one service offered by the network control entity or resource managed by the network control entity (¶0017, teaches responsive to receiving the request, sending, to the second NF, information about one or more services exposed by the first NF, ¶0020, teaches receiving the request comprises receiving the request for a bootstrapping service of the first NF ¶0049, teaches the services offered by the NFs in the hPLMN can be “discovered” by NFs in the vPLMN).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Yang’s NRF as control entity and discover request response system with bootstrapping request aimed at discovering at least one of services, bootstrapping request aimed at discovering at least one of services, receiving a response to said bootstrapping request identifying at least one service offered by the network control entity or resource managed by the network control entity of Rodriguez, in order to allow a client or network node to instantly learn the specific capabilities, services, or resources managed by a central network control entity (Rodriguez).
However, Yang in view of Rodriguez remain silent on at least one encoding format supported by said network control entity, said portion comprising said at least one encoding format.
3GPP TSG-CT discloses at least one encoding format supported by said network control entity, said portion comprising said at least one encoding format (page-1, Tables 5.2.2.2-1 and 5.2.2.2-2 of TS 29.500 specify the following mandatory standard headers to support in HTTP request and response respectively, teaches Content encoding- This header may be used in some responses to Encoding indicate to the HTTP/2 client the content encodings (e.g. gzip) applied to the resource representation beyond those inherent in the media type).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Yang’s NRF as control entity and discover request response system in viewof Rodriguez’s system with encoding format of 3GPP TSG-CT, in order to help maintain data accuracy and allows different systems to communicate effectively (3GPP TSG-CT, see page-7, Table 6.1.6.2.3-1).
With respect to claim 20, Yang in view of Rodriguez, and further in view of 3GPP TSG-CT discloses the management method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bootstrapping request is aimed at discovering the services offered by the network control entity and the resources managed by the network control entity that enable to access the services offered by the network control entity (Yang, ¶0009, teaches the NRF (i.e. network control entity) supports the following functionality: 1) maintains the NF profile of available NF instances and their supported services; 2) allows other NF instances to subscribe to, and get notified about, the registration in NRF of new NF instances of a given type; and 3) supports service discovery function. It receives NF Discover requests from NF instances, and provides the information of the available NF instances fulfilling certain criteria (e.g., supporting a given service), ¶0030, teaches an object identifier (e.g., URI) (i.e. resource) that the requestor NF 504 can use to obtain an object that contains, at the least, the NF instance profiles that match the search criteria but not included in the discover response ¶0036, Fig. 5, step 505, teaches NRF 502 receiving a request 505 (see FIG. 5) for the object (e.g., receiving an HTTP GET request (i.e. request) for the object, Rodriguez, (¶0020, teaches receiving the request comprises receiving the request for a bootstrapping service of the first NF, ¶0048, teaches a bootstrapping service is provided that allows NFs in a vPLMN to learn dynamically about the services exposed by NFs in a home PLMN (hPLMN)).
With respect to claim 21, Yang in view of Rodriguez, and further in view of 3GPP TSG-CT discloses the management method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the response to the bootstrapping request includes at least one service supported by the network control entity selected from the group consisting of a discovery service, a management service and a service authorization service (Rodriguez, ¶0048, teaches a bootstrapping service is provided that allows NFs in a vPLMN to learn dynamically about the services exposed by NFs in a home PLMN (hPLMN)… the NFs can get initial information that allows them to invoke further services such as the NRF discovery service on the hPLMN, ¶0060-¶0061, teaches the service(s) etc. that a NF provides to other authorized NFs can be exposed to the authorized NFs through the service-based interface… the AMF 300 provides UE-based authentication, authorization, mobility management, etc.).
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.
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/G.M/Examiner, Art Unit 2458
/UMAR CHEEMA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2458
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