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 .
This communication is response to claims filed on 12/20/23 via a preliminary amendment, which is considered by the examiner.
Claims 24-40 are presented for examination.
Claims 1-23 are canceled.
Claims 24-40 are newly added.
Information Disclosure Statement’s
6. The information disclosure statement(s) submitted on 12/20/23 & 04/24/24 have being considered by the examiner and made of record in the application file.
Drawing
7. The drawings filed on 12/20/23 are accepted by the examiner.
Response to Remarks/Amendment
8. Applicant’s amendment to the speciation (i.e., cross-reference to related application (s)) is persuasive and is considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
9. 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 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 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 of this title, 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 factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
10. Claims 24-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP et al. (hereinafter referred as 3GPP) NPL Document, “Network to TSN translator (TT) protocol aspects; stage 3 (Release 17)” 2021-06 (as disclosed in the IDS), in view of Fuencisla et al. (hereinafter referred as Fuencisla) International Publication No. WO 2021/094236 A1 (as disclosed in the IDS).
Regarding claim 24: 3GPP discloses a network node (See Section 4; a TSN application function (TSN AF)) supporting time synchronization services in a wireless time sensitive communication (TSC) network (See Section 4; a TSN AF for a time sensitive communication (TSC) and AF-requested time synchronization service) comprising:
initiate a network port management procedure for time synchronization services by exchanging user plane node information including port management information and user plane node management information with a centralized network configuration (CNC) (See Section 4; a TSN AF for a time sensitive communication (TSC) and AF-requested time synchronization service). the TSN AF exchange user plane node information (i.e., TSN bridge information) with centralized network configuration (CNC). The user plane node information includes port management information and user plane node management information. Port management information is related to ports located in the DS-TT and NW-TT. User plane node information is exchanged between the TSN AF and CNC), the port management information related to one or more ports located in a device side time sensitive network (TSN) translator (DS-TT) in a user equipment and a network-side TNS translator (NW-TT) in a network node (See Section 4; Port management information is related to ports located in the DS-TT and NW-TT. The device-side TSN translator (DS-TT) is deployed at the UE-side edge and the network-side TSN translator (NW-TT) is deployed at the network-side edge) ;
encode information related to port management parameter values to be read, set and deleted by the DS-TT and the NW-TT in the network node (See Section 5.2.1.2; The TSN AF encoded the information about the port management parameters value to be read, the port management parameters values to be set, the port management parameters changes to (un)subscribe to and whether the TSN AF requests the list of port management supported by the DS-TT),
a transceiver configured to receive time synchronization services (See Section 4; a 5GS support AF-requested time synchronization services); and
the transceiver configured to transmit a deletion operation of a plurality of port management parameter entries at the one or more ports located in the DS-TT and the NW-TT, the deletion operation associated with reducing data structure size and supporting deterministic time sensitive communication (See Section 5.2.1.3; upon receipt of the MANGE PORT COMMAND message, for each operation included in the port management list IE, the DS-TT shall: “if the operation code is ‘unsubscribe for parameter, delete the stored request from the TSN AF to be notified of changes in the value of the corresponding parameter)”.
3GPP does not explicitly discloses a network node comprising:
a memory configured to store computer-executable instructions; and
a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to access the memory and execute the computer-executable instructions to: and
a transceiver coupled to the processor,
However, Fuencisla from the same field of endeavor discloses a network node (See FIG 10 & Para. 0072; a network node (i.e., TSN AF)) comprising:
a memory (See FIG 10 & Para. 0072; a network node (i.e., TSN AF) includes a memory) configured to store computer-executable instructions; and
a processor (See FIG 10 & Para. 0072; a network node (i.e., TSN AF) includes a processing circuitry) coupled to the memory, the processor configured to access the memory and execute the computer-executable instructions to: and
a transceiver coupled to the processor (See FIG 10 & Para. 0072; a network node (i.e., TSN AF) includes communication interface circuitry).
initiate a network port management procedure (See Page 31; initiate a port management information).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a network node comprising: a memory, a processor and a transceiver as taught by Fuencisla in the system of 3GPP to configure a Policy Control Function (PCF) to notify an Application Function (AF) about predetermined events to which the AF has subscribed (See Para. 0002; lines 1-2).
Regarding claim 25: The combination of 3GPP and Fuencisla disclose a network node.
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses a network node, wherein an application function (AF) is configured to initiate the network port management procedure by encoding information related to port management parameter values to be read, set and deleted in a MANAGE PORT COMMAND message to a user equipment using a policy control function (PCF) and a session management function (SMF) (See Section 5.2.1.2; the MANAGE PORT COMMAND message include encoded the information about the port management parameters value to be read, the port management parameters values to be set, the port management parameters changes to (un)subscribe to and whether the TSN AF requests the list of port management supported by the DS-TT. The encoded information in included a MANAGE PORT COMMAND message. The MANAGE PORT COMMAND message is send to the UE via the PCF and SMF).
Regarding claim 26: The combination of 3GPP and Fuencisla disclose a network node.
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses a network node, wherein the AF is configured to: transmit a MANAGE PORT COMMAND message to the user equipment DS-TT with one or more instructions including: if an operation code is “selective read parameter,” attempt to read a value of a selected sub-parameter of a parameter at the DS-TT port (See Section 5.2.1.3; Upon receipt of the MANAGE PORT COMMAND message, for each operation included in the port management list IE, the DS-TT shall: b) if the operation code is "read parameter", attempt to read the value of the parameter at the DS-TT port, and: 1) if the value of the parameter at the DS-TT port is read successfully, include the parameter and its current value in the port status IE of the MANAGE PORT COMPLETE message; and 2) if the value of the parameter at the DS-TT port was not read successfully, include the parameter and associated port management service cause value in the port status IE of the MANAGE PORT COMPLETE message).
Regarding claim 27: The combination of 3GPP and Fuencisla disclose a network node.
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses a network node, wherein the AF is configured to: transmit a MANAGE PORT COMMAND message to the user equipment DS-TT with one or more instructions including: if an operation code is “subscribe-notify for parameter,” store the network request from the AF to be notified of changes in the parameter value identified by a corresponding selected sub-parameter of the parameter(See Section 5.2.1.3; if the operation code is "subscribe-notify for parameter", store the request from the TSN AF to be notified of changes in the value of the corresponding parameter).
Regarding claim 28: The combination of 3GPP and Fuencisla disclose a network node.
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses a network node, wherein the transmitting the deletion operation includes transmitting one or more instructions configured to: delete a port management parameter entry at a NW-TT port; and encode the port management information about port management parameters values to be read, port management parameters to be set, port management parameter changes to subscribe or unsubscribe to, port management parameter-entry to be deleted and whether a list of port management parameters supported by the NW-TT has been requested in a port management list information element and include the list in a MANAGE PORT COMMAND (See Section 6.2.1.3; Upon receipt of the MANAGE PORT COMMAND message, for each operation included in the port management list IE, the NW-TT shall: e) if the operation code is "unsubscribe for parameter", delete the stored request from the TSN AF to be notified of changes in the value of the corresponding parameter).
Regarding claim 29: The combination of 3GPP and Fuencisla disclose a network node.
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses a network node, encoding, information related to user plane node management parameters values to be read, user plane node management parameters values to be set, user plane node management parameters changes to subscribe to, and unsubscribe from, user plane node management parameter-entry to be deleted, whether a list of user plane node management parameters supported by the NW-TT has been requested in a user plane node management list information element, and includes the list in a MANAGE USER PLANE NODE COMMAND message; sending the MANAGE USER PLANE NODE COMMAND message to the NW-TT; and starting a timer (See Section 6.2.1.2; in order to initiate the TSN AG-requested port management procedure, the TSN AF shall: a) encoded the information about the port management parameters values to read, the port management parameters values to be set, the port management parameters changes to (un)subscribe to an whether the TSN AF requests the list of port management parameters…b) sending the MANGE PORT COMMAND message to the NW-TT and c) start timer T100).
Regarding claim 30: The combination of 3GPP and Fuencisla disclose a network node.
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses a network node, wherein the NW-TT responds to the initiating the network port management procedure with one or more instructions to: if the operation code is “selective read parameter,” attempt to read the value of the selected sub-parameter of a parameter at a NW-TT port, (See Section 6.2.1.3; Upon receipt of the MANAGE PORT COMMAND message, for each operation included in the port management list IE, the NW-TT shall: b) if the operation code is "read parameter", attempt to read the value of the parameter at the NW-TT port, and: 1) if the value of the parameter at the NW-TT port is read successfully, include the parameter and its current value in the port status IE of the MANAGE PORT COMPLETE message).
Regarding claim 31: The combination of 3GPP and Fuencisla disclose a network node.
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses a network node, wherein the NW-TT responds to the initiating the network port management procedure with one or more instructions to: if an operation code is “subscribe-notify for parameter,” store a request to be notified of changes in the value of a corresponding parameter (See Section 6.2.1.3; Upon receipt of the MANAGE PORT COMMAND message, for each operation included in the port management list IE, the NW-TT shall: if the operation code is "subscribe-notify for parameter", store the request from the TSN AF to be notified of changes in the value of the corresponding parameter; e) if the operation code is "unsubscribe for parameter", delete the stored request from the TSN AF to be notified of changes in the value of the corresponding parameter).
Regarding claim 32: The combination of 3GPP and Fuencisla disclose a network node.
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses a network node, wherein the NW-TT responds to the initiating the network port management procedure with one or more instructions to: respond to each operation included in a user plane node management list information element MANAGE USER PLANE NODE COMMAND message by: if the operation code is “selective read parameter,” attempt to read the value of the selected sub-parameter of a user plane node management parameter at a NW-TT port (See Section 6.2.1.3; Upon receipt of the MANAGE PORT COMMAND message, for each operation included in the port management list IE, the NW-TT shall: b) if the operation code is "read parameter", attempt to read the value of the parameter at the NW-TT port).
Regarding claim 33: The combination of 3GPP and Fuencisla disclose a network node.
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses a network node, wherein a port management information list information element includes operation code octets in bits identifying selective read parameter as 00000110, selective subscribe-notify for parameter 00000111, selective unsubscribe for parameter 00001000, and delete parameter-entry 00001001 (See Section 9.2; “value part of the port management list information element (octets 4 to z)”, “00000010 Read parameter”,”0000100 Subscribe-notify for parameter”, and “00000101 Unsubscribe for parameter”).
Regarding claim 34: 3GPP discloses a user equipment (UE) (See Section 4; a User Equipment (UE)/CNC) comprising:
receiving at a device side time sensitive network (TSN) translator (DS-TT) user plane node information including a network request to initiate a port management procedure and port management information and user plane node management information from an application function (AF) (See Section 4; the TSN AF exchange user plane node information (i.e., TSN bridge information) with centralized network configuration (CNC). The user plane node information includes port management information and user plane node management information. Port management information is related to ports located in the DS-TT and NW-TT. User plane node information is exchanged between the TSN AF and CNC); and
deleting port management parameter entries at one or more ports located in the DS-TT, the deleted port management parameter entries to reduce a data structure size and enable deterministic time sensitive communication (See Section 5.2.1.3; upon receipt of the MANGE PORT COMMAND message, for each operation included in the port management list IE, the DS-TT shall: “if the operation code is ‘unsubscribe for parameter, delete the stored request from the TSN AF to be notified of changes in the value of the corresponding parameter)”.
3GPP does not explicitly disclose a user equipment (UE) comprising:
at least one processor coupled to memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor.
However, Fuencisla from the same field of endeavor discloses a user equipment (UE) (See FIG. 5; UE/DS-TT) comprising:
at least one processor (See FIG. 11A & Para. 0076; UE/DS-TT includes a processing circuitry) coupled to memory (See FIG. 11A & Para. 0076; UE/DS-TT includes a processor includes a registration unit )storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor.
receiving at a device side time sensitive network (TSN) translator (DS-TT) user plane node information including a network request to initiate a port management procedure and port management information and user plane node management information from an application function (AF) (See Para. 0042; the PCF receiving, from the SMF, information associated with a predetermined event that has been detected, and that is to be reported to an AF. The PCF also receives bridge information including a Bridge ID and respective port numbers for a Device-Side TSN Translator (DSN-TT) and a Network-Side TSN Translator (NS-TT)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a user equipment (UE) comprising: at least one processor coupled to memory as taught by Fuencisla in the system of 3GPP to configure a Policy Control Function (PCF) to notify an Application Function (AF) about predetermined events to which the AF has subscribed (See Para. 0002; lines 1-2).
Regarding claim 35: The combination of 3GPP and Fuencisla disclose a User Equipment (UE)).
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses the UE, receiving a MANAGE PORT COMMAND message at the user equipment from the AF to initiate the port management procedure, the MANAGE PORT COMMAND message including encoded information related to port management parameter values to be read, set and deleted; and responding to the MANAGE PORT COMMAND message by the DS-TT by: if an operation code is “selective read parameter,” attempt to read a value of a selected sub-parameter of a parameter at a DS-TT port, and if the value of the selected sub-parameter at the DS-TT port is read successfully, include the value of the selected sub-parameter and a current value in a port status information element of a MANAGE PORT COMPLETE message; and if the selected sub-parameter at the DS-TT port was not read successfully, include the parameter and an associated port management service cause value in the port status information element of the MANAGE PORT COMPLETE message (See Section 5.2.1.3; Upon receipt of the MANAGE PORT COMMAND message, for each operation included in the port management list IE, the DS-TT shall: b) if the operation code is "read parameter", attempt to read the value of the parameter at the DS-TT port, and: 1) if the value of the parameter at the DS-TT port is read successfully, include the parameter and its current value in the port status IE of the MANAGE PORT COMPLETE message; and 2) if the value of the parameter at the DS-TT port was not read successfully, include the parameter and associated port management service cause value in the port status IE of the MANAGE PORT COMPLETE message).
Regarding claim 36: The combination of 3GPP and Fuencisla disclose a User Equipment (UE)).
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses the UE, receiving a MANAGE PORT COMMAND message at the user equipment from the AF to initiate the port management procedure, the MANAGE PORT COMMAND message including encoded information related to port management parameter values to be read, set and deleted; and responding to the MANAGE PORT COMMAND message by the DS-TT by: if the operation code is “selective-subscribe-notify for parameter,” store the network request from the AF to be notified of changes in the parameter value identified by corresponding sub-parameters of the parameter; if the operation code is “selective unsubscribe for parameter,” delete the stored request from the AF to be notified of changes in value of a corresponding selected sub-parameter of the parameter; and if the operation code is “selective unsubscribe for parameter,” delete the stored request from the AF to be notified of changes in the value of the corresponding selected sub-parameter of the parameter (See Section 5.2.1.3; if the operation code is "subscribe-notify for parameter", store the request from the TSN AF to be notified of changes in the value of the corresponding parameter; e) if the operation code is "unsubscribe for parameter", delete the stored request from the TSN AF to be notified of changes in the value of the corresponding parameter).
Regarding claim 37: The combination of 3GPP and Fuencisla disclose a User Equipment (UE)).
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses the UE, receiving a MANAGE PORT COMMAND message at the user equipment from the AF to initiate the port management procedure, the MANAGE PORT COMMAND message including encoded information related to port management parameter values to be read, set and deleted; and responding to the MANAGE PORT COMMAND message by the DS-TT by: if an operation code is “delete parameter-entry,” attempt to delete the parameter-entry of the parameter at the DS-TT port; and if the parameter-entry of the parameter at the DS-TT port is deleted successfully, include the parameter and a current value in a port update result information element of a MANAGE PORT COMPLETE message; and if the parameter-entry of the parameter at the DS-TT port was not set successfully, include the parameter and an associated port management service cause value in a port update result information element of the MANAGE PORT COMPLETE message (See Section 6.2.1.3; Upon receipt of the MANAGE PORT COMMAND message, for each operation included in the port management list IE, the NW-TT shall: b) if the operation code is "read parameter", attempt to read the value of the parameter at the NW-TT port, and: 1) if the value of the parameter at the NW-TT port is read successfully, include the parameter and its current value in the port status IE of the MANAGE PORT COMPLETE message; and 2) if the value of the parameter at the NW-TT port was not read successfully, include the parameter and associated port management service cause value in the port status IE of the MANAGE PORT COMPLETE message; c) if the operation code is "set parameter", attempt to set the value of the parameter at the NW-TT port to the value specified in the operation, and: 1) if the value of the parameter at the NW-TT port is set successfully, include the parameter and its current value in the port update result IE of the MANAGE PORT COMPLETE message; and 2) if the value of the parameter at the NW-TT port was not set successfully, include the parameter and associated port management service cause value in the port update result IE of the MANAGE PORT COMPLETE message).
Regarding claim 38: 3GPP discloses a network node (See Section 5.2.1.2; PCF/SMF) supporting time synchronization services in a wireless time sensitive communication (TSC) network (See Section 4; a TSN AF for a time sensitive communication (TSC) and AF-requested time synchronization service) comprising:
receive an encoded message from an application function (AF) (See Section 5.2.1.2; the PCF/SMF receive a MANAGE PORT COMMAND message from TSN AF) information related to user plane node management parameters values to be read, user plane node management parameters values to be set, user plane node management parameters changes to subscribe to, and unsubscribe from, user plane node management parameter-entry to be deleted and whether the AF requests a list of user plane node management parameters supported by a network-side TNS translator (NW-TT) in a user plane node management list information element and includes the list in a MANAGE USER PLANE NODE COMMAND message (See Section 5.2.1.2 & 6.2.1.2; the MANAGEMENT PORT COMMAND message include encoded the information about the port management parameters value to be read, the port management parameters values to be set, the port management parameters changes to (un)subscribe to and whether the TSN AF requests the list of port management supported by the DS-TT. The encoded information in included a MANAGE PORT COMMAND message); and
receive the MANAGE USER PLANE NODE COMMAND message at the NW-TT (See Section 6.2.1.2; receive the MANAGE PORT COMMAND message at the NW-TT).
3GPP does not explicitly discloses a network node comprising: a transceiver.
However, Fuencisla from the same field of endeavor discloses a network node (See FIG 10 & Para. 0072; a network node (i.e., TSN AF)) comprising a transceiver (See FIG 10 & Para. 0072; a network node (i.e., TSN AF) includes communication interface circuitry).
initiate a network port management procedure (See Page 31; initiate a port management information).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a network node comprising: a transceiver as taught by Fuencisla in the system of 3GPP to configure a Policy Control Function (PCF) to notify an Application Function (AF) about predetermined events to which the AF has subscribed (See Para. 0002; lines 1-2).
Regarding claim 39: The combination of 3GPP and Fuencisla disclose a network node.
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses a network node, a memory coupled to the transceiver, the memory configured to store computer-executable instructions; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to access the memory and execute the computer-executable instructions to start a timer (See Section 6.2.1.2; start timer T100).
Regarding claim 40: The combination of 3GPP and Fuencisla disclose a network node.
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses a network node, wherein the NW-TT responds to the AF initiating a network port management procedure with one or more instructions to: if an operation code is “selective read parameter,” attempt to read the value of the selected sub-parameter of a parameter at a NW-TT port (See Section 6.2.1.3; Upon receipt of the MANAGE PORT COMMAND message, for each operation included in the port management list IE, the NW-TT shall: b) if the operation code is "read parameter", attempt to read the value of the parameter at the NW-TT port, and: 1) if the value of the parameter at the NW-TT port is read successfully, include the parameter and its current value in the port status IE of the MANAGE PORT COMPLETE message; and 2) if the value of the parameter at the NW-TT port was not read successfully, include the parameter and associated port management service cause value in the port status IE of the MANAGE PORT COMPLETE message; c) if the operation code is "set parameter", attempt to set the value of the parameter at the NW-TT port to the value specified in the operation, and: 1) if the value of the parameter at the NW-TT port is set successfully, include the parameter and its current value in the port update result IE of the MANAGE PORT COMPLETE message; and 2) if the value of the parameter at the NW-TT port was not set successfully, include the parameter and associated port management service cause value in the port update result IE of the MANAGE PORT COMPLETE message).
Conclusion
11. The prior art of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
A. Moon et al. 2024/0214098 A1 (Title: Apparatus and method for transmitting synchronization information in communication system) (See Abstract, Para. 0012 & 0037-0038).
B. Joseph et al. 2023/0319743 A1 (Title: wireless communication enhancements for transparent..) (See abstract, Para. 0006 & 00813-0016).
C. Qu et al. 2023/0092723 A1 (Title: Communication and method, apparatus and computer..) (See FIG. 1, Para. 0046, 0050 & 0160).
12. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MEWALE A AMBAYE whose telephone number is (571)270-1076. The examiner can normally be reached on M.F 6a.m.-2p.m..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian Moore can be reached on (571)272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MEWALE A AMBAYE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469