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 .
Amendment, submitted on 07/06/2026, has been received, entered, and made of record. Currently, claims 1-19 and 21 remain pending in the application. Claim 20 has been cancelled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed on 07/06/2026, with respect to the rejections of claims 1-19 under 35 USC 102 and 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejections have been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Fu et al. (US 2025/0031039 A1) which was not challenged in the argument. It is noted that Fu claims priority to International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2021/129365, filed on November 8, 2021, which includes same specification and drawings.
Claim Objections
Claims 13 and 21 are objected to because of the following informalities: the claims respectively in lines 3 and 5 should recite “a remote terminal” instead of “the remote terminal”. Thus, Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 13-15 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Fu et al. US 2025/0031039 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Fu).
Referring to claim 13, Fu discloses a communication method (figs.3A-B), comprising:
receiving, by a data management network element (fig.3A, unified data management, UDM) from an authentication service network element (fig.3A, Authentication Server Function, AUSF), an authentication request message #1 (fig.3A, step 6: message Nudm_UEAuthentication_Prose Request) that is used to request to authenticate the remote terminal ([0118]) (Note: the UDM receives from the AUSF a Nudm_UEAuthentication_Prose Request message for requesting to authenticate a remote UE); and
sending, by the data management network element to the authentication service network element, an authentication response message #1 (fig.3A, step 7: message Nudm_UEAuthentication_Prose Response) that comprises proximity based service (ProSe) authentication information #1, wherein the ProSe authentication information #1 comprises at least one of the following: information used by the remote terminal to authenticate a network or information used to authenticate the remote terminal (fig.3A and [0118]-[0120]) (Note: the AUSF receives from the UDM a Nudm_UEAuthentication_Prose Response message that comprises proximity based service (ProSe) authentication vector used to authenticate the remote terminal for Prose service).
Referring to claim 14, Fu discloses the method of claim 13, wherein the ProSe authentication information #1 comprises at least one of the following: a ProSe authentication vector #1 for authentication and key agreement (AKA) ([0120]-[0121] and fig.3A,S8-S9) (Note: The AUSF of the Remote UE performs an UE authentication procedure for Prose service to the remote UE through the Relay UE based on the received authentication vector for Prose service. If authentication is successful, the Remote UE and the AUSF generate Kpc5 and Kpc5 Key ID based on the authentication vector for Prose service).
Referring to claim 15, Fu discloses the method of claim 14, wherein the Pro Se authentication vector #1 for AKA ([0060] and [0153]) (Note: for key agreement, the Pro Se authentication vector includes one or more keys used by the authentication service network element to authenticate the remote terminal during an authentication procedure (20)).
Referring to claim 21, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 13 is applicable herein. Fu further discloses an apparatus (fig.9, network node 600), comprising a processor (fig.9, processing circuitry 610) and a non-transitory memory (fig.9, memory 630) storing a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions executed by the processor ([0198]).
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C.103 as being unpatentable over Fu in view of Wifvesson (US 2023/0370839 A1).
Referring to claim 16, Fu discloses the method of claim 13, except wherein before the sending, by the data management network element, the authentication response message #1, the method further comprises: determining, by the data management network element, that the remote terminal is authorized to obtain a relay service.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Wifvesson discloses a concept wherein before the sending, by the data management network element, an authentication response message, the method further comprises: determining, by the data management network element, that the remote terminal is authorized to obtain a relay service ([0055]-[0058]) (Note: The UDM maintains an indicator in the UE subscription that indicates whether the UE is allowed to use UE-to-Network Relay discovery and PC5 communication with a ProSe UE-to-network Relay and whether the is allowed to act as a Remote UE or not and the UDM responds back with the SUPI of the UE and an indication of whether the UE is allowed to use UE-to-Network Relay discovery and PC5 communication with a ProSe UE-to-network Relay).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention by the applicant to modify the communication method of Fu with the concept taught by Wifvesson to obtain the claimed invention wherein before the sending, by the data management network element, the authentication response message #1, the method further comprises: determining, by the data management network element, that the remote terminal is authorized to obtain a relay service. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to ensure enhanced security, prevent unauthorized network access, and optimize resources by activating relay functions only when needed.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-12 and 17-19 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Referring to claim 1, the searched prior arts individually or combined fail to disclose or make obvious the claimed subject matter. That is, Examiner did not find any reference that discloses or would have rendered obvious the limitations: “receiving, by the authentication service network element from an access and mobility management network element an authentication request message #2 when the remote terminal successfully authenticates the network, wherein the authentication request message #2 is used to request to authenticate the remote terminal; and sending, by the authentication service network element to the access and mobility management network element, an authentication response message #2 when the remote terminal is successfully authenticated, wherein the authentication response message #2 comprises a ProSe key.”
Referring to claims 2-12, it follows that the claims are inherently allowable for depending on allowable base claim 1.
Referring to claim 17, the same reasons for allowance provided for claim 1 are applicable herein.
Referring to claims 18-19, it follows that the claims are inherently allowable for depending on allowable base claim 17.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 MOUSTAPHA DIABY whose telephone number is (571)270-1669. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 9AM-6PM.
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/MOUSTAPHA DIABY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683
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