Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. This communication is in response to the Application No. 18/693,444 filed on 3/19/24. Claims 1 – 16, 20, 23, 25, 28 has been examined.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
3. 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.
4. 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
5. Claim(s) 1 – 8, 12 – 13, 15 – 16, 20, 23, 25, 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Interdigital (Interdigital Inc, KI # 3, Sol # 6: Update to remove Ens on MBS traffic relay, SA WG2 Meeting # S2-140E, Aug 19 – Sep 2, 2020, Elbonia, Interdigital hereafter).
Regarding claim 1, Interdigital teaches A method for determining whether a remote user equipment, (UE) (remote UE) is authorized to receive a service, the method comprising:
a relay UE receiving (the Prose 5G UE-to-Network Relay and the Remote UE, page 6, 6.6.3) from the remote UE a request message indicating that the remote UE is requesting to receive the service (After PCS connection establishment, the Remote UE sends a Multicast group join request (Multicast IP address or TMGI) to the ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay via PCS interface; page 6, section 6.6.3);
as a result of receiving the request message, the relay UE performing an authorization process that comprises: the relay UE transmitting, via a base station, a message for triggering a first network function to determine whether the remote UE is authorized to receive the service (The ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay sends authorization request to SMF, which includes the Remote UE ID and the Multicast IP address or TMOI. The SMF performs authorization for the Remote UE and sends authorization response (Accept/Reject) to the ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay, page 6, Section 6.6.3); and
the relay UE receiving, via the base station, a response to the message, wherein the response indicates whether or not the remote UE is authorized to receive the service (The SMF performs authorization for the Remote UE and sends authorization response (Accept/Reject) to the ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay, page 6, Section 6.6.3).
Regarding claim 2, The method of claim 1, Interdigital further teaches wherein the service is a specific Multicast Broadcast Service, (MBS) session and the request message indicates that the remote UE is requesting to join the MBS session (Details of the MBS group join request on PC5 interface will be defined during the normative phase, page 6, Section 6.6.3).
Regarding claim 3, The method of claim 1, Interdigital further teaches wherein the message transmitted by the relay UE comprises a message type identifier that specifies that the message is a remote UE report message (The Remote UE Report message shall be sent when the Remote UE disconnects from the ProSe 5G DE-to-Network Relay (e.g. upon explicit layer-2 link release or based on the absence of keep alive messages over PCS) to inform the SMF that the Remote UE(s) have left, page 5).
Regarding claim 4, The method of claim 1, Interdigital further teaches wherein the message transmitted by the relay UE comprises a message type identifier that specifics that the message is a service authorization request message that includes a PDU session ID identifying PDU session associated with the service (When the ProSe 5G DE-to-Network Relay uses Unstructured PDU session type for Unstructured traffic over PC5 reference point, it creates a mapping between the PC5 Link Identifier and the PDU Session ID, and a mapping between PFI for PCS L2 link and the QFI for the PDU Session, page 5).
Regarding claim 5, The method of claim 4, Interdigital further teaches wherein the message is received by a second network function that forwards the message to the first network function (ProSe UE-to-NW relay send the remote UE report (Remote User ID, Remote UE info) to SMF or to UPF).
Regarding claim 6, The method of claim 2, Interdigital further teaches wherein the message comprises:
a UE identifier (ID) (The ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay sends authorization request to SMF, which includes the Remote UE ID, page 6, section 6.6.3); and
a service ID (PDU Session ID, page 5).
Regarding claim 7, the method of claim 6, wherein
the UE ID is a Subscription Permanent Identifier, (SUPI), or an encrypted SUPI, or a Prose Remote User Key Identifier, (PRUK ID) (The ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay sends a Remote UE Report (Remote User ID), and
the service ID is an MBS session ID (PDU Session ID, page 5).
Regarding claim 8, the method of claim 1, Inerdigital further teaches wherein the authorization process further comprises:
the relay UE determining whether the relay UE has previously joined the service (When the ProSe SG UE-to-Network Relay receives multicast PDUs of the Multicast group from the network, the ProSe UE-to-Network Relay sends multicast PDUs via one-to-one communication connection (established at step 3 in Figure 6.6.2-1) to the Remote UEs which have joined the Multicast group, page 6).
Regarding claim 12, The method of claim 1, Interdigital teaches wherein the request message is a control plane message that identifies service (After PCS connection establishment, the Remote UE sends a Multicast group join request (Multicast IP address o TMGI) to the ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay via PCS interface, page 6, sections 6.6.3).
Regarding claim 13, The method of claim 12, wherein the control plane message is a PC5 signaling protocol message or a radio resource control message (Multicast IP address o TMGI) to the ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay via PCS interface, page 6, sections 6.6.3).
Regarding claim 15, A method performed by a first network function, the method comprising:
receiving a remote UE report message generated by a relay UE (the Prose 5G UE-to-Network Relay and the Remote UE, page 6, 6.6.3), the remote UE report message comprising a service identifier (PDU Session ID, page 5) and a remote UE identifier (The ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay sends authorization request to SMF, which includes the Remote UE ID, page 6, section 6.6.3); and
in response to receiving the remote UE report message, the first network function performing a process for determining whether the remote UE is authorized to receive the service identified by the service identifier (The Remote UE Report message shall be sent when the Remote UE disconnects from the ProSe 5G DE-to-Network Relay (e.g. upon explicit layer-2 link release or based on the absence of keep alive messages over PCS) to inform the SMF that the Remote UE(s) have left, page 5).
Regarding claim 16, The method of claim 15, wherein the first network function is a Session Management Function (SMF) (The ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay sends authorization request to SMF, which includes the Remote UE ID and the
Multicast IP address or TMOI. The SMF perfoms authorization for the Remote UE and sends authorization response (Accept/Reject) to the ProSe 5G UE-to-Network Relay, page 6).
Regarding claim 20, A non-transitory computer readable storing medium storing a computer program comprising instructions which when executed by processing circuitry of a relay UE causes the relay UE to perform the method of claim 1 (Fig. 6.6.1 – 2 shows protocol stack or computer program of 6.6.2 and 6.6.3).
Regarding claim 25, A non-transitory computer readable storing medium storing a computer program comprising instructions which when executed by processing circuitry of a network function causes the network function to perform the method of claim 15 (Fig. 6.6.1 – 2 shows protocol stack or computer program of 6.6.2 and 6.6.3).
Regarding claim 23, the relay substantially has same limitations as claim 1, thus the same rejection is applicable.
Regarding claim 28, a network function substantially has same limitations as claim 15, thus the same rejection is applicable.
Allowable Subject Matter
6. Claims 9 -11, 14 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.
conclusion
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TANMAY K SHAH whose telephone number is (571)270-3624. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri - 8:00 - 5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh Fan can be reached at 571-272-3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TANMAY K SHAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632
TANMAY K. SHAH
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2632
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