DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present U.S. non-provisional application is being examined under the first-inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA . The present U.S. non-provisional application, filed on April 17, 2024, is the U.S. national stage of an international PCT application, filed on October 18, 2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on February 5, 2025, June 24, 2025, September 18, 2025, and February 9, 2026 were filed before the mailing date of a first Office action in the present U.S. non-provisional application, in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner, except as indicated with strikethrough for lack of compliance with 37 CFR 1.98.
Response to Amendment
This Office action is responsive to the election on May 6, 2026. The election of invention group I without traverse is acknowledged. Claims 8-12 and 31-34 are withdrawn. Claims 1-7, 29, 30 and 35 are pending for consideration in the present U.S. non-provisional application.
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.
Claims 1-7, 29, 30 and 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over "UE handing of DNS configuration via NAS PCO", Lenovo, Motorola Mobility, Tencent, 3GPP TSG-SA WG2 Meeting #147E, S2-2107670 in view of Zhang et al. (US 2022/0377046 A1).
1. A Domain Name System (DNS) configuration processing method, performed by User Equipment (UE) (Zhang, FIG. 15), the method comprising:
receiving a second DNS configuration sent by a network device (S2-2107670, page 7, “After this step, the SMF includes the IP address of the EASDF as DNS server/resolver for the UE and may include the indication indicating to the UE that the EASDF has high preference with respect to other DNS servers configured in the UE in the PDU Session Establishment Accept message as defined in step 11 of clause 4.3.2.2.1 of TS 23.502 [3]. The UE configures the EASDF as DNS server for that PDU Session. If the indication indicating to the UE that the EASDF has high preference is provided to the UE, the UE builds a prioritized list of DNS servers with the EASDF having highest priority...”); and
determining a DNS configuration used by the UE according to the second DNS configuration and a first DNS configuration (Zhang, paras. [0012], [0137], “…The SMF sends the UE the address of LDNS server and the RDNS server via NAS message. The UE updates its local IP configuration, and stores both above DNS addresses (LDNS and RDNS). The LDNS server may be selected for DNS query at first. When the LDNS cannot resolve the DNS query, the RDNS server can be selected as a secondary choice. Application Function (AF) or 5G system may also deliver a rule of DNS address selection to the UE for more efficient process of application server discovery.”)
S2-2107670 may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Zhang et al. provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as determining a DNS configuration used by the UE according to the second DNS configuration and a first DNS configuration (Zhang, paras. [0012], [0137], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Zhang et al. are for reasons of overcoming problems via local application server discovery in edge computing (Zhang, paras. [0012], [0137], “To overcome or mitigate at least one above mentioned problems or other problems or provide a useful solution, local application server discovery in edge computing may be desirable…” Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of overcoming problems via local application server discovery in edge computing.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: when the first DNS configuration does not satisfy a preset condition, determining to use the second DNS configuration (Zhang, paras. [0138], [0140], “At step 802, the UE has been configured with multiple DNS address (e.g. LDNS & RDNS). The UE sends a DNS query to LNDS at first. […] At step 806 (conditional), if the LDNS cannot resolve the IP address, or local AS not available. The UE may send a new DNS query to RDNS servers in the central network.”); or when the first DNS configuration satisfies the preset condition, determining to use the first DNS configuration (Zhang, paras. [0138], [0140], Id.)
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the first DNS configuration satisfying the preset condition comprises at least one of: the first DNS configuration being a private DNS configuration of the UE (Zhang, paras. [0138], [0140], Id.); or the first DNS configuration being a DNS configuration of an application program, and the first DNS configuration being a DNS configuration which is not allowed to be overridden (MPEP 2131, “…When a claim covers several structures or compositions, either generically or as alternatives, the claim is deemed anticipated if any of the structures or compositions within the scope of the claim is known in the prior art…”)
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the first DNS configuration being the DNS configuration which is not allowed to be overridden comprises: the application program indicating that the first DNS configuration is the DNS configuration which is not allowed to be overridden (MPEP 2131, Id.); or the application not indicating that the first DNS configuration is a DNS configuration which is allowed to be overridden (MPEP 2131, Id.)
5. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: sending feedback information to a network side according to whether the second DNS configuration is used, wherein the feedback information indicates that the UE does not use the second DNS configuration (Zhang, paras. [0138], [0140], Id.), or the feedback information indicates whether the UE uses the second DNS configuration (Zhang, paras. [0138], [0140], Id.)
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein sending the feedback information to the network side comprises: when determining to use a private DNS configuration of the UE, sending the feedback information to the network side (Zhang, paras. [0138], [0140], Id.)
7. The method according to any one of claim 1, wherein the second DNS configuration comprises: address information of an Edge Application Server Discovery Function (EASDF) selected by a Session Management Function (SMF) for the UE (S2-2107670, page 7, Id.)
29. A communication device, comprising: a processor; a transceiver; and a memory storing a program executable by the processor, wherein the processor is configured to perform (Zhang, FIG. 15, Id.) the method according to claim 1.
30. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium a program that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform (Zhang, FIG. 15, Id.) the method according to claim 1.
35. The method according to claim 5, wherein when the UE determines not to use the second DNS configuration, the UE sends feedback information to the network side, wherein the feedback information indicates that the UE does not use the second DNS configuration (Zhang, paras. [0138], [0140], Id.)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record (PTO-1449, PTO-892) and not relied upon is considered pertinent to the subject matter of the present U.S. non-provisional application.
Lv et al. (US 2024/0031856 A1) provides prior art disclosure considered as relevant to the subject matter of the claimed invention (Lv, Abstract, “An information processing method and apparatus, a terminal, and a network-side device, and pertains to the field of communication technologies. The information processing method in the embodiments of this application includes: receiving, by a terminal, address information, and sending the address information to an application. The application is, for example, an application in an application layer of the terminal.”)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Timothy J. Weidner whose telephone number is (571) 270-1825. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayaz R. Sheikh can be reached on (571) 272-3795. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TIMOTHY J WEIDNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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