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 Office action is in response to the preliminary amendment filed on 05/30/2024. Claims 4-5, 7-10, 13 and 17 have been amended, and claim 14 has been canceled
Claims 1-13 and 15-18 are presented for examination.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
The certified copy of foreign application 21211804.6 has been filed on 12/01/2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05/30/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-13 and 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
i. Claims 1, 11, 15 and 18 recite “initiate deployment of one or more network functions in the subdomain of the private cloud environment using the external control endpoint” and “configure the one or more deployed network functions using the external application endpoint and the external access endpoint”. These limitations fail to clearly define the functional relationship between the network node, the external control endpoint, the external application endpoint, the external access endpoint, and the deployed network functions.
Specifically, the claims do not specify how the external control endpoint is used to perform deployment or how the external application endpoint and the external access endpoint are used to configure the deployed network functions. Further, the claims do not define what configuration of the network functions is performed. Accordingly, the scope of the claimed invention cannot be determined with reasonably certainty.
ii. Claims 2 and 13 recite “establish connectivity between the one or more deployed network functions in the subdomain and one or more other network functions in the telecommunications network using the external connectivity endpoint.” However, these limitations fail to clearly define the functional relationship between the external connectivity endpoint, the deployed network functions, and the other network functions in the telecommunications network.
Specifically, the claims do not specify how the external connectivity endpoint is used to establish the connectivity or what operation is performed by the processing subsystem to establish such connectivity. Accordingly, the scope of the claimed connectivity establishment operation cannot be determined with reasonably certainty.
iii. Claims 3 and 5-7, they are rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claims 1-2, 11, 13, 15 and 18. Specifically, claim 3 recites “establish the connectivity between the one or more deployed network functions in the subdomain and the one or more other network functions in the telecommunications network by requesting a wide area network infrastructure manager (WIM) of the telecommunications network to collaboratively establish said connectivity in collaboration with a wide area network infrastructure manager (WIM) of the private cloud environment.” However, the claim does not clearly define the functional relationship between the processing subsystem, the WIM of the telecommunications network by requesting a wide area network infrastructure manager (WIM) of the telecommunications network, and the WIM of the private cloud environment. In particular, the claim does not specify how the WIMs collaborate to establish the connectivity or what operations are performed by each WIM in response to the request from the processing subsystem. In addition, claim 5 fails to clearly define the functional relationship between the recited connectivity endpoint, the network components, and the processing subsystem; claim 6 does not specify how the WIM is used by the processing subsystem to establish the connectivity, and claim 7 does not specify how the geolocation information is used to identify the remote radio unit or how such identification results in establishment of connectivity between the remote radio unit and the external access endpoint.
Claims 1-13 and 15-18 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b).
The closest prior art, Barclary et al. (US 11,765,244 B1) discloses a method of establishing local connectivity between a device (Fig. 1, 106) and an application via a private cloud environment (col. 2, lines 27-52, “deploying distributed applications in a cloud provider network providing many possible deployment zones of one or multiple types”), wherein the application is instantiated in the private cloud environment, wherein the device (Fig. 4, 412) is capable of connecting to a telecommunications network (Fig. 4, 402-410) and communicating via a user plane of the telecommunications network (col. 19, line 60 – col. 20, line 7, “Such edge locations can be connected to various points within a CSP 5G network that provide a breakout for data traffic as part of the User Plane Function (UPF)”); providing, in the private cloud environment, a subdomain for use by the telecommunications network, wherein the subdomain is provided with an external application endpoint for the application in the private cloud environment and with an external access endpoint for the device and is manageable via an external control endpoint (col. 31, line 41 – col. 32, line 13, “application-level networking features based on any of DNS-based domain names assigned to application services, API-based service and resource discovery requests implemented using a service registry or similar mechanism, or various combinations thereof, enabling users to readily integrate such features into their service-oriented applications managed by a SOADM service 102”; col. 33, line 41 – col. 34, line 7, “the SOADM service 102 further configures at circle (3), within a hosted virtual private network 806, DNS records to be used by a DNS resolver 808 to map domain names or other identifiers assigned to various services or resources to canonical domain names or other identifiers (e.g., globally unique identifiers of the services or resources within the cloud provider network 100) used by a service endpoint 810 and router 804 to route the requests accordingly”; col. 34, lines 17-34, “a service group can be associated with a DNS-type identifier, e.g., service-group-name.soadm.example.com, where the service group name is globally unique to the associated user. Furthermore, each service of an application can be assigned a respective subdomain of the service group domain (e.g., service-name.service-group.soadm.example.com). These DNS names created for each of the services can then be resolved by a DNS resolver 808 to a service endpoint in the virtual private network, where the service endpoint forwards the traffic to a router 804”).
The closest prior art, Bishay et al. (US 2021/0105628 A1) discloses a method of determining how such slices can be composed to achieve a determined purpose, with the flexibility and dynamic nature of such systems allow continuously adaptation to new application needs and network realities. Network slicing technology enables operators to provide networks on an as-a-service basis, which enhances operational efficiency and reduces time-to-market for new services. The method provides an adjustable level of separation and share ability based on application requirements and network capability, and achieves an agile and flexible composition of slices for a true adaptive network that meets the changing demands of an application. The network slicing allows multiple, logical networks to be created on top of a commonly shared physical infrastructure that is capable of supporting a broader service portfolio. The dynamic compositions that are created on-demand with minimal network components optimally placed to match the needs of the services that are provided. The agile and flexible composition of network slices to operate a true adaptive network that meets the changing demands of an application also address a time-bound Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) to fulfill a bandwidth or service on-demand requirement (¶0023; ¶0026; ¶0028; ¶0031; ¶0082-¶0085).
However, prior art does not specifically disclose the claimed “by a service orchestrator in the private cloud environment, providing information to a network orchestration function of the telecommunications network, which information comprises or is indicative of at least the external control endpoint, the external application endpoint and the external access endpoint by the network orchestration function: initiating deployment of one or more network functions in the subdomain of the private cloud environment using the external control endpoint, thereby obtaining one or more deployed network functions, wherein the one or more deployed network functions support user plane communication between the device and the application via the subdomain; configuring the one or more deployed network functions using the external application endpoint and the external access endpoint to allow the user plane communication between the device and the application to be established via the one or more deployed network functions.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Wang et al. (US 2022/0138156), WANG et al. (US 2017/0331862), Iqbal et al. (US 11,520,615), Chhabra et al. (US 2022/0329585), Bajpai et al. (US 2022/0312439) disclose method and apparatus for utilizing endpoint security posture, identification, and remote attestation for restricting private application access.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUNGWON CHANG whose telephone number is (571)272-3960. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5:30PM.
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/JUNGWON CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454 July 25, 2026
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