RESPONSE TO AMENDMENT
This Action is in response to the Amendment for Application Number 18717837 received on 6/07/2024.
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
This application claims foreign priority to 20210100868, filed 12/10/2021 and PCT/EP2022/051966, filed 1/27/2022.
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 .
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 1-20 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.
Claim 1, as amended, includes the limitation, “configure, based on the analytics event, a second set of data based on the first set of data, wherein the second set of data comprises at least a portion of the first set of data, an abstraction of the first set of data, or a combination thereof”. The limitation allows the embodiment in which the second set of data reasonably equates to the first set of data, as the only requirement is that the second set of data “comprises at least a portion of the first set of data”. In this embodiment, the limitation is found indefinite as to what is required by configuring a second set of data, based on the analytics event. If the second set of data may be the equivalent to the first set of data, in such an embodiment, it is not clear what would be required by “configuring” because such result in nothing being changed with the data. The metes and bounds of "configuring" are therefore indefinite. For examination purposes, the limitation of “configuring” will be interpreted as processing or formatting.
Claim 15 includes substantially the same limitation and therefore is rejected for the same reasons above. Claims 2-14 and 16-20 are rejected for the same reasons above by virtue of their dependencies to claims 1 and 15.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-10, 12-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thiebaut et al. (US 20230388386) in view of 3GPP (3GPP, "3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; Architecture enhancements for 5G System (5GS) to support network data analytics services (Release17)", 3GPP TS 23.288 V17.1.0, June 2021, pages 1-192; See IDS, filed 6/07/2024, Non-Patent Literature Documents, Cite No. 9).
Regarding claim 1, Thiebaut disclosed an apparatus for performing a network function, the apparatus comprising:
at least one memory (Thiebaut, [0048], “combinations of circuits and computer program product(s) comprising software and/or firmware instructions stored on one or more computer readable memories that work together to cause an apparatus to perform one or more functions”; See also [0049]-[0051]); and
at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory (Thiebaut, [0048], “microprocessor(s)”; See also [0049]-[0051]) and configured to cause the apparatus to:
receive a subscription request from a second network device, wherein the subscription request comprises a request to receive analytics for an analytics event, the subscription request comprising input parameters (Thiebaut, [0097], In FIG. 8, 610 1a and 616 3a are analytics subscription/info request/responses between NWDAF Service consumer or AF 602 and NWDAF 606. 610 1b, 616 1c and 616 3b, 616 3c are analytics subscription/info request/response by AF 602 via NEF 604. Parameters provided in the request are as per clause 6.1.3 in 3GPP TS 23.288, but additionally they include Subscriber categories and/or Allowed services); and
transmit a subscription response corresponding to the subscription request (Thiebaut, [0097]-[0098], “In FIG. 8, 610 1a and 616 3a are analytics subscription/info request/responses between NWDAF Service consumer or AF 602 and NWDAF 606. 610 1b, 616 1c and 616 3b, 616 3c are analytics subscription/info request/response by AF 602 via NEF 604.”; See Fig. 8, 616 3a and 3b).
Thiebaut did not explicitly disclose the subscription request comprising an analytics event identifier (ID), an analytics type of event, and a target ID;
obtaining a first set of data related to the slice from at least one data producing entity; and
configuring, based on the analytics event, a second set of data based on the first set of data, wherein the second set of data comprises at least a portion of the first set of data, an abstraction of the first set of data, or a combination thereof; and
determining application data analytics for the slice corresponding to the subscription request and based on a second set of data.
In an analogous art, 3GPP disclosed wherein the analytics event is related to application server performance predictions or statistics, application session performance predictions or statistics, predictions for a slice, or a combination thereof (3GPP, page 165, Figure 6.14.4-1, Element 2c, NWDAF derives requested analytics for an Application; page 166, “The procedure illustrated in figure 6.14.4-1 allows an analytics consumer to request Analytics ID "DN Performance" for a particular Application. The analytics consumer includes the Application ID for which DN Performance is requested. The consumer indicates the Target of Analytics Reporting (e.g. "any UE") and may include as Analytic Filter information the UPF anchor ID, DNAI, or Application Server instance that DN performance analytics are requested.”);
the subscription request comprising an analytics event identifier (ID), an analytics type of event, and a target ID (3GPP, p23, Section 6.1.3 “Contents of Analytics Exposure”, to which the request includes parameters listed, including “A list of Analytics ID(s)”, “Analytics filter Information: indicates the conditions to be fulfilled for reporting Analytics Information. This set of optional parameter types and values enables to select which type of analytics information is requested”, and “Target of Analytics Reporting: indicates the object(s) for which Analytics information is requested, entities such as specific UEs, a group of UE(s) or any UE);
obtaining a first set of data related to the slice from at least one data producing entity (3GPP, page 165, Figure 6.14.4-1, Element 2b; page 166, “2b. NWDAF subscribes to the network data from 5GC NF(s) defined in table 6.14.2-2 by invoking Nnf_EventExposure Subscribe service. 2c. With the collected data, the NWDAF estimates the DN Performance for the application.”); and
configuring, based on the analytics event, a second set of data based on the first set of data, wherein the second set of data comprises at least a portion of the first set of data, an abstraction of the first set of data, or a combination thereof (3GPP, p30, in number “6”: “Analytics sent to notification endpoints may be processed and formatted by the DCCF so they conform to delivery requirements for each analytics consumer or notification endpoing as specified in clause 5A.4”; See also “NOTE: According to Formatting instructions provided by the Analytics Consumer, multiple notifications from a NWDAF can be combined in a single Ndccf_DataManagement_Notify so many notifications from an NWDAF results in fewer notifications (or one notification) to the Analytics Consumer”; The processing and formatting as performed in 3GPP amounts to configuring a second set of data based on the first set of data, and such is based on the event information provided in the request); and
determining application data analytics for the slice corresponding to the subscription request and based on the second set of data (page 166, “2c. With the collected data, the NWDAF estimates the DN Performance for the application”, which corresponds to the subscription request recited in element “1.” Using the specific parameters requested; See “3. NWDAF provides the data analytics, to the analytics consumer” [as processed and formatted above] and also in “3”: analytics consumer “uses the analytics to determine the application data analytics in various ways depending on the consumer type).
One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to combine the teachings of Thiebaut and 3GPP, as Thiebaut explicitly suggests the use of 3GPP Releases, and also explicitly recites “ 3GPP TS 23.288” (Thiebaut, [0097]) and as such, the motivation to combine is found within the reference.
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to incorporate the procedures to request DN Performance Analytics for an Application within the teachings of Thiebaut in order to improve upon Thieabaut’s technique for data collection and analytics, as well as on demand provisioning of analytics to consumers, making the system more desirable to use by its customers.
Claim 15 recites a method of performing a network function with limitations that are substantially similar to the limitations of claim 1. As Thiebaut in view of 3GPP disclosed an apparatus performing such limitations/steps, claim 15 is rejected under the same rationale applied above.
Regarding claims 2 and 16, Thiebaut and 3GPP disclosed the apparatus of claim 1 and method of claim 15, wherein the apparatus/network function comprises an application enablement unit (Thiebaut, [0060]-[0061], Thiebaut disclosed the DN 116 or CN 101 can be in communication with an Application Server (AS) or Application Function (AF) 112; See also Fig. 8m NQDAF in communication with NWDAF Service Consumer OR AF at 602; Thiebaut therefore disclosed NWDAF including the software components for application enablement). See motivation to combine above.
Regarding claims 3 and 17, Thiebaut and 3GPP disclosed the apparatus of claim 1 and method of claim 15, wherein the second network device comprises an application analytics consumer (Thiebaut, Fig. 8, 602 “NWDAF Service Consumer OR AF”). See motivation to combine above.
Regarding claims 4 and 18, Thiebaut and 3GPP disclosed the apparatus of claim 1 and method of claim 15, wherein the at least one data producing entity comprises an operations and management (OAM) function, a network data analytics function (NWDAF), or a combination thereof (3GPP, page 57, 6.2.3.1, “The NWDAF may collect relevant management data from the services in the OAM”). See motivation to combine above.
Regarding claims 5 and 19, Thiebaut and 3GPP disclosed the apparatus of claim 1 and method of claim 15, wherein the first set of data comprises slice related analytics, performance data, slice enabler data, or a combination thereof (3GPP, page 165 Element 1, and relevant section on page 166, See also page 164, 6.14.3 Output Analytics which includes two tables 6.14.3-1 and 6.14.3-2, which includes slice related analytic data). See motivation to combine above.
Regarding claims 6 and 20, Thiebaut and 3GPP disclosed the apparatus of claim 5 and method of claim 19, wherein the slice related analytics is received from a network data analytics function (NWDAF) (3GPP, page 36-37, 6.1A.1, “In a multiple NWDAF deployment scenario, an NWDAF instance may be specialized to provide Analytics for one or more Analytics IDs”, and “An NWDAF may have the capability to support the aggregation of Analytics (per analytics ID) received from other NWDAFs, possibly with Analytics generated by itself”). See motivation to combine above.
Regarding claim 7, Thiebaut and 3GPP disclosed the apparatus of claim 5, wherein the performance data is received from an operations and management (OAM) function (3GPP, page 57, 6.2.3.1, “The NWDAF may collect relevant management data from the services in the OAM”). See motivation to combine above.
Regarding claim 8, Thiebaut and 3GPP disclosed the apparatus of claim 5, wherein the slice enabler data is received from a network slice capability enablement (NSCE) function (Under the broadest reasonable interpretation of claim 5, the “slice enabler data” is listed in the alternative, and not selected to meet the requirements of claim 5 in the rejection. As the entirety of claim 8 is directed to further describing the “slice enabler data”, claim 8 is met by the same citations provided by claim 5; 3GPP, page 165 Element 1, and relevant section on page 166, See also page 164, 6.14.3 Output Analytics which includes two tables 6.14.3-1 and 6.14.3-2, which includes slice related analytic data). See motivation to combine above.
Regarding claim 9, Thiebaut and 3GPP disclosed the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second set of data comprises a subset of the first set of data determined based on the subscription request (3GPP, page 37, 3GPP disclosed the utilization of an Analytic Filter for multiple NWDAFs and then Aggregate Analytics Outputs; Additionally, page 166, “2c. With the collected data, the NWDAF estimates the DN Performance for the application.” Estimating the DN Performance from the collected data amounts to a subset of the collected data).
Regarding claim 10, Thiebaut and 3GPP disclosed the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to configure the second set of data based on the first set of data (3GPP, page 165, “2c. With the collected data, the NWDAF estimates the DN Performance for the application.”; Estimating the DN Performance from the collected data amounts to a configuring a second set of the collected data).
Regarding claim 12, Thiebaut and 3GPP disclosed the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the application data analytics comprise analytics for end to end application server performance sustainability, end to end application session performance sustainability, or a combination thereof (3GPP, page 107, 6.6 Network Performance Analytics, page 108, 6.6.3 Output Analytics, both tables providing output analytics that may be for end to end application server performance sustainability, end to end application session performance sustainability).
Regarding claim 13, Thiebaut and 3GPP disclosed the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to send an application analytics output to the second network device (3GPP, page 166, “3. NWDAF provides the data analytics, to the analytics consumer by means of either Nnwdaf_Analyticsinfo Request response or Nnwdaf_AnalyticsSubscription Notify, depending on the service used in step 1.”).
Regarding claim 14, Thiebaut and 3GPP disclosed the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the subscription request comprises a target vertical application layer (VAL) user equipment (UE) ID, a VAL session ID, a VAL server ID, a VAL application ID, a time validity, an area, a confidence level, permissions, subscriptions, whether offline analytics are needed,whether online analytics are needed, an exposure level, analytics constraints, or a combination thereof (Zhao, [0078], “The monitoring events subscription request can include the information related to the events that the VAL server is interested in. In some embodiments, the monitoring events subscription request can include one or more of the following information elements: (1) a list of VAL users or VAL UEs for which the events monitoring is requested. (2) A list of monitoring and/or analytics events that the VAL server is interested in“; [0099], “The network connection status information request (also referred to as a monitoring event subscription request for network connection status information) can indicate one or more target VAL UEs for which the network connection status information is requested”; [0100] “the network connection status information request may indicate what types of network connection status are to be monitored”).
Claim(s) 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thiebaut et al. (US 20230388386) in view of 3GPP (3GPP, "3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; Architecture enhancements for 5G System (5GS) to support network data analytics services (Release17)", 3GPP TS 23.288 V17.1.0, June 2021, pages 1-192; See IDS, filed 6/07/2024, Non-Patent Literature Documents, Cite No. 9) and further in view of Anastasopoulos et al. (“AI and ML – Enablers for Beryond 5G Networks”, 5G PPP Technology Board, May 11, 2021, pages 1-145, See IDS submitted 6/07/2024, Cite No 4).
Regarding claim 11, Thiebaut, 3GPP disclosed the apparatus of claim 1, but did not explicitly disclose wherein the application data analytics is determined based on a regression method, an artificial intelligence (AI) method, a machine language (ML) method, or a combination thereof.
Anastasopoulos dislosed wherein the application data analytics is determined based on a regression method, an artificial intelligence (AI) method, a machine language (ML) method, or a combination thereof (Anastasopoulos, page 99-100, “the functionality of the NWDAF is of great importance to the optimization of the control and management functions and the overall performance of the network. Three major aspects are key to the realization of NWDAF solutions:” and “Selection of the Machine Learning model, which can best fit the target intelligent optimization target and data characteristics and behaivior (e.g. RL, DRL, RNN, game theory, etc.”)).
One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to combine the teachings of Thiebaut, 3GPP and Anastasopoulos as they all disclose technigues involving data analytics, and as such, they are within similar environments.
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to incorporate Anastasopoulos teachings within the combined teachings of Thiebaut, 3GPP in order to achieve a best fit for the target intelligent optimization target and data characteristics and behavior, better satisfying consumer requests, thereby improving customer desirability of use.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments and amendments filed on 5/18/2026 have been carefully considered but they are not deemed fully persuasive.
With respect to the amendment to independent claims 1 and 15 reqarding the subscription request “comprising an analytics event identifier (ID), an analytics type of event, and a target ID”, it is noted that Thiebaut in view of 3GPP disclosed these limitations. Thiebaut at [0097] explicitly refers to 3GPP TS 23.288, indicating, “Parameters provided in the request are as per clause 6.1.3 in 3GPP TS 23.288”, which is shown above that clause 6.1.3 includes the three recited parameters.
With respect to the newly added limitation, “configure, based on the analytics event, a second set of data based on the first set of data, wherein the second set of data comprises at least a portion of the first set of data, an abstraction of the first set of data, or a combination thereof”, Applicant asserts, “3GPP TS 23.288 V17.1.0 discusses DN Performance analytics and network data collection (e.g., pages 165-166) but does not teach or suggest configuring an abstracted or combined second set of data based on a specific analytics event after obtaining the first set.“
Examiner respectfully disagrees.
First, upon analysis of the limitation, it is noted that the limitation does not require either configuring “an abstracted or combined second set”. Rather, these are two out of three alternative options by the limitation. The limitation recites, “wherein the second set of data (1) comprises at least a portion of the first set of data, (2) an abstraction of the first set of data, (3) or a combination thereof”.
The Applicant appears to only assert that the prior art does not teach or suggest two out of the three alternatively claimed options. It is noted that the limitation as claimed only requires one of the three alternatives. As such, Applicant’s argument is not persuasive as it does not appear consistent with the limitation.
Regardless of such, 3GPP disclosed the limitation. 3GPP, at p30, in number “6” disclosed, “Analytics sent to notification endpoints may be processed and formatted by the DCCF so they conform to delivery requirements for each analytics consumer or notification endpoint as specified in clause 5A.4”; See also “NOTE: According to Formatting instructions provided by the Analytics Consumer, multiple notifications from a NWDAF can be combined in a single Ndccf_DataManagement_Notify so many notifications from an NWDAF results in fewer notifications (or one notification) to the Analytics Consumer”; The processing and formatting as performed in 3GPP amounts to configuring a second set of data based on the first set of data, and such processing/formatting is also based on the event information provided in the request, and therefore “based on the analytics event”, as claimed.
The rejections are therefore respectfully maintained.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sheeba (WO 2021069057) disclosed network data analytics provisioning among different PLMNs.
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 JERRY B DENNISON whose telephone number is (571)272-3910. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:50.
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/JERRY B DENNISON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409
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