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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informalities: there is a lack of conjunction immediately before the final limitation. Examiner is interpreting Claim 2 as having an ‘and’ such that each steps is required to be performed, but this is not explicitly claimed and it could be interpreted as not requiring each of the claimed functional steps. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
(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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by Camarillo Garvia (US 2019/0288873 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Camarillo Garvia teaches the below limitation(s):
A network element having a control plane function configured to communicate with a plurality of user plane functions (Camarillo Garvia Fig 3A SMF 322 communicatively coupled to UPFs 337 and 338), the network element comprising:
at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor (Fig 2B and [0072] apparatus comprises one or more processor(s) 221 and memory 222), cause the network element to
establish a subscriber session on a first of the plurality of user plane functions in response to a request to establish the subscriber session (Fig 3A and [0020] SMF or MME refers to a mobility network node (i.e. network element) that performs control plane functionality related to subscriber sessions (e.g. session establishment)),
the subscriber session being established on the first of the plurality of user plane functions independent of whether the request to establish the subscriber session was received at the control plane function via the first of the plurality of user plane functions (Fig 3A SR-enabled UPF-1 337 and UPF-2 338 i.e. "a first plurality of user plane functions", wherein examiner is interpreting "independent of whether the request … was received at the control plane" as not having patentable weight because it does not require that the CPF did not receive the request).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 2-14 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: a thorough and complete search has been conducted and no prior art has been found that solely, or in any reasonable combination, reads on each element of the indicated claim(s). In particular, the language of independent Claim 2, namely “establish, at the first user plane function, a first fate sharing group including a plurality first subscriber sessions,”, overcomes previously cited prior art by performing a step not contemplated by the prior art. No art found that was filed before the instant invention teaches establishing a fate sharing group comprising a plurality of subscriber sessions at a user plane function. For at least this reason, Claim 2 is in condition for allowance. Independent Claims 3 and 11 recite at least the same novel subject matter and are in condition for allowance for at least the same reason(s). Dependent Claims 4-10 and 12-14 are in condition for allowance for depending upon an allowable claim.
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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHAWN D MILLER whose telephone number is (571)272-8599. The examiner can normally be reached M-TR 8-5.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles C Jiang can be reached at (571) 270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHAWN D MILLER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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