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.
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 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.
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-15 and 21-25 are pending in this office action. Original claims 16-20 have been withdrawn.
Priority
Priority claimed to PRO 63541620, filed 09/29/2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS's) submitted on 08/29/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(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.
Claims 1-2, 4-8, 10-14, 21, 23-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Rost et al. (US 2025/0175798 A1, hereinafter Rost).
For claim 1, Rost teaches a method comprising: processing an authorization request, received from an application function (AF), to have an access to a network function (NF) of a cellular network (Abstract; para 0004-0005, 0044 - receiving an authorization request from AF to access NF);
determining that the AF is authorized to have the access to the NF of the cellular network; and generating a confirmation message for transmitting to AF, wherein the confirmation message includes authorization information indicating that the AF is authorized to have the access to the NF of the cellular network (para 0005, 0007, 0037-0039, 0044 - access request for NF is approved if authorized, and token key is provided as a confirmation and sent to the AF for further authorization use).
For claim 2, Rost teaches the claimed subject matter as discussed above. Rost further teaches wherein the NF is a radio access network (RAN) management function (Fig. 1; para 0025-0026, 0035 - network functions comprising access and management functions for connected or associated entities, including RAN, AF, UE etc.).
For claim 4, Rost teaches the claimed subject matter as discussed above. Rost further teaches wherein the authorization request to have the access to the NF of the cellular network includes a user equipment (UE) identification and a UE consent input (para 0005, 0039, 0041, 0044, 0055, 0076 - access request for NF comprises client credentials such as those associated with SIM, and permission to certain UE for connectivity).
For claim 5, Rost teaches the claimed subject matter as discussed above. Rost further teaches, wherein: the access is a direct access (para 0005, 0025, 0077-0078); the authorization request for the direct access to the NF of the cellular network includes a controller identifier (para 0005, 0037, 0042, 0066, 0073, 0077 - AF credential or identifier during authorization, and AF as a controller); and the confirmation message includes an NF address (para 0070 - fully qualified domain name of a network function elements as an address).
For claim 6, Rost teaches the claimed subject matter as discussed above in the method of claim 5. Rost further teaches wherein the NF address is an Internet protocol (IP) address or a uniform resource identifier (URI) associated with the NF of the cellular network (para 0070 - fully qualified domain name of a network function elements as an address, derived from different network identifiers).
For claim 7, Rost teaches the claimed subject matter as discussed above in the method of claim 5. Rost further teaches wherein said determining that the AF is authorized to have the access to the network function of the cellular network comprises: processing a first message received from a unified data management (UDM) including an indication of a consent associated with a user equipment (UE) (Fig. 1; para 0005, 0007, 0029, 0039, 0041, 0044, 0076, 0081-0082 - access request for NF is approved if authorized, and token key is provided as a confirmation and sent to the AF for further authorization use, wherein the request is sent and received from core network comprising UDM, wherein access request for NF comprises client credentials such as those associated with SIM, and permission to certain UE for connectivity);
processing a second message received from an access and mobility management function (AMF) including an indication of an identifier of the network function associated with the UE (para 0026-0028 - AMF affecting access authorization associated with UE, RAN and other identified network function nodes); and
determining the authorization information based on the indication of the consent associated with the UE or the indication of the identifier of the network function associated with the UE (para 0005, 0039, 0041, 0044, 0055, 0076 - access request for NF comprises client credentials such as those associated with SIM, and permission to certain UE for connectivity).
For claim 8, Rost teaches the claimed subject matter as discussed above. Rost further teaches comprising: processing an NEF provisioning request received from the AF to invoke a parameter provisioning service; determining that the AF is authorized to invoke the parameter provisioning service (para 0031, 0053 - NEF provisioning request to enable information provisioning, involving UE behavior time synchronization service information and service specific information, AF authorization for NEF parameter provisioning, wherein NEF configuration translates information exchanged with the external AF and information exchanged with an internal NF, handle masking of network and user sensitive information to external AF's as various parameters provisioning); and generating, for transmitting to the AF, a provisioning confirmation message (para 0031, 0053-0055 - authorization with regards to the provisioning).
For claim 10, Rost teaches the claimed subject matter as discussed above. Rost further teaches generating, for transmitting to an access and mobility management function (AMF), an AMF provisioning request to invoke the parameter provisioning service of the AMF (para 0026-0029, 0031, 0053-0055 - AMF affecting access authorization associated with UDM, UE, RAN and other identified network function nodes, authorization associated with various parameters provisioning).
For claim 11, Rost teaches the claimed subject matter as discussed above. Rost further teaches wherein the NF is a first NF, and the method further comprises: generating, for transmitting to AF, partial inferred results associated with a second NF (Fig. 1; para 0005, 0007, 0029-0032, 0037-0039, 0044 - access request for NF is approved if authorized, and token key is provided as a response and sent to the AF in association with another network function AZF, wherein NEF exposes collected data or only specific information as partial information from NFs to AF).
For claim 12, Rost teaches the claimed subject matter as discussed above in the method of claim 11. Rost further teaches wherein the second NF is a network data analytics (NWDA) NF (para 0029-0032 - NF includes NEF, AMF and UDM, each or all together provide collected information to the effect of utilization for analysis or determinations for further use by AFs).
For claim 13, Rost teaches an apparatus comprising: processing circuitry (para 0012, 0115, 0117-0120) to: process a session request associated with a user equipment (UE), the session request received from an application function (AF) (Abstract; para 0004-0005, 0026-0028, 0044, 0055 - receiving an authorization request from AF to access NF by establishing of session);
generate, for transmitting to the AF, a confirmation response associated with the session request (para 0005, 0007, 0028, 0037-0039, 0044 - access connection session request for NF is approved if authorized, and token key is provided as a confirmation and sent to the AF for further authorization use); and configure the UE based on the session request (para 0007, 0025, 0055-0056, 0058, 0069, 0095 - UE configurations in various situations based on authorization of access session); and
interface circuitry coupled with the processing circuitry, the interface circuitry to receive the session request (para 0012, 0115, 0117-0120).
For claim 14, Rost teaches the claimed subject matter as discussed above in the method of claim 11. Rost further teaches wherein the session request includes a UE identifier, a UE selected configuration, and an authorization identifier associated with the AF (para 0031, 0053-0056 - NEF provisioning request to enable information provisioning, involving UE behavior time synchronization service information and service specific information, AF authorization for NEF parameter provisioning, wherein NEF configuration translates information exchanged with the external AF and information exchanged with an internal NF, handle masking of network and user sensitive information to external AF's as various parameters provisioning, wherein the application entity or network service is referred to by the AF for authorization, SIM as associated UE identifier and comprising UE selected configuration profile).
For claim 21, Rost teaches a method comprising: generating, for transmission to a network entity, an authorization request to request an access for an application function (AF) to a network function (NF) of a cellular network (Abstract; para 0004-0005, 0044 - receiving an authorization request from AF to access NF); and
receiving, from the network entity, a confirmation message that includes authorization information indicating that the AF is authorized to have the access to the NF of the cellular network (para 0005, 0007, 0037-0039, 0044 - access request for NF is approved if authorized, and token key is provided as a confirmation and sent to the AF for further authorization use).
For claim 23, Rost teaches the claimed subject matter as discussed above. Rost further teaches wherein the authorization request includes a user equipment (UE) identification and a UE consent input (para 0005, 0039, 0041, 0044, 0055, 0076 - access request for NF comprises client credentials such as those associated with SIM, and permission to certain UE for connectivity).
For claim 24, Rost teaches the claimed subject matter as discussed above. Rost further teaches, wherein: the access is a direct access (para 0005, 0025, 0077-0078); the authorization request for the direct access to the NF of the cellular network includes a controller identifier (para 0005, 0037, 0042, 0066, 0073, 0077 - AF credential or identifier during authorization, and AF as a controller); and the confirmation message includes an NF address (para 0070 - fully qualified domain name of a network function elements as an address).
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 3, 9, 22, 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rost et al. (US 2025/0175798 A1, hereinafter Rost), in view of Huang et al. (US 2024/0007444 A1, Huang hereinafter).
For claim 3, Rost teaches the claimed subject matter as discussed above. Rost further teaches wherein the confirmation message includes an authorization identifier (para 0005, 0007, 0037-0039, 0044 - access request for NF is approved and as a confirmation, token or key is provided as an identifier to the AF for further authorization use; para 0070 - identifier in form of FQDNs may be made available to AF upon authorization). Rost does not appear to explicitly teach, however Huang teaches authorization confirmation message includes a validity timer (para 0047-0048 - authorization for service request with a validity timer (ttl) that expires). Based on Rost in view of Huang, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to utilize teachings of Huang in the system of Rost, in order to incorporate well-known feature of limiting session authorization validity based on time, thereby preventing misuse of connectivity or authorization states and thus making system more secured.
For claim 9, Rost teaches the claimed subject matter as discussed above. Rost further teaches wherein the NEF provisioning request includes an authorization identifier associated with the AF, a UE identifier, a UE operating profile (para 0031, 0053-0056 - NEF provisioning request to enable information provisioning, involving UE behavior time synchronization service information and service specific information, AF authorization for NEF parameter provisioning, wherein NEF configuration translates information exchanged with the external AF and information exchanged with an internal NF, handle masking of network and user sensitive information to external AF's as various parameters provisioning, wherein the application entity or network service is referred to by the AF for authorization, SIM as associated UE identifier and comprising UE profile).
Rost does not appear to explicitly teach, however Huang teaches provisioning request includes an authorization identifier associated with a validity time (para 0047-0049, 0051 - authorization for service request provisioning with a validity timer (ttl) that expires). Based on Rost in view of Huang, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to utilize teachings of Huang in the system of Rost, in order to incorporate well-known feature of limiting session authorization validity based on time, thereby preventing misuse of connectivity or authorization states and thus making system more secured.
For claim 22, Rost teaches the claimed subject matter as discussed above. Rost further teaches wherein the confirmation message includes an authorization identifier (para 0005, 0007, 0037-0039, 0044 - access request for NF is approved and as a confirmation, token or key is provided as an identifier to the AF for further authorization use; para 0070 - identifier in form of FQDNs may be made available to AF upon authorization). Rost does not appear to explicitly teach, however Huang teaches authorization confirmation message includes a validity timer (para 0047-0048 - authorization for service request with a validity timer (ttl) that expires). Based on Rost in view of Huang, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to utilize teachings of Huang in the system of Rost, in order to incorporate well-known feature of limiting session authorization validity based on time, thereby preventing misuse of connectivity or authorization states and thus making system more secured.
For claim 25, Rost teaches the claimed subject matter as discussed above. Rost further teaches comprising: generating, for transmission to the network entity, a network exposure function (NEF) provisioning request to invoke a parameter provisioning service; receiving, from the network entity, a provisioning confirmation message indicating that the AF is authorized to invoke the parameter provisioning service (para 0031, 0053 - NEF provisioning request to enable information provisioning, involving UE behavior time synchronization service information and service specific information, AF authorization for NEF parameter provisioning, wherein NEF configuration translates information exchanged with the external AF and information exchanged with an internal NF, handle masking of network and user sensitive information to external AF's as various parameters provisioning; para 0031, 0053-0055 - generating, for transmitting to the AF, a provisioning confirmation message of authorization with regards to the provisioning), wherein the NEF provisioning request includes an authorization identifier associated with the AF, a UE identifier, a UE operating profile (para 0031, 0053-0056 - NEF provisioning request to enable information provisioning, involving UE behavior time synchronization service information and service specific information, AF authorization for NEF parameter provisioning, wherein NEF configuration translates information exchanged with the external AF and information exchanged with an internal NF, handle masking of network and user sensitive information to external AF's as various parameters provisioning, wherein the application entity or network service is referred to by the AF for authorization, SIM as associated UE identifier and comprising UE profile).
Rost does not appear to explicitly teach, however Huang teaches provisioning request includes an authorization identifier associated with a validity time (para 0047-0049, 0051 - authorization for service request provisioning with a validity timer (ttl) that expires). Based on Rost in view of Huang, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to utilize teachings of Huang in the system of Rost, in order to incorporate well-known feature of limiting session authorization validity based on time, thereby preventing misuse of connectivity or authorization states and thus making system more secured.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rost et al. (US 2025/0175798 A1, hereinafter Rost), in view of Suh (US 2024/0284315 A1).
For claim 15, Rost teaches the claimed subject matter as discussed above. Rost does not appear to disclose, however Suh discloses wherein to configure the UE based on the session request, the processing circuitry is to: generate, for transmitting to the UE, a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message (para 0079-0080, 0117, 0161-0162, 0192 - UE registration request via RRC and UE configuration associated with registration). Based on Rost in view of Suh, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to utilize teachings of Suh in the system of Rost, in order to incorporate well-known RRC to manage signaling between the UE and network, thereby improving system’s features and efficiency by leveraging well-known standards and techniques of telecommunication.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. (1) Fard - US-20230354463-A1 (State transition of wireless device); (2) Zhu - US-20230328508-A1 (Method for transmitting radio node information) - are cited to show methods, computer program products and systems pertinent to application function and UE authorizations for network functions.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAYESH JHAVERI whose telephone number is (571)270-7584. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 9 AM to 5 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey Pwu can be reached on (571)272-6798. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAYESH M JHAVERI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2433
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