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 9-16 are rejected as failing to define the invention in the manner required by 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
The claim(s) are narrative in form and replete with indefinite language. The structure which goes to make up the device must be clearly and positively specified. The structure must be organized and correlated in such a manner as to present a complete operative device. The claim(s) must be in one sentence form only. Note the format of the claims in the patent(s) cited.
Claims 9-16 are directed to an apparatus claim without providing any components or parts (i.e. processor, memory etc.) that perform the function of claims 9-16
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
1. 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.
2. 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 of this title, 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 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication No US 2026/0067800 to Kim et al. (hereinafter Kim) in view of U.S. Publication No US 2024/0389046 to Park et al. (hereinafter Park)
As to claims 1, 9 and 17, Kim discloses a method comprising:
receiving, from an application function, a request for network energy related information associated with at least one network element, wherein the request comprises information identifying the at least one network element (Kim; [0185] discloses EIRF may acquire and store information from one or more of the AMF, SMF, UPF, or RAN based on a request from the AF. For example, when the EIRF receives a request from the AF, the EIRF may collect, through and an Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM), energy consumption-related information per Network Function (NF) or per Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI) (for example, energy efficiency information, energy consumption information of the RAN, or renewable energy information of the corresponding area) and generate necessary information);
based at least on the information identifying the at least one network element, obtaining, from an Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) node, the network energy related information associated with the at least one network element (Kim; [0185]; discloses EIRF may acquire and store information from one or more of the AMF, SMF, UPF, or RAN based on a request from the AF. For example, when the EIRF receives a request from the AF, the EIRF may collect, through and an Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM), energy consumption-related information per Network Function (NF) or per Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI) (for example, energy efficiency information, energy consumption information of the RAN, or renewable energy information of the corresponding area) and generate necessary information. [0181] discloses the NEF may store energy-related information provided by the EIRF as structured data and expose the energy-related information to other network functions);
Kim discloses of obtaining network energy related information, but fails to disclose transmitting the obtained network energy related information associated with the at least one network element to the application function. However, Park discloses
transmitting the obtained network energy related information associated with the at least one network element to the application function (Park; [0059]-[0060] the NG-RAN may transmit an alarm notification to the AMF. The information indicating that use of energy by the UE has exceeded the usage criteria, transmitted by the NG-RAN, may include information about at least one of a UE ID, PDU session ID, DNN, single-network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI), QFI, or energy use data. the AMF may transmit an alarm notification including information such as a UE ID or energy use data to the application server. The AMF may transmit information about abnormal use of the UE to the application server through the NEF or AF means application function receiving network energy related information)
It is obvious for a person of ordinary skilled in the art to combine the teachings before the effective filing date of the invention. One would be motivated to combine the teachings in order to transmit information about abnormal use of the UE to the application server through the NEF or AF
As to claims 2, 10 and 18, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Kim-Park discloses wherein obtaining the network energy related information associated with the at least one network element comprises:
transmitting a subscription request to the OAM node, requesting the OAM node to notify regarding availability of the network energy related information associated with the at least one network element, wherein the subscription request comprises the information identifying the at least one network element (Kim; [0185] discloses the EIRF may acquire and store information from one or more of the AMF, SMF, UPF, or RAN based on a request from the AF. For example, when the EIRF receives a request from the AF, the EIRF may collect, through and an Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM), energy consumption-related information per Network Function (NF) or per Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI) (for example, energy efficiency information, energy consumption information of the RAN, or renewable energy information of the corresponding area) and generate necessary information);
in response to the subscription request, receiving a subscription response from the OAM
node indicating successful or unsuccessful subscription for notifying regarding the availability of the network energy related information (Kim; [0185]-[0186] discloses the EIRF may acquire, from the AMF, the number of registered subscribers, DRX information of UEs, and paging-related information. The EIRF may acquire, from the SMF, the number of PDU sessions and QoS parameters for each PDU session. The EIRF may acquire, from the UPF, a data volume and a bit rate. The EIRF may acquire, from the RAN, information on data amount);
in response to the successful subscription, receiving a notification indicating the availability of the network energy related information associated with the at least one network element (Kim; [0185] discloses the EIRF may acquire and store information from one or more of the AMF, SMF, UPF, or RAN based on a request from the AF. For example, when the EIRF receives a request from the AF, the EIRF may collect, through and an Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM), energy consumption-related information per Network Function (NF) or per Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI) (for example, energy efficiency information, energy consumption information of the RAN, or renewable energy information of the corresponding area) and generate necessary information); and
upon receiving the notification indicating the availability of the network energy related information, obtaining the network energy related information from the OAM node using at least one of a streaming method and a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) (Kim; [0185] discloses the EIRF may acquire and store information from one or more of the AMF, SMF, UPF, or RAN based on a request from the AF. For example, when the EIRF receives a request from the AF, the EIRF may collect, through and an Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM), energy consumption-related information per Network Function (NF) or per Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI) (for example, energy efficiency information, energy consumption information of the RAN, or renewable energy information of the corresponding area) and generate necessary information).
As to claims 3, 11 and 19, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Kim-Park discloses wherein the request further comprises a type of the network energy related information being requested and a periodicity of transmitting the network energy related information to the application function, wherein the type of the requested network energy related information comprises one or more of:
renewal energy consumption information associated with the at least one network element, total energy consumption information associated with the at least one network element, and energy efficiency information associated with the at least one network element (Kim; [0185] discloses the EIRF may acquire and store information from one or more of the AMF, SMF, UPF, or RAN based on a request from the AF. For example, when the EIRF receives a request from the AF, the EIRF may collect, through and an Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM), energy consumption-related information per Network Function (NF) or per Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI) (for example, energy efficiency information, energy consumption information of the RAN, or renewable energy information of the corresponding area) and generate necessary information. Here Kim is applied for the 1st alternative renewal energy consumption information).
As to claims 4, 12 and 20, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Kim-Park discloses wherein the at least one network element comprises a network slice for which the application function requests the network energy related information, and wherein the information identifying the at least one network element comprises Single-Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI) associated with the network slice (Kim; [0185] discloses EIRF may acquire and store information from one or more of the AMF, SMF, UPF, or RAN based on a request from the AF. For example, when the EIRF receives a request from the AF, the EIRF may collect, through and an Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM), energy consumption-related information per Network Function (NF) or per Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI) (for example, energy efficiency information, energy consumption information of the RAN, or renewable energy information of the corresponding area) and generate necessary information), and wherein the method comprises:
obtaining, from the OAM node, network energy related information associated with the network slice identified by the S-NSSAI and transmitting the obtained network energy related information associated with the network slice to the application function (Kim; [0185] discloses EIRF may acquire and store information from one or more of the AMF, SMF, UPF, or RAN based on a request from the AF. For example, when the EIRF receives a request from the AF, the EIRF may collect, through and an Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM), energy consumption-related information per Network Function (NF) or per Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI) (for example, energy efficiency information, energy consumption information of the RAN, or renewable energy information of the corresponding area) and generate necessary information)
As to claims 5 and 13, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Kim-Park discloses wherein the request further comprises information identifying one or more network functions (NFs) associated with the network slice identified by the S-NSSAI, and wherein the method comprises:
obtaining, from the OAM node, network energy related information associated with the one or more NFs and transmitting the obtained network energy related information associated with the one or more NFs to the application function (Kim; [0185] discloses EIRF may acquire and store information from one or more of the AMF, SMF, UPF, or RAN based on a request from the AF. For example, when the EIRF receives a request from the AF, the EIRF may collect, through and an Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM), energy consumption-related information per Network Function (NF) or per Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI) (for example, energy efficiency information, energy consumption information of the RAN, or renewable energy information of the corresponding area) and generate necessary information)
As to claims 6 and 14, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Kim-Park discloses wherein the request further comprises a time duration of which the network energy related information is requested, and wherein the method comprises:
obtaining, from the OAM node, the network energy related information associated with the at least one network element for the time duration specified in the request and transmitting 10 the obtained network energy related information to the application function (Kim; [0185] discloses EIRF may acquire and store information from one or more of the AMF, SMF, UPF, or RAN based on a request from the AF. For example, when the EIRF receives a request from the AF, the EIRF may collect, through and an Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM), energy consumption-related information per Network Function (NF) or per Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI) (for example, energy efficiency information, energy consumption information of the RAN, or renewable energy information of the corresponding area) and generate necessary information).
As to claims 7 and 15, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Kim-Park discloses wherein receiving the request for the network energy related information from the application function comprises:
directly receiving the request for the network energy related information from the application function, when the application function is a trusted application function (Park; [0059]-[0060] the AMF may transmit an alarm notification including information such as a UE ID or energy use data to the application server. The AMF may transmit information about abnormal use of the UE to the application server through the NEF or AF (or through direct communication)); and
receiving the request for the network energy related information from the application function via a Network Exposure Function (NEF), when the application function is an untrusted application function (Park; [0059]-[0060] the AMF may transmit an alarm notification including information such as a UE ID or energy use data to the application server. The AMF may transmit information about abnormal use of the UE to the application server through the NEF or AF (or through direct communication))
As to claims 8 and 16, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Kim-Park discloses wherein transmitting the obtained network energy related information associated with the at least one network element to the application function comprises:
directly transmitting the obtained network energy related information associated with the at least one network element to the application function, when the application function is a trusted application function (Park; [0059]-[0060] the AMF may transmit an alarm notification including information such as a UE ID or energy use data to the application server. The AMF may transmit information about abnormal use of the UE to the application server through the NEF or AF (or through direct communication)); and
transmitting the obtained network energy related information associated with the at least one network element to the application function via a Network Exposure Function (NEF), when the application function is an untrusted application function (Park; [0059]-[0060] the AMF may transmit an alarm notification including information such as a UE ID or energy use data to the application server. The AMF may transmit information about abnormal use of the UE to the application server through the NEF or AF (or through direct communication))
Conclusion
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/FAISAL CHOUDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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