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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/10/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Cancelled Claims
Claims 1-21 will not be considered for examination purposes in accordance with applicant’s preliminary amendment.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: “Communication Monitoring Network Systems for Public Safety and Lawful Interception”.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 22-36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Surana et al (US-20230164573-A1, Published: 2023-05-25) hereinafter Surana in view of Monatesti et al (US-20090018875-A1) hereinafter Monatesti .
Regarding claim 22, Surana discloses, a communication network device hosting a monitoring administration function (M-ADMF) network element (NE) (Surana, fig. 1, par.3; The CSP maintains an administrative function (ADMF 120)), the communication network device comprising: interface circuitry; processing circuitry including at least one processor; and memory comprising instructions executable by the processing circuitry wherein the communication network device is operative to (Surana, fig. 7, par. 29; one or more of the actions, functions, and/or described components may be performed by a specially-programmed processor, a processor executing specially-programmed software or computer-readable media, or by any other combination of a hardware component and/or a software component capable of performing the described actions or functions): receive, from a public agency (PA), a monitoring activation request message on a handover interface of a communication network, the monitoring activation request message including event reporting information parameters including (Surana, fig. 1, par. 3; the LEA 170 is responsible for submitting the warrant 102 to the CSP and for maintaining a law enforcement monitoring function (LEMF 160)): information identifying a monitoring target (Surana, fig. 1, par. 4; POIs (142, 144) detect target communication, derive the intercept related information (IRI), e.g., phone numbers, or communications content (CC), e.g., voice, from the target communications, and deliver the POI output 186 as xIRI to one type of MDF 150 or as xCC to another type of MDF 150); and at least one event type associated with the monitoring target the PA is requesting to receive notification of, wherein the at least one event type is at least one of pollution detection, explosive material detection, flammable material detection, natural gas emission detection, toxic leak detection, toxic spill, spoilage or contamination detection, or drug detection (Surana, fig. 1, par. 6; The TF 130 detects the events and sends a trigger to each associated triggered POI 142. As a part of triggering, the TF 130 sends interception rules (e.g., rules that allow the POI 142 to detect the target communications), forwarding rules (e.g., which MDF2, MDF3 to address), target identity, and the correlation information.); and send an activate task message to a point of monitoring (POM) on a first internal communication interface of the communication network, the activate task message including the event reporting information parameters received in the monitoring activation request message (Surana, fig. 1, par. 3; The CSP maintains an administrative function (ADMF 120) that administers provisioning/activating, modifying, and de-activating/de-provisioning the point(s) of interception (POI 142, 144), triggering functions (TF 130), and a mediation and delivery functions (MDF 150)) see also fig. 2.
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Surana does not explicitly teach the event types detected by the TF-130 being associated with at least one of pollution detection, explosive material detection, flammable material detection, natural gas emission detection, toxic leak detection, toxic spill, spoilage or contamination detection, or drug detection. However, Monatesti discloses a victim support tracking for first responders which uses a variety of sensors including optical, fire, temperature, smoke etc. to aid first responders in locating victims (Monatesti, par. 4; The invention is relevant to eight life and property safety areas: (a) building reconnaissance; (b) occupancy and intrusion detection; (c) fire & security systems with room control; (d) infrared detection systems; (e) building intelligence systems; (f) fire alarm and alerting systems; (g) location display and navigation apparatus; and (h) patient tracking, transport & information access in collaborative space) see also pars. 55-62.
Therefore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to combine Surana’s lawful interception system with Monatesti’s teachings for tracking victims in emergency situations to enhance situational awareness to public safety personnel and aid in their response to emergencies.
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Regarding Claim 23, the combination of Surana and Monatesti further teaches the communication network device of claim 22, wherein the monitoring target is at least one of a geographic area, a building, or a structure (Monatesti, par. 84; The invention, through a readiness process, captures and stores building intelligence, and ascertains the location of all technology available within a building that could be used to save lives and property), see also par. 91-100.
Regarding Claim 24, the combination of Surana and Monatesti further teaches the communication network device of claim 22, wherein the handover interface has an HI1 lawful interception handover interface format and the first internal communication interface has an X1 lawful interception internal network interface format (Surana, par. 21; The LICF 124 receives the warrant 102 from an LEA 170 over LI_HI1 172, derives the intercept information from the warrant 102, and provides the derived information to the LIPF 122. The LIPF 122 provisions IRI-POI 144 (present in the SMF 210), MDF2 150a, and MDF3 150b over the LI_X1 interfaces 184), examiner notes, HI1 and X1 are well known industry standards for LICF to LEA communication see 3GPP TS 33.127 V16.6.0 section 5.3.5.2 and section 5.3.5.3.
Regarding Claim 25, the combination of Surana and Monatesti further teaches the communication network device of claim 22, wherein the M-ADMF includes a monitoring control function (MCF) and a monitoring provisioning function (MPF) (Surana, par. 21; The LICF 124 receives the warrant 102 from an LEA 170 over LI_HI1 172, derives the intercept information from the warrant 102, and provides the derived information to the LIPF 122. The LIPF 122 provisions IRI-POI 144 (present in the SMF 210), MDF2 150a, and MDF3 150b over the LI_X1 interfaces 184), and wherein the communication network device is further operative to: receive, at the MCF, the monitoring activation request message on the handover interface; obtain the event reporting information parameters from the monitoring activation request message; provide the event reporting information parameters to the MPF; and send, from the MPF, the activate task message to the POM on the first internal communication interface (Surana, par. 21; the CC-POI 142 present in the UPF 220 is also provisioned with the intercept data—but is provisioned by the CC-TF-135 in the SMF 210 acting in an ADMF role. To enable the interception summary report of the target's user plane packets (e.g. when the warrant 102 requires interception related information), the IRI-POI 144 present in the UPF 220 is also provisioned with the intercept data—but is provisioned by the IRI-TF (not shown) in the SMF 210 acting in an ADMF role), see also fig. 2.
Regarding Claim 26, the combination of Surana and Monatesti further teaches the communication network device of claim 22, wherein the communication network device is further operative to form the activate task message (Surana, par. 21; To enable the interception of the target's user plane packets (e.g. when the warrant 102 requires the interception of communication contents), the CC-POI 142 present in the UPF 220 is also provisioned with the intercept data) by mapping the information identifying a monitoring target and the at least one event type from the monitoring activation request message into the activate task message (Surana, fig. 4, par. 30; The CC-TF-145 receives an ActivateTaskRequest, an ETSI command for LI, from the LIPF with the XID=100 as an argument in Step 1. The CC-TF 135 responds in Step 2 with an ActivateTaskResponse with “OK—Acknowledged and Completed” as an argument).
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Regarding Claim 27, Surana discloses a communication network device hosting a point of monitoring (POM) network element (NE) (Surana, fig. 1 par. 3; the point(s) of interception (POI 142, 144)), the communication network device comprising: interface circuitry; processing circuitry including at least one processor; and memory comprising instructions executable by the processing circuitry (Surana, fig. 7, par. 29; one or more of the actions, functions, and/or described components may be performed by a specially-programmed processor, a processor executing specially-programmed software or computer-readable media, or by any other combination of a hardware component and/or a software component capable of performing the described actions or functions) wherein the communication network device is operative to: receive, from a monitoring administration function (M-ADMF) an activate task message on a first internal communication interface of a communication network, the activate task message including event reporting information parameters including (Surana, fig. 1 par. 5; The LIPF 122 provisions NEs, such as POIs (142, 144)): information identifying a monitoring target; and at least one event type associated with the monitoring target a public agency (PA) has requested to receive notification of, wherein the at least one event type is at least one of pollution detection, explosive material detection, flammable material detection, natural gas emission detection, toxic leak detection, toxic spill, spoilage or contamination detection, or drug detection (Surana, fig. 1, par. 4; POIs (142, 144) detect target communication, derive the intercept related information (IRI), e.g., phone numbers, or communications content (CC), e.g., voice, from the target communications, and deliver the POI output 186 as xIRI to one type of MDF 150 or as xCC to another type of MDF 150); send an event information request message to a data senses function (DSF) of the communication network, the event information request message including the event reporting information parameters received in the activate task message; and receive event notification messages from the DSF, the event notification messages including event information including: information identifying a monitoring target at which at least one event has been detected; and at least one event type detected at the monitoring target (Surana, fig. 1, par. 6; The TF 130 detects the events and sends a trigger to each associated triggered POI 142. As a part of triggering, the TF 130 sends interception rules (e.g., rules that allow the POI 142 to detect the target communications), forwarding rules (e.g., which MDF2, MDF3 to address), target identity, and the correlation information.) see also par. 27.
Surana does not explicitly teach the event types detected by the TF-130 being associated with at least one of pollution detection, explosive material detection, flammable material detection, natural gas emission detection, toxic leak detection, toxic spill, spoilage or contamination detection, or drug detection. However, Monatesti discloses a victim support tracking for first responders which uses a variety of sensors including optical, fire, temperature, smoke etc. to aid first responders in locating victims (Monatesti, par. 4; The invention is relevant to eight life and property safety areas: (a) building reconnaissance; (b) occupancy and intrusion detection; (c) fire & security systems with room control; (d) infrared detection systems; (e) building intelligence systems; (f) fire alarm and alerting systems; (g) location display and navigation apparatus; and (h) patient tracking, transport & information access in collaborative space) see also pars. 55-62.
Therefore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to combine Surana’s lawful interception system with Monatesti’s teachings for tracking victims in emergency situations to enhance situational awareness to public safety personnel and aid in their response to emergencies.
Regarding Claim 28, the combination of Surana and Monatesti further teaches the communication network device of claim 27, wherein the communication network device is further operative to send a monitoring related information (MRI) message to a mediation function on a second internal communication interface of the communication network, the MRI message including the event information (Surana, par. 4; POIs (142, 144) detect target communication, derive the intercept related information (IRI), e.g., phone numbers, or communications content (CC), e.g., voice, from the target communications, and deliver the POI output 186 as xIRI to one type of MDF 150 or as xCC to another type of MDF 150. The type of POI output 186 is determined by the type of the network function (NF)/network entity (NE) associated with the POI 142, 144. Multiple POIs may be involved in executing a warrant 102).
Regarding Claim 29, the combination of Surana and Monatesti further teaches the communication network device of claim 28, wherein the second internal communication interface has an X2 lawful interception internal network interface format (Surana, par. 22; The IRI-POI 144 present in the SMF 210 detects the PDU session establishment, modification, and deletion related events, generates and delivers the related xIRI to the MDF2 150a over LI_X2. The MDF2 150a delivers the IRI messages to the LEMF 160 over LI_HI2 189a).
Regarding Claim 30, the combination of Surana and Monatesti further teaches the communication network device of claim 29, wherein the communication network device is further operative to form the event information request message (Surana, par. 21; To enable the interception of the target's user plane packets (e.g. when the warrant 102 requires the interception of communication contents), the CC-POI 142 present in the UPF 220 is also provisioned with the intercept data) by mapping the event reporting information parameters from the activate task message into the event information request message (Surana, fig. 4, par. 30; The CC-TF-145 receives an ActivateTaskRequest, an ETSI command for LI, from the LIPF with the XID=100 as an argument in Step 1. The CC-TF 135 responds in Step 2 with an ActivateTaskResponse with “OK—Acknowledged and Completed” as an argument).
Regarding Claim 31, Surana discloses a communication network device hosting a data senses function (DSF) network element (NE), the communication network device comprising: interface circuitry; processing circuitry including at least one processor; and memory comprising instructions executable by the processing circuitry (Surana, fig. 7, par. 29; one or more of the actions, functions, and/or described components may be performed by a specially-programmed processor, a processor executing specially-programmed software or computer-readable media, or by any other combination of a hardware component and/or a software component capable of performing the described actions or functions) wherein the communication network device is operative to: receive, from a point of monitoring (POM) (Surana, fig. 1 par. 3; the point(s) of interception (POI 142, 144)), an information request message on an internal communication interface of a communication network, the information request message including event reporting information parameters including: information identifying a monitoring target; and at least one event type, occurrence associated with the monitoring target a public agency, PA, has requested to receive notification of, wherein the at least one event type is at least one of pollution detection, explosive material detection, flammable material detection, natural gas emission detection, toxic leak detection, toxic spill, spoilage or contamination detection, or drug detection (Surana, fig. 1, par. 4; POIs (142, 144) detect target communication, derive the intercept related information (IRI), e.g., phone numbers, or communications content (CC), e.g., voice, from the target communications, and deliver the POI output 186 as xIRI to one type of MDF 150 or as xCC to another type of MDF 150); receive event data from an electronic sense function (ESF) on a further internal communication interface of the communication network, event data including monitoring locations and senses data detected at monitoring locations; determine that received event data includes a monitoring location matching the monitoring target and senses data detected at said monitoring location matching the at least one event type of which the PA has requested to receive notification of; and in response to said determining, send an event notification message to the POM (Surana, par. 22; The LIPF 122 may interact with the SIRF 110 (over LI_SI 182) to discover the SMFs and UPFs in the network. The IRI-POI 144 present in the SMF 210 detects the PDU session establishment, modification, and deletion related events, generates and delivers the related xIRI to the MDF2 150a over LI_X2. The MDF2 150a delivers the IRI messages to the LEMF 160 over LI_HI2 189a), the event notification message including event information including: information identifying the monitoring location matching the monitoring target; and the at least one event type detected at said monitoring location matching the at least one event type of which the PA has requested to receive notification of (Surana, fig. 1, par. 6; The TF 130 detects the events and sends a trigger to each associated triggered POI 142. As a part of triggering, the TF 130 sends interception rules (e.g., rules that allow the POI 142 to detect the target communications), forwarding rules (e.g., which MDF2, MDF3 to address), target identity, and the correlation information) see also par. 27.
Surana does not explicitly teach the event types detected by the TF-130 being associated with at least one of pollution detection, explosive material detection, flammable material detection, natural gas emission detection, toxic leak detection, toxic spill, spoilage or contamination detection, or drug detection. However, Monatesti discloses a victim support tracking for first responders which uses a variety of sensors including optical, fire, temperature, smoke etc. to aid first responders in locating victims (Monatesti, par. 4; The invention is relevant to eight life and property safety areas: (a) building reconnaissance; (b) occupancy and intrusion detection; (c) fire & security systems with room control; (d) infrared detection systems; (e) building intelligence systems; (f) fire alarm and alerting systems; (g) location display and navigation apparatus; and (h) patient tracking, transport & information access in collaborative space) see also pars. 55-62.
Therefore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to combine Surana’s lawful interception system with Monatesti’s teachings for tracking victims in emergency situations to enhance situational awareness to public safety personnel and aid in their response to emergencies.
Regarding Claim 32, the combination of Surana and Monatesti further teaches the communication network device of claim 31, wherein the communication network device is further operative to: determine that triggering of new senses data collection by the ESF is required (Surana, par. 5; LIPF 122 is responsible for receiving triggering information and forwarding the trigger to the appropriate NE); and in response to said determining, send a senses data trigger message to the ESF (Monatesti, par. 82; The invention provides automatic notification to 1.sup.st Responder regarding the building situation) see also pars. 92, 257 and 259-267.
Regarding Claim 33, the combination of Surana and Monatesti further teaches the communication network device of claim 31, wherein the ESF comprises an electronic nose function (ENF) operative to receive smell data from an electronic nose, an electronic tongue function (ETF) operative to receive taste data from an electronic tongue, and/or an electronic eye function (EEF) operative to receive visual data from an electronic eye (Monatesti, par. 91; The apparatus of the invention is comprised of an EAST Unit, a fire alarm system, a LIC Controller, housing BITS application and database, as well as processes and methods for promoting 1.sup.st Responder effectiveness and efficiency), examiner notes, see MPEP 2111.04 for guidance on contingent limitations.
Regarding Claim 34, the combination of Surana and Monatesti further teaches the communication network device of claim 22 (Surana, fig. 1, par.3; The CSP maintains an administrative function (ADMF 120)), further comprising: a second communication network device hosting the POM (Surana, par.3; point(s) of interception (POI 142, 144)); and a third communication network device hosting a data senses function (DSF) (Monatesti, par. 91; The apparatus of the invention is comprised of an EAST Unit, a fire alarm system, a LIC Controller, housing BITS application and database, as well as processes and methods for promoting 1.sup.st Responder effectiveness and efficiency).
Regarding Claim 35, the combination of Surana and Monatesti further teaches the communication network device of claim 34, The monitoring system of claim 34, further comprising: a fourth communication network device hosting an electronic sense function (ESF), the fourth communication network device comprising: interface circuitry; processing circuitry including at least one processor; and memory comprising instructions executable by the processing circuitry wherein the fourth communication network device (Surana, fig. 7, par. 29; one or more of the actions, functions, and/or described components may be performed by a specially-programmed processor, a processor executing specially-programmed software or computer-readable media, or by any other combination of a hardware component and/or a software component capable of performing the described actions or functions) is operative to: receive sense data from a sensing device (Surana, par. 20; The 5G user plane function UPF 220 that handles the user plane data includes a IRI-POI 144 that has the capability to generate the Summary Reports (IRI-Events) for the packets from the PDU sessions based on the interception rules received from the IRI-TF (not shown) in the SMF 210); and send the sense data and a monitoring location of the sensing device to the DSF NE (Monatesti, par. 190; The user interactive interface and delivery device 180 provides a means by which to allow a remote user, as defined above, to access the apparatus. This may allow for a direct transmission of data and information to be entered via any suitable data entry means located at the user's location) see also par. 272.
Regarding Claim 36, the combination of Surana and Monatesti further teaches the communication network device of claim 34, wherein the ESF comprises an electronic nose function (ENF) operative to receive smell data from an electronic nose, an electronic tongue function (ETF) operative to receive taste data from an electronic tongue, and/or an electronic eye function (EEF) operative to receive visual data from an electronic eye (Monatesti, par. 91; The apparatus of the invention is comprised of an EAST Unit, a fire alarm system, a LIC Controller, housing BITS application and database, as well as processes and methods for promoting 1.sup.st Responder effectiveness and efficiency), examiner notes, see MPEP 2111.04 for guidance on contingent limitations.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Saghir et al. (US-20230269278-A1), Network Discovery In A Lawful Intercept System, 2023.
Oliver (US-20140218518-A1), Firearm Discharge Detection And Response System, 2014.
Surana et al. (US-20220407895-A1), Identifying An Active Administration Function (ADMF) In A Lawful Interception Deployment That Utilizes A Plurality Of ADMFS, 2022.
Eisner (US-11412364-B2), Method And System For Locating A Network Device Connected To A Proxy Network Device In An Emergency Situation, 2022.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARIO R CAMPERO MIRAMONTES whose telephone number is (571)272-5792. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Thursday 0600 - 1600.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yuwen (Kevin) Pan can be reached at (571) 272-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARIO R CAMPERO MIRAMONTES/Examiner, Art Unit 2649 /YUWEN PAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2649
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