Detailed Action
1. This Office Action is responsive to the Preliminary Amendment filed 11/06/2024. Claims 6-11, 14-16, 18 and 20 have been amended. Claims 1-20 are presented for examination. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
2. Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/06/2024 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
4. 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.
5. Claims 1-6, 8 and 10-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WANG et al. (WO 2019/126931 A1), hereinafter “WANG”.
6. As to claim 1, WANG teaches a method for packet data unit (PDU) handling, the method implemented in a Policy Control Function (PCF) of a core network (CN) (i.e., a session may be established between mobile device 140 and core network 110, such as a Packet Data Unit (PDU) session) (Figs 7-8, page 7, lines 1-5) and comprising:
receiving an indication related to handling a PDU set that includes a plurality of PDUs associated with one unit of information generated at an application level (Fig. 8 and page 14, lines 3-33: SMF 716 may invoke the Npcf_SMPolicyControl_Get operation to establish a PDU session with PCF 718 and get the default PCC Rules for the PDU session from PCF 718); and
providing, to a Session Management Function (SMF) of the CN, rules for processing PDUs in accordance with the indication (Fig. 8 and page 14, lines 3-33: PCF 718 then sends the MEC QoS policy to SMF 716 by invoking the Npcf_SMPolicyControl_UpdateNotify service operation).
7. As to claim 2, WANG teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving quality of service (QoS) requirements for the PDU set (Fig. 8 and page 14, lines 3-33: SMF 716 may invoke the Npcf_SMPolicyControl_Get operation to establish a PDU session with PCF 718 and get the default PCC Rules for the PDU session from the PCF 718… PCF 718 then sends the MEC QoS policy to SMF 716 by invoking the Npcf_SMPolicyControl_UpdateNotify service operation).
8. As to claim 3, WANG teaches the method of claim 2, further comprising: providing the SMF with Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rules including a QoS policy for the PDU set (page 12, lines 3-19: PCF 718 is configured to provide policy rules to control plane functions for QoS enforcement, charging, access control, traffic routing, etc.; Fig. 8 and page 14, lines 11-21: PCF 718 then sends the MEC QoS policy to SMF 716 by invoking the Npcf_SMPolicyControl_UpdateNotfy service operation).
9. As to claim 4, WANG teaches the method of claim 3, wherein: the providing of the SMF with the PCC rules is in response to determining that QoS parameters based on the QoS requirements correspond to an authorized Packet Switched (PS) QoS policy of an Application Function (AF) of the CN (page 12, lines 3-19: PCF 718 is configured to provide policy rules to control plane functions for QoS enforcement, charging, access control, traffic routing, etc. AF 720 provides information on a packet flow to PCF 718. Based on the information, PCF 718 is configured to determine policies about mobility and session management to make AMF 714 and SMF 716 operate properly).
10. As to claim 5, WANG teaches the method of claim 3, wherein the providing of the SMF with the PCC rules includes: transmitting a Npcf_SMPolicyControl_UpdateNotify message (Fig. 8 and page 14, lines 3-33: PCF 718 then sends the MEC QoS policy to SMF 716 by invoking the Npcf_SMPolicyControl_UpdateNotfy service operation).
11. As to claim 6, WANG teaches the method of claim 2, wherein the QoS requirements include one or more of: (i) a PDU set delay budget, (ii) a PDU set packet error rate, (iii) an average window of a PDU set, (iv) a PDU set size, (v) an important level of the PDU set, (vi) a dependency on a previous PDU set (page 10, lines 1-8: The QoS ID references QoS characteristics that describe the packet forwarding treatment for QoS flow between a mobile device and a MEC server, such as resource type (GBR, delay critical GBR, or Non-GBR), priority level, packet delay budget, packet error rate, and average window).
12. As to claim 8, WANG teaches the method of claim 1, wherein: the indication related to the handling of the PDU set is received directly from an AF (Fig. 7, page 12, lines 3-19: AF 720 provides information on a packet flow to PCF 718).
13. As to claim 10, WANG teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the indication related to the handling of the PDU set indicates one of: (i) activation of the PDU set, (ii) deactivation of the PDU set, or (iii) modification of the PDU set (Fig. 8, page 14, lines 3-33: AMF 714 determines that the message corresponds to a request for a new PDU session (i.e., activation) based on the Request Type indicating an “initial request” and that the PDU Session ID is not used for any existing PDU session(s) of UE 732).
14. As to claim 11, WANG teaches the method of claim 1, the indication related to the handling of the PDU set includes one or more of: (i) a PDU Set identification and classification type, (ii) a PDU Set Identification and classification rule, and (iii) a security parameter of the PDU set (Fig. 8, page 14, lines 3-33: SMF 716 checks the validity of UE 732, and determines whether the UE request is compliant with the user subscription (i.e., classification type/rule) and with local policies, and whether the UE request is compliant with the user area based on the UE location reporting from the AMF 714).
15. As to claim 12, WANG teaches a method for packet data unit (PDU) handling, the method implemented in a Session Management Function (SMF) of a core network (CN) and comprising:
receiving, from a Policy Control Function (PCF), first rules related to handling of a PDU set (Fig. 8 and page 14, lines 3-33: SMF 716 may invoke the Npcf_SMPolicyControl_Get operation to establish a PDU session with PCF 718 and get the default PCC Rules for the PDU session from the PCF 718… PCF 718 then sends the MEC QoS policy to SMF 716 by invoking the Npcf_SMPolicyControl_UpdateNotify service operation); and
providing a User Plane Function (UPF) of the CN with second rules for classifying a data packet as belonging to the PDU set, the second rules based on the first rules (Fig. 8 and page 14: lines 3-33: SMF 716 sends an N4 Session Establishment/Modification Request to UPF 724 and provides packet detection, enforcement, and reporting rules to be installed on UPF 724 for this PDU Session).
16. As to claim 13, WANG teaches the method of claim 12, wherein: the first rules are Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rules including (i) one or more packet flow descriptors (PFDs) and (ii) a PDU set QoS policy (Fig. 8 and page 14: lines 3-33: SMF 716 sends an N4 Session Establishment/Modification Request to UPF 724 and provides packet detection, enforcement, and reporting rules to be installed on UPF 724 for this PDU Session).
17. As to claim 14, WANG teaches the method of claim 12, wherein the receiving of the first rules includes: receiving a NpcfSMPolicyControlUpdateNotify message (Fig. 8 and page 14, lines 3-33: SMF 716 may invoke the Npcf_SMPolicyControl_Get operation to establish a PDU session with PCF 718 and get the default PCC Rules for the PDU session from the PCF 718… PCF 718 then sends the MEC QoS policy to SMF 716 by invoking the Npcf_SMPolicyControl_UpdateNotify service operation).
18. As to claim 15, WANG teaches the method of claim 12, wherein: the second rules are Packet Detection Rules (PDR) including one or more of:(i) a traffic classifier policy, (ii) a PDU set identification and classification (PSICR), or (iii) a PDU Set QoS Enforcement Rule (PS-QER) (Fig. 8, page 14, lines 3-33: SMF 716 checks the validity of UE 732, and determines whether the UE request is compliant with the user subscription and with local policies, and whether the UE request is compliant with the user area based on the UE location reporting from the AMF 714).
19. As to claim 16, WANG teaches the method of claim 12, further comprising: providing a radio access network (RAN) with a QoS profile including a PDU set information (Fig. 8 and page 14: lines 3-33: SMF 716 also sends MEC QoS policy to AMF 714 in a message, … AMF 714 then sends the MEC QoS policy to MEC server 740 in RAN 730 in a message, such as an N2 PDU Session Request).
20. As to claim 17, WANG teaches the method of claim 16, wherein the PDU set information includes at least one of: (i) PDU Set QoS Flow Identifier (PSQFI), (ii) PDU Set QoS requirements, or (iii) PDU Set QoS characteristics (page 14: lines 3-33: PDU Session ID, PDU Session Establishment Request, PDU Session Type, QoS Profile(s), QoS Rules, Access type, user location information, user subscriptions, local policies, etc.)
21. As to claim 18, WANG teaches the method of claim 12, further comprising: providing a user equipment (UE) with one or more QoS rules related to the PDU set (Figs. 7-8 and page15, lines 1-12: MEC server 740 may optionally send the QoS profile to UE 732).
22. As to claim 19, WANG teaches the method of any of claims 18, further comprising: providing the UE with PDU set QoS parameters related to a QoS flow and associated with the one or more QoS rules (page 10, lines 1-8: A QoS profile contains QoS parameters that define the QoS for a user plane connection, …, references QoS characteristics that describe the packet forwarding treatment for a QoS flow between a mobile device and a MEC server, such as resource type, priority level, packet delay budget, packet error rate, and averaging window).
23. As to claim 20, claim 20 is a corresponding PCF claim that recites similar limitations as of method claim 1 and does not contain any additional limitations with respect to novelty and/or inventive steps: therefore, is rejected under the same rationale.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
24. 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.
25. Claims 7 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WANG, in view of Rodrigo et al. (US 2025/0274335 A1), hereinafter “Rodrigo”.
26. As to claims 7 and 9, WANG teaches the method claim 1, but does not explicitly teach “the indication related to the handling of the PDU set is received from a Network Exposure Function (NEF), wherein the indication related to the handling of the PDU set is included in a Npcf_PolicyAuthorization_Create request message”.
In an analogous art, Rodrigo teaches “the indication related to the handling of the PDU set is received from a Network Exposure Function (NEF), wherein the indication related to the handling of the PDU set is included in a Npcf_PolicyAuthorization_Create request message” ([0184]: NEF invokes the Npcf_PolicyAuthorization_Create to the serving PCF of the PDU session. The Npcf_PolicyAuthorization_Create operation includes the subscription information from NEF on SMF for UP_PATH_CHANGE event for traffic influence. Meanwhile, based on local policy NEF may also include another subscription for QOS_MONITORING even on SMF. NEF may add two different binding indications for these two subscriptions respectively).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Rodrigo, into WANG’s to achieve “the indication related to the handling of the PDU set is received from a Network Exposure Function (NEF), wherein the indication related to the handling of the PDU set is included in a Npcf_PolicyAuthorization_Create request message” to allow the SMF to receive and construct PDU related information (such as subscriptions and binding indications), for a specific UE or PDU session.
27. Further references of interest are cited on Form PTO-892, which is an attachment to this Office Action.
28. A shortened statutory period for reply to this action is set to expire THREE (3) months from the mailing date of this communication. See 37 CFR 1.134.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUANG N NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571) 272-3886.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, KAMAL B. DIVECHA, can be reached at (571) 272-5863. The fax phone number for the organization is (571) 273-8300.
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/QUANG N NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2441