DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This is a non-final action for application number 18/890,745 in response to an original application filed on 09/19/2024.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Claims 1, 11 and 19 are independent claims.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed on 10/30/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS), submitted on 09/19/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 6 is objected to under 37 CFR 1.75(c) as being in improper form because a multiple dependent claim should refer to other claims in the alternative only--, and/or, --cannot depend from any other multiple dependent claim. See MPEP § 608.01(n). Accordingly, the claim has not been further treated on the merits.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-11, 13, 14 and 16-20 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong et al. (US 2022/0337486 A1) in view of Ye et al. (US 2019/0220273 A1)
Regarding claims 1, 11 and 19, a data collection method, comprising:
sending, by a first communication device, a first request to a target communication device, [In S3030, the source NWDAF sends a network function data collection request to the target NWDAF, where the network function data collection request includes data collection
assistance information of the at least one network function, (Hong et al., Paragraph 85)],
wherein the first request is used to request to obtain target data collected by a third communication device corresponding to a target terminal, [the network function data collection request may simultaneously include data collection assistance parameters of the multiple network functions, (Hong et al., Paragraph 74)],
and obtaining, by the first communication device, the target data collected by the third communication device, [In S3040, the source NWDAF receives a network function data collection response sent by the target NWDAF, where the network function data collection response includes network data fed back by the at least one network function, (Hong et al., Paragraph 86)],
Hong et al. fails to explicitly teach the target data is used by the first communication device to perform target processing,
Ye et al. teaches that the service module is a hub that accepts the data from the applications, identifies the target data according to the configuration file, and uploads the target data to a cloud server (e.g., for analysis or for online analyzing), (Ye et al., Paragraph 67),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify Hong et al. by including that the target data is used by the first communication device to perform target processing, (Ye et al., Paragraph 67), in order to collect the target data based at least in part on the set of target data information and the corresponding set of target data information providers; and controlling the device based at least in part on the collected target data, (Ye et al., Abstract).
Regarding claim 2, the data collection method according to claim 1, wherein when the target communication device is a second communication device, the method further comprises: receiving, by the first communication device, information about the third communication device that is sent by the second communication device, [Hong et al., please see figure 9 Step S910],
and sending, by the first communication device, a second request to the third communication device based on the information about the third communication device, [Hong et al., please see figure 9 Step S940],
wherein the second request is used to request the third communication device to collect the target data or obtain the target data collected by the third communication device, [Hong et al., please see figure 9 Step S950],
and when the second request is used to request to obtain the target data collected by the third communication device, the obtaining, by the first communication device, the target data collected by the third communication device comprises: receiving, by the first communication device, the collected target data sent by the third communication device, [Hong et al., please see figure 8 Step 8020 and 8030].
Regarding claim 3, the data collection method according to claim 1, wherein when the target communication device is a second communication device, the obtaining, by the first communication device, the target data collected by the third communication device comprises: receiving, by the first communication device, the collected target data sent by the third communication device; or receiving, by the first communication device, the target data sent by the second communication device and collected by the third communication device, [Hong et al., please see figure 10 Steps 1010-1090].
Regarding claim 4, the data collection method wherein when the target communication device is the third communication device, the obtaining, by the first communication device, the target data collected by the third communication device comprises: receiving, by the first communication device, the collected target data sent by the third communication device, [Hong et al., please see figure 8 Step 8020 and 8030].
Regarding claims 5 and 13, the data collection method wherein when the target communication device is the third communication device, the first request is further used to request the third communication device to collect the target data, [Hong et al., please see figure 8 Steps 8010, 8020 and 8030].
Regarding claims 6, 14 and 17, the data collection method wherein the first request comprises at least one of the following: a terminal identifier, a data network name (DNN), a packet data unit (PDU) session identifier, single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI), an application identifier, an analytic identifier, an event identifier, a type of the target data, a data network access identifier (DNAI), a packet detection rule (PDR), or a quality of service (QoS) flow identifier (QFI), wherein the analytic identifier and the event identifier are used to indicate the type of the collected target data, and the analytic identifier corresponds to at least one event identifier, [The analysis target association information is assistance information used to determine a network function from which data is required to be collected for service type analysis, for example, location information, a network function identifier, a UE identifier, an AF identifier, slice information or other association information that may be used for assisting in determining the analysis target, (Hong et al., Paragraph 91)].
Regarding claims 7 and 16, the data collection method wherein the second request comprises at least one of the following: a terminal identifier, a data network name (DNN), a packet data unit (PDU) session identifier, single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI), an application server IP address, an application identifier, an analytic identifier, an event identifier, a type of the target data, a data network access identifier (DNAI), a packet detection rule (PDR), or a quality of service (QoS) flow identifier QFI, wherein the analytic identifier and the event identifier are used to indicate a type of the collected target data, and the analytic identifier corresponds to at least one event identifier, [The analysis target association information is assistance information used to determine a network function from which data is required to be collected for service type analysis, for example, location information, a network function identifier, a UE identifier, an AF identifier, slice information or other association information that may be used for assisting in determining the analysis target, (Hong et al., Paragraph 91)].
Regarding claims 8 and 18, the data collection method wherein when there is a plurality of target terminals, before the sending, by the first communication device, the first request to the second communication device, the method further comprises:
sending, by the first communication device, a third request to a fourth communication device, wherein the third request is used to request to obtain information about target communication devices corresponding to the plurality of target terminals, and the target communication devices comprise the second communication device or the third communication device, [Hong et al., please see figure 8 Steps 8010, 8020 and 8030].
Regarding claims 9 and 20, the data collection method wherein the third request comprises at least one of the following information: terminal location information, a data network name (DNN), single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI), a data network access identifier (DNAI), an application server IP address, or a network function type, [slice information of one of the at least one network function, an identifier of one of the at least one network function, or location information of one of the at least one network function, (Hong et al., Paragraph 17)].
Regarding claim 10, the data collection method according to claim 2, wherein the information about the third communication device comprises at least one of the followings: an IP address, an instance identifier, a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), a quality of service (QoS) flow identifier (QFI), a packet detection rule (PDR), or a PDU session identifier, [The identifier of the network function represents various pieces of network function information, for example, a network function identifier, an AF identifier or an OAM identifier. The location information of the network function represents a geographical location, a tracking area, an IP address, a cell, operator information, vendor information and other information of the at least one network function for effectively distinguishing between service areas, (Hong et al., Paragraph 81)].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12 and 15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Shukri Taha whose telephone number is 571-270-1921. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30am-5pm Mon-Fri.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Avellino, can be reached on 571-272-3905.
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/SHUKRI TAHA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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