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 .
Priority
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, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged.
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statement(s) submitted on January 28, 2026 has been considered by the Examiner and made of record in the application file.
Drawings
4. The drawings were received on October 14, 2024. These drawings are accepted.
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ETSI (“TS 124 526”, April 2021) in view of ETSI (“TS 123 503”, January 2022).
Regarding claim 1, the ETSI 124 526 document teaches a user equipment route selection policy (URSP) determining method (read as UE policies for 5G System (5GS) (Section 1, page 5, Section 4.1, page 7)), comprising:
obtaining, by a user equipment (read as UE), at least one first URSP (read as “The UE policies can be delivered from the PCF to the UE.”(Section 4.1, page 7) Also, “UE policies for 5GS include:
- UE route selection policy(URSP)(see subclause 4.2);” (Section 4.1, page 7)),
wherein each first URSP comprises first indication information (read as USRP comprising of traffic description (Section 4.2.1, page 7)), or
each first URSP comprises a correspondence between the first URSP and the first indication information (read as “The URSP is defined in 3GPP TS 23.503 [2] and is a set of one or more URSP rules, where a URSP rule is composed of:
a) a precedence value of the URSP rule identifying the precedence of the URSP rule among all the existing URSP rules;
b) a traffic descriptor”(Section 4.2.1, page 7)); and
However, the ETSI 124 526 document fails to explicitly teach determining, by the user equipment, a target URSP from the at least one first URSP based on the first indication information or the correspondence.
The ETSI 123 503 document teaches determining, by the user equipment (read as UE ), a target URSP from the at least one first URSP based on the first indication information (read as “Each URSP rule contains a Traffic descriptor (containing one or more components described in Table 6.6.2.1-2) that determines when the rule is applicable. A URSP rule is determined to be applicable when every component in the Traffic descriptor matches the corresponding information from the application.”(Section 6.6.2.1, page 102)) or the correspondence. (read as “For every newly detected application the UE evaluates the URSP rules in the order of Rule Precedence and determines if the application is matching the Traffic descriptor of any URSP rule.”(Section 6.6.2.3, page 104) For example, “When a URSP rule is determined to be applicable for a given application (see clause 6.6.2.1), the UE shall select a Route Selection Descriptor within this URSP rule in the order of the Route Selection Descriptor Precedence.”(Section 6.6.2.3, page 104) Also, “Only the URSP rules provisioned by the PCF is used by the UE.”(Section 6.6.2.2, page 104))
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the function for determining a USRP based on a traffic description as taught by the ETSI 123 503 document with the UE as taught by the ETSI 124 526 document for the purpose of improving establishing and applying policies to a particular type of traffic by devices in a communication network.
Regarding claim 2, and as applied to claim 1 above, the ETSI 124 526 document, as modified by the ETSI 123 503 document, teaches a method wherein the obtaining, by a user equipment (read as UE), at least one first URSP (read as USRP (Section(s) 4.1-4.2, page 7))comprises at least one of the following:
receiving, by the user equipment, the at least one first URSP transmitted by a first network side device (read as “The UE policies can be delivered from the PCF to the UE.”(Section 4.1, page 7) Also, “UE policies for 5GS include:
- UE route selection policy(URSP)(see subclause 4.2);” (Section 4.1, page 7)); or
obtaining, by the user equipment, the at least one first URSP based on preconfigured information in the user equipment. (read as “The URSP is defined in 3GPP TS 23.503 [2] and is a set of one or more URSP rules, where a URSP rule is composed of:
a) a precedence value of the URSP rule identifying the precedence of the URSP rule among all the existing URSP rules;
b) a traffic descriptor”(Section 4.2, page 7))
Regarding claim 3, and as applied to claim 1 above, the ETSI 124 526 document, as modified by the ETSI 123 503 document, teaches a method wherein the first indication information (read as URSP (Section 4.2, pages 7-8)) comprises at least one of the following information:
a public land mobile network (PLMN) identifier (ID),
a data network name (DNN) (read as one or more DNN (Section 4.2.1, page 7)),
a slice,
a stand-alone non-public network (SNPN) ID, or
an area in which the user equipment is located.
Regarding claim 4, and as applied to claim 1 above, the ETSI 124 526 document, as modified by the ETSI 123 503 document, teaches a method wherein the determining, by the user equipment, a target URSP from the at least one first URSP based on the first indication information or the correspondence comprises:
performing, by the user equipment (read as UE (Section 4.2, pages 7-8)), matching on second information and the correspondence (read as “the UE shall evaluate the URSP rules, except the default URSP rule, with a traffic descriptor matching the application information in increasing order of their precedence values, if any. If the traffic descriptor contains more than one traffic descriptor component type, each of a different type, all of them shall be matched. If the traffic descriptor contains more than one traffic descriptor component of the same traffic descriptor component type, at least one of the traffic descriptor components of the same traffic descriptor component type shall be matched with the application information.” (Section 4.2.2.2, page 8)); and
determining, by the user equipment in a case of a successful match, as the target URSP a first URSP corresponding to a correspondence for which the successful match exists.(read as “the UE shall evaluate the URSP rules, except the default URSP rule, with a traffic descriptor matching the application information in increasing order of their precedence values, if any.”(Section 4.2.2.2, page 8))
Regarding claim 5, and as applied to claim 4 above, the ETSI 124 526 document, as modified by the ETSI 123 503 document, teaches a method wherein the second information comprises at least one of the following information:
a public land mobile network (PLMN) identifier (ID),
a (data network name) DNN (read as one or more DNN (Section 4.2.1, page 8)),
a slice (read as one or more S-NSSAIs (Section 4.2.1, page 8)),
a stand-alone non-public network (SNPN) ID, or
an area in which the user equipment is located. (read as location criteria (Section 4.2.1, page 8))
Regarding claim 6, and as applied to claim 4 above, the ETSI 124 526 document, as modified by the ETSI 123 503 document, teaches a method further comprising:
obtaining, by the user equipment (read as UE), the second information (read as one or more route selection descriptor(s) (Section 4.2.1, page 7)),
wherein the obtaining, by the user equipment, the second information comprises at least one of the following:
obtaining, by the user equipment, the second information based on information provided by an application layer;
obtaining, by the user equipment, the second information based on a PLMN ID of a current serving PLMN;
obtaining, by the user equipment, the second information based on a current position of the user equipment (read as location criteria (Section 4.2, page 8));
obtaining, by the user equipment, the second information based on a network name of a data network to which the user equipment is to access (read as one or more DNN (Section 4.2, page 8));
obtaining, by the user equipment, the second information based on a network ID of a stand-alone non-public network currently serving the user equipment; or
obtaining, by the user equipment, the second information based on an identifier of a slice allowed by a current serving network. (read as one or more S-NSSAIs (Section 4.2, page 8))
Claims 15 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ETSI (“TS 124 526”, April 2021), in view of ETSI (“TS 123 503”, January 2022), and Atarius et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2024/0187863 A1).
Regarding claim 15, the ETSI TS 124 526 document teaches a user equipment (read as UE (Section 4.1, page 7)),
The ETSI TS 123 503 document teaches a method wherein “A URSP rule is determined to be applicable when every component in the Traffic descriptor matches the corresponding information from the application.”(Section 6.6.2.1, page 102)
However, the ETSI TS 124 526 document and the ETSI TS 123 503 document fail to explicitly teach a processor and a memory,
wherein the memory stores a program or instructions executable in the processor, and the program or the instructions, when executed by the processor, implement the steps of the URSP determining method according to claim 1.
Atarius et al. teach a UE (Fig.2) comprising of a processor (Fig.2 @ 202) and a memory (Fig.2 @ 204),
wherein the memory (Fig.2 @ 204) stores a program or instructions (read as computer-readable instructions (Paragraph [0049])) executable in the processor (Fig.2 @ 202), and the program or the instructions (read as computer-readable instructions (Paragraph [0049])), when executed by the processor (Fig.2 @ 202), implement the steps of the URSP determining method according to claim 1.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the UE hardware architecture as taught by Atarius et al. and the function for determining a USRP based on a traffic description as taught by the ETSI 123 503 document with the UE as taught by the ETSI 124 526 document for the purpose of improving establishing and applying policies to a particular type of traffic by devices in a communication network.
Regarding claim 18, the ETSI TS 124 526 document teaches “The UE policies can be delivered from the PCF to the UE.”(Section 4.1, page 7) Also, the ETSI TS 124 526 document teaches “UE policies for 5GS include:
- UE route selection policy(URSP)(see subclause 4.2);” (Section 4.1, page 7)
The ETSI TS 123 503 document teaches a method wherein “A URSP rule is determined to be applicable when every component in the Traffic descriptor matches the corresponding information from the application.”(Section 6.6.2.1, page 102)
However, the ETSI TS 124 526 document and the ETSI TS 123 503 document fail to explicitly teach a readable storage medium, storing a program or instructions, wherein the program or the instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the URSP determining method according to claim 1.
Atarius et al. teach a readable storage medium (Fig.2 @ 204), storing a program or instructions (read as computer-readable instructions (Paragraph [0049])), wherein the program or the instructions (read as computer-readable instructions (Paragraph [0049])), when executed by a processor (Fig.2 @ 202), implement the steps of the URSP determining method according to claim 1.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the UE hardware architecture as taught by Atarius et al. and the function for determining a USRP based on a traffic description as taught by the ETSI 123 503 document with the UE as taught by the ETSI 124 526 document for the purpose of improving establishing and applying policies to a particular type of traffic by devices in a communication network.
Claims 7-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ETSI (“TS 124 526”, April 2021) in view of Colom Ikuno et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2025/0097146 A1).
Regarding claim 7, the ETSI 124 526 document teaches a user equipment route selection policy (URSP) determining method (read as UE policies for 5G System (5GS) (Section 1, page 5, Section 4.1, page 7)), comprising:
a first network side device (read as PCF (Section 4.1, page 7)),
wherein each first URSP comprises first indication information (read as USRP comprising of traffic description (Section 4.2.1, page 7)), or
each first URSP comprises a correspondence between the first URSP and the first indication information (read as “The URSP is defined in 3GPP TS 23.503 [2] and is a set of one or more URSP rules, where a URSP rule is composed of:
a) a precedence value of the URSP rule identifying the precedence of the URSP rule among all the existing URSP rules;
b) a traffic descriptor”(Section 4.2, page 7)),
the first indication information indicating a URSP (read as traffic description (Section 4.2.1, page 7)); and
transmitting, by the first network side device, the first URSP to a user equipment. (read as “The UE policies can be delivered from the PCF to the UE.”(Section 4.1, page 7) Also, the ETSI TS 124 526 document teaches “UE policies for 5GS include:
- UE route selection policy(URSP)(see subclause 4.2);” (Section 4.1, page 7))
However, the ETSI 124 526 document fails to explicitly teach generating a first URSP,
Colom Ikuno et al. teach a method for generating a first URSP (read as “the policy and charging function 130 (or the user equipment route selection policy generation function as part of or accessible by the policy and charging function 130) generates the respective user equipment route selection policy ruleset to support the respective application (having application identifier, application ID, corresponding, e.g., to the value of “X”), especially also comprising application parameters and, if applicable, existing user equipment route selection policies.”(Fig.4 @ 130; Paragraph [0100])),
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the function for generating a USRP as taught by Colom Ikuno et al. with the PCF as taught by the ETSI 124 526 document for the purpose of improving establishing and applying policies to a particular type of traffic by devices in a communication network.
Regarding claim 12, the ETSI 124 526 document teaches a user equipment route selection policy (URSP) determining method (read as UE policies for 5G System (5GS) (Section 1, page 5, Section 4.1, page 7)), comprising:
the first URSP (read as URSP (Section 4.2.1, pages 7-8)) comprises first indication information (read as USRP comprising of traffic description (Section 4.2.1, page 7)), or comprises a correspondence between the first URSP and the first indication information (read as “The URSP is defined in 3GPP TS 23.503 [2] and is a set of one or more URSP rules, where a URSP rule is composed of:
a) a precedence value of the URSP rule identifying the precedence of the URSP rule among all the existing URSP rules;
b) a traffic descriptor”(Section 4.2, page 7)),
the first indication information indicating a URSP. (read as traffic description (Section 4.2.1, page 7))
However, the ETSI 124 526 document fails to explicitly teach transmitting, by a second network side device, URSP association generation information to a first network side device,
and wherein the URSP association generation information is used for the first network side device to generate a first URSP,
Colom Ikuno et al. teach a method transmitting, by a second network side device (Fig.4 @ 150), URSP association generation information (Fig.4 @ 212) to a first network side device (Fig.4 @ 130),
and wherein the URSP association generation information is used for the first network side device to generate a first URSP (read as “the policy and charging function 130 (or the user equipment route selection policy generation function as part of or accessible by the policy and charging function 130) generates the respective user equipment route selection policy ruleset to support the respective application (having application identifier, application ID, corresponding, e.g., to the value of “X”), especially also comprising application parameters and, if applicable, existing user equipment route selection policies.”(Fig.4 @ 130, 215; Paragraph [0100]))
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the function for determining a USRP based on a traffic description as taught by ETSI 123 503 document with the UE as taught by the ETSI 124 526 document for the purpose of improving establishing and applying policies to a particular type of traffic by devices in a communication network.
Regarding claim 8, and as applied to claim 7 above, the ETSI 124 526 document teaches a method wherein the generating, by a first network side device, a first URSP (read as PCF generating UE policies for 5G System (5GS) (Section 1, page 5, Section 4.1, page 7))) comprises:
However, the ETSI 124 526 document fails to explicitly teach receiving, by the first network side device, URSP association generation information transmitted by a second network side device,
the URSP association generation information indicating a correspondence between route selection policy-related information and the first indication information; and
generating, by the first network side device, the first URSP based on the URSP association generation information.
Colom Ikuno et al. teach a method for receiving, by the first network side device, URSP association generation information transmitted by a second network side device (Fig.4 @ 130, 150, 212),
the URSP association generation information indicating a correspondence between route selection policy-related information and the first indication information (read as user route selection policy ruleset (Paragraph [0100])); and
generating, by the first network side device, the first URSP based on the URSP association generation information. (read as “the policy and charging function 130 (or the user equipment route selection policy generation function as part of or accessible by the policy and charging function 130) generates the respective user equipment route selection policy ruleset to support the respective application (having application identifier, application ID, corresponding, e.g., to the value of “X”), especially also comprising application parameters and, if applicable, existing user equipment route selection policies.”(Fig.4 @ 130, 215; Paragraph [0100]))
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ an Application Server and the function for generating a USRP as taught by Colom Ikuno et al. with the PCF as taught by the ETSI 124 526 document for the purpose of improving establishing and applying policies to a particular type of traffic by devices in a communication network.
Regarding claims 9 and 13, and as applied to claims 7 and 12 above, the ETSI 124 526 document, as modified by Colom Ikuno et al., teaches a method wherein the URSP association generation information comprises at least one of:
a correspondence between a second URSP and the first indication information,
a correspondence between service description information and the first indication information,
a correspondence between a traffic descriptor and the first indication information,
a correspondence between a route descriptor and the first indication information,
a correspondence between a domain descriptor and the first indication information,
a correspondence between a server IP address corresponding to a service and the first indication information,
a correspondence between a data network name (DNN) and the first indication information (read as one or more DNNs (Section 4.2.1, page 7)), or
a correspondence between a slice and the first indication information; and
in a case that the URSP association generation information comprises the correspondence between the second URSP and the first indication information,
the first URSP is generated based on the correspondence between the second URSP and the first indication information.
Regarding claim 10, and as applied to claim 7 above, the ETSI 124 526 document, as modified by Colom Ikuno et al., teaches a method wherein the first indication information comprises at least one of the following information:
a public land mobile network (PLMN) identifier (ID),
a data network name (DNN) (read as one or more DNNs (Section 4.2.1, pages 7-8)),
a slice (read as one or more S-NSSAI(s) (Section 4.2.1, page 8)),
a stand-alone non-public network (SNPN) ID, or
an area in which the user equipment is located. (read as location criteria (Section 4.2.1, page 8))
Regarding claims 11 and 14, and as applied to claims 8 and 12 above, the ETSI TS 124 526 document teaches “The UE policies can be delivered from the PCF to the UE.”(Section 4.1, page 7) Also, the ETSI TS 124 526 document teaches “UE policies for 5GS include:
- UE route selection policy(URSP)(see subclause 4.2);” (Section 4.1, page 7)
However, the ETSI TS 124 526 document fail to explicitly teach wherein the second network side device comprises at least one of the following:
an application function (AF),
a unified data repository (UDR), or
a policy control function (PCF) of a roaming network in which the user equipment is located.
Colom Ikuno et al. teach a method (Fig.4) wherein the second network side device (read as Application Server (Fig.4 @ 150)) comprises at least one of the following:
an application function (AF) (Fig.4 @ 150),
a unified data repository (UDR), or
a policy control function (PCF) of a roaming network in which the user equipment is located.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the Application Server as taught by Colom Ikuno et al. with the PCF as taught by the ETSI 124 526 document for the purpose of improving establishing and applying policies to a particular type of traffic by devices in a communication network.
Claims 16-17 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ETSI (“TS 124 526”, April 2021), in view of Colom Ikuno et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2025/0097146 A1), and Atarius et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2024/0187863 A1).
Regarding claim 16, the ETSI 124 526 document teaches a first network side device (read PCF (Section 4.1, page 7)),
Colom Ikuno et al. teach “the policy and charging function 130 (or the user equipment route selection policy generation function as part of or accessible by the policy and charging function 130) generates the respective user equipment route selection policy ruleset to support the respective application (having application identifier, application ID, corresponding, e.g., to the value of “X”), especially also comprising application parameters and, if applicable, existing user equipment route selection policies.”(Fig.4 @ 130,215; Paragraph [0100])
However, the ETSI 124 526 document and Colom Ikuno et al. fail to explicitly teach a memory and a processor,
wherein the memory stores a program or instructions executable in the processor, and the program or the instructions, when executed by the processor, implement the steps of the URSP determining method according to claim 7.
Atarius et al. teach a network unit (Fig.3 @ 104) comprising of a processor (Fig.3 @ 302) and a memory (Fig.3 @ 304),
wherein the memory (Fig.3 @ 304) stores a program or instructions (read as computer-readable instructions (Paragraph [0049])) executable in the processor (Fig.3 @ 302), and the program or the instructions (read as computer-readable instructions (Paragraph [0049])), when executed by the processor (Fig.3 @ 302), implement the steps of the URSP determining method according to claim 7.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the network unit hardware architecture as taught by Atarius et al. and the function for generating a USRP as taught by Colom Ikuno et al. with the PCF as taught by the ETSI 124 526 document for the purpose of improving establishing and applying policies to a particular type of traffic by devices in a communication network.
Regarding claim 17, the ETSI TS 124 526 document teaches “The UE policies can be delivered from the PCF to the UE.”(Section 4.1, page 7) Also, the ETSI TS 124 526 document teaches “UE policies for 5GS include:
- UE route selection policy(URSP)(see subclause 4.2);” (Section 4.1, page 7)
Colom Ikuno et al. teach “the policy and charging function 130 (or the user equipment route selection policy generation function as part of or accessible by the policy and charging function 130) generates the respective user equipment route selection policy ruleset to support the respective application (having application identifier, application ID, corresponding, e.g., to the value of “X”), especially also comprising application parameters and, if applicable, existing user equipment route selection policies.”(Fig.4 @ 130,215; Paragraph [0100]) Also, Colom Ikuno et al. teach a second network side device (Fig.4 @ 150),
However, the ETSI 124 526 document and Colom Ikuno et al. fail to explicitly teach a memory and a processor,
wherein the memory stores a program or instructions executable in the processor, and the program or the instructions, when executed by the processor, implement the steps of the URSP determining method according to claim 12.
Atarius et al. teach a Network Unit (Fig.3 @ 104) comprising of a processor (Fig.3 @ 302) and a memory (Fig.3 @ 304),
wherein the memory (Fig.3 @ 304) stores a program or instructions (read as computer-readable instructions (Paragraph [0049])) executable in the processor (Fig.3 @ 302), and the program or the instructions (read as computer-readable instructions (Paragraph [0049])), when executed by the processor (Fig.3 @ 302), implement the steps of the URSP determining method according to claim 12.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the Network unit hardware architecture as taught by Atarius et al. and an Application Server and the function for generating a USRP as taught by Colom Ikuno et al. with the PCF as taught by the ETSI 124 526 document for the purpose of improving establishing and applying policies to a particular type of traffic by devices in a communication network.
Regarding claim 19, the ETSI TS 124 526 document teaches “The UE policies can be delivered from the PCF to the UE.”(Section 4.1, page 7) Also, the ETSI TS 124 526 document teaches “UE policies for 5GS include:
- UE route selection policy(URSP)(see subclause 4.2);” (Section 4.1, page 7)
Colom Ikuno et al. teach “the policy and charging function 130 (or the user equipment route selection policy generation function as part of or accessible by the policy and charging function 130) generates the respective user equipment route selection policy ruleset to support the respective application (having application identifier, application ID, corresponding, e.g., to the value of “X”), especially also comprising application parameters and, if applicable, existing user equipment route selection policies.”(Fig.4 @ 130,215; Paragraph [0100])
However, the ETSI 124 526 document and Colom Ikuno et al. fail to explicitly teach a readable storage medium, storing a program or instructions, wherein the program or the instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the URSP determining method according to claim 7.
Atarius et al. teach a readable storage medium (Fig.3 @ 304), storing a program or instructions (read as computer-readable instructions (Paragraph [0049])), wherein the program or the instructions (read as computer-readable instructions (Paragraph [0049])), when executed by a processor (Fig.3 @ 302), implement the steps of the URSP determining method according to claim 7.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the network unit hardware architecture as taught by Atarius et al. and the function for generating a USRP as taught by Colom Ikuno et al. with the PCF as taught by the ETSI 124 526 document for the purpose of improving establishing and applying policies to a particular type of traffic by devices in a communication network.
Regarding claim 20, the ETSI TS 124 526 document teaches “The UE policies can be delivered from the PCF to the UE.”(Section 4.1, page 7) Also, the ETSI TS 124 526 document teaches “UE policies for 5GS include:
- UE route selection policy(URSP)(see subclause 4.2);” (Section 4.1, page 7)
Colom Ikuno et al. teach “the policy and charging function 130 (or the user equipment route selection policy generation function as part of or accessible by the policy and charging function 130) generates the respective user equipment route selection policy ruleset to support the respective application (having application identifier, application ID, corresponding, e.g., to the value of “X”), especially also comprising application parameters and, if applicable, existing user equipment route selection policies.”(Fig.4 @ 130,215; Paragraph [0100]) Also, Colom Ikuno et al. teach a second network side device (Fig.4 @ 150),
However, the ETSI 124 526 document and Colom Ikuno et al. fail to explicitly teach a readable storage medium, storing a program or instructions, wherein the program or the instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the URSP determining method according to claim 12.
Atarius et al. teach a readable storage medium (Fig.3 @ 304), storing a program or instructions (read as computer-readable instructions (Paragraph [0049])), wherein the program or the instructions (read as computer-readable instructions (Paragraph [0049])), when executed by a processor (Fig.3 @ 302), implement the steps of the URSP determining method according to claim 12.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the Network unit hardware architecture as taught by Atarius et al. and an Application Server and the function for generating a USRP as taught by Colom Ikuno et al. with the PCF as taught by the ETSI 124 526 document for the purpose of improving establishing and applying policies to a particular type of traffic by devices in a communication network.
Conclusion
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure:
3GPP (“TS 23.548”, December 2021) document teaches “An AF related with Edge computing may need to guide PCF determination of proper URSP rules. The guidance sent by the AF may apply to any UE or to a set of UE(s) e.g. identified by a Group Id.”(Section 6.6, page 41) Also, the 3GPP document teaches “An AF may deliver such guidance to the PCF via application guidance for URSP rules determination mechanisms defined in clause 4.15.6.10 of TS 23.502 [3].”(Section 6.6, page 41) Also, the 3GPP document teaches “The PCF may use the AF guidance received from different AFs, UE subscription data and local operator policy to determine the URSP rules to send to a UE.” (Section 6.6, page 41)
Han et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2023/0037685 A1) teach “receiving a user route selection policy (URSP) rule from a policy control function (PCF); transmitting a first message for a protocol data unit (PDU) session establishment request based on the USRP rule; and receiving information indicating that a PDU session has been established, wherein the USRP rule is created by the PCF.”(Paragraph [0012])
Any response to this Office Action should be faxed to (571) 273-8300 or mailed to:
Commissioner for Patents
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450
Any inquiry concerning this communication or early communications from the Examiner should be directed to Salvador E. Rivas whose telephone number is (571) 270-1784. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 7:00AM to 3:30PM.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Un C. Cho can be reached on (571) 272- 7919. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the receptionist/customer service whose telephone number is (571) 272-2600.
/SALVADOR E RIVAS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413
September 19, 2026
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