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
The instant application is a Continuation of PCT/CN2023/082997, filed 03/22/2023
claims foreign priority to 202210326136.6, filed 03/30/2022.
Preliminary Amendments
The preliminary amendments to the specification and claims received on 10/8/2024 have been considered and entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-7, 9-11 and 13-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by China Mobile (Solution for KI#12- EAS discovery for different users, 3GPP TSG-SA WG6 Meeting #46-e, “CM” hereinafter).
As to claim 1, CM teaches A method, comprising:
receiving, by a configuration server, a first request message, wherein the first request message is used to request to discover an enabler server, and wherein the enabler server is configured to serve a plurality of terminal devices (fig. 7.x.2.2, “EAS discovery request” teaches the first request, “EAS” teaches an enabler server, “EES” teaches a configuration server, and section 7.x.2.1, “…For example, for the same application, premium users and common users belong to different groups and are tagged by different group identifier..”);
determining, by the configuration server, the enabler server based on information about a terminal device group, wherein the terminal device group comprises the plurality of terminal devices (section 7.x.2.2, “Upon receiving the request from the EEC, EES checked if the EEC is authorized to discover the EAS, then EES checks the user group based on the EEC ID according to user group information, then the EAS discovery is executed based on user group and EAS discovery filters.”); and
sending, by the configuration server, a first response message, wherein the first response message comprises information about the enabler server (section 7.x.2.2, “If the processing of the request was successful, the EES sends an EAS discovery response to the EEC, which includes information about the discovered EASs”).
As to claim 2, CM teaches wherein the information about the terminal device group comprises a group identifier, and wherein the group identifier identifies the terminal device group (section 7.x.2.2 “the UE identifier and determine which group the UE belongs to by retrieving the corresponding user group information, then EES will find the suitable EAS according to the group it belongs to”).
As to claim 3, CM teaches wherein the first request message comprises the information about the terminal device group (section 7.x.2.2 “the UE identifier and determine which group the UE belongs to by retrieving the corresponding user group information, then EES will find the suitable EAS according to the group it belongs to”).
As to claim 5, CM teaches wherein the first request message is from a first terminal device, wherein the first response message is sent to the first terminal device, and wherein the plurality of terminal devices comprise the first terminal device (section 7.x.2.1, “the user group information is introduced to achieve service differentiation. The user group information indicating the correlation between the UE identifer and the group it belongs to. For example, for the same application, premium users and common users belong to different groups and are tagged by different group identifier” and fig. 7.x.2.2).
As to claim 6, CM teaches a method, comprising:
receiving, by an enabler server, a second request message, wherein the second request message is used to request to discover an application server, and wherein the application server is configured to provide an application service for a plurality of terminal devices (fig. 7.x.2.2, “EAS discovery request” teaches the second request, “EAS” teaches an application server, “EES” teaches an enabler server, and section 7.x.2.1, “…For example, for the same application, premium users and common users belong to different groups and are tagged by different group identifier..”);
determining, by the enabler server, the application server based on information about a terminal device group, wherein the terminal device group comprises the plurality of terminal devices (section 7.x.2.2, “Upon receiving the request from the EEC, EES checked if the EEC is authorized to discover the EAS, then EES checks the user group based on the EEC ID according to user group information, then the EAS discovery is executed based on user group and EAS discovery filters.”); and
sending, by the enabler server, a second response message, wherein the second response message comprises information about the application server (section 7.x.2.2, “If the processing of the request was successful, the EES sends an EAS discovery response to the EEC, which includes information about the discovered EASs”).
As to claim 7, CM teaches wherein the information about the terminal device group comprises at least one of a terminal device list or a group identifier, wherein the terminal device list comprises device identifiers of the plurality of terminal devices, and wherein the group identifier identifies the terminal device group (section 7.x.2.2 “the UE identifier and determine which group the UE belongs to by retrieving the corresponding user group information, then EES will find the suitable EAS according to the group it belongs to”).
As to claim 9, CM further teaches an apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions for execution by the at least one processor (fig. 7.X.2.2, “EES”). Therefore, the limitations of claim 9 are substantially similar to claim 1. Please refer to claim 1 above.
As to claims 10-11 and 13, the limitations of the claims are substantially similar to claims 2-3 and 5, respectively. Please refer to each respective claim above.
As to claim 14, CM further teaches an apparatus, comprising:
at least one processor; and at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions for execution by the at least one processor (fig. 7.X.2.2, “EES”). Therefore, the limitations of claim 14 are substantially similar to claim 6. Please refer to claim 6 above.
As to claim 15, the limitations of the claim are substantially similar to claim 7. Please refer to claim 7 above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 4, 8, 12 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over China Mobile (Solution for KI#12- EAS discovery for different users, 3GPP TSG-SA WG6 Meeting #46-e, “CM” hereinafter) in view of Technical Specification (Architecture for enabling Edge Applications, 3GPP TS 23.558 V17.3.0 Release 17, “TS” hereinafter, TS was cited in the IDS dated 6/4/2025).
As to claim 4, CM teaches wherein the determining, by the configuration server, the enabler server based on information about a terminal device group comprises:
determining, by the configuration server, the enabler server based on the information about the terminal device group (section 7.x.2.2 “the UE identifier and determine which group the UE belongs to by retrieving the corresponding user group information, then EES will find the suitable EAS according to the group it belongs to”).
CM does not explicitly teach service range discovery information.
However, in the same field of endeavor (computer network) TS teaches first request message comprises second discovery information indicating a service range expected by the plurality of terminal devices (pg. 74, “discovery filters”); and
wherein the determining, by the configuration server, the enabler server based on information about a terminal device group comprises: determining, by the configuration server, the enabler server based on the second discovery information (pg. 68, 8.5.2.2 “The EEC sends an EAS discovery request to the EES. The EAS discovery request includes the requestor identifier LEECID] along with the security credentials and may include EAS discovery filters and may also include UE location to retrieve information about particular EAS(s) or a category of EASs, e.g. gaming applications, or Edge Applications Server(s) available in certain service areas, e.g. available on a UE's predicted or expected route.”).
Based on CM in view of TS, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate service range discovery information (taught by TS) with the service discovery request message (taught by CM) in order to allow the users to filter requested services as desired.
As to claim 8, CM does not explicitly teach location information or a service identifier.
However, in the same field of endeavor (computer network) TS teaches wherein the information about the terminal device group further comprises at least one of location information or a service identifier, wherein the location information is location information of the plurality of terminal devices, and wherein the service identifier identifies a service that needs to be obtained by the plurality of terminal devices (pg. 74, “discovery filters”, “EAS provider identifier” and “EAS geographical service area”).
Based on CM in view of TS, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate location information or a service identifier (taught by TS) with the service discovery request message (taught by CM) in order to allow the users to filter requested services as desired.
As to claim 12, the limitations of the claim are substantially similar to claim 4. Please refer to claim 4 above.
As to claim 16, the limitations of the claim are substantially similar to claim 8. Please refer to claim 8 above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Parthasarathy et al. (Pub. No.: US 20140244996 A1), teaches service discovery based on group identifer (abstract).
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/Abdulkader M Alriyashi/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2447 1/3/2026