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 .
This office action is in response to claims filed on 6/22/2026. Claims 1-16 have been examined. This office action is Final.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 6/22/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) under Fu and Jack have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Li (2023/0262459).
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.
Claims 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fu et al. (2022/0095111) in view of Jack (HTTP Code 401: Unauthorized Access-What Is it and How to Fix It), and Li (2023/0262459).
As per claim 1, Fu et al. discloses an apparatus to implement a network function service producer (NFp), the apparatus comprising: at least one processor (Fu: para. 0143, #1204 processor); and at least one memory (Fu: para. 0143, #1206 memory) storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform:
receiving a service request from a network function service consumer (NFc) for access to a service provided by the NFp (Fu: See Fig. 3, #310, para. 0014, service request from NF consumer for access to a service provided by #304 NF producer); the request including an access token that asserts one or more claims and represents an access authorization issued to the NFc (Fu: See Fig. 9 #900, and para. 0120, request includes token that asserts one or more claims)
performing a validation of the access token in which a determination is made that at least one claim is missing from the one or more claims asserted by the access token; and based on the validation (Fu: para. 0113, 0120, See Fig. 9 #902, performing validation of access token is made one claim “NF3” is missing) ,
the service request is rejected, and that indicates the at least one missing claim (Fu: para. 0113, 0120, See Fig. 9 #906, reject request, since the claim is not included in the token).
Fu does not explicitly disclose sending an error response to the NFc that indicates the service request is rejected, and that indicates the at least one missing claim.
However, analogous art of Jack teaches sending an error response to the NFc that indicates the service request is rejected, and that indicates the at least one missing claim (Jack: pg. 2, sending a 401 unauthorized error).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include sending an error response to the NFc that indicates the service request is rejected, and that indicates the at least one missing claim of Jack with Fu, the motivation is that this is a clear indication that the client is not authorized to access the requested resource (Jack: pg. 2).
Fu and Jack do not disclose based on the configuration of the NFc and the NFp, at least one of direct communication or indirect communication via a service communication proxy is applied when receiving the service request from the NFc.
Li discloses based on the configuration of the NFc and the NFp, at least one of direct communication or indirect communication via a service communication proxy is applied when receiving the service request from the NFc (Li: para. 0048-0049, 0064, 0126, NFc sends service request as a proxy for the NFc, a token request to an NRF to obtain a token for requesting a service from an NF).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include based on the configuration of the NFc and the NFp, at least one of direct communication or indirect communication via a service communication proxy is applied when receiving the service request from the NFc of Li with Fu and Jack, the motivation is that network reliability and security are effectively improved (Li: para. 0007).
As per claim 2, Fu, Jack, and Li discloses the apparatus of claim 1. Fu further discloses wherein the service request includes a supported feature indication that indicates support for receiving missing claims information (Fu: para. 0113, 0120, See Fig. 9 #902), and the error response is sent based on the supported feature indication (Fu: para. 0113, 0120, See Fig. 9 #906).
As per claim 3, Fu, Jack, and Li discloses the apparatus of claim 1. Fu further discloses wherein the error response identifies the at least one missing claim, or includes a resource identifier of a resource at which the at least one missing claim is identified (claim recites “or”; Fu discloses error response identifies at least one missing claim, para. 0113, 0120, one claim “NF3” is missing).
As per claim 4, Fu, Jack, and Li discloses the apparatus of claim 1. Fu further discloses wherein the error response identifies one or more required claims, or includes a resource identifier of a resource at which the one or more required claims are identified (claim recites “or”, discloses error response identifies one or more required claims, Fu: para. 0113, 0120, See Fig. 9 #906).
As per claim 5, Fu, Jack, and Li disclose the apparatus of claim 1 .
Jack further discloses wherein the service request is formatted as a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request message, the error response is formatted as an HTTP error response message that includes a WWW-Authenticate header, and the at least one missing claim is indicated in a field of the WWW-Authenticate header (Jack: see pg. 2, see pgs. 4-5, response code indicates the server cannot fulfill due to missing credentials such as a token, HTTP error, thus HTTP request and response message, unauthorized error with accompanying WWW authenticate header field).
Same motivation as claim 1 above.
As per claim 6, Fu, Jack, and Li disclose the apparatus of claim 1.
Jack further discloses wherein the service request is formatted as a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request message, the response is formatted as an HTTP response message that includes a message payload, and the at least one missing claim is indicated in a problem details object of the message payload (Jack: pgs. 4-5, GET request/Http request message).
Same motivation as claim 1 above.
As per claim 7, rejected under similar basis as claim 1 above.
As per claim 8, rejected under similar basis as claim 2.
As per claims 9-10, rejected under similar basis as claims 5-6 respectively.
As per claim 11, Fu discloses an apparatus to implement a network function service consumer (NFc), the apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform: sending a service request to a network function service producer (NFp) for access to a service provided by the NFp, the service request including an access token that asserts one or more claims and represents an access authorization issued to the NFc (Fu: See Fig. 3, #310, para. 0014, sending service request from NF consumer for access to a service provided by #304 NF producer); indicates the service request is rejected, and that indicates at least one claim that is missing from the one or more claims asserted by the access token (Fu: para. 0113, 0120, See Fig. 9 #906, reject request, since the claim is not included in the token); and based on the error response, retrieving a second access token that asserts a plurality of claims including the one or
more claims and the at least one missing claim (Fu: See Fig. 9, #912, copy of the token, second access token).
Fu does not explicitly disclose receiving an error response from the NFp.
However, analogous art of Jack teaches receiving an error response (Jack: pg. 2, sending a 401 unauthorized error).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include receiving an error response of Jack with Fu, the motivation is that this is a clear indication that the client is not authorized to access the requested resource (Jack: pg. 2).
Fu and Jack do not disclose based on the configuration of the NFc and the NFp, at least one of direct communication or indirect communication via a service communication proxy is applied when receiving the service request from the NFc.
Li discloses based on the configuration of the NFc and the NFp, at least one of direct communication or indirect communication via a service communication proxy is applied when receiving the service request from the NFc (Li: para. 0048-0049, 0064, 0126, NFc sends service request as a proxy for the NFc, a token request to an NRF to obtain a token for requesting a service from an NF).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include based on the configuration of the NFc and the NFp, at least one of direct communication or indirect communication via a service communication proxy is applied when receiving the service request from the NFc of Li with Fu and Jack, the motivation is that network reliability and security are effectively improved (Li: para. 0007).
As per claim 12, rejected under similar basis as claim 3.
As per claim 13, Fu, Jack, and Li disclose the apparatus of claim 11. Fu further discloses wherein the error response identifies one or more required claims, or includes a resource identifier of a resource at which the one or more required claims are identified (claim recites “or”; Fu discloses error response identifies at least one missing claim, para. 0113, 0120, one claim “NF3” is missing), and wherein the apparatus is further caused to perform: determining the at least one missing claim based on a comparison of the one or more required claims and the one or more claims asserted by the access token (Fu: para. 0113, 0120, See Fig. 9 #902, performing validation of access token is made one claim “NF3” is missing).
As per claims 14-15, rejected under similar basis as claims 5-6.
As per claim 16, Fu, Jack, and Li disclose the apparatus of claim 11. Fu further discloses wherein the retrieving the second access token includes: sending an access token request to a network repository function (NRF) to request the second access token; and receiving the second access token from the NRF based on the access token request (Fu: See Fig. 9, para. 0120, copy of access token (i.e. second access token)).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JENISE E JACKSON whose telephone number is (571)272-3791. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:00am-3:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Philip J Chea can be reached at (571) 272-3951. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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9/16/2026
/J.E.J/Examiner, Art Unit 2499 /PHILIP J CHEA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2499
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