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 .
Status of Claims
The following is a non-final, first action on the merits, in response to application filed January 09, 2025. Claims 1-12, are currently pending.
Priority
Certified copy of priority document IN 202321037374, dated May 30, 2023, is acknowledged which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 1/9/2025 and 6/25/2026, are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7-9, 11-12, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Long (identified as Long 241 herein), (WO 2022/152241, IDS).
of Long (identified as Long 504 herein) (WO 2022/214504).
Regarding claims 1, 7, 11-12, Long (241) discloses a system for triggering at least one device in a network, said system comprising:
an application function (AF) configured to send a trigger request (Figure 8 illustrates a Device Trigger for a UE located in a 5G system according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Some of these steps can be omitted and others can be performed in a different way. In Step 1, the AS/SCS/AF determines that a device trigger is needed. If the AS/SCS/AF has no contact details for the MTC-IWF/SCEF/NEF, it shall discover and select MTC-IWF/SCEF/NEF services. In Step 2, the AS/SCS/AF invokes the device trigger delivery request to MTC-IWF/SCEF/NEF.) (para. 0084; fig. 8 steps 1-2);
a network exposure function (NEF) configured to cooperate with said AF to receive said trigger request and is further configured to generate a request for obtaining a short message service function ID(SMSF ID) corresponding to said at least one device (In Step 4, the MTC-IWF/SCEF/NEF invokes Get UE context in SMSF request to UDM to retrieve the 5G domain UE registered SMSF identities. Before this step, MTC-IWF/SCEF/NEF may invoke the identity translation service to translate an external UE identity (such as MSISDN) into an internal identity (such as a Subscriber Permanent Identifier (SUPI)).) (paras. 0084-0086; fig. 8, steps 2-4);
a unified data management (UDM) configured to cooperate with said NEF to receive said generated request and is further configured to fetch an assigned SMSF ID corresponding to said at least one device and transmit said said said assigned SMSF ID to said NEF (In Step 4, the MTC-IWF/SCEF/NEF invokes Get UE context in SMSF request to UDM to retrieve the 5G domain UE registered SMSF identities. Before this step, MTC-IWF/SCEF/NEF may invoke the identity translation service to translate an external UE identity (such as MSISDN) into an internal identity (such as a Subscriber Permanent Identifier (SUPI)). The UDM further may invoke a Unified Data Repository (UDR) query service to retrieve the UE registered SMSF identities from UDR. In Step 5, the UDM provides a Get UE context in SMSF response with the corresponding UE registered SMSF identities, which includes the registered SMSF identity for 3GPP access and/or the registered SMSF identify for non-3GPP access.) (para. 0086-0087; fig. 8, steps 4-5);
a service capability exposure function (SCEF) configured to cooperate with said NEF to receive said assigned SMSF ID via an interworking unit (para. 0087; fig. 8, step 5), and is further configured to submit said SMSF ID along with said trigger request to a network element (122) (the MTC-IWF/SCEF/NEF invokes Get UE context in SMSF request to UDM to retrieve the 5G domain UE registered SMSF identity) (para. 0086); and
said network element is configured to select a short message service function (SMSF) corresponding to said assigned SMSF ID (In Step 6, the MTC-IWF/SCEF/NEF selects a suitable SMS-SC based on configured information. The MTC-IWF/SCEF/NEF sends a Device Trigger Request message to the SMS-SC with SMS serving node identities besides other information such as the trigger payload and application identifier. In some embodiments, selecting a suitable SMS-SC depends on one or more of: the UE identity; the application identity; load balancing; and/or how close the SMS-SC is.) (para. 0088; step 6, fig. 8). Long (241) further discloses a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer- readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method (300) for triggering (para. 0284). Claims 7, 11-12 recite similar limitation and rejected likewise.
Regarding claim 2, Long (241) discloses wherein said SCEF is configured to initiate a new diameter connection towards said network element having a plurality of SMSF identities (SMSF IDs) (requesting the 5G domain UE registered SMSF identities and/or receiving the 5G domain UE registered SMSF identities comprises requesting and/or receiving the 5G domain UE registered SMSF identities from a Unified Data Management (UDM) node. This can enhance the T4 device trigger request from MTC-InterWorking Function (MTC-IWF)/SCEF/NEF to the Short Message Service Center (SMSC) by extending the protocol information elements for containing of SMSF for 3GPP access and/or SMSF for non-3GPP access, and the corresponding SMSF address could either be a MAP number address or a Diameter address in the form of a combination of name and realm. This provides support for the device trigger procedure when the UE device is located in a 5G system.) (paras. 0073, 0077).
Regarding claim 3, Long (241) discloses wherein said network element includes an internet protocol service management (IPSM) unit or a short message service center (SMSC) unit (The SMF 208 is responsible for session management and allocates Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to UEs. It also selects and controls the UPF 214 for data transfer. If a UE 112 has multiple sessions, different SMFs 208 may be allocated to each session to manage them individually and possibly provide different functionalities per session. Device trigger request from MTC-InterWorking Function (MTC-IWF)/SCEF/NEF to the Short Message Service Center (SMSC) by extending the protocol information elements for containing SMSF for 3GPP access and/or SMSF for non-3GPP access) (paras. 0016, 0054).
Regarding claim 4, Long (241) discloses wherein said network element is configured to initiate a mobile terminated (MT) delivery request and transmit said mobile terminated (MT) delivery request to said SMSF (The T4 reference point transfers the device trigger from MTC-IWF (acting as a Short Message Entity (SME)) to Short Message Service-Service Center (SMS-SC), provides serving node's information corresponding to International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), and reports the success or failure of delivering a device trigger to the MTC UE) (para. 0060).
Regarding claim 5, Long (241) discloses wherein said interworking unit is a NEF interface (paras. 0080, 0081).
Regarding claim 8, Long (241) discloses step of authentication performed by said NEF after receiving said trigger request (N12 is required for the AMF 200 to perform authentication of the UE 112. The AS/SCS/AF invokes the device trigger delivery request to MTC-IWF/SCEF/NEF) (paras. 0049, 0084).
Regarding claim 9, Long (241) discloses wherein said NEF is configured to send said assigned SMSF ID to said SCEF, eliminating diameter interface between said NEF and said network element (paras. 0085, 0086, 0088).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6, 10, 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Foreign Reference(s):
Long (WO 2022/214504, IDS), discloses a method and apparatus for identifier translation comprising a network function sending an identifier translation request comprising a first identifier for resolving the first identifier to a second identifier to a data management entity. The identifier translation request further comprises an application function (AF) identifier and/or a requested identifier type. The method further comprises receiving an identifier translation response from the data management entity.
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/QUTBUDDIN GHULAMALI/
Primary Examiner,
Art Unit 2632
