DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
2. Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. CN 202210821767.5, filed on 07/12/2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 02/28/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
4. 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.
Please note: Examiner has cited particular columns, line numbers, and figures in the references as applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teaching of the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well.
Applicants are reminded that MPEP 2141.02 states:
A prior art reference must be considered in its entirety, i.e., as a whole, including portions that would lead away from the claimed invention. W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. v. Garlock, Inc., 721 F.2d 1540, 220 USPQ 303 (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 851 (1984).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
5. 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
6. Claim 16-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by CHOI et al. (US 20230053937) (hereinafter Choi).
Regarding claim 16:
As shown in figures 1-6, Choi discloses a method, comprising:
obtaining a security policy corresponding to a quality of service flow identifier (QFI) (step 509a in figure 5b shows RAN (base station) obtains Namf_Communication_N2Message from SMF. See par 0148), wherein the security policy comprises an integrity protection policy (in paragraph 0148 Choi teaches “Information transferred by the SMF to the base station ((R)AN) through the AMF in operation 509a may include a QoS flow setup request item. In this case, the QoS flow setup request item may be transferred to the base station ((R)AN) through the Namf_Communication_N2MessageTransfer service, which is a message transfer service using the N2 interface, among the services provided by the AMF in the 3GPP standard. The QoS flow setup request item may include at least one of a QFI, QoS profile, which is QoS enforcement information that the packet having the corresponding QFI should receive, and security indication, which is UP security policy information. The security indication may include at least one of ciphering information and integrity protection information. The encryption information and the integrity protection information each may indicate one of “Required”, “Preferred”, and “Not Needed”) or a confidentiality protection policy; and
performing (see step 510 in figure 5b), according to the security policy, security protection on a first data radio bearer (DRB) corresponding to the QFI (par 0150).
Regarding claim 17:
Choi further discloses wherein obtaining the security policy corresponding to the QFI comprises: receiving the security policy corresponding to the QFI from a session management function network element (figure 5b shows SMF (session management function network element) is transferring Namf_Communication_N2Message to the base station (RAN). See par 0148-0150).
Regarding claim 18:
Choi further discloses wherein obtaining the security policy corresponding to the QFI comprises: obtaining quality of service (QoS) attribute indication information corresponding to the QFI (par 0148), wherein the QoS attribute indication information indicates a quality of service guarantee used for a data flow (par 0147-0153); obtaining the security policy corresponding to the QoS attribute indication information (par 0147-0153); and determining, based on the QoS attribute indication information corresponding to the QFI and the security policy corresponding to the QoS attribute indication information, the security policy corresponding to the QFI (par 0147-0153).
Regarding claim 19:
Choi further discloses sending indication information to a terminal device according to the security policy, wherein the indication information indicates to perform security protection on the first DRB (par 0147-0153).
Regarding claim 20:
Choi further discloses wherein the performing, according to the security policy, security protection on the first DRB corresponding to the QFI comprises (par 0147-0153): receiving a first data packet from a terminal device on the first DRB (par 0027, 0138); and performing security protection on the first data packet according to the security policy (par 0147-0153).
Regarding claim 21:
Choi further discloses determining the security policy based on the QFI comprised in the first data packet (par 0147-0153).
Regarding claim 22:
Choi further discloses sending the first data packet to a user plane function network element (see UPF in figures 5a and 5b) through a quality of service (QoS) flow corresponding to the QFI (par 0135-0137, 0151-0152).
Regarding claim 23:
Choi further discloses wherein performing, according to the security policy, security protection on the first DRB corresponding to the QFI comprises (par 0147-0153): receiving a second data packet from a user plane function network element through a Quality of Service (QoS) flow corresponding to the QFI (par 0147-0153); performing security protection on the second data packet according to the security policy (par 0147-0153); and sending the second data packet to a terminal device on the first DRB (see steps 508-510 in figure 5b, par 0147-0153).
Regarding claim 24:
Choi further discloses wherein the first DRB supports the security policy (par 0027-0028, 0109).
Regarding claim 25:
Choi further discloses determining the first DRB from a created DRB (par 0027-0028, 0109, claim 8).
Regarding claim 26:
Choi further discloses creating the first DRB (par 0027-0028, 0109, claim 8).
Regarding claims 27 and 30:
As shown in figures 1-6, Choi discloses an apparatus, comprising:
at least one processor (610 in figure 6) coupled to memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor (par 0046, 0048), cause the apparatus to:
receive (see step 509b in figure 5b) indication information from an access network device (SMF in figure 5b) (par 0147-0153), wherein the indication information indicates to perform security protection on a first data radio bearer (DRB), and the security protection comprises integrity protection (par 0147-0153) or confidentiality protection; and
perform security protection on the first DRB based on the indication information (par 0147-0153).
Regarding claims 28 and 31:
Choi further discloses wherein performing security protection on the first DRB based on the indication information (par 0147-0153) comprises: performing security protection on a first data packet based on the indication information (par 0147-0153); and sending (see steps 502-503 in figure 5a), to the access network device on the first DRB, the first data packet on which the security protection is performed (figure 5b shows SMF (session management function network element) is transferring Namf_Communication_N2Message to the base station (RAN). See par 0137-0150).
Regarding claims 29 and 32:
Choi further discloses wherein performing security protection on the first DRB based on the indication information (par 0147-0153) comprises: receiving a second data packet from the access network device on the first DRB (par 0137-0150); and performing security protection on the second data packet based on the indication information (par 0137-0150).
Conclusion
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Li et al. (US 10952106) disclose a method for receiving, by a target access network device, a correspondence between user plane information and a security policy from a source access network device; and determining, by the target access network device based on the correspondence between user plane information and a security policy, a first user plane protection algorithm corresponding to the user plane information, where the first user plane protection algorithm includes one or both of a user plane encryption algorithm and a user plane integrity protection algorithm. This application is applicable to a procedure in which the terminal is handed over between serving base stations.
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KABIR A TIMORY whose telephone number is (571)270-1674. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7:00 AM-3:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hannah S Wang can be reached at 571-272-9018. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KABIR A TIMORY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631
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