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
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. PCT/CN2022/116532, filed on 09/01/2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) submitted on 01/29/2025 has been considered by the Examiner. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97.
Claim status
Claims 1, 3-13, 17,19-21, 23, 26. Claims 14-16, 22, 24, 25 and 27-29 have been canceled. Claims 1-13, 17-21, 23 and 26 are presented for the examination and remain pending in the application.
Claim Objections
Claims 7 and 21 are objected to because in line 7 in claim 7 and 21 there is unnecessary word “and”. Apparently, should be deleted. Please appropriate correction is required.
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.
(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.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-4, 17 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Kousaridas et al. U.S. Pub. No. 2021/0274387 A1, (hereinafter Kousaridas).
Regarding claim 1.
Kousaridas teaches a method of operating Network Functions to effect a change in Quality of Service, QoS, for a User Equipment, UE, (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0009]-[0010]), the method comprising:
Kousaridas teaches sending, from an Application Function, AF, in a communication network to a Network Exposure Function, NEF, in the communication network, a message comprising information identifying the UE and one or both of a start time for a change in QoS for the UE and a duration of the change in QoS for the UE (Kousaridas teaches in fig. 3 and para. [0158] the AF 110 sends a service ID, and a time, area and periodicity information to the NEF 307 and the PCF 306, respectively and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0136] FIG. 3 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary procedure for activation of the QoS function, configuration of the communication network and providing a QoS function. Entities shown in FIG. 3 are the UE 300, the AN 301, the AMF 302, the SMF 303, the UPF 304, the NWDAF 305, the device 100 which is configured to provide the QoS function (e.g., the P-QoS functionality), the PCF 306, the Network Exposure function (the NEF) 307, and the application entity in the form of application function 110 and further Kousaridas teaches in para. [0137] the UE 300 may be similar and/or may function similar to the UE 120 of the FIG. 1, without limiting the present disclosure. For example, the UE 120 of FIG. 1 and the UE 300 of FIG. 3, may be based on an identical vehicle or different types of vehicles, etc.).
Regarding claim 2.
Kousaridas teaches wherein the message further comprises an indication of the change in QoS to be effected at the start time and/or for the duration (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0221] a timing information of the change in the QoS or event triggered that may be applied and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0222] a location information of the change in the QoS and/or the cell information about the change of the QoS and/or the identified event that may be applied and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0224] timing information of the UE, e.g., <start1, end1, start2, end2>).
Regarding claim 3.
Kousaridas teaches wherein the change in QoS is an increase in data rate provided to the UE by the communication network (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0176] analytic or historic data e.g., statistics on handover failure rate, rejected PDU sessions etc. and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0177] Specific information per UE (e.g., RRC measurement reports, radio link quality, UE speed, UE mobility information) that can be retrieved via same or other neighboring UEs).
Regarding claim 4.
Kousaridas teaches wherein the method is performed in response to a request to the AF (205) from a user of the UE to change the QoS (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0180] the procedure to identify the key QoS parameters and the prediction events, may be affected by, for example, the type of service, the type of the communication link that is used (e.g., cellular (Uu), sidelink (PC5)) and the configuration of the P-QoS subscription request).
Regarding claim 17.
Kousaridas teaches method of operating Network Functions to effect control of data sessions according to location of a User Equipment, UE, (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0047] representing a combination of the location of the UE and/or the communication network and/or a radio information, and the communication network's characteristics), the method comprising: sending, from an Application Function, AF, in a communication network to a Network Exposure Function, NEF, in the communication network, a message comprising information identifying the UE and a geographic area in which a data session for the UE is to be permitted or prevented (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0184] the monitoring level: the QoS flow, the link, the UE, and the network node. [0185] The time granularity of the reporting: a one-time report, a periodic (value) report, a condition based report (e.g., having a value above/below a threshold value), further, Kousaridas in para.[0186] The area of reporting: specific cells, and the geographic location further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0233] the outcomes of the P-QoS notification about the expected QoS and/or the coverage change may be transmitted to the network entities (e.g., BS, UPF, AMF, SMF) and the appropriate re-configuration action may be triggered and decided by the network, for example, based on the type of the notification, and in order to maintain the initial agreed QoS level and/or optimize the network performance, etc.).
Regarding claim 18.
Kousaridas teaches wherein the geographic area is identified using coordinates and/or by cell and/or base station identifiers (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0185] time granularity of the reporting: a one-time report, a periodic (value) report, a condition based report (e.g., having a value above/below a threshold value), further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0186] the area of reporting: specific cells, and the geographic location and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0149] a segment-based subscription or an end to end (E2E) subscription to the QoS function (this information may be required, for example, for identifying the requirement for a local or a global prediction)).
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.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
The factual inquiries 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.
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.
Claims 5-13, 19-21, 23 and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kousaridas in view of Dao et al. U.S. Pub. No. 2020/0196169 A1, (hereinafter Dao).
Regarding claim 5. Kousaridas teaches a method as claimed in claim 1.
While Kousaridas teaches sending the information identifying the UE and the one or both of the start time and duration (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0224] timing information of the UE, e.g., <start1, end1, start2, end2>) but Kousaridas does not explicitly teach sending the information identifying from the NEF to a Unified Data Repository, UDR, in the communication network.
However, Dao sending the information identifying from the NEF to a Unified Data Repository, UDR, in the communication network (Dao teaches in para. [0061] the duration the UE 110 is served by the SMF 235. PDU session statistics may include a session duration, a session active time (e.g. having data activity and the session in an active session state (e.g. a Session-ACTIVE state), a session idle time (e.g. no data activity and the session in an idle session state (e.g. a Session-IDLE state)), and further, Dao teaches in para. [0067] the network storage functions, such as a Unified Data Repository (UDR) may be used to store network reported data).
Therefore, Kousaridas and Dao are analogues arts and they are in the same field of endeavor as they both are directed to the UE to send and receive different messages by using Unified Data Repository (i.e., UDR) to have data activity and the session in an active session state.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of applying the duration of the UE that is served by the SMF and using Unified Data Repository (UDR) to store network reported data ([0061] and [0067]) as taught, by Dao into the teachings of Kousaridas invention. One would have been motivated to do so since the processing capacity of user plane (UP) functions are known, congestion at UP functions can be easily avoided. Allows for dynamic changes to network policies, since the policy control function (PCF) can receive notification of congestion in the network and obtain an indication of the level of congestion from reports about congestion on links carrying the, e.g., video flows. The PCF function may run a traffic engineering (TE) optimization function, taking into account any or all of the network topology, current data rates associated with long-lived flows, congestion level reports, UE information, QoS requirements associated with the flows in the network, etc.
Regarding claim 6.
Kousaridas in view of Dao further teaches sending the information identifying one or both of the start time and duration of the change in QoS for the UE from the UDR to a Policy and Charging Function, PCF, in the communication network in response to a request from the PCF for policy data and/or application data for the UE (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0221] a timing information of the change in the QoS or event triggered that may be applied and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0222] a location information of the change in the QoS and/or the cell information about the change of the QoS and/or the identified event that may be applied and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0224] timing information of the UE, e.g., <start1, end1, start2, end2>) and further Dao teaches storing the information by the UDR (Dao teaches in para. [0067] the UDSF 260 may be used to store data provided by other entities. Other network storage functions, such as a Unified Data Repository (UDR) may be used to store network reported data).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of applying the duration of the UE that is served by the SMF and using Unified Data Repository (UDR) to store network reported data ([0061] and [0067]) as taught, by Dao into the teachings of a timing information of the change in the QoS or event triggered that may be applied ([0221]) as taught, by Kousaridas. One of ordinary skill in the would have been motivated to do so in order to the reliability and the availability of the provided communication services are increased. The impact of changes in the QoS of the communication services particularly for the critical services in the communication network. The flexibility of the communication networks and the V2X services or V2X applications is increased. The expected QoS link quality that is predictable or guaranteed delay, reliability and throughput are maintained and ensured. A continuous service is provided by the fifth generation (5G) communication system and the service drop rate is reduced. Hence accuracy of the determined change in the QoS is ensured.
Regarding claim 7.
Kousaridas teaches and sending, from the PCF to a Session Management Function, SMF, in the communication network a message comprising (i) a first event trigger for the change in QoS that is based on the start time and/or duration (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0221] a timing information of the change in the QoS or event triggered that may be applied and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0222] a location information of the change in the QoS and/or the cell information about the change of the QoS and/or the identified event that may be applied and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0224] timing information of the UE, e.g., <start1, end1, start2, end2>); or (ii) a QoS for the SMF to use for a session that is sent after the start time or on expiry of the duration (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0230] the SMF 303 is able to notify the PCF 306, if the QoS targets for a QoS flow cannot be fulfilled (in accordance to the “3GPP-23503”), and may further update it with an early notification information, etc., and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0231] the P-QoS functionality may notify the SMF 303 entity, and the latter may forward the notification for any change of the QoS or the coverage levels to the PCF 306…, and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0233] the appropriate re-configuration action may be triggered and decided by the network, for example, based on the type of the notification, and in order to maintain the initial agreed QoS level and/or optimize the network performance, etc.… Note that here, the claim lists features in the alternative. While the claim lists a number of optional limitations only one limitation from the list is required and needs to be met by the prior art. However, the prior art of record Kousaridas addressed all of the limitations above).
Regarding claim 8.
Kousaridas teaches wherein the message sent to the SMF further comprises a QoS for the UE to be applied until the first event trigger occurs (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0231] the P-QoS functionality may notify the SMF 303 entity, and the latter may forward the notification for any change of the QoS or the coverage levels to the PCF 306…, and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0272] the messages representing notification of the changes in the QoS may include a proposed supported QoS level…, by the triggering the corresponding MNO.).
Regarding claim 9.
Kousaridas teaches wherein the method further comprises: after receiving a message from the indicating that the first event trigger for the change in QoS has occurred, sending a further message from the PCF to the SMF indicating a changed QoS to be used for the UE (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0233] the outcomes of the P-QoS notification about the expected QoS and/or the coverage change may be transmitted to the network entities (e.g., BS, UPF, AMF, SMF, PCF, V2X-CF of the 5G system, etc.). Moreover, the appropriate re-configuration action may be triggered and decided by the network, for example, based on the type of the notification, and in order to maintain the initial agreed QoS level and/or optimize the network performance, etc.).
Regarding claim 10.
Kousaridas teaches wherein the further message to the SMF further comprises a second event trigger relating to the end of the QoS change (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0233] the outcomes of the P-QoS notification about the expected QoS and/or the coverage change may be transmitted to the network entities (e.g., BS, UPF, AMF, SMF) and the appropriate re-configuration action may be triggered and decided by the network, for example, based on the type of the notification, and in order to maintain the initial agreed QoS level and/or optimize the network performance, etc.).
Regarding claim 11.
Kousaridas in view of Dao teaches establishing, by the SMF, a data session for the UE and monitoring for occurrence of the first event trigger (Kousaridas teaches in figs. 3 & 4 and para. [0238] collects the analytics from the related network functions (core and/or RAN control functions that are relevant to monitor the QoS, the resource situation, and the events) and further, Dao teaches in para. [0083] a traffic routing policy for the SMF 235 (e.g., how the SMF 235 selects the UPF 231 to serve different type of traffic at certain times),…, QoS parameters); and
after the first event trigger occurs, sending a request from the SMF to the PCF to reauthorize the data session (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0022] the QoS function (also hereinafter referred to as the prediction QoS “P-QoS” function) may be based on a prediction functionality in a communication system that allows to, for example, determine the QoS, predict the QoS, determine a change in the QoS, predict (and/or detect very fast) changes in the QoS and further, Dao teaches in para. [0033] to allow for dynamic changes to network policies, the PCF can receive notification of congestion in the network. The PCF may obtain an indication of the level of congestion from reports about congestion on links carrying the flows (e.g., video flows). The PCF function may run a traffic engineering (TE) optimization function (or may instruct the execution of a TE optimization process in another network function); and
receiving, by the SMF from the PCF, updated policy data for the UE that effects the change in QoS (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0159] the PCF 306 (or any relevant network functionality which may be responsible for the policy control and charging), after receiving the AF's 110 request, sends a P-QoS activation request message to the device 100 (e.g., its P-QoS logical unit) and further, Dao teaches in para. [0061] the duration the UE 110 is served by the SMF 235. PDU session statistics may include a session duration, a session active time (e.g. having data activity and the session in an active session state (e.g. a Session-ACTIVE state), a session idle time (e.g. no data activity and the session in an idle session state (e.g. a Session-IDLE state)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of applying the duration of the UE that is served by the SMF and using Unified Data Repository (UDR) to store network reported data ([0061] and [0067]) as taught, by Dao into the teachings of Kousaridas invention. One would have been motivated to do so since the processing capacity of user plane (UP) functions are known, congestion at UP functions can be easily avoided. Allows for dynamic changes to network policies, since the policy control function (PCF) can receive notification of congestion in the network and obtain an indication of the level of congestion from reports about congestion on links carrying the, e.g., video flows. The PCF function may run a traffic engineering (TE) optimization function, taking into account any or all of the network topology, current data rates associated with long-lived flows, congestion level reports, UE information, QoS requirements associated with the flows in the network, etc.
Regarding claim 12.
Kousaridas teaches wherein the message from the PCF further comprises a QoS for the UE to be applied to the established data session until the first event trigger occurs (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0230] the SMF 303 is able to notify the PCF 306, if the QoS targets for a QoS flow cannot be fulfilled (in accordance to the “3GPP-23503”), and may further update it with an early notification information, etc., and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0231] the P-QoS functionality may notify the SMF 303 entity, and the latter may forward the notification for any change of the QoS or the coverage levels to the PCF 306…, and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0233] the appropriate re-configuration action may be triggered and decided by the network, for example, based on the type of the notification, and in order to maintain the initial agreed QoS level and/or optimize the network performance, etc.…).
Regarding claim 13.
Kousaridas teaches wherein the received updated policy data further comprises a second event trigger relating to the end of the QoS change (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0159] the PCF 306 (or any relevant network functionality which may be responsible for the policy control and charging), after receiving the AF's 110 request, sends a P-QoS activation request message to the device 100 (e.g., its P-QoS logical unit) and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0233] the outcomes of the P-QoS notification about the expected QoS and/or the coverage change may be transmitted to the network entities (e.g., BS, UPF, AMF, SMF) and the appropriate re-configuration action may be triggered and decided by the network, for example, based on the type of the notification, and in order to maintain the initial agreed QoS level and/or optimize the network performance, etc.).
Regarding claim 19. Kousaridas teaches a method as claimed in claim 17.
While Kousaridas teaches sending the information identifying the UE and the geographic area (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0224] timing information of the UE, e.g., <start1, end1, start2, end2>) further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0233] the outcomes of the P-QoS notification about the expected QoS and/or the coverage change may be transmitted to the network entities (e.g., BS, UPF, AMF, SMF) and the appropriate re-configuration action may be triggered and decided by the network, for example, based on the type of the notification, and in order to maintain the initial agreed QoS level and/or optimize the network performance, etc.), but Kousaridas does not explicitly teach from the NEF to a Unified Data Repository, UDR, in the communication network.
However, Dao sending from the NEF to a Unified Data Repository, UDR, in the communication network (Dao teaches in para. [0061] the duration the UE 110 is served by the SMF 235. PDU session statistics may include a session duration, a session active time (e.g. having data activity and the session in an active session state (e.g. a Session-ACTIVE state), a session idle time (e.g. no data activity and the session in an idle session state (e.g. a Session-IDLE state)), and further, Dao teaches in para. [0067] the network storage functions, such as a Unified Data Repository (UDR) may be used to store network reported data).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of applying the duration of the UE that is served by the SMF and using Unified Data Repository (UDR) to store network reported data ([0061] and [0067]) as taught, by Dao into the teachings of Kousaridas invention. One would have been motivated to do so since the processing capacity of user plane (UP) functions are known, congestion at UP functions can be easily avoided. Allows for dynamic changes to network policies, since the policy control function (PCF) can receive notification of congestion in the network and obtain an indication of the level of congestion from reports about congestion on links carrying the, e.g., video flows. The PCF function may run a traffic engineering (TE) optimization function, taking into account any or all of the network topology, current data rates associated with long-lived flows, congestion level reports, UE information, QoS requirements associated with the flows in the network, etc.
Regarding claim 20.
Kousaridas in view of Dao further teaches sending the information identifying the geographic area from the UDR to a Policy and Charging Function, PCF, in the communication network in response to a request from the PCF for policy data and/or application data for the UE (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0221] a timing information of the change in the QoS or event triggered that may be applied and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0222] a location information of the change in the QoS and/or the cell information about the change of the QoS and/or the identified event that may be applied and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0224] timing information of the UE, e.g., <start1, end1, start2, end2>) and further Dao teaches); and further Dao teaches storing the information by the UDR (Dao teaches in para. [0067] the UDSF 260 may be used to store data provided by other entities. Other network storage functions, such as a Unified Data Repository (UDR) may be used to store network reported data).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of applying the duration of the UE that is served by the SMF and using Unified Data Repository (UDR) to store network reported data ([0061] and [0067]) as taught, by Dao into the teachings of Kousaridas invention. One would have been motivated to do so since the processing capacity of user plane (UP) functions are known, congestion at UP functions can be easily avoided. Allows for dynamic changes to network policies, since the policy control function (PCF) can receive notification of congestion in the network and obtain an indication of the level of congestion from reports about congestion on links carrying the, e.g., video flows. The PCF function may run a traffic engineering (TE) optimization function, taking into account any or all of the network topology, current data rates associated with long-lived flows, congestion level reports, UE information, QoS requirements associated with the flows in the network, etc.
Regarding claim 21.
Kousaridas teaches sending, from the PCF to a Session Management Function, SMF, in the communication network a message comprising a first event trigger for the control of data sessions for the UE (Kousaridas teaches in fig. 3 and para. [0158] the AF 110 sends a service ID, and a time, area and periodicity information to the NEF 307 and the PCF 306, respectively and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0136] FIG. 3 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary procedure for activation of the QoS function, configuration of the communication network and providing a QoS function. Entities shown in FIG. 3 are the UE 300, the AN 301, the AMF 302, the SMF 303, the UPF 304, the NWDAF 305, the device 100 which is configured to provide the QoS function (e.g., the P-QoS functionality), the PCF 306, the Network Exposure function (the NEF) 307, and the application entity in the form of application function 110 and further Kousaridas teaches in para. [0137] the UE 300 may be similar and/or may function similar to the UE 120 of the FIG. 1, without limiting the present disclosure. For example, the UE 120 of FIG. 1 and the UE 300 of FIG. 3, may be based on an identical vehicle or different types of vehicles, etc.).
Regarding claim 23.
Kousaridas teaches wherein the method further comprises: after receiving a message by the PCF from the SMF indicating that the first event trigger has occurred, determining by the PCF whether a data session is permitted or not according to the location of the UE relative to the geographic area (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0233] the outcomes of the P-QoS notification about the expected QoS and/or the coverage change may be transmitted to the network entities (e.g., BS, UPF, AMF, SMF, PCF, V2X-CF of the 5G system, etc.). Moreover, the appropriate re-configuration action may be triggered and decided by the network, for example, based on the type of the notification, and in order to maintain the initial agreed QoS level and/or optimize the network performance, etc.); and
sending a further message by the PCF to the SMF indicating whether the data session is permitted or not according to the result of the determining (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0270] sensor sharing, cooperative maneuver, etc. Moreover, the prediction of the changes in the QoS may require an exchange of the prediction results (e.g., by a notifications) for a session of the V2X service that involves vehicles which are attached at different MNOs.
Regarding claim 26.
Kousaridas in view of Dao further teaches monitoring, by the SMF, the location of the UE for occurrence of the first event trigger, wherein the first event trigger is to be triggered if the UE moves into or out of the geographic area (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0047] representing a combination of the location of the UE and/or the communication network and/or a radio information, and the communication network's characteristics and further, Kousaridas teaches in para. [0233] the outcomes of the P-QoS notification about the expected QoS and/or the coverage change may be transmitted to the network entities (e.g., BS, UPF, AMF, SMF, PCF, V2X-CF of the 5G system, etc.). Moreover, the appropriate re-configuration action may be triggered and decided by the network, for example, based on the type of the notification, and in order to maintain the initial agreed QoS level and/or optimize the network performance, etc.) and further, Dao teaches in para. [0083] a traffic routing policy for the SMF 235 (e.g., how the SMF 235 selects the UPF 231 to serve different type of traffic at certain times),…, QoS parameters));
after the first event trigger occurs, sending a request by the SMF to the PCF for policy data for a data session, wherein the request indicates whether the UE is inside or outside of the geographic area (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0022] the QoS function (also hereinafter referred to as the prediction QoS “P-QoS” function) may be based on a prediction functionality in a communication system that allows to, for example, determine the QoS, predict the QoS, determine a change in the QoS, predict (and/or detect very fast) changes in the QoS and further, Dao teaches in para. [0033] to allow for dynamic changes to network policies, the PCF can receive notification of congestion in the network. The PCF may obtain an indication of the level of congestion from reports about congestion on links carrying the flows (e.g., video flows). The PCF function may run a traffic engineering (TE) optimization function (or may instruct the execution of a TE optimization process in another network function); and
receiving, by the SMF from the PCF, updated policy data for the UE that indicates whether a data session for the UE is permitted (Kousaridas teaches in para. [0159] the PCF 306 (or any relevant network functionality which may be responsible for the policy control and charging), after receiving the AF's 110 request, sends a P-QoS activation request message to the device 100 (e.g., its P-QoS logical unit) and further, Dao teaches in para. [0061] the duration the UE 110 is served by the SMF 235. PDU session statistics may include a session duration, a session active time (e.g. having data activity and the session in an active session state (e.g. a Session-ACTIVE state), a session idle time (e.g. no data activity and the session in an idle session state (e.g. a Session-IDLE state)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of applying the duration of the UE that is served by the SMF and using Unified Data Repository (UDR) to store network reported data ([0061] and [0067]) as taught, by Dao into the teachings of Kousaridas invention. One would have been motivated to do so since the processing capacity of user plane (UP) functions are known, congestion at UP functions can be easily avoided. Allows for dynamic changes to network policies, since the policy control function (PCF) can receive notification of congestion in the network and obtain an indication of the level of congestion from reports about congestion on links carrying the, e.g., video flows. The PCF function may run a traffic engineering (TE) optimization function, taking into account any or all of the network topology, current data rates associated with long-lived flows, congestion level reports, UE information, QoS requirements associated with the flows in the network, etc.
Prior art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Dao (U.S. Pub. No. 2022/0124065 A1) which discloses in para. [0028], [0031] and [0229]-[0231] about the NEF further updates a DNS configuration in a Unified Data Repository (UDR) with a parameter of the DNS configuration request…
Li et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2019/0357301 A1) which discloses in Fig. 8, para. [0057], [0060]-[0061], [0145] and [0159] about an interface Nudr to connect to a User Data Repository (UDR) 340. The PCF 316 may be associated with the UDM 320 because it may be involved with requesting and providing subscription policy information to the UDR 340, but it should be understood that typically the PCF 316 and the UDM 320 are independent functions and about the subscription to UP path (re)selection decision as requested 818 by the SMF-2 310B for the PDU session 2 that is correlated to the PDU session 1.
Conclusion
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/BERHANU SHITAYEWOLDETSADIK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2455
