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 .
Claims 1-15 have been cancelled. Claims 16-31 have been examined and are pending.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/02/2025 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 16-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Li et al, hereinafter (“Li”), US PG Publication 20230019000 A1, in view of Farooq 20220174471 A1 (cited from US PG Publication, now US Patent 12470930 B2).
Regarding claims 16 and 24, Li teaches a method performed by a Network Repository Function (NRF) in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: and Network Repository Function (NRF) comprising: a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, configured to: [Li ¶0076 NRF corresponds to an authorization server (authorization server) in OAuth2.0. ¶0113-0114 wireless transceiver function, or a chip disposed in a device]
receiving, from the NF consumer, a request message for an access token [Li et al 20230019000 A1 ¶0076 The NF service consumer corresponds to a client in OAuth2.0. ¶0092 S302: The client sends an access token request message to the a visited network repository function (visited NRF, vNRF).]
matching at least one property of the NF consumer against at least one rule included in the ruleset [Li ¶0148 if the access token includes the first SNPN information, the second NF further determines whether the SNPN information of the first NF carried in the service request message matches the first SNPN information in the access token. If the SNPN information of the first NF carried in the service request message matches the first SNPN information in the access token, check succeeds.]; and
determining a scope that is allowed to the NF consumer, based on a result of the matching [Li ¶¶0148-0149 Optionally, the check on the access token performed by the second NF may further include check on the service scope requested by the first NF, for example, determining whether the service scope requested by the first NF exceeds a service scope recorded in the access token.].
While Li teaches receiving, from a Network Function (NF) producer, wherein the ruleset indicates whether a NF consumer is allowed to access the NF producer [See Li ¶¶0091-0099.]; However, Li fails to explicitly teach but Farooq teaches receiving, from a Network Function (NF) producer, a NF profile including a ruleset, wherein the ruleset indicates whether a NF consumer is allowed to access the NF producer [Farooq ¶0017 The NRF 106 can allow other network functions to subscribe and be notified of registrations from network functions of a given type. ¶¶0021-0022 NF producer can send a registration request 112 to the NRF 106, which can include an indication of its presence and profile(s) associated with the NF producer. ¶¶0032 and 0040 the UPF(s) 206 can be implemented as network function(s) including functionality to control data transfer between the UE 202 and the various components of the 5G mobile network; user plane portion of policy rule enforcement];
Li teaches all the features of claims 16 and 24 not receiving, from a Network Function (NF) producer, a NF profile including a ruleset, wherein the ruleset indicates whether a NF consumer is allowed to access the NF producer. Li teaches service authorization method, apparatus, and system. Farooq teaches a network repository function (nrf) discovery control. Because both Li and Farooq are from the same field of endeavor, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to use the indication of its presence and profile(s) associated with the NF producer to associate the NRF as part of the registration procedure and inherently the scope in the same manner set forth in Li [Farooq ¶0021].
Regarding claims 17 and 25, the combination of Li and Farooq teach claim 16 as described above.
Li teaches wherein the at least one rule comprises at least one of: a priority of a rule, information of a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) to be allowed, information of a Standalone Non-Public Network (SNPN) to be allowed, information of a Network Function Type (nfType) to be allowed, information of a Network Function Domain (NfDomain) to be allowed, information of a Single-Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S- NSSAI) to be allowed, information of a Network Function Instance Identity (NF-Instance Id) to be allowed, information of the scope to be allowed, and information of an action to be allowed or denied [See Li ¶¶0147-0148 The check on the access token performed by the second NF includes check on the SNPN information in the access token.].
Regarding claims 18 and 26, the combination of teach claim 17 as described above.
Li teaches wherein the determining of the scope comprises: in case that the information of the scope is absent, determining that the NF consumer is allowed or denied to all the scopes [Li ¶¶0167 and 0172 S805B: If the remote SNPN information recorded in the N32 interface context matches the first SNPN information in the access token, the second SEPP forwards the second service request message to the second NF after completing other check (for example, integrity check, service scope check, and validity period check) on the access token.].
Regarding claims 19 and 27, the combination of Li and Farooq teach claim 16 as described above.
Li teaches wherein the at least one property of the NF consumer comprises at least one of a PLMN, a SNPN, a nfType, a NfDomain, a S- NSSAI, and a NF-Instance Id [Li ¶¶0137 and 0145 …the type of the first network is an SNPN, the service request message further carries SNPN information of the first NF (a service requester) in addition to the access token.].
Regarding claims 20 and 28, the combination of Li and Farooq teach claim 16 as described above.
Li teaches wherein the matching of the at least one attribute of the NF consumer against the at least one rule comprises: matching the at least one property of the NF consumer against the at least one rule in a decreasing order of the priority [Farooq
See Li ¶¶0167 and 0172 Optionally, a specific implementation of the reassembly and conversion includes but is not limited to: valid data before and after the reassembly and conversion remains unchanged. S805B: If the remote SNPN information recorded in the N32 interface context matches the first SNPN information in the access token, the second SEPP forwards the second service request message to the second NF after completing other check (for example, integrity check, service scope check, and validity period check) on the access token. Examiner interprets the order of the priority is analogous to the reassembly and conversion steps.].
Regarding claims 21 and 27, the combination of Li and Farooq teach claim 16 as described above.
Li teaches further comprising: in case that a matching rule is found, stopping a search [Li ¶0148 he service request message does not match the first SNPN information in the access token and the SNPN information of the second NF does not match the second SNPN information in the access token, check fails.].
Regarding claims 22 and 30, the combination of Li and Farooq teach claim 16 as described above.
However, Li fails to explicitly teach but Farooq teaches wherein the NF profile is registered into the NRF by the NF producer [Farooq ¶¶0018-0019 and 0020-0021 and Table 1 the discovery response 108 can provide indications of NF producers (i.e. SMF, a UDM, an AUSF, a Short Message Service Function (SMSF), a LMF, a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF), EIR, a Unified Data Repository (UDR), a CHF, a NEF, or the like) shows NRF 106 stores information about the profile associated with the NF producer and send response back to requesting entity].
Li teaches all the features of claims 16 and 24 not wherein the NF profile is registered into the NRF by the NF producer. Farooq teaches a network repository function (nrf) discovery control. Because both Li and Farooq are from the same field of endeavor, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to use the indication of its presence and profile(s) associated with the NF producer to associate the NRF as part of the registration procedure and inherently the scope in the same manner set forth in Li [Farooq ¶0021].
Regarding claims 23 and 31, the combination of teach claim 1 as described above.
However, Li fails to explicitly teach but Farooq teaches further comprising: in response to the request message, transmitting, to the NF consumer, a response message including the access token, wherein the access token comprises the determined scope to be allowed to the NF consumer [Farooq ¶¶0021-0022 and 0024-0025 the NF consumer 102 can send a discovery request 104 to the NRF 106 for information associated with a particular NF producer type. The NRF 106 can send the list of indications of the NF producers associated with the NF producer type to the NF consumer 102 via the discovery response 108. In some examples, the discovery response 108 can be associated with a timer corresponding to a time period after which the list of indications of NF producers associated with the NF producer type expires. The NF consumer 102 can store the list of indications of NF producers and, upon receiving a subsequent request, can determine whether the time period has lapsed ].
Li teaches all the features of claims 16 and 24 not in response to the request message, transmitting, to the NF consumer, a response message including the access token, wherein the access token comprises the determined scope to be allowed to the NF consumer. Because both Li and Farooq are from the same field of endeavor, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to use the indication of its presence and profile(s) associated with the NF producer to associate the NRF as part of the registration procedure and inherently the scope in the same manner set forth in Li [Farooq ¶0021].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Lee et al 20220394525 A1 teaches a Network data collection method from application function device for network data analytic function.
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SAKINAH WHITE-TAYLOR
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2407
/Sakinah White-Taylor/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2407
