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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the instant claim is directed to a processor-readable storage medium, where such is discussed in, for example, paragraphs 413, 417, 428, and 429, where such paragraphs provide examples of what such a medium may be, but does not actually serve to limit such a medium. As such, the medium would apparently include both the non-transitory type media exemplified in the cited paragraphs as well as other transitory type media that are not disclaimed in the paragraphs, as such media (e.g. signals) are readable by a processor and store data at least during transmission. As the instant claim includes at least one embodiment (signals storing information), the claim, as a whole, is found to be non-statutory. Applicant should amend the instant claim to be clearly limited to statutory type subject matter, such as non-transitory processor-readable storage media.
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.
Claim(s) 1-17 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2020/0313925 (Singh) in view of “Cloud Gateway,” posted at <https://www.click2cloud.com/blog/cloud-gateway-between-the-different-cloud-providers-and-the-end-users> on February 4, 2020 (Click2Cloud).
With regard to claim 1, Singh discloses a method for information interaction, comprising:
obtaining first information of a physical network body, wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following (This language provides that only one of the following three items are required by the instant claim, thus a prior art reference only needs to disclose/teach one of the three items to teach the instant claim, as a whole): control plane information, user plane information, and terminal-related information (Singh: Paragraph [0068] and [0106] to [0107]. A digital twin can be provided for a network device, where information is provided to the digital twin including network data, where the network includes different layers that perform functions such as making control and routing decisions, and thus would constitute a “control plane” in as much detail as required by the instant claim.);
transmitting the first information and/or an instruction corresponding to the first information to a network element of a digital twin network body (Singh: Paragraphs [0106] to [0107]. The information is provided to the device that hosts the digital twin.).
Singh fails to disclose expressly, but Clicks2Cloud teaches:
that the obtaining and transmitting are by a first device (Clicks2Cloud: Pages 1-2. Clicks2Cloud teaches a cloud gateway that provides a link between the business units and the cloud platforms, where the cloud gateway is analogous to the first device.), and
wherein the first device comprises at least one of the following (This language provides that only one of the following four items are required by the instant claim, and thus a prior art reference only needs to disclose/teach one of the four items to teach the instant claim, as a whole):
a first management system configured to manage the physical network body and a second management system configured to manage the digital twin network body, wherein a first interface is provided between the first management system and the second management system;
an information interaction device, wherein a second interface is provided between the information interaction device and the digital twin network body, and a third interface is provided between the information interaction device and the physical network body (Clicks2Cloud: Pages 1-2. Singh provides the use of cloud and remote technologies for the host of the digital twins (Singh: Figure 5 and Paragraph [0085]. The subnets 504 and 506 connect the twins with the physical devices, where such may be over local networks or remote networks (including cloud networks), thus providing one or more devices between the two entities with an interface on the digital twin network body (host) side and the physical device.), where when implementing a cloud gateway, a first device would be provided with an interface that connects with the cloud devices (e.g. the digital twin hosts of Singh) on one side and the physical device on the other side.);
a first network element and a second network element of the digital twin network body, wherein the first network element is configured to perform network element service discovery on network elements of the physical network body, and the second network element is configured to subscribe to event exposure services of the network elements of the physical network body;
a third network element of the physical network body and a fourth network element of the digital twin network body, wherein the third network element is configured to invoke service discovery and subscribe to event exposure services from the network elements of the physical network body, and the third network element and the fourth network element support information interaction.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to utilize a first device to interface between the hosts and the other devices of the network to efficiently connect the hosts (e.g. cloud platforms) with the devices by managing the accesses and control on behalf of the users (Clicks2Cloud: Page 3).
With regard to claim 2, Singh teaches wherein the obtaining, by the first device, the first information of the physical network body comprises: transmitting, by the first device, a first request to a first target network element and receiving a first response from the first target network element based on the first request, wherein the first response comprises the first information; or receiving, by the first device, a second request transmitted by the first target network element, wherein the second request comprises the first information; wherein the first target network element is a network element of the physical network body (Singh: Paragraphs [0106] to [0107] and Clicks2Cloud: Pages 1-2. The cloud gateway would interface between the digital twins and the physical devices, where the gateway (first device) would transmit the request of Singh for information and receive the response. As above, the “at least one of” language here means that only one of the two options is required to teach the instant claim, as a whole.).
With regard to claim 3, Singh in view of Clicks2Cloud teaches wherein the first response or the second request is used to transmit all of the first information corresponding to network elements stored in the first target network element (Singh: Paragraphs [0106] to [0107]. It is noted that “first information” does not denote the specific information that is transmitted beyond that it is the information that is transmitted, where the instant claim appears to only add the requirement that the first information corresponds to information of network elements stored in the first target network element, which would cover the target network element sending its own information to, as this is information that is in the first network element that is sent as the first information.).
With regard to claim 4, Singh fails to teach, but knowledge possessed by one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing teaches wherein the first target network element is a session management function network element, and when the first information comprises user plane information, the session management function network element is capable of obtaining user plane topology information (More specifically, Official Notice is taken that session management functions were well-known computing devices, where Singh provides for the use of digital twins for management devices in a network (Singh: Paragraph [0002]).). Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have the first target network element be a session management function network element to enable the network to realize the benefits of such a function (providing control of data connectivity, such as allocating IP addresses and determining routes for traffic), while ensuring that such devices have minimal downtime (Singh: Abstract). As a note, the language “when the first information comprises user plane information, the session management function network element is capable of obtaining user plane topology information” does not need to be disclosed in the prior art to teach the instant claim, as a whole, if the first information comprises user plane information, which it does not as addressed in claim 1.).
With regard to claim 5, Singh in view of Clicks2Cloud teaches wherein when the first device comprises the first management system and the second management system, the transmitting, by the first device, the first information to the network element of the digital twin network body comprises: transmitting, by the second management system, the first information and/or the instruction corresponding to the first information to the network element of the digital twin network body after receiving the first information transmitted by the first management system via the first interface (Clicks2Cloud: The instant claim only provides requirements when the recited condition is true, which in the addressing of claim 1, the first device of Singh in view of Clicks2Cloud comprises the interaction device, and thus the condition is not true.).
With regard to claim 6, Singh in view of Clicks2Cloud teaches wherein when the information interaction device is configured to manage the physical network body and the digital twin network body, or is configured to store data information, and the first device comprises the information interaction device, the obtaining, by the first device, the first information of the physical network body comprises: performing, by the information interaction device, at least one of the following via the third interface: transmitting the first request and receiving the first response; receiving the second request (Clicks2Cloud. The instant claim sets forth conditions that when the information interaction device is configured to manage the physical network body and the digital twin body or is configured to store data information, and the first device comprises the information interaction device. While Singh in view of Clicks2Cloud has the first device comprising the information interaction device, the cloud gateway does not manage both the physical network body and the digital twin body and is not specifically configured to store data information (interpreted as storing similar data as is provided by the physical body), and thus the steps are not required to be in the prior art to teach the instant claim, as a whole.).
With regard to claim 7, Singh in view of Clicks2Cloud teaches wherein the transmitting, by the first device, the first information and/or the instruction corresponding to the first information to the network element of the digital twin network body comprises: transmitting, by the information interaction device, the first information and/or the instruction corresponding to the first information to the network element of the digital twin network body in a data format required by the second interface via the second interface (Clicks2Cloud: Pages 1-2. The gateway connects to the cloud provider, and thus the second interface would transmit information in a data format required by the second interface, including any data received from the physical device of Singh.).
With regard to claim 8, Singh in view of Clicks2Cloud teaches wherein the first request is a query request (Singh: Paragraphs [0106] to [0107]).
With regard to claim 9, Singh in view of Clicks2Cloud teaches wherein when the first device comprises the first network element and the second network element, the first request comprises a network element service discovery request and/or an event exposure service subscription request; the first device transmits the first request to the first target network element and receives a first response from the first target network element based on the first request, comprising at least one of the following: transmitting, by the first network element, a network element service discovery request to a fifth network element and receiving a network element service discovery response from the fifth network element, wherein the network element service discovery response carries the control plane information; transmitting, by the second network element, an event exposure service subscription request to a sixth network element and receiving an event exposure service subscription response from the sixth network element, wherein the event exposure service subscription response carries the user plane information; wherein the fifth network element and the sixth network element belong to the first target network element, and the sixth network element allows event exposure service subscription (Clicks2Cloud: The instant claim only provides requirements when the recited condition is true, which in the addressing of claim 1, the first device of Singh in view of Clicks2Cloud comprises the interaction device, and thus the condition is not true.).
With regard to claim 10, Singh in view o fClicks2Cloud teaches wherein when the first network element is a network storage function network element, the network storage function network element is configured to proactively transmit the first information and/or the instruction corresponding to the first information to a second target network element of the digital twin network body (Clicks2Cloud: The instant claim only provides requirements when the recited condition is true, which in the addressing of claim 1, the first device of Singh in view of Clicks2Cloud comprises the interaction device, and thus the condition is not true.).
With regard to claim 11, Singh in view of Clicks2Cloud teaches that the first device comprises a third network element and a fourth network element, and the first request comprises a network element service discovery request and/or an event exposure service subscription request (Singh: Page 3, Paragraphs 3-4. The gateway allows for integration with different cloud providers, which would include discovering different network services of the providers.); wherein the first device is configured to transmit the first request to a first target network element and receive a first response transmitted by the first target network element based on the first request (Singh: Paragraphs [0106] to [0107]), comprising at least one of (The language “at least one” means that only one of the following options is required to teach the instant claim, as a whole.): transmitting, by the third network element, the network element service discovery request to a seventh network element and receiving a network element service discovery response transmitted by the seventh network element, wherein the network element service discovery response carries the control plane information (Singh: Paragraphs [0084] to [0086]. Discovery messages may be provides, where the digital twin would take over the functions of the physical device in case of a failure. It is noted that lacking detail of the different elements, the labels do not necessarily require the elements to be different (e.g. third and fourth may be the same network element). If Applicant intends for the elements to be different, implicit or explicit requirements should be added to this effect.); transmitting, by the third network element, the event exposure service subscription request to an eighth network element and receiving an event exposure service subscription response transmitted by the eighth network element, wherein the event exposure service subscription response carries the user plane information; wherein the seventh network element and the eighth network element belong to the first target network element, and the eighth network element is permitted to subscribe to the event exposure service.
With regard to claim 12, Singh in view of Clicks2Cloud teaches wherein transmitting, by the first device, the first information and/or the instruction corresponding to the first information to a network element of the digital twin network entity comprises: transmitting, by the fourth network element, the first information and/or the instruction corresponding to the first information to a second target network element after receiving the first information transmitted by the third network element; wherein the second target network element is a network element of the digital twin network entity (Singh: Paragraphs [0084] to [0086] and Clicks2Cloud: Pages 1-2.).
With regard to claim 13, Singh teaches wherein the first information is information generated when the physical network entity undergoes a change (Singh: Paragraphs [0106] to [0107]. The information is state information, which would be updated/generated with each change to the state.).
With regard to claim 14, Singh in view of Clicks2Cloud teaches wherein the control plane information comprises at least one of: a status of a network element; an identifier of a network element (Singh: Paragraph [0106] to [0107]).
With regard to claim 15, Singh in view of Clicks2Cloud teaches wherein the user plane information comprises at least one of: a forwarding device identifier; link information; a port number; a port status (Singh. The instant claim language modifies “user plane information,” which is not relied upon for the information of claim 1, above, and thus does not need to be transmitted or otherwise known in the system.).
With regard to claim 16, Singh in view of Clicks2Cloud teaches wherein the terminal-related information comprises at least one of: a terminal status; a terminal identifier; a terminal count; a terminal session count; a session ID; a user plane path (Singh. The instant claim language modifies “terminal-related information,” which is not relied upon for the information of claim 1, above, and thus does not need to be transmitted or otherwise known in the system.).
With regard to claims 17 and 19, the instant claims are similar to claim 1, and are rejected for similar reasons.
Conclusion
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SCOTT B. CHRISTENSEN
Examiner
Art Unit 2444
/SCOTT B CHRISTENSEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2444
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