DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1 - 14 are presented for examination.
Claim Objections
Claims 4 and 11 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Please write claim 4 and 11 as independent claims, and incorporate all limitations by explicitly writing out every claim limitation. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 5-7 and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because it is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Claims 5–7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 because the claimed invention is directed to patent-ineligible subject matter without reciting significantly more than an abstract idea. Independent claim 5 recites a “Network Exposure Function (NEF)” arranged to support execution of an application rule in a telecommunications system. The claim recites “receive equipment,” “map equipment,” and “send equipment” configured to receive identifiers, map an external application identifier to an internal identifier, and send information to another network entity for storage and application of rules. Although drafted in apparatus form, the claim fails to recite any concrete hardware structure such as a processor, memory, circuitry, transceiver, or other physical computing component. Instead, the claim merely recites generic “equipment” in purely functional terms defined only by the operations performed.
Under Step 2A, Prong One of the eligibility analysis, the claims are directed to an abstract idea. Specifically, the claims recite receiving information, mapping identifiers, transmitting information, and applying rules to sessions. These limitations amount to the manipulation, organization, and communication of information, which constitute abstract mental processes and methods of organizing human activity. The claimed mapping of one identifier to another and forwarding of rule information are forms of data processing and information management that can be performed conceptually or through generic computer implementation. Courts have repeatedly held that collecting, analyzing, manipulating, and transmitting information are abstract ideas.
Under Step 2A, Prong Two, the claims do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. The recited NEF is described only at a high functional level and merely serves as a nominal environment in which the abstract information-processing steps are performed. The claims do not improve the functioning of a computer, telecommunications network, or other technology. Nor do the claims recite any specific technical mechanism for performing the claimed receiving, mapping, or sending operations. Instead, the claims merely state the desired results without reciting a particular technological implementation. The absence of any recited physical hardware or technical architecture further demonstrates that the claims are directed only to functional results rather than a concrete technological solution.
Under Step 2B, the claims fail to recite an inventive concept sufficient to transform the abstract idea into patent-eligible subject matter. The additional claim elements, considered individually and as an ordered combination, amount only to generic and conventional data-processing activities routinely performed in telecommunications systems, such as receiving messages, translating identifiers, and forwarding rule information between entities. The claimed “receive equipment,” “map equipment,” and “send equipment” are generic functional placeholders that do not impose any meaningful limitation on the abstract idea. The claims therefore amount to no more than implementing abstract information-processing concepts using unspecified generic components. Please amend the claim to include structural hardware, e.g. processors, circuits to overcome the current 101 rejection.
Claims 12-14 are likewise rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 because the claimed subject matter is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. Independent claim 12 recites a “Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF)” including “receive equipment,” “map equipment,” and “send equipment” for receiving application information, mapping identifiers, and sending information to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF). Similar to claim 5, the claim is drafted in purely functional language and does not recite any physical hardware elements such as processors, memory, circuitry, or communication interfaces. The recited “equipment” lacks structural definition and merely describes desired functional outcomes.
Under Step 2A, Prong One, claim 12 is directed to abstract ideas including receiving, processing, mapping, and transmitting information for rule management purposes. These activities constitute mental processes and data manipulation operations that can be performed using generic computing functionality. The claims merely organize and process information relating to application identifiers and policy rules in a telecommunications environment.
Under Step 2A, Prong Two, the claims fail to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not recite any specific improvement to telecommunications technology or computer functionality. The claims merely invoke generic telecommunications entities such as SCEF, SCS/AS, and PCRF as an environment for carrying out abstract information-processing tasks. No specialized algorithm, hardware implementation, or technical mechanism is recited for achieving the claimed functionality.
Under Step 2B, the claims do not include an inventive concept because the additional elements recite only conventional and generic activities associated with message handling and policy management in telecommunications systems. The claimed “receive equipment,” “map equipment,” and “send equipment” are purely functional constructs lacking meaningful structural limitations. As such, the claims merely implement abstract ideas using generic and conventional components and fail to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception itself. Please amend the claim to include structural hardware, e.g. processors, circuits to overcome the current 101 rejection.
Accordingly, claims 5-7 and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as being directed to patent-ineligible subject matter.
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 of this title, 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) 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dao et al. (US Pub. 20190394279 A) in view of Bacik et al. (US Pub. 20180069798 A1)
For claims 1, 4, and 5, Dao discloses a Network Exposure Function, NEF (96), said NEF being arranged to support execution of an application rule for an application to be accessed by a User Equipment, UE, in a user session in a 3GPP telecommunications system [0048, 0092], comprising an Application Function, AF (104), and a Policy Control Function, PCF (201), (A network component called an NEF helps apply rules for how a mobile application should be handled in a wireless network session. The rules apply when a user device, such as a smartphone, accesses an application in a cellular network system.) said NEF comprising:
receive equipment arranged for receiving from said AF, a first message including an AF identifier, AF-ID, and an external Application identifier, AppId, indicating that the AF sponsors UE traffic relating to accessing the application (Fig.4 step 1; receives a message from the AF containing at least two of the identifiers, the message says that the AF is responsible for or sponsoring the network traffic related to that application.) [0217-222, 0173],
map equipment arranged for mapping the external AppID to an internal AppID (converts the external application identifier into an internal identifier used within the network.) [0221, 0218]; and
send equipment arranged for sending to the PCF, a second message including information received from the AF and mapped (step 2-3) [0173-174], for the PCF to store as application rule to be applied (Step 3) [0175-176, 0187].
But Dao doesn’t explicitly teach store as application rule to be applied to all current and future UE sessions relating to the application;
However, Backik discloses store as application rule to be applied to all current and future UE sessions relating to the application (rule will apply not only to current user sessions, but also to future sessions involving that application.) [0130-131];
Backik also discloses map equipment arranged for mapping the external AppID to an internal AppID [0162-163];
Since, all are analogous arts addressing rules application used in a mobile system; Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teachings of Dao with Backik to ensure applicable rules for the network can be properly applied for system configuration, thus, improving system efficiency.
Claim 1 differs from claim 5 only by the additional recitation of the following limitation, which is also taught by the cited prior art. The cited prior art Dao further discloses a method of supporting execution of an application rule for an application to be accessed by a User Equipment, UE, in a user session in a 3GPP telecommunications system, comprising an Application Function, AF or SCS/AS, a Network Exposure Function, NEF or SCEF, and a Policy Control Function, PCF or PCRF [0048, 0092], said method comprising the steps of:.
All other identical limitations are rejected based on the same rationale as shown above.
Claim 4 differs from claim 5 only by the additional recitation of the following limitation, which is also taught by the cited prior art. The cited prior art Dao further discloses a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed on processing circuitry [0038, 0075, 0086-87].
All other identical limitations are rejected based on the same rationale as shown above.
For claims 2 and 6, Dao, as modified by Backik, disclsoes said application rule comprises a specific Quality of Service, QoS, handling for user sessions pertaining to said application to be accessed by said UE [0187-188, 0049, 0172].
For claims 3 and 7, Dao, as modified by Backik, disclose said application rule comprises a specific charging profile for user sessions pertaining to said application to be accessed by said UE [0172, 0188, 0232, 0254].
For claims 8, 11, and 12, Dao discloses a Service Capability Exposure Function, SCEF (96 or a 4G equivalent), said SCEF being arranged to support execution of an application rule for an application to be accessed by a User Equipment, UE, in a user session in a 3GPP telecommunications system [0048, 0092], comprising a Services Capability Server/Application Server, SCS/AS (104 or a 4G equivalent), and a Policy and Charging Rules Function, PCRF (201 or a 4G equivalent) (system is operable in both 4G and 5G networks) [0013, 0107, 0149] (A network component called an NEF or a 4G equivalent helps apply rules for how a mobile application should be handled in a wireless network session. The rules apply when a user device, such as a smartphone, accesses an application in a cellular network system.), said SCEF comprising:
receive equipment arranged for receiving from said SCS/AS, a first message including an SCS/AS identifier, SCS/AS-ID, and an external Application identifier, AppId, indicating that the SCS/AS sponsors UE traffic relating to accessing the application (Fig.4 step 1; receives a message from the AF containing at least two of the identifiers, the message says that the AF is responsible for or sponsoring the network traffic related to that application.) [0217-222, 0173],
map equipment arranged for mapping the external AppID to an internal AppID (converts the external application identifier into an internal identifier used within the network.) [0221, 0218]; and
send equipment arranged for sending to the PCRF, a second message including information received from the SCS/AS and mapped (step 2-3) [0173-174], for the PCRF to store as application rule to be applied (Step 3) [0175-176, 0187].
But Dao doesn’t explicitly teach store as application rule to be applied to all current and future UE sessions relating to the application;
However, Backik discloses store as application rule to be applied to all current and future UE sessions relating to the application (rule will apply not only to current user sessions, but also to future sessions involving that application.) [0130-131];
Backik also discloses map equipment arranged for mapping the external AppID to an internal AppID [0162-163];
Since, all are analogous arts addressing rules application used in a mobile system; Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teachings of Dao with Backik to ensure applicable rules for the network can be properly applied for system configuration, thus, improving system efficiency.
Applicant’s filed specification on paragraph 0075 that address the functional equivalent of each the above cited elements:
“ - NEF 3 by Service Capability Exposure Function, SCEF,
- AF 5 by Services Capability Server/Application Server SCS/AS,
- PCF 6 by Policy and Charging Rules Function, PCRF,
- SMF 9 by PDN Gateway Control Plane Function, PGW-C, or Traffic Detection Function-Control plane Function, TDF-C,
- UPF 10 by PDN Gateway User Plane Function, PGW-U, or Traffic Detection Function-User plane Function TDF-U.”
Claim 8 differs from claim 12 only by the additional recitation of the following limitation, which is also taught by the cited prior art. The cited prior art further discloses a method of supporting execution of an application rule for an application to be accessed by a User Equipment, UE, in a user session in a 3GPP telecommunications system, comprising a Services Capability Server/Application Server, SCS/AS, a Service Capability Exposure Function, SCEF, and a Policy and Charging Rules Function, PCRF [0048, 0092], said method comprising the steps of .
All other identical limitations are rejected based on the same rationale as shown above.
Claim 11 differs from claim 12 only by the additional recitation of the following limitation, which is also taught by the cited prior art. The cited prior art further discloses a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed on processing circuitry [0038, 0075, 0086-87].
All other identical limitations are rejected based on the same rationale as shown above.
For claims 9 and 13, Dao, as modified by Backik, disclose said application rule comprises a specific Quality of Service, QoS, handling for user sessions pertaining to said application to be accessed by said UE [0187-188, 0049, 0172].
For claims 10 and 14, Dao, as modified by Backik, disclose said application rule comprises a specific charging profile for user sessions pertaining to said application to be accessed by said UE [0172, 0188, 0232, 0254].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20120081557 A1
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/PAKEE FANG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409
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