DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . This action is in response to the preliminary amendments filed 07/08/2025. Claims 1-15 and 17-20 are pending. Claim 16 is cancelled.
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 Application No. EP 21382414, filed on 05/07/2021. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP §§ 706.02(l)(1) - 706.02(l)(3) for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/forms/. The filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being anticipated over claims 1-21 of the U.S. Patent No. 12,316,512. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the difference between claims 1-20 of the instant application and claims 1-21 of the U.S. Patent No. 12,316,512 is that the claims of the instant application discloses the scope of the invention to be broader than to the scope of the U.S. Patent No. 12,316,512.
Claim 1 is rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being anticipated over claims 1 and 13 of the U.S. Patent No. 12,316,512. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the difference between claim 1 of the instant application and claims 1 and 13 of the U.S. Patent No. 12,316,512 is that the claims of the instant application discloses method steps which are broader to the method steps of the U.S. Patent No. 12,316,512.
Claim 7 is rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being anticipated over claim 8 of the U.S. Patent No. 12,316,512. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the difference between claim 7 of the instant application and claim 8 of the U.S. Patent No. 12,316,512 is that the claims of the instant application discloses apparatus steps which are broader to the apparatus steps of the U.S. Patent No. 12,316,512.
Claim 8 is rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being anticipated over claims 9 and 13 of the U.S. Patent No. 12,316,512. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the difference between claim 8 of the instant application and claims 9 and 13 of the U.S. Patent No. 12,316,512 is that the claims of the instant application discloses the method steps which are broader to the method steps of the U.S. Patent No. 12,316,512.
Claim 20 is rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being anticipated over claim 21 of the U.S. Patent No. 12,316,512. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the difference between claim 21 of the instant application and claim 21 of the U.S. Patent No. 12,316,512 is that the claims of the instant application discloses apparatus steps which are broader to the apparatus steps of the U.S. Patent No. 12,316,512.
Claims Comparison Table
Instant Application:
19/195,836
U.S. Patent No. 12,316,512 B2
(common inventive entity and assignee)
Claim 1:
A method for event subscription management in a communications network performed by a first Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF), the method comprising: the first NWDAF receiving from a Network Function consumer (NFc) a request for establishing a subscription to an event; and the first NWDAF transmitting to the NFc a notification including an indication to trigger the cancelation of the subscription, wherein the notification triggers the NFc to establish a new subscription to a second NWDAF.
Claim 1:
A method for event subscription management in a communications network performed by a service provider network function (NFp), wherein the service provide network function (NFp) is a Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF), the method comprising: the service provider network function (NFp) receiving from a Network Function consumer (NFc) a subscription request for establishing a subscription to an event; and the service provider network function (NFp) transmitting to the Network Function consumer (NFc) a notification including an indication to trigger a cancelation of the subscription, wherein the notification transmitted from the NFp to the NFc comprises information indicative of a reason of the trigger of the cancelation of the subscription.
Claim 2:
The method of claim 1, wherein the notification transmitted from the NWDAF to the NFc is further indicative of the reason of the trigger of the cancelation of the subscription.
Claim 1:
A method for event subscription management in a communications network performed by a service provider network function (NFp), wherein the service provide network function (NFp) is a Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF), the method comprising: the service provider network function (NFp) receiving from a Network Function consumer (NFc) a subscription request for establishing a subscription to an event; and the service provider network function (NFp) transmitting to the Network Function consumer (NFc) a notification including an indication to trigger a cancelation of the subscription, wherein the notification transmitted from the NFp to the NFc comprises information indicative of a reason of the trigger of the cancelation of the subscription.
Claim 13:
The method of claim 11, wherein the subscription modification triggered at the NFc comprises at least one of selecting a different NFp, and establishing a new subscription to the different NFp.
Claim 3:
The method of claim 1, wherein the reason comprises: the unavailability of the subscription at the first NWDAF, User Equipment mobility, administrative action, NWDAF being decommissioned, lack of user consent for a particular purpose, and/or NWDAF capacity constraints.
Claim 3:
The method of claim 1, wherein the reason comprises at least one of the unavailability of the subscription at the NFp, User Equipment mobility, administrative action, NFp being decommissioned, lack of user consent for a particular purpose, and NFp capacity constraints.
Claim 4:
The method of claim 1, wherein the notification transmitted from the first NWDAF to the NFc further comprises: an identifier of the event to which the subscription state pertains, an indication of a target NWDAF or a target set of NWDAF instances that support the subscription to the event, and/or a plurality of indications of cancelation of subscriptions, each indication pertaining to a different event.
Claim 4:
The method of claim 1, wherein the notification transmitted from the NFp to the NFc further comprises at least one of an identifier of the event to which the subscription state pertains, an indication of a target NFp or a target set of NFp instances that support the subscription to the event, and a plurality of indications of cancelation of subscriptions, each of the respective indications pertaining to a different event.
Claim 5:
The method of claim 4, wherein each indication within the plurality of indications of cancelation of subscriptions comprises a target NWDAF or a target set of NWDAF instances that support the event pertaining to the indication.
Claim 5:
The method of claim 4, wherein each one of the respective indications included in the plurality of indications of cancelation of subscriptions comprises a respective target NFp or a target set of NFp instances that support the event pertaining to the respective indication.
Claim 6:
The method of claim 1, wherein the notification transmitted from the first NWDAF to the NFc further comprises an identifier of the subscription.
Claim 2:
The method of claim 1, wherein the notification transmitted from the NFp to the NFc further comprises an identifier of the subscription.
Claim 7:
An apparatus for event subscription management in a communications network, the apparatus comprising: a processor; and a memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processor, wherein the apparatus is operative to perform the method of claim 1.
Claim 8:
An apparatus for event subscription management in a communications network, the apparatus comprising: a processor; and a memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processor, wherein the apparatus is operative to perform the method of claim 1.
Claim 8:
A method for event subscription management in a communications network performed by a Network Function consumer (NFc), the method comprising: the NFc transmitting to a first Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF) a subscription request for establishing a subscription to an event; and the NFc receiving from the NWDAF a notification including an indication to trigger the cancelation of the subscription, wherein the notification triggers the NFc to establish a new subscription to a second NWDAF.
Claim 9:
A method for event subscription management in a communications network performed by a Network Function consumer (NFc), the method comprising: the NFc transmitting to a service provider network function (NFp) a subscription request for establishing a subscription to an event, wherein the service provider network function (NFp) is a Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF); and the NFc receiving from the service provider network function (NFp) a notification including an indication to trigger the cancelation of the subscription, wherein the notification comprises information indicative of a reason of the trigger of the cancelation of the subscription.
Claim 13:
The method of claim 11, wherein the subscription modification triggered at the NFc comprises at least one of selecting a different NFp, and establishing a new subscription to the different NFp.
Claim 9:
The method of claim 8, wherein the notification is an analytics subscription notify message and the event is identified by an analytic ID, and/or the NFc is a NEF or an AF.
Claim 10:
The method of claim 9, wherein the received notification is an analytics subscription notify message, and the event is identified by an analytic ID, and/or the NFc is a network exposure function (NEF) or an application function (AF).
Claim 10:
The method of claim 8, further comprising triggering at the NFc a subscription modification based on the received notification.
Claim 11:
The method of claim 9, further comprising triggering at the NFc a subscription modification based on the received notification.
Claim 11:
The method of claim 8, wherein the notification received from the first NWDAF further comprises an identifier of the subscription.
Claim 16:
The method of claim 9, wherein the received notification further comprises an identifier of the subscription.
Claim 12:
The method of claim 8, wherein the notification received from the first NWDAF is further indicative of the reason of the trigger of the cancelation of the subscription.
Claim 9:
A method for event subscription management in a communications network performed by a Network Function consumer (NFc), the method comprising: the NFc transmitting to a service provider network function (NFp) a subscription request for establishing a subscription to an event, wherein the service provider network function (NFp) is a Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF); and the NFc receiving from the service provider network function (NFp) a notification including an indication to trigger the cancelation of the subscription, wherein the notification comprises information indicative of a reason of the trigger of the cancelation of the subscription.
Claim 13:
The method of claim 8, wherein the reason comprises at least one of the unavailability of the subscription at the first NWDAF, User Equipment mobility, administrative action, NWDAF being decommissioned, lack of user consent for a particular purpose, and NWDAF capacity constraints.
Claim 17:
The method of claim 9, wherein the reason comprises at least one of the unavailability of the subscription at the NFp, User Equipment mobility, administrative action, NFp being decommissioned, lack of user consent for a particular purpose, and NFp capacity constraints.
Claim 14:
The method of claim 8, wherein the notification received from the first NWDAF further comprises: an identifier of the event to which the subscription state pertains, an indication of a target NWDAF or a target set of NWDAF instances that support the subscription to the event, and/or a plurality of indications of cancelation of subscriptions, each indication pertaining to a different event.
Claim 18:
The method of claim 9, wherein the notification further comprises at least one of: an identifier of the event to which the subscription state pertains, an indication of a target NFp or a target set of NFp instances that support the subscription to the event, and a plurality of indications of cancelation of subscriptions, each indication pertaining to a different event.
Claim 15:
The method of claim 10, wherein the subscription modification triggered at the NFc comprises cancelling or terminating the subscription with the first NWDAF and/or removing the subscription context at the NFc.
Claim 12:
The method of claim 11, wherein the subscription modification triggered at the NFc comprises at least one of cancelling or terminating the subscription with the NFp, and removing the subscription context at the NFc.
Claim 17:
The method of claim 8, wherein the second NWDAF supports the subscription to the event.
Claim 14:
The method of claim 13, wherein the selected different NFp comprises a target NFp or an NFp instance within a target set of NFp instances that support the new subscription to the event.
Claim 18:
The method of claim 17, wherein the notification received from the first NWDAF comprises a plurality of indications of cancelation of subscriptions, each indication pertaining to a different event.
Claim 19:
The method of claim 9, wherein the notification comprises a plurality of indications of cancelation of subscriptions, each one of the respective indications included in the plurality of indications pertaining to a different event.
Claim 19:
The method of claim 18, wherein each indication within the plurality of indications of cancelation of subscriptions comprises a target NWDAF or a target set of NWDAF instances that support the event pertaining to the indication, and the subscription modification triggered at the NFc comprises: cancelling the subscription to at least one of the different events pertaining to the plurality of indications of cancelation of subscriptions, removing the subscription context of the at least one of the different events, and/or establishing a new subscription to the at least one of the different events to a new NWDAF.
Claim 15:
The method of claim 11, wherein the subscription modification triggered at the NFc comprises at least one of cancelling the subscription to at least one of the different events pertaining to the plurality of indications of cancelation of subscriptions, removing the subscription context of the at least one of the different events, and establishing a new subscription to the at least one of the different events to a new NFp.
Claim 20:
The method of claim 19, wherein each one of the respective indications included in the plurality of indications of cancelation of subscriptions comprises a target NFp or a target set of NFp instances that support the event pertaining to the respective indication.
Claim 20:
An apparatus for event subscription management in a communications network, the apparatus comprising: a processor; and a memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processor, wherein the apparatus is operative to perform the method of claim 8.
Claim 21:
An apparatus for event subscription management in a communications network, the apparatus comprising: a processor; and a memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processor, wherein the apparatus is operative to perform the method of claim 9.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-3, 5, 8-9, 11-14, and 18 are objected to because of the following informalities: lack of terminology consistency
Claim 1, line 7, recites “trigger the cancelation of the subscription” and should be changed to -- trigger [[the]] a cancelation of the subscription --.
Similar changes are suggested for subsequent claims.
Claim 2, line 1, recites “the NWDAF to the NFc” and should be changed to -- the first NWDAF to the NFc --.
Similar changes are suggested for subsequent claims.
Claim 2, line 2, recites “of the reason of the trigger” and should be changed to -- of [[the]]a reason of the trigger --.
Similar changes are suggested for subsequent claims.
Claim 5, line 2, recites “comprises a target NWDAF or a target set of NWDAF instances” and should be changed to -- comprises [[a]]the target NWDAF or [[a]]the target set of NWDAF instances --.
Similar changes are suggested for subsequent claims.
Claim 5, line 1, recites “wherein each indication within the plurality of indications” and should be changed to -- wherein each of the indications within the plurality of indications --.
Similar changes are suggested for subsequent claims.
Claim 9, line 4, recites “the NFc is a NEF or an AF” and should be changed to -- the NFc is a Network Exposure Function (NEF) or an Application Function (AF)--.
Similar changes are suggested for subsequent claims.
Claim 11, line 1, recites “wherein the notification received” and should be changed to -- wherein the received notification
Similar changes are suggested for subsequent claims.
Appropriate corrections are required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-15 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable by Lee et al. (2020/0322775, hereinafter Lee).
Regarding claim 1, Lee discloses a method for event subscription management in a communications network (Lee, para. 84) performed by a first Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF) (Lee discloses that the NWDAF collects data from any NF, where the Nnf interface is defined for the NWDAF to request subscription to data delivery for a particular context, to cancel a subscription to data delivery, and to request a specific report of data for a particular context) (Lee, para. 68), the method comprising:
the first NWDAF receiving from a Network Function consumer (NFc) a request for establishing a subscription to an event (Lee discloses that the service consumer NF (NFc) may subscribe (establishing a subscription) to the event that includes an event ID, notification target address and correlation ID) (Lee, para. 112); and
the first NWDAF transmitting to the NFc a notification (Lee discloses that the notification correlation ID is allocated by the subscribed event reporting) (Lee, para. 115) including an indication (Lee discloses that the group based monitoring configuration indicates (indication) which the monitoring event reporting(s) are detected) (Lee, para. 122) to trigger the cancelation of the subscription (Lee discloses that the service consumer NF may use an operation dedicated to subscription modification to add or remove (cancel) Event ID(s) to this subscription or to modify Event filter information) (Lee, para. 116), wherein
the notification triggers the NFc to establish a new subscription to a second NWDAF (Lee discloses that the service consumer NF can create (establish) a new subscription(s) with the NF service producer (second NWDAF)) (Lee, para. 113).
Regarding claim 2, Lee discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the notification transmitted from the NWDAF to the NFc is further indicative of the reason (Lee discloses that the unique event reporting information (reason) includes the subscription, all event IDs that are associated with the event) (Lee, para. 110) of the trigger of the cancelation of the subscription (Lee discloses that the service consumer NF may use an operation dedicated to subscription modification to add or remove (cancel) Event ID(s) to this subscription or to modify Event filter information) (Lee, para. 116).
Regarding claim 3, Lee discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the reason comprises: the unavailability of the subscription at the first NWDAF, User Equipment mobility, administrative action (Lee discloses that the service consumer NF decides (administrative action) to terminate the event subscription by sending an unsubscription request to the event provider NF) (Lee, para. 125), NWDAF being decommissioned, lack of user consent for a particular purpose, and/or NWDAF capacity constraints (Lee discloses that the immediate reporting flag may be set for the corresponding information such as the external exposure of network capabilities and core network internal event and capability exposure, is available at the reception of the subscription request of the event) (Lee, para. 126).
Regarding claim 4, Lee discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the notification transmitted from the first NWDAF to the NFc further comprises:
an identifier of the event to which the subscription state pertains (Lee discloses that the one or more event IDs identifies the type of event being subscribed to) (Lee, para. 108),
an indication of a target NWDAF or a target set of NWDAF instances that support the subscription to the event (Lee discloses that the analytics ID indicates that the NWDAF is configured with the corresponding NF type(s) and/or event ID(s) and/or OAM measurement types; the NWDAF invokes a Nnf_EventSubscribe services to collect data from the determined NF instance(s), and/or triggers the procedure to subscriber to OAM services to collect the OAM measurement) (Lee, para. 250, 252), and/or
a plurality of indications of cancelation of subscriptions, each indication pertaining to a different event (Lee discloses that the monitoring event reporting(s) indicate parameters for group based monitoring and/or certain or different event IDs reporting metrics) (Lee, para. 117).
Regarding claim 5, Lee discloses the method of claim 4, wherein each indication within the plurality of indications of cancelation of subscriptions comprises a target NWDAF (Lee discloses that when the subscription is accepted by the event provider NF; the service consumer NF receives, from the event provider NF, an identifier (subscription correlation ID) allowing to manage, modify, and/or delete (cancel), this subscription to the event) (Lee, para. 114) or a target set of NWDAF instances that support the event pertaining to the indication (Lee discloses that the service consumer NFs utilizes NRF to discovery NWDAF instance(s) and/or NWDAF selection function based on available NWDAF instances) (Lee, para. 84).
Regarding claim 6, Lee discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the notification transmitted from the first NWDAF to the NFc further comprises an identifier of the subscription (Lee discloses that when the subscription is accepted by the event provider NF; the service consumer NF receives, from the event provider NF, an identifier (subscription correlation ID) allowing to manage, modify, and/or delete (cancel), this subscription to the event) (Lee, para. 114).
Regarding claim 7, Lee discloses an apparatus for event subscription management in a communications network, the apparatus comprising: a processor; and a memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processor, wherein the apparatus is operative to perform the method of claim 1 (See similar rationale in claim 1).
Regarding claim 8, Lee discloses a method for event subscription management in a communications network (Lee, para. 84) performed by a Network Function consumer (NFc) (Lee discloses that the NWDAF collects data from any NF, where the Nnf interface is defined for the NWDAF to request subscription to data delivery for a particular context, to make a subscription to data delivery, and to request a specific report of data for a particular context) (Lee, para. 68), the method comprising:
the NFc transmitting to a first Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF) a subscription request for establishing a subscription to an event (Lee discloses that the service consumer NF may subscribe to the event that includes an event ID, notification target address and correlation ID) (Lee, para. 112); and
the NFc receiving from the NWDAF a notification including an indication to trigger the cancelation of the subscription (Lee discloses that when the subscription is accepted by the event provider NF; the service consumer NF receives, from the event provider NF, an identifier (subscription correlation ID) allowing to manage, modify, and/or delete (cancel), this subscription to the event) (Lee, para. 114), wherein
the notification triggers the NFc to establish a new subscription to a second NWDAF (Lee discloses that the expiry time of the subscription is reached or cancelled, the service consumer NFs may create a new subscription with the NF service producer) (Lee, para. 113).
Regarding claim 9, Lee discloses the method of claim 8, wherein
the notification is an analytics subscription notify message and the event is identified by an analytic ID (Lee discloses that the analytics ID identifies the desired type of analytics for that purpose) (Lee, para. 71), and/or
the NFc is a NEF or an AF (Lee discloses that the NEF supports external exposure of capabilities of network functions) (Lee, para. 129).
Regarding claim 10, Lee discloses the method of claim 8, further comprising triggering at the NFc a subscription modification based on the received notification (Lee discloses that the service consumer NF may request a subscription modification to add or remove event ID(s) to this subscription or to modify event filter information) (Lee, para. 116).
Regarding claim 11, Lee discloses the method of claim 8, wherein the notification received from the first NWDAF further comprises an identifier of the subscription (Lee discloses that when the subscription is accepted by the event provider NF; the service consumer NF receives, from the event provider NF, an identifier (subscription correlation ID) allowing to manage, modify, and/or delete, this subscription to the event) (Lee, para. 114).
Regarding claim 12, Lee discloses the method of claim 8, wherein the notification received from the first NWDAF is further indicative of the reason (Lee discloses that the unique event reporting information (reason) includes the subscription, all event IDs that are associated with the event) (Lee, para. 110) of the trigger of the cancelation of the subscription (Lee discloses that the service consumer NF may use an operation dedicated to subscription modification to add or remove (cancel) Event ID(s) to this subscription or to modify Event filter information) (Lee, para. 116).
Regarding claim 13, Lee discloses the method of claim 8, wherein the reason comprises at least one of the unavailability of the subscription at the first NWDAF, User Equipment mobility, administrative action (Lee discloses that the service consumer NF decides (administrative action) to terminate the event subscription by sending an unsubscription request to the event provider NF) (Lee, para. 125), NWDAF being decommissioned, lack of user consent for a particular purpose, and NWDAF capacity constraints (Lee discloses that the immediate reporting flag may be set for the corresponding information such as the external exposure of network capabilities and core network internal event and capability exposure, is available at the reception of the subscription request of the event) (Lee, para. 126).
Regarding claim 14, Lee discloses the method of claim 8, wherein the notification received from the first NWDAF further comprises:
an identifier of the event to which the subscription state pertains (Lee discloses that the one or more event IDs identifies the type of event being subscribed to) (Lee, para. 108),
an indication of a target NWDAF or a target set of NWDAF instances that support the subscription to the event (Lee discloses that the analytics ID indicates that the NWDAF is configured with the corresponding NF type(s) and/or event ID(s) and/or OAM measurement types; the NWDAF invokes a Nnf_EventSubscribe services to collect data from the determined NF instance(s), and/or triggers the procedure to subscriber to OAM services to collect the OAM measurement) (Lee, para. 250, 252), and/or
a plurality of indications of cancelation of subscriptions, each indication pertaining to a different event (Lee discloses that the monitoring event reporting(s) indicate parameters for group based monitoring and/or certain event IDs reporting metrics) (Lee, para. 117).
Regarding claim 15, Lee discloses the method of claim 10, wherein the subscription modification triggered at the NFc comprises cancelling or terminating the subscription with the first NWDAF (Lee discloses that the service consumer NF may request a subscription modification to add or remove (cancel or terminate) event ID(s) to this subscription or to modify event filter information) (Lee, para. 116) and/or removing the subscription context at the NFc (Lee discloses that when the subscription is accepted by the event provider NF; the service consumer NF receives, from the event provider NF, an identifier (subscription correlation ID) allowing to manage, modify, and/or delete, this subscription to the event) (Lee, para. 114).
Regarding claim 17, Lee discloses the method of claim 8, wherein the second NWDAF supports the subscription to the event (Lee discloses that the analytics ID indicates that the NWDAF is configured (supports) with the corresponding NF type(s) and/or event ID(s) and/or OAM measurement types; the NWDAF invokes a Nnf_EventSubscribe services to collect data from the determined NF instance(s), and/or triggers the procedure to subscriber to OAM services to collect the OAM measurement) (Lee, para. 250, 252).
Regarding claim 18, Lee discloses the method of claim 17, wherein the notification received from the first NWDAF comprises a plurality of indications of cancelation of subscriptions, each indication pertaining to a different event (Lee discloses that the monitoring event reporting(s) indicate parameters for group based monitoring and/or certain or different event IDs reporting metrics) (Lee, para. 117).
Regarding claim 19, Lee discloses the method of claim 18, wherein
each indication within the plurality of indications of cancelation of subscriptions comprises a target NWDAF or a target set of NWDAF instances that support the event pertaining to the indication (Lee discloses that the analytics ID indicates that the NWDAF is configured with the corresponding NF type(s) and/or event ID(s) and/or OAM measurement types; the NWDAF invokes a Nnf_EventSubscribe services to collect data from the determined NF instance(s), and/or triggers the procedure to subscriber to OAM services to collect the OAM measurement) (Lee, para. 250, 252), and
the subscription modification triggered at the NFc comprises: cancelling the subscription to at least one of the different events pertaining to the plurality of indications of cancelation of subscriptions (Lee discloses that when the subscription is accepted by the event provider NF; the service consumer NF receives, from the event provider NF, an identifier (subscription correlation ID) allowing to manage, modify, and/or delete or cancel, this subscription to the event) (Lee, para. 114), removing the subscription context of the at least one of the different events, and/or establishing a new subscription to the at least one of the different events to a new NWDAF (Lee discloses that the expiry time of the subscription is reached or cancelled, the service consumer NFs may create a new subscription with the NF service producer) (Lee, para. 113).
Regarding claim 20, Lee discloses an apparatus for event subscription management in a communications network, the apparatus comprising: a processor; and a memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processor, wherein the apparatus is operative to perform the method of claim 8 (See similar rationale in claim 8).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Dao et al. (2020/0228420) discloses the request to subscribe or unsubscribe to the collection data of the NWDAF.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW WOO whose telephone number is (571)270-7521. The examiner can normally be reached Telework 9:00AM-6:00PM | IFP M-F 9:00AM-6:00PM.
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/ANDREW WOO/Examiner, Art Unit 2458
/UMAR CHEEMA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2458
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