DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims Status
2. The response filed on January 23, 2026 has been entered and made of record.
3. Claims 1, 4, 6, 9, 18-19, 21, 23-24 and 25 have been amended.
4. Claims 2-3, 5, 7-8, 10-17, 20 and 22 were cancelled.
5. Claims 1, 4, 6, 9, 18-19, 21 and 23-25 are currently pending.
Response to Arguments
6. The applicant's arguments filed on January 23, 2026 regarding claims 1, 4, 6, 9, 18-19, 21 and 23-25 have been fully considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection. The rejection has been revised and set forth below according to the amended claims. A response is considered necessary for applicant’s arguments/remarks since the cited references, Van in combination with cited prior art Horn from dependent claims will continue to be used to meet amended limitations.
Regarding claims 1, 4 and 9, applicant argued that Van does not disclose the claim feature: transmitting a registration request carrying third indication information to a core network CN network element, wherein the third indication information indicates that a terminal capability identifier of the terminal is available; receiving an identifier request from the CN network element after transmitting third indication information to the CN network element; and transmitting the terminal capability identifier of the terminal to the CN network element based on the identifier request; wherein the identifier request is determined by the CN network element according to the third indication information, and the identifier request is used to request the terminal capability identifier of the terminal (Applicant, page 7-10, Remarks Made in an Amendment dated January 23, 2026).
The applicant stated that Van does not disclose the amended claim features “through a registration request”, “to a core network CN network element”, “the identifier request from the CN network element”, and “core network node to determine an identifier request”. The applicant also stated the capability of UE supporting to report the UE component identifier cannot be equivalent with the limitation “a terminal capability identifier of the terminal is available”.
In response to applicant’s argument, the examiner respectfully disagrees with the above argument.
First of all, Van describes UE attachment procedure and therefore, Van implies that UE CapabilityInforamtion message 202 is a registration request. In addition, Horn (cited in view of the new ground rejection) explicitly discloses a registration request (step 502).
Second, step 203 of Van describes UE 202 transmits a UE CapabilityInformation message to CN 106 through eNB 104. Horn also describes the UE transmits a registration request to AMF.
Lastly, Van describes that the UE provides only the regular UE E-UTRA capabilities, but does not include additional capability identifiers. Instead, the UE states that the UE can start report a list of UE component identifiers in the report UE-PartIdentifier field of UE UECapabilityInformation message 202. In other words, the UE provides a list of UE component identifiers (terminal capability identifiers) which are available or acquirable. The UE receives an identifier request (UE CapabilityEnquiry message 205) for one or more UE component identifiers. The UE transmits one or more component identifiers (terminal capability identifier) in the UECapabilityInformation message 206).
Accordingly, Horn describes that UE transmits a registration request that does not include the capability identifier. Horn implies the registration request a list of UE component identifiers (terminal capability identifiers) which are available or acquirable. The AMF determines that it does not have UE radio capabilities associated with a UE that is attempting the registration procedure. The AMF requests an identity Request message for the capability identifier and the UE transmits the capability identifier in an Identity Response message.
Clearly, Horn in combination with Van teaches amended claim features.
Therefore, in view of above, while Applicant’s remarks and arguments have been considered, they are not persuasive. The dependent claims 6, 18-19, 21 and 23-25 are not patentable according to the solid prior art teachings.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
7. 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.
8. 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 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.
9. Claims 1, 4, 6, 9, 18-19, 21 and 23-25 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HORN et al. (US 2019/0313239 A1; support for the cited paragraphs sporadically through the disclosure of provisional application number 62/373,451 field on April 5, 2018), hereinafter “Horn” in view of VAN LIESHOUT et al. (US 2020/0413247 A1), hereinafter “Van”.
Regarding claim 1, Horn discloses a method for indicating a terminal capability identifier, performed by a third communications device being a terminal (Figs. 5-6, example call flows for UE capability signaling procedures) and comprising:
transmitting a registration request carrying third indication information to core network CN network element (paragraphs [0083], [0084], [0088], FIG. 5, in particular, depicts a call flow 500 where the UE provides a capability identifier as part of the registration procedure for the case where the network has the corresponding UE radio capabilities (e.g., stored in a database), in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure; During the registration procedure, the UE may send the capability identifier (associated with a particular set of UE radio capabilities) via a NAS message to the AMF; The NAS message may include a Registration message (option A) or an Identity Response message (option B));
receiving an identifier request from CN network element after transmitting third indication information to CN network element (paragraphs [0083], [0084], [0088], In option A, the UE (at 502) may send a Registration message that includes the capability identifier, e.g., as part of RRC connection establishment; The gNB may encapsulate the Registration message into a container (e.g., Initial UE message) (but not parse the NAS—Registration message) and send the Initial UE message to the AMF; In option B, the AMF (at 504) may request, via an Identity Request message, the capability identifier, and the UE (at 506) may return the capability identifier in an Identity Response message; As shown, at 602, the AMF determines that it does not have UE radio capabilities associated with a device (UE) that is attempting the registration procedure; As noted, this can be due to either (1) the UE not providing a capability identifier to the AMF in option A (502) or option B (504 and 506); or (2) determining that the corresponding UE radio capabilities have not been stored for a capability identifier received in option A (502) or option B (504 and 506)); and
transmitting the terminal capability identifier of the terminal to CN network element based on the identifier request; wherein the identifier request is determined by CN network element according to the third indication information, and the identifier request is used to request the terminal capability identifier of the terminal (paragraphs [0083], [0084], [0088], FIG. 5, in particular, depicts a call flow 500 where the UE provides a capability identifier as part of the registration procedure for the case where the network has the corresponding UE radio capabilities (e.g., stored in a database), in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure; During the registration procedure, the UE may send the capability identifier (associated with a particular set of UE radio capabilities) via a NAS message to the AMF; The NAS message may include a Registration message (option A) or an Identity Response message (option B); In option A, the UE (at 502) may send a Registration message that includes the capability identifier, e.g., as part of RRC connection establishment; The gNB may encapsulate the Registration message into a container (e.g., Initial UE message) (but not parse the NAS—Registration message) and send the Initial UE message to the AMF; In option B, the AMF (at 504) may request, via an Identity Request message, the capability identifier, and the UE (at 506) may return the capability identifier in an Identity Response message; As shown, at 602, the AMF determines that it does not have UE radio capabilities associated with a device (UE) that is attempting the registration procedure; As noted, this can be due to either (1) the UE not providing a capability identifier to the AMF in option A (502) or option B (504 and 506); or (2) determining that the corresponding UE radio capabilities have not been stored for a capability identifier received in option A (502) or option B (504 and 506)).
While Horn implicitly refers to “wherein the third indication information indicates that a terminal capability identifier of the terminal is available”, Van from the same or similar field of endeavor explicitly discloses wherein the third indication information indicates that a terminal capability identifier of the terminal is available (Fig.2, paragraphs [0018], [0055], [0057], [0059], [0060], [0067], According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for operating a mobile device in a mobile communication network, the method comprising: transmitting a mobile device component identifier to a network node within the mobile communication network; wherein the mobile device component identifier identifies at least one hardware or software component of the mobile device; and wherein the mobile device component identifier is indicative of capability information specifying at least one capability of the mobile device for communication with the mobile communication network; FIG. 2 illustrates a two-step approach in which the UE provides the UE component identifier(s) in response to a second UE capability information request from the network after a generally conventional enquiry and response for regular capability information in which the UE informs the eNB that it supports the new mechanism of reporting a UE component identifier;
At point 200 the UE 102, the eNB 104 and the CN 106 commences an initial establishment procedure in which the UE attaches to the network;
In accordance with the conventional procedure, in reply to the UECapabilityEnquiry message 201 the UE sends a UECapabilityInformation message 202 reporting only the regular UE E-UTRA capabilities, but will not report additional capabilities, for CA band combinations beyond 5 carriers. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, in UECapabilityInformation message 202 the UE also indicates that it supports the mechanisms associated with the UE component identifier by inclusion of a report UE-PartIdentifier field (which may also be referred to as reportIdentity field) indicating that the UE supports the mechanism for reporting one or more UE component identifiers;
Message 203 comprises a UERadioAccessCapabilityInformation message in which the eNB 104 uploads the legacy UE capabilities to the MME 114 within the CN 106, as is conventional during an initial establishment procedure; The only difference in accordance with the present invention is that an additional bit may be included indicating whether the UE supports the new UE component identifier mechanism, as reported by the UE in the reportUE-PartIdentifier field in the UECapabilityInformation message 202; In contrast, the earlier UECapabilityInformation message 202 may not include the ue-PartIdentifierList and the ue-PartIdentifierListFB fields. At message 202 in accordance with embodiments of the present invention only the UE support for the UE component identifier mechanism is reported, through the reportUE-PartIdentifier field).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide “wherein the third indication information indicates that a terminal capability identifier of the terminal is available” as taught by Van, in the system of Horn, so that it would provide supporting the aggregation of carriers relate to a method for reporting mobile device capabilities to a mobile communications network (Van, paragraph [0017]).
Regarding claim 4, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 1 (from perspective of receiving by a core network).
Regarding claim 6, Horn discloses a terminal capability identifier according to claim 4, wherein the determining, based on the third indication information, to obtain the terminal capability identifier of the terminal comprises: obtaining the terminal capability identifier of the terminal from the third communications device when a first condition for obtaining a capability identifier is satisfied, wherein the first condition for obtaining a capability identifier comprises: the CN network element does not have the terminal capability identifier of the terminal (Fig. 5, paragraphs [0083]-[0084], [0088], In option A, the UE (at 502) may send a Registration message that includes the capability identifier, e.g., as part of RRC connection establishment; The gNB may encapsulate the Registration message into a container (e.g., Initial UE message) (but not parse the NAS—Registration message) and send the Initial UE message to the AMF; In option B, the AMF (at 504) may request, via an Identity Request message, the capability identifier, and the UE (at 506) may return the capability identifier in an Identity Response message; As shown, at 602, the AMF determines that it does not have UE radio capabilities associated with a device (UE) that is attempting the registration procedure; As noted, this can be due to either (1) the UE not providing a capability identifier to the AMF in option A (502) or option B (504 and 506); or (2) determining that the corresponding UE radio capabilities have not been stored for a capability identifier received in option A (502) or option B (504 and 506)).
Regarding claim 9, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 18, Horn discloses the CN network element comprises an Access Management Function (AMF) (Fig.6, paragraph [0115], the network node may be an AMF/MME).
Regarding claim 19, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 18.
Regarding claim 21, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 18.
Regarding claim 23, Horn in view of Van disclose the method according to claim 1.
Van further discloses the CN network element comprises a Mobility Management Entity (MME) (paragraphs [0036], [0060], [0070], a node within the core network (for instance MME)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide “the CN network element comprises a Mobility Management Entity (MME)” as taught by Van, in the system of Horn, so that it would provide supporting the aggregation of carriers relate to a method for reporting mobile device capabilities to a mobile communications network (Van, paragraph [0017]).
Regarding claim 24, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 23.
Regarding claim 25, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 23.
Conclusion
10. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SITHU KO whose telephone number is 571-272-8647. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8:30am-5:00pmEST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Edan Orgad can be reached on 571-272-7884. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SITHU KO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414