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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/22/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment made dated 12/22/2025 does not contain any new matter, and has been accepted.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 29 and 39 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Applicant argues that the cite references does not disclose the newly amended features of the independent claims, said features include the UE being able to:
determine its location,
receive PLMN information,
create and have a list of PLMN candidates, and
perform PLMN selection.
Examiner would like to introduce the newly cited art of Nokia’s New Solution for the PLMN selection part of Key Issue #10 (NPL: SA WG2 Meeting #136; Dated Nov. 18-22, 2019) being able to disclose said argued features of the UE being able to:
determine its location,
receive PLMN information,
create and have a list of PLMN candidates
perform PLMN selection (shown below)
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894
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It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art at the time of invention to incorporate SA WG2’s disclosure to further provide the UE capability to select possible PLMNs for handover possibilities to improve the handover process.
Due to the broadness of the claim language, the claims are still not yet in condition for allowance and are still rejected as explained above and shown below.
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) 1-39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Geng et al. (EP 4,185,006; effective filing date: 8/3/2020) in view of Cheng (US 2022/0070812) in further view of Nokia’s New Solution for the PLMN selection part of Key Issue #10 (NPL: SA WG2 Meeting #136; Dated Nov. 18-22, 2019; hereinafter SA WG2).
Claims 1, 29 and 39, Geng discloses a method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
determining a country in which the UE is located ([0008]: determine that the terminal device is within the country that the PLMN/NTN serves);
receiving an indication of public land mobile networks (PLMNs) ([0008]-[0010]: receiving possible PLMNs);
a list of available PLMNs that are allowed to be selected in the country for access to a non-terrestrial network (NTN), wherein the creating the list is based on information of allowed countries for one or more of the PLMNs ([0009]: the second cell is an NTN that supports a list / at least two PLMNs); and
performing a PLMN selection procedure, for access to the NTN, based on the list of available PLMNs and the country in which the UE is located (Abstract; [0005]: handing over to NTN cell supporting PLMNs).
Geng discloses all the particulars of the claim but might be unclear about the creating a list of the possible PLMNs based on location of the device such as being located in a particular country.
However, Cheng in a similar endeavor does disclose providing plurality of lists of PLMNs according to current location and NTN-TA-based measurements (list of cells for the Non-Terrestrial-network [0050], [0060]: country code; [0067]: PLMN list based on NTN measurements).
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art at the time of invention to incorporate Cheng’s disclosure to further provide a list of possible PLMNs for handover possibilities to improve the handover process.
Geng in view of Cheng discloses all the particulars of the claim but is unclear about the feature of wherein the UE is able
to determine its location,
to receive PLMN information,
to create and have a list of PLMN candidates
to perform PLMN selection.
However, SA WG2 does disclose the limitations of wherein the UE being able to:
determine its location,
receive PLMN information,
create and have a list of PLMN candidates
perform PLMN selection (shown below)
PNG
media_image1.png
440
894
media_image1.png
Greyscale
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art at the time of invention to incorporate SA WG2’s disclosure to further provide the UE capability to select possible PLMNs for handover possibilities to improve the handover process.
Regarding claims 2 and 31, Geng discloses the method wherein the UE is configured with the information indicating the allowed countries for the one or more of the PLMNs ([0008]: determine that the terminal device is within the country that the PLMN/NTN serves).
Regarding claims 3 and 32, Geng discloses the method wherein the information is at least one of:
preconfigured in the UE ([0008]-[0009]: the country that the PLMN/NTN serves is preconfigured with 2 PLMNs); or
published by an authorized entity.
Regarding claims 4 and 33, Geng discloses the method wherein the information indicates, for each on the one or more of the PLMNs, a country-specific PLMN identifier (ID) for the respective PLMN and the allowed countries for that PLMN ([0008]: determine that the terminal device is within the country that the PLMN/NTN serves; PLMN-identifier included).
Regarding claims 6, 9, 35, and 38, Geng discloses the method wherein the additional allowed countries in which that PLMN is allowed to be selected are indicated by providing PLMN IDs valid in those the allowed countries ([0008]: determine that the terminal device is within the country that the PLMN/NTN serves).
Regarding claims 11-20, Geng in view of Cheng discloses all the claimed limitations regarding PLMN list and selections similarly as stated above.
Claim(s) 5, 8, 34, and 37are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Geng in view of Cheng in further view of SA WG2 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of SHIH et al. (US 2020/0221372; hereinafter Shih).
Regarding claims 5, 8, 34, and 37, Geng in view of Cheng discloses all the particulars of the claim but is unclear about the method wherein the additional allowed countries in which that PLMN is allowed to be selected are indicated by a list of mobile country codes (MCCs) for those the allowed countries.
However, Shih does disclose the use of MCC ([0090]: PLMNs includes MCC) which can be incorporated with Geng and Cheng to disclose the limitation of wherein the additional allowed countries in which that PLMN is allowed to be selected are indicated by a list of mobile country codes (MCCs) for those the allowed countries.
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art at the time of invention to incorporate Cheng’s disclosure to further provide multiple handover possibilities to improve the handover process.
Regarding claims 7 and 36, Geng in view of Cheng in further view of Shih discloses the method wherein the information indicates, for each of the one or more of the PLMNs, a global PLMN identifier (ID for [[a]] the respective PLMN and additional the allowed countries for in which that PLMN is allowed to be selected ([0090]: PLMNs includes MCC).
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art at the time of invention to incorporate Cheng’s disclosure to further provide multiple handover possibilities to improve the handover process.
Regarding claims 10 and 13 Shih discloses the method wherein, if the information does not indicate any allowed countries for a PLMN of the PLMNs, the UE assumes:
that PLMN is allowed to be selected in its home country only; or
if that PLMN has a global PLMN identifier (ID), that PLMN is allowed to be selected in all countries ([0090]: PLMNs includes MCC).
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art at the time of invention to incorporate Cheng’s disclosure to further provide multiple handover possibilities to improve the handover process.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHUCK HUYNH whose telephone number is (571)272-7866. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10am - 6pm.
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/CHUCK HUYNH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644