DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 August 22, 2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 3, 14, and 16 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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 3, 14, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chun (US 2020/0245235) in view of Zhang (US 2022/0312368), and Ben Henda (US 2022/0159460).
As to claim 1, Chun discloses a User Equipment (UE) 100 (see at least figure 1) that has a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) (see paragraphs [0416], [0421]), the UE comprising: a memory 170 (see at least figure 1) configured to store instructions; and a processor 180 (see at least figure 1) configured to execute the instructions to: handle subscription for a Stand-alone Non-Public Network (SNPN) (see paragraph [0340], [0381]); and access the SNPN using credentials and a Public Land and Mobile Network (PLMN) ID (see paragraphs [0362], [0382], [0389]), wherein the SNPN is a stand-alone 5G system deployed for non-public use (see paragraphs [0355], [0356], [0381], [0382]).
Chun fails to disclose storing multiple Universal Subscriber Identity Modules (USIM)s; handle multiple subscriptions for the SNPN. Zhang discloses that a UE is with multiple Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM)s, and handles multiple subscriptions for accessing a network (see paragraphs [0041], [0079], [0099]). Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Zhang to Chun, in order to provide better coverage and more services to the users.
Chun fails to disclose the credentials being owned by a credentials holder that is separate from the SNPN. Ben Henda discloses credentials being owned by a credentials holder UDM that is separate from a NPN (see figure 5 which depicts that the credentials holder UDM is owned by “3rd Party Domain” which is separate from the “NPN Domain”; see also paragraphs [0074], [0075]). Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Ben Henda to Chun, in order to yield predictable results such as reducing the implementing cost of the stand-alone NPN.
As to claims 3, 16, the combination of Chun and Ben Henda discloses that the credentials holder node is configured to authenticate the UE using the credentials (see Henda, paragraphs [0074], [0075]).
As to claim 14, it is rejected for similar reasons with respect to independent claim 1 as set forth above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Conant (US 2019/0289466) discloses storing credentials in a separate cloud 130.
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/NGUYEN T VO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646