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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office Action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 March 23, 2026 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement submitted on February 25, 2026 and January 9, 2026 has been considered by the Examiner and made of record in the application file.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 3-5, 7 and 22-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NTT Docomo “discussion – Main Requirements for Achieving CP-SOR-CMCI In connected Mode” C1-205950 (hereinafter NTT Docomo) in view of NTT Docomo “Support of SOR-CMCI in UE and CN” C1-207039 (hereinafter NTT Docomo 039) further in view of Han et al (US Pat. Pub. No. 2023/0189202).
Regarding claim 1, NTT Docomo discloses a user equipment comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code; which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the user equipment at least to: generate a registration complete message comprising a steering of roaming transparent container (see at least page 5 figure [option 4] registration complete) that includes at least a support indicator indicating whether a user equipment supports steering of roaming connected mode control information (see at least page 5 figure [option 4] registration complete includes support for SOR CMCI); and cause transmission of the registration complete message (see at least page 5 figure [option 4] registration complete).
NTT Docomo and NTT Docomo 039 fail to explicitly disclose wherein the steering of roaming transparent container includes a steering of roaming header that includes the support indicator, and wherein the support indicator cannot be modified nor skipped by the visited public land mobile network. However, in the same field of endeavor, Han et al discloses wherein the steering of roaming transparent container includes a steering of roaming header that includes the support indicator, and wherein the support indicator cannot be modified nor skipped by the visited public land mobile network (see at least paragraph 165 and 248 discloses that VPLMN AMF cannot modify the protected EXT-SOR related information). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify to incorporate above mention feature as taught by Han et al into the system of NTT Docomo and NTT Docomo 039, for purpose of performing security check on the EXT-SOR related information so VPLMN AMF transmits the protected EXT-SOR related information.
Regarding claim 3, NTT Docomo discloses the support indicator comprises a single bit of information (see at least page 5 figure [option 4] registration complete).
Regarding claim 4, NTT Docomo discloses the support indicator indicates the user equipment supports steering of roaming connected mode control information or indicates the user equipment supports steering of roaming connected mode control information (see at least page 5 figure [option 4] registration complete).
Regarding claim 5, NTT Docomo discloses a method comprising: generating a registration complete message comprising a steering of roaming transparent container that includes at least a support indicator indicating whether a user equipment supports steering of roaming connected mode control information (see at least page 5 figure [option 4] registration complete); and causing transmission of the registration complete message (see at least page 5 figure [option 4] registration complete).
NTT Docomo fails to explicitly disclose a support indicator indicating whether a user equipment supports steering of roaming connected mode control information or does not support steering of roaming connected mode control information. However, in the same field of endeavor, NTT Docomo 039 discloses a support indicator indicating whether a user equipment supports steering of roaming connected mode control information or does not support steering of roaming connected mode control information (see at least page 6 step 9 UE sends the registration complete message to the AMF with a SOR transparent container including acknowledgement). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify to incorporate above mention feature as taught by NTT Docomo 039 into the system of NTT Docomo, for purpose of UE to indicate if it supports for SOR-CMCI.
NTT Docomo and NTT Docomo 039 fail to explicitly disclose wherein the steering of roaming transparent container includes a steering of roaming header that includes the support indicator, and wherein the support indicator cannot be modified nor skipped by the visited public land mobile network. However, in the same field of endeavor, Han et al discloses wherein the steering of roaming transparent container includes a steering of roaming header that includes the support indicator, and wherein the support indicator cannot be modified nor skipped by the visited public land mobile network (see at least paragraph 165 and 248 discloses that VPLMN AMF cannot modify the protected EXT-SOR related information). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify to incorporate above mention feature as taught by Han et al into the system of NTT Docomo and NTT Docomo 039, for purpose of performing security check on the EXT-SOR related information so VPLMN AMF transmits the protected EXT-SOR related information.
Regarding claim 7, NTT Docomo discloses the support indicator comprises a single bit of information (see at least page 5 figure [option 4] registration complete).
Regarding claims 22-23, NTT Docomo 039 discloses wherein the steering of roaming transparent container includes at least a support indicator indicating whether the user equipment supports steering of roaming connected mode control information, and wherein the support indicator is derived from a lookup performed on a permanent equipment identifier in a unified data management function or a steering of roaming application function, and transmitted as a secured hashed token (see at least page 6 step 10). Same motivation as claim 1.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments, filed on March 23, 2023, with respect to claims 1 and 5 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection, necessitated by applicant’s amendment. See the above rejection of claims 1,3-5, 7 and 22-23 for the relevant citations found in NTT Docomo, NTT Docomo 039 and Han et al disclosing the limitations.
Conclusion
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/LITON MIAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2642
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