DETAILED ACTION
This communication is responsive to Amendment filed 08/09/2025.
Claims 1, 3-4, 8, 10-11 and 21-22 are pending in this application. In the Amendment, claims 1 and 8 are amended and claims 21-22 are new. This action is made Final.
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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims amended 08/09/2025 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.
Claims 1, 3-4, 8, 10-11 and 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (“Lee”, US 2020/0037387) in view of Jung et al. (“Jung”, US 2021/0204111) and further in view of Lu et al. (“Lu”, US 2019/0379469).
As per claim 1, Lee teaches an icon display method, applied in an electronic device, comprising:
detecting whether the electronic device can connect to a 5G network when the electronic device connects to a 4G network (Lee, para.102, 118, 136-137, 190, 224, displays 5G when possible to connect);
if the electronic device can connect to the 5G network, sending an attach request to a 5G network cell, and receiving a connection result of the 5G network cell returned based on the attach request (Lee, para.106, 299, attach message indicates connection is possible); and
determining based on the connection result of the 5G network cell whether the electronic device has an icon displayed as 5G (Lee, para.107, 118, 136-137, 190, 299, Fig.5B, connection capable therefore displays indicator 562);
wherein the detecting whether the electronic device can connect to the 5G network comprises:
obtaining a system message and a first message sent by the 4G network and received by the electronic device, and a second message sent by the electronic device (Lee, para.106, capability inquiry message);
if the system message comprises a status message indicating that connection to the 4G network and the 5G network is supported (Lee, para.136, 147, 155, 166, network capability information), the first message is a status message indicating a grant to connect to the 5G network (Lee, para.106, 207, 299, 390, 399, capability message indicates 5G is possible and attach accept message) and the second message is a status message indicating that a capability to connect to the 5G network is equipped (Lee, para.106, 183, 328, UE capability inquiry capability of device), determining the electronic device as being able to connect to the 5G network (Lee, para.299, connection capable therefore indicator displayed);
otherwise, determining the electronic device as being unable to connect to the 5G network (Lee, Fig.16, para.176, 224, Fig.4A, indicator 462 displayed when connection not possible);
wherein whether the electronic device has the icon displayed as 5G is determined based on the system message (Lee, para.136, 147, 155, 166, network capability), the first message (Lee, para.106, 207, 299, 390, 399, capability message indicates 5G is possible and attach accept message), the second message (Lee, para.106, 183, 328, UE capability), and the connection result of the 5G network cell (Lee, para.136, 156, 297, 299, 399, attach message indicates connection is possible therefore displays 5G/first indicator 461):
receiving a measurement control message sent via the 4G network (Lee, para.107, MO from base station);
detecting 5G cells neighboring the 4G network based on the measurement control message, and sending a measurement report of the 5G neighboring cells (Lee, para.107, 263-264, 270 cell measurement);
sending the attach request to the 5G network cell among the 5G neighboring cells, wherein the 5G network cell is determined from the 5G neighboring cells based on the measurement report by the 4G network (Lee, para.297, attach message including MO);
receiving the connection result returned based on the attach request (Lee, para.156, 297, 299, attach message indicates connection is possible);
wherein the sending the attach request to the 5G network cell among the 5G neighboring cells comprises:
receiving radio resource control reconfiguration and bearer configuration messages of the 5G network cell sent via the 4G network (Lee, para.185, RRC connection reconfiguration message sent);
detecting whether the radio resource control reconfiguration and the bearer configuration are finished (Lee, para.186-187, RRC connection reconfiguration complete);
after the radio resource control reconfiguration and the bearer configuration are finished, receiving a random access configuration message sent by the 5G network cell and sending the attach request for random access to the 5G network cell based on the random access configuration message (Lee, para.189, RACH setup);
only when the electronic device sends the attach request to a secondary base station and successfully receives the connection result from the secondary base station, the electronic device has successfully accessed the 5G network based on the connection result of the 5G network (Lee, para. 107-108, 116, 119, 127, 138, 144, 180-181, 188-190, data exchanged with 5G base station; device camped on secondary/5G base station);
wherein only when the system message indicates support for dual connectivity (Lee, para.90, 136, 147, 155, 166, network capability information), the first message grants permission to connect to the 5G network (Lee, para.106, 207, 299, 390, 399, capability message indicates 5G is possible and attach accept message), the second message indicates that the capability to connect to the 5G network is equipped (Lee, para.106, 183, 328, UE capability inquiry capability of device), and the connection result from the 5G network cell is successful, the electronic device displays a 5G icon (Lee, para.136, 156, 297, 299, 399, attach message indicates connection is possible therefore displays 5G/first indicator 461); otherwise, the icon is displayed as 4G (Lee, Fig.16, para.176, 224, Fig.4A, indicator 462 displayed when connection not possible);
wherein determining that the icon of the electronic device is to be displayed as 5G comprises:
if a frequency band used to access the 5G network cell belongs to a first frequency band, determining to display the icon as 5G (Lee, para.123, Fig.4C, 5G);
if the frequency band belongs to a second frequency band, determining to display the icon as 5G ultra wideband (Lee, para.124; Fig.4C, 5G UWB);
wherein the first frequency band corresponds to a sub-6GHz spectrum (Lee, para.123, freq band of 6GHz), and the second frequency band corresponds to a millimeter wave spectrum (Lee, para.124, freq band more than 6GHz);
wherein the system message carries an upperLayerIndication field (Lee, para.107, 299, 315, 328, 337, upper layer indication).
Although Lee teaches the attach request to include a restrict DCNR bit value (Lee, para.106-107, 299), Lee does not explicitly teach wherein the attach request or a tracking area updating request carries a DCNR field, where the DCNR field represents a status message indicating whether the electronic device has a capability to connect to the 5G network, If a value of the DCNR field is 1, the DCNR field represents a status message indicating that the capability to connect to the 5G network is equipped, if the value of the DCNR field is 0, the DCNR field represents a status message indicating that the capability to connect to the 5G network is not equipped. Jung teaches a method of network capability wherein the attach request or a tracking area updating request carries a DCNR field, where the DCNR field represents a status message indicating whether the electronic device has a capability to connect to the 5G network (Jung, para.60-61, 70, Attach Request message includes DCNR value indicating capability), If a value of the DCNR field is 1, the DCNR field represents a status message indicating that the capability to connect to the 5G network is equipped, if the value of the DCNR field is 0, the DCNR field represents a status message indicating that the capability to connect to the 5G network is not equipped (Jung, para.60-61, 70, DCNR value indicates capability). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include Jung’s teaching with Lee’s method in order to indicate or change network capability information.
Although the method of Lee and Jung teaches an upper layer indication (Lee, para.107, 299, 315, 328, 337, upper layer indication), the method does not explicitly teach if a value of the upperLayerIndication-r15 field is true, the upperLayerIndication-r15 field indicates that a current 4G network serves as an anchor network for an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network new radio dual connectivity (EN-DC) network, meaning that simultaneous connection to the 4G network and the 5G network is supported, if the value of the upperLayerIndication-r15 field is false, the upperLayerIndication-r15 field indicates that the current 4G network cannot serve as an EN-DC anchor and that simultaneous connection is not supported. Lu teaches a method of displaying network icons wherein if a value of the upperLayerIndication-r15 field is true, the upperLayerIndication-r15 field indicates that a current 4G network serves as an anchor network for an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network new radio dual connectivity (EN-DC) network, meaning that simultaneous connection to the 4G network and the 5G network is supported (Lu, para.3, 14-15, 25, 34, 37-38, 41, upperLayerIndication value is positive/TRUE when 5G supported), if the value of the upperLayerIndication-r15 field is false, the upperLayerIndication-r15 field indicates that the current 4G network cannot serve as an EN-DC anchor and that simultaneous connection is not supported (Lu, para.3, 14-15, 25, 34, 37-38, 41, upperLayerIndication value is not positive then not 5G supported). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include Lu’s teaching with the method of Lee and Jung in order to indicate network support information.
As per claim 3, the method of Lee, Jung and Lu teaches the icon display method of claim 1, further comprising: if the electronic device is unable to connect to the 5G network, determining to display the icon of the electronic device as 4G (Lee, Fig.16, para.176, 224, Fig.4A, indicator 462 displayed when connection not possible).
As per claim 4, the method of Lee, Jung and Lu teaches the icon display method of claim 1, wherein the determining based on the connection result whether the electronic device has the icon displayed as 5G comprises:
if the connection result shows a successful connection, determining to display the icon of the electronic device as 5G (Lee, para.137, 190, 299, Fig.4A, attach message indicates connection is possible therefore displays indicator 461);
if the connection result shows a connection failure, determining to display the icon of the electronic device as 4G (Lee, para.137, 176, 301, Fig.4A, indicator 462 displayed when connection not possible).
Claims 8 and 10-11 are similar in scope to claims 1 and 3-4, and are therefore rejected under similar rationale.
As per claim 21, the method of Lee, Jung and Lu teaches the icon display method of claim 1, wherein if an attach accept message or a tracking area update accept message does not include a RestrictDCNR field or includes the RestrictDCNR field with a value of 0, the first message is interpreted as a status message permitting access to the 5G network (Lee, para.106, restrict DCNR bit value=0 indicates EN-DC possible), if the RestrictDCNR field is present with a non-zero value, the first message indicates that access to the 5G network is not allowed (Lee, para.106, 287, restrict DCNR bit value=1 indicates EN-DC not possible);
wherein upon receiving the system message, the value of the upperLayerIndication-r15 field is checked (Lu, para.3, 14-15, 25, 34, 37-38, 41), after sending the attach request or the tracking area update request to the 4G network, the value of the DCNR field is checked, upon receiving the attach accept message or the tracking area update accept message, the value of the RestrictDCNR field is checked, upon receiving a NR 5G MAC RACH attempt message, a RACH result is checked (Lee, para.156, 162-166, 188-189, 297, 382, RRC connection result);
wherein if the system message indicates support for simultaneous connection to the 4G network and the 5G network, the first message permits 5G access, the second message indicates 5G capability, and an access result is successful, the icon of the electronic device is determined to be displayed as 5G, or otherwise, the icon is determined to be displayed as 4G (Lee, para.343, 391, 400; Lu, para.3, 14-15, 25, 34, 37-38, 41, 46-47, icon determined based on message).
Claim 22 is similar in scope to claim 21, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Conclusion
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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Au et al. (US 2020/0068638) teaches a method of supporting 4G/5G networks and displaying a network symbol.
Inquiries
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAJEDA MUHEBBULLAH whose telephone number is (571)272-4065. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Tue/Thur-Fri 10am-8pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, William L Bashore can be reached on 571-272-4088. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/S.M./
Sajeda MuhebbullahExaminer, Art Unit 2174
/WILLIAM L BASHORE/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2174