DETAILED ACTION
This communication is responsive to applicant’s response filed under 37 C.F.R §1.111 in response to a non-final office action. Claim(s) 21, 23, 31, and 33 have been amended; Claims 1-22, 26-30, 32, and 36-40 have been canceled; No Claim(s) have been added. Claim(s) 21, 23-25, 31, and 33-35 are subject to examination.
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 claim(s) 21, 23-25, 31, and 33-35 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.
Claim(s) 21 and 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over VELVE et al. (US 20240129845 A1), hereby referred to as VELVE, in view of QIAO et al. (WO 2021007447 A1) (see IDS 02/28/2025), hereby referred to as QIAO.
Claim 21:
VELVE teaches A method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: identifying whether a public land mobile network (PLMN) with disaster condition is a home PLMN (HPLMN) (VELVE: FIG. 5 and para 62 (“…e.g., PLMN-A, home public land mobile network…”); and para 64 (“Based on the broadcast indication in SI of the PLMN-B 518 cell, the UE 502 determines that the PLMN-A 516 experiences DisaC.”) wherein the UE determines the H-PLMN has a disaster condition); identifying that the PLMN with disaster condition is the HPLMN (VELVE: para 64 (“Based on the broadcast indication in SI of the PLMN-B 518 cell, the UE 502 determines that the PLMN-A 516 experiences DisaC.”) wherein the UE determines the H-PLMN has a disaster condition); transmitting, to an access and mobility function (AMF) in a telecommunication network offering disaster roaming, a first non-access stratum (NAS) message including the P LM N with disaster condition as a cleartext information element (IE) (VELVE: FIG. 5, para 66 (“…the UE 502 sends an RRC connection request message including a DisaC indication to the RAN 504…send a DisaC indication in an N2 setup request message to the selected AMF…”), and para 67 (“The NAS registration request message 528 may be nested in the first communication 526.”) where UE sends an initial indication of the PLMN with Disaster condition to the RAN which is forwarded to the AMF in a NAS message through an RRC connection request message; this indication is sent in a cleartext ie as it is prior to security/encryption context set up in an RRC connection request message); receiving, from the AMF, a second NAS message in response to the first NAS message (VELVE: FIG. 5 item 532 and para 72 (“…AMF 506 sends a registration accept message to the UE 502 including an allowed…”) wherein AMF sends a NAS accept message); and receiving, from the telecommunication network, information for an area with the disaster condition (VELVE: para 63 (“The PLMN-B 518 mau learn that a disaster…affecting a particular location area, and may configure 520 the RAN 504 entities in the area to start broadcasting system information …that UEs from PLMN-A 516 may be served in PLMN-B…due to DisaC…”) and para 64 (“Based on the broadcast indication in the SI of the PLMN-B…the UE 502 determines that the PLMN-A 516 experiences DisaC…”) wherein the UE becomes aware of the disaster condition in the area from the telecommunication network/PLMN B), wherein the first NAS message comprises a registration request message (VELVE: para 67 (“The NAS registration request message 528 may be nested in the first communication 526.”)).
However, VELVE does not explicitly disclose a 5G system (5GS) mobile identity IE contains neither a subscription concealed identifier (SUCI) nor a valid 5G globally unique temporary identity (5G-GUTI) that was previously assigned by the HPLMN and the first NAS message is transmitted after transitioning of the UE into a connected mode from an idle mode.
QIAO, in the same field of endeavor, teaches a 5G system (5GS) mobile identity IE contains neither a subscription concealed identifier (SUCI) nor a valid 5G globally unique temporary identity (5G-GUTI) that was previously assigned by the HPLMN (QIAO: para 73 (“AN message…NAS registration request…For an emergency registration…the PEI may be included when the UE 100 has no SUPI and no valid 5G-GUTI…”) and para 202 (“The registration request message may compirse…UE identity…PEI…selected PLMN ID…the disaster PLMN ID, a disaster PLMN indication…”)wherein based on 5GS IE without a SUCI or 5G-GUTI, the IE relating to HPLMN with the disaster is included with the PEI.) and the first NAS message is transmitted after transitioning of the UE into a connected mode from an idle mode (QIA: FIG. 6A-B and para 30 (“A UE 100 in CM-CONNECTED 610 state may have a NAS signaling connection with the AMF 155…”) and para 74 (“If UE 100 is in CM-CONNECTED state, the (R)AN 105 may forward the registration request message to the MAF 155…”)wherein UE communicates with AMF via NAS signaling once transitioned to connected from idle).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to have modified VELVE with QIAO, the combination hereby referred to as VELVE-QIAO, for the benefit of resource efficiency (QIAO: para 138).
Claim 31:
VELVE teaches a user equipment (UE) comprising: a transceiver; and a processor (VELVE: FIG. 2 item 210-212 the transceiver and item 202 the processor).
For further limitations, see rejection for claim 21 above.
Claim(s) 23-25 and 33-35 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over VELVE in view of QIAO, the combination hereby referred to as VELVE-QIAO, and in further view of 3GPP TS 24.501 V17.4.1, 3GPP, 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Core Network and Terminals; Non-Access-Stratum (NAS) (see IDS 05/26/2023), hereby referred to as TS24.501.
Claim 23:
VELVE-QIAO teaches the method of claim 1, but does not explicitly disclose wherein the UE supports minimization of service interruption (MINT).
TS24.501, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the UE supports minimization of service interruption (MINT) (TS24.501: pg 294 (“…when the UE supporting MINT needs to perform the registration procedure for mobility and periodic registration update to register to the PLMN offering disaster roaming.”)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to have modified VELVE-QIAO with TS24.501, the combination hereby referred to as VELVE-QIAO-TS24 for the benefit of supporting registration for a specific UE in a case of a disaster roaming (TS24.501: pg 292 section 5.5.1.3.2).
Claim 24:
VELVE-QIAO-TS24 teaches the method of claim 23, wherein the second NAS message comprises a registration reject message (QIAO: para 190 (“…based on the status information of the second PLMN…the AMF 1 may determine to reject a wireless device of the second PLMN…to access to the first PLMN…”)) and (TS24.501: para 275 (“If the initial registration request cannot be accepted by the network, the AMF shall send a REGISTRATION REJECT message to the UE including an appropriate 5GMM cause value.”)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to have modified VELVE with TS24 and QIAO for the benefit of resource efficiency (QIAO: para 138).
Claim 25:
VELVE-QIAO-TS24 teaches the method of claim 24, wherein the registration reject message includes a 5G mobility management (5GMM) cause value #11 or #13 (TS24.501: para 275 (“If the initial registration request cannot be accepted by the network, the AMF shall send a REGISTRATION REJECT message to the UE including an appropriate 5GMM cause value.”), pg 278 (“#11 (PLMN not allowed)…”) and pg 279 (“#13 (Roaming not allowed in this tracking area)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to have modified VELVE-QIAO with TS24.501, the combination hereby referred to as VELVE-QIAO-TS24 for the benefit of supporting registration for a specific UE in a case of a disaster roaming (TS24.501: pg 292 section 5.5.1.3.2).
Claim 33:
VELVE-QIAO teaches the UE of claim 31. For further limitations, see rejection for claim 23 above.
Claim 34:
VELVE-QIAO-TS24 teaches the UE of claim 33. For further limitations, see rejection for claim 24 above.
Claim 35:
VELVE-QIAO-TS24 teaches the UE of claim 34. For further limitations, see rejection for claim 25 above.
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.
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/A.T.N./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/SHARMIN CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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