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 .
DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 December 24, 2025 has been entered. Claims 1, 3, 4, 10, 16, 18, 19, and 21 are currently pending and an Office action on the merits follows.
Response to Arguments
On pages 7-9 of the applicant’s remarks, the applicant argues that Xiang as modified by Kanneath Abraham fail to teach “select a unified data management (UDM) to store remote provisioning indications of the UE related to the information requesting remote provisioning.” The examiner respectfully disagrees. Xiang Figure 10 and paragraph [0143] explain that the AMF establishes a connection with the UDM which starts the UE provisioning process and allows the AMF to receive the UE provisioning information. The establishment of a connection with the UDM reads on “selecting a UDM” by the AMF without specifying any further criteria for selection of the UDM. Therefore, the examiner maintains the rejection under 35 USC 103 as further stated below.
On pages 7-9 of the applicant’s remarks, the applicant further argues that Xiang as modified by Kanneath Abraham fail to teach “wherein the remote provisioning indications include an indication for requesting control plane (CP)-based remote provisioning or an indication for requesting user plane (UP)-based remote provisioning.” The examiner respectfully disagrees. First the applicant does not present any argument as to why Xiang fails to teach the limitation beyond simply stating such. This limitation was previously rejected in the Final Rejection, mailed 10/27/2025, claims 2 and 17. The examiner maintains that in Xiang Fig. 8 and paragraph [0125] that the AMF 518 determines that UE 505 is configured for CP based provisioning and in Xiang Fig. 7 and paragraph [0118] the NAS message indicates that UP based provisioning will be used which reads on the present limitation. Therefore, the examiner maintains the rejection under 35 USC 103 as further explained below.
On pages 7-9 of the applicant’s remarks, the applicant further argues that Xiang as modified by Kanneath Abraham fail to teach “wherein a remote provisioning field in access and mobility subscription data is updated by the UDM, based on the remote provisioning indications.” The examiner respectfully disagrees. Again, the applicant does not present any argument as to why Xiang fails to teach the limitation beyond simply stating such. This limitation was previously rejected in the Final Rejection, mailed 10/27/2025, claims 5 and 20. The examiner maintains that Xiang paragraph [0108] explains the subscription information entry may be dynamically provisioned (e.g., generated, updated, or deleted) into the UDM from the service provider using an interface between the UDM and the service provider, which reads on the present limitation. Therefore, the examiner maintains the rejection under 35 USC 103 as further explained 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, 3, 4, 10, 16, 18, 19, and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pub No.: US-20230099786-A1 (herein “Xiang”), and further in view of Pub No.: US-20240008127-A1 (herein “Kanneath Abraham”).
Claims 1 and 16
Consider claim 16, Xiang teaches an access and mobility management function (AMF) (see Xiang Fig. 7, note AMF 518) in a communication network, the AMF comprising:
a transceiver configured to transmit and receive a signal (see Xiang Fig. 14, [0177] note network interface 1406); and
a processor coupled to the transceiver (see Xiang Fig. 14, [0177], note CPU 1414), wherein the processor is configured to:
receive, from a base station, a registration request message including information requesting remote provisioning of a user equipment (UE) (see Xiang Fig. 7, [0016], note UE 505 transmits a NAS message to RAN 512, where the NAS message is a registration request message with the onboarding and provisioning indication information and RAN 512 forwards the registration request message received from UE 505 to AMF 518);
store the registration request message (see Xiang Fig. 7, [0116]-[0118] note the AMF 518 receives the registration message 715 and performs several subsequent processing steps based on the reception);
select a unified data management (UDM) to store remote provisioning indications of the UE related to the information requesting remote provisioning (see Xiang Fig. 10, [0143] the AMF establishes a connection with the UDM which starts the UE provisioning process and allows the AMF to receive the UE provisioning information);
transmit a registration message including the remote provisioning indications of the UE the UDM, based on the registration request message (see Xiang Fig. 7, [0118] AMF 518 retrieves a network configuration profile for UE 505, which includes device subscription information associated with UE 505 (event 719). AMF 518 may retrieve the network configuration profile (including the device subscription information for UE 505) from UDM 524, for example. AMF 518 also determines that UE 505 is configured for UP based provisioning, which may be determined from the device subscription information);
receive a response message relating to the registration message from the UDM (see Xiang Fig. 7, [0118] AMF 518 retrieves a network configuration profile for UE 505, which includes device subscription information associated with UE 505 (event 719). AMF 518 may retrieve the network configuration profile (including the device subscription information for UE 505) from UDM 524, for example. AMF 518 also determines that UE 505 is configured for UP based provisioning, which may be determined from the device subscription information); and
transmit, to the base station, a registration acceptance message indicating approval of the remote provisioning of the UE, based on the response message (see Xiang Fig. 7, [0118] note completing the initial network registration may include AMF 518 transmitting a NAS message to UE 505, where the NAS message indicates that UP based provisioning will be used),
wherein the remote provisioning indications include an indication for requesting control plane (CP)-based remote provisioning (see Xiang Fig. 8, [0125] note AMF 518 determines that UE 505 is configured for CP based provisioning) or an indication for requesting user plane (UP)-based remote provisioning (see Xiang Fig. 7, [0118] the NAS message indicates that UP based provisioning will be used), and
wherein a remote provisioning field in access and mobility subscription data is updated by the UDM, based on the remote provisioning indications (see Xiang [0108], note the subscription information entry may be dynamically provisioned (e.g., generated, updated, or deleted) into the UDM from the service provider using an interface between the UDM and the service provider).
Xiang fails to teach transmitting, to the UE, a message requesting an international mobile equipment identity, IMEI, of the UE; receiving, from the UE, a response message including the IMEI of the UE. However, Kanneath Abraham teaches during a NAS signaling connection establishment procedure, the AMF sending a NAS security mode command that requests the IMEI from the UE and receiving a NAS security mode complete message from the UE comprising the requested IMEI of the UE (see Kanneath Abraham Fig. 2, [0059]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Xiang to include the recited teaching of Kanneath Abraham. Such a modification would improve Xiang by enabling better usage of resources and enhancing user experience to a user of a terminal device (see Kanneath Abraham [0002]).
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 16.
Claims 3 and 18
Consider claim 18, Xiang as modified by Kanneath Abraham teaches wherein the information requesting remote provisioning of the UE comprises parameters in supported network behavior for remote provisioning (see Xiang Fig. 7, Fig. 8, [0118], [0125] UE is configured for UP based provisioning and/or configured for CP based provisioning).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 18.
Claims 4 and 19
Consider claim 19, Xiang as modified by Kanneath Abraham teaches wherein the parameters comprise information indicating whether a CP-based remote provisioning method is supported (see Xiang Fig. 8, [0125] note AMF 518 determines that UE 505 is configured for CP based provisioning), information indicating whether an UP-based remote provisioning method is supported (see Xiang Fig. 7, [0118] the NAS message indicates that UP based provisioning will be used), and information indicating a method preferred in case that both the CP-based and UP-based remote provisioning methods are supported (see Xiang Fig. 8, [0125], [0126] the UE requires CP based provisioning).
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 19.
Claims 10 and 21
Consider claim 21, Xiang as modified by Kanneath Abraham teaches wherein the registration request message is transmitted from the UE to the base station (see Xiang Fig. 7, [0016], note UE 505 transmits a NAS message to RAN 512, where the NAS message is a registration request message with the onboarding and provisioning indication information),
wherein the AMF for supporting an onboarding stand-alone non-public network (SNPN) is determined by the base station, based on the registration request message (see Xiang Fig. 7, [0116] note RAN 512 selects an AMF for UE 505), and
wherein the registration acceptance message is transmitted from the base station to the UE (see Xiang Fig. 7, [0118] note completing the initial network registration may include AMF 518 transmitting a NAS message to UE 505, where the NAS message indicates that UP based provisioning will be used).
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 21.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARCUS C HAMMONDS whose telephone number is (571)270-3193. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00AM-6:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, ALISON T. SLATER can be reached at (571)270-0375. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARCUS HAMMONDS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647