DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to the Applicant's arguments and amendments filed on 28 January 2026 in which claims 7-9 are currently pending and claims 1-6 have been cancelled.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 28 January 2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 7, 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Talebi Fard et al. (PG Pub US 2023/0199632 A1) in view of Hu et al. (PG Pub US 2022/0353680 A1).
Regarding claims 7, 9, Talebi Fard discloses an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) and a communication control method (AMF fig. 27).
a transmission and reception circuitry; and a controller, wherein (AMF figs. 1-4)
in a case that the transmission and reception circuitry receives, from a User Equipment (UE), a registration request message including information indicating a registration of an onboarding (“a registration request procedure performed for a wireless device (UE) .. The registration request procedure may be for an onboarding network” [0242], “The registration request message may comprise an identifier of a second network (e.g., a SNPN ID, second network ID, and/or the like” [0243], “forward the registration request message to the AMF” [0244]), the controller initiates a de-registration procedure when a timer started by the controller for an onboarding service of the onboarding expires (“During the procedure, if .. a valid period expires, the PLMN may trigger a network-initiated de-registration” [0263], “valid period for the on-boarding registration” [0261]);
the onboarding allows the UE to access an onboarding network for providing the UE with Stand-alone Non-Public Network (SNPN) information to enable access to a desired SNPN (“obtain subscription credentials and configuration for an subscription owner SNPN (SO-SNPN) .. the UE may select the O-SNPN based on information broadcasted by the O-SNPN and may register to it for onboarding service to obtain connectivity to the provisioning server” [0215]);
the controller initiates the de-registration procedure (“During the procedure, if the secondary authentication fails and/or a valid period expires, the PLMN may trigger a network-initiated de-registration” [0263]).
However, Talebi Fard does not explicitly disclose timer started by the controller and sending a de-registration request message to the UE.
Nevertheless, Hu discloses “the public network may start a timer after onboarding delivery authentication or S408 is completed. After the timer expires, the public network sends the deregistration request message or the session release request message to the terminal” [0231].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have timer started by the controller and send a de-registration request message to the UE because “the public network sends a deregistration request message to the terminal, to enable the terminal to enter a deregistration state” [0229].
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Talebi Fard, Hu further in view of Won (PG Pub US 2021/0250890 A1).
Regarding claim 8, Talebi Fard, Hu discloses everything claimed as applied above. However, Talebi Fard, Hu does not explicitly disclose the controller starts the timer when the UE is in 5GMM-REGISTERED.
Nevertheless, Won discloses “Upon receipt of the REGISTRATION ACCEPT message, the UE can or shall reset the registration attempt counter and service request attempt counter, enter state 5GMM-REGISTERED” [0202], “If a 5G-GUTI or the SOR transparent container IE is included in the REGISTRATION ACCCEPT message, the AMF can or shall start timer T3550” [0189], “the AMF can or shall start timer T3550” [0190].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the controller start the timer when the UE is in 5GMM-REGISTERED because “The 5G-GUTI reallocation can or shall be part of the registration procedure for mobility registration update. The 5G-GUTI reallocation should be part of the registration procedure for periodic registration update” [0189].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTINE D FUQUA whose telephone number is (571)270-1664. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8 AM - 6 PM EST with every other Friday off.
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CHRISTINE DUONG FUQUA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2462
/CHRISTINE T DUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462 02/17/2026