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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because of the following reasons:
For Figure 5, there is line overlapping words (Slice N and Slice M) making those words unclear.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claims 24, 29, 31, 32-34, 37, 40 are objected to because of the following reasons:
For claims 24, 29, 32-34, 37, 40, from the claim language, Examiner assumes that it is the at least one processor that perform the functional steps.
However, Examiner recommends Applicants to further clarify the claim language by changing the phrase “cause the apparatus at least to” to “cause the at least one processor at least to”.
Otherwise, if Applicants intends for some other hardware components of the apparatus to perform the steps, then please amend the claims to include those hardware components and clearly indicate that those hardware components perform the steps.
If Applicants intends for any unknown hardware components of the apparatus to perform the steps, then please clearly states so on record. However, Applicants are reminded that doing so will raise 112 issues since then the claim language would impose no limits as to a particular structure for performing the claimed invention; hence the claims may cover all devices for/ways for performing the claimed functions. As thus, there is a failure to provide a clear-cut indication of claim scope because the functional language is not sufficiently precise and definite, resulting in no boundaries on the claim limitation.
For claim 31, a period is missing at the end of the claim.
For claim 40, to improve clarity and avoid possible antecedent basis issue, “the current state” is recommended to be amended to “current state”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 26, 31-35, 39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claims 26, 31-35, 39 are indefinite because there are insufficient antecedent basis for the following limitations:
“the respective visited network” (claim 26)
“the visited network” (claim 31)
“the first visited network” (claim 35)
“the respective visited network” (claim 39)
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 24, 27-28, 37, 42-43 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu, WO 2019001204 A1 in view of Velev, US 20230300729.
For claim 24. Zhu teaches: An apparatus comprising: at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: (Zhu, translation, paragraph 190, 216-221)
provide a first registration request from a user equipment to a first visited network for a first network slice provided by the first visited network; (Zhu, translation, paragraph 173-189, “Step 1002: When the current location of the terminal device is within the service area of the first slice, the terminal device sends a registration request message. The registration request message carries the first S-NSSAI. The first S-NSSAI is used to select the first slice. In the above example, the terminal device is within the service area of S-NSSAI 3 and 4, but not within the service area of S-NSSAI 2. Therefore, the NSSAI in the registration request message includes S-NSSAI 3, 4, but does not include S-NSSAI 2. That is, the first S-NSSAI is S-NSSAI 3 or 4. For example, after receiving the registration request message, the access network device in service area 3 selects the AMF entity i that supports S-NSSAI 3, 4 in the area.”; S-NSSAI 3 is first network slice)
and provide a further registration request from the user equipment to at least one second visited network for at least one second network slice provided by the second visited network, (Zhu, translation, paragraph 173-189, “Optionally, when the terminal device moves from service area 3 to service area 2, the terminal device may initiate a periodic registration request. Before sending the registration request message, the terminal device still goes through step 1003 to first determine whether the current location of the terminal device is within the service area of the slices corresponding to the requested S-NSSAI. For example, the NSSAI that the terminal device wants to request contains S-NSSAI 2,3,4, and the current location of the terminal device has moved to service area 2. Before sending the registration request message, the terminal device knows that the terminal device is in the service area of S-NSSAI 2, 3, or 4 based on the NSSP in Table 4. Therefore, in step 1004, the terminal device 202 sends a registration request message to the network, requesting the services corresponding to S-NSSAI 2, 3, and 4.”; S-NSSAI 2 is second network slice)
and the at least one second network slice is not provided by the first visited network. (Zhu, translation, paragraph 173-189, “Step 1002: When the current location of the terminal device is within the service area of the first slice, the terminal device sends a registration request message. The registration request message carries the first S-NSSAI. The first S-NSSAI is used to select the first slice. In the above example, the terminal device is within the service area of S-NSSAI 3 and 4, but not within the service area of S-NSSAI 2. Therefore, the NSSAI in the registration request message includes S-NSSAI 3, 4, but does not include S-NSSAI 2. That is, the first S-NSSAI is S-NSSAI 3 or 4. For example, after receiving the registration request message, the access network device in service area 3 selects the AMF entity i that supports S-NSSAI 3, 4 in the area.”; second network slice (S-NSSAI 2) is not provided by the first visited network (service area 3))
Zhu doesn’t teach: wherein the first network slice and at least one second network slice are mapped to subscribed network slices in a home network.
Velev from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the first network slice and at least one second network slice are mapped to subscribed network slices in a home network. (Velev, paragraph 69, “The AMF 406 determines 432 that the UE's subscribed network slice (e.g., S-NSSAI #A and S-NSSAI #B) may be served in the current area by a set of available network slices. The available network slices are either configured in the AMF 406 by an OAM system (e.g., as part of the network configuration), or announced by the RAN 404 to the AMF 406 during the setup of an N2 transport network layer association (“TNLA”) between the RAN 404 and the AMF 406. The available network slices may have: 1) the same S-NSSAI value as subscribed network slices (e.g., mostly in the home network, home PLMN); or 2) different S-NSSAI values from the S-NSSAI values in the subscribed network slices. In one example, it may be assumed that 5-NSSAI #A and S-NSSAI #B may be mapped to other S-NSSAIs available in the area as shown here: 1) S-NSSAI #A maps to S-NSSAI #2; and S-NSSAI #B maps to S-NSSAI #3.”)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Velev into Zhu, since Zhu suggests a technique for requesting slices in visited networks, and Velev suggests the beneficial way of mapping such slices to subscribed slices in home network so that the subscribed slices can be served by the available slices in the visited networks (Velev, paragraph 69) in the analogous art of communication.
For claim 27. Zhu and Velev disclose all the limitations of claim 24, and Zhu further teaches: wherein the first visited network and at least one second visited network comprise a 3GPP network or a non-3GPP network. (Zhu, translation, paragraph 43-44, “An embodiment of the present application proposes a solution based on the communication system shown in Figure 2, which can be applied to implement network slicing selection in the next-generation mobile network (such as 5G network) architecture. For example, in the 5G mobile network architecture, the control plane function and forwarding plane function of the mobile gateway are decoupled, and the separated control plane function is merged with the traditional control network element MME of the third generation partnership project (3GPP) into a unified control plane entity… In addition, the embodiments of the present application may also be applicable to other future-oriented communication technologies”)
For claim 28. Zhu and Velev disclose all the limitations of claim 24, and Zhu further teaches: wherein the apparatus is implemented by the user equipment. (Zhu, translation, paragraph 173-190, 216-221)
For claim 37. Zhu teaches: An apparatus comprising: at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: (Zhu, translation, paragraph 190-209)
receive registration information for the user equipment from a first visited network and at least one second visited network, wherein the first visited network provides a first network slice and the at least one second network provides at least one second network slice, (Zhu, translation, paragraph 173-189, “Step 1002: When the current location of the terminal device is within the service area of the first slice, the terminal device sends a registration request message. The registration request message carries the first S-NSSAI. The first S-NSSAI is used to select the first slice. In the above example, the terminal device is within the service area of S-NSSAI 3 and 4, but not within the service area of S-NSSAI 2. Therefore, the NSSAI in the registration request message includes S-NSSAI 3, 4, but does not include S-NSSAI 2. That is, the first S-NSSAI is S-NSSAI 3 or 4. For example, after receiving the registration request message, the access network device in service area 3 selects the AMF entity i that supports S-NSSAI 3, 4 in the area… Optionally, when the terminal device moves from service area 3 to service area 2, the terminal device may initiate a periodic registration request. Before sending the registration request message, the terminal device still goes through step 1003 to first determine whether the current location of the terminal device is within the service area of the slices corresponding to the requested S-NSSAI. For example, the NSSAI that the terminal device wants to request contains S-NSSAI 2,3,4, and the current location of the terminal device has moved to service area 2. Before sending the registration request message, the terminal device knows that the terminal device is in the service area of S-NSSAI 2, 3, or 4 based on the NSSP in Table 4. Therefore, in step 1004, the terminal device 202 sends a registration request message to the network, requesting the services corresponding to S-NSSAI 2, 3, and 4.”; S-NSSAI 3 is first network slice; S-NSSAI 2 is second network slice)
and the at least one second network slice is not provided by the first visited network; (Zhu, translation, paragraph 173-189, “Step 1002: When the current location of the terminal device is within the service area of the first slice, the terminal device sends a registration request message. The registration request message carries the first S-NSSAI. The first S-NSSAI is used to select the first slice. In the above example, the terminal device is within the service area of S-NSSAI 3 and 4, but not within the service area of S-NSSAI 2. Therefore, the NSSAI in the registration request message includes S-NSSAI 3, 4, but does not include S-NSSAI 2. That is, the first S-NSSAI is S-NSSAI 3 or 4. For example, after receiving the registration request message, the access network device in service area 3 selects the AMF entity i that supports S-NSSAI 3, 4 in the area.”; second network slice (S-NSSAI 2) is not provided by the first visited network (service area 3))
Zhu doesn’t teach: wherein the first network slice and at least one second network slice are mapped to subscribed network slices in a home network associated with the user equipment; and store in the home network the registration information for each of the first visited network and the at least one second visited network.
Velev from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the first network slice and at least one second network slice are mapped to subscribed network slices in a home network associated with the user equipment; (Velev, paragraph 69, “The AMF 406 determines 432 that the UE's subscribed network slice (e.g., S-NSSAI #A and S-NSSAI #B) may be served in the current area by a set of available network slices. The available network slices are either configured in the AMF 406 by an OAM system (e.g., as part of the network configuration), or announced by the RAN 404 to the AMF 406 during the setup of an N2 transport network layer association (“TNLA”) between the RAN 404 and the AMF 406. The available network slices may have: 1) the same S-NSSAI value as subscribed network slices (e.g., mostly in the home network, home PLMN); or 2) different S-NSSAI values from the S-NSSAI values in the subscribed network slices. In one example, it may be assumed that 5-NSSAI #A and S-NSSAI #B may be mapped to other S-NSSAIs available in the area as shown here: 1) S-NSSAI #A maps to S-NSSAI #2; and S-NSSAI #B maps to S-NSSAI #3.”) and store in the home network the registration information for each of the first visited network and the at least one second visited network. (Velev, paragraph 69, “In some embodiments, the UE credentials and subscription data may be stored in the serving PLMN, the NPN, in the HPLMN, and/or in the service provider.”)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Velev into Zhu, since Zhu suggests a technique for requesting slices in visited networks, and Velev suggests the beneficial way of mapping such slices to subscribed slices in home network and storing registration information in home network so that the subscribed slices can be served by the available slices in the visited networks and the registration information can be retrieved when needed (Velev, paragraph 66-70) in the analogous art of communication.
For claim 42. Zhu and Velev disclose all the limitations of claim 37, and Zhu further teaches: wherein the first visited network and at least one second visited network comprise a 3GPP network or a non-3GPP network. (Zhu, translation, paragraph 43-44, “An embodiment of the present application proposes a solution based on the communication system shown in Figure 2, which can be applied to implement network slicing selection in the next-generation mobile network (such as 5G network) architecture. For example, in the 5G mobile network architecture, the control plane function and forwarding plane function of the mobile gateway are decoupled, and the separated control plane function is merged with the traditional control network element MME of the third generation partnership project (3GPP) into a unified control plane entity… In addition, the embodiments of the present application may also be applicable to other future-oriented communication technologies”)
For claim 43. Zhu and Velev disclose all the limitations of claim 37, and Zhu further teaches: wherein the apparatus is implemented by a core network node configured to perform functions of a unified data management. (Zhu, paragraph 52, “Optionally, the communication system also includes a user data management (UDM) device. The UDM device 212 is used to store user subscription data, such as subscription data related to mobility management and subscription data related to session management. UDM equipment can also be called UDM entity or UDM network element.”)
Claims 25-26, 38-39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu, WO 2019001204 A1 in view of Velev, US 20230300729 and Nokia, “KI#2: New solution: Resolving paging conflict using MUSIM Assistance Information.”.
For claim 25. Zhu and Velev disclose all the limitations of claim 24, however Zhu doesn’t teach: wherein each registration request includes a flag that registration at more than one visited network is supported at the user equipment.
Nokia from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein each registration request includes a flag that registration at more than one visited network is supported at the user equipment. (Nokia, page 3, “When a UE detects it is operating as MUSIM UE (i.e. it has active registrations with >1 USIM) , it provides indication to the PLMNs it registered with that it is a MUSIM UE. The indication may be based on inclusion in the Registration Request, Attach or TAU or service request messages of MUSIM Assistance Information… The assistance information may include: 1. indication of the number or USIMs so the network may tune its paging strategy as it may e.g. modify the number of paging attempts based on its own policies. It may include indications of periodicity for UE reachability also (e.g. in terms of DRX cycles during which the UE can be reached (or periodicity etc, i.e., with reference to SFN DRX cycle zero is the first from the SFN=0 etc.). ”)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Nokia into Zhu and Velev, since Zhu suggests a technique for UE communicating registration request, and Nokia suggests the beneficial way of including into such registration request indication of whether the UE support multiple registrations so that the network may tune its paging strategy (Nokia, page 3) in the analogous art of communication.
For claim 26. Zhu and Velev disclose all the limitations of claim 24, however Zhu doesn’t teach: wherein each registration request includes an indication of: a first time period during which the user equipment will be in a first state and listen for paging requests from the respective visited network, and a second time period during which the user equipment will be in a second state and not listen for paging requests from the respective visited network.
Nokia from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein each registration request includes an indication of: a first time period during which the user equipment will be in a first state and listen for paging requests from the respective visited network, and a second time period during which the user equipment will be in a second state and not listen for paging requests from the respective visited network. (Nokia, page 3, “When a UE detects it is operating as MUSIM UE (i.e. it has active registrations with >1 USIM) , it provides indication to the PLMNs it registered with that it is a MUSIM UE. The indication may be based on inclusion in the Registration Request, Attach or TAU or service request messages of MUSIM Assistance Information… The assistance information may include: 1. indication of the number or USIMs so the network may tune its paging strategy as it may e.g. modify the number of paging attempts based on its own policies. It may include indications of periodicity for UE reachability also (e.g. in terms of DRX cycles during which the UE can be reached (or periodicity etc, i.e., with reference to SFN DRX cycle zero is the first from the SFN=0 etc.). ”)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Nokia into Zhu and Velev, since Zhu suggests a technique for UE communicating registration request, and Nokia suggests the beneficial way of including into such registration request indication of periodicity for UE reachability so that the network know when to communicate with the UE and tune its paging strategy accordingly (Nokia, page 3) in the analogous art of communication.
For claim 38. Zhu and Velev disclose all the limitations of claim 37, however Zhu doesn’t teach: wherein the registration information comprises an indication of a state of the user equipment.
Nokia from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the registration information comprises an indication of a state of the user equipment. (Nokia, page 3, “When a UE detects it is operating as MUSIM UE (i.e. it has active registrations with >1 USIM) , it provides indication to the PLMNs it registered with that it is a MUSIM UE. The indication may be based on inclusion in the Registration Request, Attach or TAU or service request messages of MUSIM Assistance Information… The assistance information may include: 1. indication of the number or USIMs so the network may tune its paging strategy as it may e.g. modify the number of paging attempts based on its own policies. It may include indications of periodicity for UE reachability also (e.g. in terms of DRX cycles during which the UE can be reached (or periodicity etc, i.e., with reference to SFN DRX cycle zero is the first from the SFN=0 etc.). ”)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Nokia into Zhu and Velev, since Zhu suggests a technique for UE communicating registration request, and Nokia suggests the beneficial way of including into such registration request indication of whether the UE is in MUSIM state so that the network may tune its paging strategy (Nokia, page 3) in the analogous art of communication.
For claim 39. Zhu and Velev disclose all the limitations of claim 37, however Zhu doesn’t teach: wherein the registration information includes an indication of: a first time period during which the user equipment will be in a first state and listen for paging requests from the respective visited network, and a second time period during which the user equipment will be in a second state and not listen for paging requests from the respective visited network.
Nokia from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the registration information includes an indication of: a first time period during which the user equipment will be in a first state and listen for paging requests from the respective visited network, and a second time period during which the user equipment will be in a second state and not listen for paging requests from the respective visited network. (Nokia, page 3, “When a UE detects it is operating as MUSIM UE (i.e. it has active registrations with >1 USIM) , it provides indication to the PLMNs it registered with that it is a MUSIM UE. The indication may be based on inclusion in the Registration Request, Attach or TAU or service request messages of MUSIM Assistance Information… The assistance information may include: 1. indication of the number or USIMs so the network may tune its paging strategy as it may e.g. modify the number of paging attempts based on its own policies. It may include indications of periodicity for UE reachability also (e.g. in terms of DRX cycles during which the UE can be reached (or periodicity etc, i.e., with reference to SFN DRX cycle zero is the first from the SFN=0 etc.). ”)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Nokia into Zhu and Velev, since Zhu suggests a technique for UE communicating registration request, and Nokia suggests the beneficial way of including into such registration request indication of periodicity for UE reachability so that the network know when to communicate with the UE and tune its paging strategy accordingly (Nokia, page 3) in the analogous art of communication.
Claims 29, 35-36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Samsung, “TS 23.501: PLMN-specific NSSAI” in view of Lee, US 20200236528.
For claim 29. Samsung teaches: An apparatus comprising: at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: (Samsung, page 3 to page 4, implicit that AMF includes processor, memory storing computer program code)
receive a registration request from a user equipment for a network slice; (Samsung, page 3 to page 4, “When the AMF in the VPLMN receives the Registration Request including the Requested NSSAI of the HPLMN from the UE, the AMF needs to map the S-NSSAIs of HPLMN to corresponding S-NSSAIs of VPLMN based on roaming agreements and determine the Accepted NSSAI for the VPLMN.”)
and provide registration information based on the registration request for the user equipment to a home network associated with the user equipment, (Samsung, page 3 to page 4, “To achieve this, the AMF needs roaming agreements and the UE subscription. The UE subscription is retrieved from the UDM in the HPLMN. The roaming agreements can be also retrieved from the UDM (i.e., the UDM sends the corresponding S-NSSAIs of the VPLMN when it sends the UE subscription to the AMF) or can be retrieved from a NSSF in the VPLMN… After successful registration receiving the Accepted NSSAI for the VPLMN, the UE includes a S-NSSAI of the VPLMN in a PDU Session Establishment Request. In case of local breakout, the AMF uses the S-NSSAI of the VPLMN. In case of home routed, the S-NSSAI of the VPLMN has to be changed to the corresponding S-NSSAI of the HPLMN when it is used in HPLMN (e.g. SMF of HPLMN selection). There are two alternatives. The first alternative is that the AMF changes the S-NSSAI of the VPLMN to the corresponding S-NSSAI of the HPLMN. The second alternative is that the AMF doesn’t change the value and sends it to HPLMN, and the HPLMN maps the S-NSSAI of the VPLMN to the corresponding S-NSSAI of the HPLMN. In the latter case, the HPLMN as well as the VPLMN has to maintain the mapping. Therefore, in our view, it would be preferable for the AMF to change the value before sending it to the HPLMN. How to select a SMF in HPLMN using the S-NSSAI of the HPLMN is not a scope of this proposal.”)
wherein the network slice is mapped to a subscribed network slice in the home network. (Samsung, page 3 to page 4, “When the AMF in the VPLMN receives the Registration Request including the Requested NSSAI of the HPLMN from the UE, the AMF needs to map the S-NSSAIs of HPLMN to corresponding S-NSSAIs of VPLMN based on roaming agreements and determine the Accepted NSSAI for the VPLMN.”)
Even though Samsung implicit teach an apparatus comprising: at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform the method as discussed above, as a show of good faith to compact prosecution, Examiner had also included prior art to explicitly teach it.
Lee from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: an apparatus comprising: at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform the method (Lee, fig 9, paragraph 188-200).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Lee into Samsung, since Samsung suggests a technique perform by an AMF, and Lee suggests the beneficial way having such AMF to comprise of processor, and memory storing computer program code since it’s well-known in the art for AMF to comprise of processor, and memory storing computer program code (Lee, fig 9, paragraph 188-200) thus doing so would ease implementation and improve compatibility in the analogous art of communication.
For claim 35. Samsung and Lee disclose all the limitations of claim 29, and Samsung further teaches: wherein the first visited network and at least one second visited network comprise a 3GPP network or a non-3GPP network. (Samsung, page 1, TR 23.799 is 3gpp standard, thus the network(s) being described is 3gpp network(s))
For claim 36. Samsung and Lee disclose all the limitations of claim 29, and Samsung and Lee further teach: wherein the apparatus is implemented by a core network node configured to perform functions of an access and mobility function. (Samsung, page 3 to page 4, AMF; also see Lee, fig 9, paragraph 188-200)
Claims 30-34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Samsung, “TS 23.501: PLMN-specific NSSAI” in view of Lee, US 20200236528 and Nokia, “KI#2: New solution: Resolving paging conflict using MUSIM Assistance Information.”.
For claim 30. Samsung and Lee disclose all the limitations of claim 29, however Samsung doesn’t teach: wherein the registration request includes a flag that registration at more than one visited network is supported at the user equipment.
Nokia from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the registration request includes a flag that registration at more than one visited network is supported at the user equipment. (Nokia, page 3, “When a UE detects it is operating as MUSIM UE (i.e. it has active registrations with >1 USIM) , it provides indication to the PLMNs it registered with that it is a MUSIM UE. The indication may be based on inclusion in the Registration Request, Attach or TAU or service request messages of MUSIM Assistance Information… The assistance information may include: 1. indication of the number or USIMs so the network may tune its paging strategy as it may e.g. modify the number of paging attempts based on its own policies. It may include indications of periodicity for UE reachability also (e.g. in terms of DRX cycles during which the UE can be reached (or periodicity etc, i.e., with reference to SFN DRX cycle zero is the first from the SFN=0 etc.). ”)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Nokia into Samsung and Lee, since Samsung suggests a technique for receiving registration request from UE, and Nokia suggests the beneficial way of including into such registration request indication of whether the UE support multiple registrations so that the network may tune its paging strategy (Nokia, page 3) in the analogous art of communication.
For claim 31. Samsung and Lee disclose all the limitations of claim 29, however Samsung doesn’t teach: wherein the registration request includes an indication of: a first time period during which the user equipment will be in a first state and listen for paging requests from the visited network, and a second time period during which the user equipment be in a second state and will not listen for paging requests from the visited network.
Nokia from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the registration request includes an indication of: a first time period during which the user equipment will be in a first state and listen for paging requests from the visited network, and a second time period during which the user equipment be in a second state and will not listen for paging requests from the visited network. (Nokia, page 3, “When a UE detects it is operating as MUSIM UE (i.e. it has active registrations with >1 USIM) , it provides indication to the PLMNs it registered with that it is a MUSIM UE. The indication may be based on inclusion in the Registration Request, Attach or TAU or service request messages of MUSIM Assistance Information… The assistance information may include: 1. indication of the number or USIMs so the network may tune its paging strategy as it may e.g. modify the number of paging attempts based on its own policies. It may include indications of periodicity for UE reachability also (e.g. in terms of DRX cycles during which the UE can be reached (or periodicity etc, i.e., with reference to SFN DRX cycle zero is the first from the SFN=0 etc.). ”)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Nokia into Samsung and Lee, since Samsung suggests a technique for receiving registration request from UE, and Nokia suggests the beneficial way of including into such registration request indication of periodicity for UE reachability so that the network know when to communicate with the UE and tune its paging strategy accordingly (Nokia, page 3) in the analogous art of communication.
For claim 32. Samsung, Lee and Nokia disclose all the limitations of claim 31, however Samsung doesn’t teach: wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: determine updated values for the first time period and the second time period, and provide an indication of the updated values to the user equipment.
Nokia from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: determine updated values for the first time period and the second time period, and provide an indication of the updated values to the user equipment. (Nokia, page 3, “When a UE detects it is operating as MUSIM UE (i.e. it has active registrations with >1 USIM) , it provides indication to the PLMNs it registered with that it is a MUSIM UE. The indication may be based on inclusion in the Registration Request, Attach or TAU or service request messages of MUSIM Assistance Information… The assistance information may include: 1. indication of the number or USIMs so the network may tune its paging strategy as it may e.g. modify the number of paging attempts based on its own policies. It may include indications of periodicity for UE reachability also (e.g. in terms of DRX cycles during which the UE can be reached (or periodicity etc, i.e., with reference to SFN DRX cycle zero is the first from the SFN=0 etc.)… The UE provides the MUSIM assistance information in registration procedure and a supporting network acknowledges the reception of the MUSIM assistance information. Figure 6.x.3.1-1 describes in a very high-level manner the procedure. This procedure can be executed at any time whenever the UE needs to update the network with relevant MUSIM Assistance Information.”)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Nokia into Samsung and Lee, since Samsung suggests a technique for receiving registration request from UE, and Nokia suggests the beneficial way of including into such registration request updated indication of periodicity for UE reachability so that the network know when to communicate with the UE and tune its paging strategy accordingly (Nokia, page 3) in the analogous art of communication.
For claim 33. Samsung, Lee and Nokia disclose all the limitations of claim 31, however Samsung doesn’t teach: wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive a service request from the user equipment during the second time period and start a timer for the first time period.
Nokia from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive a service request from the user equipment during the second time period and start a timer for the first time period. (Nokia, page 3, “When a UE detects it is operating as MUSIM UE (i.e. it has active registrations with >1 USIM) , it provides indication to the PLMNs it registered with that it is a MUSIM UE. The indication may be based on inclusion in the Registration Request, Attach or TAU or service request messages of MUSIM Assistance Information… The assistance information may include: 1. indication of the number or USIMs so the network may tune its paging strategy as it may e.g. modify the number of paging attempts based on its own policies. It may include indications of periodicity for UE reachability also (e.g. in terms of DRX cycles during which the UE can be reached (or periodicity etc, i.e., with reference to SFN DRX cycle zero is the first from the SFN=0 etc.)… The UE provides the MUSIM assistance information in registration procedure and a supporting network acknowledges the reception of the MUSIM assistance information. Figure 6.x.3.1-1 describes in a very high-level manner the procedure. This procedure can be executed at any time whenever the UE needs to update the network with relevant MUSIM Assistance Information.”; implicit that timer is started for DRX cycle)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Nokia into Samsung and Lee, since Samsung suggests a technique for receiving registration request from UE, and Nokia suggests the beneficial way of including into such registration request updated indication of periodicity for UE reachability which include DRX cycles so that the network know when to communicate with the UE and tune its paging strategy accordingly (Nokia, page 3) in the analogous art of communication.
For claim 34. Samsung, Lee and Nokia disclose all the limitations of claim 31, however Samsung doesn’t teach: wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive a subscription request from the home network for notification of a state of the user equipment; and provide an indication to the home network when the user equipment moves from the first state to the second state and from the second state to the first state.
Nokia from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive a subscription request from the home network for notification of a state of the user equipment; and provide an indication to the home network when the user equipment moves from the first state to the second state and from the second state to the first state. (Nokia, page 1, “The UE can transition at any time from behaving single USIM UE to behaving a MUSIM UE as soon as the UE registers a second USIM. 3) The UE can transition at any time from behaving as a MUSIM UE to behaving as single USIM UE as soon as the UE remains with only a single registered USIM. 4) It is the UE responsibility to inform the registered PLMN for each USIM about changes deriving from the UE behaving a MUSIM UE or no longer behaving as a MUSIM UE, including any need to modify the paging.”; page 3, “When a UE detects it is operating as MUSIM UE (i.e. it has active registrations with >1 USIM) , it provides indication to the PLMNs it registered with that it is a MUSIM UE. The indication may be based on inclusion in the Registration Request, Attach or TAU or service request messages of MUSIM Assistance Information… The assistance information may include: 1. indication of the number or USIMs so the network may tune its paging strategy as it may e.g. modify the number of paging attempts based on its own policies. It may include indications of periodicity for UE reachability also (e.g. in terms of DRX cycles during which the UE can be reached (or periodicity etc, i.e., with reference to SFN DRX cycle zero is the first from the SFN=0 etc.)… The UE provides the MUSIM assistance information in registration procedure and a supporting network acknowledges the reception of the MUSIM assistance information. Figure 6.x.3.1-1 describes in a very high-level manner the procedure. This procedure can be executed at any time whenever the UE needs to update the network with relevant MUSIM Assistance Information.”)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Nokia into Zhu and Velev, since Zhu suggests a technique for UE communicating information, and Nokia suggests the beneficial way of including into such information indication of whether the UE changes state from USIM to MUSIM and vice versa so that the network may tune its paging strategy (Nokia, pages 1, 3) in the analogous art of communication.
Claim 41 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu, WO 2019001204 A1 in view of Velev, US 20230300729 and Samsung, “TS 23.501: PLMN-specific NSSAI”.
For claim 41. Zhu and Velev disclose all the limitations of claim 37, however Zhu doesn’t teach: wherein the apparatus is configured for use in the home network associated with the user equipment.
Samsung from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the apparatus is configured for use in the home network associated with the user equipment. (Samsung, page 3 to page 4, When the AMF in the VPLMN receives the Registration Request including the Requested NSSAI of the HPLMN from the UE, the AMF needs to map the S-NSSAIs of HPLMN to corresponding S-NSSAIs of VPLMN based on roaming agreements and determine the Accepted NSSAI for the VPLMN. To achieve this, the AMF needs roaming agreements and the UE subscription. The UE subscription is retrieved from the UDM in the HPLMN. The roaming agreements can be also retrieved from the UDM (i.e., the UDM sends the corresponding S-NSSAIs of the VPLMN when it sends the UE subscription to the AMF) or can be retrieved from a NSSF in the VPLMN… After successful registration receiving the Accepted NSSAI for the VPLMN, the UE includes a S-NSSAI of the VPLMN in a PDU Session Establishment Request. In case of local breakout, the AMF uses the S-NSSAI of the VPLMN. In case of home routed, the S-NSSAI of the VPLMN has to be changed to the corresponding S-NSSAI of the HPLMN when it is used in HPLMN (e.g. SMF of HPLMN selection). There are two alternatives. The first alternative is that the AMF changes the S-NSSAI of the VPLMN to the corresponding S-NSSAI of the HPLMN. The second alternative is that the AMF doesn’t change the value and sends it to HPLMN, and the HPLMN maps the S-NSSAI of the VPLMN to the corresponding S-NSSAI of the HPLMN. In the latter case, the HPLMN as well as the VPLMN has to maintain the mapping. Therefore, in our view, it would be preferable for the AMF to change the value before sending it to the HPLMN. How to select a SMF in HPLMN using the S-NSSAI of the HPLMN is not a scope of this proposal.”)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Samsung into Zhu and Velev, since Zhu suggests a technique for communicating slice information, and Samsung suggests the beneficial way of having AMF configuring such slice information for use in HPLMN so that HPLMN doesn’t have to maintain the slice mapping (Samsung, page 3 to page 4) in the analogous art of communication.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 40 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/KHOA HUYNH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462