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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
1. 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 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.
2. 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.
Claims 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pre-Grant Publication US 2023/0397099 to Chen et al. (hereinafter Chen) in view of U.S. Publication No US 2024/0381245 to Liu et al. (hereinafter Liu)
As to claim 1 Chen discloses a method, comprising:
maintaining a closed access group (CAG) related configuration by a user equipment (UE), wherein the CAG related configuration comprises an allowed CAG list for a PLMN (Chen; [0031] discloses a UE store or maintain CAG list that includes the CAG-ID, and stored CAG-ID is used to validate a cell based on the PLMN ID broadcasted by the cell);
selecting a CAG cell for a PLMN which broadcasts the CAG-ID for the PLMN (Chen; [0031] discloses the UE stores or maintain CAG list that includes the CAG-ID, and stored CAG-ID is used to select a cell based on the PLMN ID broadcasted by the cell. [0031] also discloses CAG ID broadcast by the cell);
Chen discloses CAG list, but fails to disclose wherein CAG list is associated with separate validity information. However, Liu discloses
wherein a CAG-ID from the allowed CAG list is associated with separate validity information (Liu; [0159]-[0163] discloses according to the latest information provided by the NAS, it is determined to satisfy that the cell is not prohibited, and the tracking area to which the cell belongs does not belong to a part of a list of “roaming forbidden tracking areas”. The list belongs to the PLMN meeting the above item A. Here tracking area to which the cell belongs corresponding to separate validity information)
determining whether the CAG cell is a suitable cell based on whether validity criteria are met based on the separate validity information associated with the CAG cell (Liu; [0159]-[0163] discloses according to the latest information provided by the NAS, it is determined to satisfy that the cell is not prohibited, and the tracking area to which the cell belongs does not belong to a part of a list of “roaming forbidden tracking areas”. The list belongs to the PLMN meeting the above item A. Here tracking area to which the cell belongs corresponding to separate validity information)
It is obvious for a person of ordinary skilled in the art to combine the teachings before the effective filing date of the invention. One would be motivated to combine the teachings in order to determine the validity of a cell based on the tracking area.
As to claims 2, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Chen-Liu discloses wherein the CAG cell is considered as a suitable cell when validity criteria associated with the CAG-ID are met (Chen; [0031])
As to claims 3, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Chen-Liu discloses wherein the CAG cell is considered as not a suitable cell when validity or restriction criteria associated with the CAG-ID are not met (Chen; [0031])
As to claims 4, the rejection of claim 3 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Chen-Liu discloses wherein the allowed CAG list for a PLMN only contains the CAG-ID or the CAG cell only broadcasts the CAG-ID for the PLMN (Chen; [0031]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-20 are allowable
Conclusion
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/FAISAL CHOUDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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