DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 12/16/2025 has been entered and considered by Examiner. Claims 1-3, 7, 9, 17, and 19-20 are presented for examination. Claims 10-16 are withdrawn. This Action is made FINAL.
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.
Claims 1-3, 7, 9, and 17are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao et al. (US Pub. 20180132289 A1) in view of Raleigh et al. (US Pub. 20170201850 A1).
For claims 1 and 17, ZHAO discloses user equipment (UE) (wireless devices 102 FIG. 1 or 200 in detail view FIG. 2), comprising:
a processor (206) ("The wireless device 200 may include at least one controller, such as a general-purpose processor 206, which may be coupled to a coder/decoder (CODEC) 208." para. (00561); and
a memory unit (214) operatively connected to the processor, and including instructions which when executed by the processor comprise a data subscription policy manager to ("The general purpose processor 206 may also be coupled to at least one memory 214. The memory 214 may be a non-transitory tangible computer readable storage medium that stores processor-executable instructions. For example, the instructions may include routing communication data relating to a subscription though the transmit chain and receive chain of a corresponding baseband-RF resource chain." para. (0058]):
determine desired operating characteristics associated with data to be communicated to or from the UE ("As described, the wireless communication device (e.g., 102, 200) may be a MSMS wireless device in which at least two SIMs configured to access LTE network(s) share a single RF resource, taking turns to conduct wireless communications. In various examples, the LTE operations detected on the modem stack associated with the first SIM may be in an LTE network supported by the first SIM ("first network"), while the detected LTE operations for the second SIM may be in an LTE network supported by the second SIM ("second network")." para. (00981); also implicit from paragraph 5, "detecting a request from at least one application to perform an activity using a packet switched service", because depending on the request it is determined the characteristics needed),
determine possible data connections over which to send or receive the data to be communicated, the possible data connections comporting with usage of at least one of a plurality of subscriber identity module (SIM) cards installed in the UE ("... application interfaces and routing information once a DDS switch is requested." para. (0095]; "In block 402, the wireless device processor may detect LTE operations on a modem stack associated with a first SIM ("SIM-1") and a modem stack associated with a second SIM ("SIM-2"). As described, the wireless communication device (e.g., 102, 200) may be a MSMS wireless device in which at least two SIMs configured to access LTE network(s) share a single RF resource, taking turns to conduct wireless communications." para. [0098]; "Once in RRC connected mode, the wireless communication device may perform the network attach procedure, which establishes a bearer path to a default PON designated by the network operator." para. (01011); also paragraph 105, "the requested activity may be specific to an operator service application using the modem stack associated with the second SIM, and therefore cannot be performed on the DDS SIM (i.e. the first SIM). "); and
establish a data connection between an application running on the UE and a modem of the UE using the plurality of SIM cards ("... application interfaces and routing information once a DDS switch is requested." para. (0095]; "Once in RRC connected mode, the wireless communication device may perform the network attach procedure, which establishes a bearer path to a default PON designated by the network operator." para. [0101]; also paragraph 90, "requires a transfer of data-oriented traffic from the modem stack associated with the first SIM to that of the second SIM. Another example of the trigger may be request for activity requiring a packet- switched service associated with the second SIM.", paragraph 58, "The memory 214 may store operating system (OS), as well as user application software and executable instructions.", figure 2, "B81","B82" and paragraph 59, ", the shared baseband-RF resource chain may include, for each of the first SIM 204a and the second SIM 204b, separate baseband- modem processor 216 functionality (e.g., B81 and B82).),
wherein each of the plurality of SIM cards operates in an always-on mode relative to a modem of the UE ("... wireless communication devices may now include a plurality of SIM cards ...," para. [0032]; "... the modem stack associated with the non-DDS SIM may further prepare for packet-switched service requests ... Upon completion of the packet-switched service activity, the corresponding PDN connection may be maintained if set as a persistent PDN connection, thereby providing an "always-on" status for certain types of packet-switched services (e.g., an Internet F'DN) When a packet-switched activity is requested on the non-DDS SIM, packet-switched traffic may be sent and received by the modem stack associated with the non-DDS SIM if the corresponding PDN is already activated. Thus, the non-DDS sub may always maintain commonly used PDNc, o.g., the Internet." para. [0093]);
wherein the instructions that when executed establish the data connection between the application running on the UE and the modem of the UE using the at least one of the plurality of SIM cards further comprise establishing simultaneously-used data connections between the application running on the UE and the modem of the UE using each of the plurality of SIM cards ("For example, the wireless device 102 may be configured to communicate over multiple wireless data networks on different subscriptions, such as in a dual-SIM wireless device. In some examples, the wireless device 102 may be configured with MSMS capability, which enables a multi-SIM wireless communication device to share a transmit/receive chain and to simultaneously monitor for pages in idle mode until one SIM begins a communication." para. [0051, 0004-6, 0035-40, 0072-73, 0092-93]).
But ZHAO doesn’t explicitly teach wherein the desired operating characteristics comprise at least one of: priorities, preferences, load, or resource usage;
determine, depending on updated determinations resulting from repeated determination of the desired operating characteristics, possible data connections over which to send or receive the data to be communicated,
However, Raleigh discloses wherein the desired operating characteristics comprise at least one of: priorities, preferences, load, or resource usage (Figs. 82-83, 111-113, 174-175) [1601, 1355, 1284];
determine, depending on updated determinations resulting from repeated determination of the desired operating characteristics, possible data connections over which to send or receive the data to be communicated (Figs. 82-83, 111-113, 174-175, 349, 352) [1601, 1355, 1284];
Since, all are analogous arts addressing tracking different system characteristics used in a mobile system; Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teachings of Zhao with Raleigh to ensure different data metric can be properly track, thus, improve system performance.
For claim 2, ZHAO discloses wherein each of the SIM cards installed in the UE is associated with a data subscription ("Modern wireless communication devices may now include a plurality of SIM cards that enable a user to connect to different mobile networks while using the same mobile communication device. Each SIM card serves to identify and authenticate a subscriber using a particular mobile communication device, and each SIM card is associated with only one subscription." para. (0032]).
For claim 3, ZHAO discloses wherein a first of the SIM cards is associated with a primary data subscription and wherein a second of the SIM cards is associated with a secondary data subscription ("Modern wireless communication devices may now include a plurality of SIM cards that enable a user to connect to different mobile networks while using the same mobile communication device. Each SIM card serves to identify and authenticate a subscriber using a particular mobile communication device, and each SIM card is associated with only one subscription." para. [0032]).
For claim 7, ZHAO discloses wherein the instructions that when executed establish the data connection between the application running on the UE and the modem of the UE using the at least one of the plurality of SIM cards further comprise establishing another data connection between the application running on the UE and the modem of the UE using the other of the at least one of the plurality of SIM cards ("The SGW 160 may route incoming and outgoing IP packets for the wireless device 102 via the LTE access network and external IP networks (i.e., packet data networks (PDNs)). The SGW 160 may also provide an anchor point for handover between eNodeBs. The SGW 160 may be logically connected to the PGW 163, which may route packets to and from PDNs to form a connection between the EPC and various PDNs, for example, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) 170." para. [0048]; "In the various examples, in addition to the LTE access network, the wireless device 102 may be configured to connect independently to various access networks that provide at least voice services through the public switched telephone network (PSTN) 176. For example, the wireless device 102 may connect to a legacy circuit switched (CS) core network 178 through a radio access network (RAN) 164 that provides at least voice service through the PSTN 176. Further, the wireless device 102 may connect through the RAN 164 to a packet switched (PS) core network 182, which may be connected to external PS networks, such as the Internet 158 through a Gateway GPRS support node (GGSN) (not shown)." para. [0049)).
For claim 9, ZHAO discloses wherein the instructions that when executed establish the data connection between the application running on the UE and the modem of the UE using the at least one of the plurality of SIM cards further comprise establishing another data connection between the application running on the UE and the mu<..11:1111 uf lh1:1 UE using lhe other of the at least one of the plurality of SIM cards, and switching between the data connection and the other data connection ("The SGW 160 may route incoming and outgoing IP packets for the wireless device 102 via the LTE access network and external IP networks (i.e., packet data networks (PDNs)). The SGW 160 may also provide an anchor point for handover between eNodeBs. The SGW 160 may be logically connected to the PGW 163, which may route packets to and from PDNs to form a connection between the EPC and various PDNs, for example, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) 170." para. [0048]; "In the various examples, in addition to the LTE access network, the wireless device 102 may be configured to connect independently to various access networks that provide at least voice services through the public switched telephone network (PSTN) 176. For example, the wireless device 102 may connect to a legacy circuit switched (CS) core network 178 through a radio access network (RAN) 164 that provides at least voice service through the PSTN 176. Further, the wireless device 102 may connect through the RAN 164 to a packet switched (PS) core network 182, which may be connected to external PS networks, such as the Internet 158 through a Gateway GPRS support node (GGSN) (not shown)." para. [0049)).
Claims 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao et al. (US Pub. 20180132289 A1) in view of Raleigh et al. (US Pub. 20170201850 A1) in further view of Kreishan (US Pub. 20200314629 A1).
For claim 19, ZHAO discloses all limitations this claim depended on.
ZHAO doesn’t explicitly disclose the following limitation taught by Kreishan.
Kreishan disclose the determining of the possible data connections is based on a mapping of the application to the one of the plurality of SIM cards ("... processing continues at operation 360 in which the communication management 140 enters a standard DSDS dual SIM dual standby mode." para. (0097); "Switching the data path or route dynamically between networks will designate an active and standby PON." para. (00321)).
Since, all are analogous arts addressing SIMs used in a mobile device; Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of ZHAO and Kreishan to use path selection to designate routes to active or standby network, thus, improving system performance.
For claim 20, ZHAO discloses all limitations this claim depended on.
ZHAO doesn’t explicitly disclose the following limitation taught by Kreishan.
Kreishan disclose the determining of the possible data connections is dynamically performed based on the determined desired operating characteristics . ("... processing continues at operation 360 in which the communication management 140 enters a standard DSDS dual SIM dual standby mode." para. [0097); "Switching the data path or route dynamically between networks will designate an active and standby PON." para. (00321)).
Since, all are analogous arts addressing SIMs used in a mobile device; Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of ZHAO and Kreishan to use dynamic routing in order to designate routes to active or standby network, thus, improving system performance.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's latest filed arguments have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
With regard to the references failing to teach every element recited in the independent claims; the Examiner respectfully disagrees with the arguments by the Applicant. Even though, the Examiner acknowledges Applicant's invention may possess some novel features, the claims are written too broad that can be read on the current cited prior art(s). Further actions must be taken to explicitly claim those novel features of the current application.
With regards to the argument for the limitation “…wherein the instructions that when executed establish the data connection between the application running on the UE and the modem of the UE using the at least one of the plurality of SIM cards further comprise establishing simultaneously-used data connections between the application running on the UE and the modem of the UE using each of the plurality of SIM cards”, the Examiner asserts that Zhao discloses a UE may maintain packet-switched/data-network connectivity for multiple SIMs simultaneously. Paragraph [0041] states that “in addition to the data connection for the DDS SIM, the wireless communication device may establish and maintain a connection to a data network on the modem stack associated with the non-DDS SIM,” including performing a network attach procedure and establishing a default PDN connection for the second SIM. Paragraphs [0004, 0006] further teach establishing persistent PDN connections on the modem stack associated with the second SIM and detecting requests from applications to perform packet-switched services using that SIM.
Zhao also explains that applications associated with different subscriptions may require packet-switched services, and that prior systems required temporary DDS switching to establish data access for the non-DDS SIM. Paragraphs [0035, 0040] describe this issue and propose maintaining simultaneous packet-switched connectivity across multiple SIMs to reduce signaling overhead and improve responsiveness. Additionally, paragraph [0051] teaches that the wireless device “may be configured to communicate over multiple wireless data networks on different subscriptions, such as in a dual-SIM wireless device,” supporting simultaneous multi-SIM data operations. Furthermore, Paragraph [0035] defines the baseline DDS setup, while paragraph [0051] explicitly introduces a multi-SIM device communicating over multiple wireless networks on different subscriptions simultaneously. Paragraphs [0064, 0072, 0073] detail how host software layers interface applications with separate, co-existing modem operations for multiple SIMs. Finally, paragraphs [0092, 0093, 0098] teach the core mechanism of keeping the non-DDS SIM "always attached" to a packet-switched network alongside the DDS SIM, maintaining persistent, parallel connectivity for packet-switched application activities.
With regards to the argument for the limitation “…wherein each of the plurality of SIM cards operates in an always-on mode relative to a modem of the UE…”, the Examiner asserts that Zhao discloses the non-DD SIM operates in an always on status for packet switch service tied to the modem of the mobile station.
"... wireless communication devices may now include a plurality of SIM cards ...," para. [0032]; furthermore, "... the modem stack associated with the non-DDS SIM may further prepare for packet-switched service requests ... Upon completion of the packet-switched service activity, the corresponding PDN connection may be maintained if set as a persistent PDN connection, thereby providing an "always-on" status for certain types of packet-switched services (e.g., an Internet F'DN) When a packet-switched activity is requested on the non-DDS SIM, packet-switched traffic may be sent and received by the modem stack associated with the non-DDS SIM if the corresponding PDN is already activated. Thus, the non-DDS sub may always maintain commonly used PDNc, o.g., the Internet." para. [0093].
ARGUMENT DOES NOT REPLACE EVIDENCE WHERE EVIDENCE IS
NECESSARY
The arguments made by the counsel cannot take the place of evidence in the record. The Applicant representative’s arguments for the obvious reason to combine the implicit and explicit teaching of the cited reference(s) failed to provide factual support to sustain the ground of arguments. The mere statement of disagreement of the prior art made by the Applicant’s representative cannot be served as evidence for support. Please see the following case law for detail:
In re Schulze, 346 F.2d 600, 602, 145 USPQ 716, 718 (CCPA 1965); In re Geisler, 116 F.3d 1465,43 USPQ2d 1362 (Fed. Cir. 1997) (“An assertion of what seems to follow from common experience is just attorney argument and not the kind of factual evidence that is required to rebut a prima facie case of obviousness.”). See MPEP § 716.01(c) for examples of attorney statements which are not evidence and which must be supported by an appropriate affidavit or declaration.
ARGUING AGAINST REFERENCES INDIVIDUALLY
One cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck and Co., Inc., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
As discussed above, it is apparent that the Applicant's cited limitations, elements, and arguments have already been disclosed by the relevant prior art(s) or were thoroughly addressed by the Examiner. Additionally, the current Office Action provides further elaboration on the explicit and implicit teachings of the aforementioned disclosed reference(s). It is important to note that any justifications and citations utilized in the preceding Office Action which were not contested by the Applicant shall be regarded as an implicit admission by the Applicant on the matter at hand.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 extension fee 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.
Inquiries
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to PAKEE FANG whose telephone number is (571)270-3633. The Examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 9:00AM-5:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Armouche, Hadi can be reached on 571-270-3618. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PAKEE FANG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409
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