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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 May 11, 2026 has been entered. Claims 21, 22, 24-27, 29-32, 34-37, 39, and 40 are currently pending and an Office action on the merits follows.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 21, 22, 24-27, 29-32, 34-37, 39, and 40 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
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) 21, 22, 24-27, 29-32, 34-37, 39, and 40 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pub No.: US-20200053643-A1 (herein “Lee”), and further in view of Pub No.: US-20250088956-A1 (herein “Won”).
Claims 21, 26, 31, and 36
Consider claim 21, Lee teaches A method performed by an access and mobility management function (AMF) entity in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
receiving, from a base station, a registration request message including information on a user equipment (UE) capability, wherein the information on the UE capability indicates that the UE supports a network slice access stratum (AS) group (NSAG) (see Lee Fig. 6, [0107]-[0108], note RAN 615 transmits Registration Request with SG ID to the AMF 620);
transmitting, to a network slice selection function (NSSF) entity, at least one subscribed single-network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) (see Lee Fig. 6, [0114]-[0116] note subscription check inquiry by the AMF 620 to the UDM 630 to determine if the slices in the slice group ID may be used by the UE 610 and the AMF 620 transmitting reallocation request message to NSSF 625 including the slice group ID for the one or more S-NSSAIs that are requested by the UE 610);
receiving, from the NSSF entity, NSAG information for the at least one subscribed S- NSSAI (see Lee Fig. 6, [0114]-[0117] note AMF 620 receiving the response to the subscription check confirming the subscription that the AMF may use the requested slices from the UDM 630 and/or receiving the AMF reallocation response message indicating AMF information belonging to the same slice group as the slice group requested by the UE from the NSSF 625); and
transmitting, to the UE, a registration accept message including the NSAG information (see Lee Fig. 6, [0013], [0118] note AMF 620 transmitting registration accept to the UE 610 including the allowed NSSAIs that maybe be used by the UE and network slice group identification information corresponding to the network slice identification information).
Lee fails to teach wherein the NSAG information includes an identifier (ID) of an NSAG, information on at least one S-NSSAI associated with the NSAG, and information on a priority associated with the NSAG. Won explains that NSAG information includes S-NSSAI in the configured NSSAI, one or more NSAG IDs, where each of the NSAG ID(s) may be associated with an NSAG area, a priority value, etc. (see Won [0157], [0166]-[0171]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Lee to include the recited teaching of Won. Such a modification would improve Lee by supporting different services that may have different requirements on latency, reliability, throughput, and mobility (see Won [0004]).
Claim(s) 26, 31, and 36 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 21.
Claims 22, 27, 32, and 37
Consider claim 22, Lee as modified by Won teaches further comprising: transmitting, to the NSSF entity, the information indicating that the UE supports the NSAG (see Lee Fig. 6, [0114]-[0116] note subscription check inquiry by the AMF 620 to the UDM 630 to determine if the slices in the slice group ID may be used by the UE 610 and the AMF 620 transmitting reallocation request message to NSSF 625 including the slice group ID for the one or more S-NSSAIs that are requested by the UE 610).
Claim(s) 27, 32, and 37 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 22.
Claims 24, 29, 34, and 39
Consider claim 24, Lee teaches wherein the information on a UE capability includes a UE mobility management (MM) core network capability (see Lee [008] note registration request including the requested NSSAI and slice group ID to which the S-NSSAIs included in the requested NSSAI allow the BS to select the AMF).
Claim(s) 29, 34, and 39 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 24.
Claims 25, 30, 35, and 40
Consider claim 25, Lee teaches wherein the registration accept message further includes at least one of a configured NSSAI or a mapping of the configured NSSAI (see Lee Fig. 6, [0013], [0118] note AMF 620 transmitting registration accept to the UE 610 including the allowed NSSAIs that maybe be used by the UE and network slice group identification information corresponding to the network slice identification information).
Claim(s) 30, 35, and 40 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 25.
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.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
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
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