DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
I. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
II. This action is in response to applicants amendment/arguments filed on May 24, 2011. This action is made FINAL.
Allowable Subject Matter
III. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claims 1 and 20 contain allowable subject matter based on the amendments to the claims (see Amendments to the Claims, pages 2-6) and for the reasons given in applicant arguments/remarks (see Remarks, pages 7-11) received in the December 01, 2025 response to the Non-Final Office Action dated September 03, 2025.
Claims 7-17 and 21-25 contain allowable subject based on their dependence on independent claims 1 and 20.
Claim 18 may be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
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.
IV. Claims 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 18 recites “the eight message is used to request querying a terminal within a second area indicated by the second area information” in lines 6-7. It is unclear what is meant by the phrase “request querying” and/or how it relates to the terminal within a second area. The limitation renders the claim indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor regards as the invention.
For purposes of examination, the examiner will treat the following quotation from claim 18, “the eight message is used to request querying a terminal within a second area indicated by the second area information” as
“the eight message is used to request querying terminal information within a second area indicated by the second area information”.
Claim 18 recites “wherein the second area information is determined according to the first area information by: determining area information which is equal to or larger than the first area information as the second area information” in lines 13-15. It is unclear what the phrase “the first area information” refers to because the claim does not earlier recite first area information. The limitation renders the claim indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor regards as the invention.
For purposes of examination, the examiner will treat the following quotation from claim 18, “wherein the second area information is determined according to the first area information by: determining area information which is equal to or larger than the first area information as the second area information” as
“wherein the second area information is area information defined by 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) and determined according to first area information, wherein determining the second area information according to the first area information comprises: determining area information which is equal to or larger than the first area information as the second area information”.
Claim 19 is dependent on claim 18 and is rejected for indefiniteness under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) for the same reasons given above regarding claim 18.
Response to Arguments
V. Applicant's arguments filed December 1, 2025 have been fully considered but they moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
Conclusion
VI. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Abi et al. Pub. No.: US 2015/0201086 A1 discloses VoIP based telephony method and system including deriving location/city based on Cell ID information from device client (see paragraphs [0068] – [0069]).
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRANDON J MILLER whose telephone number is (571)272-7869. The examiner can normally be reached M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Alison 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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/BRANDON J MILLER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
January 30, 2026