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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 2/6/26 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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) 10-12, 15 and 19-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pathak et al. (US 2018/0160422 A1) in view of Velev et al. (US 2023/0093965 A1).
Consider claim 10, Pathak teaches an information processing method performed by a network-side device (abstract), comprising:
receiving first information, wherein the first information comprises first indication information used for indicating that first auxiliary information is invalid (paragraphs 9, 75-82 and 118, the network entity receives a connection suspend indication for the first SIM when there is a communication on the second SIM); and
performing a third operation based on the first information, wherein the third operation comprises setting the first auxiliary information to be invalid or deleting the first auxiliary information; and the first auxiliary information is information that is provided by a terminal to the network-side device and that is used to block the paging related to the terminal (paragraphs 75-82 and 118, the network entity suspends the data communication over the first SIM).
Pathak teaches the network entity may be, but is not limited to, a Mobility Management Entity (MME) (paragraph 108).
Pathak does not teach the network-side device comprises access mobility management function (AMF).
Velev further teaches the network-side device comprises access mobility management function (AMF) (paragraphs 46 and 48, the network mobility NF can be either AMF or MME therefore, AMF and MME are interchangeable based on the network technology).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify and utilize the above teachings for the purposes of using the inventions in both 4G and 5G networks.
Consider claims 19 and 20, claims 19 and 20 are rejected for the same reasons claim 10 is rejected.
Consider claim 11, Pathak also teaches wherein the third operation comprises at least one of the following: an operation related to invalidation of the first auxiliary information; or sending second confirmation information; wherein the second confirmation information comprises indication information used for confirming that the first auxiliary information is invalid (paragraph 118-120, the network entity suspends communication to the first SIM and sends an acknowledge to the DSDS device).
Consider claim 12, Pathak also teaches wherein the operation related to invalidation of the first auxiliary information comprises at least one of the following:
resuming a data channel connection related to the terminal; resuming a first data channel or canceling an operation of suspending a first data channel, wherein the first data channel comprises a data channel suspended as indicated in the first auxiliary information; resuming transmission of first data or stopping blocking first data, wherein the first data comprises data blocked in the first network and/or data not transmitted to the terminal as required in the first auxiliary information; receiving a first service or stopping blocking a first service, wherein the first service comprises a service blocked in the first network and/or a service not transmitted to the terminal as required in the first auxiliary information; or resuming first paging or stopping blocking first paging, wherein the first service comprises a type of paging blocked in the first network and/or a type of paging not transmitted to the terminal as indicated in the first auxiliary information (paragraph 145, the network entity resumes communication to the first SIM).
Consider claim 15, Pathak also teaches performing an operation related to invalidation of the first auxiliary information in a case that a fourth condition is satisfied, wherein the fourth condition comprises at least one of the following: a connection establishment request or a connection resuming request for the first network is received from the terminal; the terminal and the first network establish a connection and/or resume a connection; the first return information is empty or the first return information is not received; the first return information comprises at least one of the following: first indication information used for indicating invalidation of the first auxiliary information, fourth indication information used for indicating a long-period return, or request information used for resuming a data connection channel; or the return confirmation information comprises at least one of the following: sixth indication information used for indicating a long-period return or used for indicating a return and eighth indication information used for indicating that the first auxiliary information is invalid (paragraph 136, the DSDS device transmits a reconnection resume indication to the network entity).
Consider claim 21, Pathak also teaches wherein the first information further comprises at least one of the following: a return time; third indication information used for indicating a planned leave; fourth indication information used for indicating a long-period return; request information for a data channel; or updated first auxiliary information; wherein the request information for the data channel comprises at least one of the following: indication information for requesting for resuming the data channel connection, information about the data channel of which activation is requested (paragraph 119, the suspend indication is transmitted when the activity on the second SIM is periodic).
Consider claims 22, 25 and 28, Pathak also teaches wherein the first auxiliary information comprises at least one of the following: blocking all downlink services and/or data; information about a blocked data channel; information about a blocked service; or a blocked paging reason (paragraph 118, the network entity suspends the data communication over the first SIM).
Velev further teaches the first indication information is sent through a registration request message of a non-access stratum (NAS) layer (paragraphs 54 and 84, NAS layer is used for communication between the network and the SIM).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify and utilize the above teachings for the purposes of enabling communication between the UE and the network.
Consider claims 23, 26 and 29, Pathak also teaches wherein the performing the third operation based on the first information and/or the first auxiliary information comprises: based on the first information and that a connection between the terminal and the network is established or resumed, performing the third operation (paragraph 116 and 118, the DSDS device establishes connection with the network entity then receives a connection suspend indication for the first SIM when there is a communication on the second SIM).
Consider claims 24, 27 and 30, Pathak also teaches wherein the performing the third operation comprises: in a case that a fourth condition is met, performing the third operation, wherein the fourth condition comprises that: a registration request or a service request between the terminal and a first network is received; and a connection between the terminal and the first network is established and/or resumed (paragraph 118-120, the connection between the first SIM and the network entity suspends when the second SIM is communicating to the network entity).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13-14 and 16-17 are 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN YE LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-5258. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30-8:00.
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/JUSTIN Y LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644 2/24/26