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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 06/10/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant’s argument that there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to combine the references, the examiner recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
In this case, the Applicant argued that the prior art references (McCraken, Uy, and Milner) failed to show certain features of Applicant’s invention (i.e. “retrieving, from the SIM card, a file package that includes one or more files to install the application, and executing the one or more files of the retrieved file package to (i) install and (ii) launch the application”).
In response the Examiner respectfully disagrees with the Applicant’s arguments because of the following reasons:
McCracken e.g. in fig. 1, fig. 2, fig. 4, col. 2, col. 6, and col. 7, teaches the concept of customizing (i.e. configuring) a UE, wherein the UE downloads and installs a customization application update, and wherein the customization application comprises data defining a plurality of customization manifests and comprises instructions that, when executed by the processor, determines that a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) has been installed, reads identity information from the UICC, wherein the identity information is associated with a wireless communication service provider, based on the identity information, selects a customization manifest that is one of the plurality of customization manifests, and writes at least some of the contents of the selected customization manifest into non-volatile (NV) parameters in the non-transitory memory, whereby a user interface of the mobile communication device is customized for use with the wireless communication service provider.
Although, McCracken does not explicitly teach that the installation/installing of the application on the mobile device is based on one or more files stored and/or retrieved from the SIM card.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Uy teaches the concept of installing the proprietary software applications based on the GID1 number read from the UICC. The mobile device processor also configures the libraries in the middleware 230 according to the GID1 number. For example, the memory allocations of the proprietary software applications and/or the protocol stack for the respective proprietary feature services are set by the processor (See, Uy, pp0041). (Emphasis Added). Uy further discussed that a mobile device processor may access a file in the UICC that contains a number of different values. An example of or information contained in such a file is illustrated in Table 1 below. At least one of the values, such as the Group ID (also called a GID1 or GID2), indicates whether the UICC is from a particular carrier or a partnership of particular carriers (See, Uy, pp0020).
Therefore, contrary to the Applicant’s arguments on pg. 9 of the remarks (i.e. “Critically, Uy teaches that "[e]ach mobile device manufactured by the manufacturer may have proprietary feature services and proprietary software pre- installed on the mobile device at time of manufacture. Each carrier's proprietary feature services and proprietary software ... are stored in a secure memory on the mobile device." See Uy, paragraph [0040]. Thus, Uy teaches enabling or activating applications already stored in device memory based on UICC identity-not retrieving installation files from the SIM card itself. The GID 1 number is merely an identifier that triggers enablement of pre-provisioned software, not a file package containing installation files.”), the Examiner respectfully disagrees with the Applicant’s arguments because Uy, pp. [0041], explicitly stated and/or teaches the concept of installing the proprietary software applications based on the GID1 number read from the UICC. (Emphasis Added). Upon installation and/or activation of the proprietary software applications, a C9 proprietary user interface 221 logo is presented on a display device 124 of the mobile device (i.e. launched) (See Uy, pp0046).
Further on the other hand, in an analogous field of endeavor, Milner teaches the concept of providing one or more packages or sets of instructions 146 on UICC, selects instructions of the plurality of instructions stored in the non-transitory memory based on the identified short code, and configures the UICC smart card by causing the processor to execute the selected instructions associated with the identified short code, wherein the selected instructions, when executed, launch a web browser on the mobile communication device and cause the web browser to access a uniform resource locator defined by the selected instructions and download and install a mobile application framework to the mobile communication device (See Milner, col. 7, lines 55-60, and col. 15, lines 10-20).
Therefore, contrary to the Applicant’s arguments on pg. 10-11 of the Applicant’s remarks e.g. that the selected instructions from sets of instructions on the UICC and executed to install an application “are not files to install the application”, the Examiner respectfully disagrees with the Applicant’s arguments at least based on the explicit discussions above.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the analogous teachings (i.e. installing application in a wireless communication system) of prior art references (McCracken, Jr., Uy, and Milner) to achieve the goal of efficiently and reliably providing flexibility, avoiding costs, and improving UICC management in a communication system (Milner, col. 3, lines 25-33).
Therefore, the previous rejections are maintained.
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) 1, 3-8, 14, 16-21, 27, 30, and 31, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over McCracken, Jr. et al. (US Patent No. 11388567) in view of Uy et al. (US Publication No. 20160049975) and further in view of Milner et al. (US Patent No. 10546222).
As to claims 1, 14, and 27, McCracken, Jr. teaches a computer-implemented method, a system, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers (fig. 1, #102 and fig. 4) to perform operations comprising: receiving, at one or more processors of a mobile device, subscriber identity module (SIM) information associated with a SIM card of the mobile device (fig. 1, fig. 4, col. 2, lines 56-62, When executed by the processor, the customization application determines that a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) has been installed in the mobile communication device, reads identity information from the UICC, wherein the identity information is associated with a wireless communication service provider); identifying, by the one or more processors based on the SIM information, a wireless service provider associated with the SIM card (fig. 1, fig. 4, col. 2, lines 56-62, When executed by the processor, the customization application determines that a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) has been installed in the mobile communication device, reads identity information from the UICC, wherein the identity information is associated with a wireless communication service provider); installing an application on the mobile device (fig. 1, fig. 2, installing the customization application update, col. 6, lines 47-53, an updated application in the application data store 116 that corresponds to an older application installed in the memory 106, the installer application 114 may download the updated application from the application data store 116 and install it in the place of the older application in the memory 106); launching the application for configuring the mobile device (fig. 1, #118, customization application, fig. 4, col. 7, lines 36-38, the customization application 118 is executed by the processor 104); and configuring the mobile device using the application in accordance with a set of specifications (manifests) associated with the wireless service provider (fig. 1, fig. 4, col. 2 line 60 – col. 3, line 2, wherein the identity information is associated with a wireless communication service provider, and, based on the identity information, selects a customization manifest that is one of the plurality of customization manifests. The customization application further writes at least some of the contents of the selected customization manifest into non-volatile (NV) parameters in the non-transitory memory, whereby a user interface of the mobile communication device is customized for use with the wireless communication service provider), wherein the set of specifications is selected by the application from a plurality of sets of specifications, each corresponding to a particular wireless service provider (fig. 1, fig. 4, col. 2 line 60 – col. 3, line 2, wherein the identity information is associated with a wireless communication service provider, and, based on the identity information, selects a customization manifest that is one of the plurality of customization manifests. The customization application further writes at least some of the contents of the selected customization manifest into non-volatile (NV) parameters in the non-transitory memory, whereby a user interface of the mobile communication device is customized for use with the wireless communication service provider, and col. 3, lines 65-67). However, fails to explicitly teach that installing the application on the mobile device is based on one or more files stored on the SIM card.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Uy teaches the concept of installing the application on the mobile device is based on one or more files stored on the SIM card (fig. 3, pp0041, upon insertion of a C9 branded UICC 114 into the mobile device 104, installing the proprietary software applications based on the GID1 number read from the UICC, pp0020, access a file in the UICC that contains a number of different values, and pp0021). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of McCracken, Jr. with the teachings of Uy to achieve the goal of efficiently and reliably providing applications and feature services typically proprietary to, or for exclusive use by, the particular cellular carrier (Uy, pp0001). However, they failed to explicitly teach the concept of wherein the installing comprises: retrieving, from the SIM card, a file package that includes one or more files to install [an] application, and executing the one or more files of the retrieved file package to (i) install and (ii) launch [an] application.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Milner teaches the concept of wherein the installing comprises: retrieving, from the SIM card, a file package that includes one or more files to install [an] application (fig. 1, fig. 2, #146, one or more packages or sets of instructions 146 on UICC is selected and the instructions are executed to install and/or launch application to assist users in setting up and configuring the mobile communication device, col. 15, lines 10-20, and col. 7, lines 55-60) and executing the one or more files of the retrieved file package to (i) install and (ii) launch [an] application (fig. 1, fig. 2, #146, one or more packages or sets of instructions 146 on UICC is selected and the instructions are executed to install and/or launch application to assist users in setting up and configuring the mobile communication device, col. 15, lines 10-20, and col. 7, lines 55-60). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of McCracken, Jr. and Uy with the teachings of Milner to achieve the goal of efficiently and reliably providing flexibility, avoiding costs, and avoiding managing a more complicated inventory of different UICCs in a communication system (Milner, col. 3, lines 25-33).
As to claims 3, 16, and 30, McCracken, Jr. in view of Uy and Milner teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. McCracken, Jr. further teaches wherein configuring the mobile device comprises operations of configuring one or more network parameters for communicating with a radio access network (RAN) associated with the wireless service provider (fig. 1, fig. 4, col. 3, lines 65-67, read an MVNO name and/or APN defined by the UICC/SIM, use the MVNO name and/or APN to index into the manifest files to select a manifest file corresponding to the MVNO, and then customize the UE based on the contents of the selected manifest file, and col. 4, lines 1-18).
As to claims 4 and 17, McCracken, Jr. in view of Uy and Milner teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. McCracken, Jr. further teaches wherein the one or more network parameters comprise at least one mobile network operator (MNO) parameter (fig. 1, fig. 4, col. 3, lines 65-67, read an MVNO name and/or APN defined by the UICC/SIM, use the MVNO name and/or APN to index into the manifest files to select a manifest file corresponding to the MVNO, and then customize the UE based on the contents of the selected manifest file, and col. 4, lines 1-18).
As to claims 5 and 18, McCracken, Jr. in view of Uy and Milner teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. McCracken, Jr. further teaches wherein the at least one MNO parameter comprises an access point name (APN) in the RAN of the wireless service provider (fig. 1, fig. 4, col. 3, lines 65-67, read an MVNO name and/or APN defined by the UICC/SIM, use the MVNO name and/or APN to index into the manifest files to select a manifest file corresponding to the MVNO, and then customize the UE based on the contents of the selected manifest file, and col. 4, lines 1-18).
As to claims 6, 19, and 31, McCracken, Jr. in view of Uy and Milner teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. McCracken, Jr. further teaches wherein configuring the mobile device comprises operations of configuring one or more applications installed on the mobile device in accordance with the set of specifications associated with the wireless service provider (fig. 1, fig. 4, col. 3, lines 56-63, the customization application can select an appropriate manifest file and customize the UE using the selected manifest file. The customizations may define ring tones, a power-on video, a power-off video, logos, a home screen, a wallpaper, a background theme, an MVNO home page, carrier applications, roaming plans, email boxes, and/or voicemail boxes).
As to claims 7 and 20, McCracken, Jr. in view of Uy and Milner teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. McCracken, Jr. further teaches wherein configuring the mobile device comprises operations of installing one or more applications associated with the wireless service provider (fig. 1, fig. 4, col. 7, lines 14-20, it downloads the updated customization application and installs the updated customization application as the customization application 118 and customization manifests 120 in the memory 106. In this way, updates to the customization application 118 and new customization manifests can be added to the UE 102).
As to claims 8 and 21, McCracken, Jr. in view of Uy and Milner teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. McCracken, Jr. further teaches wherein configuring the mobile device comprises operations of launching an installer application configured to facilitate installation of one or more other applications on the mobile device (fig. 1, fig. 4, col. 7, lines 13-20, When the installer application detects the updated customization application in the application data store 116, it downloads the updated customization application and installs the updated customization application as the customization application 118 and customization manifests 120 in the memory 106. In this way, updates to the customization application 118 and new customization manifests can be added to the UE 102, and col. 6, lines 50-53, the installer application 114 may download the updated application from the application data store 116 and install it in the place of the older application in the memory 106).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 33 and 34 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
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 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 OMONIYI OBAYANJU whose telephone number is (571)270-5885. The examiner can normally be reached M-Thur 10:30-7pm.
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/OMONIYI OBAYANJU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645
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