DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows: Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 28 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Regarding Claim 28, the claim recites “computer readable storage medium”. The claim fails to place the invention squarely within one statutory class of invention. The transitory media generally stores data/information in form of signals. As such, the claim is drawn to signal per se. Signal per se does not appear to be a process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter. The examiner suggests modifying the phrase “computer readable storage medium” to be “non-transitory computer readable storage medium” to overcome the rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2 and 27-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by 3GPP (ETSI TS 124 501 V16.5.1 (2020-08)).
Regarding claim 1, the cited reference 3GPP discloses a method, performed by a user equipment (UE) for a 5G system (5GS) mobility management (5GMM) of associating service area restrictions (SAR) to a cell that the UE is camped on (Section 5.3.5.2 discloses the network conveys the service area restrictions to the UE by including either an allowed area, or a non-allowed area…while camped on a cell which is in the registered PLMN or a PLMN from the list of equivalent PLMNs and whose TAI is not in the list), the method comprising: determining criteria comprising whether a current tracking area is included in a registration area (Section 5.3.5.2 discloses that the network conveys the service area restrictions to the UE…in the Service area list IE of a REGISTRATION ACCEPT message or a CONFIGURATION UPDATE COMMAND message. Section 5.5.1.3.7 page 295 further discloses that if the TAI of the current serving cell is not included in the TAI list), whether an update status at the UE is 5U1 (Section 5.5.1.3.7 page 295 discloses that if the 5GS update status is different to 5U1), and whether the cell is part of a non-allowed area or is of a registered public land mobile network (PLMN) or an equivalent PLMN that is not part of an allowed area (Section 5.1.3.2.1.4.3 discloses that the substate 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE is chosen in the UE, if:…the cell the UE selected is known to be in a non-allowed area. Section 5.3.5.2 discloses that when the UE receives a Service area list IE with a non-allowed area indication during a registration procedure or a generic UE configuration update procedure, the UE shall delete the old list of "non-allowed tracking areas" and store the tracking areas in the non-allowed area as the list of "non-allowed tracking areas"); and choosing, in response to the determining the criteria is satisfied, a 5GMM- REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate (Section 5.3.5.2 discloses that while camped on a cell whose TAI is in the list of "non-allowed tracking areas", the UE shall enter the state 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE. Section 5.6.1.1 further discloses that the service request procedure shall only be initiated by the UE when the following conditions are fulfilled: its 5GS update status is 5U1 UPDATED, and the TAI of the current serving cell is included in the TAI list, which means in case these conditions are not fulfilled no the service request procedure will not be initiated).
Regarding claim 2, the cited reference 3GPP discloses all limitations of claim 1. 3GPP further discloses in which restrictions applicable to the UE in the 5GMM-REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate are also applicable in a selected substate comprising at least one of 5GMM.REGISTERED.UPDATE-NEEDED and 5GMM- REGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE substates provided the cell the UE is camped on is part of the non-allowed area or is of the registered PLMN or the equivalent PLMN which is not part of the allowed area, such that all restrictions that are applicable in the 5GMM- REGISTERED.NON-ALLOWED-SERVICE substate are also applicable in the selected substate in addition to any restrictions already be associated with the selected substate (Section 5.1.3.2.1.4.4 discloses 5GMM-REGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE where the substate 5GMM-REGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION-UPDATE is chosen by the UE if the registration procedure for mobility and periodic registration update failed).
Regarding claim 27, the cited reference 3GPP discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by a user equipment (UE) (Figure 5.4.1.2.4.2.1 page 169 a communication between a UE (User Equipment) and AMF (Network System). Modern UE (smartphones, tablets, PCs) typically includes the following non-transitory components to store operating systems and user applications. Modern UE (smartphones, tablets, PCs) typically includes the following non-transitory components (RAM, Flash Memory, ROM, EPROM, etc…) to store operating systems and user applications to be executed to send/receive data, interact with networks, and provides the interface for users), cause the user equipment (UE) to perform substantially the same features of the method of claim 1. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 1.
Regarding claim 28, the claim is drawn to the computer-readable storage medium performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 2. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 2.
Regarding claim 27, the cited reference 3GPP discloses a baseband processor for a user equipment (UE) (Figure 5.4.1.2.4.2.1 page 169 a communication between a UE (User Equipment) and AMF (Network System). The User Equipment (UE) includes processors to execute operating systems and user applications in order to send/receive data, interact with networks) that is configured to cause the UE to perform substantially the same features of the method of claim 1. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 1.
Regarding claim 30, the claim is drawn to the baseband processor performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 2. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 2.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABDELILLAH ELMEJJARMI whose telephone number is (571)270-1656. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri: 8AM-5PM EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yemane Mesfin can be reached on (571)272-3927. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Informationregarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
Respectfully submitted,
/ABDELILLAH ELMEJJARMI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462