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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 4, 8 are objected to because of the following informalities: The word “received” is spelled incorrectly. Appropriate correction is required.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 5 – 7, 11, 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Chun (US 2022/0070815).
Regarding Claim 1, Chun teaches a method of a user equipment (UE), comprising: identifying a disaster condition for a first network (Section 0007, receipt of a disaster related message indicates a disaster condition); identifying whether the UE is in a registered state and a connected state over a first access based on the identified disaster condition; and performing a disaster roaming based on an identification that the UE is not in the registered state and the connected state over the first access (a scenario is rendered wherein the UE is in an idle mode and not in a connected stated (Section 0256), disaster roaming is performed after the UE requests registration to the second PLMN, which is an indication that the UE is not registered or in a registered state (Section 0007), this renders a further scenario wherein the disaster roaming is performed when UE is not in a registered state and the connected state, the first PLMN has a particular access protocol or is a particular type of network such as 5g RAT (Section 0220), which is the first access).
Regarding Claim 7, Chun teaches a user equipment (UE), comprising: a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: identify a disaster condition for a first network (Section 0007, receipt of a disaster related message indicates a disaster condition, typical UEs comprise transceivers and at least one processor), identify whether the UE is in a registered state and a connected state over a first access, based on the identified disaster condition, and control the transceiver to perform a disaster roaming based on an identification that the UE is not in the registered state and the connected state over a second access (a scenario is rendered wherein the UE is in an idle mode and not in a connected stated (Section 0256), disaster roaming is performed after the UE requests registration to the second PLMN, which is an indication that the UE is not registered or in a registered state (Section 0007), this renders a further scenario wherein the disaster roaming is performed when UE is not in a registered state and the connected state, the first PLMN can be a network such as 5g RAT (Section 0220), which is the first access, or LTE/LTE-A (Section 0051), which is a second access).
Regarding Claims 5, 11, Chun teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claims 1, 7. Chun further teaches wherein the first network is a network connected over a second access (Section 0051, second access can be LTE/LTE-A, which is 3GPP access).
Regarding Claims 6, 12, Chun teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claims 5, 11. Chun further teaches wherein the first access is a non-3GPP access (Section 0220, WLAN, which is non-3GPP) and the second access is a 3GPP access (Section 0051, LTE/LTE-A is 3GPP access).
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) 2 – 4, 8 – 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chun (US 2022/0070815) in view of Niemi et al. (US 2022/0217805).
Regarding Claims 2, 8, Chun teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claims 1, 7. Chun further teaches receiving information broadcasted from an entity; and identifying the first network with the disaster condition based on the received information (Section 0007, receipt of a disaster related message, which is transmitted or broadcasted).
Chun does not teach receiving information broadcasted from a second network.
Niemi, which also teaches disaster roaming, teaches receiving information broadcasted from a second network (Section 0024, iv, broadcast information from a cell of a second PLMN).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Chun with the above features of Niemi for the purpose of minimizing the impact to home users when a large number of users request network access as taught by Niemi.
Regarding Claims 3, 9, Chun combination teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claims 2, 8. Chun further teaches wherein the received information includes information indicating accessibility for a disaster roaming service (Section 0007).
Regarding Claims 4, 10, Chun combination teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claims 3, 9. Chun further teaches receiving the disaster roaming service from the second network based on the received information; and performing registration to the second network (Section 0007).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAYMOND S DEAN whose telephone number is (571)272-7877. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 6:00-2:30, EST.
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/RAYMOND S DEAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645 Raymond S. Dean
July 11, 2025