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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 March 23, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed February 23, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Chun further teaches 5GMM connected over a non-3GPP access (WLAN is a non-3GPP access (Sections 0219, 0220)).
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, 7 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 public land mobile network (PLMN) (Section 0007, receipt of a disaster related message indicates a disaster condition); identifying whether the UE is in a 5th generation mobile management (5GMM) registered mode or a 5GMM connected mode over a non-3GPP access in response to the identifying disaster condition; and performing a disaster roaming from the first PLMN with the disaster condition in response to an identification that the UE is not in the 5GMM registered mode and the 5GMM connected mode over the non-3GPP 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 a WLAN (Section 0220), which is the non-3GPP access, can be a 5G network (Sections 0219 – 0221)), wherein the UE in the 5GMM registered mode is registered with the first PLMN (registered with a PLMN (Section 0007), and wherein the UE in the 5GMM connected mode has a non-access stratum (NAS) signaling connection between the UE and the first PLMN (Section 0435, NAS signaling).
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 PLMN (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 5GMM registered mode or a 5GMM connected mode over a non-3GPP access in response to the identifying the disaster condition, and control the transceiver to perform a disaster roaming from the first PLMN with the disaster condition in response to an identification that the UE is not in the 5GMM registered mode and the 5GMM connected mode over the non-3GPP 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 WLAN (Section 0220), which is a non-3GPP access, can be a 5G network (Sections 0219 – 0221)), wherein the UE in the 5GMM registered mode is registered with the first PLMN (registered with a PLMN (Section 0007), and wherein the UE in the 5GMM connected mode has a non-access stratum (NAS) signaling connection between the UE and the first PLMN (Section 0435, NAS signaling).
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 PLMN 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 PLMN.
Niemi, which also teaches disaster roaming, teaches receiving information broadcasted from a second PLMN (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 in view of Niemi 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 in view of Niemi teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claims 3, 9. Chun further teaches receiving the disaster roaming service from the second PLMN based on the received information; and performing registration to the second PLMN (Section 0007).
Conclusion
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/RAYMOND S DEAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645 Raymond S. Dean
April 9, 2026
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