Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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
2. 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/16/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
3. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims and in view of the current amendments have been considered but are moot, please refer to rejection below for details.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
A) Claims 1-3, 9, 14, 29, 31, and 33-34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over STOJANOVSKI (WO 2020/106611 A1) in view of KUMAR (US 2022/0286950 A1).
As per claim 1, STOJANOVSKI teaches a paging method, applied to performed by a first network side device (¶0034-35, paging method performed by AMF (i.e. first network side device)), comprising: determining that a terminal has downlink data arrived (¶0034-35, determining that UE/terminal has received downlink data packet); determining whether a paging cause needs to be carried in a target notification message (¶0035, determining that paging cause should be or needs to be derive and forwarded or carried in the paging message (i.e. target notification message)); and determining that the paging cause needs to be carried in the target notification message (¶0035, determining that paging cause should be or needs to be derive and forwarded or carried in the paging message), and sending the target notification message carrying the paging cause to a second network side device (¶0035, sending the paging message containing the paging cause to NG-RAN 112 (i.e. second network side device)).
However, STOJANOVSKI does not explicitly teach wherein determining whether the paging cause needs to be carried in the target notification message comprises: determining whether the paging cause needs to be carried in the target notification message at least based on state indication information corresponding to the terminal, wherein the state indication information is configured to indicate whether the terminal is working as a multi-universal subscriber identity module (MUSIM) terminal or not;
wherein determining whether the paging cause needs to be carried in the target notification message at least based on the state indication information corresponding to the terminal comprises at least one of: determining that the paging cause needs not to be carried in the target notification message, wherein the state indication information comprises first state information, and the first state information is configured to indicate that the terminal is not working as the MUSIM terminal; or determining that the paging cause needs to be carried in the target notification message, wherein the state indication information comprises second state information, and the second state information is configured to indicate that the terminal is working as the MUSIM terminal.
In the same field of endeavor, KUMAR teaches wherein determining whether the paging cause needs to be carried in the target notification message comprises: determining whether the paging cause needs to be carried in the target notification message at least based on state indication information corresponding to the terminal (¶0072 and ¶0081, paging cause carried in the notification message based on connection mode (i.e. state indication information) of the multi-SIM UE 100), wherein the state indication information is configured to indicate whether the terminal is working as a multi-universal subscriber identity module (MUSIM) terminal or not (¶0072 and ¶0081, indicating whether the multi-SIM UE 100 is in connected mode or not);
wherein determining whether the paging cause needs to be carried in the target notification message at least based on the state indication information corresponding to the terminal comprises at least one of: determining that the paging cause needs not to be carried in the target notification message, wherein the state indication information comprises first state information, and the first state information is configured to indicate that the terminal is not working as the MUSIM terminal; or determining that the paging cause needs to be carried in the target notification message, wherein the state indication information comprises second state information, and the second state information is configured to indicate that the terminal is working as the MUSIM terminal (¶0072 and ¶0081, the notification message (or NAS message) can carry information to the multi-SIM UE 100, as to a kind of traffic/data/signaling is pending to be delivered to the multi-SIM UE 100 over the 3GPP access. The information can be called as the paging cause, service category, service category ID, application service category ID, MT cause, etc. The multi-SIM UE receives one of the notification message (with the MT cause) over the non-3GPP access (N3GPPA) or on reception of paging message over the 3GPP access (3GPPA) with the paging cause based on connection mode and once the multi-SIM UE 100 is in connected mode (i.e. second state information); therefore UE is working as the MUSIM UE).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teaching of KUMAR into STOJANOVSKI invention of in order for managing mobile terminated (MT)-service information to a multi-subscriber identity module (SIM) user equipment (UE) to meet the demand due to ever-increasing wireless data traffic.
As per claim 2 as applied to claim 1 above, STOJANOVSKI further teaches wherein before sending the target notification message carrying the paging cause to the second network side device, the method further comprises: determining a bit value corresponding to the paging cause carried in the target notification message (¶0034 and table 2, before sending the paging message containing paging cause to the NG-RAN 112 determining DSCP value (i.e. bit value) correspond to the paging cause carried in the paging message; also see table 2 for number of bits)
As per claim 3 as applied to claim 2 above, STOJANOVSKI further teaches determining the bit value corresponding to the paging cause carried in the target notification message based on differentiated services code point (DSCP) information of a downlink data packet (¶0034, determines a paging cause based on the DSCP in TOS (IPv4) / TC (IPv6) value from the IP header of the received downlink data packet).
As per claim 9, STOJANOVSKI teaches a paging method, applied to performed by a second network side device (¶0038, a paging method performed by NG-RAN 112 (i.e. second network side device), comprising: receiving a target notification message carrying a paging cause sent by a first network side device (¶0035, receiving a paging message (i.e. target notification message) containing or carrying a paging cause sent by the AMF (i.e. first network side device)); determining whether a paging cause needs to be carried in a paging message (¶0035, determining that paging cause should be or needs to be derive and forwarded or carried in the paging message); and determining that the paging cause needs to be carried in the paging message (¶0035, determining that paging cause should be or needs to be derive and forwarded or carried in the paging message), and sending the paging message carrying the paging cause to a terminal (¶0038, forwarding or sending a paging message containing the paging cause to the UE/terminal).
However, STOJANOVSKI does not explicitly teach wherein determining whether the paging cause needs to be carried in the target notification message comprises: determining whether the paging cause needs to be carried in the target notification message at least based on state indication information corresponding to the terminal, wherein the state indication information is configured to indicate whether the terminal is working as a multi-universal subscriber identity module (MUSIM) terminal or not; wherein determining whether the paging cause needs to be carried in the target notification message at least based on the state indication information corresponding to the terminal comprises at least one of: determining that the paging cause needs not to be carried in the target notification message, wherein the state indication information comprises first state information, and the first state information is configured to indicate that the terminal is not working as the MUSIM terminal; or determining that the paging cause needs to be carried in the target notification message, wherein the state indication information comprises second state information, and the second state information is configured to indicate that the terminal is working as the MUSIM terminal.
In the same field of endeavor, KUMAR teaches wherein determining whether the paging cause needs to be carried in the target notification message comprises: determining whether the paging cause needs to be carried in the target notification message at least based on state indication information corresponding to the terminal (¶0072 and ¶0081, paging cause carried in the notification message based on connection mode (i.e. state indication information) of the multi-SIM UE 100), wherein the state indication information is configured to indicate whether the terminal is working as a multi-universal subscriber identity module (MUSIM) terminal or not (¶0072 and ¶0081, indicating whether the multi-SIM UE 100 is in connected mode or not);
wherein determining whether the paging cause needs to be carried in the target notification message at least based on the state indication information corresponding to the terminal comprises at least one of: determining that the paging cause needs not to be carried in the target notification message, wherein the state indication information comprises first state information, and the first state information is configured to indicate that the terminal is not working as the MUSIM terminal; or determining that the paging cause needs to be carried in the target notification message, wherein the state indication information comprises second state information, and the second state information is configured to indicate that the terminal is working as the MUSIM terminal (¶0072 and ¶0081, the notification message (or NAS message) can carry information to the multi-SIM UE 100, as to a kind of traffic/data/signaling is pending to be delivered to the multi-SIM UE 100 over the 3GPP access. The information can be called as the paging cause, service category, service category ID, application service category ID, MT cause, etc. The multi-SIM UE receives one of the notification message (with the MT cause) over the non-3GPP access (N3GPPA) or on reception of paging message over the 3GPP access (3GPPA) with the paging cause based on connection mode and once the multi-SIM UE 100 is in connected mode (i.e. second state information); therefore UE is working as the MUSIM UE).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teaching of KUMAR into STOJANOVSKI invention of in order for managing mobile terminated (MT)-service information to a multi-subscriber identity module (SIM) user equipment (UE) to meet the demand due to ever-increasing wireless data traffic.
As per claim 14 as applied to claim 9 above, STOJANOVSKI further teaches wherein the target notification message carries the paging cause or does not carry the paging cause (¶0034-34, the paging message includes or carries the paging cause).
As per claim 29, STOJANOVSKI teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program (¶0057, memory or storage for storing instructions or programs), wherein the computer program is configured to perform the paging method according to claim 1 (please refer to claim 1 for the same rejection).
As per claim 31, STOJANOVSKI teaches a paging apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing instructions executable by the processor (Fig.3, device 300 includes processor and memory for storing instruction); wherein the processor is configured to perform the paging method according to claim 1 (please refer to claim 1 for the same rejection).
As per claim 33, STOJANOVSKI teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program (¶0057, memory or storage for storing instructions or programs), wherein the computer program is configured to perform the paging method according to claim 9 (please refer to claim 9 for the same rejection).
As per claim 34, STOJANOVSKI teaches a paging apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing instructions executable by the processor (Fig.3, device 300 includes processor and memory for storing instruction); wherein the processor is configured to perform the paging method according to claim 9 (please refer to claim 9 for the same rejection).
B) Claims 5-6 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over STOJANOVSKI (WO 2020/106611 A1) in view of KUMAR (US 2022/0286950 A1) and further in view of LY (US 2022/0240213 A1).
As per claim 5 as applied to claim 1 above, STOJANOVSKI in view of KUMAR does not explicitly teach obtaining the state indication information corresponding to the terminal from a third network side device.
In the same field of endeavor, LY teaches obtaining the state indication information corresponding to the terminal from a third network side device (¶0346 and ¶0348, receiving or obtaining RM-REGISTERED, CM-IDLE, and RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE states corresponding to the UE from the UDM (i.e. a third network side device).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teaching of LY into STOJANOVSKI and KUMAR invention of in order to support operation with two or more SIMs or with multiple SIMs of UE to positively impact the operations of the network and improve the UE performance.
As per claim 6 as applied to claim 5 above, LY further teaches wherein the third network side device is a unified data management (UDM) device (¶0346, UDM).
As per claim 11 as applied to claim 9 above, STOJANOVSKI in view of KUMAR does not explicitly teach obtaining the state indication information corresponding to the terminal from a third network side device.
In the same field of endeavor, LY teaches obtaining the state indication information corresponding to the terminal from a third network side device (¶0346 and ¶0348, receiving or obtaining RM-REGISTERED, CM-IDLE, and RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE states corresponding to the UE from the UDM (i.e. a third network side device).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teaching of LY into STOJANOVSKI and KUMAR invention of in order to support operation with two or more SIMs or with multiple SIMs of UE to positively impact the operations of the network and improve the UE performance.
As per claim 12 as applied to claim 11 above, LY further teaches wherein the third network side device is a unified data management (UDM) device (¶0346, UDM).
As per claim 13 as applied to claim 9 above, STOJANOVSKI in view of KUMAR does not explicitly teach wherein determining whether the paging cause needs to be carried in the paging message at least based on the state indication information corresponding to the terminal comprises at least one of: determining that the paging cause needs to be carried in the paging message, wherein the state indication information comprises second state information and the terminal being is in an idle state, and the second state information is configured to indicate that the terminal is working as the MUSIM terminal; or determining that the paging cause needs to be carried in the paging message, wherein the state indication information comprises second state information, a 3GPP connection corresponding to the terminal being is in a connected state, a non-3GPP connection being is in an idle state, and existence of downlink data corresponding to non-3GPP connection business that needs to be sent to the terminal exists.
In the same field of endeavor, LY teaches wherein determining whether the paging cause needs to be carried in the paging message at least based on the state indication information corresponding to the terminal comprises at least one of: determining that the paging cause needs to be carried in the paging message, wherein the state indication information comprises second state information and the terminal being is in an idle state, and the second state information is configured to indicate that the terminal is working as the MUSIM terminal; or determining that the paging cause needs to be carried in the paging message, wherein the state indication information comprises second state information, a 3GPP connection corresponding to the terminal being is in a connected state, a non-3GPP connection being is in an idle state, and existence of downlink data corresponding to non-3GPP connection business that needs to be sent to the terminal exists (¶0200-203 and ¶0421-422, a UE missing a page if it is not monitoring for paging requests at the time of the paging occasion for the inactive SIM (i.e. paging cause does not to be carried in the paging message) and the UE registers and links the registration states of SIM1 and SIM2 to the corresponding PLMNs, paging requests associated with either SIM will be sent to the UE on the active PLMN. Within each PLMN, the registration state for each SIM may be saved and linked together to inform the PLMN that the SIMs belong to the same UE. FIG. 15 shows an example of a page that originates in PLMN2, the inactive PLMN, and received by the UE through PLMN1, the active PLMN. Within PLMN1, the registration state for SIM1 is RM-REGISTERED (i.e. first state information) and the registration state for SIM2 is RM-INACTIVE (i.e. registration state on the terminal is one)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teaching of LY into STOJANOVSKI and KUMAR invention of in order to support operation with two or more SIMs or with multiple SIMs of UE to positively impact the operations of the network and improve the UE performance.
Conclusion
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FARIDEH MADANI whose telephone number is (571)272-1249. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday; 9 AM to 5 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JINSONG HU can be reached at 5712723965. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/FARIDEH MADANI/Examiner, Art Unit 2643
/JINSONG HU/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2643