DETAILED ACTION
Response to Arguments
1. Applicant's arguments filed 7 October 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant asserts, on pages 2-3 of Remarks, that “the Office Action has allegedly
equated "a 5G System (5GS) registration type Information Element (IE) indicating that
registration is for disaster roaming," as recited in unamended claim 1, to "a disaster
PLMN indication indicating that said UE selects a first PLMN during the disaster that is
Affecting a second PLMN," as taught by Qiao. Applicant, however, respectfully disagrees with such assertions and submits that "a disaster PLMN indication," as
taught by Qiao, cannot be associated with the "5G System (5GS) registration type
Information Element (IE)," as recited in unamended claim 1. Moreover, the closest element of Qiao that could have been corresponded to the "5G System (5GS) registration type Information Element (IE)," as recited in unamended claim 1, would be a
"registration type," as stated in paragraph [0286], lines 12-13, of Qiao. The "registration type" of Qiao, however, does not include information indicating a "disaster" at all, as stated in paragraph [0199] of Qiao (which is reproduced below). … In view of the above, the "registration type" of Qiao could not have been corresponded to the "5G System (5GS) registration type Information Element (IE)," as recited in unamended claim 1. Thus, Applicant respectfully submits that Qiao fails to disclose, teach, or suggest, at least, the feature of "in a case that a registration procedure for disaster roaming is initiated, the transmission and reception circuitry is configured to transmit a registration request message including a 5G System (5GS) registration type Information Element (IE) indicating that registration is for disaster roaming," as was recited in unamended independent claim 1, as previously presented. Furthermore, unamended independent claim 1 recites "a registration request message including a 5G System (5GS) registration type Information Element (IE)." Qiao, however, in the cited paragraph [0286] (which is reproduced below), describes that the "disaster PLMN indication" (which has been allegedly equated to the "5G System (5GS) registration type Information Element (IE)," as recited in unamended claim 1) is included in "AN parameters," which are different from "a registration request message," as recited in unamended claim 1. … In view of the discussions above, Applicant respectfully submits that the above assertion, with regard to equating "a 5G System (5GS) registration type Information Element (IE) indicating that registration is for disaster roaming," as recited in unamended independent claim 1, as was previously presented, to "a disaster PLMN indication indicating that said UE selects a first PLMN during the disaster that is affecting a second PLMN" of Qiao, is not accurate. As such, Qiao fails to disclose, teach, or suggest, at least, the feature of "in a case that a registration procedure for disaster roaming is initiated, the transmission and reception circuitry is configured to transmit a registration request message including a 5G System (5GS) registration type Information Element (IE) indicating that registration is for disaster roaming," as was recited in unamended independent claim 1, as previously presented.”
On the contrary, Qiao clearly states, in paragraph [0286], that the registration request message transmitted by the UE comprises a 5G information element and an indication that the registration request message is for disaster roaming: “In an example embodiment, the UE 2 may send an message to the (R)AN 1. The AN message may comprise AN parameters and/or a registration request message. The AN parameters may include at least one of: an UE identity (e.g. 5G-S-TMSI/GUAMI/IMSI), a selected PLMN ID (e.g. the identifier of the serving PLMN/PLMN 1), a disaster PLMN indication, the identifier of the disaster PLMN, requested NSSAI, and/or establishment cause. The establishment cause may indicate requesting establishment of an RRC connection to the serving PLMN (e.g. PLMN 1) during the disaster of home PLMN (e.g. PLMN 2). The registration request message may comprise at least one of: registration type, UE identity (e.g. SUCI/5G-GUTI/PEI), selected PLMN ID (e.g. the identifier of the serving PLMN/PLMN 1), a disaster PLMN indication, the identifier of the disaster PLMN, last visited TAI (if available), security parameters, requested NSSAI, UE Radio Capability Update, UE MM Core Network Capability, PDU Session status, or List Of PDU Sessions To Be Activated). The disaster PLMN indication may indicate that the UE selects the first PLMN/serving PLMN during the disaster of the second PLMN/disaster PLMN.” [emphasis added]. It can be seen that Qiao explicitly states, in paragraph [0286], that the registration request message comprises 5G identification information and a disaster PLMN indication that indicates that roaming to a different PLMN is desired.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the new feature of claims 1-2 have been considered but are moot because they do not apply to the new reference, Huang-Fu, that is relied on in the current rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
5. Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qiao et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2023/0092577 (hereinafter Qiao), in view of Huang-Fu et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2019/0313478 (hereinafter Huang-Fu).
Regarding claim 1, Qiao discloses a User Equipment (UE) (disclosed is a UE, according to [0286], Fig. 14) comprising:
transmission and reception circuitry (the UE sends and receives messages (and therefore comprises transmission and reception circuitry), according to Fig. 14), wherein
in a case that a registration procedure for disaster roaming is initiated, the transmission and reception circuitry is configured to transmit a registration request message including a 5G System (5GS) registration type Information Element (IE) indicating that registration is for disaster roaming (the UE may participate in Disaster Inbound Roaming when a Disaster Condition is affecting its serving PLMN, according to [0266], whereby the UE transmits a registration request message comprising 5G identification information and a disaster PLMN indication indicating that said UE selects a first PLMN during the disaster that is affecting a second PLMN, according to [0286]).
Qiao does not expressly disclose that the registration request message is sent to a core network.
Huang-Fu discloses that the registration request message is sent to a core network (an electronic apparatus sends a registration request message to a core network, according to [0066], Fig. 4 [step S438]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Qiao with Huang-Fu such that the registration request message is sent to a core network.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification so that the core network releases a PDU session in case the electronic apparatus and the core network are not synchronized when the PDU session is locally released (Huang-Fu: [0066]).
Claim 2 recites the communication control method (disclosed is an associated communication control method, according to [0361]) that the User Equipment recited in claim 1 performs, and is therefore rejected on the same grounds as claim 1.
Conclusion
5. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 MATTHEW W GENACK whose telephone number is (571)272-7541. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Time.
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/MATTHEW W GENACK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645