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 .
Response to Arguments
Following response to arguments is based on Applicant’s arguments filed on 06 November 2025.
Regarding Previous Rejection Under 35 USC § 103
Applicant’s arguments [Page 5] with respect to rejection of claim 1 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments [Page 5] with respect to rejection of claims 6, 11, 15, 19 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of newly found prior art reference(s).
Regarding claim 6, the incorporated limitations “determining, based on an RVAS Identifier, RVAS-ID, of an RVAS operator of the HPLMN, the Home Control NF; and returning the Home Control NF to the Roaming Control NF” are not equivalent to the ones incorporated into independent claim 1. For claim 1, it is the overall scope that makes it allowable; but, the new scope for claim 6 is much broader than claim 1.
Hence, newly found reference Grech discloses a communication system where a control network function is being determined, and later returned it to roaming network, based on an identifier of roaming services [Paragraphs 10, 72].
Regarding claim 11, this claim has been amended to incorporate similar limitations to those set forth in independent claim 6, and is rejected based on similar reasoning.
Regarding claim 15, the incorporated limitations “sending to a Home Network Repository Function, H-NRF, a discovery message comprising an RVAS Identifier, RVAS-ID, of an RVAS operator of a Home Public Land Mobile Network, HPLMN, for discovering a Home Session Management Function, H-SMF” are not equivalent to the ones incorporated into independent claim 1. For claim 1, it is the overall scope that makes it allowable; but, the new scope for claim 15 is much broader than claim 1.
Hence, newly found reference Vaishnavi discloses a communication system where roaming services ID is being communicated to NRF in a message to discover HSMF [Paragraph 118].
Regarding claim 19, this claim has been amended to incorporate similar limitations to those set forth in independent claim 15, and is rejected based on similar reasoning.
Therefore, in view of the above reasons, the Examiner maintains the rejections for claims 6, 11, 15 and 19.
Claim Status
Claims 1, 5-6, 11, 15, 17, 19 have been amended. Claims 3-4, 16 have been canceled. Claims 12-14, 20-25 were previously canceled. Thus, claims 1-2, 5-11, 15, 17-19 are presented for examination.
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 6-8, 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sama et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0225074) in view of Baek et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0367148) and further in view of Grech et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0072555).
Regarding claim 6, Sama teaches a method performed by a network node implementing a Home Network Repository Function, H-NRF (Paragraphs 73, 81-83), in a Home Public Land Mobile Network, HPLMN ([Paragraphs 68, 80-81, 90]), of a telecommunications network ([Paragraph 20]) for providing Roaming Value Added Services, RVAS ([Paragraphs 6, 20, 29]), the method comprising:
obtaining information about a Home Control Network Function, NF ([Paragraphs 80, 85, 91, 107]), and a Roaming Control NF ([Paragraphs 88, 105]);
receiving a discovery request from a Visited NF in a Visited Public Land Mobile Network, VPLMN ([Paragraphs 68, 73, 80, 86-88, 90]);
determining that, for the discovery request and the VPLMN, RVAS is applicable ([Paragraphs 13, 88]); [
[
.
However, Sama does not explicitly mention:
a) in response to the determining: selecting the Roaming Control NF and the Home Control NF for the discovery request; and transmitting, to the Visited NF, a response to the discovery request, the response comprising an address of the selected Roaming Control NF instead of an address of the selected Home Control NF;
b) determining, based on an RVAS Identifier, RVAS-ID, of an RVAS operator of the HPLMN, the Home Control NF; and returning the Home Control NF to the Roaming Control NF.
Baek teaches, in a similar field of endeavor of communication systems, the following:
a) in response to the determining:
selecting the Roaming Control NF and the Home Control NF for the discovery request ([Paragraphs 9-12]); and transmitting, to the Visited NF, a response to the discovery request ([Paragraphs 31-35]), the response comprising an address of the selected Roaming Control NF ([Paragraphs 9-12]) instead of an address of the selected Home Control NF ([Paragraphs 61-62, 71]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system (as taught by Sama) by selecting roaming control (as taught by Baek) for the purpose of supporting roaming of a terminal (Baek – Paragraph 4).
But, the combination of Sama and Baek does not explicitly mention:
b) determining, based on an RVAS Identifier, RVAS-ID, of an RVAS operator of the HPLMN, the Home Control NF; and returning the Home Control NF to the Roaming Control NF.
Grech teaches, in a similar field of endeavor of communication systems, the following:
b) determining, based on an RVAS Identifier, RVAS-ID, of an RVAS operator of the HPLMN, the Home Control NF; and returning the Home Control NF to the Roaming Control NF (Grech discloses a communication system where a control network function is being determined, and later returned it to roaming network, based on an identifier of roaming services [Paragraphs 10, 72]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system (as taught by Sama) by selecting roaming control (as taught by Baek) and determining HCNF (as taught by Grech) for the purpose of providing value added services to the subscribers of the network (Grech – Paragraph 3).
Regarding claim 7, Sama further teaches the method of claim 6, wherein:
the Home Control NF comprises a Home Session Management Function, H-SMF ([Paragraphs 75, 111-112]); and
the Roaming Control NF comprises an RVAS Session Management Function, R-SMF ([Paragraphs 75, 111-112]).
Regarding claim 8, Sama further teaches the method of claim 6, further comprising informing the R-SMF of the discovery request including the selected H-SMF ([Paragraphs 75, 111-112]).
Regarding claim 11, Sama teaches a network node implementing a Home Network Repository Function, H-NRF ([Paragraphs 73, 81-83]), in a Home Public Land Mobile Network, HPLMN ([Paragraphs 68, 80-81, 90]), of a telecommunications network ([Paragraph 20]) for providing Roaming Value Added Services, RVAS ([Paragraphs 6, 20, 29]), the network node comprising:
a network interface ([Paragraph 26]); and
processing circuitry associated with the network interface ([Paragraph 84]), the processing circuitry configured to cause the network node to:
obtain information about a Home Control Network Function, NF ([Paragraphs 80, 85, 91, 107]), and a Roaming Control NF ([Paragraphs 88, 105]);
receive a discovery request ([Paragraphs 68, 73, 80, 86-88, 90]) from a Visited NF in a Visited Public Land Mobile Network, VPLMN ([Paragraphs 82, 91]);
determine that, for the discovery request and the VPLMN, RVAS is applicable ([Paragraphs 13, 88]); [
[
.
However, Sama does not explicitly mention:
a) in response to the determining:
select the Roaming Control NF and the Home Control NF for the discovery request; and
transmit, to the Visited NF, a response to the discovery request, the response comprising an address of the selected Roaming Control NF instead of an address of the selected Home Control NF;
b) determine, based on an RVAS Identifier, RVAS-ID, of an RVAS operator of the HPLMN, the Home Control NF; and return the Home Control NF to the Roaming Control NF.
Baek teaches, in a similar field of endeavor of communication systems, the following:
a) in response to the determining: select the Roaming Control NF and the Home Control NF for the discovery request ([Paragraphs 9-12]); and transmit, to the Visited NF, a response to the discovery request ([Paragraphs 31-35]), the response comprising an address of the selected Roaming Control NF ([Paragraphs 9-12]) instead of an address of the selected Home Control NF ([Paragraphs 61-62, 71]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system (as taught by Sama) by selecting roaming control (as taught by Baek) for the purpose of supporting roaming of a terminal (Baek – Paragraph 4).
But, the combination of Sama and Baek does not explicitly mention:
b) determine, based on an RVAS Identifier, RVAS-ID, of an RVAS operator of the HPLMN, the Home Control NF; and return the Home Control NF to the Roaming Control NF.
Grech teaches, in a similar field of endeavor of communication systems, the following:
b) determine, based on an RVAS Identifier, RVAS-ID, of an RVAS operator of the HPLMN, the Home Control NF; and return the Home Control NF to the Roaming Control NF (Grech discloses a communication system where a control network function is being determined, and later returned it to roaming network, based on an identifier of roaming services [Paragraphs 10, 72]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system (as taught by Sama) by selecting roaming control (as taught by Baek) and determining HCNF (as taught by Grech) for the purpose of providing value added services to the subscribers of the network (Grech – Paragraph 3).
Claims 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sama et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0225074) in view of Baek et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0367148) and further in view of Grech et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0072555) and Shan et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0268835).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Sama, Baek and Grech teaches all the limitations recited in claim 6.
However, the combination of Sama, Baek and Grech does not explicitly mention: the Home Control NF comprises a Home Policy Control Function, H-PCF; and the Roaming Control NF comprises an RVAS Policy Control Function, R-PCF.
Shan teaches, in a similar field of endeavor of communication systems, the following:
the Home Control NF comprises a Home Policy Control Function, H-PCF; and the Roaming Control NF comprises an RVAS Policy Control Function, R-PCF ([Paragraphs 13, 81, 116, 118, 125, 129, 156]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system (as taught by Sama) by selecting roaming control (as taught by Baek) and determining HCNF (as taught by Grech) by comprising PCF (as taught by Shan) for the purpose of implementing new features for mobile devices (Shan – Paragraph 2).
Regarding claim 10, Shan further teaches the method of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises informing the R-PCF of the discovery request including the selected H-PCF ([Paragraphs 13, 81, 116, 118, 125, 129, 156]).
Claims 15, 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sama et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0225074) in view of Baek et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0367148) and further in view of Vaishnavi et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0280837).
Regarding claim 15, Sama teaches a method performed by a network node implementing a Roaming Value Added Services Session Management Function, R-SMF ([Paragraph 75]), of a telecommunications network ([Paragraph 20]) for providing Roaming Value Added Services, RVAS ([Paragraphs 6, 20, 29]), the method comprising:
receiving a Protocol Data Unit, PDU, session create request from a [([Paragraphs 75, 111-112]);
[
determining a [([Paragraphs 75, 111-112]); and
[.
However, Sama does not explicitly mention:
a) sending to a Home Network Repository Function, H-NRF, a discovery message comprising an RVAS Identifier, RVAS-ID, of an RVAS operator of a Home Public Land Mobile Network, HPLMN, for discovering a Home Session Management Function, H-SMF;
b) visited… home… sending the PDU session create request to the H-SMF.
Baek teaches, in a similar field of endeavor of communication systems, the following:
b) visited… home… sending the PDU session create request to the H-SMF ([Paragraphs 9-12, 51, 54, 57, 61, 85, 90]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system (as taught by Sama) by transmitting PDU session (as taught by Baek) for the purpose of supporting roaming of a terminal (Baek – Paragraph 4).
But, the combination of Sama and Baek does not explicitly mention:
a) sending to a Home Network Repository Function, H-NRF, a discovery message comprising an RVAS Identifier, RVAS-ID, of an RVAS operator of a Home Public Land Mobile Network, HPLMN, for discovering a Home Session Management Function, H-SMF.
Vaishnavi teaches, in a similar field of endeavor of communication systems, the following:
a) sending to a Home Network Repository Function, H-NRF, a discovery message comprising an RVAS Identifier, RVAS-ID, of an RVAS operator of a Home Public Land Mobile Network, HPLMN, for discovering a Home Session Management Function, H-SMF (Vaishnavi discloses a communication system where roaming services ID is being communicated to NRF in a message to discover HSMF [Paragraph 118]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system (as taught by Sama) by selecting roaming control (as taught by Baek) and discovering HSMF (as taught by Vaishnavi) for the purpose of reducing running delay in the applications (Vaishnavi – Paragraph 42).
Regarding claim 17, Sama further teaches the method of claim 15, further comprising:
receiving a discovery response from the H-NRF that indicates the H-SMF ([Paragraphs 75, 111-112]).
Regarding claim 18, Sama further teaches the method of claim 15, further comprising:
determining, by the R-SMF, to allocate its own User Plane Function, UPF ([Paragraphs 75-76, 111-112]); and
informing the H-SMF of the allocated UPF (Paragraphs 75-76, 111-112).
Regarding claim 19, Sama teaches a network node implementing a Roaming Value Added Services Session Management Function, R-SMF ([Paragraph 75]), of a telecommunications network ([Paragraph 20]) for providing Roaming Value Added Services, RVAS ([Paragraphs 6, 20, 29]), the network node comprising:
a network interface ([Paragraph 26]); and
processing circuitry associated with the network interface ([Paragraph 84]), the processing circuitry configured to cause the network node to:
receive a Protocol Data Unit, PDU, session create request from a [([Paragraphs 75, 111-112]);
[
determine a [([Paragraphs 75, 111-112]); and
[.
However, Sama does not explicitly mention:
a) send to a Home Network Repository Function, H-NRF, a discovery message comprising an RVAS Identifier, RVAS-ID, of an RVAS operator of a Home Public Land Mobile Network, HPLMN, for discovering a Home Session Management Function, H-SMF;
b) visited… home… sending the PDU session create request to the H-SMF.
Baek teaches, in a similar field of endeavor of communication systems, the following:
b) visited… home… send the PDU session create request to the H-SMF ([Paragraphs 9-12, 51, 54, 57, 61, 85, 90]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system (as taught by Sama) by transmitting PDU session (as taught by Baek) for the purpose of supporting roaming of a terminal (Baek – Paragraph 4).
But, the combination of Sama and Baek does not explicitly mention:
a) send to a Home Network Repository Function, H-NRF, a discovery message comprising an RVAS Identifier, RVAS-ID, of an RVAS operator of a Home Public Land Mobile Network, HPLMN, for discovering a Home Session Management Function, H-SMF.
Vaishnavi teaches, in a similar field of endeavor of communication systems, the following:
a) send to a Home Network Repository Function, H-NRF, a discovery message comprising an RVAS Identifier, RVAS-ID, of an RVAS operator of a Home Public Land Mobile Network, HPLMN, for discovering a Home Session Management Function, H-SMF (Vaishnavi discloses a communication system where roaming services ID is being communicated to NRF in a message to discover HSMF [Paragraph 118]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system (as taught by Sama) by selecting roaming control (as taught by Baek) and discovering HSMF (as taught by Vaishnavi) for the purpose of reducing running delay in the applications (Vaishnavi – Paragraph 42).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-2 and 5 are allowed.
Conclusion
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 FABRICIO R MURILLO GARCIA whose telephone number is (571)270-5708. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5pm.
To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sam K Ahn can be reached at 5712723044. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
March 16, 2026
/FABRICIO R MURILLO GARCIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633