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
Applicant's arguments filed 01/19/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Starsinic does not disclose “at least, the features "the controller is configured to: select a Stand-alone Non-Public Network (SNPN) or a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) as an Onboarding Network based on information configured in advance," "perform a PDU session establishment procedure with the SNPN in a case of selecting the SNPN," and "perform a PDU session establishment procedure with the PLMN in a case of selecting the PLMN," as recited in unamended independent claim 1.” Remarks, page 4, fourth paragraph.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees and submits that Starsinic discloses the UE may also send information to the RAN node to help the RAN node select an AMF that supports onboarding (col. 1, ll. 30-37, The UE may also send information to the RAN node to help the RAN node select an AMF that supports onboarding. The UE then receives SNPN credentials from the network, and thereafter exits onboarding mode, enters Manual Network Selection or Automatic Network Selection mode, and connects to the SNPN). Therefore, the UE selects a Stand-alone Non-Public Network (SNPN) or a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) as an Onboarding Network, as recited. The UE receives SNPN credentials from the network in order to be authorized to select SNPNs.
Starsinic further discloses a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) as an Onboarding Network based on information configured in advance (see col. 1, ll. 38-47, which states that “A UE may also receive from a network a list of PLMNs and SNPNs that are equivalent. When registering with a network, the UE may then indicate to the network that a requested slice is not associated with the UE's HPLMN, but is associated with an SNPN.”). [Thus, the UE connects either to SNPN or PLMN].
Starsinic further discloses performing a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session establishment procedure with the SNPN in a case of selecting that the SNPN is selected (see Fig.5 and col. 10, ll. 33-38, In step 4, the AMF will send a Registration Response to the UE. The registration response may include the UE′ SNPN credentials or URSP Rules that relate to the UE's onboarding traffic. Further, col. 10, ll. 55-57, “In step 5, the UE may initiate an application layer procedure in order to download SNPN Credentials from a server” and ll. 60-63, “The application layer traffic requires a PDU Session. Thus, a PDU Session must be established prior to any application layer traffic being generated. The PDU Session Establishment request may trigger the Secondary authorization/authentication by an DN-AAA server during the PDU Session establishment procedure.”).
Thus, the AMF will send a Registration Response to the UE prior to letting the UE select SNPNs; and performing another PDU session establishment procedure with the PLMN in a case of selecting that the PLMN is selected, in Fig. 10 and col. 14, ll. 33-39, “In step 4, the UE attempts to onboard with the second network as described above and is successful. Obtaining SNPN Services from a PLMN. As described above, when a UE registers to a PLMN it will receive a List of equivalent PLMNs from the network and when the UE registers to an SNPN, it will not receive a List of equivalent PLMNs from the network.”
In the remarks, page 4, bottom paragraph, Applicant presents similar arguments as to claim 1 with respect to claim 2. Examiner respectfully disagrees and notes same response as above with respect to claim 1.
The Examiner has interpreted the claims with scope parallel to the Applicant in the response, and restates the need for the Applicant to more clearly and distinctly define the claimed invention.
In addition, the Examiner submits that the Applicant does not provide a sufficient basis to support Applicant’s submitted, narrower construction. See Phillips v. AWH Corp., 415 F.3d 1303, 1323 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (en banc) (citations omitted) (finding although claims are to be interpreted broadly but reasonably in light of the specification, one nonetheless must not import limitations from the specification into the claims); Superguide Corp. v. DirecTV Enterprises, Inc., 358 F.3d 870, 875 (Fed. Cir. 2004) (finding a particular embodiment appearing in the written description may not be read into a claim when the claim language is broader than the embodiment).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Starsinic et al (US 12425954).
Regarding claim 1, Starsinic discloses a User Equipment (UE) (Fig. 9B, “WTRU 102, ” apparatus or device) comprising:
a controller (processor 118) configured to:
select a Stand-alone Non-Public Network (SNPN) (col. 1, ll. 30-37, The UE may also send information to the RAN node to help the RAN node select an AMF that supports onboarding. The UE then receives SNPN credentials from the network, and thereafter exits onboarding mode, enters Manual Network Selection or Automatic Network Selection mode, and connects to the SNPN) or a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) as an Onboarding Network based on information configured in advance (col. 1, ll. 38-47, states that “A UE may also receive from a network a list of PLMNs and SNPNs that are equivalent. When registering with a network, the UE may then indicate to the network that a requested slice is not associated with the UE's HPLMN, but is associated with an SNPN.”[Thus, the UE connects either to SNPN or PLMN] The network may indicate to the UE how the slices of the network map to the slices of the SNPN. The network can indicate whether a slice that is offered by the network only partially maps to a slice of the SNPN or HPLMN”). [Thus, Onboarding network based on information arranged in advance];
perform a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session establishment procedure with the SNPN in a case that the SNPN is selected (Fig.5, and col. 10, ll. 33-38, In step 4, the AMF will send a Registration Response to the UE. The registration response may include the UE′ SNPN credentials or URSP Rules that relate to the UE's onboarding traffic. Further, col. 10, ll. 55-57, “ In step 5, the UE may initiate an application layer procedure in order to download SNPN Credentials from a server” and ll. 60-63, “The application layer traffic requires a PDU Session. Thus, a PDU Session must be established prior to any application layer traffic being generated. The PDU Session Establishment request may trigger the Secondary authorization/authentication by an DN-AAA server during the PDU Session establishment procedure.”). Thus, the AMF will send a Registration Response to the UE prior to letting the UE select SNPNs; and
perform another PDU session establishment procedure with the PLMN in a casethat the PLMN is selected (further, Fig. 10 and col. 14, ll. 33-39, “In step 4, the UE attempts to onboard with the second network as described above and is successful. Obtaining SNPN Services from a PLMN. As described above, when a UE registers to a PLMN it will receive a List of equivalent PLMNs from the network and when the UE registers to an SNPN, it will not receive a List of equivalent PLMNs from the network.”).
Claim 2 contains subject matter similar to claim 1, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale. (Starsinic, see col. 33, claim 18: “A method implemented in wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU)”).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 JULIO R PEREZ whose telephone number is (571)272-7846. The examiner can normally be reached 10Am - 6PM EST M-F.
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/JULIO R PEREZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644
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