DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
A preliminary amendment received on 1/31/2024 amending claims 1, 3-5, 7-9, 11-13, and 15 and adding claim 16 has been entered by the examiner.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 1/31/2024 been entered and considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 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 1, 3-5, 7-9, 11-13, and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lai et al (US2022/0046530 A1) in view of Shih et al (US 2022/0361098 A1) support provided by provisional.
Regarding claims 1 and 9, Lai teaches a method/user equipment (UE) performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system (Abstract), the method/UE comprising:
a controller configured to (Para. 0013):
receiving, from a base station, first system information including information on at least one stand-alone non-public network (SNPN) (Paras. 0029-0031; combination of a PLMN identifier (PLMN ID) and Network ID (NID) can identify an SNPN; Next-Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) nodes, e.g., NG- RANs 116, 126 and 136 shown in FIG. 1, that provide access to SNPNs can broadcast in System Information Block type 1 (SIB1) one or multiple PLMN IDs and a list of NIDs per PLMN ID identifying the non-public networks that NG-RAN provides access to);
receiving, from the base station, second system information including information on a first list of at least one group identifier for network selection (GIN) to support an access using credentials from a credentials holder or to enable a UE onboarding and information on a second list of one or more associations between the at least one GIN and the at least one SNPN in the first system information (Paras. 0029-0031 and 0034-0036; the UE can be further configured with User controlled prioritized list of preferred SNPNs, Credentials Holder controlled prioritized list of preferred SNPNs (or called a home SP selection list), and Credentials Holder controlled prioritized list of Group IDs for Network Selection (GINs). The Credentials Holder controlled prioritized list of preferred SNPNs and GINs can be updated by the HSP network).
However, while Lai teaches receiving circuitry, and one of ordinary skill in the art would know a UE would contain a transceiver, and he also teaches using RRC for Initial Registration, which would include connecting to an SNPN (Paras. 0013, 0037, and 0042), he does not specifically disclose a transceiver; and performing, with the base station, a radio resource control (RRC) establishment for an SNPN selected based on at least one of the first system information and the second system information.
Shih teaches a SNPN selection for a selected SNPN is performed in response to operating in the SNPN AM (Abstract). He further teaches a transceiver (Para. 0010); and performing, with the base station, a radio resource control (RRC) establishment for an SNPN selected based on at least one of the first system information and the second system information (Para. 0141; a UE may transmit an RRC message having a RRC establishment cause or a RRC resume cause which is set as emergency'. For example, the UE in SNPN AM in normal service state may set the RRC establishment cause to ‘emergency’ in RRC establishment request message when the UE requests an RRC connection associated to an emergency session for SNPN).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Shih with the teachings as in Lai. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide improved data rate, latency, reliability, and mobility by providing access to non-public networks (Shih at paras. 0003-0005).
Regarding claims 3, 7, 11, and 15, the combination of references Lai and Shih teach the limitations of the previous claims. Shih further teaches wherein the first system information further includes information indicating whether an internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) emergency service is supported by each of the at least one SNPN (Paras. 0009-0010, 0075, and 0116; UE in limited service state may determine whether a cell supports emergency service over NG-RAN based on the IMS emergency call support indication (e.g., ims-EmergencySupport) included in system information (e.g., SIB1) received from a cell that the UE camps on). Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Shih with the teachings as in Lai. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide improved data rate, latency, reliability, and mobility by providing access to non-public networks (Shih at paras. 0003-0005).
Regarding claims 4, 8, 12, and 16 the combination of references Lai and Shih teach the limitations of the previous claims. Lai further teaches wherein the first system information is received through a system information block1 (SIB1) (Paras. 0029-0031; combination of a PLMN identifier (PLMN ID) and Network ID (NID) can identify an SNPN; Next-Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) nodes, e.g., NG- RANs 116, 126 and 136 shown in FIG. 1, that provide access to SNPNs can broadcast in System Information Block type 1 (SIB1) one or multiple PLMN IDs and a list of NIDs per PLMN ID identifying the non-public networks that NG-RAN provides access to).
Regarding claims 5 and 13, Lai teaches a method/ base station performed by a base station in a wireless communication system (Abstract), the method/UE comprising:
transmitting first system information including information on at least one stand-alone non-public network (SNPN) (Paras. 0029-0031; combination of a PLMN identifier (PLMN ID) and Network ID (NID) can identify an SNPN; Next-Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) nodes, e.g., NG- RANs 116, 126 and 136 shown in FIG. 1, that provide access to SNPNs can broadcast in System Information Block type 1 (SIB1) one or multiple PLMN IDs and a list of NIDs per PLMN ID identifying the non-public networks that NG-RAN provides access to);
transmitting second system information including information on a first list of at least one group identifier for network selection (GIN) to support an access using credentials from a credentials holder or to enable a user equipment (UE) onboarding and information on a second list of one or more associations between the at least one GIN and the at least one SNPN in the first system information (Paras. 0029-0031 and 0034-0036; the UE can be further configured with User controlled prioritized list of preferred SNPNs, Credentials Holder controlled prioritized list of preferred SNPNs (or called a home SP selection list), and Credentials Holder controlled prioritized list of Group IDs for Network Selection (GINs). The Credentials Holder controlled prioritized list of preferred SNPNs and GINs can be updated by the HSP network).
However, while Lai teaches receiving circuitry, and one of ordinary skill in the art would know a UE would contain a transceiver, and he also teaches using RRC for Initial Registration, which would include connecting to an SNPN (Paras. 0013, 0037, and 0042), he does not specifically disclose a transceiver; and a controller configured to; and performing, with a UE, a radio resource control (RRC) establishment for an SNPN selected based on at least one of the first system information and the second system information.
Shih teaches a SNPN selection for a selected SNPN is performed in response to operating in the SNPN AM (Abstract). He further teaches a transceiver; and a controller configured to (Para. 0223); and performing, with a UE, a radio resource control (RRC) establishment for an SNPN selected based on at least one of the first system information and the second system information (Para. 0141; a UE may transmit an RRC message having a RRC establishment cause or a RRC resume cause which is set as emergency'. For example, the UE in SNPN AM in normal service state may set the RRC establishment cause to ‘emergency’ in RRC establishment request message when the UE requests an RRC connection associated to an emergency session for SNPN).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Shih with the teachings as in Lai. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide improved data rate, latency, reliability, and mobility by providing access to non-public networks (Shih at paras. 0003-0005).
Claims 2, 6, 10, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lai et al (US2022/0046530 A1) in view of Shih et al (US 2022/0361098 A1) support provided by provisional further in view of Tseng et al (US 2022/0361098 A1) support provided by provisional 63/184022.
Regarding claims 2, 6, 10, and 14, the combination of references Lai and Shih teach the limitations of the previous claims. Lai further teaches wherein the information on the second list includes bitmap information indicating at least one supported GIN for each of the at least one SNPN (Paras. 0029-0031 and 0034-0036; the UE can be further configured with User controlled prioritized list of preferred SNPNs, Credentials Holder controlled prioritized list of preferred SNPNs (or called a home SP selection list), and Credentials Holder controlled prioritized list of Group IDs for Network Selection (GINs). The Credentials Holder controlled prioritized list of preferred SNPNs and GINs can be updated by the HSP network).
However, while Lai teaches providing the information in a list, which one of ordinary skill in the art would know could be done with a bitmap (Para. 0034), he does not specifically disclose wherein the information on the second list includes bitmap information.
Tseng teaches receiving a public warning system (PWS) message (Abstract). He further teaches wherein the information on the second list includes bitmap information (Para. 0192; a cell may broadcast a second bit string (e.g., a bit map) where each bit may be a second indicator, e.g., as one bit, in system information (e.g., in SIB1 or in SNPN-related SIB, such as SIB10, or a new SIB). Each second indicator may be associated with a network identity (e.g., PLMN ID, SNPN ID, NID) identifying a network that operates the cell).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Tseng with the combination of references Lai and Shih. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide new and improved designs/mechanisms to address the currently pending issues related to an SNPN or a PLMN supporting the PWS (Tseng at para. 0005).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KENT KRUEGER whose telephone number is (303)297-4238. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00-5:00 MT.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Thier can be reached on (571) 272-2832. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KENT KRUEGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474
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