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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on April 28, 2023 and May 03, 202 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on April 28, 2023. These drawings are acceptable.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 13-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on December 17, 2025.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4-8, and 10-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zhu et al. (hereinafter “Zhu”, US 2020/0304983).
Regarding claims 1 and 7, Zhu discloses an access and mobility management function, and a method of an access and mobility management function (AMF) of a visited public land mobile network (VPLMN) in a wireless communication system supporting a roaming operation (i.e., an AMF 103 in VPLMN as shown in Fig. 1, and as described in paragraph 0051), the method comprising:
receiving subscription information of a user equipment (UE) from a user data management (UDM) in a home public land mobile network (HPLMN) of the UE (i.e., the AMF 103 obtains subscription data of the UE 101 from UDM 106 in the HPLMN as described in paragraphs 0051 and 0149. Also, see S504 of Fig. 5A, and its descriptions); and
transmitting, to a first policy control function (PCF) of the VPLMN (i.e., PCF 105 of VPLMN as shown in Fig. 1), first information associated with a VPLMN UE route selection policy (URSP) based on the subscription information (i.e., PCF 105 in the VPLMN obtains a URSP of the HPLMN from the PCF 107 in the HPLMN as described in paragraph 0051. Also, see S508 of Fig. 5A and S509 of Fig. 5B, or S609 of Fig. 6B, and its descriptions).
Regarding claims 2 and 8, Zhu discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above. Zhu also discloses wherein the subscription information includes local breakout (LBO) information including at least one of a data network name (DNN) or single-network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) for the UE in the VPLMN (i.e., the subscription data includes an association between subscribed S-NSSAI and a DNN as described in paragraph 0150. Also, see S510 of Fig. 5B, and its descriptions).
Regarding claims 4 and 10, Zhu discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above. Zhu also discloses wherein the first information includes second information for generating the VPLMN URSP in a second PCF of the HPLMN (i.e., determining a second URSP based on the first URSP in S613 of Fig. 6B).
Regarding claims 5 and 11, Zhu discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above. Zhu also discloses wherein the second information for generating the VPLMN URSP includes parameters for generating the VPLMN URSP in the second PCF of the HPLMN (i.e., the fourth rule is added to the second URSP in S613 of Fig. 6B).
Regarding claims 6 and 12, Zhu discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above. Zhu also discloses:
receiving, from the first PCF, a delivery message including the VPLMN URSP (i.e., receiving, from the first PCF, a second URSP in S615 of Fig. 6B); and
transmitting, to the UE, a UE configuration update message including the VPLMN URSP (i.e., transmitting to the UE a first allowed NSSAI and the second URSP in S616 of Fig. 6B).
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, 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.
Claim(s) 3, and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu in view of Lu et al. (hereinafter “Lu”, US 2023/0388268).
Regarding claims 3 and 9, Zhu discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above, but does not expressly disclose features of these claims.
In a similar endeavor, Lu discloses methods and devices for UE service management. Lu also discloses wherein the LBO information corresponds to session management function (SMF) selection information used for the AMF to select an SMF for the UE (i.e., AMF selects an SMF for the selected (DNN, S-NSSAI) and required capabilities and in addition select an I-SMF serving the location and the S-NSSAI as described in paragraphs 0059-0061).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art to modify the teachings of the cited references, and arrive at the present invention.
The motivation/suggestion for doing so would have been to improve the system efficiency and reduce session re-establishment.
Claim(s) 21-24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu in view of Karampatsis et al. (hereinafter “Karampatsis”, US 2025/0168108).
Regarding claims 21, and 22, Zhu discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above, but does not expressly disclose features of these claims.
In a similar endeavor, Karampatsis discloses route selection policy rules for different networks. Karampatsis also discloses wherein the LBO information further includes an indicator indicating generation of the VPLMN URSP in the HPLMN (i.e., AF in different PLMN provide the HPLMN information that assists the HPLMN in creating URSP rules as described in paragraph 0142).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art to modify the teachings of the cited references, and arrive at the present invention.
The motivation/suggestion for doing so would have been to effectively route the traffic and prevent service interruptions.
Regarding claims 23, and 24, Zhu discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above, but does not expressly disclose features of these claims.
In a similar endeavor, Karampatsis discloses route selection policy rules for different networks. Karampatsis also discloses wherein the VPLMN URSP is obtained based on precedence information of a URSP rule usable in the VPLMN (i.e., URSP rules are configured to allow the UE to determine to apply the URSP rules in a particular VPLMN as described in paragraphs 0142-0143).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art to modify the teachings of the cited references, and arrive at the present invention.
The motivation/suggestion for doing so would have been to effectively route the traffic and prevent service interruptions.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WAYNE CAI whose telephone number is (571)272-7798. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday, 7:00 AM-5:00 PM.
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/Wayne H Cai/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644