DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 01/21/2026 has been entered and considered by Examiner. Claims 1 - 20 are presented for examination. This Action is made FINAL.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tiwari (US Pub. 20240187968 A1) in view of Sun. (US Pub. 20250016274 A1).
For claims 1, 10, and 18, Tiwari discloses a method, comprising:
receiving, by an access and mobility management function (AMF), a registration request from a user equipment (UE) device (Fig. 11, steps 1-2) [0562, 0577-581];
obtaining, by the AMF, at least one of:
subscriber-related information associated with the UE device,
wherein the subscriber-related information indicates whether an access and mobility (AM) policy association for the UE device is to be established (Steps 7-11) [0642-644, 0240-246],
initiating, in response to determining that the AM policy association for the UE device is to be established, the AM policy association for the UE device (steps 21-25) [0748, 0755-760].
But Tiwari doesn’t explicitly disclose
or information associated with the UE device from a charging function (CHF),
wherein the information from the CHF indicates whether the AM policy association for the UE device is to be established;
determining, by the AMF and based on the obtained at least one of the subscriber-related information or information from the CHF, whether to establish the AM policy association for the UE device;
However, Sun discloses or information associated with the UE device from a charging function (CHF) (Figs. 6-8) [0210-216],
wherein the information from the CHF indicates whether the AM policy association for the UE device is to be established [0231, 0184, 0247, 0258];
determining, by the AMF and based on the obtained at least one of the subscriber-related information or information from the CHF, whether to establish the AM policy association for the UE device (Figs. 6-8) [0174-175, 0211-212, 0218];
Sun also discloses obtaining, by the AMF, at least one of:
subscriber-related information associated with the UE device [0174-175, 0211-212, 0218],
wherein the subscriber-related information indicates whether an access and mobility (AM) policy association for the UE device is to be established (Figs. 6-8) [0211-212, 0231, 0184, 0247,]
Since, all are analogous arts addressing information monitoring and retrieval used in a mobile system; Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Tiwari with Sun to ensure correct user’s credential and policy can be properly used, thus, improving accuracy of billing for the mobile system.
Claim 10 differs from claim 1 only by the additional recitation of the following limitation, which is also taught by the cited prior art. The cited prior art Tiwari further discloses
a system, comprising: at least one device configured to (Fig. 8) [0353]. All other identical limitations are rejected based on the same rationale as shown above.
Claim 18 differs from claim 1 only by the additional recitation of the following limitation, which is also taught by the cited prior art. The cited prior art Tiwari further discloses
a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to (Fig. 8) [0353]. All other identical limitations are rejected based on the same rationale as shown above.
For claims 2, 12, and 19, Tiwari, as modified by Sun, discloses the obtaining comprises: obtaining the subscriber-related information for the UE device from at least one of a unified data management (UDM) device or a unified data repository (UDR) (Fig. 11) [0642-644, 0240-246].
For claims 3, and 20, Tiwari, as modified by Sun, Sun further discloses the obtaining comprises: obtaining the information associated with the UE device from the CHF (Figs. 6-8) [0231, 0275-279, 0174-175]. (see motivation to combine the references from the above)
For claim 4, Tiwari, as modified by Sun, Sun further discloses monitoring, by the CHF, actions performed by the UE device (Figs. 6-8) [0231, 0275-279, 0174-175]; and
signaling, in response to a request from the AMF and based on the monitoring, the AMF to initiate the AM policy association for the UE device [0286-289]. (see motivation to combine the references from the above)
For claim 5, Tiwari, as modified by Sun, discloses the monitoring actions comprises monitoring a number of registrations for the UE device during a period of time [0566, 0722. 0726].
For claims 6 and 15, Tiwari, as modified by Sun, discloses the initiating comprises: transmitting, to a policy control function (PCF), an AM policy association establishment request [0566, 0722. 0726].
For claims 7 and 16, Tiwari as modified by Sun, Sun further discloses the obtaining comprises: obtaining the subscriber-related information, and obtaining the information from the CHF (Figs. 6-8) [0231, 0275-279, 0174-175]. (see motivation to combine the references from the above)
For claim 8, Tiwari further discloses the obtaining comprises: obtaining the subscriber-related information associated with the UE device from at least one of a unified data management (UDM) device or a unified data repository (UDR) (Fig. 11) [0057-67].
But Tiwari doesn’t explicitly disclose the following limitation taught by Sun.
Sun discloses obtaining the information associated with the UE device from the CHF (Figs. 6-8) [0231, 0275-279, 0174-175].
Sun also discloses obtaining the subscriber-related information associated with the UE device from at least one of a unified data management (UDM) device or a unified data repository (UDR) (Figs. 7-12) [0080-85, 0100-102].
Since, all are analogous arts addressing information monitoring and retrieval used in a mobile system; Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Tiwari with Sun to ensure correct user’s credential and policy can be properly used, thus, improving accuracy of billing for the mobile system.
For claims 9 and 17, Tiwari, as modified by Sun, Sun further discloses determining, by the AMF and based on the subscriber-related information and the information from the CHF, whether to establish an AM policy association for the UE device (Figs. 6-8) [0231, 0275-279, 0174-175]. (see motivation to combine the references from the above).
For claim 11, Tiwari, as modified by Sun, discloses the at least one device comprises an access and mobility management function (AMF) and at least one of a unified data management (UDM) device, a unified data repository (UDR) or a charging function (CHF) (Fig. 11) [0057-67].
For claim 13, Tiwari, as modified by Sun, discloses the at least one device is configured to: monitor actions performed by the UE device, and store, based on the monitoring, whether the AM policy association is to be established for the UE device [0566, 0722. 0726].
For claim 14, Tiwari, as modified by Sun, discloses the monitoring actions comprises: monitoring actions performed by the UE device over a period of time [0566, 0722. 0726], and determining whether to initiate the AM policy association for the UE devices based on the monitored actions over the period of time [0566, 0722. 0726].
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to all the claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
In view of amendment, a new reference has been used for new ground of rejections.
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Inquiries
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to PAKEE FANG whose telephone number is (571)270-3633. The Examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 9:00AM-5:00PM. If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, PÉREZ-GUTIÉRREZ RAFAEL can be reached on 571-272-7915. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/PAKEE FANG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409
Prosecution Insights