DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to Application No. 18/330,343 filed on 6/6/2023. The amendment presented on 1/12/2026, which cancels claims 12-20 and adds new claims 21-29, is hereby acknowledged. Claims 1-11 and 21-29 have been examined.
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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-11 in the reply filed on 1/12/2026 is acknowledged.
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.
Claims 1-4, 6, 21-22, and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (hereinafter Li)(US 2021/0400479) in view of Chen et al. (hereinafter Chen)(US 2021/0392491).
Regarding claims 1, 21, and 28, Li teaches as follows:
An apparatus (interpreted as the mobile wireless device 102 in figure 2) comprising memory (106 in figure 2) communicatively coupled to one or more processors (104 in figure 2), the memory storing instructions to configure the one or more processors to (the processor(s) 104, in conjunction with memory 106, can implement a main operating system (OS) 202 that is configured to execute applications 204, see, ¶ [0026] and figure 2):
mark an electronic subscriber identity module (eSIM) profile in a user-accessible cellular settings as activating or inactive (a diagram 500 of an exemplary monitor mode state machine for initial activation of an eSIM 208 for a secondary mobile wireless device 102B. At 502, an eSIM 208 is installed and activated for a first time on a secondary mobile wireless device 102B, see, ¶ [0031] and figure 5);
initiate an eSIM activation monitoring mode after enabling the eSIM profile (at 504, the secondary mobile wireless device 102B initiates the monitor mode state machine and configures one or more timers after the eSIM was installed at 502, see, ¶ [0031] and figure 5);
while in the eSIM activation monitoring mode:
determine whether one or more eSIM activation criteria for a mobile network operator (MNO) associated with the eSIM profile are satisfied (at 506, the secondary mobile wireless device 102B monitors registration status (equivalent to applicant’s determining eSIM activation criteria) for the secondary mobile wireless device 102B to determine whether the secondary mobile wireless device 102B has successfully attached to a cellular wireless network of the MNO 114 associated with the newly installed eSIM 208, see, ¶ [0031] and figure 5); and
after the one or more eSIM activation criteria for the MNO associated with the eSIM profile are satisfied exiting the eSIM activation monitoring mode (at 506, the secondary mobile wireless device 102B can attempt to attach to an access portion of the cellular wireless network of the MNO 114. Successful attachment to the cellular wireless network of the MNO 114, indicated at 522, causes the secondary mobile wireless device 102B to exit the monitor mode with an attachment success indication at 524, see, ¶ [0031] and figure 5).
Li does not explicitly teach marking or updating eSIM activation status in the user-accessible cellular settings.
Chen teaches as follows:
A user device can determine an activation status of the user device and/or the SIM based on an activation flag (equivalent to applicant’s user-accessible cellular settings) that is included in the SIM (e.g., included in the SIM profile). The activation flag may be updated while the user device and/or the SIM is subscribed with a service provider. For example, the activation flag may indicate that the user device and/or the SIM is activated, not activated, and/or the like (see, ¶ [0009]); and
the SIM of the user device 105 may update an activation flag included in a SIM profile of the SIM of the user device 105 based on the response from the SIM OTA device. For example, as shown by reference number 245, if the response indicates that the activation status is not activated, the SIM of the user device 105 may set the activation flag to indicate that the activation status is not activated (see, ¶ [0038] and figure 240 in figure 2); and
if the response indicates that the activation status is activated, the SIM of the user device 105 may set the activation flag to indicate that the activation status is activated (see, ¶ [0039] and 255 in figure 2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li with Chen to include the activation flag as taught by Chen in order to efficiently update activation status of the eSIM profile.
Regarding claim 2, Li teaches as follows:
Wherein the one or more eSIM activation criteria for the MNO are satisfied when the wireless device successfully attaches to a cellular wireless access network of the MNO using the eSIM profile (successful attachment to the cellular wireless network of the MNO 114, indicated at 522, causes the secondary mobile wireless device 102B to exit the monitor mode with an attachment success indication at 524, see, ¶ [0031] and figure 5).
Regarding claim 3, Li does not explicitly teach the attach success message.
Chen teaches as follows:
The SIM of the user device 105 may transmit a request to attach to the network, and the network may transmit a response (equivalent to applicant’s attach success message) indicating whether the request to attach to the network is granted, see, ¶ [0035] and figure 2).
Therefore, it is rejected for similar reason as presented above.
Regarding claim 4, Li teaches as follows:
Wherein the one or more eSIM activation criteria for the MNO are satisfied when the wireless device receives a response message from an MNO entitlement server indicating an activated status for a cellular wireless service subscription account (the secondary mobile wireless device 102B can obtain information from an entitlement server 702 of an MNO 114, e.g., using a get SIM status (GSS) query and/or a PSAS query, see, ¶ [0034] and figure 7).
Regarding claims 6 and 22, Li teaches the eSIM activation monitoring mode as presented above.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li in view of Chen to include preventing internet data connection via the eSIM profile during the eSIM activation monitoring mode because the eSIM activation was not completed before the eSIM activation monitoring mode in order to protect the wireless network from unauthorized eSIMs.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (hereinafter Li)(US 2021/0400479) in view of Chen et al. (hereinafter Chen)(US 2021/0392491), and further in view of Ellison et al. (hereinafter Ellison)(US 2017/0012844).
Regarding claim 5, Li in view of Chen teaches all limitations as presented above except for the socket connection.
Ellison teaches as follows:
The method includes one or more computer processors receiving a request to create a network socket to transfer data (see, ¶ [0004]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li in view of Chen with Ellison to include the socket connection as taught by Ellison in order to efficiently transfer data between two endpoints.
Claims 7-10, 23-26, and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (hereinafter Li)(US 2021/0400479) in view of Chen et al. (hereinafter Chen)(US 2021/0392491), and further in view of Avula et al. (hereinafter Avula)(US 2021/0051478).
Regarding claims 7-8, 23-24, and 29, Li teaches as follows:
The eUICC OS 206 can also be configured to manage eSIMs 208 that are stored by the eUICC 108, e.g., by downloading, installing, deleting, enabling, disabling, modifying, or otherwise performing management of the eSIMs 208 within the eUICC 108 and to provide baseband wireless circuitry 110 with access to the eSIMs 208 to provide access to wireless services for the mobile wireless device 102 (see, ¶ [0026] and figure 2).
Therefore, Li in view of Chen teaches all limitations as presented above except for a data-only eSIM profile.
Avula teaches as follows:
Techniques may be described herein for detection of unregistered UEs in CBRS deployments and provisioning of those UEs with an eSIM profile that provides limited services/access (see, ¶ [0036]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li in view of Chen with Avula to include the eSIM profile with limited service of data in order to efficiently manage access control based on each eSIM profile.
Regarding claims 9 and 25, Li in view of Chen teaches all limitations as presented above except for the attach rejection message.
Avula teaches as follows:
UE 105 may provide to private wireless network 115 (via wireless AP 110) a request to join private wireless network 115 (e.g., an attach request message). Private wireless network 115 may determine that UE 105 is unregistered with private wireless network 115, and wireless AP 110 may obtain, from private wireless network 115, an indication that UE 105 is unregistered with private wireless network 115 (e.g., an attach reject message)(see, ¶ [0014]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li in view of Chen with Avula to include the attach reject message as taught by Avula in order to efficiently respond to the attach request message.
Regarding claims 10 and 26, Li in view of Chen teaches all limitations as presented above except for the subscription status message indicating a depleted data allocation (interpreted as the eSIM with expired subscription period).
Avula teaches as follows:
HSS 140 may send an API push to the SM-DS interface which in turn performs an API call for eSIM operations for loading the limited network access eSIM profile on eSIM 165. Wireless AP 110 may also specify a time limit for the guest access (e.g., the profile may define time expiry). That is, the configured profile may have limited time availability from a service point of view (see, ¶ [0018]); and
techniques may be described herein for detection of unregistered UEs in CBRS deployments and provisioning of those UEs with an eSIM profile that provides limited services/access. This guest-like workflow may be used in CBRS implementations in enterprise deployments. UEs may be identified by a wireless AP or MME in the private wireless network (e.g., private LTE network) by intercepting attach procedure messages and identifying a specified rejection cause (see, ¶ [0036]).
Therefore, Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li in view of Chen with Avula to include the specified rejection cause of expired subscription in order to efficiently manage network connectivity based on current eSIM profile.
Claims 11 and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (hereinafter Li)(US 2021/0400479) in view of Chen et al. (hereinafter Chen)(US 2021/0392491) and Avula et al. (hereinafter Avula)(US 2021/0051478), and further in view of Ellison et al. (hereinafter Ellison)(US 2017/0012844).
Regarding claims 11 and 27, Li in view of Chen and Avula teaches all limitations as presented above except for detecting failure to read data via a socket connection.
Ellison teaches as follows:
The method includes one or more computer processors receiving a request to create a network socket to transfer data (see, ¶ [0004]); and
network socket morphing program 300 determines whether a failure was detected during the transfer of data between client endpoint 115 and server endpoint 122 (see, ¶ [0050] and figure 3).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li in view of Chen and Avula with Ellison to include the network socket morphing program as taught by Ellison in order to efficiently detect a failure during the transfer of data via the network socket.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jeong S Park whose telephone number is (571)270-1597. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 8:00-4:30 ET.
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/JEONG S PARK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454
February 3, 2026