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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to applicant’s 11/26/2025 amendment or response in the application of GUNDAVELLI et al. for “PRIVATE NETWORK AVAILABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY REPORTING” filed 08/01/2023. The amendment or response to the claims have been entered. Claims 5, 12, and 18 have been canceled. Claims 21-23 have been added. Claims 1-4, 6-11, 13-17, 19-23 are now pending.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6, 8-11, 14-17, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by XIANG et al. (US 2023/0128225 A1), hereinafter XIANG.
Regarding claim 1, XIANG inherently discloses a method comprising:
registering a User Equipment (UE) with a computer network (inherent feature: the UE first must register with the service provider 215, see figure 2);
providing location information about the UE to an Application Function (AF) connected to the computer network (providing the UE location information to the home service provider (SP) comprise of application function, see ¶ 0022, figure 9);
obtaining a partial identifier that specifies a range of private wireless networks selected by the AF (the AF 717 sent the network list to UE 305 as part of report instruction information, see ¶ 0110), the partial identifier comprises a Standalone Non-Public Network (SNPN) identifier with at least one wildcard value (network-initiated mobility when a UE moves between NPNs (or SNPNs), see ¶ 0089, the network sends a message including information including the target network e.g. SNPN ID, see ¶ 0091); and
sending a request to the UE for measurements associated with the range of private wireless networks (sending, by the home SP to the UE, a first message including information associated with the one or more target networks, the second message initiating a network switch changing a serving network of the UE from a current network to one target network of the one or more target networks, see ¶ 0022).
Regarding claim 2, XIANG discloses receiving measurement results from the UE, the measurement results identifying one or more private wireless networks from the range of private wireless networks selected by the AF; and providing the measurement results to the AF (reporting, by the UE to the home SP, measurement information associated with the one or more candidate networks, see ¶ 0010).
Regarding claim 3, XIANG discloses a request for accessibility information in the request for the measurements associated with the range of private wireless networks (receiving, by the UE from the home SP, a second message including network information associated with one or more candidate networks of a network switch involving the UE, the second message being received prior to receiving the first message; measuring, by the UE, the one or more candidate networks in accordance with the network information; and reporting, by the UE to the home SP, measurement information associated with the one or more candidate networks, see ¶ 0010).
Regarding claim 4, XIANG discloses the measurement results include accessibility information associated with the one or more private wireless networks (reporting, by the UE to the home SP, measurement information associated with the one or more candidate networks, see ¶ 0010).
Regarding claim 6, XIANG discloses the AF selects the range of private wireless networks based on one or more of a service type of the private wireless networks, the location information about the UE, or policy preferences (selecting, by the home SP, one or more target networks in accordance with the information; and sending, by the home SP to the UE, a first message including information associated with the one or more target networks, the second message initiating a network switch changing a serving network of the UE from a current network to one target network of the one or more target networks, see ¶ 0022).
Regarding claim 8, XIANG inherently discloses an apparatus comprising:
a network interface configured to communicate with computing devices in one or more computer networks (the gNB 220 or 222 in communicate with service provider 215, see figure 2);
a wireless network interface configured to communicate with a plurality of User Equipment (UE) (the gNB 220 or 222 in communication with a plurality of UEs, see figures 1 and 2); and a processor coupled to the network interface and the wireless network interface, the processor configured to:
register a UE among the plurality of UE for access to the one or more computer networks (inherent feature: the UE first must register with the service provider 215, see figure 2);
cause the network interface to provide location information about the UE to an Application Function (AF) connected to the one or more computer networks (providing the UE location information to the home service provider (SP) comprise of application function, see ¶ 0022, figure 9);
obtaining a partial identifier via the network interface, the partial identifier specifying a range of private wireless networks selected by the AF (the AF 717 sent the network list to UE 305 as part of report instruction information, see ¶ 0110), the partial identifier comprises a Standalone Non-Public Network (SNPN) identifier with at least one wildcard value (network-initiated mobility when a UE moves between NPNs (or SNPNs), see ¶ 0089, the network sends a message including information including the target network e.g. SNPN ID, see ¶ 0091); and
cause the wireless network interface to send a request to the UE for measurements associated with the range of private wireless networks (sending, by the home SP to the UE, a first message including information associated with the one or more target networks, the second message initiating a network switch changing a serving network of the UE from a current network to one target network of the one or more target networks, see ¶ 0022).
Regarding claim 9, XIANG discloses receiving measurement results from the UE, the measurement results identifying one or more private wireless networks from the range of private wireless networks selected by the AF; and providing the measurement results to the AF (reporting, by the UE to the home SP, measurement information associated with the one or more candidate networks, see ¶ 0010).
Regarding claim 10, XIANG discloses a request for accessibility information in the request for the measurements associated with the range of private wireless networks (receiving, by the UE from the home SP, a second message including network information associated with one or more candidate networks of a network switch involving the UE, the second message being received prior to receiving the first message; measuring, by the UE, the one or more candidate networks in accordance with the network information; and reporting, by the UE to the home SP, measurement information associated with the one or more candidate networks, see ¶ 0010).
Regarding claim 11, XIANG discloses the measurement results include accessibility information associated with the one or more private wireless networks (reporting, by the UE to the home SP, measurement information associated with the one or more candidate networks, see ¶ 0010).
Regarding claim 14, XIANG inherently discloses one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions that, when the software is executed on a computing device, is operable to cause a processor of the computing device to:
register a User Equipment (UE) with a computer network (inherent feature: the UE first must register with the service provider 215, see figure 2);
provide location information about the UE to an Application Function (AF) connected to the computer network (providing the UE location information to the home service provider (SP) comprise of application function, see ¶ 0022, figure 9);
obtain a partial identifier that specifies a range of private wireless networks selected by the AF (the AF 717 sent the network list to UE 305 as part of report instruction information, see ¶ 0110), the partial identifier comprises a Standalone Non-Public Network (SNPN) identifier with at least one wildcard value (network-initiated mobility when a UE moves between NPNs (or SNPNs), see ¶ 0089, the network sends a message including information including the target network e.g. SNPN ID, see ¶ 0091); and
send a request to the UE for measurements associated with the range of private wireless networks (sending, by the home SP to the UE, a first message including information associated with the one or more target networks, the second message initiating a network switch changing a serving network of the UE from a current network to one target network of the one or more target networks, see ¶ 0022).
Regarding claim 15, XIANG discloses receiving measurement results from the UE, the measurement results identifying one or more private wireless networks from the range of private wireless networks selected by the AF; and providing the measurement results to the AF (reporting, by the UE to the home SP, measurement information associated with the one or more candidate networks, see ¶ 0010).
Regarding claim 16, XIANG discloses a request for accessibility information in the request for the measurements associated with the range of private wireless networks (receiving, by the UE from the home SP, a second message including network information associated with one or more candidate networks of a network switch involving the UE, the second message being received prior to receiving the first message; measuring, by the UE, the one or more candidate networks in accordance with the network information; and reporting, by the UE to the home SP, measurement information associated with the one or more candidate networks, see ¶ 0010).
Regarding claim 17, XIANG discloses the measurement results include accessibility information associated with the one or more private wireless networks (reporting, by the UE to the home SP, measurement information associated with the one or more candidate networks, see ¶ 0010).
Regarding claim 19, XIANG discloses the AF selects the range of private wireless networks based on one or more of a service type of the private wireless networks, the location information about the UE, or policy preferences (selecting, by the home SP, one or more target networks in accordance with the information; and sending, by the home SP to the UE, a first message including information associated with the one or more target networks, the second message initiating a network switch changing a serving network of the UE from a current network to one target network of the one or more target networks, see ¶ 0022).
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) 7, 13, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over XIANG in view of TALEBI FARD et al. (US 2023/0354463 A1), hereinafter TALEBI FARD.
Regarding claims 7, 13, 20, XIANG fails to disclose that the request for measurements associated with the range of private wireless networks is formatted as a Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration message.
In the same field of endeavor, TALEBI FARD discloses the network entity in a SNPN network uses the RRC configuration message to transmits messages to UE (see ¶ 0232, 0241, 0244).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement TALEBI FARD’s teaching in the network taught by XIANG for providing efficient resource management, where RRC allocates finite resources like bandwidth, time slots, and power to UEs based on network conditions and user needs, ensuring efficient utilization of the radio spectrum.
Claim(s) 21-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over XIANG in view of SUH (US 2023/0133387 A1).
Regarding claims 21-23, XIANG fails to explicitly disclose wherein the at least one wildcard value is provided for a mobile network code (MNC).
In the same field of endeavor, SUH discloses in operation 241, the UE 101 may perform the following process in relation to selection of a network (e.g., PLMN or SNPN) to request for registration. As an example, the PLMN may be identified by a mobile country code (MCC) and a mobile network code (MNC). In particular, in the identification of the SNPN, i.e., a non-public network, a network identity (ID) for identifying the individual network may be used in addition to the MCC and the MNC (see ¶ 0088).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement SUH’s teaching in the network taught by XIANG to comply with 3GPP standard for non-public network.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/26/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. In the cited reference XIANG discloses the following:
In ¶ 0108-0109
Example embodiments provide a new mechanism to allow SP 310 to have knowledge of what networks with which UE 305 has coverage before the network switch. This will help SP 310 to make decision on mobility of UE 305. There are several ways to achieve this: [0109] Option 1: Sending instruction information to allow UE 305 to report to SP 310 the potential target networks and their signaling status in the current location of UE 305. This instruction information can be passed to UE 305 from AF 717 by enhancing NEF 713 or 715, or can be conveyed via an application level protocol. UE 305 can follow the instruction to scan and report the scanning result to AF 717. The report can provide the potential SNPN IDs of the potential target networks which are in the preferred network list of UE 305.
In ¶ 0110:
The preferred network list can be pre-configured in UE 305,or sent by AF 717 as part of report instruction information. The latter case can be sent from AF 717 to UE 305 via NEF/AMF by enhancing the provision capability of UE 305 or the network monitoring capability of UE 305. If AF 717 provides an updated preferred network list to UE 305 via the serving network, UE 305 may replace its preconfigured or existing preferred network list with the updated preferred network list.
As cited above, the UE can obtain the preferred network list (either preconfigured or existing or updated) by receiving from the AF 717, where the preferred network includes the potential SNPN IDs of the potential target networks. The preferred or updated preferred network list includes at least one or more SNPN ID(s). Therefore, the network list (partial identifier) includes at least one of the SNPN ID. The limitation of SNPN identifier includes at least one wildcard value is not given patentable weight for 1) the value is just normal recitation without any functionality claimed or 2) any digit of SNPN ID may be read as the wildcard parameter such as Network ID (NID) or PLMN ID. 3GPP release 161 discloses the SNPN ID address or identifier can be identified by a combination of PLMN ID and NID, where the PLMN ID is composed of 3 digits Mobile Country Code (MCC) + 2- or 3-digit Mobile Network Code (MNC).
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 response to this action should be mailed to:
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Mail Stop _____________
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or faxed to:
(571) 273-8300, (for formal communications intended for entry)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Bob A. Phunkulh whose telephone number is (571) 272-3083. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. (first week of the bi-week) and Monday-Friday (for second week of the bi-week).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor CHARLES C. JIANG can be reach on (571) 270-7191.
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/BOB A PHUNKULH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
1 https://www.3gpp.org/technologies/npn#:~:text=Network%20ID%20(NID)%20was%20introduced,of%20PLMN%20ID%20and%20NID.