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
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on June 30, 2026 has been entered. Claims 1-20 are currently pending and an Office action on the merits follows.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
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.
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, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 19, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pub No.: US-20230135667-A1 (herein “Lee”), and further in view of Pub No.: US-20250071668-A1 (herein “Tiwari”).
Claims 1, 9, and 17
Consider claim 1, Lee teaches a method comprising:
receiving, by one or more network devices, a new network slice configuration notification pertaining to an end device (see Lee Fig. 2, Fig. 5, [0075], [0080], [0119] note the AMF receives subscription info response 218 and slice info response 222 with slice information);
transmitting, by the one or more network devices, a first message, which includes a new network slice configuration, to the end device (see Lee Fig. 2, Fig. 5, [0081], [0088] note the AMF transmits the registration accept with the slice information);
receiving, by the one or more network devices, a second message that includes registration support information (see Lee Fig. 2, Fig. 5, [0091], [0123] note the AMF receives the slice update information 510), wherein the registration support information indicates at last a first time period during which or a first location at which the end device is to re-register with the one or more network devices (see Lee [0076], [0107], [0113]-[0116], [0123], [0127] note indicating the slice is available for a specific location, a specific time, a specific period, or a specific application),
transmitting, by the one or more network devices, a third message, which includes the registration support information, to the end device (see Lee Fig. 5, [0126] note AMF transmits the UE configuration update 514 for the new allowed slice); and
performing, by the one or more network devices, the re-registration procedure initiated by the end device based on the registration support information (see Lee Fig. 4, Fig. 7, [0113]-[0115], [0140] note the UE performs re-registration procedure).
Lee fails to teach at least a second time period or a second location that the end device can access an updated network slice included in the new network slice configuration, wherein the first time period differs from the second time period and the first location differs from the second location. Tiwari teaches the creation of a new URSP rule for available network slice selection for registration or re-registration via the URSP rules updates where the URSP rules updates indicate a list of network slices that are available to the UE along with their availability details including at least one location where each slice is available (see Tiwari Fig. 9, [0458], [0477]-[0483]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Lee to include the recited teaching of Tiwari. Such a modification would improve Lee by allowing the UE to receive services/applications requiring a network slice not offered in the serving network but available in the area of other networks (see Tiwari [0002]).
Claim(s) 9 and 17 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 1.
Claims 2, 10, and 19
Consider claim 2, Lee as modified by Tiwari teaches wherein the new network slice configuration notification is received after the end device has registered with the one or more network devices (see Lee Fig. 2, Fig. 5, [0081], [0088] note the AMF transmits the registration accept with the slice information prior to the slice update notification 510).
Claim(s) 10 and 19 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 2.
Claims 3 and 11
Consider claim 3, Lee as modified by Tiwari teaches wherein the registration support information correlates to at least one network slice included in the new network slice configuration (see Lee Fig. 5, [0123] note notifying the AMF that the slice is available at a time/location when the slice is available).
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 3.
Claims 4 and 12
Consider claim 4, Lee as modified by Tiwari teaches wherein the registration support information is included in a new user equipment route selection policy (URSP) rule (see Tiwari Fig. 9, [0458], [0477]-[0483] creation of a new URSP rule for available network slice selection for registration or re-registration).
Claims 8, 16, and 20
Consider claim 8, Lee as modified by Tiwari teaches wherein the one or more network device are an access and mobility management function (AMF) (see Lee Fig. 5, Fig. 11, note AMF 120).
Claim(s) 16 and 20 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 8.
Claim(s) 5 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee as modified by Tiwari, and further in view of Pub. No.: US-20230309047-A1 (herein “Casati”).
Claims 5 and 13
Consider claim 5, Lee fails to teach further comprising: receiving, by the one or more network devices, a response to the third message from the end device; and transmitting, by the one or more network devices, the response to a policy control function device of a core network. Casati explains UE configuration update procedure with transparent UE policy delivery from the AMF to the UE which the UE responds to the AMF with the result of the UE policy update and the AMF forwards the response to the PCF using Namf_Conmmunication_N1MessageNotify (see Casati Fig. 3, Fig. 4, [0090]-[0096], [0101]-[0103]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Lee to include the recited teaching of Casati. Such a modification would improve Lee by providing acknowledgement that the UE has been successfully configured to the PCF (see Casati [0103]).
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 5.
Claim(s) 7 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee as modified by Tiwari, and further in view of Pub No.: US-20200322879-A1 (herein “Zhu”).
Claims 7 and 15
Consider claim 7, Lee as modified by Tiwari fails to state wherein the first message and the third message are non-access stratum messages. Zhu explains the AMF sending the UE NAS messages to notify the terminal with network slice information (see Zhu Fig. 7, [0218]-[0220]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Lee as modified by Tiwari to include the recited teaching of Zhu. Such a modification would improve Lee as modified by Tiwari by improving service capability of the user terminal (see Zhu [0016]).
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 7.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6, 14, and 18 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARCUS C HAMMONDS whose telephone number is (571)270-3193. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00AM-6:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, ALISON T. SLATER can be reached at (571)270-0375. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARCUS HAMMONDS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
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