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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 07/02/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that examination of all pending claims would not impose a serious search or examination burden. This is not found persuasive because Group I, Group II, and Group III are directed to different embodiments as disclosed in the specification with specific distinct process that require different search strategies/queries.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Gurumoorthy et al. (US 2022/0361132 A1) (Guru herein after).
Re Claim 1, Guru discloses an information processing method for a first communication device, comprising:
obtaining first information, the first information comprising at least one of: paging cause capability information of a network (NW may respond to the UE with a registration accept or attach accept message that contains NW capability information [0127]), a paging message received from a first network and related to a terminal, first indication information, second indication information, or paging cause capability information of the terminal; and
performing a first operation according to the first information, wherein the first operation comprises at least one of: performing an operation of determining a paging cause or not performing an operation of determining a paging cause, determining that the first network supports a paging cause function or determining that the first network does not support a paging cause function (The NW capability information may indicate whether the NW supports differentiation between short and long switching (i.e., if the NW can selectively perform either of short and long switching in different switching scenarios). When the NW does support selective switching behavior, it may further indicate in the NW capability information which of the switching attributes requested by the UE are supported to trigger different switching types (i.e., long or short) [0127]), or an access stratum (AS) of the terminal sending a determined paging cause value to a non-access stratum (NAS) of the terminal,
wherein
the paging cause capability information of a network is used for indicating one of: the network supporting the paging cause function, and the network not supporting the paging cause function (during an initial registration or attachment procedure, the NW may specify whether it supports transmitting the paging cause indicator [0132]);
the paging cause capability information of the terminal is used for indicating one of: the terminal supporting the paging cause function, and the terminal not supporting the paging cause function; the first indication information is used for indicating one of: the terminal being in a multiple universal subscriber identity module (multi-USIM) mode, and the terminal being in a non-multi-USIM mode; and the second indication information is used for indicating one of: requiring to perform an operation of determining a paging cause, and not requiring to perform an operation of determining a paging cause.
Re Claim 2, Guru discloses the information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the operation of determining a paging cause comprises at least one of: determining that the paging cause is a first value (during an initial registration or attachment procedure, the NW may specify whether it supports transmitting the paging cause indicator [0132]), determining that the paging cause is a second value, or determining that the paging cause is unknown,
wherein the first value comprises at least one of: a voice (a page from the network may include a paging cause indicator that informs the UE that the current incoming page is for a voice call [0131]), a short message, IP multimedia core network subsystem (IMS) signaling, control plane signaling, or system message change; the second value comprises one of: a non voice, other values except the value range of the first value, and other paging causes that trigger paging except the value range of the first value; and the value range of the first value comprises at least one of: a voice, a short message, IMS signaling, or control plane signaling.
Re Claim 3, Guru discloses the information processing method according to claim 2, wherein the operation of determining that the paging cause is a first value comprises: in a case that a first condition is met (during an initial registration or attachment procedure, the NW may specify whether it supports transmitting the paging cause indicator [0132]), determining that the paging cause is the first value, wherein the first condition comprises at least one of:
the paging message containing information for indicating that a cause for paging the terminal is the first value (support indication may be transmitted as part of a registration accept or radio network area (RNA) update message (e.g., in a 5G NR network) or as part of an attach accept or tracking area update (TAU) message (e.g., in an LTE network) [0132]); or the terminal being in a multi-USIM mode; or the operation of determining that the paging cause is a second value comprises: in a case that a second condition is met, determining that the paging cause is the second value, wherein the second condition comprises at least one of: the first network supporting a paging cause function; the paging message not containing paging cause related information related to the terminal; the paging message not containing information for indicating that the cause for paging the terminal is the first value; the paging message containing information for indicating that the cause for paging the terminal is the second value; the terminal supporting a paging cause function; or the terminal being in a multi-USIM mode; or the operation of determining that the paging cause is unknown or the condition of not performing an operation of determining a paging cause comprises: in a case that a third condition is met, performing at least one of: determining that the paging cause is unknown, or not performing the operation of determining the paging cause, wherein the third condition comprises at least one of: the first network not supporting a paging cause function; the paging message not containing related information for indicating a paging cause or a first paging record list; the paging message not containing information for indicating that the cause for paging the terminal is a first value; the paging message not containing information for indicating that the cause for paging the terminal is a second value; the terminal not supporting a paging cause function; or the terminal being in a non-multi-USIM mode.
Re Claim 4, Guru discloses the information processing method according to claim 2, wherein the first network supporting a paging cause function comprises:
determining that the first network supports a paging cause function according to at least one of:
obtaining the paging cause capability information of a network from the first network;
the paging cause capability information of the network indicating that the network supports the paging cause function; or
the paging message containing information related to a paging cause (a page from the network may include a paging cause indicator that informs the UE that the current incoming page is for a voice call [0131]).
Re Claim 5, Guru discloses the information processing method according to claim 3, wherein the first network supporting a paging cause function comprises:
an radio access network (RAN) of the first network supporting a paging cause function (When paging a wireless device in RRC inactive state, RNA specific parameters may be used by the RAN, for example including a UE specific discontinuous reception (DRX) and UE Identity Index value (e.g., I-RNTI). [0089]); and
the RAN of the first network supporting a paging cause function comprises: the paging message containing related information for indicating a paging cause (a page from the network may include a paging cause indicator that informs the UE that the current incoming page is for a voice call [0131]) or a first paging record list.
Re Claim 6, Guru discloses the information processing method according to claim 5, wherein the related information for indicating a paging cause comprises at least one of: a paging record list for indicating a cause for paging the terminal (paging cause indicator in the paging message enables the UE to distinguish between the three cases of 1) the NW sending a page for a voice call, 2) the NW sending a page that is not for a voice call, and 3) the NW sending a page where it is unknown whether it is for a voice call or not. [0133]); information of the number of terminals for indicating that the paging cause is a first value; information of the number of terminals for indicating that the paging cause is a second value; or a bit sequence for indicating that the paging cause is a first value and/or a second value.
Re Claim 7, Guru discloses the information processing method according to claim 5, wherein the first paging record list comprises at least one of: a paging record list related to a multi-USIM terminal; or a paging record list related to a terminal supporting the paging cause function; wherein the paging record list related to the multi-USIM terminal only contains paging records related to the multi-USIM terminal, the paging record list related to the terminal supporting the paging cause function only contains paging records related to the terminal supporting the paging cause function (claim 5 require only the limitation of “paging message containing related information for indicating a paging cause” only).
Re Claim 8, Guru discloses the information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining paging cause capability information of a network comprises: obtaining the paging cause capability information of a network from at least one of a network element of a core network (CN) of the first network (Each base station 102 may also be equipped to communicate with a core network 100 (base station 102A may be coupled to core network 100A, while base station 102B may be coupled to core network 100B), which may be a core network of a cellular service provider [0055]) or a network element of an RAN of the first network; and/or the obtaining first indication information and/or second indication information comprises: the AS of the terminal obtains first indication information and/or second indication information from the NAS of the terminal.
Re Claim 9, Guru discloses the information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the paging cause capability information of a network comprises at least one of: paging cause capability information of each network supported by a cell or an RAN (during an initial registration or attachment procedure, the NW may specify whether it supports transmitting the paging cause indicator [0132]); or paging cause capability information for each area.
Re Claim 10, Guru discloses the information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the paging cause capability information of a network comprises at least one of:
paging cause capability information of a CN, or paging cause capability information of an RAN (The NW capability information may indicate whether the NW supports differentiation between short and long switching (i.e., if the NW can selectively perform either of short and long switching in different switching scenarios). When the NW does support selective switching behavior, it may further indicate in the NW capability information which of the switching attributes requested by the UE are supported to trigger different switching types (i.e., long or short) [0127]),
wherein the paging cause capability information of a CN is used for indicating one of: the CN supporting the paging cause function, and the CN not supporting the paging cause function;
the paging cause capability information of an RAN is used for indicating one of: the RAN supporting the paging cause function, and the RAN not supporting the paging cause function (during an initial registration or attachment procedure, the NW may specify whether it supports transmitting the paging cause indicator [0132]);
and/or the determining that the first network supports a paging cause function comprises: in a case that a sixteenth condition is met, determining that the first network supports a paging cause function, wherein the sixteenth condition comprises at least one of: the paging cause capability information of a network indicating at least one of: the first network supporting a paging cause function, the network element of the CN of the first network supporting a paging cause function, or the network element of the RAN of the first network supporting a paging cause function, or the paging message containing related information for indicating a paging cause or a first paging record list; and/or the determining that the first network does not support a paging cause function comprises: in a case that a seventeenth condition is met, determining that the first network does not support a paging cause function, wherein the seventeenth condition comprises at least one of: the paging cause capability information of a network indicating at least one of: the first network not supporting a paging cause function, the network element of the CN of the first network not supporting a paging cause function, or the network element of the RAN of the first network not supporting a paging cause function, or the paging message not containing
related information for indicating a paging cause or a first paging record list.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hong (US 2023/0300793 A1) – method for sending paging cause and method of acquiring paging cause
Kumar et al. (US 2022/0330202 A1) – method and system for providing paging cause to MUSIM user equipment
Liang et al. (US 2019/0313364 A1) – paging method for determining a paging type
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KENNETH T LAM whose telephone number is (571)270-1862. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hannah S. Wang can be reached at (571) 272-9018. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/KENNETH T LAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631
Prosecution Insights