Detailed Action
1. This Office Action is in response to the Applicant’s communication filed on 02/02/2024. In virtue of this communication, claims 1-18 are currently pending in this Office Action.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
3. Applicant’s claim for the benefit of continuation application PCT/JP2022/029640 as ADS filed on 02/02/2024 under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) and 37 CFR 1.78 is acknowledged.
Claim Objections
4. Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informalities: “a user equipment” and “a random access procedure” may raise an antecedent basis issue as independent claim 1 have recited the UE. Similarly, check claims 9 & 15 as well. Appropriate correction is required.
See MPEP § 2173.05(e).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
6. The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4.Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
7. Claims 1-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao et al. Pub. No.: US 2023/0029004 A1 in view of Son et al. Pub. No.: US 2021/0385777 A1.
Claim 1
Gao discloses a communication control (fig. 1-15 for cell reselection based on slice information) method used in a mobile communication system comprising:
a user equipment (UE in fig. 1-3) and a network node (RAN node in fig. 1), and being capable of performing wireless communication between the user equipment and the network node (see fig. 1, 6-7 & 15 for communication between the UE and RAN node), the communication control method comprising steps of:
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performing, by the user equipment (storage unit 210 in fig. 2), an operation relating to a slice group (network slice group in par. 0181, 0183 & 0201) of network slicing (400 in fig. 4 and par. 0166, the UE receives from a NG-RAN the slice specific or network slices as depicted in fig. 5; 600 in fig. 6 for performing RACH resource information; par. 0250, the UE receives multiple slice specific or RACH resource information);
decoding, by the user equipment, log information (fig. 5 for slice information as to log information or fig. 10 or network slice group in par. 0201) in a memory (storage unit 210 in fig. 2) during the operation relating to the slice group (600 in fig. 6 for determining resource information or slice information to utilize as depicted in fig. 7-13; see par. 0251-0252); and
transmitting, by the user equipment, the log information to the network node (402 in fig. 4 and 602 in fig. 6 for selecting slice ID or network slice group ID will be transmitted from UE to RAN node as depicted in fig. 1 such as RANDOM access or RRC setup request).
Although Gao does not explicitly show: “recording, by the user equipment, log information”, the claim limitations are considered obvious by the following rationales.
Initially, it’s important to note that claim does not specifically define what are included for log information. In accordance with MPEP 2111, log information could be reasonably interpreted as S-NASSI 1 or SG ID 1 or resource information.
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Recall that Gao discloses UE for utilizing multiple slice specific or access category specific RACH resource information (par. 0250-0252). It means that UE would have to store slice information or resource information to utilize them. Storing information in memory of UE is intrinsic feature such as a call log. Evidence for storing network slice information could be seen in Son. In particular, Son teaches configuration information related to the network slice stored in the terminal (see tables in par. 0048-0049).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify slice specific information of Gao by providing network slice for roaming terminal in a wireless communication system as taught in Son. Such a modification would have provided a network slicing for mobile communication terminal to roam between the mobile communication service providers so that the wireless data traffic would have met the demand from 5 G wireless network and beyond as suggested in par. 0002-0009 of Son.
Claim 2
Gao, in view of Son, discloses the communication control method according to claim 1, wherein
the performing the operation relating to a slice group includes performing, by a user equipment, a random access procedure using a resource associated with a slice group (Gao, fig. 4 & 6 for performing RACH as depicted in fig. 1, see slice group in par. 0182, S-NSSAI and par. 0188; Son, Table 1-2 in par. 0048-0049 for Slice ID and SG ID);
the recording includes recording, by the user equipment, first log information in a memory (Son, par. 0048 for storing configuration information including network slice stored in terminal), the first log information being acquired when the random access procedure is performed (Gao, cell reselect or select based on slice specific information in fig. 4 & 6; see Table 1-2 in par. 0048-0049 of Son); and
the transmitting includes transmitting, by the user equipment, the first log information to a network node (Gao, performing random access information based on slice specific or access category specific RACH resource, i.e., log information, in 602 of fig. 6 for transmission for RACH procedure in fig. 1; Son, slice ID and SG ID in par. 0048-0049; and thus, the combined prior art renders the claim obvious).
Claim 3
Gao, in view of Son, discloses the communication control method according to claim 2, wherein the first log information is at least one selected from the group consisting of an identifier of the slice group associated with the resource (Gao, par. 0183; Son, par. 0048-0049 for SG ID), information relating to a random access occasion (Gao, PRACH occasion in fig. 13), information relating to a preamble (Gao, preamble in fig. 10 & 13-14), and information indicating a priority random access purpose to a slice (Gao, reselection priority in par. 0182-0185; for these reasons, the combined prior art meets the claim requirement).
Claim 4
Gao, in view of Son, discloses the communication control method according to claim 2, wherein the user equipment receives a parameter for the slice-specific RACH from the network node before the operation relating to a slice group (Gao, network slice group or a list of S-NSSAI in par. 0183, see preamble in fig. 10 and parameter for PRACH in fig. 13; Son, slice group ID in par. 0048-0049; accordingly, the combined prior art renders the claim obvious).
Claim 5
Gao, in view of Son, discloses the communication control method according to claim 2, wherein the first log information includes one of a number of random access preambles transmitted from the user equipment (Gao, preamble in fig. 10 & 13), a total number of consecutive random access preambles transmitted from the user equipment (Gao, number of RACH occasions in par. 0217 and see fig. 13), and contention detection (the combined prior art meets the claim’s condition as alternative limitation, see Markush claims in MPEP 2117).
Claim 6
Gao, in view of Son, discloses the communication control method according to claim 2, wherein the first log information includes one of a cell ID of a cell in which the slice-specific RACH is performed (Gao, RACH in fig. 6 as depicted in fig. 1, see PCI in par. 0179), a random access purpose (Gao, RACH procedure in fig. 6), and the number of RACH occasions (Gao, the number of RACH occasions in par. 0217 and see fig. 13; for these reasons, the combined prior art renders the claim obvious).
Claim 7
Gao, in view of Son, discloses the communication control method according to claim 2, wherein the first log information includes one of a slice identifier associated with a physical random access channel resource on which the RACH attempt is performed (Gao, slice ID or group IN in par. 0178, fig. 6 for RACH and the cell reselection priority in par. 0180-0182; Son, S-NASSAI 1 in par. 0048-0049), resource information or resource ID for the RO on which the RACH attempt is performed (Gao, PRACH Index and occasion index in fig. 13), resource information or resource ID for a preamble on which the RACH attempt is performed (Gao, preamble in fig. 10), information indicating a priority RACH purpose (Gao, priority in par. par. 0187-0188), and an identifier of a slice or slice group to which the priority RACH is performed (Gao, cell reselection priority in par. 0188; Son, par. 0048-0049 for S-NSSAI 1 or SG ID; accordingly, the combined prior art meets the claim requirement).
Claim 8
Gao, in view of Son, discloses the communication control method according to claim 2, wherein the first log information includes one of a time stamp (the combined prior art meets the claim’s condition as alternative limitation, see Markush claims in MPEP 2117), position information (Gao, RACH resource in frequency domain, timer domain, preamble domain in par. 0202), and a radio condition (the combined prior art meets the claim’s condition as alternative limitation, see Markush claims in MPEP 2117).
Claim 9
Gao, in view of Son, discloses the communication control method according to claim 1, wherein the performing the operation relating to a slice group includes performing, by a user equipment, slice-specific cell reselection using a prioritized frequency mapped per slice group (Gao, fig. 4 & 6 for performing RACH as depicted in fig. 1 and cell reselection based on slice specific in fig. 6, see slice group in par. 0182, S-NSSAI and par. 0188, and see frequency in fig. 7-9, 11 & 14; Son, Table 1-2 in par. 0048-0049 for Slice ID and SG ID);
the recording includes recording, by the user equipment, second log information in a memory (Son, 0048-0049 for storing slice ID and slice group ID), the second log information being acquired when the slice-specific cell reselection is performed (Gao, fig. 4 for slice specific cell reselection or selection); and
the transmitting includes transmitting, by the user equipment, the second log information to a network node (Gao, fig. 4 would include transmission steps as depicted in fig. 1; accordingly, one of ordinary skill in the art would have expected the combined prior art to perform equally well to the claim).
Claim 10
Gao, in view of Son, discloses the communication control method according to claim 9, wherein the second log information is at least one selected from the group consisting of an identifier of a desired slice group (Gao, cell selection comprises group ID of the S-NASSI groups in par. 0175 & 0178; Son, S-NASSI ID or SG ID in par. 0048-0049), information indicating that the slice-specific cell reselection has been completed or has failed, information indicating existing in a cell supporting or not supporting the identifier of the desired slice group, information indicating existing in a cell supporting or not supporting priority access to the desired slice group, and information of a reselected cell or a frequency (the combined prior art meets the claim’s condition as alternative limitation, see Markush claims in MPEP 2117).
Claim 11
Gao, in view of Son, discloses the communication control method according to claim 9, wherein the second log information includes one of information indicating which cell or frequency is reselected in order of the priority specified by the slice-specific cell reselection parameter (Gao, cell selection based on slice specific in fig. 4 and cell reselection priority per network slice or network slice group in par. 0181), information for reselected cell or frequency, a cell ID for reselected cell or frequency, and an absolute radio-frequency channel number (ARFCN) for reselected cell or frequency (the combined prior art meets the claim’s condition as alternative limitation, see Markush claims in MPEP 2117).
Claim 12
Gao, in view of Son, discloses the communication control method according to claim 9, wherein the second log information includes one of an identifier of a desired slice or intended slice (Gao, fig. 4 for selecting or reselecting cell with slice specific and see par. 0177-0178, S-NASSI or group ID for network slices), information indicating that the slice-specific cell reselection is failed (the combined prior art meets the claim’s condition as alternative limitation, see Markush claims in MPEP 2117), information indicating existing in a cell not support the slice, information indicating existing in a cell not supporting priority access for the slice, and information of the reselected cell or frequency (the combined prior art meets the claim’s condition as alternative limitation, see Markush claims in MPEP 2117).
Claim 13
Gao, in view of Son, discloses the communication control method according to claim 9, wherein the second log information includes one of a time stamp (the combined prior art meets the claim’s condition as alternative limitation, see Markush claims in MPEP 2117), position information (Gao, RACH resource in frequency domain, timer domain, preamble domain in par. 0202), and a radio condition (the combined prior art meets the claim’s condition as alternative limitation, see Markush claims in MPEP 2117).
Claim 14
Gao discloses a mobile communication system (a wireless communication system in fig. 1-15) comprising:
a user equipment (UE in fig. 1-2); and
a network node (RAN node in fig. 1 & 3) performing wireless communication with the user equipment (RAN node transmits system information to UE for performing Random Access procedure in fig. 1);
wherein the user equipment comprising transceiver circuitry (communication unit 220 in fig. 2) and processing circuitry (processor 200 in fig. 2) operatively associated with the transceiver circuitry and configured to execute processes (processor 200 in fig. 2 would execute program code 212 to perform RACH procedure in fig. 1, 4, 6 & 15 via communication unit 220) of:
performing, by the user equipment (storage unit 210 in fig. 2), an operation relating to a slice group (network slice group in par. 0181, 0183 & 0201) of network slicing (400 in fig. 4 and par. 0166, the UE receives from a NG-RAN the slice specific or network slices as depicted in fig. 5; 600 in fig. 6 for performing RACH resource information; par. 0250, the UE receives multiple slice specific or RACH resource information);
decoding, by the user equipment, log information (fig. 5 for slice information as to log information or fig. 10 or network slice group in par. 0201) in a memory (storage unit 210 in fig. 2) during the operation relating to the slice group (600 in fig. 6 for determining resource information or slice information to utilize as depicted in fig. 7-13; see par. 0251-0252); and
transmitting, by the user equipment, the log information to the network node (402 in fig. 4 and 602 in fig. 6 for selecting slice ID or network slice group ID will be transmitted from UE to RAN node as depicted in fig. 1 such as RANDOM access or RRC setup request).
Although Gao does not explicitly show: “recording, by the user equipment, log information”, the claim limitations are considered obvious by the following rationales.
Initially, it’s important to note that claim does not specifically define what are included for log information. In accordance with MPEP 2111, log information could be reasonably interpreted as S-NASSI 1 or SG ID 1 or resource information.
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Recall that Gao discloses UE for utilizing multiple slice specific or access category specific RACH resource information (par. 0250-0252). It means that UE would have to store slice information or resource information to utilize them. Storing information in memory of UE is intrinsic feature such as a call log. Evidence for storing network slice information could be seen in Son. In particular, Son teaches configuration information related to the network slice stored in the terminal (see tables in par. 0048-0049).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify slice specific information of Gao by providing network slice for roaming terminal in a wireless communication system as taught in Son. Such a modification would have provided a network slicing for mobile communication terminal to roam between the mobile communication service providers so that the wireless data traffic would have met the demand from 5 G wireless network and beyond as suggested in par. 0002-0009 of Son.
Claim 15
Gao, in view of Son, discloses the mobile communication system according to claim 14, wherein the performing the operation relating to a slice group includes performing, by a user equipment, a random access procedure using a resource associated with a slice group (Gao, fig. 4 & 6 for performing RACH as depicted in fig. 1, see slice group in par. 0182, S-NSSAI and par. 0188; Son, Table 1-2 in par. 0048-0049 for Slice ID and SG ID);
the recording includes recording, by the user equipment, first log information in a memory (Son, par. 0048 for storing configuration information including network slice stored in terminal), the first log information being acquired when the random access procedure is performed (Gao, cell reselect or select based on slice specific information in fig. 4 & 6; see Table 1-2 in par. 0048-0049 of Son); and
the transmitting includes transmitting, by the user equipment, the first log information to a network node (Gao, performing random access information based on slice specific or access category specific RACH resource, i.e., log information, in 602 of fig. 6 for transmission for RACH procedure in fig. 1; Son, slice ID and SG ID in par. 0048-0049; and thus, the combined prior art renders the claim obvious).
Claim 16
Gao, in view of Son, discloses the mobile communication system according to claim 15, wherein the first log information includes one of an identifier of the slice group associated with the resource (Gao, par. 0183; Son, par. 0048-0049 for SG ID), information relating to a random access occasion Gao, PRACH occasion in fig. 13), information relating to a preamble (Gao, preamble in fig. 10 & 13-14), and information indicating a priority random access purpose to a slice (Gao, reselection priority in par. 0182-0185; for these reasons, the combined prior art meets the claim requirement).
Claim 17
Gao, in view of Son, discloses the mobile communication system according to claim 15, wherein the user equipment receives parameter for the slice-specific RACH from the network node before the operation relating to a slice group (Gao, network slice group or a list of S-NSSAI in par. 0183, see preamble in fig. 10 and parameter for PRACH in fig. 13; Son, slice group ID in par. 0048-0049; accordingly, the combined prior art renders the claim obvious).
Claim 18
Claim 18 is a UE claim corresponding to method claim 1. All of the limitations of claim 18 are found reciting the structures for the same scopes of the respective limitations of claim 1. Accordingly, claim 18 can be considered obvious by the same rationales applied in the rejection of claim 1 set forth above.
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Gao discloses a user equipment (terminal 20 in fig. 2) comprising: transceiver circuitry (communication unit 220 in fig. 2); and processing circuitry (processor 200 in fig. 2) operatively associated with the transceiver circuitry (processor in fig. 2 would be executing program code to perform RACH procedure in fig. 4 & 6 via communication unit).
Contact Information
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAN HTUN whose telephone number is (571)270-3190. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 7 AM - 5 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jinsong Hu can be reached on 5712723965. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SAN HTUN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643