Election/Restriction
A restriction was issued on 02/04/2026 to the following patentably distinct species:
Species A (Fig. 3): Handling collisions involving a Mobility and Periodic Registration Update (MRU) procedure for initiating an emergency PDU session in a 5GMM protocol stack.
Species B (Fig. 4): Handling collisions involving a Service Request (SR) procedure for initiating an emergency PDU session in a 5GMM protocol stack.
Species C (Fig. 5): Handling collisions involving an EPS/EMM Tracking Area Update (TAU) or SR procedure for initiating an emergency PDN connection for emergency bearer services in an EPS protocol stack.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species B of Figure 4, corresponding to claims 9-16, in the reply filed on 2/27/2026.is acknowledged.
Claims 1-8 and 17-22 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 2/27/2026.
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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on Indian Patent Application No. 202321014998, filed 6 March 2023, and Indian Patent Application No. 202321021015, filed 24 March 2023. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the Indian patent applications as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Examiner notes that the retrieval failed of Indian Patent Application No. 202321021015 and applicant must file a certified copy as required by 37 CFR 1.55
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55, retrieved from WIPO for Indian Patent Application No. 202321014998.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/3/2024 and 9/19/2024 is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 12 simply recites “the one or more procedures are specified by 3GPP TS 24.229,” and thus indefinite as the specific procedure or steps are not recited in a limited manner as the specification it points to is extremely comprehensive. Further the specification changes in versions and is not fixed thus creating new matter issues as well.
Claim 12 contains the trademark/trade name 3GPP. Where a trademark or trade name is used in a claim as a limitation to identify or describe a particular material or product, the claim does not comply with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph. See Ex parte Simpson, 218 USPQ 1020 (Bd. App. 1982). The claim scope is uncertain since the trademark or trade name cannot be used properly to identify any particular material or product. A trademark or trade name is used to identify a source of goods, and not the goods themselves. Thus, a trademark or trade name does not identify or describe the goods associated with the trademark or trade name. In the present case, the trademark/trade name is used to identify/describe a technical specification and, accordingly, the identification/description is indefinite.
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) 9-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP, "3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Core Network and Terminals; Non-Access-Stratum (NAS) protocol for 5G System (5GS); Stage 3; (Release 18)" 3GPP TS 24.501 V18.1.0 (2022-12). “TS 24.501 V18.1.0”1
Claim 9. “TS 24.501 V18.1.0” teaches A method, comprising:
determining, by a processor of a user equipment (UE), that a service request (SR) procedure triggered for initiating an emergency PDU session collides with a network- initiated de-registration procedure while the UE interfaces with a network (See “TS 24.501 V18.1.0”pg. 405 Section 5.5.1.3.7 Abnormal cases in the UE “g) Registration procedure for mobility and periodic registration update and de-registration procedure collision. If the UE receives a DEREGISTRATION REQUEST message without 5GMM cause value #11, #12, #13 or #15 before the registration procedure for mobility and periodic registration update has been completed”); and performing, by the processor responsive to the determining, one or more operations, wherein the one or more operations comprise
or performing a local de-registration and attempting an initial registration for emergency services in the network (See pg. 405 Section 5.5.1.3.7 “NOTE 2: The registration procedure for mobility and periodic registration update shall be aborted only if the DEREGISTRATION REQUEST message indicates in the access type that the access in which the registration procedure for mobility and periodic registration update was attempted shall be de-registered. Otherwise both the procedures shall be progressed.”).
“TS 24.501 V18.1.0” does not explicitly recite---and also due to the “or” the claim does not positively recite the operations a UE non-access-stratum (NAS) layer in a 5th Generation Mobility Management (5GMM) protocol stack informing one or more upper layers of the 5GMM protocol stack of a failure of the SR procedure for accessing the network such that an upper layer of the 5GMM protocol stack initiates a mechanism for remedying the failure.
In another section “TS 24.501 V18.1.0” teaches a UE non-access-stratum (NAS) layer in a 5th Generation Mobility Management (5GMM) protocol stack informing one or more upper layers of the 5GMM protocol stack of a failure of the SR procedure for accessing the network such that an upper layer of the 5GMM protocol stack initiates a mechanism for remedying the failure (See “TS 24.501 V18.1.0” pg. 403 5.5.1.3.6 Mobility and periodic registration update for initiating an emergency PDU session not accepted by the network “If the mobility and periodic registration update request for initiating an emergency services fallback fails due to abnormal cases c) or d) or cannot be accepted and the UE does not attempt to select an E-UTRA cell connected to EPC or 5GCN as described in subclause 5.5.1.3.5 and the UE is camped on NR or E-UTRA cell connected to 5GCN in the same PLMN where the last mobility and periodic registration update request was attempted, the UE shall inform the upper layers of the failure of the procedure.”).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art, to modify the invention of “TS 24.501 V18.1.0”to include the noted teachings of “TS 24.501 V18.1.0” because the operations indicated in claim 1 are exactly the operations performed in case of other abnormal cases in the UE described in chapter 5.5.1.3.7 of D1 (e.g. abnormal cases b), c) and d)), as can be read in chapter 5.5.1.3.6 (MRU for initiating an emergency POU session not accepted by the network) and/or chapter 5.5.1.3.6A (MRU for an emergency services fallback not accepted by the network).
For the person skilled in the art, therefore, starting from the teachings of “TS 24.501 V18.1.0” and being aware of the fact that the same proposed solution is already applied to very similar abnormal cases described it would be obvious to apply those already known operations to abnormal case g) also in order to improve the specification of the UE procedural actions in such collision scenarios. Further it would be obvious in order to “support of mobility of the user equipment (UE) including also common procedures such as authentication, identification, generic UE configuration update and security mode control procedures;” and “support of session management procedures to establish and maintain data connectivity between the UE and the data network” (“TS 24.501 V18.1.0” pg. 46).
10. (Original) The method of Claim 9, wherein the upper layer of the 5GMM protocol stack implements one or more procedures that result in an emergency call being attempted to an additional network (“TS 24.501 V18.1.0”Pg. 403 “If the mobility and periodic registration update request for initiating an emergency PDU session fails due to abnormal case b) in subclause 5.5.1.3.7, the UE shall perform the actions as described in subclause 5.5.1.3.7 and inform the upper layers of the failure to access the network. NOTE 2: This can result in the upper layers requesting implementation specific mechanisms, e.g. procedures specified in 3GPP TS 24.229 [14] can result in the emergency call being attempted to another IP-CAN.”).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art, to modify the invention of “TS 24.501 V18.1.0”to include the noted teachings of “TS 24.501 V18.1.0” in order for “support of mobility of the user equipment (UE) including also common procedures such as authentication, identification, generic UE configuration update and security mode control procedures;” and “support of session management procedures to establish and maintain data connectivity between the UE and the data network” (“TS 24.501 V18.1.0” pg. 46).
11. (Original) The method of Claim 10, wherein the additional network is an Internet Protocol-connectivity access network (IP-CAN) (“TS 24.501 V18.1.0”Pg. 403 “If the mobility and periodic registration update request for initiating an emergency PDU session fails due to abnormal case b) in subclause 5.5.1.3.7, the UE shall perform the actions as described in subclause 5.5.1.3.7 and inform the upper layers of the failure to access the network. NOTE 2: This can result in the upper layers requesting implementation specific mechanisms, e.g. procedures specified in 3GPP TS 24.229 [14] can result in the emergency call being attempted to another IP-CAN.”).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art, to modify the invention of “TS 24.501 V18.1.0”to include the noted teachings of “TS 24.501 V18.1.0” in order for “support of mobility of the user equipment (UE) including also common procedures such as authentication, identification, generic UE configuration update and security mode control procedures;” and “support of session management procedures to establish and maintain data connectivity between the UE and the data network” (“TS 24.501 V18.1.0” pg. 46).
12. (Original) The method of Claim 10, wherein the one or more procedures are specified by 3GPP TS 24.229 (“TS 24.501 V18.1.0”Pg. 403 “If the mobility and periodic registration update request for initiating an emergency PDU session fails due to abnormal case b) in subclause 5.5.1.3.7, the UE shall perform the actions as described in subclause 5.5.1.3.7 and inform the upper layers of the failure to access the network. NOTE 2: This can result in the upper layers requesting implementation specific mechanisms, e.g. procedures specified in 3GPP TS 24.229 [14] can result in the emergency call being attempted to another IP-CAN.”).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art, to modify the invention of “TS 24.501 V18.1.0”to include the noted teachings of “TS 24.501 V18.1.0” in order for “support of mobility of the user equipment (UE) including also common procedures such as authentication, identification, generic UE configuration update and security mode control procedures;” and “support of session management procedures to establish and maintain data connectivity between the UE and the data network” (“TS 24.501 V18.1.0” pg. 46).
13. (Original) The method of Claim 9, wherein the one or more operations further comprise performing a local de-registration and attempting an initial registration procedure to establish the emergency PDU session in the network or an equivalent network (See pg. 405 Section 5.5.1.3.7 “NOTE 2: The registration procedure for mobility and periodic registration update shall be aborted only if the DEREGISTRATION REQUEST message indicates in the access type that the access in which the registration procedure for mobility and periodic registration update was attempted shall be de-registered. Otherwise both the procedures shall be progressed.”).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art, to modify the invention of “TS 24.501 V18.1.0”to include the noted teachings of “TS 24.501 V18.1.0” in order for “support of mobility of the user equipment (UE) including also common procedures such as authentication, identification, generic UE configuration update and security mode control procedures;” and “support of session management procedures to establish and maintain data connectivity between the UE and the data network” (“TS 24.501 V18.1.0” pg. 46).
14. (Original) The method of Claim 13, wherein the network or the equivalent network is a public land mobile network (PLMN) (pg403 “Then if the UE is in the same selected PLMN where the last mobility and periodic registration update request was attempted”.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art, to modify the invention of “TS 24.501 V18.1.0”to include the noted teachings of “TS 24.501 V18.1.0” in order for “support of mobility of the user equipment (UE) including also common procedures such as authentication, identification, generic UE configuration update and security mode control procedures;” and “support of session management procedures to establish and maintain data connectivity between the UE and the data network” (“TS 24.501 V18.1.0” pg. 46).
15. (Original) The method of Claim 9, wherein the one or more operations further comprise selecting an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) cell connected to an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) or a 5th Generation Core Network (5GCN) of the network (Pg. 403 “and the UE does not attempt to select an E-UTRA cell connected to EPC or 5GCN as described in subclause 5.5.1.3.5 and the UE is camped on NR or E-UTRA cell connected to 5GCN in the same PLMN where the last mobility and periodic registration update request was attempted, the UE shall inform the upper layers of the failure of the procedure.”).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art, to modify the invention of “TS 24.501 V18.1.0”to include the noted teachings of “TS 24.501 V18.1.0” in order for “support of mobility of the user equipment (UE) including also common procedures such as authentication, identification, generic UE configuration update and security mode control procedures;” and “support of session management procedures to establish and maintain data connectivity between the UE and the data network” (“TS 24.501 V18.1.0” pg. 46).
16. (Original) The method of Claim 9, wherein the one or more operations further comprise aborting the de-registration procedure irrespective of 5GMM cause value and proceeding with the SR procedure for establishing the PDU session for emergency services (See pg. 405 Section 5.5.1.3.7 “NOTE 2: The registration procedure for mobility and periodic registration update shall be aborted only if the DEREGISTRATION REQUEST message indicates in the access type that the access in which the registration procedure for mobility and periodic registration update was attempted shall be de-registered. Otherwise both the procedures shall be progressed.”). Where doing it irrespective of the 5GMM cause value is a mere design option.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art, to modify the invention of “TS 24.501 V18.1.0”to include the noted teachings of “TS 24.501 V18.1.0” in order for “support of mobility of the user equipment (UE) including also common procedures such as authentication, identification, generic UE configuration update and security mode control procedures;” and “support of session management procedures to establish and maintain data connectivity between the UE and the data network” (“TS 24.501 V18.1.0” pg. 46).
Pertinent Prior Art(s)
The prior art made of record though not relied upon in the current rejection is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 20230262456 A1 TIWARI; Kundan et al.
Abstract: A procedure to establish latest security key in a UE and a network is disclosed. More specifically, the procedure defines various method to establish latest Kausf in the UE and the network and make the UE and network uses the same Kausf in various security procedure.
US 20230262441 A1 SONG; Wongeun
Abstract: An example electronic device includes at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor can be configured to confirm an event associated with an emergency service while registered to a first communication system, transmit a service request, corresponding to the event, to a network on the basis of the confirmation of the event, start, on the basis of the transmission of the service request, a timer having an end time that is shorter than the end time of a T3517 timer, search for and select, on the basis of failing to receive a response corresponding to the service request until the timer ends, a cell corresponding to a PLMN of a second communication system that excludes the first communication system, perform at least one operation for registration to the second communication system on the basis of the selected cell, and perform the emergency service corresponding to the event in the second communication system on the basis of the registration to the second communication system.
[0073] In an example, in operation 335, the network 306 may transmit a message in response to the service request. However, depending on the electric field situation, the UE 300 may fail to receive the message from the network 306. Alternatively, although not illustrated, in another example, the network 306 may fail to receive the service request from the UE 300, and, in this case, the network 306 may not transmit a message responding to the service request. In another example, the network 306 receives a service request from the UE 300, but may not transmit a message responding to the service request due to an internal error of the network 306. According to various examples described above, the UE 300 may fail to receive a message from the network 306 before the expiration time of the timer T3517. In operation 337, the UE 300 may identify expiry of the timer T3517. When the timer T3517 expires, the UE 300 may abort an emergency service procedure. For example, when a service type in the service request message is configured as “emergency services fallback” and when a service request procedure is initiated in a 5GMM-IDLE mode, a 5GMM sublayer may stop the service request procedure, release resources allocated for the service request procedure, and notify upper layers of the failure of the service request procedure. Alternatively, when a service type in the service request message is configured as “emergency services fallback” and when a service request procedure is initiated in a 5GMM-CONNECTED mode, the 5GMM sublayer may stop the service request procedure, stay in the 5GMM-CONNECTED mode, and notify the upper layers of the failure of the service request procedure.
US 20220312171 A1 NIEMI; Marko et al. {Same Assignee}
¶¶22-24,40, 66, 67, Figure 4
(Paragraph [0040], 11 In accordance with one novel aspect, the UE is capable of aborting the ongoing 5GMM de-registration procedure or MM/GMM/EMM detach procedure and performing local de-registration or local detach, when detecting that an emergency service is initiated before the 5GMM deregistration procedure or MM/GMM/EMM detach procedure has been completed.)
(Paragraphs [0066] [0067] corresponding to Fig. 4, 11 In step S450, the UE performs local detach. 11 and II In step S460, the UE initiates an attach procedure with the 2G/3G/4G system (or another mobile communication network) to acquire the emergency service. II.) or an equivalent network.
Conclusion
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UMAIR AHSAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2647
/UMAIR AHSAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
1 DUE TO THE SIZE OF THE DOCUMENT EXCEEDING 1000 PAGES IT IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE PROSECUTION HISTORY. IT IS AVAILABLE ONLINE VIA 3GPP: https://portal.3gpp.org/desktopmodules/Specifications/SpecificationDetails.aspx?specificationId=3370
Prosecution Insights