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.
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55, retrieved from WIPO for Indian Patent Application No. 202321014998 and Indian Patent Application No. 202321021015
Election/Restriction
Claims 1-8 and 17-22 remain withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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.
Response to Amendment
Office action in response to amendment entered 8/20/2026. Claim 12 is amended; claims 1-22 remain pending, claims 1-8 and 17-22 withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s amendment to claim 12 overcomes the 35 USC 112(b) rejection. The 35 USC 112(b) rejection of claim 12 has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed 8/20/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant submits that TS 24.501 is directed to a different separately-defined procedure MRU, not SR. Examiner respectfully disagrees.
In response, examiner notes that the solution proposed in claim 1 of the present application is not patentable because those 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 TS 24.501 (e.g. abnormal cases b), c) and d)), as can be read in chapter 5.5.1.3.6 (MRU for initiating an emergency PDU 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 a person of ordinary skill in the art, therefore, starting from the teachings of TS 24.501 and being aware of both the above mentioned problem and the fact that the same proposed solution is already applied to very similar abnormal cases described also in TS 24.501, 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.
Applicant submits that TS 24.501 structurally forecloses the very cllision recited in claim 9. Examiner respectfully disagrees.
In response to applicant's argument that TS 24.501 contains other teachings that prevent the kinds of collisions that applicant’s invention addresses, Remarks 11-12, the test for obviousness is not whether the features of a secondary reference may be bodily incorporated into the structure of the primary reference; nor is it that the claimed invention must be expressly suggested in any one or all of the references. Rather, the test is what the combined teachings of the references would have suggested to those of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981). Here both primary and secondary teachings are in a single comprehensive 3GPPP communication standard. Claim 9 merely re-arranges and copies one known algorithm into another. That does not reach the threshold for non-obviousness. It has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involved only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70 (CCPA 1950).
Applicant submits the cited NOTE 2 passage does not teach performing a local deregistration and attempting an initial registration for emergency services, as claimed. Examiner respectfully disagrees.
First, examiner notes that the claim recites the argued feature only as an alternative using an exclusive “OR” and thus does NOT positively recite the argued feature of performing deregistration and attempting an initial registration.
Second, TS 24.501 teaches the claimed limitation: and 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.” Where said both the procedures refers to “g) Registration procedure for mobility and periodic registration update and de-registration procedure” thus a local de-registration and an initial registration for emergency services in the network is performed as claimed).
Lastly, In response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., “a local de-registration followed by an initial registration procedure”, remarks page 16) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Applicant submits that the motivation relies on hindsight reasoning. Examiner respectfully disagrees.
In response to applicant's argument that the examiner's conclusion of obviousness is based upon improper hindsight reasoning, it must be recognized that any judgment on obviousness is in a sense necessarily a reconstruction based upon hindsight reasoning. But so long as it takes into account only knowledge which was within the level of ordinary skill at the time the claimed invention was made, and does not include knowledge gleaned only from the applicant's disclosure, such a reconstruction is proper. See In re McLaughlin, 443 F.2d 1392, 170 USPQ 209 (CCPA 1971).
Here, in addition, various 3GPP TS 24.501 sections mimic each other and perform the same or similar procedures for entirely different functions. Thus evidencing that such re-use is common and ordinary skill in the art.
Applicants remarks are thus unpersuasive and all claims remain rejected. The rejection of claim 12 is updated to address the claim amendment.
Examiner response above also addresses remarks for all dependent claims.
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 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.” Where said both the procedures refers to “g) Registration procedure for mobility and periodic registration update and de-registration procedure” thus a local de-registration and an initial registration for emergency services in the network is performed as claimed; See also pg. 461: “5.6.1.6 Service request procedure for initiating an emergency PDU session not accepted by the network” “b) de-register locally, if not de-registered already, attempt initial registration for emergency services.”).
“TS 24.501 V18.1.0” does not explicitly recite---and also due to the “or” the claim does not positively recite the operations performing, by the processor responsive to the determining, one or more operations, wherein the one or more operations comprise 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 comprise at least one IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) signaling procedure for establishing an emergency call session over the additional network (p. 148 § 5.2.2.3.7 “if the UE receives a request from upper layers to establish an eCall over IMS, the UE enters state 5GMM-DEREGISTERED.ATTEMPTING-REGISTRATION. The UE then uses the relevant 5GMM and 5GSM procedures to establish the eCall over IMS at the earliest opportunity”
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 “§ 5.2.2.3.7” 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.” Supra claim 9).
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
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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/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
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