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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 May 22, 2026 has been entered.
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.
Claims 1 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Puneet et al. (Patent No: US 2024/0414631 A1), hereinafter, Puneet, in view of MAYALIL et al. (Patent No: US 2025/0031141 A1), hereinafter, MAYALIL and further in view of Lin et al. (Patent No: 2023/0354183 A1), hereinafter, Lin.
Regarding Claim 1, Puneet teaches,
A wireless terminal comprising: reception circuitry configured to: receive an Allowed Closed Access Group (CAG) list, the Allowed CAG list comprising one or more first CAG identities (CAG-IDs), each of the one or more first CAG-IDs, -Fig. 13; Paragraph [0065, 0082] ([0065] recites, “A CAG cell broadcasts one or multiple CAG Identifiers per PLMN (113), and a UE is configured with CAG related configuration/information (e.g., an (enhanced) CAG information list containing list of allowed CAGs per PLMN) (702)” [0082] recites, “FIG. 13 is a flow chart of a method (process) for wireless communication of a UE. The method may be performed by a UE (e.g., UE 701 or UE 810). At operation 1310, the UE maintains a CAG information list including an entry. The UE supports enhanced CAG information. The entry includes an allowed CAG list associated with a current PLMN. The allowed CAG list includes one or more CAG IDs. “)
being associated with validity information, comprising at least one time duration for a corresponding first CAG-ID, in the Allowed CAG list, that is valid, -Claim 8, Paragraph [0070-0072] (Claim 8 recites, “UE supports enhanced CAG information, the entry includes an allowed CAG list associated with a current public land mobile network (PLMN), and the allowed CAG list includes one or more CAG identifiers (IDs); access the current PLMN via a current CAG cell with a CAG ID, wherein the CAG ID is determined as being authorized based on the allowed CAG list associated with the current PLMN; “[0070] recites, “CAG ID may be configured with time validity information to indicate the time criteria (e.g., an authorized time period). In this case, the CAG ID may be considered authorized when the time criteria indicated by the time validity information is met (e.g., a current time of the UE 810 matches with the authorized time period indicated by time validity information), and not authorized when the time criteria is no longer met (e.g., the current time does not match with the authorized time period)” As explained above, the allowed CAG list consists of one or more CAD-ID and each CAG-ID within the CAG list can be configured for a validity (authorization) time. It is easily understandable to an ordinary person with the skill in the art that the validity time can be configured to any value for the CAG-IDs within the CAG list and can be relative or corresponding to the first CAG-ID within the CAG list ).
and receive, from a cell, Paragraph [0065] ([0065] recites, “A CAG cell broadcasts one or multiple CAG Identifiers per PLMN (113), and a UE is configured with CAG related configuration/information (e.g., an (enhanced) CAG information list containing list of allowed CAGs per PLMN) (702).”)
Although implicit and understandable to an ordinary person with the skill in the art, Puneet does not explicitly mention,
system information comprising one or more second CAG-IDs broadcast on the cell;
However, in an analogous invention MAYALIL teaches,
system information comprising one or more second CAG-IDs broadcast on the cell; -Paragraph [0095]([0095] recites, “The Network 606 may provide the CAG info list 612 in system information block #1 (SIB #1) to UE 610.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “METHOD FOR HANDLING 5GMM PROCEDURE FOR CAG VALIDITY CHANGES BETWEEN MET AND NOT MET” proposed by Puneet to include the concept of “system information comprising one or more second CAG-IDs broadcast on the cell” of MAYALIL . One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to maximize spectral efficiency and improve the overall performance of the network [0075].
Although implicit, Puneet and MAYALIL combination do not explicitly mention,
and processing circuitry configured to: trigger a cell selection procedure in a case that the one or more second CAG- IDs broadcast on the cell become invalid according to validity information associated with the second CAG-IDs, wherein the one or more second CAG-IDs are included in the Allowed CAG list.
However, in an analogous invention, Lin teaches,
and processing circuitry configured to: trigger a cell selection procedure in a case that the one or more second CAG- IDs broadcast on the cell become invalid according to validity information associated with the second CAG-IDs, wherein the one or more second CAG-IDs are included in the Allowed CAG list. -Fig. 14, Paragraph [0087] ([0087] recites, “FIG. 14 is a flow chart of a first embodiment of determining suitable cell for cell (re-)selection by a UE for PNI-NPN (as hosting network) for accessing Localized services in accordance with one novel aspect. In step 1401, the NAS layer of a UE maintains a first closed access group (CAG) related configuration, wherein the first CAG related configuration comprises a list of ((enhances / extended) allowed) CAG-IDs, and wherein a CAG-ID from the list of (allowed) CAG-IDs is associated with validity or restriction information for Localized services. In step 1402, the NAS layer determines whether validity or restriction criteria associated with the CAG-ID are met based on the validity or restriction information, wherein the CAG-ID is excluded from a second (filtered) CAG related configuration when the validity or restriction criteria are not met. In step 1403, the NAS layer provides the second (filtered) CAG related configuration to an AS layer of the UE for performing cell selection or reselection.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “METHOD FOR HANDLING 5GMM PROCEDURE FOR CAG VALIDITY CHANGES BETWEEN MET AND NOT MET” proposed by Puneet to include the concept of “trigger a cell selection procedure in a case that the one or more second CAG- IDs broadcast on the cell become invalid according to validity information associated with the second CAG-IDs, wherein the one or more second CAG-IDs are included in the Allowed CAG list. “trigger a cell selection procedure in a case that the one or more second CAG- IDs broadcast on the cell become invalid based on the Allowed CAG list and the validity information.” of Lin. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to enabling the UEs to access the localized services according to validity of the localized services, and the information is determined in agreement with the localized service provider, e.g.: (a) Identification of each localized service, e.g. to be used in URSP rules; (b) validity criteria/restriction for each localized ser-vice, e.g., the validity of time duration and/or (area of) location [0039].
Claim 7 is the method claim corresponding to the apparatus claim 1 which is rejected above. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 1. Claim 7 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 1.
Response to Argument(s)
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AHMED SAIFUDDIN whose telephone number is (703)756-4581. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30am-6:00pm.
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/AHMED SAIFUDDIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2475
/KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475
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