CTNF 18/521,719 CTNF 81065 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Information Disclosure Statement 2. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 02/07/2025, and 11/28/2023 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. Drawings 06-37 AIA 3. The drawings were received on 11/28/2023 . These drawings are considered by examiner . Election/Restrictions 4. Applicant's election with traverse of the 1-15 in the reply filed on 01/29/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that Applicant responded that claims 1-15 define one complete, end-to-end invention for solving one specific technical problem: enabling a roaming wireless communication terminal to obtain prioritization information for VPLMN re-selection based on its desired network slice (S-NSSAI). This forms a single, cooperative process involving three essential actors whose roles are claimed (See Applicant arguments on pages 1-2). For the foregoing reasons, the Examiner reevaluates and withdrawn the restriction requirement, the examination of claims 1-15 hereinafter. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 5. 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 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. 07-20-aia AIA 6. 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. 07-21-aia AIA 7. Claim s 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Normann et al (US 2023/0171598), hereinafter “Normann“, in view of Tiwari et al (US 2021/0314848), hereinafter “Tiwari“ . Regarding claim 1, Normann teaches a wireless communication (See Fig. 9A) method comprising: transmitting, by a wireless communication terminal to an access and mobility management node (See Fig. 9A), at least one piece of intended Single-network slice Selection Assistant Information, S-NSSAI (pars [0013] [0046-0047]), in at least one of requested network slice Selection Assistant Information, NSSAI (pars [0046-0047]), or in an extended information element; and receiving, by the wireless communication terminal from the access and mobility management node (See Fig. 9A & a Table on page 7), Normann does not explicitly teach prioritization information of at least one of Visitor Public Land Mobile Networks, VPLMNs, or access technology, wherein the prioritization information is generated according to the at least one piece of intended S-NSSAI in the at least one of requested NSSAI or in the extended information element. Tiwari, in the same field of endeavor, teaches prioritization information of at least one of Visitor Public Land Mobile Networks, VPLMNs (Fig. 4A & pars [0007] [0097] [0140]), or access technology, wherein the prioritization information is generated according to the at least one piece of intended S-NSSAI in the at least one of requested NSSAI or in the extended information element. Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Normann to Tiwari, in order to manage a completed the subscription of a home PLMN (HPLMN) and visitor PLMN visitor public land mobile network (VPLMN)(s)) in the case of roaming and the network slice selection (as suggested by Tiwari in paragraph [0008]). Regarding claim 2, the combination of Normann and Tiwari teach the wireless communication method of claim 1, Normann further teaches wherein the requested NSSAI comprises at least one of : at least one piece of allowed S-NSSAI (pars [0013] [0054]); or at least one piece of S-NSSAI included in Configured NSSAI for a serving Public Land Mobile Network, PLMN; and wherein the extended information element comprises at least one of : at least one piece of rejected S-NSSAI for a current PLMN; or at least one piece of rejected S-NSSAI for a current Registration Area (pars [0013] [0115]). Regarding claim 3, the combination of Normann and Tiwari teach the wireless communication method of claim 1, , Normann further teaches wherein the requested NSSAI or the extended information element comprises at least one of : at least one piece of allowed S-NSSAI; at least one piece of S-NSSAI included in Configured NSSAI for a serving PLMN; at least one piece of rejected S-NSSAI for a current PLMN; or at least one piece of rejected S-NSSAI for a current Registration Area (pars [0013] [0115]). Regarding claim 4, the combination of Normann and Tiwari teach the wireless communication method of claim 1, Normann does not clearly teach wherein the wireless communication terminal is configured to transmit an indication indicating that the wireless communication terminal supports PLMN selection based on the prioritization information. Tiwari, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the wireless communication terminal is configured to transmit an indication indicating that the wireless communication terminal supports PLMN selection based on the prioritization information (pars [0009] [0065] [0097]). Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Normann to Tiwari, in order to manage a completed the subscription of a home PLMN (HPLMN) and visitor PLMN visitor public land mobile network (VPLMN)(s)) in the case of roaming and the network slice selection (as suggested by Tiwari in paragraph [0008]). Regarding claim 5, Normann teaches a wireless communication method comprising: receiving, by an access and mobility management node from a wireless communication terminal (See Fig. 9A), at least one piece of intended Single-network slice Selection Assistant Information, S-NSSAI (pars [0013] [0046-0047]), in at least one of requested network slice Selection Assistant Information, NSSAI (pars [0046-0047]), or in an extended information element; and acquiring, by the access and mobility management node from a managing node (See Fig. 9A & a Table on page 7), Normann does not explicitly teach prioritization information of at least one of Visitor Public Land Mobile Networks, VPLMNs, or access technology by providing the managing node with the at least one piece of intended S-NSSAI in the at least one of requested NSSAI or in the extended information element. Tiwari, in the same field of endeavor, teaches prioritization information of at least one of Visitor Public Land Mobile Networks, VPLMNs (Fig. 4A & pars [0007] [0097] [0140]), or access technology by providing the managing node with the at least one piece of intended S-NSSAI in the at least one of requested NSSAI or in the extended information element. Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Normann to Tiwari, in order to manage a completed the subscription of a home PLMN (HPLMN) and visitor PLMN visitor public land mobile network (VPLMN)(s)) in the case of roaming and the network slice selection (as suggested by Tiwari in paragraph [0008]). Regarding claim 6, the combination of Normann and Tiwari teach the wireless communication method of claim 5, Normann further teaches wherein the requested NSSAI comprises at least one of: at least one piece of allowed S-NSSAI (pars [0013] [0054]); or at least one piece of S-NSSAI included in Configured NSSAI for a serving PLMN; and wherein the extended information element comprises at least one of: at least one piece of rejected S-NSSAI for a current Public Land Mobile Network, PLMN; or at least one piece of rejected S-NSSAI for a current Registration Area (pars [0013] [0115]). Regarding claim 7, the combination of Normann and Tiwari teach the wireless communication method of claim 5, Normann further teaches wherein the requested NSSAI or the extended information element comprises at least one of : at least one piece of allowed S-NSSAI (pars [0013] [0054]); at least one piece of S-NSSAI included in Configured NSSAI for a serving Public Land Mobile Network, PLMN; at least one piece of rejected S-NSSAI for a current PLMN; or at least one piece of rejected S-NSSAI for a current Registration Area (pars [0013] [0115]). Regarding claim 8, the combination of Normann and Tiwari teach the wireless communication method of claim 5, Normann does not clearly teach wherein the access and mobility management node is configured to receive an indication indicating that the wireless communication terminal supports PLMN selection from the wireless communication terminal based on the prioritization information. Tiwari, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the access and mobility management node is configured to receive an indication indicating that the wireless communication terminal supports PLMN selection from the wireless communication terminal based on the prioritization information (pars [0009] [0065], [0097]). Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Normann to Tiwari, in order to manage a completed the subscription of a home PLMN (HPLMN) and visitor PLMN visitor public land mobile network (VPLMN)(s)) in the case of roaming and the network slice selection (as suggested by Tiwari in paragraph [0008]). Regarding claim 9, the combination of Normann and Tiwari teach the wireless communication method of claim 5, Normann further teaches wherein the access and mobility management node is configured to provide the managing node the at least one piece of the intended S-NSSAI in the requested NSSAI (pars [0013] [0054]) or the extended information element comprising at least one of : at least one piece of allowed S-NSSAI; at least one piece of rejected S-NSSAI for a current PLMN; or at least one piece of rejected S-NSSAI for a current Registration Area (pars [0013] [0115]). Regarding claim 10, the combination of Normann and Tiwari teach the wireless communication method of claim 5, Normann further teaches wherein the access and mobility management node is configured to provide the managing node the at least one piece of the intended S-NSSAI in the requested NSSAI (pars [0013] [0054]) or the extended information element comprising at least one of : at least one piece of rejected S-NSSAI for a current PLMN; or at least one piece of rejected S-NSSAI for a current Registration Area (pars [0013] [0115]). Regarding claim 11, the combination of Normann and Tiwari teach the wireless communication method of claim 5, Normann does not clearly teach wherein the access and mobility management node is configured to transmit the prioritization information to the wireless communication terminal. Tiwari, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the access and mobility management node is configured to transmit the prioritization information to the wireless communication terminal (pars [0009] [0097]). Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Normann to Tiwari, in order to manage a completed the subscription of a home PLMN (HPLMN) and visitor PLMN visitor public land mobile network (VPLMN)(s)) in the case of roaming and the network slice selection (as suggested by Tiwari in paragraph [0008]). Regarding claim 12, Normann teaches a wireless communication (See Fig. 9A) method comprising: transmitting, by a unified data node (See Fig. 9A), prioritization information of at least one of Visitor Public Land Mobile Networks, VPLMNs (See Fig. 4A & pars [0007] [0097] [0140]), or access technology to an access and mobility management node or a wireless communication terminal (See Fig. 9A), Normann does not explicitly teach wherein the prioritization information is generated according to the at least one piece of the intended S-NSSAI provided by the access and mobility management node. Tiwari, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the prioritization information is generated according to the at least one piece of the intended S-NSSAI provided by the access and mobility management node (See Fig. 4A & pars [0007] [0097] [0140]). Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Normann to Tiwari, in order to manage a completed the subscription of a home PLMN (HPLMN) and visitor PLMN visitor public land mobile network (VPLMN)(s)) in the case of roaming and the network slice selection (as suggested by Tiwari in paragraph [0008]). Regarding claim 13, the combination of Normann and Tiwari teach the wireless communication method of claim 12, Normann does not clearly teach wherein the unified data node is configured to generate the prioritization information according to the at least one piece of the intended S-NSSAI provided by the access and mobility management node. Tiwari, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the unified data node is configured to generate the prioritization information according to the at least one piece of the intended S-NSSAI provided by the access and mobility management node (pars [0007] [0183-0184]). Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Normann to Tiwari, in order to manage a completed the subscription of a home PLMN (HPLMN) and visitor PLMN visitor public land mobile network (VPLMN)(s)) in the case of roaming and the network slice selection (as suggested by Tiwari in paragraph [0008]). Regarding claim 14, the combination of Normann and Tiwari teach the wireless communication method of claim 12, Normann does not clearly teach wherein the unified data node is configured to transmit the at least one piece of the intended S-NSSAI provided by the access and mobility management node to an application node to retrieve the prioritization information from the application node. Tiwari, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the unified data node is configured to transmit the at least one piece of the intended S-NSSAI provided by the access and mobility management node to an application node to retrieve the prioritization information from the application node (pars [0182-0188]). Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Normann to Tiwari, in order to manage a completed the subscription of a home PLMN (HPLMN) and visitor PLMN visitor public land mobile network (VPLMN)(s)) in the case of roaming and the network slice selection (as suggested by Tiwari in paragraph [0008]). Regarding claim 15, the combination of Normann and Tiwari teach the wireless communication method of claim 13, Normann further teaches wherein the at least one piece of the intended S-NSSAI comprises at least one of : at least one piece of allowed S-NSSAI (pars [0013] [0054]); at least one piece of rejected S-NSSAI for a current Public Land Mobile Network, PLMN; or at least one piece of rejected S-NSSAI for a current Registration Area (pars [0013] [0115]). Conclusion 8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL T VU whose telephone number is (571)272-8131. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00AM to 6:00PM. 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, Charles Appiah can be reached on (571-272-7904. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /MICHAEL T VU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2641 Application/Control Number: 18/521,719 Page 2 Art Unit: 2641 Application/Control Number: 18/521,719 Page 3 Art Unit: 2641 Application/Control Number: 18/521,719 Page 4 Art Unit: 2641 Application/Control Number: 18/521,719 Page 5 Art Unit: 2641 Application/Control Number: 18/521,719 Page 6 Art Unit: 2641 Application/Control Number: 18/521,719 Page 7 Art Unit: 2641 Application/Control Number: 18/521,719 Page 8 Art Unit: 2641 Application/Control Number: 18/521,719 Page 9 Art Unit: 2641 Application/Control Number: 18/521,719 Page 10 Art Unit: 2641 Application/Control Number: 18/521,719 Page 11 Art Unit: 2641 Application/Control Number: 18/521,719 Page 12 Art Unit: 2641 Application/Control Number: 18/521,719 Page 13 Art Unit: 2641
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