DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed on3/11/2026 has been entered. Claims 1 and 15-25 remain pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments on pages 7-11 with respect to claims 1 and 15 have been considered but are moot upon a further consideration and a new ground of rejection made under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu (US PGPub 2023/0189188) in view of Liao (US PGPub 2021/0345226).
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.
Claims 1 and 15 recite the limitations " … used for identifying a non public network (NPN), …”, “ … that an access to an NPN associated with …” and “ …, selecting an NPN corresponding to …”. There are THREE ‘an NPN’s within the claims and if these terms ‘an NPN’ refers to the same feature, the later ‘an NPN’s should be treated to show antecedent basis. Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 1 and 15 recite a limitation of “transmitting, to an access and mobility management function (AMF) via a base station, a registration request message for a public land mobile network (PLMN) associated with the AMF”. However, it is not clear how the key features of the step of transmitting (e.g., an AMF, a registration request message for a PLMN associated with the AMF) are related with the following steps of receiving, identifying and selecting, thereby rendering the scope of the claim unascertainable. There should be additional limitations bridging the step of transmitting and the following steps of receiving, identifying and selecting. Appropriate correction is required.
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 15-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu (US PGPub 2023/0189188) in view of Liao (US PGPub 2021/0345226).
Regarding claims 1 and 15, Zhu teaches a method performed by a terminal in a communication system (Zhu, see paragraph 0346, the UE), the method comprising:
transmitting, to an access and mobility management function (AMF) via a base station, a registration request message for a public land mobile network (PLMN) associated with the AMF (Zhu, see paragraph 0346, If the UE determines to perform second registration in the PLMN network, the UE accesses a PLMN RAN, and sends a second registration request to the PLMN AMF).
Zhu teaches the above yet fails to teach receiving, from the base station, a system information block (SIB) including first information on at least one network identification (NID) used for identifying a non public network (NPN), wherein the first information indicates that an access to an NPN associated with the at least one NID is allowed; identifying whether a location of the terminal is within an area for supporting a localized service based on the first information and second information, wherein the second information includes location information associated with the localized service configured for the terminal; and in case that the location of the terminal is within the area for supporting the localized service, selecting an NPN corresponding to one of the at least one NID which is associated with the localized service.
Then Liao teaches receiving, from the base station, a system information block (SIB) including first information on at least one network identification (NID) used for identifying a non public network (NPN) (Liao, see paragraphs 0046 and 0049, the RAN node 310 in the non-public network 308 may broadcast information including a non-public network indication (or NPN indicator), the NID, and a supported SN-IDs list. The non-public network indicator can be either a new indicator broadcast in a system information block (SIB)), wherein the first information indicates that an access to an NPN associated with the at least one NID is allowed (Liao, see paragraph 0042, the UE 302 (UE #A), the UE 304 (UE #B), and the UE 306 (UE #C) are registered to the non-public network 308 identified by a non-public network ID (NID). Service provider 314 (represented by SN #1 or PLMN #1), which is an MNO, provides the authorized service for the UE 302 (UE #A) through a RAN node 310 and the 5G core (5GC) 312);
identifying whether a location of the terminal is within an area for supporting a localized service based on the first information and second information, wherein the second information includes location information associated with the localized service configured for the terminal (Liao, see paragraph 0057, The UE identifies the NID and the list of service networks (e.g., SN-IDs) supported by the NPN identified by NID at 406A. For the NPN Selection, the example procedure may be used. The UE detects a match between configured SN-IDs and available SN-IDs at 408A, selects the SN-ID among the discovered SN-IDs based on the prioritized list of configured SN-IDs at 410A); and
in case that the location of the terminal is within the area for supporting the localized service, selecting an NPN corresponding to one of the at least one NID which is associated with the localized service (Liao, see paragraph 0057, The UE connects to a NID serving the Service Network identified as SN-ID and performs corresponding authentication procedures at 412A).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhu with non-public network discovery, selection, and access control in vertical domain of Liao, because doing so would make Zhu more efficient in providing enhanced Vertical and LAN services in upcoming fifth generation (5G) wireless communication networks (Liao, see paragraph 0003).
Regarding claims 16 and 21, Zhu in view of Liao teaches further comprising: updating a policy for the access, wherein the NPN is selected based on the updated policy (Liao, see paragraph 0057, The UE identifies the NID and the list of service networks (e.g., SN-IDs) supported by the NPN identified by NID at 406A. For the NPN Selection, the example procedure may be used. The UE detects a match between configured SN-IDs and available SN-IDs at 408A, selects the SN-ID among the discovered SN-IDs based on the prioritized list of configured SN-IDs at 410A).
Regarding claims 17 and 22, Zhu in view of Liao teaches further comprising: performing a transition of an access mode from a global access to a local access for the access, wherein the policy is updated after the transition (Liao, see paragraph 0057, The UE identifies the NID and the list of service networks (e.g., SN-IDs) supported by the NPN identified by NID at 406A. For the NPN Selection, the example procedure may be used. The UE detects a match between configured SN-IDs and available SN-IDs at 408A, selects the SN-ID among the discovered SN-IDs based on the prioritized list of configured SN-IDs at 410A).
Regarding claims 18 and 23, Zhu in view of Liao teaches wherein the policy includes information indicating an access path for a connection among the terminal, a local service server, and a home network server, wherein the local service server offers the localized service, and wherein the PLMN is associated with the home network server (Liao, see paragraph 0042, the UE 302 (UE #A), the UE 304 (UE #B), and the UE 306 (UE #C) are registered to the non-public network 308 identified by a non-public network ID (NID). Service provider 314 (represented by SN #1 or PLMN #1), which is an MNO, provides the authorized service for the UE 302 (UE #A) through a RAN node 310 and the 5G core (5GC) 312).
Regarding claims 19 and 24, Zhu in view of Liao teaches wherein the policy further includes information indicating whether to use a global access or the local access for connecting to the local service server, a third party service server, and the home network server (Liao, see paragraph 0042, the UE 302 (UE #A), the UE 304 (UE #B), and the UE 306 (UE #C) are registered to the non-public network 308 identified by a non-public network ID (NID). Service provider 314 (represented by SN #1 or PLMN #1), which is an MNO, provides the authorized service for the UE 302 (UE #A) through a RAN node 310 and the 5G core (5GC) 312).
Regarding claims 20 and 25, Zhu in view of Liao teaches further comprising: turning on a search function for the access based on the first information, wherein the NPN corresponding to the one of the at least one NID is selected based on the search function (Liao, see paragraph 0057, A UE autonomously scans applicable frequency bands for cells of 3GPP Network(s) and NPN(s) at 402A, detects that a cell supports an NPN based on the reserved PLMN-ID (broadcast by the cell) at 404A).
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHONG G KIM whose telephone number is (571)270-0619. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri @ 9am - 5pm.
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/CHONG G KIM/ Examiner, Art Unit 2443
/NICHOLAS R TAYLOR/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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