DETAILED ACTION
In response to communications filed 06/02/2026.
Claims 1-20 are pending for examination.
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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. (US 2017/0245135 A1) in view of Atarius et al. (US 2017/0374109 A1) hereinafter “Park” and “Atarius” respectively.
Regarding Claim 1, Park teaches A non-transitory computer readable medium (Park: paragraph 0214-0215, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium) having stored thereon computer-executable code that when executed by a processor (Park: paragraph 0214, instructions executed by processor) of a user equipment (UE) (Park: paragraph 0052 & Fig. 2, electronic device), cause the UE to:
receive a list of Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) identifiers (Park: paragraph 0072 & Fig. 7, operator-controlled PLMN list) from a network entity (Park: paragraph 0087, PLMN information received from the server);
obtain a plurality of PLMN selector lists (Park: paragraphs 0072-0073 & 0075, detect user-controlled PLMN lists)) from a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) of the UE (Park: paragraph 0073, PLMN list stored in UICC);
after receiving the list of PLMN identifiers, determine, based on information obtained from a UICC application of the UICC, that a PLMN selector list of the plurality of PLMN selector lists can be populated with the list of PLMN identifiers (Park: paragraph 0168, determine whether to store the received PLMN information in consideration of size of the file of the UICC);
select the PLMN selector list based on the determining (Park: paragraphs 0167-0169, update and selection of the PLMN list);
update the selected PLMN Selector list with the list of PLMN identifiers (Park: paragraphs 0073 & 0080, receive PLMN information and update the user-controlled PLMN list based on the received PLMN information from the server; see also paragraphs 0164-0169 & Figs. 8-10, updating PLMN list and stored in memory based on received information);
select one PLMN from the plurality of PLMN Selector Lists (Park: paragraphs 0075, 0144 & Fig. 7, electronic device may select the available PLMN from the PLMN list);
obtain a current Registered Public Land Mobile Network (RPLMN) (Park: paragraphs 0072, 0140 & Fig. 7, acquire or detect a registered PLMN (RPLMN)); and
verify that that the RPLMN is one of the PLMNs in the list of PLMN identifiers (Park: paragraphs 0075, 0141, paragraph 0141, may select the PLMN from the PLMN list in an order of the RPLMN, thus verifying the RPLMN as one the PLMNs in the list).
Park fails to explicitly teach each PLMN identifier in the list of PLMN identifiers corresponds to a PLMN that allows the UE to migrate to a new (associated) Mission Critical (MC) system. However, Atarius from an analogous art similarly teaches a mission critical UE (MCPTT) selecting a PLMN (Atarius: paragraphs 0087-0089) and further teaches the MCPTT UE transmits an inter-PLMN discovery including PLMN ID information to migrate to an associated Mission Critical system (Atarius: paragraphs 0088-0089, 0099 & Fig. 8).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Park to include associated Mission Critical systems as taught by Atarius to allow connectivity with mission critical systems used by organizations, companies, public safety agencies and the like.
Regarding Claim 2, Park-Atarius teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the selected PLMN selector list is one of a user controlled PLMN selector list, an operator controlled PLMN selector list, or a MC organization controlled PLMN selector list (Park: paragraphs 0072-0073 & Fig. 7, operator-controlled PLMN list or user-controlled PLMN list).
Regarding Claim 3, Park-Atarius teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein updating the selected PLMN selector list with the list of PLMN identifiers includes updating a field of a UICC application (Park: paragraph 0073, PLMN can be updated by the electronic device and stored in a file of the UICC).
Regarding Claim 4, Park-Atarius teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the UICC application is a Universal Mobile Telephony System (UMTS) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) (Park: paragraph 0073, PLMN list may be included in SIM card).
Regarding Claim 5, Park-Atarius teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches determine that the USIM of the UE has at least one field for the selected PLMN selector list that can be populated with PLMN identifiers (Park: paragraph 0074, list may include 8 to N PLMNs included in the SIM card and is further controlled (updated) by the electronic device, therefore teaching file of the SIM card may be populated with additional PLMN identifiers); and
store in the at least one field of the USIM, at least one PLMN identifier from the list of PLMN identifiers (Park: paragraph 0073, PLMN can be updated by the electronic device and stored in a file of the UICC).
Regarding Claim 6, Park-Atarius teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the associated MC system is a partner MC system, the partner MC system being distinct from a primary MC system of the UE (Atarius: paragraph 0169, wireless device may register one or more IMS service parameters of push-to-talk in a wireless network. The one or more IMS service parameters may indicate a combination of at least two of audio, video, data, thus teaching multiple MC systems). Examiner recites same reasoning to combine as presented in rejected claim 1 above.
Regarding Claim 7, Park-Atarius teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the computer-executable code, when executed by the processor, further causes the UE to transmit to the network entity a message, the message comprising an indication that a first trigger condition has been met (Atarius: paragraphs 0088-0089, 0099 & Fig. 8, MCPTT UE constructs and transmits an inter-PLMN discovery transmission including PLMN ID information). Examiner recites same reasoning to combine as presented in rejected claim 1 above.
Regarding Claim 8, Park-Atarius teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the first trigger condition is the UE receiving an indication to perform migration the associated MC system, wherein the associated MC system is a partner MC system (Atarius: paragraphs 0088-0089, 0099 & Fig. 8, MCPTT UE constructs and transmits an inter-PLMN discovery transmission including PLMN ID information), the partner MC system being associated with an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Sub-system (IMS) associated with at least one PLMN identifier in the list of PLMN identifiers (Atarius: paragraph 0164, wireless device may register one or more IMS communication service identifiers of mission critical PTT in a wireless network). Examiner recites same reasoning to combine as presented in rejected claim 1 above.
Regarding Claim 9, Park-Atarius teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches creating a subset of PLMN identifiers, the subset comprising PLMN identifiers from the list of PLMN identifiers which are available to the UE (Park: paragraph 0141, select a PLMN from the PLMN list in an order of the RPLMN, the HPLMN, at least one PLMN included in the user-controlled PLMN list, and at least one PLMN included in the operator-controlled PLMN list, thus identifying a set or subset of PLMN identifiers).
Regarding Claim 10, Park-Atarius teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein selecting the one PLMN further comprises attempting to register the UE with a network successively using PLMN identifiers from the subset until a successful registration (Park: paragraph 0143, select available PLMN that has not failed network registration).
Regarding Claim 11, Park teaches A user equipment (UE) (Park: paragraph 0052 & Fig. 2, electronic device), comprising:
a memory storing instructions (Park: paragraph 0052 & Fig. 2, memory);
a processor (Park: paragraph 0052 & Fig. 2, processor), configured to execute the instructions to cause the UE to:
receive a list of Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) identifiers (Park: paragraph 0072 & Fig. 7, operator-controlled PLMN list) from a network entity (Park: paragraph 0087, PLMN information received from the server);
obtain a plurality of PLMN selector lists (Park: paragraphs 0072-0073 & 0075, detect user-controlled PLMN lists) from a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) of the UE (Park: paragraph 0073, PLMN list stored in UICC);
after receiving the list of PLMN identifiers, determine, based on information obtained from a UICC application of the UICC, that a PLMN selector list of the plurality of PLMN selector lists can be populated with the list of PLMN identifiers (Park: paragraph 0168, determine whether to store the received PLMN information in consideration of size of the file of the UICC);
select the PLMN selector list based on the determining (Park: paragraphs 0167-0169, update and selection of the PLMN list);
update the PLMN Selector lists with the list of PLMN identifiers (Park: paragraphs 0073 & 0080, receive PLMN information and update the user-controlled PLMN list based on the received PLMN information from the server; see also paragraphs 0164 & Figs. 8-10, updating PLMN list and stored in memory based on received information);
select one PLMN from the plurality of PLMN Selector Lists (Park: paragraphs 0075, 0144 & Fig. 7, electronic device may select the available PLMN from the PLMN list);
obtain a current Registered Public Land Mobile Network (RPLMN) (Park: paragraphs 0072, 0140 & Fig. 7, acquire or detect a registered PLMN (RPLMN)); and
verify that that the RPLMN is one of the PLMNs in the list of PLMN identifiers (Park: paragraphs 0075, 0141, paragraph 0141, may select the PLMN from the PLMN list in an order of the RPLMN, thus verifying the RPLMN as one the PLMNs in the list).
Park fails to explicitly teach each PLMN identifier in the list of PLMN identifiers corresponds to a PLMN that allows the UE to migrate to a new (associated) Mission Critical (MC) system. However, Atarius from an analogous art similarly teaches a mission critical UE (MCPTT) selecting a PLMN (Atarius: paragraphs 0087-0089) and further teaches the MCPTT UE transmits an inter-PLMN discovery including PLMN ID information to migrate to an associated Mission Critical system (Atarius: paragraphs 0088-0089, 0099 & Fig. 8).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Park to include associated Mission Critical systems as taught by Atarius to allow connectivity with mission critical systems used by organizations, companies, public safety agencies and the like.
Regarding Claim 12, Park-Atarius teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the selected PLMN selector list is one of a user controlled PLMN selector list, an operator controlled PLMN selector list, or an MC organization controlled PLMN selector list (Park: paragraphs 0072-0073 & Fig. 7, operator-controlled PLMN list or user-controlled PLMN list).
Regarding Claim 13, Park-Atarius teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein updating the selected PLMN selector list with the list of PLMN identifiers includes updating a field of the UICC application (Park: paragraph 0073, PLMN can be updated by the electronic device and stored in a file of the UICC).
Regarding Claim 14, Park-Atarius teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the UICC application is a Universal Mobile Telephony System (UMTS) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) (Park: paragraph 0073, PLMN list may be included in SIM card).
Regarding Claim 15, Park-Atarius teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches determine that the USIM of the UE has at least one field for the selected PLMN selector list that can be populated with PLMN identifiers (Park: paragraph 0074, list may include 8 to N PLMNs included in the SIM card and is further controlled (updated) by the electronic device, therefore teaching file of the SIM card may be populated with additional PLMN identifiers); and
store in at least one field of the USIM, at least one PLMN identifier from the list of PLMN identifiers (Park: paragraph 0073, PLMN can be updated by the electronic device and stored in a file of the UICC).
Regarding Claim 16, Park-Atarius teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the associated MC system is a partner MC system, the partner MC system being distinct from a primary MC system of the UE (Atarius: paragraph 0169, wireless device may register one or more IMS service parameters of push-to-talk in a wireless network. The one or more IMS service parameters may indicate a combination of at least two of audio, video, data, thus teaching multiple MC systems). Examiner recites same reasoning to combine as presented in rejected claim 11 above.
Regarding Claim 17, Park-Atarius teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches transmit to the network entity a message, the message comprising an indication that the first trigger condition has been met (Atarius: paragraphs 0088-0089, 0099 & Fig. 8, MCPTT UE constructs and transmits an inter-PLMN discovery including PLMN ID information). Examiner recites same reasoning to combine as presented in rejected claim 11 above.
Regarding Claim 18, Park-Atarius teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the first trigger condition is the UE receiving an indication to perform migration to a the associated MC system, wherein the associated MC system is a partner MC system (Atarius: paragraphs 0088-0089, 0099 & Fig. 8, MCPTT UE constructs and transmits an inter-PLMN discovery transmission including PLMN ID information), the partner MC system being associated with an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Sub-system (IMS) associated with at least one PLMN identifier in the list of PLMN identifiers (Atarius: paragraph 0164, wireless device may register one or more IMS communication service identifiers of mission critical PTT in a wireless network). Examiner recites same reasoning to combine as presented in rejected claim 12 above.
Regarding Claim 19, Park-Atarius teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches creating a subset of PLMN identifiers, the subset comprising PLMN identifiers from the list of PLMN identifiers which are available to the UE (Park: paragraph 0141, select a PLMN from the PLMN list in an order of the RPLMN, the HPLMN, at least one PLMN included in the user-controlled PLMN list, and at least one PLMN included in the operator-controlled PLMN list, thus identifying a set or subset of PLMN identifiers).
Regarding Claim 20, Park-Atarius teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein selecting the one PLMN further comprises attempting to register the UE with a network by successively using PLMN identifiers from the subset until a successful registration (Park: paragraph 0143, select available PLMN that has not failed network registration).
Response to Amendment
In view of amendments to claims 1 and 11, previous double patenting rejection has been withdrawn. Examiner may reinstate the double patenting rejection if the claims are later patentably indistinct due to additional amendments and/or changes during prosecution.
Response to Arguments
Applicants' arguments:
Park-Atarius alone or in combination fails to teach or suggest the UE determines, based on information obtained from a UICC application of the UICC, that a PLMN selector list of the plurality of PLMN selector lists can be populated with the list of PLMN identifiers (remarks, page 9).
Park-Atarius alone or in combination fails to teach or suggest selecting and updating the PLMN selector list with the received list of PLMN identifiers (remarks, page 10).
Examiner’s response:
Applicants’ arguments filed 06/02/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Regarding arguments, after review of the prior arts, Park further teaches the electronic device may update the user-controlled PLMN list in consideration of the size of a file (i.e. “EFPLMNwAcT” of the UICC) that stores the user-controlled PLMN list and changeability of the size. For example, when the size of “EFPLMNwAcT” is fixed and only 8 PLMNs can be stored, the electronic device may detect 8 PLMNs in the received PLMN information and store the detected PLMNs in “EFPLMNwAcT” (Park: paragraph 0168). Examiner notes since Park determines whether PLMN information can be stored and/or populated in consideration of the size and/or changeability of the size of the file of the UICC, Park similarly determines whether a PLMN list can further be populated and/or updated with the obtained PLMN selector lists from the UICC of the UE for selecting one PLMN.
The rejection of claim 1-20 is therefore maintained.
Conclusion
Chun (US 2021/0112513 A1) teaches a user equipment selects a PLMN in the order of PLMNs stored in the USIM (paragraph 0219).
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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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/NAJEEB ANSARI/Examiner, Art Unit 2463
/ASAD M NAWAZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2463
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