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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 5/29/24 and 1/15/26 is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Liang et al (Pub No: 2025/0097116).
As to claim 1, Liang teaches a method of operating a network function included in a core network of a mobile communication system and implemented as an electronic device (Liang, [0004], a method for a core network function in a communication system), comprising:
generating a digital twin for a User Equipment (UE) (Liang, [0004], creating a UE digital twin); and
providing a network service for the UE by in interacting with at least one other network function based on the generated digital twin (Liang, [0004], communicating with other devices in the network (network services) through the UE digital twin).
As to claim 2, Liang teaches wherein the digital twin includes state information of the UE necessary for performing the network service (Liang, [0088][0089], the digital twin includes state information of the physical UE).
As to claim 3, Liang teaches wherein generating the digital twin comprises generating the digital twin based on at least one of interaction with a Unified Data Management (UDM) (Liang, Fig 6 [0130-0132], the digital twin is configured by a second core network function that is a UDM)..
As to claim 4, Liang teaches further comprising managing the generated digital twin, wherein providing the network service comprises providing the network service based on the managed digital twin (Liang, [0136-0138], managing the digital twin by providing network services to implement and enable the digital twin for network service).
As to claim 5, Liang teaches wherein managing the digital twin comprises acquiring subscriber contract information from a UDM to establish a UE Context (Liang, [0073], acquiring authorization for the UE subscriber from UDM to establish policy)
As to claim 6, Liang teaches wherein managing the digital twin comprises subscribing to an update notification service from a network function that manages information related to the UE among the at least one network function, so as to be notified of updated information when the information related to the UE is updated (Liang, [0118], an update service operation is subscribed to where the digital twin profile information is updated).
As to claim 7, Liang teaches wherein the network function that manages information related to the UE includes at least one of UDM (Liang, Fig 6 [0130-0132], the digital twin is configured by a second core network function that is a UDM).
As to claim 8, Liang teaches wherein the at least one other network function includes a united network anchor function, wherein the united network anchor function controls the setup of resources for the UE, including radio resources and core network resources, and performs data delivery between the UE and a data network based on the controlled setup of the resources (Liang, [0060], the other device is another core network function or base station (united anchor), and sets up the connection or data and networks service [0085-0086][0135]).
As to claim 9, Liang teaches wherein the network service includes at least one of delivery of data from the UE, delivery of data to the UE (Liang, Fig 1 [0085]-[0086], the service includes generating data for delivery to/from)
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liang as applied to claims above, and further in view of Hunukumbure (Pub No: 2017/0181046).
As to claim 10, Liang teaches control of the UE (Liang, Fig 1 [0085]-[0086], the service includes generating data for delivery to/from).
Liang does not explicitly teach wherein the mobility control of the UE includes a handover between the united network anchor function and at least one other united network anchor function.
However, Hunukumbure teaches wherein the mobility control of the UE includes a handover between the united network anchor function and at least one other united network anchor function (Hunukumbure, [0090-0091], control of a UE using a virtual UE for a network handover function).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to provide “a virtual UE in a handover management” as taught by Hunukumbure in the system of Liang, because it is allows for services to be provided to a user while mobbing mobility (Hunukumbure [0004]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 12 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Shreshta et al (Pub No: 2023/0296722) [0091]
Li et al (Pub No: 2023/0180209) [0005]-[0019].
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AFSHAWN M TOWFIGHI whose telephone number is (571)270-7296. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 AM -5:00 PM.
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/AFSHAWN M TOWFIGHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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