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 statements (IDS) submitted on January 16, 2025 and May 30, 2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on May 30, 2024. These drawings are acceptable.
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.
Claim(s) 1-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ninglekhu et al. (hereinafter “Ninglekhu”, US Provisional Application No. 62/972,212) in view of Chandramouli et al. (hereinafter “Chandramouli”, US 12,200,813).
Regarding claims 1, 7, and 13, Ninglekhu discloses method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE) (i.e., UE 102 as shown in Fig. 8B), and apparatus for wireless communication, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium (i.e., non-removable memory 130 and removable memory 132) for wireless communication, comprising:
sending a registration request for a new service to a first network (i.e., sending a registration request 1 by the UE to RAN as shown in Fig. 11); and
receiving a registration response from the first network comprising an indication that the new service is not supported in the first network (i.e., receiving registration accept 5 message from RAN including the rejected NSSAI with cause code for each rejected S-NSSAI as shown in Fig. 11).
Ninglekhu does not expressly disclose initiating de-registration with the first network based on the registration response.
In a similar endeavor, Chandramouli discloses selective indications towards user equipment. Chandramouli also discloses initiating de-registration with the first network based on the registration response (i.e., transmitting a de-registration accept message to the source AMF as described in col. 5, lines 41-46, and as shown in Fig. 1b).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art to modify the teachings of the cited references, and arrive at the present invention.
The motivation/suggestion for doing so would have been to enable the UE to connect to a different network or network slice that can provide optimal service.
With further regard to claim 7, Ninglekhu also discloses an apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: one or more processors (i.e., processor 118 as shown in Fig. 8B) individually or collectively configured to execute instructions stored on one or more memories (i.e., non-removable memory 130 and removable memory 132).
Regarding claims 2, 8, and 14, Ninglekhu and Chandramouli disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Ninglekhu also discloses initiating at least one new service while registered with the first network (i.e., sending an RRC message to RAN node to indicate that it wants to access an S-NSSAI that is not accessible in the frequency band that the UE is currently using as described in paragraph 0177).
Regarding claims 3, 9, and 15, Ninglekhu and Chandramouli disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Ninglekhu also discloses:
performing a search for a second network that supports the new service (i.e., UE chooses the alternative allowed NSSAI and sends a registration update request to the network as described in paragraphs 0006-0009); and
if the search is successful, sending a registration request to the second network to request the new service from the second network (i.e., UE chooses the alternative allowed NSSAI and sends a registration update request to the network as described in paragraphs 0006-0009).
Regarding claims 4, 10, and 16, Ninglekhu and Chandramouli disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Ninglekhu also discloses wherein the registration request includes a requested network slice selection assistance information (NSSAI) information element (i.e., the registration request 1 includes requested NSSAI as shown in Fig. 11).
Regarding claims 5, 11, and 17, Ninglekhu and Chandramouli disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Ninglekhu also discloses wherein the requested NSSAI information element indicates at least one single NSSAI (S-NSSAI) of a slice that supports the new service (i.e., the S-NSSAI as described in paragraphs 0016 and as shown in Figs. 9 & 10).
Regarding claims 6, 12, and 18, Ninglekhu and Chandramouli disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Ninglekhu also discloses wherein the indication comprises:
an allowed network slice selection assistance information (NSSAI) not containing a single NSSAI (S-NSSAI) of a slice that supports the new service; or
a rejected NSSAI containing the S-NSSAI of a slice that supports the new service (i.e., rejected NSSAI with cause code for each rejected S-NSSAI as shown in step 5 of Fig. 11).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WAYNE CAI whose telephone number is (571)272-7798. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday, 7:00 AM-5:00 PM.
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, KATHY WANG-HURST can be reached on (571)270-5371. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Wayne H Cai/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644
Prosecution Insights