CTNF 18/683,274 CTNF 86659 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. DETAILED ACTION This Office Action is in response to the Applicant's communication filed on 04/14/2026. In virtue of this communication, Applicants elect Group II corresponding to claims 4 – 6 and 22 – 27. Claims 1 – 3, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19 are drawn to the non-elected group/invention, thus claims 1 – 3, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19 are withdrawn from consideration. Claims 1 – 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, and 22 – 27 are currently pending in the instant application. Election/Restrictions 08-25-01 AIA 2. Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II corresponding to claims 4 – 6 and 22 – 27 in the reply filed on 04/14/2026 is acknowledged. Specification 07-29 AIA The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: there are some acronyms (“AMF”, “UAV”, “SMF”) which should be spelled them out in the title of the Specification . Appropriate correction is required. Claim Objections 07-29-01 AIA Claim 4 is objected to because of the following informalities: there is an acronym “NAS” which should be spelled it out at first time use in the claim . Appropriate correction is required. 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. 07-34-01 Claims 4 – 6 and 22 – 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claims 4 – 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA) second paragraph as they are unclear. Claims 4 – 6 currently stated “a UE-initiated de-registration procedure” and “a radio terminal”. It is not sure that there is a relationship between a UE and a radio terminal. It seems a radio terminal is the same as user equipment (UE) as defined in the Specification. For examination on the merits the claim would be given their broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification, as required by MPEP 2111. Correction is required. Claims 22 - 27 are also rejected because they directly depend to claims 4 – 6, respectively. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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 8. Claim s 4 – 6 and 25 – 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kumar et al. (hereinafter “Kumar”) (WO 2021/033975 A1) in view of So (WO 2022/198147 A1) (using text of 63/183556 for early filing date) . Regarding claims 4, 5, and 6, Kumar discloses a radio terminal (see UE 100 in Fig. 1A, Fig. 5) comprising: at least one memory terminal (see 140 in Fig. 1A, and see [0057] for the memory is considered a non-transitory storage medium); and at least one processor terminal (see 160 in Fig. 1A) coupled to the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured (see [0058] for the processor is configured to execute various instructions stored in the memory) to: transmit, to an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) (see AMF 200 in Fig. 5), a DEREGISTRATION REQUEST message which initiates a UE- initiated de-registration procedure (see 504 in Fig. 5, [0092]), receive, from the AMF, a NAS Transport message (see 502 in Fig. 5, [0092]), and ignore the NAS Transport message and proceed with the UE-initiated de-registration procedure (see 506 in Fig. 5, [0093]). Kumar teaches that NAS transport procedure initiated by the AMF controller, however Kumar does not disclose the AMF initiates the NAS transport procedure during an Authentication and Authorization procedure. In an analogous art, So discloses the AMF initiates the NAS transport procedure during an Authentication and Authorization procedure (see So, Figure 5.2.2.2-1 in step 4c for the AMF sends NAS MM transport to the UE (i.e., an UAV) during the AMF triggers to perform UUAA, i.e., Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) node initiates a UAV Authentication and Authorization (UUAA-MM) procedure). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made, to modify the invention of Kumar which discloses the UE not processing the DL NAS transport message during the collision between the DL NAS transport and the UE initiated deregistration procedure, and have the AMF initiates the NAS transport procedure during an Authentication and Authorization procedure, thereby providing supports for the UE that requires UUAA, as discussed by So (see So, page 4 in bullet point 1). Regarding claims 25, 26, and 27, Kumar in view of So disclose wherein, based on the NAS Transport message, the at least one processor is configured to ignore the NAS Transport message and proceed with the UE-initiated de-registration procedure (see Kumar, Fig. 5, [0091] – [0093] based on the collision between the NAS Transport message and the UE-initiated de-registration) . Allowable Subject Matter 07-43 Claims 22, 23, and 24 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if overcome the 112 rejection above and rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is 2024/0098494 (Baskaran et al.), which teaches that transmit a non-access stratum (“NAS”) message to the UE, the NAS message containing: a UAV ID request, and an indication that reauthentication of the UE is required, and the AMF enables the UUAA revocation with the UE (i.e., the UAV) using the UE Configuration Update procedure,, the AMF sends a CAA-Level UAV ID along with the UUAA Revocation indication to the UE (i.e., UAV) in the UE Configuration Update command, and the AMF deletes the locally stored UAV-related information soon after sending the UUAA Revocation indication . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MONG-THUY THI TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-3199. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 9AM - 6PM (IFP). 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, ANTHONY ADDY can be reached at (571)272-7795. 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. /MONG-THUY T TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645 Application/Control Number: 18/683,274 Page 2 Art Unit: 2645 Application/Control Number: 18/683,274 Page 3 Art Unit: 2645 Application/Control Number: 18/683,274 Page 4 Art Unit: 2645
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