DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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.
This action is in response to the application and preliminary amendments filed on 3/5/2024.
Claims 1-2, 5, 7-8, 10-12, 14-15, 18, 20-21, 25-31 have been examined and are rejected.
Priority
This application is a 371 of PCT/CN2021/117300 filed 9/8/2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 3/5/2024, 1/10/2025, 4/24/2025, & 8/4/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections – 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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.
Claims 1-2, 5, 14-15, 18, & 25-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Fu et al. (US 2024/0073761 A1).
With regard to Claim 1, Fu teaches:
A cell reselection method, executed by a terminal, comprising:
determining that a target cell does not support one or more network slices of the terminal; (determine whether a candidate cell supports a target slice based on information indicated by the network device [Fu: 0164; 0168; 0174]);
and determining whether to reselect at least one of the target cell or a cell with a same frequency as the target cell; (a result of determining whether to reselect a certain candidate cell may change depending on whether the frequency priority determined based on the slice information or the first frequency priority is used [Fu: 0184; 0190; 0194-202]).
With regard to Claim 2, Fu teaches:
The cell reselection method according to claim 1, wherein the determining whether to reselect the at least one of the target cell or the cell with the same frequency as the target cell comprises:
determining whether to execute a first reselection limitation on the at least one of the target cell or the cell with the same frequency as the target cell; (in case the first cell does not support the target slice, the first cell may be skipped, or the target frequency may be skipped, or the reselection priority of reselection to the first cell may be lowered to a third priority, or the frequency priority of the target frequency may be lowered to a fourth priority [Fu: 0168; 0174]).
With regard to Claim 5, Fu teaches:
The cell reselection method according to claim 2, wherein the first reselection limitation comprises: reducing a priority of a frequency point corresponding to the target cell; (in case the first cell does not support the target slice, the first cell may be skipped, or the target frequency may be skipped, or the reselection priority of reselection to the first cell may be lowered to a third priority, or the frequency priority of the target frequency may be lowered to a fourth priority [Fu: 0168; 0174]).
With regard to Claims 14-15, 18, & 25-30, they appear substantially similar to the limitations recited by claims 1-2 & 5 and consequently do not appear to teach or further define over the citations provided for said claims. Accordingly, claims 14-15, 18, & 25-30 are rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claims 1-2 & 5.
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 of this title, 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.
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 7-8, 10-11, 20-21, & 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fu et al. (US 2024/0073761 A1) in view of Yang (US 2023/0224780 A1).
With regard to Claim 7, Fu teaches the cell reselection method according to claim 2, but does not teach:
wherein the first reselection limitation corresponds to a first parameter, and the first parameter comprises: a time parameter for executing the first reselection.
In a similar field of endeavor involving network slice reselection, Yang discloses:
wherein the first reselection limitation corresponds to a first parameter, and the first parameter comprises: a time parameter for executing the first reselection; (selection of the network slice is achieved by finding a matched available User Equipment Route Selection Policy (URSP) rule in a list of URSP rules [Yang: 0030], wherein e URSP rule corresponding to the currently selected network slice is identified as “unavailable” within a preset period of time, and after the preset period of time ends, the identification of “unavailable” of the URSP rule is removed [Yang: 0041; 0043]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Fu in view of Yang in order to utilize a time parameter as a reselection limitation in the system of Fu.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Fu with Yang as doing so would allow slices that are marked as unavailable for selection to become available again after a period of time, thereby acknowledging that issues associated with unavailable cells is often temporary in nature and can possibly be resolved prior to expiration of a timer.
With regard to Claim 8, Fu teaches the cell reselection method according to claim 2, but does not teach:
determining that a first reselection limitation lifting condition is satisfied; and determining whether to lift the first reselection limitation executed on the at least one of the target cell or the cell with the same frequency as the target cell.
In a similar field of endeavor involving network slice reselection, Yang discloses:
determining that a first reselection limitation lifting condition is satisfied; and determining whether to lift the first reselection limitation executed on the at least one of the target cell or the cell with the same frequency as the target cell; (selection of the network slice is achieved by finding a matched available User Equipment Route Selection Policy (URSP) rule in a list of URSP rules [Yang: 0030], wherein e URSP rule corresponding to the currently selected network slice is identified as “unavailable” within a preset period of time, and after the preset period of time ends, the identification of “unavailable” of the URSP rule is removed [Yang: 0041; 0043]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Fu in view of Yang in order to determine a reselection limitation lifting condition is satisfied in the system of Fu.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Fu with Yang as doing so would allow slices that are marked as unavailable for selection to become available again after a period of time, thereby acknowledging that issues associated with unavailable cells is often temporary in nature and can possibly be resolved prior to expiration of a timer.
With regard to Claim 10, Fu-Yang teaches:
The cell reselection method according to claim 8, wherein the first reselection limitation lifting condition comprises:
the terminal receives a second indication information, wherein the second indication information indicates whether to lift the executed first reselection limitation; (it is detected whether network congestion happens to the network slice corresponding to the URSP rule identified as “unavailable”, wherein if it is detected that no network congestion happens to the network slice corresponding to the URSP rule identified as “unavailable”, the identification of “unavailable” of the URSP rule is removed [Yang: 0044; 0096; Fig. 7]).
With regard to Claim 11, Fu-Yang teaches:
The cell reselection method according to claim 10, wherein, the second indication information determines that terminal slice information changes; (it is detected whether network congestion happens to the network slice corresponding to the URSP rule identified as “unavailable”, wherein if it is detected that no network congestion happens to the network slice corresponding to the URSP rule identified as “unavailable”, the identification of “unavailable” of the URSP rule is removed [Yang: 0044; 0096; Fig. 7]).
With regard to Claims 20-21 & 31, they appear substantially similar to the limitations recited by claims 7-8 & 10-11 and consequently do not appear to teach or further define over the citations provided for said claims. Accordingly, claims 20-21 & 31 are rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claims 7-8 & 10-11.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fu et al. (US 2024/0073761 A1) in view of Yang (US 2023/0224780 A1) as applied to Claim 11 above, and further in view of Mildh et al. (US 2021/0282082 A1).
With regard to Claim 12, Fu-Yang teaches the cell reselection method according to claim 11, but does not teach:
wherein the terminal slice information comprises at least one of a list of network slices supported by the terminal; or priorities of the network slices supported by the terminal.
In a similar field of endeavor involving obtaining network slice availability that indicates which network slices are supported, Mildh discloses:
wherein the terminal slice information comprises at least one of a list of network slices supported by the terminal; or priorities of the network slices supported by the terminal; (signaling of slice support can be sent at initial connection setup between network nodes and also dynamically when the slice availability changes (e.g. event triggered) [Mildh: 0258]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Fu-Yang in view of Mildh in order to receive terminal slice information comprising a list of network slices supported by the terminal in the system of Fu-Yang.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Fu-Yang with Mildh as doing so would allow the terminal to receive updated slice support based on an event that results in slice availability changes.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Zhu et al. (US 2021/0037455 A1) which teaches the RAN may indicate to the core network that the availability status of the UE's interested slice has changed so that the core network may update the allowed NSSAI [0166].
In the case of amendments, Applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and support, for ascertaining the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AUSTIN J MOREAU whose telephone number is (571) 272-5179. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00 - 6:00 ET.
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/AUSTIN J MOREAU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2446