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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group 1, a user equipment and method, directed to Claims 1-6 and 11-12 in the reply filed on May, 15, 2026 (5/15/2026) is acknowledged. Claims 7-10 and 13 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Group II, a PLMN structure and method. Claims 7-10 and 13, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on May, 15, 2026 (5/15/2026).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on April 19, 2024 (4/19/2024]. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 3 states “availability of the Home PLMN is send via BCH of the visited PLMN” which is grammatically incorrect and should be “availability of the Home PLMN is sent via BCH of the visited PLMN”. Note that page 5 Lines 9-10 of the specification also contain this error.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 3 recites the limitation "the information related to the availability of the Home PLMN" in "The method according to claim 1, wherein the information related to the availability of the Home PLMN is send via BCH of the visited PLMN". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. There would be sufficient antecedent basis for this limitation if Claim 3 was amended to be dependent on Claim 2, which states “wherein the user equipment returns to a normal HPLMN search periodicity in case of reception, from the visited PLMN, of an information related to the availability of the Home PLMN indicated that the Home PLMN may be available again”.
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.
Claims 1-2, 4-6, and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Park et al. (US 2023/0156863).
Regarding Claim 1, Park teaches a method to manage reselection of Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), by a user equipment, in a national roaming context occurring in case of disaster conditions wherein, while the user equipment is aware of its Home PLMN being in disaster conditions and has a list of possible PLMN for national roaming, (Par. [0259] “In step S700, the method includes determining that a disaster condition applies to a HPLMN”),
the method comprises the steps of, for the user equipment, once the user equipment is switched to a visited PLMN belonging to the list of possible PLMN for national roaming:
(Par. [0262] In step S710, the method includes selecting a specific PLMN from among at least one PLMN other than the HPLMN” and Par. [0263] “In step S720, the method includes, based on the specific PLMN being a disaster roaming PLMN, registering with the disaster roaming PLMN”),
reducing the Home PLMN search periodicity to a predetermined disaster conditions periodicity, (Par. [0263] “Upon registering with the disaster roaming PLMN, a timer for periodically searching for the HPLMN does not operate, and while the timer does not operate, the HPLMN is not searched”),
performing Home PLMN search according to this predetermined disaster conditions periodicity (Par. [0263] “Upon registering with the disaster roaming PLMN, a timer for periodically searching for the HPLMN does not operate, and while the timer does not operate, the HPLMN is not searched” and Par. [0264] “In some implementations, the timer may operate after selecting the disaster roaming PLMN” and Par. [0265] “In some implementations, the method may further comprise evaluating a time point at which the HPLMN becomes available again, based on the specific PLMN being a normal PLMN that is not the disaster roaming PLMN”).
Regarding Claim 2, Park teaches the invention of Claim 1, further teaching the user equipment returns to a normal HPLMN search periodicity in case of reception, from the visited PLMN, of an information related to the availability of the Home PLMN indicating that the Home PLMN may be available again (Par. [0263] “In addition, the method includes, based on the specific PLMN being a disaster roaming PLMN, restarting the timer based on the disaster condition no longer applying to the HPLMN or the UE leaving a disaster area” and Par. [0266] “In some implementations, the disaster condition no longer applying to the HPLMN may be recognized based on an indicator received from the disaster roaming PLMN or a deregistration procedure initiated by a network in the disaster roaming PLMN”).
Regarding Claim 4, Park teaches the invention of Claim 1, and further teaching the predetermined disaster conditions search periodicity is a value stored by the UE on the USIM card and hence was predetermined by its HPLMN (Par. [0144] “In the case that the UE has a stored “Equivalent PLMNs” list, the UE may only select a PLMN if it is of a higher priority than those of the same country as the current serving PLMN which are stored in the equivalent PLMNs list. For this purpose, a value of timer T may be stored in the SIM. The interpretation of the stored value of time T depends on the radio capabilities supported by the UE”).
Regarding Claim 5, Park teaches the invention of Claim 1, further teaching the predetermined disaster conditions search periodicity is a standard defined range or value and set to a multiple of hours or once per day (Par. [0151] 1) if the UE is using, at the time of starting timer T, any one of EC-GSM-IoT, Category M1 or Category NB1, T may be either in the range 2 hours to 240 hours, using 2 hour steps from 2 hours to 80 hours and 4 hour steps from 84 hours to 240 hours, or it may indicate that no periodic attempts is made).
Regarding Claim 6, Park teaches the invention of Claim 1, and further teaching the list of possible PLMN for national roaming comprising a preference order, the method further comprises, for the user equipment, the step of performing a higher preference PLMN search in case of reception, from the visited PLMN, of an information that such a higher preference PLMN is available (Par. [0144] “More specifically, if the UE is in a VPLMN, the MS may periodically attempt to obtain service on its HPLMN (if the Equivalent HPLMN (EHPLMN) list is not present or is empty) or one of its EHPLMNs (if the EHPLMN list is present) or a higher priority PLMN/access technology combinations listed in “user controlled PLMN selector” or “operator controlled PLMN selector” by scanning in accordance with the requirements that are applicable as defined in the automatic network selection mode. In the case that the UE has a stored “Equivalent PLMNs” list, the UE may only select a PLMN if it is of a higher priority than those of the same country as the current serving PLMN which are stored in the equivalent PLMNs list”).
Regarding Claim 11, Park teaches a user equipment having reception/transmission sub-module and reselection monitoring sub-module configured to manage reselection of Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) in a national roaming context occurring in case of disaster conditions, (Par. [0039] “In the present disclosure, the wireless devices 100a to 100f may be called user equipments (UEs)” and Par. [0086] “A UE 100 includes a processor 102, a memory 104, a transceiver 106, one or more antennas 108, a power management module 110, a battery 112, a display 114, a keypad 116, a subscriber identification module (SIM) card 118, a speaker 120, and a microphone 122” and Par. [0088] “When the embodiments are implemented in software, the techniques described herein can be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, etc.) that perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. The modules can be stored in the memory 104 and executed by the processor 102”),
said reselection monitoring sub-module being aware that its Home PLMN is in disaster conditions and having a list of possible PLMN for national roaming, (Par. [0199] “As an option, in automatic selection mode, when no Equivalent HPLMN (EHPLMN) list is present, the UE may select the HPLMN. When the EHPLMN list is present, the UE may select the highest priority EHPLMN among the available EHPLMNs” and Par. [0259] “In step S700, the method includes determining that a disaster condition applies to a HPLMN” and Par. [0262] “In step S710, the method includes selecting a specific PLMN from among at least one PLMN other than the HPLMN”),
the reselection monitoring sub-module being further configured to, once the user equipment is switched to a visited PLMN belonging to the list of possible PLMN for national roaming: (Par. [0262] “In step S710, the method includes selecting a specific PLMN from among at least one PLMN other than the HPLMN” and Par. [0263] “In step S720, the method includes, based on the specific PLMN being a disaster roaming PLMN, registering with the disaster roaming PLMN”),
reduce the Home PLMN search periodicity to a predetermined disaster conditions periodicity, (Par. [0263] “Upon registering with the disaster roaming PLMN, a timer for periodically searching for the HPLMN does not operate, and while the timer does not operate, the HPLMN is not searched”),
performing a Home PLMN search according to this predetermined disaster conditions periodicity (Par. [0263] “Upon registering with the disaster roaming PLMN, a timer for periodically searching for the HPLMN does not operate, and while the timer does not operate, the HPLMN is not searched” and Par. [0264] “In some implementations, the timer may operate after selecting the disaster roaming PLMN” and Par. [0265] “In some implementations, the method may further comprise evaluating a time point at which the HPLMN becomes available again, based on the specific PLMN being a normal PLMN that is not the disaster roaming PLMN”).
Regarding Claim 12, Park teaches the invention of Claim 11, further teaching the user equipment returns to the normal HPLMN search periodicity in case of reception, from the visited PLMN, of an information related to the availability of the Home PLMN indicating that the Home PLMN may be available again (Par. [0263] “In addition, the method includes, based on the specific PLMN being a disaster roaming PLMN, restarting the timer based on the disaster condition no longer applying to the HPLMN or the UE leaving a disaster area” and Par. [0266] “In some implementations, the disaster condition no longer applying to the HPLMN may be recognized based on an indicator received from the disaster roaming PLMN or a deregistration procedure initiated by a network in the disaster roaming PLMN”).
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 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. (US 2023/0156863) in view of Kodali et al. (US 2010/0195643).
Regarding Claim 3, Park teaches the invention of Claim 1, but does not teach the information related to the availability of the Home PLMN is sent via BCH of the visited PLMN.
Kodali teaches the information related to the availability of the Home PLMN is send via BCH of the visited PLMN (Fig. 1, and Par. [0043] “In the example, network PLMN A (the HPLMN) is shown as having a highest priority in the original priority list 140a, followed by PLMNs B through E. A look up table 142, which may be for example stored in RAM of MT 100, contains entries indicating PLMN availability and current domain capability (CS voice or PS data). As explained in connection with FIG. 1, MT 100 receives this information broadcast in control channels by the various PLMNs”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Kodali’s HPLMN availability information being transmitted by a broadcast channel with Park’s PLMN reselection method to reduce time consumption.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Chun et al. (US 2022/0070815) discloses “Once the UE has selected a PLMN, the cell selection procedure shall be performed in order to select a suitable cell of that PLMN to camp on. When the UE are searching for a PLMN triggered by e.g. due to unavailability or HPLMN, due to trigger to start national roaming/emergency roaming, the UE check whether the found PLMN allows national/emergency roaming or not” (Par. [0397]).
Jiang et al. (US 2004/0087305) discloses “Redirection includes using the OTA server 112 is to update certain SIM card files. As shown at 624, the SIM files are updated to reduce an HPLMN search timer period in EF.sub.HPLMN from a default value to a value "01" as specified in ETSI GSM 11.11. This specifies that the mobile station will search for the HPMN after 6 minutes” (Par. [0092]).
VIVO ET AL ("Higher priority PLMN search in disaster roaming scenario", 3GPP DRAFT; CP-212125, 3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT (3GPP), FRANCE - vol. CT WG1, no. E-meeting; 20210819 - 20210827 - 1 September 2021 (2021-09-01), XP052044872) discloses “d) Periodic attempts shall only be performed by the MS while in idle mode or 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication” (Pg. 3).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH NGHIA DINH whose telephone number is (571)272-7982. The examiner can normally be reached Mon. - Fri. 7:30AM-5PM.
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/J.N.D./Examiner, Art Unit 2641
/CHARLES N APPIAH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2641
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