Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 17, 2026
Application No. 18/707,013

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING PDU SESSION ESTABLISHMENT FOR DISASTER ROAMING SERVICE

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
May 02, 2024
Priority
Nov 02, 2021 — IN 202131050340 +3 more
Examiner
TRAN, MONG THUY THI
Art Unit
2645
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
86%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 86% — above average
86%
Career Allowance Rate
667 granted / 771 resolved
+24.5% vs TC avg
Moderate +14% lift
Without
With
+13.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 3m
Avg Prosecution
14 currently pending
Career history
782
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.4%
-35.6% vs TC avg
§103
60.6%
+20.6% vs TC avg
§102
12.0%
-28.0% vs TC avg
§112
13.0%
-27.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 771 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . DETAILED ACTION This Office Action is in response to the Applicant's communication filed on 05/02/2024. In virtue of this communication, claims 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 have been amended. Claims 1 – 12 are currently pending in the instant application. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 2. 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. 3. Claims 1 – 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Won (Pub # US 2021/0250890 A1) in view of Kim et al. (hereinafter “Kim”) (Pub # US 2020/0275331 A1). Regarding claims 1, 5, and 9, Won discloses a method for managing protocol data unit (PDU) session establishment, by a user equipment (UE) (see apparatus 300 in FIG. 5, [0127] - [0130] including a transceiver (see [0134] for communication interface include a transceiver and/or supporting hardware or software for enabling communications with one or more remote computing devices); a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions (see 310/306 in FIG. 5), and a controller (see 304 in FIG. 5) coupled to the transceiver) connected to a network for disaster roaming (see [0123] for the apparatus handling emergency services in a private network or other wireless communication system, such as a 5G system, and see [0467] for mapped S-NSSAI available in roaming scenarios), the method comprising: receiving a non-access stratum (NAS) session management message from the network (see block 11 in FIG. 8, [0683], [0694], [0703] – [0706] for the UE receiving a configuration update command message from a network entity (i.e., AMF) of a current PLMN, and the AMF can include the PDU session ID in the PDU session ID IE of the DL NAS TRANSPORT message); determining whether the NAS session management message includes an evolved packet system (EPS) related quality of service (QoS) (see [0317], [0318] for the EPS bearer context status information is generated for the UE during the inter-system change and the AMF can include an EPS bearer context status IE in the REGISTRATION ACCEPT message to indicate the UE which mapped EPS bearer contexts are active in the network, see [0333] for EPS associated QoS rules), and whether a session related to the NAS session management message is an emergency PDU session (see [0142], [0167], [0168], [0693] for considering whether the UE has an emergency PDU session); and deleting an associated EPS bearer context, based on determining that the NAS session management message includes the EPS related QoS, and that the session is not the emergency PDU session (see block 12 in FIG. 8, [0142], [0144], [0147], [0690], [0693], [0694] for the UE can perform a local release of all PDU sessions except for an emergency PDU session, see [0333] for if the EPS bearer context status IE is included in the REGISTRATION ACCEPT message, the UE can locally delete all those QoS flow descriptions and all associated QoS rules, if any, which are associated with inactive EPS bearer contexts as indicated by the AMF in the EPS bearer context status IE). Won does not disclose specifically that the EPS related QoS parameter. In an analogous art, Kim discloses that the EPS related QoS parameter (see Kim, [0086] for EPS bearer ID and EPS bearer has QoS characteristics of a maximum bit rate (MBR) and/or a guaranteed bit rate (GBR)). 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 Won which including the EPS bearer context status information is generated for the UE during the inter-system change for the apparatus handling emergency services, and have the EPS related QoS parameter thereby provides the UE correlates the ongoing QoS flow with an indicated EPS bearer ID set up by the Handover Command such that the UE locally deletes QoS flows with no assigned EPS bearer IDs, as discussed by Kim (see Kim, [0122]). The motivation would providing efficient interworking between 5G system and an evolved packet system (EPS), as suggested by Kim (see Kim, [0003]). Regarding claims 2, 6, and 10, Won in view of Kim disclose wherein the NAS session management message is one of a PDU session establishment accept message and a PDU session modification command message (see Won, [0683], [0694]). Regarding claims 3, 7, and 11, Won in view of Kim disclose wherein the QoS parameter includes at least one of an EPS bearer identifier (ID) or mapped EPS bearer context (see Won, [0318], or see Kim, [0086] for EPS bearer ID which has QoS characteristic). Regarding claims 4, 8, and 12, Won in view of Kim disclose maintaining the associated EPS bearer context based on determining that the NAS session management message does not include the EPS related QoS parameter, or that the session is the emergency PDU session (see Won, [0142], [0144], [0690], [0693], [0694] for the UE can keep an emergency PDU session, and see [0318] for include an EPS bearer context status IE in the REGISTRATION ACCEPT message to indicate the UE which mapped EPS bearer contexts are active in the network). Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure are: 2022/0217522 (Kim et al.) which discloses the process determining whether to accept the access for providing the disaster roaming service of the UE requesting access and the range of the disaster roaming service that can be provided (e.g., a basic voice call and a specific service, etc.). 2020/0267780 (Huang-Fu et al.) discloses EPS/5GS network supporting Quality of Service (QoS) flow and Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer management, and the UE receives a mapped EPS bearer context IE during a PDU session establishment or modification procedure. 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
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

May 02, 2024
Application Filed
Jul 15, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
86%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+13.8%)
2y 3m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 771 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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