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 .
Claims 13-32 are pending.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 13, 14, 17, 19-24, 27 and 29-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huawei et al, application no. CN107231332 (English Translation Attached, Art submitted in IDS), hereinafter known a Huawei in view of Abe et al, application no. 2019/0141521, hereinafter known as Abe.
As to claim 13, Huawei discloses a method, performed by a network node, the method comprising: handling registration of a User Equipment (UE) to an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network in a communication network (Huawei, figure 2, step 201, re-registration received for UE in IMS when switching between LTE and WiFi). Huawei does not expressly disclose switching of PLMN however Abe discloses wherein the UE is performing a handover from a first public land mobile network (PLMN) of a first country or operator to a second PLMN of a second country or operator (Abe, [0003]-[0009], changing PLMN network by UE when it visits a different a network and performs a registration process accordingly).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Huawei to include the limitations of wherein the UE is performing a handover from a first public land mobile network (PLMN) of a first country or operator to a second PLMN of a second country or operator as taught by Abe. Switching to a different PLMN when changing location by UE is known in the art and it enables UE to communicate in the network without issues.
As to claim 14, Huawei discloses wherein the handling of the registration comprises enforcing the UE to make a session initiation protocol (SIP) registration, the IMS system being capable of switching off a SIP encryption policy immediately after the UE has switched networks (Huawei, Figure 3, paragraph 48-60, changing network and ending one SIP policy and beginning another). Huawei does not disclose however Abe discloses ending SIP policy when entered the second PLMN (Abe, [0003]-[0009], roaming from HPLMN to VPLMN where second a SIP session is needed; [0036]-[0038], SIP registration message where encryption is set to NULL when SIP session is started).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Huawei to include the limitations of ending SIP policy when entered the second PLMN as taught by Abe. New or second PMLN invariably require new SIP policy as well known in the art.
As to claim 17, Huawei and Abe disclose the method of claim 13. Huawei does not disclose however Abe discloses further comprising responding to a SIP invite from the UE or a Serving Call Session Control Function (S-CSCF) with an error message in response to detecting that the UE has changed to the second PLMN (Abe, [0050]-[0054], deleting bearers during IMS registration for prohibited access and providing response).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Huawei to include the limitations of further comprising responding to a SIP invite from the UE or a Serving Call Session Control Function (S-CSCF) with an error message in response to detecting that the UE has changed to the second PLMN as taught by Abe. Error message would indicate to the UE of a change in communication metrics and environment requiring mitigating steps to continue service.
As to claim 19, Huawei and Abe disclose the method of claim 13. Huawei does not disclose however Abe discloses wherein the network node is of the second PLMN and the method comprises detecting a voice bearer release and disconnecting a PDN connection of the UE with an instruction to the UE to reconnect (Abe, [0050]-[0054], deleting bearers including voice bearer during IMS registration for prohibited access).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Huawei to include the limitations of wherein the network node is of the second PLMN and the method comprises detecting a voice bearer release and disconnecting a PDN connection of the UE with an instruction to the UE to reconnect as taught by Abe. All service would require an interruption, when changing form one PLMN to another, including for voice services.
As to claim 20, Huawei discloses further comprising detecting a network change for the UE (Huawei, figure 2, step 201, re-registration received for UE in IMS where re-registration includes network change detection). Huawei does not expressly disclose Abe discloses detecting network change means detecting PMLN change (Abe, [0003]-[0009], changing PLMN network for UE when it visits a different network and performs a registration process in new PMLN).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Huawei to include the limitations of detecting network change means detecting PMLN change as taught by Abe. Detection of PMLN change is useful in determining what kind of services a UE may require or is able to employ in new PMLN.
As to claim 21, Huawei dicloses a method, performed by a user equipment (UE), of handling communication of the UE in a communication network, the method comprising: changing network and initiating a session initiation protocol (SIP) re-register (Huawei, figure 2, step 201, re-registration received for UE in IMS when switching between LTE and WiFi). Huawei does not expressly disclose switching of PLMN however Abe discloses obtaining an indication that the UE is performing a handover from a first public land mobile network (PLMN) of a first country or operator to a second PLMN of a second country or operator (Abe, [0003]-[0009], changing PLMN network by UE, as indicated by the network, when it visits a different network and performing a registration process)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Huawei to include the limitations of obtaining an indication that the UE is performing a handover from a first public land mobile network (PLMN) of a first country or operator to a second PLMN of a second country or operator as taught by Abe. Switching to a different PLMN when changing location by UE is known in the art and it enables UE to communicate in the network without issues.
As to claim 22, Huawei and Abe disclose the method of claim 21. Huawei does not disclose however Abe discloses wherein obtaining the indication comprises determining that the UE is performing the handover or receiving the indication from a network node (Abe, [0003]-[0009], changing PLMN network by UE, as indicated by the network, when it visits a different network and performs a registration process)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Huawei to include the limitations of wherein obtaining the indication comprises determining that the UE is performing the handover or receiving the indication from a network node as taught by Abe. Switching to a different PLMN when changing location by UE is known in the art and it enables UE to communicate in the network without issues.
As to claims 23, 24, 27, 29 and 30, the claims are rejected as applied to claims 13, 14, 17, 19 and 20 respectively above by Huawei in view of Abe.
As to claims 31-32, the claims are rejected as applied to claims 21-22 respectively above by Huawei in view of Abe.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 15, 16, 18, 25, 26 and 28 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/GAUTAM SHARMA/ Examiner, Art Unit 2467
/HASSAN A PHILLIPS/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2467
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