DETAILED ACTION
1. Claims 31-48 are presented for examination.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
3. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 7/05/2024 and 6/19/2025 was filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
5. 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
6. 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.
7. Claim(s) 31, 35, 40, and 44 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2022/0141700 A1 by Hedman et al. (hereafter referred to as Hedman).
Regarding claim 31, Hedman teaches A method by a user equipment (UE) (see at least Fig. 11; WD 22), the method comprising:
determining to transmit a remote UE report message to a session management function (SMF) entity (see at least Fig. 11; Decide to forward message); and
identifying whether a back-off (BO) timer is running, wherein a non access stratum (NAS) transport procedure for the remote UE report message is not started, in case that the BO timer is running (see at least ¶ [0152]; “When the UE receives a back-off timer, the UE shall not initiate any NAS signalling with regards to the applied congestion control until the back-off timer expires or the UE receives a mobile terminated request from the network, or the UE initiates signalling for emergency services or high priority access.”).
Regarding claim 35, Hedman teaches the method of claim 31. In addition, Hedman teaches further comprising: transmitting, to the SMF via the NAS transport procedure, the remote UE report message, after the BO timer stops or expires (see at least ¶ [0189]; “When the UE receives a back-off timer, the UE shall not initiate any NAS signalling with regards to the applied congestion control until the back-off timer expires or the UE receives a mobile terminated request from the network, or the UE initiates signalling for emergency services or high priority access.”).
Regarding claim 40, Hedman teaches A user equipment (UE) comprising: a transceiver; and a controller coupled to the transceiver (see at least ¶ [0094]), the controller is configured to:
determine to transmit a remote UE report message to a session management function (SMF) entity (see at least Fig. 11; Decide to forward message), and identify whether a back-off (BO) timer is running, and wherein a non access stratum (NAS) transport procedure for the remote UE report message is not started, in case that the BO timer is running (see at least ¶ [0152]; “When the UE receives a back-off timer, the UE shall not initiate any NAS signalling with regards to the applied congestion control until the back-off timer expires or the UE receives a mobile terminated request from the network, or the UE initiates signalling for emergency services or high priority access.”).
Regarding claim 44, Hedman teaches the UE of claim 40. In addition, Hedman teaches wherein the controller is further configured to transmit, to the SMF via the NAS transport procedure, the remote UE report message, after the BO timer stops or expires (see at least ¶ [0189]; “When the UE receives a back-off timer, the UE shall not initiate any NAS signalling with regards to the applied congestion control until the back-off timer expires or the UE receives a mobile terminated request from the network, or the UE initiates signalling for emergency services or high priority access.”).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
8. 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. Claim(s) 32 and 41 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hedman as applied to claims 31 and 40 above, in view of "3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Core Network and Terminals; Non-Access-Stratum (NAS) protocol for 5G System (5GS); Stage 3; (Release 17)", 3GPP DRAFT; DRAFT-24501-H50_V3_CLEAN, 3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT (3GPP), MOBILE COMPETENCE CENTRE ; 650, ROUTE DES
LUCIOLES ; F-06921 SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS CEDEX ; FRANCE, 3 January
2022 (2022-01-03), XP052096682 (provided by applicant, hereafter referred to as 3GPP).
Regarding claim 32, Hedman teaches the method of claim 31.
Hedman does not appear to specifically disclose wherein the remote UE report message includes a protocol data unit (PDU) session identification (ID).
In the same field of endeavor, 3GPP teaches Hedman teaches wherein the remote UE report message includes a protocol data unit (PDU) session identification (ID) (see at least section 8.3.19 and 8.3.19.1; Remote UE report).
It would have been obvious to modify the report taught by Hedman with the report taught by 3GPP in order to accurately troubleshoot communication issues.
Regarding claim 41, Hedman teaches the UE of claim 40.
Hedman does not appear to specifically disclose wherein the remote UE report message includes a protocol data unit (PDU) session identification (ID).
In the same field of endeavor, 3GPP teaches Hedman teaches wherein the remote UE report message includes a protocol data unit (PDU) session identification (ID) (see at least section 8.3.19 and 8.3.19.1; Remote UE report).
It would have been obvious to modify the report taught by Hedman with the report taught by 3GPP in order to accurately troubleshoot communication issues.
Allowable Subject Matter
12. Claims 33, 34, 42, 43, 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.
13. Claims 36-39, 45-48 are allowed.
Conclusion
14. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATASHA W COSME whose telephone number is (571)270-7225. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-4.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayman Abaza can be reached at 571-270-0422. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NATASHA W COSME/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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