DETAILED ACTION
Applicant amended claims 1, 10, and 19 in the amendment dated 4/6/2026.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 5/1/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suh (US 2023/0239667 A1) in view of Ianev (WO 2024/070837 A1) and further in view of Chockalingam (US 11,102,696 B1).
With regards to Claim 1, Suh teaches a device comprising: a processor (i.e., Figure 8) configured to: receive, from a User Equipment device (UE), a registration request (i.e., in step 310, the UE 301 may transmit an AN message including an AN parameter and a registration request to an RAN 302…, Paragraph 110); obtain Multimedia Priority Service (MPS) policy parameters for the UE in response to the registration request (i.e., When the message received in step 370 includes the MPS subscription changed indication or the MCX subscription changed indication, in step 380, the UE 301 may transmit a registration complete message to the AMF 303. The registration complete message may include information indicating that the changed MPS subscription information has been received in case of MPS, information indicating that the changed MCX subscription information has been received in case of MCX, and the like, Paragraph125; Figure 3); receive, from the UE, a request to establish a session (i.e., Figure 3, Item 395); set a priority of a message to be sent to establish the session, based on the MPS policy parameters (i.e., At this time, when the UE 301 includes a parameter indicating a request for a priority service in an establishment cause of the AN parameter, and the RAN 302 includes a parameter indicating a request for a high priority service in the establishment cause, the RAN 302 transmits including the establishment cause to the AMF 303. When the establishment cause indicates the priority service, the AMF 303 may include header information requesting preferential processing in communication with other NFs, Paragraph 129).
However, Suh does not explicitly disclose send the message to establish the session. Ianev does teach send the message to establish the session (i.e., At some point the UE 3 initiates PDU Session Establishment procedure or Service request procedure…, Paragraph 104) in order to provide to UE knowledge of Target NSSAI to request registration (Paragraph 10). Therefore, based on Suh in view of Ianev, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Ianev with the system of Suh in order to provide to UE knowledge of Target NSSAI to request registration.
Suh and Ianev do not explicitly disclose wherein the MPS policy parameters include a MPS priority level corresponding to one of different MPS categories to which UEs belong. Cheng does teach wherein the MPS policy parameters include a MPS priority level corresponding to one of different MPS categories to which UEs belong (i.e., The subscription data and/or the policy related data associated with the UE 202 can, for example, be received by the PCF 208 and from a Unified Data Repository (UDR). The subscription data associated with the UE 202 can include, for example, an identifier indicating a priority (e.g., a first priority or a second priority) of the UE 202, and/or an identifier indicating the UE 202 is associated with an emergency responder…, Co. 12, Lines 6-35) in order to provide policy modifications with dynamic QoS during handovers (Col. 1, Lines 55-60). Therefore, based on Suh in view of Ianev, and further in view of Chockalingam, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Chockalingam with the system of Suh and Ianev, in order to provide policy modifications with dynamic QoS during handovers.
With regards to Claim 2, Suh teaches wherein the processor obtains the MPS policy parameters, the processor is configured to: obtain an indication of whether the UE is subscribed to an MPS (i.e., in step 1030, the AMF 1003 may check whether information indicating whether the UE 1001 has subscribed to a priority service is included in a UE context. Here, the information indicating whether the UE 1001 has subscribed to the priority service may include information indicating whether the UE 1001 has subscribed to the MPS and/or the MCX, Paragraph 206; Paragraphs 117, 147)
With regards to Claim 3, Suh teaches wherein the processor obtains the MPS policy parameters, the processor is configured to: obtain the MPS policy parameters for each network slice and data network that the UE is allowed to access (i.e., When the message received in step 360b includes the MCX subscription changed indication, in step 370, upon determining an allowable slice for the UE 301, the AMF 303 may exempt NSAC or NSSAA, or send a registration accept message to the UE 301 even though there is no allowable slice. When the message received in step 360b includes the MPS subscription changed indication, in step 370, the AMF 303 may inform the UE 301 of the changed information, and in order for the UE 301 to operate accordingly to this, the AMF 303 may transmit information such as the MPS subscription changed indication, the MPS subscription information, etc, Paragraph 123)
With regards to Claim 4, Suh teaches wherein the processor obtains the MPS policy parameters, the processor is configured to: send a policy association request to an Access Management (AM)-Policy Control Function (PCF); and receive the MPS policy parameters from the AM-PCF (i.e., When the priority indicator exists in the message from the AF 609 in step 610, in step 630, the PCF 608 transmits the priority indicator to an SMF 607 so as to inform that the UE 601 uses the MPS service, Paragraph 171; Figure 6; Paragraphs 168-175)
With regards to Claim 5, Suh teaches wherein the AM-PCF is configured to: send a subscription data request to a Unified Data Management (UDM); and receive subscription data from the UDM, wherein the subscription data includes a subscriber category for the UE (i.e., In step 360a, the AMF 303 may transmit a Nudm_SDM_Get request message including an indicator requesting for UE identifier information and access and mobility subscription data information to the UDM 304, to request access and mobility subscription information to the UDM 304, Paragraph 115; Paragraph 116; Figure 3)
With regards to Claim 6, Suh teaches the above disclosed subject matter. However, Suh does not explicitly disclose wherein the device comprises an Access and Mobility Management function (AMF), and wherein when the processor sends the message, the processor is configured to : send the message to establish the session to a Session Management function (SMF). Ianev does teach wherein the device comprises an Access and Mobility Management function (AMF), and wherein when the processor sends the message, the processor is configured to: send the message to establish the session to a Session Management function (SMF) (i.e., When the serving AMF has changed, the new serving AMF notifies the SMF for each PDU Session that it has taken over the responsibility of the signalling path towards the UE: the new serving AMF invokes the Nsmf_PDUSession_UpdateSMContext service operation using SMF information received from the old AMF at step 5. It also indicates whether the PDU Session is to be re-activated, Page 68) in order to provide to UE knowledge of Target NSSAI to request registration (Paragraph 10). Therefore, based on Suh in view of Ianev, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Ianev with the system of Suh in order to provide to UE knowledge of Target NSSAI to request registration.
With regards to Claim 7, Suh teaches the above disclosed subject matter. However, Suh does not explicitly disclose wherein the processor is further configured to: receive network analytic data from a Network Analytics Data Function (NWDAF), and wherein the processor sets the priority of the message, the processor is configured to select the priority based on the MPS policy parameters and the network analytics data.
Ianev does teach wherein the processor is further configured to: receive network analytic data from a Network Analytics Data Function (NWDAF), and wherein the processor sets the priority of the message, the processor is configured to select the priority based on the MPS policy parameters and the network analytics data (i.e., If old AMF was a consumer of UE related NWDAF services, the old AMF includes information about active analytics subscriptions, i.e. the Subscription Correlation ID, NWDAF identifier (i.e. Instance ID or Set ID), Analytics ID(s) and associated Analytics specific data in the Namf_Communication_UEContextTransfer response. Usage of the analytics information by the new AMF is specified in TS 23.288 [50], Page 60; ) in order to provide to UE knowledge of Target NSSAI to request registration (Paragraph 10). Therefore, based on Suh in view of Ianev, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Ianev with the system of Suh in order to provide to UE knowledge of Target NSSAI to request registration.
With regards to Claim 8, Suh teaches wherein the message includes a Service-Based Interface (SBI) header that indicates the priority (i.e., When the establishment cause indicates the priority service, the AMF 303 may include header information requesting preferential processing in communication with other NFs, Paragraph 129)
With regards to Claim 9, Suh teaches wherein the processor is further configured to: send a subscription data request to a Unified Data Management (UDM); and receive subscription data from the UDM, wherein the subscription data includes an indication of whether the UE is subscribed to an MPS (i.e., In step 360a, the AMF 303 may transmit a Nudm_SDM_Get request message including an indicator requesting for UE identifier information and access and mobility subscription data information to the UDM 304, to request access and mobility subscription information to the UDM 304, Paragraph 115; Paragraph 117; Figure 3)
The limitations of Claim 10 are rejected in the analysis of Claim 1 above, and the claim is rejected on that basis.
The limitations of Claim 11 are rejected in the analysis of Claim 2 above, and the claim is rejected on that basis.
The limitations of Claim 12 are rejected in the analysis of Claim 3 above, and the claim is rejected on that basis.
The limitations of Claim 13 are rejected in the analysis of Claim 4 above, and the claim is rejected on that basis.
The limitations of Claim 14 are rejected in the analysis of Claim 5 above, and the claim is rejected on that basis.
The limitations of Claim 15 are rejected in the analysis of Claim 6 above, and the claim is rejected on that basis.
The limitations of Claim 16 are rejected in the analysis of Claim 7 above, and the claim is rejected on that basis.
The limitations of Claim 17 are rejected in the analysis of Claim 8 above, and the claim is rejected on that basis.
The limitations of Claim 18 are rejected in the analysis of Claim 9 above, and the claim is rejected on that basis.
The limitations of Claim 19 are rejected in the analysis of Claim 1 above, and the claim is rejected on that basis.
The limitations of Claim 20 are rejected in the analysis of Claim 2 above, and the claim is rejected on that basis.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SURAJ M JOSHI whose telephone number is (571)270-7209. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8-6 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joon Hwang can be reached at (571)272-4036. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SURAJ M JOSHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2447 May 16, 2026
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