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 .
Priority
Should applicant desire to obtain the benefit of foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) prior to declaration of an interference, a certified English translation of the foreign application must be submitted in reply to this action. 37 CFR 41.154(b) and 41.202(e).
Failure to provide a certified translation may result in no benefit being accorded for the non-English application.
Applicant cannot rely upon the certified copy of the foreign priority application to overcome this rejection because a translation of said application has not been made of record in accordance with 37 CFR 1.55. When an English language translation of a non-English language foreign application is required, the translation must be that of the certified copy (of the foreign application as filed) submitted together with a statement that the translation of the certified copy is accurate. See MPEP §§ 215 and 216.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 61, 63-64, 66-69, 71-73, 75-80, 82 & 84-85 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Atarius (US 2024/0381281 A1).
Regarding clam 61, Atarius discloses a method for a unified data management function (UDM) of a communication network, the method comprising:
detecting a need to update a parameter stored in a user equipment (UE) operating in the communication network (see need to perform UPU or parameter update, [0079]);
determining a parameter update (parameter update [0069]) data type based on whether the UE includes a universal subscriber identity module (USIM); and
sending the updated parameter to the UE according to the determined parameter update type (see [0063]-[0064] UE parameter update done and message to UE includes parameter update information).
Regarding clam 73, Atarius discloses a method for a unified data repository (UDR) of a communication network, the method comprising:
Receiving (received where, UDM and and UDR are not collocated, [0132]), from a unified data management function (UDM) of the communication network (see UDM ), a subscription identifier associated with a user equipment (UE) (see “[0111] The UDM 808 may locally store or store in the UDR the received UPU capabilities (e.g., UPU data set type(s) supported by the UE 802) for the UE 802 along with the SUPI.”)) and a request for a subscription type (see SUCI and type, [0132]) associated with the subscription identifier (see [0132] where UDM and UDR are not collocated, therefore information regarding subscription is sent between);
based on the subscription identifier (see subscription identifier [0092]), obtaining the subscription type from UDR storage (see information was stored in UDR, [0094, top sentence]); and sending the subscription type to the UDM in response to the request (see message and subscription identifier (SUCI) [0092]), wherein the subscription type indicates whether the UE includes a universal subscriber identity module (USIM) (see MUSIM and SUCI [0092]).
Regarding clam 80, Atarius discloses a unified data management function (UDM) configured to operate in a communication network, wherein the UDM comprises:
a processor (see processor [0005]); and a memory (see memory [0027]) that stores instructions executable by the processor, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor configures the UDM to:
detect a need to update a parameter stored in a user equipment (UE) operating in the communication network (see UE parameter update, [0063]); determine a parameter update data type (see “type” such as “subscription” “identifier”) based on whether the UE includes a universal subscriber identity module (USIM) (see USIM [0092]); and send the updated parameter to the UE according to the determined parameter update type (see [0100], “UE 802 received the UE parameters update”).
Regarding clam 82, Atarius discloses a unified data repository (UDR) configured to operate in a communication network, wherein the UDR comprises: a processor (see processor [0048]); and a memory (see memory [0048]) that stores instructions executable by the processor, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor configures the UDR to: receive, from a unified data management function (UDM) of the communication network (see [0060], “provided to the UE by the UDM”), a subscription identifier associated with a user equipment (UE) (see subscription identifier [0064]) and a request for a subscription type associated with the subscription identifier (see “type”, [0092]); based on the subscription identifier (see [0092], subscription identifier), obtain the subscription type from UDR storage (see store in the UDR, [0111]); and send the subscription type to the UDM in response to the request, wherein the subscription type (see subscription and type [0092]) indicates whether the UE includes a universal subscriber identity module (USIM) (see see UE capabilities in a capability IE and USIM [0075]).
Regarding clam 84, Atarius discloses a secured packet application function (SP-AF) configured to operate in a communication network, wherein the SP-AF comprises:
a processor; and a memory that stores instructions executable by the processor, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor configures the SP-AF to: receive, from a unified data management function (UDM) of the communication network (see UDM [0094]), a request (see request [0092]) for a secured packet comprising a parameter to be updated in a user equipment, UE; and send, to the UDM, a response that indicates (see [0095], “UE release information to the UDM 808 and/or UDR as a response”) whether the UE includes a universal subscriber identity module (USIM) (see UE capabilities in a capability IE and USIM [0092]).
Regarding clam 76, Atarius discloses a method for a secured packet application function (SP-AF) of a communication network, the method comprising: receiving, from a unified data management function (UDM) of the communication network (see [0061], “ UPU data set types provided by a UDM”), a request for a secured packet comprising a parameter to be updated in a user equipment (see [0075], “The UE 502 forwards secured packet to a universal subscriber identity module (“USIM”). If the verification of UPU-MAC-I.sub.AUSF is successful and the UPU data contains any parameters…updates its stored parameters with received parameters in UDM updated data”), UE; and sending, to the UDM, a response that indicates whether the UE includes a universal subscriber identity module (USIM) (see UE capabilities in a capability IE and USIM [0092]).
Regarding clam 63, Atarius discloses a method of claim 61, further comprising sending, to a secure parameter application function (SP-AF) of the communication network, a request for a secured packet comprising the updated parameter.
Regarding clam 64, Atarius discloses a method of claim 61, further comprising obtaining an indication of whether the UE includes a USIM (see USIM [0092]).
Regarding clam 66, Atarius discloses a method of claim 65, wherein the information is provisioned to the UDM or to a unified data repository (UDR) of the communication network (see UDM/UDR [0127]).
Regarding clam 67, Atarius discloses a method of claim 64, wherein obtaining the indication comprises: sending, to a unified data repository (UDR) of the communication network (see UDR [0094]), a subscription identifier (see subscription and identifier [0092]) associated with the UE and a request for a subscription type associated with the subscription identifier (see subscription and identifier [0092]); receiving the subscription type from the UDR in response to the request, wherein the subscription type indicates whether the UE includes a USIM (see USIM [0092]).
Regarding clam 68, Atarius discloses a method of claim 63, further comprising receiving, from the SP-AF, a response that indicates whether the UE includes a USIM (see USIM [0092]).
Regarding clam 69, Atarius discloses a method of claim 68, wherein: the request to the SP-AF includes the parameter to be updated, a subscription identifier associated with the UE, and a mobile equipment (ME) identifier associated with the UE; and the response includes one of the following: a secured packet that includes the parameter to be updated (see secured packet [0075]), when the UE includes a USIM (see USIM [0075]); or an error message, when the UE does not include a USIM.
Regarding clam 71, Atarius discloses a method of claim 70, wherein one of the following applies: the update request includes a field that indicates whether the parameter should be updated in a USIM or in a mobile equipment (ME) part of the UE (see UPU/update parameter and USIM in [0091]); or the update request is a first message when the UE includes the USIM and a second message when the UE does not include the USIM.
Regarding clam 72, Atarius discloses a method of claim 71, wherein the updated parameter is a Routing Indicator (see routing identifier [0060]).
Regarding clam 75, Atarius discloses a method of claim 73, wherein the request for the subscription type is associated with an update, by the UDM of a UE parameter than can be stored in a USIM (see [0094], “parameters stored on the USIM”) or a mobile equipment (ME) part of the UE.
Regarding clam 77, Atarius discloses a method of claim 76, wherein: the request includes the parameter to be updated, a subscription identifier associated with the UE (see subscription and identifier [0074]), and a mobile equipment (ME) identifier associated with the UE (see IMEI [0092]); and the method further comprises determining whether the UE includes (see [0092] capabilities, regarding UE supporting..) a USIM based on at least one of the subscription identifier and the ME identifier (see USIM [0092]).
Regarding clam 78, Atarius discloses a method of claim 77, wherein the response includes one of the following: a secured packet (see [0075], “secure packet”) that includes the parameter to be updated ((see UPU [0075])), when the UE includes a USIM (secure packet and USIM [0075]); or an error message, when the UE does not include a USIM.
Regarding clam 79, Atarius discloses a method of claim 76, wherein the parameter to be updated is a Routing Indicator (see routing identifier [0060]).
Regarding clam 85, Atarius discloses a SP-AF of claim 84, wherein: the request includes the parameter to be updated, a subscription identifier associated with the UE (see subscription identifier [0092]), and a mobile equipment (ME) identifier (see IMEI [0092]) associated with the UE; and execution of the instructions by the processor further configures the SP-AF to determine whether the UE includes a USIM based on at least one of the subscription identifier and the ME identifier (see [0092] … such as UE request type IE which is to enable a UE supporting multiple universal subscriber identity modules (“MUSIM”) to request the network to perform specific requests due to activity on another USIM; and/or b) the UE capabilities in a capability IE, such as support for an extended rejected NSSAI.[0093] In a second communication 814, the AMF 804 forward this information in a NudmUEContextManagement service message (e.g., including Amf3GppAccessregistration, UE ID, permanent equipment identifier (“PEI”), IMEI, IMEISV).
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(s) 65, 70, 74 & 83 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Atarius (US 2024/0381281 A1) in view of Li eta l. (US 2020/0404069 A1)
Regarding 65, Atarius discloses the method of claim 64,
Li best discloses wherein the indication is based on information provisioned by an operation support system (OSS) or business support system (BSS) associated with the communication network (see OSS, [0100]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Atarius with that of Li. Doing so would conform to well-known techniques in the field of invention.
Regarding 70, Atarius discloses the method of claim 61, wherein: an update request associated with the parameter (see [0017], parameter update) and the update request identifies whether the UE includes a USIM (see [0092] USIM regarding update for parameter).
Li best discloses detecting a need to update the parameter stored in the UE comprises receiving, from an operation support system (OSS) or business support system (BSS) associated with the communication network, (see OSS, [0100]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Atarius with that of Li. Doing so would conform to well-known techniques in the field of invention.
Regarding 74, Atarius discloses the method of claim 73,
Li better discloses wherein the subscription type associated with the subscription identifier is provisioned in the UDR by an operation support system (OSS) or business support system (BSS) associated with the communication network(see OSS, [0100]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Atarius with that of Li. Doing so would conform to well-known techniques in the field of invention.
Regarding 83, Atarius discloses the method of claim 82, wherein the subscription type associated with the subscription identifier is provisioned in the UDR (see subscription and UDR [0094])
Li better discloses by an operation support system (OSS) or business support system (BSS) associated with the communication network see OSS, [0100].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Atarius with that of Li. Doing so would conform to well-known techniques in the field of invention.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 62 and 81 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to K. WILFORD SHAHEED whose telephone number is (469) 295-9175. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9 am-6pm; CST; ALT Friday. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. The examiner’s Supervisor, Jinsong Hu, can be reached at (571)272-3965, where attempts to reach the examiner are unsuccessful.
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/KHALID W SHAHEED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643
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