Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. This communication is in response to the Application No. 18/835,908 filed on 8/5/24. Claims 1 – 15 has been examined.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Claim(s) 1 – 5, 9 – 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lenovo (UE configuration with disaster area information, 3GPP TSG SA WG2 Meeting #146E S2-2105858, Elbonia, August 16 – 27, 2021).
Regarding claim 1, Lenovo teaches A method of a terminal in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
receiving, from a user data management (UDM) or a first access and mobility management function (AMF), capability information about the ability to utilize a communication network of a second communication provider in the event of a service disruption of a communication network of a first communication provider to which the terminal is subscribed (CT1 has concluded principles for the MINT feature. According to the conclusions in TR 24.811, the UEs registered with the PLMN experiencing disaster (e.g. PLMN D) will apply the 'list of PLMN(s) to be used in disaster condition' for automatic selection, if the UEs are out-of-coverage and there are no PLMNs from the Operator/User controlled PLMN Selector with Access Technology, Page 1; If the AMF is aware that a disaster condition applies to any of the TAI(s) part of the UE's Regsitration Area, the AMF may provide Disaster Assistance Information to the UE. The Disaster Assistance Information may include a list of TAI(s) impacted by the disaster condition, paragraph 23);
confirming the service disruption of the communication network of the first communication provider (page 1, 23);
performing a scan of the public land mobile network (PLMN) or standalone non public network (SNPN) of the second communication provider (although there is no disaster condition in the HPLMN, the UE would apply the 'list of PLMN(s) to be used in disaster condition' and scan all UE supported frequency bands in NR and LTE. This is not a desirable behaviour, page 1); and
selecting a PLMN or SNPN to perform the registration based on a result of the scan (RATs or frequency bands to be used for discovery of the PLMN(s) to be used in disaster condition. The UE shall only apply the PLMN selection procedure for PLMN(s) to be used in disaster condition if the last available cell is part of the list of TAI(s) impacted by the disaster condition, page 1, 23).
6. Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Watfa et al.
The applied reference has a common assignee with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
Regarding claim 1, Wafta teaches A method of a terminal in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
receiving, from a user data management (UDM) or a first access and mobility management function (AMF), capability information about the ability to utilize a communication network of a second communication provider in the event of a service disruption of a communication network of a first communication provider to which the terminal is subscribed (the purpose of a Mobile Information and Network Technologies (MINT) is to minimize interruption of service to users of a User Equipment (UE) when a wireless network to which these users are subscribed cannot provide service due to a disaster such as, for example, a fire, by enabling the users to obtain service on other networks, while at the same time protecting those other networks from congestion, paragraph 6; AMF, 220 of Fig. 4; For this second option, the AMF behaves in the same manner as that described above for the first option, even if the 5GS registration type does not indicate “emergency registration” (e.g., the 5GS registration type may indicate “disaster roaming registration” or “mobility registration updating”). As such, all of the above-described behavior of the AMF in the first option also apply for this option, paragraph 86 - 87);
confirming the service disruption of the communication network of the first communication provider (Referring to the Standards specification TS 22.261, a mobile network may fail to provide service in the event of a disaster (for example a fire.) UEs may obtain service in the event of a disaster, if there are PLMN operators prepared to offer service. The minimization of service interruption is constrained to a particular time and place. The potential congestion resulting from an influx or outflux of Disaster Inbound Roamers is taken into account, paragraph 9, 87, 109);
performing a scan of the public land mobile network (PLMN) or standalone non public network (SNPN) of the second communication provider (When the UE deregisters from the PLMN, or goes back and (optionally successfully) registers on the source PLMN, the UE may reinstate the entry (e.g., TAI or SNPN) into its original list and delete the created temporary list. For example, if the list of “temporarily allowed 5GS tracking areas for roaming” is not empty, the UE saves its entries into the list of “5GS forbidden tracking areas for roaming” and deletes the temporary list. The same can be done with the other types of information (e.g., SNPN and “temporarily allowed SNPN for roaming”), paragraph 94); and
selecting a PLMN or SNPN to perform the registration based on a result of the scan (Upon reception of this indication, the UE may start a timer, T3540, to guard the release of the NAS signaling connection. The UE may release the NAS connection when T3540 expires. The UE may then scan for a higher priority PLMN, that optionally being the previous PLMN that had a DC (e.g., PLMN X). As such, this enables a quick return to the previous PLMN, paragraph 97).
Regarding claim 2, The method of claim 1, Lenovo further comprising:
transmitting a first registration request message to the first AMF (old AMF, page 5); and
receiving a first registration accept message from the first AMF (registration request message, page 5),
wherein the first registration accept message comprises information relating to a standalone non public network (SNPN) (If the UE is registering with an SNPN,when the UE is performing an Initial Registration the UE shall indicate its UE identity in the Registration Request message as follows, listed in decreasing order of preference, page 6).
Regarding claim 3, The method of claim 2, Lenovo further teaches wherein it is characterized that the information related to the SNPN comprises information about at least one of a subscribed SNPN, a preferred SNPN, or a high priority SNPN (The UDM may provide indication that the subscription data for network slicing is updated for the UE. If the UE is subscribed to MPS in the serving PLMN, "MPS priority" is included in the Access and Mobility Subscription data provided to the AMF, page 13).
Regarding claim 4, The method of claim 2, Lenovo further teaches wherein the first registration accept message comprises a disaster PLMN (DPLMN) list and it is characterized that selecting the PLMN or SNPN is performed based on PLMN information or SNPN information included in the DPLMN list (Disaster Assistance Information may be provided to the UE, if the AMF is aware that there is a disaster condition applies in specific Tracking Areas and the UE's Regsitration Area includes an impacted Tracking Area. The Disaster Assistance Information may include a list of TAI(s) impacted by the disaster condition, RATs or frequency bands to be used for discovery of the PLMN(s) to be used in disaster condition. The UE shall only apply the PLMN selection procedure for PLMN(s) to be used in disaster condition if the last available cell is part of the list of TAI(s) impacted by the disaster condition, page 20).
Regarding claim 5, The method of claim 2, Lenovo further comprising: storing the list of disaster PLMNs (DPLMNs) included in the first registration accept message as operator controlled PLMNs (the AMF stores the PLMN-assigned UE
Radio Capability ID in UE context if receiving Registration Complete message, page 20),
wherein it is characterized that selecting a PLMN or SNPN is performed based on PLMN information or SNPN information included in the operator controlled PLMN (The AMF should not request acknowledgement of the NITZ command. The AMF shall request acknowledgement for NSSAI information (e.g. Allowed NSSAI), 5G-GUTI, TAI List, and Mobility Restrictions, LADN Information, MICO, Operator-defined access category definitions, PLMN-assigned UE Radio Capability ID and SMS subscription, paragraph 21).
Regarding claim 9, the terminal substantially has same limitations as claim 1, thus the same rejection is applicable.
Regarding claim 10, The terminal of The terminal of wherein the control unit is further configured to:
transmit a first registration request message to the first AMF (send registration request message, page 5), and
receive a first registration accept message from the first AMF (receive registration request message, page 5),
wherein the registration accept message comprises information relating to a standalone non public network (SNPN) (the AMF stores the PLMN-assigned UE
Radio Capability ID in UE context if receiving Registration Complete message, page 20)), and
wherein it is characterized that the information relating to the SNPN comprises information about at least one of a subscribed SNPN, a preferred SNPN, or a high priority SNPN (The UDM may provide indication that the subscription data for network slicing is updated for the UE. If the UE is subscribed to MPS in the serving PLMN, "MPS priority" is included in the Access and Mobility Subscription data provided to the AMF, page 13).
Regarding claim 11, the terminal substantially has same limitations as claim 4, thus the same rejection is applicable.
Regarding claim 12, the terminal substantially has same limitations as claim 5, thus the same rejection is applicable.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
7. 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.
8. 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.
8. 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.
9. Claim(s) 6, 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lenovo (UE configuration with disaster area information, 3GPP TSG SA WG2 Meeting #146E S2-2105858, Elbonia, August 16 – 27, 2021) in further view of Sedlacek et al. (US 2024/0015493, Sedlacek hereafter).
Regarding claim 6, Lenovo teaches claim 1, however, does not specifically disclose transmitting a second registration request message to a second AMF connected to the RAN of the second communication provider, wherein the second registration request message comprises a disaster indicator for a disaster condition of the first communication provider.
Sedlacek teaches transmitting a second registration request message to a second AMF connected to the RAN of the second communication provider (determining that the UE is in a Fifth Generation System Mobility Management (5GMM)-CONNECTED mode and performing a UE configuration update procedure with an indication that a disaster condition of the HPLMN of the UE was resolved, or triggering the UE to perform a mobility registration update and rejecting the mobility registration update with an indication that the disaster condition in the HPLMN of the UE is resolved, paragraph 18, 27, 36, 47, 113),
wherein the second registration request message comprises a disaster indicator for a disaster condition of the first communication provider (if the UE 112 is in the 5GMM-CONNECTED mode, the AMF 200 either performs a UE configuration update procedure with an indication that a disaster condition in HPLMN was resolved or triggers the UE 112 to perform a mobility registration update and rejects the mobility registration update with an indication that the disaster condition in HPLMN was resolved, paragraph 113, 121, 134).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art at the time of the filing to combine the teachings of Sedlacek’s disaster condition determination with the system of Lenovo. One would be motivated to combine these teachings because in doing so it can accurately know the disaster condition so expect the resolve time.
Allowable Subject Matter
10. Claims 7 – 8, 14 – 15 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
11. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TANMAY K SHAH whose telephone number is (571)270-3624. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri - 8:00 - 5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh Fan can be reached at 571-272-3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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TANMAY K. SHAH
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2632
/TANMAY K SHAH/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632
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