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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 8, 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 8, recites “ according one if the preceding claims” is not clear what the claim is pointing to apparatus or method. It is a hybrid claim combines elements of both a method (process) and a device (apparatus) in a single claim.
Claim 10 is directed to method but it depends on apparatus claim 8.
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) 1-5, 8-10, 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vamanan et al. (hereinate Vamanan)(US 2022/0225214) in view of Brusilovsky et al. (hereinafter Brusilovsky)(EP 3691315).
Regarding claim 1, Vamanan teaches a method, for a user equipment previously connected to a base station of a Home PLMN where the user has a registration, to manage national roaming in disaster situation, (P[0102], wireless device search for a cell of a PLMN; obtain service based at least in part on the indication of the disaster condition)said method comprising the steps of, for the user equipment, when an outage of the home PLMN is detected(P[0102], cells available from neighbor cell list(s) found via band scan):
scanning supported frequency domain to find an active base station, whatever is the PLMN(P[0102], potentially available cells may include cells found via a broader PLMN search and band scan),
receiving in return, from the remote provisioning service server, a temporary disaster identifier for a visitor national PLMN, using the temporary disaster identifier(P[0128],UE ID provided for the request could include a 5G NR Global Unique Temporary Identifier (5G GUTI); AMF may provide accept message to the UE),
connecting to the visitor national PLMN(P[0128], UE may be accepted for normal service; service level agreement).
Vamanan did not teach specifically sending to a remote provisioning service server, using said active base station, a message comprising a bootstrapping credential with a disaster situation indication for being provisioned with credentials. However, Brusilovsky teaches in an analogous art sending to a remote provisioning service server, using said active base station, a message comprising a bootstrapping credential with a disaster situation indication for being provisioned with credentials(Bootstrapping, abstract; P[0061], step 16 in fig. 3, UE establishes a secure session with a subscription manager). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the method of sending to a remote provisioning service server, using said active base station, a message comprising a bootstrapping credential with a disaster situation indication for being provisioned with credentials in order to have improved efficiency.
Regarding claim 2, Vamanan in view of Brusilovsky teaches the method, wherein the bootstrapping credential itself is a disaster situation indication(Brusilovsky: P[0038], emergency; bootstrapping and provisioning server(SM)).
Regarding claim 3, Vamanan in view of Brusilovsky teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the message to the remote provisioning service server for being provisioned further comprises an information related to the location of the device(Vamanan: P[0111, 0141, 0144], UE may provide location status indication).
Regarding claim 4, Vamanan in view of Brusilovsky teaches the method, wherein the information related to the location is a geographical position or a cell identity of previously serving base station(Vamanan: P[0102], previous serving cell; cells found via broader PLMN search; Fig. 18, item 1814, location report of UE mobility).
Regarding claim 5, Vamanan in view of Brusilovsky teaches the method, wherein the message to the remote provisioning service server further comprises an indication of the previously serving Home PLMN(P[0144], HPLMN ; provide location report to the v-AMF for the UE mobility; RAN nodes covering the disaster condition; also P[0128], items 1116 and 1118 in Fig. 11; may attempt to contact the UDM of the HPLMN of the UE ).
Claims 8-9 and 13 are rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 1.
Regarding claim 10, Vamanan in view of Brusilovsky teaches the method, wherein, the message for being provisioned further comprising an information related to the location of the device, the method further comprises the steps of: checking that the location of the device corresponds to an area declared as in disaster situation, sending the temporary disaster identifier only send if a corresponding disaster situation has been declared(P[0141], disaster roaming; Provide an indication of a location status; UE may provide a registration request using IMSI A to PLMN X).
Claim(s) 6-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vamanan et al. (hereinate Vamanan)(US 2022/0225214) in view of Brusilovsky et al. (hereinafter Brusilovsky)(EP 3691315) and Aghili et al. (hereinafter Aghili)(US 2024/0080791).
Regarding claim 6, Vamanan in view of Brusilovsky teaches all the particulars of the claim except the further steps of: while connected to the visitor national PLMN, active or in idle mode, receiving a no more valid identifier indication, from the visitor national PLMN, attempting to reconnect to the registered Home PLMN. However, Aghili teaches in an analogous art while connected to the visitor national PLMN, active or in idle mode, receiving a no more valid identifier indication, from the visitor national PLMN, attempting to reconnect to the registered Home PLMN(P[0188-0189], connection reject message; reconnection of WTRU to the HPLMN; perform registration to the new PLMN; timer value along with the personal equipment identifier; not valid; P[0190], disaster condition; P[0188], cause value which may guide the WTRU to the HPLMN) . Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the method while connected to the visitor national PLMN, active or in idle mode, receiving a no more valid identifier indication, from the visitor national PLMN, attempting to reconnect to the registered Home PLMN in order to have improved efficiency.
Regarding claim 7, Vamanan in view of Brusilovsky and Aghili teaches the step of, a lastly used identifier to connect to registered home PLMN having being stored, attempting to connect to the registered home PLMN using the lastly used identifier(Aghili: P[0188-0189], connection reject message; reconnection of WTRU to the HPLMN; perform registration to the new PLMN; timer value along with the personal equipment identifier; not valid; P[0190], disaster condition; P[0188], cause value which may guide the WTRU to the HPLMN).
Claim(s) 11-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vamanan et al. (hereinate Vamanan)(US 2022/0225214) in view of Brusilovsky et al. (hereinafter Brusilovsky)(EP 3691315) and Sedlacek et al. (hereinafter Sedlacek)(US 2023/0403547).
Regarding claim 11, Vamanan in view of Brusilovsky teaches all the particulars of the claim except wherein the disaster temporary identifiers to be used in disaster situation are range of identifiers defined by the national Visitor PLMN and intended for use as disaster temporary identifiers for users from other PLMNs. However, Sedlacek teaches in an analogous art wherein the disaster temporary identifiers to be used in disaster situation are range of identifiers defined by the national Visitor PLMN and intended for use as disaster temporary identifiers for users from other PLMNs(item 400 in Fig. 4; disaster roaming PLMN list; item 402A, if UE is identified by IMSI based and SUCI and UE is to be authenticated). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the method wherein the disaster temporary identifiers to be used in disaster situation are range of identifiers defined by the national Visitor PLMN and intended for use as disaster temporary identifiers for users from other PLMNs in order to have improved efficiency.
Regarding claim 12, Vamanan in view of Brusilovsky teaches all the particulars of the claim except wherein the disaster temporary identifiers as stored are associated to the home PLMN to which a disaster roaming device belongs to, thus enabling the Visitor PLMN to selectively process the end of disaster situation depending on the concerned PLMN. However, Sedlacek teaches in an analogous art wherein the disaster temporary identifiers as stored are associated to the home PLMN to which a disaster roaming device belongs to, thus enabling the Visitor PLMN to selectively process the end of disaster situation depending on the concerned PLMN(Fig. 4; item 402A, UE identified by IMSI based SUCI; item 404A, non-disaster condition being checked which is end of disaster situation; also Figs. 5-6). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the method wherein the disaster temporary identifiers as stored are associated to the home PLMN to which a disaster roaming device belongs to, thus enabling the Visitor PLMN to selectively process the end of disaster situation depending on the concerned PLMN in order to have improved efficiency.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MUTHUSWAMY GANAPATHY MANOHARAN whose telephone number is (571)272-5515. The examiner can normally be reached 6:30am-3:00pm.
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/MUTHUSWAMY G MANOHARAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
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