DETAILED ACTION
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 Amendment filed on July 14, 2026, in which claims 1 and 15 have been amended. Accordingly, claims 1-5, 8-12 and 15-24 remain pending for examination.
Status of Claims
3. Claims 1-5, 8-12 and 15-24 are pending, of which claims 1-5 and 15-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103.
Response to Arguments
4. Applicant’s arguments, see pages 9-10, filed July 14, 2026, with respect to the rejections of claims 8-12 and 20-24 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections of claims 8-12 and 20-24, as set forth in the previous Office action, have been withdrawn.
5. Applicant’s arguments, see pages 8-9, filed July 14, 2026, with respect to the rejections of claims 1-4 and 15-18 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejections have been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of Karampatsis et al. (United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2021/0152615 A1), KIM et al. (United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2023/0071408 A1), Talebi Fard et al. (United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2023/0199632 A1), and Bhuyan et al. (United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2010/0263032 A1).
6. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-4 and 15-18 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
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.
9. Claims 1-4 and 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Karampatsis et al. (United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2021/0152615 A1), hereinafter “Karampatsis,” in view of KIM et al. (United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2023/0071408 A1), hereinafter “KIM,” in view of Talebi Fard et al. (United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2023/0199632 A1), hereinafter “Talebi Fard” in view of Bhuyan et al. (United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2010/0263032 A1), hereinafter “Bhuyan”.
As to claim 15, Karampatsis discloses a User Equipment, UE (User Equipment Apparatus 300) (Karampatsis, FIG. 3), configured to access services in an Internet Protocol, IP, Multimedia Subsystem, IMS, network in a communications network (used for selecting a network slice type for media traffic of an IMS session, as part of a larger wireless communication system 100 (See also FIG. 1, particularly remote unit 105)) (Karampatsis, FIGS. 1 and 3, paragraphs [0062] and [0077]), which the UE is configured to be associated to a non-public network, NPN (as the recited “non-public network” is not referenced in any place within the body of independent claim 15, or even any place within dependent claims 16-19, but rather only briefly mentioned in the preamble, patentable weight has not been given, as this portion of the preamble fails to breathe life into the claim (i.e., the limitations in body of the claim are able to stand alone/do not rely upon the “NPN” whatsoever)), connected to the communications network, the UE comprising: at least one processor (wherein the user equipment apparatus 300 may include a processor 305) (Karampatsis, FIG. 3, paragraph [0077]); at least one memory connected to the at least one processor and storing program code that is executed by the at least one processor to perform operations comprising (wherein the user equipment apparatus 300 further includes memory 310 storing program code and related data, such as an operating system or other controller algorithms operating on the user equipment apparatus 300 and one or more software applications) (Karampatsis, FIG. 3, paragraphs [0077] and [0091]): establish a first session by sending a first request message towards a session management node (wherein FIGS. 14 and 15 depict network architectures 1400 and 1500, respectively, each illustrating selection of a network slice type for media traffic of an IMS session. As shown in FIG. 14, UE 205 has established a first PDU session with the P-CSCF 630 associated with the first UE IP address 620 and has established a second PDU session with the P-CSCF 630 associated with the second UE IP address 625, each including signaling towards SMF1/UPF1 225 and SMF2/UPF2 240, respectively. In addition, FIG. 15 depicts network architecture 1500 including UE 205 having an IMS client 1415 which supports a plurality of IMS services 1505. Here, each IMS service 1505 may be associated with an IMS Communication Service Identifier (ICSI) and/or an IMS Application Reference Identifier (IARI). Moreover, the UE 205 is configured with the UE configuration 1510, which may include a set of NSSP rules. In the depicted example, the UE 205 has established a first PDU session 1515 via a first network slice instance 1525 and also established a second PDU session 1520 via a second network slice instance 1530) (Karampatsis, FIGS. 14 and 15, paragraphs [0194] and [0199]); connect to a server node by using the first session (again, the UE 205 connecting to P-CSCF 630) (Karampatsis, FIG. 14, paragraph [0194]); and establish a second session to the IMS network, which established second session is adapted to enable the UE to access services in the IMS network (wherein again, establishing a second PDU session with the P-CSCF 630 associated with the second UE IP address 625 for accessing IMS services) (Karampatsis, FIG. 14, paragraph [0194]). Karampatsis does not explicitly disclose which first request message is adapted to comprise an indication indicating a session type for the first session, the session type adapted to be an IMS onboarding session type; obtain, from the connected server node, credentials adapted to be related to the UE; end the first session; and establish a second session to the IMS network, which established second session is adapted to enable the UE to access services in the IMS network using the obtained credentials in an authentication procedure. However in an analogous art, KIM discloses which first request message is adapted to comprise an indication indicating a session type for a first session, the session type adapted to be an IMS onboarding session type (wherein with reference to FIGS. 11A and 11B, KIM discloses flowcharts depicting signaling between a UE and an IMS network. In particular, the UE may transmit a SIP REGISTER message for registering with the IMS to a P-CSCF of the IMS network through a formed multi-access (MA) PDU Session. The SIP registration message may include information indicating that the MA PDU session is used, and the information may be explicit or implicit. For example, the SIP registration message may be transmitted by explicitly including information indicating that the UE uses the IMS service through the MA PDU Session) (KIM, FIGS. 11A and 11B, paragraphs [0325] and [0326]). Karampatsis and KIM are analogous art because they are from the same problem solving area, namely, provisioning user equipment devices with 5G networking services. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Karampatsis and KIM before him or her, to modify the mobile communication system of Karampatsis to include the additional limitation of which first request message is adapted to comprise an indication indicating a session type for a first session, the session type adapted to be an IMS onboarding session type, as disclosed by KIM, with reasonable expectation that this would result in effectively providing IMS services by allowing the IMS AS to recognize that the UE uses IMS through a multiple access PDU session (See KIM, paragraphs [0006], [0007] and [0326]). This method of improving the mobile communication system of Karampatsis was well within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of KIM. Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Karampatsis with KIM to obtain the invention as specified in claim 15. Karampatsis-KIM does not explicitly disclose obtain, from the connected server node, credentials adapted to be related to the UE; end the first session; and establish a second session to the IMS network, which established second session is adapted to enable the UE to access services in the IMS network using the obtained credentials in an authentication procedure. However in an analogous art, Talebi Fard discloses to end a first session (wherein FIG. 27 illustrates a call flow of a procedure for a registration request procedure performed for a wireless device (UE). The registration request procedure may be for an onboarding network. Upon successful registration to the onboarding network (ON), the UE may perform a PDU session establishment procedure. Upon successful provisioning, the UE will end the first session and deregister from the ON) (Talebi Fard, paragraphs [0242] and [0274]). Karampatsis-KIM and Talebi Fard are analogous art because they are from the same problem solving area, namely, provisioning user equipment devices with 5G networking services. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Karampatsis-KIM and Talebi Fard before him or her, to modify the mobile communication system of Karampatsis-KIM to include the additional limitation of to end a first session, as disclosed by Talebi Fard, with reasonable expectation that this would result in conserving precious resources by releasing any network resources related to no longer established PDU sessions (See Talebi Fard, paragraph [0127]). This method of improving the mobile communication system of Karampatsis-KIM was well within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Talebi Fard. Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Karampatsis-KIM with Talebi Fard to obtain the invention as specified in claim 15. Karampatsis-KIM-Talebi Fard does not explicitly disclose to obtain, from the connected server node, credentials adapted to be related to the UE; and establish a second session to the IMS network, which established second session is adapted to enable the UE to access services in the IMS network using the obtained credentials in an authentication procedure. However in an analogous art, Bhuyan discloses to obtain, from a connected server node, credentials adapted to be related to a UE (wherein after a user is subscribed to IMS service and an IMS-web security gateway 128 is provisioned with IMS credentials and a secret key for that user, Bhuyan teaches that the IMS-web security gateway 128 can provide the credentials to the user’s IP device 108 upon request. With the IMS credentials, the user’s IP device 108 can initiate a standard SIP registration process to register with the IMS core network. For example, the IP device 108 now has an IMPI and IMPU and can generate a first SIP REGISTER message including these credentials to attempt registration with a S-CSCF 124. The first SIP REGISTER message is referred to by Bhuyan as a registration request message) (Bhuyan, paragraph [0049]); and establish a second session to an IMS network, which established second session is adapted to enable the UE to access services in the IMS network using the obtained credentials in an authentication procedure (wherein Bhuyan further teaches that although the IP device 108 is now capable of initiating a SIP registration process, it does not include the necessary security challenge response(s) required to authenticate to the S-CSCF 124 as a typical IMS terminal would, such as by calculating the security challenge response using a random number (security challenge) received from the S-CSCF 124 and a secret key stored in an ISIM or USIM. Instead, the IP device 108 obtains a security challenge response from the web security gateway 126. Similar to the process outlined above for obtaining the IMPI and IMPU from the IMS-web security gateway 128, the web security gateway 126 receives a request for the security challenge response from the IP device 108, forwards it to the IMS-web security gateway 128, receives the security challenge response from the IMS-web security gateway 128, and forwards it to the IP device 108. The IP device 108 can now send a second SIP REGISTER message including the security challenge response to the S-CSCF 124. The second SIP REGISTER message is referred to by Bhuyan as an authentication request message) (Bhuyan, paragraph [0050]). Karampatsis-KIM-Talebi Fard and Bhuyan are analogous art because they are from the same problem solving area, namely, provisioning user equipment devices with 5G networking services. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Karampatsis-KIM-Talebi Fard and Bhuyan before him or her, to modify the mobile communication system of Karampatsis-KIM-Talebi Fard to include the additional limitations of obtain, from a connected server node, credentials adapted to be related to a UE; and establish a second session to an IMS network, which established second session is adapted to enable the UE to access services in the IMS network using the obtained credentials in an authentication procedure, as disclosed by Bhuyan, with reasonable expectation that this would result in improved security by implementing a dual authentication procedure involving not only secure IMS credentials, but also a security challenge response, which is generated by using a security challenge and a secret key (See Bhuyan, paragraph [0047]). This method of improving the mobile communication system of Karampatsis-KIM-Talebi Fard was well within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Bhuyan. Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Karampatsis-KIM-Talebi Fard with Bhuyan to obtain the invention as specified in claim 15.
Regarding claim 16, Karampatsis-KIM-Talebi Fard-Bhuyan discloses the UE according to claim 15, wherein the UE is further configured to connect to the server node by further being configured to use an address associated to the server node (wherein as shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, the onboarding network may be an onboarding nonpublic network (O-NPN) integrated in a PLMN, SNPN, or another network (i.e., a public network integrated nonpublic network (PNI-NPN)). The O-NPN may be identified and accessed by a UE, by a specific network ID (NID), closed access group (CAG) ID, Single Network Slice Selection Assistance information (S-NSSAI), data network name (DNN), a combination of PLMN ID and NID, and/or the like. One or more provisioning servers may have an agreement with one or more desired SNPNs (SO-SNPNs). More particularly, the UE may be configured with default credentials in a universal subscriber identity module (USIM) to attach to any PLMN in which the UE can register with the default credentials, e.g., an Onboarding Network (ON). This enables UEs to be provisioned with necessary network credentials and configuration for the SNPN that will own the UE’s subscription. That is, the UE may be manufactured with default credentials that consist in a USIM profile that may be used for UE onboarding. The USIM profile may be issued by any PLMN operator the manufacturer has an agreement with. The PLMN that issued the USIM profile is referred to as HPLMN in FIG. 18. The UDM (or HSS) of the HPLMN plays the role of default credential server (DCS) and the provisioning server (PS) is in a DN that the HPLMN provides access to) (Talebi Fard, FIGS. 16 and 17, paragraphs [0216] and [0217]), and wherein the address is adapted to be any one out: pre-configured in the UE (wherein again, the UE may be manufactured with default credentials that consist in a USIM profile that may be used for UE onboarding. The UE subscription corresponding to the USIM profile contains a default Subscribed S-NSSAI and a default DNN that are appropriate to reach the PS; consequently a PDU Session that provides access to the PS may be established without the UE having to indicate any NSSAI or DNN information. The UE may connect to the PS through the established PDU session for onboarding) (Talebi Fard, paragraph [0217]), or obtained from the session management node. As discussed and shown above, Karampatsis-KIM and Talebi Fard are analogous art because they are from the same problem solving area, namely, provisioning user equipment devices with 5G networking services. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Karampatsis-KIM and Talebi Fard before him or her, to modify the mobile communication system of Karampatsis-KIM to include the additional limitations of wherein the UE is further configured to connect to the server node by further being configured to use an address associated to the server node, and wherein the address is adapted to be any one out: pre-configured in the UE, or obtained from the session management node, as disclosed by Talebi Fard, with reasonable expectation that this would result in the ability to ensure onboarding by reaching a provisioning server and establishing a PDU session for onboarding (See Talebi Fard, paragraph [0217]). This method of improving the mobile communication system of Karampatsis-KIM was well within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Talebi Fard. Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Karampatsis-KIM with Talebi Fard to obtain the invention as specified in claim 16.
Regarding claim 17, Karampatsis-KIM-Talebi Fard-Bhuyan discloses the UE according to claim 16, wherein when the address is obtained from the session management node, the address is adapted to be comprised in a first response message received from the session management node, which first response message is adapted to indicate that the first session is established (wherein with reference to FIGS. 29 and 30, Talebi Fard discloses a configuration that may enable UEs to get network connectivity so that they can be provisioned with necessary information for access to a PNI-NPN and vertical networks attached to the PNI-NPN. In particular, the UE may be provisioned with UE configuration (e.g. Mobility Restriction, URSP, etc.) for CAG selection or DNN/NSSAI selection. The PLMN may be pre-configured with public subscription/credentials of network side which include at least the minimum set of contents which common public UE owns, e.g., UE identifiers and associated security credential, optionally support indication and validity period for the on-boarding registration. The PLMN may be pre-configured with Provisioning Server Routing Information (e.g. PS DNN, PS NSSAI, allowed PS and/or PS AAA address list, port ID, SMF selection subscription data, allowed number of PDU Session for provisioning per UE and QoS) which may be used to trigger the on-boarding authentication and establish connectivity to the expected Provisioning Server. An OIMF (On-boarding Information Mapping Function) may also be pre-configured with mapping information of PNI-NPN ID (e.g., CAG ID) and Provisioning Server Routing Information. The PS (AAA server) may be provisioned with the onboarding credentials to authenticate the UE for on-boarding. As particularly depicted in FIG. 30, a configuration comprising an Onboarding and Provisioning Function (OPF) may enable the UEs without the subscription data to access to the Onboarding SNPN (O-SNPN) to obtain the full provisioning data from the home network owning the UE’s subscription data, so that the provisioned UEs can normally access the desired network services. The presence of the OPF, which stores both the default configuration and provisioning data for the UE, provides onboarding authentication and authorization between the UE and OPF. In an example, a UE may enquire onboarding information, may register to the PLMN using public subscription/credentials, and primary authentication may be performed. The UE either manually or automatically discovers and selects the PNI-NPN ID for UE on-boarding (e.g. CAG ID) based on the broadcast information. Then the UE may request the OIMF for the Provisioning Server Routing Information (e.g. PS DNN, PS NSSAI, allowed PS and/or PS AAA address list, port ID) using PNI-NPN ID via a non-access stratum (NAS) message. If support indication for the onboarding registration is included in the public subscription, the PLMN may provide the UE with the restricted registration and PDU Session for limited services based on the validity period in the public subscription, and extra restriction information involved in Provisioning Server Routing Information (e.g. SMF selection subscription data, and allowed number of PDU Session for provisioning per UE, allowed PS address list and QoS)) (Talebi Fard, FIGS. 29 and 30, paragraphs [0261] and [0262]). Again, Karampatsis-KIM and Talebi Fard are analogous art because they are from the same problem solving area, namely, provisioning user equipment devices with 5G networking services. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Karampatsis-KIM and Talebi Fard before him or her, to modify the mobile communication system of Karampatsis-KIM to include the additional limitation of wherein when the address is obtained from the session management node, the address is adapted to be comprised in a first response message received from the session management node, which first response message is adapted to indicate that the first session is established, as disclosed by Talebi Fard, with reasonable expectation that this would result in the ability to ensure onboarding by reaching a provisioning server and establishing a PDU session for onboarding (See Talebi Fard, paragraph [0217]). This method of improving the mobile communication system of Karampatsis-KIM was well within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Talebi Fard. Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Karampatsis-KIM with Talebi Fard to obtain the invention as specified in claim 17.
Regarding claim 18, Karampatsis-KIM-Talebi Fard-Bhuyan discloses the UE according to claim 16, wherein the first response message is adapted to comprise the address of the server node (wherein again, the PLMN may provide the UE with the restricted registration and PDU Session for limited services based on the validity period in the public subscription, and extra restriction information involved in Provisioning Server Routing Information (e.g. SMF selection subscription data, and allowed number of PDU Session for provisioning per UE, allowed PS address list)) (Talebi Fard, paragraph [0262]). The motivation regarding the obviousness of claims 16 and 17 are also applied to claim 18.
Claims 1-4 include “method” claims that perform limitations substantially as recited in “User Equipment, UE” claims 15-18, respectively, and do not appear to contain any additional features with regard to novelty and/or nonobviousness; therefore, they are rejected under the same rationale.
10. Claims 5 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Karampatsis-KIM-Talebi Fard-Bhuyan in view of Kakinada et al. (United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2022/0361092 A1), hereinafter “Kakinada”.
As to claim 19, Karampatsis-KIM-Talebi Fard-Bhuyan discloses the UE according to claim 15, but does not explicitly disclose wherein the UE is configured to obtain the credentials by further being configured to obtain, from the server node, a client application for obtaining the credentials. However in an analogous art, Kakinada discloses wherein a UE is configured to obtain credentials by further being configured to obtain, from a server node, a client application for obtaining the credentials (wherein with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5, Kakinada discloses enabling different standalone non-public networks (SNPNs) to define different standardized service offerings uniquely. See FIG. 5, option 5, whereby the UE downloads a configuration file for mapping the SNPN service configuration offered by different PENs. Kakinada teaches that this configuration information may be preconfigured in the UE or downloaded from a trusted source by the UE. More particularly, Kakinada teaches that the given embodiment is an enhancement of network identifier (NID) assignment mode 0, in which NID values include a 32-bit globally unique PEN (Private Enterprise Number) and an 8-bit NID code. Kakinada proposes a method to advertise/broadcast service offerings for SNPN operators who have PEN assignments. For example, a stadium operator gets a PEN assigned by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Then, as per sample encoding, the operator uses this PEN constructing the SNPN-ID. The 8-bit NID code value is used to broadcast type of services offered in the stadium by the stadium operator. A user/patron who visits the stadium for an event, like a game or concert, can download a file (e.g., from a website established by PEN holder(s)) that has all possible SNPN service offerings by the different PEN holders. Kakinada teaches that such a file can allow end-users to map the specific SNPN services broadcasted at this stadium location by 8-bit NID code to a human readable format. Such a mapping can also be automated by some other means such as an application downloaded in the UE. With reference to FIG. 2, Kakinada further teaches that at step 206, a UE 102 that receives the broadcasted SNPN information, performs an SNPN search, e.g., as manually selected by the user, and displays information about the services provided by the one or more available SNPN(s) to which UE is not already subscribed. If and when the user selects one of the available SNPNs, a process of on-boarding the UE to the SNPN is performed at step 208 during which the SNPN credential is provisioned to the UE) (Kakinada, paragraphs [0051]-[0053]). Karampatsis-KIM-Talebi Fard-Bhuyan and Kakinada are analogous art because they are from the same problem solving area, namely, provisioning user equipment devices with 5G networking services. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Karampatsis-KIM-Talebi Fard-Bhuyan and Kakinada before him or her, to modify the mobile communication system of Karampatsis-KIM-Talebi Fard-Bhuyan to include the additional limitation of wherein a UE is configured to obtain credentials by further being configured to obtain, from a server node, a client application for obtaining the credentials, as disclosed by Kakinada, with reasonable expectation that this would result in enabling users to better decide whether to initiate the on-boarding process to the SNPN and subscribe to the private network to make use of the SNPN services, particularly by informing the non-subscribers of those services that are supported for subscribers (See Kakinada, paragraphs [0014] and [0015]). This method of improving the mobile communication system of Karampatsis-KIM-Talebi Fard-Bhuyan was well within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Kakinada. Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Karampatsis-KIM-Talebi Fard-Bhuyan with Kakinada to obtain the invention as specified in claim 19.
Claim 5 includes a “method” claim that performs limitations substantially as recited in “User Equipment, UE” claim 19, and does not appear to contain any additional features with regard to novelty and/or nonobviousness; therefore, it is rejected under the same rationale.
11. Claims 8-12 and 20-24 are allowed.
12. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: As indicated above, at item 4, Applicant’s arguments, see again, pages 9-10, filed July 14, 2026, with respect to the rejections of claims 8-12 and 20-24 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections of claims 8-12 and 20-24, as set forth in the previous Office action, have been withdrawn. Examiner has performed an updated search of the prior art, and has determined that the prior art of records, alone or in combination, fail to explicitly disclose, teach and/or suggest the features and limitations of independent method claim 8, including instructing, based on the indicated session type, a user plane node to enforce a rule, which rule comprises enforcing a server node related to provisioning as the only allowed destination for the first session, enabling the UE to obtain credentials related to the UE from the server node in order to establish a second session to the IMS network and to access services in the IMS network, in combination with each and every other limitation in the claim. Independent claim 20 is narrower in scope, as claim 20 recites similar limitations, as well as additional features, and is therefore similarly allowed. Dependent claims 9-12 and 21-24 further limit allowed claims 8 and 20, respectively; therefore, they are also allowed.
Conclusion
13. Applicant’s arguments, as well as request for reconsideration, filed July 14, 2026, have been fully considered, but they are moot in view of new ground(s) of rejection.
14. Further references of interest are cited on Form PTO-892, which is an attachment to this Office Action. For instance, MILINSKI (USPGPUB 2017/0272939) discloses a mechanism for an apparatus in a communication network, comprising receiving provisioning from a second apparatus, wherein said provisioning comprises at least a public identity and a pre-defined range of private identity associated with the public identity, receiving a request comprising a first public identity and its associated private identity from a third apparatus, determining the first public identity already exists in the apparatus, determining the received private identity is not identical to any private identity already provisioned in the apparatus, determining the received private identity is not identical to any private identity in a temporary profile, determining the received private identity is within a pre-defined range of private identity associated with the first public identity, creating a temporary private identity identical to the received private identity and a temporary profile for the received private identity (See Abstract). Gundavelli (USPGPUB 2017/0104795) discloses an embodiment whereby a router connects to a cellular network using at least one authentication credential stored on a smart card of the router. The router receives, from a client device coupled to the router, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) request to register with an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network coupled to the cellular network. The router sends a SIP registration request for the client device to the IMS network, the SIP registration request comprising authorization information associated with the router, wherein the authorization information associated with the router is used by the IMS network to register the client device with the IMS network (See Abstract).
15. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KOSTAS J. KATSIKIS whose telephone number is (571)270-5434. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kamal B. Divecha can be reached at 571-272-5863. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/KOSTAS J KATSIKIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2453
