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 Preliminary Amendment filed on August 28, 2024, in which claims 1-5, 8-12 and 15-24 have been amended. Claims 6, 7, 13 and 14 have been canceled. Accordingly, claims 1-5, 8-12 and 15-24 are pending and being presented for examination.
Status of Claims
3. Claims 1-5, 8-12 and 15-24 are pending, of which claims 1-4, 8-11, 15-18 and 20-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). Claims 5, 12, 19 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103.
Priority
4. Examiner has acknowledged Applicant’s claim for the benefit of prior-filed International Patent Application Serial No. PCT/EP2022/057302, filed March 21, 2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
5. The information disclosure statement, filed on August 28, 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, 1.98 and MPEP § 609. It has been placed in the application file, and the information referred to therein has been considered as to the merits.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Claims 1-4, 8-11, 15-18 and 20-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Talebi Fard et al. (United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2023/0199632 A1), hereinafter “Talebi Fard”.
Regarding claim 15, Talebi Fard discloses a User Equipment, UE (user equipment (UE) shown in FIGS. 14 and 15) (Talebi Fard, FIGS. 14 and 15), configured to access services in an Internet Protocol, IP, Multimedia Subsystem, IMS, network in a communications network (accessing [IMS] services of a public land mobile network (PLMN) via a standalone non-public network (SNPN) or vice versa) (Talebi Fard, paragraphs [0211] and [0214]), which UE is configured to be associated to a non-public network, NPN (again, accessing an NPN, which may be a private network deployed for an organization, specific application, and/or the like. NPN credentials or SNPN credentials may be information that the UE uses for authentication to access a NPN or a SNPN) (Talebi Fard, paragraph [0212]), connected to the communications network (to the PLMN) (Talebi Fard, paragraph [0211]), the UE comprising: at least one processor (wherein the terms UE, wireless device, vehicle terminal, and mobile device are used interchangeably. In particular, wireless device/UE 100 shown in FIG. 3 includes a processor 318, and while Examiner appreciates that no wireless device 1410 is actually illustrated in FIG. 14, Talebi Fard does disclose that wireless device 1410 includes a processing system 1411) (Talebi Fard, FIG. 3, paragraphs [0038] and [0202]); 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 again, the terms UE, wireless device, vehicle terminal, and mobile device are used interchangeably. Again, the wireless device/UE 100 shown in FIG. 3 includes a memory with instructions 326, and while Examiner appreciates that no wireless device 1410 is actually illustrated in FIG. 14, Talebi Fard does disclose that wireless device 1410 includes a memory 1412 which may include instructions 1413) (Talebi Fard, FIG. 3, paragraphs [0038] and [0202]): establish a first session by sending a first request message towards a session management node (wherein as illustrated in FIG. 14, UE first establishes an onboarding session with an onboarding network (ON) standalone nonpublic network (an onboarding SNPN). With reference to FIG. 32, Talebi Fard teaches that a wireless device (UE) may send to a base station of a first network (ON SNPN), a radio resource control (RRC) message comprising a standalone non-public network identifier (SNPN ID) of a second network (desired SNPN). The wireless device may receive from an access and mobility management function (AMF) of the first network, a first message indicating acceptance of registration with the first network. The wireless device may send to the AMF of the first network, a second message to establish a packet data unit (PDU) session) (Talebi Fard, FIGS. 14 and 32, paragraphs [0213] and [0273]), 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 (wherein the RRC message may comprise a closed access group identifier (CAG ID) associated with onboarding. In an example, based on CAG ID, the base station (RAN) may select an AMF that supports onboarding, and based on the SNPN ID the base station (RAN) may select an AMF that supports onboarding for the SNPN. In an example, the RRC message may comprise an onboarding indication. In addition, in an example, the wireless device may send a PDU session request that may comprise an onboarding indication (e.g., with PDU session type = onboarding, request type = onboarding, and/or the like)) (Talebi Fard, FIG. 32, paragraph [0274]); connect to a server node by using the first session (wherein during the registration procedure (See again, FIG. 14), the onboarding SNPN (O-SNPN) may authenticate the UE with the default credential server (DCS) to determine whether the UE is a genuine device subject to onboarding and authorized to access a provisioning server via a configuration PDU session. Upon establishment of connectivity to the provisioning server, the UE may be provisioned with the subscription credentials for the subscription owner (SO)-SNPN (i.e. the SNPN that will own the UE’s subscription) and additional configuration data) (Talebi Fard, FIG. 14, paragraph [0215]); obtain, from the connected server node, credentials adapted to be related to the UE (again, upon establishment of connectivity to the provisioning server, the UE may be provisioned with the subscription credentials for the subscription owner (SO)-SNPN (i.e. the SNPN that will own the UE’s subscription) and additional configuration data) (Talebi Fard, FIG. 14, paragraph [0215]); end the first session (wherein upon successful provisioning, the UE will end the first session and deregister from the ON) (Talebi Fard, paragraphs [0242] and [0274]); and establish a second session to the IMS network (again, second PDU session for desired/subscription owner SNPN) (Talebi Fard, paragraphs [0243], [0244] and [0274]), 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 again, upon successful provisioning, the UE may deregister from the ON, and register to the SNPN based on the received parameters and credentials) (Talebi Fard, paragraphs [0215] and [0242]).
Regarding claim 16, Talebi Fard 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.
Regarding claim 17, Talebi Fard 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 UE’s 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]).
Regarding claim 18, Talebi Fard 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]).
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.
Regarding claim 20, Talebi Fard discloses a session management node (core network (CN) deployment 1430, which may include an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF). Examiner notes again, that item number 1430 is not actually pictured in FIG. 14) (Talebi Fard, paragraph [0207]) configured to assist a User Equipment, UE, to access services in an Internet Protocol, IP, Multimedia Subsystem, IMS, network in a communications network, the UE configured to be associated to a non-public network, NPN, connected to the communications network (wherein as discussed and shown above with regard to independent claim 15, Talebi Fard discloses a UE accessing [IMS] services of a public land mobile network (PLMN) via a standalone non-public network (SNPN) or vice versa. The NPN may be a private network deployed for an organization, specific application, and/or the like, and the NPN credentials or SNPN credentials may be information that the UE uses for authentication to access an NPN or an SNPN. In particular, with reference to FIG. 31, Talebi Fard teaches that the UE may send a PDU session establishment request message, a service request message, and/or the like, as a non-access stratus (NAS) message to the AMF (a mobility management (MM)-NAS) via a RAN node) (Talebi Fard, FIG. 31, paragraphs [0211], [0212], [0214] and [0264]), the session management node comprising: at least one processor (wherein CN deployment 1430 may comprise a processing system 1431 - again, not illustrated in FIG. 14) (Talebi Fard, paragraph [0207]); at least one memory connected to the at least one processor and storing program code that is executed by the at least one processor (wherein CN deployment 1430 may comprise a memory 1432 (also not pictured in FIG. 14), equipped with instructions 1433, and whereby the processing system 1431 may process and/or execute the instructions 1433) (Talebi Fard, paragraph [0207]) to perform operations comprising: establish a first session by receiving a first request message from the UE (wherein as set forth above, the UE sends a request for onboarding service. More particularly, as illustrated in FIG. 14, UE first establishes an onboarding session with an onboarding network (ON) standalone nonpublic network (an onboarding SNPN), and again, may send PDU session and/or service request to AMF. With reference to FIG. 32, Talebi Fard teaches that a wireless device (UE) may send to a base station of a first network (ON SNPN), a radio resource control (RRC) message comprising a standalone non-public network identifier (SNPN ID) of a second network (desired SNPN). The wireless device may receive from an access and mobility management function (AMF) of the first network, a first message indicating acceptance of registration with the first network. The wireless device may send to the AMF of the first network, a second message to establish a packet data unit (PDU) session) (Talebi Fard, FIGS. 14, 31 and 32, paragraphs [0213], [0264] and [0273]), which first request message is adapted to comprise an indication indicating a session type, the session type adapted to be an IMS onboarding session type (wherein as above, the RRC message may comprise a closed access group identifier (CAG ID) associated with onboarding. In an example, based on CAG ID, the base station (RAN) may select an AMF that supports onboarding, and based on the SNPN ID the base station (RAN) may select an AMF that supports onboarding for the SNPN. In an example, the RRC message may comprise an onboarding indication. In addition, in an example, the wireless device may send a PDU session request that may comprise an onboarding indication (e.g., with PDU session type = onboarding, request type = onboarding, and/or the like)) (Talebi Fard, FIG. 32, paragraph [0274]; obtain, from a data management node, subscription data adapted to be associated to the UE, which subscription data is adapted to be related to the indicated session type (wherein in an example embodiment as depicted in FIGS. 25 and 26, the AMF, which the UE camps on, may subscribe to a unified data management (UDM) about Onboarding information. In particular, the provisioning server can be triggered to initiate the onboarding procedures by some events. The provisioning server may send the onboarding request to a network exposure function (NEF), which includes the onboarding information (the GPSI of the target UE, subscription credentials to access SNPN, DNN/NSSAI used to access SNPN), and optional Triggering Events. The NEF may relay the onboarding request to the UDM which stores the target UE’s subscription based on the GPSI. The AMF may subscribe the triggering events to the serving AMF for the target UEs via Nudm SDM Notification message. The UDM may send the onboarding response to the NEF and then the NEF may transfer to the provisioning server. In an example, when the AMF receives a notification of onboarding from the UDM indicating onboarding support for the SNPN, the AMF may send an AMF configuration update message to the RAN nodes) (Talebi Fard, FIGS. 25 and 26, paragraph [0240]); and instruct, based on the indicated session type, a user plane node to enforce a rule (wherein Talebi Fard particularly teaches that UEs without subscription to the desired SNPN may temporarily register to a 5G network that supports UE onboarding and to establish a restricted PDU Session for reception of a newly assigned subscription for the desired SNPN from the network entity for provisioning. That is, when ON is deployed as a PNI-NPN, and access to the ON is restricted to one or more closed access groups (CAGs), that RRC message may comprise a CAG ID of the ON. The RAN node may select an AMF for onboarding based on the CAG ID of the ON. In an example, when ON is deployed as a PNI-NPN, and access to the ON is restricted to one or more single-network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAIs), that RRC message may comprise a S-NSSAI of the ON. The RAN node may select an AMF for onboarding based on the S-NSSAI of the ON. In general, Talebi Fard teaches that provisioning may comprise preparing or equipping a wireless device, a network or a network node (or network element, such as the AMF) to perform a service by providing one or more parameters to the network or the network node, and that provisioning may cause initiation, configuration, activation or deployment of a process or service on the network node. In response to such provisioning, the network node may perform an action, activate, deploy a service, or enforce a policy or rule when the network is provisioned with the one or more parameters. For example, Talebi Fard teaches that an access and mobility management function AMF may deploy an access and mobility control policy, which includes provisioning of a UE Policy to the UE and provisioning a radio access technology RAT frequency selection priority RFSP index to a radio access network RAN) (Talebi Fard, paragraphs [0213], [0238] and [0270]), which rule is adapted to comprise to enforce a server node related to provisioning as the only allowed destination for the first session (impliedly, as again, if and when 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 valid 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, paragraph [0262]), wherein the rule is adapted to enable the UE to obtain credentials adapted to be 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 (wherein again, the UE receives the credentials from the PS to establish a second session with the desired SNPN. The wireless device may send to the base station of the first network (or the first network, AMF of the first network, the ON) a PDU session release message, whereby the wireless device may release the PDU session established for onboarding. The wireless device may then send to the base station (or the network, AMF, ON) a deregistration message, after which the wireless device may send to the second network (base station, AMF within desired/SO SNPN), a second registration request message for registering with the desired/SO SNPN. The wireless device may then receive from the second network, a second registration accept message from the second network, and thereafter, send to the second network (e.g., AMF, RAN), a second PDU session establishment request including the credentials for accessing services of the desired/SO SNPN) (Talebi Fard, paragraphs [0212], [0215], [0222], [0262], [0263] and [0274]).
Regarding claim 21, Talebi Fard discloses the session management node according to claim 20, wherein the session management node is configured to obtain the subscription data by further being configured to obtain an address of the server node (wherein the PLMN (See FIGS. 29 and 30) 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. With particular reference to 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 UE’s can normally access the desired network services. The presence of the Onboarding and Provisioning Function (OPF) stores both the default configuration and provisioning data for the UE, and provides onboarding authentication and authorization between UE and OPF) (Talebi Fard, FIGS. 29 and 30, paragraph [0261]), the address adapted to be any one out of: comprised in the obtained subscription data (again, in the address list) (Talebi Fard, paragraph [0261]), pre-configured in the session management node, or a target address used by the UE for establishing the first session, and wherein the rule further comprises using the obtained address as the address of the server node (wherein again, 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 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 valid 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, paragraph [0262]).
Regarding claim 22, Talebi Fard discloses the session management node according to claim 20, further being configured to: send, to the UE, a first response message, which first response message is adapted to indicate that the first session is established (wherein as discussed and shown above, the wireless device may receive from the first network, a PDU session accept message) (Talebi Fard, paragraph [0275]).
Regarding claim 23, Talebi Fard discloses the session management node according to claim 22, wherein the first response message is adapted to comprise the obtained address of the server node (wherein again, 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 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 valid 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, paragraph [0262]).
Claims 8-11 include “method” claims that perform limitations substantially as recited in “session management node” claims 20-23, 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
9. 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.
10. Claims 5 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Talebi Fard in view of Kakinada et al. (United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2022/0361092 A1), hereinafter “Kakinada”.
As to claim 19, Talebi Fard 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]). Talebi Fard 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 Talebi Fard and Kakinada before him or her, to modify the mobile communication system of Talebi Fard 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 Talebi Fard 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 Talebi Fard 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 12 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Talebi Fard in view of Sethi et al. (United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2024/0314720 A1), hereinafter “Sethi”.
Regarding claim 24, Talebi Fard discloses the session management node according to claim 20. While Talebi Fard teaches that in an example embodiment, onboarding support of the network may be determined when a control plane (CP) function such as the AMF, SMF, and/or the like receive a request from a NEF or OA&M or a configuration entity that the network may support onboarding (See Talebi Fard, paragraphs [0267] and [0268]), nonetheless, Talebi Fard does not expressly disclose the session management node further comprising: receive, from a network node, a subscription request for session status events in the NPN, wherein the session status events are adapted to be related to sessions being of an IMS onboarding session type; and upon determining that the first session is an IMS onboarding session type, send, to the network node, a notification message, which notification message is adapted to notify the network node that a session being an IMS onboarding session type is established. However in an analogous art, Sethi discloses a session management node, further comprising: receive, from a network node, a subscription request for session status events in the NPN, wherein the session status events are adapted to be related to sessions being of an IMS onboarding session type (wherein Sethi teaches that in certain scenarios, an application function (AF)/provisioning server (PVS) 505 (See in particular, embodiments in FIGS. 5A-5C) may also, or alternatively, subscribe to notification events associated with a WTRU 501 per data network name/single network slice selection assistance information (DNN/S-NSSAI) (e.g., per network slice), which may allow the WTRU 501 to be successfully registered for onboarding and linked per DNN/S-NSSAI. The AF/PVS 505 may thus be notified about events associated with the WTRU 501 per DNN/S-NSSAI and/or the identifiers associated with the WTRU 501 (e.g. GPSI). Sethi teaches that one or more of the following may apply: The session management (SM) context may be successfully created. A PDU session establishment acceptance message may be sent to the WTRU 501. The AF/PVS 505 may subscribe to events associated with the AMF 502 (e.g., registration state changes, such as registered/deregistered), and a subscription request may be sent to a network exposure function (NEF) along with the identifier associated with the WTRU 501 (e.g., GPSI or other WTRU identity). The NEF may send a request to subscribe to events at the AMF 502 (e.g., registration state changes), e.g., via a Namf_EventExposure_Subscribe request message, (as per ETSI TS 123 502 V15.3.0). Upon successfully receiving Namf_EventExposure_Subscribe response message, the NEF 506 may relay an indication that the Namf_EventExposure_Subscribe response message was received to the AF/PVS 505) (Sethi, FIGS. 5A-5C, paragraph [0084]); and upon determining that the first session is an IMS onboarding session type, send, to the network node, a notification message, which notification message is adapted to notify the network node that a session being an IMS onboarding session type is established (wherein Sethi further teaches that the AMF 502 may notify about the subscribed event (Registration State changes), [via the NEF], that the WTRU registration state is registered, and may relay the status information to AF/PVS (again, via the NEF). Examiner notes the earliest effectively filed date of Sethi to be the effectively filed date of the Provisional Application 63/230,418, namely, 08/06/2021, antedating the earliest effective filing date of the instant Application. For convenience, Examiner points out that the corresponding sections from paragraph [0084] of Sethi can be found in paragraphs [0110]-[0112] of Provisional Application 63/230,418) (Sethi, FIGS. 5A-5C, paragraph [0084]). Talebi Fard and Sethi 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 Talebi Fard and Sethi before him or her, to modify the mobile communication system of Talebi Fard to include the additional limitations of a session management node, further comprising: receive, from a network node, a subscription request for session status events in the NPN, wherein the session status events are adapted to be related to sessions being of an IMS onboarding session type; and upon determining that the first session is an IMS onboarding session type, send, to the network node, a notification message, which notification message is adapted to notify the network node that a session being an IMS onboarding session type is established, as disclosed by Sethi, with reasonable expectation that this would result in a mobile communication system having the added benefit of allowing the WTRUs/UEs to be successfully registered for onboarding and linked per DNN/S-NSSAI (See Sethi, paragraph [0084]). This method of improving the mobile communication system of Talebi Fard was well within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Sethi. 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 Talebi Fard with Sethi to obtain the invention as specified in claim 24.
Claim 12 includes a “method” claim that performs limitations substantially as recited in “session management node” claim 24, and does not appear to contain any additional features with regard to novelty and/or nonobviousness; therefore, it is rejected under the same rationale.
Conclusion
12. Further references of interest are cited on Form PTO-892, which is an attachment to this Office Action. For instance, VANGALA (USPGPUB 2024/0306083) discloses a system and method for user equipment onboarding and network congestion control in standalone non-public network deployments. A user equipment (UE) is configured to join a standalone non-public network (SNPN). The UE receives SNPN information from one or more broadcast messages transmitted from a base station serving as an onboarding base station for the SNPN, determines whether the onboarding base station may be used for onboarding by the UE based on the SNPN information and UE SNPN information stored at the UE and onboards the UE to the SNPN when it is determined that the onboarding base station may be used for onboarding by the UE (See Abstract). STARSINIC (USPGPUB 2024/0224163) discloses a system and method for SNMP onboarding and obtaining SNPN services from a PLMN. A user equipment (UE) operating in an “Onboarding Mode” may search for a network broadcasting Onboarding Capability Information (OCT), then register using onboarding credentials and receive SNPN credentials from the network. The UE may then exit onboarding mode, enter Manual Network Selection or Automatic Network Selection mode, and connect to the SNPN. A UE may also receive from a network a list of PLMNs and SNPNs that are equivalent then, when registering, indicate to the network that a requested slice is not associated with the UE’s HPLMN, but is associated with an SNPN. The network may indicate to the UE how the slices of the network map to the slices of the SNPN, and may indicate whether a slice that is offered by the network only partially maps to a slice of the SNPN or HPLMN (See Abstract). Mouquet (USPGPUB 2024/0121645) discloses a method for transmitting data from a communication network to an item of user equipment. The method includes detecting reception of a request to obtain data, sent by the item of user equipment, monitoring whether a session with the item of user equipment through the communication network is established following the detection of the reception of said request, and if no establishment of a session with the item of user equipment is detected before expiration of a period after the detection of the reception of the request, transmitting, to the item of user equipment, at least one signaling message containing the data. Also provided are a network entity, a corresponding system and item of user equipment (See Abstract). KWEON (USPGPUB 2023/0209339) discloses a communication technique that merges IoT technology with a 5G communication system for supporting a data transmission rate higher than that of a 4G system, as well as a system therefor. The invention can be applied to intelligent services (e.g., smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, smart cars or connected cars, healthcare, digital education, retail, security- and safety-related services, and the like) on the basis of 5G communication technology and IoT-related technology. A terminal in a wireless communication system according to one embodiment can select a server of an onboarding stand-alone non-public network (SNPN) (See Abstract). Staufer (USPGPUB 2023/0137814) discloses techniques for facilitating onboarding to a non-public network. Provisioning parameters may be provided to a User Equipment (UE) from a Default Credential Server (DCS) via a secure communication tunnel. Additionally or alternatively, provisioning parameter container(s) including readable provisioning parameters for an Onboarding Network (ONN), and secure provisioning parameters for the UE, may be transmitted to the UE via the ONN. The disclosed methods and apparatuses enable the UE to onboard to a non-public network using the provisioning parameters, and to verify the integrity of the provisioning parameters and ensure the provisioning parameters are not modified by an unauthorized device (See Abstract). WANG (WO 2022/094469) discloses a method implemented in a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) of provisioning the WTRU for communication in a temporary local network that includes transmitting, to an onboarding network, information regarding a capability of the WTRU to communicate with the temporary local network. Configuration information for temporary local network provisioning is received from the onboarding network. A message identifying a provisioning configuration for use by the WTRU with the temporary local network is received from the onboarding network, using the received configuration information. A message is sent to the temporary local network using the provisioning configuration (See Abstract). The ETSI TS 123 502 V15.3.0 (2018-09) has been cited for disclosing basic procedures for the 5G System, as per the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) TS 23.502 version 15.3.0 Release 15.
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/KOSTAS J KATSIKIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2441
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