DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 .
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.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. In particular, this Application is the national stage application of an international application filed on 14 Mar 2022.
Information Disclosure Statements
The information disclosure statements, submitted on 30 Aug 2024 and 25 Sept 2025, are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 17-22 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.
Claims 17 and 20 require, in part, a terminal apparatus to receive list information “in a case where identification information of an own apparatus is associated with a high-priority terminal.” There is a lack of clarity regarding how many devices are required by the claimed invention. There appear to be three potential devices recited in claimed invention: a “terminal apparatus,” “an own apparatus,” and “a high-priority terminal.” The intermixing of “terminal” and “apparatus” in different configurations fails to clearly delineate the metes and bounds of the claimed invention, especially given that, as best the Examiner understands the described invention, only one device represents all three recitations.
Claims 18, 19, 21, and 22 are indefinite due to their dependence upon an indefinite claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 6, 8, 13, 14, and 16-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Starsinic (US 20240007878).
Regarding claims 1 and 13, Starsinic teaches a communication apparatus comprising: at least one memory storing instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute a method of the communication apparatus, the method comprising:
transmitting list information indicating networks that are available when a disaster occurs (Starsinic, ¶84 – RRC message from a RAN node or NAS message from an AMF provides the UE with Disaster Information; Starsinic, ¶¶86, 93 – Disaster Information includes a list of PLMN(s) that the UE may attempt to connect to in the event of a disaster) in a case where identification information of a terminal apparatus is associated with a high-priority terminal (Starsinic, ¶¶93, 98, 144 – each UE has a disaster priority and if its sufficient enough, another PLMN may serve it; Starsinic, ¶148 – in one embodiment, these UEs are configured with a Group ID reserved for select disaster roamers); and
not transmitting the list information in a case where the identification information is not associated with the high-priority terminal. Starsinic, ¶132 (in one example, UEs located near the disaster, such as the northern part of a city, are provided Disaster information, but all other UEs are not [i.e. only select disaster roamers configured with the Group ID in the norther part of a city are provided with Disaster Information, which includes a list of PLMNs]).
Regarding claims 2 and 14, Starsinic also teaches wherein the list information is transmitted to the terminal apparatus via a base station. Starsinic, figure 3D (communication between UE and AMF is via a gNode-B); Starsinic, ¶84 (RRC message from a RAN node or NAS message from an AMF provides the UE with Disaster Information, which includes list of forbidden PLMNs).
Regarding claims 6, 16, 19, and 22, Starsinic also teaches wherein the identification information is information for identifying the terminal apparatus or information for identifying a user who uses the terminal apparatus. Starsinic, ¶148 (Group ID identifies the select disaster roamers, including the UE at issue).
Regarding claim 8, Starsinic also teaches wherein the list information includes at least one public land mobile network (PLMN). Starsinic, ¶84 (PLMN list).
Regarding claims 17 and 20, Starsinic teaches a terminal apparatus comprising: at least one memory storing instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute a method of a terminal apparatus, the method comprising:
receiving list information indicating networks available when a disaster occurs (Starsinic, ¶84 – UE receives a RRC message from a RAN node or NAS message from an AMF, which includes Disaster Information; Starsinic, ¶¶86, 93 – Disaster Information includes a list of PLMN(s) that the UE may attempt to connect to in the event of a disaster) in a case where identification information of an own apparatus is associated with a high-priority terminal (Starsinic, ¶¶93, 98, 144 – each UE has a disaster priority and if its sufficient enough, another PLMN may serve it; Starsinic, ¶148 – in one embodiment, these UEs are configured with a Group ID reserved for select disaster roamers); and
transmitting a registration request message to the network indicated in the list information when the disaster occurs. Starsinic, ¶¶174-175 (UE sends registration request to forbidden PLMN when the allowable PLMN experiences a disaster).
Regarding claims 18 and 21, Starsinic also teaches wherein the list information is received from a first base station, and the registration request message is transmitted to a second base station different from the first base station. Starsinic, ¶¶84, 86, 174-175 and figure 1 (UE receives a list of Forbidden PLMNs from the allowable PLMN and the transmits a registration request to one of the forbidden PLMNs in step 4); Starsinic, figure 3D (communication with UE is via gNode-Bs).
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.
Claims 3, 7, 9, 10, 12, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Starsinic (US 20240007878) in view of Aghili (US 2024/0080791).
Regarding claims 3 and 15, Starsinic teaches the apparatus of claim 1 and the method according to claim 13, but does not explicitly teach “wherein the identification information is received from another apparatus.” However, Aghili teaches a Disaster Response Function (DRF) that assigns a unique incident identifier for a disaster. Aghili, ¶112. A DRF is a different apparatus than a RAN node or AMF. Id. at e.g. figure 2. At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have DRF, as taught by Aghili, assign the group ID for a specific disaster, as taught by Starsinic, in order to centralize disaster related function. Id. at ¶104 (DRF is an abstraction to support disaster response management functionality).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Starsinic and Aghili also teaches wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
receive a registration request message including the identification information from the terminal apparatus (Aghili, ¶¶121, 136, 141, 148 – WTRU registers with DRF 210 by providing an identifier); and
transmit, in a case where the identification information is associated with the high-priority terminal, a response message including the list information to the terminal apparatus in response to the registration request message (Aghili, ¶¶121, 133, 143 – WTRU receives a list of PLMNs 205D and 205A that are authorized for disaster roaming), and
transmits, in a case where the identification information is not associated with the high-priority terminal, the response message that does not include the list information to the terminal apparatus. Aghili, ¶167, last two sentences in particular (if DRID or incident ID is not allowed the WTRU registration request is rejected [i.e. no authorized roaming list of PLMNs]).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Starsinic and Aghili also teaches wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
transmit the identification information of the terminal apparatus to a management apparatus that manages identification information of the high-priority terminal (Aghili, operations 4-2 and 4-3 and/or 4-5 in figure 4 and ¶149 – AMF forwards the parameters received in the Registration Request [i.e. a DRID] to the AUSF, which in turn, forwards them to the UDM/DRF); and
receive, from the management apparatus, a determination result as to whether or not the identification information of the terminal apparatus is managed as the high-priority terminal. Aghili, ¶¶153-154 (DRF retrieves disaster response information identified by the DRID and sends a result indicating a success or failure as to whether the WTRU is authorized to roam); Aghili, ¶167, second-to-last sentence in particular (if the DRID of the registration request is a part of the allowed/applicable list of DRIDs, then the WTRU is registered).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Starsinic and Aghili also teaches wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
receive information indicating a list of pieces of identification information of the high-priority terminals from a management apparatus that manages the list of pieces of identification information of the high-priority terminals (Aghili, ¶167, second to last sentence in particular - AMF receives allowed/applicable DRIDs from the UDM 440 or DRF 450); and
determine whether or not the identification information of the terminal apparatus is included in the list of pieces of identification information of the high-priority terminals. Aghili, ¶167, last two sentences in particular (AMF compares the list of allowed/applicable DRIDs from the UDM 440 or DRF 450 to the DRID provide by the WTRU in a registration request).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Starsinic and Aghili also teaches wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
receive a registration request message including the identification information from the terminal apparatus (Aghili, ¶167 and operation 4-1 in figure 4 – AMP receives registration request from WTRU, where the request includes an incident ID or DRID); and
receive subscriber information of the terminal apparatus and the list information from a UDM entity that manages the subscriber information of the terminal apparatus. Aghili, ¶167, second to last sentence in particular (AMF receives allowed/applicable DRIDs from the UDM 440 or DRF 450 and compares it to the DRID received from the WTRU).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN S LAMONT whose telephone number is (571)270-7514 and email address is benjamin.lamont@uspto.gov (see MPEP 502.03 for using EFS or mail, but not email to authorize electronic communications). The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7am to 3pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Huy Vu can be reached at 571-272-3155. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Benjamin Lamont/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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