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 that claims a domestic benefit to a US provisional application, filed on 11 Apr 2022.
Information Disclosure Statements
The information disclosure statements, received on 12 Sept 2024 and 10 Apr 2026, 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(b)
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.
Claims 6, 7, 16 and 17 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 6 and 16 recite, in part, “a normal frequency” and claims 7 and 17 recite, in part, “the normal frequency.” “Normal” is a relative term that creates confusion regarding the scope of the claimed invention (i.e. which frequency would be considered “normal”).
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, 7, 9-12, 16, 17, 19, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Catovic ‘629 (US 20240340629).
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Catovic ‘629 teaches a method and an apparatus implementable in a user equipment (UE), comprising: a transceiver configured to communicate wirelessly with a network; and a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform operations (Catovic ‘629, figure 2 – elements of UE 104) comprising:
determining that, regarding a satellite access to the network, a selected public land mobile network (SPLMN) or a registered PLMN (RPLMN) is not a home PLMN (HPLMN), an equivalent HPLMN (EHPLMN) or a highest-priority PLMN at a location in which the UE is located (Catovic ‘629, ¶33 – the preferred PLMN may be a PLMN currently serving the UE, which may be an RPLMN, which may be a visited PLMN [i.e. not a home PLMN]); and
in response to the determining, performing, via the transceiver, a PLMN search during a period of discontinuous coverage (DC) of the SPLMN or RPLMN. Catovic ‘629, ¶34 (UE performs PLMN selection during coverage gap of preferred PLMN [i.e. the RPLMN currently serving the UE]); Catovic ‘629, figure 5 and 6 (UE performs PLMN scans during coverage gap).
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Catovic ‘629 also teaches wherein the SPLMN or RPLMN was a highest-priority PLMN available at a time when the UE performed a PLMN selection previously but the SPLMN or RPLMN is not the highest-priority PLMN at the location in which the UE is located. Catovic ‘629, ¶¶32, 78 (a preferred PLMN may have higher priority than the PLMN currently serving the PLMN); Catovic ‘629, ¶35 (while already connected to a another PLMN, the UE can search for a preferred PLMN [i.e. PLMN with a higher priority in the roaming area]).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Catovic ‘629 also teaches performing a periodic PLMN search in a higher frequency that is greater than a normal frequency associated with the periodic PLMN search (Catovic ‘629, ¶71 and figure 9 – UE adjust the periodicity of its PLMN scan to less than the configured minimum search timer [i.e. frequency of scans in figure 9 is higher than the frequency of scans in figure 8]) and
wherein the UE is capable of satellite access via either or both of an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRAN) and a next-generation radio access network (NG-RAN) with DC being active or inactive. Catovic ‘629, figure 4, ¶53 (NTN entity 140 provides base station functions in coverage area 110b); Catovic ‘629, ¶132 (base stations, such as NTN entity 140, configured to provide UMTS and/or NG-RAN functions to UEs 104).
Regarding claims 7 and 17, Catovic ‘629 also teaches wherein a cycle of performing the periodic PLMN search under the higher frequency is one half or a fraction of that under the normal frequency. Catovic ‘629, figures 8-9 (912 is a fraction of the length of 812).
Regarding claims 9 and 19, Catovic ‘629 also teaches performing the PLMN search based on a stored information from one or more previously registered PLMNs at least one of which having a higher priority than the selected PLMN or the registered PLMN, such that the PLMN search is performed during appearance of the at least one of the one or more previously registered PLMNs. Catovic ‘629, ¶79 (UE stores indication of whether a preferred PLMN is associated with discontinuous coverage (DC)); Catovic ‘629, ¶¶32, 78 (a preferred PLMN may have higher priority than the PLMN currently serving the PLMN); Catovic ‘629, figure 10 (UE considers whether the PLMN is associated with DC when determining the periodicity of its PLMN scan).
Regarding claims 10 and 20, Catovic ‘629 also teaches wherein the stored information comprises ephemeris data of the one or more previously registered PLMNs. Catovic ‘629, ¶60 (stored indication may include ephemeris of the base station satellite associated with the preferred PLMN).
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 3-5, 8, 13-15, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Catovic ‘629 (of record) in view of Catovic ‘628 (US 20230134628).
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Catovic ‘629 teaches the method of claim 1 and apparatus of claim 11, but does not explicitly teach “determining a priority of each of one or more PLMNs based on information configured in an Operator Controlled PLMN Selector with Access Technology list.” However, Catovic ‘628 teaches an “Operator Controlled PLMN Selector with Access Technology data file.” Catovic ‘628, ¶58. The data file provides a prioritized list of PLMNs. Id. at ¶68. 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 use the PLMN selector, taught by Catovic ‘628, when determining PLMN priority, as taught by Catovic ‘629, in order to define different PLMN prioritizations for PLMN selection when the UE is in an international area compared to when the UE is inside a country. Id. at ¶76.
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Catovic ‘629 teaches the method of claim 1 and apparatus of claim 11, but does not explicitly disclose “determining a priority of each of one or more PLMNs based on information configured in user-controlled PLMN selector.” However, Catovic ‘628 teaches a “User Controlled PLMN Selector with Access Technology” data file. Catovic ‘628, ¶57. The data file provides a prioritized list of PLMNs. Id. at ¶68. 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 use the PLMN selector, taught by Catovic ‘628, when determining PLMN priority, as taught by Catovic ‘629, in order to define different PLMN prioritizations for PLMN selection when the UE is in an international area compared to when the UE is inside a country. Id. at ¶76.
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Catovic ‘629 teaches the method of claim 1 and apparatus of claim 11, but does not explicitly teach “determining a priority of each of one or more PLMNs based on information configured in a memory of the UE or a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) associated with the UE.” However, Catovic ‘628 teaches the data files mentioned in the rejections of claims 3, 4, 13, and 14 being in a USIM. Catovic ‘628, ¶¶68,76. 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 store the list of PLMNs indicating a preferential order of PLMNs, as taught by Catovic ‘629, within a USIM, as taught by Catovic ‘628, in order to designate a separate PLMN selector for international areas. Id. at ¶76.
Regarding claims 8 and 18, Catovic ‘629 teaches the method of claim 1 and the apparatus of claim 11 and updating the configuration of periodicity of PLMN scans (Catovic ‘629, ¶74), but does not explicitly teach performing the PLMN search based on “a management object (MO) or a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) configuration received from the network.” However, Catovic ‘628 teaches a prioritized list of PLMN stored on a USIM. Catovic ‘628, ¶68. The list can be updated by an indication received by the UE from the network. Id. at ¶76 and figure 10 (step 1004). 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 update the PLMN scans, as taught by Catovic ‘629, based on the USIM-stored list, as taught by Catovic ‘628, in order to ensure selection of a PLMN intended for international access. Id. at ¶90.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure, including paragraph 8 of Lung.
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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/Benjamin Lamont/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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