DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 16, 21, 24 and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee et al (WO 2020/251309, hereinafter Lee).
Regarding claim 16, Lee discloses a method for communication by an access and mobility management function (AMF) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: receiving a registration request for a user equipment (UE) (UE transmits registration request to the BS, then it is transmitted to the AMF, Para [0047]/page 8); selecting a policy control function (PCF) to obtain access and mobility (AM) policy information for the UE based on slice replacement capability of the PCF (AMF selects a PCF during registration procedure, Para [0053]/page10, AMF transmits Nnrf_NFDiscovery request to NRF, to discover a PCF with support functions such as DNN replacement or S-NSSAI replacement, Para [0057]/page 10); and obtaining the AM policy information for the UE from the selected PCF (AMF establishes AM policy association with selected PCF, Para [0056]/page 11, AMF establishes AM policy association with PCF with messages exchanged in Fig. 3, Para [0047]/page 9).
Regarding claims 21 and 29, Lee discloses the method/device of claim 16/24, wherein the AM policy information for the UE is obtained from the selected PCF by performing AM policy association establishment with the selected PCF (AMF establishes AM policy association with selected PCF, Para [0056]/page 11, AMF establishes AM policy association with PCF with messages exchanged in Fig. 3, Para [0047]/page 9).
Regarding claim 24, Lee discloses an electronic device implementing an access and mobility management function (AMF, Para [0010]) in a wireless communication system, the electronic device comprising: a transceiver and at least one processor (transceiver and processor, Para [0010]) coupled to the transceiver, wherein the at least one processor configured to: receive a registration request for a user equipment (UE) (UE transmits registration request to the BS, then it is transmitted to the AMF, Para [0047]/page 8); select a policy control function (PCF) to obtain access and mobility (AM) policy information for the UE based on slice replacement capability of the PCF (AMF selects a PCF during registration procedure, Para [0053]/page10, AMF transmits Nnrf_NFDiscovery request to NRF, to discover a PCF with support functions such as DNN replacement or S-NSSAI replacement, Para [0057]/page 10); and obtain the AM policy information for the UE from the selected PCF (AMF establishes AM policy association with selected PCF, Para [0056]/page 11, AMF establishes AM policy association with PCF with messages exchanged in Fig. 3, Para [0047]/page 9).
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 20 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee.
Regarding claims 20 and 28, Lee discloses the method/device of claim 16/24, further comprising: transmitting a request including the slice replacement capability to request information about a PCF supporting the slice replacement capability to a network repository function (NRF); and receiving the information about the PCF from the NRF, wherein the information about the PCF includes an address of the PCF (AMF transmits Nnrf_NFDiscovery request to the NRF including PCF and PCF functions such as S-NSSAI replacement and the NRF sends Nnrf_NFDiscovery response which includes PCF information such as ID of the PCF and supported services, Para [0055]/pages 10-11, obvious to one of ordinary skill the PCF information could include an address of PCF).
Claims 17-19, 22, 23, 25-27, 30 and 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee and in view of Kim et al (US 2023/0397058, hereinafter Kim).
Regarding claims 17 and 25, Lee discloses the method/device of claim 16/24, but not explicitly further comprising: receiving, from the selected PCF, a trigger related to slice replacement, in case that the PCF supports slice replacement. Kim discloses the PCF can request the AMF to notify itself when network slice remapping for the UE occurs, Para [0141] and network slice remapping control information can be transmitted from PCF to the AMF, Para [0172]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to utilize the techniques taught by Kim in the system of Lee in order to increase communication efficiency by continuing to use the PDU session previously used with network remapping.
Regarding claims 18 and 26, Lee discloses the method/device of claim 17/25, further comprising: in case that a condition for the trigger related to slice replacement is met, transmitting, to the PCF, a first message including at least one single-network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) that requires slice replacement (S-NSSAI received from the UE is subject to replacement, Para [0062], AMF requests S-NSSAI replacement for a requested S-NSSAI to the PCF, Para [0067]/page 14).
Regarding claims 19 and 27, Lee discloses the method/device of claim 18/26, further comprising: receiving, from the PCF, a second message including at least one alternative S-NSSAI that the at least one S-NSSAI is replaced with (PCF may transmit reply to AMF with the selected S-NSSAI as the replacement, Para [0067]/page 14).
Regarding claims 22 and 30, Lee discloses the method/device of claim 19/29, wherein performing AM policy association establishment with the selected PCF comprises: transmitting, to the PCF, a Npcf_AMPolicyControl_Create Request message to request the AM policy information for the UE; and receiving, from the PCF, Npcf_AMPolicyControl_Create Response message including the AM policy for the UE (the AMF sends the Npcf_AMPolicyControl_Create request and receives the Npcf_AMPolicyControl_Create Response from the PCF, Fig. 3).
Regarding claims 23 and 31, Lee discloses the method/device of claim 22/30, wherein the Npcf_AMPolicyControl_Create Response message further includes at least one single-network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) to replace with (the response contains the S-NSSAI list, which is a list configured for S-NSSAI replacement as requested, Para [0057]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN CUNNINGHAM whose telephone number is (571) 272-1765. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Thursday 7:30-18:00 (EST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Huy Vu can be reached on (571) 272-3155. The fax number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KEVIN M CUNNINGHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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