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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on November 4, 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on acceptable. These drawings are acceptable.
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.
Claim(s) 1-6 and 9-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tiwari (US 2012/0077456) in view of Matolia et al. (hereinafter “Matolia”, US 2022/0232464).
Regarding claim 1, Tiwari discloses a method for handling a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) list in a satellite access network (500), comprises:
storing, by a User Equipment (UE) (100) (i.e., mobile communication device 110 as shown in Fig. 1), a list of “PLMN not allowed to operate at a present UE location” (i.e., storing the Forbidden PLMN as described in paragraph 0025); and
determining, by the UE (100), whether the UE (100) is successfully registered to an access apparatus (400) of a PLMN stored in the list of “PLMN not allowed to operate at the present UE location” via an access network (500) for an emergency service or a normal service (i.e., receiving the Attach Accept S205 and send the Attach Complete S207 as shown in Fig. 2, and as described in paragraph 0025); and
performing, by the UE (100), one of
not removing an entry from the list of “PLMN not allowed to operate at the present UE location” stored at the UE (100) upon determining that the UE (100) is successfully registered for the emergency service to the PLMN stored in that the entry in the list of "PLMN not allowed to operate at the present UE location" via the access network (500) (i.e., the list of PLMNs equivalent when attached to the service network for emergency bearer services as described in paragraphs 0007-0008 and 0023), and
removing the entry from the list of “PLMN not allowed to operate at the present UE location” stored at the UE (100) upon determining that the UE (100) is successfully registered for the normal service to the PLMN stored in that entry in the list of “PLMN not allowed to operate at the present UE location” via the access network (500) (i.e., removing any PLMN that is present in the Forbidden PLMN list from the Equivalent PLMN list as described in paragraphs 0023 and 0026-0028).
Tiwari, however, does not expressly disclose a satellite access apparatus.
In a similar endeavor, Matolia discloses public land mobile network selection for non-terrestrial networks. Matolia also discloses the satellite access network (i.e., as shown in Fig. 5).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art to modify the teachings of the cited references and arrive at the present invention.
The motivation/suggestion for doing so would have been to maximize service continuity and provide the best service conditions to the UE.
Claim 9, Tiwari discloses a User Equipment (UE) (100) (i.e., mobile communication device 110 as shown in Fig. 1), comprising:
a processor (110) (i.e., controller 112);
a memory (130) (i.e., storage unit for storing the program codes of applications or communication protocols as described in paragraph 0024); and
a PLMN list controller (150) (i.e., controller 112 controls the wireless module 111 for handling the Equivalent PLMN List as described in paragraph 0025), coupled with the processor (110) and the memory (130) (i.e., see descriptions in paragraph 0024), configured to:
determine whether the UE (100) is successfully registered to an access apparatus (400) of the PLMN stored in a list of “PLMN not allowed to operate at a present UE location” via an access network (500) for an emergency service or a normal service (i.e., receiving the Attach Accept S205 and send the Attach Complete S207 as shown in Fig. 2, and as described in paragraph 0025); and
perform one of
not remove an entry from the list of “PLMN not allowed to operate at the present UE location” stored at the UE (100) upon determining that the UE (100) is successfully registered for the emergency service to the PLMN stored in that entry in the list of "PLMN not allowed to operate at the present UE location" via the access network (500) (i.e., the list of PLMNs equivalent when attached to the service network for emergency bearer services as described in paragraphs 0007-0008 and 0023), and
remove an entry from the list of “PLMNs not allowed to operate at the present UE location” at the UE (100) upon determining that the UE (100) is successfully registered for the normal service to the PLMN stored in that entry in the list of “PLMN not allowed to operate at the present UE location” via the access network (500) (i.e., removing any PLMN that is present in the Forbidden PLMN list from the Equivalent PLMN list as described in paragraphs 0023 and 0026-0028).
Tiwari, however, does not expressly disclose a satellite access apparatus.
In a similar endeavor, Matolia discloses public land mobile network selection for non-terrestrial networks. Matolia also discloses the satellite access network (i.e., as shown in Fig. 5).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art to modify the teachings of the cited references and arrive at the present invention.
The motivation/suggestion for doing so would have been to maximize service continuity and provide the best service conditions to the UE.
Regarding claims 2 and 10, Tiwari and Matolia disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Tiwari also discloses wherein the satellite access network (500) is at least one of a satellite new generation radio access network (NG-RAN) access technology, a satellite Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) access technology, a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) and a Radio Access Technology (RAT) (i.e., PLMN and RAT as described in paragraph 0024 and as shown in Fig. 1).
Regarding claims 3 and 11, Tiwari and Matolia disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Matolia also discloses wherein the satellite access apparatus (400) is at least one of a Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) and a Mobility Management Entity (MME) (i.e., AMF as described in paragraph 0080).
Regarding claims 4 and 12, Tiwari and Matolia disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Tiwari also discloses where in each entry in the list of “PLMN not allowed to operate at the present UE location” consists of:
PLMN identity of the PLMN which sent a message including a Fifth Generation Mobility Management (5GMM) (i.e., each entry of the list contains a PLMN code for identifying a specific PLMN as described in paragraph 0006) or
a Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Mobility Management (EMM) cause value #78 "PLMN not allowed to operate at the present UE location" via the satellite access network (500);
geographical location, if known by the UE (100), where the 5GMM or the EMM cause value #78 is received over the satellite access network (500); and
in case that a geographical location exists, a UE implementation specific distance value.
Regarding claims 5 and 13, Tiwari and Matolia disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Matolia also discloses the satellite access network (i.e., as shown in Fig. 5). Tiwari also discloses wherein determining, by the UE (100), that the UE (100) is successfully registered to the PLMN stored in the list of “PLMN not allowed to operate at the present UE location” via the access network (500) for the emergency service comprises at least one of:
registering or attaching, by the UE (100), successfully to the PLMN stored in the list of “PLMN not allowed to operate at the present UE location” via the access network (500) with at least one of a Fifth Generation System (5GS) Registration type value set to “emergency registration” (i.e., Attach Accept S305 as shown in Fig. 3 and as described in paragraph 0027) or
a Evolved Packet Subsystem (EPS) Attach type value set to “EPS Emergency Attach” or
a Fifth Generation System (5GS) Registration result information element value set to “Registered for emergency services” in an AS signaling message or
a NAS signaling message or receiving an indication from the satellite access apparatus (400) in the satellite access network (500) that the UE (100) is successfully registered for the emergency service or an emergency bearer service.
Regarding claims 6 and 14, Tiwari and Matolia disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Matolia also discloses the satellite access network (i.e., as shown in Fig. 5). Tiwari also discloses wherein determining, by the UE (100), that the UE (100) is successfully registered to the PLMN stored in the list of “PLMN not allowed to operate at the present UE location” via the access network (500) for the normal services comprises at least one of:
registering or attaching, by the UE (100), successfully to the PLMN stored in the list of “PLMN not allowed to operate at the present UE location” via the access network (500) with at least one of a Fifth Generation System (5GS) Registration type value not set to “emergency registration” (i.e., the PLMN to which the service network 120 belongs is removed from the Equivalent PLMN List and the Equivalent PLMN list comprises the PLMN to which the service network 130 belongs, and the UE registers with the service network 130 for normal services by transmitting an Attach Request as described in paragraph 0026) or
a Evolved Packet Subsystem (EPS) Attach type value not set to “EPS Emergency Attach” or a Fifth Generation System (5GS) Registration result information element value not set to “Registered for emergency services” in an AS signaling message or a NAS signaling message or
receiving an indication from the satellite access apparatus (400) in the satellite access network (500) that the UE (100) is successfully registered for the normal service or not for an emergency bearer service or not for the emergency service.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-8 and 15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WAYNE CAI whose telephone number is (571)272-7798. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday, 7:00 AM-5:00 PM.
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/Wayne H Cai/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644
