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
Should applicant desire to obtain the benefit of foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) prior to declaration of an interference, a certified English translation of the foreign application must be submitted in reply to this action. 37 CFR 41.154(b) and 41.202(e).
Failure to provide a certified translation may result in no benefit being accorded for the non-English application.
Applicant cannot rely upon the certified copy of the foreign priority application to overcome this rejection because a translation of said application has not been made of record in accordance with 37 CFR 1.55. When an English language translation of a non-English language foreign application is required, the translation must be that of the certified copy (of the foreign application as filed) submitted together with a statement that the translation of the certified copy is accurate. See MPEP §§ 215 and 216.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 8-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Chaugule et al. (US 2023/0073252 A1).
Regarding claims 1 & 10, Chaugule disclosers a configuration file downloading method performed by a mobile terminal with an eSIM card, the method comprising and non-transitory storage medium, used for computer readable storage implement the steps of
after the mobile terminal is powered on, in a case where the eSIM card is not activated (activation of the eSIM is delayed, [0004]) and a SIM card is inserted (see physical sim [0004]), sending, through a communication network of the SIM card (see network operator [0004]), a configuration file download instruction of the eSIM card to a server (see server, [0000]); and acquiring a target configuration file returned by the server based on the configuration file download instruction (configuration for download in [0004]) , and writing the target configuration file into the eSIM card to activate the eSIM card (see “download and install the eSIM”, [0004]).
Regarding claim 9, Chaugule disclosers a mobile terminal, the mobile terminal comprising an eSIM card, a processor, a memory, a computer program stored on the memory and executable by the processor (see memory and processor [0037]) , and a data bus for implementing a communication connection between the processor and the memory (see memory and processor [0037]), wherein the computer program is configured to, when executed by the processor, implement steps of: after the mobile terminal is powered on, in a case where the eSIM card is not activated and a SIM card is inserted, sending, through a communication network of the SIM card (see network operator [0004]), a configuration file download instruction of the eSIM card to a server (see configuration [00004]); and acquiring a target configuration file returned by the server (server provides configuration [0004]) based on the configuration file download instruction, and writing the target configuration file into the eSIM card to activate the eSIM card (see “download and install the eSIM”, [0004])).
Regarding claim 8, Chaugule disclosers the configuration file downloading method according to claim 1, wherein after writing the target configuration file into the eSIM to activate the eSIM card, the method further comprises: in a case where it is determined that the eSIM card is activated and the SIM card is inserted, disabling the SIM card (see disabled pSIM [0025]).
Regarding claim 11, Chaugule disclosers the configuration file downloading method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: in a case where it is determined that a SIM card is not inserted, sending a preset prompt message to prompt a user that the mobile terminal is not inserted with a SIM card (see [0051], “When no usable pSIM is available, e.g., the pSIM card slot is empty or houses an unusable pSIM card, the mobile wireless device 102, at 816, prompts the user”).
Regarding claim 12, Chaugule disclosers the configuration file downloading method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: in a case where SIM card information is acquired, determining that a SIM card is inserted (see [0051], determination if slot is empty or not [0051]); or in a case where a SIM card detection identifier in the mobile terminal is a first identifier, determining that a SIM card is inserted (see [0051], determination if slot is empty or not [0051]).
Regarding claim 16, Chaugule disclosers the mobile terminal according to claim 9, wherein the mobile terminal comprises a local provisioning assistant (LPA); the computer program is configured to, when executed by the processor, further implement steps of: controlling the LPA through the communication network of the SIM card to establish a communication connection with the server; and sending the configuration file downloading instruction of the eSIM card to the server through the communication connection.
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) 2, 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chaugule in view of Chaugule et al. (US 2024/0007847 A1).
Regarding claim 2, Chaugule discloses the configuration file downloading method according to claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal comprises a local provisioning assistant (LPA) (see LPA [0040]); wherein sending, through a communication network of the SIM card, a configuration file download instruction of the eSIM card to a server comprises:
Chaugule does not explicitly disclose however Chaugule et al. (US 2024/0007847 A1) explicitly discloses controlling the LPA through the communication network of the SIM card to establish a communication connection with the server (see [0040], “for an MNO provisioning server, 116, e.g., an SM-DP+ server. At 304, the LPA receives an ES9+ authenticate client response message from the SM-DP+ server. At 306, the LPA extracts from the metadata of the authenticate client response message an identifier”); and sending the configuration file downloading instruction of the eSIM card to the server through the communication connection (see [0040], “for an MNO provisioning server, 116, e.g., an SM-DP+ server. At 304, the LPA receives an ES9+ authenticate client response message from the SM-DP+ server. At 306, the LPA extracts from the metadata of the authenticate client response message an identifier”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Chaugule in view of Chaugule. Doing so would conform to well-known techniques in the field of invention.
Regarding claim 15, Chaugule in view of Chaugule et al. (US 2024/0007847 A1) discloses configuration file downloading method according to claim 2,
Chaugule et al. (US 2024/0007847 A1) better discloses wherein controlling the LPA through the communication network of the SIM card to establish a communication connection with the server comprises: acquiring a network address of the server; controlling the LPA, according to the network address of the server, through the communication network of the SIM card to establish a communication connection with the server (see [0040], “for an MNO provisioning server, 116, e.g., an SM-DP+ server. At 304, the LPA receives an ES9+ authenticate client response message from the SM-DP+ server. At 306, the LPA extracts from the metadata of the authenticate client response message an identifier”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Chaugule in view of Chaugule. Doing so would conform to well-known techniques in the field of invention.
Regarding claim 16, Chaugule discloses the mobile terminal according to claim 9, wherein the mobile terminal comprises a local provisioning assistant (LPA); the computer program is configured to, when executed by the processor, further implement steps of: controlling the LPA through the communication network of the SIM card to establish a communication connection with the server; and sending the configuration file downloading instruction of the eSIM card to the server through the communication connection (see [0040], “for an MNO provisioning server, 116, e.g., an SM-DP+ server. At 304, the LPA receives an ES9+ authenticate client response message from the SM-DP+ server. At 306, the LPA extracts from the metadata of the authenticate client response message an identifier”);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Chaugule in view of Chaugule. Doing so would conform to well-known techniques in the field of invention.
Claim(s) 4 & 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chaugule in view of Yu (US 2017/0142573 A1).
Regarding claims 4 & 18, Chaugule discloses the configuration file downloading method according to claim 1 and mobile terminal of claim 9, wherein after the mobile terminal is powered on, in the case where the eSIM card is not activated and a SIM card is inserted, the method further comprises: determining whether the SIM card is registered with a communication network service (see [0004], “ia the OTA cellular connection to the mobile wireless device. In some embodiments, when the ICCID value is not available, the mobile wireless device alternatively determines whether the pSIM included in the mobile wireless device corresponds to a particular MNO, e.g., using information from a carrier bundle included in the mobile wireless device”); and in a case where the SIM card is not registered with a communication network service (see cold pSIM [0041]),
Chaugule does not explicitly disclose but Yu explicitly discloses sending a communication network service registration request to the SIM card (see SIM is unregistered [0059], see “registration request” [0059]), so that the SIM card requests registration of a communication network service from a server matching the SIM card according to the communication network service registration request (see [0059] authentication request/registration request seeking “successful response”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Chaugule in view of Yu. Doing so would conform to well-known techniques in the field of invention.
Claim(s) 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chaugule in view of Zhao (WO 2022001554 A1)(Machine translation).
Regarding claim 13, Chaugule discloses configuration file downloading method according to claim 1,
Zhao best discloses wherein the target configuration file is a configuration file for service registration of the eSIM card of the mobile terminal, and the target configuration file includes a file system, a network access key parameter, an auxiliary security domain, and an application (see bottom of page 5, “the configuration file may specifically be a profile (user configuration file) file. The profile file may include at least one information of filesystem, network access key parameters, auxiliary security domain, and application data”.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Chaugule in view of Zhao. Doing so would conform to well-known techniques in the field of invention.
Claim(s) 5 & 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of (WO 2021036809 A1)(Machine translation).
Regarding claims 5 and 19, Chaugule discloses the configuration file downloading method according to claim 1 and mobile terminal of claim 9,
Chaugule discloses wherein before sending, through a communication network of the SIM card, a configuration file downloading instruction of the eSIM card to a server, the method further comprises: after the mobile terminal is powered on, determining whether the eSIM card is activated (see [0025] activation); in a case where the eSIM card is not activated (see [0025] activation), determining whether the SIM card is inserted (see [0051], empty or not)
Li better discloses determining whether the mobile terminal is connected to a WiFi hotspot (see page 6, “, it is judged whether there is an available WiFi network (that is, S902 is executed). If there is an available WiFi network, it is determined whether the SIM module interface 2 is connected with a plug-in SIM module”); and in a case where the mobile terminal is not connected to a WiFi hotspot; and in a case where the SIM card is inserted, sending, through the communication network of the SIM card, the configuration file download instruction of the eSIM card to the server (see page 6, “, it is judged whether there is an available WiFi network (that is, S902 is executed). If there is an available WiFi network, it is determined whether the SIM module interface 2 is connected with a plug-in SIM module”);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Chaugule in view of Li. Doing so would conform to well-known techniques in the field of invention.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 6-7, 14, 17 & 20 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 K. WILFORD SHAHEED whose telephone number is (469) 295-9175. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9 am-6pm; CST; ALT Friday. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. The examiner’s Supervisor, Jinsong Hu, can be reached at (571)272-3965, where attempts to reach the examiner are unsuccessful.
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/KHALID W SHAHEED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643
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