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 with the benefit of a prior-filed application with the priority of Chinese Patent Application No. 202210317331.2 filed on March 28, 2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on January 20, 2025, and August 28, 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 § 103
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
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 1 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu et al (US Patent Application Publication 2023/0079792), and further in view of Salkintzis et al (US Patent Application Publication 2022/0053416). Hereinafter Zhu and Salkintzis.
Regarding claim 1, Zhu discloses an access network device determining method, applied to a first core network device (the apparatus performs the steps performed by the AMF device in Figs.2,3,4,5, paragraph [0326] – [0328]), wherein the method comprises:
sending information about a second access network to a terminal device (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]), and cause the terminal device to establish a connection to a second access network device based on the information about the second access network (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]; the terminal device establishes connection using the second access network device that supports the first network slice),
wherein the information about the second access network comprises an identifier of the second access network device (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]; the terminal device establishes connection based on the information on the selected second access network device).
However, Zhu does not explicitly disclose “sending information to cause the terminal device to obtain a network access identifier (NAI) in response to receiving the information about the second access network.”
Salkintzis discloses request message to non-3GPP access network indicating first PLMN and first S-NSSAI includes NAI containing identifiers for the first PLMN and for the first S-NSSAI, where the beginning of the connectivity procedure includes creating a data connection via the first network slice in the first PLMN (paragraph [0087]).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Zhu and Salkintzis before him or her, to incorporate the request message including NAI as taught by Salkintzis, to improve the access network device of Zhu for the motivation of providing connectivity to the selected PLMN and to the selected slice type (paragraph [0035] of Salkintzis).
Regarding claim 2, Zhu and Salkintzis disclose the access network device determining method according to claim 1, Zhu discloses wherein
before the sending information about the second access network to the terminal device, the method further comprises:
receiving a first message from the terminal device through a first access network device, wherein the first message comprises information about at least one network slice, and the first message indicates that the terminal device requests to access the network slice (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]), and
the sending information about the second access network to the terminal device comprises:
in response to determining the first access network device does not support one or more of the at least one network slice, and determining the second access network device supports one or more of the at least one network slice, sending a second message to the terminal device, wherein the second message comprises the information about the second access network (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]).
Regarding claim 3, Zhu and Salkintzis disclose the access network device determining method according to claim 1, but Zhu does not explicitly disclose wherein the method further comprises:
sending fourth indication information to the terminal device, wherein the fourth indication information indicates the terminal device to:
construct the NAI based on information about one or more access networks;
obtain the NAI based on a correspondence between information about an access network and information about a network slice; or
obtain the information about the second access network based on a correspondence between information about an access network and information about a network slice, and
obtain the NAI based on the information about the second access network.
Salkintzis discloses creating second list including discovering a plurality of available non-3GPP access networks and ordering the plurality of available non-3GPP access networks into a prioritized list based on a set of WLANSP rules, and the request message to non-3GPP access network indicating first PLMN and first S-NSSAI includes NAI containing identifiers for the first PLMN and for the first S-NSSAI, where the beginning of the connectivity procedure includes creating a data connection via the first network slice in the first PLMN (paragraphs [0086], [0087]).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Zhu and Salkintzis before him or her, to incorporate the request message including NAI as taught by Salkintzis, to improve the access network device of Zhu for the motivation of providing connectivity to the selected PLMN and to the selected slice type (paragraph [0035] of Salkintzis).
Regarding claim 4, Zhu and Salkintzis disclose the access network device determining method according to claim 3, but Zhu does not explicitly disclose wherein the fourth indication information is a registration reject message, a registration accept message, a configuration update message, a wireless local area network selection policy rule (WLANSP rule), or indication information included in a configuration update procedure.
Salkintzis discloses creating second list including discovering a plurality of available non-3GPP access networks and ordering the plurality of available non-3GPP access networks into a prioritized list based on a set of WLANSP rules, and the request message to non-3GPP access network indicating first PLMN and first S-NSSAI includes NAI containing identifiers for the first PLMN and for the first S-NSSAI, where the beginning of the connectivity procedure includes creating a data connection via the first network slice in the first PLMN (paragraphs [0086], [0087]).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Zhu and Salkintzis before him or her, to incorporate the request message including NAI as taught by Salkintzis, to improve the access network device of Zhu for the motivation of providing connectivity to the selected PLMN and to the selected slice type (paragraph [0035] of Salkintzis).
Regarding claim 5, Zhu and Salkintzis disclose the access network device determining method according to claim 1, but Zhu does not explicitly disclose wherein the information about the second access network comprises one or more of a service set identifier (SSID), identification information of the second access network device, identification information of an second access network node, address information, domain name information, port information, all or a part of information about N network slices corresponding to or supported by the second access network, or all or a part of information about N network slices corresponding to or supported by the second access network device, wherein N is a positive integer.
Salkintzis discloses the TWIF (Trusted WLAN interworking Function) determines the first PLMN and the first S-NSSAI by examining the NAI provided by the UE, where the UE had sent the request message to the selected SSID that contains the first PLMN and the first S-NSSAI, wherein the request message is sent for establishing a data connection to a DN via the first PLMN and the first S-NSSAI (paragraphs [0128] – [0130]).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Zhu and Salkintzis before him or her, to incorporate the request message including NAI as taught by Salkintzis, to improve the access network device of Zhu for the motivation of providing connectivity to the selected PLMN and to the selected slice type (paragraph [0035] of Salkintzis).
Regarding claim 6, Zhu and Salkintzis disclose the access network device determining method according to claim 2, Zhu discloses wherein the information about the at least one network slice included in the first message is included in information about a network slice corresponding to or supported by the second access network device (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]).
Regarding claim 7, Zhu and Salkintzis disclose the access network device determining method according to claim 1, Zhu discloses wherein one or more of information about one or more access networks or information about a network slice corresponding to or supported by one or more access networks is configured on the first core network device (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]).
Regarding claim 8, Zhu and Salkintzis disclose the access network device determining method according to claim 1, Zhu discloses further comprising:
sending, by the first core network device to a second core network device, the information about the network slice requested by the terminal device (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]).
Regarding claim 9, Zhu and Salkintzis disclose the access network device determining method according to claim 8, Zhu discloses further comprising:
receiving the information about the second access network from the second access network device (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]); and
sending the information about the second access network to the terminal device (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]).
Regarding claim 10, Zhu and Salkintzis disclose the access network device determining method according to claim 2, but Zhu does not explicitly disclose wherein the second message comprises a registration reject message, a registration accept message, a configuration update message, a wireless local area network selection policy rule, or a message in a configuration update procedure.
Salkintzis discloses creating second list including discovering a plurality of available non-3GPP access networks and ordering the plurality of available non-3GPP access networks into a prioritized list based on a set of WLANSP rules, and the request message to non-3GPP access network indicating first PLMN and first S-NSSAI includes NAI containing identifiers for the first PLMN and for the first S-NSSAI, where the beginning of the connectivity procedure includes creating a data connection via the first network slice in the first PLMN (paragraphs [0086], [0087]).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Zhu and Salkintzis before him or her, to incorporate the request message including NAI as taught by Salkintzis, to improve the access network device of Zhu for the motivation of providing connectivity to the selected PLMN and to the selected slice type (paragraph [0035] of Salkintzis).
Regarding claim 11, Zhu and Salkintzis disclose the access network device determining method according to claim 8, Zhu discloses wherein
the first core network device is a mobility management device, and the second core network device is a policy control device (the AMF device determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, paragraphs [0264], [0265]; the AMF devices sends the message that includes the rejected NSSAI notifying the terminal that the network slice rejects access of the terminal, the second allowed NSSAI notifying the terminal that access of the terminal is allowed, an identifier of the terminal, and a subscribed RFSP index to PCF device, paragraph [0190]), or
the first core network device is a policy control device, and the second core network device is a mobility management device.
Regarding claim 12, Zhu discloses an access network device determining method, applied to a terminal device, wherein the method comprises:
obtaining information about a second access network from a first core network device (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]), wherein the information about the second access network comprises information about a second access network device, and the second access network device supports at least one network slice that the terminal device requests to access (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]); and
sending the identifier to an access point of the second access network, to cause the access point of the second access network to select the second access network device (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]).
However, Zhu does not explicitly disclose “obtaining a network access identifier (NAI) in response to receiving the information about the second access network;” and “sending the NAI to an access point of the second access network, to cause the access point of the second access network to select the second access network device based on the NAI.”
Salkintzis discloses request message to non-3GPP access network indicating first PLMN and first S-NSSAI includes NAI containing identifiers for the first PLMN and for the first S-NSSAI, where the beginning of the connectivity procedure includes creating a data connection via the first network slice in the first PLMN (paragraph [0087]).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Zhu and Salkintzis before him or her, to incorporate the request message including NAI as taught by Salkintzis, to improve the access network device of Zhu for the motivation of providing connectivity to the selected PLMN and to the selected slice type (paragraph [0035] of Salkintzis).
Regarding claim 13, Zhu and Salkintzis disclose the access network device determining method according to claim 12, Zhu discloses wherein
before the obtaining information about the second access network from the first core network device, the method further comprises:
sending a first message to a first access network device, wherein the first message comprises information about the at least one network slice, and the first message indicates that the terminal device requests to access the network slice (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]), and
the obtaining information about the second access network from the first core network device comprises:
receiving a second message, wherein the second message comprises the information about the second access network (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]).
Regarding claim 14, Zhu and Salkintzis disclose the access network device determining method according to claim 12, but Zhu does not explicitly disclose wherein the information about the second access network comprises one or more of the following information: a service set identifier (SSID), identification information of the second access network device, identification information of a second access network node, address information, domain name information, port information, all or a part of information about N network slices corresponding to or supported by the second access network, or all or a part of information about N network slices corresponding to or supported by the second access network device, wherein Nis a positive integer.
Salkintzis discloses the TWIF (Trusted WLAN interworking Function) determines the first PLMN and the first S-NSSAI by examining the NAI provided by the UE, where the UE had sent the request message to the selected SSID that contains the first PLMN and the first S-NSSAI, wherein the request message is sent for establishing a data connection to a DN via the first PLMN and the first S-NSSAI (paragraphs [0128] – [0130]).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Zhu and Salkintzis before him or her, to incorporate the request message including NAI as taught by Salkintzis, to improve the access network device of Zhu for the motivation of providing connectivity to the selected PLMN and to the selected slice type (paragraph [0035] of Salkintzis).
Regarding claim 15, Zhu and Salkintzis disclose the access network device determining method according to claim 13, Zhu discloses wherein the at least one network slice included in the first message is included in information about a network slice corresponding to or supported by the second access network (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]).
Regarding claim 16, Zhu and Salkintzis disclose the access network device determining method according to claim 13, but Zhu does not explicitly disclose wherein the second message comprises a registration reject message, a registration accept message, a configuration update message, a wireless local area network selection policy rule, or a message in a configuration update procedure.
Salkintzis discloses creating second list including discovering a plurality of available non-3GPP access networks and ordering the plurality of available non-3GPP access networks into a prioritized list based on a set of WLANSP rules, and the request message to non-3GPP access network indicating first PLMN and first S-NSSAI includes NAI containing identifiers for the first PLMN and for the first S-NSSAI, where the beginning of the connectivity procedure includes creating a data connection via the first network slice in the first PLMN (paragraphs [0086], [0087]).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Zhu and Salkintzis before him or her, to incorporate the request message including NAI as taught by Salkintzis, to improve the access network device of Zhu for the motivation of providing connectivity to the selected PLMN and to the selected slice type (paragraph [0035] of Salkintzis).
Regarding claim 17, Zhu and Salkintzis disclose the access network device determining method according to claim 12, but Zhu does not explicitly disclose wherein a domain name information part of the NAI comprises the information about the second access network device.
Salkintzis discloses the TWIF (Trusted WLAN interworking Function) determines the first PLMN and the first S-NSSAI by examining the NAI provided by the UE, where the UE had sent the request message to the selected SSID that contains the first PLMN and the first S-NSSAI, wherein the request message is sent for establishing a data connection to a DN via the first PLMN and the first S-NSSAI, where the NAI includes e.g., “NAI=<username>@sdD16273.st03.snssai.mnc123.mcc45.3 gppnetwork.org” (paragraphs [0128] – [0130]).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Zhu and Salkintzis before him or her, to incorporate the request message including NAI as taught by Salkintzis, to improve the access network device of Zhu for the motivation of providing connectivity to the selected PLMN and to the selected slice type (paragraph [0035] of Salkintzis).
Regarding claim 18, Zhu and Salkintzis disclose the access network device determining method according to claim 12, but Zhu does not explicitly disclose further comprising:
obtaining fourth indication information, wherein the fourth indication information indicates the terminal device to:
obtain the NAI based on information about one or more access networks;
obtain the NAI based on a correspondence between information about an access network and information about a network slice; or
obtain the information about the second access network based on a correspondence between information about an access network and information about a network slice, and obtain the NAI based on the information about the second access network.
Salkintzis discloses creating second list including discovering a plurality of available non-3GPP access networks and ordering the plurality of available non-3GPP access networks into a prioritized list based on a set of WLANSP rules, and the request message to non-3GPP access network indicating first PLMN and first S-NSSAI includes NAI containing identifiers for the first PLMN and for the first S-NSSAI, where the beginning of the connectivity procedure includes creating a data connection via the first network slice in the first PLMN (paragraphs [0086], [0087]).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Zhu and Salkintzis before him or her, to incorporate the request message including NAI as taught by Salkintzis, to improve the access network device of Zhu for the motivation of providing connectivity to the selected PLMN and to the selected slice type (paragraph [0035] of Salkintzis).
Regarding claim 19, Zhu and Salkintzis disclose the access network device determining method according to claim 18, but Zhu does not explicitly disclose wherein the fourth indication information is a registration reject message, a registration accept message, a configuration update message, a wireless local area network selection policy rule (WLANSP rules), or indication information included in a configuration update procedure.
Salkintzis discloses creating second list including discovering a plurality of available non-3GPP access networks and ordering the plurality of available non-3GPP access networks into a prioritized list based on a set of WLANSP rules, and the request message to non-3GPP access network indicating first PLMN and first S-NSSAI includes NAI containing identifiers for the first PLMN and for the first S-NSSAI, where the beginning of the connectivity procedure includes creating a data connection via the first network slice in the first PLMN (paragraphs [0086], [0087]).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Zhu and Salkintzis before him or her, to incorporate the request message including NAI as taught by Salkintzis, to improve the access network device of Zhu for the motivation of providing connectivity to the selected PLMN and to the selected slice type (paragraph [0035] of Salkintzis).
Regarding claim 20, Zhu discloses a communication apparatus, comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the communication apparatus to:
obtain information about a second access network from a first core network device (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]), wherein the information about the second access network comprises information about a second access network device, and the second access network device supports at least one network slice that the communication apparatus requests to access (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]); and
send the identifier to an access point of the second access network, to cause the access point of the second access network to select the second access network device (the transceiver receives a first message from a terminal via first access network device, where the first message includes an identifier of the first network slice that the terminal requests to access, the processor determines that the first access network device does not support the first network slice, and then sends a second message to a first communication device, where the second message includes second radio resource information, the second radio resource information is usable for selecting a second access network device for the terminal, the second access network device supports the first network slice, and the first communication device is the first access network device or the terminal, paragraph [0329]).
However, Zhu does not explicitly disclose “obtain a network access identifier (NAI) in response to receiving the information about the second access network;” and “send the NAI to an access point of the second access network, to cause the access point of the second access network to select the second access network device based on the NAI.”
Salkintzis discloses request message to non-3GPP access network indicating first PLMN and first S-NSSAI includes NAI containing identifiers for the first PLMN and for the first S-NSSAI, where the beginning of the connectivity procedure includes creating a data connection via the first network slice in the first PLMN (paragraph [0087]).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Zhu and Salkintzis before him or her, to incorporate the request message including NAI as taught by Salkintzis, to improve the access network device of Zhu for the motivation of providing connectivity to the selected PLMN and to the selected slice type (paragraph [0035] of Salkintzis).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
YANG et al (US Patent Application Publication 2019/0174405) – the terminal sends a first message to the AMF entity, where the first message includes first information, first network slice selection information, and second network slice selection information, the first information includes information for requesting to establish a protocol data unit (PDU) session, the first network slice selection information is used by the AMF entity to select a first session management control function (SMF) entity, and the second network slice selection information is used by the AMF entity to select a second SMF entity, and receives a second message from the AMF entity, where the second message includes second information, and the second information includes PDU session establishment accept information
SHAN et al (US Patent Application Publication 2019/0268835) – the UE encodes a UE capability indicator to be transmitted to a policy control function (PCF) via an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), wherein the UE capability indicator indicates whether the UE supports or does not support a preconfigured UE policy comprising access network discovery and selection policy (ANDSP) or UE route selection policy (URSP), or both, where the ANDSP includes WLAN Selection Policy (WLANSP) rules
RYU et al (US Patent Application Publication 2020/0305118) – the wireless device receives a message requesting a connection setup (e.g., a paging message) via a first access technology (e.g., a 3GPP access technology) from a first wireless network, responds to the message by sending a response message via a second access technology (e.g., a non-3GPP access technology), and sends the response message to indicate that the wireless device does not accept the connection setup request
RYU et al (US Patent Application Publication 2022/0248370) – the base station receives a non-access stratum (NAS) packet for a wireless device, and a parameter for delaying transmission of the NAS packet, and the NAS packet is sent to the wireless device after a delay based on the parameter
WANG et al (US Patent Application Publication 2024/0137761) – the access and mobility management node receives information of a network slice maximum bit rate for a wireless communication terminal authorized by an Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting-Server (AAA-S) from a network slice specific authentication and authorization node
TALEBI FARD et al (US Patent Application Publication 2024/0298253) – the access and mobility management function of an overlay network sends a request for selection of one or more allowed network slices of a wireless device to a network slice selection function, where the request for selection indicates that an access of the wireless device to the overlay network is via an underlay network, receives one or more network slice identifiers of the one or more allowed network slices for the access of the wireless device to the overlay network via the underlay network from the network slice selection function
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/Kai Chang/Examiner, Art Unit 2468
/Thomas R Cairns/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2468
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