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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see section titled “35 U.S.C. § 103” with respect to claim(s) 1, 6, and 8-9 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. It is noted that step 701 provides one example in which there is changing to SMS over NAS not allowed. However, other portions of Tang explicitly teaches changing to, for example, SMS over NAS allowed via 3GPP access only (¶ 123) and the Examiner provided that he was combining one or more different embodiments of Tang with the second embodiment of Tang.
Applicant’s arguments, see section titled “35 U.S.C. § 103”, with respect to claim(s) 4 and 7 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection of claims 4 and 7 has been withdrawn.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 1 is/are objected to because of the following informalities: change “mobility” in line 2 to “Mobility”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim(s) 8 is/are objected to because of the following informalities: change “performing” in line 13 to “perform”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim(s) 13 is/are objected to because of the following informalities: change “IopT” in line 2 to “IoT”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim(s) 4 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 4, this claim has been amended to now recite “performing SMS over NAS…”. Applicant state that support is found in ¶ 13, 32, 36, and 38 of the specification as originally filed. After a review of these paragraphs and the rest of the specification, the specification does not appear to support, in view of claim 4 reciting “A method for an…AMF”, an AMF “performing SMS over NAS after a completion of the configuration update procedure…procedure and the SMS over NAS” of claim 4. At best, these paragraphs support a UE “performing SMS over NAS after a completion of the configuration update procedure…procedure and the SMS over NAS”. Claim 7 fails to resolve the deficiency of claim 4 and is thus rejected under similar rationale.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim(s) 1, 4, and 6-13 is/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.
Regarding claim 1, it is unclear what “the SMS over NAS” in line 14 is referring to since there is two instances of “SMS over NAS” in claim 1. Claims 6 and 10-11 fails to resolve the deficiency of claim 1 and are thus rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding claim 4, it is unclear what “the SMS over NAS” in line 14 is referring to since there is two instances of “SMS over NAS” in claim 4. Claim 7 fails to resolve the deficiency of claim 1 and is thus rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding claim 6, it is unclear what “the SMS over NAS” in line 4 is referring to since there is two instances of “SMS over NAS” in claim 1.
Regarding claim 8, it is unclear what “the SMS over NAS” in line 16 is referring to since there is two instances of “SMS over NAS” in claim 8. Claims 9 and 12-13 fails to resolve the deficiency of claim 8 and are thus rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding claim 9, it is unclear what “the SMS over NAS” in line 4 is referring to since there is two instances of “SMS over NAS” in claim 8.
The term “normal” in claims 11 and 13 is a relative term which renders the claims indefinite. The term “normal” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The “operation mode” in the claims has been rendered indefinite by the use of “normal”.
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.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 6, 8-10, and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20210168571 by Tang (IDS filed 11/26/24) in view of US PGPub 20200120751 by Sugawara et al. (hereinafter Sugawara) and in further view of WO 2014048368 by Ai (see attached English translation).
Regarding claim 1, Tang teaches a method for a User Equipment (UE) (fig. 6, shows a UE), the method comprising:
receiving, from an Access and mobility Management Function (AMF), a Configuration Update Command message in a configuration update procedure, the Configuration Update Command message including information indicating the UE is available for Short Message Service (SMS) over Non-Access Stratum (NAS) (fig. 7, shows at step 705, UE receiving a Configuration update command from AMF; ¶ 141, Step 705: the AMF, through the configuration update procedure, updates the SMS over NAS support capability of the UE, and the updated indication information of the SMS over NAS is carried, and the AMF may further indicate the UE to return a response message after completing the update; ¶ 4, as shown in Table 1, indicating the support capability of the SMS over NAS; Table 1, shows SMS over NAS not allowed, SMS over NAS allowed via 3GPP access only and SMS over NAS allowed via both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access; ¶ 123, AMF judges and decides to change the original SMS over NAS allowed via both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access to the SMS over NAS allowed via 3GPP access only. Examiner correspond the contents of the Configuration update command to the information);
the Configuration Update Command message includes an acknowledgement indication, wherein the acknowledgement indication is used to determine to send a Configuration Update Complete Message (¶ 141, Step 705: the AMF, through the configuration update procedure, updates the SMS over NAS support capability of the UE, and the updated indication information of the SMS over NAS is carried, and the AMF may further indicate the UE to return a response message after completing the update; ¶ 142, Step 706: the AMF updates the SMS over NAS recorded in the AMF to the updated support condition after receiving the response returned by the UE; fig. 7, shows step 706, UE sending a Configuration update complete message to AMF);
sending a Configuration Update Complete message based on the acknowledgement indication included in the Configuration Update Command message (¶ 141, Step 705: the AMF, through the configuration update procedure, updates the SMS over NAS support capability of the UE, and the updated indication information of the SMS over NAS is carried, and the AMF may further indicate the UE to return a response message after completing the update; ¶ 142, Step 706: the AMF updates the SMS over NAS recorded in the AMF to the updated support condition after receiving the response returned by the UE; fig. 7, shows step 706, UE sending a Configuration update complete message to AMF); and
performing SMS over NAS (¶ 15).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tang’s teachings with Tang’s one or more other embodiments’ teachings. The motivation is preventing the UE from making an erroneous SMS transmission attempt (Tang abstract).
Although Tang teaches the Configuration Update Command message includes an acknowledgement indication, wherein the acknowledgement indication is used to determine to send a Configuration Update Complete Message, Tang does not explicitly disclose determining whether the Configuration Update Command message includes an acknowledgement indication, wherein the acknowledgement indication is used to determine whether to send a Configuration Update Complete Message.
Sugawara in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches a UE determining whether the Configuration Update Command message includes an acknowledgement indication, wherein the acknowledgement indication is used to determine whether to send a Configuration Update Complete Message (¶ 386, UE_A 10 receives the UE configuration update command from the AMF_A 240, the UE_A 10 may transmit a UE configuration update complete message to the AMF_A 240 (S1204). Here, only in a case that the UE_A 10 detects that the transmission of the response message to the UE configuration update command (that is, the UE configuration update complete message) is requested in the UE configuration update command, the UE_A 10 may transmit the UE configuration update complete message; ¶ 397, only in a case that the UE_A 10 detects that the transmission of the response message to the UE configuration update command (that is, the UE configuration update complete message) is requested in the UE configuration update command, the UE_A 10 may transmit the UE configuration update complete message).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tang’s teachings with Sugawara’s above teachings. The motivation is allowing a UE to establish a PDU session (Sugawara ¶ 9) and/or confirming/acknowledging that a configuration update command is properly received.
Although the combination teaches performing SMS over NAS, the SMS over NAS and allowing SMS over NAS after completion of the configuration update procedure, the SMS over NAS being allowed without performing a registration procedure between completion of the configuration update procedure and the SMS over NAS being allowed (Tang ¶ 141, Step 705: the AMF, through the configuration update procedure, updates the SMS over NAS support capability of the UE, and the updated indication information of the SMS over NAS is carried, and the AMF may further indicate the UE to return a response message after completing the update; ¶ 142, Step 706: the AMF updates the SMS over NAS recorded in the AMF to the updated support condition after receiving the response returned by the UE; fig. 7, shows after step 706, not performing any registration/reregistration procedure; ¶ 123, AMF judges and decides to change the original SMS over NAS allowed via both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access to the SMS over NAS allowed via 3GPP access only. In view of fig. 6 and ¶ 119-120, ¶ 129, and ¶ 5 and as discussed in ¶ 123 and ¶ 141-142, fig. 7 shows there is not performing a registration/reregistration procedure for the SMS over NAS after step 706 with SMS over NAS allowed via 3GPP access only after 706 otherwise fig. 7 would show a registration procedure for the SMS over NAS like in fig. 6 and as discussed in ¶ 119-120, ¶ 129, and ¶ 5), the combination does not explicitly disclose performing SMS over NAS after completion of the configuration update procedure, the SMS over NAS being performed without performing a registration procedure between completion of the configuration update procedure and the SMS over NAS.
Ai in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches the concept of during SMS over NAS is allowed a UE performing SMS over NAS (page 5, user's PS domain subscription data allows the user to perform short message service, the user can send and receive short messages (SMS) through the NAS message; page 6, the sending and receiving path of the short message is implemented by using the NAS message between the UE and the MME). By modifying the combination’s teachings of performing SMS over NAS, the SMS over NAS and allowing SMS over NAS after completion of the configuration update procedure, the SMS over NAS being allowed without performing a registration procedure between completion of the configuration update procedure and the SMS over NAS being allowed with Ai’s teachings of during SMS over NAS is allowed a UE performing SMS over NAS, the modification results in performing SMS over NAS after completion of the configuration update procedure, the SMS over NAS being performed without performing a registration procedure between completion of the configuration update procedure and the SMS over NAS.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Ai’s above teachings. The motivation is avoiding wasteful signaling and defect of terminal power (Ai page 4). Known work in one field of endeavor (Ai prior art) may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one (Tang prior art) based on design incentives (avoiding wasteful signaling and defect of terminal power) or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one or ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 6, the combination teaches the method of the UE according to claim 1, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the Configuration Update Command message from the AMF after a first registration procedure in which the UE receives a registration accept message including information indicating that the SMS over NAS is not allowed (Tang ¶ 5, AMF…carries the SMS allowed IE (SMS allowed Information Element) in the registration acceptance message. The values of the SMS allowed IE are as shown in Table 1; fig. 3, step 309 shows an AMF sending a registration accept message to a UE; Table 1, shows SMS over NAS not allowed; ¶ 17, disadvantage in the prior art is: how to update the SMS capability on the network side has not been given; fig. 6, shows at step 604, UE receiving a Configuration update command from AMF; ¶ 129, Step 604: the AMF updates, through the configuration update procedure, the SMS over NAS support capability of the UE, and the updated indication information of the SMS over NAS is carried, the AMF indicates the UE to re-register, and the AMF may further indicate the UE to return a response message after completing the update; ¶ 4, as shown in Table 1, indicating the support capability of the SMS over NAS; Table 1, shows SMS over NAS not allowed, SMS over NAS allowed via 3GPP access only and SMS over NAS allowed via both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access; ¶ 123, AMF judges and decides to change the original SMS over NAS allowed via both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access to the SMS over NAS allowed via 3GPP access only; ¶ 135, AMF judges and decides to change the original SMS over NAS allowed via both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access to the SMS over NAS not allowed. As shown in ¶ 5 and 17 and 129 and 4 and 123 and 135, figs. 3 and 6, Table 1, Tang incorporates the prior art where there is a registration procedure in which the AMF sends a registration accept message including information indicating that the SMS over NAS is not allowed and improves on it with fig. 6 in which AMF sends a Configuration update command to a UE at step 604 with updated indication information of the SMS over NAS such as changing SMS over NAS).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Tang’s one or more other teachings. The motivation is preventing the UE from making an erroneous SMS transmission attempt (Tang abstract).
Regarding claim 8, Tang teaches a User Equipment (UE) comprising (fig. 11; ¶ 96, FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a UE according to an embodiment of the present application):
at least one memory (fig. 11, memory 1120);
and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and configured to (fig. 11, shows processor 1100 coupled to memory 1120; ¶ 183, the processor 1100 configured to read the programs in a memory 1120 to perform; ¶ 199, processor 1100 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 1120 can store the data used by the processor 1100 when performing the operations; ¶ 213):
receive, from an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), a Configuration Update Command message in a configuration update procedure, the Configuration Update Command message including information indicating the UE is available for Short Message Service (SMS) over Non-Access Stratum (NAS) (fig. 7, shows at step 705, UE receiving a Configuration update command from AMF; ¶ 141, Step 705: the AMF, through the configuration update procedure, updates the SMS over NAS support capability of the UE, and the updated indication information of the SMS over NAS is carried, and the AMF may further indicate the UE to return a response message after completing the update; ¶ 4, as shown in Table 1, indicating the support capability of the SMS over NAS; Table 1, shows SMS over NAS not allowed, SMS over NAS allowed via 3GPP access only and SMS over NAS allowed via both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access; ¶ 123, AMF judges and decides to change the original SMS over NAS allowed via both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access to the SMS over NAS allowed via 3GPP access only. Examiner correspond the contents of the Configuration update command to the information);
the Configuration Update Command message includes an acknowledgement indication, wherein the acknowledgement indication is used to determine to send a Configuration Update Complete Message (¶ 141, Step 705: the AMF, through the configuration update procedure, updates the SMS over NAS support capability of the UE, and the updated indication information of the SMS over NAS is carried, and the AMF may further indicate the UE to return a response message after completing the update; ¶ 142, Step 706: the AMF updates the SMS over NAS recorded in the AMF to the updated support condition after receiving the response returned by the UE; fig. 7, shows step 706, UE sending a Configuration update complete message to AMF);
send a Configuration Update Complete message based on the acknowledgement indication included in the Configuration Update Command message (¶ 141, Step 705: the AMF, through the configuration update procedure, updates the SMS over NAS support capability of the UE, and the updated indication information of the SMS over NAS is carried, and the AMF may further indicate the UE to return a response message after completing the update; ¶ 142, Step 706: the AMF updates the SMS over NAS recorded in the AMF to the updated support condition after receiving the response returned by the UE; fig. 7, shows step 706, UE sending a Configuration update complete message to AMF); and
perform SMS over NAS (¶ 15).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tang’s teachings with Tang’s one or more other embodiments’ teachings. The motivation is preventing the UE from making an erroneous SMS transmission attempt (Tang abstract).
Although Tang teaches the Configuration Update Command message includes an acknowledgement indication, wherein the acknowledgement indication is used to determine to send a Configuration Update Complete Message, Tang does not explicitly disclose determine whether the Configuration Update Command message includes an acknowledgement indication, wherein the acknowledgement indication is used to determine whether to send a Configuration Update Complete Message.
Sugawara in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches a UE determining whether the Configuration Update Command message includes an acknowledgement indication, wherein the acknowledgement indication is used to determine whether to send a Configuration Update Complete Message (¶ 386, UE_A 10 receives the UE configuration update command from the AMF_A 240, the UE_A 10 may transmit a UE configuration update complete message to the AMF_A 240 (S1204). Here, only in a case that the UE_A 10 detects that the transmission of the response message to the UE configuration update command (that is, the UE configuration update complete message) is requested in the UE configuration update command, the UE_A 10 may transmit the UE configuration update complete message; ¶ 397, only in a case that the UE_A 10 detects that the transmission of the response message to the UE configuration update command (that is, the UE configuration update complete message) is requested in the UE configuration update command, the UE_A 10 may transmit the UE configuration update complete message).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tang’s teachings with Sugawara’s above teachings. The motivation is allowing a UE to establish a PDU session (Sugawara ¶ 9) and/or confirming/acknowledging that a configuration update command is properly received.
Although the combination teaches perform SMS over NAS, the SMS over NAS and allow SMS over NAS after completion of the configuration update procedure, the SMS over NAS being allowed without performing a registration procedure between the completion of the configuration update procedure and the SMS over NAS being allowed (Tang ¶ 141, Step 705: the AMF, through the configuration update procedure, updates the SMS over NAS support capability of the UE, and the updated indication information of the SMS over NAS is carried, and the AMF may further indicate the UE to return a response message after completing the update; ¶ 142, Step 706: the AMF updates the SMS over NAS recorded in the AMF to the updated support condition after receiving the response returned by the UE; fig. 7, shows after step 706, not performing any registration/reregistration procedure; ¶ 123, AMF judges and decides to change the original SMS over NAS allowed via both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access to the SMS over NAS allowed via 3GPP access only. In view of fig. 6 and ¶ 119-120, ¶ 129, and ¶ 5 and as discussed in ¶ 123 and ¶ 141-142, fig. 7 shows there is not performing a registration/reregistration procedure for the SMS over NAS after step 706 with SMS over NAS allowed via 3GPP access only after 706 otherwise fig. 7 would show a registration procedure for the SMS over NAS like in fig. 6 and as discussed in ¶ 119-120, ¶ 129, and ¶ 5), the combination does not explicitly disclose perform SMS over NAS after completion of the configuration update procedure, the SMS over NAS being performed without performing a registration procedure between the completion of the configuration update procedure and the SMS over NAS.
Ai in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches the concept of during SMS over NAS is allowed a UE performing SMS over NAS (page 5, user's PS domain subscription data allows the user to perform short message service, the user can send and receive short messages (SMS) through the NAS message; page 6, the sending and receiving path of the short message is implemented by using the NAS message between the UE and the MME). By modifying the combination’s teachings of performing SMS over NAS, the SMS over NAS and allow SMS over NAS after completion of the configuration update procedure, the SMS over NAS being allowed without performing a registration procedure between the completion of the configuration update procedure and the SMS over NAS being allowed with Ai’s teachings of during SMS over NAS is allowed a UE performing SMS over NAS, the modification results in perform SMS over NAS after completion of the configuration update procedure, the SMS over NAS being performed without performing a registration procedure between the completion of the configuration update procedure and the SMS over NAS.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Ai’s above teachings. The motivation is avoiding wasteful signaling and defect of terminal power (Ai page 4). Known work in one field of endeavor (Ai prior art) may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one (Tang prior art) based on design incentives (avoiding wasteful signaling and defect of terminal power) or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one or ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 9, the combination teaches the UE according to claim 8, wherein the at least one processor is configured to (Tang fig. 11; ¶ 183; ¶ 199; ¶ 213) receive the Configuration Update Command message from the AMF after a first registration procedure in which the UE receives a registration accept message including information indicating that the SMS over NAS is not allowed (Tang ¶ 5, AMF…carries the SMS allowed IE (SMS allowed Information Element) in the registration acceptance message. The values of the SMS allowed IE are as shown in Table 1; fig. 3, step 309 shows an AMF sending a registration accept message to a UE; Table 1, shows SMS over NAS not allowed; ¶ 17, disadvantage in the prior art is: how to update the SMS capability on the network side has not been given; fig. 6, shows at step 604, UE receiving a Configuration update command from AMF; ¶ 129, Step 604: the AMF updates, through the configuration update procedure, the SMS over NAS support capability of the UE, and the updated indication information of the SMS over NAS is carried, the AMF indicates the UE to re-register, and the AMF may further indicate the UE to return a response message after completing the update; ¶ 4, as shown in Table 1, indicating the support capability of the SMS over NAS; Table 1, shows SMS over NAS not allowed, SMS over NAS allowed via 3GPP access only and SMS over NAS allowed via both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access; ¶ 123, AMF judges and decides to change the original SMS over NAS allowed via both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access to the SMS over NAS allowed via 3GPP access only; ¶ 135, AMF judges and decides to change the original SMS over NAS allowed via both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access to the SMS over NAS not allowed. As shown in ¶ 5 and 17 and 129 and 4 and 123 and 135, figs. 3 and 6, Table 1, Tang incorporates the prior art where there is a registration procedure in which the AMF sends a registration accept message including information indicating that the SMS over NAS is not allowed and improves on it with fig. 6 in which AMF sends a Configuration update command to a UE at step 604 with updated indication information of the SMS over NAS such as changing SMS over NAS).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Tang’s one or more other teachings. The motivation is preventing the UE from making an erroneous SMS transmission attempt (Tang abstract).
Regarding claim 10, the combination teaches the method according to claim 6, wherein the receiving the Configuration Update Command message is based on a change in UE operation mode (Tang fig. 7, shows at step 705, UE receiving a Configuration update command from AMF; ¶ 141, Step 705: the AMF, through the configuration update procedure, updates the SMS over NAS support capability of the UE, and the updated indication information of the SMS over NAS is carried, and the AMF may further indicate the UE to return a response message after completing the update; ¶ 4, as shown in Table 1, indicating the support capability of the SMS over NAS; Table 1, shows SMS over NAS not allowed, SMS over NAS allowed via 3GPP access only and SMS over NAS allowed via both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access; ¶ 123, AMF judges and decides to change the original SMS over NAS allowed via both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access to the SMS over NAS allowed via 3GPP access only; ¶ 15, In the transmission of short messages…the UE…sends the SMS through the NAS UL Transport message; and the UE…sends the SMS directly through the NAS UL Transport message).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination with Tang’s one or more other teachings. The motivation is preventing the UE from making an erroneous SMS transmission attempt (Tang abstract).
Claim 12 recite similar limitations of claim 10 and is thus rejected under similar rationale.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 would be allowable if Applicant provides sufficient support for AMF “performing SMS over NAS…” within the specification that overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 1st paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claims 7, 11, and 13 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 1st paragraph and/or 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/PETER P CHAU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476