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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 5/13/2026 has been entered.
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.
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, 4, 18-21, 46, 47, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SUN et al (US 2022/0240133) in view of TAMMANA et al (US 2023/0422129)
Regarding claim 1, 18, SUN et al (US 2022/0240133) discloses a method for wireless communication, comprising:
monitoring, by a wireless communication apparatus of a user equipment (UE), one or more cells including at least a first cell of a wireless communication network in association with at least a first criterion, the first criterion associated with a quantity of ping-pong events in a preceding time period or a history of data transmission errors indicative of problematic cells (SUN: ¶118, the UE monitors a plurality of cells, and selects based on a criterion, using the selection parameters, which cell to select; the criterion includes a quantity of ping pong occurrences corresponding to one or more cells; the ping pong events are in a time window preceding the determination of a ping pong dead lock);
selecting a primary cell of the wireless communication network using a cell selection criteria according to the first criterion, wherein selecting the primary cell of the wireless communication network includes adjusting cell selection measurements associated with the problematic cell (sun) ; and communicating with the wireless communication network using the primary cell (SUN: ¶178, ¶181, ¶172, ¶104, ¶92, selecting at least one cell to camp on (a cell used for communication) using a cell selection criteria that is adjusted according to an update of the first information; the update is based on the first criterion i.e. the quantity of the ping pong events within a time window).
SERRAVALLE remains silent regarding deprioritizing, in accordance with the cell selection criteria, selection of a first cell when the first cell is a problematic cell according to a first criterion, wherein selecting the primary cell of the wireless communication network includes adjusting cell selection measurements associated with the problematic cell.
However, TAMMANA et al (US 2023/0422129) discloses deprioritizing, in accordance with the cell selection criteria, selection of a first cell when the first cell is a problematic cell according to a first criterion (TAMMANA: ¶50, ¶52, ¶55, deprioritizing a cell and its band priority from a higher to a lower priority for cell reselection), problematic cell is deprioritized cell (TAMMANA: ¶50, ¶52, ¶55, deprioritized cell is the problematic cell)
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of SUN would have been motivated to use the teachings of TAMMANA as it provides a way to improve user experience by utilizing dynamically assigning SIB/cell priorities based on performance degradation including ping-pong effects and transmission failures. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of SUN with teachings of TAMMANA in order to improve user experience by using different preferences associated with each cell for reselection.
Regarding claim 2, 19, SUN modified by TAMMANA discloses method of claim 1/18, wherein monitoring the one or more cells includes:
monitoring ping-pong events associated with the first cell, each ping-ping event including a first handover or reselection from the first cell to a second cell and a second handover or reselection from the second cell back to the first cell, wherein the first criterion is associated with the quantity of ping-pong events in a preceding time period (SUN: ¶118, the UE monitors a plurality of cells, and selects based on a criterion, using the selection parameters, which cell to select; the criterion includes a quantity of ping pong occurrences corresponding to one or more cells; the ping pong events are in a time window preceding the determination of a ping pong dead lock; the quantity of ping-pong events).
Regarding claim 3, 20, SUN modified by TAMMANA modified by YAMAMOTO method of claim 2/19, wherein monitoring the ping-pong events associated with the first cell includes: monitoring the first cell as a potentially problematic cell when the quantity of ping- pong events in the preceding time period exceeds a first threshold; and confirming the first cell as the problematic cell when the quantity of ping-pong events in the preceding time period exceeds a second threshold (SUN: ¶178, ¶181, ¶172, ¶104, ¶92, the update is based on the first criterion i.e. the quantity of the ping pong events within a time window above a threshold (second threshold which is above a first threshold that is at least one ping-pong event monitored)).
Regarding claim 4, 21, SUN modified by TAMMANA method of claim 1/18, wherein monitoring the one or more cells includes: monitoring the history of data transmission errors associated with the first cell (SUN: ¶118, criterion includes a history of ping pong occurrences corresponding to one or more cells in a predetermined time window); and
confirming the first cell as the problematic cell when the history of data transmission errors is associated with the first criterion, the first criterion including at least one member selected from a group consisting of a first quantity (N1) of uplink buffer errors in a preceding time period (T); a second quantity (N2) of uplink retransmissions in the preceding time period (T); and a third quantity (N3) of downlink reordering or reassembly errors in in the preceding time period (T) (TAMMANA: ¶66, ¶69, ¶22, call drops including UL transmissions/retransmissions and out of order packet alarms).
Regarding claim 46, SUN modified by TAMMANA the method of wherein the UE is in an idle mode (SUN: ¶210, ¶53, idle state).
Regarding claim 47, SUN modified by TAMMANA discloses the method of wherein the UE is in an connected mode (SUN: ¶210, ¶53, connected state).
Claim(s) 12, 14-16, 29, 31-33, 35, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SUN modified by TAMMANA as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of SERRAVALLE et al (US 2023/0370919)
Regarding claim 12, 29, SUN modified by TAMMANA discloses method of claim 1. SUN modified TAMMANA remains silent regarding, however SERRAVALLE discloses communicating an identification of the first cell as the problematic cell to a server that aggregates problematic cell information from more than one UE in the wireless communication network (SERRAVALLE: ¶66, ¶73, the base station/server combines information from plurality of UEs regarding problematic cells).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of SUN modified TAMMANA would have been motivated to use the teachings of SERRAVALLE as it provides a way to improve processing power available to process and make quicker decisions regarding topology of the network. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of SUN modified TAMMANA with teachings of SERRAVALLE in order to improve efficiency of updating and processing topology information.
Regarding claim 15, SUN modified by TAMMANA discloses method of claim 1. SUN modified TAMMANA remains silent regarding, however SERRAVALLE discloses receiving, from a server, aggregated problematic cell information that is associated with problematic cells identified by more than one UE in the wireless communication network (SERRAVALLE: ¶65, cell selection parameter is provided to the UEs based on the aggregated information on the problematic cell from the UEs).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of SUN modified TAMMANA would have been motivated to use the teachings of SERRAVALLE as it provides a way to improve processing power available to process and make quicker decisions regarding topology of the network. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of SUN modified TAMMANA with teachings of SERRAVALLE in order to improve efficiency of updating and processing topology information.
Regarding claim 32, SUN modified by TAMMANA discloses method of claim 18. SUN modified TAMMANA remains silent regarding, however SERRAVALLE discloses wherein the at least one modem is further configured to obtain, from a server, aggregated problematic cell information that is associated with problematic cells identified by more than one UE in the wireless communication network (SERRAVALLE: ¶65, cell selection parameter is provided to the UEs based on the aggregated information on the problematic cell from the UEs).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of SUN modified TAMMANA would have been motivated to use the teachings of SERRAVALLE as it provides a way to improve processing power available to process and make quicker decisions regarding topology of the network. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of SUN modified TAMMANA with teachings of SERRAVALLE in order to improve efficiency of updating and processing topology information.
Regarding claim 16, 33, SUN modified by TAMMANA modified by SERRAVALLE discloses UE of claim 15/32, wherein the cell selection criteria deprioritizes problematic cells identified by the aggregated problematic cell information (TAMMANA: ¶61, deprioritizes degraded layers with relative degradation).
Regarding claim 35, SUN modified by TAMMANA discloses method of claim 18. SUN modified TAMMANA remains silent regarding, however SERRAVALLE discloses further comprising:
at least one transceiver coupled to the at least one modem;
at least one antenna coupled to the at least one transceiver to wirelessly transmit signals output from the at least one transceiver and to wirelessly receive signals for input into the at least one transceiver; and a housing that encompasses at least the wireless communication apparatus, the at least one modem, the at least one transceiver, and at least a portion of the at least one antenna (SERRAVALLE: ¶51-54, UE with transceiver and modem, antenna and processor).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of SUN modified TAMMANA would have been motivated to use the teachings of SERRAVALLE as it provides a way to improve processing power available to process and make quicker decisions regarding topology of the network. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of SUN modified TAMMANA with teachings of SERRAVALLE in order to improve efficiency of updating and processing topology information.
Regarding claim 14, 31, SUN modified by TAMMANA discloses UE of claims 12/29, further comprising: wherein the at least one modem is further configured to communicate a list of deprioritized cells including the first cell, the list of deprioritized cells including identifications, timestamps, and location data associated with one or more problematic cells of the list of deprioritized cells (SERAVALLE: ¶134, cell ids and corresponding time and cell location (claim 6 of SERAVALLE) of problematic cells is reported by the UE; TAMMANA: ¶35, ¶61, deprioritized list of layers/frequencies/cells/RATs).
Claim(s) 6, 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SUN modified by TAMMANA as applied to claim 1/18 above, further in view of YOSHIZUMI et al (US 2021/0185584)
Regarding claim 6, 23, SUN modified by TAMMANA modified by SABOURI-SICHANI discloses method of claim 1/18 as above.
SUN modified by TAMMANA modified by SABOURI-SICHANI remains silent regarding, however, YOSHIZUMI discloses wherein measurement configuration includes a first reporting event and the reporting criterion for the first reporting event includes a signal measurement of the neighbor cell being greater than a first threshold; and
wherein overriding the measurement configuration includes replacing the first reporting event with a second reporting event such that the triggered measurement reporting event is satisfied when a signal measurement of the current serving cell is worse than a second threshold and the signal measurement of the neighbor cell is better than a third threshold (YOSHIZUMI: ¶37, changing a first threshold and reporting event (i.e. switch when a first threshold is met) is changed to a second event which is switching when a different threshold (third threshold) is met at the destination and a current quality threshold (second threshold) is not met at the current cell).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of SUN modified by TAMMANA modified by SABOURI-SICHANI would have been motivated to use the teachings of YOSHIZUMI as it provides technique for enhancing the communication quality while avoiding the ping-pong effects during cell switching in cellular telecommunications (¶3). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of SUN modified by TAMMANA with teachings of YOSHIZUMI in order to improve quality by further reducing ping on effects by use of hysteresis values.
Claim(s) 13, 30, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SUN modified by TAMMANA as applied to claim 1/18 above, further in view of YAMAMOTO et al (US 2015/0004975)
Regarding claim 13, 30, SUN modified by TAMMANA discloses UE of claim 12/18, wherein the at least one modem is further configured to communicate an identification of the first cell as the problematic cell to a server that aggregates problematic cell information from more than one UE in the wireless communication network, (SUN: ¶92, ¶146, at least an implicit identification information is sent from the UE to the cell/base station).
SUN modified by TAMMANA remains silent regarding the identification includes a cell global identity (CGI), a radio access technology (RAT) identifier, a physical cell identifier (PCI), an absolute radio frequency channel number (ARFCN), or any combination thereof.
However, YAMAMOTO et al (US 2015/0004975) discloses the identification includes a cell global identity (CGI), a radio access technology (RAT) identifier, a physical cell identifier (PCI), an absolute radio frequency channel number (ARFCN), or any combination thereof (YAMAMOTO: ¶133, PCI is an identification of the cell used to identify a cell).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of SUN modified by TAMMANA would have been motivated to use the teachings of YAMAMOTO as it provides a standard naming nomenclature for cells . Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of SUN modified by TAMMANA with teachings of YAMAMOTO in order to improve naming compatibility.
Claim(s) 17, 34, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SUN modified by TAMMANA modified by SERRAVALLE as applied to claim 16/33 above, further in view of HE et al (US 2017/0034847)
Regarding claims 17, 34, SUN modified by TAMMANA modified by SERRAVALLE discloses UE of claim 16/33, wherein the aggregated problematic cell information includes neighbor cell data associated with the one or more problematic cells (SERRAVALLE: ¶66, the aggregated information about problematic cells is sent to the UEs; TAMMANA: ¶38, ¶43, ¶46 and ¶48, the priorities with the cell identifications (equivalent to aggregated problematic cell information) is transmitted to the UE);
wherein the aggregated problematic cell information includes identifying information associated with the one or more problematic cells (TAMMANA: ¶52, at least implicitly identifying the problematic cell(s) based on the priorities)
SUN modified by TAMMANA modified by SERRAVALLE remains silent regarding, however, HE et al (US 2017/0034847) discloses the identifying information includes location data associated with the one or more problematic cells, and wherein the location data includes one or more of:
a first location coordinate and first distance radius such that the first location coordinate and the first distance radius define one or more problematic areas associated with one or more problematic cells,
a first set of boundaries associated with a first location such that the first set of boundaries define a first polygonal area that includes the one or more problematic areas associated with the one or more problematic cells, or
one or more first wireless local area network (WLAN) basic service set identifiers (BSSIDs) such that the one or more problematic areas associated with the one or more problematic cells are identified by the UE when the UE detects the one or more first WLAN BSSIDs (HE: ¶93, ¶97, a neighbor list received by the UE identifies the list of cells to be used by the UE for cell reselection and includes BSSIDs).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of SUN modified by TAMMANA modified by SERRAVALLE would have been motivated to use the teachings of HE as it provides a way to identify the location based on an identifier of the cell which minimized chances of errors due misinterpretation of the location data (e.g. due to more than one RATs having their APs within a location) and is based on the received beacon signal instead which is more precisely associated with an AP. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of SUN modified by TAMMANA modified by SERRAVALLE with teachings of HE in order to improve reliability.
Allowable Subject Matter
As previously indicated, claims 7-11, 24-28, 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.
Claim 36-39, 41-44, are allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 5/13/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicants argue,
“
PNG
media_image1.png
852
694
media_image1.png
Greyscale
”
Examiner respectfully disagrees with the above arguments. Applicants take a position that SERRAVALLE modified by TAMMANA does not disclose “…a quantity of ping pong events in a preceding time period …”
Examiner respectfully submits the newly cited reference SUN et al, discloses in at least ¶118, the UE monitors a plurality of cells, and selects based on a criterion, using the selection parameters, which cell to select; the criterion includes a quantity of ping pong occurrences corresponding to one or more cells; the ping pong events are in a time window preceding the determination of a ping pong dead lock.
Examiner respectfully submits that TAMMANA discloses in ¶76:
[0076] A UE that supports NR band n41 and measures the layer better than, for example the defined QrxLevmin (the minimum RSRP values measured by the UE in a cell to be able to get unrestricted coverage-based service in that cell), attempts to attach to that cell. If the n41 layer is exhibiting active critical performance issues like sleepy cell, and thus resulting in degraded experience or not allowing UEs to connect, the UE could still continue to attempt to connect to the n41 layer of the cell due to its highest SIB priority.
[0077] The disclosed technology allows the network (e.g., eNB/gNB) to broadcast new SIB priorities reflecting a lower priority for such degraded layers as shown in Table 520. For example, the network can deprioritize band n41 by assigning it the lowest variable numeric priority indicator value of 1 (from the highest priority indicator value of 3). The SIB priority of other layers can be incremented by one, for example as seen in Table 520, the layer corresponding to LTE band B4/B2 now has a SIB priority indicator value of 3 (increased from 2), and the layer corresponding to NR band n71 has a SIB priority indicator value of 2 (increased from 1).
[0055] Communicating the performance degradations and/or the modified SIB priorities to neighbor cells can avoid the UEs camping on a neighbor cell that might be undergoing the same performance degradation (e.g., prevent cell-edge users from attaching to problematic cells). For example, the same anomalies might exist in neighbor cells but performance triggers in neighbor cells might still be below defined trigger thresholds which can cause ping-pong among neighbor cells if the anomalies are intermittent and persist for a long duration.
The above portions of TAMMANA, relied upon, the updated priorities stored by the UE indicate to avoid problematic cells by deprioritizing them. As a result, a person or ordinary skill in the art would reasonably interpret TAMMANA, above, as teaching the feature of the argued limitation.
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of SUN modified TAMMANA would have been motivated to use the teachings of SERRAVALLE as it provides a way to improve processing power available to process and make quicker decisions regarding topology of the network. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of SUN modified TAMMANA with teachings of SERRAVALLE in order to improve efficiency of updating and processing topology information.
Applicants argue,
“
PNG
media_image2.png
806
680
media_image2.png
Greyscale
”
Examiner has withdrawn rejections and indicated claims 36 and 41 as allowable.
All arguments are addressed as above, and are fully responded to as above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMER S MIAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7524. The examiner can normally be reached M,T,W,Th: 10a-7p, Fri, 9a-12p.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Huy D Vu can be reached on 571-272-3155. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
OMER S. MIAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2461
/OMER S MIAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
Prosecution Insights