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 .
This action is in response to the communication filed on 01/22/2026.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to claim(s) 24 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
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 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 24, 29-32, 40-42, 44 and 46-49 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yi et al. (U.S. Pub. 20190222478) in view of Deogun et al. (U.S. Pub. 20190075585), further in view of Zhou et al. (U.S. Pub. 20200119764) and further in view of Kim et al. (U.S. Pub. 20170171768).
Regarding claim 24 Yi disclose, a method, applied to user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
obtaining, in dual connectivity, measurement configuration information delivered by a base station para. 72, Fig. 11, “the UE receives a configuration of a measurement gap of a SCG in dual connectivity based on a timing of a PCell”,
wherein the measurement configuration information comprises a to-be-measured frequency and measurement gap configuration information para. 72, Fig. 11, “the UE measures inter-frequency or inter-RAT cells based on the received configuration of the measurement gap of the SCG”; and
performing, in a measurement gap configured for the UE, signal reception and transmission with the base station based on processing capability information of the UE para. 39, “A UE with multiple TA capability for CA can simultaneously receive and/or transmit on multiple CCs corresponding to multiple serving cells with different TAs (multiple serving cells grouped in multiple TAGs)”,
Yi does not specifically disclose, wherein the processing capability information identifies a first cell group in which the UE can receive and transmit a signal in the measurement gap. However, Deogun teach, “The measurement gap assistance information transmitted from the MN to the SN includes parameters such as the measurement gap capability information received from the UE, a serving cell configuration of a master cell group (MCG)”, see para. 140.
Yi further disclose, the processing capability information is determined based on the to-be-measured frequency and a UE capability para. 119, “the UE provides information to the MN… (i) the UE capability to support single or multiple measurement gaps; (ii) the UE capability indicating whether a measurement gap is required to measure a given frequency or bandwidth part for a given cell configuration”, and the UE capability is used to identify a band combination supported by the UE para. 136, “the measurement gap capability information of the UE includes a number of measurement gaps supported by the UE and a frequency range or bandwidth associated with each supported measurement gap”.
Yi and Deogun does not specifically disclose, both the UE and the base station separately determine the processing capability information of the UE based on the to be measured frequency and the UE capability. However, Zhou teach, “The reporting module 95 is configured to report the interference withstand capability information of the UE to the base station… by reporting its own interference withstand capability information to the base station, it is possible for the base station to determine whether the intra-device interference like the harmonic interference or the intermodulation interference exists between the uplink transmission and downlink transmission of the UE in the two frequency bands according to the interference withstand capability information”, see para. 244-245.
Yi, Deogun and Zhou does not specifically disclose, wherein the measurement gap in the measurement configuration information delivered by the base station is valid only for a second cell group in which signal transmission and reception cannot be performed in the measurement gap. However, Kim teach para. 91, “cording to another embodiment, the UE may use one of the first and second measurement gaps for a predetermined time to apply the measurement gap to the MCG or the SCG As such, if a measurement gap is set for a CG, the UE may release the set measurement gap according to a predetermined rule. If the UE receives a RRC connection reconfiguration message for creating a SCG or setting a new SCG SCell when a measurement gap for a MCG has been set”, and
wherein in the measurement gap, the UE stops signal reception and transmission signal with the base station in the second cell group, and performs signal reception and transmission with the base station in the first cell group para. 102, “the UE may stop transmission and reception to/from the MCG serving cells for the first measurement gap, and stop transmission/reception to/from the SCG serving cells for the second measurement gap”.
Yi, Deogun, Zhou and Kim are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to configuring measurement parameters.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Deogun, Zhou and Kim in the system of Yi to configure the terminal with the carriers of operation of the primary and secondary cells available according to the capability information of the user terminal. The motivation for doing so would have been to measure a given frequency or frequencies for one or more given cell configurations to reduce the interference between uplink transmissions and downlink transmissions.
Regarding claim 29 Yi does not specifically disclose, wherein the UE supports a band combination consisting of a master band combination, a secondary band combination, and the to-be- measured frequency, and the first cell group comprises a master cell group (MCG). However, Deogun teach, “the serving cell configuration of the MCG includes one or more of a band combination used in the MCG, the frequency carrier identity, the cell index value, a global cell identity and a physical cell identity for one or more serving cells of the MCG” see para. 140, and a secondary cell group (SCG) para. 141, “The serving cell configuration of a SCG includes one or more of a band combination used in SCG, frequency carrier identity, cell index value, a global cell identity and a physical cell identity for one or more serving cells of a SCG”.
Yi, Deogun and Zhou are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to configuring measurement parameters.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Deogun in the system of Yi and Zhou to configure the terminal with the carriers of operation of the primary and secondary cell groups available. The motivation for doing so would have been to measure a given frequency or frequencies for one or more given cell configurations.
Regarding claims 30-31 the limitations of claims 30-31, are rejected in the same manner as analyzed above with respect to claim 29.
Regarding claim 32 Yi disclose, wherein the first cell group comprises a master cell group (MCG) or a secondary cell group (SCG) para. 8, “receiving a configuration of a measurement gap of a secondary cell group (SCG) in dual connectivity based on a timing of a primary cell (PCell) which belongs to a master cell group (MCG) in dual connectivity”, and
after obtaining the measurement configuration information delivered by the base station, the method further comprises para. 10, “a measurement gap can be configured effectively when carrier aggregation or dual connectivity is configured”:
selecting at least one component carrier from a second cell group, and measuring the to- be-measured frequency in the measurement gap based on the measurement configuration information para. 42, “Depending on UE capabilities, secondary cells (SCells) can be configured to form, together with the PCell, a set of serving cells. In the DL, the carrier corresponding to a SCell is a DL secondary CC (DL SCC)”.
Regarding claim 33 Yi disclose, wherein before performing signal reception and transmission with the base station based on the processing capability information of the UE, the method further comprises: sending the processing capability information to the base station para. 51, “When the UE needs a measurement gap, the UE can report its UE capability with interFreqNeedForGaps or interRAT-NeedForGaps per band and/or per band-combination”.
Regarding claim 34 Yi disclose, wherein the processing capability information of the UE is carried in radio resource control (RRC) signaling or a media access control control element (MAC CE) para. 44, “The reconfiguration, addition and removal of SCells can be performed by RRC. At intra-LTE handover, RRC can also add, remove, or reconfigure SCells for usage with the target PCell”.
Regarding claim 35 the limitations of claim 35 are rejected in the same manner as analyzed above with respect to claim 24.
Regarding claim 40 Yi does not specifically disclose, wherein the UE supports a band combination consisting of a master band combination, a secondary band combination, and the to-be- measured frequency, and the first cell group comprises a master cell group (MCG) and a secondary cell group (SCG). However, Deogun teach, “the serving cell configuration of the MCG includes one or more of a band combination used in the MCG, the frequency carrier identity, the cell index value, a global cell identity and a physical cell identity for one or more serving cells of the MCG”, see para. 140, and a secondary cell group (SCG) para. 141, “The serving cell configuration of a SCG includes one or more of a band combination used in SCG, frequency carrier identity, cell index value, a global cell identity and a physical cell identity for one or more serving cells of a SCG”.
Yi and Deogun are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to configuring measurement parameters.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Deogun in the system of Yi to allow the terminal to be configured with dual connectivity
Regarding claims 41-42 the limitations of claims 41-42, are rejected in the same manner as analyzed above with respect to claim 40.
Claim 44 recites an apparatus corresponding to the method of claim 24 and thus is rejected under the same reason set forth in the rejection of claim 24.
Regarding claims 46-49 the limitations of claims 46-49, respectively, are rejected in the same manner as analyzed above with respect to claims 29-32, respectively.
Claim(s) 28, 36-37 and 45 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yi et al. (U.S. Pub. 20190222478) in view of Deogun et al. (U.S. Pub. 20190075585), further in view of Zhou et al. (U.S. Pub. 20200119764), further in view of Kim et al. (U.S. Pub. 20170171768) and further in view of Zhou et al. (U.S. Pub. 20190306801), hereafter “Zhou801”.
Regarding claim 28 Yi, Deogun Zhou and Kim does not specifically disclose, wherein performing signal reception and transmission with the base station based on the processing capability information of the UE comprises: in the measurement gap, transmitting a first signal to the base station through a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in the first cell group. However, Zhou801 teaches, “A UL-SCH 501 may be mapped to a Physical Uplink Shared CHannel (PUSCH) 503” see para. 89.
Zhou801 further teach, receiving a second signal delivered by the base station through a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) in the first cell group para. 89, “A DL-SCH 511 and a PCH 512 may be mapped to a Physical Downlink Shared CHannel (PDSCH)”.
Yi, Deogun, Zhou, Kim and Zhou801 are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to configuring measurement parameters.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Zhou801 in the system of Yi, Deogun and Zhou to map the available resources for the terminal to transmit and receive information to and from the base station. The motivation for doing so would have been to indicate the parameters and configuration needed by the terminal to communicate with the network.
Regarding claims 36 and 45 the limitations of claims 36 and 45 are rejected in the same manner as analyzed above with respect to claim 28.
Regarding claim 37 Yi does not specifically disclose, wherein the first cell group comprises a master cell group (MCG) or a secondary cell group (SCG), and after sending the measurement configuration information to UE, the method further comprises: stopping, in the measurement gap, signal reception and transmission with the UE in a second cell group. However, Deogun teach, “in such case the SN transmissions may stop when the MN configured measurements need to be performed”, para. 117.
Yi and Deogun are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to configuring measurement parameters.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Deogun in the system of Yi to allow the terminal to be configured with dual connectivity where both master node and secondary node can configure independent measurements to terminal. The motivation for doing so would have been to avoid interferences between the measurements of the master and secondary nodes.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Liu et al. (U.S. Pub. 20200136782) which disclose(s) terminal apparatus, base station apparatus, communication method, and integrated circuit.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAUL RIVAS whose telephone number is (571)270–5590. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday – Friday, from 8:30am to 5:00pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy K. Kundu, can be reached on (571) 272 - 8586. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571–273–8300.
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/R.R/ Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/SUJOY K KUNDU/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471