DETAILED ACTION
In response to communication(s) filed 06/08/2026.
Claims 42, 44, 46-53 and 55-63 are pending for examination.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 06/08/2026 has been entered.
Claim Objections
Claims 42, 48, 62 and 63 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 42 (line 16) recites “message of the first RAT.” There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation due to amendments in the claims. Examiner suggests amendments to associate the first RAT with the master node and/or LTE.
Claim 48 (line 2) recites “message of the second RAT…” Examiner suggests amendments to associate the second RAT with the secondary node and/or NR.
Claim 62 (line 17) should recite “that the US is able to comply with the CPC reconfiguration…”
Claim 63 (line 12) should be amended to recite “a first NR complete [[message]] message…”
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 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claims 42, 44-53 and 55-63 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai (US 2020/0267789 A1) in view of Wu (2023/0345315 A1) hereinafter “Tsai” and “Wu” respectively.
Regarding Claim 42, Tsai teaches A method performed by a user equipment (UE) (Tsai: paragraph 0051 & Figs. 1-3, user equipment (UE)) for handling a Conditional primary secondary cell change procedure (CPC) (Tsai: paragraph 0051 & Figs. 1-3, conditional PSCell addition procedure), of a secondary cell (Tsai: paragraph 0037 & Figs.1-3, candidate PSCell of second BS or secondary node (SN)) according to New Radio (NR) (Tsai: paragraph 0027 & Fig. 1, SN implemented as gNB in NR), the method comprising:
receiving from a master node (Tsai: paragraph 0052 & Figs. 1-3, first base station or master node (MN)) according to Long Term Evolution (Tsai: paragraph 0027 & Fig. 1, MN implemented as eNB by LTE), a NR reconfiguration message (Tsai: paragraph 0054 & Fig. 3, UE receiving RRC Reconfiguration from MN) for a CPC reconfiguration of the secondary cell encapsulated in a first LTE message (Tsai: paragraph 0054 & Fig. 3, RRC reconfiguration message carries a conditional PSCell addition command that indicates the radio resource configuration of the candidate PSCell of the SN);
transmitting to the master node, a first NR complete message encapsulated in a second LTE message (Tsai: paragraph 0055 & Fig. 3, RRC Reconfiguration Complete message), wherein the first NR complete message indicates that the UE is able to comply with the CPC reconfiguration (Tsai: paragraph 0055, RRC reconfiguration complete message indicates completion of the conditional PSCell addition command to the first MN); and
upon fulfilment of a condition of the CPC reconfiguration (Tsai: paragraph 0056 & Fig. 3, UE evaluates the candidate PSCell according to the conditional PSCell addition command), transmitting to the master node (Tsai: paragraph 0058 & Fig. 3, UE transmits a ULInformationTransferMRDC message to the first MN), a second NR complete message encapsulated in a ULInformationTransferMRDC message of the first RAT (Tsai: paragraph 0058, ULInformationTransferMRDC message carries an SN RRC configuration complete message indicating that the conditional PSCell addition procedure is completed successfully).
Tsai fails to explicitly teach transmitting the second NR compete message over a signaling radio bearer one (SRB1). However, Wu from an analogous art similarly teaches PSCell procedure (Wu: paragraph 0081 & Fig. 3A) and further teaches the UP can transmit the ULInformationTransferMRDC message including the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the master node on signaling radio bearer one (SRB1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tsai to specifically teach communicating the ULInformationTransferMRDC message over SRB1 as taught by Wu so as to carry and/or handle ongoing RRC signaling using said dedicated radio channel used in LTE and 5G networking.
Regarding Claim 44, Tsai-Wu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches applying the CPC reconfiguration, performing an action according to the CPC reconfiguration (Tsai: paragraphs 0056 & Fig. 3 UE can perform a conditional PSCell addition procedure to add the specific candidate PSCell into the network).
Regarding Claim 46, Tsai-Wu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the RRC message of the first RAT is a ULInformationTransferMRDC message (Tsai: paragraph 0058 & Fig. 3, ULInformationTransferMRDC message).
Regarding Claim 47, Tsai-Wu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the reconfiguration message is a RRCreconfiguration message (Tsai: paragraph 0054 & Fig. 3, RRC Reconfiguration message) and the message of the first RAT is a RRCConnectionReconfiguration message (Tsai: paragraph 0054, RRC Reconfiguration message of eNB in LTE, thus teaches the message type is RRCConnectionReconfiguration).
Regarding Claim 48, Tsai-Wu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the first complete message of the second RAT is a RRCreconfiguration complete message (Tsai: paragraph 0055 & Fig. 3, RRC reconfiguration complete message) and the other message of the first RAT is a RRCConnectionReconfiguration complete message (Tsai: paragraph 0055, eNB in LTE, thus teaches the message type is RRCConnectionReconfiguration complete message).
Regarding Claim 49, Tsai-Wu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the first RAT is new radio, NR, (Tsai: paragraph 0027 & Fig. 1, MN implemented as gNB in NR) and the second RAT is LTE (Tsai: paragraph 0027 & Fig. 1, SN implemented as eNB in LTE).
Regarding Claim 50, Tsai-Wu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the reconfiguration message is a RRCconnectionreconfiguration message (Tsai: paragraph 0054 & Fig. 3, RRC Reconfiguration message) and the message of the first RAT is a RRCreconfiguration message (Tsai: paragraph 0054, RRC Reconfiguration message of gNB in NR, thus teaching the message type is a RRCReconfiguration).
Regarding Claim 51, Tsai-Wu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the first complete message of the second RAT is a RRCConnectionReconfiguration complete message (Tsai: paragraph 0055, reconfiguration complete message in LTE, thus teaching the message type is a RRCConnectionReconfiguration complete message) and the other message of the first RAT is a RRCreconfiguration complete message (Tsai: paragraph 0055, reconfiguration complete message).
Regarding Claim 52, Tsai teaches A method performed by a master node (Tsai: paragraph 0052 & Figs. 1-3, first base station or master node (MN)) according to Long Term Evolution (Tsai: paragraph 0027 & Fig. 1, MN implemented as eNB by LTE), for handling a conditional primary secondary cell change procedure (CPC) (Tsai: paragraphs 0051-60 & Figs. 1-3, conditional PSCell addition procedure), of a secondary cell (Tsai: paragraph 0037 & Figs.1-3, candidate PSCell of second BS or secondary node (SN)) according to New Radio (NR) (Tsai: paragraph 0027 & Fig. 1, SN implemented as gNB in NR) for a user equipment (UE) (Tsai: paragraph 0051 & Figs. 1-3, user equipment (UE)), the method comprising:
receiving, by the master node, a NR reconfiguration message for CPC reconfiguration of the secondary cell (Tsai: paragraph 0053 & Fig. 3, receiving conditional SN addition request ACK message),
transmitting to the UE, the NR reconfiguration message (Tsai: paragraph 0054 & Fig. 3, transmit RRC Reconfiguration message to the UE) encapsulated in a first LTE message (Tsai: paragraph 0054 & Fig. 3, RRC reconfiguration message carries a conditional PSCell addition command that indicates the radio resource configuration of the candidate PSCell of the SN);
receiving from the UE, a first NR complete message encapsulated in a second LTE message (Tsai: paragraph 0055 & Fig. 3, RRC Reconfiguration Complete message), wherein the first NR complete message indicates that the UE is able to comply to the CPC reconfiguration (Tsai: paragraph 0055, RRC reconfiguration complete message indicates completion of the conditional PSCell addition command to the first MN); and
transmitting the first NR complete message to a secondary node (Tsai: paragraph 0042 & Fig. 3, SN Reconfiguration Complete message to SN);
receiving a second NR complete message encapsulated in a third LTE message, indicating a condition fulfilled at the UE (Tsai: paragraph 0058 & Fig. 3, UE transmits an ULInformationTransferMRDC message to the first MN), wherein the third LTE message comprises a ULInformationTransferMRDC message of the first RAT (Tsai: paragraph 0058, ULInformationTransferMRDC message carries an SN RRC configuration complete message indicating that the conditional PSCell addition procedure is completed successfully); and
transmitting the second complete message to the secondary node (Tsai: paragraph 0059, transmits an SN reconfiguration complete message to the second SN).
Tsai fails to explicitly teach receiving the second NR compete message over a signaling radio bearer one (SRB1). However, Wu from an analogous art similarly teaches PSCell procedure (Wu: paragraph 0081 & Fig. 3A) and further teaches the UP can transmit the ULInformationTransferMRDC message including the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the master node on signaling radio bearer one (SRB1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tsai to specifically teach communicating the ULInformationTransferMRDC message over SRB1 as taught by Wu so as to carry and/or handle ongoing RRC signaling using said dedicated radio channel used in LTE and 5G networking.
Regarding Claim 53, Tsai-Wu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the second complete message is received over a signaling radio bearer one, SRB1 (Wu: paragraph 0081 & Fig. 3A, ULInformationTransferMRDC message including the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the master node on signaling radio bearer one (SRB1). Examiner recites same reasoning to combine as presented in rejected claim 52.
Regarding Claim 55, Tsai-Wu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the RRC message of the first RAT is an ULInformationTransferMRDC message (Tsai: paragraph 0058 & Fig. 3, ULInformationTransferMRDC message).
Regarding Claim 56, Tsai-Wu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the reconfiguration message is a RRCreconfiguration message (Tsai: paragraph 0054 & Fig. 3, RRC Reconfiguration message) and the message of the first RAT is a RRCConnectionReconfiguration message (Tsai: paragraph 0054, RRC Reconfiguration message of eNB in LTE, thus teaches the message type is RRCConnectionReconfiguration).
Regarding Claim 57, Tsai-Wu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the first complete message of the second RAT is a RRCreconfiguration complete message (Tsai: paragraph 0055 & Fig. 3, RRC reconfiguration complete message) and the other message of the first RAT is a RRCConnectionReconfiguration complete message (Tsai: paragraph 0055, eNB in LTE, thus teaches the message type is RRCConnectionReconfiguration complete message).
Regarding Claim 58, Tsai-Wu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the first RAT is new radio, NR, (Tsai: paragraph 0027 & Fig. 1, MN implemented as gNB in NR) and the second RAT is LTE (Tsai: paragraph 0027 & Fig. 1, SN implemented as eNB in LTE).
Regarding Claim 59, Tsai-Wu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the reconfiguration message is a RRCconnectionreconfiguration message (Tsai: paragraph 0054 & Fig. 3, RRC Reconfiguration message) and the message of the first RAT is a RRCreconfiguration message (Tsai: paragraph 0054, RRC Reconfiguration message of gNB in NR, thus teaching the message type is a RRCReconfiguration).
Regarding Claim 60, Tsai teaches A method performed by a secondary node (Tsai: paragraph 0037 & Figs.1-3, second BS or secondary node (SN)) according to New Radio (NR) (Tsai: paragraph 0027 & Fig. 1, SN implemented as gNB in NR) for handling a conditional primary secondary cell change procedure (CPC) (Tsai: paragraph 0051 & Figs. 1-3, conditional PSCell addition procedure), of a secondary cell (Tsai: paragraph 0037 & Figs.1-3, candidate PSCell of second BS or secondary node (SN)) for a user equipment (UE) (Tsai: paragraph 0051 & Figs. 1-3, user equipment (UE)), the method comprising:
transmitting to a master node (Tsai: paragraph 0052 & Figs. 1-3, first base station or master node (MN)) according to Long Term Evolution (Tsai: paragraph 0027 & Fig. 1, MN implemented as eNB by LTE), a NR reconfiguration message (Tsai: paragraph 0054 & Fig. 3, UE receiving RRC Reconfiguration from MN) for CPC reconfiguration of the secondary cell encapsulated in a first LTE message (Tsai: paragraph 0054 & Fig. 3, RRC reconfiguration message carries a conditional PSCell addition command that indicates the radio resource configuration of the candidate PSCell of the SN),
receiving from the master node, a first NR complete message (Tsai: paragraph 0055 & Fig. 3, RRC Reconfiguration Complete message), wherein the first NR complete message indicates that the UE is able to comply with the CPC reconfiguration (Tsai: paragraph 0055, RRC reconfiguration complete message indicates completion of the conditional PSCell addition command to the first MN); and
receiving from the master node, a second NR complete message (Tsai: paragraph 0059, receive second SN reconfiguration complete message to the second SN) encapsulated in a ULInformationTransferMRDC according to LTE and indicating a condition fulfilled at the UE (Tsai: paragraph 0058, ULInformationTransferMRDC message carries an SN RRC configuration complete message indicating that the conditional PSCell addition procedure is completed successfully) (Tsai: paragraph 0239 & Fig. 12, MN transmits the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the SN).
Tsai fails to explicitly teach receiving the second NR compete message over a signaling radio bearer one (SRB1). However, Wu from an analogous art similarly teaches PSCell procedure (Wu: paragraph 0081 & Fig. 3A) and further teaches the UP can transmit the ULInformationTransferMRDC message including the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the master node on signaling radio bearer one (SRB1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tsai to specifically teach communicating the ULInformationTransferMRDC message over SRB1 as taught by Wu so as to carry and/or handle ongoing RRC signaling using said dedicated radio channel used in LTE and 5G networking.
Regarding Claim 61, Tsai teaches A user equipment (UE) (Tsai: paragraph 0051 & Figs. 1-3, user equipment (UE)) for handling a conditional primary secondary cell change procedure (CPC) (Tsai: paragraph 0051 & Figs. 1-3, conditional PSCell addition procedure), of a secondary cell (Tsai: paragraph 0037 & Figs.1-3, candidate PSCell of second BS or secondary node (SN)) according to New Radio (NR) (Tsai: paragraph 0027 & Fig. 1, SN implemented as gNB in NR), wherein the UE comprises:
communication circuitry for communicating with a network node (Tsai: paragraph 0078 & Fig. 6, RF module); and
processing circuitry operatively connected to the communication circuitry (Tsai: paragraph 0078 & Fig. 6, processing circuitry); and configured to:
receive from a master node (Tsai: paragraph 0052 & Figs. 1-3, first base station or master node (MN)) according to Long Term Evolution (Tsai: paragraph 0027 & Fig. 1, MN implemented as eNB by LTE), a NR reconfiguration message (Tsai: paragraph 0054 & Fig. 3, UE receiving RRC Reconfiguration from MN) for a CPC reconfiguration of the secondary cell encapsulated in a first LTE message (Tsai: paragraph 0054 & Fig. 3, RRC reconfiguration message carries a conditional PSCell addition command that indicates the radio resource configuration of the candidate PSCell of the SN);
transmit to the master node, a first NR complete message encapsulated in a second LTE message (Tsai: paragraph 0055 & Fig. 3, RRC Reconfiguration Complete message), wherein the first NR complete message indicates that the UE is able to comply with the CPC reconfiguration (Tsai: paragraph 0055, RRC reconfiguration complete message indicates completion of the conditional PSCell addition command to the first MN); and
upon fulfilment of a condition of the CPC reconfiguration (Tsai: paragraph 0056 & Fig. 3, UE evaluates the candidate PSCell according to the conditional PSCell addition command), transmit to the master node over signaling radio bearer one (SRB1) (Tsai: paragraph 0058 & Fig. 3, UE transmits an ULInformationTransferMRDC message to the first MN), a second NR complete message encapsulated in a ULInformationTransferMRDC message of the first RAT (Tsai: paragraph 0058, ULInformationTransferMRDC message carries an SN RRC configuration complete message indicating that the conditional PSCell addition procedure is completed successfully).
Tsai fails to explicitly teach transmitting the second NR compete message over a signaling radio bearer one (SRB1). However, Wu from an analogous art similarly teaches PSCell procedure (Wu: paragraph 0081 & Fig. 3A) and further teaches the UP can transmit the ULInformationTransferMRDC message including the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the master node on signaling radio bearer one (SRB1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tsai to specifically teach communicating the ULInformationTransferMRDC message over SRB1 as taught by Wu so as to carry and/or handle ongoing RRC signaling using said dedicated radio channel used in LTE and 5G networking.
Regarding Claim 62, Tsai teaches A master node (Tsai: paragraph 0052 & Figs. 1-3, first base station or master node (MN)) according to Long Term Evolution (Tsai: paragraph 0027 & Fig. 1, MN implemented as eNB by LTE), for handling a conditional primary secondary cell change procedure (CPC) (Tsai: paragraphs 0051-60 & Figs. 1-3, conditional PSCell addition procedure), of a secondary cell (Tsai: paragraph 0037 & Figs.1-3, candidate PSCell of second BS or secondary node (SN)) according to New Radio (NR) (Tsai: paragraph 0027 & Fig. 1, SN implemented as gNB in NR) for a user equipment (UE) (Tsai: paragraph 0051 & Figs. 1-3, user equipment (UE)), wherein the master node comprises:
communication circuitry (Tsai: paragraph 0078 & Fig. 6, RF module) for communicating with the UE and a secondary network node (Tsai: paragraph 0037 & Figs.1-3, secondary node (SN)); and
processing circuitry operatively connected to the communication circuitry (Tsai: paragraph 0078 & Fig. 6, processing circuitry) and configured to:
receive, by the master node, a NR reconfiguration message for CPC reconfiguration of the secondary cell (Tsai: paragraph 0053 & Fig. 3, receiving conditional SN addition request ACK message),
transmit to the UE, the NR reconfiguration message (Tsai: paragraph 0054 & Fig. 3, transmit RRC Reconfiguration message to the UE) encapsulated in a first LTE message (Tsai: paragraph 0054 & Fig. 3, RRC reconfiguration message carries a conditional PSCell addition command that indicates the radio resource configuration of the candidate PSCell of the SN);
receive from the UE, a first NR complete message encapsulated in a second LTE message (Tsai: paragraph 0055 & Fig. 3, RRC Reconfiguration Complete message), wherein the first NR complete message indicates that the UE is able to comply to the CPC reconfiguration (Tsai: paragraph 0055, RRC reconfiguration complete message indicates completion of the conditional PSCell addition command to the first MN); and
transmit the first NR complete message to a secondary node (Tsai: paragraph 0042 & Fig. 3, SN Reconfiguration Complete message to SN);
receive a second NR complete message encapsulated in a third LTE message, indicating a condition fulfilled at the UE (Tsai: paragraph 0058 & Fig. 3, UE transmits an ULInformationTransferMRDC message to the first MN), wherein the third LTE message comprises a ULInformationTransferMRDC message of the first RAT (Tsai: paragraph 0058, ULInformationTransferMRDC message carries an SN RRC configuration complete message indicating that the conditional PSCell addition procedure is completed successfully); and
transmit the second complete message to the secondary node (Tsai: paragraph 0059, transmits an SN reconfiguration complete message to the second SN).
Tsai fails to explicitly teach receiving the second NR compete message over a signaling radio bearer one (SRB1). However, Wu from an analogous art similarly teaches PSCell procedure (Wu: paragraph 0081 & Fig. 3A) and further teaches the UP can transmit the ULInformationTransferMRDC message including the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the master node on signaling radio bearer one (SRB1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tsai to specifically teach communicating the ULInformationTransferMRDC message over SRB1 as taught by Wu so as to carry and/or handle ongoing RRC signaling using said dedicated radio channel used in LTE and 5G networking.
Regarding Claim 63, Tsai teaches A secondary node (Tsai: paragraph 0037 & Figs.1-3, second BS or secondary node (SN)) for handling a conditional primary secondary cell change procedure (CPC) (Tsai: paragraph 0051 & Figs. 1-3, conditional PSCell addition procedure), of a secondary cell (Tsai: paragraph 0037 & Figs.1-3, candidate PSCell of second BS or secondary node (SN)) for a user equipment (UE) (Tsai: paragraph 0051 & Figs. 1-3, user equipment (UE)), wherein the secondary node comprises:
communication circuitry (Tsai: paragraph 0078 & Fig. 6, RF module) for communicating with a master node (Tsai: paragraph 0052 & Figs. 1-3, first base station or master node (MN)); and
processing circuitry operatively connected to the communication circuitry (Tsai: paragraph 0078 & Fig. 6, processing circuitry) and configured to:
transmit to a master node (Tsai: paragraph 0052 & Figs. 1-3, first base station or master node (MN)) according to Long Term Evolution (Tsai: paragraph 0027 & Fig. 1, MN implemented as eNB by LTE), a NR reconfiguration message (Tsai: paragraph 0054 & Fig. 3, UE receiving RRC Reconfiguration from MN) for CPC reconfiguration of the secondary cell encapsulated in a first LTE message (Tsai: paragraph 0054 & Fig. 3, RRC reconfiguration message carries a conditional PSCell addition command that indicates the radio resource configuration of the candidate PSCell of the SN),
receive from the master node, a first NR complete message (Tsai: paragraph 0055 & Fig. 3, RRC Reconfiguration Complete message), wherein the first NR complete message indicates that the UE is able to comply with the CPC reconfiguration (Tsai: paragraph 0055, RRC reconfiguration complete message indicates completion of the conditional PSCell addition command to the first MN); and
receive from the master node, a second NR complete message (Tsai: paragraph 0059, receive second SN reconfiguration complete message to the second SN) encapsulated in a ULInformationTransferMRDC according to LTE and indicating a condition fulfilled at the UE (Tsai: paragraph 0058, ULInformationTransferMRDC message carries an SN RRC configuration complete message indicating that the conditional PSCell addition procedure is completed successfully) (Tsai: paragraph 0239 & Fig. 12, MN transmits the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the SN).
Tsai fails to explicitly teach transmitting the second NR compete message over a signaling radio bearer one (SRB1). However, Wu from an analogous art similarly teaches PSCell procedure (Wu: paragraph 0081 & Fig. 3A) and further teaches the UP can transmit the ULInformationTransferMRDC message including the RRC reconfiguration complete message to the master node on signaling radio bearer one (SRB1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tsai to specifically teach communicating the ULInformationTransferMRDC message over SRB1 as taught by Wu so as to carry and/or handle ongoing RRC signaling using said dedicated radio channel used in LTE and 5G networking.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to amended claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Chen et al. (US 2021/0099926 A1) teaches a signaling combination in which the UE may complete the CPC/CPA procedure by sending to the MN an RRC signaling (e.g., ULInformationTransferMRDC message) that includes an embedded RRC Reconfiguration Complete message to the new target PSCell (paragraph 0178).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NAJEEB ANSARI whose telephone number is (571)270-5446. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10am to 2pm.
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/NAJEEB ANSARI/Examiner, Art Unit 2463
/ASAD M NAWAZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2463
