DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
2. The application is a national stage entry to the PCT/CN2020/083987 Dt 04/09/2020.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted, IDS - 01/04/2023 and 02/28/2024, 05/28/2024, 12/05/2024, 03/04/2025 and 07/10/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
4. The amendment filed 01/02/2026 has been entered. Claims 1,3,6,15,24,37,42, 45, 48-53 and 55-60 remain pending in the application. Claims 1, 24,37, 59 and 60 were amended. New claims 60 previously added and claims 2, 4, 5, 7-14, 16-23, 25-36, 38-41, 43-44, 46-47 and 54 were cancelled.
Continued Examination (RCE)
5. 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has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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
08/25/2025 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
7. 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
he claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner
in which the invention was made.
8. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness
under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
• Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
• Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
• Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
• Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating
• obviousness or nonobviousness.
9. 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.
10. Claims 1, 3, 6, 15, 24, 37, 42, 45, 48-53 and 55-59 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang et al. (US-20230164866-A1) hereinafter “Chang” in view of Hori et al. (US-20230040867-A1) hereinafter “Hori”.
Regarding Claim 1,
Chang discloses, ‘A method, comprising: in response to accessing a cell by a radio resource control (RRC) re-establishment procedure or a connection setup procedure, receiving a user equipment (UE) information request;’ (Disclosure, Fig. 3 UE identifies RLF in MCG and initiates a fast recovery procedure to network side. Steps for RLF, RLF report [0035-0037], Fast recovery [0039] and Radio Link recovery mechanism [0041]. Radio link failure report method comprises: user equipment (UE) detecting a radio link failure (RLF) of a master cell group (MCG); the UE initiating a fast MCG link recovery procedure to recover a connection to a network side [abstract], [0006] and Fig. 3; Radio link failure and transmission of an RRC connection re-establishment procedure [0038]; UE initiates a master cell group (MCG) failure information procedure, send an MCG failure information message to a network (disclosure Claim 1); After receiving the indication, the network side use RRC message, an rlf-ReportReq information element in aUEInformationRequest message to indicate the request [0038];);
Chang discloses, ‘in response to the UE information request, transmitting a UE information response message including a radio link failure (RLF) report to a master node (MN) via a secondary node (SN), wherein the RLF report indicates failure information which includes at least one of: a RLF, a handover (HO) failure (HOF), a first timer associated with a fast master cell group (MCG) link recovery procedure expiry’, (Link Failure Reporting Mechanism in the Existing Mechanism; an rlf-Report information element in a UEInformationResponse message; Report include link failures, RLF, HOF [0038]; Fast MCG Link Recovery Function [0039]; report to MCG via SCG and fast recovery procedure, RRC reconfiguration sync can be applied [0040]; a timer to monitor and associated with fast MCG link recovery procedure [0014]; the end of the fast MCG link recovery procedure may be a successful end (when the response message is received from the network side during the running of T316, or described as when T316 is stopped) or T316 expires [0058];
Chang though discloses, ‘‘wherein in a case that the RLF report indicates the failure information being a RLF’,
And discloses, ‘and a cell global identifier (CGI) of a cell from which conditional HO (CHO) configuration is received wherein the CGI indicates the cell in which the UE performs the CHO during reestablishment procedure’ (CHO-configuration includes cell-identity [0073, 0079]),
RLF indicates the failure information being a RLF-IE [0038, 0054] and re-establishment/re-configuration as part of recovery. And, measurement configuration [0029], provide comprehensive steps of recovery: measurement, HO preparation, execution and completion phase [0029-0032]. Chang Disclosure claim 1 and claim 2: Var-RLF-Report associated timer, RLF report, MCG link recovery by reconfiguration with sync IE.
And didn't disclose, ‘the RLF report further comprises cause information being a second timer started in response to transmitting a measurement report expiry’,
‘and the cause information is t312- expiry;’
Hori in the relevant art discloses, measurement configuration T312 specific to measurement report [0170]; And, cause: T310 expires, T312 expires, RACH issue while none of multiple timer running; And, max retransmission exceed specific timer not include: T310/T312 [0175]. Disclosure include measurement configuration and measurement performed uses timer. The configuration for radio link monitor and multiple RLM-RS can be configured for the terminal and determine RLF for MCG while T312 running and expires [0170-0175].
RRC connection re-establishment initiated for conditions: RLF in MCG, HOF in MCG or conditions and timer described [0183-0190], [0330-0336]. And, includes T312 timer [0338-0340, 0352-0354]. And, MBB-HO Fig. 16-19, [0371, 0374, 580]. Disclosure include IE measurement configuration object and variables: Var-Meas-Config and measurement result (Var-Meas-Report-List and a timer) that specifically defines in the claim measurement report expiry.
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of Chang and to include with that of Hori to come up with the claim invention;
This is implicit as part of measurement configuration (3GPP TS 36.331 V15.7.0 (2019-09), page 856 and was included in last OA. Chang provide motive regarding the measurement-config and measurement-report-condition/threshold [0029-0030, 0034] and in Fig. 1. And, CHO execution condition without interruption/delay. This would be obvious to include the measurement report timer disclosed by Hori.
Motive would be consistently provide reliability while fast link recovery procedure are adapted make before break MBB-HO. This would increase reliability ensure fast link recovery procedure reduces delay as disclosure Hori provides appropriate and evident execution HO procedures uses varMeasConfig and varMeasReportList that carry motivation disclosed by Chang. The procedure disclosed only applicable to perform the procedure for HO/switch between the cells with a motive to reliable session and service continuity in the communication seamless HO avoid service disruption and improve success rate while perform HO procedures meet the SLA.
And Chang discloses, ‘receiving fast MCG link recovery configuration information from the MN via the SN’ (a RLF while a fast MCG recovery is configured [0005, 0014]. The RLF information to MCG via SCG when RLF occurs in the MCG and applied fast link recovery procedure equal procedure for the MCG RLF [0040].);
Chang discloses, ‘and in response to a MCG RLF. initiating a fast MCG link recovery procedure and starting the first timer associated with the fast MCG link recovery procedure.’
Disclosure, The UE is configured with fast link recovery parameter and initiate the fast MCG link recovery procedure. Parameter includes timer 316 and can have split bearer where timer 316 used to monitor fast link recovery procedure [0014]. Then, RRC reconfiguration to switch between cells [0025] and link recovery procedures [0035-0036].
Regarding Claim 3,
‘method of claim 1, wherein the failure information being the first timer associated with a fast MCG link recovery procedure expiry is indicated by a first indication in the RLF report.’ (UE can inform the network side by using an RRC message that there is the available radio link failure report indicated by an rlf-InfoAvailable information element [0038]; Link Recovery Function in the Existing Mechanism [0037]; UE transmits the RRC message of MCGfailureinformation to the network side in the fast MCG link recovery function that the UE attempts after the radio link failure corresponding to the radio link failure report; T316 associated with fast MCG link recovery; FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a radio link failure reporting method [0048]; timer T316 is used to monitor the MCG failure information procedure [0048] to [0054];
Regarding Claim 52,
‘The method of claim 3’ (disclosed above),
Regarding Claim element, ‘wherein the indication in the RLF report that the failure information is the first timer associated with a fast MCG link recovery procedure expiry is different from a connection failure type indication in the RLF report.’
Chang discloses, RLF report method and include at least a RLF, a HOF or first timer with a fast MCG link recovery procedure disclosed above Claim 1. There can be connection failure. Therefore, there are failure information different from the first timer associated with a fast MCG link recovery, disclosed above in claim 1.
Regarding Claim 6,
‘method of Claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Chang discloses, ‘wherein in a case that the RLF report indicates the failure information being a RLF the RLF report further comprises cause information being at least one of the followings:
RLF report Fig. 3 and [0048-0050]. UE can inform the network side by using an RRC message that there is the available radio link failure report thereon (indicated by an rlf-InfoAvailable information element); After receiving the indication, the network side may request, by using an RRC message (an rlf-ReportReq information element in a UEInformationRequest message; [0038]);
And didn’t disclose, ‘an out-of-sync timer expiry’;
Hori in the relevant art discloses, terminal apparatus uses broadcast information and user-specific RRC messages to acquire, from a serving base station apparatus, information of timers; for detection of physical layer problems of the serving cell, corresponding to thresholds for the number of detections of out-of-sync (OoS) [0158]; also receive out-of-sync notified from the physical layer processing unit is continuously received a predefined number of times [0166, 0315-0316]; Timer information have more details 3GPP TS 36.331 RRC protocol specification;
And further to include disclosure, Hori, ‘a random access problem occurrence; and a maximum number of retransmissions that has been reached.’ (The terminal apparatus determines that radio link failure has been detected in the MCG due to random access problem is notified from the MAC layer of the MCG; RLC layer of the MCG has notified the terminal apparatus that the number of retransmissions of the SRB or the DRB has reached the maximum number of retransmissions [0175, 0319-0321].)
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of Chang and to include with that of Hori to come up with the claim invention;
Disclosure of Chang, provide significance and proactive approach to monitor fast link recovery procedure at MCG as part of RLF reporting method [0014] and used specific T316 timer to monitor when MCG transmission resumed or when RRC-release message received to attempt recovery step and perform successfully ReconfigurationwithSync [0042]. And didn’t disclose out-of-sync.
Disclosure Chang include reconfigurationwithsync include random access configuration as part of recovery and re-establishment procedure [0025]. Someone in the ordinary skill in the art would be motivated and would have contingency planning as early preemption if out-of-sync, random access issue and maximum number of retransmission in RLF report method. That would assist fast link recovery procedure without interruption and delay;
Regarding Claim 15,
‘method of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Chang discloses, ‘comprising: in response to initiating the RRC re-establishment procedure due to a MCG RLF, transmitting the RLF report indicating the failure information being a RLF;’ (UE detect a radio link failure (RLF) of a master cell group (MCG); the UE initiating a fast MCG link recovery procedure to recover a connection to a network side; and the UE transmitting a radio link failure report to the network side [0006]; In the radio link failure reporting method of the first aspect above, the RRC message may include MCG failure information (MCGfailureinformation), [0009];
Disclosed as part of Claim 6 above, ‘wherein the RLF is declared in response to one of the following: an out-of-sync timer expiry; a random access problem occurrence; a maximum number of retransmissions that has been reached’;
Chang didn’t disclose and Hori discloses, ‘a beam failure recovery failure;’ (The terminal apparatus may monitor the radio link [0161]; purpose of monitoring may include the purpose of monitoring radio link failure, the purpose of monitoring beam failure [0162]; Detection of radio link failure based on radio link monitoring; terminal apparatus RRC connection re-establishment procedure [0163]);
Disclosed as part of Claim 6 above, ‘a second timer started in response to transmitting a measurement report expires; and a RLF notification being received.’
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of Chang and to include with that of Hori to come up with the claim invention;
Someone in the ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to include the beam failure and recovery as part of radio link monitoring and facilitate fast recovery procedure as continuation of link monitor and HO configuration, Chang [0034].
Regarding Claim 53,
‘The method of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Regarding claim element, ‘wherein the RLF report further indicates failure information being at least one of: a RLF, a handover (HO) failure (HOF), a dual active protocol stack (DAPS) HOF, and a conditional handover (CHO) failure.’
Chang discloses, ‘wherein the RLF report further indicates failure information being at least one of: a RLF, a handover (HO) failure (HOF), and a conditional handover (CHO) failure.’, in addition dual connectivity [0040] and didn’t disclose,
‘a dual active protocol stack (DAPS) HOF,’
Hori discloses, DAPS HOF and a conditional handover (CHO) failure; as part of efficient handover procedure, an important technique used as make before break-handover (Make-Before-Break HO (MBB-HO), in order to maintain connection with a Source eNB or a Source gNB until the Target eNB or the Target gNB performs first uplink transmission or until any period, an activated protocol layer may be used in each of the Source side and the Target side. Thus, the make before break-handover (MBB-HO) may be interpreted as a Dual Active Protocol Stack (DAPS) handover [0274]; Fig. 25 and 26 illustrate connection re-establishment that includes DAPs handover failure; UE detects first timer expired; transmitting a first RRC message to the base station apparatus of the handover source in Step S2600. The first RRC message may be an RRC message for notifying the target that the DAPS handover has failed [0811]; And, specifically mentioned in the disclosure ( [0863] Claim 1;
The disclosure of Hori specifically mentions, RRC reconfiguration message (as disclosed above as part of recovery/re-establishment procedure) includes: a conditional-handover configuration and Conditional-handover further meet/satisfy the condition such as Reconfiguration with Sync information element, RadioBearerConfig, and CellGroupConfig, MBB-HO [0693-0695]; thus DAPS is part of CHO;)
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of Chang and to include with that of Hori to come up with the claim invention;
Someone in the ordinary skill art would be motivated as prudently incorporated in the claim invention; further include the dual active protocol stacks (DAPS) as part of CHO when defining types of HO and to mitigate the failure by efficient fast recovery process as being exemplified in both disclosures improve mobility HO procedure; more specifically in the relevant art of multi-access dual connectivity in EUTRA, NR and nextGen radio access Tech (Chang, [0040]);
Regarding Claim 55,
‘The method of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Chang discloses, ‘further comprising: receiving fast MCG link recovery configuration information’; (The present disclosure proposes a solution to the issue of link failure reporting when a fast MCG link recovery is configured in an NR system and an LTE [0004]; report RLF for required configuration for link recovery and then UE being configured with a fast MCG link recovery parameter [0014];)
And discloses, ‘and in response to a MCG RLF, initiating a fast MCG link recovery procedure and starting the first timer associated with the fast MCG link recovery procedure.’ (UE may initiate the fast MCG link recovery procedure when a specified condition is satisfied, and the specified condition comprises: the UE being configured with a fast MCG link recovery parameter, i.e., a timer T316, the UE being configured with a bearer [0014])
Regarding Claim 56,
‘The method of claim 55 ‘(disclosed above),
Chang discloses, ‘further comprising: in response to the first timer expiry, initiating the RRC re-establishment procedure’ (when T316 expires, RRC re-establishment procedure and perform recovery [0052]);
Chang discloses, ‘and transmitting the RLF report indicating the failure information being the first timer associated with a fast MCG link recovery procedure expiry.’ (when T316 expires, UE sends a radio link failure report to the network side, where the radio link failure report may include first fast MCG link recovery information [0053]. Disclosure, includes detail steps when detects RLF on MCG. Fig. 1, Steps 3 includes detail procedure [0052-0058]. UE initiates an RRC re-establishment procedure. The UE triggers the RRC re-establishment procedure when an MCG RLF or a handover failure occurs [0062];)
Regarding Claim 57,
‘The method of claim 55’ (disclosed above),
Chang discloses ‘further comprising: receiving a RRC reconfiguration message including reconfiguration with sync information element (IE) while the first timer is running’ (receiving, from the network and while the timer T316 is running, an RRC release message, or an RRC reconfiguration message comprising a reconfiguration with sync information element, disclosure Claim 1);
And discloses, ‘and in response to receiving the reconfiguration with sync IE, initiating a HO procedure and starting a third timer associated with the HO procedure.’ (UE performs RRC reconfiguration with following steps; an RRC reconfiguration message including a reconfiguration with sync (Reconfigurationwithsync) information element. Handover is referred as, an RRC reconfiguration message including a reconfiguration with sync (Reconfigurationwithsync) information element for MCG [0025].
RRC re-establishment procedure and cell selection procedure; selected cell is included in a reconfiguration with sync information element (ReconfigurationWithSync) and a third timer T304 started when RRC connection re-establishment or HO procedure inititated [0073-0074]. UE executes a handover to the selected cell, that is, a handover to this cell is executed; an RRC reconfiguration complete message is generated [0074];)
Regarding Claim 58,
‘The method of claim 57’ (disclosed above),
Identical to claim 51 disclosed above, ‘further comprising: in response to expiry of the third timer, initiating the RRC re-establishment procedure; and performing a CHO procedure for a cell selected during the RRC re-establishment procedure in a case that the cell has CHO configuration.’
Regarding Claim 24,
Identical to Claim 1 only changes transmit in-stead of receive, ‘A method, comprising: transmitting a user equipment (UE) information request; and in response to the UE information request, receiving a UE information response message including a radio link failure (RLF) report, wherein the RLF report indicates failure information being at least one of: a RLF, a handover (HO) failure (HOF), a first timer associated with a fast master cell group (MCG) link recovery procedure expiry,
wherein in a case that the RLF report indicates the failure information being a RLF, the RLF report further comprises cause information being a second timer started in response to transmitting a measurement report expiry,
and a cell global identifier (CGI) of a cell from which conditional HO (CHO) configuration is received wherein the CGI indicates the cell in which the UE performs the CHO during reestablishment procedure,
and the cause information is t312- expiry;
transmitting fast MCG link recovery configuration information; and in response to a MCG RLF, receiving a fast MCG link recovery procedure and starting the first timer associated with the fast MCG link recovery procedure.’
Regarding Claim 37,
Chang discloses, ‘An apparatus, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled configured to cause the apparatus to’ (UE includes processor, memory and execute the functions [0080] to [0087]):
Identical to Claim 1 disclosed above, ‘receive, in response to accessing a cell by a radio resource control (RRC) re-establishment procedure or a connection setup procedure, a user equipment (UE) information request; and transmit, in response to the UE information request, a UE information response message including a radio link failure (RLF) report to a master node (MN) via a secondary node (SN), wherein the RLF report indicates failure information that includes at least one of: an RLF, a handover (HO) failure (HOF), a first timer associated with a fast master cell group (MCG) link recovery procedure expiry,
wherein in a case that the RLF report indicates the failure information being a RLF, the RLF report further comprises cause information being a second timer started in response to transmitting a measurement report expiry,
and a cell global identifier (CGI) of a cell from which conditional HO (CHO) configuration is received wherein the CGI indicates the cell in which the UE performs the CHO during reestablishment procedure,
and the cause information is t312- expiry;
Regarding Claim 42,
‘apparatus of claim 37’ (disclosed above),
Chang discloses, ‘wherein the failure information being the first timer associated with a fast MCG link recovery procedure expiry is indicated an indication in the RLF report.’ (UE can inform the network side by using an RRC message that there is the available radio link failure report indicated by an rlf-InfoAvailable information element [0038]; Link Recovery Function in the Existing Mechanism [0037]; UE transmits the RRC message of MCGfailureinformation to the network side in the fast MCG link recovery function that the UE attempts after the radio link failure corresponding to the radio link failure report; T316 associated with fast MCG link recovery; FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a radio link failure reporting method [0048]; timer T316 is used to monitor the MCG failure information procedure [0048] to [0054];)
Regarding Claim 45,
‘apparatus of claim 37’ (disclosed above),
Identical to Claim 6 disclosed above, ‘wherein in a case that the RLF report indicates the failure information being a RLF, the RLF report further comprises cause information that is at least one of: a RLF notification being received; an out-of-sync timer expiry; a random access problem occurrence; and a maximum number of retransmissions that has been reached.’
Regarding Claim 48,
‘apparatus of claim 37’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein the at least one processor, further configured to cause the apparatus to:’ (disclosed above),
Chang discloses, ‘in response to the first timer expiry, initiate the RRC re-establishment procedure’; (Disclosed above in claim 1, the timer T316 is used to monitor the MCG failure information procedure. The UE starts T316 when transmitting an MCGfailureinformation message. T316 is stopped when MCG transmission is resumed, or when a response RRCrelease message is received from the network side, or when an RRC re-establishment procedure is initiated. When T316 expires, the UE considers that the fast MCG link recovery procedure has failed and ended, and thus triggers an RRC re-establishment procedure to attempt to recover the connection to network [0052]).
And discloses, ‘and transmit the RLF report indicating the failure information being the first timer associated with a fast MCG link recovery procedure expiry.’ (when T316 expires, UE sends a radio link failure report to the network side, where the radio link failure report may include first fast MCG link recovery information [0053]. Disclosure, includes detail steps when detects RLF on MCG. Fig. 1, Steps 3 includes detail procedure [0052-0058]);
UE initiates an RRC re-establishment procedure. The UE triggers the RRC re-establishment procedure when an MCG RLF or a handover failure occurs [0062];)
Regarding Claim 49,
‘apparatus of claim 37’ (disclosed above), ‘wherein the at least one processor, is further configured to cause the apparatus to:’ (disclosed above),
And Chang discloses, ‘receive a RRC reconfiguration message including reconfiguration with sync information element (IE) while the first timer is running’ (disclosed above in Claim 57);
And discloses, ‘and in response to receiving the reconfiguration with sync IE, initiate a HO procedure and start a third timer associated with the HO procedure.’( disclosed above in Claim 57).
Regarding Claim 51,
‘apparatus of claim 49’ (disclosed above),
Chang discloses, ‘wherein the at least one processor, is further configured to cause the apparatus to: in response to expiry of the third timer, initiate the RRC re-establishment procedure;’ (processor, memory and apparatus disclosed above. When an RLF of an MCG or a handover failure is detected timer T304 for monitoring handover procedure expires then RRC re-establishment procedure started [0073]);
And discloses, ‘perform a CHO procedure for a cell selected during the RRC re-establishment procedure in a case that the cell has CHO configuration.’ (UE is configured with the conditional handover and/or a cause for initiating the RRC connection re-establishment procedure (or a cause for cell selection performed in the RRC connection re-establishment procedure [0073]; RRC reconfiguration message received by the UE including a CHO configuration for an MCG [0078].)
Regarding Claim 50,
‘apparatus of claim 37’ (disclosed above),
Identical to claim 15 disclosed above and apparatus processor Claim 37 disclosed above, ‘wherein the at least one processor, is further configured to cause the apparatus to: in response to initiating the RRC re-establishment procedure due to a MCG RLF, transmit the RLF report indicating the failure information being a RLF; wherein the RLF is declared in response to one of: an out-of-sync timer expiry; a random access problem occurrence; a maximum number of retransmissions that has been reached; a beam failure recovery failure; a second timer started in response to transmitting a measurement report expires; and a RLF notification being received.’
Regarding Claim 59,
Chang discloses, ‘A base station for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory’ (Base station and apparatus [0080-0084] );
And discloses, ‘and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and operable to cause the base station to: transmit a user equipment (UE) information request’ (processor and memory device for BS [0083-0084]. UE receives i.e. BS transmits and a UEinformationrequest message from the network side for requesting the UE to report the RLF report [0060] and [0038]);
Identical to Claim 1 disclosed above, ‘in response to the UE information request, receive a UE information response message including a radio link failure (RLF) report, wherein the RLF report indicates failure information which includes at least one of: a RLF, a handover (HO) failure (HOF), or a first timer associated with a fast master cell group (MCG) link recovery procedure expiry;
wherein in a case that the RLF report indicates the failure information being a RLF, the RLF report further comprises cause information being a second timer started in response to transmitting a measurement report expiry,
and a cell global identifier (CGI) of a cell from which conditional HO (CHO) configuration is received wherein the CGI indicates the cell in which the UE performs the CHO during reestablishment procedure,
and the cause information is t312- expiry;
transmit fast MCG link recovery configuration information; andin response to a MCG RLF, receive a fast MCG link recovery procedure and starting the first timer associated with the fast MCG link recovery procedure.’
11. Claims 60 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang et al. in view of Hori et al. and further in view of CHEN (US-20190223073-A1) hereinafter “CHEN”.
Regarding Claim 60,
‘The method of claim 58’ (disclosed above),
Chang discloses, ‘wherein the RLF report further comprises at least one of: a cell identity of a cell from which the CHO configuration is received; a cell identity of the cell which is selected during the RRC re-establishment procedure for performing the CHO procedure’ (RLF report include cell identity of HO RRC reconfiguration and re-establishment [0007, 0025]);
And discloses, ‘a cell identity of a target cell indicated in the reconfiguration with sync IE’ ‘([0025]);
And though discloses cell identity and cell frequency as reconfiguration [0025]; And didn’t disclose,
‘and wherein the cell identity is determined based on a physical cell identity and an absolute radio frequency channel number (ARFCN) value.’
Chen in the relevant art discloses, Fig. 6 illustrates HO procedures that includes measurement configurations, cell identity and an ARFCN/carrier frequency in the measurement-config and performed by RRC configuration [0073, 0091, 0115].
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of Chang, Hori and to include with that of Chen to come up with the claim invention;
Disclosure Chang, RRC connection re-configuration i.e. ReconfigurationwithSync
Includes cell frequency as parameter to perform mobility procedure [0025] and measurement configuration. Chang provides motive and include the carrier frequency in the CHO-configurations.
Someone would further include ARFCN as carrier frequency in the measurement configuration distinctly disclosed by Chen, measurement object in the IE implementation to further specify the required parameters and variables. Inclusion of frequency for a registration and an access type while a terminal connect to an Access Point and operate to frequency and band between the eNB/gNB/BS inter-frequency, intra-frequency between the nodes. This would provide more detail execution and implementation to measurement configurations and report procedures.
Response to Arguments
11. Applicant's arguments filed 01/02/2026 have been fully considered but they are
not persuasive. Applicant’s arguments do not comply with 37 CFR 1.111(c) because they do not clearly point out the patentable novelty which he or she thinks the claims present in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made. Further, they do not show how the amendments avoid such references or objections.
Arguments:
In view of the following remarks, Applicant respectfully requests reconsideration and allowance of the subject Application. Claims 1, 3, 6, 15, 24, 37, 42, 45, 48-53, and 55-60 are pending for consideration. Claims 1, 24, 37, 59 and 60 are amended. Support for the amendments can be found throughout Applicant's application and drawings, as well as in the claims as filed. No new matter is added.
Interview Summary
Applicant wishes to thank the above referenced Examiner Ahmed for the telephone interview conducted on December 30, 2025 with the below-signed Applicant's Representative.
During the interview, Applicant's Representative and the Examiner discussed differences between the claims and the cited references. Although no agreement was reached as to specific claim amendments that would place the pending claims in condition for allowance, Applicant submits that these amendments to the independent claims overcome the cited references and the rejection of record. Accordingly, Applicant requests that the claim rejections be withdrawn.
Claim Rejections
Claims 1, 3, 6, 15, 24, 37, 42, 45, 48-53 and 55-59 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang (US20230164866A1) in view of Hori (US Pub No. US 2023/0040867).
Claim 60 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang in view of Hori and further in view of Chen (US20190223073A1).
Applicant makes no representation that the cited references are prior art. This response and any remarks or comments included herein are not intended to be, and are not to be interpreted as, an admission that any cited references are prior art.
Applicant reserves the right to dispose of any cited reference under 35 U.S.C. § 103, including but not limited to antedating any one or more of the cited references.
The Claims
Claim 1 stands rejected under § 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Chang and Hori. In the interest of advancing prosecution and without conceding the propriety of the rejection, claim 1 is amended to recite, in part "in response to the UE information request, transmitting a UE information response message including a radio link failure (RLF) report to a master node (MN) via a secondary node (SN), wherein the RLF report indicates failure information which includes at least one of: a RLF, a handover (HO) failure (HOF), or a first timer associated with a fast master cell group (MCG) link recovery procedure expiry, wherein in a case that the RLF report indicates the failure information being a RLF, the RLF report further comprises cause information being a second timer started in response to transmitting a measurement report expiry, and a cell global identifier (CGI) of a cell from which conditional HO (CHO) configuration is received, wherein the CGI indicates the cell in which the UE performs the CHO during reestablishment procedure, and the cause information is t312-expiry; receiving fast MCG link recovery configuration information from the MN via the SN." Support for this amendment can be found throughout Applicant's specification and at least in [0078] and [0079] of the application as filed.
Chang discloses a radio link failure reporting method. However, Chang does not disclose a cell group identifier during conditional handover reestablishment procedure. Thus, Chand does not disclose that a cell global identifier (CGI) of a cell from which conditional HO (CHO) configuration is received, wherein the CGI indicates the cell in which the UE performs the CHO during reestablishment procedure.
Accordingly, Chang does not disclose " in response to the UE information request, transmitting a UE information response message including a radio link
failure (RLF) report to a master node (MN) via a secondary node (SN), wherein the RLF report indicates failure information which includes at least one of: a RLF, a handover (HO) failure (HOF), or a first timer associated with a fast master cell group (MCG) link recovery procedure expiry, wherein in a case that the RLF report indicates the failure information being a RLF, the RLF report further comprises cause information being a second timer started in response to transmitting a measurement report expiry, and a cell global identifier (CGI) of a cell from which conditional HO (CHO) configuration is received, wherein the CGI indicates the cell in which the UE performs the CHO during reestablishment procedure, and the cause information is t312-expiry; receiving fast MCG link recovery configuration information from the MN via the SN" as recited in amended claim 1. Thus, Chang does not teach or suggest all of the features recited in amended claim 1. Hori does not disclose anything about cell group identifier during conditional handover reestablishment procedure either. Applicant requests that the § 103 rejection be withdrawn.
In addition, independent claims 24, 37 and 59 are amended substantially similar to the subject matter of independent claim 1. Accordingly, Applicant submits that claims 1, 3, 6, 15, 24, 37, 42, 45, 48-53, and 55-60 are allowable for the reasons discussed above and respectfully requests that the § 103 rejection be withdrawn.
Examiners response:
With respect to applicant’s arguments/remarks, examiner responses are:
Examiner reviewed the applicant’s arguments/remarks and further amended claims and
provided relevant disclosures from the prior arts in the office actions that covers the subject matters. Addressed all the claims and applicant’s argument/remarks disclosed from the presented prior arts “Chang”, “Hori” and “Chen”.
Regarding the claim subject matter: see details in this OA and however the subject matter of the claims are disclosed from the prior art in this OA are summarized here:
RRC connection re-establishment or connection procedure and UE-information-request, Chang discloses [0011, 0025, 0038].
RLF report at least: a RLF, HOF, or first timer associated with MCG link recover expiry, Chang [0035-0039] and recovery mechanism [0041]. RLF report, HOF or the first timer for MCG [0014, 0038-0039, 0058]. Disclosure claim 1 and claim 2: Var-RLF-Report associated timer, RLF report, MCG link recovery by reconfiguration with sync IE.
RLF report indicates RLF Chang [0038, 0054].
Amendments RLF to a MN via a SN Chang [0040]. And, cell identifier [0079].
RLF report, a second timer started in response to measurement report expiry and the cause information is T312-expiry, RLF report measurement configuration for RLM and uses RLM-RS configured to the terminal associated with the second timer RLF, Hori-[0170-0175]. RLF detected and notified/reported to the BS [0175, 0178] and perform RRC re-establishment procedure [0181] and certain conditions RLF, HO when reconfiguration sync with MCG [0182-0185]. Regarding the timers disclosure Hori, specifically include IE-execution for the HO includes the measurement-config and measurement object. Defined in IE, Var-Meas-Config and Var-Meas-Report-List that includes measurements and timer variables. Included as a logical flow diagram Fig. 16-19.
Receive MCG link recovery configuration procedure, Chang [0014,25,0035-0036].
New claim parameters ARFCN that is a carrier frequency included by Chang [0079] in the cell identity and in RLF disclosed by CHEN Fig. 6. Disclosure all parameters in the measurement configuration and HO configuration procedures:
Examiner respectfully thanks to applicant and attorney for their time and effort.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to
applicant's disclosure:
3GPP TS 36.331 V15.7.0 (2019-09); 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Radio Resource Control (RRC); Support of prior art “Chang” available, Timer section 7.3 to 7.4, timer associated with measurement report, RRC reconfiguration; Detection of RLF; Spec include: Varmeasconfig report config and parameters, page-848 And VarMeasReportList page-849-850 includes: cell ID and ARFCN. UEInformationResponse fields, page-402-403: measurement time, RLF-cause, RLF detected timer, cell ID/ARFCN, measured RSRP in current cell. Measurement object section-5.5.2.5 VarmeasreportList associated timer, time to trigger page-187. UE information request include: Var-RLF-Report HOF and UE information response, page-235.
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #109-e R2-2002137 Electronic Meeting, 24th February - 6th March 2020; Agenda: 6.10.5, Source: Ericsson Title: Fast MCG recovery, Document for: Discussion, Decision;
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 extension
fee 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 date of this final action.
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/S.A./Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/CHRISTOPHER M CRUTCHFIELD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466