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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/02/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment filed on 01/02/2026 has been entered. Independent Claims 1, 7, and 13 have been amended. No dependent claims have been amended. No claims have been cancelled. No claims are new. Claims 1-18 are still pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 7, and 13, under 35 USC § 103, are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specified challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sandhu (Pub. No.: US 20160150445 A1, hereafter “Sandhu”) in view of Pu (Pub. No.: US 20160381610 A1, hereafter “Pu”), and further in view of Yiu (Pub. No.: US 20150373596 A1, hereafter “Yiu”).
Regarding Claim 1, Claim 7, and Claim 13
Sandhu teaches a Method, a Device, and Recording Medium Comprising
A method for selective handover (Sandhu ¶0056: handover), between first (Sandhu Fig. 3B: 300) and second transceivers (Sandhu Fig. 3B: 320) of a wireless communication network, of a connection of a mobile device (Sandhu Fig. 3B: 306) to the wireless communication network (Sandhu Fig. 3B: 300), the mobile device including a wireless communication module configured to transmit and receive a wireless signal (Sandhu Fig. 3B: 306), the method comprising: establishing a predefined offset value (Sandhu Fig. 3B: offset) and a predefined threshold value (Sandhu Fig. 3B: power threshold) for a signal reliability measurement (Sandhu Fig. 3B: RSRP; Sandhu teaches a handover between two transceivers with an offset value, a threshold value, and a reliability measurement); communicatively coupling (Sandhu Fig. 3B: between 302 and 306) the wireless communication module of the mobile device to the first transceiver of the wireless communication network (Sandhu Fig. 3B: 302; Sandhu teaches coupling between the UE and the first base station); obtaining a measurement of a first signal reliability value of a signal (Sandhu Fig. 3B: RSRP) between the first transceiver and the wireless communication module of the mobile device (Sandhu Fig. 3B: 302 and 306; Sandhu teaches receiving the RSRP for the first RAT network element); obtaining a measurement of a second signal reliability value of a signal (Sandhu Fig. 3B: RSRP) between the second transceiver and the wireless communication module of the mobile device (Sandhu Fig. 3B: 304 and 306; Sandhu teaches receiving the RSRP for the second RAT network element);
Sandhu does not explicitly teach
by a processor, selectively transitioning the communicative coupling of the wireless communication module from the first transceiver to the second transceiver
However, Pu teaches
by a processor, selectively transitioning the communicative coupling of the wireless communication module from the first transceiver to the second transceiver (Pu ¶0097: handover from serving cell to neighbor cell)
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Sandhu with Pu, to have a direct comparison of the relative RSRP measurements, compared to a predetermined offset value, as taught by Pu in ¶0100 to increase handover procedures and increase the users radio conditions until handover is successfully completed.
Sandhu in view of Pu does not explicitly teach
a first determination of whether a difference between the second signal reliability value and the first signal reliability value is greater than a predefined offset value, and a second determination of whether the second signal reliability value is greater than a predefined threshold value, the predefined threshold value being different from the predefined offset value, wherein the second determination is selectively performed based on a result of the first determination, or the first determination is selectively performed based on a result of the second determination.
However, Yiu teaches
a first determination (Yiu Fig. 6: 606) of whether a difference (Yiu Fig. 6: difference) between the second signal reliability value (Yiu Fig. 6: RSRP) and the first signal reliability value (Yiu ¶0039: between a neighbor cell and the serving cell) is greater (Yiu ¶0039: greater than) than a predefined offset value (Yiu Fig. 6: first RSRP difference threshold, i.e. a predefined value, or, offset, e.g. a threshold may be 10 dB, see ¶0039; Yiu teaches a first difference between two RSRP values for two cells for cell selection, and comparing that to a known threshold), and a second determination (Yiu Fig. 6: 612) of whether the second reliability value (Yiu Fig. 6: RSRP difference, e.g. a value including the second RSRP value) is greater than (Yiu Fig. 6: 612, RSRP difference > second RSRP difference threshold) a predefined threshold value (Yiu ¶0040: the second RSRP difference threshold may be 4 dB), the predefined threshold value being different from the predefined offset value (Yiu ¶0040: second RSRP difference threshold may be 4dB, i.e. a higher threshold than the first RSRP value, see ¶0039; Yiu teaches a second and distinct determination which includes the second reliability value compared to a threshold value, wherein the threshold values can be different) wherein the second determination is selectively performed based on a result of the first determination (Yiu Fig. 6: 606 NO result points to 612), or the first determination is selectively performed based on a result of the second determination (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim; Yiu teaches the second determination based off of the result of the first determination).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Sandhu in view of Pu by way of Yiu, to include an element that teaches a first difference between two RSRP values for two cells for cell selection, and comparing that to a known threshold, a second and distinct determination which includes the second reliability value compared to a threshold value, wherein the threshold values can be different, and wherein the second determination based off of the result of the first determination, as taught by Yiu in ¶0039-¶0040, to improve better improve communication systems in a handover from a serving cell to a neighbor cell to occur more reliably where it is based on, at least in some part, on a determination between the RSRP values between that of the neighbor cell and the serving cell.
Claim 7 differs by the following limitation, which is also taught by the prior art,
at least one memory configured to store computer program code (Sandhu Fig. 8: 806); at least one processor configured to operate (Sandhu Fig. 8: 804) as instructed by the computer program code (Sandhu Fig. 8: 806; Sandhu teaches a processor configured to execute a program stored on memory)
Regarding Claim 2, Claim 8, and Claim 14
Sandhu in view of Pu, and further in view of Yiu teaches the method and the system as explained above in Claim 1. Pu discloses
the first signal reliability value (Pu Table 1, ¶0100: RSRPsc) and the second signal reliability value (Pu Table 1, ¶0100: RSRPnc) are measured as Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) values (Pu Table 1, ¶0100: RSRP; Pu teaches measuring reliability for both signals in RSRP).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Sandhu with Pu, to measure the values with RSRP, as taught by Pu in ¶0100 to increase handover procedures and increase the users radio conditions until handover is successfully completed.
Regarding Claim 3, Claim 9, and Claim 15
Sandhu in view of Pu, and further in view of Yiu teaches the method, device, and recording medium as explained above in Claim 1. Pu discloses
predefined threshold values are established for the second transceiver (Pu ¶0097: neighbor cell measurements) and for at least one other transceiver included in the wireless communication network (Pu ¶0097: serving cell), and wherein the predefined threshold value compared to the second signal reliability value (Pu ¶0097: RSRP) is the predefined threshold value established for the second transceiver (Pu ¶0097: exceeds a threshold; Pu teaches the neighboring cell having an RSRP value that checks for exceeding a threshold).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Sandhu with Pu, check neighboring cell’s RSRP value for exceeding a threshold, as taught by Pu in ¶0097 to increase handover procedures and increase the users radio conditions until handover is successfully completed.
Regarding Claim 4, Claim 10, and Claim 16
Sandhu in view of Pu, and further in view of Yiu teaches the method, device, and recording medium as explained above in Claim 1. Pu discloses
wherein the predefined threshold value is shared by each transceiver included in the wireless communication network (Pu ¶0103: monitoring neighboring cells; Pu teaches RSRP measurements, and thresholds from multiple neighboring cells being monitored and compared).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Sandhu with Pu, cells monitoring neighboring cells for RSRP measurements and thresholds, as taught by Pu in ¶0103 to increase handover procedures and increase the users radio conditions until handover is successfully completed.
Regarding Claim 5, Claim 11, and Claim 17
Sandhu in view of Pu, and further in view of Yiu teaches the method, device, and recording medium as explained above in Claim 1. Sandhu further discloses
the measurements of the first signal reliability value and the second signal reliability value are received from the mobile device (Sandhu ¶0056: UE may report parameters to serving base station; Sandhu teaches the RSRP power parameters being sent from the UE to the base station).
Regarding Claim 6, Claim 12, and Claim 18
Sandhu in view of Pu, and further in view of Yiu teaches the method, device, and recording medium as explained above in Claim 1. Pu discloses
the first transceiver includes the processor selectively transitioning the communicative coupling (Pu ¶0097: handover from serving cell to neighbor cell; Pu teaches the transceiver transitioning the communication to another base station).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Sandhu with Pu, to have the transceiver transition the communication to another base station, as taught by Pu in ¶0097 to increase handover procedures and increase the users radio conditions until handover is successfully completed.
Conclusion
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/JUSTIN MICHAEL WHITAKER/Examiner, Art Unit 2415
/Sudesh M. Patidar/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415