DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 11/21/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment submitted 11/21/2025 has been entered. Claims 1-2, 13, 17, and 28 are amended. Claims 1-3, 6-8, 10-13, 17, 19 20, 23, and 25-28 are pending. In view of amendment filed 11/21/2025, previous rejection of claims 1-2, 6-8, 10-13, 17, 19 20, 23, and 28 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) are withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/21/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Kim (US 20200068639) in combination with Mochizuki (US 20230180304) and Zhu (US 20200053616) does not teach:
“According to the measurement information reported by the UE, the CU-CP determines a connection mode to be adopted by the UE after being switched to a second base station according to the UE capability and the connection mode supported by the CU-UP, and then sends the handover request to the second base station. The second base station determines whether the first base station is used as a secondary base station of the UE after receiving the handover request sent by the CU- CP, and sends a secondary base station adding request to the CU-CP under a condition that the first base station is used as the secondary base station, wherein the secondary base station adding request comprises first bearer configuration information associated with a service needing to be carried by the first base station.”
However, Kim teaches determining the connection mode of a UE based on measurements received from the UE (Kim, Fig. 7A: S700, S701; ¶0149). Zhu teaches determining a connection mode to be supported after being switched to a second base station according to the UE capability and the connection mode supported by the CU-UP (Zhu, Fig. 4; ¶0063), and then sends the handover request to the second base station (Zhu, Fig. 4: Steps 1-3; ¶¶0063-0064). Zhu further teaches the second base station determines whether the first base station is used as a secondary base station of the UE after receiving the handover request sent by the CU- CP (Zhu, Fig. 4; ¶0064), and sends a secondary base station adding request to the CU-CP under a condition that the first base station is used as the secondary base station (Zhu, Fig. 4; ¶0064). Kim further teaches wherein the secondary base station adding request comprises first bearer configuration information associated with a service needing to be carried by the first base station (Kim, Fig. 7A, S703; ¶0170).
Therefore, Kim and Zhu, in combination, teach the subject matter of the amended independent claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 12, 17, and 25-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (US 2020/0068639), Kim hereinafter, in view of Zhu et al. (US 2020/0053616), Zhu hereinafter.
Re. Claim 1. Kim teaches A configuration method for a connection mode by a first base station (Kim, Figs. 7A and 7B and ¶0148: FIGS. 7A and 7B are flowcharts of an operation for a UE supporting EN-DC to add a secondary node so that the radio resource of a SgNB can be allocated to the UE.), comprising:
determining, by a control plane entity in the centralized unit (CU-CP) of the first base station (Kim, ¶0146-¶0148: As shown in FIG. 6, a 4G eNB is configured with one network element (NE), and a 5G gNB is configured with a CU-CP, a CU-UP, and a DU, that is, three network elements.),
a connection mode supported by a user plane entity in the centralized unit (CU-UP) of the first base station after receiving measurement information reported by the UE (Kim, Fig. 7A: S700, S701; ¶0146-¶0148: As shown in FIG. 6, a 4G eNB is configured with one network element (NE), and a 5G gNB is configured with a CU-CP, a CU-UP, and a DU, that is, three network elements. ¶0149: At operation S700, the UE transmits a measurement report to an MeNB. At operation S701, the MeNB makes a SgNB addition decision.),
wherein the secondary base station adding request comprises first bearer configuration information associated with a service needing to be carried by the first base station (Kim, Fig. 7A, S703: Message X: X2 SgNB Addition Request [CG-ConfigInfo, E-RAB Info, SgNB UE AMBR]; ¶0170: For example, the SgNB addition request may include delta configuration information. The delta configuration information may include information on SgNB-added bearers.);
configuring, by the CU-CP, a bearer of the CU-UP (Kim, Fig. 7A: S705-S707 Bearer Context Setup request/response between SgNB CU-CP and CU-UP; ¶0150)
according to the first bearer configuration information comprised in the secondary base station adding request (Kim, Fig. 7A, S703: Message X: X2 SgNB Addition Request [CG-ConfigInfo, E-RAB Info, SgNB UE AMBR]; ¶0170)
generating second bearer configuration information according to a configuration result and indicating the CU-UP to update the bearer configuration according to the second bearer configuration information (Kim, Fig. 7A: S713-S715 Bearer Modify request/response between SgNB CU-CP and CU-UP. ¶0150);
generating, by the CU-CP, first access configuration information according to an updating result of the bearer configuration of the CU-UP and sending the first access configuration information to the second base station (Kim, Fig. 7A: S717 Message Y: X2 SgNB Addition Request Acknowledge [CG-Config, E-RAB Info] ¶0151),
wherein the second base station generates second access configuration information that the UE uses to access the second base station according to the first access configuration information (Fig. 7B: S719-S721: RRC Connection Reconfiguration/Reconfiguration Complete ¶0151),
sends a handover request response to the CU-CP (Kim, Fig. 7B, S723),
wherein the handover request response comprises third bearer configuration information used for describing bearer configurations of the first base station and the second base station (Kim, Fig. 7B, S729; and ¶0153: At operation S729, the CU-CP may forward the SN status transfer message to the CU-UP.); and
generating, by the CU-CP, fourth bearer configuration information for configuring the bearer of the CU-UP (Kim, Fig. 7B, S727-S729; and ¶0153: At operation S727, the MeNB may transmit a sequence number (SN) status transfer message to the CU-CP. At operation S729, the CU-CP may forward the SN status transfer message to the CU-UP.)
according to third bearer configuration information comprised in the handover request response sent by the second base station (Kim, Fig. 7B, S723; and ¶0152: At operation S723, the MeNB may transmit a SgNB reconfiguration complete message to the CU-CP.), and
indicating the CU- UP to update the bearer configuration according to the fourth bearer configuration information (Kim, Fig. 7B, S729; and ¶0153: At operation S729, the CU-CP may forward the SN status transfer message to the CU-UP.).
However, Kim does not explicitly teach determining, a connection mode to be adopted by a user equipment (UE) after being switched to a second base station according to a UE capability of the UE sending a handover request to the second base station, wherein the second base station determines whether the first base station is used as a secondary base station of the UE after receiving the handover request sent by the CU-CP, and sends a secondary base station adding request to the CU-CP under a condition that the first base station is used as the secondary base station, the secondary base station adding request sent by the second base station.
However, in the related art Zhu teaches determining, a connection mode to be adopted by a user equipment (UE) after being switched to a second base station according to a UE capability of the UE (Zhu, Fig. 4; ¶0063: In this case, to induce the Target eNB 406 to select the Source gNB 404 as the target SN, the Source gNB 404 may include both an NR measurement result (e.g., candidate CellinfoListNR-r15) and candidate E-UTRA cell information in the RRC container of an NG-AP Handover Required message.)
then sending a handover request to the second base station (Zhu, Fig. 4: Steps 1-3; ¶¶0063-0064),
wherein the second base station determines whether the first base station is used as a secondary base station of the UE after receiving the handover request sent by the CU-CP (Zhu, ¶0064: At step 4, the Target eNB 406 sends an SgNB Addition Request to the Source gNB 404 which has been selected as the Target SN. For example, based on one or more of the QoS profile of the enhanced radio access bearers (E-RABs) (e.g., forwarded by step 2 and step 3), the DC capability of the UE 402, the NR measurement result, local policy, or a combination thereof, the Target eNB 406 may decide to configure the target SgNB for the UE 402.), and
sends a secondary base station adding request to the CU-CP under a condition that the first base station is used as the secondary base station (Zhu, Fig. 4: Step 4; ¶0064),
the secondary base station adding request sent by the second base station (Zhu, Fig. 4, Step 4; ¶0064).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method and apparatus for performing dual connectivity in heterogeneous network of Kim with the inter-system handover between standalone and non-standalone mode of Zhu. The resulting combination would preserve a good user experience by keeping NR as a secondary node when falling-back to EPS for a mobile oriented or mobile terminated voice call (Zhu, ¶0035).
Re. Claim 12, Kim in view of Zhu teaches claim 1.
Kim further teaches sending, by the CU-CP, access indication information to the CU-UP after receiving an access request sent by the UE (Kim, ¶0152-¶0154: At operation S725, a random access procedure may be performed between the UE and the SgNB. At operation S727, the MeNB may transmit a sequence number (SN) status transfer message to the CU-CP. At operation S729, the CU-CP may forward the SN status transfer message to the CU-UP. At operation S731, a data forwarding procedure may be performed. At operation 7[33], a path update procedure may be performed.);
processing, by the CU-UP, uplink data and downlink data of the UE using the configured bearer after receiving the access indication information (Kim, ¶0185-¶0186: At operation 910, the CP-UP may receive a second message, including count information, from the CU-CP. For example, the count information is information that notifies a SgNB that it should transmit and receive packets to and from a UE from which packet. The count information may include information (e.g., DL Count) indicative of the count of the first DL packet to be transmitted to the UE and information (e.g., UL Count) indicative of the count of the first UL packet to be received from the UE.),
wherein the access indication information comprises a control plane user identifier assigned by the CU-CP, a user plane user identifier assigned by the CU-UP and an access completion indication (Kim, ¶0188-¶0190: The SN status transfer message may include count information notifying a target base station (SgNB in the case of FIG. 7) that it should transmit and receive packets to and from a UE from which packet. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the SN status transfer message is a message transmitted from the MeNB to the CU-CP included in the SgNB and transmitted from the CU-CP to the CU-UP. For example, the count information is a count value of a PDCP protocol data unit (PDU), and may be represented as a value of 32 bits configured with a hyper frame number (HFN) and a PDCP sequence number (SN). The count information may include information (e.g., DL Count) indicative of the count of the first packet to be transmitted to a UE and information (e.g., UL Count) indicative of the count of the first packet to be received from the UE. [The SN status transfer message would function as an indication of access completion and would necessarily comprise the CU-CP and CU-UP identifiers to transmit and receive packets from the correct UE.]).
Re. Claim 17, Kim teaches a base station, comprising: a processor (Kim, ¶0016: According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a central unit-user plane (CU-UP) included in a secondary node (SN) (or secondary gNB (SgNB)) in a wireless communication system supporting evolved universal terrestrial radio access and new radio dual connectivity (EN-DC) includes a transceiver and at least one processor.-); and
a memory coupled to the processor (Kim, ¶0272: As shown in FIG. 17, the CU-CP according to various embodiments may include a transceiver 1710, a controller 1720, and a memory or storage unit 1730.),
storing program instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to implement the method (Kim, ¶0284: The memory may store data, such as a basic program, an application program, or configuration information for the operation of the CU-CP.) comprising:
determining, by a control plane entity in the centralized unit (CU-CP) of the first base station (Kim, ¶0146-¶0148: As shown in FIG. 6, a 4G eNB is configured with one network element (NE), and a 5G gNB is configured with a CU-CP, a CU-UP, and a DU, that is, three network elements.),
a connection mode supported by a user plane entity in the centralized unit (CU-UP) of the first base station after receiving measurement information reported by the UE (Kim, Fig. 7A: S700, S701; ¶0146-¶0148: As shown in FIG. 6, a 4G eNB is configured with one network element (NE), and a 5G gNB is configured with a CU-CP, a CU-UP, and a DU, that is, three network elements. ¶0149: At operation S700, the UE transmits a measurement report to an MeNB. At operation S701, the MeNB makes a SgNB addition decision.),
wherein the secondary base station adding request comprises first bearer configuration information associated with a service needing to be carried by the first base station (Kim, Fig. 7A, S703: Message X: X2 SgNB Addition Request [CG-ConfigInfo, E-RAB Info, SgNB UE AMBR]; ¶0170: For example, the SgNB addition request may include delta configuration information. The delta configuration information may include information on SgNB-added bearers.);
configuring, by the CU-CP, a bearer of the CU-UP (Kim, Fig. 7A: S705-S707 Bearer Context Setup request/response between SgNB CU-CP and CU-UP; ¶0150)
according to the first bearer configuration information comprised in the secondary base station adding request (Kim, Fig. 7A, S703: Message X: X2 SgNB Addition Request [CG-ConfigInfo, E-RAB Info, SgNB UE AMBR]; ¶0170)
generating second bearer configuration information according to a configuration result and indicating the CU-UP to update the bearer configuration according to the second bearer configuration information (Kim, Fig. 7A: S713-S715 Bearer Modify request/response between SgNB CU-CP and CU-UP. ¶0150);
generating, by the CU-CP, first access configuration information according to an updating result of the bearer configuration of the CU-UP and sending the first access configuration information to the second base station (Kim, Fig. 7A: S717 Message Y: X2 SgNB Addition Request Acknowledge [CG-Config, E-RAB Info] ¶0151),
wherein the second base station generates second access configuration information that the UE uses to access the second base station according to the first access configuration information (Fig. 7B: S719-S721: RRC Connection Reconfiguration/Reconfiguration Complete ¶0151),
sends a handover request response to the CU-CP (Kim, Fig. 7B, S723),
wherein the handover request response comprises third bearer configuration information used for describing bearer configurations of the first base station and the second base station (Kim, Fig. 7B, S729; and ¶0153: At operation S729, the CU-CP may forward the SN status transfer message to the CU-UP.); and
generating, by the CU-CP, fourth bearer configuration information for configuring the bearer of the CU-UP (Kim, Fig. 7B, S727-S729; and ¶0153: At operation S727, the MeNB may transmit a sequence number (SN) status transfer message to the CU-CP. At operation S729, the CU-CP may forward the SN status transfer message to the CU-UP.)
according to third bearer configuration information comprised in the handover request response sent by the second base station (Kim, Fig. 7B, S723; and ¶0152: At operation S723, the MeNB may transmit a SgNB reconfiguration complete message to the CU-CP.), and
indicating the CU- UP to update the bearer configuration according to the fourth bearer configuration information (Kim, Fig. 7B, S729; and ¶0153: At operation S729, the CU-CP may forward the SN status transfer message to the CU-UP.).
However, Kim does not explicitly teach determining, a connection mode to be adopted by a user equipment (UE) after being switched to a second base station according to a UE capability of the UE sending a handover request to the second base station, wherein the second base station determines whether the first base station is used as a secondary base station of the UE after receiving the handover request sent by the CU-CP, and sends a secondary base station adding request to the CU-CP under a condition that the first base station is used as the secondary base station, the secondary base station adding request sent by the second base station.
However, in the related art Zhu teaches determining, a connection mode to be adopted by a user equipment (UE) after being switched to a second base station according to a UE capability of the UE (Zhu, Fig. 4; ¶0063: In this case, to induce the Target eNB 406 to select the Source gNB 404 as the target SN, the Source gNB 404 may include both an NR measurement result (e.g., candidate CellinfoListNR-r15) and candidate E-UTRA cell information in the RRC container of an NG-AP Handover Required message.)
then sending a handover request to the second base station (Zhu, Fig. 4: Steps 1-3; ¶¶0063-0064),
wherein the second base station determines whether the first base station is used as a secondary base station of the UE after receiving the handover request sent by the CU-CP (Zhu, ¶0064: At step 4, the Target eNB 406 sends an SgNB Addition Request to the Source gNB 404 which has been selected as the Target SN. For example, based on one or more of the QoS profile of the enhanced radio access bearers (E-RABs) (e.g., forwarded by step 2 and step 3), the DC capability of the UE 402, the NR measurement result, local policy, or a combination thereof, the Target eNB 406 may decide to configure the target SgNB for the UE 402.), and
sends a secondary base station adding request to the CU-CP under a condition that the first base station is used as the secondary base station (Zhu, Fig. 4: Step 4; ¶0064),
the secondary base station adding request sent by the second base station (Zhu, Fig. 4, Step 4; ¶0064).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method and apparatus for performing dual connectivity in heterogeneous network of Kim with the inter-system handover between standalone and non-standalone mode of Zhu. The resulting combination would preserve a good user experience by keeping NR as a secondary node when falling-back to EPS for a mobile oriented or mobile terminated voice call (Zhu, ¶0035).
Re. Claim 25, Kim in view of Zhu teaches claim 17.
Kim further teaches a communication system (Kim, ¶0053: In an EN-DC system disclosed in this specification, a main base station may be used as the same meaning as a master base station, a master node (MN), or a master eNB (MeNB). A sub-base station may be used as the same meaning as a secondary base station, a secondary node (SN), or a secondary gNB (SgNB). [See ¶0053 regarding interchangeability of master node and secondary node.]), comprising:
a first base station (Kim, ¶0053: In an EN-DC system disclosed in this specification, a main base station may be used as the same meaning as a master base station, a master node (MN), or a master eNB (MeNB).) which is the base station as claimed in claim 17;
a second base station (Kim, ¶0053: A sub-base station may be used as the same meaning as a secondary base station, a secondary node (SN), or a secondary gNB (SgNB).), comprising: a processor (Kim, ¶0016: According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a central unit-user plane (CU-UP) included in a secondary node (SN) (or secondary gNB (SgNB)) in a wireless communication system supporting evolved universal terrestrial radio access and new radio dual connectivity (EN-DC) includes a transceiver and at least one processor.-); and
a memory coupled to the processor (Kim, ¶0272: As shown in FIG. 17, the CU-CP according to various embodiments may include a transceiver 1710, a controller 1720, and a memory or storage unit 1730.),
storing program instructions which (Kim, ¶0149: At operation S701, the MeNB makes a SgNB addition decision. At operation S703, the MeNB may transmit a SgNB addition request message through a CU-CP included in a SgNB.),
when executed by the processor, cause the processor to implement the method (Kim, ¶0284: The memory may store data, such as a basic program, an application program, or configuration information for the operation of the CU-CP.) comprising:
determining whether the first base station is used as a secondary base station of a user equipment (UE) after receiving a handover request sent by a control plane entity in a centralized unit (CU-CP) of a first base station (Kim, ¶0137: For example, upon handover, a source base station may reset current configuration information of a terminal through an RRC connection reconfiguration message, may transmit information indicative of a configuration ( e.g., full configuration) with new configuration information, and may transmit the new configuration information to a target base station through a handover request message. And ¶0146-¶0148: As shown in FIG. 6, a 4G eNB is configured with one network element (NE), and a 5G gNB is configured with a CU-CP, a CU-UP, and a DU, that is, three network elements.);
sending a secondary base station adding request to the CU-CP (Kim, ¶0149: At operation S703, the MeNB may transmit a SgNB addition request message through a CU-CP included in a SgNB.) under a condition that the first base station is used as the secondary base station,
wherein the secondary base station adding request comprises first bearer configuration (Kim, ¶0168: For example, the SgNB addition request may include information on a bearer for which SgNB addition has been requested information on the PDCP version of at least one bearer (e.g., a bearer of an NR PDCP version).) information associated with a service needing to be carried by the first base station; and
generating second access configuration information that the UE uses to access the second base station according to the first access configuration information sent by the CU-CP (Kim, Fig. 7A, S705 and ¶0150: At operations S705 to S715, the CU-CP may transmit and receive messages (e.g., bearer context setup request, bearer context setup response, bearer modify request, bearer modify response) to and from the CU-UP of the [Sg]NB through an E1 interface, and may transmit and receive messages (e.g., UE context setup request, UE context setup response) to and from a DU through an F1 interface.), and
sending a handover request response to the CU-CP (Kim, Fig. 7B, S723; and ¶0152: At operation S723, the MeNB may transmit a SgNB reconfiguration complete message to the CU-CP.),
wherein the handover request response comprises third bearer configuration information used for describing bearer configurations of the first base station and the second base station (Kim, Fig. 7B, S729; and ¶0153: At operation S729, the CU-CP may forward the SN status transfer message to the CU-UP.).
Yet, Kim does not explicitly teach determining whether the first base station is used as a secondary base station of a user equipment (UE) after receiving a handover request sent by a control plane entity in a centralized unit (CU-CP) of a first base station; sending a secondary base station adding request to the CU-CP under a condition that the first base station is used as the secondary base station, wherein the secondary base station adding request comprises first bearer configuration information associated with a service needing to be carried by the first base station; and sending a handover request response to the CU-CP.
However, in the related art, Zhu teaches determining whether the first base station is used as a secondary base station of a user equipment (UE) after receiving a handover request sent by a control plane entity in a centralized unit (CU-CP) of a first base station (Zhu, Fig. 4: 406; ¶0064: At step 3, the MME 410 sends a Handover Request to the Target eNB 406. Thus, the Target eNB 406 may receive the RRC container of an NG-AP Handover Required message from step 1.);
sending a secondary base station adding request to the CU-CP under a condition that the first base station is used as the secondary base station (Zhu, ¶0064: At step 4, the Target eNB 406 sends an SgNB Addition Request to the Source gNB 404 which has been selected as the Target SN.),
wherein the secondary base station adding request comprises first bearer configuration information associated with a service needing to be carried by the first base station (Zhu, ¶0035: For example, SA to NSA handover may be used in Evolved Packet System (EPS) fallback scenarios, such as Option 2 (NR connected to 5G core network, 5GC) to Option 3 (E-UTRAN NR-dual connectivity, EN-DC) handover. As a specific example, when a UE with an ongoing high-performance demand data service needs to perform a mobile oriented (MO) or mobile terminated (MT) voice call but Voice over NR (VoNR) is not supported, falling-back to EPS and keeping NR as the secondary node (SN) may help to preserve a good user experience (e.g., by maintaining ongoing data service).); and
sending a handover request response to the CU-CP (Zhu, Fig. 4; ¶0066: At step 6, the Target eNB 406 replies to the MME 410 with a Handover Request Ack. At step 7, the MME 410 replies to the AMF/5GC 408 with a Relocation Request Ack. At step 8, the AMF/5GC 408 sends a Handover Command to the Source gNB 404.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method and apparatus for performing dual connectivity in heterogeneous network of Kim with the inter-system handover between standalone and non-standalone mode of Zhu. The resulting combination would preserve a good user experience by keeping NR as a secondary node when falling-back to EPS for a mobile oriented or mobile terminated voice call (Zhu, ¶0035).
Re. Claim 26, Kim in view of Zhu teaches claim 25.
Yet, Kim does not explicitly teach a first core network corresponding to the first base station and a second core network corresponding to the second base station; the first core network, configured to map the protocol data unit session comprised in the handover request sent by the first base station into evolved radio access bearer information, record the mapping relation between the protocol data unit session identifier and the evolved radio access bearer identifier, write the evolved radio access bearer information into the handover request to update the handover request, and send the updated handover request to a second core network; the second core network, configured to send the updated switching request to the second base station.
However, in the related art, Zhu teaches a first core network corresponding to the first base station and a second core network corresponding to the second base station (Zhu, Fig. 1 and ¶0047: In the example of FIG. 2, in an NSA mode 214, the UE 202 may connect to a master base station 216 (e.g., an eNB) in the first core network 204 and a secondary base station (e.g., a gNB) 218 in the second core network 206.);
the first core network, configured to map the protocol data unit session comprised in the handover request sent by the first base station into evolved radio access bearer information, record the mapping relation between the protocol data unit session identifier and the evolved radio access bearer identifier, write the evolved radio access bearer information into the handover request to update the handover request (Zhu, ¶0063: At step 1, the Source gNB 404 starts the handover procedure by initiating the Handover Required procedure. In this case, to induce the Target eNB 406 to select the Source gNB 404 as the target SN, the Source gNB 404 may include both an NR measurement result (e.g., candidate CellinfoList NR-r15) and candidate E-UTRA cell information in the RRC container of an NG-AP Handover Required message.), and ¶0064: At step 2, the AMF/5GC 408 sends a Relocation Request to the target MME 410. The MME 410 starts to create a session on the SGW 412. At step 3, the MME 410 sends a Handover Request to the Target eNB 406. At step 4, the Target eNB 406 sends an SgNB Addition Request to the Source gNB 404 which has been selected as the Target SN. For example, based on one or more of the QoS profile of the enhanced radio access bearers (E-RABs) (e.g., forwarded by step 2 and step 3), the DC capability of the UE 402, the NR measurement result, local policy, or a combination thereof, the Target eNB 406 may decide to configure the target SgNB for the UE 402. [The session created on the SGW serves the same function as mapping the protocol data unit to the evolved radio access bearer and recording that mapping.]), and
send the updated handover request to a second core network (Zhu, ¶0064: step 2 as quoted above.);
the second core network, configured to send the updated switching request to the second base station (Zhu, ¶0064: step 3 as quoted above.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method and apparatus for performing dual connectivity in heterogeneous network of Kim with the inter-system handover between standalone and non-standalone mode of Zhu. The resulting combination would preserve a good user experience by keeping NR as a secondary node when falling-back to EPS for a mobile oriented or mobile terminated voice call (Zhu, ¶0035).
Re. Claim 27, Kim in view of Zhu teaches claim 26.
Kim teaches the first core network is configured to convert the evolved radio access bearer identifier comprised in the third bearer configuration information in the handover request response into a protocol data unit session identifier according to a mapping relation between the protocol data unit session identifier and the evolved radio access bearer identifier to generate an updated handover request response (Kim, Fig. 7B, S723; and ¶0152: At operation S723, the MeNB may transmit a SgNB reconfiguration complete message to the CU-CP.).
Yet, Kim does not explicitly teach the second core network is configured to send a handover request response sent by the second base station to the first core network; the first core network is configured to convert the evolved radio access bearer identifier comprised in the third bearer configuration information in the handover request response into a protocol data unit session identifier according to a mapping relation between the protocol data unit session identifier and the evolved radio access bearer identifier to generate an updated handover request response and send the updated switching request response to the first base station.
Zhu teaches the second core network is configured to send a handover request response sent by the second base station to the first core network (Zhu, ¶0066: At step 6, the Target eNB 406 replies to the MME 410 with a Handover Request Ack. At step 7, the MME 410 replies to the AMF/5GC 408 with a Relocation Request Ack.);
the first core network is configured to convert the evolved radio access bearer identifier comprised in the third bearer configuration information in the handover request response into a protocol data unit session identifier according to a mapping relation between the protocol data unit session identifier and the evolved radio access bearer identifier (Zhu, ¶0066: step 7 as quoted above. [Steps 6 and 7 are the reverse of steps 2 and 3 from ¶0064 as quoted above.]
to generate an updated handover request response (Zhu, ¶0066: step 7 as quoted above), and
send the updated switching request response to the first base station (Zhu, ¶0066: At step 8, the AMF/5GC 408 sends a Handover Command to the Source gNB 404.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method and apparatus for performing dual connectivity in heterogeneous network of Kim with the inter-system handover between standalone and non-standalone mode of Zhu. The resulting combination would preserve a good user experience by keeping NR as a secondary node when falling-back to EPS for a mobile oriented or mobile terminated voice call (Zhu, ¶0035).
Re. Claim 28, Kim teaches a non-transitory computer readable storage medium for storing computer instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the method (Kim, ¶0324: The various embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented as machine (e.g., computer)-readable storage media (e.g., software (e.g., program) including instructions stored in an internal memory or external memory).) comprising:
determining, by a control plane entity in the centralized unit (CU-CP) of the first base station (Kim, ¶0146-¶0148: As shown in FIG. 6, a 4G eNB is configured with one network element (NE), and a 5G gNB is configured with a CU-CP, a CU-UP, and a DU, that is, three network elements.),
a connection mode supported by a user plane entity in the centralized unit (CU-UP) of the first base station after receiving measurement information reported by the UE (Kim, Fig. 7A: S700, S701; ¶0146-¶0148: As shown in FIG. 6, a 4G eNB is configured with one network element (NE), and a 5G gNB is configured with a CU-CP, a CU-UP, and a DU, that is, three network elements. ¶0149: At operation S700, the UE transmits a measurement report to an MeNB. At operation S701, the MeNB makes a SgNB addition decision.),
wherein the secondary base station adding request comprises first bearer configuration information associated with a service needing to be carried by the first base station (Kim, Fig. 7A, S703: Message X: X2 SgNB Addition Request [CG-ConfigInfo, E-RAB Info, SgNB UE AMBR]; ¶0170: For example, the SgNB addition request may include delta configuration information. The delta configuration information may include information on SgNB-added bearers.);
configuring, by the CU-CP, a bearer of the CU-UP (Kim, Fig. 7A: S705-S707 Bearer Context Setup request/response between SgNB CU-CP and CU-UP; ¶0150)
according to the first bearer configuration information comprised in the secondary base station adding request (Kim, Fig. 7A, S703: Message X: X2 SgNB Addition Request [CG-ConfigInfo, E-RAB Info, SgNB UE AMBR]; ¶0170)
generating second bearer configuration information according to a configuration result and indicating the CU-UP to update the bearer configuration according to the second bearer configuration information (Kim, Fig. 7A: S713-S715 Bearer Modify request/response between SgNB CU-CP and CU-UP. ¶0150);
generating, by the CU-CP, first access configuration information according to an updating result of the bearer configuration of the CU-UP and sending the first access configuration information to the second base station (Kim, Fig. 7A: S717 Message Y: X2 SgNB Addition Request Acknowledge [CG-Config, E-RAB Info] ¶0151),
wherein the second base station generates second access configuration information that the UE uses to access the second base station according to the first access configuration information (Fig. 7B: S719-S721: RRC Connection Reconfiguration/Reconfiguration Complete ¶0151),
sends a handover request response to the CU-CP (Kim, Fig. 7B, S723),
wherein the handover request response comprises third bearer configuration information used for describing bearer configurations of the first base station and the second base station (Kim, Fig. 7B, S729; and ¶0153: At operation S729, the CU-CP may forward the SN status transfer message to the CU-UP.); and
generating, by the CU-CP, fourth bearer configuration information for configuring the bearer of the CU-UP (Kim, Fig. 7B, S727-S729; and ¶0153: At operation S727, the MeNB may transmit a sequence number (SN) status transfer message to the CU-CP. At operation S729, the CU-CP may forward the SN status transfer message to the CU-UP.)
according to third bearer configuration information comprised in the handover request response sent by the second base station (Kim, Fig. 7B, S723; and ¶0152: At operation S723, the MeNB may transmit a SgNB reconfiguration complete message to the CU-CP.), and
indicating the CU- UP to update the bearer configuration according to the fourth bearer configuration information (Kim, Fig. 7B, S729; and ¶0153: At operation S729, the CU-CP may forward the SN status transfer message to the CU-UP.).
However, Kim does not explicitly teach determining, a connection mode to be adopted by a user equipment (UE) after being switched to a second base station according to a UE capability of the UE sending a handover request to the second base station, wherein the second base station determines whether the first base station is used as a secondary base station of the UE after receiving the handover request sent by the CU-CP, and sends a secondary base station adding request to the CU-CP under a condition that the first base station is used as the secondary base station, the secondary base station adding request sent by the second base station.
However, in the related art Zhu teaches determining, a connection mode to be adopted by a user equipment (UE) after being switched to a second base station according to a UE capability of the UE (Zhu, Fig. 4; ¶0063: In this case, to induce the Target eNB 406 to select the Source gNB 404 as the target SN, the Source gNB 404 may include both an NR measurement result (e.g., candidate CellinfoListNR-r15) and candidate E-UTRA cell information in the RRC container of an NG-AP Handover Required message.)
then sending a handover request to the second base station (Zhu, Fig. 4: Steps 1-3; ¶¶0063-0064),
wherein the second base station determines whether the first base station is used as a secondary base station of the UE after receiving the handover request sent by the CU-CP (Zhu, ¶0064: At step 4, the Target eNB 406 sends an SgNB Addition Request to the Source gNB 404 which has been selected as the Target SN. For example, based on one or more of the QoS profile of the enhanced radio access bearers (E-RABs) (e.g., forwarded by step 2 and step 3), the DC capability of the UE 402, the NR measurement result, local policy, or a combination thereof, the Target eNB 406 may decide to configure the target SgNB for the UE 402.), and
sends a secondary base station adding request to the CU-CP under a condition that the first base station is used as the secondary base station (Zhu, Fig. 4: Step 4; ¶0064),
the secondary base station adding request sent by the second base station (Zhu, Fig. 4, Step 4; ¶0064).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method and apparatus for performing dual connectivity in heterogeneous network of Kim with the inter-system handover between standalone and non-standalone mode of Zhu. The resulting combination would preserve a good user experience by keeping NR as a secondary node when falling-back to EPS for a mobile oriented or mobile terminated voice call (Zhu, ¶0035).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim in view of Zhu as applied to claim 1, further in view of Wang et al. (US 2020/0154498), Wang hereinafter, and Stojanovski (US 2020/0015128).
Re. Claim 2, Kim in view of Zhu teaches claim 1.
Neither Kim nor Zhu explicitly teaches that the wherein the determining, by the CU-CP, a connection mode to be adopted by the UE after being switched to a second base station comprises: determining, by the CU-CP, that the UE establishes a single connection with the second base station after being switched under a condition that the UE supports only single connectivity; determining, by the CU-CP, that the UE establishes a single connection with the second base station after being switched under a condition that the UE supports a dual connectivity and the core network connection capability of the CU-UP corresponding to a public land mobile network selected by the UE supports a 5G core network; and determining, by the CU-CP, that the UE establishes a single connection with the second base station or a double connection with the first base station and the second base station after being switched according to a signal intensity under a condition that the UE supports the double connectivity and the core network connection capability of the CU-UP corresponding to the public land mobile network selected by the UE supports an evolved packet core network and a 5G core network.
However, in the related art, Wang teaches, determining, by the CU-CP, that the UE establishes a single connection with the second base station after being switched under a condition that the UE supports a dual connectivity and the core network connection capability of the CU-UP corresponding to a public land mobile network selected by the UE supports a 5G core network (Wang, ¶0074: The LTE is used as a master node, while the 5G node is used as a secondary node. and ¶0075: The type of [Dual Connectivity] can be various bearer types. As shown in FIG. 2, a bearer for data transmission can be a split bearer, a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) bearer or an SCG split bearer. The split bearer refers that the master node receives data from the core network, the data is split into two paths, and one path is transmitted from the master node to a UE while the other path is transmitted from the secondary node to the UE. The SCG bearer refers that the secondary node receives data from the core network and the data is transmitted to the UE by the secondary node.); and
determining, by the CU-CP, that the UE establishes a single connection with the second base station or a double connection with the first base station and the second base station after being switched according to a signal intensity under a condition that the UE supports the double connectivity and the core network connection capability of the CU-UP corresponding to the public land mobile network selected by the UE supports an evolved packet core network and a 5G core network (Wang, ¶0074: The LTE is used as a master node, while the 5G node is used as a secondary node. and ¶0075: The type of [Dual Connectivity] can be various bearer types. As shown in FIG. 2, a bearer for data transmission can be a split bearer, a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) bearer or an SCG split bearer…The SCG split bearer refers that the secondary node receives data from the core network, the data is split into two parts, and one part of data is transmitted to the UE by the secondary node while the other part of data is transmitted to the master node and then transmitted to the UE by the master node.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to further combine the invention of Kim as modified by the teaching of Zhu with the Secondary Cell Group split bearer of Wang. The resulting combination would further establish dual-connectivity when the central unit in divided into control plane and user plane entities (Wang, ¶0009).
None of Kim, Zhu, or Wang explicitly teaches determining, by the CU-CP, that the UE establishes a single connection with the second base station after being switched under a condition that the UE supports only single connectivity.
However, in the related art, Stojanovski teaches determining, by the CU-CP, that the UE establishes a single connection with the second base station after being switched under a condition that the UE supports only single connectivity (Stojanovski, ¶0110-¶0111: Example 1 is an apparatus for a user equipment (UE), comprising: a wireless interface configured to couple with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) cell or new radio (NR) cell; a processor coupled to the wireless interface, the processor configured to: camp on the E-UTRA cell or NR cell serviced by a first core network that does not support a voice session; process an indication of a voice session request; generate service request message indicating a fallback request; perform a handover or redirection to an evolved universal mobile telecommunications system terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) cell serviced by a second core network that supports the voice session; and generate a message to establish a protocol data unit (PDU) session or packet data network (PDN) connection for the voice session. Example 2 is the apparatus of Example 1, wherein the wireless interface is configured to couple with the 5GS or evolved packet system (EPS) without coupling to both simultaneously.);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the invention of Kim as modified by the teaching of Zhu and Wang with the architecture for interworking between 5G systems and Evolved Packet Systems of Stojanovski. The resulting combination would enable a UE to fallback to a legacy system from a fifth generation system in the event of a voice call or emergency session request when 5G coverage is spotty or lacks support for regulatory services (Stojanovski, ¶0020).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim in view of Zhu as applied to claim 1, further in view of Park et al. (US 2018/0279193), Park hereinafter, further in view of Stojanovski.
Re. Claim 3, Kim in view of Zhu teaches claim 1.
Yet, Kim does not explicitly teach the handover request includes address information of the second base station and handover assistance information, wherein the handover assistance information comprises a next generation application protocol identifier allocated to the UE by a first core network corresponding to the first base station; the handover request further comprises a measurement result associated with a radio access technology used by the second base station under a condition that the UE can only establish establishes a single connection with the second base station after being switched; the handover request further comprises a measurement result associated with a radio access technology used by the first base station and a measurement result associated with the radio access technology used by the second base station under a condition that the UE establishes a dual connection with the first base station and the second base station after being switched; the handover request comprises no measurement result under a condition that a cause of the handover is an evolved packet system fallback; and the measurement result comprises an identifier of the measurement cell, and at least one of a signal intensity and a signal quality associated with the identifier of the measurement cell, the signal intensity comprises at least one of a reference signal received power of a long term evolution cell or a reference signal received power of a synchronization signal of a new radio cell, the signal quality comprises at least one of a reference signal reception quality of the long term evolution cell or a reference signal reception quality of the synchronization signal of the new radio cell.
Zhu further teaches that the handover request further comprises a measurement result associated with a radio access technology used by the first base station and a measurement result associated with the radio access technology used by the second base station under a condition the UE establishes a dual connection with the first base station and the second base station after being switched (Zhu, ¶0066-¶0067: At step 9, the Source gNB 404 triggers the UE 402 to perform the handover and apply the new configuration. At step 10, the UE 402 synchronizes to the Target eNB 406 (e.g., by conducting a random access procedure). At step 11, the UE 402 replies to the Target eNB 406 with an eNB RRC Connection Reconfiguration complete message. Of note, the UE 402 does not need to synchronize to the Target SN in this procedure since the Source gNB 404 is the target SN.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method and apparatus for performing dual connectivity in heterogeneous network of Kim with the inter-system handover between standalone and non-standalone mode of Zhu. The resulting combination would preserve a good user experience by keeping NR as a secondary node when falling-back to EPS for a mobile oriented or mobile terminated voice call (Zhu, ¶0035).
Neither Kim nor Zhu explicitly teaches the handover request includes address information of the second base station and handover assistance information, wherein the handover assistance information comprises a next generation application protocol identifier allocated to the UE by a first core network corresponding to the first base station; the handover request further comprises a measurement result associated with a radio access technology used by the second base station under a condition that the UE can only establish establishes a single connection with the second base station after being switched; the handover request further comprises a measurement result associated with a radio access technology used by the first base station and a measurement result associated with the radio access technology used by the second base station under a condition that the UE establishes a dual connection with the first base station and the second base station after being switched; the handover request comprises no measurement result under a condition that a cause of the handover is an evolved packet system fallback; and the measurement result comprises an identifier of the measurement cell, and at least one of a signal intensity and a signal quality associated with the identifier of the measurement cell, the signal intensity comprises at least one of a reference signal received power of a long term evolution cell or a reference signal received power of a synchronization signal of a new radio cell, the signal quality comprises at least one of a reference signal reception quality of the long term evolution cell or a reference signal reception quality of the synchronization signal of the new radio cell.
However, in the related art, Park teaches the handover request includes address information of the second base station (Park, ¶0274: The second message may be a handover request message.) and
handover assistance information, wherein the handover assistance information comprises a next generation application protocol identifier allocated to the UE by a first core network corresponding to the first base station -(Park, ¶0274: The second message may comprise at least one of a wireless device identifier of the wireless device, a wireless device context (e.g. information of at least one of one or more bearers, one or more PDU sessions, one or more QoS flows, one or more network slices, subscriber information, security information, and/or etc.) of the wireless device, one or more cell identifiers of one or more cells served by the second base station (e.g. a handover target base station, a target base station, target gNB, target eNB) receiving the second message, one or more elements of the measurement report received from the wireless device and/or the like.);
the handover request further comprises a measurement result associated with a radio access technology used by the first base station and a measurement result associated with the radio access technology used by the second base station under a condition that the UE establishes a dual connection with the first base station and the second base station after being switched (Park, ¶0274: In an example, when an RSRP of a cell in the measurement report is larger than and/or equal to a power threshold value, or than an RSRP of a serving cell ( e.g. primary cell) by a power offset value, the first base station may determine to initiate a handover preparation towards the cell. [In order to determine the initiation of the handover process based on a difference between the RSRP of a target cell and a primary cell, it would be necessary for the measurement result to include results associated with both the first and second base station radio access technologies.]); and
the measurement result comprises an identifier of the measurement cell (Park, ¶0274: The second message may comprise at least one of a wireless device identifier of the wireless device, a wireless device context ( e.g. information of at least one of one or more bearers, one or more PDU sessions, one or more QoS flows, one or more network slices, subscriber information, security information, and/or etc.) of the wireless device, one or more cell identifiers of one or more cells served by the second base station (e.g. a handover target base station, a target base station, target gNB, target eNB) receiving the second message, one or more elements of the measurement report received from the wireless device and/or the like.), and
at least one of a signal intensity and a signal quality associated with the identifier of the measurement cell, the signal intensity comprises at least one of a reference signal received power of a long term evolution cell or a reference signal received power of a synchronization signal of a new radio cell, the signal quality comprises at least one of a reference signal reception quality of the long term evolution cell or a reference signal reception quality of the synchronization signal of the new radio cell (Park, ¶0274: The measurement report may comprise at least one of a list of cells, an RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) of a cell listed, and/or an RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality) of a cell listed.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the invention of Kim as modified by Zhu with the conditional handover execution of Park. The result of the combination would reduce wasted radio resources or data forwarding delay (Park, ¶0273).
None of Kim, Zhu, or Park explicitly teaches the handover request further comprises a measurement result associated with a radio access technology used by the second base station under a condition that the UE can only establish establishes a single connection with the second base station after being switched; the handover request comprises no measurement result under a condition that a cause of the handover is an evolved packet system fallback.
However, in the related art Stojanovski teaches the handover request further comprises a measurement result associated with a radio access technology used by the second base station (Stojanovski, ¶0036: In operations 3 and 4, the 5GS triggers a handover towards EPS by executing an N2-AP procedure in which it indicates to NG RAN 204 that this is a handover for EPS fallback (such as through communication between NG-RAN 204 and AMF 208). In operation 5, NG RAN 204 optionally solicits measurement reports for target E-UTRAN cells.)
under a condition that the UE can only establish establishes a single connection with the second base station after being switched (Stojanovski, ¶0110-¶0111: Example 1 is an apparatus for a user equipment (UE), comprising: a wireless interface configured to couple with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) cell or new radio (NR) cell; a processor coupled to the wireless interface, the processor configured to: camp on the E-UTRA cell or NR cell serviced by a first core network that does not support a voice session; process an indication of a voice session request; generate service request message indicating a fallback request; perform a handover or redirection to an evolved universal mobile telecommunications system terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) cell serviced by a second core network that supports the voice session; and generate a message to establish a protocol data unit (PDU) session or packet data network (PDN) connection for the voice session. Example 2 is the apparatus of Example 1, wherein the wireless interface is configured to couple with the 5GS or evolved packet system (EPS) without coupling to both simultaneously.);
the handover request comprises no measurement result under a condition that a cause of the handover is an evolved packet system fallback (Stojanovski, ¶0024: In one embodiment, when UE intends to make a Mobile Originated (MO) call or when UE receives an IMS message (e.g., SIP INVITE) indicating a Mobile Terminated (MT) call, the UE sends a 5G NAS message (e.g., [SG NAS] Service Request) indicating that it requires EPC fallback for MO or MT call. Based on this request the 5GS triggers a handover or RRC redirection towards the EPS. Note that session initiation protocol (SIP) signaling can be exchanged in parallel to the handover procedure. For the duration of the voice call in EPS the E-UTRAN is configured to not trigger any handback to 5GS. The presence of a voice call is signaled with an explicit indication or is deduced by the presence of QCI=1 bearer. When the voice call is over in EPS the E-UTRAN triggers a handback to the 5G system. The trigger for handback is the absence of bearer with QCI=1 or with an explicit indication.);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the invention of Kim as modified by the teaching of Zhu and Park with architecture for interworking between 5G systems and Evolved Packet Systems of Stojanovski. The resulting combination would enable a UE to fallback to a legacy system from a fifth generation system in the event of a voice call or emergency session request when 5G coverage is spotty or lacks support for regulatory services (Stojanovski, ¶0020).
Claims 6 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim in view of Zhu as applied to claims 1 and 25, respectively, further in view of Stojanovski.
Re. Claim 6, Kim in view of Zhu teaches claim 1.
Neither Kim nor Zhu explicitly teaches wherein the sending a handover request to the second base station comprises: sending, by the CU-CP, the handover request to the second base station through a first core network corresponding to the first base station and a second core network corresponding to the second base station.
However, in the related art, Stojanovski teaches sending, by the CU-CP, the handover request to the second base station through a first core network corresponding to the first base station and a second core network corresponding to the second base station (Skojanovski, Fig. 1 and ¶0028: FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an architecture 100 for interworking between a 5GS and EPC/E-UTRAN. Depicted in FIG. 1 is the architecture for interworking 5G-4G between 5G System (5GS) and the Evolved Packet System (EPS). In the embodiment shown, a UE 116 is connected to E-UTRAN 114. The E-UTRAN 114 is connected to PGW-C+SMF 106, HSS+UDM 102, and UPF+PGW-U 108 through SGW 110 and MME 112. MME 112 can communicate with AMF 122 over interface N26. N26 interface is an inter-CN interface between the MME 112 and 5GS AMF 122 in order to enable interworking between EPC and the NG core.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the invention of Kim as modified by the teaching of Zhu with the architecture for interworking between 5G systems and Evolved Packet Systems of Stojanovski. The resulting combination would enable a UE to fallback to a legacy system from a fifth generation system in the event of a voice call or emergency session request when 5G coverage is spotty or lacks support for regulatory services (Stojanovski, ¶0020).
Re. Claim 23, Kim in view of Zhu teaches claim 25.
Neither Kim nor Zhu explicitly teaches wherein the sending a handover request response to the CU-CP comprises: sending the handover request response to the first base station through a second core network corresponding to the second base station and a first core network corresponding to the first base station.
However, in the related art, Stojanovski teaches wherein the sending a handover request response to the CU-CP comprises: sending the handover request response to the first base station through a second core network corresponding to the second base station and a first core network corresponding to the first base station (Skojanovski, Fig. 1 and ¶0028: FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an architecture 100 for interworking between a 5GS and EPC/E-UTRAN. Depicted in FIG. 1 is the architecture for interworking 5G-4G between 5G System (5GS) and the Evolved Packet System (EPS). In the embodiment shown, a UE 116 is connected to E-UTRAN 114. The E-UTRAN 114 is connected to PGW-C+SMF 106, HSS+UDM 102, and UPF+PGW-U 108 through SGW 110 and MME 112. MME 112 can communicate with AMF 122 over interface N26. N26 interface is an inter-CN interface between the MME 112 and 5GS AMF 122 in order to enable interworking between EPC and the NG core.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the invention of Kim as modified by the teaching of Zhu with the architecture for interworking between 5G systems and Evolved Packet Systems of Stojanovski. The resulting combination would enable a UE to fallback to a legacy system from a fifth generation system in the event of a voice call or emergency session request when 5G coverage is spotty or lacks support for regulatory services (Stojanovski, ¶0020).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim in view of Zhu as applied to claim 1 further in view of Chang et al. (US 2019/0037450), Chang hereinafter, and further in view of Bae et al. (US 2021/0227428), Bae hereinafter.
Re. Claim 7, Kim in view of Zhu teaches claim 1.
Kim teaches wherein the configuring, by the CU-CP, a bearer of the CU-UP according to first bearer configuration information comprises:
determining, by the CU-CP, whether an evolved radio access bearer matched with a protocol data unit session is comprised in bearers of the first base station (Kim, ¶0168-¶0169: For example, the SgNB addition request may include information on a bearer for which SgNB addition has been requested information on the PDCP version of at least one bearer (e.g., a bearer of an NR PDCP version). For example, the information on a bearer for which SgNB addition has been requested may be identified through E-RABs To Be Added List>E-RABs To Be Added Item>>E-RAB ID of the SgNB Addition Request Message described in 3GPP LTE document TS 36.423. Furthermore, the information on a bearer of an NR PDCP version may be identified through an E-RAB ID within CG-Configinfo>mcg-RB-Config of the MeNB to SgNB Container of the SgNB Addition Request Message described in 3GPP NR document 38.331.)
under a condition of determining the UE configures a context in the first base station and is executing a handover operation according to the identifier of the next generation application protocol (Kim, ¶0188: The SN status transfer message according to various embodiments of the disclosure is a message used in a handover execution step, and is a message transmitted from a source base station (MeNB in the case of FIG. 7) to a target base station (SgNB in the case of FIG. 7). The SN status transfer message may include count information notifying a target base station (SgNB in the case of FIG. 7) that it should transmit and receive packets to and from a UE from which packet.),
wherein a service quality information of the protocol data unit session is the same as a service quality information of the matched evolved radio access bearer (Kim, ¶0228: FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example in which a PCDP sequence number is allocated to a DL packet if a target eNB using an NR PDCP allocates a radio resource for a bearer using an NR PDCP, that is, if there is no change in the PDCP version of a bearer, in a wireless communication system supporting EN-DC.); and
adding, by the CU-CP, a matched protocol data unit session for the evolved radio access bearer under a condition that the evolved radio access bearer does not have the matched protocol data unit session (Kim, ¶0192: For example, the CP-UP may identify whether there is a change in the PDCP version of a bearer based on the indication information. If there is a change in the PDCP version of the bearer, the CP-UP may initialize the PDCP sequence number and allocate a PDCP sequence number to at least one DL packet.).
Neither Kim nor Zhu explicitly teaches determining, by the CU-CP, that a protocol data unit session needs to be kept in the CU-UP after the UE being switched and establishing a mapping relation between the CU-CP and the matched evolved radio access bearer under a condition that there exist a[n] evolved radio access bearer matched with the protocol data unit session; determining, by the CU-CP, that the protocol data unit session needs to be deleted after the UE being switched under a condition that the protocol data unit session does not have a matched evolved radio access bearer.
However, in the related art, Chang teaches determining, by the CU-CP, that a protocol data unit session needs to be kept in the CU- UP after the UE being switched (Chang, ¶0284: In an implementation, the first request message sent by the first base station to the second base station includes a configuration instruction for configuring information, so that the second base station pre-configures a signaling radio bearer (SRB) and a data radio bearer (DRB) for the UE according to the configuration instruction. [The pre-configuration of the SRB and DRB for the UE necessitates keeping a protocol data unit session.]) and
establishing a mapping relation between the CU-CP and the matched evolved radio access bearer under a condition that there exists a[n] evolved radio access bearer matched with the protocol data unit session (Chang, ¶0287: After receiving the first indication message, the second base station first establishes the SRB and the DRB between the second base station and the UE. To be specific, the establishing the SRB and the DRB between the second base station and the UE includes: establishing corresponding L2 entities such as a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entity, a radio link control (RLC) entity, and a Media Access Control (MAC) entity for the SRB, and establishing a corresponding PDCP entity, RLC entity, and MAC entity for the DRB. Then, by using the established PDCP entities, RLC entities, and MAC entities, the second base station receives uplink data sent by the UE and sends downlink data to the UE.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the invention of Kim as modified by the teaching of Zhu with the signaling radio bearer and data radio bearer pre-configuration of Chang. The resulting combination would reduce the relatively great latency of a hard handover mode (Chang, ¶0006).
None of Kim, Zhu, or Chang explicitly teaches determining, by the CU-CP, that the protocol data unit session needs to be deleted after the UE being switched under a condition that the protocol data unit session does not have a matched evolved radio access bearer.
However, in the related art, Bae teaches determining, by the CU-CP, that the protocol data unit session needs to be deleted after the UE being switched under a condition that the protocol data unit session does not have a matched evolved radio access bearer (Bae, ¶0049: Thereafter, the CU-CP of the target RAN node may transmit a UE CONTEXT RELEASE message to the source RAN node, as in operation 3-800. The CU-CP of the source RAN node having received the message may transmit a BEARER CONTEXT RELEASE COMMAND message to the CU-UP of the source RAN node, as in operation 3-810. And ¶0062: Thereafter, the target RAN node transmits a UE CONTEXT RELEASE message to the source RAN node as in operation 6-800, the source RAN node having received the same deletes related information and configuration for the terminal (UE), and the terminal has performed no handover.);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine invention of Kim as modified by the teaching of Zhu, and Chang with the bearer context release command message and UE context release message of Bae. The resulting combination would improve support for effective data forwarding between base station for effective conditional handover and dual stack protocol handover in mobile communication systems (Bae, ¶0007).
Claims 8 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim in view of Zhu, Chang, and Bae as applied to claim 7 above, and further in view of Wang.
Re. Claim 8, Kim in view of Zhu, Chang, and Bae teaches claim 7.
Kim teaches wherein the indicating, by the CU-CP, the CU-UP to update the bearer configuration according to the second bearer configuration information comprises:
sending, by the CU-CP, a first bearer context modification request to the CU-UP (Kim, ¶0150: At operations S705 to S715, the CU-CP may transmit and receive messages (e.g., bearer context setup request, bearer context setup response, bearer modify request, bearer modify response) to and from the CU-UP of the MeNB through an E1 interface, and may transmit and receive messages (e.g., UE context setup request, UE context setup response) to and from a DU through an F1 interface.);
updating, by the CU-UP, a bearer configuration according to second bearer configuration information comprised in the first bearer context modification request (Kim, ¶0171-¶0172: At operation 810, the CU-CP may transmit, to the CU-UP included in the SgNB, a second message including indication information indicating whether the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) version of a bearer has been changed. The indication information according to various embodiments of the disclosure may be generated based on the first message. For example, whether the PDCP version has been changed may be identified based on information on at least one bearer for which SgNB addition has been requested and which is included in the first message and information on the PDCP version of the at least one bearer.);
sending, by the CU-UP, a first bearer context modification response after updating corresponding bearer (Kim, ¶0150: At operations S705 to S715, the CU-CP may transmit and receive messages (e.g., bearer context setup request, bearer context setup response, bearer modify request, bearer modify response) to and from the CU-UP of the MeNB through an E1 interface, and may transmit and receive messages (e.g., UE context setup request, UE context setup response) to and from a DU through an F1 interface.),
wherein the second bearer configuration information comprises protocol data unit session information that needs to be deleted, protocol data unit session information that needs to be modified, and an evolved radio access bearer that needs to be added (Kim, ¶0168-¶0169: For example, the SgNB addition request may include information on a bearer for which SgNB addition has been requested information on the PDCP version of at least one bearer (e.g., a bearer of an NR PDCP version). For example, the information on a bearer for which SgNB addition has been requested may be identified through E-RABs To Be Added List>E-RABs To Be Added Item>>E-RAB ID of the SgNB Addition Request Message described in 3GPP LTE document TS 36.423. Furthermore, the information on a bearer of an NR PDCP version may be identified through an E-RAB ID within CG-Configinfo>mcg-RB-Config of the MeNB to SgNB Container of the SgNB Addition Request Message described in 3GPP NR document 38.331.).
None of Kim, Zhu, or Chang explicitly teaches stopping sending data to the UE, sending by the CU-UP, a first bearer context modification response comprises at least one of a successfully added bearer list, a successfully deleted bearer list, a successfully modified bearer list and a bearer list which cannot be successfully accepted; wherein the second bearer configuration information comprises protocol data unit session information that needs to be deleted, wherein the protocol data unit session information that needs to be deleted comprises a protocol data unit session identifier and a suspension operation indication, the protocol data unit session information that needs to be modified comprises a protocol data unit session identifier, an evolved radio access bearer that has a mapping relationship with the protocol data unit session and a corresponding bearer type, and the evolved radio access bearer information that needs to be added comprises an evolved radio access bearer identifier that needs to be added and corresponding quality of service information.
However, in the related art, Bae teaches stopping sending data to the UE (Bae, ¶0044: The CU-CP of the source RAN node having received the message may transmit a BEARER CONTEXT RELEASE COMMAND message to the CU-UP of the source RAN node, as in operation 2-910. The CU-UP of the source RAN node may respond by transmitting a BEARER CONTEXT RELEASE COMPLETE message, as in operation 2-920. Further, even if the CU-UP of the source RAN node has deleted related information and configuration for the terminal (UE), and the terminal has performed no handover, if there is another target RAN node in which conditional handover has already been configured, a HANDOVER CANCEL message is transmitted to enable cancellation of the preconfigured conditional handover. [By deleting related information and configuration for the UE, the CU-UP would necessarily stop sending data to the UE.]);
wherein the second bearer configuration information comprises protocol data unit session information that needs to be deleted, wherein the protocol data unit session information that needs to be deleted comprises a protocol data unit session identifier and a suspension operation indication (See Bae, ¶0044 quoted above).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine invention of Kim as modified by the teaching of Zhu, and Chang with the bearer context release command message and UE context release message of Bae. The resulting combination would improve support for effective data forwarding between base station for effective conditional handover and dual stack protocol handover in mobile communication systems (Bae, ¶0007).
None of Kim, Zhu, Chang, or Bae explicitly teaches that the first bearer context modification response comprises at least one of a successfully added bearer list, a successfully deleted bearer list, a successfully modified bearer list and a bearer list which cannot be successfully accepted or that the protocol data unit session information that needs to be modified comprises a protocol data unit session identifier, an evolved radio access bearer that has a mapping relationship with the protocol data unit session and a corresponding bearer type, and the evolved radio access bearer information that needs to be added comprises an evolved radio access bearer identifier that needs to be added and corresponding quality of service information.
However, in the related art, Wang teaches the first bearer context modification response comprises at least one of a successfully added bearer list, a successfully deleted bearer list, a successfully modified bearer list and a bearer list which cannot be successfully accepted (Wang, ¶0219-¶0220: Step 808: The UP transmits a resource modification response message to the SN-CP, where the message carries information about a successfully established PDCP information. For example, an identifier of a cell, an identifier of a UE, an identifier of a bearer, an identifier of a PDCP stack or other information is carried in this message. [Information about a successfully established PDCP information would include a list of successfully added, deleted, or modified bearers or bearers which cannot be accepted.]),
the protocol data unit session information that needs to be modified comprises a protocol data unit session identifier, an evolved radio access bearer that has a mapping relationship with the protocol data unit session and a corresponding bearer type, and the evolved radio access bearer information that needs to be added comprises an evolved radio access bearer identifier that needs to be added and corresponding quality of service information (Wang, ¶0352-¶0355: The SN setup response message carries one or more pieces of the following information. Identifier of a successfully established bearer: here, the identifier can be an identifier of a Data Radio Bearer (DRB), an identifier of a QoS flow and/or a PDU session ID. Mapping from the QoS flow to the DRB: for an SCG split bearer, if the SN has determined the mapping from the QoS flow to the DRB, the SN needs to notify the MN (MN-CP) of this mapping; and, the MN (MN-CP) determines the QoS of the SCG split bearer on the MN according to the mapping, then configures an RLC layer, an MAC layer and a physical according to the QoS, and transmits a message in the step 1103 to configure the MN-DU. RRC transparent container: the RRC transparent container can contain configuration information of the UE.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to further combine the invention of Kim as modified by the teachings of Zhu, Chang, and Bae with the Secondary Cell Group split bearer of Wang. The resulting combination would further establish dual-connectivity when the central unit in divided into control plane and user plane entities (Wang, ¶0009).
Re. Claim 10, Kim in view of Zhu, Chang, Bae, and Wang teaches claim 8.
Kim further teaches configuration method according to claim 8, wherein the sending, by the CU-CP, the first access configuration information to the second base station comprises: encapsulating, by the CU-CP, the first access configuration information in a radio resource control container and sending the first access configuration information to the second base station through an interface between the CU-CP and the second base station (Kim, ¶0137: For example, upon handover, a source base station may reset current configuration information of a terminal through an RRC connection reconfiguration message, may transmit information indicative of a configuration ( e.g., full configuration) with new configuration information, and may transmit the new configuration information to a target base station through a handover request message.).
None of Kim, Zhu, Chang, or Bae explicitly teaches wherein the first access configuration information comprises at least one of a successfully added bearer list, a successfully deleted bearer list, and a bearer list which cannot be successfully accepted.
However, in the related art, Wang teaches wherein the first access configuration information comprises at least one of a successfully added bearer list, a successfully deleted bearer list, and a bearer list which cannot be successfully accepted (Wang, ¶0352-¶0355: The SN setup response message carries one or more pieces of the following information. Identifier of a successfully established bearer: here, the identifier can be an identifier of a Data Radio Bearer (DRB), an identifier of a QoS flow and/or a PDU session ID. Mapping from the QoS flow to the DRB: for an SCG split bearer, if the SN has determined the mapping from the QoS flow to the DRB, the SN needs to notify the MN (MN-CP) of this mapping; and, the MN (MN-CP) determines the QoS of the SCG split bearer on the MN according to the mapping, then configures an RLC layer, an MAC layer and a physical according to the QoS, and transmits a message in the step 1103 to configure the MN-DU. RRC transparent container: the RRC transparent container can contain configuration information of the UE.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to further combine the invention of Kim as modified by the teachings of Zhu, Chang, and Bae with the Secondary Cell Group split bearer of Wang. The resulting combination would further establish dual-connectivity when the central unit in divided into control plane and user plane entities (Wang, ¶0009).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim in view of Zhu as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of Bae.
Re. Claim 11, Kim in view of Zhu teaches claim 1.
Kim teaches wherein the indicating the CU-UP to update the bearer configuration according to the fourth bearer configuration information comprises:
sending, by the CU-CP, a second bearer context modification request to the CU-UP (Kim, ¶0185: At operation 910, the [CU]-UP may receive a second message, including count information, from the CU-CP.),
wherein the second bearer context modification request comprises the fourth bearer configuration information (Kim, Fig. 7B, S727-S729; and ¶0153: At operation S727, the MeNB may transmit a sequence number (SN) status transfer message to the CU-CP. At operation S729, the CU-CP may forward the SN status transfer message to the CU-UP.);
configuring, by the CU-UP, the bearers to be added for uplink service and downlink service transmission (Kim, ¶0185-¶0186: At operation 910, the [CU]-UP may receive a second message, including count information, from the CU-CP. For example, the count information is information that notifies a SgNB that it should transmit and receive packets to and from a UE from which packet. The count information may include information (e.g., DL Count) indicative of the count of the first DL packet to be transmitted to the UE and information (e.g., UL Count) indicative of the count of the first UL packet to be received from the UE.).
Neither Kim nor Zhu explicitly teaches deleting the identifiers of the bearers to be deleted and all cache data according to the fourth bearer configuration information.
However, in the related art, Bae teaches deleting the identifiers of the bearers to be deleted and all cache data according to the fourth bearer configuration information (Bae, ¶0044: The CU-CP of the source RAN node having received the message may transmit a BEARER CONTEXT RELEASE COMMAND message to the CU-UP of the source RAN node, as in operation 2-910. The CU-UP of the source RAN node may respond by transmitting a BEARER CONTEXT RELEASE COMPLETE message, as in operation 2-920. Further, even if the CU-UP of the source RAN node has deleted related information and configuration for the terminal (UE), and the terminal has performed no handover, if there is another target RAN node in which conditional handover has already been configured, a HANDOVER CANCEL message is transmitted to enable cancellation of the preconfigured conditional handover.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine invention of Kim as modified by the teaching of Zhu with the bearer context release command message and UE context release message of Bae. The resulting combination would improve support for effective data forwarding between base station for effective conditional handover and dual stack protocol handover in mobile communication systems (Bae, ¶0007).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim in view of Zhu as applied to claim 1 above further in view of Yang et al. (US 2021/0337461), Yang hereinafter, further in view of Kadiri et al. (US 2019/0288909), Kadiri hereinafter, further in view of Stojanovski.
Re. Claim 13, Kim in view of Zhu teaches claim 1.
Kim teaches the UE selecting the CU-UP is configured with at least one of the non-stand-alone mode and the stand-alone mode according to needs under a condition that the CU-UP supports an evolved packet core network and the 5G core network (Kim, ¶0052: A base station may include a 5G base station (or new radio base station or gNB) using the 5G radio access technology (new radio (NR)), a 4G base station (LTE-eNB) using the 4G radio access technology (E-UTRA), and a base station (eLTE eNB) using the radio access technology evolved from 4G (evolved E-UTRA). Furthermore, the base station (eLTE eNB) may support the 4G radio access technology and the 5G radio access technology at the same time. And ¶0057: That is, in this specification, the gNB-CU-control plane (gNB-CU-CP), the gNB-CU-user plane (gNB-CU-UP), and the gNB distributed unit (gNB-DU) may be indicated as a CU-CP, a CU-UP, and a DU, respectively.).
Neither Kim nor Zhu explicitly teaches determining, by the CU-UP, a connection capability of the core network of the CU-UP according to a trigger information and sending connection capability information of the core network of the CU-UP to the CU-CP; determining, by the CU-CP, a connection mode of the UE according to the core network connection capacity information of the CU-UP; sending, by the CU-UP, a updated core network connection capacity information to the CU-CP under a condition that the core network connection capacity of one or more public land mobile networks is changed, thereby the CU-CP determining the connection mode of the UE according to the updated core network connection capacity information, wherein, the connection capability information of the core network comprises a public core network support capability of the CU-UP, and a public land mobile network list supported by the CU-UP, wherein the public land mobile network list comprises public land mobile network identifies and the core network support capability of each public land mobile network; the UE selecting the CU-UP can only be configured with anon-stand-alone mode under a condition that the CU-UP supports an evolved packet core network; the UE selecting the CU-UP can only be configured with a stand-alone mode under a condition that the CU-UP supports a 5G core network.
However, in the related art, Yang teaches determining, by the CU-UP, a connection capability of the core network of the CU-UP according to a trigger information and sending connection capability information of the core network of the CU-UP to the CU-CP (Yang, ¶0151: Optionally, the CU-UP may send the access capability information to the CU-CP through an E1 interface. And ¶0160: For example, the access capability information may indicate at least one of a list of PLMN s that is allowed to be accessed by the first access network device, a configured cell list of the PLMN, or a configured slice list of the PLMN. [Sending a list of allowed PLMNs is equivalent to sending core network capability.]);
wherein, the connection capability information of the core network comprises a public core network support capability of the CU-UP, and a public land mobile network list supported by the CU-UP (Yang, ¶0160 as quoted above.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the invention of Kim as modified by the teaching of Zhu with the network access method and apparatus of Yang. The resulting combination would improve efficiency of a network device when performing user equipment access control or PDU session resource establishment (Yang, ¶0005).
None of Kim, Zhu, or Yang explicitly teaches determining, by the CU-CP, a connection mode of the UE according to the core network connection capacity information of the CU-UP; sending, by the CU-UP, a updated core network connection capacity information to the CU-CP under a condition that the core network connection capacity of one or more public land mobile networks is changed, thereby the CU-CP determining the connection mode of the UE according to the updated core network connection capacity information, wherein the public land mobile network list comprises public land mobile network identifies and the core network support capability of each public land mobile network; the UE selecting the CU-UP can only be configured with anon-stand-alone mode under a condition that the CU-UP supports an evolved packet core network; the UE selecting the CU-UP can only be configured with a stand-alone mode under a condition that the CU-UP supports a 5G core network.
However, in the related art, Kadiri teaches determining, by the CU-CP, a connection mode of the UE according to the core network connection capacity information of the CU-UP (Kadiri, ¶0043: Using aspects presented herein, a base station 108 may determine a first PLMN configuration for PLMNs associated (e.g., solely) with an EPC network and PLMNs associated with an EPC network and 5G core network. The base station 108 may also determine a second PLMN configuration for PLMNs associated (e.g., solely) with a 5G core network. The base station 108 may signal the first and second PLMN configurations to one or more UEs 106. A UE 106 may perform a cell selection procedure in one of the PLMN s from the first and second PLMN configurations using parameter(s) in at least one of the first or second PLMN configurations.);
sending, by the CU-UP, a[n] updated core network connection capacity information to the CU-CP under a condition that the core network connection capacity of one or more public land mobile networks is changed (Kadiri, ¶0069: The base station may identify the PLMNs based on signaling received from the core network, another base station, a predefined configuration, etc.),
thereby the CU-CP determining the connection mode of the UE according to the updated core network connection capacity information (See Kadiri, ¶0043 as quoted above),
wherein the public land mobile network list comprises public land mobile network identifie[r]s and the core network support capability of each public land mobile network (Kadiri, ¶0043 as quoted above.);
the UE selecting the CU-UP can only be configured with a non-stand-alone mode under a condition that the CU-UP supports an evolved packet core network (Kadiri, ¶0060: In other words, each PLMN can be connected to: (1) an EPC network only, (2) both an EPC network and a 5G core network, or (3) a 5G core network only. [In the case that the PLMN can only be connected to an EPC network, the UE would be required to connect in non-stand-alone mode when establishing dual connectivity.]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further combine the invention of Kim as modified by the teachings of Zhu and Yang with the devices and methods for facilitating optimization of public land mobility network configuration for a system information block of Kadiri. The resulting combination would facilitate optimization of PLMN configuration in wireless communication system (Kadiri, ¶0006).
Yet, none of Kim, Zhu, Mochizuki, Yang, or Kadiri explicitly teaches the UE selecting the CU-UP can only be configured with a stand-alone mode under a condition that the CU-UP supports a 5G core network.
However, in the related art, Stojanovski teaches the UE selecting the CU-UP can only be configured with a stand-alone mode under a condition that the CU-UP supports a 5G core network (Stojanovski, ¶0110-¶0111: Example 1 is an apparatus for a user equipment (UE), comprising: a wireless interface configured to couple with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) cell or new radio (NR) cell; a processor coupled to the wireless interface, the processor configured to: camp on the E-UTRA cell or NR cell serviced by a first core network that does not support a voice session; process an indication of a voice session request; generate service request message indicating a fallback request; perform a handover or redirection to an evolved universal mobile telecommunications system terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) cell serviced by a second core network that supports the voice session; and generate a message to establish a protocol data unit (PDU) session or packet data network (PDN) connection for the voice session. Example 2 is the apparatus of Example 1, wherein the wireless interface is configured to couple with the 5GS or evolved packet system (EPS) without coupling to both simultaneously.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further combine the invention of Kim as modified by the teachings of Zhu, Yang, and Kadiri with the architecture for interworking between 5G systems and Evolved Packet Systems of Stojanovski. The resulting combination would enable a UE to fallback to a legacy system from a fifth generation system in the event of a voice call or emergency session request when 5G coverage is spotty or lacks support for regulatory services (Stojanovski, ¶0020).
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim in view of Zhu further in view of Park.
Re. Claim 19, Kim in view of Zhu teaches claim 25--.
Yet, Kim does not explicitly teach wherein the determining whether the first base station is used as a secondary base station of the UE comprises: determining not to use the first base station as the secondary base station of the UE under a condition that a UE capability of the UE does not support the addition of secondary connection in a handover process; determining to use the first base station as the secondary base station of the UE under a condition that the UE capability of the UE supports the addition of secondary connection in a handover process, and the cause of the handover is an evolved packet system fallback and there exists no measurement result; determining to use the first base station as the secondary base station of the UE under a condition that the UE capability of the UE supports the addition of secondary connection in the handover process and a signal intensity of a cell to which the first base station belongs is the highest in the measurement result; placing the first access configuration information into a first radio resource control container, thereby instructing the UE to access the first base station in the handover process after generating the second access configuration information; and placing the second access configuration information into a second radio resource control container, thereby instructing the UE to access the second base station in the handover process.
Zhu teaches wherein the determining whether the first base station is used as a secondary base station of the UE comprises:
determining to use the first base station as the secondary base station of the UE under a condition that the UE capability of the UE supports the addition of secondary connection in a handover process (Zhu, ¶0047: In the example of FIG. 2, in an NSA mode 214, the UE 202 may connect to a master base station 216 (e.g., an eNB) in the first core network 204 and a secondary base station (e.g., a gNB) 218 in the second core network 206. As discussed herein, in some scenarios, the source base station 210 rather than the base station 218 may be designated as the secondary base station for the NSA mode.), and
the cause of the handover is an evolved packet system fallback and there exists no measurement result (Zhu, ¶0035: For example, SA to NSA handover may be used in Evolved Packet System (EPS) fallback scenarios, such as Option 2 (NR connected to 5G core network, 5GC) to Option 3 (E-UTRAN NR-dual connectivity, EN-DC) handover. As a specific example, when a UE with an ongoing high-performance demand data service needs to perform a mobile oriented (MO) or mobile terminated (MT) voice call but Voice over NR (VoNR) is not supported, falling-back to EPS and keeping NR as the secondary node (SN) may help to preserve a good user experience (e.g., by maintaining ongoing data service).).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method and apparatus for performing dual connectivity in heterogeneous network of Kim with the inter-system handover between standalone and non-standalone mode of Zhu. The resulting combination would preserve a good user experience by keeping NR as a secondary node when falling-back to EPS for a mobile oriented or mobile terminated voice call (Zhu, ¶0035).
None of Kim, Zhu, or Mochizuki explicitly teaches wherein the- determining whether the first base station is used as a secondary base station of the UE comprises: determining not to use the first base station as the secondary base station of the UE under a condition that a UE capability of the UE does not support the addition of secondary connection in a handover process; determining to use the first base station as the secondary base station of the UE under a condition that the UE capability of the UE supports the addition of secondary connection in the handover process and a signal intensity of a cell to which the first base station belongs is the highest in the measurement result; placing the first access configuration information into a first radio resource control container, thereby instructing the UE to access the first base station in the handover process after generating the second access configuration information; placing the second access configuration information into a second radio resource control container, thereby instructing the UE to access the second base station in the handover process.
However, in the related art, Park teaches determining not to use the first base station as the secondary base station of the UE under a condition that a UE capability of the UE does not support the addition of secondary connection in a handover process (Park, ¶0273: In an example embodiment, a source base station may provide one or more conditions for a wireless device to trigger a handover execution to a target cell served by a target base station, and the wireless device may initiate a random access procedure to a target cell if the one or more conditions are satisfied. In case that the wireless device has a single transmitter and receiver, after initiating the random access procedure, the wireless device may not be able to receive a packet from the source base station.);
determining to use the first base station as the secondary base station of the UE under a condition that the UE capability of the UE supports the addition of secondary connection in the handover process and a signal intensity of a cell to which the first base station belongs is the highest in the measurement result (Park, ¶0276: The one or more conditions may comprise at least one of a time duration where the one or more conditions are valid, a delta value for an RSRP (e.g. power gap between an RSRP of a source cell and an RSRP of a target cell), a delta value for an RSRQ ( e.g. quality gap between an RSRQ of a source cell and an RSRQ of a target cell), an RSRP threshold, an RSRQ threshold, and/or a time offset ( e.g. execute a handover when received power is larger than or equal to the RSRP threshold ( one of the one or more conditions) for a time duration of the time offset). In an example, the one or more conditions may be configured for the one or more cells of the one or more of the one or more second base stations, and the wireless device may initiate a random access procedure to a cell satisfying the one or more conditions among the one or more cells.);
placing the first access configuration information into a first radio resource control container (Park, ¶0276: The fourth message may be an RRC connection reconfiguration message. The fourth message may comprise one or more elements of the one or more third messages, information (e.g. identifier, index, frequency, cell type, and/or the like) of one or more cells served by the one or more of the one or more second base stations, radio resource configuration information (e.g. RACH configuration, channel configuration information, and/or etc.) for the wireless device, a mobility control information for the wireless device, and/or the one or more conditions.),
thereby instructing the UE to access the first base station in the handover process after generating the second access configuration information (Park, ¶0274: The first base station may determine whether or not to initiate a handover preparation (e.g. handover procedure, transmitting a handover request to a handover target base station) for the wireless device at least based on one or more elements of the measurement report. … In response to determining initiating the handover preparation, the first base station may request a handover for the wireless device to one or more second base stations by transmitting a second message to the one or more second base stations. And ¶0276: In response to receiving the one or more third messages from the one or more of the one or more second base stations, the first base station may transmit, to the wireless device, a fourth message to command a wireless device to execute a handover towards one of one or more cells of the one or more of the one or more second base stations with one or more conditions at least based on one or more elements of the one or more third messages. [Since the first base station determines if the wireless device is handed over to the second base station, not determining to execute a handover is equivalent to instructing the wireless device to access the first base station.]); and
placing the second access configuration information into a second radio resource control container, thereby instructing the UE to access the second base station in the handover process (Park, See ¶0274 and ¶0276 quoted above.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the invention of Kim as modified by the teachings of Zhu with the conditional handover execution of Park. The result of the combination would reduce wasted radio resources or data forwarding delay (Park, ¶0273).
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim in view of Zhu as applied to claim 25 above further in view of Wang.
Re. Claim 20, Kim in view of Zhu and Mochizuki teaches claim 25.
Neither Kim nor Zhu explicitly teaches wherein the first bearer configuration information comprises a list of services carried by the first base station and a next generation application protocol identifier allocated by the first core network to the UE, wherein the list of services carried by the first base station comprises an identifier of each evolved radio access bearer and corresponding quality-of-service configuration information; the third bearer configuration information comprises a list of bearers accepted by the first base station, a list of bearers accepted by the second base station, a list of bearers that cannot be accepted by the first base station, and a list of bearers that cannot be accepted by the second base station.
However, in the related art, Wang teaches
the first bearer configuration information comprises a list of services carried by the first base station and a next generation application protocol identifier allocated by the first core network to the UE (Wang, ¶0175: Step 801: An MN transmits an SN setup request message to a CP of an SN (a 5G node); ¶0176: The SN setup request message contains an identifier of the bearer, and a receiving IP address and a TEID of the bearer in a core network gateway. This message further carries the capability information of a UE; and ¶0183: Address for downlink data: if the bearer is an SCG split bearer, this message further carries a transport layer address for downlink data TEID. The address for receiving downlink data is an address allocated by the MN and used for receiving downlink data from the SN.),
wherein the list of services carried by the first base station comprises an identifier of each evolved radio access bearer and corresponding quality-of-service configuration information (Wang, ¶0179: Identifier information of the bearer: for example, the identifier information can be an identifier of a DRB. If the MN is a gNB, the identifier of the bearer can be an identifier of a DRB, or an identifier of a QoS flow to be on the SN. The identifier of the QoS flow is transmitted to the MN by the core network. The core network transmits, to the MN and through an initial context setup or an initial context modification process or a data connection process, the identifier of the QoS flow and the QoS corresponding to the identifier of the QoS flow. In addition to the identifier of the data bearer, this message can further carry an SRB identifier of an MCG split signaling bearer, for example, SRB1 or SRB2.);
the third bearer configuration information comprises a list of bearers accepted by the first base station, a list of bearers accepted by the second base station, a list of bearers that cannot be accepted by the first base station, and a list of bearers that cannot be accepted by the second base station (Wang, ¶0219-¶0220: Step 808: The UP transmits a resource modification response message to the SN-CP, where the message carries information about a successfully established PDCP information. For example, an identifier of a cell, an identifier of a UE, an identifier of a bearer, an identifier of a PDCP stack or other information is carried in this message. [Information about a successfully established PDCP information would include a list of successfully added, deleted, or modified bearers or bearers which cannot be accepted.]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the invention of Kim as modified by the teaching of Zhu with the dual-connectivity establishment method and device of Wang. The resulting combination would further establish dual-connectivity when the central unit in divided into control plane and user plane entities (Wang, ¶0009).
Conclusion
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/C.H.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2417
/REBECCA E SONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2417