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 .
Claims 11 and 12 are pending and rejected.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07/08/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The claim as amended, “perform an SCG activation of the deactivated SCG”, simply means SCG reactivation. This concept is well known in the art. Examiner will replace the Lee reference from the previous rejection with a new prior art, Takahashi, US 2020/022215.
Also, Examiner is replacing Kim et al. (EP 3101989 A1) with Kim US 2015/0223270. Both EP 3101989 and US 2015/0223270 are from the same patent family and the disclosures are identical. The benefit is US 2015/0223270 is in English. Examiner still rely on the same figures for Kim, only changes is the paragraph numbers, where US publication is formatted differently from European publication.
Response to Amendment
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.
Claims 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim US 2015/0223270 in view of Takahashi, US 2020/022215.
Regarding claim 11, Kim discloses a user equipment comprising: a processor; and a memory in electronic communication with the processor ([0080] and Fig. 11: UE with processor 1115 and controller 1120), wherein instructions stored in the memory are executable to: receive a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message to perform an SCG activation (Fig. 8, Activate SCG SCELL 805, [0065]); and upon receipt of the RRC reconfiguration message (Fig. 8, step 801, receive RRC Connection Reconfiguration Message): initiate a random access procedure for the SCG activation (Fig. 8, Step 813, contention based random access); and apply features including monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) on a Primary SCG Cell (PSCeII) of the SCG ([0035] In the existing Rel-11 carrier aggregation, there is no procedure where the UE performs random access to an SCell as shown in FIG. 5A, but only a procedure where a request is sent to the UE in a dedicated preamble on the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) to perform a random access procedure in a PCell or pSCell as shown in FIG. 5B); and transmitting a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) on the PSCeII ([0032] The SCellConfig message includes information about a specific serving cell that has PUCCH or Random Access Channel (RACH). The serving cell is called a primary Scell, pSCell, which is different from other serving cells (SCells) of the SeNB; [0027] FIG. 5A shows the MAC of a UE initiating a random access procedure in a pSCell of the SCG; Fig. 5A shows performing random access, which includes transmitting a PUCCH).
For claim 12, kim teaches a communication method of a user equipment comprising: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message to perform an Secondary Cell Group (SCG) activation (Fig. 8, Activate SCG SCELL 805, [0065]), … and upon receipt of the RRC reconfiguration message (Fig. 8, step 801, receive RRC Connection Reconfiguration Message): initiating a random-access procedure for the SCG activation (Fig. 8, Step 813, contention based random access); and applying features including monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) on a Primary SCG Cell (PSCeII) of the SCG ([0035] In the existing Rel-11 carrier aggregation, there is no procedure where the UE performs random access to an SCell as shown in FIG. 5A, but only a procedure where a request is sent to the UE in a dedicated preamble on the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) to perform a random access procedure in a PCell or pSCell as shown in FIG. 5B) and transmitting a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) on the PSCeII ([0032] The SCellConfig message includes information about a specific serving cell that has PUCCH or Random Access Channel (RACH). The serving cell is called a primary Scell, pSCell, which is different from other serving cells (SCells) of the SeNB; [0027] FIG. 5A shows the MAC of a UE initiating a random access procedure in a pSCell of the SCG; Fig. 5A shows performing random access, which includes transmitting a PUCCH).
For claims 11 and 12, Kim does not explicitly teach … in a case of being configured with a deactivate SCG … perform an SCG activation of the deactivated SCG.
Takahashi teaches in a case of being configured with a deactivate SCG … perform an SCG activation of the deactivated SCG (See Fig. 5, step S70 deactivate PCSCELL and SCELLs, later Step S110 activate PSCELL an SCELLs; PP85 to 89; see also Fig. 6, split bearer set up, PP80)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing time of the current application to modify the teachings of Kim with the well-known teachings of Takahashi (PP89 for the benefit of reactivating SCell or SCG split bearer).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Charles C Jiang whose telephone number is (571)270-7191. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Thursday 7 am to 5 pm Eastern Time.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, TC Group director, Deborah Reynolds can be reached at (571) 272-0734. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHARLES C JIANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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