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 .
This Office Action is in response to amendment filed on April 19, 2026.
In virtue of this communication, claims 15-18, 20, 27-30, 32-36 and 38 are currently pending in this Office Action.
The Office appreciates the explanation of the amendment and analyses of the prior arts, and however, although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993) and MPEP 2145.
Response to Applicant’s Reply
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the rejection of claim(s) 15, 27, 33 under 35 USC §103 (Remarks, Page 8 ) have been considered but are not persuasive.
Applicant argue Luo are being "in the non-power saving mode", "battery power of the terminal device 131 is greater than the first preset value", "temperature of the rear cover of the terminal is less than the second preset value", and combinations of those three. None of these relate to link quality of a data link (Remarks, Page 8). Examiner respectively disagrees.
Claim 15 recite “… link quality of a data link of the terminal does not meet a specified quality condition …”. The is no specific definition for “link quality”, thus “quality condition” is broadest reasonable interpreted as general quality condition associated with data link.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to understand that UE will consume high power when UE is in the application scenario of a high network speed, and high-power consumption increasing the temperature of the terminal. Thus, high volume data transmission causes more power consumption, which increasing the temperature of the terminal.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to understand that UE switching into battery saving mode when battery power of the terminal dropping to certain low level, and in the battery saving mode, UE transmitting less data during the link to saving the power consumption.
Thus, data transmission volume is associated with link quality, and battery saving mode impact the data transmission volume, and different data transmission volume will cause temperature increasing or decreasing.
Applicant argue Luo clarifies that this "disabled state" just means that an option in the "Settings" interface is not available, and does not necessarily mean that dual connectivity is not activated (Remarks, Page 8). Examiner respectively disagrees.
Luo disclose the flow of from LTE connection switching to DUAL connection mode (connecting both LTE and NR), “Enable 5G switch” after determine a first preset condition not meet, see Fig. 16, element 1620, wherein “Enable 5G switch” is reading as active dual connectivity mode, since this step is performed after a first preset condition determine, it is will be obvious to understand that UE is in “5G switch disable state” while determining first preset condition during LTE link.
Luo further disclose “Disable a 5G switch” (reading as deactivate Dual connectivity mode) when Switch from Dual connectivity mode to LTE link mode, see Fig. 9A, 9B.
Applicant argue the motivation for combining Luo and Ahn, it is unclear how it is obvious to connect to a 5G network to avoid transmitting data through a 5G network (Remarks, Page 8). Examiner respectively disagrees.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to understand a large amount of data transmission is not required during a VoLTE (Voice Over LTE), thus ENDC can keep at OFF state until VoLTE call ends. Keeping ENDC OFF during VoLTE calling is well known in the field.
Based on the aforementioned reasoning, Examiner maintains the current ground of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries 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.
4. Claims 15-16,18, 20, 27-28, 30, 32-34, 36 and 38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo et al. (US 20230024741 A1, hereinafter Luo) and in view of Ahn et al. (US 20220053426 A1, hereinafter Ahn).
Claim 15: Luo teaches a network connection control method, applied to a terminal (Abstract, Fig. 16, element 131), wherein the method comprises:
detecting, by the terminal, that link quality of a data link of the terminal does not meet a specified quality condition (Fig. 16, element 1610, [0291-0297], disclose 7 examples that not meet the preset condition, battery power of the terminal device is greater than the first preset value, the temperature of the rear cover of the terminal is less than the second preset value, terminal device in the non-power saving mode and etc.);
a dual connectivity function is not activated (Fig. 16, element “Use an LTE link for communication”, [0301], “when the terminal device 131 detects that the 5G switch of the terminal device 131 is in the disabled state, the terminal device 131 may perform the foregoing step 330”) and the terminal is not in a voice call state;
and in response to the detecting and the not being activated, performing, when the dual connectivity function is not activated and the terminal is not in the voice call state, a first operation to activate the dual connectivity function of the terminal, wherein the first operation is disconnecting, by the terminal, from a 4G network in an access network (Fig. 16, elements 1640a, 1641a, 1642a, [0305-0307], disclose releasing a bearer established between the LTE access network device 121 and the terminal device 131 corresponding to the detached request message), and requesting to reconnect to a 5G network and the 4G network in the access network (Fig. 16, element 1645A, 1646A, 1647A, 1648A, 1649A ,1650, [0313], “The terminal device 131 sends a second attach request message to the LTE access network device 121, where the second attach request message carries NR capability information, the second attach request message includes an identifier of the terminal device 131, and the second attach request message is used to request to perform an attach operation based on the identifier of the terminal device 131”, [0315], “if the second attach request message carries the NR capability information, a field in the second attach request message indicates that the terminal device supports the NR capability …establishing the bearer between the LTE access network device 121 and the terminal device 131, and establishing the bearer between the NR access network device 122 and the terminal device 131”).
However, Luo does not explicitly teach the terminal is not in a voice call state.
Ahn, from the same or similar field of endeavor, teaches the terminal is not in a voice call state (Fig. 6, [0180-0182], disclose generating an ENDC ON signal when not in VoLTE (Voice Over LTE) state, wherein ENDC representing electronic device supporting dual connectivity(ENDC) between a 4G network (LTE) and a 5G network (NR)).
Luo and Ahn are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify a condition for activating the dual connectivity DC function, disclosed by Luo, to enable DC connection when terminal is not in a voice call state, as taught by Ahn, It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to understand a large amount of data transmission is not required during a VoLTE (Voice Over LTE), and ENDC can keep at OFF state until VoLTE call ends ([0181-0182]).
Claim 27 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 15 and Luo further teach a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer- readable storage medium stores instructions, and when the instructions are executed on a terminal ([0371], “The computer storage medium stores a computer instruction. When the computer instruction is run on a terminal device”).
Claim 33 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 15 and Luo further teach a terminal comprising at least one processor (Fig.20, element 2010, [0368], “The processing module may be a processor or a controller”) and at least one memory(Fig.20, element 2010,[0370], “ the apparatus may include a connected processor, memory, and communications module”), the memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor ([0370], “The memory is configured to store a computer executable instruction. When the apparatus runs, the processor may execute the computer executable
instruction stored in the memory, so that the chip performs the communication methods in the foregoing method embodiments”).
Claim 16: The combination of Luo and Ahn teaches the method according to claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:
the terminal performs the first operation for more than a preset first quantity of execution times or preset first execution duration; and when the terminal performs the first operation for more than the preset first quantity of execution times or preset first execution duration (Luo [0271], “When the terminal device 131 detects that the user taps the button 521121 in the “Power saving mode” menu 52112, in this case, because the terminal device indicates that the terminal device does not support the NR capability …an icon 512 of “5G” is displayed in the status bar 510 at the uppermost part of the terminal device 131, and the remaining time of the terminal device 131 in the “Remaining power” menu of the terminal device 131 is updated to the remaining time in the Power saving mode” ), and the terminal detects that the link quality of the data link of the terminal does not meet the specified quality condition (Luo, Fig. 16, element 1610, [0291-0297], disclose 7 examples that not meet the preset condition, including battery power of the terminal device is greater than the first preset value, the temperature of the rear cover of the terminal is less than the second preset value, terminal device in the non-power saving mode and etc.).
Claim 28 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 27 and claim 16.
Claim 34 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 33 and claim 16.
Claim 18: Luo teaches the method according to claim 15, wherein the terminal performs the first operation in the following manner:
disconnecting, by the terminal from the 4G network by releasing an air interface link of a master base station (Fig. 16, element 1640a, 1641a, 1642a, [0305-0307], disclose releasing a bearer established between the LTE access network device 121 and the terminal device 131 corresponding to the detached request message);
accessing the master base station and a core network corresponding to the access network by sending a connection request to the master base station (Fig. 16, element 1645A, 1646A, 1647A, 1648A, 1649A ,1650, [0313], “The terminal device 131 sends a second attach request message to the LTE access network device 121, where the second attach request message carries NR capability information, the second attach request message includes an identifier of the terminal device 131, and the second attach request message is used to request to perform an attach operation based on the identifier of the terminal device 131”, [0315], “if the second attach request message carries the NR capability information, a field in the second attach request message indicates that the terminal device supports the NR capability …establishing the bearer between the LTE access network device 121 and the terminal device 131, and establishing the bearer between the NR access network device 122 and the terminal device 131”),
and accessing the core network corresponding to the access network by using a secondary base station in the access network, to activate the dual connectivity function (Fig. 16, element 1648a, 1649a, 1650,[0318], “The LTE access network device 121 receives a second attach accept message sent by the core network device 111, where the second attach accept message is used to indicate that the second attach request for the terminal device 131 has been completed”, [0320], “the NAS layer of the terminal device 131
receives the second attach accept message sent by the LTE access network device 121”, [0323], “where the second attach request message is used to request to restore the radio resource that is occupied on the NR access network device side and that is configured for the connection between the terminal device and the NR access network device 122, thereby implementing restoration of the NR link. After the NR link is restored, the LTE link and the NR link are used for communication”).
Claim 30 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 27 and claim 18.
Claim 36 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 33 and claim 18.
Claim 20: Luo teaches the method according to claim 16, wherein the enabling, by the terminal, the dual connectivity function of the terminal after disabling the dual connectivity function of the terminal for first disabling duration comprises:
reporting, by the terminal, a secondary cell group failure to a master base station in the access network, to disconnect from a secondary base station in the access network and disable the dual connectivity function (Fig. 6B, Element 350a, [0202], “Step 350a: The terminal device 131 sends a first detach request message to the LTE access network device 121. The first detach message includes the identifier of the terminal device 131, and the first detach request message is used to request to perform a detach operation based on the identifier of the terminal device 131, so as to release the NR link”, wherein detach request message serving the similar function as reporting a secondary cell group failure to a master base station. [0041], “ sending a first secondary cell group (SCG) failure request message, where the first SCG failure request message is used to request to release the NR link”, [0042], “the first SCG failure request message … includes … a timer delay … a maximum quantity of RLC retransmissions rlc-MaxNumRetx”, Fig.9b, element 353c, [0223], “The terminal device 131 sends a second SCG failure request message to the LTE access network device 121, where the second SCG failure message is used to request to release a radio resource that is occupied on the NR access network device 122 side and that is configured for connection between the terminal device 131 and the NR access network device 122”), and sending a neighboring cell measurement report of the secondary cell group to the master base station after the first disabling duration to enable the dual connectivity function (Fig. 17, Element 1640C, 1641b, 1642b, [0334], “The terminal device 131 sends a first B1 measurement report to the LTE access network device 121, where the first B1 measurement report includes a measurement value of RSRP of the at least one first cell”, [0336], “The event B1 means that quality of the inter-RAT neighboring cell is higher than a specific threshold”, [0339], “When there are a plurality of first cells, the first B1 measurement report includes measurement values of the RSRP of the cells that are in the plurality of first cells and whose measurement values reach a measurement threshold”, Fig.8, [0223], “The terminal device 131 sends a first A2 measurement report to the LTE access network device 121, where the first A2 measurement report includes a fictional value of RSRP of a 5G cell on which the terminal device 131 currently camps, where the fictional value of the RSRP of the 5G cell on which the terminal device 131 currently camps is less than an actual value of the RSRP of the 5G cell on which the terminal device 131 currently camps”);
or the terminal is in a connection idle state; and initiating, by the terminal when the terminal is in the connection idle state, tracking area updating and reporting that the terminal does not support the dual connectivity function, and after the first disabling duration, re-initiating tracking area updating and reporting that the terminal supports the dual connectivity function, to enable the dual connectivity function (alternative);
or sending, by the terminal, a first detach message to a core network corresponding to the access network, to disconnect the terminal from the master base station and the core network, and disable the dual connectivity function; and establishing, by the terminal, a connection to the master base station, and reporting, by sending a first attach message to the master base station, that the terminal does not support the dual connectivity function, so that the terminal is connected only to the 4G network; sending, by the terminal after the first disabling duration, a second detach message to the master base station, to disconnect the terminal from the master base station and the core network, re-establishing a connection to the master base station, and reporting, by sending a second attach message to the master base station, that the terminal supports the dual connectivity function, so as to enable the dual connectivity function (alternative).
Claim 32 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 28 and claim 20.
Claim 38 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 34 and claim 20.
Claims 17, 29, 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo et al. (US 20230024741 A1, hereinafter Luo) and in view of Ahn et al. (US 20220053426 A1, hereinafter Ahn) and further in view of Wallen et al. (US 20220279401 A1, hereinafter Wallen).
Claim 17: Luo teach the method according to claim 15, wherein the detecting, by the terminal, that link quality of the data link of the terminal does not meet the specified quality condition comprises at least one of the following:
detecting, by the terminal, that the terminal receives no downlink data packet or sends no uplink data packet in a first preset transmission duration (alternative); and
detecting, by the terminal, that a ratio of a quantity of uplink data packets sent by the terminal in a second preset transmission duration to a quantity of downlink data packets received by the terminal in the second preset transmission duration is greater than a first ratio threshold ([0249], “The failure type includes any one or a combination of the following parameters: a timer delay (that is, a supported delay for data transmission between UE and a network side) … a maximum quantity of RLC retransmissions rlc-MaxNumRetx”) or is less than a second ratio threshold (alternative), wherein the first ratio threshold is greater than the second ratio threshold.
However, Luo does not explicitly teach detecting, by the terminal, that a TCP retransmission rate is higher than a retransmission rate threshold.
Wallen, from the same or similar field of endeavor, teaches wherein the detecting, by the terminal, that link quality of the data link of the terminal does not meet the specified quality condition comprises at least one of the following:
detecting, by the terminal, that a TCP retransmission rate is higher than a retransmission rate threshold ([0160], “The UE 120 checks if a source radio link related failure has occurred. One example of such a failure is when the maximum RLC retransmission count has been reached, without positive feedback, for a radio bearer”);
Luo and Wallen are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the measurement of link quality of the data link of Luo and the features of using retransmission count as taught by Wallen, for the benefit of allowing UE determine whether a failure in the source access node and in the UE related to the source radio link(paragraph [0121]).
Claim 29 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 27 and claim 17.
Claim 35 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 33 and claim 17.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 YONGHONG ZHAO whose telephone number is (571)272-4089. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Friday 9:00 am - 5:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, NICHOLAS JENSEN can be reached on 5712723980. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Y.Z./Examiner, Art Unit 2472
/NICHOLAS A JENSEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2472
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