DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to Amendment filed on 4/24/2026. Claim 5 has been cancelled.
Claims 1, 2, 6, 7, 17, 28, and 30 have been amended. New claim 33 has been added. Claims 1-4, 6-8, 10-21, and 23-33 remain pending in the application.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 4/24/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed on 4/24/2026 has been entered.
Response to Remarks/Arguments
Applicant’s remarks/arguments (page 10-16), filed on 4/24/2026, with respect to the 103 rejections of
claim 1 have been fully considered but are moot because new ground of rejections using a newly introduced reference (Awada et al.) are applied in the current 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 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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that
are applied 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 1-4, 6-8, 10, 16-21, 23, and 27-33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Awada et al. (US 2022/0361071 Al, hereinafter “Awada”) in view of KIM (US 2020/0288359 Al, hereinafter “Kim”) and in further view of WANG (WO 2021/056453 A1, hereinafter “Wang”).
Regarding claim 1, Awada discloses:
A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising (wireless network of FIG. 1, user devices, which may also be referred to as mobile stations (MSs) or user equipment (UEs), Awada: Fig. 1, [0015]):
one or more memories (an apparatus including at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, Awada: [0007]); and
one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, configured to (processor will receive instructions and data from a read-only memory or a random access memory or both, Awada: [0097]):
receive, from a source cell, a reconfiguration message that includes one or more execution conditions by which the UE is to prepare for a conditional handover (CHO) (the UE receives a reconfiguration message (e.g., a RRC reconfiguration), which may include, e.g., the target cell configuration for the target cell, a configuration of a CHO execution condition, Awada: Fig. 2, [0042], [0044], [0046]),
wherein the one or more execution conditions include a conditional event corresponding to measurements for a target cell satisfying a first threshold during a time to trigger (TTT) period (the fulfillment of the CHO execution condition may require that the target cell measurement is sufficient (e.g., meeting the condition of Eqn. 1, or other condition) for at least TTT time period. TTT of a sufficient length (at least long enough) to provide a time period for the UE to decode and apply the target cell configuration, Awada: Fig. 2, [0038, [0042], [0044], [0046]);
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generate, based at least in part on the conditional event being satisfied and based on reaching a configured time point within the TTT, an early bye message that indicates that the UE is preparing to leave the source cell for the target cell (after the CHO execution condition has been met for a TTT time period. evaluating whether the CHO execution condition for the target cell has been fulfilled (e.g., for at least TTT time period), and ( e.g., continuing to) transmit and/or receive data or signals to and/or from the source cell ( e.g., so as the UE will continue the connection and/or wireless service via the source cell, while the UE makes early preparations for the handover execution to the target cell), Awada: [0037]-[0038], [0040]),
Awada does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the early bye message includes a cell identifier (ID) or a physical cell ID of a cell for which the CHO is to be initiated; and
However, in the same field of endeavor, Kim teaches:
wherein the early bye message includes a cell identifier (ID) or a physical cell ID of a cell for which a conditional handover (CHO) is to be initiated (CHO) is initiated (the information for identifying the transmitting base station ( or transmission node) may include an identifier of the base station (or transmission node). the terminal 702 may transmit only information on an identifier of the target cell for the simultaneous service termination. may transmit the cell identifier and the measurement result together according to the parameters for measurement or reporting, Kim: [0125], [0217]); and
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 modify Awada in view of Kim in order to further modify the bye message which includes a cell identifier (ID) or a physical cell ID of a cell for which a conditional handover (CHO) is to be initiated (CHO) is initiated from the teachings of Kim.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated the cell may be identified only by the order of the measurement results in the report message (Kim: [0217]).
Yet, Awada in view of Kim do not explicitly disclose:
transmit, to the source cell, the early bye message before the CHO is triggered or during a wait timer that is started after the CHO is triggered.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Wang teaches:
transmit, to the source cell, the bye message before the CHO is initiated (In response to receiving the handover command, the terminal device may evaluate all the conditions of execution of handover associated with each of the at least one second network device. terminal device may transmit, to the first network device, a fourth indication (e.g., "bye" message) regarding establishment of the second connection between the first device and the terminal device having a first connection with the first network device. terminal device may transmit a special scheduling request (SR) to the first network device and transmit the MAC CE to the first network device in a grant from the first network device in response to the special SR. Return back to FIG. 2, upon transmitting the fourth indication, the terminal device 120 may perform 209 a random access channel (RACH) procedure with the second network device 130 (i.e., the first device 130) so as to establish a connection (i.e., the second connection) with the first device 130. So far, simultaneous connections between terminal device 120 and the first and second network devices 110 and 130 are established, Wang: [0053]-[0057], [0064])
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 modify Awada and Kim in view of Wang in order to further modify transmitting the early bye message before a conditional handover (CHO) is triggered or during a wait timer that is started after the CHO is triggered from the teachings of Wang.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because conditional handover with simultaneous connectivity can be achieved and both a reduction of handover interruption and an improvement of handover robustness are attained (Wang: [0138]).
Regarding claim 2, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Awada further discloses:
wherein the one or more processors are configured to monitor for a response to the early bye message until the wait timer expires (UE determines that a CHO entry condition (e.g., condition of Eqn. 1 is met for target cell, based on cell measurements and CIO/Ocn), and TTT timer is started. the TTT value may be at least as large as the amount of time required by the UE to decode and apply the target cell configuration, Awada: [0044]).
Regarding claim 3, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Awada further discloses:
wherein the one or more processors are configured to transmit a CHO complete message after transmitting the early bye message (UE sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message/indication to the target node/target cell, and the target node at replies to the serving node/source cell with a handover success indication, Awada: [0045]).
Regarding claim 4, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Awada further discloses:
wherein the one or more processors are configured to transmit a CHO complete message after the wait timer expires (UE sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message/indication to the target node/target cell, and the target node at replies to the serving node/source cell with a handover success indication. The indication can be implicit by configuring one of the parameters (e.g., Cell Individual Offset, CIO, or other offset or other parameter) the CIO may be set to bias measurements of neighbour, and in this case to cause the CHO execution condition for TTT time period to be fulfilled or expire for this neighbour/target cell, Awada: [0045]-[0046] ).
Regarding claim 6, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Awada further discloses:
wherein the handover condition includes one or more of a threshold gradient of signal strength, a threshold gradient of signal quality, a threshold Doppler parameter, or a velocity of the UE (UE may, from time to time, perform signal measurements of signals received from the source cell, and one or more neighbour (or potential target) cells. The measurements by the UE may include, measuring a reference signal receive power (RSRP), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or other signal measurement, Awada: [0031]).
Regarding claim 7, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Awada further discloses:
wherein the one or more execution conditions further include multiple measurement events (measurement event may be configured as an example CHO execution condition, Awada: [0032]).
Regarding claim 8, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Awada further discloses:
wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the early bye message, are configured to transmit the bye message in a radio resource control message, a medium access control control element (MAC CE), a scheduling request specific to handover, or a channel state information report specific to handover (UE receives a reconfiguration message ( e.g., a RRC reconfiguration), which may include, e.g., the target cell configuration for the target cell, a configuration of a CHO execution condition, and information that may indicate that the UE should immediately decode and apply the target cell configuration, Awada: [0042]).
Regarding claim 10, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Awada further discloses:
wherein the early bye message includes a configuration index that identifies the target cell (UE decodes the reconfiguration message (including decoding the target cell configuration, the CHO execution condition, and other information) and applies (e.g., processes) the target cellconfiguration (e.g., UE making preparations for the target cell handover, such as by preparing a protocol stack instance based on the target cell configuration), Awada: [0043]).
Regarding claim 16, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Awada does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the CHO includes a dual active protocol stack handover.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Kim teaches:
wherein the CHO includes a dual active protocol stack handover (simultaneous service is a handover scheme using radio protocol layers (or stack) dually activated in the source cell and the target cell for the handover terminal (i.e., dual active protocol layer handover or dual active protocol stack handover), Kim: [0172], [0176]).
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 modify Awada and Wang in view of Kim in order to further modify the CHO which includes a dual active protocol stack handover from the teachings of Kim.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because the simultaneous service may mean a mobility function support scheme or a handover scheme in which the radio protocol layer functions (Kim: [0172]).
Regarding claim 17, Awada discloses:
A network entity in a source cell for wireless communication, comprising (A base station (e.g., such as BS 134) is an example of a radio access network (RAN) node within a wireless network, Awada: Fig. 1, [0016]):
one or more memories (an apparatus including at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, Awada: [0007]); and
one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, configured to (processor will receive instructions and data from a read-only memory or a random access memory or both, Awada: [0097]):
transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a reconfiguration message that includes one or more execution conditions by which the UE is to prepare for a conditional handover (CHO) (the UE receives a reconfiguration message (e.g., a RRC reconfiguration), which may include, e.g., the target cell configuration for the target cell, a configuration of a CHO execution condition, Awada: Fig. 2, [0042], [0044], [0046]),
wherein the one or more execution conditions include a conditional event corresponding to measurements for a target cell satisfying a first threshold during a time to trigger (TTT) period (the fulfillment of the CHO execution condition may require that the target cell measurement is sufficient (e.g., meeting the condition of Eqn. 1, or other condition) for at least TTT time period. TTT of a sufficient length (at least long enough) to provide a time period for the UE to decode and apply the target cell configuration, Awada: Fig. 2, [0038, [0042], [0044], [0046]);
receive, from the UE before a trigger of the CHO, an early bye message that indicates that the UE is preparing to leave the source cell for the target cell (after the CHO execution condition has been met for a TTT time period. evaluating whether the CHO execution condition for the target cell has been fulfilled (e.g., for at least TTT time period), and (e.g., continuing to) transmit and/or receive data or signals to and/or from the source cell (e.g., so as the UE will continue the connection and/or wireless service via the source cell, while the UE makes early preparations for the handover execution to the target cell), Awada: [0037]-[0038], [0040]); and
Awada does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the early bye message includes a cell identifier (ID) or a physical cell ID of a cell for which the CHO is to be initiated; and
However, in the same field of endeavor, Kim teaches:
wherein the early bye message includes a cell identifier (ID) or a physical cell ID of a cell for which a conditional handover (CHO) is to be initiated (CHO) is initiated (the information for identifying the transmitting base station ( or transmission node) may include an identifier of the base station (or transmission node). the terminal 702 may transmit only information on an identifier of the target cell for the simultaneous service termination. may transmit the cell identifier and the measurement result together according to the parameters for measurement or reporting, Kim: [0125], [0217]); and
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 modify Awada in view of Kim in order to further modify the early bye message which includes a cell identifier (ID) or a physical cell ID of a cell for which a conditional handover (CHO) is to be initiated (CHO) is initiated from the teachings of Kim.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated the cell may be identified only by the order of the measurement results in the report message (Kim: [0217]).
Yet, Awada in view of Kim do not explicitly disclose:
forward data to one or more prepared CHO target cells based at least in part on the early bye message.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Wang teaches:
forward data to one or more prepared CHO target cells based at least in part on the early bye message (first network device may transmit data of the terminal device and sequence number information associated with the first data packet of the data to the first device, i.e., perform data forwarding to the first device. if one of the second network devices is selected as the first device, the first network device may transmit the fourth indication using the SR configuration corresponding to this second network device, Wang: [0030], [0063])
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 modify Awada and Kim in view of Wang in order to further modify forwarding data to one or more prepared CHO target cells based at least in part on the early bye message from the teachings of Wang.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because conditional handover with simultaneous connectivity can be achieved and both a reduction of handover interruption and an improvement of handover robustness are attained (Wang: [0138]).
Regarding claim 18, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 17 above.
Awada further discloses:
wherein the one or more processors are configured to transmit a response to the early bye message (UE sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message/indication to the target node/target cell, and the target node at replies to the serving node/source cell with a handover success indication, Awada: [0045]).
Regarding claim 19, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 17 above.
Awada does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the one or more prepared CHO target cells includes the target cell identified by a cell identifier in the early bye message.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Kim teaches:
wherein the one or more prepared CHO target cells includes the target cell identified by a cell identifier in the early bye message (the information for identifying the transmitting base station ( or transmission node) may include an identifier of the base station ( or transmission node). the terminal 702 may transmit only information on an identifier of the target cell for the simultaneous service termination. may transmit the cell identifier and the measurement result together according to the parameters for measurement or reporting, Kim: [0125], [0217]).
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 modify Awada in view of Kim in order to further modify the one or more prepared CHO target cells which includes the target cell identified by a cell identifier in the early bye message from the teachings of Kim.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated the cell may be identified only by the order of the measurement results in the report message (Kim: [0217]).
Regarding claim 20, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 17 above.
Awada does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the one or more prepared CHO target cells includes multiple prepared CHO target cells if the early bye message does not include a cell identifier.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Kim teaches:
wherein the one or more prepared CHO target cells includes multiple prepared CHO target cells if the early bye message does not include a cell identifier (terminal may transmit the control message informing the completion of the simultaneous service, a case when a packet transmission delay measured between both links is greater than a reference, Kim: [0221] - [0229]).
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 modify Awada in view of Kim in order to further modify the one or more prepared CHO target cells which includes multiple prepared CHO target cells if the early bye message does not include a cell identifier from the teachings of Kim.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated the cell may be identified only by the order of the measurement results in the report message (Kim: [0217]).
Regarding claim 21, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 17 above.
Awada further discloses:
wherein the one or more processors, to receive the early bye message, are configured to receive the early bye message in a radio resource control message, a medium access control element (MAC CE), a scheduling request specific to handover, or a channel state information report specific to handover (UE receives a reconfiguration message ( e.g., a RRC reconfiguration), which may include, e.g., the target cell configuration for the target cell, a configuration of a CHO execution condition, and information that may indicate that the UE should immediately decode and apply the target cell configuration, Awada: [0042]).
Regarding claim 23, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 17 above.
Awada further discloses:
wherein the early bye message includes a configuration index that identifies the target cell (UE decodes the reconfiguration message (including decoding the target cell configuration, the CHO execution condition, and other information) and applies (e.g., processes) the target cellconfiguration (e.g., UE making preparations for the target cell handover, such as by preparing a protocol stack instance based on the target cell configuration), Awada: [0043]).
Regarding claim 27, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 17 above.
Awada does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the CHO includes a dual active protocol stack handover.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Kim teaches:
wherein the CHO includes a dual active protocol stack handover (simultaneous service is a handover scheme using radio protocol layers (or stack) dually activated in the source cell and the target cell for the handover terminal (i.e., dual active protocol layer handover or dual active protocol stack handover), Kim: [0172], [0176]).
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 modify Awada in view of Kim in order to further modify the CHO which includes a dual active protocol stack handover from the teachings of Kim.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because the terminal may transmit, to the serving cell, a control (or measurement result) message requesting a start (or configuration) of the simultaneous service (Kim: [0172]).
Regarding claim 28, Awada discloses:
A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising (a method for a CHO may include, for example: receiving, by a UE from a serving BS, Awada: [0027]):
receiving, from a source cell, a reconfiguration message that includes one or more execution conditions by which the UE is to prepare for a conditional handover (CHO) (the UE receives a reconfiguration message (e.g., a RRC reconfiguration), which may include,e.g., the target cell configuration for the target cell, a configuration of a CHO execution condition, Awada: Fig. 2, [0042], [0044], [0046]),
wherein the one or more execution conditions include a conditional event corresponding to measurements for a target cell satisfying a first threshold during a time to trigger (TTT) period (the fulfillment of the CHO execution condition may require that the target cell measurement is sufficient (e.g., meeting the condition of Eqn. 1, or other condition) for at least TTT time period. TTT of a sufficient length (at least long enough) to provide a time period for the UE to decode and apply the target cell configuration, Awada: Fig. 2, [0038, [0042], [0044], [0046]);
generating, based at least in part on a handover condition being satisfied, an early bye message that indicates that the UE is preparing to leave a source cell for a target cell (after the CHO execution condition has been met for a TTT time period. evaluating whether the CHO execution condition for the target cell has been fulfilled (e.g., for at least TTT time period), and ( e.g., continuing to) transmit and/or receive data or signals to and/or from the source cell ( e.g., so as the UE will continue the connection and/or wireless service via the source cell, while the UE makes early preparations for the handover execution to the target cell), Awada: [0037]-[0038], [0040]);
Awada does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the early bye message includes a cell identifier (ID) or a physical cell ID of a cell for which the CHO is to be initiated; and
However, in the same field of endeavor, Kim teaches:
wherein the early bye message includes a cell identifier (ID) or a physical cell ID of a cell for which the CHO is to be initiated (the information for identifying the transmitting base station ( or transmission node) may include an identifier of the base station (or transmission node). the terminal 702 may transmit only information on an identifier of the target cell for the simultaneous service termination. may transmit the cell identifier and the measurement result together according to the parameters for measurement or reporting, Kim: [0125], [0217]); and
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 modify Awada in view of Kim in order to further modify the early bye message which includes a cell identifier (ID) or a physical cell ID of a cell for which the CHO is to be initiated from the teachings of Kim.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated the cell may be identified only by the order of the measurement results in the report message (Kim: [0217]).
Yet, Awada in view of Kim do not explicitly disclose:
transmitting, to the source cell, the early bye message before a trigger of the CHO is triggered or during a wait timer that is started after the CHO is triggered.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Wang teaches:
transmitting, to the source cell, the early bye message before a trigger of the CHO is triggered or during a wait timer that is started after the CHO is triggered (In response to receiving the handover command, the terminal device may evaluate all the conditions of execution of handover associated with each of the at least one second network device. terminal device may transmit, to the first network device, a fourth indication (e.g., "bye" message) regarding establishment of the second connection between the first device and the terminal device having a first connection with the first network device. terminal device may transmit a special scheduling request (SR) to the first network device and transmit the MAC CE to the first network device in a grant from the first network device in response to the special SR. Return back to FIG. 2, upon transmitting the fourth indication, the terminal device 120 may perform 209 a random access channel (RACH) procedure with the second network device 130 (i.e., the first device 130) so as to establish a connection (i.e., the second connection) with the first device 130. So far, simultaneous connections between terminal device 120 and the first and second network devices 110 and 130 are established, Wang: [0053]-[0057], [0064])
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 modify Awada and Kim in view of Wang in order to further modify transmitting the early bye message before a trigger of the CHO is triggered or during a wait timer that is started after the CHO is triggered from the teachings of Wang.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because conditional handover with simultaneous connectivity can be achieved and both a reduction of handover interruption and an improvement of handover robustness are attained (Wang: [0138]).
Regarding claim 29, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 28 above.
Awada further discloses:
wherein the method further comprises monitoring for a response to the early bye message until the wait timer expires (UE determines that a CHO entry condition (e.g., condition of Eqn. 1 is met for target cell, based on cell measurements and CIO/Ocn), and TTT timer is started. the TTT value may be at least as large as the amount of time required by the UE to decode and apply the target cell configuration, Awada: [0044]).
Regarding claim 30, Awada discloses:
A method of wireless communication performed by a network entity of a source cell, comprising (a method for a CHO may include by a UE from a serving BS (or serving gNB) associated with a source cell, Awada: [0027]):
transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a reconfiguration message that includes one or more execution conditions by which the UE is to prepare for a conditional handover (CHO) (the UE receives a reconfiguration message (e.g., a RRC reconfiguration), which may include, e.g., the target cell configuration for the target cell, a configuration of a CHO execution condition, Awada: Fig. 2, [0042], [0044], [0046]),
wherein the one or more execution conditions include a conditional event corresponding to measurements for a target cell satisfying a first threshold during a time to trigger (TTT) period (the fulfillment of the CHO execution condition may require that the target cell measurement is sufficient (e.g., meeting the condition of Eqn. 1, or other condition) for at least TTT time period. TTT of a sufficient length (at least long enough) to provide a time period for the UE to decode and apply the target cell configuration, Awada: Fig. 2, [0038, [0042], [0044], [0046]);
receiving, from the UE before a trigger of the CHO, an early bye message that indicates that the UE is preparing to leave the source cell for a target cell (after the CHO execution condition has been met for a TTT time period. evaluating whether the CHO execution condition for the target cell has been fulfilled (e.g., for at least TTT time period), and (e.g., continuing to) transmit and/or receive data or signals to and/or from the source cell (e.g., so as the UE will continue the connection and/or wireless service via the source cell, while the UE makes early preparations for the handover execution to the target cell), Awada: [0037]-[0038], [0040]);
Awada does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the early bye message includes a cell identifier (ID) or a physical cell ID of a cell for which the CHO is to be initiated; and
However, in the same field of endeavor, Kim teaches:
wherein the early bye message includes a cell identifier (ID) or a physical cell ID of a cell for which the CHO is to be initiated (the information for identifying the transmitting base station ( or transmission node) may include an identifier of the base station (or transmission node). the terminal 702 may transmit only information on an identifier of the target cell for the simultaneous service termination. may transmit the cell identifier and the measurement result together according to the parameters for measurement or reporting, Kim: [0125], [0217]); and
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 modify Awada in view of Kim in order to further modify the early bye message which includes a cell identifier (ID) or a physical cell ID of a cell for which a conditional handover (CHO) is to be initiated (CHO) is initiated from the teachings of Kim.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated the cell may be identified only by the order of the measurement results in the report message (Kim: [0217]).
Yet, Awada in view of Kim do not explicitly disclose:
forwarding data to one or more prepared CHO target cells based at least in part on the early bye message.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Wang teaches:
forwarding data to one or more prepared CHO target cells based at least in part on the early bye message (first network device may transmit data of the terminal device and sequence number information associated with the first data packet of the data to the first device, i.e., perform data forwarding to the first device. if one of the second network devices is selected as the first device, the first network device may transmit the fourth indication using the SR configuration corresponding to this second network device, Wang: [0030], [0063])
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 modify Awada and Kim in view of Wang in order to further modify forwarding data to one or more prepared CHO target cells based at least in part on the early bye message from the teachings of Wang.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because conditional handover with simultaneous connectivity can be achieved and both a reduction of handover interruption and an improvement of handover robustness are attained (Wang: [0138]).
Regarding claim 31, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 28 above.
Awada further discloses:
further comprising transmitting a CHO complete message after transmitting the early bye message (UE sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message/indication to the target node/target cell, and the target node at replies to the serving node/source cell with a handover success indication, Awada: [0045]).
Regarding claim 32, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 28 above.
Awada does not explicitly disclose:
further comprising transmitting a CHO complete message after the wait timer expires.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Wang teaches:
further comprising transmitting a CHO complete message after the wait timer expires (the terminal device 120 may transmit 208, to the first network device 110, a fourth indication (e.g., "bye" message). terminal device 120 may perform the determination by using a newly-defined timer. the terminal device 120 may transmit 210, to the first device 130, a handover complete message such as 5 RRCConnectionReconfigurationComplete/RRCReconfigurationComplete message. If receiving an acknowledgement for the transmission of the fourth indication within a preset time period, the terminal device 120 may determine that the fourth indication is successfully transmitted, Wang: [0054], [0065], [0114]).
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 modify Awada and Kim in view of Wang in order to further modify transmitting a CHO complete message after the wait timer expires from the teachings of Wang.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because conditional handover with simultaneous connectivity can be achieved and both a reduction of handover interruption and an improvement of handover robustness are attained (Wang: [0138]).
Regarding claim 33, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 28 above.
Awada further discloses:
wherein the one or more execution conditions further include one or more of a threshold gradient of signal strength, a threshold gradient of signal quality, a threshold Doppler parameter, or a velocity of the UE (UE may, from time to time, perform signal measurements of signals received from the source cell, and one or more neighbour (or potential target) cells. The measurements by the UE may include, measuring a reference signal receive power (RSRP), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or other signal measurement, Awada: [0031]).
Claims 11-13, and 24-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Awada-Kim-Wang and in further view of Tenny et al. (US 2018/0324651 Al, hereinafter “Tenny”).
Regarding claim 11, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Awada does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the early bye message, are configured to transmit the early message in a primary cell.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Tenny teaches:
wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the early bye message, are configured to transmit the early bye message in a primary cell (changing to operating as a primary cell (PCell), Tenny: [0015]).
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 modify Awada-Kim-Wang in view of Tenny in order to further modify transmitting the early bye message in a primary cell from the teachings of Tenny.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may reduce the amount of signaling and number of procedural steps, which helps to improve overall handover performance (Tenny: [0027]).
Regarding claim 12, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Awada does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the early bye message, are configured to transmit the early bye message in a secondary cell or a primary secondary cell.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Tenny teaches:
wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the early bye message, are configured to transmit the early bye message in a secondary cell or a primary secondary cell (target node is added as a primary secondary cell (PSCell) to trigger dual connectivity operation together with the source node, Tenny: [0060]).
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 modify Awada-Kim-Wang in view of Tenny in order to further modify transmitting the early bye message in a secondary cell or a primary secondary cell from the teachings of Tenny.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may reduce the amount of signaling and number of procedural steps, which helps to improve overall handover performance (Tenny: [0027]).
Regarding claim 13, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Awada does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the early bye message, are configured to transmit the early bye message to a secondary node in a dual connectivity mode for conditional primary secondary cell change.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Tenny teaches:
wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the early bye message, are configured to transmit the early bye message to a secondary node in a dual connectivity mode for conditional primary secondary cell change (dual connectivity handover involves the addition of access node as a secondary node of UE. dual connectivity handover procedure begin with the addition of a target node as a secondary node, Tenny: [0054], [0060]).
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 modify Awada-Kim-Wang in view of Tenny in order to further modify transmitting the early bye message to a secondary node in a dual connectivity mode for conditional primary secondary cell change from the teachings of Tenny.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may reduce the amount of signaling and number of procedural steps, which helps to improve overall handover performance (Tenny: [0027]).
Regarding claim 24, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 17 above.
Awada does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the one or more processors, to receive the early bye message, are configured to receive the early bye message in a primary cell.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Tenny teaches:
wherein the one or more processors, to receive the early bye message, are configured to receive the early bye message in a primary cell (changing to operating as a primary cell (PCell), Tenny: [0015]).
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 modify Awada-Kim-Wang in view of Tenny in order to further modifyreceiving the early bye message in a primary cell from the teachings of Tenny.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may reduce the amount of signaling and number of procedural steps, which helps to improve overall handover performance (Tenny: [0027]).
Regarding claim 25, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 17 above.
Awada does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the one or more processors, to receive the early bye message, are configured to receive the early bye message in a secondary cell or a primary secondary cell.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Tenny teaches:
wherein the one or more processors, to receive the early bye message, are configured to receive the early bye message in a secondary cell or a primary secondary cell (target node is added as a primary secondary cell (PSCell) to trigger dual connectivity operation together with the source node, Tenny: [0060]).
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 modify Awada-Kim-Wang in view of Tenny in order to further modify receiving the early bye message in a secondary cell or a primary secondary cell from the teachings of Tenny.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may reduce the amount of signaling and number of procedural steps, which helps to improve overall handover performance (Tenny: [0027]).
Claims 14-15, and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Awada-Kim-Wang and in further view of Tenny et al. (US 2018/0279188 Al, hereinafter “Tenny2”).
Regarding claim 14, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Awada does not explicitly disclose:
The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the early bye message, are configured to transmit the early bye message to a relay station at the source cell.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Tenny2 teaches:
wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the early bye message, are configured to transmit the early bye message to a relay station at the source cell (includes transmitting the RRC message to the relay UE. base station receives a configuration for a remote UE and processes this configuration as an RRC message for a remote UE through PDCP and then passes to the context of a relay UE, Tenny2: [0014], [0033]).
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 modify Awada-Kim-Wang in view of Tenny2 in order to further modify transmitting the early bye message to a relay station at the source cell from the teachings of Tenny2.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may pass the PDCP PDU to an uppermost layer of a short range link protocol stack on a short range link (Tenny2: [0013]).
Regarding claim 15, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 14 above.
Awada does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the early bye message, are configured to transmit the early bye message in a PC5 message or a non-cellular message.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Tenny2 teaches:
wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the early bye message, are configured to transmit the early bye message in a PC5 message or a non-cellular message (PDCP PDU is passed directly to the top layer of the short range link's transport stack (e.g., an RLC layer of PC5, or a PDCP layer of PC5 in the case in which the PDCP is implemented on PC5), Tenny2: [0014], [0033]).
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 modify Awada-Kim-Wang in view of Tenny2 in order to further modify transmitting the early bye message in a PC5 message from the teachings of Tenny2.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may pass the PDCP PDU to an uppermost layer of a short range link protocol stack on a short range link (Tenny2: [0013]).
Regarding claim 26, Awada-Kim-Wang teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 17 above.
Awada does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the one or more processors, to receive the early bye message, are configured to receive the early bye message from a relay station.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Tenny2 teaches:
wherein the one or more processors, to receive the early bye message, are configured to receive the early bye message from a relay station (includes transmitting the RRC message to the relay UE. base station receives a configuration for a remote UE and processes this configuration as an RRC message for a remote UE through PDCP and then passes to the context of a relay UE, Tenny2: [0014], [0033]).
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 modify Awada-Kim-Wang in view of Tenny2 in order to further modify transmitting the early bye message to a relay station at the source cell from the teachings of Tenny2.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may pass the PDCP PDU to an uppermost layer of a short range link protocol stack on a short range link (Tenny2: [0013]).
Conclusion
In the case of amendments, applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the
specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and support, for ascertaining the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
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/S.C.L./Examiner, Art Unit 2467
/MOHAMMED S CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467
