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 .
Response to Amendment
The following is a final office action in response to applicant’s amendment filed on 10/17/2025 for response of the office action mailed on 09/09/2025. Claims 1-2, 4-12, 21, 23 and 27 have been amended. Claims 1-30 are pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to Claim(s) 1-30 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Main Argument: Independent Claims
Applicant submits that the combination of Kim and Ingale fails to disclose, teach, or suggest, at least the following feature recited in claim 1: "wherein the second procedure is configured to determine a radio link quality of a primary cell associated with the first USIM without using measurements received from a physical (PHY) layer."
Response: Examiner respectfully disagrees
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Due to the amended features of the independent claims, the Office no longer relies on Ingale and instead introduces Jung to cover or disclose the features of "wherein the second procedure is configured to determine a radio link quality of a primary cell associated with the first USIM without using measurements received from a physical (PHY) layer." The cited portions of Jung discuss using values/thresholds instead of relying on measurements from a physical (PHY) layer for the purpose of monitoring downlink radio link quality of the Pcell. Cell quality is evaluated by ranking cells, not comparing raw signal measurements, where the ranking uses criterion values. Jung also teaches how the evaluation of link quality depends on network-configured thresholds, so instead of directly interpreting PHY measurements, the UE estimates radio link quality (a processed value), compares it against predefined thresholds (Qin, Qout), and makes decisions based on logical comparisons, not PHY measurements. This shows radio link quality determination is a higher-layer, rule based process. This response further applies to all dependent claims which depend on the independent claims.
Second Argument: Claims 10 and 21
Applicant submits that a prima facie case of obviousness has not been established for amended claim 10 and 21.
Response: Examiner respectfully disagrees
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Due to amended features of the independent claims, the Office no longer relies on Shrivastava and instead introduces Wei, where Wei shows a UE performing an action of stopping a first timer associated with a radio link failure (RLF) procedure in ¶0039.
Third Argument: Claims 11 and 22
However, Applicant submits that "performing beam failure recovery procedure or an RRC connection reestablishment procedure" appears to be the opposite of 'forgo corrective action" or "forgoing corrective action" as recited in claim 11. Therefore, Applicant submits that the Office has not shown that claims 11 and 22 are taught or suggested by the cited art.
Response: Examiner respectfully disagrees
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Due to amended features of the independent claims, the Office no longer relies on Kim and instead introduces Cui, where Cui states when RRM relaxation scheme is enabled, the UE 110 may ignore the RRM relaxation scheme for candidate beam detection (CBD) procedures and/or beam failure recovery (BFR) procedures (¶0100). Examiner interprets that ignoring RRM relaxation schemes during beam failure recovery prevents the UE from transitioning out of a failed beam state, resulting in behavior indistinguishable from a UE that elects not to perform any corrective action in response to the beam failure.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
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 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 non-obviousness.
Claims 1-3, 5-6, 12-14, 16-17, 23-25, 27-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (US 2024/0267814), Kim hereinafter and further in view of Jung et al. (WO 2013/051836A1), Jung hereinafter.
Re. Claim 1, Kim teaches a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, comprising: one or more memories; a first universal subscriber identity module (USIM); a second USIM; and one or more processors coupled to the first USIM, the second USIM, and the one or more memories, the one or more processors being configured to cause the UE to: (Fig. 15, 25 & ¶0222-¶0223);
monitor, using a first procedure, a failure event associated with the first USIM, the failure event comprising at least one of a radio link failure (RLF), a beam failure, or a listen-before-talk (LBT) failure; (¶0180 - A UE may initiate a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure based on detecting a beam failure. ¶0290 - A UE in an RRC connected state may detect a failure of a connection with a base station. The failure comprises at least one of: a radio link failure (RLF)… Examiner interprets the initial detection of the failure event based on monitoring as the first procedure);
transmit, to a network entity, a request for a time gap in network operations associated with the first USIM to perform a network operation associated with the second USIM, (¶0465 - A multi-USIM device may signal the network a preference to be kept in an RRC connected state in Network A while temporarily switching to network B, this is indicated by scheduling gaps preference…);
while the UE remains in a radio resource control (RRC) connected state associated with the first USIM during the time gap; (Fig. 26 & Abstract - During the gap the wireless device is allowed to switch to a device of a second network while in a radio resource control connected state with the first network… ¶0572 - a wireless device may receive from a first network, one or more messages indicating: a switching gap time in which the wireless device is allowed to communicate with a second network without releasing a connection of the first network);
and monitor, during the time gap, the failure event associated with the first USIM, using a second procedure different than the first procedure, (¶0531 - In an example, during the gap time, the wireless device may detect a radio failure of the first device (e.g., beam failure or radio link failure). Based on the detecting the radio failure of the first device during the gap time, the wireless device may determine to initiate a recovery procedure, for the radio failure, with the first device during the gap time. ¶0533 - During the gap time, the wireless device may monitor/measure the radio channel of the first device while communicating with the second device. Please also see ¶0576);
Yet, Kim does not explicitly teach wherein the second procedure is configured to determine a radio link quality of a primary cell associated with the first USIM without using measurements received from a physical (PHY) layer.
However, in the analogous art, Jung explicitly teaches wherein the second procedure is configured to determine a radio link quality of a primary cell associated with the first USIM without using measurements received from a physical (PHY) layer (Fig. 4 & Page 6, ¶1 - The UE selects a cell having the greatest value among cells in which signal strength or quality thereof is greater than a particular value (S420) … The particular value refers to a value defined in the system in order to guarantee quality of a physical signal in data transmission and reception. Page 6, ¶15/Page 7 ¶1- - The intra-frequency cell reselection is basically based on ranking. The ranking is an operation for defining a criterion value for evaluation of the cell reselection and for ordering cells according to a magnitude of the criterion value by using the criterion value. A cell having the highest criterion is referred to as a best-ranked cell. Page 7, ¶3 - For the inter-frequency cell reselection, the network may provide parameters (e.g., frequency-specific offsets) for use in cell reselection to the UE for each frequency. Page 9, ¶1 - The UE shall monitor the downlink link quality based on the cell-specific reference signal in order to detect the downlink radio link quality of the Pcell. The UE shall estimate the downlink radio link quality and compare it to the thresholds Qout and Qin for the purpose of monitoring downlink radio link quality of the Pcell).
In other words, Jung discloses using values/thresholds instead of relying on measurements from a physical (PHY) layer for the purpose of monitoring downlink radio link quality of the Pcell. Cell quality is evaluated by ranking cells, not comparing raw signal measurements, where the ranking uses criterion values. Jung also teaches how the evaluation of link quality depends on network-configured thresholds, so instead of directly interpreting PHY measurements, the UE estimates radio link quality (a processed value), compares it against predefined thresholds (Qin, Qout), and makes decisions based on logical comparisons, not PHY measurements. This shows radio link quality determination is a higher-layer, rule based process.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Jung to the teaching of Kim. The motivation would be because the invention relates to wireless communication and more particularly, to a method for reporting measurement results (Page 1, Technical Field, Jung).
Re. Claims 2, 13, 24 and 28, Kim and Jung teach Claims 1, 12, 23 and 27.
Kim further teaches the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: perform/performing/mean for performing/the executable codes further comprises instructions that cause the UE to: perform the network operation associated with the second USIM during the time gap, while the second USIM remains in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state; (Fig. 26, 32 (Please see USIM in RRC idle/inactive state in 2nd network) & ¶0232 - When a UE is in an RRC idle state, (an RRC layer of) the UE may: monitor short messages transmitted with P-RNTI over DCI; monitor a paging channel for core network (CN) paging using serving temporary mobile subscriber identity (S-TMSI) (e.g., 5G-S-TMSI); perform neighbouring cell measurements and cell (re-) selection; acquire system information; send SI request; perform logging of available measurements together with location and time for logged measurement configured UEs. ¶0505 - For example, the wireless device may be allowed to transmit/receive second data to/from the second network during the switching gap time) and transmit/transmitting/means for transmitting/transmit, to the network entity, a signal configured to indicate completion of the network operation associated with the second USIM before the time gap expires (¶0547 - a wireless device may transmit an indication to the first device, e.g., in response to or after determining to transmit to the first device the first data during the gap time. The wireless device may transmit the indication during the gap time. The indication may indicate an early termination of the gap time in response to the first data available to the first device … The wireless device may transmit the indication via an RRC complete message of Msg 5).
Re. Claims 3, 14, 25 and 29, Kim and Jung teach Claims 3, 13, 24 and 28.
Kim further teaches the signal comprises a scheduling request, a channel state information feedback, or a hybrid automatic repeat request feedback (¶0212 - The UE may transmit uplink control signaling (e.g., uplink control information (UCI)) to a base station… The UE may transmit a UCI (e.g., HARQ acknowledgements (HARQ-ACK), CSI report, SR, and the like) via a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)).
Re. Claims 5 and 16, Kim and Jung teach Claims 1 and 12.
Kim further teaches in the second procedure, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to, at least one of:/the second procedure comprises at least one of: transmit/transmitting secondary cell group (SCG) failure information after the time gap terminates due to expiration of the time gap or early termination effected by the UE, in response to determining that the RLF occurs on a primary SCG cell (PSCell) associated with the first USIM;
or perform/performing cell selection and re-establishment after the time gap terminates due to expiration of the time gap or early termination effected by the UE, in response to determining that the RLF occurs on a primary serving cell (PCell) associated with the first USIM (Fig. 17 & ¶0291 - The radio link failure may be a radio link failure of a primary cell of the base station. The base station may send a reconfiguration with sync in an RRC message to the UE in RRC connected state. The reconfiguration with sync may comprise a reconfiguration timer (e.g., T304). Based on receiving the reconfiguration sync, the UE may start the reconfiguration timer and perform the reconfiguration with sync (e.g., handover). Based on expiry of the reconfiguration timer, the UE determine the reconfiguration sync failure. ¶0292 - Based on detecting the failure, the UE in the RRC connected state may initiate an RRC connection reestablishment procedure. ¶0293 - Based on initiating the RRC connection reestablishment procedure, the UE in the RRC connected state may perform a cell selection procedure. Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “or”).
Re. Claim 6, Kim and Ingale teach Claim 1.
Kim further teaches in the second procedure, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to, at least one of:
transmit a beam failure indication after the time gap terminates due to expiration of the time gap or early termination effected by the UE, in response to determining that the beam failure occurs on a secondary serving cell (SCell) associated with the first USIM;
or perform beam failure recovery after the time gap terminates due to expiration of the time gap or early termination effected by the UE, in response to determining that the beam failure occurs on a primary serving cell (PCell) or a primary secondary cell group cell (PSCell) associated with the first USIM (Fig. 28 & ¶0503 - During the switching gap time, a procedure associated with the first network may be triggered in the wireless device. Based on the procedure associated with the first network, the wireless device may wait to initiate the procedure with the first network until the switching gap time expires. ¶0511 - …a wireless device may transmit an indication to the first device, e.g., in response to or after determining to transmit to the first device the first data during the gap time or determining to initiate the procedure during the gap time. The indication may indicate an early termination of the gap time or a request to cancel/deactivate the gap time in response to the first data available to the first device. ¶0532 - In an example, during the gap time, the wireless device may detect a radio failure of the first device (e.g., beam failure or radio link failure). For example, based on a type of the signal indicating the first type indicating the recovery procedure, the wireless device may determine to transmit a signal, of a recovery procedure for the radio failure, to the first device during the gap time. Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “or”).
Re. Claim 12, Kim teaches a method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: (Fig. 15, 25);
monitoring, using a first procedure, a failure event associated with a first universal subscriber identity module (USIM) of the UE, the failure event comprising at least one of a radio link failure (RLF), a beam failure, or a listen-before-talk (LBT) failure; (¶0180 - A UE may initiate a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure based on detecting a beam failure. ¶0290 - A UE in an RRC connected state may detect a failure of a connection with a base station. The failure comprises at least one of: a radio link failure (RLF)… Examiner interprets the initial detection of the failure event based on monitoring as the first procedure);
transmitting, to a network entity, a request for a time gap in network operations associated with the first USIM to perform a network operation associated with a second USIM of the UE, (¶0465 - A multi-USIM device may signal the network a preference to be kept in an RRC connected state in Network A while temporarily switching to network B, this is indicated by scheduling gaps preference…);
while the UE remains in a radio resource control (RRC) connected state associated with the first USIM during the time gap; (Fig. 26 & Abstract - During the gap the wireless device is allowed to switch to a device of a second network while in a radio resource control connected state with the first network… ¶0572 - a wireless device may receive from a first network, one or more messages indicating: a switching gap time in which the wireless device is allowed to communicate with a second network without releasing a connection of the first network);
and monitoring, during the time gap, the failure event associated with the first USIM, using a second procedure different than the first procedure, (¶0531 - In an example, during the gap time, the wireless device may detect a radio failure of the first device (e.g., beam failure or radio link failure). Based on the detecting the radio failure of the first device during the gap time, the wireless device may determine to initiate a recovery procedure, for the radio failure, with the first device during the gap time. ¶0533 - During the gap time, the wireless device may monitor/measure the radio channel of the first device while communicating with the second device. Please also see ¶0576);
Yet, Kim does not explicitly teach wherein the second procedure is configured to determine a radio link quality of a primary cell associated with the first USIM without using measurements received from a physical (PHY) layer.
However, in the analogous art, Jung explicitly teaches wherein the second procedure is configured to determine a radio link quality of a primary cell associated with the first USIM without using measurements received from a physical (PHY) layer (Fig. 4 & Page 6, ¶1 - The UE selects a cell having the greatest value among cells in which signal strength or quality thereof is greater than a particular value (S420) … The particular value refers to a value defined in the system in order to guarantee quality of a physical signal in data transmission and reception. Page 6, ¶15/Page 7 ¶1- - The intra-frequency cell reselection is basically based on ranking. The ranking is an operation for defining a criterion value for evaluation of the cell reselection and for ordering cells according to a magnitude of the criterion value by using the criterion value. A cell having the highest criterion is referred to as a best-ranked cell. Page 7, ¶3 - For the inter-frequency cell reselection, the network may provide parameters (e.g., frequency-specific offsets) for use in cell reselection to the UE for each frequency. Page 9, ¶1 - The UE shall monitor the downlink link quality based on the cell-specific reference signal in order to detect the downlink radio link quality of the Pcell. The UE shall estimate the downlink radio link quality and compare it to the thresholds Qout and Qin for the purpose of monitoring downlink radio link quality of the Pcell).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Jung to the teaching of Kim. The motivation would be because the invention relates to wireless communication and more particularly, to a method for reporting measurement results (Page 1, Technical Field, Jung).
Re. Claim 17, Kim and Jung teach Claim 12.
Kim further teaches the second procedure comprises at least one of:
transmitting a beam failure indication after the time gap terminates due to expiration of the time gap or early termination effected by the UE, in response to determining that the beam failure occurs on a secondary serving cell (SCell) associated with the first USIM;
or performing beam failure recovery after the time gap terminates due to expiration of the time gap or early termination effected by the UE, (¶0503 - Based on the procedure associated with the first network, the wireless device may wait to initiate the procedure with the first network until the switching gap time expires) in response to determining that the beam failure occurs on a primary serving cell (PCell) or a primary secondary cell group cell (PSCell) associated with the first USIM (Fig. 17 & ¶0281 - The special cell (SpCell) may comprise a primary cell (PCell) of an MCG... ¶0282 - The SpCell configuration parameter may comprise at least one of radio link failure timer and constraints, radio link monitoring in sync out of sync threshold, and/or serving cell configuration parameters of the first cell. ¶0511 - a wireless device may transmit an indication to the first device, e.g., in response to or after determining to transmit to the first device the first data during the gap time or determining to initiate the procedure during the gap time… The indication may indicate an early termination of the gap time or a request to cancel/deactivate the gap time in response to the first data available to the first device. ¶0532 - In an example, during the gap time, the wireless device may detect a radio failure of the first device (e.g., beam failure or radio link failure). ¶0534 - For example, the recovery procedure may be beam failure recovery procedure or an RRC connection reestablishment procedure. The signal may be a beam failure recovery (BFR) MAC CE or an RRC reestablishment request message. Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “or”).
Re. Claim 23, Kim teaches a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: (Fig. 15, 25 & ¶0222);
means for monitoring, using a first procedure, a failure event associated with a first universal subscriber identity module (USIM) of the UE, the failure event comprising at least one of a radio link failure (RLF), a beam failure, or a listen- before-talk (LBT) failure; (¶0180 - A UE may initiate a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure based on detecting a beam failure. ¶0290 - A UE in an RRC connected state may detect a failure of a connection with a base station. The failure comprises at least one of: a radio link failure (RLF)… Examiner interprets the initial detection of the failure event based on monitoring as the first procedure);
means for transmitting, to a network entity, a request for a time gap in network operations associated with the first USIM to perform a network operation associated with a second USIM of the UE, (¶0465 - A multi-USIM device may signal the network a preference to be kept in an RRC connected state in Network A while temporarily switching to network B, this is indicated by scheduling gaps preference…);
while the UE remains in a radio resource control (RRC) connected state associated with the first USIM during the time gap; (Fig. 26 & Abstract - During the gap the wireless device is allowed to switch to a device of a second network while in a radio resource control connected state with the first network… ¶0572 - a wireless device may receive from a first network, one or more messages indicating: a switching gap time in which the wireless device is allowed to communicate with a second network without releasing a connection of the first network);
and means for monitoring, during the time gap, the failure event associated with the first USIM, using a second procedure different than the first procedure, (¶0531 - In an example, during the gap time, the wireless device may detect a radio failure of the first device (e.g., beam failure or radio link failure). Based on the detecting the radio failure of the first device during the gap time, the wireless device may determine to initiate a recovery procedure, for the radio failure, with the first device during the gap time. ¶0533 - During the gap time, the wireless device may monitor/measure the radio channel of the first device while communicating with the second device. Please also see ¶0576);
Yet, Kim does not explicitly teach wherein the second procedure is configured to determine a radio link quality of a primary cell associated with the first USIM without using measurements received from a physical (PHY) layer.
However, in the analogous art, Jung explicitly teaches wherein the second procedure is configured to determine a radio link quality of a primary cell associated with the first USIM without using measurements received from a physical (PHY) layer (Fig. 4 & Page 6, ¶1 - The UE selects a cell having the greatest value among cells in which signal strength or quality thereof is greater than a particular value (S420) … The particular value refers to a value defined in the system in order to guarantee quality of a physical signal in data transmission and reception. Page 6, ¶15/Page 7 ¶1- - The intra-frequency cell reselection is basically based on ranking. The ranking is an operation for defining a criterion value for evaluation of the cell reselection and for ordering cells according to a magnitude of the criterion value by using the criterion value. A cell having the highest criterion is referred to as a best-ranked cell. Page 7, ¶3 - For the inter-frequency cell reselection, the network may provide parameters (e.g., frequency-specific offsets) for use in cell reselection to the UE for each frequency. Page 9, ¶1 - The UE shall monitor the downlink link quality based on the cell-specific reference signal in order to detect the downlink radio link quality of the Pcell. The UE shall estimate the downlink radio link quality and compare it to the thresholds Qout and Qin for the purpose of monitoring downlink radio link quality of the Pcell).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Jung to the teaching of Kim. The motivation would be because the invention relates to wireless communication and more particularly, to a method for reporting measurement results (Page 1, Technical Field, Jung).
Re. Claim 27, Kim teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stored with executable codes for wireless communication, the executable codes comprising instructions that cause a user equipment (UE) to: (Fig. 15, 25 & ¶0222);
monitor, using a first procedure, a failure event associated with a first universal subscriber identity module (USIM) of the UE, the failure event comprising at least one of a radio link failure (RLF), a beam failure, or a listen-before-talk (LBT) failure; (¶0180 - A UE may initiate a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure based on detecting a beam failure. ¶0290 - A UE in an RRC connected state may detect a failure of a connection with a base station. The failure comprises at least one of: a radio link failure (RLF)… Examiner interprets the initial detection of the failure event based on monitoring as the first procedure);
transmit, to a network entity, a request for a time gap in network operations associated with the first USIM to perform a network operation associated with a second USIM of the UE, (¶0465 - A multi-USIM device may signal the network a preference to be kept in an RRC connected state in Network A while temporarily switching to network B, this is indicated by scheduling gaps preference…);
while the UE remains in a radio resource control (RRC) connected state associated with the first USIM during the time gap; (Fig. 26 & Abstract - During the gap the wireless device is allowed to switch to a device of a second network while in a radio resource control connected state with the first network… ¶0572 - a wireless device may receive from a first network, one or more messages indicating: a switching gap time in which the wireless device is allowed to communicate with a second network without releasing a connection of the first network);
and monitor, during the time gap, the failure event associated with the first USIM, using a second procedure different than the first procedure, (¶0531 - In an example, during the gap time, the wireless device may detect a radio failure of the first device (e.g., beam failure or radio link failure). Based on the detecting the radio failure of the first device during the gap time, the wireless device may determine to initiate a recovery procedure, for the radio failure, with the first device during the gap time. ¶0533 - During the gap time, the wireless device may monitor/measure the radio channel of the first device while communicating with the second device. Please also see ¶0576);
Yet, Kim does not explicitly teach wherein the second procedure is configured to determine a radio link quality of a primary cell associated with the first USIM without using measurements received from a physical (PHY) layer.
However, in the analogous art, Jung explicitly teaches wherein the second procedure is configured to determine a radio link quality of a primary cell associated with the first USIM without using measurements received from a physical (PHY) layer (Fig. 4 & Page 6, ¶1 - The UE selects a cell having the greatest value among cells in which signal strength or quality thereof is greater than a particular value (S420) … The particular value refers to a value defined in the system in order to guarantee quality of a physical signal in data transmission and reception. Page 6, ¶15/Page 7 ¶1- - The intra-frequency cell reselection is basically based on ranking. The ranking is an operation for defining a criterion value for evaluation of the cell reselection and for ordering cells according to a magnitude of the criterion value by using the criterion value. A cell having the highest criterion is referred to as a best-ranked cell. Page 7, ¶3 - For the inter-frequency cell reselection, the network may provide parameters (e.g., frequency-specific offsets) for use in cell reselection to the UE for each frequency. Page 9, ¶1 - The UE shall monitor the downlink link quality based on the cell-specific reference signal in order to detect the downlink radio link quality of the Pcell. The UE shall estimate the downlink radio link quality and compare it to the thresholds Qout and Qin for the purpose of monitoring downlink radio link quality of the Pcell).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Jung to the teaching of Kim. The motivation would be because the invention relates to wireless communication and more particularly, to a method for reporting measurement results (Page 1, Technical Field, Jung).
Claims 4, 15, 26 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim and Jung, and further in view of Killerich Pratas et al. (US 2022/0110106), Killerich Pratas hereinafter.
Re. Claims 4, 15, 26 and 30, Kim and Jung teach Claims 1, 13, 24 and 28.
Yet, Kim and Jung do not explicitly teach the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to, at least one of:/ further comprising, at least one of:/further comprising, at least one of:/ the executable codes further comprises instructions that cause the UE to at least one of: resume/resuming/means for resuming/resume monitoring the failure event using the first procedure after performing the network operation associated with the second USIM; resume/resuming/means for resuming/resume monitoring the failure event using the first procedure after transmitting the signal configured to indicate completion of the network operation associated with the second USIM; or resume/resuming/means/resume for resuming monitoring the failure event using the first procedure after receiving a confirmation from the network entity for the signal configured to indicate completion of the network operation associated with the second USIM.
However, in the analogous art, Killerich Pratas explicitly teaches the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to, at least one of:/ further comprising, at least one of:/further comprising, at least one of:/ the executable codes further comprises instructions that cause the UE to at least one of:
resume/resuming/means for resuming/resume monitoring the failure event using the first procedure after performing the network operation associated with the second USIM; (Fig. 5b, 6 & ¶0115 - Thus, when the UE monitors paging occasions for the first SIM, the UE may decide, based on the data from the previously performed beam management operations, to momentarily switch the radio transceiver parts… from the first SIM operating in RRC Idle/Inactive mode to the second SIM operating in RRC Connected mode in order to allow the second SIM to perform at least one beam management operation. ¶0116 - the radio transceiver of the apparatus is configured to be switched back to a communication in an active period of the first SIM after the second SIM having performed said at least one beam management operation… where after the radio transceiver of the apparatus may be resumed for the communication of the first SIM, which may continue e.g. the paging occasion monitoring. Please also see ¶0105. Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “or”);
resume/resuming/means for resuming/resume monitoring the failure event using the first procedure after transmitting the signal configured to indicate completion of the network operation associated with the second USIM;
or resume/resuming/means/resume for resuming monitoring the failure event using the first procedure after receiving a confirmation from the network entity for the signal configured to indicate completion of the network operation associated with the second USIM.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Killerich Pratas to the teachings of Kim and Jung. The motivation would be because the invention provides an efficient mechanism for alleviating problems such as where allocating the RF resources to both SIMS in alternating manner may lead to a situation, where the SIM operating in the connected mode may be forced to skip some scheduled beam management operations due to the RF resources being temporarily being allocated to the other SIM. This may cause the SIM in the connected mode to lose its beam alignment, whereupon a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure needs to be started (¶0006-¶0007, Killerich Pratas).
Claims 7 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim and Jung, and further in view of Lee et al. (US 2022/0167408), Lee hereinafter.
Re. Claims 7 and 18, Kim and Jung teach Claims 1 and 12.
Yet, Kim and Jung do not explicitly teach in the second procedure, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to, at least one of:/ the second procedure comprises at least one of: transmit/transmitting a LBT failure indication after the time gap terminates due to expiration of the time gap or early termination effected by the UE, in response to determining that the LBT failure occurs on a secondary serving cell (SCell) associated with the first USIM;transmit/transmitting secondary cell group (SCG) failure information after the time gap terminates due to expiration of the time gap or early termination effected by the UE, in response to determining that the LBT failure occurs on a primary SCG cell (PSCell) associated with the first USIM; or change/changing a bandwidth part or initiate/initiating a random access procedure after the time gap terminates due to expiration of the time gap or early termination effected by the UE, in response to determining that the LBT failure occurs on a primary service cell (PCell) associated with the first USIM.
However, in the analogous art, Lee explicitly teaches in the second procedure, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to, at least one of:/the second procedure comprises at least one of:
transmit/transmitting a LBT failure indication after the time gap terminates due to expiration of the time gap or early termination effected by the UE, in response to determining that the LBT failure occurs on a secondary serving cell (SCell) associated with the first USIM;
transmit/transmitting secondary cell group (SCG) failure information after the time gap terminates due to expiration of the time gap or early termination effected by the UE, in response to determining that the LBT failure occurs on a primary SCG cell (PSCell) associated with the first USIM;
or change/changing a bandwidth part or initiate/initiating a random access procedure after the time gap terminates due to expiration of the time gap or early termination effected by the UE, in response to determining that the LBT failure occurs on a primary service cell (PCell) associated with the first USIM (Fig. 11, 12 & ¶0011 - …by the UE, the recovery procedure includes performing a random access procedure at the media access control (MAC) level including switching from a first bandwidth part (BWP) to a second BWP… ¶0020 - The operations further include initiating a recovery procedure in response to the LBT failure counter exceeding the predetermined threshold at expiration of the LBT timer. ¶0086 - This is used in the case where the PCell is having this consistent and systematic LBT failure. Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “or”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Lee to the teachings of Kim and Jung. The motivation would be because the invention includes systems, apparatuses, methods, and computer-readable media for determining and processing uplink listen before talk (LBT) failures, including the determination of a consistent and systematic LBT failure associated with uplink transmissions in new radio (NR) operating over unlicensed spectrum (¶0003, Lee).
Claims 8 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim and Jung, and further in view of Chin et al. (US 2021/0144761), Chin hereinafter.
Re. Claims 8 and 19, Kim and Jung teach Claims 1 and 12.
Kim further teaches after the time gap terminates due to expiration of the time gap or early termination effected by the UE, (¶0503 - Based on the data pending over the first network during the switching gap time, the wireless device may wait until the switching gap time expires, to transmit the data to the first network. During the switching gap time, a procedure associated with the first network may be triggered in the wireless device. Based on the procedure associated with the first network, the wireless device may wait to initiate the procedure with the first network until the switching gap time expires);
Yet, Kim and Jung do not explicitly teach in the second procedure, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to, at least one of:/the second procedure comprises at least one of: transmit/transmitting secondary cell group (SCG) failure information, in response to determining that the RLF, the beam failure, or the LBT failure occurs on a primary SCG cell (PSCell) before the RLF occurs on a primary serving cell (PCell).
However, in the analogous art, Chin explicitly teaches in the second procedure, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to, at least one of:/the second procedure comprises at least one of: transmit/transmitting secondary cell group (SCG) failure information, in response to determining that the RLF, the beam failure, or the LBT failure occurs on a primary SCG cell (PSCell) before the RLF occurs on a primary serving cell (PCell) (¶0044 - On the other hand, for a PSCell, if there is no available BWP for BWP switching (e.g., consistent UL LBT failures are detected in the switched BWP) during the LBT recovery procedure, the UE may trigger a SCG radio link failure (RLF) procedure and reports the LBT failure to the MN. ¶0204 - Thus, the UE may transmit an RRC message (e.g., SCG Failure Information message) including the failureType to the gNB. Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “or”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Chin to the teachings of Kim and Jung. The motivation would be because the invention relates to wireless communications, and more specifically, to a method of listen before talk (LBT) recovery procedure and a related device (¶0002, Chin).
Claims 9 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim and Jung, and further in view of Shrivastava et al. (US 2024/0196195), Shrivastava hereinafter.
Re. Claims 9 and 20, Kim and Jung teach Claims 1 and 12.
Yet, Kim and Jung do not explicitly teach in the second procedure, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to suspend or stop monitoring the failure event/the second procedure comprises suspending or stopping the monitoring of the failure event.
However, in the analogous art, Shrivastava explicitly teaches in the second procedure, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to suspend or stop monitoring the failure event/the second procedure comprises suspending or stopping the monitoring of the failure event (¶0175 - Further, for the beam failure determination and recovery, invention introduces a rule in the standard defining that the MUSIM UE (100) shall perform which actions for beam failure detection (BFD) and beam failure recovery operations upon initiating or performing gap (e.g., short-time switching gap i.e. without leaving RRC_CONNECTED state in the first network apparatus (200a)), including one or more of the listed actions as— ¶0179 - The MUSIM UE (100) … does not perform monitoring/detection for beam failure during the gap. Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “or”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Shrivastava to the teachings of Kim and Jung. The motivation would be because the invention relates to generally wireless communication system and, more specifically, the present disclosure relates to a MUSIM (multi-SIM) User Equipment's (UEs), in a wireless communication system (¶0001, Shrivastava).
Claims 10 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim and Jung, and further in view of Wei et al. (US 2021/0219370), Wei hereinafter.
Re. Claims 10 and 21, Kim and Jung teach Claim 1.
Yet, Kim and Jung do not explicitly teach in the second procedure, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to, at least one of:/the second procedure further comprises at least one of: stop/stopping a timer or a counter configured to monitor the RLF; or stop/stopping the monitoring of the RLF and the beam failure.
However, in the analogous art, Wei explicitly teaches in the second procedure, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to, at least one of:/the second procedure further comprises at least one of:
stop/stopping a timer or a counter configured to monitor the RLF; (Fig. 5 & ¶0039 - Example 1 is an apparatus configured to be employed in a UE (User Equipment), comprising: a memory interface; and processing circuitry configured to: … one or more of stop a first timer associated with a radio link failure (RLF) procedure…);
or stop/stopping the monitoring of the RLF and the beam failure.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Wei to the teachings of Kim and Jung. The motivation would be because by associating BFR and RLF mechanisms of 5G NR, embodiments discussed herein can reduce the rate of RLF timer triggering compared to existing 5G NR systems, and can also reduce the number of false RLF procedures compared to existing 5G NR systems. In turn, this can improve the efficiency and reliability of communications in 5G NR systems (¶0012, Wei).
Claims 11 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim and Jung, and further in view of Cui et al. (US 2024/0187901), Cui hereinafter.
Re. Claims 11 and 22, Kim and Jung teach Claims 1 and 12.
Yet, Kim and Jung do not explicitly teach in the second procedure, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:/the second procedure comprises: forgo/forgoing corrective action in response to detection of the RLF, the beam failure, or the LBT failure.
However, in the analogous art, Cui explicitly teaches in the second procedure, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:/the second procedure comprises: forgo/forgoing corrective action in response to detection of the RLF, the beam failure, or the LBT failure (¶0100 - when RRM relaxation scheme is enabled, the UE 110 may ignore the RRM relaxation scheme for candidate beam detection (CBD) procedures and/or beam failure recovery (BFR) procedures. Examiner interprets that ignoring RRM relaxation schemes during beam failure recovery prevents the UE from transitioning out of a failed beam state, resulting in behavior indistinguishable from a UE that elects not to perform any corrective action in response to the beam failure. Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “or”, and chooses to show beam failure).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Cui to the teachings of Kim and Jung. The motivation would be because the invention states those skilled in the art will understand that RRM relaxation refers to a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) concept in which a UE is subject to relaxed RRM requirements under certain conditions (¶0002, Cui).
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 ALYSSA WILLIAMS whose telephone number is (571)270-7673. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8-5pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayman Abaza can be reached on (571) 270-0422. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALYSSA WILLIAMS/Examiner, Art Unit 2465B
/AYMAN A ABAZA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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