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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/05/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment filed on 01/05/2026 has been entered. Independent Claims 1, 6, 9, and 14 have been amended. No dependent claims have been amended. No claims have been cancelled. No claims are new and have been entered. Claims 1-18 are still pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the independent claim under the 35 USC § 103 rejection 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 specified challenged in the argument.
Applicant’s arguments filed on 01/05/2026 on page(s) 9 of applicant’s remark regarding Claim # under 35 USC § 103. The applicant argues that da Silva fails to teach the activation of the secondary cell. However, ¶0194 further describes how the CSI-RS is used to provide one or more service areas, and the final sentence of the paragraph is used to describe that the synchronization elements are used for handover from one network element to another network element. Thus, the applicant here fails to patentably distinguish the claimed invention of the activation of the secondary cell from the teachings of da Silva. The applicant’s arguments have been fully considered, but are not persuasive.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: pg. 2 line 12 states “and/or”, which is unclear if the phrase is either “and” or “or”. For the purposes of examiner, the examiner is considering this phrase as “or”. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 6, 9, 14, 17, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liang (Pub. No.: US 20130336153 A1, hereafter “Liang”) in view of da Silva (Pub. No.: US 20180343595 A1, hereafter “da Silva”), further in view of Thomas (Pub. No.: US 20210243768 A1, hereafter “Thomas”).
Regarding Claim 1, Claim 6, Claim 9, and Claim 14
Liang teaches a Method and Apparatus Comprising
A communication method, comprising: sending (Liang Fig. 6: Management configuration), by a network device (Liang Fig. 6: Source RNC), first signaling (Liang Fig. 6: Management configuration message) to a terminal device (Liang Fig. 6: terminal) on a downlink primary component carrier, wherein the first signaling comprises configuration information of a secondary cell (Liang ¶0075: measurement configuration for switching to a target system), the configuration information comprising information about a downlink secondary component carrier (Liang ¶0076: terminal reports measurement information of the cells), or both information about a downlink secondary component carrier and information about an uplink secondary component carrier (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim; Liang teaches a base station sending information to a UE containing information for a handover); sending, by the network device, second signaling (Liang Fig. 6: Handover command) to the terminal device, wherein the terminal device uses the second signaling (Liang ¶0073: access the target system according to the handover command; Liang teaches the UE connecting with the handover information);
Liang does not explicitly teach
determining, by the network device based on a channel state information (CSI) report and/or feedback signaling received from the terminal device, that the terminal device has successfully activated the secondary cell, wherein the feedback signaling indicates feedback information of the second signaling;
However, de Silva teaches
determining (da Silva ¶0194-¶0195: determining module), by the network device (da Silva Fig. 12: 13) based on a channel state information (CSI) report (da Silva ¶0194-¶0195: associated CSI-RS) and/or feedback signaling received from the terminal device (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), that the terminal device has (da Silva Fig. 12: 10) successfully activated the secondary cell (da Silva ¶0194-¶0195: on the second node the RACH configuration is mapped to the CSI-RS), wherein the feedback signaling indicates feedback information of the second signaling (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim; da Silva teaches using CSI to transfer a UE from one base station to a second base station);
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Liang with da Silva, to have an element that teaches using CSI to transfer a UE from one base station to a second base station, as taught by da Silva in Fig. 12 and ¶0194-¶0195, to reduce interference from unwanted signal as well as enabling several simultaneous transmissions over multiple individual connections using the same resources in the time-frequency grid.
Liang in view of da Silva does not explicitly teach
wherein in the case that a difference between time-frequency domain synchronization information of the downlink primary component carrier and time-frequency domain synchronization information of the downlink secondary component carrier is less than a first threshold, the secondary cell is activated by the terminal device without receiving related information used to perform channel measurements from the network device
However, Thomas teaches
wherein in the case (Thomas Fig. 4: 406) that a difference (Thomas ¶0066-¶0068: determining that the second reception beam with a second SSB is higher than the first reception beam with a first SSB) between time-frequency domain synchronization information (Thomas ¶0066-¶0068: first SSB) of the downlink primary component carrier (Thomas ¶0066-¶0068: established beam) and time-frequency domain synchronization information (Thomas ¶0066-¶0068: second SSB) of the downlink secondary component carrier (Thomas ¶0066-¶0068: new beam) is less than a first threshold (Thomas ¶0066-¶0068: determining that the second is higher than the first by a threshold; Thomas teaches determining if the second SSB was a higher quality than the first SSB between two beams and higher than a threshold), the secondary cell is activated by the terminal device without receiving related information (Thomas Fig. 4: 408) used to perform channel measurements from the network device (Thomas ¶0078-¶0080: based on first and second metrics measured from the first and second SSBs; Thomas teaches selecting and communicating just from the second reception beam)
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Liang in view of da Silva by way of Thomas, to include an element that teaches determining if the second SSB was a higher quality than the first SSB between two beams and higher than a threshold and selecting and communicating just from the second reception beam, as taught by Thomas in Fig. 4, ¶0066-¶0068, and ¶0078-¶0080, to better improve beam selection procedure by reducing the time delay associated with communicating about the specific ideal beam being used to communicate from one system to another and instead use the beam which has been provided.
Claim 6 differs by the following limitation, which is also taught by the prior art,
receiving, by a network device (Liang Fig. 6: terminal; Liang teaches a network device receiving information)
Claim 9 and Claim 14 differs by the following limitation, which is also taught by the prior art
apparatus is a network device or a chip in a network device, and the apparatus comprises at least one processor (Liang ¶0116: processor); and a memory coupled to at least one processor (Liang ¶0116: programmable data) and configured to store executable instructions (Liang ¶0116: instructions) that, when executed by at least one processor, instruct at least one processor to (Liang ¶0116: performing instructions; Liang teaches a processor, with data, that’s able to perform instructions):
Regarding Claim 2 and Claim 10
Liang in view of da Silva further in view of Thomas teaches a Method and Apparatus as explained above in Claim 1. De Silva teaches
when the network device receives the CSI report from the terminal device (da Silva ¶0099: BS receives CSI-RS), and the CSI report is a valid CSI report (da Silva ¶0099: may consider acquired DL synchronization with the target cell still valid), determining that the terminal device has successfully activated the secondary cell (da Silva Fig. 3: 305; da Silva teaches verifying the CSI report is valid); determining, by the network device at a first moment (da Silva Fig. 8A: 803), that the terminal device successfully has activated the secondary cell (da Silva Fig. 8A: 803), wherein an interval between the first moment and a time at which the feedback signaling is received is greater than or equal to a first duration (da Silva Fig. 8A: 804; da Silva teaches receiving mapping information and selecting an optimal CSI-RS); or when the network device receives the CSI report at a second moment (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), and the CSI report is a valid CSI report (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), determining that the terminal device has successfully activated the secondary cell (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), wherein an interval between the second moment and a time at which the feedback signaling is received is greater than or equal to a second duration (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Liang with da Silva, to have CSI values, and OFDM data, transferred from one base station to another for the purposes of a UE handover, as taught by da Silva in Fig. 3, Fig. 12, ¶0085, ¶0086, ¶0194, and ¶0195, to reduce interference from unwanted signal as well as enabling several simultaneous transmissions over multiple individual connections using the same resources in the time-frequency grid.
Regarding Claim 4, Claim 7, Claim 12, and Claim 15
Liang in view of da Silva further in view of Thomas teaches a Method and Apparatus as explained above in Claim 1. Liang further teaches
wherein the first signaling is media access control control element (MAC CE) signaling (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), radio resource control (RRC) signaling (Liang ¶0027: handover request contains RRC), or downlink control information (DCI) signaling (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim; Liang teaches the handover request using RRC).
Regarding Claim 5, Claim 8, Claim 13, and Claim 16
Liang in view of da Silva further in view of Thomas teaches a Method and Apparatus as explained above in Claim 1. Liang further teaches
wherein the second signaling is MAC CE signaling (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), radio resource control (RRC) signaling (Liang ¶0030: response contains RRC), or downlink control information (DCI) signaling (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim; Liang teaches the response containing RRC).
Regarding Claim 17
Liang in view of da Silva further in view of Thomas teaches a Method and Apparatus as explained above in Claim 1. Da Silva further teaches
the CSI report (da Silva ¶0007: CSI-RS) includes at least one of: a channel quality indicator (CQI) (da Silva ¶0007: CQI), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), a rank indicator (RI) (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), latency information (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), angle information (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), or beam information (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim; da Silva teaches a CSI report comprising a CQI).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Liang with da Silva, to have CSI values contain a CQI, as taught by da Silva in ¶0007, to reduce interference from unwanted signal as well as enabling several simultaneous transmissions over multiple individual connections using the same resources in the time-frequency grid.
Regarding Claim 18
Liang in view of da Silva further in view of Thomas teaches a Method and Apparatus as explained above in Claim 1. Da Silva further teaches
the time-frequency domain synchronization information (da Silva ¶0086: time domain resources, such as OFDM) comprises both a time domain synchronization parameter (da Silva ¶0086: time-domain synch reference) and a frequency domain synchronization parameter (da Silva ¶0086: frequency domain resources; da Silva teaches OFDM resources that contain a time-domain synch reference and a frequency domain resource).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Liang with da Silva, to teach OFDM resources that contain a time-domain synch reference and a frequency domain resource, as taught by da Silva in ¶0086, to reduce interference from unwanted signal as well as enabling several simultaneous transmissions over multiple individual connections using the same resources in the time-frequency grid.
Claim(s) 3, 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liang (Pub. No.: US 20130336153 A1, hereafter “Liang”) in view of da Silva (Pub. No.: US 20180343595 A1, hereafter “da Silva”), further in view of Thomas (Pub. No.: US 20210243768 A1, hereafter “Thomas”), and further in view of Chen (Pub. No.: US 20170223670 A1, hereafter “Chen”).
Regarding Claim 3 and Claim 11
Liang in view of da Silva further in view of Thomas teaches a Method and Apparatus Comprising as explained above in Claim 1. Liang further teaches
and/or the second duration is equal to a product of a quantity of slots in one subframe (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim) that correspond to a subcarrier spacing plus one (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), and a duration of one slot (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), the subcarrier spacing corresponds to a PUCCH (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), and the PUCCH carries the feedback information of the second signaling (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim).
Liang in view of da Silva further in view of Thomas does not teach
wherein the first duration is equal to a product of a quantity of slots in one subframe that correspond to a subcarrier spacing plus one, and a duration of one slot, the subcarrier spacing corresponds to a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and the PUCCH carries the feedback information of the second signaling;
However, Chen teaches
wherein the first duration (Chen Fig. 8: 805) is equal to a product of a quantity of slots in one subframe (Chen Fig. 8: 820) that correspond to a subcarrier spacing plus one (Chen Fig. 8: 840), and a duration of one slot (Chen Fig. 8: 830), the subcarrier spacing corresponds to a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) (Chen Fig. 8: 830), and the PUCCH carries the feedback information of the second signaling (Chen ¶0081: may provide PUCCH feedback; Chen teaches a PUCCH with a subsequent subcarrier spacing);
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Liang with da Silva further in view of Thomas, and even further with Chen, to have the feedback in PUCCH with subsequent subcarrier spacing, as taught with Chen in Fig. 8 and ¶0081, to, have adapting uplink and downlink resources allocated for transmitting control information for more efficient transmission and enhance the overall efficiency of the system.
Conclusion
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/JUSTIN MICHAEL WHITAKER/Examiner, Art Unit 2415
/Sudesh M. Patidar/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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