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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/21/2026. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment filed on 06/22/2026 has been entered. Independent Claims 1, 6, 9, and 14 have been amended. Dependent claims 2-3, 10-11, and 18 have been amended. No claims have been cancelled. Claims 19-20 are new and have been entered. Claims 1-20 are still pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 6, 9, and 14, under 35 USC § 103, 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 06/22/2026 on pages 10-11 of applicant’s remark regarding Claim 1 under 35 USC § 103. The applicant argues that da Silva fails to teach a network side handover to a secondary cell, and instead shows mapping a CSI-RS to a RACH configuration. However, one of ordinary skill in the art of telecommunication engineering would understand the techniques for the use of mapping a CSI-RS with a RACH configuration for the use of a handover procedure, as can be seen by da Silva in ¶0134 and Action 811 in Fig. 8B, the next step in the Figure 8 diagrams. Thus, the applicant here fails to patentably distinguish the claimed invention of a network side handover to a secondary cell, and instead shows mapping a CSI-RS to a RACH configuration from the teachings of da Silva. The applicant’s arguments have been fully considered, but are not persuasive.
Applicant’s arguments/amendments with respect to Claim Objections have been considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the Objections are withdrawn.
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, 4-14, and 15-19 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”).
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, see Fig. 6 and ¶0075-¶0076); 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, see Fig. 6 and ¶0073);
Liang does not explicitly teach
determining, by the network device based on at least one of a channel state information (CSI) report 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;
wherein the determining, by the network device based on at least one of a CSI report or feedback signaling received from the terminal device, that the terminal device has successfully activated the secondary cell comprises: determining, by the network device at a first moment, that the terminal device has successfully activated the secondary cell, 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; or when the network device receives the CSI report at a second moment, and the CSI report is a valid CSI report, determining, by the network device, that the terminal device has successfully activated the secondary cell, 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.
However, de Silva teaches
determining (da Silva ¶0194-¶0195: determining module), by the network device (da Silva Fig. 12: 13) based on at least one of a channel state information (CSI) report (da Silva ¶0194-¶0195: associated CSI-RS) 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, see Fig. 12 and ¶0194-¶0195);
wherein the determining (da Silva ¶0194-¶0195: determining module), by the network device based on at least one of a CSI report (da Silva ¶0194-¶0195: associated CSI-RS) 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 successfully activated the secondary cell comprises (da Silva ¶0194-¶0195: on the second node the RACH configuration is mapped to the CSI-RS); da Silva teaches using CSI to transfer a UE from one base station to a second base station, see ¶0194-¶0195):
determining, by the network device at a first moment (da Silva Fig. 8A: 803), that the terminal device has successfully 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, and the CSI report is a valid CSI report, determining, by the network device, that the terminal device has successfully activated the secondary cell, 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 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.
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, see Fig. 6)
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, see ¶0116):
Regarding Claim 4, Claim 7, Claim 12, and Claim 15
Liang in view of da Silva 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, see ¶0027).
Regarding Claim 5, Claim 8, Claim 13, and Claim 16
Liang in view of da Silva 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, ¶0030).
Regarding Claim 17
Liang in view of da Silva 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, see ¶0007).
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 teaches a Method and Apparatus as explained above in Claim 1. Da Silva further teaches
in the case that a difference between time-frequency domain synchronization information of the downlink primary component carrier (da Silva ¶0086: time domain resources, such as OFDM) and time-frequency domain synchronization information of the downlink secondary component carrier (da Silva ¶0086: time-domain sync reference) is less than a first threshold (da Silva ¶0086: time-domain sync reference to base the subframe offset on), the secondary cell is activated by the terminal device (da Silva ¶0085: secondary cell establishment) without receiving related information used to perform channel measurement from the network device (da Silva ¶0086: in the case blind detection is not expected; da Silva teaches using OFDM and a time domain sync reference to be used as the basis for a secondary cell establishment in the case for blind detection, see ¶0085-¶0086), and
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, see ¶0086).
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 using OFDM and a time domain sync reference to be used as the basis for a secondary cell establishment in the case for blind detection and OFDM resources that contain a time-domain synch reference and a frequency domain resource, as taught by da Silva in ¶0085-¶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.
Regarding Claim 19
Liang in view of da Silva teaches a Method and Apparatus as explained above in Claim 18. Da Silva further teaches
wherein the secondary cell is activated by the terminal device (da Silva ¶0085: handover execution) by performing downlink synchronization (da Silva ¶0085: try to access) with the downlink secondary component carrier (da Silva ¶0086: beamformed CSI-RS) based on the time-frequency domain synchronization information (da Silva ¶0086: time domain resources, such as OFDM) of the downlink primary component carrier and the configuration information of the secondary cell (da Silva ¶0086: parameters associated to beamformed CSI-RS; da Silva teaches a handover execution being used to access a station using the beamformed CSI-RS based off of the OFDM and the associated parameters from the CSI-RS).
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 a handover execution being used to access a station using the beamformed CSI-RS based off of the OFDM and the associated parameters from the CSI-RS, as taught by da Silva in ¶0085-¶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) 2, 10, and 20 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 Yiu (Pub. No.: US 20220046454 A1, hereafter “Yiu”).
Regarding Claim 2 and Claim 10
Liang in view of da Silva teaches a Method and Apparatus as explained above in Claim 1. Liang in view of da Silva does not explicitly teach
the first duration or the second duration is associated with a subcarrier spacing of a first active bandwidth part of the downlink secondary component carrier
However, Yiu teaches
the first duration (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim) or the second duration (Yiu ¶0058: SMTC window configuration support the durations of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 ms) is associated with a subcarrier spacing (Yiu ¶0058: SMTC window may also be set if the SSBs (SS blocks), e.g. an element that contains the SCS) of a first active bandwidth part of the downlink secondary component carrier (Yiu ¶0058: quality measurements; Yiu teaches a configuration with multiple durations that are associated with the SCS through the SSblocks for the quality measurements towards the UE, see ¶0058)
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, to include an element that teaches a configuration with multiple durations that are associated with the SCS through the SSblocks for the quality measurements towards the UE, as taught by Yiu in ¶0058, to improve end to end quality of service by combining a known element with another known element with an expected result, as shown in Yiu.
Regarding Claim 20
Liang in view of da Silva teaches a Method and Apparatus as explained above in Claim 1. Yiu further teaches
wherein the secondary cell is activated by the terminal device without receiving (Yiu ¶0063: ssb-AndCSI-RS-RLM), after the second signaling is received (Yiu ¶0063: perform radio link monitoring procedure based on measurement) and before the secondary cell is activated (Yiu ¶0063: parameters indicate), a Synchronization Signal/Physical Broadcast Channel Block (SSB) on the downlink secondary component carrier for performing downlink synchronization with the downlink secondary component carrier (Yiu ¶0063: SS/PBCH block), and without receiving a Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) on the downlink secondary component carrier for performing channel measurement for activation of the secondary cell (Yiu ¶0063: CSI-RS; Yiu teaches an indication containing an SSB and CSI-RS for the purposes of a handover without additional communication, see ¶0063).
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, to include an element that teaches containing an SSB and CSI-RS for the purposes of a handover without additional communication, as taught by Yiu in ¶0058, to improve end to end quality of service by combining a known element with another known element with an expected result, as shown in Yiu.
Claim(s) 3 and 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 Chen (Pub. No.: US 20170223670 A1, hereafter “Chen”).
Regarding Claim 3 and Claim 11
Liang in view of da Silva 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 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, see Fig. 8 and ¶0081);
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 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
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/JUSTIN MICHAEL WHITAKER/Examiner, Art Unit 2415
/Sudesh M. Patidar/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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