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 Amendment to the claims filed on 01/27/2026 complies with the requirements of 37 CFR 1.121(c) and has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's Arguments/Remarks filed 01/27/2026 (hereinafter Resp.) are considered as follows.
Applicant’s main argument is that Kim et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0247774 (hereinafter Kim) does not disclose the amendment “in response to the RRC Reconfiguration message indicating that the SCG is deactivated in association with the PSCell addition or the PSCell mobility, perform a Random Access procedure on the PSCell without waiting for a future SCG activation” and that 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2#112-e, compendium of discussions on Agenda Item: 8.2.2, R2-2010733, does not remedy the deficiency of Kim – See Resp., at page 9.
To address the cited amendment and advance prosecution of the present application, it shall be pointed out first, that the plain meaning of the claim language “in response to the RRC Reconfiguration message indicating that the SCG is deactivated. . . perform a Random Access procedure on the PSCell” (emphasis added) is supported by neither the Specification nor the knowledge of person of ordinary skills in the art, because: (1) the Specification states that when “SCG deactivation is performed . . . [i]f other PSCell addition or PSCell mobility procedures with SCG deactivation are performed, the UE 3 may not perform random access to the PSCell immediately” – See [¶0061] and Fig. 8, showing that the UE initiates PSCell addition/modification and performs random access (RA) before effectively processing the SCG deactivation indication that was (possibly) received in the same RRC Reconfiguration message with the PSCell addition/modification signaling; and (2) a Random Access procedure is or may be performed in response to PSCell addition/modification – See, e.g., 3GPP TS 37.340 V16.3.0 (2020-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and NR; Multi-connectivity; Stage 2 (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 37.340) stating, in § 6.1, at page 16, that a “PSCell in SCG is always activated like the PCell (i.e. deactivation timer is not applied to PSCell)” of the MCG, and, in § 10.6, at page 49, describing PSCell change procedure “performed through a synchronous SCG reconfiguration procedure . . . towards the UE involving random access on PSCell.” Furthermore, the indication of SCG activation/deactivation state in a PSCell addition/change procedure using RRC signaling was discussed in Agenda Item 8.2.2, “Efficient activation deactivation of SCG Discussion on SCG deactivation and activation,” of 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2#112-e, e.g., the rapporteur stating in R2-2010123, at page 4, that “the network may configure the SCG while it is not so useful yet and then SCG activation when it becomes useful will be faster than PSCell addition” noting that “if an SCG RRC reconfiguration procedure can select the SCG activation state (deactivated/activated), it is likely that the same procedures can allow the same at PSCell addition, with no or almost no change.”
This is not to say that a UE cannot perform a RA during PSCell mobility to a new PSCell in a target SCG while the source SCG is deactivated. Once again, the RA is in response to changing the PSCell not in response to the source SCG deactivation indication in the RRC Reconfiguration message carrying the PSCell mobility configuration – See Spec.:[¶0059] (stating that “[t]he PSCell addition or PSCell mobility in step 301 may be accompanied by deactivation of the SCG” but that only “[t]he PSCell mobility may take place while the SCG is deactivated”). That is to say that the SCG of the added/changed/new PSCell is not deactivated before or at the time when the UE starts the Random Access (RA) triggered in response to receiving a PSCell addition or PSCell mobility. To be sure, the Specification also states that “an SCG is deactivated upon PSCell addition or PSCell mobility,” i.e., once PSCell change is accomplished – See, e.g., [¶00071]; see also [¶0076] (“The PSCell addition procedure and PSCell mobility procedure in step 801 involve deactivation of the SCG,” i.e., SCG will be deactivated).
Second, Kim teaches: (1) configuring through RRC message a PSCell together with the activated or deactivated state of the PSCell and/or SCG – See [¶0182] (“When an SPCell and multiple SCells are configured via an RRC message, a state (or mode) may be configured for the UE via the RRC message, . . . with respect to each cell (PCell, PSCell, or SCells ), each SCell, a bandwidth part of each SCell, or a cell group. The state (or mode) of the cell may be configured to be one of an active mode (or activated state) or a deactivated mode (or deactivated state)” whereby SPCell means PCell/PSCell and SCell means serving cell, as known in the art); see also [¶0245] (through “RRCReconfiguration message . . . a state shift timer may be configured so that the UE may perform state transition by itself,” e.g., “a cell deactivation timer (ScellDeactivationTimer) may be configured for each cell, and if the cell deactivation timer expires, the cell may be shifted to a deactivated state,” i.e., an SCG deactivation at the UE may be delayed) and [¶0277] (“the timers may be operated only for other SCells” not “an SPCell or a bandwidth part of an SPCell”); cf. [¶0275] (“For an SPCell (PCell or PSCell) (or downlink bandwidth part or uplink bandwidth part of the cell), a dormant bandwidth part cannot be configured, and only normal bandwidth part is configured and is always activated”); (2) a PSCell/SCG configuration may be persisted at the UE and used based on an indication received in a RRC message – See [¶0444](“the SCell configuration information or PSCell configuration information of the SCG may also be stored when the UE is shifted to the RRC inactive mode” and “the base station may transmit, to the UE, configuration information or an indicator indicating whether to discard or clear, maintain and apply, or reconfigure the SCell configuration information (e.g., configuration information described or proposed in FIG. 6) or the PSCell configuration information of the MCG or SCG, stored in the RRC message (e.g., RRCResume or RRCReconfiguration or RRCRelease message)”); (3) as shown in Fig. 15, the UE may receive through RRC Reconfiguration “[i]ndicator or configuration information (e.g., indicator or configuration information for the UE) for configuring, clearing, adding, deactivating, activating, resuming, changing, reconfiguring, or suspending dual connectivity, a cell group (secondary cell group), or a cell” i.e., including for SCG and PSCells – See [¶0624], whereby “[i]f the indicator or configuration information [is] for configuring, adding . . . changing . . . random access configuration information may be included together” – See [¶0630] and “time information indicating when to . . . deactivate . . . a cell group (e.g., secondary cell group),” e.g., “if the message is received in an nth time unit, whether to . . . deactivate . . . the cell in an (n+X)th time unit”) – See [¶0631]. To be sure, Kim teaches that the MN/MSG may request the SCG deactivation to the SN of the SCG, e.g., “the request acknowledge message 15-15 is received, the master base station may check the request acknowledge message, and may transmit, to the UE, a second RRC message 15-20 (e.g., RRCReconfiguration message) including information (e.g., first RRC message included in the request acknowledge message 15-15) included in the request acknowledge message” – See [¶0623] and send to the UE an “[i]ndicator indicating a cell group state (e.g., activated, deactivated, suspended, or resumed)” – See [¶0636] because “[t]he UE and the base station (e.g., master base station) transmit or receive multiple RRC messages to and from each other, and identifiers for distinguishing the respective RRC messages may be thus included in the RRC messages” – See [¶0633], and for an RRC message “each separate new request message may be defined and used to perform indication to configure, clear, add, deactivate, activate, resume, change, reconfigure, or suspend dual connectivity, a cell group (secondary cell group), or a cell for the UE” – See [¶0658]. Specifically for dual connectivity, “[i]f the UE receives an identifier . . . or configuration information for releasing, deactivating, reconfiguring . . . a cell group (e.g., secondary cell group), or a cell,” the order of execution is “UE operation for PSCell,” e.g., “the UE may maintain a PSCell active,” then “UE operation for SCell of secondary cell group” and “UE operation of MAC layer for secondary cell group” – See [¶¶0757-63]. Therefore, Kim discloses all the elements of the amended claims and disambiguates the configuration of a PSCell addition or change, including an indication to perform Random Access on the PSCell/SCG, from an indication of an SCG deactivation, when both are sent in a RRC Reconfiguration message to the UE.
Last, Applicant’s argument that “3GPP R2-2010733, Section 2.6 describes "RACH for SCG activation"” – See Resp., at page 9, references a discussion about how much delay would be incurred at SCG activation if RACH is executed upon SCG activation and Applicant failed to notice that “Proposal 9,” as cited in the argument, is attributed to the Applicant, and states that RACH will be delayed until SCG activation “if the UE does not maintain the valid UL timing, e.g. UL has not yet been synchronized due to SCG deactivation upon SCG addition (if agreed), TAT has expired (if agreed to maintain TAT in deactivated SCG),” i.e., if the SCG was deactivated upon PSCell addition, the UE might have already performed synchronization either because it performed RACH on the new PSCell or because TA was maintained while the SCG was deactivated and is still valid at SCG activation – See § 2.6, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2#112-e, R2-2010733, at page 19, citing NEC comments, and at page 18-19, citing Apple comments stating “RACH would be a major delay. In fact the delay will be similar to SCG addition for known timing PSCell, with no advantage of SCG deactivation.” Otherwise said, the UE should perform RACH on the added/changed PSCell without waiting for a future SCG activation.
Therefore, Applicant’s argument against Kim and 3GPP is unpersuasive. The argument is also moot in view of new grounds of rejection necessitated by the Amendment.
Claim Objections
Applicant is advised that should Amended Claims 63 and 73 be found allowable, claim 66 and 76 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 63, 73 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, regards as the invention.
Each of the claims 63 and 73 requires “in response to the RRC Reconfiguration message indicating that the SCG is deactivated in association with the PSCell addition or the PSCell mobility, perform a Random Access procedure on the PSCell without waiting for a future SCG activation.”
The meaning of every term used in a claim should be apparent from the prior art or from the specification and drawings at the time the application is filed. Claim language may not be "ambiguous, vague, incoherent, opaque, or otherwise unclear in describing and defining the claimed invention." In re Packard, 751 F.3d 1307, 1311, 110 USPQ2d 1785, 1787 (Fed. Cir. 2014). Applicants need not confine themselves to the terminology used in the prior art, but are required to make clear and precise the terms that are used to define the invention whereby the metes and bounds of the claimed invention can be ascertained. During patent examination, the pending claims must be given the broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification. In re Morris, 127 F.3d 1048, 1054, 44 USPQ2d 1023, 1027 (Fed. Cir. 1997); In re Prater, 415 F.2d 1393, 162 USPQ 541 (CCPA 1969). See MPEP §2173.05(a); see also MPEP § 2111 - § 2111.01.
Here, as explained in responding to Applicant’s arguments supra, it is unclear for a person of ordinary skills in the art, giving the claim language its plain meaning in light of the Specification, whether the Random Access is performed: (1) in response to the RRC Reconfiguration message indicating that the SCG is deactivated; (2) in response to the RRC Reconfiguration message being “associated” [sic] with the PSCell addition or the PSCell mobility; (3) in response to both (1) and (2) received in one RRC message or in separate RRC messages.
Each of the new Claims 81 and 85, dependent from Amended Claims 63 and 73, respectively, is additionally rejected under § 112(b) because the required limitation “autonomously deactivating the SCG” lacks antecedent basis in the independent claims. Because each of the Amended Claims 63 and 73 requires the UE to “receive a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Reconfiguration message including an indication associated with Secondary Cell Group (SCG) deactivation from a Master Node (MN),” i.e., the UE receives an indication to deactivate the SCG from the MN or the SN, the UE cannot be required to deactivate the SCG “autonomously.”
Therefore, Claims 63, 73, 81, and 85, and their dependents, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §112(b) for indefiniteness.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 63-66, 68, 73-76, and 78-80, 82-84, and 86, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kim et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0247774 (hereinafter Kim).
Regarding Amended Claim 63, Kim teaches a method of a User Equipment (UE) (“method for preventing a processing delay that may occur when carrier aggregation or dual connectivity is configured and activated for a terminal connected to a network, or when carrier aggregation or dual connectivity is used and then deactivated” – See [¶0010]), the method comprising:
receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Reconfiguration message including an indication associated with Secondary Cell Group (SCG) deactivation from a Master Node (MN), wherein the RRC Reconfiguration message is associated with a Primary SCG Cell (PSCell) addition or a PSCell mobility (“When an SPCell and multiple SCells are configured via an RRC message, a state (or mode) may be configured for the UE via the RRC message, . . . with respect to each cell (PCell, PSCell, or SCells ), each SCell, a bandwidth part of each SCell, or a cell group . . . to be one of an active mode (or activated state) or a deactivated mode (or deactivated state)” – See [¶0182]; “the base station may transmit, to the UE, configuration information or an indicator indicating whether to . . . apply, or reconfigure . . . the PSCell configuration information of the MCG or SCG, stored in the RRC message (e.g., RRCResume or RRCReconfiguration or RRCRelease message)” – See [¶0444] and Fig. 15, wherein the UE may receive through RRC Reconfiguration “[i]ndicator or configuration information (e.g., indicator or configuration information for the UE) for configuring . . . adding, deactivating,. . . changing, reconfiguring . . . a cell group (secondary cell group), or a cell” i.e., the SCG and a PSCell – See [¶0624], and “[i]f the indicator or configuration information for configuring, adding . . . changing . . .a cell is included, random access configuration information may be included together” – See [¶0630] and/or “time information indicating when to . . . deactivate . . . a cell group (e.g., secondary cell group),” e.g., “if the message is received in an nth time unit, whether to . . . deactivate . . . the cell in an (n+X)th time unit”) – See [¶0631]; furthermore, “[t]he UE and the base station (e.g., master base station) transmit or receive multiple RRC messages to and from each other, and identifiers for distinguishing the respective RRC messages may be thus included in the RRC messages” – See [¶0633], and for an RRC message “each separate new request message may be defined and used to perform indication to configure, clear, add, deactivate, activate, resume, change, reconfigure, or suspend dual connectivity, a cell group (secondary cell group), or a cell for the UE” – See [¶0658], i.e., an RRC Reconfiguration message contains an indication for Secondary Cell Group (SCG) deactivation state from a Master Node (MN), wherein the RRC Reconfiguration message contain configuration information to be applied by the UE for a PSCell addition or change)
transmitting an RRC Reconfiguration Complete message to the MN, in response to receiving the RRC Reconfiguration message – See, e.g., RRCConfigurationComplete 15-25 in Fig 15;
considering a first active Bandwidth Part (BWP) of a PSCell, configured by a Secondary Node (SN), as a BWP to be used for measurements if the RRC Reconfiguration message indicates that an SCG is deactivated (the RRC message may contain “an information configuration . . . for configuring a bandwidth part for each . . . PSCell . . . so as to indicate whether each bandwidth part is a normal bandwidth part (e.g., bandwidth part that may be configured to or may operate in an active state or a deactivated state) or a dormant bandwidth part (e.g., bandwidth part that may be configured to or may operate in a dormant state)” – See [¶0283] and Fig. 15 showing that the RRCReconfiguration containing the indication that the SCG is to be deactivated at the UE and configuration information for the PSCell addition/change comes from the SN; see also [¶¶0681-82] and Fig. 17 indicating that the “the base station may configure, for the UE, an SRB (e.g., SRB3) enabling direct transmission or reception of a control message or an RRC message between the UE and a secondary base station” and “the UE may transmit . . . a request to the secondary base station via SRB3, and a message for the request 17-05 may include a frequency (or channel) measurement result report, . . . or measurement results,” whereby SRBs are not teared down even when a cell is deactivated, as one of ordinary skills in the art would appreciate from art knowledge); and
in response to the RRC Reconfiguration message indicating that the SCG is deactivated in association with the PSCell addition or the PSCell mobility, performing a Random Access procedure on the PSCell without waiting for a future SCG activation (“[i]f the indicator or configuration information for configuring, adding . . . changing a cell is included, random access configuration information may be included together” – See [¶0630] and also a “time information indicating when to . . . deactivate . . . a cell group (e.g., secondary cell group),” e.g., “if the message is received in an nth time unit, whether to . . . deactivate . . . the cell in an (n+X)th time unit”) – See [¶0631]; and “random access is performed, if there is random access information in the RRC message” – See [¶0634] or if “TAT is suspended or has expired, the UE may trigger random access” to maintain “synchronization between the secondary cell group and a signal” – See [¶0753] at least in a case where TAT expiration happens before the time unit where the SCG is deactivated by the UE in response to the RRC Reconfiguration message).
Therefore, Kim anticipates Amended Claim 63.
Regarding Claim 64, dependent from Amended Claim 63, Kim further teaches the method according to claim 63, wherein the first active BWP is an initial BWP (“The base station [e.g., the SN] may configure, for each cell [e.g., the PSCell], each of an initial downlink bandwidth part (initial downlink BWP) to be used in downlink and an initial uplink bandwidth part (initial uplink BWP) to be used in uplink” – See [¶0236]; furthermore “all UEs accessing the same cell may use the same initial bandwidth part by designating the same bandwidth part identifier of 0” because “when random access is performed, the base station may transmit a random access response (RAR) message via the initial bandwidth part” – See [¶0204]; because “[t]he first active bandwidth part (first active BWP) may be configured . . . for the purpose of indicating a bandwidth part which is to be initially activated and used” – See [¶0204], when the configuration information for PSCell addition/change is received by the UE together with the indication to perform random access on the PSCell, the UE uses the first active BWP of the UE in the PSCell as an initial BWP).
Therefore, Claim 64 is anticipated by Kim.
Regarding Claim 65, dependent from Amended Claim 63, Kim further teaches the method according to claim 63, wherein the “channel should be measured and reported for the first active downlink/uplink bandwidth part even when channel measurement reporting is performed in a dormant state” – See, e.g., [¶0206]. Kim, teaching that “the dormant bandwidth part is extended to the concept of cell group suspension or cell group deactivation . . . of a UE for which dual connectivity has been configured, so that the UE may reduce power consumption” – See [¶0131], further teaches “configuration information for a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a synchronization signal block (SSB), or a radio resource or reference signal (RS)) for measuring a signal of the cell (PSCell, PCell, or SCell) of the cell group may be included in advance in the cell group configuration information, previously configured cell group configuration information, or a message (e.g., RRC message or RRCReconfiguration message) indicating cell group deactivation” – See [¶0133]. Because a person of ordinary skill sin the art knows that such signal measurements are RRMs1, Kim implicitly teaches the measurements are Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurements.
Therefore, Claim 65 is anticipated by Kim.
Regarding Claim 66, dependent from Amended Claim 63, Kim already teaches the method according to claim 63, wherein the Random Access procedure is performed on the PSCell as explained in Regarding Amended Claim 63 supra.
Therefore, Claim 66 is anticipated by Kim.
Regarding Claim 68, dependent from Amended Claim 63, Kim further teaches the method according to claim 63, further comprising:
if the RRC Reconfiguration message indicates that the SCG is activated (“If the UE receives an identifier (e.g., . . . RRC message) or configuration information for configuring, adding, activating, or resuming . . . a cell group (e.g., secondary cell group) . . . the UE may perform some of the following procedures” – See [¶0748]) deciding whether a Time Alignment Timer (TAT) has expired (at “UE operation of MAC layer for secondary cell group . . . a timing advance timer (TAT) indicating validity of signal synchronization between the UE and the base station may be considered to be suspended or expired” – See [¶0753] and at “UE operation for PSCell: When an indicator or configuration information is received, the UE may maintain a PSCell active, may activate a downlink bandwidth part of the PSCell to a dormant bandwidth part configured via the RRC message, and may perform a UE operation in the activated bandwidth part” – See [¶0759])
and if it is decided that the TAT has expired, initiating a Random Access procedure on the PSCell for SCG activation (“if the TAT is suspended or has expired, the UE may trigger random access” – See id., whereby the RACH is performed on the actyivated bandwidth part of the PSCell).
Therefore, Claim 68 is anticipated by Kim.
Regarding Claims 73-76, and 78, as amended, they merely recite the same limitations as claims 63-66 and 68, as amended, only applied to a UE comprising at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to cause the UE to execute the method disclosed in Claims 63-66. Because Kim teaches such a UE in Fig. 19, and anticipates Claims 63-66 and 68, as amended, Claims 73-76, and 78 as amended are anticipated by Kim.
Regarding Claim 79, dependent from Amended Claim 63, Kim further teaches The method according to claim 63, a case where the RRC Reconfiguration message causes an update of an Access Stratum (AS) security key for the SCG (“the UE receives an SCG-counter value (or sk-counter) via the RRCRelease message, the UE updates a new SKgNB security key corresponding to the secondary cell group on the basis of the KgNB security key and the SCG-counter (or sk-counter)” – See [¶0451]). Although Kim does not specifically teach that the Random Access procedure is performed in such case, a person of ordinary skills in the art would appreciate this UE behavior is necessary upon a PS Cell change – See, e.g., 3GPP TS 37.340 V16.3.0 (2020-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and NR; Multi-connectivity; Stage 2 (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 37.340) teaching in § 10.6 PSCell change, and stating, at page 49, that “[i]f a security key change is required, this is performed through a synchronous SCG reconfiguration procedure towards the UE involving random access on PSCell and a security key change, during which the MAC entity configured for SCG is reset and RLC configured for SCG is re-established regardless of the bearer type(s) established on SCG”; see also Kim:[¶0047](“the disclosure will be described using terms and names defined in the 3rd generation partnership project”).
Therefore, Claim 79 is anticipated by Kim.
Regarding Claim 80, dependent from Claim 63, Kim further teaches the method according to claim 63, wherein the Random Access procedure is performed in a case where a random access channel configuration included in the RRC Reconfiguration message includes a configuration for Contention-Free Random Access (CFRA) (“If the indicator or configuration information for configuring, adding, . . .changing, . . a cell [e.g., a PSCell] is included, random access configuration information may be included together” – See [¶0641], and “random access is performed, if there is random access information in the RRC message, . . . random access (e.g., contention-free random access (e.g., 4-step random access or 2-step random access)) may be performed on the basis of . . . the random access information that has been stored or received via the RRC message” – See [¶0634]).
Therefore, Claim 80 is anticipated by Kim.
Regarding Claim 82, dependent from Amended Claim 63, Kim further teaches the method according to claim 63, further comprising maintaining at least one of a configured downlink assignment or a configured uplink grant Type 2 associated with the PSCell while the SCG is deactivated (“When the state of the cell group is indicated to be suspended (suspended state) or deactivated, configuration information of the cell group configured or indicated via the RRC message . . . may be stored in the UE, or the configuration information may be not discarded, but application thereof to the UE may be suspended” – See [¶0196] and “[i]f the cell, in which the . . . cell group suspension is indicated, is the PSCell, the UE may: . . . initialize the configured periodic transmission resource (e.g., type 2 periodic transmission resource (configured uplink grant type 2))” – See [¶0191]) even in a case where a Time Alignment Timer (TAT) for the SCG expires (when in “dual connectivity, a cell group ( e.g., secondary cell group) . . . is deactivated . . . or suspended” – See [¶0748], “UE operation of MAC layer for secondary cell group: When an indicator or configuration information is received the UE may perform resetting for a MAC layer (MAC reset),” e.g., “a timing advance timer (TAT) indicating validity of signal synchronization between the UE and the base station may be considered to be suspended or expired” – See [¶0753]).
Therefore, Claim 82 is anticipated by Kim.
Regarding Claims 83-84 and 86, dependent from Amended Claim 73, they merely recite the limitations of Claims 79-80 and 82, only applied to the UE of Amended Claim 73. Because Amended Claim 73 and Claims 79-80 and 82 are anticipated by Kim, Claims 83-84 and 86 are also anticipated by Kim.
In sum, Claims 63-66, 68, 73-76, 78-80, 82-84, and 86, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(2) as anticipated by Kim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 81 and 85 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as anticipated by Kim or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Kim in view of Zhang, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0261284 (hereinafter Zhang).
Regarding Claim 81, dependent from Amended Claim 63, Kim teaches the method according to claim 63, further comprising, after the Random Access procedure on the PSCell is successfully completed, autonomously deactivating the SCG (e.g., after the PSCell addition/change configured in the RRC Reconfiguration immediately triggered the RA, when “time information indicating, if the message is received in an nth time unit, whether to . . . deactivate, or suspend . . . cell group (e.g., secondary cell group), . . . in an (n+X)th time unit” – See [¶0631]) in one interpretation of “autonomy” being based on a timer; see also 3GPP TS 38.321 V16.2.1 (2020-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.321), describing, at page 68, the sCellDeactivationTimer timer per configured SCell, except the PSCell. Therefore, Kim anticipated Claim 81.
However, if “autonomously” is interpreted as the UE makes the decision to deactivate the SCG, notwithstanding the requirement of receiving such indication in the RRC Reconfiguration from a base station, Kim does not teach such autonomy.
Zhang, teaching a UE configured in dual connectivity, discloses three modes by which “[d]eactivation and/or activation of SCG may be done in an explicit way (e.g., NW explicit activation/deactivation command), or an implicit way (e.g., timing or timer based), or an autonomous way based on pre-configured conditions (e.g., data amount/traffic rate threshold)” – See [¶0185]. Therefore, Zhang teaches the UE autonomously deactivating the SCG.
Thus, Kim and Zhang each teaches SCG activation and deactivation at a UE configured in dual connectivity. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have understood that the step of autonomously deactivating the SCG, as taught in Zhang, could have been combined with the steps executed by the UE of Kim after receiving the RRC Reconfiguration message is associated with a PSCell addition or a PSCell mobility because both provide for SCG deactivation after executing the PSCell addition or PSCell mobility. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out the combination through techniques known in the art. Finally, the combination achieves the predictable result of allowing more UE autonomy in making the decision on when to deactivate the SCG based on other criteria known to the UE, as taught by Zhang.
Therefore, Claim 81 is anticipated by Kim, or, in the alternative obvious over Kim in view of Zhang.
Regarding Claim 85, dependent from Amended Claim 73, the claim recites the same limitations as Claim 81, only applied to the UE of Amended Claim 73. Because Amended Claim 73 and Claim 81 are anticipated by Kim, or, in the alternative, obvious over Kim in view of Zhang, Claim 85 is also anticipated by Kim, or, in the alternative, obvious over Kim in view of Zhang.
In sum, Claims 81 and 85 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as anticipated by Kim or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Kim in view of Zhang.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Wang, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0039294 teaches handling random access procedure associated to cell deactivation;
MATTAM et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0292240 provides a method for enabling user equipment (UE) actions upon secondary cell group (SCG) deactivation;
Wu, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20240057216 disclosing a user equipment (UE) in dual connectivity (DC) via a master node (MN) and a secondary node (SN) and method for managing conditional configuration during deactivation of a secondary cell group (SCG);
Kim et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20220030659, a parent application for the prior art relied upon in the present Office action;
Zhang et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20240032136, discloses method performed by user equipment, in which user equipment (UE) configured with dual connectivity or multi-connectivity performs configuration management on a secondary cell group (SCG) in a deactivated state during communication with a master cell group (MCG) and the SCG and performing, by the UE, different PSCell change operations according to different states of the target SCG or the target PSCell;
3GPP TS 36.331 V16.2.1 (2020-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification (Release 16);”
3GPP TS 37.340 V16.3.0 (2020-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and NR; Multi-connectivity; Stage 2 (Release 16)”;
3GPP TS 38.321 V16.2.1 (2020-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (Release 16)”;
3GPP TS 38.331 V16.2.0 (2020-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 16)”;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #112 electronic, R2-2010290, Agenda Item: 8.2.2, Title: “Activation and deactivation mechanism for SCG and SCells,” Source:Vivo, November 2020;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #112 electronic, R2-2009246, Title: “Further consideration on SCG deactivation and activation,” Source: ZTE Corporation, Sanechips, November 2020;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2#112-e, R2-2010733, Agenda Item: 8.2.2, Title: "[AT112-e][230][eDCCA] Progressing FFS points of efficient SCG activation and deactivation," Source: Huawei (rapporteur), November 2020;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2#112-e, R2-2010123, Agenda Item: 8.2.2, Title:” [Post111-e][919][eDCCA] Efficient activation deactivation of SCG Discussion on SCG deactivation and activation,” Source: Huawei(rapporteur), November 2020;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #112 electronic, R2-2xxxxxx, Title: “RAN2 112-e Chairman Notes EOM Corr w ChMark 2020-11-17”, Source: RAN2 Chairman (Mediatek), November 2020, §§ 8.2.2-3, listing member contributions on Efficient activation deactivation mechanism for one SCG and SCells and Conditional PSCell change addition; available at https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/TSG_RAN/WG2_RL2/TSGR2_112-e/Inbox/Chairmans_Notes?sortby=daterev;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #111 electronic, R2-2xxxxxx, Title: “R2-111e Chair Notes EOM update w change marks 2020-09-10”, Source: RAN2 Chairman (Mediatek), November 2020, §§ 8.2.2-3; available at https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/TSG_RAN/WG2_RL2/TSGR2_111-e/Inbox/Chairmans_Notes?sortby=daterev;
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.
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/L.G.G./ Examiner, Art Unit 2478
/JOSEPH E AVELLINO/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2478
1 See, e.g., CSI-RS-ResourceConfigMobility Information Element used to configure CSI-RS based RRM measurements by the UE described at page 406, 3GPP TS 38.331 V16.2.0 (2020-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.331),