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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 06/03/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment to the claims filed on 06/03/2026 complies with the requirements of 37 CFR 1.121(c) and has been entered. Claims 1, 14, 24 and 37 are amended. Claims 6, 13, 17, 19, 22-23, 29, 36, 40-44, and 46-47 are cancelled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's Arguments/Remarks filed 06/03/2026 (hereinafter Resp.) have been fully 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.
Specification
The title of the invention, “DYNAMIC UE SIGNAL LEVEL CORRECTION FOR MEASUREMENT MODIFICATION AND/OR STATIONARITY DETECTION” is not descriptive in view of the amendments because most of the claims pertain to limitations related to high signal variation associated with high mobility state, therefore not prone to relaxed measurements of stationarity detection. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(a)
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Amended Claims 1, 14, 24 and 37 and their dependent claims are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a), as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding Amended Claim 1, the claim now recites the limitation “wherein the
user equipment determines it has a high signal variation state or a medium signal variation state
by verifying that a difference between average reference signal received power (RSRP) values of
a first cell and a second cell is less than or equal to a cell edge measurement tolerance threshold.” However, this limitation is new matter because the Specification only supports the UE determining whether the UE is in an outer region of a cell or close to the cell edge using the cell_edge_measurement_tolerance threshold and a difference between average reference signal received power (RSRP) values of a first cell and a second cell – See Spec.:[¶¶00113-116] and Fig. 6 at steps 620 and 640, meaning the UE does NOT determine “it has a high signal variation state or a medium signal variation state” using this inequality. Fig. 6 of the present disclosure clearly shows that the subroutine for determining if the UE is configured to have high variation, namely “subroutine 1” – See Spec.:[¶¶00110-111] (disclosing that “Subroutine 1 involves the UE' s capabilities, including, e.g., physical and software configurations, that can lead to high variation”) is logically different from the subroutine for determining the outer cell position of the UE, namely “subroutine 2” which is based on the claimed cell edge measurement tolerance, e.g., cell_edge_measurement_tolerance, threshold and the difference between RSRP values of a first cell and a second cell. Fig. 6 clearly shows that subroutine 2 is only executed to determine if the UE is in the outer region. There is no disclosure that subroutine 2 could be used on its own for determining whether the UE has a high signal variation state or a medium signal variation state. Amended Claims 14, 24 and 37 have the same deficiency.
Therefore, Amended Claims 1, 14, 24 and 37, and their dependent claims, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §112(a) for new matter.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102(a)(2)
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 1-5, 7-12, 14-16, 18, 20-21, 24-28, 30-35, 37-39, 45 and 48, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lee et al, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0068027 (hereinafter Lee).
Regarding Amended Claim 1, Lee teaches a method, (“a method for a user equipment (UE) in wireless communication system”– See [¶0006]) comprising:
receiving, with a user equipment connected to a base station in a wireless network, one or
more parameters to be used to identify the user equipment for measurement modification (“the parameters (TCRmax, NCR_H, NCR_M and TCRmaxHyst) are sent in the system information broadcast of the serving cell” – See [¶0067]; see also 3GPP TS 38.304 V16.2.0 (2020-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; User Equipment (UE) procedures in Idle mode and RRC Inactive state (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP 38.304) defining, in § 5.2.4.7.1, at page 28, TCRmax, as “the duration for evaluating allowed amount of cell reselection(s),” NCR_H, as “the maximum number of cell reselections to enter High-mobility state,” NCR_M, as “the maximum number of cell reselections to enter Medium-mobility state”, and TCRmaxHyst, as “the additional time period before the UE can enter Normal-mobility state”; 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), disclosing, at page 319-322, SIB2 configured to the UE to determine stationarity, with reference to 3GPP TS 38.304, and at page 469 the new MobilityStateParameters IE, which is part of the SIB2, comprising the parameters cited by Lee);
determining, by the user equipment, an estimate of a level of signal variation for signals
received at the user equipment (“a UE is moving fast from cell A to B. As the cell A has higher coverage, the UE does not perform cell reselection until the measured RSRP of cell B [is] strong enough” – See [¶0089] and Fig. 5);
identifying, by the user equipment, using at least the one or more parameters, the user
equipment for measurement modification based at least on the estimate of the level of signal
variation (“the UE may vary the parameters related to the cell reselection,” e.g., “the UE may . . . relax the measurement rules for cell reselection so that the UE starts to perform the neighbor cell measurement earlier” if “the measured serving cell power varies very slowly” – See [¶0120]),
wherein identifying the user equipment for measurement modification comprises
determining by the user equipment that the user equipment is stationary and identifying the user equipment for measurement modification because the user equipment is stationary (“When the UE enters low mobility state (being stationary), it may mean the measured serving cell power varies very slowly. So it may be considered that the UE is in stationary state. If then, the UE may not perform neighbor cell measurement to reduce power consumption” – See id.),
wherein the user equipment determines it has a high signal variation state or a medium signal variation state by verifying that a difference between average reference signal received power (RSRP) values of a first cell and a second cell is less than or equal to a cell edge measurement tolerance threshold (“variation of measured serving cell RSRP may be used to estimate UE's mobility state, instead of number of cell reselection” by comparing “the newly measured Srxlev and right previous Srxlev value of the serving cell” whereby “The larger difference means that the UE is moving faster, i.e. higher mobility. The smaller difference means that the UE is moving slower, i.e. lower mobility” – See [¶0091] and “Srxlevnewest is Srxlev value evaluated from most recently measured serving cell power. Srxlevprev is Srxlev value evaluated from right previously measured serving cell power” using “Q1ow, Qmedium and Qhigh [as] threshold parameters for each mobility state” – See [¶0097] whereby when “UE is moving fast from cell A to B” – See [¶0089] and Fig. 5, Srxlevprev is the measured RSRP in cell A and Srxlevnewest is the measured RSRP of cell B, while ‘Srxlevnewest - Srxlevprev’ variation is less or equal to Qhigh and greater than Qmedium means High-Mobility state – See [¶0095] whereby the quantity ‘Qhigh –Qmedium’ may be deemed a “cell edge measurement tolerance threshold” because: (1) “[w]hen the UE enters high mobility state, the UE should prepare for the quick cell change” – See [¶0120]; (2) Qmedium <‘Srxlevnewest - Srxlevprev’ < Qhigh means the UE has already transitioned to cell B where Srxlevnewest was measured and moving fast/high-mobility; and (3) the threshold remains the same when the UE moves from cell B to cell A – See [¶0095])
modifying, with the user equipment, a time between measurements for radio resource
management from a current time to a different time in response to the user equipment being
identified for measurement modification (if “the UE enters high mobility state, . . . following the rules in legacy LTE network, the UE may scale the cell reselection-related parameters (i.e. Qhyst and TreselectionXRAT) . . . for cell reselection so that the UE starts to perform the neighbor cell measurement earlier” – See [¶0120]; see also § 5.2.4.7, 3GPP TS 38.304, defining, at page 26-28, Qhyst as “the hysteresis value for ranking criteria” and TreselectionRAT as “the cell reselection timer value” and further stating, in § 5.2.4.9, at page 28-29 that “the UE may choose to perform relaxed measurements for intra-frequency cells according to relaxation methods in clauses 4.2.2.9 in TS 38.133” or “relaxed measurements for NR inter-frequency or inter-RAT frequency cells according to relaxation methods in clauses 4.2.2.10, and 4.2.2.11 in TS 38.133”).
Therefore, Lee anticipates Amended Claim 1.
Regarding Claim 2, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Lee further teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the current time is configured with signaling received with the user equipment from the base station (“In the LTE network, mobility state of a UE in idle
mode is determined by number of cell reselections during recent time period” and “and may vary cell reselection related parameters ( e.g. Qhyst, TreselectionXRAT) based on the mobility state so that the UE may be able to perform cell reselection more frequently in higher mobility state” – See [¶0084] whereby the “mobility state of the UE may be determined as a certain mobility
state, if the mobility state of the UE is estimated as the certain mobility state for a preconfigured number of times in a row” – See [¶0134] e.g., “[t]he serving cell may transmit the reference signal for N times” – See [¶0137] and “the UE may measure quality of the serving cell based on each reference signal” – See [¶0138], i.e., the current time is configured with signaling received with the user equipment from the base station because the serving cell BS “hosts the functions, such as inter-cell radio resource management ([RRM]), radio bearer (RB) control, connection mobility control, radio admission control, measurement configuration/provision, dynamic resource allocation (scheduler), etc” – See [¶0038]).
Therefore, Claim 2 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Claim 3, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Lee further teaches wherein determining the estimate of the level of signal variation uses one or more parameters involving a state of the user equipment (“In the mobility state criteria, Srxlevnewest is Srxlev value evaluated from most recently measured serving cell power” – See [¶0097] whereby “variation of measured serving cell RSRP may be used to estimate UE's mobility state, instead of number of cell reselection” – See [¶0091] and “Q1ow, Qmedium and Qhigh are threshold parameters for each mobility state” – See [¶0097]).
Therefore, Claim 3 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Claim 4, dependent from Claim 3, Lee further teaches wherein the one or more parameters involving the state of the user equipment comprise a received power (“Srxlevnewest is Srxlev value evaluated from most recently measured serving cell power. Srxlevprev is Srxlev value evaluated from right previously measured serving cell power” – See [¶0097])
Therefore, Claim 4 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Claim 5, dependent from Claim 3, Lee teaches wherein the one or more parameters involving the state of the user equipment comprise a location of the user equipment within a cell formed with the base station (e.g., as shown in Fig. 10, “In point #2, the UE is getting closer to the serving cell, so the measured power varies slowly. Srxlev value reaches maximum value at the closest point to the cell, then the Srxlev value may go into decrease. As Srxlev value varies slowly near the serving cell, now the UE may enter low-mobility state” – See [¶0115], i.e., a parameter involving UE’s mobility, Srxlev, varies depending on UE’s location within the cell formed with the base station).
Therefore, Claim 5 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Claim 7, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Lee further teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the determining the level of signal variation received at the user equipment comprises selecting one of multiple groups indicating variations of the signal (“Basic concept is to compare the newly measured Srxlev and right previous Srxlev value of the serving cell” and group the differences in multiple groups each corresponding to a mobility level, as defined in [¶¶0092-96])
Therefore, Claim 7 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Claim 8, dependent from Claim 7, Lee further teaches wherein the determining the selected one of the multiple groups comprises:
determining whether the user equipment is configured to have high variation in received signals (“QhigherLev is level threshold parameters for each N-level higher mobility states. N is Lelvel parameters for higher-mobility states” – See [¶0097] and Fig. 8, whereby “variation of measured serving cell RSRP may be used to estimate UE's mobility state,” i.e., “[t]he larger difference means that the UE is moving faster, i.e. higher mobility” – See [¶0091]); and
determining whether the user equipment has a location as being in an outer region of a cell or as not being in the outer region of the cell (“In point #2, the UE is getting closer to the serving cell, so the measured power varies slowly. Srxlev value reaches maximum value at the closest point to the cell, then the Srxlev value may go into decrease” – See [¶0115] and Fig. 10, wherein the UE is not in the outer region of the cell because the Srxlev increased and then plateaued),
wherein the determining the selected one of the multiple groups uses results of determining whether the user equipment is configured to have high variation in received signals and determining whether the user equipment has the location as being in the outer region of the cell or as not being in the outer region of the cell to determine the selected group (if “a UE satisfies high-mobility state criteria more than Mhigh times in last t seconds, the UE may consider that the UE is in high-mobility state” – See [¶0107]; whereby “the UE is moving toward the serving cell in high speed, so Srxlev is increasing fast” – See [¶0114] and Fig. 10).
Therefore, Claim 8 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Claim 9, dependent from Claim 8, Lee, teaching that higher variation of received signal level is associated with higher mobility state of the UE, as explained in Regarding Claim 8, supra and Fig. 8, further teaches wherein determining whether the user equipment is configured to have high variation in received signals comprises determining that a capability of the user equipment is a capability that can lead to high variation and assigning the user equipment to have high variation in response (“in very high speed UE, such as being in high speed train . . . conditions for entering N-level higher mobility state was mitigated so that satisfying just once is enough to enter the [high] mobility state” and the “N-level higher mobility state of higher N value may have higher priority, than any other mobility states” so the UE is assigned to have high variation in response to “a UE satisfies N-level higher mobility criteria once, the UE may keep the higher mobility state for the period of time t unless the UE satisfies higher mobility state criteria” – See [¶0119]).
Therefore, Claim 9 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Claim 10, dependent from Claim 7, Lee further teaches wherein the one or more parameters to be used to identify the user equipment for measurement modification are multiple parameters (multiple “Q1ow, Qmedium and Qhigh are threshold parameters for each mobility state” and “N is Level parameters for higher-mobility states. N may be positive integer values” – See [¶0097]; in addition, “validity timer according to an embodiment of the present invention” may be the “right next measurement result” from the current time – See [¶0099] and may be “referred as a first duration” – See [¶0100] and Fig. 6; and “the UE may wait for certain time after evaluating Srxlevprev” that “may be referred as a second duration” – See [¶0102] and Fig. 7; furthermore, the mobility state criteria must be fulfilled based on Mlow, Mmedium and Mhigh thresholds in t seconds – See [¶¶0105-07]); and
identifying the user equipment for measurement modification based at least on the estimate of the level of signal variation further comprises using the multiple parameters along with the estimate of the level of signal variation to identify the user equipment for measurement modification (“When the UE enters low mobility state (being stationary), it may mean the measured serving cell power varies very slowly. So it may be considered that the UE is in stationary state” – See [¶0120], e.g., because ‘Srxlevprev–Srxlevnewest’ < Qlow; furthermore, “Referring to FIG. 7, the UE may wait for certain time after evaluating Srxlevprev· The certain time in this embodiment may be referred as a second duration. After the second duration expires, the UE may use first measured serving cell RSRP for Srxlevnewest, because too early measurement may not reflect the UE's mobility appropriately” so “a wait timer may be used to determine whether the second duration is passed or not. It can be also considered to add one more timer to wait for the new measurement, after the second duration expires” – See [¶0102]).
Therefore, Claim 10 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Claim 11, dependent from Claim 10, Lee further teaches The method of claim 10, wherein the multiple parameters comprise a threshold (where “Qlow, Qmedium and Qhigh are threshold parameters for each mobility state. QhigherLev is level threshold parameters for each N-level higher-mobility states” – See [¶0097]), and
wherein identifying the user equipment for measurement modification based at least on the estimate of the level of signal variation comprises:
in response to the user equipment having a high signal variation, using with the user equipment a first of the multiple parameters and the threshold to determine whether a first condition is fulfilled (Qmedium <‘Srxlevnewest - Srxlevprev’ < Qhigh means High-Mobility state criteria – See [¶0095] and “If the UE satisfies high-mobility state criteria more than Mhigh times in last t seconds, the UE may consider that the UE is in high-mobility state” – See [¶0107], i.e., Qhigh is a first parameter and Mhigh is the threshold)
in response to the user equipment having a medium signal variation, using with the user equipment a second of the multiple parameters and the threshold to determine whether a second condition is fulfilled (Qlow <‘Srxlevnewest - Srxlevprev’ < Qmedium means Medium-Mobility state criteria are fulfilled – See [¶0094] and “[i]f the UE satisfies medium-mobility state criteria more than Mmedium times in last t seconds, the UE may consider that the UE is in Medium-mobility state” – See [¶0106] i.e., Qmedium is a second parameter and Mmedium is the threshold, whereby Mhigh may the same with Mmedium);
otherwise, the user equipment uses the threshold to determine whether a third condition is fulfilled (‘Srxlevnewest - Srxlevprev’ < Qlow means Low-Mobility state criteria are fulfilled – See [¶0093] and “If the UE satisfies low-mobility state criteria more than Mlow times in last t seconds, the UE may consider that the UE is in Low-mobility state” – See [¶0105] whereby Mlow is the threshold and could be the same as Mhigh and Mmedium); and
in response to any of the first, second, or third conditions being fulfilled, identifying the user equipment for measurement modification (“When the UE enters low mobility state (being stationary), it may mean the measured serving cell power varies very slowly. So it may be considered that the UE is in stationary state. If then, the UE may not perform neighbor cell measurement to reduce power consumption” –See [¶0120]).
Therefore, Claim 11 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Claim 12, dependent from Claim 10, Lee further teaches the method of claim 10, wherein the multiple parameters comprise a threshold (e.g., the mobility state criteria must be fulfilled based on Mlow, Mmedium and Mhigh thresholds in t seconds – See [¶¶0105-07] that may all have the same value) and first and second timer parameters, as already explained in Regarding Claim 10 supra, and
wherein identifying the user equipment for measurement modification based at least on the estimate of the level of signal variation comprises:
using with the user equipment the first timer parameter of the multiple parameters to determine the estimate of the level of signal variance as having a high signal variation (“Srxlevprev and Srxlevnewest evaluation [is] using [a] validity timer” – See [¶0099], whereby “the UE may use right next measured serving cell RSRP e.g. a Srxlevnewest, as long as the right next measurement has performed within certain time after evaluating Srxlevprev” the “certain time . . . may be referred as a first duration” and “a validity timer may be used to determine whether the first duration is passed or not” – See [¶0100] and Fig. 6, wherein the evaluation is for Qmedium <‘Srxlevnewest - Srxlevprev’, i.e., High-mobility criteria – See [¶0095]);
in response to the user equipment having the high signal variation, using with the user equipment a first of the multiple parameters and the threshold to determine whether a first condition is fulfilled (Qmedium < ‘Srxlevnewest - Srxlevprev’ < Qhigh is the High-Mobility state/ high signal variation criteria with Qhigh the first parameter – See [¶0095] and “If the UE satisfies high-mobility state criteria more than Mhigh times in last t seconds, the UE may consider that the UE is in high-mobility state” – See [¶0107] is the condition);
using with the user equipment the second timer parameter of the multiple parameters to determine the estimate of the level of signal variance as having a medium signal variation ((“the UE may wait for certain time after evaluating Srxlevprev” and “[t]he certain time . . . may be referred as a second duration. After the second duration expires, the UE may use first measured serving cell RSRP for Srxlevnewest, because too early measurement may not reflect the UE's [lower/medium] mobility appropriately” – See [¶0102] and Fig. 7; and Qlow <‘Srxlevnewest - Srxlevprev’ < Qmedium – See [¶0094]is the determination of a medium signal variation)
in response to the user equipment having the medium signal variation, using with the user equipment a second of the multiple parameters and the threshold to determine whether a second condition is fulfilled (Qlow <‘Srxlevnewest - Srxlevprev’ < Qmedium means Medium-Mobility state criteria are fulfilled with Qmedium being the second parameter – See [¶0094] and “[i]f the UE satisfies medium-mobility state criteria more than Mmedium times in last t seconds, the UE may consider that the UE is in Medium-mobility state” – See [¶0106] is the second condition fulfilled whereby Mmedium is the threshold);
otherwise, the user equipment uses the threshold to determine whether a third condition is fulfilled (‘Srxlevnewest - Srxlevprev’ < Qlow means Low-Mobility state criteria are fulfilled – See [¶0093] “If the UE satisfies low-mobility state criteria more than Mlow times in last t seconds” and then “the UE may consider that the UE is in Low-mobility state” – See [¶0105] whereby Mlow is the threshold and could be the same as Mhigh and Mmedium); and
in response to any of the first, second, or third conditions being fulfilled, identifying the user equipment for measurement modification (When the UE enters low mobility state (being stationary), it may mean the measured serving cell power varies very slowly. So it may be considered that the UE is in stationary state. If then, the UE may not perform neighbor cell measurement to reduce power consumption” –See [¶0120]).
Therefore, Claim 12 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Amended Claim 14, Lee teaches, e.g., in Fig. 13, a method (“an example of a method for determining mobility state of a UE according to an embodiment of the present invention” wherein “a base station (BS) may be at least one of eNB or gNB, and also may be referred as a serving cell” – See [¶0136]), comprising:
determining, with a base station, one or more parameters to be used with a user equipment in order to identify the user equipment for measurement modification; and signaling by the base station, (the base station “hosts the functions, such as inter-cell radio resource management ([RRM]) . . . measurement configuration/provision, . . ., etc” – See [¶0038] e.g., “the parameters (TCRmax, NCR_H, NCR_M and TCRmaxHyst) are sent in the system information broadcast of the serving cell” – See [¶0067] and “the serving cell may transmit reference signal to UE. The serving cell may transmit the reference signal for N times” – See [¶0137] and “the UE may measure quality of the serving cell based on each reference signal. The UE may determine the mobility state based on variation of the serving cell qualities” – See [¶0138]; see also 3GPP TS 38.331, specifying, at page 318-322, the SIB2 that “contains cell re-selection information common for intra-frequency, inter-frequency and/or inter-RAT cell re-selection” including parameters for relaxedMeasurement; at page 323-328, SIB4 that “includes cell re-selection parameters common for a frequency as well as cell specific re-selection parameters”; at page 328-330, SIB5 that “contains information relevant only for inter-RAT cell re-selection i.e. information about E-UTRA frequencies and E-UTRAs neighboring cells relevant for cell re-selection”; at page 427-428 the IE HighSpeedConfig “used to configure parameters for high speed scenarios” of the UE; at page 468-469 the IE MobilityStateParameters that “contains parameters to determine UE mobility state”; and at page 732-733 the IE UE-NR-Capability “used to convey the NR UE Radio Access Capability Parameters, see TS 38.306” whereby an UE may respond to the base station with its mobility state in a RRCSetupComplete message “used to confirm the successful completion of an RRC connection establishment” – See id., at page 281-282; see also §5.4.2.9, 3GPP TS 38.304);
wherein the one or more parameters to be used by the user equipment to perform the step of identifying as recited in Amended Claim 1 using the same language. Because Amended Claim 1 is anticipated by Lee, Amended Claim 14 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Amended Claim 15, dependent from Amended Claim 14, the claim language merely recites the limitations of Claim 2, from base station perspective, and no other limitations. Because Claims 2 and 14, as amended, are anticipated by Lee, Amended Claim 15 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Claim 16, dependent from Amended Claim 14, Lee further teaches the method of claim 14,
wherein the one or more parameters comprise parameters for multiple groups indicating variations of the signal (when “Srxlevnewest is Srxlev value evaluated from most recently measured serving cell power” and “Srxlevprev is Srxlev value evaluated from right pre viously
measured serving cell power” – See [¶0097] and the variations of the signal is calculated as ‘Srxlevnewest - Srxlevprev’ – See [¶¶0093-0095], then “Qlow, Qmedium and Qhigh are threshold parameters for each mobility state” gauging the variations of the signal – See [¶0097])
values of the parameters for the multiple groups are determined with the base station using one or more of the following processes:
using one or more of site or cell measurement campaigns (e.g., “an example of a method for determining mobility state of a UE according to an embodiment of the present invention” – See [¶0136] and Fig. 13 shows a site or cell measurement campaign whereby “the serving cell may transmit reference signal to UE. The serving cell may transmit the reference signal for N times” – See [¶0137] and “the UE may determine the mobility state of the UE based on multiple results of estimation for the mobility state” – See [¶0127]);
building an estimator following user uplink reference signals; or
using parameters affected with radio resource measurement modification (“If following the rules in legacy LTE network, the UE may scale the cell reselection-related parameters (i.e. Qhyst and TreselectionXRAT) or relax the measurement rules for cell reselection so that the UE starts to perform the neighbor cell measurement earlier” – See [¶0139], whereby, e.g., TreselectionRAT “specifies the cell reselection timer value,” i.e., how often the UE evaluates Srxlev and “is not broadcast in system information but used in reselection rules by the UE for each RAT” – See 3GPP TS 38.304, at page 27).
Therefore, Claim 16 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Claim 18, dependent from Claim 16, Lee further teaches the method of claim 16, wherein the parameters for the multiple groups comprise parameters for a medium variation group and a high variation group (“According to the mobility state estimation, the UE may determine itself as being in Normal/Medium/High-mobility state” – See [¶0084] and “The larger difference [in Srxlev value] means that the UE is moving faster, i.e. higher mobility. The smaller difference means that the UE is moving slower, i.e. lower mobility” – See [¶0091]; based on parameters described in [¶¶0093-96] wherein “Qmedium and Qhigh are threshold parameters for each mobility state” – See [¶0097]; see also parameters transmitted in SIB2, 3GPP TS 38.331, at page 320-321, e.g., cellEdgeEvaluation “Indicates the criteria for a UE to detect that it is not at cell edge, in order to relax measurement requirements for cell reselection (see TS 38.304 [20], clause 5.2.4.9.2),” q-RxLevMin is the “Parameter "Qrxlevmin" in TS 38.304” that indicates the the minimum required Rx level in the cell, etc.).
Therefore, Claim 18 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Claim 20, dependent from Amended Claim 14, Lee further teaches wherein the one or more parameters to be used with the user equipment in order to identify the user equipment for measurement modification are for determining that the user equipment is stationary (“When the UE enters low mobility state (being stationary), it may mean the measured serving cell power varies very slowly. So it may be considered that the UE is in stationary state. If then, the UE may not perform neighbor cell measurement to reduce power consumption” – See [¶0120] whereby “If the UE satisfies low-mobility state criteria more than Mlow times in last t seconds, the UE may consider that the UE is in Low-mobility state” – See [¶0105] and the one or more parameters to be used with the user equipment are Mlow, t, and Q1ow in the inequality ‘Srxlevnewest - Srxlevprev’ < Qlow which means Low-Mobility state criteria are fulfilled – See [¶0093]).
Therefore, Claim 20 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Claim 21, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Lee further teaches a non-transitory program storage device readable with an apparatus, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable with the apparatus for performing the method of claim 1 (“When the embodiments are implemented in software, the techniques described herein can be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The modules can be stored in memories and executed by processor 1204. The memory 1206 can be implemented within the processor 1204 or external to the processor 1204 in which case those can be communicatively coupled to the processor 1204” – See [¶0131] and Fig. 12) Because Amended Claim 1 is anticipated by Lee, Claim 21 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Amended Claim 24, Lee teaches an apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory memory storing instructions that, when executed with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform the steps of the method disclosed in Amended Claim 1 (“the UE 1200 may comprise transceiver 1202, processor 1204 and memory 1206. The memory 1206 is coupled to the processor 1204, and stores a variety of information for driving the processor 1204” whereby “The processor 1204 implements the proposed functions, procedures, and/or methods. In the aforementioned embodiments, an operation of the UE 1200 may be implemented by the processor 1204” – See [¶0130] and Fig. 12). Because Amended Claim 1 is anticipated by Lee, Amended Claim 24 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Claims 25-28 and 30-35, dependent from Amended Claim 24, Lee teaches the apparatus of Amended Claim 24 with the limitations recited in Claims 2-5, and 7-12 respectively, using the same language. Because each of the Claims 2-5, 7-12, and Amended Claim 24 are anticipated by Lee, each of the Claims 25-28 and 30-35 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Amended Claim 37, Lee teaches an apparatus comprising at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory memory storing instructions that, when executed with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform the steps of Amended Claim 14 (“the BS 1400 may comprise transceiver 1402, 1404 and memory 1406. The memory 1406 is coupled to the processor 1404, and stores a variety of information for driving the processor 1404 processor” whereby “The processor 1404 implements the proposed functions, procedures, and/or methods. In the aforementioned embodiments, an operation of the BS 1400 may be implemented by the processor 1404” – See [¶0141] and Fig. 14). Because Amended Claim 14 is anticipated by Lee, Amended Claim 37 is also anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Claims 38-39, as amended, dependent from Amended Claim 37, each claim recites the same limitations as in the user equipment method in Claims 15 and 16, respectively, as amended, using the same language, only applied to the apparatus of Claim 37. Because each of the Claims 15-16 and 37, as amended, are anticipated by Lee, Claims 38-39 are anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Claim 45, dependent from Amended Claim 24, Lee further teaches a communication system comprising an apparatus of Amended Claim 24 in Fig. 13 wherein “a UE according to an embodiment of the present invention” communicates with “a base station (BS) [that] may be at least one of eNB or gNB, and also may be referred as a serving cell” – See [¶0136]. Because Amended Claim 24 is anticipated by Lee, Claim 45 is anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Claim 48, dependent from Amended Claim 14, Lee further teaches a non-transitory program storage device readable with an apparatus, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable with the apparatus performing operations comprising the method of claim 14 (“When the embodiments are implemented in software, the techniques described herein can be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The modules can be stored in memory 1406 and executed by processor 1404. The memory 1406 can be implemented within the processor 1404 or external to the processor 1404” – See [¶0142] and Fig. 14). Because Amended Claim 14 is anticipated by Lee, Claim 48 is anticipated by Lee.
In sum, Claims 1-5, 7-12, 14-16, 18, 20-21, 24-28, 30-35, 37-39, 45 and 48, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §102(a)(2) as anticipated by Lee.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Kaikkonen et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0007293 (same assignee) discloses a method and apparatus to perform determining a mobility or measurement adaptation state of a user equipment and scaling or relaxing at least one of a radio resource management measurement period or a threshold condition of the mobility parameter;
Laselva et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0259947 (same assignee) discloses techniques measures for enabling/realizing stationarity- based UE power saving, specifically network-assisted power saving at a terminal entity based on local stationarity monitoring and autonomous power saving mode switching;
Laselva et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0288637 (same assignee) , disclosing method and apparatus for determining whether the user equipment is stationary; which triggers the user equipment to autonomously enter a second operating mode while the user equipment is determined to be stationary;
Yiu et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0076275, and Johansson et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0332532 as applied in the previous Office Actions;
Lee et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0043593, discloses performing measurement in wireless communications and performing a relaxed measurement on the plurality of frequencies based on a determination that a triggering condition for the relaxed measurement is satisfied;
Yiu et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0334338 teaches techniques for reducing radio resource management (RRM) measurements and user equipment (UE) power consumption in a wireless cellular network;
Xiao et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0176837 discloses a method and an apparatus for enhancing measurement in a wireless communication system;
Niu et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0357494 discloses apparatus, systems, and methods for relaxing signaling characteristic evaluation measurements in wireless communication systems;
Li et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0134018 disclosing method, a terminal device, and a network device for evaluating a movement state of a terminal device according to the evaluation parameter and a measurement result of a serving cell;
He, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0113235 discloses RRM measurement relaxation criteria for a stationary UE;
3GPP TR 38.840 V16.0.0 (2019-06), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Study on User Equipment (UE) power saving in NR (Release 16)”;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #108, R2-1915820, Title: “RRM measurement relaxation based on measurement results,” Source: LG Electronics, November 2019, discloses measurements that reflect UE’s mobility to all the directions, regardless of Srxlev value and minimum and maximum time condition of measuring serving cell quality;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #108, R2-1914913, Title: “Discussion on measurement relaxation rule in time domain,” Source: ZTE, November 2019, discloses measurement interval and rules for measurement interval in measurement relaxation.
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting RAN2#111 electronic, R2-2007471, Agenda item: 8.12.3, Title: “RRM relaxation for stationary UE with reduced capability,” Source: Lenovo, Motorola Mobility, August 2020, discloses stationary UE relaxation;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting RAN2#111 electronic, R2-2007745, Agenda item: 8.12.3, Title: “Considerations on RRM for reduced capability UEs,” Source: LG Electronics Inc., August 2020, discloses stationary UE relaxation.
3GPP TS 38.304 V16.2.0 (2020-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; User Equipment (UE) procedures in Idle mode and RRC Inactive state (Release 16)”;
3GPP TS 38.133 V16.5.0 (2020-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Requirements for support of radio resource management (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).”
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/L.G.G./ Examiner, Art Unit 2478
/JOSEPH E AVELLINO/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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