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
This is in response to an amendment/response/communication filed 6/9/2026.
No claims have been cancelled.
No claims have been added.
Claims(s) 1-30 is/are currently pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 6/9/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 5/12/2023. These drawings are accepted
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 6/9/2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 1-30 under 35 USC § 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of 35 USC § 103.
Claim Objections
Claims 22 & 30 are objected to because of the following informalities: the word “process” needs to be changed to “processor”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
The abstract ideas of “determining an occurrence of a node-change triggering event associated with at least one of the first AN and the first PN” as noted in claim 1 and “determine an occurrence of a node-change triggering event associated with at least one of the first AN and the first PN” as noted in claim 22 are considered as being recited with additional elements which integrate the abstract idea into a practical application and the claims are therefore considered as eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Falkenberg et al. (US 20240064592 A1) in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al. (US 20230040285 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Falkenberg et al. teaches a method of wireless communication of a user equipment (UE), comprising: establishing a sidelink connection with a first assistant node (AN) (Paragraph 38-40, 69, 150, The peer UE establishes and maintains a sidelink PC5 connection with another UE, which reasonably corresponds to establishing a sidelink connection with a first assistant node) and establishing an access link connection with a first primary node (PN) (Paragraph 32, 150, 157, The passage teaches establishing a conventional cellular access link (Uu UL/DL) with a base station while sidelink communication exists), the first AN and the first PN communicating via a first network interface (Paragraph 33, 150, 152, The assistant UE communicates with the primary network node through the cellular network while serving the sidelink UE, satisfying communication between the assistant node and primary node via a network interface), wherein the sidelink connection with the first AN is for control-plane data (Paragraph 39, 53, 63-64, The sidelink explicitly carries control-plane signaling using PC5-RRC, PC5-S, SCCH, and SL SRBs) and the access link connection is for user data (Paragraph 32, 43, 120, The cellular access link carries user-plane data using DRBs and UL/DL user data transmissions); determining an occurrence of a node-change triggering event associated with at least one of the first AN and the first PN (Paragraph 152, 155, 160-161, 164, Measurement thresholds, measurement reports, and handover trigger determinations disclose determining a triggering event that initiates a node change); and communicating with at least one of a second AN or a second PN based on the node-change procedure (Paragraph 148, 151, 154, 161, 164, The passage teaches communicating with either a new base station after handover or another UE through sidelink after handover, corresponding to communicating with a second primary node or second assistant node based on the node-change procedure).
Falkenberg et al. does not explicitly teach performing a node-change procedure based on the occurrence of the node-change triggering event.
However, Parichehrehteroujeni et al. teaches performing a node-change procedure based on the occurrence of the node-change triggering event (Paragraph 163-170, 171-174, 191, 257-277, The passage teaches that when a triggering event such as satisfaction of a conditional handover execution condition, radio link failure, or handover failure occurs, the UE performs a mobility/node-change procedure by applying a stored configuration, accessing or handing over to another target node/cell, or re-establishing the connection).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide performing a node-change procedure based on the occurrence of the node-change triggering event as taught by Parichehrehteroujeni et al. in the system of Falkenberg et al., so that it would enable the UE to automatically execute a handover or node-change procedure when a configured triggering condition is satisfied, thereby maintaining seamless mobility, preserving control-plane and user-plane communication continuity, and improving the reliability and efficiency of transitioning communications from a current node to a target node with reduced interruption and signaling delay.
Regarding claim 2, Falkenberg et al. does not explicitly teach the sidelink connection with the first AN is based on communication within a sub-6 GHz frequency range, and the access link connection with the first PN is based on communication within a millimeter wave (mmW) frequency range.
However, Parichehrehteroujeni et al. teaches the sidelink connection with the first AN is based on communication within a sub-6 GHz frequency range, and the access link connection with the first PN is based on communication within a millimeter wave (mmW) frequency range (Paragraph 156, The passage teaches simultaneous connections to two network nodes with control-plane traffic carried over a lower-frequency layer and higher-capacity traffic carried over a higher-frequency layer, corresponding to separate links where the lower-frequency connection reasonably encompasses sub-6 GHz communication and the higher-frequency connection reasonably encompasses mmWave communication).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the sidelink connection with the first AN is based on communication within a sub-6 GHz frequency range, and the access link connection with the first PN is based on communication within a millimeter wave (mmW) frequency range as taught by Parichehrehteroujeni et al. in the system of Falkenberg et al., so that it would improve wireless communication performance by utilizing the greater coverage, reliability, and control signaling robustness of sub-6 GHz links for sidelink/control-plane communications while simultaneously leveraging the higher bandwidth and data throughput of mmWave links for access-link/user-plane communications, thereby optimizing connectivity and overall network efficiency.
Regarding claim 3, Falkenberg et al. teaches the sidelink connection with the first AN facilitates communicating control signaling that includes the control-plane data between the UE and the first PN, and the access link connection with the first PN facilitates communicating the user data between the UE and the first PN (Paragraphs: 32, 43, 51-53, 63-64, 150, 152, The passage teaches a topology where a first UE communicates with a second UE over a sidelink while the second UE communicates with the base station over the access link, with the sidelink supporting control-plane signaling (e.g., PC5-RRC/PC5-S signaling and transfer of base-station control information) and the access link supporting both user-plane and control-plane communication).
Regarding claim 4, Falkenberg et al. teaches determining of the occurrence of the node-change triggering event is measurement-triggered (Paragraph 152, 155, 160-161, 164, The passage teaches that measurements of reference signals and resulting measurement reports or threshold-based measurement results are used to determine when a handover trigger occurs).
Regarding claim 5, Falkenberg et al. teaches transmitting, to the first AN via the first PN, a measurement report based on a measurement of at least one of the sidelink connection or the access link connection, wherein the measurement report comprises one or more of: radio resource management (RRM) measurements associated with the second PN, a second PN identifier, first AN sidelink measurements, a second AN identifier, a primary node identifier associated with the second AN, and second AN sidelink measurements (Paragraph 51, 52, 70, 152, 155, 159-161, 164, The passage teaches a UE performing measurements of both access-link and sidelink communications, generating and transmitting an RRM-based measurement report through the serving network node, where the report includes RRM measurements (e.g., RSRP/RSRQ/RSSI) and sidelink measurement information used for mobility and handover decisions).
Regarding claim 6, Falkenberg et al. teaches the first AN sidelink measurements are based on at least one of a sidelink synchronization signal (SLSS) associated with the first AN and a sidelink discovery message associated with the first AN (Paragraph 52, 70, 160, These passages teach configuring and performing sidelink measurements using sidelink reference/synchronization signals, where the S-PSS and S-SSS constitute sidelink synchronization signals).
Regarding claim 7, Falkenberg et al. teaches receiving a target node configuration associated with the second AN and the second PN via the sidelink connection with the first AN; establishing a second sidelink connection with the second AN based on the target node configuration; establishing a second access link connection with the second PN based on the target node configuration; and communicating, upon establishing the second sidelink connection and the second access link connection, with at least one of the second AN or the second PN (Paragraph 119, 152, 154-157, 164, The passage teaches receiving target node information and configuration through an existing sidelink, establishing a new sidelink and a new direct access connection using the received configuration, and communicating over the newly established sidelink and access links after handover or mobility).
Regarding claim 8, Falkenberg et al. teaches the second AN and the first AN correspond to a same assistant node (Paragraph 154, 155, 157, These passages teach that the same assisting UE (UE[1]) continues serving as the sidelink intermediary before and after the mobility procedure).
Regarding claim 9, Falkenberg et al. teaches determining that the sidelink connection with the first AN is unreliable based on a measurement of the sidelink connection; selecting the second AN from a set of ANs based on one or more measurements performed for the set of ANs, the set of ANs included at least the second AN; and establishing a second sidelink connection with the second AN (Paragraph 39, 41, 69, 152, 155, 160, 164, The passage teaches determining that an existing sidelink is unreliable based on measured sidelink quality or radio link failure, using measurements and neighboring UE capability information to select another sidelink-capable UE from available candidates, and establishing a new PC5 sidelink connection with that selected UE through the sidelink handover and link establishment procedures).
Regarding claim 10, Falkenberg et al. teaches determining that the second AN and the first AN are associated with a same primary node based on a respective primary node identifier associated with the second AN and the first AN; transmitting an intra-PN change request to the second AN based on the determination; and receiving a radio resource control (RRC) configuration message from the second AN based on the intra-PN change request (Paragraph 119, 152, 155, 161, 163, 164, These passages teach determining that the assisting entities share the same serving base station based on exchanged base-station context, initiating a mobility request based on that determination, and receiving an RRC reconfiguration message in response to the mobility request).
Regarding claim 11, Falkenberg et al. teaches the respective primary node identifiers indicate that the second PN and the first PN correspond to a same primary node (Paragraphs: 102-105, 114-115, The source NG-RAN node identifiers (UE XnAP IDs) are maintained and referenced across the handover signaling to associate the pre- and post-handover contexts with the same source/primary network node).
Regarding claim 12, Falkenberg et al. teaches determining that the second AN and the first AN are associated with different primary nodes based on a respective primary node identifier associated with the second AN and the first AN; and establishing a connection with the second PN via the second AN based on the determination (Paragraph 160-164, The passage teaches determining that communication should transition from a first BS to a different second BS using source/target network identifiers and configuration information and, based on that determination, establishing a connection with the second BS through the handover procedure).
Regarding claim 13, Falkenberg et al. teaches the UE performs a measurement of at least one of the sidelink connection or the access link connection based on a measurement gap configuration comprising an AN gap pattern and a PN gap pattern, and wherein the AN gap pattern and the PN gap pattern are associated with a same gap period (Paragraphs 51, 52, 124, 152, 159, 160, 164, These passages disclose a UE performing measurements under network-provided measurement configurations for both access-link and sidelink communications, including sidelink-specific measurement configuration and reporting).
Regarding claim 14, Falkenberg et al. teaches the UE performs a measurement of at least one of the sidelink connection or the access link connection based on a measurement gap configuration comprising an AN gap pattern and a PN gap pattern, the AN gap pattern associated with a first gap period and the PN gap pattern associated with a second gap period that is different than the first gap period (Paragraphs 52, 124, 152, 155, 160, 164, These passages disclose that the UE performs measurements for both access-link (cell/reference signal) and sidelink communications using network-provided measurement configurations and reports).
Regarding claim 15, Falkenberg et al. teaches determining the occurrence of the node-change triggering event is radio link failure-triggered (Paragraph 40, 41, 51, 69, The passage discloses detecting a radio link failure (including sidelink/PC5 RLF) and using that RLF declaration within connection management).
Regarding claim 16, Falkenberg et al. teaches identifying a radio link failure (RLF) associated with the access link connection with the first PN; transmitting a failure indication message to the first PN via the first AN; receiving a target node configuration associated with the second AN and the second PN; establishing a second sidelink connection with the second AN based on the target node configuration; establishing a second access link connection with the second PN based on the target node configuration; and communicating, upon establishing the second sidelink connection and the second access link connection, with at least one of the second AN and the second PN (Paragraphs: 51, 85, 119, 156-157, 164, The passage teaches detecting an access-link radio link failure, receiving target-node configuration to establish a new access connection while maintaining or establishing a sidelink for simultaneous communication).
Regarding claim 17, Falkenberg et al. teaches the failure indication message comprises one or more of: radio resource management (RRM) measurements associated with the second PN, a second PN identifier, first AN sidelink measurements, a second AN identifier, a primary node identifier associated with the second AN, second AN sidelink measurements, and a failure cause identifier (Paragraphs: 160, 161, 164, These passages teach a signaling message carrying RRM measurements, sidelink measurement information, a cause identifier, and identification of the target network node via the target cell/configuration).
Regarding claim 18, Falkenberg et al. teaches initiating a timer after transmitting the failure indication message to the first PN via the first AN, and wherein the UE receives the target node configuration before the timer expires from the first PN via the sidelink connection with the first AN (Paragraph 78, 103, 105, 115, 119, teaches starting a timer after transmitting a handover-related signaling message and receiving target-node configuration before that timer completes).
Regarding claim 19, Falkenberg et al. teaches initiating a timer after transmitting the failure indication message to the first PN via the first AN; and performing a radio resource control (RRC) re-establishment procedure when the timer expires, wherein the UE receives the target node configuration while performing the RRC re-establishment procedure (Paragraphs 51, 80, 85, 103, 105, 119, 164, teaches timers associated with mobility procedures, RRC re-establishment for radio link recovery, and providing target node configuration to the UE via an RRCReconfiguration message during handover).
Regarding claim 20, Falkenberg et al. teaches identifying an RLF associated with the sidelink connection with the first AN; and performing a radio resource control (RRC) re-establishment procedure based on the RLF associated with the access link connection and the RLF associated with the sidelink connection, wherein the UE receives the target node configuration while performing the RRC re- establishment procedure (Paragraph 40, 41, 51, 69, 85, 119, 121, 164, The passage teaches identifying sidelink radio link failure, detecting and recovering from radio link failure through an RRC re-establishment procedure, and providing the UE with target node configuration via RRC reconfiguration during mobility).
Regarding claim 21, Falkenberg et al. teaches identifying a radio link failure (RLF) associated with the sidelink connection with the first AN; and performing an inter-AN change based on the RLF (Paragraph 40, 41, 69, 158, 161, 164, The passage expressly teaches identifying a sidelink radio link failure for a PC5-RRC connection and initiating mobility or handover procedures based on degraded sidelink conditions, but it does not expressly teach changing from a first assistant node to a second assistant node in response to the RLF).
Regarding claim 22, Falkenberg et al. teaches an apparatus for wireless communication of a user equipment (UE), comprising: memory; and at least one process coupled to the memory and configured to (Paragraph 96, 99, 100, These passages expressly disclose a UE apparatus including memory storing executable instructions and at least one processor coupled to the memory that executes those instructions to perform the disclosed wireless communication functions): establish a sidelink connection with a first assistant node (AN) and establish an access link connection with a first primary node (PN), the first AN and the first PN communicating via a first network interface, wherein the sidelink connection with the first AN is for control-plane data and the access link connection is for user data (Paragraph 32, 38-40, 43, 53, 63-64, 150, 156-157, These passages disclose a UE simultaneously maintaining a sidelink PC5 connection with another UE while also maintaining a Uu access link with a base station, where the sidelink supports dedicated control-plane signaling and the access link supports user-plane communication, corresponding to communication through an assistant node and a primary node connected through the network interface); determine an occurrence of a node-change triggering event associated with at least one of the first AN and the first PN (Paragraphs: 148-152, 155, 160-164, These passages disclose determining a mobility or measurement-based trigger, including threshold crossings and handover triggers associated with the sidelink or access connection, that initiates a node-change procedure); and communicate with at least one of a second AN or a second PN based on the node- change procedure (Paragraphs: 151, 154-157, 161-164, These passages disclose that after a node-change (handover) procedure the UE communicates with a different communication node, either transitioning to a second primary network node (another/base station) or to another sidelink peer functioning as the communication relay, satisfying communication with at least one of a second AN or second PN following the node-change procedure).
Falkenberg et al. does not explicitly teach perform a node-change procedure based on the occurrence of the node-change triggering event.
However, Parichehrehteroujeni et al. teaches perform a node-change procedure based on the occurrence of the node-change triggering event (Paragraph 163-170, 171-174, 191, 257-277, The passage teaches that when a triggering event such as satisfaction of a conditional handover execution condition, radio link failure, or handover failure occurs, the UE performs a mobility/node-change procedure by applying a stored configuration, accessing or handing over to another target node/cell, or re-establishing the connection).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide perform a node-change procedure based on the occurrence of the node-change triggering event as taught by Parichehrehteroujeni et al. in the system of Falkenberg et al., so that it would enable the UE to automatically initiate an appropriate node transition in response to detected triggering conditions, thereby improving mobility management, maintaining service continuity, and reducing interruption during communication with changing assistant or primary nodes.
Regarding claim 23, Falkenberg et al. teaches a method of wireless communication of a first primary node (PN) (Paragraphs: 32, 35, The passage teaches a primary network node (gNB/base station) performing wireless communication functions including control-plane communication and mobility management with a UE), comprising: receiving a node-change triggering event notification (Paragraphs: 155, 160-161, The passage teaches the primary node receiving a UE measurement report that serves as a notification of a mobility condition triggering a node-change (handover) procedure); performing a node-change procedure based on the node-change triggering event notification (Paragraphs: 102, 119, 161, 163, The passage teaches that, after receiving the triggering notification, the primary node performs a node-change procedure by initiating and executing handover signaling and associated mobility procedures); and communicating control signaling that comprises control-plane data with the UE via a first assistant node (AN) that has a sidelink connection with the UE (Paragraphs: 39-40, 53, 64, 152, 155, 160, The passage teaches control signaling containing control-plane information being exchanged through a UE acting over a sidelink connection with another UE while also maintaining communication with the base station, corresponding to communicating control-plane data with the UE via an assistant sidelink node), the first PN and the first AN communicating via a first network interface connection (Paragraphs: 32, 150, 152, The passage teaches the primary node communicating with the intermediary UE over the Uu network interface while that UE maintains a sidelink connection with another UE, satisfying communication between the PN and AN over a network interface connection).
Falkenberg et al. does not explicitly teach communicating user data with a user equipment (UE) via an access link connection based on communications within a millimeter wave (mmW) frequency range.
However, Parichehrehteroujeni et al. teaches communicating user data with a user equipment (UE) via an access link connection based on communications within a millimeter wave (mmW) frequency range (Paragraph 156, 162, 165, The passage teaches exchanging user data between the UE and a network node over the radio access connection, and teaches that user-plane traffic is carried on the higher-frequency connection while control-plane traffic is carried on a lower-frequency connection).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide communicating user data with a user equipment (UE) via an access link connection based on communications within a millimeter wave (mmW) frequency range as taught by Parichehrehteroujeni et al. in the system of Falkenberg et al., so that it would enable the dual-connectivity architecture to support high-throughput user-plane data transmission over high-capacity mmW access links while preserving the established control-plane signaling and node-change procedures, thereby improving overall network throughput, reducing latency, and increasing communication efficiency without altering the underlying mobility management framework.
Regarding claim 24, Falkenberg et al. teaches the first PN receives the node-change triggering event notification from a second PN, the node-change triggering event comprising a handover request including sidelink measurements associated with a set of ANs including at least the first AN (Paragraph 150, 152, 155, 160, 161, 164, These passages teach a first network node receiving a handover request from another network node, where the request is triggered using sidelink measurement information obtained from measurements associated with neighboring sidelink-capable UEs including at least one assisting UE).
Regarding claim 25, Falkenberg et al. teaches performing the node-change procedure based on the node-change triggering event notification comprises: selecting the first AN from the set of ANs based on the sidelink measurements; adding the first AN to operate as an assistant node for the UE and the first PN via the first network interface connection; transmitting a handover acknowledgement message to the second PN, the handover acknowledgement message comprising a target node configuration associated with the first PN and the first AN; and establishing the access link connection with the UE based on the target node configuration (Paragraph 115, 119, 155-157, 160, 164, The passage teaches a measurement-triggered node-change procedure in which sidelink measurements and sidelink-capable UE selection support maintaining an assisting UE during mobility, a handover acknowledgement conveys target-node configuration information, and the UE establishes the new access link using the received target configuration).
Regarding claim 26, Falkenberg et al. teaches the first PN receives the node-change triggering event notification from the UE via the first AN, the node-change triggering event notification comprising a radio resource control (RRC) re-establishment request (Paragraph 51, 71, 80, 85, 150, 152, 155, The passage teaches a UE communicating with a base station through an intermediate sidelink UE, where a threshold-triggered mobility event initiates a handover involving the base station while also disclosing RRC connection re-establishment as a mobility-related procedure, collectively teaching the first PN receiving a node-change triggering event from the UE via the first AN that comprises an RRC re-establishment request).
Regarding claim 27, Falkenberg et al. teaches performing the node-change procedure based on the node-change triggering notification comprises: performing an AN reselection procedure with the first AN; receiving UE context information associated with the UE from a second PN, the second PN communicating data with the UE via a second access link connection; transmitting an RRC reconfiguration message to the UE via the first AN, the RRC reconfiguration message including a target node configuration associated with the first AN and the first PN; and establishing the access link connection with the UE based on the target node configuration (Paragraph 33, 34, 119, 121, 151, 152, 161, 164, The passage teaches a triggered handover procedure in which the serving node participates in mobility, UE context information is transferred from another network node, an RRCReconfiguration message containing the target node configuration is forwarded to the UE, and the UE establishes a new access connection based on that configuration).
Regarding claim 28, Falkenberg et al. teaches the first PN receives the node-change triggering event notification from a second PN, the node-change triggering event comprising a handover request including sidelink measurements associated with a set of ANs including at least the first AN (Paragraph 152, 155, 160, 161, 164, The first BS receives sidelink measurement information from a UE communicating with at least one sidelink-capable neighboring UE, determines that a handover should occur based on the sidelink measurements, and transmits a handover request that is received by the second BS).
Regarding claim 29, Falkenberg et al. teaches performing the node-change procedure based on the node-change triggering event notification comprises: adding the first AN to operate as an assistant node for the UE and the first PN via the first network interface connection; transmitting a handover acknowledgement message to the second PN, the handover acknowledgement message comprising a target node configuration associated with the first PN and the first AN; and establishing the access link connection with the UE based on the target node configuration (Paragraph 115, 119, 156-157, 160-164, These passages teach a handover procedure triggered by mobility in which a sidelink may remain active while a direct network connection is established, a handover acknowledgement conveys target-node configuration used to establish the UE's access link).
Regarding claim 30, Falkenberg et al. teach an apparatus for wireless communication of a first primary node (PN), comprising: memory; and at least one process coupled to the memory and configured to: receive a node-change triggering event notification (Paragraphs: 155, 160-161, The first base station receives a measurement report that notifies it of conditions satisfying a handover trigger, thereby receiving a notification of a node-change triggering event); perform a node-change procedure based on the node-change triggering event notification (Paragraphs: 119, 161, 163-164, Upon receiving the triggering notification, the primary node initiates and carries out the handover procedure by requesting, determining, and completing node change with another base station); and communicate control signaling that comprises control-plane data with the UE via a first assistant node (AN) that has a sidelink connection with the UE (Paragraphs: 39, 53, 64, 152, 155, The base station communicates control-related information to a UE through an intermediary UE having a sidelink connection, and the passage expressly identifies PC5-RRC/SL SRBs over the sidelink as carrying control-plane data), the first PN and the first AN communicating via a first network interface connection (Paragraphs: 32-33, 150, 152, The assistant node communicates directly with the primary node over a defined network interface (UL/DL Uu interface), satisfying communication between the PN and AN via a network interface connection).
Falkenberg et al. does not explicitly teach communicate user data with a user equipment (UE) via an access link connection based on communications within a millimeter wave (mmW) frequency range.
However, Parichehrehteroujeni et al. teaches communicate user data with a user equipment (UE) via an access link connection based on communications within a millimeter wave (mmW) frequency range (Paragraph 156, 162, 165, The passage teaches exchanging user data between the UE and a network node over the radio access connection, and teaches that user-plane traffic is carried on the higher-frequency connection while control-plane traffic is carried on a lower-frequency connection).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide communicate user data with a user equipment (UE) via an access link connection based on communications within a millimeter wave (mmW) frequency range as taught by Parichehrehteroujeni et al. in the system of Falkenberg et al., so that it would enable the dual-connectivity architecture to support high-throughput user-plane data transmission over high-capacity mmW access links while preserving the established control-plane signaling and node-change procedures, thereby improving overall network throughput, reducing latency, and increasing communication efficiency without altering the underlying mobility management framework.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/A.S.K./Examiner, Art Unit 2464
/MICHAEL K PHILLIPS/Examiner, Art Unit 2464
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