Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 16, 2026
Application No. 18/040,238

Control Plane Aspects of Dual Active Protocol Stack Handover Report

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Feb 01, 2023
Priority
Aug 06, 2020 — provisional 63/062,396 +1 more
Examiner
BHATTI, HASHIM S
Art Unit
2475
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
OA Round
3 (Non-Final)
86%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
93%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 86% — above average
86%
Career Allowance Rate
362 granted / 420 resolved
+28.2% vs TC avg
Moderate +7% lift
Without
With
+6.7%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 5m
Avg Prosecution
23 currently pending
Career history
444
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.2%
-35.8% vs TC avg
§103
47.1%
+7.1% vs TC avg
§102
22.5%
-17.5% vs TC avg
§112
18.9%
-21.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 420 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action: A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made. Claim(s) 35-42, 44-50 & 52-55 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang et al. US 2023/0262565 A1 in view of Samsung Electronics APP No. 1020180084120 (Submitted in the IDS). Claims 35, 52 and 53: Chang discloses a method performed by a wireless device (Fig. 13, UE processor and memory), the method comprising: declaring a radio link failure in a source cell of a source network node, during a dual active protocol stack, DAPS, handover from the source cell of the source network node to a target cell of a target network node (See paras 50-51 and 57, RLF during DAPS handover); declaring a DAPS handover failure (See paras 51, 57 and 67, RLF during DAPS handover); storing information associated with the DAPS handover (See paras 51, 57 and 64, stores DAPS handover RLF information); storing information associated with the radio link failure (See paras 51, 57 and 64, stores DAPS handover RLF information); and transmitting the information associated with the DAPS handover and the information associated with the radio link failure in a radio link failure report to an access node (See para 57, “the UE to report the radio link failure report stored thereby. The UE will report the stored radio link failure report (the rlf-Report information element in the UEInformationResponse message) to the network side… The radio link failure report may include:… an elapsed time between reception of a last handover command to perform a handover procedure and the link failure (referred to as a timeConnFailure information element)”. Also see para 54, timer for DAPS handover), wherein the information comprises a time elapsed between reception of DAPS handover command and the radio link failure in the source cell (See para 57, “an elapsed time between reception of a last handover command to perform a handover procedure and the link failure (referred to as a timeConnFailure information element)”). Chang discloses sending a RRCReconfigurationComplete message to the target node (See paras 88-89, “an RRC message including source base station failure information (RLF information). [0089] The RRC message may be an RRC reconfiguration complete message”). However, Chang doesn’t disclose that the information comprises a time between sending a RRCReconfigurationComplete message to the target node and declaring the RLF. Samsung discloses that the information comprises a time between sending a RRCReconfigurationComplete message to the target node and declaring the RLF (See pages 12-13, “when the RLF occurs, the counter starts and after the reconnection, the counter value is included in the RLF report and reported”). Samsung’s RLF report (which includes the counter value that was started when RLF occurred) can be sent in Chang’s RLF information which is sent in RRCReconfigurationComplete message. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Chang with the teachings of Samsung to improve the method disclosed by Chang by including the feature of information comprises a time between sending a RRCReconfigurationComplete message to the target node and declaring the RLF. The motivation to combine would have been to enable the BS to know whether the UE has connected or not to avoid disruption in communication. Claim 36: Chang discloses transmitting, to the access node, an indication of the availability of the information; and receiving a request to transmit the information, wherein the information is transmitted in response to the request (See para 57, “the UE can inform the network side by using an RRC message that there is an available radio link failure report thereon (for example, indicated by an rlf-InfoAvailable information element”). Claim 37: Chang discloses that the radio link failure is associated with a failed connection between the wireless device and the source cell of the source network node (See para 67, source BS RLF). Claim 38: Chang discloses that the access node comprises a network node with which the wireless device establishes a connection after the wireless device declares the radio link failure with the source network node (See paras 80-81, “the field may also be used to indicate that the present link failure is a source base station RLF that occurs during the DAPS handover…. in a DAPS handover procedure in which a connection to the target base station has been successfully established but a source base station link release instruction has not been received. That is, the field is for indicating whether the link failure occurs during running of T304”). Claim 39: Chang discloses prior to transmitting the information, establishing a connection with the access node (See para 71 and 80-81, RLF includes: “the field may also be used to indicate that the present link failure is a source base station RLF that occurs during the DAPS handover…. in a DAPS handover procedure in which a connection to the target base station has been successfully established but a source base station link release instruction has not been received. That is, the field is for indicating whether the link failure occurs during running of T304”). Claim 40: Chang discloses receiving a handover command from the source network node and initiating the dual active protocol stack handover in response to the handover command (See para 64, “Upon receiving the handover command including the DAPS configuration, the UE performs the DAPS handover procedure, and the DAPS handover succeeds”). Claims 41 and 49: Chang discloses that the information comprises a time between declaring a handover failure and declaring the radio link failure (See para 57, “an elapsed time between the link failure and radio link failure reporting (timeSinceFailure information element)”). Claims 42 and 50: Chang discloses that the information comprises at least one of: radio measurements of the source cell of the dual active protocol stack handover (See para 57, “measurement results of a source cell); radio measurements of a target cell of the dual active protocol stack handover (See para 57, “measurement results of a source cell and neighbor cell(s)”. Also, see para 151, measurement of cells);radio measurements of at least one neighboring cell (See para 57, “measurement results of a source cell and neighbor cell(s)”); and a status of a timer when a HO command was received from the source network node (See para 57, “an elapsed time between reception of a last handover command to perform a handover procedure and the link failure (referred to as a timeConnFailure information element)”). Claims 43 and 51: Chang discloses that the information comprises a time elapsed between reception of DAPS handover command and radio link failure in the source cell (See para 57, “an elapsed time between reception of a last handover command to perform a handover procedure and the link failure (referred to as a timeConnFailure information element)”). Claims 44, 54 and 55: Chang discloses a method performed by a network node (See fig. 1, Base station) comprising: receiving, in a radio link failure report from a wireless device, information associated with a dual active protocol stack, DAPS, handover and information associated with a radio link failure (See para 57, “the UE to report the radio link failure report stored thereby. The UE will report the stored radio link failure report (the rlf-Report information element in the UEInformationResponse message) to the network side… The radio link failure report may include… an elapsed time between reception of a last handover command to perform a handover procedure and the link failure (referred to as a timeConnFailure information element)”. Also see para 54, timer for DAPS handover), wherein the radio link failure is in a source cell of a source network node (See para 67, source BS RLF), wherein the dual active protocol stack, handover is from the source cell of the source network node to a target cell of a target network node (See paras 65-67, DAPS handover from source to target), wherein the information comprises a time elapsed between reception of DAPS handover command and the radio link failure in the source cell (See para 57, “an elapsed time between reception of a last handover command to perform a handover procedure and the link failure (referred to as a timeConnFailure information element)”). Chang discloses sending a RRCReconfigurationComplete message to the target node (See paras 88-89, “an RRC message including source base station failure information (RLF information). [0089] The RRC message may be an RRC reconfiguration complete message”). However, Chang doesn’t disclose that the information comprises a time between sending a RRCReconfigurationComplete message to the target node and declaring the RLF. Samsung discloses that the information comprises a time between sending a RRCReconfigurationComplete message to the target node and declaring the RLF (See pages 12-13, “when the RLF occurs, the counter starts and after the reconnection, the counter value is included in the RLF report and reported”). Samsung’s RLF report (which includes the counter value that was started when RLF occurred) can be sent in Chang’s RLF information which is sent in RRCReconfigurationComplete message. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Chang with the teachings of Samsung to improve the method disclosed by Chang by including the feature of information comprises a time between sending a RRCReconfigurationComplete message to the target node and declaring the RLF. The motivation to combine would have been to enable the BS to know whether the UE has connected or not to avoid disruption in communication. Claim 45: Chang discloses prior to receiving the information, receiving an indication of the availability of the information; and transmitting, to the wireless device, a request for the information (See para 57, “the UE can inform the network side by using an RRC message that there is an available radio link failure report thereon (for example, indicated by an rlf-InfoAvailable information element”). Claim 46: Chang discloses that the network node establishes a connection with the wireless device after the wireless device declares the radio link failure with the source cell of the source network node (See paras 80-81, “the field may also be used to indicate that the present link failure is a source base station RLF that occurs during the DAPS handover…. in a DAPS handover procedure in which a connection to the target base station has been successfully established but a source base station link release instruction has not been received. That is, the field is for indicating whether the link failure occurs during running of T304”). Claim 47: Chang discloses that the information indicates that the dual active protocol stack handover with the target cell of the target network node has failed (See para 54, “it is considered that a target base station MCG RLF has been detected” and para 56, HOF. Also see para 62, “transmits an RRC message (e.g., FailureInformation) including a DAPS failure indication to the source base station”). Claim 48: Chang discloses tuning or optimizing at least one handover parameter based on the information (See para 57, “The radio link failure report obtained by the network side is used for network optimization, such as network coverage and mobility robustness optimization”). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HASHIM S BHATTI whose telephone number is (571)270-7748. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9:00am-5:30pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Khaled Kassim can be reached at 571-270-3770. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. HASHIM S. BHATTI Primary Examiner Art Unit 2472 /HASHIM S BHATTI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Show 4 earlier events
Nov 13, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Dec 15, 2025
Notice of Allowance
Dec 15, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Jan 23, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Feb 17, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Jun 29, 2026
Request for Continued Examination
Jul 02, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Aug 25, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
86%
Grant Probability
93%
With Interview (+6.7%)
2y 5m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
Based on 420 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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