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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/16/26 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/29/26 has been considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
The applicant has amended the following:
Claims: 1, 3-5, 7-8, 10-12 and 14-15 have been amended.
Claims: 2, 6, 9 and 13 have been cancelled.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
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 of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1, 3-5, 7-8, 10-12 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, 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, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Independent claims 1, 5, 8 and 12 has been amended to recite, inter alia, the limitations of “… wherein the dedicated cell reselection frequency list comprises a plurality of entries, each of the plurality of entries including a frequency value and information on a list of slices corresponding to the frequency value, and wherein the information on the list of slices includes a plurality of cell reselection priority values respectively associated with a plurality of slices in the list of slices.” which indicates that each entry includes a single frequency value and a corresponding plurality of slices and plurality of cell reselection priority values associated with the plurality of slices.
However, a review of the applicant’s specification fails to show any teaching or disclosure that indicates an entry includes a single frequency value and a corresponding plurality of slices and plurality of cell reselection priority values associated with the plurality of slices.
The closest teaching or disclosure in the Applicant’s Specification, can be found on pages 39-40, paragraph [0254] & Table 4 seen below:
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As can be seen from the highlighted portions of the Applicant’s Specification seen above, the closest teaching or disclosure in the Applicant’s Specification only shows a single entry includes a single frequency value (i.e. Frequency 1) and a corresponding plurality of slices (i.e. S-NSSAI 1, S-NSSAI-2) and single cell reselection priority value (i.e. Priority 1) associated with the plurality of slices and as such, the amended limitations are directed towards new matter and are therefore rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement.
Claims 3-4, 7, 10-11 and 14-15 are dependent upon Independent claims 1, 5, 8 and 12 and are therefore subject to the same rejection for the same reasons as indicated above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 11 and 15 are currently under a 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph rejection as indicated above, but would be objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, that would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims and if the current 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph rejection are overcome by the applicant providing adequate support and indicating where in the applicant’s original disclosure teaches the amended limitations of an entry including a single frequency value and a corresponding plurality of slices and plurality of cell reselection priority values associated with the plurality of slices.
The dependent claims 4, 11 and 15 would be objected as allowable because the closest prior art found fails to disclose, teach or suggest either alone or render obvious in a combined teachings of the prior art, the uniquely distinct features in the specific order, structure and combination of limitations together as a whole of the limitations recited in the dependent claims in combination with all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims in between.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 3-5, 7-8, 10-12 and 14-15 have been 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 5, 7-8, 10, 12 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KIM et al. (US Patent Publication 2020/0022095 herein after referenced as Kim) in view of WEN et al. (US Patent Publication 2023/0016053 herein after referenced as Wen).
Regarding claim 1 and claim 8, Kim discloses:
A method performed by a terminal in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: and A terminal in a wireless communication system, the terminal comprising: a transceiver; and a controller configured to: (Kim, Fig. 1 & [0073] discloses a wireless communication system (i.e. reads on in a wireless communication system) includes the first base station gNB1, the second base station gNB2, the first AMF AMF1 and the second AMF AMF2 in a core network, and a user equipment New Radio User Equipment (i.e. reads on terminal); Kim, [0069] discloses a user equipment may be referred to as a UE, a terminal and/or the like; Kim, Fig. 6 & [0116] discloses a user equipment may include a Radio Frequency RF processor, a baseband processor, a storage, and a controller; Kim, [0117] discloses the RF processor may perform a function for transmitting and receiving a signal through a radio channel; Kim, [0119] discloses the RF processor may be referred to as a transceiver. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that it is inherent for a complex device such as the UE to include a controller and a transceiver in order to perform the disclosed functionalities).
receiving, from a base station via the transceiver, a radio resource control (RRC) release message including a dedicated cell reselection frequency list for the terminal; (Kim, Fig. 3 & [0104] discloses in operation 325, the base station (i.e. reads on from a base station) may provide (i.e. reads on receiving via the transceiver) frequency priority information (i.e. reads on dedicated cell reselection frequency list) or cell priority information which is necessary for cell reselection of the UE (i.e. reads on a terminal) and the priority information may be included in an RRC Connection Release message (i.e. reads on an RRC release message) and Fig. 3 shows at step 325, the gNB transmitting an RRC Connection release message that includes the new IE IdleModeMobility ControlInfo to the UE; Kim, [0079] discloses a network may allocate a priority to each frequency to control cell reselection of user equipment in an idle mode and priority information for a frequency may be provided to the user equipment through a broadcasted SIB or an RRC Connection Release message as dedicated RRC signaling and the user equipment receives UE-specific priority information (i.e. reads on a dedicated cell reselection frequency list) through RRC signaling and for example, priority information for each frequency is transferred through a CellReselectionPriority IE in Table 1, and one of total 8-level priorities is allocated to the user equipment; Kim, Fig. 6 & [0116] discloses a user equipment may include a Radio Frequency RF processor, a baseband processor, a storage, and a controller; Kim, [0117] discloses the RF processor may perform a function for transmitting and receiving a signal through a radio channel; Kim, [0119] discloses the RF processor may be referred to as a transceiver).
and performing a slice-based cell reselection based on the dedicated cell reselection frequency list, (Kim, [0100] discloses a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may provide cell reselection-priority information (i.e. reads on based on cell reselection frequency list) such that a specific user equipment may reselect a cell by considering a slice (performing a slice-based cell reselection) at which the user equipment is registered or which the user equipment supports using dedicated RRC signaling upon transitioning from a connected mode to an idle mode; Kim, Fig. 3 & [0104] discloses in operation 325, the base station may provide frequency priority information or cell priority information which is necessary for cell reselection of the UE; Kim, [0099] discloses the user equipment reselects the cell of the frequency with the high priority as a serving cell).
wherein the dedicated cell reselection frequency list comprises a plurality of entries, each of the plurality of entries including a frequency value and information on a list of slices corresponding to the frequency value, and wherein the information on the list of slices includes a (Kim, Fig. 3 & [0105] discloses in operation 325, a new IE IdleModeMobilityContolInfo may be included in the RRC Connection Release message, and the IE may include freqPriorityListNR (i.e. reads on dedicated cell reselection frequency list) as priority information per frequency for cell reselection and the information may include one or more entries (i.e. reads on comprises a plurality of entries) and for each entry which corresponds to one frequency (i.e. reads on each of the plurality of entries including a frequency value), there may be carrier frequency information carrierFreq, priority information of a corresponding frequency cellReselectionPriority (i.e. cell reselection priority value), and slice information which is supported in the corresponding frequency supportedSliceList and one frequency may include one or more slices (i.e. reads on and information on a list of slices corresponding to the frequency value and reads on respectively associated with a plurality of slices in the list of slices) and the cellReselectionPrioriry information has a value between 0 and 7, and 0 may mean the lowest priority and the supportedSliceList is a list indicating slices which the frequency supports, and a Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information S-NSSAI value indicating a slice may be used).
Kim discloses performing cell reselection based on a received cell frequency list that includes a plurality of entries wherein an entry corresponds to one frequency that includes priority information and information on a plurality of slices but fails to explicitly disclose multiple priority information corresponding to multiple slices for each frequency and therefore fails to disclose “and wherein the information on the list of slices includes a plurality of cell reselection priority values respectively associated with a plurality of slices in the list of slices.”
In a related field of endeavor, Wen discloses:
and wherein the information on the list of slices includes a plurality of cell reselection priority values respectively associated with a plurality of slices in the list of slices (Wen, [0081] & Table 5 discloses different priorities may be allocated to the slice information (i.e. reads on wherein the information on the list of slices includes) as shown in the third column in Table 5 and Table 5 shows a one to many relationship between frequency and slice wherein an entry corresponding to a single frequency has multiple slices 1-8 (i.e. reads on a plurality of slices in the list of slices) with its own corresponding different priorities 1-5 (i.e. reads on a plurality of cell reselection priority values respectively associated with); Wen, [0079] & Table 4 discloses different priorities may be allocated to the slice information as shown in the second column in Table 4 and Table 4 shows a one to many relationship between frequency and slice wherein an entry corresponding to a single frequency has a single priority corresponding to multiple slices; Wen, [0083] discloses if a priority is set for the slice, the terminal device may select a slice with a highest priority to access from the slices that are supported by the terminal device and that are available to the cell; Wen, [0085]-[0086] discloses when performing cell reselection, the terminal device receives an RRC release message, where the RRC release message carries dedicated slice information of the terminal device and discloses the dedicated slice information includes at least one of the following (a) to (c); Wen, [0089] discloses (c) Information about one or more pieces of frequencies in a “reselected cell” that can be camped on, where each frequency corresponds to one or more pieces of slice information).
Therefore, at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention of Kim to incorporate the teachings of Wen for the purpose of providing the system with a means to utilize various formats of indicating slice and priority information corresponding to a specific frequency (Wen, [0081] & Table 5 & [0079] & Table 4) when transmitting slice information utilized in cell reselection (Wen, [0085]) and for the purpose of making the system more dynamic and adaptable by providing the system with various different alternatives in design and functionality, thereby allowing the system to handle a number of various different combination of specific design structure and scenarios and preventing the system from being limited to a single specific design structure and scenario and furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize based on the guidelines to rationales supporting a conclusion of obviousness seen on MPEP 2143, that the modification would involve use of a simple substitution of one known element and base device (i.e. performing a process of performing cell reselection based on a received cell frequency list that includes a plurality of entries wherein an entry corresponds to one frequency that includes priority information and information on a plurality of slices as taught by Kim) with another known element and comparable device utilizing a known technique (i.e. performing a process of performing cell reselection based on a received cell frequency list that includes a plurality of entries wherein an entry corresponds to one frequency that includes priority information and information on a plurality of slices, wherein the entry corresponds to one frequency including a plurality of priority information corresponding to the plurality of slices as taught by Wen) to improve the similar devices in the same way and to obtain the predictable result of the system performing a process of performing cell reselection based on a received cell frequency list that includes a plurality of entries wherein an entry corresponds to one frequency that includes priority information and information on a plurality of slices (i.e. as taught by Kim & Wen) and is dependent upon the specific intended use, design incentives, needs and requirements (i.e. such as due to teachings of a known standard, current technology, conservation of resources, personal preferences, economic considerations, etc.) of the user and the system as has been established in MPEP 2144.04.
Regarding claim 3 and claim 10, Kim in view of Wen discloses:
The method of claim 1, (see claim 1) and The terminal of claim 8 (see claim 8).
wherein, in case that no cell reselection priority value is associated with a slice in the list of slices, a default priority value is used for the slice-based cell reselection for the slice (Kim, [0081] discloses the user equipment checks the received priority information and if priority information for a frequency of a current serving cell is not provided, the user equipment regards that a priority of the frequency is the lowest level in operation; Kim, [0100] discloses a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may provide cell reselection-priority information such that a specific user equipment may reselect a cell by considering a slice at which the user equipment is registered or which the user equipment supports using dedicated RRC signaling upon transitioning from a connected mode to an idle mode).
Regarding claim 5 and claim 12, Kim discloses:
A method performed by a base station in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: and A base station in a wireless communication system, the base station comprising: a transceiver; and a controller configured to: (Kim, Fig. 1 & [0073] discloses a wireless communication system (i.e. reads on in a wireless communication system) includes the first base station gNB1 (i.e. reads on base station), the second base station gNB2, the first AMF AMF1 and the second AMF AMF2 in a core network, and a user equipment New Radio User Equipment; Kim, Fig. 7 & [0123] discloses a base station may include an RF processor, a baseband processor, a backhaul communication unit, a storage unit, and a controller; Kim, [0117] discloses the RF processor may perform a function for transmitting and receiving a signal through a radio channel; Kim, [0119] discloses the RF processor may be referred to as a transceiver. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that it is inherent for a complex device such as the base station to include a controller and a transceiver in order to perform the disclosed functionalities).
generating a dedicated cell reselection frequency list for a terminal based on allowed slice information received from an access and mobility function (AMF); (Kim, Fig. 3 & [0102] discloses a base station may receive slice information supportable (i.e. reads on based on allowed slice information received) per frequency or cell from a core network such as for example, an AMF (i.e. reads on from an AMF) connected to the base station and at this time, the slice information may be used for providing priority information per frequency (i.e. reads on generating a dedicated cell reselection frequency list) or cell to be applied on cell reselection when a specific user equipment (i.e. reads on for a terminal) is transitioned into an idle mode or a connected mode; Kim, [0079] discloses a network may allocate a priority to each frequency to control cell reselection of user equipment in an idle mode and priority information for a frequency may be provided to the user equipment through a broadcasted SIB or an RRC Connection Release message as dedicated RRC signaling and the user equipment receives UE-specific priority information (i.e. reads on a dedicated cell reselection frequency list) through RRC signaling and for example, priority information for each frequency is transferred through a CellReselectionPriority IE in Table 1, and one of total 8-level priorities is allocated to the user equipment).
and transmitting, to the terminal, a radio resource control (RRC) release message including the dedicated cell reselection frequency list, (Kim, Fig. 3 & [0104] discloses in operation 325, the base station may provide (i.e. reads on transmitting) frequency priority information (i.e. reads on dedicated cell reselection frequency list) or cell priority information which is necessary for cell reselection of the UE (i.e. reads on to the terminal) and the priority information may be included in an RRC Connection Release message (i.e. reads on an RRC release message) and Fig. 3 shows at step 325, the gNB transmitting an RRC Connection release message that includes the new IE IdleModeMobility ControlInfo to the UE; Kim, [0079] discloses a network may allocate a priority to each frequency to control cell reselection of user equipment in an idle mode and priority information for a frequency may be provided to the user equipment through a broadcasted SIB or an RRC Connection Release message as dedicated RRC signaling and the user equipment receives UE-specific priority information (i.e. reads on a dedicated cell reselection frequency list) through RRC signaling and for example, priority information for each frequency is transferred through a CellReselectionPriority IE in Table 1, and one of total 8-level priorities is allocated to the user equipment).
wherein the dedicated cell reselection frequency list is associated with a slice-based cell reselection, (Kim, [0100] discloses a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may provide cell reselection-priority information (i.e. reads on cell reselection frequency list) such that a specific user equipment may reselect a cell by considering a slice (is associated with a slice-based cell reselection) at which the user equipment is registered or which the user equipment supports using dedicated RRC signaling upon transitioning from a connected mode to an idle mode; Kim, Fig. 3 & [0104] discloses in operation 325, the base station may provide frequency priority information or cell priority information which is necessary for cell reselection of the UE; Kim, [0099] discloses the user equipment reselects the cell of the frequency with the high priority as a serving cell).
wherein the dedicated cell reselection frequency list comprises a plurality of entries, each of the plurality of entries including a frequency value and information on a list of slices corresponding to the frequency value, and wherein the information on the list of slices includes a with a plurality of slices in the list of slices (Kim, Fig. 3 & [0105] discloses in operation 325, a new IE IdleModeMobilityContolInfo may be included in the RRC Connection Release message, and the IE may include freqPriorityListNR (i.e. reads on dedicated cell reselection frequency list) as priority information per frequency for cell reselection and the information may include one or more entries (i.e. reads on comprises a plurality of entries) and for each entry which corresponds to one frequency (i.e. reads on each of the plurality of entries including a frequency value), there may be carrier frequency information carrierFreq, priority information of a corresponding frequency cellReselectionPriority (i.e. cell reselection priority value), and slice information which is supported in the corresponding frequency supportedSliceList and one frequency may include one or more slices (i.e. reads on and information on a list of slices corresponding to the frequency value and reads on respectively associated with a plurality of slices in the list of slices) and the cellReselectionPrioriry information has a value between 0 and 7, and 0 may mean the lowest priority and the supportedSliceList is a list indicating slices which the frequency supports, and a Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information S-NSSAI value indicating a slice may be used).
Kim discloses performing cell reselection based on a received cell frequency list that includes a plurality of entries wherein an entry corresponds to one frequency that includes priority information and information on a plurality of slices but fails to explicitly disclose multiple priority information corresponding to multiple slices for each frequency and therefore fails to disclose “and wherein the information on the list of slices includes a plurality of cell reselection priority values respectively associated with a plurality of slices in the list of slices.”
In a related field of endeavor, Wen discloses:
and wherein the information on the list of slices includes a plurality of cell reselection priority values respectively associated with a plurality of slices in the list of slices (Wen, [0081] & Table 5 discloses different priorities may be allocated to the slice information (i.e. reads on wherein the information on the list of slices includes) as shown in the third column in Table 5 and Table 5 shows a one to many relationship between frequency and slice wherein an entry corresponding to a single frequency has multiple slices 1-8 (i.e. reads on a plurality of slices in the list of slices) with its own corresponding different priorities 1-5 (i.e. reads on a plurality of cell reselection priority values respectively associated with); Wen, [0079] & Table 4 discloses different priorities may be allocated to the slice information as shown in the second column in Table 4 and Table 4 shows a one to many relationship between frequency and slice wherein an entry corresponding to a single frequency has a single priority corresponding to multiple slices; Wen, [0083] discloses if a priority is set for the slice, the terminal device may select a slice with a highest priority to access from the slices that are supported by the terminal device and that are available to the cell; Wen, [0085]-[0086] discloses when performing cell reselection, the terminal device receives an RRC release message, where the RRC release message carries dedicated slice information of the terminal device and discloses the dedicated slice information includes at least one of the following (a) to (c); Wen, [0089] discloses (c) Information about one or more pieces of frequencies in a “reselected cell” that can be camped on, where each frequency corresponds to one or more pieces of slice information).
Therefore, at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention of Kim to incorporate the teachings of Wen for the purpose of providing the system with a means to utilize various formats of indicating slice and priority information corresponding to a specific frequency (Wen, [0081] & Table 5 & [0079] & Table 4) when transmitting slice information utilized in cell reselection (Wen, [0085]) and for the purpose of making the system more dynamic and adaptable by providing the system with various different alternatives in design and functionality, thereby allowing the system to handle a number of various different combination of specific design structure and scenarios and preventing the system from being limited to a single specific design structure and scenario and furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize based on the guidelines to rationales supporting a conclusion of obviousness seen on MPEP 2143, that the modification would involve use of a simple substitution of one known element and base device (i.e. performing a process of performing cell reselection based on a received cell frequency list that includes a plurality of entries wherein an entry corresponds to one frequency that includes priority information and information on a plurality of slices as taught by Kim) with another known element and comparable device utilizing a known technique (i.e. performing a process of performing cell reselection based on a received cell frequency list that includes a plurality of entries wherein an entry corresponds to one frequency that includes priority information and information on a plurality of slices, wherein the entry corresponds to one frequency including a plurality of priority information corresponding to the plurality of slices as taught by Wen) to improve the similar devices in the same way and to obtain the predictable result of the system performing a process of performing cell reselection based on a received cell frequency list that includes a plurality of entries wherein an entry corresponds to one frequency that includes priority information and information on a plurality of slices (i.e. as taught by Kim & Wen) and is dependent upon the specific intended use, design incentives, needs and requirements (i.e. such as due to teachings of a known standard, current technology, conservation of resources, personal preferences, economic considerations, etc.) of the user and the system as has been established in MPEP 2144.04.
Regarding claim 7 and claim 14, Kim in view of Wen discloses:
The method of claim 5, (see claim 5) and The base station of claim 12 (see claim 12).
wherein, in case that no cell reselection priority value is associated with a slice in the list of slices, a default priority value is used for the slice-based cell reselection for the slice (Kim, [0081] discloses the user equipment checks the received priority information and if priority information for a frequency of a current serving cell is not provided, the user equipment regards that a priority of the frequency is the lowest level in operation; Kim, [0100] discloses a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may provide cell reselection-priority information such that a specific user equipment may reselect a cell by considering a slice at which the user equipment is registered or which the user equipment supports using dedicated RRC signaling upon transitioning from a connected mode to an idle mode).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL Y MAPA whose telephone number is (571)270-5540. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Thursday: 10 AM - 8 PM EST.
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/MICHAEL Y MAPA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645