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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 11/24/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment to the claims filed on 10/28/2025 complies with the requirements of 37 CFR 1.121(c) and has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's Arguments/Remarks filed 10/28/2025 (hereinafter Resp.) have been fully considered as follows.
Regarding Limitation A – See Resp.,10:¶2, Applicant argues that it is not “the MN [that] provides the candidate PSCell[s] in the candidate SN” – See Resp.,13:¶3, but “the terminal device itself determines whether each cell in a target secondary node satisfies the corresponding primary secondary cell condition configuration information and determines the cell meeting the condition as the PSCell” – Resp., 12:¶3. Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant’s interpretation of Limitation A for the reasons explained hereinafter.
First, the Specification does not support the UE verifying that “each [and every] cell in a target secondary node satisfies the corresponding primary secondary cell condition configuration information,” as the Applicant alleges, and such interpretation of the claim language would raise at least a §112(a) rejection. The Specification is clear that the UE verifies the condition configuration information on “candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell[s]” which are potential/candidate cells the UE is “to be changed to,” and that change could happen only after the UE received the configuration information for that cell – See Spec. [¶0059] (stating: “After receiving the configuration information for the candidate SN/PSCell, the UE determines whether each cell in a target SN it [the UE] is to be changed to [,] satisfies the condition for becoming the PSCell”); see also [¶0058] ( “the configuration information for the candidate SN/PSCell may include . . . configuration information for at least one PSCell in the candidate SN and corresponding PSCell condition configuration information (corresponding PSCell condition)” ); [¶0060] (“The configuration information for the candidate SN/PSCell may be determined by each candidate SN/PSCell based on the measurement result of the UE, and transmitted to the UE via the MN”) and Figs 4-7 (showing “configuration information” for “candidate SN/PSCell” or for “one or more PSCells” sent by the candidate SN, encapsulated in a RRCReconfiguration message by the MN, and forwarded to the UE); [¶0069] (“the UE may initiate a random access procedure towards a target SN/PSCell (that is, the candidate SN/PSCell it determines to be changed to),” i.e., the UE must know the configuration information for each candidate PSCell in order to proceed with RA procedure on a chosen candidate PSCell); [¶¶0051-53](describing configuration information for candidate SN/PSCell, not for each/any cell of the target SN). Furthermore, the Specification states that “[t]he MN determines a suitable set of candidate SNs/PSCells” in Embodiments 1 and 2 – See [¶0075],[¶0092] and “[t]he candidate SN/PSCell generates the configuration information for the candidate SN/PSCell and transmits it to the UE via the MN” in Embodiments 3 – See [¶00107] and that “[b]ased on the above three embodiments, the UE initiates the random access procedure towards the target PSCell” – See [¶00124]; “After that, the target SN notifies the MN to trigger data forwarding and/or activate a GTP tunnel, and/or establish a GTP tunnel,” i.e., Embodiments 4-5 – See id.. Therefore, the Specification supports the UE verifying the “PSCell condition” for “each cell in a target SN” for which the UE has already received the configuration information of that candidate PSCell – See Embodiments 1-3, supra, and does not support a case where “the MN only informs the terminal device of the condition for each cell in the candidate SN to become the PSCell (i.e., the corresponding PSCell condition configuration information),” as argued by the Applicant without pointing to support in the Specification – See Resp., 12:¶3. In addition, the limitation “MN only informs the terminal device of the condition for each cell in the candidate SN to become the PSCell (i.e., the corresponding PSCell condition configuration information)” is not claimed; the amended independent claims require “wherein the configuration information for the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell comprises: configuration information for at least one primary secondary cell in the candidate secondary node and corresponding primary secondary cell condition configuration information.”
Second, Hsieh et al., U.S. Patent Application No. 2023/0046878 (hereinafter Hsieh) explains the conditional procedure known in the art in precisely the same terms as discussed above – See [¶0010] (“For a conditional addition of a base station as an SN or a candidate cell as a PSCell for example, the RAN provides the UE with a condition to be satisfied before the UE can add that base station as the SN or that candidate cell as the PSCell, and a configuration that enables the UE to communicate with that base station or PSCell after the condition has been satisfied”)(emphasis added). Furthermore, Hsieh:[¶0010] cites as prior art 3GPP TSG-RAN2 Meeting #108 R2-1914640, Title: “Running CR for Introduction of Even further Mobility enhancement in E-UTRAN” (CR to 3GPP TS 36.331), Source: Ericsson, China Telecom, November 2019, (hereinafter R2-1914640) which, at page 61, introduces the new Information Element ConditionalReconfiguration “used to add, modify or release the configuration of a conditional handover, a conditional NR PSCell addition/change per target candidate cell” (emphasis added) referencing the CondReconfigurationToAddModList IE which is the “list of conditional reconfigurations (i.e. conditional handover, conditional NR PSCell addition/change) to add or modify, with for each entry the measId (associated to the triggering condition configuration) and the associated RRCConnectionReconfiguration,” i.e., for each target candidate cell there is an associated RRCConnectionReconfiguration (the “condReconfigurationToApply-r16 OCTET STRING (CONTAINING RRCConnectionReconfiguration)” field). Therefore, the art cited in Hsieh’s Background aligns with the disclosure made in the present Specification.
Last, a person of ordinary skills in the art, in light of the Specification and the knowledge in the art available before the effective day of the present application, would understand that:
(1) for a UE to perform random access on a cell in the target SN that satisfies the PSCell condition, i.e., to affect the PSCell change, the UE must have knowledge of that serving cell configuration information for RA, such as initial BWP, RA preambles, etc., meaning that the UE needs the configuration information of each candidate SN/PSCell to be able to perform random access procedure on the selected cell – See, e.g., 3GPP TS 38.331 V16.1.0 (2020-07) “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 16),” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.331), at page 545-559; and
(2) allowing the “terminal device to determine which cell in the target SN is eligible to become the PSCell, which enables the terminal device to have a high independent determination capability” – See Resp., 12:¶3, results in waste of UE power, already limited to a battery, because the UE must first verify the PSCell condition against each cell of the SN/SCG, potentially having to scan all carriers for all system information messages from all cells to obtain serving cell information, when the SN, e.g., a base station, has reliable/continuous power supply, has the configuration information of its serving cells readily available, and is provided with measurements on those serving cells to gauge the condition configuration information for conditional PSCell change, and able to send such information to the UE, e.g., through RRC messages, hence reducing the UE load to choosing among a few candidates. To be sure, 3GPP work on conditional PSCell change (CPC) has already discussed this issue – See § 2.2, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #110 electronic, R2-2005779, Title: “Summary of discussion][214][MOB] UE capability CRs for NR mobility (Intel),” June 2020, at page 3 (“Proposal 4: the CPC capable UE must support maximum 8 candidate cells;”). In addition, the present disclosure does not provide for the UE obtaining configuration information for accessing the PSCell that verifies the condition but through the default, power consuming, mechanism explained above, hence making the feature of a terminal device to have uncapped “high independent determination capability” of which cell in a SN/SCG is a PSCell costly and obvious.
This is not to say that there aren’t multiple PSCell candidates to choose from for the UE or that the “MN has determined/specified the PSCell in CSN1 and the PSCell in CSN2 (i.e., RRC reconfiguration for each candidate PSCell) in advance,” as Applicant argues – See Resp., 12:¶2. First, as disclosed in 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #109bis-e, R2-2003849, Agenda item: 6.9.4.1, Title: "Report of [AT109bis-e][209][NR MOB] Resolution to remaining open issues of CPC," Source: CATT (offline discussion rapporteur), April 2020, (hereinafter 3GPP R2-2003849), at page 4, “multiple candidate PSCells are configured in one gNB-DU”; see also Hsieh:[¶0066] (“conditional handovers can occur with more than one candidate cell supported by the candidate base station 106A ( e.g., cell 126A and another cell of base station 106A not shown in FIG. 1)”). Second, a person of ordinary skills in the art would understand that sending to the UE the “RRC reconfiguration for each candidate PSCell in advance” is not the same as the MN determining the PSCell: the UE selects the PSCell that fulfills the condition in the configuration information, monitoring for when the condition is fulfilled; the UE will then use the configuration information corresponding to that PSCell candidate in the received RRC reconfiguration message to understand how to access the selected PSCell – See, e.g., Hsieh:[¶0071] (“Once the UE 102 successfully completes the random access procedure, the base station 106A becomes an SN for the UE 102, and the C-PSCell (e.g., cell 126A) becomes a PSCell for the UE,” i.e., the UE determines the PSCell and the UE needs the configuration information of the candidate PSCell from the MN or the SN to effectively change to that PSCell).
For all these reasons, the argument related to Limitation A is unpersuasive.
Regarding Limitation B, pertinent to the UE starting in NR-DC– See Resp.,10:¶2, i.e., configured with a MSG/MN and a SCG/SN, Applicant argues that “R2-2003849 merely discloses deleting the measurement configurations associated with the CPC configuration in the scenario of intra-SN PSCell release” whereby “these measurement configurations are apparently different from the ‘measurement results of the serving cell’” – See Resp., 16:¶3.
First, a person of ordinary skills in the art would know that when the UE is configured with dual connectivity (DC) “the term 'serving cells' is used to denote the set of cells comprising of the Special Cell(s) and all secondary cells” and, specifically for the SN, the SCG is “the subset of serving cells comprising of the PSCell and zero or more secondary cells” – See 3GPP TS 38.331, at page 24. Otherwise said, in NR-DC configuration, any candidate SN/PSCell is a serving cell. Second, the main reference, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #107bis, R2-1912297, Title: “Conditional NR PSCell addition/change procedures,” Source: Qualcomm, October 2019 (hereinafter 3GPP R2-1912297) discloses that “the measurement events used for configuring the conditional NR PSCell change execution criteria are A3/A5-like criteria” for NR-DC – See § 2.2.2, Proposals 3-4, at page 4. It then follows that, in an original NR-DC configuration, a condition configuration information for a source secondary node/primary secondary cell, e.g., a release condition, is determined based on a measurement result because: (1) the conditional NR PSCell change execution criteria are measurement result events; and (2) each cell of the SN/SCG and/or the PSCell is defined as a serving cell.
Therefore, the argument related to Limitation B fails to persuade. In addition, this argument is also moot in view of the new reference Shi et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0159756, teaching condition configuration for releasing source SN/PSCell.
In sum, Applicant’s arguments have been fully considered but are unpersuasive or moot.
Claim Objections
Amended Claims 1, 8 and 20 are objected to because of the following informalities: "each cell in a target secondary node" should read "each . Appropriate correction is required.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2, 4-9, 11-20, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hsieh et al., U.S. Patent Application No. 2023/0046878 (hereinafter Hsieh), including the 3GPP technical documents referenced therein and updated before the effective filing date of the present application of 07/30/2020, and further in view of Shi et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0159756 (hereinafter Shi).
Regarding Amended Claim 1, Hsieh teaches a condition-based secondary node or primary secondary cell change method, applied in a terminal device (“conditional primary secondary cell (PSCell) addition or change procedures, and conditional secondary node addition or change procedures (which is PSCell addition or change procedures with SN change)” – See [¶0001], whereby “these procedures do not add or change the SN or PSCell, or perform the handover, until the UE determines that a condition is satisfied,” and “the term ‘condition’ may refer to a single, detectable state or event ( e.g., a particular signal quality metric exceeding a threshold), or to a logical combination of such states or events ( e.g., ‘Condition A and Condition B,’ or ‘(Condition A or Condition B) and Condition C’, etc.)” – See [¶0009] whereby “conditional handovers can occur with more than one candidate cell supported by the candidate base station 106A ( e.g., cell 126A and another cell of base station 106A not shown in FIG. 1),” e.g., “the base station 106A may provide a configuration of an additional candidate cell of the base station 106A, in addition to a configuration of the candidate cell 126A” and “UE 102 may then monitor whether a second condition is met for the additional candidate cell of the candidate base station 106A, while also monitoring whether the first condition is met for the candidate cell 126A” – See [¶0066]), the method comprising:
receiving configuration information for changing a secondary node/primary secondary cell (“UE of this disclosure receives conditional configuration information including a configuration related to a base station or a cell, along with a condition to be satisfied before the UE can apply the configuration” – See [¶0013] and “[t]he method further includes providing to the UE the conditional configuration information, and providing to the UE an indication of a procedure during which the UE is to apply the configuration if the condition is satisfied” – See [¶0016] decoded by a “conditional configuration controller 152 that is configured to manage or control RRC procedures and RRC configurations related to conditional configurations” including “secondary node addition/modification procedures, and may also be responsible for maintaining a current set of conditional configurations for the UE 102 (e.g., adding, releasing or modifying conditional configurations as needed)” – See [¶0056] and Fig. 1A); and
changing the secondary node/primary secondary cell based on the configuration information for changing the secondary node/primary secondary cell (“a conditional SN addition procedure to configure the base station 106A as a candidate SN (C-SN) for the UE 102 . . . while the UE 102 is in DC with the base stations 104A and 106B, and before the UE 102 has connected to the C-SN 106A. In this case, the base stations 104A and 106A operate as an MN and a C-SN, respectively, for the UE 102. When the UE 102 receives the configuration for the C-SN 106A, the UE 102 does not connect to the C-SN 106A unless and until the UE 102 detects that the corresponding condition is satisfied. If the UE 102 determines that the condition is satisfied, the UE 102 connects to the C-SN 106A, such that the C-SN 106A becomes the SN 106A for the UE 102” – See [¶0070], i.e., a SN change occurred; similarly, “another scenario relates to a conditional PSCell change. In this scenario, the UE 102 is initially in DC with the MN 104A (via a primary cell (PCell)) and the SN 106A (via a PSCell, not shown in FIG. 1, that is different than cell 126A)” – See [¶0072] whereby “the UE 102 does not immediately disconnect from the PSCell and attempt to connect to the C-PSCell 126A after receiving the configuration for the C-PSCell 126A. Instead, the UE 102 does not connect to the C-PSCell 126A until the UE 102 determines that a certain condition is satisfied. When the UE 102 determines that the condition has been satisfied, the UE 102 connects to the C-PSCell 126A, such that the C-PSCell 126A begins to operate as the PSCell 126A for the UE 102” – See [¶0073], i.e., a PSCell change occurred);
wherein the configuration information for changing the secondary node/primary secondary cell comprises:
configuration information for a candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell ((“The SN 106A at some point determines 310 that it should generate a full C-SN configuration for the UE 102, configuring a C-PSCell 126A. The SN 106A can make this determination based on one or more measurement results received from the UE 102 via the MN 104A” and “[i]n response to this determination, the SN 106A can include 312 the C-SN configuration in a conditional configuration element, which can be an information element (IE), a field, or another suitable element” – See [¶0087], whereby C-SN/C-PSCell are candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell)
wherein the configuration information for the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell comprises:
configuration information for at least one primary secondary cell in the candidate secondary node and corresponding primary secondary cell condition configuration information (“The C-SN configuration can configure a C-PSCell and also may configure zero, one, or more C-SCells. The MN 104A then can include 528 the C-SN configuration in a conditional configuration and transmits 552 an RRC container message including the conditional configuration to the UE 10” – See [¶0111] and Fig. 5, whereby “the MN 104A and C-SN 106A configure the C-PSCell 126A to the UE 102 at events 526, 528, 552 in advance, before the C-PSCell 126A becomes suitable for the UE 102” – See [¶0120]);
wherein changing the secondary node/primary secondary cell based on the configuration information for changing the secondary node/primary secondary cell comprises:
determining whether each candidate cell in a target secondary node satisfies the corresponding primary secondary cell condition configuration information according to the configuration information for the at least one primary secondary cell in the candidate secondary node and the corresponding primary secondary cell condition configuration information (“the condition associated with conditional SN addition or conditional PSCell change can be that signal strength/quality, as measured by the UE 102 on a C-PSCell of the C-SN 106A, exceeds a certain threshold or otherwise corresponds to an acceptable measurement” and “when the one or more measurement results that the UE 102 obtains on the C-PSCell 126A are above a threshold configured by the MN 104A or the C-SN 106A, or above a pre-determined or pre-configured threshold, the UE 102 may determine that the condition is satisfied” – See [¶0074]; furthermore, “conditional handovers can occur with more than one candidate cell supported by the candidate base station 106A ( e.g., cell 126A and another cell of base station 106A not shown in FIG. 1)” whereby “the base station 106A may provide a configuration of an additional candidate cell of the base station 106A, in addition to a configuration of the candidate cell 126A, in the first conditional handover command message,” i.e., the UE receives configuration information and associated condition for multiple candidate cells in the target secondary node, and “UE 102 may then monitor whether a second condition is met for the additional candidate cell of the candidate base station 106A, while also monitoring whether the first condition is met for the candidate cell 126A. The second condition can be the same as or different from the first condition” – See [¶0066], i.e., the UE determines whether each candidate cell in a target secondary node satisfies the corresponding PSCell condition configuration information and the condition); and
determining a cell satisfying the corresponding primary secondary cell condition configuration information as the primary secondary cell, and initiating a random access procedure towards the primary secondary cell (“When the C-PSCell 126A becomes suitable for the UE 102 (i.e., the UE 102 detects 570 the corresponding condition), the UE 102 performs the random access procedure with the C-PSCell to quickly change PSCell (i.e., change SN), in contrast to the immediate PSCell change procedure” – See [¶0120], whereby “the UE 102 performs 580 the random access procedure with the C-SN 106A via the C-PSCell 126A using a random access configuration in the C-SN configuration” – See [¶0113]).
Hsieh teaches the original configuration before the changing is New Radio-Dual Connectivity (NR-DC) (“the UE 102 is initially in DC with the MN 104A (via a primary cell (PCell)) and the SN 106A (via a PSCell, not shown in FIG. 1A, that is different than cell 126A)” – See [¶0072]) and that the condition configuration information for changing the original PSCell “can be that a signal strength/quality, as measured by the UE 102 on a candidate primary secondary cell (C-PSCell) of the C-SN 106A, is ‘good’ enough” – See [¶0065], and “the UE 102 does not connect to the C-PSCell 126A until the UE 102 determines that a certain condition is satisfied” – See [¶0073], e.g., “[t]he UE 102 (if the UE 102 is in DC) may disconnect from the SN 106B (i.e., the PSCell and all of SCell(s) of the SN 106B if configured) in response to the initiation or the detection” of the condition – See [¶0113]. Furthermore, Hsieh teaches “multiple measurement configurations (as described in 3GPP specification 38.331 v15.4.0 for example) for different respective procedures” – See [¶0012], and the 3GPP specification TS 38.331 teaches that with dual connectivity (DC) “the term 'serving cells' is used to denote the set of cells comprising of the Special Cell(s) and all secondary cells” and, specifically for the SN, “the subset of serving cells comprising of the PSCell and zero or more secondary cells” – See 3GPP TS 38.331 V16.1.0 (2020-07) “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 16),” published July 24, 2020, (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.331), at page 24. That means that when an original configuration before the changing is New Radio-Dual Connectivity (NR-DC) and a condition configuration information is based on measurement results, e.g., signal strength, on a cell of a SN, that cell is a serving cell, hence the measurement results are of a serving cell.
In sum, while Hsieh teaches that the UE would not connect to a candidate PSCell and/or disconnect from the original PSCell until a certain condition is satisfied, e.g., measurement results on a serving cell, Hsieh does not explicitly teach that the condition can be a release condition configuration information for a source secondary node/primary secondary cell.
Shi teaches improved condition-triggered mobility in wireless networks with ultra-reliability and low latency – See [¶0003], whereby the UE receives “a secondary node change type message having at least one mobility triggering condition of the primary secondary cell, to make the UE perform a handover from the source secondary node to the target secondary node when determining the target primary secondary cell meets at least one of the at least one mobility triggering condition” – See [¶0037], whereby the mobility triggering condition is based on a measurement result on a cell, e.g., a serving cell, as shown in Fig. 5.
Like Hsieh, Shi teaches conditional PSCell change with the UE originally connected in DC (“After receiving the at least one mobility triggering condition of the target PSCell, the UE keeps connection with the source SN and evaluates whether the target PSCell fulfills the received at least one mobility triggering condition. When determining the target PSCell fulfills the at least one mobility triggering condition, the UE starts accessing the target SN (steps S460 and S470)” – See [¶0147], whereby “the UE operates in the DC between the MN and the source SN and accessed the MN and the source SN for data communications” – See [¶0149]). In addition, Shi teaches a release condition configuration information for a source secondary node/primary secondary cell based on measurement of a serving cell (“the source SN may configure the at least one mobility triggering condition but also the at least one leaving message triggering condition in such a way that the at least one leaving message triggering condition will be triggered ahead of the corresponding mobility triggering condition” – See [¶0150] and Figs. 10 and 11, wherein “the at least one leaving message triggering condition is configured per cell whose measurement results are included in the CG-Config message” – See [¶0154], e.g., “the at least one mobility triggering condition is configured as an event A3 and the at least one leaving message triggering condition is configured as an event A2, where the events A2 and A3 are those defined in the LTE or NR measurement report triggering” – See [¶0122]; furthermore, as shown in Fig. 10, “the SN change type message includes at least the RRC configuration message generated by the target SN ( e.g. an RRC reconfiguration message), the at least one mobility triggering condition and the at least one leaving message triggering condition” whereby “at least one mobility triggering condition and the at least one leaving message triggering condition are those of the target PSCell,” i.e., a serving cell of the target SN – See [¶0157]). To be sure, Shi teaches multiple candidate PSCells (“an embodiment with 3 target PSCell candidates, the MN may associate indexes 1, 2, and 3 respectively to the 3 target PSCell candidates and the leaving message may include one of the indexes 1, 2, and 3 for indicating the target PSCell fulfilling the at least one leaving message triggering condition” – See [¶0161]) and the release condition configuration information of the source SN (“the MN indicates the source SN that the release process is a conditional based procedure,” i.e., “the resources of the source SN configured for the UE should be released after certain conditions are met rather than be immediately released after the source SN receives the SN release request message” – See [¶0112] and Fig. 10, wherein “[w]hen receiving the leaving message, . . ., the source SN starts forwarding data of unfinished data transmissions with the UE to the target SN through the MN” or “the data of unfinished data transmission with the UE may be transmitted from the source SN directly to the target SN if there is a direct interface between the source SN and target SN” – See [¶0162]).
Thus, Hsieh and Shi each teaches conditional PSCell change with multiple candidates for a UE in NR-DC original configuration. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have understood that the PSCell change condition configuration information containing both a mobility triggering condition to the target PSCell and a leaving message triggering condition for releasing the source secondary node/primary secondary cell, as taught by Shi, could have been combined with the configuration information for changing the secondary node/primary secondary cell as taught by Hsieh because both condition configurations use standard RRC message/containers to transmit the conditional mobility information to the UE. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out the combination through techniques known in the art. Finally, the combination achieves the predictable result of improving the mobility reliability of wireless communications by avoiding massive unnecessary data forwarding during the SN change procedure through the explicit release condition configuration information/leave message, as taught by Shi.
Therefore, Amended Claim 1 is obvious over Hsieh in view of Shi.
Regarding Claim 2, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Hsieh further teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the configuration information for changing the secondary node/primary secondary cell further comprises
addition condition configuration information for the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell (“the conditional configuration controller 152 may be configured to support RRC messaging associated with . . . secondary node addition/modification procedures” – See [¶0056]),
and the addition condition configuration information for the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell comprises:
addition condition configuration information configured for each individual candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell (“additional base station[s are] considered in immediate and conditional handover scenarios” – See [¶0059] and FIG. 1B, showing one or more distributed units (DUs), whereby each DU can be associated with a candidate C-SN configuration information which is added, e.g., as shown in Fig. 5 at step 522 and 526, wherein each C-SN “can include an indication of the condition which UE 102 detects 570 in the conditional configuration element, in the C-SN configuration, the conditional configuration, the RRC reconfiguration message or the RRC container message” – See [¶0119]; and “it will be understood that it can be one or multiple conditions or include one or multiple configuration parameters” – See [¶0113], whereby “UE 102 may then monitor whether a [respective] condition is met for [each] additional candidate” – See [¶0066]; see also 3GPP TS 38.331:380-382 (disclosing the CondReconfigToAddModList Information Element, “a list of conditional reconfigurations to add or modify, with for each entry the condReconfigId and the associated condExecutionCond and condRRCReconfig” for each candidate up to maxNrofCondCells-r16, each condition configuration information uniquely identified by condReconfigId-r16, from 1 to maxNrofCondCells-r16, the CondReconfigToAddModList representing the “[l]ist of the configuration of candidate SpCells to be added or modified for CHO or CPC,” and the condReconfigToRemoveList the “[l]ist of the configuration of candidate SpCells to be removed”; furthermore, maxNrofCondCells-r16 is defined as “INTEGER ::= 8-- Max number of conditional candidate SpCells” – See id., at page 786); see also Fig. 4 of Shi).
Therefore, Claim 2 is obvious over Hsieh in view of Shi.
Regarding Claim 4, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Hsieh further teaches the condition-based secondary node or primary secondary cell change method of claim 1 further comprising, prior to receiving the configuration information for changing the secondary node/primary secondary cell (“the UE 102 can operate 504 in DC with the MN 104A and the SN 106A” – See [¶0109] and Fig. 5):
transmitting a measurement result of the terminal device to a master node, the measurement result being used to generate the configuration information for changing the secondary node/primary secondary cell (“The MN 104A can determine 520 that it should configure the base station 106A as a C-SN for the purposes of a CSAC procedure, so that the UE 102 can start using the SN 106A instead of the SN 106B when the UE detects that articulated conditions are satisfied” whereby “[t]he MN 104A can determine to do so based on measurement result(s) from the UE 102” – See [¶0110].; furthermore, the “condition can be that a signal strength/quality, as measured by the UE 102 on the candidate cell 126A of the candidate base station 106A, is ‘good’ enough” or “above a pre-determined or pre-configured threshold” – See [¶0065], whereby “the SN 106A may send the RRC reconfiguration message [with the configuration information for changing the SN] to the MN 104A and, in tum, the MN 104A transmits the RRC reconfiguration message to the UE 102. The SN 106A may transmit the configuration in response to one or more measurement results received from the UE 102 via the SRB, or in response to one or more measurement results obtained by the SN 106A from measurements on signals received from the UE 102, for example” – See [¶0072], whereby the “one or more measurement results [are] received from the UE 102 via the MN 104A” when no SRB is established between the UE and the SN 106A – See [¶0087]).
Therefore, Claim 4 is obvious over Hsieh in view of Shi.
Regarding Amended Claim 5, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Hsieh further teaches wherein when an original configuration before the changing is NR-DC, and a target configuration after the changing is NR-DC (see PSCell change scenario in Fig. 3 and SN change scenario in Fig. 5),
the configuration information for changing the secondary node/primary secondary cell is based on Event A4, or based on Event A3, or based on Event A5, or based on Event A3 and Event A5 (e.g., in PSCell change scenario, “[t]he SN 106A at some point determines 310 that it should generate a full C-SN configuration for the UE 102, configuring a C-PSCell 126A. The SN 106A can make this determination based on one or more measurement results received from the UE 102 via the MN 104A . . . or obtained by the SN 106A from measurements on signals, control channels or data channels received from the UE 102, for example, or another suitable event” – See [¶0087]). Although Hsieh teaches that “the RAN in some cases also may provide multiple measurement configurations (as described in 3GPP specification 38.331 vl5.4.0 for example) for different respective procedures” – See [¶0012] and §5.5.4, 3GPP TS 38.331: 149-152 describes measurement events A3-A5 with reference to a neighboring serving cell becoming better than a SpCell, Hsieh does not name the measurement events as A3-A5.
Shi teaches that “the at least one mobility triggering condition is configured as an event A3 . . . defined in the LTE or NR measurement report triggering” – See [¶0122]. Because in Shi “the UE operates in the DC between the MN and the source SN and accessed the MN and the source SN for data communications” – See [¶0118] and Figs. 3-5, the combination of Hsieh and Shi is obvious and teaches the configuration information for changing the secondary node/primary secondary cell is based on Event A3.
Therefore, Amended Claim 5 is obvious over Hsieh in view of Shi.
Regarding Amended Claim 6, dependent from Claim 2, Hsieh further teaches the method according to claim 2, wherein changing the secondary node/primary secondary cell based on the configuration information for changing the secondary node/primary secondary cell comprises:
initiating a random access procedure towards the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell corresponding to the addition condition configuration information for the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell when a current condition satisfies the addition condition configuration information for the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell (“the base station 104A may perform a conditional SN addition procedure to configure the base station 106A as a candidate SN (C-SN) for the UE 102” – See [¶0070] and Fig. 5; “[i]f the UE 102 determines that condition is satisfied, the UE 102 may perform a random access procedure with the CSN 106A to connect to the C-SN 106A. Once the UE 102 successfully completes the random access procedure, the base station 106A becomes an SN for the UE 102, and the C-PSCell (e.g., cell 126A) becomes a PSCell for the UE 102” – See [¶0071]). However, Hsieh does not teach conditional release of the source secondary node/primary secondary cell.
Shi teaches the and satisfies the release condition configuration information for the source secondary node/primary secondary cell limitation (“the MN may indicate the source SN that the release process is a conditional based procedure” – See [¶0127] and “order to avoid massive unnecessary data forwarding during the SN change procedure, the source SN transmits not only at least one mobility triggering condition but also at least one leaving message triggering condition to the MN in a SN change required message initiating the SN change procedure” – See [¶0150] and Fig. 10, whereby “the UE keeps connection with the source SN and evaluates whether the target PScell fulfills the at least one mobility triggering condition and the at least one leaving message triggering condition received” before releasing the source – See [¶0158]). Because Shi and Hsieh are combinable as explained in Regarding Amended Claim 1 from which Claim 2 depends, Amended Claim 6 is obvious over Hsieh in view of Shi.
Regarding Claim 7, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Hsieh further teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the configuration information for changing the secondary node/primary secondary cell further comprises at least one of: a secondary cell group counter; and an identity of at least one candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell (“the C-SN configuration includes a group configuration (CellGroupConfig) IE that configures the C-PSCell 126A as well as zero, one, or more C-SCells of the SN 106A,” i.e., “the C-SN configuration is an RRCReconfiguration message, with RRCReconfiguration IEs or CellGroupConfig IEs conforming to 3GPP TS 38.331. The full configuration indication may be a field or an IE conforming to 3GPP TS 38.331” – See [¶0099] whereby 3GPP TS 38.331:366-371 defines the CellGroupConfig IE as “used to configure a master cell group (MCG) or secondary cell group (SCG)” including the field spCellConfig containing the “[p]arameters for the SpCell of this cell group (PCell of MCG or PSCell of SCG)” for a “NR PSCell change (EN-DC),” and the spCellConfig contains the field servCellIndex indicating the “[s]erving cell ID of a PSCell”; furthermore, the “IE CellGroupId is used to identify a cell group. Value 0 identifies the master cell group. Other values identify secondary cell groups,” i.e., a counter for secondary cell group). To be sure, Shi also teaches that the configuration information for changing the secondary node/primary secondary cell further comprises at least one of: a secondary cell group counter; and an identity of at least one candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell (“the identification information is included in an RRC message (e.g. a CG-Config message) and the RRC message is included as an information element in the SN addition request acknowledge message” – See [¶0166] and Fig. 13).
Therefore, Claim 7 is obvious over Hsieh in view of Shi.
Regarding Amended Claims 8 and 20, Hseih further teaches the method applied in a master node and/or in a candidate secondary node (“the base station 104A in a scenario 300 operates as an MN, and the base station 106A operates as a SN. Initially, the UE 102 operates 302 in DC with the MN 104A and the SN 106A” – See [¶0086] and Fig.3, and “conditional configuration related to an SN can pertain to a conditional SN addition/change or conditional PSCell addition/change” – See [¶0042], and “the SN 106A may transmit an RRC reconfiguration message including the configuration via the SRB to the UE 102,” i.e., the method is applied to the candidate SN, or “[i]f the UE 102 does not have an SRB or the SN 106A determines to transmit the configuration via the MN 104A, the SN 106A may transmit the configuration for the C-PSCell 126A to the UE 102 via the MN 104A” whereby “the SN 106A may send the RRC reconfiguration message to the MN 104A and, in tum, the MN 104A transmits the RRC reconfiguration message to the UE 102” whereby the configuration is “in response to one or more measurement results received from the UE 102” – See [¶0072]), whereby the configuration information for changing a secondary node/primary secondary cell to a terminal device meets all the limitations recited with the same language in Amended Claim 1.
Therefore, Amended Claims 8 and 20 are obvious over Hsieh in view of Shi.
Regarding Claims 9 and 11-12, dependent from Amended Claim 8, they merely repeat the same limitations of the configuration information for changing the secondary node/primary secondary cell as recited in Claims 2, 7 and 4, respectively, using the same language, here only recited from the perspective of the master node. Because Claims 2, 4, 7, and 8, as amended, are obvious over Hsieh in view of Shi, Claims 9 and 11-12 are also obvious over Hsieh in view of Shi.
Regarding Claim 13, dependent from Claim 12, Hsieh teaches the method of claim 12 further comprising:
determining at least one candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell and generating addition condition configuration information for the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell (“the base station 104A,” i.e., the MN, as shown in Fig. 5, “may perform a conditional SN addition procedure to configure the base station 106A as a candidate SN (C-SN) for the UE 102” and “the UE 102 receives the configuration for the C-SN 106A” – See [¶0070]); and transmitting, to the at least one candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell, at least one of:
the measurement result of terminal device (“The SN 106A at some point determines 310 that it should generate a full C-SN configuration for the UE 102, configuring a C-PSCell 126A . . . based on one or more measurement results received from the UE 102 via the MN 104A” – See [¶0087]);
a condition addition indication for the candidate secondary node/primary secondar cell (e.g., steps 520 and 522 in Fig. 5) that notifies the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell to generate the configuration information for the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell based on the measurement result of the terminal device (“the MN 104A can send 522 an SN Request message to the C-SN 106A for the CSAC . . . the MN 104A can indicate to the base station 106A in the SN Request message that the base station 106A is requested to be a C-SN for the UE 102. In response to the SN Request message, the C-SN 106A can determine 524 that it should generate a C-SN configuration for the CSAC” – See [¶0110]; and “the condition associated with conditional SN addition or conditional PSCell change can be that signal strength/quality, as measured by the UE 102 on a C-PSCell of the C-SN 106A, exceeds a certain threshold or otherwise corresponds to an acceptable measurement” – See [¶0074]);
an identity of at least one candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell (the field servCellIndex indicating the “[s]erving cell ID of a PSCell”, as explained in Regarding Claim 7, supra); and
a key of the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell (“The multiple configuration parameters may configure radio resources for the UE 102 to communicate with the C-SN 106A via the C-PSCell 126A and zero, one, or more C-SCells of the C-SN 106A” including “measurement configuration and/or a security configuration” – See [¶0117]; furthermore, “3GPP specification TS 37.340 vl5.7.0 describes procedures for a UE to add or change an SN in DC scenarios” – See [¶0007], whereby 3GPP TS 37.340 V15.9.0 (2020-07) “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and NR; Multi-connectivity; Stage 2 (Release 15),” published 2020-07-24 (hereinafter 3GPP TS 37.340), at page 44, discloses that, in a PSCell change, “a S-KgNB (for EN-DC, NGEN-DC and NR-DC) or S-KeNB (for NE-DC) update is required when the procedure is initiated by the SN or including the SgNB Security Key / SN Security Key when the procedure is initiated by the MN”).
Therefore, Claim 13 is obvious over Hsieh in view of Shi.
Regarding Claim 14, dependent from Claim 13, Hsieh further discloses receiving the configuration information for the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell transmitted by the at least one candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell (“The SN 106A then can include the conditional configuration in suitable message such as an RRC reconfiguration message and transmit 350 the message to the MN 104A. The MN 104A in tum can transmit 352 the RRC reconfiguration message with the conditional configuration to the UE 102” – See [¶0087] and Figs. 3 and 5).
Therefore, Claim 14 is obvious over Hsieh in view of Shi.
Regarding Claim 15, dependent from Claim 9, Hsieh further teaches
determining at least one candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell based on a measurement result of the terminal device (“the condition may be satisfied if one or more measurement results obtained by the UE 102 (when performing measurements on the C-PSCell) are above a threshold that is configured by the MN 104A” – See [¶0071]),
and transmitting, to the at least one candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell, at least one of:
the measurement result of the terminal device (“one or more measurement results received from the UE 102 via the MN 104A” for the C-SN to generate the C-SN configuration for the UE – See [¶0087]); and
configuration information indication that notifies the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell to generate the addition condition configuration information for the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell (“the MN 104A can send 522 an SN Request message to the C-SN 106A for the CSAC” and “the MN 104A can indicate to the base station 106A in the SN Request message that the base station 106A is requested to be a C-SN for the UE 102. In response to the SN Request message, the C-SN 106A can determine 524 that it should generate a C-SN configuration for the CSAC,” i.e., a conditional SN addition or change – See [¶0110] and Fig. 5) and/or the configuration information for the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell based on the measurement result of the terminal device.
Therefore, Claim 15 is obvious over Hsieh in view of Shi.
Regarding Claim 16, dependent from Claim 15, Hsieh further teaches the method according to claim 15, further comprising:
receiving the addition condition configuration information for the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell and/or the configuration information for the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell transmitted by the at least one candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell (“The C-SN 106A can transmit 526 the SN Request Acknowledge message to the MN 104A in response to the SN Addition Request message” – See [¶0111]) the information transmitted by the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell comprising at least one of:
the addition condition configuration information for the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell;
and
the configuration information for the at least one primary secondary cell in the candidate secondary node and the corresponding primary secondary cell condition configuration information (“The C-SN configuration can configure a C-PSCell and also may configure zero, one, or more C-SCells. The MN 104A then can include 528 the C-SN configuration in a conditional configuration and transmits 552 an RRC container message including the conditional configuration to the UE 102” – See id. and Fig. 5).
In addition, Shi teaches configuration information for a primary secondary cell in the candidate secondary node – See, e.g., [¶¶0109-10](“ the target SN generates the identification information of the target PSCell in the SN addition request acknowledge message” whereby “the identification information of the target PSCell includes a frequency and physical cell identity (PCI) of the target PSCell” or “a cell global identifier (CGI) of the target PSCell”).
Therefore, Claim 16 is obvious over Hsieh in view of Shi.
Regarding Claim 17, dependent from Claim 13, Hsieh further teaches the method according to claim 13, further comprising:
transmitting, by the master node, the key of the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell to the at least one candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell – See 3GPP TS 37.340:44 (in a PSCell change, “a S-KgNB (for EN-DC, NGEN-DC and NR-DC) or S-KeNB (for NE-DC) update is required when the procedure is initiated by the SN or including the SgNB Security Key / SN Security Key when the procedure is initiated by the MN”). Because Hsieh references 3GPP TS 37.340 procedures, Claim 17 is obvious over Hsieh in view of Shi.
Regarding Claim 18, dependent from Amended Claim 8, Hsieh further teaches the method according to claim 8, further comprising:
transmitting, to each candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell (“the base station 106A may provide a configuration of an additional candidate” and the “UE 102 may then monitor whether a second condition is met for the additional candidate” – See [¶0066]; see also Shi: [¶0126] (“[i]n an embodiment with 3 target PSCell candidates, the MN may associate indexes 1, 2, and 3 respectively to the 3 target PSCell candidates”)) at least one of:
a measurement result of the terminal device (“one or more measurement results received from the UE 102 via the MN 104A” for the candidate C-SN to generate “full C-SN configuration for the UE 102, configuring a C-PSCell”– See [¶0087]; see also Shi:[¶0107] (“the MN may also transmit measurement results related to the target SN to the target SN”)),
an identity of at least one candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell; and
a key of the candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell – See 3GPP TS 37.340:44(describing PSCell change, whereby “a security key change is not required (only possible in EN-DC, NGEN-DC and NR-DC)” but “[i]f a security key change is required . . . SN Security Key” is included by the MN); see also id.:31(“The MN sends the SN Modification Request message” wherein “a new SN Security Key is included”).
Therefore, Claim 18 is obvious over Hsieh in view of Shi.
Regarding Claim 19, dependent from Claim 18, Hsieh further teaches the method according to claim 18, further comprising: receiving the following transmitted by each candidate secondary node/primary secondary cell:
configuration information for a primary secondary cell in the candidate secondary node (“The C-SN 106A can transmit 526 the SN Request Acknowledge message to the MN 104A in response to the SN Addition Request message. The C-SN configuration can configure a C-PSCell and also may configure zero, one, or more C-SCells” – See [¶0111]) or
the configuration information for the at least one primary secondary cell in the candidate secondary node and the corresponding primary secondary cell condition configuration information.
Therefore, Claim 19 is obvious over Hsieh in view of Shi.
In sum, Claims 1-2, 4-9, and 11-20, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Hsieh in view of Shi.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Wu, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0236786, disclosing conditional SCG change information, whereby one or more target cells of an SCG meet a condition corresponding to triggering target cell change;
Wu, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0345315, disclosing conditional configuration during a conditional procedure with SCG failure;
Selvaganapathy et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0369181, disclosing conditional handover in a dual connectivity system;
Ishii, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0386195, disclosing conditional secondary cell configurations whereby each of the conditional secondary cell configurations may comprise an identity of a candidate primary secondary cell, each of the conditional secondary cell configurations being associated with at least one triggering condition, the candidate primary secondary cell being used for Dual-Connectivity;
Chiba et al., U.S. Patent US 10123242, discloses a method comprising receiving, from a source primary cell, mapping information as part of a handover procedure from the source primary cell and providing said mapping information to a secondary cell for use in associating a connection request with a user equipment associated with the secondary cell, whereby mapping information in one of a secondary node addition request message and a secondary node modification request message;
Zhang et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20210092655, disclosing a trigger condition configuration method, in a terminal device, including receiving configuration information of a trigger condition and configuration information of a trigger event that are sent by a network-side device, where an association relationship exists between the configuration information of the trigger condition and the configuration information of the trigger event.
Chang et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20200068536, discloses a method in DC wireless communication, wherein the configuration information for changing the secondary node/primary secondary cell further comprises a secondary cell group counter
3GPP TS 38.331 V16.1.0 (2020-07) “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 16),” published 2020-07-24;
3GPP TS 37.340 V15.9.0 (2020-07) “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and NR; Multi-connectivity; Stage 2 (Release 15),” published 2020-07-24;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #110 electronic, R2-2006379, CR 0210 to 37.340, Title:” Introduction of Conditional PSCell Change for intra-SN without MN involvement,” Source: CATT, June 2020;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #110 electronic, R2-200xxxx, Title: “Report from [AT110-e][209][LTE/NR MOB] CHO and CPC issues,” Source: Nokia, Nokia Shanghai Bell; June 2020;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #107bis, R2-1912297, Title: “Conditional NR PSCell addition/change procedures,” Source: Qualcomm, October 2019 discloses multiple candidate PSCells and measurement events used for configuring the conditional NR PSCell change execution criteria are A3/A5-like criteria for NR-DC;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #109e; R2-2000901; Title: “Summary document for Conditional PSCell Change for intra-SN in AI 6.9.4”; Source: CATT (summary rapporteur); March 2020, lists various proposals specific to conditional SN/PSCell change, including suggested changes to § 6.2.2 of TS 38.331 RRCReconfiguration-IEs field descriptions;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #109bis-e, R2-2003581, Agenda Item: 6.9.4.2 UE capabilities for Conditional PSCell change for intra-SN, Title: “Discussion on UE capabilities for CPC,” Source: Huawei, HiSilicon, April 2020;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #109bis-e; R2-2003038, Agenda Item: 6.9.4 Conditional PSCell addition/change; Title: “Remaining issue for conditional PSCell change,” Source: Ericsson, April 2020;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #109bis-e, R2-2003849,Agenda item: 6.9.4.1, Title: "Report of [AT109bis-e][209][NR MOB] Resolution to remaining open issues of CPC," Source: CATT (offline discussion rapporteur), April 2020.
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/L.G.G./ Examiner, Art Unit 2478
/JOSEPH E AVELLINO/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2478