DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 7-8, filed 04/15/2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 21, 26, 31, and 36 under 35 U.S.C 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new grounds of rejection is made in view of Eklöf et al. (US 2023/0284058) in view of Xu et al. (US 2021/0345150).
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.
Claims 21, 24-26, 28-31, 34-36 and 38-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eklöf et al. (US 2023/0284058) in view of Xu et al. (US 2021/0345150).
Regarding claim 21, Eklöf discloses a method performed by a first node in a communication system, the method comprising: receiving, from a second node, a request message related to a bearer ([0162], “FIG. 14 will now be described. In operation 1, the MN sends an SgNB Modification Request message to the SN. The message may contain bearer context related or other UE context related information, data forwarding address information (if applicable), and requested SCG configuration information, including a UE capability coordination result to be used as basis for the reconfiguration by the SN.”; [0268], “In particular, modification and/or reconfigurations of QoE measurements in the SN is a new case which would require modifications. For example, the MN- and SN-initiated SN modification procedures shown in FIGS. 14-15, respectively, can be modified according to these principles.”) for a measurement report ([0270], “As mentioned above, UE QoE measurement reports can also be exchanged between a MN and an SN arranged in DC with the UE. As an example, a new QoE Report Information IE can be defined for this purpose and included in various messages sent from MN (e.g., MgNB or Mng-eNB) to SN (e.g., SgNB or Sng-eNB) over the Xn interface, or in the opposite direction. Table 14 below shows exemplary contents of a QoE Report Information IE according to these embodiments.”) comprising information about signaling radio bearer (SRB) for receiving the measurement report ([0251], “As mentioned above, different types of bearer can be configured for DC, including MCG bearers, SCG bearers, split bearers, and duplicated bearers. This can be done for both SRBs (signaling radio bearers) and DRBs (data radio bearers). For QoE measurements, these types of bearers could potentially be reused for sending QoE measurement reports.”); transmitting, to the second node, a request acknowledge message related to the bearer comprising an indication indicating whether the bearer is accepted ([0163], “In operation 2, the SN responds with the SgNB Modification Request Acknowledge message, which may contain SCG radio resource configuration information within an SN RRC reconfiguration message and data forwarding address information (if applicable).”). Eklöf does not explicitly disclose that the first node receives a measurement report based off the RRC reconfiguration message. Xu discloses and receiving, from a user equipment (UE), the measurement report, based on a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message transmitted by the second node to the UE, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message comprises information related to the bearer for the measurement report ([0098], “More specifically, in the multi-RAT dual connectivity and/or the tight interworking of the LTE/NR, a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message, an RRC connection reconfiguration completion message, a measurement report message, etc., may be transmitted in SN through a signaling radio bearer (SRB). That is, the RRC message may be transmitted directly from the SN to the UE or may be directly transmitted from the UE to the SN through the SRB.”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Eklöf in view of Xu to have the first node receiving a measurement report based off the RRC reconfiguration message. The motivation would have been to maintain efficient configuration and coordination between the MN, SN, and UE (e.g., Xu [0099]).
Regarding claim 23, Eklöf discloses the method of claim 21, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message further comprises an identification of a measurement ([0203], “The message includes a service type (e.g., streaming), an area scope, a measurement configuration file for the QoE measurements to be performed, and a QoE reference identifier.”).
Regarding claim 25, Eklöf discloses the method of claim 21, further comprising: transmitting, to a third node, the measurement report based on the bearer for the measurement report ([0288], “In block 2195, the first RNN can send the QoE measurement configuration to the third RNN. For example, the procedure can be an SN change, an MN change, or an SN addition.”).
Regarding claim 26, Eklöf discloses a method performed by a second node in a communication system, the method comprising: transmitting, to a first node, a request message related to a bearer ([0162], “FIG. 14 will now be described. In operation 1, the MN sends an SgNB Modification Request message to the SN. The message may contain bearer context related or other UE context related information, data forwarding address information (if applicable), and requested SCG configuration information, including a UE capability coordination result to be used as basis for the reconfiguration by the SN.”; [0268], “In particular, modification and/or reconfigurations of QoE measurements in the SN is a new case which would require modifications. For example, the MN- and SN-initiated SN modification procedures shown in FIGS. 14-15, respectively, can be modified according to these principles.”) for a measurement report ([0270], “As mentioned above, UE QoE measurement reports can also be exchanged between a MN and an SN arranged in DC with the UE. As an example, a new QoE Report Information IE can be defined for this purpose and included in various messages sent from MN (e.g., MgNB or Mng-eNB) to SN (e.g., SgNB or Sng-eNB) over the Xn interface, or in the opposite direction. Table 14 below shows exemplary contents of a QoE Report Information IE according to these embodiments.”) comprising information about signaling radio bearer (SRB) for receiving the measurement report ([0251], “As mentioned above, different types of bearer can be configured for DC, including MCG bearers, SCG bearers, split bearers, and duplicated bearers. This can be done for both SRBs (signaling radio bearers) and DRBs (data radio bearers). For QoE measurements, these types of bearers could potentially be reused for sending QoE measurement reports.”); receiving, from the first node, a request acknowledge message related to the bearer comprising an indication indicating whether the bearer is accepted ([0163], “In operation 2, the SN responds with the SgNB Modification Request Acknowledge message, which may contain SCG radio resource configuration information within an SN RRC reconfiguration message and data forwarding address information (if applicable).”). Eklöf does not explicitly disclose that the first node receives a measurement report based off the RRC reconfiguration message. Xu discloses and transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message based on the request acknowledge message, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message comprises information related to the bearer for the measurement report ([0098], “More specifically, in the multi-RAT dual connectivity and/or the tight interworking of the LTE/NR, a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message, an RRC connection reconfiguration completion message, a measurement report message, etc., may be transmitted in SN through a signaling radio bearer (SRB). That is, the RRC message may be transmitted directly from the SN to the UE or may be directly transmitted from the UE to the SN through the SRB.”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Eklöf in view of Xu to have the first node receiving a measurement report based off the RRC reconfiguration message. The motivation would have been to maintain efficient configuration and coordination between the MN, SN, and UE (e.g., Xu [0099]).
Regarding claim 28, Eklöf discloses the method of claim 26, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message further comprises an identification of a measurement ([0203], “The message includes a service type (e.g., streaming), an area scope, a measurement configuration file for the QoE measurements to be performed, and a QoE reference identifier.”).
Regarding claim 29, Eklöf discloses and transmitting, to a third node, the measurement report ([0288], "In block 2195, the first RNN can send the QoE measurement configuration to the third RNN. For example, the procedure can be an SN change, an MN change, or an SN addition."). Eklöf does not explicitly disclose that the second node receives a measurement report based off the RRC reconfiguration message. Xu discloses the method of claim 26, further comprising: receiving, from the first node, the measurement report transmitted from the UE based on the RRC reconfiguration message ([0098], “More specifically, in the multi-RAT dual connectivity and/or the tight interworking of the LTE/NR, a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message, an RRC connection reconfiguration completion message, a measurement report message, etc., may be transmitted in SN through a signaling radio bearer (SRB). That is, the RRC message may be transmitted directly from the SN to the UE or may be directly transmitted from the UE to the SN through the SRB.”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Eklöf in view of Xu to have the second node receiving a measurement report based off the RRC reconfiguration message. The motivation would have been to maintain efficient configuration and coordination between the MN, SN, and UE (e.g., Xu [0099]).
Regarding claim 30, Eklöf discloses the method of claim 26, further comprising: transmitting, to the first node, RRC reconfiguration complete message comprising an identification indicating a node collecting the measurement report ([0147], "In operation 6, if the RRC connection reconfiguration procedure was successful, the MN informs the target SN via SN Reconfiguration Complete message that includes the encoded RRC response message for the target SN, if received from the UE in operation 5.").
Regarding claim 31, Eklöf discloses a first node for performing communication in a communication system, the first node comprising: a transceiver; and at least one controller coupled with the transceiver and configured to ([0327], "In FIG. 24, network node 2460 includes processing circuitry 2470, device readable medium 2480, interface 2490, auxiliary equipment 2484, power source 2486, power circuitry 2487, and antenna 2462."): receive, from a second node, a request message related to a bearer ([0162], “FIG. 14 will now be described. In operation 1, the MN sends an SgNB Modification Request message to the SN. The message may contain bearer context related or other UE context related information, data forwarding address information (if applicable), and requested SCG configuration information, including a UE capability coordination result to be used as basis for the reconfiguration by the SN.”; [[0268], “In particular, modification and/or reconfigurations of QoE measurements in the SN is a new case which would require modifications. For example, the MN- and SN-initiated SN modification procedures shown in FIGS. 14-15, respectively, can be modified according to these principles.”) for a measurement report ([0270], “As mentioned above, UE QoE measurement reports can also be exchanged between a MN and an SN arranged in DC with the UE. As an example, a new QoE Report Information IE can be defined for this purpose and included in various messages sent from MN (e.g., MgNB or Mng-eNB) to SN (e.g., SgNB or Sng-eNB) over the Xn interface, or in the opposite direction. Table 14 below shows exemplary contents of a QoE Report Information IE according to these embodiments.”) comprising information about signaling radio bearer (SRB) for receiving the measurement report ([0251], “As mentioned above, different types of bearer can be configured for DC, including MCG bearers, SCG bearers, split bearers, and duplicated bearers. This can be done for both SRBs (signaling radio bearers) and DRBs (data radio bearers). For QoE measurements, these types of bearers could potentially be reused for sending QoE measurement reports.”); transmit, to the second node, a request acknowledge message related to the bearer comprising an indication indicating whether the bearer is accepted ([0163], “In operation 2, the SN responds with the SgNB Modification Request Acknowledge message, which may contain SCG radio resource configuration information within an SN RRC reconfiguration message and data forwarding address information (if applicable).”). Eklöf does not explicitly disclose that the first node receives a measurement report based off the RRC reconfiguration message. Xu discloses and receive, from a user equipment (UE), the measurement report, based on a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message transmitted by the second node to the UE, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message comprises information related to the bearer for the measurement report ([0098], “More specifically, in the multi-RAT dual connectivity and/or the tight interworking of the LTE/NR, a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message, an RRC connection reconfiguration completion message, a measurement report message, etc., may be transmitted in SN through a signaling radio bearer (SRB). That is, the RRC message may be transmitted directly from the SN to the UE or may be directly transmitted from the UE to the SN through the SRB.”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Eklöf in view of Xu to have the first node receiving a measurement report based off the RRC reconfiguration message. The motivation would have been to maintain efficient configuration and coordination between the MN, SN, and UE (e.g., Xu [0099]).
Regarding claim 33, Eklöf discloses the first node of claim 31, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message further comprises an identification of a measurement ([0203], “The message includes a service type (e.g., streaming), an area scope, a measurement configuration file for the QoE measurements to be performed, and a QoE reference identifier.”).
Regarding claim 35, Eklöf discloses the first node of claim 31, the at least one controller further configured to: transmit, to a third node, the measurement report based on the bearer for the measurement report ([0288], “In block 2195, the first RNN can send the QoE measurement configuration to the third RNN. For example, the procedure can be an SN change, an MN change, or an SN addition.”).
Regarding claim 36, Eklöf discloses a second node for performing communication in a communication system, the second node comprising: a transceiver; and at least one controller coupled with the transceiver and configured to ([0327], "In FIG. 24, network node 2460 includes processing circuitry 2470, device readable medium 2480, interface 2490, auxiliary equipment 2484, power source 2486, power circuitry 2487, and antenna 2462."): transmit, to a first node, a request message related to a bearer ([0162], “FIG. 14 will now be described. In operation 1, the MN sends an SgNB Modification Request message to the SN. The message may contain bearer context related or other UE context related information, data forwarding address information (if applicable), and requested SCG configuration information, including a UE capability coordination result to be used as basis for the reconfiguration by the SN.”; [0268], “In particular, modification and/or reconfigurations of QoE measurements in the SN is a new case which would require modifications. For example, the MN- and SN-initiated SN modification procedures shown in FIGS. 14-15, respectively, can be modified according to these principles.”) for a measurement report ([0270], “As mentioned above, UE QoE measurement reports can also be exchanged between a MN and an SN arranged in DC with the UE. As an example, a new QoE Report Information IE can be defined for this purpose and included in various messages sent from MN (e.g., MgNB or Mng-eNB) to SN (e.g., SgNB or Sng-eNB) over the Xn interface, or in the opposite direction. Table 14 below shows exemplary contents of a QoE Report Information IE according to these embodiments.”) comprising information about signaling radio bearer (SRB) for receiving the measurement report ([0251], “As mentioned above, different types of bearer can be configured for DC, including MCG bearers, SCG bearers, split bearers, and duplicated bearers. This can be done for both SRBs (signaling radio bearers) and DRBs (data radio bearers). For QoE measurements, these types of bearers could potentially be reused for sending QoE measurement reports.”); receive, from the first node, a request acknowledge message related to the bearer comprising an indication indicating whether the bearer is accepted ([0163], “In operation 2, the SN responds with the SgNB Modification Request Acknowledge message, which may contain SCG radio resource configuration information within an SN RRC reconfiguration message and data forwarding address information (if applicable).”). Eklöf does not explicitly disclose that the first node receives a measurement report based off the RRC reconfiguration message. Xu discloses and transmit, to a user equipment (UE), radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message based on the request acknowledge message, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message comprises information related to the bearer for the measurement report ([0098], “More specifically, in the multi-RAT dual connectivity and/or the tight interworking of the LTE/NR, a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message, an RRC connection reconfiguration completion message, a measurement report message, etc., may be transmitted in SN through a signaling radio bearer (SRB). That is, the RRC message may be transmitted directly from the SN to the UE or may be directly transmitted from the UE to the SN through the SRB.”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Eklöf in view of Xu to have the first node receiving a measurement report based off the RRC reconfiguration message. The motivation would have been to maintain efficient configuration and coordination between the MN, SN, and UE (e.g., Xu [0099]).
Regarding claim 38, Eklöf discloses the second node of claim 36, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message further comprises an identification of a measurement ([0203], “The message includes a service type (e.g., streaming), an area scope, a measurement configuration file for the QoE measurements to be performed, and a QoE reference identifier.”).
Regarding claim 39, Eklöf discloses and transmitting, to a third node, the measurement report ([0288], "In block 2195, the first RNN can send the QoE measurement configuration to the third RNN. For example, the procedure can be an SN change, an MN change, or an SN addition."). Eklöf does not explicitly disclose that the second node receives a measurement report based off the RRC reconfiguration message. Xu discloses the second node of claim 36, the at least one controller further configured to: receive, from the first node, the measurement report transmitted from the UE based on the RRC reconfiguration message ([0098], “More specifically, in the multi-RAT dual connectivity and/or the tight interworking of the LTE/NR, a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message, an RRC connection reconfiguration completion message, a measurement report message, etc., may be transmitted in SN through a signaling radio bearer (SRB). That is, the RRC message may be transmitted directly from the SN to the UE or may be directly transmitted from the UE to the SN through the SRB.”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Eklöf in view of Xu to have the second node receiving a measurement report based off the RRC reconfiguration message. The motivation would have been to maintain efficient configuration and coordination between the MN, SN, and UE (e.g., Xu [0099]).
Regarding claim 40, Eklöf discloses the second node of claim 36, the at least one controller further configured to: transmit, to the first node, RRC reconfiguration complete message comprising an identification indicating a node collecting the measurement report ([0147], "In operation 6, if the RRC connection reconfiguration procedure was successful, the MN informs the target SN via SN Reconfiguration Complete message that includes the encoded RRC response message for the target SN, if received from the UE in operation 5.").
Claims 23 and 34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eklöf et al. (US 2023/0284058) in view of Xu et al. (US 2021/0345150) and further in view of Xue et al. (US 2024/0107348).
Regarding claim 24, Eklöf in view of Xu does not disclose the core network entity sending the configuration information comprising priority. Xue discloses the method of claim 21, further comprising: receiving, from a core network entity, configuration information for a measurement comprising priority of the measurement ([0053], "The method 600 may include step 610, sending, by the CN, a start message to a radio access network (RAN) node, the start message comprising the priority information, wherein: in response to receiving the start message, the RAN node sends a configuration message to the UE, the configuration message comprising the priority information, so that the UE performs at least one measurement task and reports at least one measurement result according to the priority information."). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Eklöf in view of Xue to have the core network entity sending the configuration information comprising priority. The motivation would have been to improve efficiency and performance (e.g., Xue [0110]).
Regarding claim 34, Eklöf in view of Xu does not disclose the core network entity sending the configuration information comprising priority. Xue discloses the first node of claim 31, the at least one controller further configured to: receive, from a core network entity, configuration information for a measurement comprising priority of the measurement ([0053], "The method 600 may include step 610, sending, by the CN, a start message to a radio access network (RAN) node, the start message comprising the priority information, wherein: in response to receiving the start message, the RAN node sends a configuration message to the UE, the configuration message comprising the priority information, so that the UE performs at least one measurement task and reports at least one measurement result according to the priority information."). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Eklöf in view of Xue to have the core network entity sending the configuration information comprising priority. The motivation would have been to improve efficiency and performance (e.g., Xue [0110]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Nick A Sundara whose telephone number is (571)272-6749. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 7:30-5:30 EST.
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/NICK ANON SUNDARA/Examiner, Art Unit 2479 /JAE Y LEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2479
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