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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 08/24/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 08/24/2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 8, 15-16 and 20 are amended. Claims 1-20 are pending and addressed below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 1, 5-8, and 12-15 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over AI; Jianxun et al US 20210352654 A1, hereinafter Al, in view of Xiao; Jiehua et al US 20220174686 A1, hereinafter Xiao, and further in view of GONUGUNTLA; Venkatarao et al US 20220264448 A1, hereinafter GONUGUNTLA,
Regarding claims 1, 8 and 15, AI teaches, a method, comprising:
entering a radio resource control (RRC) connected mode by a User Equipment (UE) in a primary cell of a mobile communication network (AI implicitly teaches this limitation. A UE always enters an RRC connected mode with a primary cell before adding activating a secondary cell),
receiving an RRC configuration from the network, wherein the RRC configuration comprises information for adding a Secondary Cell (SCell), information for activating the SCell (AI [20] “the terminal receives a RRC message containing configuration information for adding the SCell.)”, and a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) indication for the SCell, the information for activating SCell comprises candidate TCl state information, which comprises a list of candidate TCl states (AI Fig. 4; [84], [80] “A candidate list of TCI state information may be configured (block 402). When the BS configures a serving cell as activated state or dormant state via a RRC message, e.g. to adding a serving cell to a cell group or to configure serving cell, the BS may include the serving cell configuration in the RRC message… the RRC message may include a list of candidate TCI state information…”).
activating a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) of the SCell with a corresponding TCI state indicated by the TCI indication (AI [0079] “Example Embodiment 4 may relate to indicating the TCI state information used for PDCCH monitoring or PDSCH reception when the BS configures a serving cell as activated state or dormant state via RRC message or MAC CE.”, [0085] “In an embodiment, the BS may indicate which TCI state information is used for PDSCH reception on a downlink BWP in the RRC message besides the candidate TCI state information for PDSCH reception or activated TCI state information for PDSCH reception. In this case, the UE may apply the indicated TCI state to be used for PDSCH reception on the BWP upon reception of the RRC message.”), wherein an activation time for the SCell is reduced by a time delay from a MAC CE operation (AI [0089] “The BS may configure the TCI state information used for PDCCH or PDSCH monitoring after the UE applies the configuration carried in the RRC message without an additional indication via a MAC CE. Accordingly, the delay caused by the additional MAC CE may be saved.”).
While AI suggests a known feature in prior art, that TCI states are used for CSI measurements and reporting through their associated reference signals, as recited in “TCl states to be used for measurement and CSI reporting “ (see AI [75]-[76] “A set of TCI state information may include … the reference signal ID (SSB index, or CSI-RS resource ID).”, teaching that TCI states are associated with reference signals, which are known in the art to be used for CSI measurements and reporting (see e.g., AI [41] alluding to CSI reporting), however, in the same field of endeavor, Xiao expressly teaches, that TCI states are used for CSI measurements and reporting in SCell addition, as recited in “TCl states to be used for measurement and CSI reporting“ (Xiao [0107] “For example, a primary cell may be determined when a connection is established, and a secondary cell may be added, modified, or released by using an RRC connection reconfiguration message after initial access is completed.”, [200] “FIG. 5B is a diagram of a relationship between a CSI-RS resource set, a CSI_RS resource, and a TCI state corresponding to a CSI-RS resource set. When a CSI-RS resource set corresponding to a smallest CSI-RS resource ID is used by default, and a TCI state corresponding to a smallest TCI state ID is used for each CSI-RS resource, … The terminal device may determine, based on the default relationship, to perform CSI measurement by using a CSI-RS resource 1 in a CSI-RS resource set 1 and a TCI state 0 of the corresponding resource, a CSI-RS resource 2 in the CSI-RS resource set 1 and a TCI state 0 of the corresponding resource, and a CSI-RS resource 3 in the CSI-RS resource set 1 and a TCI state 0 of the corresponding resource. FIG. 5C shows a plurality of CSI report resources. When a CSI report resource corresponding to a smallest CSI report resource ID is used by default, the terminal device may determine, based on the default relationship, to perform corresponding CSI reporting by using a CSI report resource 1.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of AI to include the features as taught by Xiao above in order to provide a method to avoid activation delay of the secondary cell and utilization of the air interface resource (Xiao [0007]).
AI and Xiao do not expressly teach, however, in the same field of endeavor, GONUGUNTLA teaches, wherein the adding a SCell information comprises SCell measurement configuration (GONUGUNTLA [129] “The RRC Connection reconfiguration message to add or modify SCell(s) also contains CSI measurements configuration.”),
performing channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) measurements and reporting for the activated SCell (GONUGUNTLA [129] “CSI measurement configuration of SCell contains reference signal configuration on which measurements have to be performed and measurements reporting configuration for CSI measurements report. gNB configures UE with the first configuration information including reportQuantity-v16xy. The contents of the IE reportQuantity-v16xy can be designed to contain only CSI-RS Resource Indicator (cri)”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of AI and Xiao to include the features as taught by GONUGUNTLA above to provide a method for optimizing user equipment (UE) power consumption on activated Secondary Cells (GONUGUNTLA [0001]).
With respect to claim 8, claim recites the identical features of claim 1 for corresponding user equipment (UE). Therefore, it is subjected to the same rejection.
With respect to claim 15, claim recites the identical features of claim 1 for corresponding inter-working transmitting side. Therefore, it is subjected to the same rejection.
Regarding claims 5, 12 and 19, AI, in view of Xiao and GONUGUNTLA, teaches the methods/UE, as outlined in the rejection of claims 1, 8 and 15.
Al further teaches, wherein the TCI indication comprises a control resource set (CORESET) ID and an activated TCI state for a control channel (Al [20], [77], teaches an operation of SCell activation, and TCI indication comprising CORESET ID and PDCCH TCI state).
Regarding claims 6, 13 and 20, AI, in view of Xiao and GONUGUNTLA, teaches the methods/UE, as outlined in the rejection of claims 1, 8 and 15.
Al further teaches, wherein the TCI indication comprises a bandwidth part (BWP) ID a list of activated TCI states for a data channel (Al [78] teaches TCI state information comprises BWP ID and a list of TCI states).
Regarding claims 7 and 14, AI, in view of Xiao and GONUGUNTLA, teaches the method/UE, as outlined in the rejection of claims 1 and 8.
AI further teaches, wherein the UE operates under a frequency range 2 (FR2) (AI [19] suggests, UE can operate under “frequency band 2” i.e., FR2), and wherein a TCI state is not provided by the network prior to the RRC configuration (see AI Fig.4 and associated description inherently teaching no prior TCI information is provided before the SCell activation process via a RRC configuration).
Claims 2, 9 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over AI, in view of Xiao and GONUGUNTLA, as applied to the rejection of claims 1, 8 and 15 above, and further in view of TANG; Zhixun et al US 20210251040 A1, hereinafter Tang.
Regarding claims 2, 9 and 16, AI, in view of Xiao and GONUGUNTLA, teaches the methods/UE, as outlined in the rejection of claims 1, 8 and 15.
AI, Xiao and GONUGUNTLA do not expressly teach, however, in the same field of endeavor, Tang teaches, wherein the time delay from the MAC CE operation comprises a time for performing Hybrid Automatic repeat request (HARQ) THARQ plus a time for processing the MAC CE (Tang [20], [22]-[24], teaches time delay for MAC CE operation comprises THARQ and MAC CE processing time).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of AI, Xiao and GONUGUNTLA to include the features as taught by Tang above in order that secondary cells can be activated or deactivated dynamically to adapt to data bursts between the device and the base station to achieve high data throughput (Tang [0004]).
Claims 3, 10 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over AI, in view of Xiao and GONUGUNTLA, as applied to the rejection of claims 1, 8 and 15 above, and further in view of KIM; Young-Bum et al US 20140086127 A1, hereinafter Kim, and yet further in view of Xiao; Jiehua et al US 20220174686 A1, hereinafter Xiao.
Regarding claims 3, 10 and 17, AI, in view of Xiao and GONUGUNTLA, teaches the methods/UE, as outlined in the rejection of claims 1, 8 and 15.
Al further teaches, wherein the information for adding the SCell comprises … a list of candidate TCI states for the SCell addition (see AI [80] and rejection of claims 1 above).
AI, Xiao and GONUGUNTLA do not expressly teach, wherein the information for adding the SCell comprises bandwidth part (BWP) configuration information, data channel configuration information, and a list of candidate TCI states for the SCell addition.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Kim teaches, wherein the information for adding the SCell comprises bandwidth part (BWP) configuration information (Kim [72] “… Scell addition may include downlink CC bandwidth information of the Scell, … downlink and uplink data transmission related information of the Scell.”, teaches SCell-addition information comprises BW information (=BWP config information) and data transmission related information (=data channel config information)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of AI, Xiao and GONUGUNTLA to include the features as taught by Kim above in order to provide a method for using a plurality of cells in a communication system supporting carrier aggregation between different evolved Node Bs (eNBs) (Kim [0003]).
Claims 4, 11 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over AI, in view of Xiao and GONUGUNTLA, as applied to the rejection of claims 1, 8 and 15 above, and further in view of WANG; Xiaona et al US 20210329546 A1, hereinafter Wang.
Regarding claims 4, 11 and 18, NPL-Z, in view of AI and Cui, teaches the methods/UE, as outlined in the rejection of claims 1, 8 and 15.
AI, Xiao and GONUGUNTLA do not expressly teach, however, in the same field of endeavor, Wang teaches, wherein the information for activating the SCell comprises a subset of candidate TCI states for the SCell activation (Wang [99] “The one or more activated TCI states are a subset of the TCI state list…”, [181] “…TCI state corresponding to TCI state ID 0 in the TCI state list…”, teaches SCell activation includes a TCI state that part (=subset) of a TCI list).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of AI, Xiao and GONUGUNTLA to include the features as taught by Wang above in order to reduce the activation delay of the secondary cell and improve communication quality and reliability (Wang [0006]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 in Remarks pages 7-10 under Claim Rejections – 35 USC103, 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.
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks page 7, Claim Objections, filed on 08/24/2026, with respect to claims 1, 8 and 15 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The objection of claims 1, 8 and 15 has been withdrawn.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Leng, U.S. Publication No. US 20230247492 A1 - METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONAL PSCELL ADDITION AND CHANGE para [108, [116], [118].
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MAHBUBUL BAR CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)272-0232. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday 9AM-5PM EST; Friday variable.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Khaled Kassim can be reached on 571-270-3770. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MAHBUBUL BAR CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2475
Prosecution Insights