DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
1. 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 10 January 2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
2. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot because they do not apply to the new reference, Liu, that is relied on in the current rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Claims 1, 6, 11, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mach et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2022/0386206 (hereinafter Mach), in view of Liu, WO 2016086624 A1 (hereinafter Liu), further in view of Yoon et al., KR 20100063271 A (hereinafter Yoon).
Regarding claim 1, Mach discloses a method for determining a handover target (disclosed is a method wherein a network determines a second cell for a UE to handover to from a first cell, according to Abstract, [0087], [0118]), comprising:
receiving a measurement report transmitted by a user equipment (UE) (the network receives a measurement report transmitted by the UE, according to [0185], Fig. 7A [step 705]);
obtaining a handover priority list according to the measurement report (after receiving the measurement report, the network identifies idle state parameters required for cell reselection evaluation, according to [0186], Fig. 7A [step 706], whereby said idle state parameters include inter-RAT cell reselection priorities that the network controls based on UE cell measurements, according to [0072], [0107], Table 1);
instructing the UE to execute a handover procedure to handover to a handover target and obtaining a handover result (the network configures periodic serving and neighbor cell measurement reporting in the UE, as part of a handover procedure, whereby the network obtains an RSRP_difference value based on reported RSRP measurements and an emulated cell reselection evaluation, according to [0187]-[0195], Figs. 7A-7B, [steps 707-715]);
obtaining handover parameters according to the handover result (the network obtains updated cell reselection/handover parameters based on the result of the handover evaluation, according to [0196]-[0198], Fig. 7B [steps 716-718]); and
training a handover model according to the measurement report, the handover parameters and neighborhood information to update the handover priority list (an AI cell reselection algorithm is trained, based on RSRP_difference values reported from various UEs, and based on cell reselection and handover parameters, according to [0142]-[0148], [0196]).
Mach does not expressly disclose determining the handover target according to the handover priority list, nor that the handover parameters at least comprise handover attempts, handover success and handover cancellations.
Liu discloses determining the handover target according to the handover priority list (a target cell for handover is determined according to a handover priority list, according to page 2 lines 32-39).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Mach with Liu by determining the handover target according to the handover priority list.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to facilitate a high efficiency handover that has reduced resource consumption and signaling overhead and has increased speed (Liu: page 2 lines 4-20).
Neither Mach nor Liu expressly discloses that the handover parameters at least comprise handover attempts, handover success and handover cancellations.
Yoon discloses that the handover parameters at least comprise handover attempts, handover success and handover cancellations (handover statistics information includes a handover attempt count, a handover success count, and a handover cancel count, according to page 6 lines 25-33).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Mach as modified by Liu with Yoon such that the handover parameters at least comprise handover attempts, handover success and handover cancellations.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to increase the stability of operation of a neighbor base station (Yoon: page 3 lines 23-28).
Regarding claim 6, Mach discloses a method for determining a handover target (disclosed is a method wherein a network determines a second cell for a UE to handover to from a first cell, according to Abstract, [0087], [0118]), comprising:
training a handover model according to handover data (an AI cell reselection algorithm is trained, based on RSRP_difference values reported from various UEs, and based on cell reselection and handover parameters, according to [0142]-[0148], [0196]);
generating a handover priority list using the handover model according to a measurement report and neighborhood information when receiving the measurement report transmitted by a user equipment (UE) (after receiving a measurement report from the UE, the network identifies idle state parameters required for cell reselection evaluation, according to [0186], Fig. 7A [step 706], whereby said idle state parameters include inter-RAT cell reselection priorities that the network controls based on UE cell measurements, according to [0072], [0107], Table 1);
instructing the UE to execute a handover procedure to handover to a handover target and obtaining a handover result (the network configures periodic serving and neighbor cell measurement reporting in the UE, as part of a handover procedure, whereby the network obtains an RSRP_difference value based on reported RSRP measurements and an emulated cell reselection evaluation, according to [0187]-[0195], Figs. 7A-7B, [steps 707-715]);
obtaining handover parameters according to the handover result (the network obtains updated cell reselection/handover parameters, such as Qoffset, based on the result of the handover evaluation, according to [0196]-[0198], Fig. 7B [steps 716-718]); and
updating the handover priority list using the handover model according to the measurement report, the neighborhood information and the handover parameters (an optimized cell reselection/handover parameter value is updated based on the measurements of the serving cell and neighbor cells, according to [0198], Fig. 7B [step 718], whereby cell reselection ranks are a function of cell reselection/handover parameter values, such as Qoffset, according to Table 1).
Mach does not expressly disclose determining the handover target according to the handover priority list, nor that the handover parameters at least comprise handover attempts, handover success and handover cancellations.
Liu discloses determining the handover target according to the handover priority list (a target cell for handover is determined according to a handover priority list, according to page 2 lines 32-39).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Mach with Liu by determining the handover target according to the handover priority list.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to facilitate a high efficiency handover that has reduced resource consumption and signaling overhead and has increased speed (Liu: page 2 lines 4-20).
Neither Mach nor Liu expressly discloses that the handover parameters at least comprise handover attempts, handover success and handover cancellations.
Yoon discloses that the handover parameters at least comprise handover attempts, handover success and handover cancellations (handover statistics information includes a handover attempt count, a handover success count, and a handover cancel count, according to page 6 lines 25-33).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Mach as modified by Liu with Yoon such that the handover parameters at least comprise handover attempts, handover success and handover cancellations.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to increase the stability of operation of a neighbor base station (Yoon: page 3 lines 23-28).
Claim 11 recites a device, comprising one or more processors, and one or more computer storage media for storing one or more computer-readable instructions, wherein the processor is configured to drive the computer storage media (the network disclosed by Mach necessarily comprises one or more processors and one or more computer storage media that store computer-readable instructions that are executed by the one or more processors) to perform the method recited in claim 1, and is therefore rejected on the same grounds as claim 1.
Claim 16 recites a device, comprising one or more processors, and one or more computer storage media for storing one or more computer-readable instructions, wherein the processor is configured to drive the computer storage media (the network disclosed by Mach necessarily comprises one or more processors and one or more computer storage media that store computer-readable instructions that are executed by the one or more processors) to perform the method recited in claim 6, and is therefore rejected on the same grounds as claim 6.
6. Claims 2, 7, 12, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mach in view of Liu in view of Yoon as applied to claims 1, 6, 11, and 16 above, further in view of Thomas et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2023/0305099 (hereinafter Thomas).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Mach, Liu, and Yoon discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Additionally, Mach discloses that the measurement report comprises signal references, and the signal references at least comprise: a Signal to Interference-plus-noise Ratio (SINR), a Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), and a Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP) (the reported cell measurements include measurements of SINR, RSSI, and RSRP, according to [0063]-[0067]).
Neither Mach, Liu, nor Yoon expressly discloses that the signal references at least comprise: a user equipment address, a Side-link Channel Occupancy Ratio and a Side-link Channel Busy Ratio.
Thomas discloses that the signal references at least comprise: a user equipment address, a Side-link Channel Occupancy Ratio and a Side-link Channel Busy Ratio (measurement report information comprises UE ID, SL Channel Occupancy Ration, and SL Channel Busy Ratio, according to [0190], Table 7).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Mach as modified by Liu as modified by Yoon with Thomas such that the signal references at least comprise: a user equipment address, a Side-link Channel Occupancy Ratio and a Side-link Channel Busy Ratio.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to facilitate sidelink positioning (Thomas: [0004]-[0008]).
Claims 7, 12, and 17 do not differ substantively from claim 2, and are therefore rejected on the same grounds as claim 2.
7. Claims 3, 8, 13, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mach in view of Liu in view of Yoon as applied to claims 1, 6, 11, and 16 above, further in view of Sillanpaa et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2019/0394683 (hereinafter Sillanpaa).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Mach, Liu, and Yoon discloses all the limitations of claim 1.
Neither Mach, Liu, nor Yoon expressly discloses that the handover parameters further comprise network reasons.
Sillanpaa disclose that the handover parameters further comprise network reasons (handover parameters include cancelled handovers and the associated network reason, and successful handovers and the associated network reason, according to Tables 5 and 6).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Mach as modified by Liu as modified by Yoon with Sillanpaa such that the handover parameters at least comprise handover attempts, handover success, handover cancellations, and network reasons.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the quality of handovers and statistics for call sessions that move between RANs (Sillanpaa: [0015]).
Claims 8, 13, and 18 do not differ substantively from claim 3, and are therefore rejected on the same grounds as claim 3.
8. Claims 4, 9, 14, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mach in view of Liu in view in view of Yoon as applied to claims 1, 6, 11, and 16 above, further in view of Choi et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2016/0014661 (hereinafter Choi).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Mach, Liu, and Yoon discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Additionally, Mach discloses that the neighborhood information is transmitted by a base station or a core network (the base station transmits neighbor cell power information to the SON/AI entity, according to [0181], [0194]-[0196], Fig. 7B [steps 714-716]).
Neither Mach, Liu, nor Yoon expressly discloses that the neighborhood information at least comprises: General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), a cell type, time and a cell capacity.
Choi discloses that the neighborhood information at least comprises: General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), a cell type, time and a cell capacity (disclosed is a GPRS network, according to [0056]-[0057], whereby a message comprises a field that identifies source cells and destination cells, according to [0141], [0149], whereby the message comprises a field indicating a time, according to [0151], whereby the message comprises a cause field that indicates cell capacity, according to [0141], [0166]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Mach as modified by Liu as modified by Yoon with Choi such that the neighborhood information is transmitted by a base station or a core network.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to facilitate energy saving in a cellular network (Choi: [0006]).
Claims 9, 14, and 19 do not differ substantively from claim 4, and are therefore rejected on the same grounds as claim 4.
9. Claims 5, 10, 15, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mach in view of Liu in view of Yoon as applied to claims 1, 6, 11, and 16 above, further in view of Talwar et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2024/0092292 (hereinafter Talwar).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Mach, Liu, and Yoon discloses all the limitations of claim 1.
Neither Mach, Liu, nor Yoon expressly discloses that the handover model is based on a Recursive Neural Network (RNN) model or a Deep Recursive Neural Network (DRNN) model.
Talwar discloses that the handover model is based on a Recursive Neural Network (RNN) model or a Deep Recursive Neural Network (DRNN) model (a handoff routine is arranged as an arbitration module in the form of a recursive neural network, according to [0056]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Mach as modified by Liu as modified by Yoon with Talwar such that the handover model is based on a Recursive Neural Network (RNN) model or a Deep Recursive Neural Network (DRNN) model.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to facilitate user support in a vehicle cabin (Talwar: [0003]).
Claims 10, 15, and 20 do not differ substantively from claim 5, and are therefore rejected on the same grounds as claim 5.
Conclusion
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW W GENACK whose telephone number is (571)272-7541. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Time.
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/MATTHEW W GENACK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645