DETAILED ACTION
This office action is responsive to communications filed on December 12, 2024. Claims 1-20 are pending in the application.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement filed on 8/2/2024 has been considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 7-9, and 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Park et al. (US 2018/0279186).
Regarding Claim 1, Park teaches an apparatus to improve performance of networks operating in multiple frequency bands (“The base station 401 and the wireless device 406 may be configured to send and receive data over the wireless link 411 using multiple frequency carriers” – See [0162]; The network operates in multiple frequency bands), the apparatus comprising: interface circuitry; memory configured to store machine-readable instructions; and processing circuitry configured to at least one of instantiate or execute the machine-readable instructions (“The base station 401 may include at least one communication interface 402, one or more processors 403, and at least one set of program code instructions 405 stored in non-transitory memory 404 and executable by the one or more processors 403” – See [0162]) to:
determine a connectivity metric for a first device synchronized with a second device (“a wireless device 2801 (e.g., a UE, or any device capable of communicating with a network) may send, to a source base station 2802 (e.g., a source gNB), a first message comprising a measurement report for one or more cells” – See [0324]; “The source base station 2802 may determine a target base station 2803, from among a plurality of potential target base stations. The source base station 2802 may determine, based on one or more elements of the measurement report, whether or not to initiate a handover procedure for the wireless device 2801” – See [0325]; The source base station receives a measurement report (connectivity metric) for a UE (first device), wherein the UE is currently synchronized and communicating with the source base station (second device));
cause, via the interface circuitry, transmission of the connectivity metric to a third device with which the first device is not synchronized (“the base station 2802 may send a second message, at step 2830, to a target base station 2803 (e.g., a target gNB). The second message may comprise a handover request message. The second message may also comprise one or more of the measurement report from the first message” – See [0325]; The source base station transmits the measurement report (connectivity metric) to a target base station (third device with which the first device is not synchronized)); and
based on a first communication from the third device, cause transmission of a second communication to the first device to cause the first device to synchronize with the third device (“The source base station 2802 may send, to the wireless device 2801 and based on the third message, a fourth message, at step 2850. The fourth message may comprise, e.g., a handover command and random access information. The handover command may comprise a command for the wireless device 2801 to execute a handover towards a cell of the target base station 2803” – See [0331]; “The wireless device 2801 may send, based on the random access information in the fourth message, a fifth message that may be part of a random access procedure with the target base station 2803, at step 2860. The wireless device 2801 may send a fifth message, e.g., comprising a random access preamble, to the target base station 2803, e.g., via a cell associated with the target base station 2803” – See [0332]; “A wireless device may initiate a two-step RA procedure, for example, for initial access such as establishing a radio link, re-establishment of a radio link, handover, establishment of UL synchronization, and/or a scheduling request when there is no UL grant” – See [0266]; “The measurement report may comprise, e.g., at least one of a list of cells, an RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) for a cell or for each of a plurality of cells included in a list of cells” – See [0324]; “RSRP and/or an RSRQ of a target cell” – See [0346]; The source base station transmits a handover command (second communication) to the UE to cause the UE to handover to the target base station and perform random access/synchronization with the target base station, wherein the determination to handover is based on the RSRP measurements of reference signals from the target base station (first communication from the third device)).
Regarding Claim 2, Park teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Park further teaches that the processing circuitry is configured to determine whether the first communication indicates that the first device has stronger connectivity to the third device than the second device (“A measurement event may comprise … a determination that an RSRP and/or an RSRQ of a target cell exceeds a an RSRP and/or RSRQ of a source cell and/or exceeds an RSRP and/or RSRQ of a source cell by an offset power value … If the wireless device determines that one or more measurement events have occurred, then the wireless device may send a measurement report to the source base station at step 3003” – See [0346]; The first communication indicates that the UE (first device) has a higher RSRP (stronger connectivity) for the target base station (third device) compared to the source base station (second device)).
Regarding Claim 7, Park teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Park further teaches that the connectivity metric includes at least one of a received signal strength indicator, a bit error rate, or a link quality indicator (“A measurement event may comprise … a determination that an RSRP and/or an RSRQ of a target cell exceeds a an RSRP and/or RSRQ of a source cell and/or exceeds an RSRP and/or RSRQ of a source cell by an offset power value … If the wireless device determines that one or more measurement events have occurred, then the wireless device may send a measurement report to the source base station at step 3003” – See [0346]; The RSRP indicates a received signal strength/link quality).
Claims 8 and 15 are rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 1.
Claims 9 and 16 are rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 2.
Claim 14 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 7.
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.
Claims 3, 10, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. (US 2018/0279186) in view of Mino Diaz et al. (US 2015/0296390).
Regarding Claim 3, Park teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Park does not explicitly teach that the processing circuitry is configured to: cause transmission of the connectivity metric to the third device in a first radio frequency (RF) band; and cause transmission of the second communication to the first device in a second RF band different than the first RF band.
However, Mino Diaz teaches that transmission between the second device and third device is via a first radio frequency (RF) band, and transmission between the second device and first device is via a second RF band different than the first RF band (“The method also comprises establishing communication between said eNB and HeNB stations via said wireless X2 interface, using a frequency band which is different to the one used for communicating with said at least one user terminal” – See [0044]; Communications between the base stations (second and third devices) uses a first frequency band, and the communications between the base station and UE (second and first devices) uses a second frequency band which is different from the first frequency band).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Park to cause transmission of the connectivity metric to the third device in a first radio frequency (RF) band; and cause transmission of the second communication to the first device in a second RF band different than the first RF band. Motivation for doing so would be to use a band having lower attenuation and more range for coordination between the base stations and use a band that supports higher data volumes for communication with the terminal (See Mino Diaz, [0063] and [0076]).
Claims 10 and 17 are rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 3.
Claims 4, 11, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. (US 2018/0279186) in view of Abotabl et al. (US 2022/0271909).
Regarding Claim 4, Park teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. As shown above with respect to claim 1, Park teaches that the connectivity metric is a first connectivity metric. Park does not explicitly teach that the processing circuitry is configured to determine a second connectivity metric for a fourth device, wherein the fourth device is unsynchronized with the second device, and wherein the second connectivity metric is representative of a connectivity strength between the second device and the fourth device.
However, Abotabl teaches that the processing circuitry is configured to determine a second connectivity metric for a fourth device, wherein the fourth device is unsynchronized with the second device, and wherein the second connectivity metric is representative of a connectivity strength between the second device and the fourth device (“interference that the base station measures during each slot and/or based on interference that served UEs measure and report to the base station (e.g., the base station may determine that a neighboring base station is using one or more uplink slots as downlink slots based on measuring a high level of interference during the uplink slots and/or may determine that a neighboring base station is using a downlink slot as an uplink slot based on a UE reporting a high level of interference during the downlink slot). . Additionally, or alternatively, neighboring base stations may share information related to respective TDD patterns that are in use at the neighboring base stations (e.g., over a backhaul interface)” – See [0059]; “simultaneous uplink and downlink transmissions may generally occur (or may be more likely to occur) when communication associated with the neighboring base stations is unsynchronized or desynchronized (e.g., in a cross-border scenario where the neighboring base stations are located in different countries, where the neighboring base stations are associated with different wireless network operators, and/or where the neighboring base stations otherwise do not coordinate timing of uplink and downlink communications)” – See [0053]; The serving/source base station determines a second connectivity metric for a plurality of neighbor base stations (e.g., fourth, fifth, etc.) in a different wireless operator network, wherein the connectivity metric represents an interference strength between the source/serving base station (second device) and the neighbor base station of a different wireless operator (fourth device)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Park to determine a second connectivity metric for a fourth device, wherein the fourth device is unsynchronized with the second device, and wherein the second connectivity metric is representative of a connectivity strength between the second device and the fourth device. Motivation for doing so would be to enable mitigation of cross-link interference (See Abotabl, [0053]).
Claims 11 and 18 are rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 4.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, and 20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Scott M Sciacca whose telephone number is (571)270-1919. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday, 7:30 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. EST.
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/SCOTT M SCIACCA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478