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
2. Applicant' s arguments, see the Request for Pre-appeal Conference, filed on 02/12/2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 1-13 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of newly identified prior art. Please see the rejections below. This action is made non-final.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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 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.
4. 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.
5. Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al (US 2023/0217276), hereinafter “Chen“, in view of Yilmaz et al (US 2020/0267631), hereinafter “Chang“.
Regarding claim 1, Chen teaches a cell handover method (par [0050] teaches handover), performed by a source node (Figures 7-8) comprising:
sending Secondary Cell Group (SCG) suspend status information of a User Equipment (UE) to a target node (Figs. 7-8 & pars [0061-0063]),
wherein the target node (Figs. 7-8 show the SN (PSCell is the target node) comprises a network device (Figures 7-10 teach the network device), wherein the SCG suspended state comprises at least one of the following states (Figs. 7-8):
UE-initiated SCG suspend (pars [0102] [0114]), or dual connectivity capability disabling (pars [0102] [0114])
Chen does not explicitly teach to inform the target node that the UE is in an SCG suspended state,
Yilmaz, in the same field of endeavor, teaches to inform the target node that the UE is in an SCG suspended state (Fig. 14, pars [0118-0120] [0164], and [0189-0190] teach the UE receives from a network node: a first SCG configuration of a first Secondary Node, SN, and a second SCG configuration of a second SN, and an indication of whether or not the first/second SCG is to be configured as active or inactive that referred to as suspended state),
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Chen to Yilmaz, in order to provide dual connectivity for both LTE and NR to enhance the robustness and to avoid connection interruptions (as suggested by Yilmaz in paragraph [0005]).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Chen and Yilmaz teach the cell handover method according to claim 1, Chen further teaches wherein after the sending SCG suspend status information to a target node (pars [0062-0064], and [0068]), the method further comprises: sending a handover configuration message to the UE (pars [0067-0068] teach a configuration message through RRC signaling).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Chen and Yilmaz teach the cell handover method according to claim 2, Chen further teaches wherein the handover configuration message comprises at least one of the following: adding an SCG, modifying an SCG (pars [0065] [0070], and [0076] teach modifying an SCG), or releasing an SCG.
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Chen and Yilmaz teach the cell handover method according to claim 1, Chen further teaches wherein the SCG suspended state further comprises at least one of the following states: SCG disabling; dual connectivity capability suspend (par [0126]); SCG resource suspend; SCG resource disabling; SCG connection deactivation (par [0076]); and
Chen does not clearly teach SCG connection release.
Yilmaz, in the same field of endeavor teaches SCG connection release (pars [0152] [0247], and [0262]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Chen to Yilmaz, in order to provide dual connectivity for both LTE and NR to enhance the robustness and to avoid connection interruptions (as suggested by Yilmaz in paragraph [0005]).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Chen and Yilmaz teach the cell handover method according to claim 1, Chen further teaches wherein the SCG suspend status information is comprised in a handover request message (pars [0050] [0064], and [0068] teach the SCG suspend status and handover request message such as RRC connected state between a BS and a UE) or a secondary node status transfer message.
Regarding claim 6, Chen teaches a cell handover method (par [0050] teaches handover & Figs. 7-8), performed by a target node (Figs. 7-8), comprising:
receiving Secondary Cell Group (SCG) suspend status information of a User Equipment (UE) sent by a source node (Figs. 7-8 & pars [0061-0063]),
wherein the target node comprises a network device (Figs 7-8 teach the network device),
wherein the SCG suspended state (Figs. 7-8) comprises at least one of the following states (pars [0063-0064] teach the SCG suspended state):
UE-initiated SCG suspend, or dual connectivity capability disabling.
Chen does not explicitly teach wherein the SCG suspend status information is used for notifying that the (UE) is in an SCG suspended state,
Yilmaz, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the SCG suspend status information is used for notifying that the (UE) is in an SCG suspended state (Fig. 14, pars [0118-0120] [0164], and [0189-0190] teach the UE receives from a network node: a first SCG configuration of a first Secondary Node, SN, and a second SCG configuration of a second SN, and an indication of whether or not the first/second SCG is to be configured as active or inactive that referred to as suspended state),
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Chen to Yilmaz, in order to provide dual connectivity for both LTE and NR to enhance the robustness and to avoid connection interruptions (as suggested by Yilmaz in paragraph [0005]).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Chen and Yilmaz teach the cell handover method according to claim 6, Chen further teaches wherein after the receiving SCG suspend status information sent by a source node (pars [0061-0063]), the method further comprises: maintaining the UE in the SCG suspended state (pars [0064 [0070]).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Chen and Yilmaz teach the cell handover method according to claim 6, Chen further teaches wherein the target node is a target master node (pars [0061-0063]), and after the receiving SCG suspend status information sent by a source node (pars [0061-0063]), the method further comprises:
Chen does not clearly teach notifying a target secondary node that the UE is in the SCG suspended state.
Yilmaz, in the same field of endeavor, teaches notifying a target secondary node that the UE is in the SCG suspended state (Fig. 14, pars [0118-0120] [0164], and [0189-0190] teach the UE receives from a network node: a first SCG configuration of a first Secondary Node, SN, and a second SCG configuration of a second SN, and an indication of whether or not the first/second SCG is to be configured as active or inactive that referred to as suspended state),
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Chen to Yilmaz, in order to provide dual connectivity for both LTE and NR to enhance the robustness and to avoid connection interruptions (as suggested by Yilmaz in paragraph [0005]).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Chen and Chang teach the cell handover method according to claim 8, Chen does not clearly teach wherein information for notifying the target secondary node that the UE is in the SCG suspended state is comprised in a secondary node addition request message.
Yilmaz, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein information for notifying the target secondary node that the UE is in the SCG suspended state is comprised in a secondary node addition request message (Fig. 14, pars [0118-0120] [0164], and [0189-0190] teach the UE receives from a network node: a first SCG configuration of a first Secondary Node, SN, and a second SCG configuration of a second SN, and an indication of whether or not the first/second SCG is to be configured as active or inactive that referred to as suspended state),
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Chen to Yilmaz, in order to provide dual connectivity for both LTE and NR to enhance the robustness and to avoid connection interruptions (as suggested by Yilmaz in paragraph [0005]).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Chen and Chang teach the cell handover method according to claim 6, Chen further teaches wherein the SCG suspended state further comprises at least one of the following states: SCG disabling; dual connectivity capability suspend; SCG resource suspend; SCG resource disabling; SCG connection deactivation (pars [0025] [0076-0077]); or SCG connection release.
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Chen and Chang teach the cell handover method according to claim 6, Chen further teaches wherein the SCG suspend status information is comprised in a handover request message (pars [0050] [0061-0062]) or a secondary node status transfer message.
Regarding claim 12, Chen teaches a cell handover (par [0050] teaches handover & Figs. 7-8) method, performed by user equipment, comprising:
receiving, in a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) suspended (Figs. 7-8 & pars [0061-0063]),
performing, in the SCG suspended state (Figs. 7-8), an SCG operation process based on the handover configuration message (par [0050]), wherein the handover configuration message is sent by a source node to the user equipment after sending, by the source node (pars [0050] [0064], and [0068],
wherein the SCG suspended state comprises at least one of the following states: UE-initiated SCG suspend, or dual connectivity capability disabling;
performing, in the SCG suspended state (pars [0022-0024]), an SCG operation process based on the handover configuration message (par [0050]), wherein the process comprises one of the following: adding an SCG, modifying an SCG (pars [0065] [0076]), or releasing an SCG, and maintaining in the SCG suspended state (pars [0022-0024]).
Chen does not explicitly teach SCG suspension status information of the user equipment to a target node to inform the target node that the user equipment is in an SCG suspended state,
Yilmaz, in the same field of endeavor teaches, SCG suspension status information of the user equipment to a target node to inform the target node that the user equipment is in an SCG suspended state (Fig. 14, pars [0118-0120] [0164], and [0189-0190] teach the UE receives from a network node: a first SCG configuration of a first Secondary Node, SN, and a second SCG configuration of a second SN, and an indication of whether or not the first/second SCG is to be configured as active or inactive that referred to as suspended state),
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Chen to Yilmaz, in order to provide dual connectivity for both LTE and NR to enhance the robustness and to avoid connection interruptions (as suggested by Yilmaz in paragraph [0005]).
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Chen and Chang teach the cell handover method according to claim 12, Chen further teaches wherein the SCG suspended state comprises at least one of the following states: SCG disabling; dual connectivity capability suspend (pars [0061-0062] teach dual connectivity suspend); SCG resource suspend; SCG resource disabling; SCG connection deactivation; or SCG connection release to request to deactivate, suspend, or release the dual connectivity mode or the SCG.
Conclusion
6. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL T VU whose telephone number is (571)272-8131. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00AM to 6:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Appiah can be reached on (571-272-7904. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL T VU/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2641
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