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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 4 December 2025 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10 December 2025 was filed after the mailing date of the Final Rejection on 5 September 2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s response, filed 4 December 2025 has been entered and carefully considered.
Claims 1-3 are amended and currently pending.
The outstanding rejection of Claims 1-3 under 35 U.S.C. 103 is withdrawn in light of Applicant’s amendment to said claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the rejection of claims 1-3 under 35 U.S.C. 103 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claims contain subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Citations to Applicant’s specification herein are taken from the instant application’s pre-grant publication (2023/0345312).
Claims 1-3 have been amended to recite the language (emphasis added) “the RRC message including a first parameter of an enumerated type and a second parameter of the enumerated type, the first parameter indicating whether a Radio Link Control (RLC) entity is to be reestablished and the second indication parameter indicating whether a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entity is to be reestablished.” This newly added language regarding the parameters related to RLC or PDCP entity re-establishment being of an “enumerated type” finds no support in Applicant’s disclosure, as originally filed, and therefore constitutes new matter.
The specification refers to enumerated parameters in the following sections:
Related to capability information of the UE supporting a conditional handover (paragraph 0241):
[0242] Conditionalhandover-rxx ENUMERATED {supported}
Related to capability information of the UE about supporting the UE-based mobility (paragraph 0246):
[0247] UE-based mobility-rxx ENUMERATED{supported} …
[0249] Connected-cell-reselection-rxx ENUMERATED{supported}.
Related to handover indication sent by a UE (first described in paragraph 0331):
[0340] In another embodiment, the indication information may be included in the report configuration or the measurement object configuration or the measurement identifier configuration, through which the UE considers that the measurement configuration corresponding to the reporting configuration or the measurement object configuration or the measurement identifier is used as the first condition. The indication information may be of an enumerated type or a boolean type, such as conditionalhandover ENUMERATED{true}.
[0341] In another embodiment, indication information is included in an RRC message including a handover command, and is particularly included in the mobility control IE, and the UE considers, on the basis of the indication information, that the handover is performed based on the first condition, that is, the handover is performed after the first condition is satisfied. The indication information may be of an enumerated type or a boolean type, such as conditionalhandover ENUMERATED{true}.
However, there is no mention of parameters relating to RLC or PDCP entity re-establishment being of an enumerated type. While paragraphs [0345] and [0346] of the specification refer to the RRC message “indicating” whether PDCP and RLC need to be reestablished, these paragraphs are silent as to how this need is indicated (e.g., a specific format or content).
Therefore, the newly added language regarding the parameters related to RLC or PDCP entity re-establishment being of an “enumerated type”, as well as the message comprising parameters that lead to the intended result, finds no support in Applicant’s disclosure, as originally filed, and therefore constitutes new matter.
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.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zhao et al (United States Pre-Grant Publication 2012/0142361), hereinafter Zhao.
Regarding Claim 1, Zhao discloses a method performed by a base station, the method comprising:
transmitting a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message to a User Equipment (UE), the RRC message including a first parameter of an enumerated type and a second parameter of the enumerated type, the first parameter indicating whether a Radio Link Control (RLC) entity is to be reestablished and the second parameter indicating whether a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entity is to be reestablished (Figures 7 and 8, paragraphs 0085 and 0092 – the network side device transmits RRC connection reconfiguration to a UE comprising configuration parameters that either do not trigger re-establishment of the PDCP or RLC entities (paragraph 0092) or trigger PDCP and RLC entity re-establishment (paragraph 0085), wherein:
the UE reestablishes the RLC entity in a case that the first parameter indicates that the RLC entity is to be reestablished (paragraph 0085 - the re-establishment parameters trigger RLC entity re-establishment),
the UE forgoes reestablishing the RLC entity in a case that the first indication parameter indicates that the RLC entity is not to be reestablished (paragraph 0092 – RLC is not re-established),
the UE reestablishes the PDCP entity in a case that the second parameter indicates that the PDCP entity is to be reestablished (paragraph 0085 – PDCP is reestablished), and
the UE forgoes reestablishing the PDCP entity in a case that the second parameter indicates that the PDCP entity is not to be reestablished (paragraph 0092 – PDCP is not re-established).
Claim 2 is directed to a base station comprising transmitting circuitry configured to transmit the RRC message as claimed in Claim 1. Zhao discloses a network side device (Figure 10 and paragraphs 0104-0107) comprising a sending module 1002 that sends RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE. The limitations regarding the RRC message are rejected for the same reasons as described above for Claim 1.
Claim 3 is directed to a UE comprising receiving circuitry configured to receive the RRC message from a base station as claimed in Claim 1. Zhao discloses a UE (Figure 11 and paragraphs 0113-0114) comprising a receiving module 1101 that receives RRC connection reconfiguration message sent from the network side device. The limitations regarding the RRC message are rejected for the same reasons as described above for Claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW W. CHRISS whose telephone number is (571)272-1774. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8am-4pm ET.
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/ANDREW W CHRISS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472