DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 05/04/2026 has been entered. Claim(s) 16 have been amended; Claim(s) 1-15 and 17 have been canceled; No Claim(s) have been added. Claim(s) 16 and 18-19 are subject to examination.
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
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 16 and 18-19 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 § 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.
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CATT: “TP for TS37.340 BLCR Conditional SN Addition Change Procedure”, R3-196727, 3GPP TSG RAN WG3#106, Reno, NV, USA, 18-22 November 2019, 28 pages, hereby referred to as WG3#106 (see IDS 04/24/2024), in view of XU et al. (US 20190349819 A1), hereby referred to as XU.
Claim 16:
WG3#106 teaches a method performed by a first base station in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: transmitting, to a second base station, a first Xn message (WG3#106: pg 5 Figure 10.2.2-1 (“MN”) the first base station and (“SN(x)”) the second base station; and pg 5 para 2 (“For MN terminated bear options that require Xn_U resource between the MN and the SN, the MN provides the Xn-U UL….”) wherein messages are related to Xn interface) for conditional primary secondary cell (PSCell) addition (CPA) including measurement results for a plurality of cells, the plurality of cells being determined by the first base station (WG3#106: pg 5 Figure 10.2.2-1 item 1 (“SN Addition Request”) and pg 5 para 1 (“…MN indicates the requested SCG configuration information, including the entire UE capabilities and the UE capability coordination results. In this case, the MN also provides the latest measurement results for SN to choose and configure the SCG cell(s).”) wherein the CPA/SN addition request includes measurement results of a terminal for a plurality of candidate PSCells determined/recommended by MN); receiving, from the second base station, a second Xn message for the CPA including a first parameter comprising: configuration information for a candidate PSCell, the one candidate PSCell determined by the second base station from among the plurality of cells, and a second parameter separate from the first parameter (WG3#106: pg 5 Figure 10.2.2-1 item 2 (“SN Addition Request Acknowledge.”), pg 5-pg 6 para 1 (“The SN decides for the PSCell and other SCG Scells and provides the new SCG radio resource configuration to the MN within an SN RRC configuration message contained in the SN Addition Request Acknowledge message…SCG radio resource configuration is provided. In case of CPAC, a multiple candidate target cells list is included in the message.”) wherein the second base station sends a second Xn message with configuration information for the candidate PSCells and configuration); and transmitting, to a terminal, a first radio resource control (RRC) message including the configuration information for the candidate PSCell and execution condition information for the CPA associated with the one candidate PSCell (WG3#106: pg 5 Figure 10.2.2-1 item 3 (“RRC reconfiguration message”) and pg 6 para 7 (“In case of CPAC, the CPAC candidate PSCell configuration(s), CPAC execution condition(s) are included in the MN RRC reconfiguration message.”) wherein the first RRC message includes configuration and execution condition of the candidate PSCells).
However, WG3#106 does not explicitly disclose the second parameter comprising an absolute radio frequency channel number (ARFCN) value associated with the configuration information for the candidate PSCell.
XU, in the same field of endeavor, teaches the second parameter comprising an absolute radio frequency channel number (ARFCN) value associated with the configuration information for the candidate PSCell (XU: para 99 (“…target gNB…transmits a handover request acknowledge message to the source gNB…include beam related information…may include beam ID…The source gNB may transfer the information to the UE by the RRC message…”) wherein the Xn message includes a beam identifier for a PSCell and TABLE2 (“ARFCN-ValueNR) wherein the beam identifier can be the ARFCN).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to have modified WG3#106 with XU for the benefit of easy access to the target cell/beam (XU: para 99).
Claim(s) 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WG3#106 in view of XU, the combination hereby referred to as WG3#106-XU, and in further view of Eklöf et al. (US 20230300691 A1) (see 892 07/14/2025), hereby referred to as EKLOF.
Claim 18:
WG3#106-XU teaches the method of claim 16, further comprising: receiving, from the terminal, a second RRC message including information on identifying a PSCell for execution of the CPA (WG3#106: pg 5 Figure 10.2.2-1 item 4a (“Access Success Indication message”) and pg 6 para 8 (“In case of CPAC…If at least on CPAC candidate PSCell satisfies the corresponding CPAC execution condition, the UE detaches from the source SN, applies the stored corresponding configuration for that selected candidate PSCell and…and completes the CPAC procedure by sending a new access success indication message to the MN. FFS how the new RRC message is defined.”)).
However, WG3#106-XU does not explicitly disclose a configuration identifier (ID) of a PSCell for execution of the CPA.
EKLOF, in the same field of endeavor, teaches a configuration identifier (ID) of a PSCell for execution of the CPA (EKLOF: Figure 11 item 68 (“Second Identifier (e.g., ID 60-X)”) and para 158 (“…the second identifier 68 is associated to the target cell candidate selected for conditional configuration execution…”) wherein an RRC message contains information on a configuration ID for a PSCell).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to have modified WG3#106-XU with EKLOF, the combination hereby referred to as WG3#106-XU-EKLOF, for the benefit of ensuring proper communications (EKLOF: para 4).
Claim 19:
WG3#106-XU-EKLOF teaches the method of claim 18, further comprising: in case that the PSCell is not operated by the second base station, transmitting, to the second base station, a fourth Xn to cancel the CPA (WG3#106: Figure 10.4.2-2 item 9 (“UE Context Release”) wherein in the case of the PSCell not operated by the second base station, first base station sends a release/CPA release message to second base station).
However, WG3#106-XU does not explicitly disclose in case that the PSCell is operated by the second base station, transmitting, to the second base station, a third Xn message indicating an RRC reconfiguration completion of the terminal.
EKLOF, in the same field of endeavor, teaches in case that the selected PSCell is operated by the second base station, transmitting, to the second base station, a third Xn message indicating an RRC reconfiguration completion of the terminal (EKLOF: Figure 8 item 10 (“RRCReconfigurationComplete***”) and para 130 (“…when CPC is configured and the target candidate PSCell(s) are within the source SN (S-SN)…”) wherein selected PSCell is operated by the second base station and first base station transmits a Xn message indicating RRC reconfiguration complete).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to have modified WG3#106-XU with EKLOF for the benefit of ensuring proper communications (EKLOF: para 4).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
KIM et al. (US 20220279345 A1) teaches target cell id Is associated with a target PCI and target EARFCN-DL (para 163).
KUMAR et al. (US 20190302220 A1) wherein identifiers include EARFCN (para 36)
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/A.T.N./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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