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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/30/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
3. Applicant's arguments with respect to claims 12-27 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
4. Applicant amended claims 12, 18-19, 22-23, 27.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Claims 12-17, 20-21, 24-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al (US 2016/0112149), hereinafter “Kim“, in view of Zhou et al (US 2021/0337469), hereinafter “Zhou“, and further in view of Choi et al (US 2016/0227524), hereinafter “Choi”.
Regarding claim 12, Kim teaches a method in a wireless device (WD) configured with a plurality of Physical Cell Identities (PCIs) for a mobility procedure (pars [0048-0052]), the WD being configured to communicate with a network node with one or more cells operating in a same serving frequency (pars [0048-0052]), each cell associated with one or more PCIs (pars [0048-0052]), the method comprising:
receiving a reporting configuration to configure the WD to report at least one cell measurement in a measurement report (pars [0048-0052]),
performing the at least one cell measurement (pars [0048-0052]); and
transmitting the measurement report to the network node (pars [0048-0052]), the measurement report including the at least one cell measurement and being configured according to the reporting configuration (pars [0048-0052]).
Kim does not explicitly teach the at least one cell measurement being associated with a subset of PCIs of the plurality of PCIs;
Zhou, in the same field of endeavor, teaches the at least one cell measurement being associated with a subset of PCIs of the plurality of PCIs (pars [0066-0068] [0072] [0077], and [0084]);
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 Kim to Zhou, in order to enhance the inter-cell mobility for higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers of connections, better coverage, and reducing interference, latency, system overload and power consumption at the UE (as suggested by Zhou in paragraphs [0007-0010]).
Zhou and Kim do not clearly teach wherein the reporting configuration includes configuring the measurement report to report a cell measurement associated with a current PCI of a cell.
Choi, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the reporting configuration includes configuring the measurement report to report a cell measurement associated with a current PCI of a cell (pars [0198-0201]).
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 Kim and Zhou to Choi, in order to provide the high-speed data services in the mobile communication systems (as suggested by Choi in paragraph [0003]).
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Kim, Zhou and Choi teach the method of Claim 12, Kim further teaches comprising determining whether to trigger an event for measurement reporting (pars [0049-0052]), based at least in part on the at least one cell measurement (pars [0049-0052]).
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Kim, Zhou and Choi teach the method of Claim 12, Kim does not clearly teach wherein the subset of PCIs comprises a single PCI.
Zhou, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the subset of PCIs comprises a single PCI (pars [0066] [0072]).
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 Kim to Zhou, in order to enhance the inter-cell mobility for higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers of connections, better coverage, and reducing interference, latency, system overload and power consumption at the UE (as suggested by Zhou in paragraphs [0007-0010]).
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Kim, Zhou and Choi teach the method of Claim 12, Kim does not clearly teach wherein the reporting configuration indicates the subset of PCIs.
Zhou, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the reporting configuration indicates the subset of PCIs (pars [0066-0068] [0072] [0077], and [0084]);
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 Kim to Zhou, in order to enhance the inter-cell mobility for higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers of connections, better coverage, and reducing interference, latency, system overload and power consumption at the UE (as suggested by Zhou in paragraphs [0007-0010]).
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Kim, Zhou and Choi teach the method of Claim 14, Kim does not clearly teach comprising performing a cell measurement for the single PCI and including the cell measurement associated with the single PCI.
Zhou, in the same field of endeavor, teaches comprising performing a cell measurement for the single PCI and including the cell measurement associated with the single PCI (pars [0066-0068] [0072] [0077], and [0084]);
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 Kim to Zhou, in order to enhance the inter-cell mobility for higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers of connections, better coverage, and reducing interference, latency, system overload and power consumption at the UE (as suggested by Zhou in paragraphs [0007-0010]).
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Kim, Zhou and Choi teach the method of Claim 12, Kim does not clearly teach comprising performing cell measurements for each PCI in the subset of PCIs and including each cell measurement associated with a respective PCI in the measurement report.
Zhou, in the same field of endeavor, teaches comprising performing cell measurements for each PCI in the subset of PCIs and including each cell measurement associated with a respective PCI in the measurement report (pars [0066-0068] [0072] [0077], and [0084]);
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 Kim to Zhou, in order to enhance the inter-cell mobility for higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers of connections, and better coverage, and reducing interference, latency, system overload and power consumption at the UE (as suggested by Zhou in paragraphs [0007-0010]).
Regarding claim 20, the combination of Kim, Zhou and Choi teach the method of Claim 17, Kim further teaches wherein performing the at least one cell measurement comprises performing one of a reference signal received power, RSRP (par [0061]), measurement (par [0061]), a reference signal received quality, RSRQ (par [0061]), Kim does not clearly teach measurement and a signal to interference plus noise ratio, SINR, measurement.
Zhou, in the same field of endeavor, teaches a reference signal received quality, RSRQ (par [0061]), Kim does not clearly teach measurement and a signal to interference plus noise ratio, SINR, measurement (pars [0010] [0066-0069]).
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 Kim to Zhou, in order to enhance the inter-cell mobility for higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers of connections, and better coverage, and reducing interference, latency, system overload and power consumption at the UE (as suggested by Zhou in paragraphs [0007-0010]).
Regarding claim 21, the combination of Kim, Zhou and Choi teach the method of Claim 12, Kim further teaches wherein the measurement report indicates a PCI for which the associated cell measurement is a strongest cell measurement of the at least one cell measurement (pars [0049-0052]).
Regarding claim 24, the combination of Kim, Zhou and Choi teach the method of Claim 12, Kim further teaches wherein a number of cell measurements to be included in the measurement report is limited to a maximum number (pars [0049-0052] [0058]).
Regarding claim 25, the combination of Kim, Zhou and Choi teach the method of Claim 12, Kim further teaches wherein the measurement report includes a group of at least one cell measurement having a magnitude that exceeds a threshold (pars [0061-0063]).
Regarding claim 26, the combination of Kim, Zhou and Choi teach the method of Claim 25, Kim further teaches wherein a different threshold is applied for different types of cell measurements (pars [0061-0063]).
Regarding to claim 27, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 12.
Allowable Subject Matter
8. Claims 18-19, 22-23 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.
As to claim 18, the prior art of record fails to disclose wherein the reporting configuration includes configurating the measurement report to include no cell measurement for the current PCI of a cell, the current PCI being associated with a transmission configuration indicator, TCI, state currently used to serve the WD as specified in the claim.
As to claim 19, the prior art of record fails to disclose that wherein the current PCI is associated with a transmission configuration indicator, TCI, state currently used to serve the WD as specified in the claim.
As to claim 22, the prior art of record fails to disclose that wherein the measurement report indicates whether the current PCI is an initial PCI associated with a TCI configuration received by the WD as part of a dedicated serving cell configuration message.
As to claim 23, the prior art of record fails to disclose that wherein the measurement report indicates whether a PCI associated with a reported cell measurement is the current PCI of a serving cell, the current PCI being a PCI associated with a TCI state currently used to serve the WD.
Conclusion
9. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
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.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles N. 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.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/MICHAEL T VU/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2641