DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
RCE filed 4/23/2026 is acknowledged. Amendment filed 3/30/2026 is entered.
Claims 1, 8, 15, and 22 have been amended.
Claims 1-28 remain pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 8/21/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 1-4, 6, 8-11, 13, 15-18, 20, 22-25, and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Venkataraman et al. (US20210051530A1; “Venk”) in view of Shauh et al. (US20160316345A1; “Shauh”).
Regarding claims 1, 8, 15, and 22,
Venk (Title: 5G NR voice call EPS fallback enhancements) discloses a method (Fig. 10B) of operating a user equipment (UE) (Fig. 10B, UE 900; Fig. 3), comprising a memory/CRM (Fig. 3, memory 306; paragraph 34), a communication interface (Fig. 3, circuitry 329/330 and antennas 335-338), and at least one processor/means (Fig. 3, processor 302) communicatively coupled to the memory/CRM and the communication interface, configured to execute instructions to cause the UE setting up an evolved packet system fallback (EPSFB) call (Fig. 10B, step 1018; paragraph 104-109; session modification including EPS fallback call) that is associated with network-configured inter-frequency measurements to be performed by the UE at a first inter-frequency measurement interval (Fig. 10B, step 1032; paragraph 109; inter-RAT measurements).
Venk does not expressly disclose puncturing some or all of the network-configured inter-frequency measurements during the EPS call.
Further analogous art to Shauh (Title: Prioritization of Concurrent Inter-Frequency/Inter-RAT Measurement and eMBMS Service reception) discloses a similar method in an Evolved Packet System/EPS (Fig. 1; paragraph 33) including puncturing (i.e. skipping) some or all of the network-configured inter-frequency measurements during the EPS call (Fig. 10; paragraphs 62-65; skipping inter-frequency measurements to receive a prioritized eMBMS service, such as the EPSFB call shown in Venk).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to modify Venk by puncturing some or all of the network-configured inter-frequency measurements during the EPS call, as shown by Shauh, thereby enabling prioritization with respect to an EPS service call colliding with inter-frequency measurements during a particular time interval.
Regarding claims 2, 3, 9, 10, 13, 16, 17, 20, 23, 24, and 27,
The combination of Venk and Shauh discloses determining at least one performance parameter comprises a signal quality or link quality between the UE and a serving cell of the UE (Shauh: paragraph 50-54, 83; channel estimate), wherein the puncturing is based in part upon the determination (paragraph 66, 77, 85-87; determining whether eMBMS reception gets priority over inter-frequency measurement depending on the data reception/real-time conditions at the UE). See motivation above.
Regarding claims 4, 11, 18, and 25,
The combination of Venk and Shauh discloses at least one performance parameter comprises one or more of the network-configured inter-frequency measurements that are measured with respect to one or more neighbor cells (Shauh: Fig. 2, 7A; paragraph 61-62; inter-frequency measurements inherently measure the frequency of other cells). See motivation above.
Claims 5, 7, 12, 14, 19, 21, 26, and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Venk and Shauh as applied to respective claims 4, 6, 11, 13, 18, 20, 25, and 27 as shown above, and further in view of Xu et al. (US20230008354A1; supported by Provisional Application 63/009231; “Xu2”).
Regarding claims 5, 12, 19, and 26,
The combination of Venk and Shauh does not expressly show extending the measurement interval in response to the one or more results being below the measurement threshold.
Xu2 discloses analogous art (Title: Idle Mode Processing Method) including extending the measurement interval in response to the one or more results being below the measurement threshold (Fig. 3, step 312; Fig. 5, step 332; Abstract; paragraph 9-10, 26, 33-41; extend inter-frequency measurement derived from the inter-frequency measurement time interval in response to the UE being below a mobility threshold/low mobility state).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to modify Venk and Shauh by extending the measurement interval in response to the one or more results being below the measurement threshold, as shown by Xu2, thereby optimizing power saving when the UE is in a low mobility state.
Regarding claims 7, 14, 21, and 28,
The combination of Venk and Shauh does not expressly disclose puncturing all of the network-configured inter-frequency measurements during the EPS call at least while the signal quality or the link quality remains greater than or equal to the threshold.
Xu2 discloses puncturing all of the network-configured inter-frequency measurements during the EPS call at least while the signal quality or the link quality remains greater than or equal to the threshold (paragraph 32-35; stop inter-frequency measurements completely when the UE is stationary and conditions of a serving cell are good/above certain threshold).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to modify Venk and Shauh by puncturing all of the network-configured inter-frequency measurements during the EPS call at least while the signal quality or the link quality remains greater than or equal to the threshold, as shown by Xu2, thereby optimizing power saving when the UE is in a stationary state.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 4/23/2026 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection relies on the newly-cited Shauh and Xu2 references for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/GREGORY B SEFCHECK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477
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