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
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takeda et al. (US 2022/0247529) in view of Ingale et al. (US 2020/0053607, IDS Reference) in view of Miao (US 2022/0167359).
Regarding claim 1, Takeda et al. disclose a first device (Figure 1, UE 115; Figure 2, UE 215; Figure 9 and paragraph 152, a device 905 that supports temporary reference signal for fast SCell activation in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The device 905 may be an example of or include the components of a device 605, a device 705, or a UE 115 as described herein), comprising:
at least one processor (Figure 9, processor 940); and
at least one memory including computer program code (Figure 9, memory 930 including code 935);
wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to:
receive, at a first device and via a first cell of a second device, an activation indication to activate a second cell of a third device (Figure 2, UE 215 receives SCell activation message from gNB 205 [second device] of PCell [first cell]. Base station 210 corresponds to third device of second cell [SCell]; Paragraph 104, Base station 205 may then transmit an SCell activation message to UE 215 indicating that base station 210 (e.g., the SCell) is to be activated in addition to the PCell (e.g., base station 205 in this example));
monitor a first set of reference signals from the second cell (Figure 2 and Paragraph 105, UE 215 may measure or otherwise perform AGC actions using the first portion of the aperiodic reference signal 220 transmitted from base station 210 in the slot(s) corresponding to the slot location) wherein the second cell is a secondary cell configured with physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) (Figure 2, SCell of base station 210);
determine, based on the first set of reference signals a downlink timing in the second cell (Paragraphs 4 and 46, The UE may then measure the aperiodic reference signals from the SCell(s) using the associated resources, e.g., in the first portion of aperiodic reference signal in slot n and the slot offset identifying slot n+k where the second portion of aperiodic reference signals are, which constitutes non-consecutive slots. This may enable to the UE to synchronize [determine timing] with the SCell in order to perform wireless communications more quickly and efficiently);
measure a second set of reference signals from the second cell of the third device while performing activation of the second cell (Paragraph 105, UE 215 may measure or otherwise perform fine tuning (e.g., tracking) using the second portion of the aperiodic reference signal 220 transmitted from base station 210 in the slot(s) corresponding to the slot offset in relation to the slot location (e.g., during the second portion). Accordingly, UE 215 may transmit a CSI report to base station 210 indicating the results of the measurements in order to activate base station 210 as a SCell for UE 215);
receive, from the second device, first information indicating a measurement configuration to be applied for activation of the second cell (Paragraph 104, the SCell activation message may be transmitted or otherwise conveyed in a DCI and/or MAC CE (e.g., the DCI scheduling the MAC CE indicating SCell activation and/or in a different DCI)…the base station may use the SCell activation message as a time trigger or other reference on which the timing of the aperiodic reference signal 220 is based… the SCell activation message is a signal or trigger to the base station implementing the SCell to transmit the aperiodic reference signal 220 at the SCell);
measure, from the second device, signals in the set of reference signals in a time interval specific to the secondary cell (Figure 2, slots [time interval] for aperiodic reference signals portions including a slot offset between portions; Paragraphs 104-105, UE 215 may measure or otherwise perform AGC actions using the first portion of the aperiodic reference signal 220 transmitted from base station 210 in the slot(s) corresponding to the slot location. UE 215 may measure or otherwise perform fine tuning (e.g., tracking) using the second portion of the aperiodic reference signal 220 transmitted from base station 210 in the slot(s) corresponding to the slot offset in relation to the slot location (e.g., during the second portion). Accordingly, UE 215 may transmit a CSI report to base station 210 indicating the results of the measurements in order to activate base station 210 as a SCell for UE 215); and
transmit, via the second cell and to the third device, channel state information determined based on the measurement of the second set of reference signals (Paragraph 105, Accordingly, UE 215 may transmit a CSI report to base station 210 indicating the results of the measurements in order to activate base station 210 as a SCell for UE 215),
wherein a delay requirement of the activation of the second cell is determined based on: a slot in which the activation indication is received, a timing between a downlink data transmission and acknowledgement, a time duration for the activation of the second cell (Takeda et al., Paragraphs 96-97 and corresponding equations for calculating SCell activation delay), and a time duration for the random access procedure (Ingale et al. incorporating random access procedure time during CSI-RS measurement at initial access according to paragraph 85: CSI-RS set 2 of target cell 104b can also be received (328) from target cell 104b in RAR during the random access procedure) and starts measuring the CSI-RS resource while in parallel UE 102 initiates RACH; Claims 3 and 9, measuring received CSI-RS resource during the RACH procedure),
wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to measure the second set of reference signals by: measuring the second set of reference signals based on the measurement configuration (Paragraph 105, UE 215 may identify the slot location for the first portion of the aperiodic reference signal 220 for cell activation measurements and the slot offset between the first portion and the second portion of the aperiodic reference signal 220. For example, UE 215 may identify the slot location and the slot offset based on the SCell activation message transmitted from base station 205), and.
wherein the measurement configuration comprises at least one of:
where to measure the second set of reference signals in time domain (Paragraph 104, SCell activation message is a signal or trigger for the SCell to transmit the aperiodic reference signals; Paragraph 105, Paragraph 105, UE 215 may identify the slot location for the first portion of the aperiodic reference signal 220 for cell activation measurements and the slot offset between the first portion and the second portion of the aperiodic reference signal 220. For example, UE 215 may identify the slot location and the slot offset based on the SCell activation message transmitted from base station 205), and
a periodicity for measuring the second set of reference signals (Paragraph 96, SSB-based measurement and timing configuration (SMTC) periodicity of the SCell being activated if the UE has been provided with an SMTC configuration for the SCell in the SCell addition message. Otherwise, Trs may refer to the SMTC configured in the measObjectNR; Paragraph 111, UE 215 may be configured with SMTC for the to-be-activated SCell).
Takeda et al. do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Ingale et al.: measure a second set of reference signals while performing a random access procedure to the second cell (Ingale et al., Paragraph 85, CSI-RS set 2 of target cell 104b can also be received (328) from target cell 104b in RAR during the random access procedure) and starts measuring the CSI-RS resource while in parallel UE 102 initiates RACH; Claims 3 and 9, measuring received CSI-RS resource during the RACH procedure) and he measurement configuration indicating where to measure the second set of reference signals in frequency domain (Takeda et al., Paragraph 83, The measurement configuration from the serving cell 104a configures the UE 102 to report measurements. The measurement configuration may include…Measurement object which specifies a carrier frequency of a certain RAT type (e.g. MeasObject #1 for all cells on NR frequency, MeasObject #2 for all cells on a LTE frequency, etc.) so on and so forth [frequency domain]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Takeda et al. with the cited disclosure from Ingale et al. in order to early alignment with the target cell (i.e. SCell) (Ingale et al., Paragraph 62).
Takeda et al. in view of Ingale et al. do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Miao: wherein the first device is configured to transmit the channel state information on additional uplink resources for the second cell indicated in resource information received from the second device, such that a delay of activation of the second cell is reduced (Miao, Abstract, A method for communicating, by user equipment (UE), on a secondary cell (SCell) with fast activation [reduced activation delay] or deactivation includes obtaining channel state information (CSI) configuration data including a short CSI reporting scheme that indicates a particular number of CSI reports for transmitting on physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) by the UE. The method includes sending the particular number of CSI reports on the PUCCH resources in accordance with the CSI configuration data resources [additional uplink resources]. The CSI configuration data can be received from a serving cell of a new radio (NR) access node (gNB) [received from the second device] in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) that indicates a status of a short CSI report configuration within a configuration list, and wherein the UE sends one or more of the CSI reports in accordance with the status of the short CSI report configuration) and the measurement configuration indicating a reference signal type (Miao, Paragraph 8, CSI configuration data is configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Takeda et al. in view of Ingale et al. with the cited disclosure from Miao in order to perform fast SCell activation (Miao, Abstract).
Conclusion
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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OTIS L THOMPSON, JR whose telephone number is (571)270-1953. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 6:30am - 7:00pm.
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/OTIS L THOMPSON, JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477
December 19, 2025
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