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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 8-10, 13, 16-17, and 20-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Jin (US 20230055487 A1, hereinafter Jin).
Regarding claims 1, 9, 16-17 and 21-22 Jin discloses:
obtaining at least one measurement gap combination configured for the UE; (Paragraph [0228], “when the base station indicates, in the measurement gap by using the DCI, the resource allocated by the base station to the UE, the UE obtains the DCI delivered by the base station…” and paragraph [0229], “The UE may receive, in the measurement gap” UE receives measurement gap.)
and performing at least one of synchronization signal block (SSB)-based neighboring cell measurement (paragraph [0229], “The UE may receive, in the measurement gap, a CRS, a synchronization signal and PBCH block (Synchronization Signal and PBCH block, SSB), or a channel-state information reference signal (Channel-state information reference signal, CSI-RS) delivered by the base station, and perform downlink channel quality measurement based on the CRS, SSB or CSI-RS.”)
or channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS)-based neighboring cell measurement based on the at least one measurement gap combination. (paragraph [0229], “The UE may receive, in the measurement gap, a CRS, a synchronization signal and PBCH block (Synchronization Signal and PBCH block, SSB), or a channel-state information reference signal (Channel-state information reference signal, CSI-RS) delivered by the base station, and perform downlink channel quality measurement based on the CRS, SSB or CSI-RS.”)
Specifically regarding claims 16 and 21 Jin discloses:
Processor and memory of UE (paragraph [0315], “When the network element device is UE, when the processor 1110 invokes the computer program 1121 stored in the memory 1120, to enable the UE to perform the steps performed by the UE in the embodiments corresponding to FIG. 5, FIG. 7, and FIG. 8.”)
Specifically regarding claims 17 and 22 Jin discloses:
Non-transitory computer readable medium (paragraph [0319], “the memory 1120 may alternatively be an external storage device of the network element device 11, for example, a plug-connected hard disk, a smart media card (Smart Media Card, SMC), a secure digital (Secure Digital, SD) card, or a flash card (Flash Card) that is disposed on the network element device 11.”)
Regarding claims 2 and 10 Jin discloses:
wherein the at least one measurement gap combination comprises a measurement gap length and a measurement gap repetition period. (Paragraph [0013], “The measurement gap configuration information may include: a measurement gap repetition period (Measurement Gap Repetition Period, MGRP), a measurement gap length (Measurement Gap Length, MGL), and a gap offset (gap Offset).”)
Regarding claims 8, 13, and 20 Jin discloses:
receiving a measurement configuration signaling from a network device, wherein the measurement configuration signaling carries the at least one measurement gap combination. (Paragraph [0228], “when the base station indicates, in the measurement gap by using the DCI, the resource allocated by the base station to the UE, the UE obtains the DCI delivered by the base station…” and paragraph [0229], “The UE may receive, in the measurement gap” and Paragraph [0013], “The measurement gap configuration information may include: a measurement gap repetition period (Measurement Gap Repetition Period, MGRP), a measurement gap length (Measurement Gap Length, MGL), and a gap offset (gap Offset).” UE receives measurement gap. Base station sends measurement gap.)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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 4-5, 12, and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jin in view of Cheng et al. (US 20210368374 A1, hereinafter Cheng).
Regarding claims 4, 12, and 18-19 Jin discloses:
receiving a first measurement gap combination configured for the SSB-based neighboring cell measurement and a second measurement gap combination configured for the CSI-RS-based neighboring cell measurement sent by a network device. (paragraph [0229], “The UE may receive, in the measurement gap, a CRS, a synchronization signal and PBCH block (Synchronization Signal and PBCH block, SSB), or a channel-state information reference signal (Channel-state information reference signal, CSI-RS) delivered by the base station, and perform downlink channel quality measurement based on the CRS, SSB or CSI-RS.”)
Jin does not disclose:
(Note: although Jin covers receiving gap configured for SSB and CSI-RS. He does not disclose sending a plurality of gaps)
Receiving/sending multiple measurement gaps
Cheng discloses:
Receiving/sending multiple measurement gaps (Paragraph [0097], “multiple cells (e.g., gNBs) in a same target frequency may use different timings for SSB or CSI-RS transmission. In that case, multiple on-demand measurement gaps may be configured to measure the multiple target cell in one target frequency”)
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the transmission of the measurement gap in Jin in view of Cheng to incorporate more transmission based on the signals. One would have been motivated to do this to increase flexibility and robustness.
Regarding claim 5 Jin does not disclose:
Determining a SSB resource and a CSI-RS resource not being overlapped in a time domain, measuring an SSB signal corresponding to the SSB resource based on the first measurement gap combination; and measuring a CSI-RS signal corresponding to the CSI-RS resource based on the second measurement gap combination.
Cheng discloses:
Determining a SSB resource and a CSI-RS resource not being overlapped in a time domain, measuring an SSB signal corresponding to the SSB resource based on the first measurement gap combination; and measuring a CSI-RS signal corresponding to the CSI-RS resource based on the second measurement gap combination. (Paragraph [0097], “multiple cells (e.g., gNBs) in a same target frequency may use different timings for SSB or CSI-RS transmission. In that case, multiple on-demand measurement gaps may be configured to measure the multiple target cell in one target frequency...” plurality of measurement gaps depending on transmission are configured for measurement.)
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the transmission of the measurement gap in Jin in view of Cheng to incorporate more transmission based on the signals. One would have been motivated to do this to increase flexibility and robustness.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 6-7 and 11 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.
Regarding claim 3, the prior art in single or in combination fails to teach “The method of claim 2, further comprising: determining a number of at least one measurement gap combination being one, determining a maximum value of a length of SSB- based radio resource management (RRM) measurement timing configuration (SMTC) for the SSB-based neighboring cell measurement and a resource length of a CSI-RS resource for the CSI-RS-based neighboring cell measurement as the measurement gap length in the measurement gap combination.” In combination with other limitation of the claim.
Regarding claim 6, the prior art in single or in combination fails to teach “The method of claim 4, wherein performing at least one of the SSB-based neighboring cell measurement or the CSI-RS-based neighboring cell measurement based on the at least one measurement gap combination comprises: determining a SSB resource and a CSI-RS resource being overlapped in the time domain, determining one of the first measurement gap combination and the second measurement gap combination as a target measurement gap combination to be used in measurement; and measuring at least one of an SSB signal corresponding to the SSB resource or a CSI-RS signal corresponding to the CSI-RS resource based on the target measurement gap combination.” In combination with other limitation of the claim.
Regarding claim 7, the prior art in single or in combination fails to teach “The method of claim 6, wherein determining one from the first measurement gap combination and the second measurement gap combination as the target measurement gap combination to be used in the measurement comprises: comparing a first measurement gap length in the first measurement gap combination with a second measurement gap length in the second measurement gap combination, and determining a measurement gap combination corresponding to a maximum value of the first measurement gap length and the second measurement gap length as the target measurement gap combination.” In combination with other limitation of the claim.
Regarding claim 11, the prior art in single or in combination fails to teach “The method of claim 10, wherein sending the at least one measurement gap combination to the UE comprises: sending one measurement gap combination to the UE, obtaining a maximum value from a length of SMTC corresponding to the SSB-based neighboring cell measurement and a resource length of a CSI-RS resource, and configuring the measurement gap length in the measurement gap combination based on the maximum value.” In combination with other limitation of the claim.
Conclusion
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/NAM P. CAO/Examiner, Art Unit 2479 /JAE Y LEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2479