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 § 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) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (US 2024/0147332) in view of ZTE CORPORATION et al., "Framework of SCG deactivation and activation", R2-2006900, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #111, electronic, e-meeting, 20200817 - 20200828, 7 August 2020 (2020-08-07) (cited in Applicant’s IDS filed on November 13, 2024) (Hereafter, R2-2006900).
Regarding claim 1, Zhang discloses a terminal apparatus that communicates with one or more base station apparatuses by using a first cell group including a primary cell (PCell) and a second cell group (SCG) including a primary SCG cell (PSCeII) (Zhang, Fig. 1, UE connected to MN and SN; paragraph [0024]-[0026], MN includes PCell, SN includes PSCell), the terminal apparatus comprising:
a receiver (Zhang, Fig. 8, receiver) configured to receive a radio resource control (RRC) message from the one or more base station apparatuses (Zhang, paragraph [0006], receiving RRC reconfiguration message including state information for SCells); and
processing circuitry (Zhang, Fig. 8, processor) configured to:
process the RRC message received from the one or more base station apparatuses (Zhang, paragraph [0006], receiving RRC reconfiguration message including state information for SCells; paragraph [0079], UE behavior during SCG deactivation procedure),
deactivate the second cell group in a case that information indicating that a cell group is to be deactivated is included in the RRC message (Zhang, paragraph [0006], receiving RRC reconfiguration message including state information for SCells; paragraph [0056], RRC message may initiate the SCG deactivation procedure; paragraph [0065], RRC message is used to deactivate the SCG; paragraph [0079], UE behavior during SCG deactivation procedure), and
perform, in a case that the information indicating that the cell group is to be deactivated is included in the RRC message and the second cell group is deactivated, radio link monitoring (Zhang, paragraph [0056], RRC message may initiate the SCG deactivation procedure; paragraph [0065], RRC message is used to deactivate the SCG; paragraph [0079], UE behavior during SCG deactivation procedure; paragraph [0080], UE performs RLM measurement operation when the SCG is deactivated; paragraph [0083], beam failure detection when the SCG is deactivated), by using a reference signal for the radio link monitoring, configured for a bandwidth part (BWP) which has been activated in the PSCeII of the second cell group before the deactivation of the second cell group (Zhang, paragraph [0079], UE behavior during SCG deactivation procedure; paragraph [0081], UE performs RLM measurement operation on a BWP; paragraph [0085], using SSB or CSI-RS).
Zhang does not explicitly disclose that the BWP has been activated.
Regarding claim 1, R2-2006900 discloses a terminal apparatus that communicates with one or more base station apparatuses by using a first cell group including a primary cell (PCell) and a second cell group (SCG) including a primary SCG cell (PSCeII) (R2-2006900, page 1, last 5 lines, SCell operation, PSCell, SCG), the terminal apparatus comprising:
a receiver configured to receive a radio resource control (RRC) message from the one or more base station apparatuses (R2-2006900, page 1, last 5 lines, when active BWP of PSCell is switch to dormant BWP via RRC, the PSCell and SCG is considered as in deactivated state); and
processing circuitry configured to process the RRC message received from the one or more base station apparatuses (R2-2006900, page 1, last 5 lines, when active BWP of PSCell is switch to dormant BWP via RRC, the PSCell and SCG is considered as in deactivated state), wherein
deactivate the second cell group in a case that information indicating that a cell group is to be deactivated is included in the RRC message (R2-2006900, page 1, last 5 lines, when active BWP of PSCell is switch to dormant BWP via RRC, the PSCell and SCG is considered as in deactivated state), and
perform, in a case that the information indicating that the cell group is to be deactivated is included in the RRC message and the second cell group is deactivated, radio link monitoring by using a reference signal for the radio link monitoring, configured for a bandwidth part (BWP) which has been activated in the PSCeII of the second cell group before the deactivation of the second cell group (R2-2006900, page 1, last 5 lines, when active BWP of PSCell is switch to dormant BWP via RRC, the PSCell and SCG is considered as in deactivated state; page 3, proposal 5, UE monitors downlink radio quality based on reference signal configured by the network SSB or CSI-RS; when SCG is deactivated, it is reasonable to monitor the quality of the PSCell).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to activate a BWP, in the invention of Zhang. The motivation to combine the references would have been to enable use of the BWP.
Claims 2 and 3 are rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 1.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed November 24, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant asserts that the claims are patentable because the information of Zhang is configured after the deactivation of the SCG starts. However, this is incorrect. Zhang discloses for example, in paragraph [0056], RRC message may initiate the SCG deactivation procedure; and paragraph [0065], RRC message is used to deactivate the SCG.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/ALAN L LINDENBAUM/ Examiner, Art Unit 2466 /FARUK HAMZA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2466