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
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Applicant's arguments filed 06/12/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant alleges in the response that the disclosure of Laselva (WO 2021/254590 A1) does not teach:
“determining both of a measurement relaxation scaling factor K and a signal quality threshold S based on an effective Reference Signal (RS) occasion periodicity”
The office respectfully disagrees with this assertion, and presents that Laselva substantially discloses the contested subject matter.
The applicant points to par.[0051] to support this assertion, however, par.[0031] which was cited previously, and again, teaches a signal quality threshold S is used in conjunction with the scaling factor (K) in order to perform RLM relaxation. As discussed below, the UE may receive from a base station a plurality of configuration information concerning RLM measurements, such as: a RRM measurement configuration element 262 in fig.2b; and a RLM-RS Resource Configuration, comprising relaxation criteria/conditions, which are considered to correspond to the claimed signal quality threshold S, because the configuration comprises a plurality signal quality thresholds as noted by the applicant, see pg.8 of 9, wherein a one or more relaxation conditions correspond to a one or more thresholds, (e.g. signal quality thresholds S). That is a one or more of the signal quality thresholds S can be used to determine if relaxation criteria is met. The scaling factor is then applied to the reference signal periodicity after the relaxation signal quality threshold S has been exceeded allowing for the relaxed RLM measurements. The applicants assertion that the disclosure of Laselva does not teach that a scaling factor being applied based on a measured or estimated signal quality, is incorrect, based on the discussion above. The claims stand rejected in view of the above arguments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 70 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 70 is amended to recite, in part:
“and an indication that the wireless device shall apply both of the determined measurement relaxation scaling factor K and a signal quality threshold S for performing the RLP”
Throughout the originally filed specification the disclosure recites:
“and at least one of the determined measurement relaxation factor K and signal quality threshold S are applied for performing the RLP”, see par.[0053] of the PG PUB (US 2024/0306057 A1).
The office notes that there is no explicit or implicit indication discussed in the specification regarding the use of both the relaxation factor K and signal quality threshold S” as now claimed. It is further noted, that the applicant has failed to provide the paragraphs which correspond to the amended subject matter as required by MPEP 2163. At best the disclosure teaches reception of relaxation factor K and signal quality threshold, but does not disclose an indication received that they should be used together as claimed, and the specification as filed does not support this claim language in view of par.[0053].
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.
Claim(s) 51, 56, and 58-70, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Laselva et al. (WO 2021/254590 A1).
Regarding claim 51, Laselva discloses:
a method of performing Radio Link Procedure (RLP) (par.[0007] describes RLM and RRM, wherein the resource configuration are sent to the UE to perform the measurements. The RLM is a RLP procedure) performed by a wireless device (fig.1 which depicts a wireless device (i.e. a user device) elements 131-133 and 135) operative in a wireless communication network (fig.1 depicts a wireless communications network), the method characterized by:
determining whether the wireless device is operating in an operational scenario for which relaxed RLP is allowed (fig.2b element 270 wherein the UE determines whether relaxation conditions have been satisfied. Par.[0052 – 0053]);
in response to determining relaxed RLP is allowed (fig.2B relaxation conditions satisfied or not), determining both of a measurement relaxation factor K (see, par.[0040] which recites, in part, “The present disclosure targets relaxation of RLM/BFD measurements by increasing the measurement period so that the UE does not perform RLM/BFD measurements more frequently, when compared to RRM measurements, in good radio conditions. This may be achieved by increasing the measurement period (which may be referred to as an evaluation period) for RLM/BFD measurement while keeping the number of samples per period unvaried (minimum required samples met) or by decreasing the number of samples per period while keeping the measurement period unvaried.” That is, by modifying the duration of the measurement period by a factor K or the number of measurements by a factor K, the UE is configured to perform less measurement and thereby relaxing the measurement, par.[0061 and 0081]) and a signal quality threshold S (See fig.2A conditions, and par.[0051] which recites, in part, “the relaxation conditions that may be considered to determine whether to allow relaxation of RLM/BFD measurements may include one or more of…..” e.g. the threshold of the signal quality wherein the signals are transmitted to the UE 202par.[0057] which recites, in part, “In some implementations, if the one or more relaxation conditions are met, it could be inferred that the serving signal quality is good, may be better than the worst interferer, and may remain good for additional evaluation periods, and thereby making it safer (e.g., from a performance perspective) to relax”. That is, when a signal quality threshold is met, the UE may relax measurements on the reference signal) based on an effective Reference Signal (RS) occasion periodicity Te (par.[0024-0025] which describes the UE monitoring for reference signals and reporting. Par.[0027 -0028] describes the reference signal occasion or periodicity which the UE determines in order to monitor the reference signal, par.[0081]. For example, the reference signals used for are SSB and RLM-RS. Fig.5A describes the TSSB as the periodicity of the SSB. Further measurement period Rperiod which can be set SMTCperiod defines the time duration and periodicity for SSB based RRM measurements); and
applying at both of the determined measurement relaxation factor K and signal quality threshold S for performing the RLP (fig(s).2a and 2b which depicts in element 264 the RLM-RS resource configuration, wherein the resource configuration also comprises the relaxation criteria (e.g. the relaxation factor K), and the relaxation condition, which comprise the signal quality threshold S. Based on the resource configuration the UE is capable of reception of the reference signals, such as the RLM-RS element 266 and/or the SSB element 268. Based on the reception of the reference signals, the UE is able to use the relaxation factor K in view of the measurement of the signals to determine if the signal quality threshold meets the criteria for relaxation of the RLM measurement, see element 270, determine whether relaxation conditions, are satisfied.) by:
measuring or estimating a signal quality metric (fig.2b wherein the UE is sent by gNodeB element 204 SSB and/or RLM-RS with which to measure. Par.[0051 - 0053] which recites, in part, “the UE may monitor UE’s link quality based on, for example, measurements, to determine that one or more relaxation conditions, as defined in the RLM-RS resource configuration, are satisfied”. That is, the UE determines a signal quality metric based on the measurement of signal received from the base station);
if the measured or estimated signal quality metric is above the determined signal quality threshold S (par.[0051] which recites, in part, “ii) absolute signal level of serving cell above a threshold (e.g., a second threshold, which may be the same Q.sub.out threshold) which may indicate that the UE is not in cell-edge conditions;”. That is, when the signal quality is above a threshold, then, the network and UE may determine that the UE is in optimal serving cell conditions), applying relaxed RLP (par.[0051] which recites, in part, “the relaxation conditions that may be considered to determine whether to allow relaxation of RLM/BFD measurements may include one or more of….”) by scaling the effective RS occasion periodicity Te by the measurement relaxation scaling factor K the RS occasions are in (as discussed above in par.[0040] the “The present disclosure targets relaxation of RLM/BFD measurements by increasing the measurement period so that the UE does not perform RLM/BFD measurements more frequently. And par.[0061] describes scaling the RLM measurement period. and fig(s) 5a, 5b, 6a and 6b, which are the scaling applied to the number of samples measured, or increasing the duration of the measurement period, see par.[0031, 0040] wherein the scaling factor Ceil (10xP) is multiplied by max(Tssb, Rperiod) whichever is the greater of the two. When the scaling factor is multiplied by the Tssb, the Tssb is scaled effecting the number of samples e.g. the reference signal occasions that are in the measurement period or the extended measurement period is scaled); and
if the measured or estimated signal quality metric is not above the determined signal quality threshold S, performing RLP using a RS occasion periodicity T where T < Te (fig.5a Note2: Rperiod is the relaxed measurement that is set to the SMTCperiod, while TSSB is the traditional period configured for RLM. That is, when the RLP is relaxed the UE would use Rperiod which is the relaxed measurement period as opposed to the TSSB which is the more frequent traditional measurement period, par.[0081]. That is, the measurement period Rperiod may be extended as discussed above, or the number of samples in a period may be reduced, otherwise the UE would utilize a traditional measurement period with a pre-configured traditional periodicity of the reference signals in a non-relaxed manner).
Regarding claim 52, Laselva discloses:
in response to determining relaxed RLP is not allowed, and performing RLP using a RS occasion periodicity T wherein T < Te (fig.5a Note2: Rperiod is the relaxed measurement that is set to the SMTCperiod, while TSSB is the traditional period configured for RLM. That is, when the RLP is relaxed the UE would use Rperiod which is the relaxed measurement period as opposed to the TSSB which is the more frequent traditional measurement period, par.[0081]).
Regarding claim 56, Laselva discloses:
wherein operational scenarios for which relaxed RLP is allowed include one or more of:
low wireless device mobility (par.[0031] describes the UE with low mobility, wherein if the UE is not very mobile and is in good cell condition the UE may not need to perform as many measurements because when the UE is not mobile the signal quality will not change much);
low wireless device activity (par.[0069] which recites, in part, “In some implementations, for example, the RLM measurements may be relaxed by applying one or more relaxation factors. In an example implementation, the relaxation factors may depend on DRX cycles.”); and
signal quality above a threshold (par.[0031] describes the good channel quality, along with other paragraphs as discussed above).
Regarding claim 58, Laselva discloses:
wherein low wireless device activity includes the wireless device is in Discontinuous Reception (DRX) operation (par.[0069] which recites, in part, “In some implementations, for example, the RLM measurements may be relaxed by applying one or more relaxation factors. In an example implementation, the relaxation factors may depend on DRX cycles.”).
Regarding claim 59, Laselva discloses:
herein determining whether the wireless device is operating in an operational scenario for which relaxed RLP is allowed comprises determining that the wireless device is configured with an operational scenario and meeting a criterion associated with the configured operational scenario (fig(s). 2a and 2b element 214 and 264 depict the UE receiving from the network relaxation criteria/conditions which when met allow the UE to modify its measurement activity to a more relaxed state).
Regarding claim 60, Laselva discloses:
wherein one or both of the measurement relaxation factor K and the signal quality threshold S are a function of the effective RS occasion periodicity Te (wherein as discussed in the rejection of claim 51, the measurement relaxation factor is used to scale the measurement periodicity such that the UE is configured to measure and detect/report the signal quality threshold at a more relaxed rate).
Regarding claim 61, Laselva discloses:
wherein one or both of the measurement relaxation factor K and the signal quality threshold S are further a function of frequency characteristics of the cell on which the mobile device is operating (the fig(s).2a and 2b wherein the UE is configured to measure in a measurement period a RLM-RS, SSB, or both, in element 266-268, the measurements being performed on signal transmitted from the cell in a frequency band of the cell. Thus, the relaxation factor and signal quality are instituted/derived based on the reception of signals in the frequency band on the cell).
Regarding claim 62, Laselva discloses:
wherein the effective RS occasion periodicity Te depends on one or more of the periodicity of a RS, a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) configuration in the wireless device, a measurement gap sharing factor P, a scaling factor N that depends on a frequency range in which the wireless device is operating, (fig.5a teaches a periodicity of SSB wherein the periodicity of SSB is a periodicity associated with the monitoring the SSB, and TDRX is the cycle length of a DRX wherein the UE may monitor or perform measurements during a duration of the DRX cycle).
Regarding claim 63, Laselva discloses:
wherein the effective RS occasion periodicity Te is function of periodicity of a RS, and a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) configuration in the wireless device (fig.5a teaches a periodicity of SSB TSSB wherein the periodicity of SSB is a periodicity associated with the monitoring the SSB, and TDRX is the cycle length of a DRX wherein the UE may monitor or perform measurements during a duration of the DRX cycle wherein the UE is capable of measurement in a union of the SSB and TSSB and TDRX).
Regarding claim 64, Laselva discloses:
wherein performing RLP using the effective RS occasion periodicity Te comprises performing the RLP over an effective measurement time Tmr, where Tmr is greater than a measurement time Tm used when relaxed RLP is not allowed (as discussed above with regard to claim 51, the UE when RLP is relaxed perform measurements less frequently which corresponds to the periodicity Te, further measurement period is scaled by some scaling factor as discussed above, which lengthens the effective measurement period, such that the effective scaled/relaxed measurement period is longer in duration than the non-relaxed measurement period wherein the UE performs monitoring and measurements on the reference signal more frequently. By applying the relaxed measurement period with longer duration the UE effectively spaces out measurements reducing battery power needed to perform measurements as the UE isn’t performing measurements as frequently).
Regarding claim 65, Laselva discloses:
wherein Tmr is a function of K and Tm (par.[0070] which recites, in part, “the UE may be configured to scale the measurement period of RLM/BFD measurements according to one or more dedicated scaling factor “R.” For example, the evaluation period for in-sync and out-of-sync indications, T evaluate out and Tevaiuatejn periods, may be scaled by factors Rin and Rout, respectively. By having scaling factors dedicated to in-sync and out-of-sync indications, gNB may allow the UE to relax the evaluation periods.”. That is the time relaxed measurement period is derived from the original time Tm, and the scaled by a factor R/K).
Regarding claim 66, Laselva discloses:
wherein in response to determining relaxed RLP is not allowed, performing RLP over the measurement time Tm (as noted above with regard to previous claims, when measurements are relaxed the UE may perform fewer measurements over a longer duration, Tmr as discussed in the claim. Conversely, when the UE is unable to perform relaxed measurements, the UE will perform more measurements over a shorter duration Tm. This is noted throughout the specification and in fig(s).5-6 and their associated disclosures).
Regarding claim 67, Laselva discloses:
wherein the signal quality threshold S is an absolute signal quality threshold Sa, and wherein the wireless device performs RLP using the effective RS occasion periodicity Te if a measured signal quality Qm is greater than Sa (par.[0051 – 0053] which describes performing a measurement on a signal, and if the signal quality is better/greater than a threshold, then the UE may relax the measurements).
Regarding claim 68, Laselva discloses:
wherein the signal quality threshold S is a relative signal quality threshold Sr, and wherein the wireless device performs RLP using the effective RS occasion periodicity Te if the difference between a measured signal quality Qm and a reference signal quality Qr is greater than Sr (par.[0051 – 0053] which describes performing a measurement on a signal, and if the signal quality is better/greater than a reference threshold, then the UE may relax the measurements).
Regarding claim 69, Laselva discloses:
in response to a measured or estimated signal quality being greater than S, performing RLP by using K to determine an effective measurement time Tmr; and
in response to the measured or estimated signal quality not being greater than S,performing RLP by using a measurement time Tm that is used when relaxed RLP is not allowed (par.[0061] fig(s). 5-6 describes the modification of a measurement period using scaling factor if and/or when the UE is capable of performing relaxed RLM/BFD measurements. Otherwise the EU would perform RLM/BFD measurement using a more frequent measurement in a regular measurement period).
Regarding claim 70, Laselva discloses:
a method of serving a wireless device (fig.1 depicts a base station (BS) element 134) performing Radio Link Procedures (RLP. Fig.1 depicts the base station serving the wireless devices in the cell element 136) by a network node (fig.1 the base station as discussed above) operative in a wireless communication network (fig.1 depicts a wireless communications network), the method characterized by:
configuring the wireless device with information related to at least one operational scenario for which relaxed RLP is allowed (fig(s). 2a and 2b wherein the UE receives from the base station RLM-RS resource configuration with relaxation criteria/conditions along with the RRM measurement configuration); and
providing the wireless device at least one of a measurement relaxation scaling factor K (par.[0040] which recites, in part, “The present disclosure targets relaxation of RLM/BFD measurements by increasing the measurement period so that the UE does not perform RLM/BFD measurements more frequently, when compared to RRM measurements, in good radio conditions. This may be achieved by increasing the measurement period (which may be referred to as an evaluation period) for RLM/BFD measurement while keeping the number of samples per period unvaried (minimum required samples met) or by decreasing the number of samples per period while keeping the measurement period unvaried.” That is, by modifying the duration of the measurement period by a factor K, the UE is configured to perform less measurement and thereby relaxing the measurement, par.[0061 and 0081]), a signal quality threshold S (par.[0051] describes the signal quality thresholds that would result in an allowed relaxation), a relation between K and an effective RS occasion periodicity Te, and a relation between S and an effective RS occasion periodicity Te (par.[0072] describes when measurement relaxation is allowed applying the scaling factor which modify the amount of measurement reporting performed at the UE. The signal quality threshold is one of the means for triggering the measurement relaxation which alters the periodicity for monitoring and measuring); and
an indication that the wireless device shall apply both of the determined measurement relaxation scaling factor K and signal quality threshold S for performing the RLP (figs 2a and 2b wherein the UE receives from the network the criteria to allow the modifying the RLM, and/or the conditions, which are directed to the threshold S. This is an indication that the UE should modify the RLM based on conditions which cause the relaxation, as discussed with reference to the figs., and par.[0007] “The RLM-RS resource configuration may include criteria to allow the modifying of a radio link monitoring or beam failure detection measurement period by the UE” The, relaxation being realized by scaling the measurement period or adjust the number of samples taken in a measurement period).
applying at both of the determined measurement relaxation factor K and signal quality threshold S for performing the RLP (fig(s).2a and 2b which depicts in element 264 the RLM-RS resource configuration, wherein the resource configuration also comprises the relaxation criteria and/or the relaxation condition, which comprise the signal quality threshold S. Based on the resource configuration the UE is capable of reception of the reference signals, such as the RLM-RS element 266 and/or the SSB element 268. Based on the reception of the reference signals, the UE is able to use the relaxation factor K in view of the measurement of the signals and evaluation of the threshold S to determine if the signal quality threshold meets the criteria for relaxation of the RLM measurement, see element 270, determine whether relaxation conditions, are satisfied.) by:
measuring or estimating a signal quality metric (fig.2b wherein the UE is sent by gNodeB element 204 SSB and/or RLM-RS with which to measure. Par.[0051 - 0053] which recites, in part, “the UE may monitor UE’s link quality based on, for example, measurements, to determine that one or more relaxation conditions, as defined in the RLM-RS resource configuration, are satisfied”. That is, the UE determines a signal quality metric based on the measurement of signal received from the base station);
if the measured or estimated signal quality metric is above the determined signal quality threshold S (par.[0051] which recites, in part, “ii) absolute signal level of serving cell above a threshold (e.g., a second threshold, which may be the same Q.sub.out threshold) which may indicate that the UE is not in cell-edge conditions;”. That is, when the signal quality is above a threshold, then, the network and UE may determine that the UE is in optimal serving cell conditions), applying relaxed RLP (par.[0051] which recites, in part, “the relaxation conditions that may be considered to determine whether to allow relaxation of RLM/BFD measurements may include one or more of….”) by scaling the effective RS occasion periodicity Te by the measurement relaxation scaling factor K the RS occasions are in (as discussed above in par.[0040] the “The present disclosure targets relaxation of RLM/BFD measurements by increasing the measurement period so that the UE does not perform RLM/BFD measurements more frequently. And par.[0061] describes scaling the RLM measurement period. and fig(s) 5a, 5b, 6a and 6b, which are the scaling applied to the number of samples measured, or increasing the duration of the measurement period, see par.[0031, 0040] wherein the scaling factor Ceil (10xP) is multiplied by max(Tssb, Rperiod) whichever is the greater of the two. When the scaling factor is multiplied by the Tssb, the Tssb is scaled effecting the number of samples e.g. the reference signal occasions that are in the measurement period or the extended measurement period is scaled); and
if the measured or estimated signal quality metric is not above the determined signal quality threshold S, performing RLP using a RS occasion periodicity T where T < Te (fig.5a Note2: Rperiod is the relaxed measurement that is set to the SMTCperiod, while TSSB is the traditional period configured for RLM. That is, when the RLP is relaxed the UE would use Rperiod which is the relaxed measurement period as opposed to the TSSB which is the more frequent traditional measurement period, par.[0081]. That is, the measurement period Rperiod may be extended as discussed above, or the number of samples in a period may be reduced, otherwise the UE would utilize a traditional measurement period with a pre-configured traditional periodicity of the reference signals in a non-relaxed manner).
Claim(s) 57 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Laselva as applied to claim 51, in view of Sabouri-Schani et al. (US 2022/0167230 A1).
Regarding claim 57, the disclosure of Laselva teaches:
wherein low wireless device mobility (par.[0031] as discussed above), but does not disclose, wherein low mobility includes the wireless device is stationary, and the wireless device is moving at a speed below a predetermined threshold.
In an analogous art, the disclosure of Sabouri-Schani teaches:
wherein low wireless device mobility includes the wireless device is stationary, and the wireless device is moving at a speed below a predetermined threshold (par.[0068] which recites, in part, “It has been agreed that a UE may utilize different power saving schemes as specified in 3GPP TR 38.840. A power saving scheme “power consumption reduction in RRM measurements”, is described in TR 38.840 section 5.3, where, if certain conditions (e.g., low mobility deployment, low UE speed, and/or favorable RSRP conditions) are fulfilled, RRM measurements are adapted to more relaxed requirements.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the instant application to combine the teachings of Laselva for determining whether the UE may perform relaxed UE measurement with the disclosure of Sabouri-Sichani which teaches mobility and speed thresholds. The motivation/suggestion would have been that 3GPP established that it would be prudent to modify the measurement on a UE which is in a low mobile state to reduce power consumption at the UE.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Sharma et al. (US 2022/0131596 A1) “Communications Device and Method for Adapting Relaxed Radio Measurement Procedure” fig.6
Chen et al. (US 2022/0053350 A1) “Measurement Method, Configuration Method, Terminal, and Network-Side Device”, par.[0210]
Laselva et al. (US 2024/0080772 A1) “Handling of Measurement Relaxation and Other Activity Skipping”
You et al. (US 2021/0400589 A1) “Techniques for Radio Resource Management Measurements and User Equipment Power Consumption”
He et al. (US 2019/0254110 A1) “Method and Apparatus for Power Savings at a User Equipment”, par.[0389 – 0401].
Thangarasa et al. (US 2021/0105719 A1) “Methods for Reducing User Equipment Power Consumption in Presence of Wake-Up Signal”
Kaikkonen et al. (US 2021/0392525 A1) “Method for Power Consumption Reduction for Measurement Configurations”
Kaikkonen et al. (US 2022/0007293 A1) “Method for Adapting UE RRM Measurements for Power Saving”, par.[0008].
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JAMAAL HENSON
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2411
/JAMAAL HENSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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