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 Restriction
Applicant’s Restriction arguments, see applicant’s remark, filed on 12/10/2025, with respect to claims 1-30 have been acknowledged. The applicant elects, without traverse, Group I, claims 1-15.
Claim Objections
Claim 15 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claim 15, line 1, the term “The method of claim 1” should be changed to “The method of claim 10”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 4, 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 4, the term “the RRC reestablishment request message” has no antecedent basis. The same issue exists in claim 13.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-3, 5-12, 14, 15 are allowed. The prior art of record fails to disclose the features to transmit, to at least one of a source master network entity or a target master network entity, an indication of a first entity change from the source master network entity to the target master network entity and a second entity change from a source secondary network entity to a target secondary network entity, the remote UE being connected to the source master network entity through a first relayed link via a first relay UE before the first entity change; …transmit, to the target master network entity during the RRC reestablishment procedure, one or more measurements corresponding to the second entity change; receive, from the target master network entity, a dual connectivity configuration based on the transmitted one or more measurements, the dual connectivity configuration corresponding to the first entity change and the second entity change, the remote UE being connected to the target master network entity through a second relayed link via a second relay UE after the first entity change; and communicate with the target master network entity and the target secondary network entity based on the dual connectivity configuration, as recited in claim 1 and similarly recited in claim 10.
Claims 4, 13 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Kim et al. (Pub No.: 2022/0053390) discloses a method and apparatus for supporting of inter-gNB handover in higher layer multi-connectivity is provided. A target master node (MN) of an inter-MN handover procedure receives a handover request message including information on a redundancy sequence number (RSN) from a source MN of the inter-MN handover procedure. The information on the RSN informs that a protocol data unit (PDU) session mapped to the RSN is allocated to a secondary node (SN) of the inter-MN handover procedure for redundant transmission.
Selvaganapathy et al. (Pub No.: 2023/0379771) discloses an apparatus comprising means for controlling execution of a plurality of conditional mobility procedures, the conditional mobility procedures comprising a first conditional mobility procedure comprising a first configuration initiated by a first network node, and a second conditional mobility procedure comprising a second configuration initiated by a second network node, wherein controlling execution of the plurality of conditional mobility procedures comprises controlling sequential execution of the first and second conditional mobility procedures based on the first configuration and the second configuration.
Zhang et al. (Pub No.: 2019/0253939) discloses a UE (10) provides information on potential S′eNB(s). The information is forwarded from an MeNB (20_1) to an M′eNB (20_2) such that the M′eNB (20_2) can determine, before the handover happens, whether the M′eNB (20_2) will configure a new SeNB (S′eNB) and which S′eNB the M′eNB (20_2) will configure. In one of options, the MeNB (20_1) derives a key S′-KeNB for communication protection between the UE (10) and the S′eNB (30_1), and send the S′-KeNB to the M′eNB (20_2). In another option, the M′eNB (20_2) derives the S′-KeNB from a key KeNB* received from the MeNB (20_1). The M′eNB (20_2) sends the S′-KeNB to the S′eNB (30_1). Moreover, there are also provided several variations to perform SeNB Release, SeNB Addition, Bearer Modification and the like, in which the order and/or timing thereof can be different during the handover procedure.
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/KAN YUEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464