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 .
Claims 1-20 are pending in this office action.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-20 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3/13/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The reasons set forth below.
Applicant Argues:
On pages of the remarks, Applicant argues nothing in the cited passage indicates that the T-SN evaluates a plurality of candidate PSCells and selects a subset of the candidate cells. Nor does Wu disclose that the T-SN identifies a new candidate cell that was not among those provided by the MN. Instead, Wu describes a binary acknowledgement associated with proceeding with an immediate SN addition/change, which is functionally different from the claimed response conveying candidate-cell acceptance information for conditional PSCell change. This distinction is reinforced by the context of FIG. 10, which explicitly concerns releasing conditional configuration at the UE in connection with an immediate SN addition/change procedure. (See Wu, [0156]). In such a flow, the T-SN is not negotiating among multiple CPC candidate cells but is preparing the UE to execute the SN addition/change. Accordingly, the cited SN Addition Request Acknowledge message cannot reasonably be interpreted as an indication that a subset of candidate cells were accepted or a new candidate cell was identified for CPC. In contrast, claim 1 recites that the MN receive from the T-SN a response that conveys candidate-cell decision information, specifically, acceptance of only a subset of proposed candidate cells and/or identification of a different candidate cell for conditional PSCell change. Wu neither discloses nor suggests such candidate-selection feedback from the T-SN. For at least these reasons, Wu fails to teach or suggest "receiving a response from the T- SN including an indication that a subset of the one or more candidate cells were accepted by the T-SN and/or an indication identifying a new candidate cell for CPC for the UE" as recited in claim 1, and withdrawal of the rejection of claim 1 is respectfully requested.
In response, the examiner respectfully submits:
Wu discloses in [0171] that RRC Reconfiguration messages that is included in the Acknowledgment message includes one or more Scells of the T-SN. This one or more Scells included in the Acknowledgment message represents the claimed “subset of of the one or more candidate cells).
Applicant Argues:
On pages of the remarks, Applicant argues claim 2 requires that the indication itself include both a list of cells and corresponding configuration information specifically to be applied when CPC is executed. Wu:[0167] contains no teaching or suggestion of packaging accepted CPC candidate cells together with execution-time configuration in the response from the T-SN. Accordingly, Wu fails to teach or suggest that "the indication that the subset of the one or more candidate cells were accepted by the T-SN and/or the indication identifying the new candidate cell for CPC for the UE comprises a list of cells and an associated configuration to be applied upon execution of CPC" as recited in claim 2, and withdrawal of the rejection is respectfully requested.
In response, the examiner respectfully submits:
Wu discloses in [0171] that RRC Reconfiguration messages that is included in the Acknowledgment message includes one or more Scells of the T-SN. This one or more Scells included in the Acknowledgment message represents the claimed “subset of of the one or more candidate cells).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Wu et al (US 2023/0047744 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Wu teaches a method performed by a first network node operating as a Master Node, MN, for a user equipment, UE, configured with Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (Wu: Figs. 1 and 10, [0005], multi-radio dual connectivity), the method comprising:
receiving a first request for conditional PSCell change, CPC, for the UE from a source secondary node, S-SN, the first request indicating a plurality of candidate cells for PSCell configuration (Wu: Figs. 1 and 10:1015; [0164]-[0166], MN receives from S-SN, C-SN change configuration, C-SN configuration comprises plurality of candidate cells, see [0123]),
transmitting a second request for CPC to a candidate target secondary node, T-SN, the second request indicating one or more candidate cells of the plurality of candidate cells for PSCell configuration that are served by the T-SN (Wu: Figs. 1 and 10:1018, [0166]-[0167], MN sends to T-SN C-SN configuration for CPAC; C-SN configuration comprise candidate cells, [0121]-[0123]),
receiving a response from the T-SN including an indication that a subset of the one or more candidate cells were accepted by the T-SN (Wu: Figs. 1 and 10:1022, [0167], [0171] SN addition request ACK in RRC reconfiguration message; the RRC reconfiguration comprising Scells of T-SN) and/or an indication identifying a new candidate cell for CPC for the UE, wherein the new candidate cell is not one of the one or more candidate cells, and
determining whether or not to configure the UE with CPC based on the response from the T-SN (Wu: Fig. 10:1024-1026).
Regarding claim 2, Wu teaches wherein the indication that the subset of the one or more candidate cells were accepted by the T-SN and/or the indication identifying the new candidate cell for CPC for the UE comprises a list of cells and an associated configuration to be applied upon execution of CPC (Wu: Figs. 1 and 10:1022, [0167], AN addition request ACK in RRC reconfiguration message; the RRC reconfiguration comprising Scells of T-SN).
Regarding claim 3, Wu teaches wherein the configuration comprises a radio resource control, RRC, configuration containing a secondary cell group, SCG, configuration (Wu: Figs. 1 and 10, [0124], [0171]).
Regarding claim 4, Wu teaches wherein the SCG configuration comprises a ReconfigurationWithSync information element for the SCG (Wu: Figs. 1 and 10, [0114]).
Regarding claim 5, Wu teaches wherein the first request comprises a secondary cell group measurement configuration, SCG MeasConfig, and an execution condition for performing CPC towards one or more of the plurality of candidate cells (Wu: Figs. 1 and 10, [0129], [0168]).
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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/KODZOVI ACOLATSE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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