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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/25/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xie et al., US 2022 0400415 A1 (hereinafter “Xie”) in view of Jiang, US 2020 0045602 A1 (hereinafter “Jiang”).
Regarding Claim 3, Xie teaches a User Equipment (UE) (Page 9, Paragraphs 290-291, Fig. 5, terminal information reporting apparatus 50, transceiver module 51), comprising:
a processor; and
a memory in electronic communication with the processor, wherein instructions stored in the memory are executable (Page 9, Paragraph 289, Fig. 4, terminal 40, processor 42, memory 43; Page 12, Paragraph 371) to:
if the UE detects a Radio Link failure (RLF) and has stored therein a conditional handover configuration (Xie discloses a reporting method upon detection of a radio link failure, Page 3, Paragraphs 105-106, radio link failure [RLF] report, as well as a stored conditional handover configuration in Page 1, Paragraph 3, conditional handover; Pages 2-3, Paragraphs 70-91, terminal, information of a connection failure or a secondary cell addition failure; Fig. 2, element 4, conditional handover command sent from serving cell to terminal) set time information in a RLF report to a time that has elapsed between reception of a latest conditional handover configuration and the detection of the RLF (Page 3, Paragraphs 92-104, information of the failure, time difference, reception of the conditional handover configuration by the terminal and failure detection).
Xie fails to fully teach the limitation:the UE detects a Radio Link failure (RLF)
However, Jiang further teaches the limitation:
the UE detects a Radio Link failure (RLF) (Jiang, Page 5, Paragraphs 122-134, Fig. 5, apparatus for cell handover, modules 410-480)
Although Xie addresses the remaining limitations of claim 3, Jiang demonstrates the following limitations of a User Equipment (UE) (Jiang, Page 3, Paragraph 76, Fig. 1B, UE 20), comprising:
a processor; and
a memory in electronic communication with the processor, wherein instructions stored in the memory (Jiang, Pages 5-6, Paragraphs 135-138, 146, and 149, Fig. 6, apparatus 600, processing component 602, memory 604, communication component 616) are executable to:
if the UE detects a Radio Link failure (RLF) and has stored therein a conditional handover configuration (Jiang, Page 3, Paragraph 63, UE does not execute cell handover immediately when receiving the conditional handover command, only when a target tell meets a handover condition; Pages 4-5, Paragraphs 95-110, Fig. 2-3, conditional handover of the UE), set time information in a RLF report to a time that has elapsed between reception of a latest conditional handover configuration and the detection of the RLF (Jiang, Paragraphs 95-96, Steps 210, preset handover command; Paragraphs 97-109, Steps 220-270, radio link failure detection, information recording in the radio link-failure report; Paragraphs 105-110, time information, time interval).
Jiang and Xie are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of hand-off or reselection arrangements of wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Xie to incorporate the teachings of Jiang in further demonstrate the user equipment’s ability to detect radio link failure. Doing so would enable a communication device with an enhanced ability to detect failure in a conditional handover configuration scenario.
Regarding Claim 4, Xie in view of Jiang teaches a reporting method of User Equipment (UE) (Xie, Pages 6-7, Paragraphs 213-240, Fig. 1, Steps 11-12, UE reporting method; Jiang, Pages 4-5, Paragraphs 95-110, Fig. 2-3, conditional handover of the UE, Steps 210-270, Paragraphs 111-117, Steps 310-320), comprising:
if the UE detects a Radio Link failure (RLF) and has stored therein a conditional handover configuration (Xie, Pages 6-7, Paragraphs 214-228, Step 11, reporting, from the UE to a network device, information of a connection failure; Jiang, Paragraphs 95-96, Steps 210, preset handover command), setting time information in a RLF report to a time that has elapsed between reception of a latest conditional handover configuration and the detection of the RLF (Xie, Pages 6-7, Paragraph 215-218, connection failure type, information; Paragraph 219-227, time difference; Page 7, Paragraphs 230-240, Step 12, reporting measurement information of the cell, source cell, target cell, candidate target cell; Page 7, Paragraph 234, radio link failure [RLF] report; Jiang, Pages 4-5, Paragraphs 95-96, Steps 210, preset handover command; Paragraphs 97-109, Steps 220-270, radio link failure detection, information recording in the radio link-failure report; Paragraphs 105-110, time information, time interval).
Regarding Claim 5, Xie in view of Jiang teaches a base station apparatus (Xie, Page 3, Paragraph 104, source base station; Jiang, Page 3, Paragraph 76, Fig. 1B, eNB 10), comprising:
a processor; and a memory in electronic communication with the processor, wherein instructions stored in the memory are executable (Xie, Page 10-11, Paragraph 318, Paragraph 343, Fig. 6, network device, processor 62, memory 63; Page 12, Paragraph 371) to:
transmit a conditional handover configuration to User Equipment (UE) (Xie, Page 3, Paragraph 104, source base station, target base station to which the terminal is handed over; Page 10, Paragraphs 318, transceiver 61; Jiang, Pages 3-4, Paragraph 62, Fig. 1A, Step 110, handover command transmitted by a base station to UE; Paragraph 95-96, preset handover command transmitted by a base station), thereby causing the UE to:
store the conditional handover configuration (Xie, Page 1, Paragraph 3, conditional handover; Jiang, Page 3, Paragraph 63, UE does not execute cell handover immediately when receiving the conditional handover command, only when a target tell meets a handover condition); and
if the UE detects a Radio Link failure (RLF), set time information in a RLF report to a time that has elapsed between reception of a latest conditional handover configuration and the detection of the RLF (Xie, Pages 6-7, Paragraphs 213-240, Fig. 1, Steps 11-12; Jiang, Pages 4-5, Paragraphs 95-110, Fig. 2-3, conditional handover of the UE, Steps 210-270, Paragraphs 111-117, Steps 310-320).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GABRIELLE N DAI whose telephone number is (571)272-6693. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Thu. 8:30am - 5:30pm.
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/GABRIELLE N DAI/Examiner, Art Unit 2681
/AKWASI M SARPONG/SPE, Art Unit 2681
01/10/2026