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
Applicant’s arguments, filed on 06/08/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claims 1, 8, 15 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Selvaganapathy et al, (WO 2022/028920 A1).
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 1-4, 8-11, 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticpated by Selvaganapathy et al, (WO 2022/028920 A1), hereinafter as “Selv”.
Regarding claim 1, 8 and 15, Selv teaches a method comprising:
receiving, by a wireless device, at least one second reference signal of a second cell that is configured as a resource of a first cell, wherein the first cell comprises a primary cell of the wireless device (see abstract, “receiving configuration information comprising at least a handover execution condition for a primary cell; multiple addition conditions for multiple primary secondary cells for dual connectivity with the primary cell, wherein the addition conditions comprise at least: an addition condition for a first one of multiple primary secondary cells for dual connectivity with the primary cell”, it's noted that the primary secondary cell – configured in advance, in association with and for dual connectivity with (not in replacement of) the primary cell - is a secondary cell that is configured as a resource of a first cell; also see page 18, lines 1-8: “The MeasID is an identifier of a measurement configuration used, for example, to define a measurement configuration 24, 34 required in a handover execution condition 22 or an addition condition 32. The MeasObjectID is an identifier of a specific measurement configuration 23, 34. For example, one MeasObjectID could specify measurement of RSRP”, RSRP is Reference Signal Received Power – a measurement performed on reference signals transmitted by the measured cell. Selv therefore discloses the wireless device receiving and measuring at least one reference signal of the primary secondary cell pursuant to the addition measurement configuration for that cell);
determining, based on a quality of the at least one second reference signal, that a radio resource control (RRC) connection is reliable (Page 6, last paragraph, “Configuration information for dual connectivity to a primary secondary cell. The DC configuration information can comprises an addition condition for a primary secondary cell for dual connectivity with the primary cell and a measurement configuration for configuring measurements for an addition condition for the primary secondary cell for dual connectivity with the primary cell i.e. dual connectivity of the UE with both the primary cell and the primary secondary cell. Triggering addition of a primary secondary cell for dual connectivity is dependent upon the measurements meeting the addition condition for the primary secondary cell”, page 6, line 2, “This is a mode of operation of a UE in RRC_CONNECTED”, configured with a Master Cell Group and a Secondary Cell Group); and
communicating, based on the determining, with the second cell via the RRC connection (see page 6, last para, “Configuration information for dual connectivity to a primary secondary cell. The DC configuration information can comprises an addition condition for a primary secondary cell for dual connectivity with the primary cell and a measurement configuration for configuring measurements for an addition condition for the primary secondary cell for dual connectivity with the primary cell i.e. dual connectivity of the UE with both the primary cell and the primary secondary cell. Triggering addition of a primary secondary cell for dual connectivity is dependent upon the measurements meeting the addition condition for the primary secondary cell”, page 6, 1st para, “Dual Connectivity (DC): UE has contemporaneous connection to an MN and an SN. This is a mode of operation of a UE in RRC_CONNECTED, configured with a Master Cell Group and a Secondary Cell Group”).
Regarding claim 2, 9, 16, Selv further teaches receiving, by the wireless device, at least one of: first configuration parameters of the first cell; and second configuration parameters of the second cell that is configured as the resource of the first cell (page 6, last para: “the DC configuration information can comprises an addition condition for a primary secondary cell for dual connectivity with the primary cell and a measurement configuration for configuring measurements for an addition condition for the primary secondary cell for dual connectivity with the primary cell i.e. dual connectivity of the UE with both the primary cell and the primary secondary cell”).
Regarding claim 3, 10, 17, Selv further teaches that the first configuration parameters of the first cell comprise the second configuration parameters of the second cell (page 17, lines 32 to page 18, line 9; all of the configuration information is provided in a single RRCReconfiguration message, wherein the configuration information comprises the configuration information for handover to the primary cell and the configuration information for dual connectivity to the multiple primary secondary cells, and wherein a single measConfig information element defines both the handover measurement configuration for the primary cell’s execution condition and the measurement configurations for the primary secondary cells’ addition conditions”).
Regarding claim 4, 11, 18, Slev further teaches that the second configuration parameters of the second cell are for the wireless device to use the second cell as at least one of: resources of the first cell (page 6, last para: “The DC configuration information can comprises an addition condition for a primary secondary cell for dual connectivity with the primary cell and a measurement configuration for configuring measurements for an addition condition for the primary secondary cell for dual connectivity with the primary cell”, dual connection with first cell, therefore the secondary cell is a resource of the first cell).
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 5-6, 12-13 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Slev in view of Khoshnevisan et al (US 2022/0021498 A1).
Regarding claim 5, 12, 19, the aforementioned references teach all of the limitations except
that the second configuration parameters of the second cell comprise a physical cell identifier (PCI) of the second cell. Khoshnevisan teaches the above limitation ([0025], "non-serving cell PCI may be configured by dedicated RRC signaling for a serving cell/component carrier (CC) (e.g., Pcell or Scell)").
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the teaching of Khoshnevisan in the system disclosed by Slev. The reason for the combination is that UE must demodulate the Scell independently which requires a PCI.
Regarding claim 6, 13 and 20, the aforementioned references further teaches that the wireless
device determines the PCI based on a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) of the second cell (Yi, [0150]).
Claim 7 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Slev,
further in view of Li et al (US 2014/0192775 A1).
Regarding claim 7 and 14, Slev teach all of the limitations except that the first configuration parameters comprise a first cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) for the first cell; and the second configuration parameters comprise a second C-RNTI for the second cell.
Li teaches the above limitation ([0140], "the UE can be configured with a different C-RNTI for a serving cell (that is not the PCell) than the C-RNTI configured for the PCell"; [0149], "C-RNTI is configured by RRC for a cell when the cell is added").
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person
of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the teaching of Li in the system disclosed by Slev because security & scrambling sequences for communication depend on C-RNTI.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SIMING LIU whose telephone number is (571)270-3859. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 8:30am-5:00pm.
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/SIMING LIU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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