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 .
DETAILED ACTION
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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) 1-3, 6-9, 12-15, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US 20230116823 A1 to Yang; Li et al.
Re: Claim(s) 1, 7, 13
Yang discloses a multi-connectivity communication method, applied to a terminal device and comprising (Figs. 4-6):
obtaining a first rule from a master node (Fig. 6 and 0117 - At 600, a third message sent by a first master node or a secondary node is received, and a fourth message is returned to the first master node or the secondary node, wherein the third message carries at least one SRBk selected by the first master node and third information, and the third information includes information indicating whether the first master node enables or configures or activates the UE to perform fast recovery of a primary radio link failure. 0119 - the third message further carries a priority of each of the at least one selected SRBk for subsequent fast recovery of the primary radio link failure. 0121 - fast recovery of the primary radio link failure may be performed via the at least one SRBk in a descending order of the priority of each of the at least one SRBk. For example, fast recovery of the primary radio link failure is performed via the SRBk with the highest priority, and in a case where fast recovery of the primary radio link failure cannot be completed via the SRBk with the highest priority, fast recovery of the primary radio link failure is performed via the SRBk with the second highest priority, and so on. The Examiner notes that the priority order indicated in the third message is a rule);
determining, according to the first rule in response to the terminal device detecting a link problem of the master node, a first secondary node from N secondary nodes configured for the terminal device, wherein N≥2 (0121 - fast recovery of the primary radio link failure may be performed via the at least one SRBk in a descending order of the priority of each of the at least one SRBk. For example, fast recovery of the primary radio link failure is performed via the SRBk with the highest priority, and in a case where fast recovery of the primary radio link failure cannot be completed via the SRBk with the highest priority, fast recovery of the primary radio link failure is performed via the SRBk with the second highest priority, and so on. The Examiner notes that selecting an SRBk in order of descending priority indicates that there are at least 2 SRBk to select from);
and sending first information to the master node through the first secondary node, wherein the first information indicates that the terminal device has detected the link problem of the master node (0121 – performance of fast recovery of primary radio link failure disclosed. 0003 – manner of informing a MCG of a RLF via an SCG disclosed).
Yang further discloses:
An apparatus corresponding to the method of claim 1 comprising a processor and memory (0188-0190 – electronic device comprising processor and memory), as required by claim 7; and
A non-transitory computer readable medium corresponding to the method of claim 1 (0193 – computer readable medium), as required by claim 13.
Re: Claim(s) 2, 8, 14
Yang discloses wherein: the first rule indicates M secondary nodes in the N secondary nodes, where M≤N; and determining, according to the first rule, the first secondary node from the N secondary nodes configured for the terminal device comprises determining the first secondary node from the M secondary nodes (Fig. 5 and 0093-0096 - third information is determined according to the first information in the at least one first message sent by at least one secondary node, wherein the third information includes information indicating whether the first master node enables or configures or activates UE to perform fast recovery of the primary radio link failure. The Examiner notes that the master node determines which secondary nodes have the capability to support fast recovery of the primary radio link failure and includes those secondary nodes in the third information. This would mean that out of all the secondary nodes possible (i.e. N nodes), a subset is selected (i.e. M nodes) to be included in the third information).
Re: Claim(s) 3, 9, 15
Yang discloses wherein determining the first secondary node from the M secondary nodes comprises: using a secondary node in which no link problem is detected in the M secondary nodes as the first secondary node; or using a secondary node in which no link problem is detected and whose signal quality is higher than a first signal quality threshold in the M secondary nodes as the first secondary node, wherein the first signal quality threshold is preconfigured, or the first signal quality threshold is comprised in the first rule; or determining the first secondary node from a secondary node other than the M secondary nodes in the N secondary nodes in response to all the M secondary nodes having a link problem or in response to a signal quality of all of the M secondary nodes being lower than a second signal quality threshold (0121 - fast recovery of the primary radio link failure is performed via the SRBk with the highest priority, and in a case where fast recovery of the primary radio link failure cannot be completed via the SRBk with the highest priority, fast recovery of the primary radio link failure is performed via the SRBk with the second highest priority, and so on. The Examiner notes that “no link problem” is broadly claimed, thus broadly interpreted. Selecting a SRBk in which primary radio link failure can be completed is indicative of a selecting a SRBk with no link problem).
Re: Claim(s) 6, 12, 18
Yang discloses receiving first indication information from the master node, wherein: the first indication information indicates a quantity of times that the terminal device is allowed to send the first information; or the first indication information indicates that if no response for the first information is received, the terminal device is allowed to select a secondary node other than the first secondary node in the N secondary nodes to send the first information; or the first indication information indicates a first duration within which the terminal device is allowed to send the first information (0121 - fast recovery of the primary radio link failure is performed via the SRBk with the highest priority, and in a case where fast recovery of the primary radio link failure cannot be completed via the SRBk with the highest priority, fast recovery of the primary radio link failure is performed via the SRBk with the second highest priority, and so on. The Examiner notes if a particular SRBk with a higher priority cannot be used to complete fast recovery of the primary radio link failure, this would imply that said the UE did not receive any response to the fast recovery attempt via said SRBk).
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.
Claim(s) 4, 5, 10, 11, 16, 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US 20220394583 A1 to Deenoo; Yugeswar et al.
Re: Claim(s) 4, 10, 16
Yang discloses those limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim(s) 1 above.
Yang does/do not appear to explicitly disclose the first rule indicates a third signal quality threshold; and determining, according to the first rule, the first secondary node from the N secondary nodes configured for the terminal device comprises: determining, based on the third signal quality threshold, the first secondary node from the N secondary nodes, wherein signal quality of the first secondary node is higher than the third signal quality threshold.
However, attention is directed to Deenoo which discloses said limitation (0100 - the WTRU may be configured to apply an SCG configuration if an RLF is detected in the MCG. 0107 - Given a plurality of SCG configurations, a WTRU may select an SCG for activation. For example, a WTRU may be configured with a plurality of dormant SCG configurations and each of the SCG configurations may include a PSCell and zero or more SCells. The WTRU may select an SCG for activation based on preconfigured criteria. The WTRU may select the SCG that has the best PSCell or SCell (e.g., based on RRM measurements). The WTRU may select the SCG that has the best PSCell or SCell based on channel state information (CSI) measurements. The WTRU may select the SCG that is configured with a dedicated RACH resource. The WTRU may select the SCG with the highest number of beams above a threshold. The WTRU may select the SCG with the highest number of SCells meeting a minimum RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, and/or CSI threshold. The WTRU may select the last active SCG).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Yang invention by employing the teaching as taught by Deenoo to provide the ability to select an SCG for MCG failure recovery based upon an SCG having an signal quality above a minimum threshold. The motivation for the combination is given by Deenoo (Abstract and 0002).
Re: Claim(s) 5, 11, 17
Yang discloses those limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim(s) 1 above.
Yang does/do not appear to explicitly disclose a status of the terminal device on the first secondary node is a deactivated state; and the method further comprises triggering switching of the status of the terminal device on the first secondary node from the deactivated state to an activated state.
However, attention is directed to Deenoo which discloses said limitation (0100 - the WTRU may be configured to apply an SCG configuration if an RLF is detected in the MCG. 0106-0107 - A WTRU may be configured to handle a SCG state based on a condition. For example, the WTRU may be configured to activate (or deactivate) an SCG (e.g., an SCG configuration) based on one or more preconfigured triggers. For example, the WTRU may be configured with one or more SCG configurations that may be dormant and the WTRU may be further configured with one or more configurations or conditions for activating a SCG configuration (e.g., move the SCG configuration from a dormant state to an activated state) … Given a plurality of SCG configurations, a WTRU may select an SCG for activation).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Yang invention by employing the teaching as taught by Deenoo to provide the ability to activate a dormant SCG in order to utilize it for the purpose of MCG RLF recovery. The motivation for the combination is given by Deenoo (Abstract and 0002).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KASHIF SIDDIQUI whose telephone number is (571)270-3188. The examiner can normally be reached on M-R 6:00 EST to 16:00 EST.
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/KASHIF SIDDIQUI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415