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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 USC 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the application file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement submitted on June 28, 2024 has been considered by the examiner and made of record in the application file.
Claim Objections
Claim 20 is objected to because of the following informalities: There are two “.” on line 9 of claim 20. Please delete one of the “.” Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 2, and 8-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable over Parichehrehteroujeni et al. (US PGPUB 2022/0141725 A1, hereinafter Parichehrehteroujeni) in view of Zhang et al. (US PGPUB 2024/0406811 A1, hereinafter Zhang) in view of Li et al. (US PGPUB 2024/0323711 A1, hereinafter Li).
Consider claim 1. Parichehrehteroujeni discloses an apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor (fig. 9, paragraph 184, 187, read as the wireless device 610 includes processing circuitry 620, device readable medium 630, where processing circuitry 620 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 630 or in memory within processing circuitry 620 to provide the functionality disclosed herein), cause the apparatus at least to perform:
detecting that a timer, expiry of which causes declaration of a radio link failure with the serving cell, has reached a threshold value (paragraphs 80, 145, read as the UE monitors T304 timer that is a timer associated with the detection of RLF, where the UE detects that time T304 exceeds a threshold); and
after successful execution of the transfer, controlling the transmission or the content of a transfer report based on the detecting (paragraph 145, read as the UE can flag for the network the successful handover report and include handover related timers (e.g., T304 timer) if such timers exceed a given threshold indicating long latency in the successful handover procedure).
Parichehrehteroujeni substantially discloses the claimed invention and at least implicitly teaches that a communication link between an apparatus and a serving cell as well as executing of a transfer since Parichehrehteroujeni is concerned with handover, but fails to explicitly teach establishing a radio communications link between the apparatus and a serving cell of a telecommunications network and executing a transfer of the radio communications link from the serving cell to a target cell of the telecommunications network.
However, Zhang teaches establishing a radio communications link between the apparatus and a serving cell of a telecommunications network and executing a transfer of the radio communications link from the serving cell to a target cell of the telecommunications network (fig. 7, paragraphs 72, 73, where Zhang shows communication between the UE and the source cell establishing RRCReconfiguration. In addition, Zhang teaches activation/switching to a target cell).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Zhang into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni in order to improve communications and meet reliability requirements for the vertical industry as well as support the new generation network service.
Parichehrehteroujeni and Zhang disclose the claimed invention but fail to teach the timer has reached a threshold value but has been stopped prior to expiry and prior to execution of the transfer.
However, Li teaches the timer has reached a threshold value but has been stopped prior to expiry and prior to execution of the transfer (paragraph 16, read as the average wideband CQI over another time period goes above the threshold (e.g., Qin), an in-sync indication may be reported before an RLF timer expires, the RLF timer is stopped, where this occurs prior to any handover).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Li into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni and Zhang in order to provide good cell quality criteria for radio link monitoring to recover radio links.
Consider claim 2 and as applied to claim 1. Parichehrehteroujeni discloses wherein controlling the content of the transfer report based on the detecting comprises controlling the content of the transfer report to include an indication that the timer was stopped prior to expiry of the timer and prior to execution of the transfer (paragraph 145).
Consider claim 8 and as applied to claim 1. Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li disclose wherein the transfer report includes information indicative of measurements relating to the transfer of the radio communications link from the serving cell to the target cell (Zhang; paragraph 106).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Zhang into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni in order to improve communications and meet reliability requirements for the vertical industry as well as support the new generation network service.
Consider claim 9 and as applied to claim 8. Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li disclose wherein compilation of the measurements is initiated at the apparatus responsive to the timer reaching the threshold value (Zhang; paragraph 107).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Zhang into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni in order to improve communications and meet reliability requirements for the vertical industry as well as support the new generation network service.
Consider claim 10 and as applied to claim 8. Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li disclose wherein the measurements relating to the transfer of the radio communications link are performed by the apparatus during a time interval between (i) a configuration of the apparatus for the transfer of the radio communications link and (ii) an execution of the transfer of the radio communications link (Zhang; paragraphs 72, 73).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Zhang into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni in order to improve communications and meet reliability requirements for the vertical industry as well as support the new generation network service.
Consider claim 11 and as applied to claim 8. Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li disclose wherein the measurements relating to the transfer of the radio communications link comprise at least one of: measurements of signals received at the apparatus from the serving cell; measurements of signals received at the apparatus from the target cell; or measurements of signals received at the apparatus from a neighbouring cell of the telecommunication network (Zhang; paragraph 106).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Zhang into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni in order to improve communications and meet reliability requirements for the vertical industry as well as support the new generation network service.
Consider claim 12 and as applied to claim 1. Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li disclose wherein the transfer report further includes outage timing information for at least one temporary deterioration in signal quality of the radio communications link between the apparatus and the serving cell (Zhang; paragraph 91).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Zhang into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni in order to improve communications and meet reliability requirements for the vertical industry as well as support the new generation network service.
Consider claim 13 and as applied to claim 12. Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li disclose wherein the outage timing information for the at least one temporary deterioration in signal quality comprises at least one of: a time interval between (i) a configuration of the apparatus for the transfer of the radio communications link and (ii) a starting of the timer; a time interval between (i) a starting of the timer and (ii) a stopping of the timer; a time interval between (i) a stopping of the timer and (ii) the execution of the transfer of the radio communications link; or a time interval between (i) a starting of the timer and (ii) the execution of the transfer of the radio communications link (Zhang; paragraph 91).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Zhang into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni in order to improve communications and meet reliability requirements for the vertical industry as well as support the new generation network service.
Consider claim 14 and as applied to claim 12. Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li disclose wherein the outage timing information for the at least one temporary deterioration in signal quality comprises at least one of: a number of the at least one temporary deterioration in signal quality; a time interval between (i) a configuration of the apparatus for the transfer of the radio communications link and (ii) a first starting of the timer; a time interval between (i) a last stopping of the timer and (ii) the execution of the transfer of the radio communications link; or a time interval between (i) a last starting of the timer and (ii) the execution of the transfer of the radio communications link (Zhang; paragraphs 91, 101).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Zhang into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni in order to improve communications and meet reliability requirements for the vertical industry as well as support the new generation network service.
Consider claim 15 and as applied to claim 1. Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li disclose wherein the apparatus is preconfigured to autonomously trigger execution of the transfer based on configuration information received from the serving cell via the radio communications link (Zhang; paragraphs 99, 101).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Zhang into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni in order to improve communications and meet reliability requirements for the vertical industry as well as support the new generation network service.
Consider claim 16 and as applied to claim 15. Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li disclose wherein the configuration information is indicative of at least one condition, and wherein the transfer is executed responsive to the at least one condition being fulfilled (Zhang; paragraphs 99, 101).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Zhang into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni in order to improve communications and meet reliability requirements for the vertical industry as well as support the new generation network service.
Consider claim 17. Parichehrehteroujeni discloses a method comprising:
detecting that a timer, expiry of which causes declaration of a radio link failure with the serving cell, has reached a threshold value (paragraphs 80, 145, read as the UE monitors T304 timer that is a timer associated with the detection of RLF, where the UE detects that time T304 exceeds a threshold); and
after successful execution of the transfer, controlling the transmission or the content of a transfer report based on the detecting (paragraph 145, read as the UE can flag for the network the successful handover report and include handover related timers (e.g., T304 timer) if such timers exceed a given threshold indicating long latency in the successful handover procedure).
Parichehrehteroujeni substantially discloses the claimed invention and at least implicitly teaches that a communication link between an apparatus and a serving cell as well as executing of a transfer since Parichehrehteroujeni is concerned with handover, but fails to explicitly teach establishing a radio communications link between the apparatus and a serving cell of a telecommunications network and executing a transfer of the radio communications link from the serving cell to a target cell of the telecommunications network.
However, Zhang teaches establishing a radio communications link between the apparatus and a serving cell of a telecommunications network and executing a transfer of the radio communications link from the serving cell to a target cell of the telecommunications network (fig. 7, paragraphs 72, 73, where Zhang shows communication between the UE and the source cell establishing RRCReconfiguration. In addition, Zhang teaches activation/switching to a target cell).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Zhang into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni in order to improve communications and meet reliability requirements for the vertical industry as well as support the new generation network service.
Parichehrehteroujeni and Zhang disclose the claimed invention but fail to teach the timer has reached a threshold value but has been stopped prior to expiry and prior to execution of the transfer.
However, Li teaches the timer has reached a threshold value but has been stopped prior to expiry and prior to execution of the transfer (paragraph 16, read as the average wideband CQI over another time period goes above the threshold (e.g., Qin), an in-sync indication may be reported before an RLF timer expires, the RLF timer is stopped, where this occurs prior to any handover).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Li into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni and Zhang in order to provide good cell quality criteria for radio link monitoring to recover radio links.
Consider claim 18 and as applied to claim 17. Parichehrehteroujeni discloses wherein controlling the content of the transfer report based on the detecting comprises controlling the content of the transfer report to include an indication that the timer was stopped prior to expiry of the timer and prior to execution of the transfer (paragraph 145).
Claims 3 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable over Parichehrehteroujeni et al. (US PGPUB 2022/0141725 A1, hereinafter Parichehrehteroujeni) in view of Zhang et al. (US PGPUB 2024/0406811 A1, hereinafter Zhang) in view of Li et al. (US PGPUB 2024/0323711 A1, hereinafter Li) in view of Michel et al. (US PGPUB 2015/0237516 A1, hereinafter Michel).
Consider claim 3 and as applied to claim 1. Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li disclose the claimed invention but fail to teach wherein controlling the transmission of the transfer report based on the detecting comprises refraining from transmitting the transfer report.
However, Michel teaches wherein controlling the transmission of the transfer report based on the detecting comprises refraining from transmitting the transfer report (paragraph 33).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Michel into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li in order to reduce power consumption of the UEs.
Consider claim 19 and as applied to claim 17. Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li disclose the claimed invention but fail to teach wherein controlling the transmission of the transfer report based on the detecting comprises refraining from transmitting the transfer report.
However, Michel teaches wherein controlling the transmission of the transfer report based on the detecting comprises refraining from transmitting the transfer report (paragraph 33).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Michel into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li in order to reduce power consumption of the UEs.
Claims 4-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable over Parichehrehteroujeni et al. (US PGPUB 2022/0141725 A1, hereinafter Parichehrehteroujeni) in view of Zhang et al. (US PGPUB 2024/0406811 A1, hereinafter Zhang) in view of Li et al. (US PGPUB 2024/0323711 A1, hereinafter Li) in view of Thangarasa et al. (US PGPUB 2023/0300655 A1, hereinafter Thangarasa).
Consider claim 4 and as applied to claim 1. Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li disclose the claimed invention but fail to teach wherein the timer is started responsive to a detection of a deterioration in signal quality of the radio communications link between the apparatus and the serving cell.
However, Thangarasa teaches wherein the timer is started responsive to a detection of a deterioration in signal quality of the radio communications link between the apparatus and the serving cell (paragraph 221).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Thangarasa into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li in order to improve the usage efficiency of the resources.
Consider claim 5 and as applied to claim 4. Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, Li, and Thangarasa disclose wherein the deterioration in signal quality of the radio communications link between the apparatus and the serving cell comprises a signal quality metric for the radio communications link between the apparatus and the serving cell falling below a quality deterioration threshold (Thangarasa; paragraph 221).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Thangarasa into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li in order to improve the usage efficiency of the resources.
Consider claim 6 and as applied to claim 1. Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li disclose the claimed invention but fail to teach wherein the timer is stopped responsive to a detection of an improvement in signal quality of the radio communications link between the apparatus and the serving cell subsequent to the timer reaching the threshold value.
However, Thangarasa teaches wherein the timer is stopped responsive to a detection of an improvement in signal quality of the radio communications link between the apparatus and the serving cell subsequent to the timer reaching the threshold value (paragraph 221).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Thangarasa into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li in order to improve the usage efficiency of the resources.
Consider claim 7 and as applied to claim 6. Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, Li, and Thangarasa disclose wherein the improvement in signal quality of the radio communications link between the apparatus and the serving cell comprises a signal quality metric for the radio communications link between the apparatus and the serving cell meeting or exceeding a quality improvement threshold (Thangarasa; paragraph 221).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Thangarasa into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni, Zhang, and Li in order to improve the usage efficiency of the resources.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable over Parichehrehteroujeni et al. (US PGPUB 2022/0141725 A1, hereinafter Parichehrehteroujeni) in view of Li et al. (US PGPUB 2024/0323711 A1, hereinafter Li)
Consider claim 20. Parichehrehteroujeni discloses an apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor (fig. 8, paragraphs 170, 173, read as network node 660 includes processing circuitry 670, device readable medium 680, where processing circuitry 670 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 680 or in memory within processing circuitry 670), cause the apparatus at least to perform:
transmitting or receiving a transfer report relating to a transfer, from a serving cell of a telecommunications network to a target cell of the telecommunications network, of a radio communications link involving a terminal device, the transfer report including an indication that a timer, expiry of which causes declaration, by the terminal device, of a radio link failure with the serving cell, has reached a threshold value (paragraphs 80, 100, 145, read as the UE monitors T304 timer that is a timer associated with the detection of RLF, where the UE detects that time T304 exceeds a threshold. The UE can flag for the network the successful handover report and include handover related timers (e.g., T304 timer) if such timers exceed a given threshold indicating long latency in the successful handover procedure. The target node signals a message to the source node based on the successful handover report, where the target node successfully completed an inbound handover).
Parichehrehteroujeni substantially discloses the claimed invention but fails to teach the timer has reached a threshold value but has been stopped prior to expiry and prior to execution of the transfer.
However, Li teaches the timer has reached a threshold value but has been stopped prior to expiry and prior to execution of the transfer (paragraph 16, read as the average wideband CQI over another time period goes above the threshold (e.g., Qin), an in-sync indication may be reported before an RLF timer expires, the RLF timer is stopped, where this occurs prior to any handover).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Li into the invention of Parichehrehteroujeni in order to provide good cell quality criteria for radio link monitoring to recover radio links.
Conclusion
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/CHRISTOPHER M BRANDT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645 January 10, 2026