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)(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, 6, 8-10, 16-17 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhu (US Pub. 2022/0239423).
Regarding claim 1, Zhu discloses a communication method comprising:
receiving, by a terminal device, a first message from a first network device, wherein the first message comprises handover indication information and identification information of a second network device, and the handover indication information is used to indicate the terminal device to perform processing for cell handover (par.0402 “various TCI state… ……indication for an inter-cell system…. the non-serving cell ……..broadcast…….signaling index values from that of the serving cell”); and
performing processing, by the terminal device, for handing over the terminal device from the first network device to the second network device based on the first message (par.0184 during and after hand over when a TCI associated with non-serving cell RS is indicated”).
Regarding claim 6, Zhu discloses a communication method comprising:
generating, by a first network device, a first message from a first network device, wherein the first message comprises handover indication information and identification information of a second network device (par.0402 “various TCI state… ……indication for an inter-cell system…. the non-serving cell ……..broadcast…….signaling index values from that of the serving cell”), and the handover indication information (par.006 “The BS includes…to transmit, to a UE: a configuration for inter-cell operation; a TCI state”) is used to indicate the terminal device to perform processing for cell handover (par.0184 during and after hand over when a TCI associated with non-serving cell RS is indicated”).
Regarding claim 8, Zhu discloses the first message further comprises a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state index (fig. 14A) and additional information, and the additional information comprises at least one of a preamble, a mask index (consideration is optional), or a synchronization signal block SSB index (par.0128, table 1).
Regarding claims 9, 16 and 19, Zhu discloses the first message further comprises a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state index, and a TCI state indicated by the TCI state index is a TCI state of the second network device (fig. 14A).
Regarding claim 10, Zhu discloses everything as claim 1 above. More specifically, Zhu disclose a communication apparatus comprising a processor and a transceiver; the transceiver is configured to receive a first message from a first network device (par.054-056).
Regarding claims 17 and 20, Zhu discloses receiving media access control-control element (MAC-CE) signaling from the first network device, where the MAC-CE signaling is used for activating one or more of a plurality of TCI states, and the one or more activated TCI states include a TCI state of the second network device (par.0256).
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 2, 5, 7, 11 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu (US Pub. 2022/0239423) in view of Chin (US Pub. 2020/0383021).
Regarding claims 2, 7 and 11, Zhu discloses a TCI state indicated by the TCI state index is a TCI state of the second network device; and the processing performed, by the terminal device, for handing over the terminal device from the first network device to the second network device based on the first message comprises: performing, by the terminal device, beam switching based on the TCI state indicated by the TCI state index (par.117 “switch to a beam associated with another cell”, par.0402 “TCI state/beam indication……associated with…..the non-serving cell”, fig. 14A). However, Zhu fails to teach communicating with the second network device based on the timing indicated by the timing indication information.
Chin discloses communicating with the second network device based on the timing indicated by the timing indication information (par.099-100). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of Zhu with the above teaching of Chin in order to provide a timing advance value provide in the random access response.
The modified Zhu discloses performing, by the terminal device, beam switching based on the TCI state indicated by the TCI state index (Zhu, par.117 “switch to a beam associated with another cell”, par.0402 “TCI state/beam indication……associated with…..the non-serving cell”, fig. 14A), and communicating with the second network device based on the timing indicated by the timing indication information (Chin, par.099-100, “a timing advance value”).
Regarding claims 5 and 14, Zhu fails to disclose receiving, by the terminal device, a random access response message, the random access response message includes uplink timing information; wherein the uplink timing information includes at least one of an uplink timing advance or an uplink timing advance offset.
Chin discloses receiving, by the terminal device, a random access response message, the random access response message includes uplink timing information; wherein the uplink timing information includes at least one of an uplink timing advance or an uplink timing advance offset (par.096 “a random-access channel preamble”, par. 099-0100 “a timing advance value”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of Zhu with the above teaching of Chin in order to provide a timing advance value provide in the random access response.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4, 12-13 and 15 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.
Conclusion
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/TU X NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2642
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