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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: A BASE STATION DEVICE THAT PERFORMS DIRECTLY WIRELESSLY WITH A TERMINAL DEVICE OR REFLECTION COMMUNICATION WITH THE TERMINAL DEVICE USING RADIO WAVES REFLECTED BY A REFLECTION DEVICE.
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.
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.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US 20230370931, hereinafter “Wang”) and further in view of Tayal et al. (US 10499294, hereinafter “Tayal”).
Regarding claim 1, Wang discloses,
A base station device that performs normal communication to directly wirelessly connect to a terminal device (Each UE can communicate with base stations 120 (illustrated as base stations 121 and 122) through one or more wireless communication links 130 (wireless link 130), illustrated as wireless links 131 and 132, Fig. 1 and [0027]) or reflection communication to communicate with a terminal device using radio waves reflected by a reflection device (The signal ray 190 and signal ray 191 correspond to rays of a wireless signal used to implement the wireless link 131. In the environment 100, the signal rays 190 and 191 correspond to rays of a downlink wireless signal from the base station 121 to the UE 111, [0030]), the base station device comprising:
a notifier configured to notify, when detecting a fact that the terminal device is under the reflection communication, the terminal device of a reflection communication handover condition for a case where the reflection communication is performed (At 1130, the base station 121, the base station 122, and the UE 110 perform a handover…. Alternatively or additionally, the (source) base station 121 sends a handover command to the UE 110, the UE 110 disconnects from the (source) base station 121, and connects to the (target) base station 122, Fig. 11 and [0117]-[0118]). However, Wang does not disclose, a controller configured to perform, when the terminal device under the reflection communication with a movement source base station device performs handover, control to restrain the terminal device from performing handover to the movement source base station device.
In the same field of endeavor, Tayal discloses, a controller configured to perform, when the terminal device under the reflection communication with a movement source base station device performs handover (One of the main challenges in providing seamless connectivity to the UEs is to perform efficient handover processes for the UEs that are mobile, or ping-pong handovers for static users. A typical handover process involves handover of a UE from an eNodeB of a serving cell to another eNodeB of a neighboring cell that may have better signal strength. Generally, the handover is performed due to movement of a UE from one location to another. There may be variations in a network that may cause the handover to undergo a failure. The failure may be a premature handover, a delayed handover, or a fluctuating handover, Col. 3; lines 44-Col. 4; lines 41), control to restrain the terminal device from performing handover to the movement source base station device (The methods and systems described herein offer a platform for user-specific ping-pong handover mitigation. The method includes tuning of handover parameters for different users based on their location. By using a UE and eNodeB coordinated with a new measurement report strategy, user-specific ping-pong handover can be mitigated to improve user experience, Col. 6; lines 26-64).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang by specifically providing a controller configured to perform, when the terminal device under the reflection communication with a movement source base station device performs handover, control to restrain the terminal device from performing handover to the movement source base station device, as taught by Tayal for the purpose of improving user experience and optimize network resources, and to stop unnecessary ping-pong handovers for static users (Col. 6; lines 21-26).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Wang and Tayal discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), further Wang discloses,
wherein the reflection communication handover condition is a condition on which handover is more liable to be performed than a handover condition in the normal communication (At 1210, the base station identifies a first base station using the APD. To illustrate, the base station 122 identifies what base stations are within operating range of the APD 180, such as by accessing a core network, and queries the base station 121 using an inter-base station interface (e.g., interface 106) as described at 755 of FIG. 7. As another example, the base station 122 queries the core network 150 to identify what base stations currently utilize the APD 180 or queries the APD 180 for APD access information using an APD-control channel, [0122]-[0125]).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Wang and Tayal discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), further Wang discloses,
wherein a handover condition includes a reception level of a signal transmitted from a base station device, and a reception level of the reflection communication handover condition is lower than a reception level of the handover condition in the normal communication (The base station 121 selects a first surface configuration for the APD 180, such as by analyzing a codebook using an estimated UE location, signal and/or link measurements, and/or the apportioned access. Similarly, the base station 122 determines a second surface configuration for the APD 180 using signal quality measurements, link-quality measurements, an estimated UE location of the UE 112, the apportioned access to the APD 180, and so forth, [0070]-[0072]).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Wang and Tayal discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), in addition Tayal discloses,
wherein the controller acquires a fact that the terminal device has performed the reflection communication with the movement source base station device from the movement source base station device (One of the main challenges in providing seamless connectivity to the UEs is to perform efficient handover processes for the UEs that are mobile, or ping-pong handovers for static users. A typical handover process involves handover of a UE from an eNodeB of a serving cell to another eNodeB of a neighboring cell that may have better signal strength. Generally, the handover is performed due to movement of a UE from one location to another. There may be variations in a network that may cause the handover to undergo a failure. The failure may be a premature handover, a delayed handover, or a fluctuating handover, Col. 3; lines 44-Col. 4; lines 41).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Wang and Tayal discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), in addition Tayal discloses,
wherein the controller prohibits the terminal device from performing handover to the movement source base station device (the system implements a method for user-specific ping-pong handover (HO) mitigation in a wireless communication network by selectively triggering measurement reconfigurations for those UEs that are static. If the UE is static, the UE determines a ping-pong handover count occurred in a certain amount of time (e.g. X number of ping-pong handovers occurred in Y amount of time, etc.). Then the UE uses intelligence to prevent ping-pong handover attempts for a predefined time-period, Col. 3; lines 19-26).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Wang and Tayal discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), in addition Tayal discloses,
wherein the controller makes handover less liable to be performed on a movement source handover condition of the terminal device for the movement source base station device than a handover condition of the terminal device for a base station device other than the movement source base station device (The UE determines whether a state of the UE is static, if it is determined that the UE is experiencing a ping-pong handover scenario. See operation 104.The UE receives a deferred measurement time indicator from a best serving node of the plurality of nodes, if it is determined that the state of the UE is static. See operation 106. In one embodiment, the deferred measurement time indicator may be received by the UE in a RRC Connection reconfiguration message. In this case, the RRC Connection reconfiguration message may include a parameter including the deferred measurement time indicator, Col. 2; lines 60-Col. 3; lines 27).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Wang and Tayal discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 6), in addition Tayal discloses,
wherein a handover condition includes a reception level of a signal transmitted from a base station device, and a reception level of a movement source handover condition of the terminal device for the movement source base station device is higher than a reception level of a handover condition of the terminal device for a base station device other than the movement source base station device (the UE may monitor for an abnormal event occurrence while deferring sending the measurement report. In this case, the UE may send periodic report information (e.g. Channel State Information-Channel Quality Indication, Precoding Matrix Indicators, Rank Indication, and power headroom reports, etc.) to the best serving node. It will be based on the deferred measurement time indicator otherwise. On the other hand, the UE may disregard the deferred measurement time indicator and send the measurement report to one or more of the plurality of nodes if it is determined that an abnormal event has occurred. Thus, the system implements a method for user-specific ping-pong handover (HO) mitigation in a wireless communication network by selectively triggering measurement reconfigurations for those UEs that are static, Col. 2; lines 60-Col. 3; lines 27).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Wang and Tayal discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 6), in addition Tayal discloses,
wherein the controller acquires the movement source handover condition from the movement source base station device ( With respect to the ping-pong handover process, in a wireless network, radio quality of neighboring cells is measured by a UE for performing the handover process. The radio quality is measured using the parameters, Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ). The UE reports the radio quality through a measurement report (MR) when the neighboring cell has better quality than its serving cell. The measurement report is sent when events, particularly event A3 and event A5, are triggered, Col. 4; lines 43-58).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Wang and Tayal discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 6), in addition Tayal discloses,
wherein the controller transmits the movement source handover condition to the terminal device (As shown in FIG. 4, it is assumed that eNB2 is the best neighbor cell available. The MR is sent by the UE when event A3 or event A5 criterion is met on serving eNB (i.e. eNB1). eNB1 then sends the HO request to eNB2. The HO request is sent to eNB2 when RSRP of Neighbor 1 (eNB2)>Serving cell (eNB1), RSRP of Neighbor 2 (eNB3). At this instant, necessary resource allocation is carried out. After the resource allocation, eNB2 sends an acknowledgement response to the UE that the handover process is completed. The UE also sends an acknowledgment to eNB2 about the handover process completion, Col. 5; lines 6-24).
Regarding claim 10, Wang discloses,
A communication method of a base station device that performs normal communication to directly wirelessly connect to a terminal device (Each UE can communicate with base stations 120 (illustrated as base stations 121 and 122) through one or more wireless communication links 130 (wireless link 130), illustrated as wireless links 131 and 132, Fig. 1 and [0027]) or reflection communication to communicate with a terminal device using radio waves reflected by a reflection device (The signal ray 190 and signal ray 191 correspond to rays of a wireless signal used to implement the wireless link 131. In the environment 100, the signal rays 190 and 191 correspond to rays of a downlink wireless signal from the base station 121 to the UE 111, [0030]), the base station device comprising:
notifying, when detecting a fact that the terminal device is under the reflection communication, the terminal device of a reflection communication handover condition for a case where the reflection communication is performed (At 1130, the base station 121, the base station 122, and the UE 110 perform a handover…. Alternatively or additionally, the (source) base station 121 sends a handover command to the UE 110, the UE 110 disconnects from the (source) base station 121, and connects to the (target) base station 122, Fig. 11 and [0117]-[0118]). However, Wang does not disclose, performing, when the terminal device under the reflection communication with a movement source base station device performs handover, control to restrain the terminal device from performing handover to the movement source base station device.
In the same field of endeavor, Tayal discloses, performing, when the terminal device under the reflection communication with a movement source base station device performs handover (One of the main challenges in providing seamless connectivity to the UEs is to perform efficient handover processes for the UEs that are mobile, or ping-pong handovers for static users. A typical handover process involves handover of a UE from an eNodeB of a serving cell to another eNodeB of a neighboring cell that may have better signal strength. Generally, the handover is performed due to movement of a UE from one location to another. There may be variations in a network that may cause the handover to undergo a failure. The failure may be a premature handover, a delayed handover, or a fluctuating handover, Col. 3; lines 44-Col. 4; lines 41), control to restrain the terminal device from performing handover to the movement source base station device (The methods and systems described herein offer a platform for user-specific ping-pong handover mitigation. The method includes tuning of handover parameters for different users based on their location. By using a UE and eNodeB coordinated with a new measurement report strategy, user-specific ping-pong handover can be mitigated to improve user experience, Col. 6; lines 26-64).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang by specifically providing performing, when the terminal device under the reflection communication with a movement source base station device performs handover, control to restrain the terminal device from performing handover to the movement source base station device, as taught by Tayal for the purpose of improving user experience and optimize network resources, and to stop unnecessary ping-pong handovers for static users (Col. 6; lines 21-26).
Regarding claim 11, Wang discloses,
A communication system (environment 100; Fig. 1) including a terminal device (terminal 111, 112; Fig. 1), a reflection device (APD 180; Fig. 1), and a base station device (base station 121, 122, Fig. 1), wherein the
reflection device transmits reflected waves generated by reflecting radio waves transmitted by the base station device or the terminal device (the wireless links (e.g., wireless link 131 and/or wireless link 132) utilize wireless signals, where an intermediate device (e.g., APD 180) reflects or transforms ray(s) 190 of the wireless signals, illustrated as signal ray 191, signal ray 192, signal ray 193, signal ray 194, signal ray 195, and signal ray 196, [0029]-[0030]),
the terminal device performs reflection communication using the reflected waves (The signal ray 190 and signal ray 191 correspond to rays of a wireless signal used to implement the wireless link 131. In the environment 100, the signal rays 190 and 191 correspond to rays of a downlink wireless signal from the base station 121 to the UE 111, [0030])or normal communication to directly wirelessly connect to the base station device (Each UE can communicate with base stations 120 (illustrated as base stations 121 and 122) through one or more wireless communication links 130 (wireless link 130), illustrated as wireless links 131 and 132, Fig. 1 and [0027]), and
the base station device:
notifies, when detecting a fact that a terminal device under communication with an own device is under the reflection communication, the terminal device of a reflection communication handover condition for a case where the reflection communication is performed (At 1130, the base station 121, the base station 122, and the UE 110 perform a handover…. Alternatively or additionally, the (source) base station 121 sends a handover command to the UE 110, the UE 110 disconnects from the (source) base station 121, and connects to the (target) base station 122, Fig. 11 and [0117]-[0118]).
However, Wang does not disclose, performing, restrains, when the terminal device under the communication with the own device performs handover from the movement source base station device, the terminal device from performing handover to the movement source base station device.
In the same field of endeavor, restrains, when the terminal device under the communication with the own device performs handover from the movement source base station device (One of the main challenges in providing seamless connectivity to the UEs is to perform efficient handover processes for the UEs that are mobile, or ping-pong handovers for static users. A typical handover process involves handover of a UE from an eNodeB of a serving cell to another eNodeB of a neighboring cell that may have better signal strength. Generally, the handover is performed due to movement of a UE from one location to another. There may be variations in a network that may cause the handover to undergo a failure. The failure may be a premature handover, a delayed handover, or a fluctuating handover, Col. 3; lines 44-Col. 4; lines 41), the terminal device from performing handover to the movement source base station device (The methods and systems described herein offer a platform for user-specific ping-pong handover mitigation. The method includes tuning of handover parameters for different users based on their location. By using a UE and eNodeB coordinated with a new measurement report strategy, user-specific ping-pong handover can be mitigated to improve user experience, Col. 6; lines 26-64)..
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang by specifically providing restrains, when the terminal device under the communication with the own device performs handover from the movement source base station device, the terminal device from performing handover to the movement source base station device, as taught by Tayal for the purpose of improving user experience and optimize network resources, and to stop unnecessary ping-pong handovers for static users (Col. 6; lines 21-26).
Prior Art of the Record:
The prior art made of record not relied upon and considered pertinent to
Applicant’s disclosure:
US 20090274118: To prevent a handover ping-pong effect between base-station in WiMAX-compliant networks, a priority level is firstly assigned to the trigger causes for handover, and the prioritized causes are coded. Then codes are subdivided into a first class of unrestricted handovers and a second class of handover subjected to restriction. The first class includes the highest priority handovers.
US 20210235354: A communication controller includes a position-information acquiring unit, a movement-information acquiring unit, a selector, and a determination unit. The position information acquiring unit acquires position information of each of a plurality of base-station devices. The movement-information acquiring unit acquires movement information of a terminal device. The selector selects, as a handover candidate, at least one base-station device from among the plurality of base-station devices.
US 20190335374: A terminal device includes: a communication unit; and a control unit. The control unit transmits a measurement result relating to a radio wave environment and connection switching means information indicating which of two or more means of connection switching to another base station device is used to a first base station device through the communication unit.
Conclusion
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/GOLAM SOROWAR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2641