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 .
Status of Claims
The following is a non-final, first action on the merits, in response to application filed February 14, 2024. Claims 1-19, are currently pending.
Priority
Certified copy of priority document GB 2302304.7 dated February 17, 2023, is acknowledged which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-19, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chien (US 2022/0240208).
Regarding claims 1, 9, 17-19, Chien discloses an apparatus (method) for a user equipment, the apparatus comprising means for performing:
receiving, a first timing advance value for a target cell supported by a second access node, wherein the first timing advance value indicates a timing for transmitting uplink transmissions to the target cell (the gNB 2 transmits a Random Access Response (RAR) 102 with the requested Timing Advance (TA) to the UE 1 in response to the specific Physical Random Access Channel ((PRACH) 101, travel time of a frame transmitted between a UE and a gNB, may be calculated based on a timing advance (TA) value after performing the uplink PRACH preamble transmission.) (paras. 0005, 0098; fig. 9, element S1406);
receiving, an indication of when the first timing advance value will be invalid (the UE 1 receives one or more TA validity conditions 105 from the gNB 2, and may determine the TA is invalid or outdated based on a TA validity event of one of the TA validity conditions) (step S1404, paras. 0098-0105);
using the indication of when the first timing advance value will be invalid to determine that the first timing advance value is or will soon be invalid (the UE 1 may determine the Timing Advance (TA) is invalid or outdated based on a TA validity event of one of the TA validity conditions) (para. 0106); and
determining whether to autonomously initiate obtaining a second timing advance value for the target cell in dependence on the determination of whether the first timing advance value is or will soon be invalid, the second timing advance value being obtained later in time than the first timing advance value (the UE 1 may transmit a second TA-specific Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) (element 106) to request a new TA value and/or the propagation delay pre-compensation indication in response to a TA validity event of one of the TA validity conditions (step S1409). The second TA-specific PRACH 106 is another synchronization-specific uplink signal the UE 1 transmits in response to a TA validity event generated based on a TA validity condition) (para. 0106). Chien further discloses one or more processors and memory/storage coupled to the processor(s) and configured to execute instructions to enable various applications (paras. 0168, 0169).
Regarding claims 2, 10, Chien discloses, wherein the determining whether to autonomously initiate obtaining a second timing absence value is further dependent on a current strength and/or quality of a signal of the target cell received by the user equipment (A TA validity condition may comprise received signal strength, such as RSRP, RSRQ, or RSRI, from the gNB 2) (para. 0101).
Regarding claims 3, 11, Chien discloses starting a timer using the timer value; and determining that the first timing advance value is or will soon be invalid in response to expiry of the timer (the UE 1 may set up the compensation timer and restart the timer whenever receiving a TA after a RACH procedure) (para. 0105).
Regarding claims 4, 12, Chien discloses wherein the indication of when the first timing advance value will be invalid is obtained prior to obtaining the first timing advance value (UE 1 may determine the validity of TA for propagation delay compensation based on the TA validity conditions 105. The gNB 2 may thus provide the TA validity conditions 105 that trigger UE 1 to determine the validity of TA (determine if TA is invalid) for propagation delay compensation) (para. 0098, see also fig. 9).
Regarding claims 5, 13, Chien discloses wherein the indication of when the first timing advance value will be invalid is provided in a configuration for lower layer triggered mobility (to ensure the previously derived TA value is still valid, the UE 1 may determine the validity of the TA value for propagation delay compensation based on the following conditions given by the gNB 2, see figs. 8 and 9) (paras. 0097, 0098).
Regarding claims 6, 14, Chien discloses determining to autonomously initiate obtaining the second timing advance value for the target cell when determining that the first timing advance value is or will be soon invalid; and obtaining the second timing advance value in response to the determining to autonomously initiate the obtaining (para. 0101-0106).
Regarding claims 7, 15, Chien discloses determining to not obtain second timing advance value for the target cell when a current strength and/or quality of a signal provided by the target cell is below or equal to a predetermined threshold (the received signal strength comprises reference symbol received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or reference signal resource indicator (RSRI) of synchronization signal block (SSB), CSI-RS, or DMRS. The UE 1 may perform PD compensation in response to an event representing the received signal strength less than the range or the threshold of the required signal strength due to long distance from the gNB 2) (para. 0091); and
releasing the first timing advance value in response to determining to not obtain the second timing advance value (UE 1 may determine the TA is invalid or outdated based on a TA validity event of one of the TA validity conditions. The UE 1 may transmit a second TA-specific PRACH 106 to request a new TA value and/or the propagation delay pre-compensation indication in response to a TA validity event of one of the TA validity conditions) (para. 0106).
Regarding claims 8, 16, Chien discloses wherein the determining whether to autonomously initiate obtaining a second timing advance value for the target cell is further dependent on whether the user equipment has received, from the serving cell, an instruction to release the first timing advance value (UE 1 may transmit a second TA-specific Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) (element 106) to request a new TA value and/or the propagation delay pre-compensation indication in response to a TA validity event of one of the TA validity conditions (step S1409), second TA-specific PRACH 106 is another synchronization-specific uplink signal the UE 1 transmits in response to a TA validity event generated based on a TA validity condition) (para. 0106).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
NPL:
3GPP Draft R1-2211307, “Discussion on timing advance management for L1/L2-triggered mobility” vol. 3GPP RAN 1.
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/QUTBUDDIN GHULAMALI/
Primary Examiner,
Art Unit 2632.
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