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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-6, 8-15 and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kainulainen et al. (WO 2024/104732 A1 with foreign priority filing of 14 November 2022) .
Kainulainen teaches the UE capability transmission for L1/L2 Triggered Mobility (Figure 6) and the RRC signaling of L1/L2 reconfigurations (Figure 16).
With respect to the claims, references to the prior art appear in parenthesis.
Claims
1. A method performed by a user equipment (UE) for managing layer 1 (L1)/layer 2 (L2)-triggered mobility (LTM) (Kainulainen WO 2024/104732 A1, Figure 14) , the method comprising:
transmitting, to a first cell, at least one of a first UE capability information message and a second UE capability information message (Figure 14, Step 1402, “Transmitting, by the UE, UE capability indication towards the network node related to capability to support Layer 1/ Layer 2 (L1/L2) triggered mobility (LTM) operation…”) , the first UE capability information message indicating that the UE is capable of intra-frequency-based measurement (UE capability parameters include FDD-TDD differentiated corresponds to intra-frequency-based measurement in paragraph 00196) and generating an intra-frequency-based measurement report (UE capability parameters include ASN 1 Validation/Compliance and LTM RRC evaluation for reporting back to the network in paragraph 00196) , and the second UE capability information message indicating that the UE is capable of inter-frequency-based measurement (UE capability parameters include FR1-FR2 differentiated corresponds to inter-frequency-based measurement in paragraph 00196) and generating an inter-frequency-based measurement report (UE capability parameters include ASN 1 Validation/Compliance, and LTM RRC evaluation for reporting back to the network in paragraph 00196) ;
receiving, from the first cell, first radio resource control (RRC) signaling (Figure 14, Step 1401, “Establishing, by a user equipment (UE), a connection towards a network node of a radio access network” includes receiving the first RRC signaling in paragraphs 00115 and 00119 for establishing the connection to the serving network node) and second RRC signaling, the second RRC signaling being used for the LTM and configuring a plurality of first configurations and a plurality of reference signals for at least one of the intra-frequency-based measurement and the inter-frequency-based measurement (LTM configuration may comprise one or more RRC configurations for a plurality of L1/L2 mobility candidates in paragraph 00139 and tracking reference signals and CSI measurement in paragraph 00140) , the second RRC signaling being transmitted by the first cell based on the at least one of the first UE capability information message and the second UE capability information message (After Step 1402 UE capability indication, Step 1403 RRC reconfiguration message associated with a Layer 1/Layer 2 triggered mobility procedure in Figure 14) ;
generating, based on the second RRC signaling, a measurement report comprising at least one of the intra-frequency-based measurement report and the inter-frequency-based measurement report (Periodic L1 measurement report in Figure 7B based on UE RRC ASN.1 validation in Figure 7A) ;
transmitting, to the first cell, the measurement report (Periodic L1 measurement report in Figure 7B based on UE RRC ASN.1 validation in Figure 7A);
receiving, from the first cell, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for a cell switching, the MAC CE comprising an index of one of the plurality of first configurations (MAC CE, trigger cell change in Figure 7B); and
performing, based on the index, the cell switching from the first cell to a second cell (L1/L2 cell switch performed based on the index in paragraph 00143).
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second RRC signaling comprises an RRC reconfiguration message (Second RRC signaling is an RRC reconfiguration message in paragraph 0019) .
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of reference signals comprises synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) or channel state Information (CSI)-reference signals (RSs) (SSB and CSI-RS in paragraphs 00129 and 00140) .
4. The method of claim 1, wherein: each of the plurality of first configurations is associated with a physical cell identity (PCI) index, and the index comprises a PCI index of the second cell (Candidate configuration index in paragraph 00143 for identifying the plurality of candidate cells in paragraph 0083) .
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first RRC signaling is used for configuring a plurality of second configurations and the plurality of reference signals for the first cell (Figure 14, Step 1401, “Establishing, by a user equipment (UE), a connection towards a network node of a radio access network” includes receiving the first RRC signaling in paragraphs 00115 and 00119 for establishing the connection to the serving network node and for providing candidate configurations for handover target cells in paragraph 00128, where the delays correspond to configuring of the plurality of reference signals SSB and CSI-RS in paragraph 00129) .
6. The method of claim 1, wherein: the intra-frequency-based measurement report comprises a measurement result of the intra-frequency-based measurement, and the inter-frequency-based measurement report comprises a measurement result of the inter-frequency-based measurement (Measurement reports associated with ASN1 Validation/Compliance and LTM RRC evaluation in paragraph 00196 can support FDD-TDD Diff (i.e. intra-frequency-based) and FR1-FR2 DIFF (i.e. inter-frequency-based) in paragraph 00196) .
8. The method of claim 1, wherein: the first cell is associated with a first base station, and the second cell is associated with a second base station (Cells 112 can be associated with the same base station or different base stations in Figure 1 for candidate cells described in paragraph 0083) .
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first cell and the second cell are associated with a same base station (Cells 112 can be associated with the same base station or different base stations in Figure 1 for candidate cells described in paragraph 0083) .
10. A user equipment (UE) for managing layer 1 (L1)/layer 2 (L2)-triggered mobility (LTM) (Kainulainen WO 2024/104732 A1, Figure 14) , the UE comprising: one or more processors; and at least one memory coupled to at least one of the one or more processors, the at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one of the one or more processors (Components in Figure 3), cause the UE to:
transmit, to a first cell, at least one of a first UE capability information message and a second UE capability information message (Figure 14, Step 1402, “Transmitting, by the UE, UE capability indication towards the network node related to capability to support Layer 1/ Layer 2 (L1/L2) triggered mobility (LTM) operation…”) , the first UE capability information message indicating that the UE is capable of intra-frequency-based measurement (UE capability parameters include FDD-TDD differentiated corresponds to intra-frequency-based measurement in paragraph 00196) and generating an intra-frequency-based measurement report (UE capability parameters include ASN 1 Validation/Compliance and LTM RRC evaluation for reporting back to the network in paragraph 00196) , and the second UE capability information message indicating that the UE is capable of inter-frequency-based measurement (UE capability parameters include FR1-FR2 differentiated corresponds to inter-frequency-based measurement in paragraph 00196) and generating an inter-frequency-based measurement report (UE capability parameters include ASN 1 Validation/Compliance and LTM RRC evaluation for reporting back to the network in paragraph 00196) ;
receive, from the first cell, first radio resource control (RRC) signaling (Figure 14, Step 1401, “Establishing, by a user equipment (UE), a connection towards a network node of a radio access network” includes receiving the first RRC signaling in paragraphs 00115 and 00119 for establishing the connection to the serving network node) and second RRC signaling, the second RRC signaling being used for the LTM and configuring a plurality of first configurations and a plurality of reference signals for at least one of the intra-frequency-based measurement and the inter-frequency-based measurement (LTM configuration may comprise one or more RRC configurations for a plurality of L1/L2 mobility candidates in paragraph 00139 and tracking reference signals and CSI measurement in paragraph 00140), the second RRC signaling being transmitted by the first cell based on the at least one of the first UE capability information message and the second UE capability information message (After Step 1402 UE capability indication, Step 1403 RRC reconfiguration message associated with a Layer 1/Layer 2 triggered mobility procedure in Figure 14);
generate, based on the second RRC signaling, a measurement report comprising at least one of the intra-frequency-based measurement report and the inter-frequency-based measurement report (Periodic L1 measurement report in Figure 7B based on UE RRC ASN.1 validation in Figure 7A);
transmit, to the first cell, the measurement report (Periodic L1 measurement report transmitted to Source DU in Figure 7B);
receive, from the first cell, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for a cell switching, the MAC CE comprising an index of one of the plurality of first configurations (MAC CE, trigger cell change in Figure 7B); and
perform, based on the index, the cell switching from the first cell to a second cell (L1/L2 cell switch performed based on the index in paragraph 00143).
11. The UE of claim 10, wherein the second RRC signaling comprises an RRC reconfiguration message (Second RRC signaling is an RRC reconfiguration message in paragraph 0019).
12. The UE of claim 10, wherein the plurality of reference signals comprises synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) or channel state Information (CSI)-reference signals (RSs) (SSB and CSI-RS in paragraphs 00129 and 00140).
13. The UE of claim 10, wherein: each of the plurality of first configurations is associated with a physical cell identity (PCI) index, and the index comprises a PCI index of the second cell (Candidate configuration index in paragraph 00143 for identifying the plurality of candidate cells in paragraph 0083).
14. The UE of claim 10, wherein the first RRC signaling is used for configuring a plurality of second configurations and the plurality of reference signals for the first cell (Figure 14, Step 1401, “Establishing, by a user equipment (UE), a connection towards a network node of a radio access network” includes receiving the first RRC signaling in paragraphs 00115 and 00119 for establishing the connection to the serving network node and for providing candidate configurations for handover target cells in paragraph 00128, where the delays correspond to configuring of the plurality of reference signals SSB and CSI-RS in paragraph 00129).
15. The UE of claim 10, wherein: the intra-frequency-based measurement report comprises a measurement result of the intra-frequency-based measurement, and the inter-frequency-based measurement report comprises a measurement result of the inter-frequency-based measurement (Measurement reports associated with ASN1 Validation/Compliance and LTM RRC evaluation in paragraph 00196 can support FDD-TDD Diff (i.e. intra-frequency-based) and FR1-FR2 DIFF (i.e. inter-frequency-based) in paragraph 00196) .
17. The UE of claim 10, wherein: the first cell is associated with a first base station, and the second cell is associated with a second base station (Cells 112 can be associated with the same base station or different base stations in Figure 1 for candidate cells described in paragraph 0083).
18. The UE of claim 10, wherein the first cell and the second cell are associated with a same base station (Cells 112 can be associated with the same base station or different base stations in Figure 1 for candidate cells described in paragraph 0083).
19. A base station (BS) for managing layer 1 (L1)/layer 2 (L2)-triggered mobility (LTM) (Kainulainen WO 2024/104732 A1, Figure 14), the BS comprising: one or more processors; and at least one memory coupled to at least one of the one or more processors, the at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one of the one or more processors (Components in Figure 3) , cause the BS to:
receive, from a user equipment (UE), at least one of a first UE capability information message and a second UE capability information message (Figure 14, Step 1402, “Transmitting, by the UE, UE capability indication towards the network node related to capability to support Layer 1/ Layer 2 (L1/L2) triggered mobility (LTM) operation…”) , the first UE capability information message indicating that the UE is capable of intra-frequency-based measurement (UE capability parameters include FDD-TDD differentiated corresponds to intra-frequency-based measurement in paragraph 00196) and generating an intra-frequency-based measurement report (UE capability parameters include ASN 1 Validation/Compliance and LTM RRC evaluation for reporting back to the network in paragraph 00196), and the second UE capability information message indicating that the UE is capable of inter-frequency-based measurement (UE capability parameters include FR1-FR2 differentiated corresponds to inter-frequency-based measurement in paragraph 00196) and generating an inter-frequency-based measurement report (UE capability parameters include ASN 1 Validation/Compliance and LTM RRC evaluation for reporting back to the network in paragraph 00196);
transmit, to the UE, first radio resource control (RRC) signaling (Figure 14, Step 1401, “Establishing, by a user equipment (UE), a connection towards a network node of a radio access network” includes receiving the first RRC signaling in paragraphs 00115 and 00119 for establishing the connection to the serving network node)and second RRC signaling, the second RRC signaling being used for the LTM and configuring a plurality of first configurations and a plurality of reference signals for at least one of the intra-frequency-based measurement and the inter-frequency-based measurement, the second RRC signaling being transmitted based on the at least one of the first UE capability information message and the second UE capability information message (After Step 1402 UE capability indication, Step 1403 RRC reconfiguration message associated with a Layer 1/Layer 2 triggered mobility procedure in Figure 14);
receive, from the UE, a measurement report comprising at least one of the intra-frequency-based measurement report and the inter-frequency-based measurement report (Periodic L1 measurement report in Figure 7B based on UE RRC ASN.1 validation in Figure 7A);
transmit, to the UE, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for a cell switching (MAC CE, trigger cell change in Figure 7B) , the MAC CE comprising an index of one of the plurality of first configurations (MAC CE for L1/L2 mobility trigger may contain at least a candidate configuration index in paragraph 00143) ; and
perform, based on the index, the cell switching for the UE from a first cell to a second cell (L1/L2 cell switch performed based on the index in paragraph 00143) .
20. The BS of claim 19, wherein the first RRC signaling is used for configuring a plurality of second configurations and the plurality of reference signals for the first cell (Figure 14, Step 1401, “Establishing, by a user equipment (UE), a connection towards a network node of a radio access network” includes receiving the first RRC signaling in paragraphs 00115 and 00119 for establishing the connection to the serving network node and for providing candidate configurations for handover target cells in paragraph 00128, where the delays correspond to configuring of the plurality of reference signals SSB and CSI-RS in paragraph 00129).
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.
Claim(s) 7 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kainulainen et al. (WO 2024/104732 A1 with foreign priority filing of 14 November 2022).
Kainulainen teaches the first and second UE capability information and generating reports back to the network (FDD-TDD DIFF and FR1-FR2 DIFF are the first and second UE capability Information and ASN.1 Validation and LTM RRC evaluation indicates the reporting capability in paragraph 00196). Kainulainen does not teach the third UE capability Information message for indication that the UE is capable of generating both the intra-frequency-based measurement report and the inter-frequency-based measurement report in a single measurement report. However, it 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 to provide the third UE capability information message for indicating that a single measurement report including both the intra-frequency-based measurement and inter-frequency-base measurement were combined for the reason that a skilled artisan would have been motivated to efficiency transmit only one report rather than multiple reports since Kainulainen only describes one periodic measurement report in Figure 7b and describes the UE L1/L2 mobility parameters as including both FDD-TDD DIFF and FR1-FR2 DIFF in paragraph 00196.
With respect to the claims, references to the prior art appear in parenthesis.
Claims
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: in a case that both the first UE capability information message and the second UE capability information message are transmitted transmitting, to the first cell, a third UE capability information message and an indicator, wherein: the third UE capability information message indicates that the UE is capable of generating both the intra-frequency-based measurement report and the inter-frequency-based measurement report in a single measurement report instance, the measurement report comprises both a measurement result of the intra-frequency-based measurement and a measurement result of the inter-frequency-based measurement, and the indicator indicates that a first part of the measurement report corresponds to the intra-frequency-based measurement report and a second part of the measurement report corresponds to the inter-frequency-based measurement report (It 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 to provide the third UE capability information message for indicating that a single measurement report including both the intra-frequency-based measurement and inter-frequency-base measurement were combined for the reason that a skilled artisan would have been motivated to efficiency transmit only one report rather than multiple reports since Kainulainen only describes one periodic measurement report in Figure 7b and describes the UE L1/L2 mobility parameters as including both FDD-TDD DIFF and FR1-FR2 DIFF in paragraph 00196).
16. The UE of claim 10, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one of the one or more processors, further cause the UE to: transmit, to the first cell, a third UE capability information message and an indicator, wherein: the third UE capability information message indicates that the UE is capable of generating both the intra-frequency-based measurement report and the inter-frequency-based measurement report in a single measurement report instance, the measurement report comprises both a measurement result of the intra-frequency-based measurement and a measurement result of the inter-frequency-based measurement, and the indicator indicates that a first part of the measurement report corresponds to the intra-frequency-based measurement report and a second part of the measurement report corresponds to the inter-frequency-based measurement report (It 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 to provide the third UE capability information message for indicating that a single measurement report including both the intra-frequency-based measurement and inter-frequency-base measurement were combined for the reason that a skilled artisan would have been motivated to efficiency transmit only one report rather than multiple reports since Kainulainen only describes one periodic measurement report in Figure 7b and describes the UE L1/L2 mobility parameters as including both FDD-TDD DIFF and FR1-FR2 DIFF in paragraph 00196).
Conclusion
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MELVIN C. MARCELO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2463
/MELVIN C MARCELO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463 February 7, 2026