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 § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim(s) 1-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 1, the Examiner finds no written support for “receive, from the base station, first information configuring the communication equipment to transmit second information indicating a gap pattern, and
transmit based on receiving the first information, to the base station, a UEAssistanceinformation message including the second information indicating the gap pattern, and
the second information indicating the gap pattern includes third information indicating a first gap pattern including a first gap repetition period and fourth information indicating a second gap pattern including a second gap repetition period.” (emphasis added).
According to the Applicant’s remark in page 5 filed on 01/02/2026, such support is found in [0105] of the specification. Para [0105] describes step S125 in Fig.8, which directs to a base station transmits a first RRC message to a UE to include interruption timing configuration, and no mention of claimed “configuring the communication equipment to transmit second information indicating a gap pattern.”
Further, [0106] and Step S126 in Fig.8 of the specification discloses the UE transmits a second RRC message to the BS based on the first RRC message sent by the BS. Also, it does not provide support for the claimed “transmit based on receiving the first information, to the base station, a UEAssistanceinformation message including the second information indicating the gap pattern.”
The claimed “UEAssistanceinformation message” may be transmitted in step S103 in Fig.6, see [0072] of the specification. Step S103 is occurred prior to the BS determines the interruption timing. S103 is not parallel to S126 because S126 occurs after the BS determines the interruption timing.
Moreover, there is no support for the UEAssistanceinformation message including two gap patterns as claimed.
Claims 2-5 do not cure the deficiency, and claims 6-16 are rejected for the same reason.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 7 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gurumoorthy (US 20230254918) in view of KOSKINEN (US 20240098538), and further in view of Tang (US 20150327103).
With respect to independent claims:
Regarding claim(s) 1/7/11, Gurumoorthy teaches Communication equipment configured to communicate with a plurality of networks ([Fig.1], UE can communicate with both base stations 102A and 102C.) using a plurality of subscriber identity modules ([0126], .”the wireless device supports multi-SIM,”), the communication equipment comprising:
a communicator configured to communicate with a base station of a first network included in the plurality of networks ([0112], “Having multiple SIM cards allows a wireless device to potentially maintain concurrent multiple wireless connections to multiple wireless networks.”).
However, Gurumoorthy does not teach rest of the claim limitations.
In an analogous art, KOSKINEN teaches Communication equipment ([Fig.5], UE 110) ... the communication equipment comprising:
a communicator configured to communicate with a base station ([Fig.5], NW node 310) ... wherein:
the communicator is configured to:
receive, from the base station, first information configuring the communication equipment to transmit second information indicating a gap pattern ([0109], “The NW node 310 sends, in block 530, indications of multiple measurement gap pattern configurations to the UE.”), and
transmit based on receiving the first information, to the base station, a UEAssistanceinformation message including the second information indicating the gap pattern ([0119], “The UE reports the selected/applied measurement gap configuration to the network by using UE assistance information.”), and
the second information indicating the gap pattern includes third information indicating a first gap pattern ([0119], “UE assistance information, which includes ... gap repetition period, gap timing advance.”) including a first gap repetition period ([0119], “gap repetition period”) .
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Gurumoorthy to specify gap pattern as taught by KOSKINEN. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to receive and transmit data according to the gap pattern.
However, the combination of Gurumoorthy and KOSKINEN does not specifically disclose fourth information indicating a second gap pattern including a second gap repetition period.
In an analogous art, Tang discloses the second information ([Fig.7]) indicating the gap pattern includes third information indicating a first gap pattern including a first gap repetition period ([Fig.7], gap pattern 0) and fourth information indicating a second gap pattern including a second gap repetition period ([Fig.7], gap pattern 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Gurumoorthy to specify different gap patterns as taught by Tang. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to indicate available gap patterns for transmit and receive data.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims filed on 01/02/2026 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection in instant Office action does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the Applicant’s arguments.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/ZHIREN QIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2411