DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
This Office Action is responsive to the Amendment filed on: 11/25/2025.
Claims 1-8 and 10-20 are pending for Examination.
Claims 1, 5, 10, 16-18 and 20 have been amended.
Claim 9 has been cancelled.
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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/25/2025 have been fully considered but they are determined not to be persuasive.
With respect to claims 1, 16, and 20, the Examiner notes that Applicant has amended alternative portions of dependent claim 5 and cancelled dependent claim 9 into each of its independent claims. Applicant then argues that the combination of Da Silva and Bergqvist under §103 does not teach/suggest the amended claim feature of: “wherein the early measurement reporting result comprises an indication of availability of early measurement results, and wherein the indication of availability of early measurement results comprises a radio resource control setup complete message indicating that no early measurement reporting results are available.” The Examiner respectfully disagrees.
For instance, Bergqvist teaches the previously unexamined alternative of claim 9, wherein an early measurement reporting result comprises an indication of availability of early measurement results indicating whether or not early measurement reporting results are available. Specifically, Bergqvist describes that a UE can be configured to store idle measurements, i.e., early measurements, and that the network can request the UE, after a resume/setup, to indicate whether or not the UE has idle measurements available, and that in this regard the UE can indicate its availability of stored idle measurements in an RRCSetupComplete message, at paras. [0041]-[0042]. Alternatively, Bergqvist teaches a UE can indicate such availability in an RRCReumeSetupComplete message, at para. [0043].
Applicant asserts that Bergqvist does not disclose that the indication of availability of early measurement results comprises an RRCSetupComplete message indicating no early measurement reporting results are available. Applicant’s Remarks at p. 10.
However, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize the term “availability” as used in Bergqvist to mean “the state of being available,” which includes only two possibilities: Yes, available, or No, not available, and when Bergqvist indicates “whether” a measurement report/result is available, the indication includes either: Yes or No. Therefore, Bergqvist fairly teaches/suggests under the obviousness standard of §103, the contested, amended claim feature where: “the early measurement reporting result comprises …a radio resource control setup complete message indicating that no early measurement reporting results are available.”
The Examiner also notes that claiming a transmitted measurement reporting result to comprise an indication that no measurement reporting results are available, seems counterintuitive, as a measurement result was just transmitted and was therefore made available.
For all of the above reasons, Applicant’s arguments asserted for each of independent claims 1, 16, and 20, are determined not to be persuasive.
With respect to the dependent claims, Applicant only argues these claims as being allowable based on their respective dependence from one of the above-indicated independent claims. Applicant’s Remarks at p. 10. As such, Applicant’s arguments with respect to the dependent claims are likewise determined not to be persuasive or have otherwise rendered moot, for the same reasons described above for the respective independent claims.
Claim Interpretation – Alternative Claim Language
The claims of the instant application are given their Broadest Reasonable Interpretation (BRI) using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification, as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Accordingly, the BRI of an alternative claim limitation or term can be determined to be the least-limiting interpretation, consistent with the specification. In this context, the term “or” by plain meaning can be interpreted to alternatively be: one or the other (i.e., A or B), but not both (i.e., not A and B). The term “and/or” by plain meaning can be interpreted to be: “and” or alternatively “or,” but not both, as this would not make sense. In this context, the forward-slash “/” is equivalent to the alternative “or.” Likewise, the alternative terms “at least one of,” “one or more of,” and the like, followed by multiple alternative claim limitations can be reasonably interpreted to be only “one of” a group of alternative claim limitations.
Prior art disclosing any one of multiple alternative claim limitations discloses matter within the scope of the claimed invention. "When a claim covers several structures or compositions, either generically or as alternatives, the claim is deemed anticipated if any of the structures or compositions within the scope of the claim is known in the prior art." Brown v. 3M, 265 F.3d 1349, 1351, 60 USPQ2d 1375, 1376 (Fed. Cir. 2001) (claim to a system for setting a computer clock to an offset time to address the Year 2000 (Y2K) problem, applicable to records with year date data in "at least one of two-digit, three-digit, or four-digit" representations, was held anticipated by a system that offsets year dates in only two-digit formats). See MPEP 2131.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US PG Pub. 2022/0046747 A1, Da Silva et al. (hereinafter “Da Silva”), in view of US PG Pub. 2020/0403743 A1, Bergqvist et al. (hereinafter “Bergqvist”).
With Respect to Claim 1, Da Silva teaches:
An apparatus comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus (UE 10 with processing circuitry 1001 and memory 1004 of Fig. 10) at least to:
receive, from a network entity (radio network node 12 of Fig. 11), a measurement configuration for early measurement reporting (paras. [0175]-[0178] and [0186]-[0188]; and bock 601 of Figs. 5-6 —a BS can send a UE an early measurement configuration 601),
wherein the measurement configuration comprises at least one early measurement reporting event associated with the apparatus re-accessing the network entity (paras. [0036]-[0040], [0043]-[0044], [0059]-[0060], and [0178]; and MeasIdleConfig Table —as of Rel. 15, the RRCResume procedure includes a UE being configured (i.e., prior to entering RRCIdle) to perform measurements during an idle mode to be able to quickly resume a network connection (i.e., a re-access) to a network entity, as opposed to establishing a new connection from scratch, subsequent to returning to RRCConnected mode and receiving a new measConfig. —the MeasIdleConfig IE can include quality threshold(s) as a trigger event for measurement reporting, and/or a T331 timer for which the expiry of acts as an event trigger for measurement reporting, such an A4 event trigger of a ReportConfigNR IE, at paras. [0145] and [0188]); and
transmit, to the network entity, an early measurement reporting result (paras. [0038], [0086]-[0090], [0127], and [0145]; and Table 1 —the UE performing and early measurement can report its measurement result to a network BS, when triggered),
However, Da Silva does not explicitly teach:
wherein the early measurement reporting result comprises an indication of availability of early measurement results comprises and RRCSetupComplete message indicating that no early measurement reporting results are available (The Examiner notes that part of this claim subject matter was previously presented in dependent claim 5, in the alternative, and part of this subject matter was previously presented in cancelled claim 9, also in the alternative).
Bergqvist does teach:
wherein the early measurement reporting result comprises an indication of availability of early measurement results comprises and RRCSetupComplete message indicating that no early measurement reporting results are available (paras. [0041]-[0043] —a UE can be configured to store idle measurements, i.e., early measurements, and the network can request the UE, after a resume/setup, to indicate whether or not the UE has idle measurements available —a UE can then indicate its measurement report availability, i.e., yes or no availability states, of stored idle measurements in an RRCSetupComplete message, at paras. [0041]-[0042]. Alternatively, Bergqvist teaches a UE can indicate measurement report/result availability in an RRCReumeSetupComplete message, at para. [0043]).
It would have been prima-facie obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Da Silva’s indication of stored early measurement results with the RRCConnectionSetupComplete availability indication taught by Bergqvist.
The motivation for doing so would have been to better inform the network of un/available early measurement results via common RRC messaging, as recognized by Bergqvist (paras. [0040]-[0042] —the Examiner notes that Da Silva is a co-inventor of the Bergqvist application).
With respect to claim 2, Da Silva in view of Bergqvist teaches:
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the measurement configuration is contained in a connection release message or system information block (para. [0040] —the measurement configuration can be contained in a RRCConnectionRelease message with the measIdleDedicated-r15 or in the SIB5 —the alternative term “or” only requires examination on-the-merits of a single claimed alternative for the reasons provided in the Claim Interpretation — Alternative Claim Limitations section, above).
With respect to claim 3, Da Silva in view of Bergqvist teaches:
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the measurement configuration is received in response to the apparatus accessing the network entity (Da Silva: paras. [0039]-[0040], [0058], and [0144]-[0145] —a UE can receive the measurement configuration upon resuming connection to (accessing) a BS in RRCConnected, or upon a preferred neighboring cell detection/access event, i.e., an A4 event).
With respect to claim 4, Da Silva in view of Bergqvist teaches:
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the measurement configuration comprises an idle mode carrier aggregation/dual connectivity measurement configuration (Da Silva: para. [0038] —the measurement configuration can be an RRCIdle CA/DC early measurement configuration —the alternative forward slash symbol “/” only requires examination on-the-merits of a single claimed alternative for the reasons provided in the Claim Interpretation — Alternative Claim Limitations section, above).
With respect to claim 5, Da Silva in view of Bergqvist teaches:
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the early measurement reporting result comprises an early measurement reporting report based on a triggered measurement event for early measurement reporting (Da Silva: paras. [0039]-[0044], [0121], and [0457]-[0460]; Table 1 and 601 of Fig. 6 —the report result can comprise an early measurement report based on a triggering condition/event or an indication, i.e., a flag, of availability for measurement reporting results from neighbor/serving cell(s) —the alternative terms “at least one of” and “or” only requires examination on-the-merits of a single claimed alternative for the reasons provided in the Claim Interpretation — Alternative Claim Limitations section, above).
With respect to claim 6, Da Silva in view of Bergqvist teaches:
The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the early measurement reporting report comprises at least one index report (Da Silva: paras. [0317]-[0320], [0364], and [0398]-[0400]; and RRCRelease-v16 IE Table —the UE can be configured for early measurement reporting to report various cell (PCI) and RS-beam indexes, i.e., for RRCRelease-v16 IE the Beam Measurement Configuration parameter can include CSI-RS indexes and CellListNR IE can include PCI indexes).
With respect to claim 7, Da Silva in view of Bergqvist teaches:
The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the triggered measurement event is based on at least one target cell condition (Da Silva: paras. [0144]-[0145], [0271]-[0273], and [0479] —a UE can be configured to detect an A4 triggered measurement event based on a measurement condition, i.e., a measurement threshold, where a target cell condition becomes better than a current serving cell, leading to handover).
With respect to claim 8, Da Silva in view of Bergqvist teaches:
The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the at least one target cell condition comprises at least one of
a reference signal received power of a neighbor cell exceeding a first threshold value,
a reference signal received quality of the neighbor cell exceeding a second threshold value, successfully reading an index of a target cell, or
at least one timer expiring (Da Silva: paras. [0144]-[0145], [0271]-[0273], and [0479] —a UE can be configured to detect an A4 triggered measurement event based on a measurement condition, i.e., a measurement threshold, where a target cell condition becomes better than a current serving cell, leading to handover —the at least one target cell condition can also be associated with expiry of a T331 timer (paras. [0433]-[0434], [0046], and [0373]) —the at least one target cell condition can further be associated with an RSRP threshold (paras. [0341]-[0342], [0388], [0398], and [0400]; Table 2: EventTriggerConfigForSCG, and Table 3: RRCRelease-V16) —the alternative terms “at least one of” and “or” only requires examination on-the-merits of a single claimed alternative for the reasons provided in the Claim Interpretation — Alternative Claim Limitations section, above).
With respect to claim 10, Da Silva in view of Bergqvist teaches the apparatus of claim 1
However, Da Silva does not explicitly teach:
wherein the indication of availability of early measurement results is followed by the early measurement reporting report.
Bergqvist does teach:
wherein an indication of availability of early measurement results can be followed by an early measurement reporting report (paras. [0040]-[0043] —the network can request UE reporting of indicated available early measurement results after being notified of their existence, and the UE can report the available measurement results in response).
It would have been prima-facie obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Da Silva’s indication of stored early measurement results with the UE EMR availability indication and BS request to report the available EMR(s) with UE reporting response, taught by Bergqvist.
The motivation for doing so would have been to better inform the network of available early measurement results stored at a UE and BS request driven reporting of such available early measurement results, as recognized by Bergqvist (paras. [0040]-[0042]).
With respect to claim 11, Da Silva in view of Bergqvist teaches:
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus at least to:
start a timer after receiving the connection release message (Da Silva: paras. [0043]-[0044]; and Table 1: MeasIdleConfig IE —the duration for performing measurements during IDLE mode can be assigned via RRCConnetionRelease, as described in the measIdleDuration parameter of Table 1, and the duration can be established with a T331 timer).
With respect to claim 12, Da Silva in view of Bergqvist teaches:
The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the timer comprises a fifth generation new radio T331 timer (Da Silva: paras. [0043]-[0044]; and Table 1: MeasIdleConfig IE —the duration for performing measurements during IDLE mode can be established with a 5G T331 timer).
With respect to claim 13, Da Silva in view of Bergqvist teaches:
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus at least to:
initiate index reading on a detected cell,
wherein the reading is based upon the measurement configuration with early measurement reporting (Da Silva: paras. [0130]-[0132], [0135]-[0138], [0150]-[0153], and [0174]-[0177]; MeasIdleConfigSIB-r15 IE: Beam Measurement Config and CellListNR-16, and UEInformationResponse IE: rsIndexResults (i.e., for indexed SSB and/or CSI-RS) —a measurement configuration can include PCI for indexed cells to measure/detect and/or beam indexes for cell RS beams to measure/detect during Idle mode, and then report on per cell/beam index —this is interpreted to be equivalent to a UE performing “index reading” on a PCI-indexed cell).
With respect to claim 14, Da Silva in view of Bergqvist teaches:
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus at least to:
receive a UEInformationRequest information element comprising early measurement reporting information (Da Silva: paras. [0127] and [0238]-[0257] —a UE can receive a UEInformationRequest IE message from the NG-RAN comprising various EMR information).
With respect to claim 15, Da Silva in view of Bergqvist teaches:
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus at least to:
transmit a UEInformationResponse information element comprising early measurement reporting results (Da Silva: paras. [0250]-[0257]; and UEInformationResponse IE —a UE can receive a UEInformationRequest message and respond to it with a corresponding UEInformationResponse message).
With respect to claim 16, this claim recites similar features to independent claim 1, except claim 16 is written from the perspective of a network device with at least one processor and at least one memory (radio network node 12 with processing circuitry 1011 and memory 1104 of Fig. 11). As such, claim 16 is likewise rejected under §103 based on Da Silva in view of Bergqvist, for the same reasons explained above for independent claim 1.
With respect to claim 17, this claim recites similar features to dependent claim 2. As such, claim 17 is likewise rejected under §103 based on Da Silva in view of Bergqvist, for the same reasons explained above for dependent claim 2.
With respect to claim 18, this claim recites similar features to dependent claim 5. As such, claim 18 is likewise rejected under §103 based on Da Silva in view of Bergqvist, for the same reasons explained above for dependent claim 5.
With respect to claim 19, this claim recites similar features to dependent claim 14. As such, claim 19 is likewise rejected under §103 based on Da Silva in view of Bergqvist, for the same reasons explained above for dependent claim 14.
With respect to claim 20, this claim recites similar features to independent claim 1, except claim 20 is written in method form. As such, claim 20 is likewise rejected under §103 based on Da Silva in view of Bergqvist, for the same reasons explained above for independent claim 1.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to Scott Schlack whose telephone number is (571)272-2332. The Examiner can normally be reached Mon. through Fri., from 11am-6pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Moo Jeong can be reached at (571)272-9617. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Scott A. Schlack/Examiner, Art Unit 2418
/Moo Jeong/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2418