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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential structural cooperative relationships of elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the necessary structural connections. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted structural cooperative relationships are: The MAC CE is defined as comprising data as “a field” and an action of “switching”. It is not clear how an instance of data such as “a field” is related to an action of “switching” in order to define “the MAC CE” as it is not clear whether “the MAC CE” is intended to be a data structure or a procedure.
Claim 12 recites the limitation "the candidate cells" in the “a first field” limitation. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The applicant previously references “configuration parameters of candidate cells for layer 1 or layer 2 triggered mobility (LTM) procedure)” but does not define particular candidate cells that can be referred to with the article the and that would be defined by a quantity, as claimed.
Claim 17 recites the limitation "the first quantity of candidate cells" in the “a first field” limitation. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The applicant previously recites “one or more parameters of a first quantity of candidate cells” but does not define any actual “first quantity of candidate cells” that can be subsequently referred to.
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)(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, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, and 11-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2022/0030480 by Kung et al.
As to claim 1, Kung teaches a method comprising: receiving, by a wireless device, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) triggering a layer 1_or layer 2 triggered mobility (LTM) procedure (ref. no. 808) wherein the MAC CE comprises: a field, comprising a first quantity of bits, indicating a first candidate cell among candidate cells, wherein the first quantity of bits is based on a quantity of the candidate cells (paragraphs 166 and 172); and switching, during the LTM procedure, a source cell to the first candidate cell (paragraph 339, the procedure implemented after step 816).
As to claim 12, Kung teaches a method comprising: receiving, by a wireless device and via a source cell, one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages comprising configuration parameters of candidate cells for a layer 1 or layer 2 triggered mobility (LTM) procedure (ref. no. 808);receiving a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (step 816) triggering the LTM procedure, wherein the MAC CE comprises: a first field, comprising a first quantity of bits, indicating a first candidate cell among the candidate cells, wherein the first quantity of bits corresponds to a quantity of the candidate cells (paragraphs 166 and 172); and a second field comprising a timing advance command (TAC) (paragraphs 260, 280, and 298); and transmitting, via a primary cell (PCell) and based on switching from the source cell to the first candidate cell for the LTM procedure, uplink signals using the TAC (paragraphs 339 and 298, the procedure involved in paragraph 339, after step 816, can use the TAC referenced in paragraph 298).
As to claim 2, see rejection of claim 12.
As to claims 4 and 14, see paragraph 339.
As to claim 5, see paragraphs 168 and 175.
As to claims 7 and 15, see paragraph 339, the switching “releases” any parameters related to the no longer used source cell 806.
As to claim 9, see paragraphs 81 and 327.
As to claims 11 and 16, see paragraphs 267, 301, and 308.
As to claim 13, see paragraphs 171-175.
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) 3, 6, and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2022/0030480 by Kung et al. in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2018/0324635 by Babai et al.
As to claim 17, Kung teaches a method comprising: receiving, by a wireless device via a first cell, one or more parameters of a first quantity of candidate cells for a layer 1 or layer 2 triggered mobility (LTM) procedure (ref. no. 808); receiving a control element triggering the LTM procedure (ref. no. 816), wherein the control element comprises: a first field, comprising a second quantity of bits, indicating a second cell of the first quantity of candidate cells, wherein the second quantity is determined based on the first quantity (paragraphs 166 and 172); and a field indicating a timing advanced command (TAC) (paragraphs 260, 280, and 298); and switching a primary cell (PCell) from the first cell to the second cell, and transmitting, based on the TAC and via the second cell, at least one transport block (paragraphs 339 and 298, the procedure involved in paragraph 339, after step 816, can use the TAC referenced in paragraph 298); however Kung does not explicitly teach that the MAC CE comprises: a second field indicating whether to skip performing a random access (RA) procedure on the second cell; wherein the switching is based on the second field indicating to skip performing the RA procedure, and wherein the switching comprises: skipping performing the RA procedure.
Babai teaches a MAC CE comprises: a second field indicating whether to skip performing a random access (RA) procedure on the second cell (paragraph 228); wherein the switching is based on the second field indicating to skip performing the RA procedure, and wherein the switching comprises: skipping performing the RA procedure (paragraph 228-230).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the mobility management art at the time of the applicant’s filing to combine the teachings of Kung regarding managing mobility using a MAC CE with the teachings of Babai regarding including a field to indicate skipping a RA procedure in a MAC CE because the modification would provide the benefits discussed in paragraph 228-230 of Babai without requiring any modification to the inventive concept of Kung.
As to claims 3 and 6, they are rejected for the same reasoning as claim 17.
As to claim 18, it is rejected for the same reasoning as claims 4 and 14.
As to claim 19, it is rejected for the same reasoning as claims 5 and 15.
As to claim 20, it is rejected for the same reasoning as claim 5.
Claim(s) 8 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2022/0030480 by Kung et al. in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2022/0046510 by Kung et al.
As to claim 8, Kung 1 teaches the subject matter of claim 1; however; Kung 1 does not explicitly teach the inclusion of an SSB index in the MAC CE.
Kung 2 teaches the inclusion of an SSB index in the MAC CE (paragraph 435).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the mobility management art at the time of the applicant’s filing to combine the teachings of Kung 1 regarding managing mobility using a MAC CE with the teachings of Kung 2 inclusion of an SSB index in the MAC CE because both publications are by the same inventor and directed to the same implementation environment and features so their combination is self-evident.
As to claim 10, see paragraphs 81 and 327 of Kung 1 and paragraph 435 of Kung 2.
Conclusion
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/DOUGLAS B BLAIR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454