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 Objections
Claims 1 and 8 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, line 7: “indicating whether to remove” should read as “indicating whether to remove or to retain” to align with the dependent claim 2.
Claim 1, lines 9-10: “based on the second indicator” should read as “based on the second indicator indicating to remove”.
Claim 8, lines 10-11: “based on the second indicator” should read as “based on the second indicator indicating to retain”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
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.
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 R2-2208212 (“Prerequisites and benefits of Lower Layer Mobility”), hereinafter “R2-220”, in view of Ishii et al. (US 20220408323 A1), hereinafter “Ishii”.
Per claim 1, 8 and 13:
Regarding claim 1, R2-220 teaches ‘A method’ (R2-220: [Page 6]: “methods”);
‘comprising:
receiving, by a wireless device, one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: step 10: “Source DU” -> “UE”: “RRC Reconfiguration”);
‘comprising one or more configurations of candidate target cells associated with a layer 1 and/or layer 2 (L1/L2)-based handover’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: step 8: Generate RRC Reconfiguration 1) Measurement Configuration of L1 cell change 2) Configuration of prepared cells”, “Target DU”; [Page 2]: “Having received the UE configurations for the candidate target cell(s), the CU generates an RRC Reconfigurntion (step 8) that is sent to the UE in step 9/10. Among other information, the RRC Reconfigurntion message contains: ■ Measurement reporting configuration for L1/L2 mobility, i.e., configuration on how to report the L1 beam measurements of serving and target cells. ■ Configuration of the prepared candidate cell(s) which the UE needs to execute when it receives a L2 command to change the serving cell (perform handover) … The handover from serving cell to target cell is executed by the UE in step 16-19”);
‘receiving at least one RRC reconfiguration message comprising: a first indicator indicating a handover to a target cell’ (discussed in element above).
R2-220 does not expressly teach ‘a second indicator indicating whether to remove at least one configuration of the one or more configurations after a successful completion of the handover; and after successfully completing the handover to the target cell and based on the second indicator, removing the at least one configuration’.
However, Ishii in the same field of endeavor teaches signaling message to configure the conditional handover configuration may comprise an indicator to indicate whether the conditional handover configuration provided in the message may be kept or needs to be released after executing a handover and the wireless terminal would keep or release the configuration based on the indication (Ishii: [0362]: “a signalling message to configure the conditional handover may comprise an indicator to indicate whether the conditional handover configuration provided in the message may be kept or needs to be released after executing a handover. Upon executing a handover, the wireless terminal 26(55) may determine the validity of the conditional handover configuration, if not used by the executed handover, based on the indication”; [0375]: “the handover configuration information may be removed. Thus, if valid, the wireless terminal may keep the conditional handover configuration after the handover execution, otherwise, the wireless terminal may release the the conditional handover configuration”; [0275]: “handover configuration information 10 can be and/or can comprise and/or can form part of radio resource control reconfiguration information (RRCReconfiguration information)”; [0402]: “perform a handover to a target cell; and determine validity of the one or more conditional handover configurations based on the indication upon or after performing the handover”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Ishii’s teaching with that of R2-220 for RRC reconfiguration message to comprise a second indicator indicating whether to remove at least one configuration of the one or more configurations after a successful completion of the handover; and after successfully completing the handover to the target cell and based on the second indicator, removing the at least one configuration in order to determine validity of the conditional handover configurations after handover (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 8, R2-220 teaches ‘A method’ (R2-220: [Page 6]: “methods”);
‘comprising:
receiving, by a wireless device, one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: step 10: “Source DU” -> “UE”: “RRC Reconfiguration”);
‘comprising one or more configurations of candidate target cells for layer 1 and/or layer 2 (L1/L2)-based handover’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: step 8: Generate RRC Reconfiguration 1) Measurement Configuration of L1 cell change 2) Configuration of prepared cells”, “Target DU”; [Page 2]: “Having received the UE configurations for the candidate target cell(s), the CU generates an RRC Reconfigurntion (step 8) that is sent to the UE in step 9/10. Among other information, the RRC Reconfigurntion message contains: ■ Measurement reporting configuration for L1/L2 mobility, i.e., configuration on how to report the L1 beam measurements of serving and target cells. ■ Configuration of the prepared candidate cell(s) which the UE needs to execute when it receives a L2 command to change the serving cell (perform handover) … The handover from serving cell to target cell is executed by the UE in step 16-19”);
‘receiving at least one RRC reconfiguration message comprising: a first indicator indicating a handover to a target cell’ (discussed in element above).
R2-220 does not expressly teach ‘a second indicator indicating whether to retain or to remove at least one configuration of the one or more configurations after a successful completion of the handover; and after successful completing the handover to the target cell and based on the second indicator, retaining the at least one configuration’.
However, Ishii teaches signaling message to configure the conditional handover configuration may comprise an indicator to indicate whether the conditional handover configuration provided in the message may be kept or needs to be released after executing a handover and the wireless terminal would keep or release the configuration based on the indication (Ishii: [0362]: “a signalling message to configure the conditional handover may comprise an indicator to indicate whether the conditional handover configuration provided in the message may be kept or needs to be released after executing a handover. Upon executing a handover, the wireless terminal 26(55) may determine the validity of the conditional handover configuration, if not used by the executed handover, based on the indication”; [0375]: “the particular handover configuration information stored in handover configuration storage 210 may be still valid for future use … Thus, if valid, the wireless terminal may keep the conditional handover configuration after the handover execution”, retain the still valid configuration; [0275]: “handover configuration information 10 can be and/or can comprise and/or can form part of radio resource control reconfiguration information (RRCReconfiguration information)”; [0402]: “perform a handover to a target cell; and determine validity of the one or more conditional handover configurations based on the indication upon or after performing the handover”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Ishii’s teaching with that of R2-220 for RRC reconfiguration message to comprise a second indicator indicating whether to retain or to remove at least one configuration of the one or more configurations after a successful completion of the handover; and after successful completing the handover to the target cell and based on the second indicator, retaining the at least one configuration in order to determine validity of the conditional handover configurations after handover (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 13, R2-220 teaches ‘A method’ (R2-220: [Page 6]: “methods”);
‘comprising:
sending, by a first base station to a second base station, a first message comprising a first indicator indicating a presence of one or more cell configurations of candidate target cells associated with a wireless device’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: “Source DU” (first base station) -> “Target DU” (second base station”: step 2: “UL RRC message transfer”, step 4: “UE context setup request”; [Page 2]: “Preparation Phase
o In step 1-2, the UE sends a measurement report containing the measurements of serving and target cell(s).
o Using the reported measurements, the CU can identify a potential set of candidate target cells to which the UE can be handed over to (step 3). In this example, the CU identifies candidate target cells that are served by either source DU or another DU (i.e., target DU) which are controlled by the same CU.
o In step 4, the CU requests the preparation of a candidate target cell controlled by the target DU by sending UE Context Setup Request message”);
‘receiving, by the first base station from the second base station, a second message comprising a second indicator indicating to retain or remove the one or more cell configurations of candidate target cells associated with the wireless device’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: “Target DU” -> “Source DU”: step 5: “UE context setup response”, step 9: “DL RRC message transfer”). However, R2-220 fails to expressly teach ‘a second message comprising a second indicator indicating to retain or remove the one or more cell configurations of candidate target cells associated with the wireless device’;
‘sending, based on the second message and by the first base station to the wireless device, at least one radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message comprising the second indicator’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: step 10: “Source DU”-> “UE”: “RRC Reconfiguration”; the RRC Reconfiguration message contains: ■ Configuration of the source cell containing the TCI states of the target cell for ICBM ■ Measurement reporting configuration for Ll/L2 handover, i.e., configuration on how to report the L1 beam measurements of source and target cells. ■ Configuration of the prepared candidate cell(s) which the UE needs to execute when it receives a L2 command to change the source cell (perform handover)”). However, R2-220 fails to expressly teach comprising the second indicator.
However, Ishii teaches signaling message to configure the conditional handover configuration may comprise an indicator to indicate whether the conditional handover configuration provided in the message may be kept or needs to be released after executing a handover (Ishii: [0362]: “a signalling message to configure the conditional handover may comprise an indicator to indicate whether the conditional handover configuration provided in the message may be kept or needs to be released after executing a handover. Upon executing a handover, the wireless terminal 26(55) may determine the validity of the conditional handover configuration, if not used by the executed handover, based on the indication”; [0375]: “the handover configuration information may be removed. Thus, if valid, the wireless terminal may keep the conditional handover configuration after the handover execution, otherwise, the wireless terminal may release the the conditional handover configuration”; [0275]: “handover configuration information 10 can be and/or can comprise and/or can form part of radio resource control reconfiguration information (RRCReconfiguration information)”; [FIG.7]: “SOURCE CELL” <-> “TARGET CELL”: “HANDOVER COORDINATION”, “SOURCE CELL”-> “WIRELESS TERMINAL”: “RRCReconfiguration(CHO config)”; [0402]: “perform a handover to a target cell; and determine validity of the one or more conditional handover configurations based on the indication upon or after performing the handover”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Ishii’s teaching with that of R2-220 for the first base station to receive from the second base station a second message comprising a second indicator indicating to retain or remove the one or more cell configurations of candidate target cells associated with the wireless device; and send, based on the second message, to the wireless device, at least one radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message comprising the second indicator in order to determine validity of the conditional handover configurations after handover (see reference quotes in element above).
Per claim 2 and 9:
Regarding claim 2, combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above).
R2-220 does not expressly teach, but Ishii teaches ‘after successfully completing the handover to the target cell and based on the second indicator indicating to retain at least one second configuration of the one or more configurations, retaining the at least one second configuration’ (Ishii: [0362]: “a signalling message to configure the conditional handover may comprise an indicator to indicate whether the conditional handover configuration provided in the message may be kept or needs to be released after executing a handover. Upon executing a handover, the wireless terminal 26(55) may determine the validity of the conditional handover configuration, if not used by the executed handover, based on the indication”; [0375]: “the particular handover configuration information stored in handover configuration storage 210 may be still valid for future use … Thus, if valid, the wireless terminal may keep the conditional handover configuration after the handover execution”, retain the still valid configuration; [0275]: “handover configuration information 10 can be and/or can comprise and/or can form part of radio resource control reconfiguration information (RRCReconfiguration information)”; [0402]: “perform a handover to a target cell; and determine validity of the one or more conditional handover configurations based on the indication upon or after performing the handover”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Ishii’s teaching with that of R2-220 in order to determine validity of the conditional handover configurations after handover (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 9, combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches the method of claim 8 (discussed above).
R2-220 does not expressly teach, but Ishii teaches ‘after successfully completing the handover to the target cell and based on the second indicator indicating to remove at least one second configuration of the one or more configurations, removing the at least one second configuration’ (Ishii: [0362]: “a signalling message to configure the conditional handover may comprise an indicator to indicate whether the conditional handover configuration provided in the message may be kept or needs to be released after executing a handover. Upon executing a handover, the wireless terminal 26(55) may determine the validity of the conditional handover configuration, if not used by the executed handover, based on the indication”; [0375]: “the handover configuration information may be removed. Thus, if valid, the wireless terminal may keep the conditional handover configuration after the handover execution, otherwise, the wireless terminal may release the the conditional handover configuration”; [0275]: “handover configuration information 10 can be and/or can comprise and/or can form part of radio resource control reconfiguration information (RRCReconfiguration information)”; [0402]: “perform a handover to a target cell; and determine validity of the one or more conditional handover configurations based on the indication upon or after performing the handover”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Ishii’s teaching with that of R2-220 in order to determine validity of the conditional handover configurations after handover (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 3, combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above).
R2-220 teaches ‘initiating, based on the at least one RRC reconfiguration message and the first indicator, the handover to the target cell’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: step 10 to 16: RRC Reconfiguration triggers UE to move from HO Preparation Phase to Execution Phase; [Page 2]: “Preparation Phase … Execution Phase … The handover from serving cell to target cell is executed by the UE in step 16-19”).
Regarding claim 4, combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above).
R2-220 does not expressly teach, but Ishii teaches ‘a reconfiguration with sync message’ (Ishii: [Listing 13]: “ReconfigurationWithSync”; [0198]: “the ReconfigurationWithSync IE may comprise RACH config-urations, indicating that this handover involves mobility (cell change and/or gNB change)”);
‘a reconfiguration with sync indication based on execution of a conditional reconfiguration’ (this is optional).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Ishii’s teaching with that of R2-220 in order to include RACH configuration for cell change (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 5, combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above).
R2-220 teaches ‘communicating, based on the one or more configurations, with one of the candidate target cells associated with the L1/L2-based handover’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: “Target DU”, step 16 to 18: UE move to communicate with the candidate target cell).
Regarding claim 6, combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above).
Combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches ‘wherein the one or more configurations of candidate target cells comprises an identifier to uniquely identify a L1/L2-based handover configuration’ (R2-220: [Page 2]: “the RRC Reconfigurntion message contains: ■ Measurement reporting configuration for L1/L2 mobility, i.e., configuration on how to report the L1 beam measurements of serving and target cells. ■ Configuration of the prepared candidate cell(s) which the UE needs to execute when it receives a L2 command to change the serving cell (perform handover)”. Ishii: [0009]: “conditional handover configurations comprising at least one identity of a candidate target cell … perform a handover to a target cell; and determine validity of each of the one or more conditional handover configurations based on the at least one indication upon or after performing the handover”; [Listing 4]: “CHOConfig”, “choConfigId”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Ishii’s teaching of identity of a candidate target cell with that of R2-220 in order to determine validity of the conditional handover configurations after handover (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 7, combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above).
R2-220 teaches ‘wherein the one or more configuration of candidate target cells comprises a target configuration to be applied for the wireless device for communicating with the target cell’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: step 16: “UE” -> “Target DU”: “Random access”; [Page 2]: “the RRC Reconfigurntion message contains: ■ Measurement reporting configuration for Ll/L2 mobility, i.e., configuration on how to report the L1 beam measurements of serving and target cells. ■ Configuration of the prepared candidate cell(s) which the UE needs to execute when it receives a L2 command to change the serving cell (perform handover)”, configuration of the target cell for UE to communicate with the target DU (cell)).
Regarding claim 10, combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches the method of claim 8 (discussed above).
R2-220 does not expressly teach, but Ishii teaches ‘wherein the second indicator comprises one or more parameters indicating: all configurations of the one or more configurations of candidate target cells are to be removed; or more than zero, but less than all, configurations of the one or more configurations of candidate target cells are to be removed’ (R2-220: [0404]: “wherein the one or more conditional handover configurations are released upon or after performing the handover, in a case that the indication indicates the reconfiguration message is provided as not full configuration”; [0426]: “wherein each of the one or more conditional handover configurations is released upon or after performing the handover to the target cell, in a case that the at least one indication indicates the each of the one or more conditional handover configurations is provided as not full configuration”; [0402]: “perform a handover to a target cell; and determine validity of the one or more conditional handover configurations based on the indication upon or after performing the handover”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Ishii’s teaching with that of R2-220 in order to determine validity of the conditional handover configurations after handover (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 11, combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches the method of claim 8 (discussed above).
R2-220 teaches ‘successfully completing the handover, based on successfully completing a random access procedure on the target cell’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: step 16: “UE” -> “Target DU”: “Random Access”; [Page 2]: “The handover from serving cell to target cell is executed by the UE in step 16-19”).
Regarding claim 12, combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches the method of claim 8 (discussed above).
R2-220 teaches ‘receiving L1/L2 signaling initiating the handover to an indicated candidate target cell’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: step 15: “Source DU”-> “UE”: “MAC CE trigger cell change”, step 16: “UE”-> “Target DU”: “Random access”; [Page 2]: “The handover from serving cell to target cell is executed by the UE in step 16-19”);
‘wherein the L1/L2 signaling comprises at least one of: downlink control information (DCI)’ (this is optional); ‘a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE)’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: step 15: “Source DU”-> “UE”: “MAC CE trigger cell change”).
Regarding claim 14, combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches the method of claim 13 (discussed above).
Combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches ‘sending, by the first base station, one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages comprising the one or more configurations of candidate target cells associated with a layer 1 and/or layer 2 (L1/L2)-based handover’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: “Source DU”-> “UE”: step 10: “RRC Reconfiguration”; [Page 2]: “the RRC Reconfigurntion message contains: ■ Measurement reporting configuration for Ll/L2 mobility, i.e., configuration on how to report the L1 beam measurements of serving and target cells. ■ Configuration of the prepared candidate cell(s) which the UE needs to execute when it receives a L2 command to change the serving cell (perform handover)”);
‘wherein the at least one radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message further comprises a third indicator indicating the handover to the second base station’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: “Target DU”; [Table 1]: “CHO”, “Enabled for measurement ID used for CHO execution”; [Page 9]: “In CHO, UE can only execute the handover to a prepared target cell”; [Page 8]: “conditional handover (CHO)”; RRC reconfiguration message could indicate CHO to a prepared target DU. Ishii: [FIG.7]: step 7-6: “RRCReconfiguration (CHO config)”, step 7-4’: “CHO CONDITION MET”, step 7-7: “WIRELESS TERMINAL” -> “TARGET CELL”: “Random Access Preamble”; [Listing 4]: “CHOConfig”; [0007]: “In CHO, the gNB of the source cell provides CHO configuration parameters including candidate target cells and triggering conditions to the UE in RRC_CONNECTED state. After receipt of the CHO configuration parameters, the UE may perform measurements of radio signals from the source cell as well as the candidate target cells, and may autonomously initiate a handover to one of the candidate cells whose triggering conditions are met”; [0157]-[0158]: “the serving cell, e.g., source gNodeB 22, has already negotiated with each of the candidate target cell(s), and the wireless terminal 26 is allowed to autonomously execute a handover to one of the candidate target cell(s) as long as the CHO configuration remains valid. Therefore, once the CHO configuration is provided in the message of act 7-5, it may be wasteful to send a measurement report with regard to any of the candidate target cell(s) … a mea-surement report control unit 86 which may suppress the reporting of measurements for candidate target gNodeBs”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Ishii’s teaching of CHO configuration with that of R2-220 in order to suppress wasteful measurement report (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 15, combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches the method of claim 13 (discussed above).
Combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches ‘the first indicator comprises one or more parameters’ (R2-220: [Page 2]: “the RRC Reconfigurntion message contains: ■ Measurement reporting configuration for L1/L2 mobility, i.e., configuration on how to report the L1 beam measurements of serving and target cells. ■ Configuration of the prepared candidate cell(s) which the UE needs to execute when it receives a L2 command to change the serving cell (perform handover)”. Ishii: [Listing 4]: “CHOConfig”, “choConfigId”);
‘the second indicator indicates to the first base station whether to retain or remove the one or more cell configurations’ (Ishii: [0362]: “a signalling message to configure the conditional handover may comprise an indicator to indicate whether the conditional handover configuration provided in the message may be kept or needs to be released after executing a handover”; [0375]: “if valid, the wireless terminal may keep the conditional handover configuration after the handover execution, otherwise, the wireless terminal may release the the conditional handover configuration”; [0402]: “perform a handover to a target cell; and determine validity of the one or more conditional handover configurations based on the indication upon or after performing the handover”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Ishii’s teaching of indicator with that of R2-220 in order to determine validity of the conditional handover configurations after handover (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 16, combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches the method of claim 13 (discussed above).
R2-220 teaches ‘the first base station is a source base station associated with a layer 1 and/or layer 2 (L1/L2)-based handover’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: “Source DU”; [Page 2]: “L1/L2 mobility”);
‘the second base station is a target base station associated with the L1/L2-based handover’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: “Target DU”);
‘performing, by the first base station, the L1/L2-based handover’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: step 13: “UE”-> “Source DU”: “L1 Measurement Report”, step 14: “Source DU”: “Decision: Serving Cell Change”, step 15: “Source DU”-> “UE”: “MAC CE trigger cell change”; [Page 2]: “The handover from serving cell to target cell is executed by the UE in step 16-19”).
Regarding claim 17, combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches the method of claim 13 (discussed above).
R2-220 teaches ‘wherein the first message comprises a handover request message from the source base station to the target base station associated with a layer 1 and/or layer 2 (L1/L2)-based handover of the wireless device from the source base station to the target base station’ (R2-220: “Source DU”-> “Target DU”: step 2: “UL RRC message transfer, L3 Measurement Report”, step 4: “UE context setup request”; [Page 2]: “In step 1-2, the UE sends a measurement report containing the measurements of serving and target cell(s).
o Using the reported measurements, the CU can identify a potential set of candidate target cells to which the UE can be handed over to (step 3). In this example, the CU identifies candidate target cells that are served by either source DU or another DU (i.e., target DU) which are controlled by the same CU.
o In step 4, the CU requests the preparation of a candidate target cell controlled by the target DU by sending UE Context Setup Request message … The handover from serving cell to target cell is executed by the UE”).
Regarding claim 18, combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches the method of claim 13 (discussed above).
R2-220 teaches ‘wherein the presence indicates the one or more cell configurations of candidate target cells on the wireless device’ (R2-220: [Page 2]: “In step 1-2, the UE sends a measurement report containing the measurements of serving and target cell(s).
o Using the reported measurements, the CU can identify a potential set of candidate target cells to which the UE can be handed over to (step 3). In this example, the CU identifies candidate target cells that are served by either source DU or another DU (i.e., target DU)”).
Regarding claim 19, combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches the method of claim 13 (discussed above).
R2-220 does not expressly teach, but Ishii teaches ‘wherein the second indicator comprises a plurality of parameters indicating a plurality of cell configurations of candidate target cells to be removed on the wireless device’ (Ishii: [0362]: “a signalling message to configure the conditional handover may comprise an indicator to indicate whether the conditional handover configuration provided in the message may be kept or needs to be released after executing a handover”; [0375]: “the handover configuration information may be removed. Thus, if valid, the wireless terminal may keep the conditional handover configuration after the handover execution, otherwise, the wireless terminal may release the the conditional handover configuration”; [0404]: “wherein the one or more conditional handover configurations are released upon or after performing the handover, in a case that the indication indicates the reconfiguration message is provided as not full configuration”; [0426]: “wherein each of the one or more conditional handover configurations is released upon or after performing the handover to the target cell, in a case that the at least one indication indicates the each of the one or more conditional handover configurations is provided as not full configuration”; [Listing 12-1]: “CHOConfig”, “CHOConfigToRemoveList”, “fullConfig”, “1..maxNrofCHOConfigId”; [0402]: “perform a handover to a target cell; and determine validity of the one or more conditional handover configurations based on the indication upon or after performing the handover”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Ishii’s teaching with that of R2-220 in order to determine validity of the conditional handover configurations after handover (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 20, combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches the method of claim 13 (discussed above).
Combination of R2-220 and Ishii teaches ‘a target cell for handover of the wireless device’ (R2-220: [FIG.1]: “Target DU”; [Page 2]: “the RRC Reconfigurntion message contains: ■ Measurement reporting configuration for L1/L2 mobility, i.e., configuration on how to report the L1 beam measurements of serving and target cells. ■ Configuration of the prepared candidate cell(s) which the UE needs to execute when it receives a L2 command to change the serving cell (perform handover)”);
‘a reconfiguration with sync’ (Ishii: [Listing 13]: “ReconfigurationWithSync”; [0198]: “the ReconfigurationWithSync IE may comprise RACH config-urations, indicating that this handover involves mobility (cell change and/or gNB change)”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Ishii’s teaching of ReconfigurationWithSync with that of R2-220 in order to include RACH configuration for cell change (see reference quotes in element above).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20230388871 A1 see [FIG.24]-[FIG.29], [0056]-[0064], [0099]-[0108];
US 20230130286 A1 see [FIG.6]-[FIG.12], [0086];
US 20210105690 A1 see [FIG.3]-[FIG.14], [0100], [0118], [0141];
US 20250317814 A1 see [FIG.38]-[FIG.42], [0379]-[0418];
US 20220240138 A1 (IDS cited) see [0253]-[0254];
R2-2207738 (IDS cited) see [Page 1]-[Page 7].
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/G.F./Examiner, Art Unit 2462
/YEMANE MESFIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2462