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 .
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 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.
DETAILED ACTION
1. The application of Purkayastha et al. for the "LOWER LAYER SIGNALING FOR SECONDARY CELL GROUP SELECTIVE ACTIVATION" filed 11/10/2023 has been examined. This application Claims Priority from Provisional Application 63383678, filed 11/14/2022. Claims 1-30 are pending in the present application.
2. The applicant should use this period for response to thoroughly and very closely proof read and review the whole of the application for correct correlation between reference numerals in the textual portion of the Specification and Drawings along with any minor spelling errors, general typographical errors, accuracy, assurance of proper use for Trademarks TM, and other legal symbols @, where required, and clarity of meaning in the Specification, Drawings, and specifically the claims (i.e., provide proper antecedent basis for “the'' and “said'' within each
claim). Minor typographical errors could render a Patent unenforceable and so the applicant is
strongly encouraged to aid in this endeavor.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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.
4. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims under 35 U.S.C. 103, the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned at the time any inventions covered therein were made absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and invention dates of each claim that was not commonly owned at the time a later invention was made in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 103 and potential 35 U.S.C. 102(e), (f) or (g) prior art under 35 U.S.C. 103.
5. Claims 1-7, 9-14, 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Da Silva et al. (US#12,323,817) in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al. (US#2025/0267538).
Regarding claim 1, the references disclose a system and method for lower layer signaling for secondary cell group selective activation, according to the essential features of the claim. Da Silva et al. (US#12,323,817) discloses an user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: a transceiver; one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the transceiver and the one or more memories (see Fig. 20a-b for the structure of the UE 120 includes processor, memories and transceiver), configured to: receive, via the transceiver, configuration information indicating, for each of multiple candidate target primary secondary cells (PSCells), a lower layer triggered PSCell addition or change configuration (see Fig. 14; Col. 19, lines 33-61: Action 1401, “The UE 120 receives from the network node 110 a higher layer configuration comprising a set of SpCell configurations, to be configured in the UE 120 "a set of SpCell(s)" which means that the set comprises a set of candidate cells PSCell when operating in Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity); transmit, via the transceiver, a measurement report associated with the multiple candidate target PSCells (see Fig. 6, step 602; Col. 9, line 59 to Col. 10, line 35: showing how beam management, i.e. mobility management at L1/L2, is carried out – “The UE reports 602 CSI-RS measurements containing RSRP for the best 1-4 CSI-RS resources”); receive, via the transceiver, via lower layer signaling, a PSCell addition or change command indicating a candidate target PSCell, of the multiple candidate target PSCells, that is to be accessed (see Fig. 14; Col. 22, lines 5-11: Action 1403, “the UE 120 receives a lower layer signaling from the network node 110 comprises an indication to be any one or more of: activated or deactivated"; see also Col. 16, lines 61-63: "The problem addressed herein is how to enable e.g. a PSCell addition or inactivation, and a mobility mechanism (inter-cell mobility) relying on lower layer signaling); and perform, based at least in part on receiving the PSCell addition or change command, a PSCell addition or change procedure associated with the candidate target PSCell based at least in part on a corresponding lower layer triggered PSCcll addition or change configuration for the candidate target PSCell (see Fig. 14, lines 41-48: Action 1404, 1405,”The UE 120 may perform the indicated activation, or deactivation of the indicated one or more SpCells).
However, Da Silva reference does not disclose expressly the beam-level measurements and cell-level measurements for a candidate target PSCell. In the same field of endeavor, Parichehrehteroujeni et al. (US#2025/0267538) teaches in Fig. 11 a diagram illustrated a method performed by a UE being served by a cell belonging to the first RAN node 100A, and The performance metrics include UE radio link quality estimation/prediction if the UE being served by a cell belonging to the second RAN node 100B. Measurement of the cells may include cell level and beam level measurements of SSB or CSI-RS beams (see also Fig. 4; para [0181]-[0182] & [0189]-[0190]: a measurement of the cells may include cell level and beam level measurements of SSB or CSI-RS beams, such as beam Index/identifier of the measurement beam).
One skilled in the art would have recognized the need for effectively and efficiently communicating of lower layer signaling for secondary cell group selective activation, and would have applied Parichehrehteroujeni’s reconfiguration procedure utilizing cell level and beam level into Da Silva’s techniques for handling of SpCells in a wireless communications network. Therefore, It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply Parichehrehteroujeni’s reconfiguration procedure in a wireless communication network into Da Silva’s user equipment, network node and methods in a wireless communications network with the motivation being to provide a method and system for lower layer signaling for secondary cell group selective activation.
Regarding claims 2-3, Da Silva et al. in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al.teaches the apparatus of claim 1 as set forth above, Da Silva et al. further teach wherein the PSCell addition or change procedure includes changing a PSCell from a first cell associated with a secondary node (SN) to a second cell associated with the SN, wherein the second cell is the candidate target PSCell (Figs. 2, 14; Col. 19, lines 33-38 & Col. 22, lines 34-39: the UE 120 receives e.g. from the network node 110, a higher layer configuration with a set of one or multiple SpCell configurations, “a set of SpCell(s)” which means that the set comprises a set of candidate cells that may be the SpCell).
Regarding claim 4, Da Silva et al. in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al.teaches the apparatus of claim 1 as set forth above, Da Silva et al. further teach wherein the PSCell addition or change procedure includes adding a PSCell from a cell associated with a secondary node (SN), wherein the cell is the candidate target PSCel (Col. 28, lines 10-25: upon the change of SpCell e.g. where one of the additional SpCell(s) becomes a target SpCell via MAC CE or any other lower layer signaling, the UE applies the cell-specific configuration of the additional SpCell having as reference the configuration of the previously active SpCell, i.e. the source SpCell).
Regarding claims 5, 6, Da Silva et al. in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al.teaches the apparatus of claim 1 as set forth above, Da Silva et al. further teach wherein the multiple candidate target PSCells are associated with a distributed unit (DU) associated with a secondary node (SN); wherein at least a first candidate target PSCcll, of the multiple candidate target PSCells, is associated with a first distributed unit (DU) associated with a secondary node (SN), and wherein at least a second candidate target PSCell, of the multiple candidate target PSCells, is associated with a second DU associated with the SN (Fig. 15; Col. 23, lines 11-31: a source network node, e.g. a DU, baseband unit, etc. transmits the lower layer signaling to only activate an SpCell from the configured set of SpCells).
Regarding claim 7, Da Silva et al. in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al.teaches the apparatus of claim 1 as set forth above, Da Silva et al. further teach wherein the configuration information indicates at least one of: a list of the multiple candidate target PSCells, a base secondary cell group (SCG) configuration, or for each candidate target PSCell, of the multiple candidate target PSCells, a corresponding SCG configuration (Fig. 14; Col. 19, lines 51-61:“a set of SpCell(s)” which means that the set comprises a set of candidate cells that may be the SpCell (in the sense of an SpCell in TS 38.331- or PCell in case of single connectivity or PSCell when operating in Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity)).
Regarding claims 9, 10, Da Silva et al. in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al.teaches the apparatus of claim 1 as set forth above, Da Silva et al. further teach wherein the configuration information is received from a secondary/master node via a signaling radio bearer 3 (SRB3)/signal radio bearer 1 (SRB1)(Col. 2, lines 56-65 & Col. 34, lines 3-9: RRCReconfi guration and/or RRCResume transmitted on SRBs).
Regarding claims 11, 12, Da Silva et al. in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al.teaches the apparatus of claim 1 as set forth above, Da Silva et al. further teach wherein receive, an indication whether to maintain one or more lower layer triggered PSCell addition or change configurations and associated radio resources following performance of the PSCell addition or change procedure (Col. 46, lines 18-26:perform lower layer mobility via MAC CEs for PSCell changes), and wherein the indication whether to maintain the one or more lower layer triggered PSCell addition or change configurations is received via one of a downlink control information (DCI) communication, a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE) communication, or a radio resource control (RRC) communication (Col. 3, lines 19: signaling solution based on Multiple Access Control protocol (MAC) Control Element (CE) or Downlink Control. Information (DCI) has been introduced for beam management/intra-cell mobility).
Regarding claims 13, 14, Da Silva et al. in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al.teaches the apparatus of claim 1 as set forth above, Da Silva et al. further teach wherein transmitting the measurement report is based at least in part on one or more event triggers being satisfied (Figs. 2-3; Col. 2, lines 26-36: The source gNB initiates handover and issues a HANDOVER REQUEST over the Xn interface. This is possibly based on measurement reports); and based at least in part on at least one of layer 1 (L1) measurements or layer 3 (L3) measurements (Col. 23, lines 55-67 & Col. 24, lines 21-30: An idea of L1-based mobility is the UE receiving a lower layer signaling like a MACE CE and, upon reception, performing inter-cell mobility i.e. a procedure similar to a reconfiguration with sync, handover or PSCell change).
Regarding claim 29, It is method claim corresponding to the apparatus claim 1 examined above. Therefore, claim 29 is analyzed and rejected as previously discussed in paragraph above with respect to claim 1.
6. Claims 16-20, 22, 24-28, 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Da Silva et al. (US#12,323,817) in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al. (US#2025/0267538).
Regarding claim 16, the references disclose a system and method for lower layer signaling for secondary cell group selective activation, according to the essential features of the claim. Da Silva et al. (US#12,323,817) discloses a network node for wireless communication, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories (see Fig. 21a-b for the structure of the network node 110 includes processor, memories and transceiver), configured to: transmit configuration information indicating, for each of multiple candidate target primary secondary cells (PSCells), a lower layer triggered PSCell addition or change configuration (see Fig. 15, Col. 22, lines 53-65: Action 1501, 1502: "The network node 110 configures the UE 120, by sending to the UE (120), a higher layer configuration comprising a set of SpCell configurations"); receive a measurement report associated with the multiple candidate target PSCells (see Fig. 6, step 602; Col. 9, line 59 to Col. 10, line 35: showing how beam management, i.e. mobility management at L1/L2, is carried out – “The UE reports 602 CSI-RS measurements containing RSRP for the best 1-4 CSI-RS resources”); identify, based at least in part on a combination of the measurements, that a user equipment (UE) is to perform a PSCell addition or change procedure (see Fig. 6, step 602; Col. 9, line 59 to Col. 10, line 35: showing how beam management, i.e. mobility management at L1/L2, is carried out – “The UE reports 602 CSI-RS measurements containing RSRP for the best 1-4 CSI-RS resources” ); and transmit, via lower layer signaling, a PSCell addition or change command indicating a candidate target PSCell, of the multiple candidate target PSCells, that is to be accessed by the UE (Fig. 15, Col. 23, lines 5-34; Action 1503: "the network node 110 transmits a lower layer signaling to the UE. The lower layer signaling comprises an indication, which indication indicates one or more SpCells to be activated or deactivated").
However, Da Silva reference does not disclose expressly the beam-level measurements and cell-level measurements for a candidate target PSCell. In the same field of endeavor, Parichehrehteroujeni et al. (US#2025/0267538) teaches in Fig. 11 a diagram illustrated a method performed by a UE being served by a cell belonging to the first RAN node 100A, and The performance metrics include UE radio link quality estimation/prediction if the UE being served by a cell belonging to the second RAN node 100B. Measurement of the cells may include cell level and beam level measurements of SSB or CSI-RS beams (see also Fig. 4; para [0181]-[0182] & [0189]-[0190]: a measurement of the cells may include cell level and beam level measurements of SSB or CSI-RS beams, such as beam Index/identifier of the measurement beam).
One skilled in the art would have recognized the need for effectively and efficiently communicating of lower layer signaling for secondary cell group selective activation, and would have applied Parichehrehteroujeni’s reconfiguration procedure utilizing cell level and beam level into Da Silva’s techniques for handling of SpCells in a wireless communications network. Therefore, It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply Parichehrehteroujeni’s reconfiguration procedure in a wireless communication network into Da Silva’s user equipment, network node and methods in a wireless communications network with the motivation being to provide a method and system for lower layer signaling for secondary cell group selective activation.
Regarding claim 17, Da Silva et al. in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al.teaches the apparatus of claim 16 as set forth above, Da Silva et al. further teach wherein the network node is a secondary node (SN), wherein the PSCell addition or change procedure includes changing a PSCell from a first cell associated with the SN to a second cell associated with the SN (Figs. 2, 14; Col. 19, lines 33-38 & Col. 22, lines 34-39: the UE 120 receives e.g. from the network node 110, a higher layer configuration with a set of one or multiple SpCell configurations, “a set of SpCell(s)” which means that the set comprises a set of candidate cells that may be the SpCell), wherein the second cell is the candidate target PSCell, and wherein the multiple candidate target PSCells are associated with a distributed unit (DU) associated with the SN (Fig. 15; Col. 23, lines 11-31: a source network node, e.g. a DU, baseband unit, etc. transmits the lower layer signaling to only activate an SpCell from the configured set of SpCells).
Regarding claim 18, Da Silva et al. in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al.teaches the apparatus of claim 16 as set forth above, Da Silva et al. further teach wherein the network node is a master node or a secondary node (SN), wherein the PSCell addition or change procedure includes changing a PSCell from a first cell associated with a first SN to a second cell associated with a second SN, wherein the second cell is the candidate target PSCell (Col. 28, lines 10-25: upon the change of SpCell e.g. where one of the additional SpCell(s) becomes a target SpCell via MAC CE or any other lower layer signaling, the UE applies the cell-specific configuration of the additional SpCell having as reference the configuration of the previously active SpCell, i.e. the source SpCell), wherein at least a first candidate target PSCell, of the multiple candidate target PSCells, is associated with a first distributed unit (DU) associated with the SN, and wherein at least a second candidate target PSCell, of the multiple candidate target PSCells, is associated with a second DU associated with the SN (Fig. 15; Col. 23, lines 11-31: a source network node, e.g. a DU, baseband unit, etc. transmits the lower layer signaling to only activate an SpCell from the configured set of SpCells).
Regarding claims 19, 20, Da Silva et al. in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al.teaches the apparatus of claim 16 as set forth above, Da Silva et al. further teach wherein to transmit, by a centralized unit (CU) associated with the network node to a distributed unit (DU) associated with the network node, a candidate target PSCell preparation message, wherein the candidate target PSCell preparation message indicates at least one of a list of candidate target PSCells or a base secondary cell group (SCG) configuration (Fig. 14; Col. 19, lines 51-61:“a set of SpCell(s)” which means that the set comprises a set of candidate cells that may be the SpCell (in the sense of an SpCell in TS 38.331- or PCell in case of single connectivity or PSCell when operating in Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity)).
Regarding claim 22, Da Silva et al. in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al.teaches the apparatus of claim 16 as set forth above, Da Silva et al. further teach wherein to transmit, by a centralized unit (CU) associated with the network node to a distributed unit (DU) associated with the network node, a reconfiguration message, wherein the reconfiguration message indicates at least one of a list of the multiple candidate target PSCells, a base secondary cell group (SCG) configuration, or a corresponding SCG configuration associated with each of the multiple candidate target PSCells (Fig. 14; Col. 19, lines 51-61:“a set of SpCell(s)” which means that the set comprises a set of candidate cells that may be the SpCell (in the sense of an SpCell in TS 38.331- or PCell in case of single connectivity or PSCell when operating in Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity)).
Regarding claim 24, Da Silva et al. in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al.teaches the apparatus of claim 16 as set forth above, Da Silva et al. further teach wherein to cease to transmit data to the UE based at least in part on at least one of transmitting the PSCell addition or change command or receiving an acknowledgement message in response to transmitting the PSCell addition or change command (Col. 15, lines 34-44: When UE receives the MAC CE for switching SpCell (i.e. activate an SpCell that is deactivated) the UE transmits an “acknowledgement indication”. The indication indicates one or more SpCells comprised in the set of SpCell configurations, to be any one or more out of: activated or deactivated); and transmit, by a distributed unit (DU) associated with the network node to a centralized unit (CU) associated with the network node, an indication to stop transmitting data and signaling messages over a source secondary cell group to the UE based at least in part on the at least one of transmitting the PSCell addition or change command or receiving the acknowledgement message in response to transmitting the PSCell addition or change command (Col. 46, lines 18-26: perform lower layer mobility via MAC CEs for PSCell changes. In that case, the configuration of additional SpCell(s) may be prepared by a secondary Node, which may be from the same RAT or from a different RAT. And, in that case, the MAC CE(s) or other lower layer signaling activating/deactivating TCI states associated to the PSCell may come from the PSCell).
Regarding claims 25, Da Silva et al. in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al.teaches the apparatus of claim 16 as set forth above, Da Silva et al. further teach wherein to transmit, from a centralized unit (CU) associated with the network node to a distributed unit (DU) associated with the network node, an indication of at least one of whether to maintain a source PSCell configuration and associated radio resources, or whether to maintain the lower layer triggered PSCell addition or change configuration and associated radio resources for each of the multiple candidate PSCells (Fig. 15, Col. 23, lines 5-10: the lower layer signaling comprises an indication, which indication indicates one or more SpCells comprised in the set of SpCell configurations, to be any one or more out of: activated or deactivated).
Regarding claims 26, Da Silva et al. in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al.teaches the apparatus of claim 16 as set forth above, Da Silva et al. further teach wherein to transmit, to another network node, an indication of the candidate target PSCell that is to be accessed by the UE (Fig. 15; Col. 23, lines 20-31: a second network node 110 associated to the target SpCell receives a preamble and identifies the UE 120; Hence, once the UE 120 is synchronized it transmits a MAC CE indicating which TCI state for that target SpCell is to is to be activated).
Regarding claims 27, Da Silva et al. in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al.teaches the apparatus of claim 16 as set forth above, Da Silva et al. further teach wherein to transmit, to another network node, a message indicating at least one of a secondary node release request, or an address of a network node associated with the candidate target PSCell that is to be accessed by the UE (Figs. 2, 3, Col. 2, lines 28-35: Inter-cell inter-node beam changing includes handover request), and wherein the message indicating the at least one of the secondary node release request, or the address of the network node associated with the candidate target PSCell that is to be accessed by the UE, is transmitted based at least in part on receiving, from the UE, a reconfiguration complete message (Col. 2, lines 40-55: The source gNB provides the RRC configuration to the UE by forwarding the RRCReconfiguration message received in the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE).
Regarding claims 28, Da Silva et al. in view of Parichehrehteroujeni et al.teaches the apparatus of claim 16 as set forth above, Da Silva et al. further teach wherein to transmit, by a distributed unit (DU) associated with the network node to a centralized unit (CU) associated with the network node, an indication that the PSCell addition or change command was transmitted (Fig. 15; Col. 24, lines 21-30: An idea of L1-based mobility is the UE receiving a lower layer signaling like a MACE CE and, upon reception, performing inter-cell mobility i.e. a procedure similar to a reconfiguration with sync, handover or PSCell change).
Regarding claim 30, It is method claim corresponding to the apparatus claim 16 examined above. Therefore, claim 30 is analyzed and rejected as previously discussed in paragraph above with respect to claim 16.
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 8, 15, 21, 23 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claims, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
8. The following is an examiner's statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art of record fails to disclose or suggest wherein the configuration information indicates a base secondary cell group (SCG) configuration, and, for each candidate target PSCell, of the multiple candidate target PSCells, a delta SCG configuration with respect to the base SCG configuration, and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive an indication that a corresponding SCG configuration associated with a candidate target PSCell is the delta SCG configuration with respect to the base SCG configuration; wherein to transmit, via the transceiver, another measurement report indicating other beam-level measurements and other cell-level measurements associated with the multiple candidate target PSCells; receive, via the transceiver, via lower layer signaling, and based at least in part on a combination of the other beam-level measurements and the other cell-level measurements, a PSCell change command indicating an other candidate target PSCell, of the multiple candidate target PSCells, that is to be accessed; and perform, based at least in part on receiving the PSCell change command, a subsequent PSCell change procedure based at least in part on a corresponding lower layer triggered PSCell addition or change configuration for the other candidate target PSCell, as specifically recited in the claims.
Conclusion
9. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
The Wang (US#2022/0264393) is cited to show cell configuration method and apparatus, terminal device, and network device.
The Ramachandra et al. (US#2024/0022973) shows methods for mobility related handover for MR-DC.
The Zhang et al. (US#11,924,700) shows L1/L2 based cell selection.
The Danjanovic et al. (US#2022/0322177) shows signaling layer 1/layer 2 inter-cell mobility capability.
The Kim et al. (US#2021/0258844) shows delayed cell group change procedure.
The Hwang et al. (US#2024/0276331) shows method and apparatus for updating configuration of conditional PSCell change in next gen. mobile communication system.
The Hwang et al. (US#2023/0124607) shows apparatus and method for conditional mobility on secondary node initiated by naster node in wireless communication systems.
The Hwang (US#2024/0056935) shows method and device for performing conditional handover in wireless communication system.
The Jin (US#2024/0049076) shows method and apparatus for performing conditional PSCell addition and change continuously in wireless communication system.
The Xu et al. (US#2024/0147317) shows method and apparatus supporting self-configuration and self-optimization.
The Kim et al. (US#12,396,051) shows method and apparatus for failure recovery in wireless communication system.
10. Applicant's future amendments need to comply with the requirements of MPEP § 714.02, MPEP § 2163.04 and MPEP § 2163.06.
"with respect to newly added or amended claims, applicant should show support in the original disclosure for the new or amended claims." See MPEP § 714.02 and § 2163.06 ("Applicant should * * * specifically point out the support for any amendments made to the disclosure."); and MPEP § 2163.04 ("If applicant amends the claims and points out where and/or how the originally filed disclosure supports the amendment(s), and the examiner finds that the disclosure does not reasonably convey that the inventor had possession of the subject matter of the amendment at the time of the filing of the application, the examiner has the initial burden of presenting evidence or reasoning to explain why persons skilled in the art would not recognize in the disclosure a description of the invention defined by the claims."). See In re Smith, 458 F.2d 1389, 1395, 173 USPQ 679, 683 (CCPA 1972) In re Wertheim, 541 F.2d at 262,191 USPQ at 96 (emphasis added). "The use of a confusing variety of terms for the same thing should not be permitted.
New claims and amendments to the claims already in the application should be scrutinized not only for new matter but also for new terminology. While an applicant is not limited to the nomenclature used in the application as filed, he or she should make appropriate amendment of the specification whenever this nomenclature is departed from by amendment of the claims so as to have clear support or antecedent basis in the specification for the new terms appearing in the claims. This is necessary in order to insure certainty in construing the claims in the light of the specification." Ex parte Kotler, 1901 C.D. 62, 95 O.G. 2684 (Comm'r Pat. 1901). See 37 CFR 1.75, MPEP § 608.01 (i) and § 1302.01.
Note that examiners should ensure that the terms and phrases used in claims presented late in prosecution of the application (including claims amended via an examiner's amendment) find clear support or antecedent basis in the description so that the meaning of the terms in the claims may be ascertainable by reference to the description, see 37 CFR 1,75(d)(1 ). If the examiner determines that the claims presented late in prosecution do not comply with 37 CFR 1.75(d)(1), applicant will be required to make appropriate amendment to the description to provide clear support or antecedent basis for the terms appearing in the claims provided no new matter is introduced."
"USPTO personnel are to give claims their broadest reasonable interpretation in light of the supporting disclosure." In re Morris, 127 F.3d 1048, 1054-55, 44 USPQ2d 1023,1027-28 (Fed. Cir. 1997). MPEP § 2106. "
11. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to M. Phan whose telephone number is (571) 272-3149. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon - Fri from 6:00 to 3:00.
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Mphan
01/26/2026
/MAN U PHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477