Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/508,814

PROVIDING CONFIGURATION INFORMATION FOR TARGET CELLS

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Nov 14, 2023
Examiner
FOLLANSBEE, KEITH TRAN-DANH
Art Unit
2411
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Nokia Technologies Oy
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
64%
Grant Probability
Moderate
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 2m
To Grant
82%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 64% of resolved cases
64%
Career Allow Rate
54 granted / 85 resolved
+5.5% vs TC avg
Strong +19% interview lift
Without
With
+18.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 2m
Avg Prosecution
45 currently pending
Career history
130
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.2%
-38.8% vs TC avg
§103
65.9%
+25.9% vs TC avg
§102
16.4%
-23.6% vs TC avg
§112
12.3%
-27.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 85 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
DETAILED ACTION Claim Objections Claim 19 objected to because of the following informalities: sad -> said. Appropriate correction is required. 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 § 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. Claim(s) 1-7, 9, 10 ,13-18, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fehrenbach et al. (US2022/0078684 herein Feh) in view of Tao et al. (US20230164647). Regarding claim 1, Feh teaches An apparatus for accessing a radio access network ([0173] “the serving cell 310 confirms the requested CHO configuration to the potential target cells 120, such as cell 2-4, and may provide extra information about, for example, cell identities, time information when the UE is expected and/or the service/slice the UE 110 is using”), said radio access network comprising a plurality of network nodes each supporting providing radio coverage via at least one cell (Fig 5. “120”, [0106] “The CHO decision can also be based on, for example, a higher layer decision, e.g. based on: the load of surrounding base stations”), said apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor ([0436] “Depending on certain implementation requirements, embodiments of the invention can be implemented in hardware or in software. The implementation can be performed using a digital storage medium”, [0438] “The apparatus described herein may be implemented using a hardware apparatus, or using a computer”), cause the apparatus at least to: respond to receipt of a message received from a serving network node ([0104] “The UE 110 informs the potential target node 120 as the RRC reconfiguration is completed by an RRC reconfiguration completed messages 270.”), said message comprising information indicative of a plurality of configurations for a plurality of target cells and a request indicating an order in which said apparatus is predicted to access said target cells ([0167] “in the configuration request message 240, the serving source cell 310 may provide the full list of the sequential CHO and/or may provide only the relevant CHO information to each of the target cells 120, [0234] “cell 1 sends CHO configuration requests to the potential target cells cell 2-5, and receives CHO configuration acknowledgment messages 250 from the cells 2-5. After receiving the CHO acknowledgment messages 250, the configuration data 1100 is sent 140 to the UE 110”, (Examiner’s Note: sequential CHO list is equivalent to predicted to predicted access said target cells), said information comprising information indicative of at least one full configuration for a first cell in said predicted order ([0167] “in the configuration request message 240, the serving source cell 310 may provide the full list of the sequential CHO and/or may provide only the relevant CHO information to each of the target cells 120, Examiner’s Note: provide only the relevant CHO information is not explicitly clear that it is the same as a one delta configuration indicating a change in configuration compared to a configuration for a previous cell), by: storing said information ([0422] “the cellular network is configured to make the user equipment trigger an update of the configuration data from the serving cell by sending a report, which may comprise … handover configuration and/or handover context configuration and/or information about cells in which handover context configuration are stored”) Feh does not explicitly teach and at least one delta configuration indicating a change in configuration compared to a configuration for a previous cell. Tao teaches and at least one delta configuration indicating a change in configuration compared to a configuration for a previous cell ([0205“In the present case as will become apparent from the below disclosure, the receiver of the UE can thus be exemplarily configured to at least partly perform one or more of receiving a delta common configuration indication, of receiving differing common configuration elements of the target”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Feh to incorporate the teachings of Tao. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize resources usage during handover procedures. Regarding claim 17, Feh teaches An apparatus for supporting providing radio coverage via a plurality of cells ([0173] “the serving cell 310 confirms the requested CHO configuration to the potential target cells 120, such as cell 2-4, and may provide extra information about, for example, cell identities, time information when the UE is expected and/or the service/slice the UE 110 is using”), said apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor ([0436] “Depending on certain implementation requirements, embodiments of the invention can be implemented in hardware or in software. The implementation can be performed using a digital storage medium”, [0438] “The apparatus described herein may be implemented using a hardware apparatus, or using a computer”), cause the apparatus at least to: respond to receipt of a request for providing access for a user equipment to at least some of said plurality of cells ([0234] “cell 1 sends CHO configuration requests to the potential target cells cell 2-5, and receives CHO configuration acknowledgment messages 250 from the cells 2-5. After receiving the CHO acknowledgment messages 250, the configuration data 1100 is sent 140 to the UE 110”), said at least some of said plurality of cells comprising target cells for said user equipment and said request indicating an order in which said user equipment is predicted to access said target cells ([0234] “cell 1 sends CHO configuration requests to the potential target cells cell 2-5, and receives CHO configuration acknowledgment messages 250 from the cells 2-5. After receiving the CHO acknowledgment messages 250, the configuration data 1100 is sent 140 to the UE 110”, (Examiner’s Note: sequential CHO list is equivalent to predicted to predicted access said target cells) by: generating a message comprising information indicative of a plurality of configurations for said target cells, said information comprising information ([0167] “in the configuration request message 240, the serving source cell 310 may provide the full list of the sequential CHO and/or may provide only the relevant CHO information to each of the target cells 120, Examiner’s Note: provide only the relevant CHO information is not explicitly clear that it is the same as a one delta configuration indicating a change in configuration compared to a configuration for a previous cell). Feh does not explicitly teach indicative of at least one delta configuration indicating a change in configuration of one cell compared to a configuration for a previous cell. Tao teaches indicative of at least one delta configuration indicating a change in configuration of one cell compared to a configuration for a previous cell ([0205“In the present case as will become apparent from the below disclosure, the receiver of the UE can thus be exemplarily configured to at least partly perform one or more of receiving a delta common configuration indication, of receiving differing common configuration elements of the target”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Feh to incorporate the teachings of Tao. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize resources usage during handover procedures. Regarding claim 20 Feh teaches An apparatus for supporting providing radio coverage via at least one cell ([0173] “the serving cell 310 confirms the requested CHO configuration to the potential target cells 120, such as cell 2-4, and may provide extra information about, for example, cell identities, time information when the UE is expected and/or the service/slice the UE 110 is using”), said apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor ([0436] “Depending on certain implementation requirements, embodiments of the invention can be implemented in hardware or in software. The implementation can be performed using a digital storage medium”, [0438] “The apparatus described herein may be implemented using a hardware apparatus, or using a computer”), cause the apparatus at least to: generate a message for transmission to a user equipment connected to said at least one cell, said message comprising information indicative of a plurality of configurations for a plurality of target cells for said user equipment and an order in which said user equipment is predicted to access said target cells ([0167] “in the configuration request message 240, the serving source cell 310 may provide the full list of the sequential CHO and/or may provide only the relevant CHO information to each of the target cells 120, [0234] “cell 1 sends CHO configuration requests to the potential target cells cell 2-5, and receives CHO configuration acknowledgment messages 250 from the cells 2-5. After receiving the CHO acknowledgment messages 250, the configuration data 1100 is sent 140 to the UE 110”, (Examiner’s Note: sequential CHO list is equivalent to predicted to predicted access said target cells), said information comprising information indicative of a full configuration for a first cell ([0167] “in the configuration request message 240, the serving source cell 310 may provide the full list of the sequential CHO and/or may provide only the relevant CHO information to each of the target cells 120, Examiner’s Note: provide only the relevant CHO information is not explicitly clear that it is the same as a one delta configuration indicating a change in configuration compared to a configuration for a previous cell) Feh does not explictly teach and at least one delta configuration indicating a change in configuration compared to a configuration for a previous cell in said order. Tao teaches and at least one delta configuration indicating a change in configuration compared to a configuration for a previous cell in said order ([0205“In the present case as will become apparent from the below disclosure, the receiver of the UE can thus be exemplarily configured to at least partly perform one or more of receiving a delta common configuration indication, of receiving differing common configuration elements of the target”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Feh to incorporate the teachings of Tao. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize resources usage during handover procedures. Regarding claim 2, Feh teaches wherein said information further comprises a plurality of conditions corresponding to said plurality of target cells (Fig. 9 “1100”, [0167] “in the configuration request message 240, the serving source cell 310 may provide the full list of the sequential CHO and/or may provide only the relevant CHO information to each of the target cells 120, Examiner’s Note: provide only the relevant CHO information is not explicitly clear that it is the same as a one delta configuration indicating a change in configuration compared to a configuration for a previous cell); said apparatus being further configured to determine when one of said plurality of conditions becomes fulfilled for said apparatus ([0262] “In an embodiment the user equipment is configured to trigger 160 the conditional handover by sending a signal 160 to the target cell and complete 230, 350 the conditional handover by receiving a signal from the target cell”). Regarding claim 3, Feh teaches said apparatus being configured on determining said one of said plurality of conditions is fulfilled, to apply a corresponding one of said configurations ([0262] “In an embodiment the user equipment is configured to trigger 160 the conditional handover by sending a signal 160 to the target cell and complete 230, 350 the conditional handover by receiving a signal from the target cell”). Regarding claim 4, Feh teaches wherein said message further comprises validity information related to at least one of the plurality of configurations, said apparatus being configured to verify using said validity information ([0262] “In an embodiment the user equipment is configured to trigger 160 the conditional handover by sending a signal 160 to the target cell and complete 230, 350 the conditional handover by receiving a signal from the target cell”), when one of said plurality of conditions becomes fulfilled for said apparatus whether a corresponding target cell corresponds to a cell that said apparatus is seeking to access and where not, to not apply said corresponding configuration ([0133] “For example, for terrestrial CHO, it is important, for example, that the CHO configuration is removed or deleted at some point in time. This is commonly done, for example, by explicit signalling from the cell or from the gNB of a cell, after expiry of a validity timer or, for example, after a successful, completed handover. In a regular procedure, the CHO configuration is removed or deleted (in step 4 on FIG. 2) after successful completion of the CHO”). Regarding claim 5 Feh teaches wherein prior to applying said corresponding one of said configurations, said apparatus is configured to perform measurements to determine whether to connect to said corresponding target cell ([0041] “According to embodiments, the user equipment is configured to trigger an update of the configuration data from the serving cell by sending a report, e.g. a measurement report, to the actual serving cell and/or to a new serving cell”). Regarding claim 6, Feh teaches wherein one of said plurality of conditions become fulfilled when it is predicted that the apparatus is within the radio coverage of the corresponding cell ([0219] “For instance, the UE may be configured to perform a CHO at a specific or expected position and/or within a specified or expected time window to a specific target gNB or target cell”). Regarding claim 7, Feh teaches wherein said one of said plurality of conditions comprises a validity time, said validity time being a time when it is predicted that said apparatus is within the radio coverage of the corresponding cell ([0219] “For instance, the UE may be configured to perform a CHO at a specific or expected position and/or within a specified or expected time window to a specific target gNB or target cell”). Regarding claim 9, Feh teaches wherein, said apparatus is configured in response to missing at least one target cell of said plurality of target cells in said predicted order by not accessing said at least one target cell ([0219] “For instance, the UE may be configured to perform a CHO at a specific or expected position and/or within a specified or expected time window to a specific target gNB or target cell. In case, for example, the UE passed the respective position and/or the respective time window and does not see the expected target cell or a different cell, e.g. cell 8, it may, for example, tell the source gNB, e.g. with a report or a measurement report and/or a CHO failure message, if it is still connected and/or may tell the new target gNB or new serving cell, e.g. after a RACH/Connection Setup procedure, that is already connected to, for example, that the CHO configuration was erroneous predicted or expected and/or that the CHO configuration or CHO configuration data might be needed to be updated”), to construct an updated delta configuration for a cell subsequent to said at least one missed cell using a delta configuration of said at least one missed target cell, said updated delta configuration indicating a change in configuration compared to a most recently accessed cell ([0143] “As the UE 110 reaches cell 5, the UE 110 gets updated 320 by cell 5 with a CHO configuration update data 325 comprising further trigger conditions and configuration data of the handovers from cell 5 to cell 6 and from cell 6 to cell 7. The configuration update data 325 may comprise a new version or only a changed portion or a delta portion of the configuration data 1100”). Regarding claim 10, Feh teaches wherein, said apparatus is configured in response to missing at least one target cell of said plurality of target cells in said predicted order by not accessing said at least one target cell, said apparatus is configured to request that said radio access network reconfigures said apparatus ([0219] “For instance, the UE may be configured to perform a CHO at a specific or expected position and/or within a specified or expected time window to a specific target gNB or target cell. In case, for example, the UE passed the respective position and/or the respective time window and does not see the expected target cell or a different cell, e.g. cell 8, it may, for example, tell the source gNB, e.g. with a report or a measurement report and/or a CHO failure message, if it is still connected and/or may tell the new target gNB or new serving cell, e.g. after a RACH/Connection Setup procedure, that is already connected to, for example, that the CHO configuration was erroneous predicted or expected and/or that the CHO configuration or CHO configuration data might be needed to be updated”). Regarding claim 13, Feh teaches wherein said serving network node comprises a terrestrial network (TN) node and comprises a master node providing a primary serving cell ([0133] “For example, for terrestrial CHO, it is important, for example, that the CHO configuration is removed or deleted at some point in time. This is commonly done, for example, by explicit signalling from the cell or from the gNB of a cell, after expiry of a validity timer or, for example, after a successful, completed handover”, [0021] “In case of asking for an addition of a conditional handover to the target cells the configuration data relates to, the network, or the currently serving cell, may send a new configuration data or update to the existing configuration to the UE. It is also possible that a normal handover is initiated where the serving cell prepares the handover to the non-yet anticipated target cell”, (Examiner’s Note: currently serving cell could be BRI as master node). Regarding claim 14, Feh teaches wherein said serving network node comprises ([0021] “In case of asking for an addition of a conditional handover to the target cells the configuration data relates to, the network, or the currently serving cell, may send a new configuration data or update to the existing configuration to the UE. It is also possible that a normal handover is initiated where the serving cell prepares the handover to the non-yet anticipated target cell”, (Examiner’s Note: currently serving cell could be BRI as master node). Feh does not teach a NTN node. Tao teaches a NTN node ([0170] “the satellite payload implements frequency conversion and a Radio Frequency amplifier in both uplink and downlink direction. It corresponds to an analogue RF repeater. Hence, the satellite repeats the NR-Uu radio interface from the feeder link (between the NTN gateway and the satellite) to the service link (between the satellite and the UE) and vice versa. The Satellite Radio Interface (SRI) on the feeder link is the NR-Uu. In other words, the satellite does not terminate NR-Uu”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Feh to incorporate the teachings of Tao. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize resources usage during handover procedures. Regarding claim 15, Feh teaches wherein said apparatus is configured for single connectivity and said plurality of target cells are provided by at least one of the following: at least one TN node ([0133] “For example, for terrestrial CHO, it is important, for example, that the CHO configuration is removed or deleted at some point in time. This is commonly done, for example, by explicit signalling from the cell or from the gNB of a cell, after expiry of a validity timer or, for example, after a successful, completed handover”, [0021] “In case of asking for an addition of a conditional handover to the target cells the configuration data relates to, the network, or the currently serving cell, may send a new configuration data or update to the existing configuration to the UE. It is also possible that a normal handover is initiated where the serving cell prepares the handover to the non-yet anticipated target cell”, (Examiner’s Note: currently serving cell could be BRI as master node), Feh does not teach at least one NTN node. Tao teaches at least one NTN nodes ([0170] “the satellite payload implements frequency conversion and a Radio Frequency amplifier in both uplink and downlink direction. It corresponds to an analogue RF repeater. Hence, the satellite repeats the NR-Uu radio interface from the feeder link (between the NTN gateway and the satellite) to the service link (between the satellite and the UE) and vice versa. The Satellite Radio Interface (SRI) on the feeder link is the NR-Uu. In other words, the satellite does not terminate NR-Uu”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Feh to incorporate the teachings of Tao. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize resources usage during handover procedures. Regarding claim 16, Feh teaches wherein said apparatus comprises a UE ([0104] “The UE 110 informs the potential target node 120 as the RRC reconfiguration is completed by an RRC reconfiguration completed messages 270.”). Regarding claim 18, Feh teaches wherein said information indicative of a plurality of configurations for said target cells comprises a full configuration for a first cell being visited ([0167] “in the configuration request message 240, the serving source cell 310 may provide the full list of the sequential CHO and/or may provide only the relevant CHO information to each of the target cells 120, Examiner’s Note: provide only the relevant CHO information is not explicitly clear that it is the same as a one delta configuration indicating a change in configuration compared to a configuration for a previous cell). Feh does not teach and a delta configuration for subsequent cells, said delta configuration comprising a change in configuration compared to a previous cell. Tao teaches and a delta configuration for subsequent cells, said delta configuration comprising a change in configuration compared to a previous cell ([0205“In the present case as will become apparent from the below disclosure, the receiver of the UE can thus be exemplarily configured to at least partly perform one or more of receiving a delta common configuration indication, of receiving differing common configuration elements of the target”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Feh to incorporate the teachings of Tao. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize resources usage during handover procedures. Claim(s) 8, 11-12, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Feh in view of Tao further in view of Bergqvist et al. (US20250287283 herein after Berg). Regarding claim 8, Feh teach wherein said information indicative of said plurality of configurations for said plurality of target cells comprises a ([0167] “in the configuration request message 240, the serving source cell 310 may provide the full list of the sequential CHO and/or may provide only the relevant CHO information to each of the target cells 120). Feh and Tao does not teaches configuration for a plurality of subsequent cells each comprising a delta configuration indicating a change in configuration compared to a configuration for a previous cell. Berg teaches configuration for a plurality of subsequent cells each comprising a delta configuration indicating a change in configuration compared to a configuration for a previous cell ([0017] “a plurality of conditional reconfigurations from the RAN. Each conditional reconfiguration is associated with a mobility procedure, one or more candidate target cells, and an execution condition. These exemplary methods include storing the plurality of conditional reconfigurations”, [0135] “n some cases, the target RAN node may provide the configuration in a format that is relative or differential to the configuration of the source cell in which the UE currently operates. These are often referred to “delta configurations” and include only parameters of UE's configuration in the source cell that need to be modified for the corresponding target cell”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Feh, Tao to incorporate the teachings of Berg. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to facilitate a subsequent mobility procedure with low delay or latency. Regarding claim 11, Feh does not teach wherein said apparatus is configured for dual connectivity and said plurality of target cells comprise secondary cells provided by at least one non-terrestrial network (NTN) node. Tao teaches ([0169] “A non-terrestrial network (NTN) refers to a network, or segment of networks, using RF resources on board of a satellite, for instance. Exemplary, NTNs may comprise the following system elements: an NTN-capable terminal, which may refer to a 3GPP UE or a terminal that is specific to the satellite system in case a satellite does not serve directly 3GPP UEs”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Feh to incorporate the teachings of Tao. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize resources usage during handover procedures. Tao does not teach wherein said apparatus is configured for dual connectivity and said plurality of target cells comprise secondary cells. Berg teaches wherein said apparatus is configured for dual connectivity and said plurality of target cells comprise secondary cells ([0087] “As briefly mentioned above, LTE Rel-12 introduced dual connectivity (DC) whereby a UE can be configured with a Master Cell Group (MCG) provided by a master node (MN) and a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) provided by a secondary node (SN). Each of the CGs is a group of serving cells that includes one MAC entity, a set of logical channels with associated RLC entities, a primary cell (PCell), and optionally one or more secondary cells (SCells). The term “special cell” (“SpCell” for short) refers to the MCG PCell or the primary SCG cell (PSCell) depending on whether the UE's MAC entity is associated with the MCG or the SCG, respectively. In non-DC operation (e.g., CA), SpCell refers to the PCell. An SpCell is always activated and supports physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission and contention-based random access by UEs”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Feh, Tao to incorporate the teachings of Berg. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to facilitate a subsequent mobility procedure with low delay or latency. Regarding claim 12, Feh does not teach wherein said at least one NTN node comprises at least two NTN nodes. Tao teaches wherein said at least one NTN node comprises at least two NTN nodes ([0170] “the satellite payload implements frequency conversion and a Radio Frequency amplifier in both uplink and downlink direction. It corresponds to an analogue RF repeater. Hence, the satellite repeats the NR-Uu radio interface from the feeder link (between the NTN gateway and the satellite) to the service link (between the satellite and the UE) and vice versa. The Satellite Radio Interface (SRI) on the feeder link is the NR-Uu. In other words, the satellite does not terminate NR-Uu”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Feh to incorporate the teachings of Tao. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize resources usage during handover procedures. Regarding claim 19, Feh teaches wherein said request comprises a full configuration for an initial target cell, and said information indicative of ([0167] “in the configuration request message 240, the serving source cell 310 may provide the full list of the sequential CHO and/or may provide only the relevant CHO information to each of the target cells 120) Feh does not teach configuration for said plurality of cells comprises a plurality of delta configurations for a plurality of subsequent target cells, said delta configurations comprising a change in configuration compared to a previous cell, a first delta configuration comprising a change in configuration compared to sad initial target cell. Tao teaches a first delta configuration comprising a change in configuration compared to sad initial target cell ([0205“In the present case as will become apparent from the below disclosure, the receiver of the UE can thus be exemplarily configured to at least partly perform one or more of receiving a delta common configuration indication, of receiving differing common configuration elements of the target”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Feh to incorporate the teachings of Tao. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize resources usage during handover procedures. Tao does not teach configuration for said plurality of cells comprises a plurality of delta configurations for a plurality of subsequent target cells, said delta configurations comprising a change in configuration compared to a previous cell. ([0017] “a plurality of conditional reconfigurations from the RAN. Each conditional reconfiguration is associated with a mobility procedure, one or more candidate target cells, and an execution condition. These exemplary methods include storing the plurality of conditional reconfigurations”, [0135] “n some cases, the target RAN node may provide the configuration in a format that is relative or differential to the configuration of the source cell in which the UE currently operates. These are often referred to “delta configurations” and include only parameters of UE's configuration in the source cell that need to be modified for the corresponding target cell”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Feh, Tao to incorporate the teachings of Berg. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to facilitate a subsequent mobility procedure with low delay or latency. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Nuggehalli et al. (US20250274837) mentions NTN and RRC Configuration for handover. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEITH TRAN-DANH FOLLANSBEE whose telephone number is (571)272-3071. The examiner can normally be reached 10am -6 pm M-Th. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Derrick Ferris can be reached at 571-272-3123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /K.T.F./Examiner, Art Unit 2411 /DERRICK W FERRIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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Prosecution Timeline

Nov 14, 2023
Application Filed
Jan 04, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
64%
Grant Probability
82%
With Interview (+18.6%)
3y 2m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 85 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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