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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is responsive to Application # 18542445 filed 12/15/2023. Claims 1-20 are subject to examination.
Claim Objections
Claim 16 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 16 recites “A chip for performing the method according to claim 1”. Claim 16 is an apparatus claim but recited as a method claim. It is recommended to amend claim 16 to recite “A chip .
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 14, 16, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PAKNIAT et al. (PAKNIAT hereafter) (US 20190357095 A1) in view of KOZIOL et al. (KOZIOL hereafter) (US 20210045049 A1) and in further view of ZHU et al. (ZHU hereafter) (WO 2021217634 A1).
Regarding claim 1, claim 6, claim 11, and claim 16, PAKNIAT teaches, A stationing method, applicable to an electronic device, comprising:
sending a measurement report of a measured new radio (NR) cell to a long-term evolution (LTE) base station (PAKNIAT; Fig. 4; The UE may transmit a measurement report to the source eNB/gNB including a neighbor NR cell PCI (Physical Cell Identity) … the NCGI measurement may indicate whether the neighbor cell is an SA, NSA, or both SA/NSA, Par. 0078-0081; Fig. 5 element “UE connected to LTE detects NR cells”);
searching, if redirection information sent by the LTE base station based on the measurement report is received, for a target NR cell corresponding to a cell in the redirection information (PAKNIAT; based on the reported information from the UE about reported NR cell(s) and identified SA/NSA support, the serving network node may decide ... what kind of action towards the UE can be taken i.e. ... redirect, Par. 0024), and resolving a system message of the target NR cell (PAKNIAT; the UE may detect that a cell is not an SA cell by the absence of specific system information blocks, e.g., NSA NR Cells can only have MIB and/or SIB1 and/or SIB2 or no SIBs. In some embodiments, the SA/NSA indication may be implicitly derived by the UE and/or by the network based on bits of other network identifiers such as CGI, Tracking area codes, Par. 0098-0099); and
initiating, if tracking area (TA) information is resolved from the system message of the target NR cell (PAKNIAT; system information for the SA and/or NSA cells could be used by UE to determine if the cells can be camped on or not, Par. 0082 [Note that for NSA cells, there is no SIB and hence no Tracking area codes]), a registration request on the target NR cell, wherein the registration request is used for the electronic device to station on the target NR cell (PAKNIAT; an NR cell which cannot be camped on supports only NSA (EN-DC) operation … an NR cell which can be camped on supports SA operation, Par. 0083).
Although PAKNIAT teaches that UE uses SA/NSA information (implicitly derived from Tracking Area Code) to camp on a NR cell, but failed to explicitly teach that UE initiates cell access after checking Tracking Area Code information. However, in the same field of endeavor, KOZIOL teaches in Par. 0092 that “S740 ... causing the device to transmit a request for standalone access to the base station providing the cell” and in Par. 0119 that “a Tracking Area Code of the cell for PLMNs indicated in plmn-identityList. If absent for the PLMN to which the UE is registered, the UE should not attempt to access this cell”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of PAKNIAT to include the use of Tracking Area Code as taught by KOZIOL in order to send access request (KOZIOL; Par. 0119).
Although PAKNIAT teaches redirection but PAKNIAT- KOZIOL failed to explicitly teach,
a target NR cell corresponding to a cell frequency in the redirection information.
However, in the same field of endeavor, ZHU teaches,
a target NR cell corresponding to a cell frequency in the redirection information (ZHU; Fig. 5 element “5G Anchor Cell”; a cell redirection list may provide the UE with a listing of cells and/or frequencies bands, Par. 0072; a next generation new radio (NR) technology, which may be referred to as 5 .sup.th Generation (5G), Par. 0002).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of PAKNIAT- KOZIOL to include the use of RRC message as taught by ZHU in order to include cell frequency (ZHU; Par. 0072).
Specifically for claim 6, PAKNIAT teaches, An electronic device, comprising a processor and a memory storing a program or an instruction that is capable of running on the processor, wherein the program or the instruction, when executed by the processor, causes the electronic device to perform (PAKNIAT; The UE, Par. 0078).
Specifically for claim 11, PAKNIAT teaches, A non-transitory readable storage medium storing a program or an instruction, wherein the program or the instruction, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform (PAKNIAT; The UE, Par. 0078).
Specifically for claim 16, PAKNIAT teaches, A chip for performing the method according to claim 1, comprising a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is configured to run a program or an instruction to perform (PAKNIAT; The UE, Par. 0078).
Regarding claim 4, claim 9, claim 14, and claim 19, PAKNIAT- KOZIOL- ZHU teaches, The method according to claim 1, The electronic device according to claim 6, The non-transitory readable storage medium according to claim 11, and The chip according to claim 16 respectively wherein the method further comprises:
sending a connection request to the LTE base station if no TA information is resolved from a system message of any target NR cell (PAKNIAT; system information for the SA and/or NSA cells could be used by UE to determine if the cells can be camped on or not, Par. 0082), to establish a connection to the LTE base station (ZHU; if a UE determines at step 530 that no cell in the cell redirection list is a 5G-anchor cell ... connect to or camp on any LTE cell 503, Par. 0075).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of PAKNIAT- KOZIOL to include the use of cell selection method as taught by ZHU in order to select a LTE cell (ZHU; Par. 0075).
Claim 2, 5, 7, 10, 12, 15, 17, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PAKNIAT- KOZIOL- ZHU and in further view of KWAK et al. (KWAK hereafter) (US 20220167225 A1).
Regarding claim 2, claim 7, claim 12, and claim 17, PAKNIAT- KOZIOL- ZHU teaches, The method according to claim 1, The electronic device according to claim 6, The non-transitory readable storage medium according to claim 11, and The chip according to claim 16 respectively,
wherein the measurement report comprises , and if there are a plurality of target NR cells corresponding to cell frequencies in the redirection information (ZHU; a cell redirection list may provide the UE with a listing of cells and/or frequencies bands, Par. 0072), the searching for a target NR cell corresponding to a cell frequency in the redirection information comprises:
searching for the target NR cells in descending order according to signal strength of the target NR cells (ZHU; a UE may also determine at step 530 and/or step 540 whether a candidate cell is associated with a signal strength that meets or exceeds a threshold value ... selecting a cell based on a threshold value, Par. 0073).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of PAKNIAT- KOZIOL to include the use of signal strength as taught by ZHU in order to select a cell (ZHU; Par. 0073).
Although PAKNIAT teaches sending measurement report, but PAKNIAT- KOZIOL- ZHU fail to explicitly teach,
the measurement report comprises signal strength of the target NR cell.
However, in the same field of endeavor, KWAK teaches,
the measurement report comprises signal strength of the target NR cell (KWAK; the electronic device 101 may perform a measurement of ... reference signal received power (RSRP) ... when a report condition for at least one first frequency (e.g., ARFCN #1) is satisfied, the electronic device 101 may perform a measurement report, Par. 0085-0086).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of PAKNIAT- KOZIOL- ZHU to include the use of measurement of RSRP, RSSI as taught by KWAK in order to include it on report (KWAK; Par. 0086).
Regarding claim 5, claim 10, claim 15, and claim 20, PAKNIAT- KOZIOL- ZHU teaches, The method according to claim 1, The electronic device according to claim 6, The non-transitory readable storage medium according to claim 11, and The chip according to claim 16 respectively, wherein after resolving a system message of the target NR cell, the method further comprises:
determining, if no TA information is resolved from the system message of the target NR cell, that the target NR cell is an NSA cell (PAKNIAT; the UE may detect that a cell is not an SA cell by the absence of specific system information blocks, e.g., NSA NR Cells can only have MIB and/or SIB1 and/or SIB2 or no SIBs. In some embodiments, the SA/NSA indication may be implicitly derived by the UE and/or by the network based on bits of other network identifiers such as CGI, Tracking area codes, Par. 0098-0099); and
sending a target measurement report to the LTE base station if measurement configuration information from the LTE base station is received (PAKNIAT; the UE is requested to read and report neighbor cells system information (including global cell identity) in order to assist a source eNB/gNB to collect and store neighbor cell relation information, Par. 0078).
PAKNIAT- KOZIOL- ZHU fail to explicitly teach,
wherein the target measurement report does not comprise a measurement report of the NSA cell.
However, in the same field of endeavor, KWAK teaches,
wherein the target measurement report does not comprise a measurement report of the NSA cell (KWAK; When the condition associated with the SA mode is not satisfied (operation 405—No), the electronic device 101 may refrain from performing a measurement of at least one second frequency not satisfying the condition in operation 409, Par. 0085).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of PAKNIAT- KOZIOL- ZHU to include the use of measurement condition as taught by KWAK in order to exclude NSA measurements on the report (KWAK; Par. 0085).
Claim 3, 8, 13, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PAKNIAT- KOZIOL- ZHU and in further view of MANN et al. (MANN hereafter) (US 20170181043 A1).
Regarding claim 3, claim 8, claim 13, and claim 18, PAKNIAT- KOZIOL- ZHU teaches, The method according to claim 1, The electronic device according to claim 6, The non-transitory readable storage medium according to claim 11, and The chip according to claim 16 respectively, wherein the method further comprises:
the resolved system message does not comprise a System Information Block Type 1 (SIB1), or no TA information is resolved from a SIB1 in the system message (PAKNIAT; the UE may detect that a cell is not an SA cell by the absence of specific system information blocks, e.g., NSA NR Cells can only have MIB and/or SIB1 and/or SIB2 or no SIBs. In some embodiments, the SA/NSA indication may be implicitly derived by the UE and/or by the network based on bits of other network identifiers such as CGI, Tracking area codes, Par. 0098-0099).
PAKNIAT- KOZIOL- ZHU fail to explicitly teach,
starting a first timer if the redirection information is received; and
sending a connection request to the LTE base station if the first timer reaches a first preset value, to establish a connection to the LTE base station.
However, in the same field of endeavor, MANN teaches,
starting a first timer if the redirection information is received (MANN; Fig. 4A; The CSFB timer 410 commences when the CSFB redirection from the LTE is triggered in 316, Par. 0055); and
sending a connection request to the LTE base station if the first timer reaches a first preset value, to establish a connection to the LTE base station (MANN; The CSFB timer 410 is configured to allow for the CSFB search process in FIG. 3A-3B, but if no suitable cell can be found within a reasonable amount of time, the CSFB timer is configured to abort the CSFB search process and redirect the UE back to LTE in order to resume data services).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of PAKNIAT- KOZIOL- ZHU to include the use of timer as taught by MANN in order to conduct cell search process to execute redirection command (MANN; Fig. 4A, Fig. 4B).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Reference US 20220312524 A1 teaches redirection to 5G network from LTE in Fig. 6 and redirection to SA NR cell in Fig. 12.
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/SHARMIN CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416