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
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-10, 12-13, and 17-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. US 2021/0219199 A1 in view of Sha et al. US 2024/0049204 A1.
Claims 1 and 22:
Zhang discloses a method performed by a user equipment (UE) configured in Carrier Aggregation for handling Layer 1(L1)/Layer 2 (L2) mobility for secondary cells associated with a cell group, the UE being configured with a first cell as a secondary cell in a first frequency (See fig. 6, method by UE), the method comprising: - receiving a L1/L2 signaling, which comprises an indication to change the secondary cell from the first cell to the second cell (See fig. 6 and paras 95-98, “performed by a UE (e.g., UE 120a of FIG. 1) to perform L1/L2 based cell (e.g., SCell) addition and/or removal, L1/L2 based cell (e.g., PSCell) reselection, L1 based cell (SCell) activation and/or deactivation, or L1/L2 based cell (e.g., PSCell) addition and/or removal… the UE receives, from a network entity, at least one of physical layer signaling or medium access control (MAC) layer signaling comprising information for a selected cell”); and - changing the secondary cell in the first frequency from the first cell to the second cell (See para 97 and fig. 6 and para 97, “At 604, the UE performs an inter-cell mobility procedure in accordance with the information for the selected cell”).
With regards to claim 22, a user equipment (UE) comprising processing circuitry and a network interface connected thereto (See figs. 7/8, processor and transceiver).
Zhang doesn’t disclose receiving a configuration of at least one second cell in the first frequency, wherein the at least one second cell is a candidate to become the secondary cell; receiving the configuration comprises receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling; receiving the configuration comprises receiving a list of second cells; the configuration comprises an indication to configure the list of second cells to be in a deactivated state.
Sha discloses receiving a configuration of at least one second cell in the first frequency, wherein the at least one second cell is a candidate to become the secondary cell (See para 146, “SCell configuration: New SCells are configured for the terminal device. The network device establishes a CA frequency set and frequencies included in the CA frequency set through configuration, and a cell corresponding to these frequencies is a candidate SCell. …the PCell determines, with reference to the candidate SCells …SCells to which the terminal device needs to be added, and sends identifiers of these SCells to the terminal device by using an RRC reconfiguration message”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang with the teachings of Sha to improve the method disclosed by Zhang by including the feature of receiving configuration for candidate second cell(s). The motivation to combine would have been to configure the UE for the second cell in order to activate/deactivate in the future depending on the quality.
Sha discloses receiving the configuration comprises receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling (See para 146, “SCell configuration: New SCells are configured for the terminal device. The network device establishes a CA frequency set and frequencies included in the CA frequency set through configuration, and a cell corresponding to these frequencies is a candidate SCell. …the PCell determines, with reference to the candidate SCells …SCells to which the terminal device needs to be added, and sends identifiers of these SCells to the terminal device by using an RRC reconfiguration message”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang with the teachings of Sha to improve the method disclosed by Zhang by including the feature of receiving RRC configuration for candidate second cell(s). The motivation to combine would have been to configure the UE for the second cell in order to activate/deactivate in the future depending on the quality.
Sha discloses receiving the configuration comprises receiving a list of second cells (See para 146, “SCell configuration: New SCells are configured for the terminal device. The network device establishes a CA frequency set and frequencies included in the CA frequency set through configuration, and a cell corresponding to these frequencies is a candidate SCell. …the PCell determines, with reference to the candidate SCells …SCells to which the terminal device needs to be added, and sends identifiers of these SCells to the terminal device by using an RRC reconfiguration message”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang with the teachings of Sha to improve the method disclosed by Zhang by including the feature of receiving list for candidate second cell(s). The motivation to combine would have been to configure the UE for the second cell in order to activate/deactivate in the future depending on the quality.
Sha discloses that the configuration comprises an indication to configure the list of second cells to be in a deactivated state (See para 148-149 and fig. 5b, some SCells can be replaced with a better Scells and can be deactivated accordingly. Also see paras 218 & 267, deactivating through RRC signaling).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang with the teachings of Sha to improve the method disclosed by Zhang by including the feature of receiving configuration including deactivation of the cells. The motivation to combine would have been to configure the UE for the second cell in order to deactivate depending on the quality and network load.
Claim 23:
Zhang discloses a method performed by a network node for handling Layer 1 (L1)/Layer 2 (L2) mobility for secondary cells associated with a cell group for a user equipment (UE) being configured in carrier aggregation and with a first cell as a secondary cell in a first frequency (See fig. 6, method by UE), the method comprising:
- transmitting to the UE a L1/L2 signaling, which comprises an indication to change the secondary cell from the first cell to the second cell (See fig. 6 and paras 95-98, “performed by a UE (e.g., UE 120a of FIG. 1) to perform L1/L2 based cell (e.g., SCell) addition and/or removal, L1/L2 based cell (e.g., PSCell) reselection, L1 based cell (SCell) activation and/or deactivation, or L1/L2 based cell (e.g., PSCell) addition and/or removal… the UE receives, from a network entity, at least one of physical layer signaling or medium access control (MAC) layer signaling comprising information for a selected cell”); and
- changing the secondary cell in the first frequency from the first cell to the second cell (See para 97 and fig. 6 and para 97, “At 604, the UE performs an inter-cell mobility procedure in accordance with the information for the selected cell”).
Zhang doesn’t disclose transmitting to the UE a configuration of at least a second cell in the first frequency, wherein the second cell is a candidate to become the secondary cell; transmitting the configuration comprises receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling; transmitting the configuration comprises transmitting a list of second cells; wherein the configuration comprises an indication to configure the list of second cells to be in a deactivated state.
Sha discloses transmitting to the UE a configuration of at least a second cell in the first frequency, wherein the second cell is a candidate to become the secondary cell (See para 146, “SCell configuration: New SCells are configured for the terminal device. The network device establishes a CA frequency set and frequencies included in the CA frequency set through configuration, and a cell corresponding to these frequencies is a candidate SCell. …the PCell determines, with reference to the candidate SCells …SCells to which the terminal device needs to be added, and sends identifiers of these SCells to the terminal device by using an RRC reconfiguration message”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang with the teachings of Sha to improve the method disclosed by Zhang by including the feature of receiving configuration for candidate second cell(s). The motivation to combine would have been to configure the UE for the second cell in order to activate/deactivate in the future depending on the quality.
Sha discloses transmitting the configuration comprises receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling (See para 146, “SCell configuration: New SCells are configured for the terminal device. The network device establishes a CA frequency set and frequencies included in the CA frequency set through configuration, and a cell corresponding to these frequencies is a candidate SCell. …the PCell determines, with reference to the candidate SCells …SCells to which the terminal device needs to be added, and sends identifiers of these SCells to the terminal device by using an RRC reconfiguration message”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang with the teachings of Sha to improve the method disclosed by Zhang by including the feature of receiving RRC configuration for candidate second cell(s). The motivation to combine would have been to configure the UE for the second cell in order to activate/deactivate in the future depending on the quality.
Sha discloses receiving the configuration comprises transmitting a list of second cells (See para 146, “SCell configuration: New SCells are configured for the terminal device. The network device establishes a CA frequency set and frequencies included in the CA frequency set through configuration, and a cell corresponding to these frequencies is a candidate SCell. …the PCell determines, with reference to the candidate SCells …SCells to which the terminal device needs to be added, and sends identifiers of these SCells to the terminal device by using an RRC reconfiguration message”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang with the teachings of Sha to improve the method disclosed by Zhang by including the feature of receiving list for candidate second cell(s). The motivation to combine would have been to configure the UE for the second cell in order to activate/deactivate in the future depending on the quality.
Sha discloses that the configuration comprises an indication to configure the list of second cells to be in a deactivated state (See para 148-149 and fig. 5b, some SCells can be replaced with a better Scells and can be deactivated accordingly. Also see paras 218 & 267, deactivating through RRC signaling).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang with the teachings of Sha to improve the method disclosed by Zhang by including the feature of receiving configuration including deactivation of the cells. The motivation to combine would have been to configure the UE for the second cell in order to deactivate depending on the quality and network load.
Claim 4:
Zhang doesn’t disclose that the list of second cells comprises cells associated with the first frequency and cells associated with a second frequency.
Sha discloses that the list of second cells comprises cells associated with the first frequency and cells associated with a second frequency (See para 146, “SCell configuration: New SCells are configured for the terminal device. The network device establishes a CA frequency set and frequencies included in the CA frequency set through configuration, and a cell corresponding to these frequencies is a candidate SCell. …the PCell determines, with reference to the candidate SCells …SCells to which the terminal device needs to be added, and sends identifiers of these SCells to the terminal device by using an RRC reconfiguration message”. It is understood that when RRC connection will be established and configuration is sent it will include the first frequency to which it attaches and also any other frequencies that are in the candidate list. Also see para 148-149 and fig. 5b, some SCells can be replaced with a better Scells and can be activated or deactivated accordingly).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang with the teachings of Sha to improve the method disclosed by Zhang by including the feature of receiving configuration for first and second frequencies. The motivation to combine would have been to configure the UE for the second cell in order to activate/deactivate in the future depending on the quality.
Claim 5:
Zhang doesn’t disclose that the list of second cells comprises cells associated only with the first frequency.
Sha discloses that the list of second cells comprises cells associated only with the first frequency (See para 152, “Intra-band contiguous carrier aggregation: Carriers used for CA belong to a same band”. In other words, first frequency is the same band. Also, see para 58, “a carrier frequency is configured as an SCC”. All the SCCs will be configured in the same band).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang with the teachings of Sha to improve the method disclosed by Zhang by including the feature of second cells comprising first frequency. The motivation for doing so would have been spectral efficiency.
Claim 7:
Zhang doesn’t disclose that the at least one second cell and the first cell are identified by indexes.
Sha discloses that the at least one second cell and the first cell are identified by indexes (See para 148-149 and fig. 5b, OCT 1 and cell index C1-7).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang with the teachings of Sha to improve the method disclosed by Zhang by including the feature of index for identifying cell. The motivation for doing so would have been to enable efficient identification to save network resources.
Claim 8:
Zhang doesn’t disclose that the first cell is identified as an initial cell for the secondary cell.
Sha discloses that the first cell is identified as an initial cell for the secondary cell (See paras 146-149, cell that is activated in the RRC configuration will be the initial cell).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang with the teachings of Sha to improve the method disclosed by Zhang by including the feature of identify initial secondary cell. The motivation would have been to unload some of the data demand to the activated SCell.
Claim 9:
Zhang discloses that the L1/L2 signaling is a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) (See para 60, “the UE 120a may be ready to perform L1/L2 cell selection based on information in a DCI or MAC-CE received from the first base station 110a”).
Claim 10:
Zhang discloses that the L1/L2 signaling is a downlink Control Information (DCI) signaling (See para 60, “the UE 120a may be ready to perform L1/L2 cell selection based on information in a DCI or MAC-CE received from the first base station 110a”).
Claim 12:
Zhang discloses that changing the secondary cell in the first frequency from the first cell to the second cell comprises setting a state of the first cell to deactivated or suspended or dormant, and setting a state of the second cell to activated (See fig. 6 and paras 95-98, “performed by a UE (e.g., UE 120a of FIG. 1) to perform L1/L2 based cell (e.g., SCell) addition and/or removal, L1/L2 based cell (e.g., PSCell) reselection, L1 based cell (SCell) activation and/or deactivation, or L1/L2 based cell (e.g., PSCell) addition and/or removal”).
Claim 13:
Zhang discloses that receiving one or more MAC CEs indicating setting the first cell to deactivated or suspended or dormant and indicating setting the second cell to activated (See fig. 6 and paras 95-98, “performed by a UE (e.g., UE 120a of FIG. 1) to perform L1/L2 based cell (e.g., SCell) addition and/or removal, L1/L2 based cell (e.g., PSCell) reselection, L1 based cell (SCell) activation and/or deactivation, or L1/L2 based cell (e.g., PSCell) addition and/or removal… the UE receives, from a network entity, at least one of physical layer signaling or medium access control (MAC) layer signaling comprising information for a selected cell”).
Claim 17:
Zhang discloses that the UE receives the L1/L2 signaling (See paras 95-98, L1/L2 based signaling).
Sha discloses that starting or restarting a timer associated with the secondary cell when the UE receives the L1/L2 signaling (See para 147-148, “the deactivation timer starts when each SCell is activated… The network device dynamically controls SCell activation and deactivation by using an SCell activation/deactivation medium access control (MAC) control element (CE)”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang with the teachings of Sha to improve the method disclosed by Zhang by including the feature of timer. The motivation for doing so would have been to save network resources.
Claim 18:
Zhang doesn’t discloses changing the secondary cell in the first frequency from the first cell to the second cell comprises applying a configuration associated with the second cell on top of a configuration associated with the first cell.
Sha discloses changing the secondary cell in the first frequency from the first cell to the second cell comprises applying a configuration associated with the second cell on top of a configuration associated with the first cell (See para 148-149 and fig. 5b, some SCells can be replaced with a better SCells and can be activated or deactivated accordingly).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang with the teachings of Sha to improve the method disclosed by Zhang by including the feature of applying configuration on top of a configuration. The motivation to combine would have been to configure the UE for the second cell in order to activate/deactivate in the future depending on the quality.
Claim 19:
Zhang doesn’t discloses changing the secondary cell in the first frequency from the first cell to the second cell comprises applying a configuration associated with the second cell on top of a reference configuration.
Sha discloses changing the secondary cell in the first frequency from the first cell to the second cell comprises applying a configuration associated with the second cell on top of a reference configuration (See para 148-149 and fig. 5b, some SCells can be replaced with a better SCells and can be activated or deactivated accordingly).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang with the teachings of Sha to improve the method disclosed by Zhang by including the feature of applying configuration on top of a reference configuration. The motivation to combine would have been to configure the UE for the second cell in order to activate/deactivate in the future depending on the quality.
Claim 20:
Zhang doesn’t discloses changing the secondary cell in the first frequency from the first cell to the second cell comprises replacing a configuration associated with the first cell with a configuration associated with the second cell.
Sha discloses changing the secondary cell in the first frequency from the first cell to the second cell comprises replacing a configuration associated with the first cell with a configuration associated with the second cell (See para 148-149 and fig. 5b, some SCells can be replaced with a better SCells and can be activated or deactivated accordingly).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang with the teachings of Sha to improve the method disclosed by Zhang by including the feature of applying configuration on top of a reference configuration. The motivation to combine would have been to configure the UE for the second cell in order to activate/deactivate in the future depending on the quality.
Claim 21:
Zhang doesn’t disclose first frequency is a serving frequency of the UE.
Sha discloses first frequency is a serving frequency of the UE (See para 152, “Intra-band contiguous carrier aggregation: Carriers used for CA belong to a same band”. In other words, first frequency is the intra- band which is will serve the UE. Also, see para 58, “a carrier frequency is configured as an SCC or a PCC”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang with the teachings of Sha to improve the method disclosed by Zhang by including the feature of first frequency as a serving frequency. The motivation for doing so would have been to enable communication.
Claim(s) 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. in view of Sha et al. and Huang et al. US 20230262824 A1.
Claim 11:
Zhang in view of Sha doesn’t disclose that the indication to change the secondary cell from the first cell to the second cell is a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state whose quasi co-located (QCL) source has a Reference Signal (RS) associated with the second cell.
Huang discloses that the indication to change the secondary cell from the first cell to the second cell is a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state whose quasi co-located (QCL) source has a Reference Signal (RS) associated with the second cell (See paras 24-25, change of SCell is indicated through TCI state which has a QCL relationship with the RS of SCell).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang with the teachings of Sha to improve the method disclosed by Zhang by including the feature of applying configuration on top of a reference configuration. The motivation to combine would have been to save network resources by avoiding separate measurements for SCell.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 03/06/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
With regards to claims 1 & 22-23, on page 2 of the applicant’s remarks, the applicant argues that Sha does not teach receiving a configuration that comprises an indication to configure the list of second cells to be in a deactivated state via RRC signaling.
The examiner respectfully disagrees. Deactivation of the secondary cell(s) and any reconfiguration can also be done through RRC signaling, see paras 218 and 267.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Krishnan et al. US 20240098603 A1 discloses new radio (NR), devices (e.g., user equipment (UEs)) can perform L1/L2 mobility among cells in one or more cell groups, such as a master cell group (MCG), secondary cell group (SCG), etc., which can include performing mobility (e.g., handover) from one cell to another and/or to activate or deactivate a cell using L1 (e.g., physical (PHY) layer) signaling and/or L2 (e.g., media access control (MAC) layer) signaling. Da Silva et al. discloses that the state of the second cell is set to a value configured via RRC (e.g. activated) to be set when the second cell (configured as a candidate) is indicated to be the SCell via the reception of the L1/L2 signaling, like a MAC CE for L1 based mobility, where the MAC CE indicates a TCI state whose QCL source has an RS of the second cell.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HASHIM S BHATTI whose telephone number is (571)270-7748. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9:00am-5:30pm.
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HASHIM S. BHATTI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2472
/HASHIM S BHATTI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2475