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
Response to Preliminary Amendment
. Applicant’s preliminary amendment, filed on 11/20/2023, has been fully considered and entered. Claims 1-28 are canceled, claims 29-48 are new, and claims 29-48 are currently pending.
Priority
This application is a 371 National Stage of International Patent Application PCT/SE2022/050477, filed on 5/17/2022, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/195,726, filed on 6/2/2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) is submitted on 11/20/2023 and 12/20/2023 were filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. According, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 29-48 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lovlekar et al. (US 20210360495 A1 and Lovlekar hereinafter).
Regarding claim 29, Lovlekar teaches a method performed by a User Equipment (UE) for handling Mobility Prediction Model (MPM) re-configuration in a communications system (Figures 5 and 7, and Paragraph 0086; the cellular base station may modify or cancel the conditional handover set(s) [Examiner asserts that conditional handover set(s) is interpreted as MPM] provided to a wireless device. The cellular base station could provide one or more conditional handover sets to a wireless device when one or more conditional handover sets are already configured for the wireless device, in which case the more recent conditional handover set(s) may be considered to override any existing conditional handover sets, such that the old conditional handover set(s) may be canceled/discarded), wherein the UE is configured with a first MPM (Paragraphs 0080 and 0086; conditional handover set may be selected by the cellular base station for the wireless device based on any of a variety of possible considerations, and the wireless device has already configured the conditional handover set [interpreted as the first MPM]), the method comprising:
performing mobility predictions using the first MPM (Figure 6 and Paragraphs 0088 and 0089; the wireless device may perform conditional handover using the received conditional handover set);
providing a report from the mobility predictions to a network node (Figure 6 and Paragraph 0089; the wireless device may transit a handover confirmation [interpreted as information related to the first MPM] to the first cell. Figure 10 and Paragraph 0122; the UE perform handover to the second cell according to the received in-order early conditional handover set, including providing a handover confirmation to the second cell);
obtaining MPM re-configuration information from the network node (Paragraph 0086; it may be possible for the cellular base station to modify or cancel the conditional handover set(s) provided to a wireless device. One possible parameter could include a number of conditional handover sets being provided. Such signaling could also be used to indicate that 0 conditional handover sets are being provided, e.g., to indicate to cancel any currently configured conditional handover sets. Similarly, the cellular base station could provide one or more conditional handover sets to a wireless device when one or more conditional handover sets are already configured for the wireless device, in which case the more recent conditional handover set(s) may be considered to override any existing conditional handover sets, such that the old conditional handover set(s) may be canceled/discarded); and
performing MPM re-configuration according to the obtained MPM-re-configuration information (Figure 6 and Paragraph 0086; the base station may send indication to wireless device to cancel a currently configured conditional handover set, or provide a second conditional handover set. Similarly, the cellular base station could provide one or more conditional handover sets to a wireless device when one or more conditional handover sets are already configured for the wireless device, in which case the more recent conditional handover set(s) may be considered to override any existing conditional handover sets, such that the old conditional handover set(s) may be canceled/discarded. Paragraph 0088; the wireless device may receive a conditional handover set from a base station, and perform the conditional handover based on information in the received conditional handover set. Figure 10 and Paragraph 0123; second cell may provide a RRC Reconfiguration message to the UE to indicate that the in-order early conditional handover set is cancelled, and the UE may accordingly cancel the validity timer and discard the in-order early conditional handover set).
Regarding claim 40, Lovlekar teaches a method performed by a network node for handling Mobility Prediction Model (MPM) re-configuration in a communications system (Figures 5 and 10, Paragraphs 0086 and 0121-0123; base station provide conditional handover set(s) to the wireless device), the method comprising:
obtaining a report from the mobility predictions from a User Equipment (UE) (Figure 6 and Paragraph 0089; the wireless device may transit a handover confirmation [interpreted as information related to the first MPM] to the first cell. Figure 10 and Paragraph 0122; the UE perform handover to the second cell according to the received in-order early conditional handover set, including providing a handover confirmation to the second cell);
determining that MPM re-configuration should be performed (Paragraph 0086; it may be possible for the cellular base station to modify or cancel the conditional handover set(s) provided to a wireless device. One possible parameter could include a number of conditional handover sets being provided. Such signaling could also be used to indicate that 0 conditional handover sets are being provided, e.g., to indicate to cancel any currently configured conditional handover sets. Similarly, the cellular base station could provide one or more conditional handover sets to a wireless device when one or more conditional handover sets are already configured for the wireless device, in which case the more recent conditional handover set(s) may be considered to override any existing conditional handover sets, such that the old conditional handover set(s) may be canceled/discarded); and
providing MPM re-configuration information to the UE (Figure 5 and Paragraph 0086; it may be possible for the cellular base station (e.g., or another cellular base station to which the wireless device has performed handover) to modify or cancel the conditional handover set(s) provided to a wireless device. Figure 10 and Paragraph 0123; second cell may provide a RRC Reconfiguration message to the UE to indicate that the in-order early conditional handover set is cancelled, and the UE may accordingly cancel the validity timer and discard the conditional handover set).
Regarding claims 30 and 42, Lovlekar teaches all of the limitations of claims 29 and 40, as described above. Further, Lovlekar teaches wherein the report from the mobility predictions comprises one or both of: a measurement report comprising a result of the performed mobility predictions; or information related to the first MPM used in the mobility predictions (Figure 10 and Paragraph 0121; base station may select an in-order early conditional handover set and transmit to the UE. Paragraph 0122; the UE perform handover to the second cell according to the received in-order early conditional handover set, including providing a handover confirmation [interpreted as information related to the first MPM] to the second cell).
Regarding claims 31 and 43, Lovlekar teaches all of the limitations of claims 30 and 42, as described above. Further, Lovlekar teaches wherein the information related to the first MPM comprises any one or more of: MPM error information associated with the use of the first MPM in the mobility predictions; MPM accuracy information associated with the use of the first MPM in the mobility predictions; or MPM performance information associated with the use of the first MPM in the mobility predictions (Figure 10 and Paragraph 0121; base station may select an in-order early conditional handover set and transmit to the UE. Paragraph 0122; the UE perform handover to the second cell according to the received in-order early conditional handover set, including providing a handover confirmation [interpreted as MPM performance information associated with the use of the first MPM, since when a handover confirmation is sent, the handover may be considered successful] to the second cell).
Regarding claims 32 and 44, Lovlekar teaches all of the limitations of claims 30 and 42, as described above. Further, Lovlekar teaches further comprising determining the information related to the first MPM (Figure 10 and Paragraph 0121; base station may select an in-order early conditional handover set and transmit to the UE. Paragraph 0122; the UE perform handover to the second cell according to the received in-order early conditional handover set, including providing a handover confirmation [interpreted as information related to the first MPM] to the second cell).
Regarding claims 33 and 45, Lovlekar teaches all of the limitations of claims 29 and 40, as described above. Further, Lovlekar teaches wherein performing the MPM re-configuration comprises any one or more of: updating the first MPM; modifying the first MPM; replacing the first MPM with a second MPM; switching from the first MPM to a second MPM, with which the UE is already configured; or deactivating mobility predictions (Figure 6 and Paragraph 0086; the base station may send indication to wireless device to cancel a currently configured conditional handover set, or provide a second conditional handover set. Similarly, the cellular base station could provide one or more conditional handover sets to a wireless device when one or more conditional handover sets are already configured for the wireless device, in which case the more recent conditional handover set(s) may be considered to override any existing conditional handover sets, such that the old conditional handover set(s) may be canceled/discarded. Paragraphs 0087 and 0088; the wireless device may receive a conditional handover set from a base station, and perform the conditional handover based on information in the received conditional handover set).
Regarding claims 34 and 46, Lovlekar teaches all of the limitations of claims 29 and 40, as described above. Further, Lovlekar teaches wherein the MPM re-configuration information comprises any one or more of: an updated MPM; a modified MPM; a second MPM; information indicating a switch from the first MPM to a second MPM, with which the UE is already configured; or information indicating deactivation of the mobility predictions (Paragraph 0086; it may be possible for the cellular base station (e.g., or another cellular base station to which the wireless device has performed handover) to modify or cancel the conditional handover set(s) provided to a wireless device. For example, when providing a conditional handover set, one possible parameter could include a number of conditional handover sets being provided. Such signaling could also be used to indicate that 0 conditional handover sets are being provided, e.g., to indicate to cancel any currently configured conditional handover sets. Similarly, the cellular base station could provide one or more conditional handover sets to a wireless device when one or more conditional handover sets are already configured for the wireless device, in which case the more recent conditional handover set(s) may be considered to override any existing conditional handover sets, such that the old conditional handover set(s) may be canceled/discarded).
Regarding claim 35, Lovlekar teaches all of the limitations of claim 29, as described above. Further, Lovlekar teaches further comprising, based on at least a part of the information related to the first MPM, determining an action to be performed by the UE (Figure 6 and Paragraph 0088; the wireless device may receive conditional handover set(s) from a cellular base station. The conditional handover set may include cell frequency and cell identification information for each of multiple cells, and may indicate a specified order in which early conditional handover to those cells can be performed according to the conditional handover set, and threshold information indicating certain threshold conditions to be met to perform each of the indicated early conditional handovers. Paragraph 0089; the wireless device may perform conditional handover using the conditional handover set. For example, if the threshold conditions for at least the first conditional handover indicated in the conditional handover set are met, the wireless device may perform conditional handover to at least a first cell indicated in the conditional handover set, e.g., based at least in part on the conditional handover set).
Regarding claim 36, Lovlekar teaches all of the limitations of claim 35, as described above. Further, Lovlekar teaches wherein the action to be performed is any one or more of: continue to perform mobility predictions using the first MPM; stop performing predictions using the first MPM; provide MPM error information to the network node; deactivate the first MPM; switch to use a second MPM instead of the first MPM; re-train the first MPM; release the first MPM; or stop providing information related to the first MPM to the network node (Figure 6 and Paragraph 0090; if threshold conditions for at least a second conditional handover indicated in the conditional handover set are met, the wireless device may further perform conditional handover to at least a second cell indicated in the conditional handover set, e.g., after further travel along the known route for which the conditional handover set is selected).
Regarding claim 37, Lovlekar teaches all of the limitations of claim 29, as described above. Further, Lovlekar teaches wherein the UE is configured with multiple MPMs (Paragraph 0080; the conditional handover set may be selected by the cellular base station for the wireless device based on any of a variety of possible considerations. Paragraph 0083; in some instances, the cellular base station may select one or more additional conditional handover sets for the wireless device), and wherein the method comprises obtaining, from the network node, information indicating which one of the multiple MPMs to be used (Paragraph 0086; it may be possible for the cellular base station (e.g., or another cellular base station to which the wireless device has performed handover) to modify or cancel the conditional handover set(s) provided to a wireless device. For example, when providing a conditional handover set, one possible parameter could include a number of conditional handover sets being provided. Such signaling could also be used to indicate that 0 conditional handover sets are being provided, e.g., to indicate to cancel any currently configured conditional handover sets. Similarly, the cellular base station could provide one or more conditional handover sets to a wireless device when one or more conditional handover sets are already configured for the wireless device, in which case the more recent conditional handover set(s) may be considered to override any existing conditional handover sets, such that the old conditional handover set(s) may be canceled/discarded).
Regarding claim 38, Lovlekar teaches all of the limitations of claim 29, as described above. Further, Lovlekar teaches wherein the re-configuration is performed during a mobility procedure (Paragraph 0091; there may be any number of reasons/causes for a conditional handover set to be discarded/cancelled prior to exhaustion of the conditional handover set. As one possibility, a serving cell of the wireless device may provide an indication to cancel a conditional handover set. Similarly, a serving cell of the wireless device may provide one or more updated conditional handover sets to the wireless device, which may supersede and thus cancel any conditional handover sets that were previously provided to the wireless device).
Regarding claim 39, Lovlekar teaches all of the limitations of claim 29, as described above. Further, Lovlekar teaches wherein the UE is in RRC_CONNECTED mode (Paragraph 0085; the conditional handover set(s) may be provided to UE using RRC signaling while the wireless device is in RRC connected mode).
Regarding claim 41, Lovlekar teaches all of the limitations of claim 40, as described above. Further, Lovlekar teaches wherein the MPM re-configuration is determined based on the obtained report or any one of triggering, preparation, or execution of a mobility procedure (Figure 6 and Paragraph 0089; the wireless device may transit a handover confirmation [interpreted as information related to the first MPM] to the first cell. Figure 10 and Paragraph 0122; the UE perform handover to the second cell according to the received in-order early conditional handover set, including providing a handover confirmation to the second cell).
Regarding claim 47, claim 47 recites similar features as claim 29, therefore is rejected for at least the same reason as discussed above regarding claim 29. Further, Lovlekar teaches a User Equipment (UE) for handling Mobility Prediction Model (MPM) re-configuration in a communications system (Figure 6 and Paragraph 0086; it may be possible for the cellular base station to modify or cancel the conditional handover set(s) provided to a wireless device. One possible parameter could include a number of conditional handover sets being provided. Such signaling could also be used to indicate that 0 conditional handover sets are being provided, e.g., to indicate to cancel any currently configured conditional handover sets. Similarly, the cellular base station could provide one or more conditional handover sets to a wireless device when one or more conditional handover sets are already configured for the wireless device, in which case the more recent conditional handover set(s) may be considered to override any existing conditional handover sets, such that the old conditional handover set(s) may be canceled/discarded. Figure 10 and Paragraphs 0121-0123; base station provides conditional handover set(s) to the wireless device, the wireless device performs the mobility procedure according to information included in the received conditional handover set(s). The wireless device may handover to the second cell including providing a handover confirmation to the second cell. The second cell may provide a RRC Reconfiguration message to the UE to indicate that the in-order early conditional handover set is cancelled), wherein the UE is configured with a first MPM (Paragraphs 0080 and 0086; conditional handover set may be selected by the cellular base station for the wireless device based on any of a variety of possible considerations, and the wireless device has already configured the conditional handover set [interpreted as the first MPM]) and the UE (Figure 3 and Paragraph 0065; UE) comprises:
a communications interface (Figure 3 and Paragraph 0068; radio 330 may include separate controllers dedicated to controlling communications for various respective RAT standards. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, radio 330 may include a Wi-Fi controller 350, a cellular controller (e.g. NR controller) 352, and BLUETOOTH™ controller 354); and
processing circuitry configured to perform functions (Figure 3 and Paragraph 0067; processor(s) 302 may also implement various other applications and/or end-user applications running on UE 106)
Regarding claim 48, claim 48 recites similar features as claim 40, therefore is rejected for at least the same reason as discussed above regarding claim 40. Further, Lovlekar teaches a network node for handling Mobility Prediction Model (MPM) re-configuration in a communication system (Figure 5 and Paragraph 0086; it may be possible for the cellular base station to modify or cancel the conditional handover set(s) provided to a wireless device. One possible parameter could include a number of conditional handover sets being provided. Such signaling could also be used to indicate that 0 conditional handover sets are being provided, e.g., to indicate to cancel any currently configured conditional handover sets. Similarly, the cellular base station could provide one or more conditional handover sets to a wireless device when one or more conditional handover sets are already configured for the wireless device, in which case the more recent conditional handover set(s) may be considered to override any existing conditional handover sets, such that the old conditional handover set(s) may be canceled/discarded. Figure 10 and Paragraphs 0121-0123; base station provides conditional handover set(s) to the wireless device, the wireless device performs the mobility procedure according to information included in the received conditional handover set(s). The wireless device may handover to the second cell including providing a handover confirmation to the second cell. The second cell may provide a RRC Reconfiguration message to the UE to indicate that the in-order early conditional handover set is cancelled), the network node (Figure 4 and Paragraph 0072; base station 102) comprising:
a communications interface (Figure 4 and Paragraph 0072; base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434, and possibly multiple antennas. The antenna(s) 434 may be configured to operate as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with UE devices 106 via radio 430); and
processing circuitry configured to perform functions (Figure 4 and Paragraph 0070; the base station 102 may include processor 404 which may execute program instructions for the base station 102).
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Lin et al. (US 20240056933 A1) discloses a network node for mobility management that builds a machine learning model of the wireless network using obtained data samples. The machine learning model is trained to determine a sequence of handovers for a wireless device among the plurality of cells for the wireless device to traverse from a source cell to a destination cell. The method further comprises receiving mobility information for a wireless device, determining one or more handover operations for the wireless device based on the mobility information, and transmitting the one or more handover operations to the wireless device.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jing Gao whose telephone number is (571)270-7226. The examiner can normally be reached on 9am - 6pm M-F.
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/Jing Gao/
Examiner, Art Unit 2647