DETAILED ACTION
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 § 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(s) 1-5, 7-8, 10 and 13-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102[a2] as being anticipated by Chen [US 2020/0178102].
As claims 1 and 13-17, Chen [US 2020/0178102] discloses a method performed by a first network node [Par. 0037 discloses MN/Mgnb/Menb or SN/Sgnb/Senb] in a communications network including a second network node [Par. 0037 discloses MN/Mgnb/Menb or SN/Sgnb/Senb], one of the first network node and the second network node being a master node, MN [Par. 0037 discloses MN/Mgnb/Menb], and the other of the one of the first network node and the second network node being a secondary node, SN [Par. 0037 discloses SN/Sgnb/Senb] wherein network node includes processing circuit, memory and power supply circuit [Par. 0037 discloses MN/Mgnb/Menb or SN/Sgnb/Senb includes processing, memory and power supply circuit], the method comprising: communicating measurement gap configuration information with the second network node [Par. 0039-0041 discloses first node send configuration content of measurement gap comprising at least one of configuration content of measurement gap corresponding to the first node and configuration content of measurement gap corresponding to second node to second node], the measurement gap configuration information comprises at least one of: an indication of a set of candidate measurement gap configurations [Par. 0039-0041 discloses first node send configuration content of measurement gap comprising at least one of configuration content of measurement gap corresponding to the first node and configuration content of measurement gap corresponding to second node to second node]; [Par. 0039-0041 discloses first node send configuration content of measurement gap comprising at least one of configuration content of measurement gap corresponding to the first node and configuration content of measurement gap corresponding to second node to second node]; and responsive to communicating the measurement gap configuration information, communicating with a communication device using a measurement gap configuration based on the measurement gap configuration information [Par. 0040 discloses first node communicates with UE based on measurement Gap for Per-UE which includes configuration].
As claim 2, Chen [US 2020/0178102] discloses the first network node is the MN, and wherein the second network node is the SN [Par. 0037 discloses MN/Mgnb/Menb and SN/Sgnb/Senb].
As claim 3, Chen [US 2020/0178102] discloses communicating the measurement gap configuration information comprises: transmitting an indication of a set of candidate measurement gap configurations to the second network node [Par. 0039-0041 discloses first node send configuration content of measurement gap comprising at least one of candidated configuration content of measurement gap corresponding to the first node and candidated configuration content of measurement gap corresponding to second node to second node]; and receiving an indication of a selected candidate measurement gap configuration of the set of candidate measurement gap configurations from the second network node [Par. 0044 discloses after second node selects configuration content of measurement gap corresponding to second node to configurate the second node, it send the selected configuration content of measurement gap of second node to first node].
As claim 4, Chen [US 2020/0178102] discloses the first network node is the SN, and wherein the second network node is the MN [Par. 0037 discloses MN/Mgnb/Menb and SN/Sgnb/Senb].
As claim 5, Chen [US 2020/0178102] discloses communicating the measurement gap configuration information comprises: receiving an indication of a set of candidate measurement gap configurations from the second network node [Par. 0039-0041 discloses first node receives configuration content of measurement gap comprising at least one of candidated configuration content of measurement gap corresponding to the first node and candidated configuration content of measurement gap corresponding to second node from second node]; and transmitting an indication of a selected candidate measurement gap configuration of the set of candidate measurement gap configurations to the second network node [Par. 0044 discloses after second node selects candidated configuration content of measurement gap corresponding to second node to configurate the second node, it send the selected configuration content of measurement gap of second node to second node].
As claim 7, Chen [US 2020/0178102] discloses the measurement gap configuration information comprises at least one of: an indication of whether the measurement gap configuration is to be perFR1, perFR2, a mix of perFR1 and perFR2, or per-UE [Par. 0041, Per-UE];
As claim 8, Chen [US 2020/0178102] discloses determining the measurement gap configuration based on the measurement gap configuration information [Par. 0008, 0055, 0121, 0206].
As claim 10, Chen [US 2020/0178102] discloses transmitting confirmation of the measurement gap configuration associated with the communication device with the second network node [Par. 0094 discloses MN send an indication such as allowing “confirmation” the measurement gap to be reported to MN].
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.
Claim(s) 6 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen [US 2020/0178102] in view of Shimoda [US 2021/0378046].
As claim 6, Chen [US 2020/0178102] fail to disclose communicating the measurement gap configuration information comprises communicating the measurement gap configuration information as part of a SN Addition procedure or a SgNB Modification procedure. In the same field of endeavor, Shimoda [US 2021/0378046] discloses communicating the measurement gap configuration information comprises communicating the measurement gap configuration information as part of a SN Addition procedure or a SgNB Modification procedure [Par. 0357 discloses addition or modification].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system for using addition SN or modification for communication measurement gap as disclosed by Shimoda into the teaching of Chen. The motivation would have been to prevent data loss.
As claim 11, Chen [US 2020/0178102] fails to disclose what Shimoda [US 2021/0378046] discloses communicating the measurement gap configuration information comprises communicating the measurement gap configuration information in response to the MN initiating a SN Addition procedure or a Dual Connectivity Setup procedure [Par. 0357 discloses addition].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system for communicating the measurement gap configuration information in response to the MN initiating a SN Addition procedure or a Dual Connectivity Setup procedure as disclosed by Shimoda into the teaching of Chen. The motivation would have been to prevent data loss.
Claim(s) 9-10 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen [US 2020/0178102] in view of Wenjie [WO 2021/155489].
As claim 9, Chen [US 2020/0178102] fails to disclose what Wenjie [WO 2021/155489] discloses the first network node comprises a centralized unit, CU, and a distributed unit, DU [Fig 7, Ref CU and DU], wherein communicating the measurement gap configuration information comprises receiving, by the CU, the measurement gap configuration information from the second node [Fig 7, Ref 701], and wherein determining the measurement gap configuration comprises determining, by the DU, the measurement gap configuration based on the measurement gap configuration information received from the CU [Fig 7, Ref 702].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system comprising receiving, by the CU, the measurement gap configuration information from the second node, and wherein determining the measurement gap configuration comprises determining, by the DU, the measurement gap configuration based on the measurement gap configuration information received from the CU as disclosed by Wenjie into the teaching of Chen. The motivation would have been to prevent data loss.
As claim 10, Chen [US 2020/0178102] fails to disclose what Wenjie [WO 2021/155489] discloses transmitting confirmation of the measurement gap configuration associated with the communication device with the second network node [different interpretation of the claim: In a possible design, when the request message includes the configuration information determined by the SN for inter-station negotiation with the MN, the response message is used to confirm that the DU has received the configuration information determined by the SN for inter-station negotiation with the MN, Page 4].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system comprising transmitting confirmation of the measurement gap configuration associated with the communication device with the second network node as disclosed by Wenjie into the teaching of Chen. The motivation would have been to prevent data loss.
As claim 12, Chen fails to disclose what Wenjie [WO 2021/155489] discloses communicating the measurement gap configuration information comprises communicating the measurement gap configuration information prior to the MN performing a radio resource control, RRC, reconfiguration with the communication device [Fig 7, Ref 706-707 discloses communicating the measurement gap configuration information by CU and Ref 707 send RRC for UE].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system comprising communicating the measurement gap configuration information prior to the MN performing a radio resource control, RRC, reconfiguration with the communication device as disclosed by Wenjie into the teaching of Chen. The motivation would have been to prevent data loss.
Conclusion
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/STEVEN HIEU D NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414