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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/12/2024, 12/18/2024 and 10/27/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being 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.
Claims 1, 6, 8, 15-16, 18 and 20-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Cui et al. (US 2022/0312245).
Regarding Claim 1, Cui teaches an intra-frequency intra-system measurement method, applied to a system, the method comprising:
detecting that a neighbor cell in a neighbor area is inter-frequency or inter-Radio Access Technology (RAT) with a current Master Node (MN) cell or a current Secondary Node (SN) cell in a source area ([0032] the MN eNB 108 and the SN gNB 112 may configure measurement objects (MOs) to the UE 104. ... the MOs may configure measurements to enable the UE 104 to identify and measure intra-frequency, inter-frequency, or inter-RAT cells provided by, for example, a neighbor base station; [0038] PCell 304 may configure the UE 104 with an inter-RAT NR MO with measurement gap (MG) for the target NR 312 and the PSCell 308 may configure the UE 104 with an inter-frequency NR MO with MG for the target NR 312; [0039] For the MO configuration scenario 400, an LTE PCell 404 (provided by the MN eNB 108) operating on frequency layer 1 and NR PSCell 408 (provided by the SN gNB 112) operating on frequency layer 2 may provide MOs for performing measurements on target NR 412, which may be in frequency layer 2 in this scenario. In particular, PCell 404 may configure the UE 104 with an inter-RAT NR MO with MG for the target NR 412 MO); and
transmitting a measurement instruction for intra-frequency intra-system measurement to a terminal through the current SN cell or the current MN cell that is intra-frequency and intra-RAT with the neighbor cell ([0033] An intra-RAT MO may configure intra-RAT measurements, which may include inter-frequency and intra-frequency measurements. The SN gNB 112 may provide the UE 104 with an intra-RAT MO to configure the UE 104 to measure an NR frequency layer; [0039] For the MO configuration scenario 400, an LTE PCell 404 (provided by the MN eNB 108) operating on frequency layer 1 and NR PSCell 408 (provided by the SN gNB 112) operating on frequency layer 2 may provide MOs for performing measurements on target NR 412, which may be in frequency layer 2 in this scenario. ... the PSCell 408 may configure the UE 104 with an intra-frequency NR MO with MG for the target NR 412. In some embodiments, instead of configuring the UE 104 with an intra-frequency NR MO with MG for the target NR 412, the NR PSCell 408 may configure the UE 104 with an intra-frequency NR MO that is fully overlapped with an MG. Thus, even though the configured MO does not itself require a measurement gap, it may be configured in a MG that may correspond to, for example, another MO; [0108] The MOs may be NR MOs for measurement gap that include inter-RAT MOs from the MN eNB or intra-RAT MOs from the SN gNB),
wherein the measurement instruction is used for instructing the terminal to perform intra-frequency intra-system measurement on the neighbor cell ([0033] An intra-RAT MO may configure intra-RAT measurements, which may include inter-frequency and intra-frequency measurements. The SN gNB 112 may provide the UE 104 with an intra-RAT MO to configure the UE 104 to measure an NR frequency layer; [0039] For the MO configuration scenario 400, an LTE PCell 404 (provided by the MN eNB 108) operating on frequency layer 1 and NR PSCell 408 (provided by the SN gNB 112) operating on frequency layer 2 may provide MOs for performing measurements on target NR 412, which may be in frequency layer 2 in this scenario. ... the PSCell 408 may configure the UE 104 with an intra-frequency NR MO with MG for the target NR 412. In some embodiments, instead of configuring the UE 104 with an intra-frequency NR MO with MG for the target NR 412, the NR PSCell 408 may configure the UE 104 with an intra-frequency NR MO that is fully overlapped with an MG. Thus, even though the configured MO does not itself require a measurement gap, it may be configured in a MG that may correspond to, for example, another MO; [0108] The MOs may be NR MOs for measurement gap that include inter-RAT MOs from the MN eNB or intra-RAT MOs from the SN gNB).
Regarding Claim 6, Cui teaches the source area is a StandAlone (SA) area, a Non StandAlone (NSA) area, a Multi-RAT Dual Connectivity (MR-DC), or Dual Connectivity (DC) ([0025] The network environment 100 may support dual connectivity (DC) operation in which the UE 104 may be configured to utilize radio resources provided by distinct schedulers located in the eNB 108 and the gNB 112. Given that the eNB 108 and the gNB 112 provide serving cells with different radio access technologies (RATs), the DC operation may also be referred to as multi-RAT DC or multi-radio DC (MR DC)).
Regarding Claim 8, Cui teaches an intra-frequency intra-system measurement method, comprising:
detecting, by a current Master Node (MN) cell and a current Secondary Node (SN) cell, that a neighbor cell in a neighbor area is inter-frequency or inter-Radio Access Technology (RAT) with current MN cell or the current SN cell area ([0032] the MN eNB 108 and the SN gNB 112 may configure measurement objects (MOs) to the UE 104. ... the MOs may configure measurements to enable the UE 104 to identify and measure intra-frequency, inter-frequency, or inter-RAT cells provided by, for example, a neighbor base station; [0038] PCell 304 may configure the UE 104 with an inter-RAT NR MO with measurement gap (MG) for the target NR 312 and the PSCell 308 may configure the UE 104 with an inter-frequency NR MO with MG for the target NR 312; [0039] For the MO configuration scenario 400, an LTE PCell 404 (provided by the MN eNB 108) operating on frequency layer 1 and NR PSCell 408 (provided by the SN gNB 112) operating on frequency layer 2 may provide MOs for performing measurements on target NR 412, which may be in frequency layer 2 in this scenario. In particular, PCell 404 may configure the UE 104 with an inter-RAT NR MO with MG for the target NR 412 MO); and
transmitting a measurement instruction for intra-frequency intra-system measurement to a terminal through the current SN cell or the current MN cell that is intra-frequency and intra-RAT with the neighbor cell ([0033] An intra-RAT MO may configure intra-RAT measurements, which may include inter-frequency and intra-frequency measurements. The SN gNB 112 may provide the UE 104 with an intra-RAT MO to configure the UE 104 to measure an NR frequency layer; [0039] For the MO configuration scenario 400, an LTE PCell 404 (provided by the MN eNB 108) operating on frequency layer 1 and NR PSCell 408 (provided by the SN gNB 112) operating on frequency layer 2 may provide MOs for performing measurements on target NR 412, which may be in frequency layer 2 in this scenario. ... the PSCell 408 may configure the UE 104 with an intra-frequency NR MO with MG for the target NR 412. In some embodiments, instead of configuring the UE 104 with an intra-frequency NR MO with MG for the target NR 412, the NR PSCell 408 may configure the UE 104 with an intra-frequency NR MO that is fully overlapped with an MG. Thus, even though the configured MO does not itself require a measurement gap, it may be configured in a MG that may correspond to, for example, another MO; [0108] The MOs may be NR MOs for measurement gap that include inter-RAT MOs from the MN eNB or intra-RAT MOs from the SN gNB),
wherein the measurement instruction is used for instructing the terminal to perform intra-frequency intra-system measurement on the neighbor cell ([0033] An intra-RAT MO may configure intra-RAT measurements, which may include inter-frequency and intra-frequency measurements. The SN gNB 112 may provide the UE 104 with an intra-RAT MO to configure the UE 104 to measure an NR frequency layer; [0039] For the MO configuration scenario 400, an LTE PCell 404 (provided by the MN eNB 108) operating on frequency layer 1 and NR PSCell 408 (provided by the SN gNB 112) operating on frequency layer 2 may provide MOs for performing measurements on target NR 412, which may be in frequency layer 2 in this scenario. ... the PSCell 408 may configure the UE 104 with an intra-frequency NR MO with MG for the target NR 412. In some embodiments, instead of configuring the UE 104 with an intra-frequency NR MO with MG for the target NR 412, the NR PSCell 408 may configure the UE 104 with an intra-frequency NR MO that is fully overlapped with an MG. Thus, even though the configured MO does not itself require a measurement gap, it may be configured in a MG that may correspond to, for example, another MO; [0108] The MOs may be NR MOs for measurement gap that include inter-RAT MOs from the MN eNB or intra-RAT MOs from the SN gNB).
Regarding Claim 15, Cui teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, storing a computer program, wherein the computer program, when running on a processor, causes the processor to perform the method according to claim 1 ([0174] Example 23 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-21, or any other method or process described herein).
Regarding Claim 16, Cui teaches an electronic device, comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program, and the processor is configured to run the computer program to perform the method according to claim 1 ([0175] Example 24 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-21, or any other method or process described herein).
Regarding Claim 18, Cui teaches the measurement instruction is used for instructing the terminal to perform intra-frequency intra-system measurement on the neighbor cell without starting GAP ([0042] Intra-frequency MO with no measurement gap in clause 9.2.5).
Regarding Claim 20, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in Claim 18.
Regarding Claim 21, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in Claim 15.
Regarding Claim 22, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in Claim 16.
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 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cui et al. in view of Orsino (US 2022/0286881).
Regarding Claim 7, Cui does not teach the MR-DC at least comprises: Option 3, Option 4, or Option 7.
In an analogous art, Orsino teaches the MR-DC at least comprises: Option 3, Option 4, or Option 7 ([0005] Under the MR-DC umbrella are the following: [0006] EN-DC (Option 3): LTE is the MN and NR is the SN (EPC CN employed), [0007] NR E-UTRA DC (NE-DC) (Option 4): NR is the MN and LTE is the SN (5GCN employed), [0008] NG-RAN E-UTRA NR DC (NGEN-DC) (Option 7): LTE is the MN and NR is the SN (5GCN employed)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Orsino’s method with Cui’s method so that different MR-DC systems can be supported, and thus a more flexible measurement scheme can be achieved.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5, 9-12, 17 and 19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kanamarlapudi et al. (US 2022/0141842) teaches method of measurement gap and scheduling.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YU-WEN CHANG whose telephone number is (408)918-7645. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00am-5:00pm PT.
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/YU-WEN CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413