DETAILED ACTION
This communication is responsive to Application No. #18/579864 filed on January 17, 2024. Claims 1-17 are subject to examination.
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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 1, 9, and 17, the claims recite the limitation, “receive, a Random Access Response (RAR) message along with an uplink (UL) scheduling grant, to send L1 measurement report to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU” (emphasis added). It is unclear if this “L1 measurement report” is intended to be different than the L1 measurement report previously recited as part of the RACH Request message. For purposes of examination, the Examiner has interpreted the limitation to read, “receive, a Random Access Response (RAR) message along with an uplink (UL) scheduling grant, to send the L1 measurement report to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU.”
Regarding claims 2-8 and 10-16, claims 2-8 each depend on independent claim 1, and claims 10-16 each depend on independent claim 9, and therefore, inherit the 35 U.S.C. 112(b) issues of the independent claims.
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 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.
Claims 1-2, 7-10, and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Samsung, “Discussion on potential enhancement before LTM cell switch”, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #121, R2-2301325”, hereinafter, “Samsung”) in view of NEC, “L1 Measurement Report for Cell Switch”, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #121, R2- 2300246”, hereinafter, “NEC”).
Regarding claim 1, Samsung teaches:
An apparatus comprising hardware configured to (Samsung: [Introduction, page 1] UE):
receive, from a gNodeB Distributed Unit (gNB-DU) serving a user equipment (UE) in a current serving cell, a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) order to perform uplink synchronization with at least one Layer (L1/L2) Triggered Mobility (LTM) candidate cell of at least one candidate gNB-DU (Samsung: [Introduction, Section 2.1, pages 1, 3] LTM (intra DU and inter DU) is network-controlled mobility where the control is from the source, i.e. measurements (L1 measurements) are configured in the UE from the source Cell, and the decision to switch cell is by the source cell, and enhancements considered for LTM before cell switch, e.g. pre-synchronization … On mechanism to acquire TA of the candidate cell(s) in Rel-18 LTM, at least support PDCCH ordered RACH. The PDCCH order is only triggered by source cell … With such adaptive gap configuration, the gNB can further indicate the candidate cell applicable for each gap so that the UE can perform DL/UL synchronization according to the corresponding cell’s resource configuration …);
transmit, in a Random Access Channel (RACH) Request message, RACH preamble, to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU serving the at least one LTM candidate cell (Samsung: [Section 2.2, page 4] … The basic procedure is shown in Fig. 2, i.e., the UE sends the preamble towards the candidate cell over the RACH Occasion (RO), which is indicated by the PDCCH order from the source cell …);
receive, a Random Access Response (RAR) message along with an uplink (UL) scheduling grant, to send first UL data to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU, either directly from the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU or via the serving gNB-DU (Samsung: [Section 2.2, page 4] In this case, the source cell and LTM candidate cell is collocated. After the LTM candidate cell derives the TA, the source cell can fetch this value via internal interaction and send to the UE so that source cell can be used for TA (RAR) transmission … If the source cell is responsible for TA(RAR) transmission, the candidate gNB-DU should forward the calculated TA value to the source gNB-DU before cell switch … Except TA value, the legacy RAR also contains the UL grant, which is used by UE to transmit its first UL data after UL synchronization with target cell during HO …); and
transmit the first UL data to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU, in response to receipt of the UL scheduling grant in the RAR message (Samsung: [Section 2.2, page 4] … Except TA value, the legacy RAR also contains the UL grant, which is used by UE to transmit its first UL data after UL synchronization with target cell during HO …).
Although Samsung teaches an UE performing LTM cell switch with intra gNB-DU o inter gNB-DU, Samsung does not explicitly teach the UE:
transmit … an indication to send L1 measurement report;
receive … an uplink (UL) scheduling grant, to send L1 measurement report; and
transmit the L1 measurement report.
However, in the same field of endeavor, NEC teaches:
transmit, … an indication to send L1 measurement report (NEC: [Section 2.3, page 2/3] … UE sends an initial indication for L1 measurement report when the measurement event is triggered …);
receive, … an uplink (UL) scheduling grant, to send L1 measurement report to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU (NEC: [Section 2.3, page 2/3] … Upon receiving the initial indication, gNB schedule dynamic PUSCH resource for the UE to send the uplink L1 measurement report …); and
transmit the L1 measurement report (NEC: [Section 2.2, page 2/3] … For each serving cell or candidate cell, the UE may provide the following information within each L1 measurement report …).
Therefore, 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 invention of Samsung to include the features as taught by NEC above in order for the network to speed up its scheduling to fetch the L1 measurement report. (NEC, ¶ [Sect 2.3, Page 3/3]).
Regarding claim 9, Samsung teaches:
A method comprising (Samsung: [Introduction, page 1] UE):
receiving, from a gNodeB Distributed Unit (gNB-DU) serving a user equipment (UE) in a current serving cell, a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) order to perform uplink synchronization with at least one Layer (L1/L2) Triggered Mobility (LTM) candidate cell of at least one candidate gNB- DU (Samsung: [Introduction, Section 2.1, pages 1, 3] LTM (intra DU and inter DU) is network-controlled mobility where the control is from the source, i.e. measurements (L1 measurements) are configured in the UE from the source Cell, and the decision to switch cell is by the source cell, and enhancements considered for LTM before cell switch, e.g. pre-synchronization … On mechanism to acquire TA of the candidate cell(s) in Rel-18 LTM, at least support PDCCH ordered RACH. The PDCCH order is only triggered by source cell … With such adaptive gap configuration, the gNB can further indicate the candidate cell applicable for each gap so that the UE can perform DL/UL synchronization according to the corresponding cell’s resource configuration …);
transmitting, in a Random Access Channel (RACH) Request message, RACH preamble, to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU serving the at least one LTM candidate cell (Samsung: [Section 2.2, page 4] … The basic procedure is shown in Fig. 2, i.e., the UE sends the preamble towards the candidate cell over the RACH Occasion (RO), which is indicated by the PDCCH order from the source cell …);
receiving, a Random Access Response (RAR) message along with an uplink (UL) scheduling grant to send first UL data, to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU, either directly from the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU or via the serving gNB-DU (Samsung: [Section 2.2, page 4] In this case, the source cell and LTM candidate cell is collocated. After the LTM candidate cell derives the TA, the source cell can fetch this value via internal interaction and send to the UE so that source cell can be used for TA (RAR) transmission … If the source cell is responsible for TA(RAR) transmission, the candidate gNB-DU should forward the calculated TA value to the source gNB-DU before cell switch … Except TA value, the legacy RAR also contains the UL grant, which is used by UE to transmit its first UL data after UL synchronization with target cell during HO …); and
transmitting the first UL data to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU, in response to receipt of the UL scheduling grant in the RAR message (Samsung: [Section 2.2, page 4] … Except TA value, the legacy RAR also contains the UL grant, which is used by UE to transmit its first UL data after UL synchronization with target cell during HO …).
Although Samsung teaches an UE performing LTM cell switch with intra gNB-DU o inter gNB-DU, Samsung does not explicitly teach the UE:
transmitting … an indication to send L1 measurement report;
receiving … an uplink (UL) scheduling grant, to send L1 measurement report; and
transmitting the L1 measurement report.
However, in the same field of endeavor, NEC teaches:
transmitting, … an indication to send L1 measurement report (NEC: [Section 2.3, page 2/3] … UE sends an initial indication for L1 measurement report when the measurement event is triggered …);
receiving, … an uplink (UL) scheduling grant to send L1 measurement report, to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU (NEC: [Section 2.3, page 2/3] … Upon receiving the initial indication, gNB schedule dynamic PUSCH resource for the UE to send the uplink L1 measurement report …); and
transmitting the L1 measurement report (NEC: [Section 2.2, page 2/3] … For each serving cell or candidate cell, the UE may provide the following information within each L1 measurement report …).
Therefore, 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 invention of Samsung to include the features as taught by NEC above in order for the network to speed up its scheduling to fetch the L1 measurement report. (NEC, ¶ [Sect 2.3, Page 3/3]).
Regarding claims 2 and 10, Samsung-NEC discloses on the features with respect to claims 1 and 9 as outlined above.
NEC further teaches:
wherein the hardware is configured to transmit the L1 measurement report to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU further based on a dynamic grant for the at least one LTM candidate cell (NEC: [Section 2.3, page 2/3] … Upon receiving the initial indication, gNB schedule dynamic PUSCH resource for the UE to send the uplink L1 measurement report …).
The rationale and motivation for adding this teaching of NEC is the same as the rationale and motivation for claims 1 and 9.
Regarding claims 7 and 15, Samsung-NEC discloses on the features with respect to claims 1 and 9 as outlined above.
NEC further teaches:
wherein the RACH Request message comprises at least one bit indicating an availability of L1 measurement report to be sent in UL (NEC: [Section 2.3, page 3/3] … When there is a L1 measurement report available, the UE can send a L1 measurement report indication (e.g., one bit based indication ) over one of these PUCCH resources in a given transmission occasion…).
The rationale and motivation for adding this teaching of NEC is the same as the rationale and motivation for claims 1 and 9.
Regarding claims 8 and 16, Samsung-NEC discloses on the features with respect to claims 1 and 9 as outlined above.
Samsung further teaches:
wherein the PDCCH order (Samsung: [Section 2.2, Page 4] … the UE sends the preamble towards the candidate cell over the RACH Occasion (RO), which is indicated by the PDCCH order from the source cell ...) ...
NEC further teaches:
… comprises physical cell ID (PCI) of at least one LTM candidate cell being served by the at least one candidate gNB-DU (NEC: [Section 2.2, page 2/3] … In order to support the LTM based cell switch … For each serving cell or candidate cell, the UE may provide the following information within each L1 measurement report: … Serving Cell ID and/or candidate Cell ID …).
The rationale and motivation for adding this teaching of NEC is the same as the rationale and motivation for claims 1 and 9.
Regarding claim 17, Samsung teaches:
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions that when executed by a processor causes the processor to perform operations of (Samsung: [Introduction, page 1] UE):
obtaining, from a gNodeB Distributed Unit (gNB-DU) serving a user equipment (UE) in a current serving cell, a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) order to perform uplink synchronization with at least one Layer (L1/L2) Triggered Mobility (LTM) candidate cell of at least one candidate gNB- DU (Samsung: [Introduction, Section 2.1, pages 1, 3] LTM (intra DU and inter DU) is network-controlled mobility where the control is from the source, i.e. measurements (L1 measurements) are configured in the UE from the source Cell, and the decision to switch cell is by the source cell, and enhancements considered for LTM before cell switch, e.g. pre-synchronization … On mechanism to acquire TA of the candidate cell(s) in Rel-18 LTM, at least support PDCCH ordered RACH. The PDCCH order is only triggered by source cell … With such adaptive gap configuration, the gNB can further indicate the candidate cell applicable for each gap so that the UE can perform DL/UL synchronization according to the corresponding cell’s resource configuration …);
transmitting, in a Random Access Channel (RACH) Request message, RACH preamble, to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU serving the at least one LTM candidate cell (Samsung: [Section 2.2, page 4] … The basic procedure is shown in Fig. 2, i.e., the UE sends the preamble towards the candidate cell over the RACH Occasion (RO), which is indicated by the PDCCH order from the source cell …);
obtaining, a Random Access Response (RAR) message along with an uplink (UL) scheduling grant, to send first UL data to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU, either directly from the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU or via the serving gNB-DU (Samsung: [Section 2.2, page 4] In this case, the source cell and LTM candidate cell is collocated. After the LTM candidate cell derives the TA, the source cell can fetch this value via internal interaction and send to the UE so that source cell can be used for TA (RAR) transmission … If the source cell is responsible for TA(RAR) transmission, the candidate gNB-DU should forward the calculated TA value to the source gNB-DU before cell switch … Except TA value, the legacy RAR also contains the UL grant, which is used by UE to transmit its first UL data after UL synchronization with target cell during HO …); and
transmitting the first UL data to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU, in response to receipt of the UL scheduling grant in the RAR message (Samsung: [Section 2.2, page 4] … Except TA value, the legacy RAR also contains the UL grant, which is used by UE to transmit its first UL data after UL synchronization with target cell during HO …).
Although Samsung teaches an UE performing LTM cell switch with intra gNB-DU o inter gNB-DU, Samsung does not explicitly teach the UE:
transmitting … an indication to send L1 measurement report;
obtaining … an uplink (UL) scheduling grant, to send L1 measurement report; and
transmitting the L1 measurement report.
However, in the same field of endeavor, NEC teaches:
transmitting … an indication to send L1 measurement report (NEC: [Section 2.3, page 2/3] … UE sends an initial indication for L1 measurement report when the measurement event is triggered …);
obtaining … uplink (UL) scheduling grant, to send L1 measurement report to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU (NEC: [Section 2.3, page 2/3] … Upon receiving the initial indication, gNB schedule dynamic PUSCH resource for the UE to send the uplink L1 measurement report …); and
transmitting the L1 measurement report (NEC: [Section 2.2, page 2/3] … For each serving cell or candidate cell, the UE may provide the following information within each L1 measurement report …).
Therefore, 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 invention of Samsung to include the features as taught by NEC above in order for the network to speed up its scheduling to fetch the L1 measurement report. (NEC, ¶ [Sect 2.3, Page 3/3]).
Claims 3-6 and 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Samsung-NEC in view of Kim et.al. (US Patent Application Publication, 20250175864, hereinafter, “Kim”).
Regarding claims 3 and 11, Samsung-NEC discloses on the features with respect to claims 1 and 9 as outlined above.
Samsung-NEC does not explicitly teach:
wherein to receive the PDCCH order to perform uplink synchronization with the at least one LTM candidate cell of the at least one candidate gNB-DU, the hardware is further configured to:
periodically perform, intra and/or inter-frequency L1 measurement for at least one LTM candidate cell; and
transmit the L1 measurement report of the at least one LTM candidate cell to the serving gNB-DU.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Kim teaches:
wherein to receive the PDCCH order to perform uplink synchronization with the at least one LTM candidate cell of the at least one candidate gNB-DU, the hardware is further configured to:
periodically perform, intra and/or inter-frequency L1 measurement for at least one LTM candidate cell; and
transmit the L1 measurement report of the at least one LTM candidate cell to the serving gNB-DU (Kim: [0555] In the example of FIG. 32, the wireless device, according to the received RRC reconfiguration message comprising a LTM configuration of a list of candidate target cell(s), may perform L1/L2 measurement report (CSI/beam) for the list of candidate target cell(s) (e.g., PCell) and/or the current serving Pcell … [0557] In an example, a wireless device may transmit the L1/L2 measurement report with a periodicity configured by the base station …).
Therefore, 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 invention of Samsung-NEC to include the features as taught by Kim above in order to enable the wireless device to operate in a wireless environment. (Kim, ¶ [0237]).
Regarding claims 4 and 12, Samsung-NEC discloses on the features with respect to claims 1 and 9 as outlined above.
Samsung-NEC does not explicitly teach:
wherein the PDCCH order to perform uplink synchronization with the at least one LTM candidate cell is received from the serving gNB-DU, if the L1 measurement report indicates at least one of:
a measured Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) of the at least one LTM candidate cell is greater than a predetermined RSRP threshold, and/or
a measured Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) of the at least one LTM candidate cell is greater than a predetermined RSRQ threshold.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Kim teaches:
wherein the PDCCH order to perform uplink synchronization with the at least one LTM candidate cell is received from the serving gNB-DU, if the L1 measurement report indicates at least one of:
a measured Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) of the at least one LTM candidate cell is greater than a predetermined RSRP threshold (Kim: [0555] In the example of FIG. 32, the wireless device, according to the received RRC reconfiguration message comprising a LTM configuration of a list of candidate target cell(s), may perform L1/L2 measurement report (CSI/beam) for the list of candidate target cell(s) (e.g., PCell) and/or the current serving PCell. The L1/L2 measurement report may comprise layer 1 RSRP, layer 1 RSRQ, PMI, RI, layer 1 SINR, CQI, etc … [0556] In an example, a wireless device may trigger the L1/L2 measurement report when the measurement of the CSI/beam of a candidate target cell is greater than a threshold, or (amount of offset) larger than measurement of the CSI/beam of the current serving Pcell.).
Therefore, 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 invention of Samsung-NEC to include the features as taught by Kim above in order to enable the wireless device to operate in a wireless environment. (Kim, ¶ [0237]).
Regarding claims 5 and 13, Samsung-NEC discloses on the features with respect to claims 1 and 9 as outlined above.
Samsung-NEC does not explicitly teach:
wherein to transmit the L1 measurement report indication along with RACH preamble, to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU, the hardware is further configured to:
transmit the L1 measurement report indication along with the RACH preamble in the RACH Request message to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU,
if the L1 measurement report indicates at least one of:
a measured Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) of the at least one LTM candidate cell is greater than a predetermined RSRP threshold, and
a measured Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) of the at least one LTM candidate cell is greater than a predetermined RSRQ threshold.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Kim teaches:
wherein to transmit the L1 measurement report indication along with RACH preamble, to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU, the hardware is further configured to:
transmit the L1 measurement report indication along with the RACH preamble in the RACH Request message to the at least one LTM candidate gNB-DU,
if the L1 measurement report indicates at least one of:
a measured Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) of the at least one LTM candidate cell is greater than a predetermined RSRP threshold (Kim: [0555] In the example of FIG. 32, the wireless device, according to the received RRC reconfiguration message comprising a LTM configuration of a list of candidate target cell(s), may perform L1/L2 measurement report (CSI/beam) for the list of candidate target cell(s) (e.g., PCell) and/or the current serving PCell. The L1/L2 measurement report may comprise layer 1 RSRP, layer 1 RSRQ, PMI, RI, layer 1 SINR, CQI, etc … [0556] In an example, a wireless device may trigger the L1/L2 measurement report when the measurement of the CSI/beam of a candidate target cell is greater than a threshold, or (amount of offset) larger than measurement of the CSI/beam of the current serving Pcell.).
Therefore, 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 invention of Samsung-NEC to include the features as taught by Kim above in order to enable the wireless device to operate in a wireless environment. (Kim, ¶ [0237]).
Regarding claims 6 and 14, Samsung-NEC discloses on the features with respect to claims 1 and 9 as outlined above.
Samsung-NEC does not explicitly teach:
wherein the UL scheduling grant at least comprises a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS), MCS table to be used, Transport Block Size (TBS), UL power control parameters, time domain and frequency domain resource allocation, resource block group (RBG) size, periodicity and offset of grant, repetition factor of the grant, UL Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) configuration, and UL-precoder configuration.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Kim teaches:
wherein the UL scheduling grant at least comprises a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) (Kim: … The Msg B 1332 may comprise at least one of following: … an uplink grant (e.g., a radio resource assignment and/or an MCS) …).
Therefore, 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 invention of Samsung-NEC to include the features as taught by Kim above in order to enable the wireless device to operate in a wireless environment. (Kim, ¶ [0237]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LIEM H NGUYEN whose telephone number is (408) 918-7636. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday, 8:30AM-5:00PM PT.
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/LIEM H. NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416