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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments regarding to the 102 rejection have been considered and are moot because they do not apply to the new references used in the current office action.
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) 1-4, 7-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu (US 20230337033) in view of Cheng (US 20250112715).
Regarding claim 1, Hu discloses a user equipment (UE), comprising: one or more memories storing processor-executable code; and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to (fig. 3, UE):
receive, from a first network entity associated with a serving cell of the UE, a first control message comprising a first measurement timing configuration indicating a first plurality of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) to be received by the UE from a neighbor cell via a first frequency layer ([0060][0062][0098][0106-107][0134-136], fig. 11, before the UE performs a measurement, the UE may be configured with the measurement configuration via a PCell. Signaling of the light RS measurement timing configuration (LMTC) (for a frequency) may include an LMTC period and offset, list of cells or neighbor cells; the UE receives DCI from the PCell. In this step, the UE may receive a new DCI or a MAC CE from a serving PCell for activating the on-demand legacy SSB reception, fig. 11), and a second measurement timing configuration indicating a second plurality of SSBs to be received by the UE via the first frequency layer ([0060][0098], fig. 11, may configure the UE with the measurement configurations of the at least one SCell ; the UE may be configured by a PCell with two different measurement configurations);
wherein the first measurement timing configuration is based at least in part on a capability of the neighbor cell to dynamically time-adapt the first plurality of SSBs and the first plurality of SSBs are dynamically time-adapted SSBs (fig. 11, [0078][0098][0106-107][0134-136], the presence of the aperiodic light RS may utilize a new DCI or a new DCI field. This field may be configured if the UE indicates it has the capability to process light RS, or aperiodic light RS. Here, aperiodic light RS is equivalent to on-demand SSBs; the measurement configuration is related to the timing of the on-demand SSBs transmission from the neighbor cell. Here, on-demand indicates the capability of dynamically adapt the SSBs of the neighbor cell); and wherein the second measurement timing configuration pertains to non-dynamically time-adapted SSBs and the second plurality of SSBs are the non-dynamically time-adapted SSBs; and
monitor for the first plurality of SSBs in accordance with the first measurement timing configuration ([0060], fig. 11, [0136], the UE reports an on-demand SSB measurement) and for the second plurality of SSBs in accordance with the second measurement timing configuration
Hu does not explicitly disclose a second measurement timing configuration indicating a second plurality of SSBs to be received by the UE,
wherein the second measurement timing configuration pertains to non-dynamically time-adapted SSBs and the second plurality of SSBs are the non-dynamically time-adapted SSBs;
monitor for the second plurality of SSBs in accordance with the second measurement timing configuration.
Cheng discloses a second measurement timing configuration indicating a second plurality of SSBs to be received by the UE (Cheng, [0058][0069][0076], the UE may determine the SMTC in accordance with the received periodicity and offset parameter in the SMTC1 or other SMTC configurations; the field of SSB set (in the second SMTC) may indicate a recommended set of SS blocks to be measured within the SMTC measurement duration. When the field is absent, the UE may measure on all SSBs; the network node may determine an SSB configuration which is voted by most UEs. Then, the network node may transmit an updated SSB configuration to all the UEs),
wherein the second measurement timing configuration pertains to non-dynamically time-adapted SSBs and the second plurality of SSBs are the non-dynamically time-adapted SSBs (Cheng, [0058][0069], the UE may receive multiple SMTCs; the field of SSB set (in the second SMTC) may indicate a recommended set of SSBs to be measured within the SMTC measurement duration. When the field is absent, the UE may measure on all SSBs. That is, the second SMTC is related to non-dynamically time-adapted SSBs);
monitor for the second plurality of SSBs in accordance with the second measurement timing configuration (Cheng, [0058][0069], the UE may measure on all SSBs according to the second SMTC).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings as given by Hu with the teachings given by Cheng. The motivation for doing so would have been to use on-demand reference signal or system information block for network energy saving with respect to user equipment (UE) and network apparatus in mobile communications (Cheng, [0002]).
Claims 14 and 18 are rejected similarly as claim 1 as Hu discloses computer readable medium or storage.
Regarding claims 2, 15, Hu and Cheng disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:
receive one or more second control messages activating or deactivating the first measurement timing configuration, the second measurement timing configuration, or both based at least in part on the first plurality of SSBs being dynamically time-adapted, wherein monitoring for the first plurality of SSBs is in accordance with the activation or deactivation of the measurement timing configuration (Hu, fig. 11, [0134-136], the UE may receive a new DCI or a MAC CE from a serving PCell for activating the on-demand legacy SSB reception. Cheng, [0058][0069][0076], the UE may determine the SMTC in accordance with the received periodicity and offset parameter in the SMTC1 or other SMTC configurations; the field of SSB set (in the second SMTC) may indicate a recommended set of SS blocks to be measured within the SMTC measurement duration).
Regarding claims 3, 16, Hu discloses the UE of claim 2, wherein the one or more second control messages comprise medium access control (MAC)-control element (CE) messages or downlink control information (DCI) messages (fig. 11, [0134-136], the UE may receive a new DCI or a MAC CE from a serving PCell for activating the on-demand legacy SSB reception).
Regarding claims 4, 17, Hu discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:
deactivate the first measurement timing configuration, the second measurement timing configuration, or both based at least in part on a deactivation timer at the UE or on an expiration of a threshold duration of time (claim 3, receiving, from the PCell, DCI that indicates that the UE is to activate a DTX “off” mode for the UE to stop receiving the at least one SSB on the carrier frequency. Here, activating to “off” is equivalent to deactivate the measurement).
Regarding claim 7, Hu discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: receive a first SSB of the first plurality of SSBs according to a first power level, a first beam width, or both; and receive a second SSB of the second plurality of SSBs according to a second power level, a second beam width, or both ([0107], the configuration may include a measurement bandwidth or beam width. [0076], transmitted in repetition with different beams including the first and second beams).
Regarding claim 8, Hu and Cheng disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the first measurement timing configuration, the second measurement timing configuration, or both, comprises a first periodicity associated with a first SSB type and a second periodicity associated with a second SSB type, the first SSB type comprising dynamically time-adapted SSB and the second SSB type comprising a non-dynamically time-adapted SSB (Hu, [0107], the configuration includes period or occasion durations, the SSBs can be on-demand, [0135], or timing -adapt, and periodically transmitted SSBs, claim 4, [0110], the periodicity of this synchronization signal can be large. Cheng, [0058][0069], the UE may receive multiple SMTCs; the field of SSB set (in the second SMTC) may indicate a recommended set of SSBs to be measured within the SMTC measurement duration. When the field is absent, the UE may measure on all SSBs. That is, the second SMTC is related to non-dynamically time-adapted SSBs).
Regarding claim 9, Hu discloses the UE of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: receive one or more second control messages modifying a period of the first periodicity associated with the first SSB type, wherein the one or more second control messages comprise medium access control (MAC)-control element (CE) messages or downlink control information (DCI) messages ([0060][0065], the PCell (e.g., a gNB) may configure the UE with the measurement configurations. The gNB can update the configurations by adding/removing light RSs to update the SSB for the UE to monitor; [0134-136], the UE may receive a new DCI or a MAC CE from a serving PCell for activating the on-demand legacy SSB reception).
Regarding claim 10, Hu discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: perform a measurement procedure on the first plurality of SSBs based at least in part on a measurement state of the UE, wherein the measurement procedure comprises one of measuring the first plurality of SSBs or refraining from measuring the first plurality of SSBs (claim 3, DCI that indicates that the UE is to activate a DTX “off” mode for the UE to stop receiving the at least one SSB on the carrier frequency; and activating the DTX “off” mode in response to receiving the DCI). It is noted that the applicant uses selective language in this claim and the examiner is only showing one of the claimed options.
Regarding claim 11, Hu discloses the UE of claim 10, wherein, to perform the measurement procedure, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: refrain from measuring the first plurality of SSBs based at least in part on a radio resource management (RRM) measurement state at the UE (claim 3, DCI that indicates that the UE is to activate a DTX “off” mode for the UE to stop receiving the at least one SSB on the carrier frequency; and activating the DTX “off” mode in response to receiving the DCI).
Regarding claim 12, Hu discloses the UE of claim 10, wherein, to perform the measurement procedure, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: measure the first plurality of SSBs based at least in part on satisfaction of a threshold level of mobility, satisfaction of a threshold signal quality, or both ([0065][0085], a UE may move into the coverage of one or more SCells, while it remains in an RRC-connected state with a PCell (a macro cell). The UE may be in an area where there is one or more SCells in a DTX “on” mode. In order to be able to detect SCells, the UE may receive a configuration from the network of the light RS configurations it can be expected to detect for a given carrier frequency. Here, when the UE is within an area there are Cells are “on” mode, that is, the UE can receive the signals from the Cells, the threshold of the signal quality or mobility is satisfied). It is noted that the applicant uses selective language in this claim and the examiner is only showing one of the claimed options.
Regarding claim 13, Hu discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein, to monitor for the first plurality of SSBs, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: monitor for the first plurality of SSBs from a plurality of neighbor cells in accordance with the first measurement timing configuration indicating the plurality of neighbor cells (fig. 11, [0134-136], the UE may receive a new DCI or a MAC CE from a serving PCell for activating the on-demand legacy SSB reception, on-demand SSB is transmitted from neighboring PCells to the UE. The UE may perform legacy SSB based RRM measurements and perform DL or UL data transmissions).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHENSHENG ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1985. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 8:00am-6:00pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Thier can be reached at 571-272-2832. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ZHENSHENG ZHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474
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