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
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Hu (US 20230337033).
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, one or more first control messages comprising a 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; Claim 2, transmit DCI for UE to receive at least one SSB on one frequency, fig. 11),
wherein the measurement timing configuration is associated with a capability of the neighbor cell to dynamically time-adapt the first plurality of SSBs (fig. 11, [0098][0106-107][0134-136], 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
monitor for the first plurality of SSBs in accordance with the measurement timing configuration ([0060], fig. 11, [0136], the UE reports an on-demand SSB measurement).
Claims 14 and 18 are rejected similarly as claim 1 as Hu discloses computer readable medium or storage.
Regarding claims 2, 15, 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 one or more second control messages activating or deactivating the measurement timing configuration 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 (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 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 measurement timing configuration 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 claims 5, 19, Hu discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more first control messages further comprise a second measurement timing configuration indicating a second plurality of SSBs to be received by the UE via the first frequency layer ([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).
Regarding claims 6, 20, Hu discloses the UE of claim 5, 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 ([0110], periodically sent by the SCell. The SCell may not transmit the SSB, and the periodicity of this synchronization signal can be large).
Regarding claim 7, Hu discloses the UE of claim 5, 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 discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein the measurement timing configuration 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 ([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).
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 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
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.
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/ZHENSHENG ZHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474