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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-8 and 18 in the reply filed on 05/08/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 9-17 and 19 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 05/08/2026.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 8, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Da Silva et al (US 2024/0,073,752; hereinafter Da Silva) in view of Zhang et al "Discussion on selective activation of the cell groups", 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #121, R2-2301218, Agenda: 8.4.3, ZTE Corporation, February 27 - March 03, 2023; hereinafter 3GPP).
Regarding claim 1 and 18, Da Silva disclose an apparatus (UE 1400; Fig. 14) and method comprising:
at least one processor (1401) (¶ [0350]); and
at least one memory (1415) storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor (1401) (paras. [0061], [0349]-[0350]), cause the apparatus at least to:
receive a reference configuration from a wireless network node, wherein the reference configuration is for an intra secondary node cell change and for an inter secondary node cell change (the MN can merge intra-SN CPC configurations and inter-SN CPAC configurations into one CPC configuration built by the MN, i.e. in MN format, that CPC configuration in MN format, comprising target candidate cells from the S-SN and the neighbor SN, can then be provided to the UE to receive from the network node; ¶ [0230]),
perform the intra secondary node cell change and perform the inter secondary node cell change (the wireless terminal/UE is indicated to support CPC configuration in both SN and MN format, wherein the UE supports CPC configuration with target candidate cells of the S-SN (i.e. intra-SN CPC) and CPC configuration with target candidate cells of a neighbor SN, denoted t-SN (i.e. inter-SN CPC), receiving a CPC configuration in MN format, receiving a CPC configuration in SN format; and applying the CPC configuration and performing the monitoring of execution conditions; paras. [0039]-[0045], [0401]).
Da Silva do not disclose perform the intra secondary node cell change using the reference configuration and an intra secondary node cell change delta configuration, and perform the inter secondary node cell change using the reference configuration and an inter secondary node cell change delta configuration. In the same field of endeavor, 3GPP disclose perform the intra secondary node cell change using the reference configuration and an intra secondary node cell change delta configuration, and perform the inter secondary node cell change using the reference configuration and an inter secondary node cell change delta configuration (both SN initiated intra-SN CPC and SN/MN initiated inter-SN CPC arc supported for subsequent CPAC, the UE always maintains the reference configuration, and applies the candidate SCG configuration based on the reference configuration upon triggering the execution of subsequent CPAC; page 3, section 2.2, section 2.3). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to do so in order to make SCG addition or change in accordance with the reference configuration and delta configuration indicated in the received RRCReconfiguration message from the NW node (pg. 4, lines 1-14, pg. 4, lines 23-25).
Regarding claim 2, Da Silva and 3GPP disclose the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the stored instructions further cause, when executed by the at least one processor, the apparatus at least to: receive an indication from the wireless network node or another wireless network node, the indication indicating that the reference configuration is for the intra secondary node cell change and for the inter secondary node cell change (the MN can merge intra-SN CPC configurations and inter-SN CPAC configurations into one CPC configuration built by the MN format, that CPC configuration in MN format, comprising target candidate cells from the S-SN and the neighbor SN, can then be provided to the UE to receive from the network node; Da Silva, paras. [0049], [0230]; the NW explicitly indicates which configuration to be used as the reference configuration, 3GPP; pg. 4, lines 23-25; pg. 9, lines 29-31).
Regarding claim 8, Da Silva and 3GPP disclose the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reference configuration comprises a part for the intra secondary node cell change and another part for the inter secondary node cell change (the MN can merge intra-SN CPC configurations and inter-SN CPAC configurations into one CPC configuration built by the MN, i.e. in MN format; Da Silva, ¶ [0049]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-7 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.
Regarding claim 3, Da Silva and 3GPP disclose the apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the cited prior art fails to further disclose or fairly suggest the wireless network node is a source secondary node, wherein the reference configuration is for the intra secondary node cell change, and wherein the indication is received from said another wireless network node that is a master node, and the stored instructions further cause, when executed by the at least one processor, the apparatus at least to: perform, on the basis of the indication, the inter secondary node cell change after performing the intra secondary node cell change and by using the reference configuration for the intra secondary node cell change.
Regarding claim 4, the cited prior art fails to further disclose or fairly suggest the apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the stored instructions further cause, when executed by the at least one processor, the apparatus at least to: receive, from a master node, the inter secondary node cell change delta configuration and an indication indicating that the reference configuration is to be used for the inter secondary node cell change; and perform the inter secondary node cell change using the reference configuration and the inter secondary node cell change delta configuration.
Regarding claim 5, the cited prior art fails to further disclose or fairly suggest the apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the stored instructions further cause, when executed by the at least one processor, the apparatus at least to: receive, from a master node, an updated intra secondary node cell change delta configuration and an updated reference configuration; and perform the inter secondary node cell change using the updated reference configuration and the inter secondary node cell change delta configuration.
Regarding claim 6, Da Silva and 3GPP disclose the apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the cited prior art fails to further disclose or fairly suggest the wireless network node is a master node, and wherein the reference configuration is for the inter secondary node cell change the stored instructions further cause, when executed by the at least one processor, the apparatus at least to: receive, from the master node an indication indicating that the reference configuration is also for the intra secondary node cell change; and perform, using the reference configuration on the basis of the indication, the intra secondary node cell change after performing the inter secondary node cell change.
Regarding claim 7, the cited prior art fails to further disclose or fairly suggest the apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the stored instructions further cause, when executed by the at least one processor, the apparatus at least to: receive, from a source secondary node, the intra secondary node cell change delta configuration and an indication indicating that the reference configuration is to be used for the intra secondary node cell change; and perform the intra secondary node cell change using the reference configuration and the intra secondary node cell change delta configuration.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
- Liu (US 2021/0,289,369) disclose a communication method which include a secondary network node acquires a network state of a cell served by the secondary network node and updates a network configuration of the cell served by the secondary network node, the secondary network node sends first update configuration information to a terminal which is used for updating the network configuration of the cell served by the secondary network node.
- Wu (US 2020/0,396,661), disclose a secondary cell group (SCG) maintenance method which includes: receiving at a terminal device conditional SCG change information transmitted by a network node; evaluating, according to the conditional SCG change information, whether one or more target cells of an SCG meet a condition corresponding to triggering target cell change, to obtain an evaluation result; according to the evaluation result, triggering a SCG target cell changing procedure.
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/LANA N LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648
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