DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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
2. 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.
3. Claims 1-5, 8-16, and 20-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Pu et al. (US 2025/0365635).
Regarding claim 1, Pu et al. discloses an apparatus (see Fig. 7) for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:
one or more memories (block 709); and
one or more processors (block 710), coupled to the one or more memories, configured to cause the UE to:
receive an indication (CHO configuration including indication information of an energy saving state/mode as disclosed in sections 0136-0150, 0277-0283, 0334-0340, and 0347-0350) of a network energy saving (NES) conditional handover condition (threshold); and
monitor one or more received signals (to determine quality of a cell relative to the threshold as disclosed in sections 0075-0080, 0123-0129, and 0347-0350) based at least in part on the NES conditional handover condition (threshold).
Regarding claim 2, Pu et al. discloses the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: detect a conditional handover trigger event (as disclosed in sections 0075-0080) based at least in part on an NES conditional handover threshold (threshold of a trigger event as disclosed in sections 0334-0340) that is indicated by the NES conditional handover condition (CHO configuration including indication information as disclosed in sections 0136-0150, 0277-0283, 0334-0340, and 0347-0350); and perform a conditional handover to a target network node (by initiating an execution operation of the conditional handover (CHO) as disclosed in section 0350).
Regarding claim 3, Pu et al. discloses the one or more processors, to cause the UE to receive the indication of the NES conditional handover condition, are configured to cause the UE to: receive the indication (indication information as disclosed in sections 0215-0222) using a different mechanism than radio resource control (RRC) signaling (such as short message, paging message, or DCI as disclosed in sections 0215-0222).
Regarding claim 4, Pu et al. discloses the different mechanism is different from an RRC reconfiguration message (such as short message, paging message, or DCI as disclosed in sections 0215-0222).
Regarding claim 5, Pu et al discloses the NES conditional handover condition comprises an NES conditional handover threshold that is based at least in part on an NES conditional handover offset (threshold offset as disclosed in sections 0140-0150 and 0034-0340) that is associated with a conditional handover power level threshold.
Regarding claim 8, Pu et al. discloses the one or more processors, to cause the UE to receive the indication of the NES conditional handover condition, are configured to cause the UE to: receive the indication of the NES conditional handover condition (CHO configuration including indication information as disclosed in sections 0136-0150, 0277-0283, 0334-0340, and 0347-0350) in Layer 1 signaling as: a broadcast message, or a groupcast message (group common DCI as disclosed in sections 0209-0222).
Regarding claim 9, Pu et al. discloses the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: receive multiple conditional handover configurations (see sections 0075-0081, wherein the CHO configuration includes multiple configurations for each event/condition), the multiple conditional handover configurations including at least one of: one or more normal operation conditional handover condition configurations, or one or more source network node NES conditional handover condition configurations (CHO configuration for an energy saving state as disclosed in sections 0114-0115 and 0130-0137).
Regarding claim 10, Pu et al. discloses the one or more processors, to cause the UE to receive the multiple conditional handover configurations (see sections 0075-0081, wherein the CHO configuration includes multiple configurations for each event/condition), are configured to cause the UE to: receive the multiple conditional handover configurations in radio resource control (RRC) signaling (see section 0007).
Regarding claim 11, Pu et al. discloses the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: receive (see sections 0347-0350), in the Layer 1 signaling, an instruction (as disclosed in sections 0349-350) to start evaluating an NES (energy saving state/mode) conditional handover threshold (CHO evaluation) that is indicated by the NES conditional handover condition (configured quality threshold), and begin using the NES conditional handover threshold to monitor one or more signals (to determine if the candidate target cell meets the configured quality threshold).
Regarding claim 12, Pu et al. discloses the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to downlink control information (DCI as disclosed in sections 0215-0222).
Regarding claim 13, Pu et al. discloses an apparatus (see Fig. 8) for wireless communication at a network node, comprising:
one or more memories (block 85); and
one or more processors (block 84), coupled to the one or more memories, configured to cause the network node to:
transmit an indication of a network energy saving (NES) conditional handover condition (CHO configuration including indication information of an energy saving state/mode as disclosed in sections 0136-0150, 0277-0283, 0334-0340, and 0347-0350).
Regarding claim 14, Pu et al. the one or more processors, to cause the network node to transmit the indication of the NES conditional handover condition, are configured to cause the network node to: transmit the indication (indication information as disclosed in sections 0215-0222) using a different mechanism than radio resource control (RRC) signaling (such as short message, paging message, or DCI as disclosed in sections 0215-0222).
Regarding claim 15, Pu et al. discloses the RRC signaling includes an RRC reconfiguration message (see section 0007).
Regarding claim 16, Pu et al discloses the NES conditional handover condition indicates an NES conditional handover threshold that is based at least in part on an NES conditional handover offset (threshold offset as disclosed in sections 0140-0150 and 0034-0340) that is associated with a conditional handover power level threshold.
Regarding claim 20, Pu et al. discloses the one or more processors, to cause the network node to transmit the indication of the NES conditional handover condition, are configured to cause the network node to: transmit the indication of the NES conditional handover condition (CHO configuration including indication information as disclosed in sections 0136-0150, 0277-0283, 0334-0340, and 0347-0350) in Layer 1 signaling as a broadcast message (SIB1 as disclosed in sections 0209-0213 and 0325-0331).
Regarding claim 21, Pu et al. discloses the one or more processors are further configured to cause the network node to: transmit multiple conditional handover configurations (see sections 0075-0081, wherein the CHO configuration includes multiple configurations for each event/condition), that include at least two of: one or more normal operation conditional handover condition configurations (CHO configurations for different events/conditions as disclosed in sections 0075-0080), or one or more source network node NES conditional handover condition configurations (CHO configuration for an energy saving state as disclosed in sections 0114-0115 and 0130-0137).
Regarding claim 22, Pu et al. discloses the one or more processors, to cause the network node to transmit the multiple conditional handover configurations (see sections 0075-0081, wherein the CHO configuration includes multiple configurations for each event/condition), are configured to cause the network node to: transmit the multiple conditional handover configurations in radio resource control (RRC) signaling (see section 0007).
Regarding claim 23, Pu et al. discloses the one or more processors are further configured to cause the network node to: transmit (see sections 0347-0350), in the Layer 1 signaling, an instruction (as disclosed in sections 0349-350) to start evaluating an NES (energy saving state/mode) conditional handover threshold (CHO evaluation) that is indicated by the NES conditional handover condition (configured quality threshold).
Regarding claim 24, Pu et al. discloses the one or more processors are further configured to cause the network node to downlink control information (DCI as disclosed in sections 0215-0222).
Regarding claims 25-27, the claimed method includes features corresponding to the above rejection of claims 1-3, the rejection of which is applicable hereto.
Regarding claims 28-30, the claimed method includes features corresponding to the above rejection of claims 13-16, the rejection of which is applicable hereto.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. Claims 6, 7, and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pu et al. (US 2025/0365635) in view of Han et al. (US 2025/0380212).
Regarding claims 6 and 17, Pu et al. does not specifically disclose transmitting/receiving serving network node NES information that indicates at least two configurations for a single conditional handover condition that is associated with a serving network node.
However, Han et al. also discloses performing an NES conditional handover procedure (see sections 0129-0133) which includes transmitting/receiving serving network node NES information (see sections 0110-0117) that indicates at least two configurations (CellGroupConfig1 and Cell GroupConfig2) for a single conditional handover condition (as disclosed in sections 0110-0112) that is associated with a serving network node (second network device). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to modify the NES condition handover procedure of Pu et al. with transmission/reception of configuration information as disclosed by Han et al. since Han et al. discloses obtaining the configuration information enables a device to accurately implement the conditional handover of the energy saving mode (see sections 0109).
Regarding claims 7, 18, and 19, Pu et al. does not specifically disclose the UE transmits and the network node receives UE capability information that indicates support for an NES conditional handover procedure. Pu et al. further does not disclose receiving a second indication that a user equipment (UE) supports an NES conditional handover procedure at the network node and transmitting the first indication of the NES conditional handover condition based at least part on receiving the second indication that the UE supports the NES conditional handover procedure.
However, Han et al. also discloses performing an NES conditional handover procedure (see sections 0129-0133) which includes a user equipment (terminal) transmitting UE capability information (as disclosed in section 0166) to a network node (first network device as disclosed in section 0167) that indicates support for an NES conditional handover procedure (conditional handover of network energy saving as disclosed in section 0166). Han et al. further discloses receiving a second indication (report that includes CHO capability in a network energy saving condition as disclosed in section 0166) that a user equipment (UE) supports an NES (network energy saving condition as disclosed in section 0166) conditional handover procedure at the network node and transmitting a first indication (reconfiguration message as disclosed in sections 0097, 0127-0128, and 0172-0174) of the NES conditional handover condition (thresholds disclosed in sections 0127-0128) based at least part on receiving the second indication (report/response message from UE/terminal as disclosed in sections 0166 and 0172) that the UE supports the NES conditional handover procedure. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to modify the NES condition handover procedure of Pu et al. with transmission/reception of capability and configuration (indication) information as disclosed by Han et al. since Han et al. discloses obtaining the capability information avoids an incorrection configuration by a network device (see section 0168) and configuration information enables a device to accurately implement the conditional handover of the energy saving mode (see sections 0109).
Conclusion
6. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CURTIS B ODOM whose telephone number is (571)272-3046. The examiner can normally be reached 8-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hannah S Wang can be reached at (571)-272-9018. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CURTIS B ODOM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631 June 25, 2026
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