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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 20 May 2024 an d07 November 2025 is being considered by the examiner.
Claims 1-30 are pending. Claims 16-30 are withdrawn from consideration.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1 and 10 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential steps, such omission amounting to a gap between the steps. See MPEP § 2172.01.
Claim 10 recited:
A method of wireless communication at a connectivity service (CS), comprising:
establishing a first association with a user equipment (UE) via a first radio channel with a first enhanced distributed unit (eDU);
providing, to the UE, a configuration of a second association for communication with a measurement service (MS); and
providing, to the MS, a request for delivery of a measurement report from the UE.
The omitted steps are:
There is missing step that is essential for linking the “establishing a first association with a user equipment (UE) via a first radio channel with a first enhanced distributed unit (eDU)” with the other steps in the method.
There is missing step that is essential for linking the “providing, to the UE, a configuration of a second association for communication with measurement service (MS)” with other steps in the method.
There is missing step that is essential for linking the “providing, to the MS, a request for delivery of a measurement report from the UE” with other steps in the method. For example, there is no step in the method shows the UE actual performs radio communication measurement.
The missing steps in the method (a gap between the steps) are essential matter required to practice the invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) for the same reasons as in claim 10.
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 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Damnjanovic et al. (US 2022/0264346 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 10, Damnjanovic et al. discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a connectivity service (gNB-CU) 505, comprising at least one memory and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory configured to:
establish a first associated with a user equipment (UE) via a first radio channel with a first enhanced distributed unit (eDU) (gNB-CU 405 establish connection with a user equipment (UE) via gNB-DU);
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provide, to the UE, a configuration a second association for communication with a measurement service (MS),(there is no function recited for the measurement service, therefore, the gNB-DU can be read as the measurement service because the gNB-CU 105-a performs report request from the UE);
provide, to the measurement service (gNB-DU 105-a), a request for delivery of a measurement report from the UE (measurement report from the UE).
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to those having ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the claimed invention using the teaching in figure 4 and 6 in Damnjanovic et al.
Claims 1 and 10 are rejected as being unpatentable over Purkayastha et al. (US 2024/0098577 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 10, Purkayastha et al. discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a connectivity service, comprising at least one memory and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory configured to:
establish a first associated with a user equipment (UE) via a first radio channel with a first enhanced distributed unit (eDU), see figure 4, Core Network service establish a first associated with UE 115-b);
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provide, to the UE, a configuration a second association for communication with a measurement service (the measurement service may be Mobility Service 505, because the Mobility Service 505 functions as measurement configuration, see 525,figure 5), there is no specific function for “a measurement service” in the claim);
provide, to the MS, a request for delivery of a measurement report from the UE (the (Mobility Service) sends measurement configuration to the UE 115-c).
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to those having ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the claimed invention using the teaching in figure 4 and 6 in Purkayastha et al.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-9 and 11-15 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRENDA H PHAM whose telephone number is (571)272-3135. The examiner can normally be reached 571-272-3135.
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BRENDA H. PHAM
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2412
/BRENDA H PHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412