DETAILED ACTION
The office action is a response to an application filed on March 18, 2024, wherein claims 1-21 are pending and ready for examination.
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
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claims 1, 4, 5,10-14, 19, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Hahn et al. (Hahn hereafter) (US 20170127397 A1) (IDS provided).
Regarding claim1 Hahn teaches, A method, comprising:
directly receiving or transmitting, by the network node, data from or to a user equipment (UE) within the at least one time duration;
or
transmitting, by the network node, a network indication to the UE (UE receives the indication information) to indicate the UE (indicating that the current measurement gap) (Hahn; [0194] a UE receives the indication information (e.g., half Measurement GAP Indication) indicating that the current measurement gap is able to be configured to a short (e.g., half) measurement gap from a (serving) BS (step, S1010) to transmit or receive data ([0197] transmits and receives the UL/DL data with a BS in the corresponding measurement gap (second section)) within the at least one time duration (the second section), (Hahn; [0197] When the UE detects the primary synchronization signal in the first section, the UE does not perform the measurement in the remaining section, that is, the second section, and transmits and receives the UL/DL data to/from the serving BS (step, S1040).)
wherein the at least one time duration is configured to the UE for measurement ([0197] When the UE detects the primary synchronization signal in the first section … does not perform the measurement in the remaining section)., (Hahn; [0197] When the UE detects the primary synchronization signal in the first section, the UE does not perform the measurement in the remaining section, [0241] the measurement gap may be configured as three methods below considering the mobility state of a UE. [0242] Firstly, the mobility state of the UE is normal, relates to a method for the UE to transmit and receive the DL/UL data with a BS in the corresponding measurement gap). [0159] To provide information which can be helpful for a network operation of a service provider in addition to the purpose of supporting the mobility, the UE may perform measurement with a specific purpose determined by the network, and may report the measurement result to the network. [0246] a first network node (e.g., MME) transmits a first message that includes the indication information or indicator that instructs to configure the measurement gap changeably according to the mobility state of a UE to a BS (step, S1510))
{Office’s Note: Because of the alternative claim language such as “either...or”, only one of the alternative limitations has been analyzed by the examiner.}
Regarding claim 5 Hahn teaches, A method, comprising:
transmitting, by a user equipment (UE), an indication or a measurement report to a network node (Hahn; [0158] The UE reports a measurement result to a network at a proper time) according to an enabling condition (the purpose of supporting the mobility) for determining whether to schedule data ([0159]with a specific purpose determined by the network) within the at least one time duration (the second section), (Hahn; [0197] When the UE detects the primary synchronization signal in the first section, the UE does not perform the measurement in the remaining section, that is, the second section, and transmits and receives the UL/DL data to/from the serving BS (step, S1040).)
wherein the at least one time duration is configured to the UE for measurement ([0197] When the UE detects the primary synchronization signal in the first section … does not perform the measurement in the remaining section)., (Hahn; [0197] When the UE detects the primary synchronization signal in the first section, the UE does not perform the measurement in the remaining section, [0241] the measurement gap may be configured as three methods below considering the mobility state of a UE. [0242] Firstly, the mobility state of the UE is normal, relates to a method for the UE to transmit and receive the DL/UL data with a BS in the corresponding measurement gap). [0159] To provide information which can be helpful for a network operation of a service provider in addition to the purpose of supporting the mobility, the UE may perform measurement with a specific purpose determined by the network, and may report the measurement result to the network. [0246] a first network node (e.g., MME) transmits a first message that includes the indication information or indicator that instructs to configure the measurement gap changeably according to the mobility state of a UE to a BS (step, S1510)); and
performing, by the UE, data reception or data transmission (transmit and receive DL/UL data) within the at least one time duration (configure a short measurement gap …in the remaining section) (Hahn; [0243] when the mobility state of the UE is medium, relates to a method for a UE to configure a short measurement gap using the two methods (method 1 and method 2) described in the first embodiment, and to transmit and receive DL/UL data with a BS in the remaining section).
Regarding claim 14 Hahn teaches, A method, comprising:
receiving, by a network node, an indication or a measurement report from a user equipment (UE) (Hahn; [0158] The UE reports a measurement result to a network at a proper time) to determine whether to schedule data ([0159] with a specific purpose determined by the network) within the at least one time duration (the second section), (Hahn; [0197] When the UE detects the primary synchronization signal in the first section, the UE does not perform the measurement in the remaining section, that is, the second section, and transmits and receives the UL/DL data to/from the serving BS (step, S1040).)
wherein the at least one time duration is configured to the UE for measurement ([0197] When the UE detects the primary synchronization signal in the first section … does not perform the measurement in the remaining section)., (Hahn; [0197] When the UE detects the primary synchronization signal in the first section, the UE does not perform the measurement in the remaining section, [0241] the measurement gap may be configured as three methods below considering the mobility state of a UE. [0242] Firstly, the mobility state of the UE is normal, relates to a method for the UE to transmit and receive the DL/UL data with a BS in the corresponding measurement gap). [0159] To provide information which can be helpful for a network operation of a service provider in addition to the purpose of supporting the mobility, the UE may perform measurement with a specific purpose determined by the network, and may report the measurement result to the network. [0246] a first network node (e.g., MME) transmits a first message that includes the indication information or indicator that instructs to configure the measurement gap changeably according to the mobility state of a UE to a BS (step, S1510)); and
scheduling the data by the network node (receiving control information related to a configuration change of the measurement gap from the BS), within the at least one time duration (or a specific service with the BS in whole or a specific section of the measurement gap) (Hahn; [0026] receiving control information related to a configuration change of the measurement gap from the BS and transmitting and receiving data for a specific service with the BS in whole or a specific section of the measurement gap based on the received control information).
Regarding claim 20 Hahn teaches, A method, comprising:
receiving, by a network node, an assistant information from a user equipment (UE) (To provide information which can be helpful for a network operation of a service provider), wherein the assistant information indicates a current operation mode of the UE (to the purpose of supporting the mobility, the UE may perform measurement) (Hahn; [0159] To provide information which can be helpful for a network operation of a service provider in addition to the purpose of supporting the mobility, the UE may perform measurement with a specific purpose determined by the network, and may report the measurement result to the network); and
determining, by the network node, whether to schedule data (measurement gap may be configured) within at least one time duration based on the current operation mode (for a specific UE is ‘N (ms)’), within the at least one time duration (the second section), (Hahn; [0197] When the UE detects the primary synchronization signal in the first section, the UE does not perform the measurement in the remaining section, that is, the second section, and transmits and receives the UL/DL data to/from the serving BS (step, S1040). [0236] the measurement gap that is configured for a specific UE is ‘N (ms)’)
wherein the at least one time duration is configured to the UE for measurement ([0197] When the UE detects the primary synchronization signal in the first section … does not perform the measurement in the remaining section)., (Hahn; [0197] When the UE detects the primary synchronization signal in the first section, the UE does not perform the measurement in the remaining section, (Hahn; [0241] the measurement gap may be configured as three methods below considering the mobility state of a UE. [0242] Firstly, the mobility state of the UE is normal, relates to a method for the UE to transmit and receive the DL/UL data with a BS in the corresponding measurement gap). [0159] To provide information which can be helpful for a network operation of a service provider in addition to the purpose of supporting the mobility, the UE may perform measurement with a specific purpose determined by the network, and may report the measurement result to the network. [0246] a first network node (e.g., MME) transmits a first message that includes the indication information or indicator that instructs to configure the measurement gap changeably according to the mobility state of a UE to a BS (step, S1510))
Regarding claim 4 Hahn teaches,. The method of claim 1,
Hahn further teaches, further comprising: disabling, by the network node, the scheduling of data within the at least one time duration (Hahn; [0289] Accordingly, the serving BS transmits the indicator that indicates to discard the measurement gap that is configured to the UE and the RRC Connection Reconfiguration that includes the SFN information of the measurement gap that is to be discarded (step, S1730).).
Regarding claim 10 Hahn teaches, The method of claim 5,
Hahn further teaches, wherein the indication is transmitted through an uplink (UL) medium access control-control element (MAC-CE), a PUCCH, an uplink control information (UCI) or a radio resource control (RRC) signaling (Hahn; [0290] the UE delivers the information on the mobility state of its own to the serving BS through the RRC connection configuration for the MCS service request).
Regarding claim 11 Hahn teaches, the method of claim 5,
automatically determining, by the UE, to transmit or receive data within the at least one time duration;
or
Hahn further teaches, determining, by the UE, to transmit or receive data within the at least one time duration according to a network indication from the network node (Hahn; [302] FIG. 18 may be performed by receiving the indicator that instructs to configure a measurement gap changeably according to the mobility of a UE through the Initial Context Setup Request message (step, S1810),).
{Office’s Note: Because of the alternative claim language such as “either...or”, only one of the alternative limitations has been analyzed by the examiner.}
Regarding claims 12 and 19 Hahn teaches,. the claims 5 and 14,
Hahn further teaches, further comprising: transmitting, by the UE, the indication or the measurement report to the network node to disable the scheduling of data within the at least one time duration (Hahn; [0318] the UE transmits the indicator that indicates 1) the normal mobility state or 2) the fact of being shifted to the normal mobility state to the serving BS (step, S1920). [0319] Then, the serving BS determines not to apply the measurement gap for the MCS data transmitted through the MCS dedicated bearer that is previously configured).
Regarding claim 13 Hahn teaches,. The method of claim 12,
Hahn further teaches, wherein the disabling is based on an event that the quality of the serving cell is smaller than or equal to a second threshold for a second number of times (Hahn; [0320] And, the serving BS notifies the SFN information indicating not to apply the measurement gap to the UE before transmitting the DL data to the UE (step, S1930), and let the UE may transmit and receive the DL/UL MCS data without performing the inter-frequency measurement in the specific measurement gap section of the corresponding SFN.).
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 2, 6, 15, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hahn as applied to claims 1, 5 and 14, above, and further in view of Tao (Tao hereafter) (US 20240406771 A1).
Regarding claims 2, 6, 15, and 21 Hahn teaches, the claims 1, 5 and 14,
Hahn fails to explicitly teach, wherein the at least one time duration comprises at least one of a measurement gap for neighbor cell measurement, a scheduling availability during a synchronization signal block-based radio resource management (RRM) measurement timing configuration (SMTC) window and the SMTC window.
However, in the same field of endeavor Tao teaches, wherein the at least one time duration comprises at least one of a measurement gap for neighbor cell measurement, a scheduling availability during a synchronization signal block-based radio resource management (RRM) measurement timing configuration (SMTC) window and the SMTC window (Tao; [0031] In step S31, the network device 102 sends measurement configuration information to the user equipment. The measurement configuration information includes more than one SSB-based RRM measurement timing configuration (SMTC) corresponding to a same measurement object, and SMTCs of different neighbor cells to be measured corresponding to the same measurement object are different.).
or the at least one time duration comprises a measurement gap for at least one of a radio link monitoring, a beam failure detection, a layer 1 (L1)-reference symbol received power (RSRP) measurement and a candidate beam detection.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to create the invention of Hahn to include the above recited limitations as taught by Tao in order to measure the neighbor cell to be measured corresponding to the measurement object according to the measurement configuration information (Tao; [0013]).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hahn as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of DA SILVA et al. (SILVA hereafter) (US 20230327790 A1).
Regarding claim 3 Hahn teaches,. The method of claim 1,
Hahn fails to explicitly teach, further comprising: receiving, by the network node, a measurement report for the quality of the serving cell from the UE, wherein the network indication is based on an event that a quality of a serving cell is larger than a first threshold for a first number of times
However, in the same field of endeavor SILVA teaches, further comprising: receiving, by the network node, a measurement report for the quality of the serving cell from the UE, wherein the network indication is based on an event that a quality of a serving cell is larger than a first threshold for a first number of times (SILVA; [0013] In the case of an A3 event being configured, the network expects the UE to report when it finds a neighbour cell that is better than its Special Cell (SpCell). Upon receiving these measurements, the network takes a decision whether it should handover the UE to that neighbour cell or not. If all goes fine, the network decides to keep the UE connected to the serving cell, or to hand it over).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to create the invention of Hahn to include the above recited limitations as taught by SILVA in order to reduce the risk for failures in a wireless communications network (SILVA; [0021]).
Claims 7, 8, 16, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hahn as applied to claims 5 and 14 above, and further in view of Chen et al. (Chen hereafter) (US 20220053350 A1).
Regarding claims 7 and 16 Hahn teaches,. the claims 5 and 14,
wherein the enabling condition comprises that the UE is configured with a s-MeasureConfig by the network node and a reference symbol received power (RSRP) value of a serving cell is larger than a threshold for a period of time, and wherein the s-MeasureConfig indicates the threshold
However, in the same field of endeavor Chen teaches, wherein the enabling condition comprises that the UE is configured with a s-MeasureConfig by the network node and a reference symbol received power (RSRP) value of a serving cell is larger than a threshold for a period of time, and wherein the s-MeasureConfig indicates the threshold (Chen; [0045] In the connected state, based on a measurement result (such as a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a reference signal received quality (RSRQ)) of a special cell (SpCell) and a configured S-measure related threshold (S-measure Config), the terminal determines whether to perform corresponding measurement and measurement reporting. If the measurement result is lower than the configured threshold).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to create the invention of Hahn to include the above recited limitations as taught by Chen in order to performs calculation and reporting of the measurement result (Chen; [0045]).
Regarding claims 8 and 17 Hahn teaches,. the claims 5 and 14,
Hahn fails to explicitly teach, wherein the enabling condition comprises that a quality of a serving cell is larger than a threshold for a period of time
Chen further teaches, wherein the enabling condition comprises that a quality of a serving cell is larger than a threshold for a period of time (Chen; [0043] In inter-frequency and inter-radio access technology (Inter-RAT) scenarios, when another frequency and RAT have a higher priority than a serving frequency and RAT, the terminal performs neighboring cell measurement based on a defined measurement requirement. When another frequency and RAT have the same or a lower priority than the serving frequency and RAT, if the serving cell satisfies that a measured RSRP value Srxlev is greater than a non-intra-frequency measurement threshold S.sub.nonIntraSearchP and a measured RSRQ value Squal is greater than a non-intra-frequency measurement threshold S.sub.nonIntraSearchQ, that is, Srxlev>S.sub.nonIntraSearchP and Squal>S.sub.nonIntraSearchQ, the UE chooses not to perform neighboring-cell measurement; otherwise, the UE needs to perform neighboring-cell measurement).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to create the invention of Hahn to include the above recited limitations as taught by Chen in order to performs calculation and reporting of the measurement result (Chen; [0045]).
Claims 9 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hahn as applied to claims 5 and 14, above, and further in view of Sharma et al. (Sharma hereafter) (US 20220131596A1).
Regarding claims 9 and 18 Hahn teaches,. the claims 5 and 14,
Hahn fails to explicitly teach, wherein the enabling condition comprises that an updating of a UE receiving (RX) beam is not needed, a transmission configuration indication (TCI) of physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) is unchanged for a period of time, or a number of changing the TCI of PDCCH or PDSCH is less than a threshold during a period of time.
However, in the same field of endeavor Sharma teaches, wherein the enabling condition comprises that an updating of a UE receiving (RX) beam is not needed, a transmission configuration indication (TCI) of physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) is unchanged for a period of time (Sharma; [0047] A RSRP threshold and a RSRP variation threshold within a period of time, and based on that, UE can adapt the measurement or report
period [0048] A RSRP variation threshold within a period of time, and based on that, the UE can adapt the measurement or report period [0049] A threshold for UE adapting RRM measurement period and the threshold can be at least one of the following: [0050] The amount of time during which the UE stays with a specific cell or beam (for RRM measurement) [0051] A UE's active Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state for PDCCH does not change for specific time
period).
or
a number of changing the TCI of PDCCH
or
PDSCH is less than a threshold during a period of time.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to create the invention of Hahn to include the above recited limitations as taught by Sharma in order to reduce a power consumed by a UE when performing RRM measurements. (Sharma; [0044]).
{Office’s Note: Because of the alternative claim language such as “either...or”, only one of the alternative limitations has been analyzed by the examiner}
Conclusion
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/W. T/Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416