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 Interpretation
2. Claims 1-7 recite limitations such as “in case that the UE is a redcap UE and an intra frequency reselection field is not present in the SIB1, excluding the cell as a candidate for cell selection…” which leads the claims to be interpreted as having contingent limitations (see MPEP 2111.04). Therefore, it is the understanding of the Examiner, that the broadest reasonable interpretation of claims having contingent limitations requires only those steps that must be performed and does not include steps that are not required to be performed because the condition(s) precedent are not met.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
3. 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.
4. Claims 1, 2, 4-6, 8, 9, and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kim (US 2023/0074410).
Regarding claim 1, Kim discloses a method of managing cell barring by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
receiving system information block 1 (SIB1) from a cell (as disclosed in section 0058); and
in case (see Table 6, Case 4) that the UE is a redcap UE and an intra frequency reselection field is not present (reception without IFRI_SIB1) in the SIB1, excluding the cell as a candidate for cell selection or cell reselection for predetermined duration (300 seconds as disclosed in Table 6, Case 4) and reselecting another cell on a same frequency as the cell (see Table 6, Case 1, wherein after 300 seconds, neighboring cells of the corresponding frequency may be included in the cell selection/reselection candidates).
Regarding claim 2, Kim discloses in case (see Table 6, Case 1) that the UE is unable to acquire the SIBI (MIB reception failure) and the UE is the redcap UE, reselecting another cell on the same frequency (neighboring cell of the corresponding frequency) as the cell.
Regarding claim 4, Kim discloses in case (see Table 6, Case 3) that the UE is the redcap UE with one RX chain and a bar_1Rx field in the SIB1 is set to barred (cellBarred set to Barred as disclosed in Case 3) or in case that the UE is a the redcap UE with two RX chains and a bar_2Rx field in the SIB1 is set to barred, based on the intra frequency reselection field is present in the SIB1, excluding the cell as athe candidate for the cell selection or the cell reselection for the predetermined duration (300 seconds as disclosed in Case 3).
Regarding claim 5, Kim discloses in case (see Table 6, Case 3) that the UE is the redcap UE with one RX chain and a bar_1Rx field in the SIB1 is set to barred (cellBarred set to Barred as disclosed in Case 3) or in case that the UE is a-the redcap UE with two RX chains and a bar_2Rx field in the SIB1 is set to barred, identifying (see Case 3) the intra frequency reselection field (IFRI_SIB1) in the SIB1; and
in case (see Table 6, Case 3) that the cell operates in a licensed spectrum, based on the intra frequency selection-reselection field set to not allowed (IFRI_SIB1 is NotAllowed as disclosed in Case 3), excluding the cell and another cell on the same frequency as the candidate for the cell reselection for the predetermined duration (by excluding neighboring cells of the corresponding frequency as candidates for cell selection/reselection for 300 seconds).
Regarding claim 6, Kim discloses in case (see Table 6, Case 3) that the UE is the redcap UE with one RX chain and a bar_1Rx field in the SIB1 is set to barred (cellBarred set to Barred as disclosed in Case 3) or in case that the UE is a-the redcap UE with two RX chains and a bar_2Rx field in the SIB1 is set to barred, identifying (see Case 3) the intra frequency reselection field (IFRI_SIB1) in the SIB1; and
in case (see Table 2) that the cell belongs to a public land mobile network (PLMN) indicated as being equivalent to a registered PLMN (registered PLMN as disclosed in Table 2) or selected PLMN (selected PLMN as disclosed in Table 2) of the UE or in case that the cell belongs to registered stand-alone non-public network (SNPN) or selected SNPN of the UE, based on the intra frequency reselection field set to not allowed (see Table 6, Case 3), excluding the cell and another cell on the same frequency as the candidate for the cell reselection for the predetermined duration by excluding neighboring cells of the corresponding frequency as candidates for cell selection/reselection for 300 seconds).
Regarding claims 8, 9, and 11-13, Kim discloses a user equipment (UE), as disclosed in Fig. 5A, comprising:
a transceiver (5A-03); and
al least one processor (5A-04) coupled with the transceiver and configured to perform the method recited in claims 1, 2, and 4-6 (the above rejection of which is applicable hereto).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
6. Claims 3 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2023/0074410) in view of Ishii (US 2024/0389011).
Regarding claims 3 and 10, Kim does not specifically disclose in case that the UE is unable to acquire the SIB1 and the UE is not the redcap UE, reselect another cell on the same frequency as the cell. However, Ishii also discloses managing cell barring (see section 0136) in a wireless communication system including a user equipment (UE). Ishii further discloses in case that a UE is unable to acquire the SIB1 (see section 0153) and the UE is not a redcap UE (see section 0117), reselect another cell on the same frequency as the cell (after 300 seconds as disclosed in section 0161). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the before the effective filing date of the present invention to modify the cell barring method/device of Kim with the cell reselection as taught by Ishii since Ishii discloses this technology improves resource selection and resource utilization in a communications system (see section 0633).
7. Claims 7 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2023/0074410) in view of Choe at al. (US 2024/0214887).
Regarding claim 7, Kim discloses in case (see Table 6, Case 3) that the UE is the redcap UE with one RX chain and a bar_1Rx field in the SIB1 is set to barred (cellBarred set to Barred as disclosed in Case 3) or in case that the UE is a-the redcap UE with two RX chains and a bar_2Rx field in the SIB1 is set to barred, identifying (see Case 3) the intra frequency reselection field (IFRI_SIB1) in the SIB. Kim does not specifically disclose in case that the cell operates in unlicensed spectrum and does not belong to a public land mobile network (PLMN) indicated as being equivalent to a registered PLMN or selected PLMN of the UE or registered stand-alone non-public network (SNPN) or selected SNPN of the UE, based on the intra frequency selection-reselection field set to not allowed, reselecting another cell on a-the same frequency as the cell.
However, Choe et al. also discloses managing cell barring (see Abstract) in a wireless communication system including a user equipment (UE). Choe et al. further discloses that in case that the cell operates in an unlicensed spectrum and does not belong to a public land mobile network (PLMN) indicated as being equivalent to a registered PLMN or selected PLMN of the UE (wherein the cell operates in an unlicensed spectrum and does not belong to a PLMN based on the absence or trackingAreaCode as disclosed in section 0185) or registered stand-alone non-public network (SNPN) or selected SNPN of the UE, based on an intra frequency selection-reselection field set to not allowed (as disclosed in section 0187), reselecting another cell on the same frequency as the cell (as disclosed in section 0188). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the before the effective filing date of the present invention to modify the cell barring method/device of Kim with the cell reselection as taught by Choe et al. since Choe et al. discloses the invention performs cell reselection efficiently by considering radio capability (see section 0019).
Conclusion
8. 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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/CURTIS B ODOM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631 June 4, 2026
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