DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to applicant's communication filed on 03/28/2024, wherein:
Claim 1-15 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by 3GPP TR 38.874 V16.0.0 (2018-12).
Regarding claim 6, 3GPP discloses a method, performed by a second gNodeB (gNB)-central unit (CU), of supporting an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node in performing handover from a first gNB-CU in a wireless communication system (Section 9.7.6 and Fig. 9.7.6-1 discloses IAB-Donor-CU2; Fig. 9.7.6-2 discloses gNB-CU2), the method comprising:
receiving, from the first gNB-CU, a handover request message comprising handover information determined based on a measurement report for handover of the IAB node (Fig. 9.7.6-2 step 3 and page 84 – “The gNB-CU1 sends an Xn Handover Request message to gNB-CU2 to initiate handover preparation. The handover preparation is also performed for all access UEs and subtend IAB-MTs” based on measurement report on step 2);
transmitting a handover acceptance message of the IAB node to the first gNB-CU, in response to the handover request message (Fig. 9.7.6-2 step 6 and page 85 – “6. The gNB-CU2 responses to the gNB-CU1 with a Xn Handover Request Acknowledge message”);
supporting the IAB node in performing inter-CU handover from the first gNB-CU (Fig. 9.7.6-2 step 7-15 disclose gNB-CU2 supporting handover procedure from gNB-CU1); and
performing a radio resource control (RRC) connection re-establishment procedure on the IAB node (Fig. 9.7.6-2 step 12-step B’ discloses procedure for reconfiguration RRC configuration to establish connection to gNB-CU2 through IAB-node2 and IAB-node-4), and performing an RRC connection re-establishment procedure on at least one lower node connected to the IAB node (Fig. 9.7.6-2 step 19-20 and page 85 - “19. The UE and the CU-2 conducts RRCConnectionReestablishment procedure via IAB-node 5”).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7-9 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.
Claim 1-5 and 10-15 are allowable over prior art. The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Claim 1 and 15 recites a method performed by a first gNodeB (gNB)-central unit (CU) and the corresponding gNB-CU for supporting an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node in performing handover to a second gNB-CU in a wireless communication system, wherein the method comprising:
transmitting handover information to at least one lower node connected to the IAB node, the handover information being determined based on a measurement report for handover of the IAB node;
transmitting a handover request message comprising the handover information of the IAB node to the second gNB-CU;
receiving context information from the at least one lower node;
based on the context information, identifying, as a first class, a lower node to perform intra-CU handover, and identifying, as a second class, a lower node to perform inter-CU handover from among the at least one lower node;
supporting intra-CU handover of the lower node identified as the first class; and
supporting inter-CU handover of the IAB node to the second gNB-CU, based on the handover information of the IAB node and a handover acceptance message of the IAB node which is received from the second gNB-CU.
Claim 10 recites a method of performing, by an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, handover from a first gNodeB (gNB)-central unit (CU) to a second gNB-CU in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
transmitting a measurement report for handover to the first gNB-CU; identifying, as a first class, a lower node to perform intra-CU handover, and
identifying, as a second class, at least one lower node to perform inter-CU handover from among at least one connected lower node;
supporting intra-CU handover of the lower node identified as the first class;
receiving a handover acceptance message from the second gNB-CU via the first gNB-CU; and
performing, based on the handover acceptance message, handover from the first gNB-CU to the second gNB-CU.
The related prior art does not anticipate or render obvious the invention above:
3GPP TR 38.874 V16.0.0 (2018-12) discloses a method, performed by a first gNodeB (gNB)-central unit (CU) (Fig. 9.7.6-2 discloses gNB-CU1), of supporting an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node in performing handover to a second gNB-CU in a wireless communication system (section 9.7.6), the method comprising: transmitting handover information to at least one lower node connected to the IAB node (Fig. 9.7.6-2 step 8 and section 9.7.6 – “8. The IAB-node 3 forwards the received RRCReconfiguration message to the MT. The MT recognizes that the RRCReconfiguration is association with migration to a different IAB-donor CU”), the handover information being determined based on a measurement report for handover of the IAB node (Fig. 9.7.6-2 step 2 and section 9.7.6 – “2. The source IAB-node DU sends an Uplink RRC Transfer message to the gNB-CU1 to convey the received Measurement Report”); transmitting a handover request message comprising the handover information of the IAB node to the second gNB-CU (Fig. 9.7.6-2 step 3 and section 9.7.6 – “3. The gNB-CU1 sends an Xn Handover Request message to gNB-CU2 to initiate handover preparation. The handover preparation is also performed for all access UEs and subtend IAB-MTs”); supporting inter-CU handover of the IAB node to the second gNB-CU, based on the handover information of the IAB node and a handover acceptance message of the IAB node which is received from the second gNB-CU (Fig. 9.7.6-2 step 7-12 and section 9.7.6). 3GPP discloses supporting intra-CU handover (Section 9.7.5) and inter-CU handover (Section 9.7.6). However, the reference is silent on details about (1) receiving context information from the at least one lower node; based on the context information, identifying, as a first class, a lower node to perform intra-CU handover, and identifying, as a second class, a lower node to perform inter-CU handover from among the at least one lower node; supporting intra-CU handover of the lower node identified as the first class; and supporting inter-CU handover of the IAB node to the second gNB-CU, based on the handover information of the IAB node and a handover acceptance message of the IAB node which is received from the second gNB-CU (recited in claim 1 and 15, similar details regarding to identifying first and second class for intra-CU and inter-CU handover are recited in claim 10 for IAB node).
Teyeb et al. (US 20230269630 A1) (Fig. 12, Fig. 13A-B) discloses inter-CU handover for IAB node (Fig. 12 - IAB-node 3) its lower node (Fig. 12 – UEA, UEB, UEC, IAB-node4, UEE) including from source CU (Fig. 12, Fig. 13A-B – Donor CU1) to target CU (Fig. 12, Fig. 13A-B – Donor CU2). However, the reference is silent on details about (1) regarding performing intra-CU and inter-CU based on different class determined by received context information.
Hsieh (US 20210227435 A1) discloses handoff IAB node and its lower node from a source CU to a target CU (abstract, Fig. 9, ¶0100-0157). However, the reference is silent on details about (1) regarding performing intra-CU and inter-CU based on different class determined by received context information.
As presented above, none of the prior art anticipate the invention of claim 1, 10, and 15. The above references, in combination, do not render obvious the claimed invention regarding to details about (1) receiving context information from the at least one lower node; based on the context information, identifying, as a first class, a lower node to perform intra-CU handover, and identifying, as a second class, a lower node to perform inter-CU handover from among the at least one lower node; supporting intra-CU handover of the lower node identified as the first class; and supporting inter-CU handover of the IAB node to the second gNB-CU, based on the handover information of the IAB node and a handover acceptance message of the IAB node which is received from the second gNB-CU (recited in claim 1 and 15, similar details regarding to identifying first and second class for intra-CU and inter-CU handover are recited in claim 10 for IAB node). Therefore, claims 1, 10, 15, and their dependent claims are allowable.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DUNG HONG whose telephone number is (571)270-7928. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, JINSONG HU, can be reached on (571) 272-3965. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DUNG HONG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643