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 .
Election/Restrictions
Restriction to one of the following inventions is required under 35 U.S.C. 121:
A. Claims 16-27 are drawn to an invention which is directed to a UE to determine whether continue measurement relaxation after transition of RRC state.
B. Claims 28-29 are drawn to an invention which is directed to a network element determines whether allow a UE to continue measurement relaxation in response to after the UE is transitioned to a new RRC state.
The distinct inventions require different searching considerations because prior art search required for Group A is not required for Group B, so restriction for examination purposes as indicated is proper.
The Examiner has conducted a telephone interview with Applicant’s representative, Robin, to discuss the restriction requirement regarding Groups A and B. Mr. Robin elected Group A without traverse in the interview conducted on 03/27/2026.
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) 16-18, 22 and 26-27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bergstrom (US 20240214849) in view of a submitted NPL associated with 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #115-e, hereinafter NPL.
With respect to independent claims:
Regarding claim(s) 16/26, Bergstrom teaches An apparatus ([0103], UE) comprising:
means for evaluating whether one or more measurement relaxation conditions are fulfilled by the apparatus ([0103], “the UE indicates that the UE fulfills conditions for applying a relaxed measurement behaviour.”);
means to perform at least one of:
i) determine whether to continue measurement relaxation after the transition of the radio resource control state; or
ii) determine whether to provide an indication to a network that one or more measurement relaxation conditions are fulfilled by the apparatus ([0103], “the UE may be configured to send a report to the network whereby the UE indicates that the UE fulfills conditions for applying a relaxed measurement behaviour.” And [0116], “Thus the UE monitors one or more criteria or conditions to determine whether it should enter the relaxed measurement mode of operation. In some embodiments, upon fulfilment of the one or more criteria, the UE may transmit a report to the network node indicating that the criteria have been fulfilled.”);
wherein the apparatus is configured to, based on the determining, at least one of:
iii) provide an indication to a network that one or more measurement relaxation conditions are fulfilled by the apparatus ([0103], “the UE may be configured to send a report to the network whereby the UE indicates that the UE fulfills conditions for applying a relaxed measurement behaviour.”); or
iv) continue the measurement relaxation in the another radio resource control state.
However, Bergstrom does not specifically disclose i) determine whether to continue measurement relaxation after the transition of the radio resource control state ... wherein the apparatus is configured to, based on the determining, at least one of: ... iv) continue the measurement relaxation in the another radio resource control state.
In an analogous art, NPL discloses i) determine whether to continue measurement relaxation after the transition of the radio resource control state ([Page 5], “Proposal 8: To allow UE to continue to relax RRM measurement after RRC state transition.”) ...
wherein the apparatus is configured to, based on the determining, at least one of: ... iv) continue the measurement relaxation in the another radio resource control state ([Page 5], “Proposal 8: To allow UE to continue to relax RRM measurement after RRC state transition.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Bergstrom to specify continue relax RRM measurement as taught by NPL. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to save energy.
Regarding claim(s) 27, Bergstrom teaches An apparatus comprising at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:
...
evaluate whether one or more measurement relaxation conditions are fulfilled by the apparatus ([0103], “the UE indicates that the UE fulfills conditions for applying a relaxed measurement behaviour.”);
determine whether to continue measurement relaxation after the transition of the radio resource control state or provide an indication to a network that one or more measurement relaxation conditions are fulfilled by the apparatus ([0103], “the UE may be configured to send a report to the network whereby the UE indicates that the UE fulfills conditions for applying a relaxed measurement behaviour.” And [0116], “Thus the UE monitors one or more criteria or conditions to determine whether it should enter the relaxed measurement mode of operation. In some embodiments, upon fulfilment of the one or more criteria, the UE may transmit a report to the network node indicating that the criteria have been fulfilled.”);
provide, based on the determining, an indication to a network that one or more measurement relaxation conditions are fulfilled by the apparatus ([0103], “the UE may be configured to send a report to the network whereby the UE indicates that the UE fulfills conditions for applying a relaxed measurement behaviour.”).
However, Bergstrom does not teach initiate a transition from a current radio resource control state to another radio resource control state ... continue the measurement relaxation in the another radio resource control state.
In an analogous art, NPL teaches initiate a transition from a current radio resource control state to another radio resource control state ([Page 5], “RRC state transition.”) ... continue the measurement relaxation in the another radio resource control state ([Page 5], “Proposal 8: To allow UE to continue to relax RRM measurement after RRC state transition.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Bergstrom to specify continue relax RRM measurement as taught by NPL. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to save energy.
Examiner Note: Another prior art by Thangarasa (US 20210105719), Fig.7 which also discloses continuing relax mode at time point 725 after RRC transition.
With respect to dependent claims:
Regarding claim(s) 17, Bergstrom teaches means for receiving one or more parameters by signalling dedicated for the apparatus from the network, said signalling instructing the apparatus to provide to the network an indication ([0114], .” network node causes the transmission of one or more configuration messages to a UE. For example, the network node may be a serving base station for the UE. The configuration message(s) may be received via broadcast (e.g., system information), multicast, or dedicated (e.g., RRC) signalling.”):
triggered by a state transition, and/or
of fulfilment of at least one measurement relaxation criteria ([0116], “upon fulfilment of the one or more criteria, the UE may transmit a report to the network node indicating that the criteria have been fulfilled.”).
Regarding claim(s) 18, Bergstrom teaches means for receiving from the network an indication whether the apparatus may continue the measurement relaxation after the change of the radio resource control state or provide an indication to a network that one or more measurement relaxation conditions are fulfilled by the apparatus ([0116], “upon fulfilment of the one or more criteria, the UE may transmit a report to the network node indicating that the criteria have been fulfilled.”).
However, Bergstrom does not teach means for receiving from the network an indication whether the apparatus may continue the measurement relaxation after the change of the radio resource control state.
In an analogous art, NPL teaches means for receiving from the network an indication whether the apparatus may continue the measurement relaxation after the change of the radio resource control state ([Page 5], “Proposal 8: To allow UE to continue to relax RRM measurement after RRC state transition, NW can indicate the UE via dedicated RRC signaling whether and which criteria for RRM relaxation is considered as satisfied.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Bergstrom to specify continue relax RRM measurement as taught by NPL. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to save energy.
Regarding claim(s) 22, Bergstrom teaches wherein the apparatus is configured with two or more measurement relaxation criteria ([0065], “the one or more configuration messages comprise an indication of one or more criteria that the UE should monitor.”), further wherein said means for providing an indication are configured to indicate which of the two or more measurement relaxation criteria are met by the apparatus ([0066], “In some embodiments, upon fulfilment of the one or more criteria, the UE may transmit a report to the network node indicating that the criteria have been fulfilled.”).
Claim(s) 19-20 and 24-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bergstrom in view of NPL, and further in view of Thangarasa (US 20210105719).
Regarding claim(s) 19, Thangarasa teaches continue the measurement relaxation without re-evaluating whether the one or more measurement relaxation conditions are fulfilled by the apparatus, or
continue the measurement relaxation ([0137], “enter relaxed measurement mode 110 once the period of time T.sub.1 has ended.”) and re-evaluating whether the one or more measurement relaxation conditions are fulfilled by the apparatus ([0137], “At time instance 725, wireless device 210 may determine, based on one or more criteria being satisfied.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Bergstrom to specify evaluation as taught by Thangarasa. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to enter relaxation mode once criteria is being satisfied.
Regarding claim(s) 20, Thangarasa teaches means for determining whether to continue using a current configuration ([0137 and Fig.7], “When wireless device 210 later transitions from connected state 715 to idle state 705 at time instance 720, wireless device 210 remains in normal measurement mode 105 for a certain time.”) or to begin using another configuration in the second state.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Bergstrom to specify remain normal measurement mode as taught by Thangarasa. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to be ready to re-enter RRC connected mode.
Regarding claim(s) 24, Thangarasa teaches means for re-evaluating whether one or more measurement relaxation conditions are fulfilled by the apparatus ([0137 and Fig.7, step 725], “wireless device 210 may determine, based on one or more criteria being satisfied, whether or not to enter relaxed measurement mode.”) after the transition from a current radio resource control state to another radio resource control state ([Fig.7], switching from RRC connected to RRC idle state.) based on at least one adapted parameter ([0137], “based on one or more criteria being satisfied.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Bergstrom to specify entering relax mode as taught by Thangarasa. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to save power.
Regarding claim(s) 25, Bergstrom teaches said at least one adapted parameter comprising a measurement period of a mobility status and/or cell edge ([0118], “At least one of the criteria may relate to a location of the UE. For example, the one or more criteria comprise a second criterion that the user equipment is located away from a cell edge.”) and/or stationary determination.
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bergstrom in view of NPL, and further in view of He (US 20210352507).
Regarding claim(s) 21, He teaches means for performing connection establishment with the network ([0095], “wherein the indication comprises a UE capability that is received during connection establishment with the UE.”); and
means for receiving measurement relaxation criteria via the connection establishment ([0095], “transmitting, in response to the indication, a configuration comprising an RRM measurement relaxation criteria for the stationary UE.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Bergstrom to specify transmitting UE capability during connection establishment as taught by He. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to configuring RRM measurement relaxation criteria.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 23 is 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHIREN QIN whose telephone number is (571)272-5444. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9-6 PM.
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/ZHIREN QIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2411