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 .
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 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(s) 1, 8 and 23 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) (1) as being anticipated by Saily et al. (US 2021/0235333, “Saily”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Saily unless otherwise mentioned.
Saily comprises the following features:
Regarding claim 1, a handover method, comprising:
receiving, by a user equipment (UE), a radio resource control (RRC) message ([0143] “The serving gNB 170-2, in step 7, sends an RRC Reconfiguration message to the UE 110.”),
wherein the RRC message implies a handover with primary secondary cell (PSCell) ([0143 and Fig. 4] “This message contains RRC configuration(s) for the prepared candidate PSCell(s), the access trigger (event 2, which initiates step 2, shown as ADD phase 2 420), and specific access control parameters (see Step 9 for examples access procedures and failure mechanisms).”); and
transmitting a new physical random access channel (PRACH) on a PSCell ([0146 and Fig. 4] “The UE 110, in step 9, sends random-access preamble(s) to cell 2 260-2”);
wherein a handover delay of the UE comprising one or more of:
a sum of a primary cell (PCell) handover delay and a primary secondary cell (PSCell) addition delay (See [0112-0119] that list seven steps including delays at PCell and a delay at PSCell.);
a maximum value of a PCell handover time and a PSCell addition delay; a PCell handover delay and/or a PSCell addition delay; a sum of a PCell search time and a PSCell search time; a sum of a PCell search time, a PCell synchronization time, a PSCell search time, and a PSCell synchronization time; or a delay starting from a moment of receiving the RRC message to a moment of ready to start a transmission of the new PRACH on the PSCell. (These alternatives are not examined.).
Regarding claim 23, it is a communication device claim corresponding to the method claim 1, except the limitations, “a processor. and a memory for storing a program operable on the processor” (See Fig. 1 for 125 “Memory(ies)” and 120 “Processor(s)”, and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
With respect to dependent claims:
Regarding claim 8, the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
obtaining a second threshold by the UE, wherein the second threshold is related to a channel quality;
wherein
in response to the channel quality being higher than and/or equal to a first value of the second threshold, the handover delay of the UE comprises the sum of the PCell handover delay and the PSCell addition delay; in response to the channel quality being higher than and/or equal to a second value of the second threshold, the handover delay of the UE comprises the maximum value of the PCell handover delay and the PSCell addition delay (These alternatives are not examined.);
in response to the channel quality being higher than and/or equal to a third value of the second threshold, the handover delay of the UE comprises the PCell handover delay and/or the PSCell addition delay ([0150] “In response to the quality of the source cell being below a configured threshold, and the quality of at least one candidate PSCell being above a configured threshold, the UE 110 aborts the ongoing access attempt and initiates a new access attempt to the candidate PSCell with a best quality, resetting the RA attempt counter.”);
in response to the channel quality being higher than and/or equal to a fourth value of the second threshold, the handover delay of the UE comprises the sum of the PCell search time and the PSCell search time; or in response to the channel quality being higher than and/or equal to a fifth value of the second threshold, the handover delay of the UE comprises the sum of the PCell search time, the PCell synchronization time, the PSCell search time, and the PSCell synchronization time (These alternatives are not examined.).
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) 2 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saily et al. (US 2021/0235333, “Saily”) in view of Da Silva et al. (US 2023/0007499, “Silva”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Saily unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claim 2, it is noted that while disclosing a handover procedure, Islam does not specifically teach about SMTC. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Silva as follows;
the method according to claim 1, wherein,
in a case that a first condition is satisfied (See below.), the handover delay of the terminal UE comprises one or more of:
the sum of the PCell handover delay and the PSCell addition delay (See aforesaid [0074 and Fig. 4]);
the sum of the PCell search time and the PSCell search time; or
the sum of the PCell search time, the PCell synchronization time, the PSCell search time, and the PSCell synchronization time,
wherein the first condition comprises that: a synchronization signal block based (SSB-based) measurement timing configuration (SMTC) of a target unknown PSCell is configured ([Silva, 0375] “As in the case of an RRC based handover, the Additional SpCell configuration may also contain an SMTC configuration so the UE is able to perform measurements and find the target SpCell.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Islam by using the features of Silva in order to improve handling of secondary cells such that “The UE receives from a network node, a higher layer configuration comprising a set of SpCell configurations, to be configured in the UE.” [Silva, 0108].
Claim(s) 3 and 5 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saily et al. (US 2021/0235333, “Saily”) in view of Chang et al. (US 2025/0374139, “Chang”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Saily unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claim 3, it is noted that while disclosing a handover procedure, Saily does not specifically teach about two different durations. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Chang as follows;
the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
obtaining first information by the UE (See below [Chang, claim 10]),
wherein the first information comprises one or more of:
first indication information for indicating the UE to perform a PSCell addition after transmitting a physical random-access channel (PRACH) preamble to a PCell ([Chang, claim 10] “receive an RRCReconfiguration message including reconfiguration with sync for Secondary Cell Group (SCG); when the UE is connected to a source primary SCG cell (PSCell), configure a configuration used for the UE to report successful PSCell change or addition information to a network side; determine whether an indication of SCG deactivation is included in the RRCReconfiguration message; and perform an operation for a successful PSCell change or addition report determination based on the determination that the indication is not included in the RRCReconfiguration message, wherein the operation is performed upon successfully completing a random access procedure triggered for the reconfiguration with sync for the SCG.”).
second indication information for indicating the UF to perform a PSCell addition after receiving a random-access response (RAR) transmitted by a PCell;
third indication information for indicating the UE to perform a PSCell addition after receiving message 4 (MSG4) transmitted by a PCell;
fourth indication information for indicating the UE to perform a PSCell addition after transmitting message A (MSGA) to a PCell; or
fifth indication information for indicating the UE to perform a PSCell addition after receiving message B (MSGB) transmitted by a PCell (These alternatives are not examined.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Saily by using the features of Chang in order to enhance a network data collection procedure such that “to provide a solution to the issue of how to implement PSCell information reporting in a next generation radio access (NR) system.” [Chang, 0003].
Regarding claim 5, the method according to claim 3,
wherein a length of the handover delay of the UE is a first time length;
in a case that the first information comprises the first indication information, the first time length is: a sum of a time length starting from a moment the terminal UE receives the RRC message to a moment the UE transmits the preamble to the PCell, and a time length for the UE to perform the PSCell addition (See aforesaid [0112-0119]); or,
in a case that the first information comprises the second indication information, the first time length is: a sum of a time length starting from a moment the UE receives the RRC message to a moment the UE receives the RAR transmitted by the PCell, and a time length for the UE to perform the PSCell addition; or,
in a case that the first information comprises the third indication information, the first time length is: a sum of a time length starting from a moment the UE receives the RRC message to a moment the UE receives the MSG4 transmitted by the PCell, and a time length for the terminal UE to perform the PSCell addition; or,
in a case that the first information comprises the fourth indication information, the first time length is: a sum of a time length starting from a moment the UE receives the RRC message to a moment the UE transmits the MSGA to the PCell, and a time length for the UE to perform the PSCell addition; or,
in a case that the first information comprises the fifth indication information, the first time length is: a sum of a time length starting from a moment the UE receives the RRC message to a moment the UE receives the MSGB transmitted by the PCell, and a time length for the UE to perform the PSCell addition (These alternatives are not examined.).
Claim(s) 4 and 11 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saily et al. (US 2021/0235333, “Saily”) in view of Zhang et al. (US 2021/0219194, “Zhang”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Saily unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claim 4, it is noted that while disclosing a handover procedure, Saily does not specifically teach about two different durations. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Zhang as follows;
the method according to claim 1, further comprising: obtaining second information by the UE,
wherein the second information comprises one or more of:
sixth indication information for indicating that the handover delay of the UE comprises the sum of the PCell handover delay and the PSCell addition delay (See [Zhang, Fig. 6] for 614 and 616.);
seventh indication information for indicating that the handover delay of the UE comprises the maximum value of the PCell handover delay and the PSCell addition delay;
eighth indication information for indicating that the handover delay of the UE comprises the PCell handover delay and/or the PSCell addition delay;
ninth indication information for indicating that the handover delay of the UE comprises the sum of the PCell search time and the PSCell search time; or
tenth indication information for indicating that the handover delay of the UE comprises the sum of the PCell search time, the PCell synchronization time, the PSCell search time, and the PSCell synchronization time (These alternatives are not examined.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Islam by using the features of Zhang in order to provide a robust technique to be employed in various wireless communication standards such that “The method includes performing the handover while communicating with the source cell and target cell during the transient period.” [Zhang, 0007].
Regarding claim 11, the method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving fourth information by the UE from a network side device; wherein the fourth information comprises one or more of: fourteenth indication information for indicating whether the UE performs a handover with a PSCell addition through a parallel processing; fifteenth indication information for indicating whether the UE performs a handover with a PSCell addition through a serial processing (These alternatives are not examined.); sixteenth instruction information for indicating that a fifth operation is to be processed in parallel ([Zhang, 0085] “the UE 120a may utilize TDM, FDM, or SDM to transmit uplink data to both the source cell and target cell. In certain aspects, the UE 120a may be configured for a particular method of multiplexing by the source cell via messaging before handover or by the L1/L2 handover command 606. For example, the source cell may configure the UE 120a for multiplexing uplink communications to the source cell with uplink communications to the target cell during a transient period.”); or seventeenth instruction information for indicating that a sixth operation is to be processed in serial (These alternatives are not examined.).
The rational and motivation for adding this teaching of Zhang are the same as for claim 4.
Claim(s) 7 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saily et al. (US 2021/0235333, “Saily”) in view of Tsai (US 2020/0267789).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Saily unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claim 7, it is noted that while disclosing a handover procedure, Saily does not specifically teach about a threshold for a channel quality. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Tsai as follows;
the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
obtaining a first threshold by the UE, wherein the first threshold is related to a channel quality;
in response to the channel quality being higher than and/or equal to a first value of the first threshold, determining to perform a PSCell addition after transmitting message 1 (MSG1) to a PCell ([Tsai, 0056] “At step S306, the UE 103 evaluates the candidate PSCells according to the conditional PSCell addition command. Once a predefined condition of a specific candidate PSCell is satisfied, for example, the measured quality of the specific candidate is above a corresponding predefined threshold, the UE 103 can perform a conditional PSCell addition procedure to add the specific candidate PSCell into the network.”); or,
in response to the channel quality being higher than and/or equal to a second value of the first threshold, determining to perform a PSCell addition after receiving message 2 (MSG2) transmitted by a PCell; or,
in response to the channel quality being higher than and/or equal to a third value of the first threshold, determining to perform a PSCell addition after receiving message 4 (MSG4) transmitted by a PCell; or,
in response to the channel quality being lower than and/or equal to a first value of the first threshold, and the channel quality being higher than and/or equal to a second value of the first threshold, determining to perform a PSCell addition after receiving MSG2 transmitted by a PCell; or,
in response to the channel quality being lower than and/or equal to a second value of the first threshold, and the channel quality being higher than and/or equal to a third value of the first threshold, determining to perform a PSCell addition after receiving MSG4 transmitted by a PCell; or,
in response to the channel quality being higher than and/or equal to a fourth value of the first threshold, determining to perform a PSCell addition after transmitting message A (MSGA) to a PCell; or,
in response to the channel quality being higher than and/or equal to a fifth value of the first threshold, determining to perform a PSCell addition after receiving message B (MSGB) transmitted by a PCell; or,
in response to the channel quality being lower than and/or equal to a fourth value of the first threshold, and the channel quality being higher than and/or equal to a fifth value of the first threshold, determining to perform a PSCell addition after receiving MSGB transmitted by a PCell (These alternatives are not examined.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Islam by using the features of Tsai in order to effectively achieve dual connectivity such that “a first radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message including a conditional primary secondary cell (PSCell) addition command that indicates one or more candidate PSCells of a second BS.” [Tsai, 0005].
Claim(s) 9 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saily et al. (US 2021/0235333, “Saily”) in view of Geng et al. (US 2023/0092054, “Geng”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Saily unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claim 9, it is noted that while disclosing a handover procedure, Islam does not specifically teach about transmitting capability. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Geng as follows;
the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
transmitting third information by the UE to a network side device;
wherein the third information comprises one or more of:
whether the UE supports performing a PCell handover and a PSCell addition based on a parallel processing (This alternative is not examined.);
whether the UE supports performing a PCell handover and a PSCell addition based on a serial processing ([Geng, claim 9 and Fig. 4] “receiving capability information of the terminal device, wherein the capability information indicates that the terminal device supports a random access process-free handover mechanism and/or a handover complete message-free handover mechanism.”);
whether the UE supports that the handover delay comprises the sum of the PCell handover delay and the PSCell addition delay; whether the UE supports that the handover delay comprises the maximum value of the PCell handover delay and the PSCell addition delay; whether the UE supports that the handover delay comprises the PCell handover delay and/or the PSCell addition delay; whether the UE supports that the handover delay comprises the sum of the PCell search time and the PSCell search time; whether the UE supports that the handover delay comprises the sum of the PCell search time, the PCell synchronization time, the PSCell search time, and the PSCell synchronization time; eleventh indication information for indicating to perform a PSCell addition after a second operation; twelfth indication information for indicating that the UE supports a parallel processing of a third operation; or thirteenth indication information for indicating that the UE supports a serial processing of a fourth operation (These alternatives are not examined.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Islam by using the features of Geng in order to congestion and large overheads such that “a communication method and apparatus, in a cell jump scenario, to reduce uplink congestion and signaling overheads of a target cell that are caused by cell handover, and improve radio resource utilization” [Geng, 0007].
Claim(s) 10 and 12 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saily et al. (US 2021/0235333, “Saily”) in view of Geng et al. (US 2023/0092054, “Geng”) and further in view of Islam et al. (US 2021/0022058, “Islam”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Saily unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claim 10, it is noted that while disclosing a handover procedure, Saily does not specifically teach about MSGB. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Chang as follows;
the method according to claim 9, wherein the second operation comprises one of: transmitting message 1 (MSG1) to a PCell; receiving message 2 (MSG2) transmitted by a PCell; transmitting message 3 (MSG3) to a PCell; receiving message 4 (MSG4) transmitted by a PCell; transmitting message A (MSGA) to the PSCell (These alternatives are not examined.); or receiving message B (MSGB) transmitted by a PCell (See [Islam, Fig. 40]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Saily by using the features of Chang in order to provide an effective way of handover such that “A connection establishment procedure such as a handover or re-establishment procedure including a 2-step random access procedure may be completed within a defined time period.” [Islam, Abstract].
Regarding claim 12, the method according to claim 9, wherein the third operation or the fourth operation or the fifth operation or the sixth operation comprises one or more of: a cell detection; a time domain synchronization; a frequency domain synchronization; an automatic gain control (These alternatives are not examined.); or a random-access (See [Islam, Fig. 4] for RA procedure.).
Claim(s) 13, 15, 17 and 25 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saily et al. (US 2021/0235333, “Saily”) in view of Chang et al. (US 2025/0374139, “Chang”).
Regarding claim 13, a handover method, comprising:
transmitting, by a network side device, a radio resource control (RRC) message to a user equipment (UE) ([0143] “The serving gNB 170-2, in step 7, sends an RRC Reconfiguration message to the UE 110.”),
wherein the RRC message implies a handover with primary secondary cell (PSCell) ([0143 and Fig. 4] “This message contains RRC configuration(s) for the prepared candidate PSCell(s), the access trigger (event 2, which initiates step 2, shown as ADD phase 2 420), and specific access control parameters (see Step 9 for examples access procedures and failure mechanisms).”); and
transmitting first information by the network side device (This will be discussed in view of Chang.);
wherein the first information comprises one or more of:
first indication information for indicating the UE to perform a PSCell addition after transmitting a physical random-access channel (PRACH) preamble to a primary cell (PCell) (This will be discussed in view of Chang.);
second indication information for indicating a UE to perform a PSCell addition after receiving a random-access response (RAR) transmitted by a primary cell (PCell);
third indication information for indicating a UE to perform a PSCell addition after receiving message 4 (MSG4) transmitted by a primary cell (PCell);
fourth indication information for indicating a UE to perform a PSCell addition after transmitting message A (MSGA) to a primary cell (PCell);
fifth indication information for indicating a UE to perform a PSCell addition after receiving message B (MSGB) transmitted by a primary cell (PCell); or
a delay starting from a moment of receiving the RRC message to a moment of ready to start a transmission of the new PRACH on the PSCell (These alternatives are not examined.).
It is noted that while disclosing a handover procedure, Saily does not specifically teach about PSCell addition. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Chang as follows;
first indication information for indicating a user equipment UE to perform a PSCell addition after transmitting a physical random-access channel (PRACH) preamble to a PCell ([Chang, claim 10] “receive an RRCReconfiguration message including reconfiguration with sync for Secondary Cell Group (SCG); when the UE is connected to a source primary SCG cell (PSCell), configure a configuration used for the UE to report successful PSCell change or addition information to a network side; determine whether an indication of SCG deactivation is included in the RRCReconfiguration message; and perform an operation for a successful PSCell change or addition report determination based on the determination that the indication is not included in the RRCReconfiguration message, wherein the operation is performed upon successfully completing a random access procedure triggered for the reconfiguration with sync for the SCG.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Saily by using the features of Chang in order to enhance a network data collection procedure such that “to provide a solution to the issue of how to implement PSCell information reporting in a next generation radio access (NR) system.” [Chang, 0003].
Regarding claim 15, the method according to claim 3 and the method according to claim 13, respectively,
wherein a length of the handover delay of the UE is a first time length;
in a case that the first information comprises the first indication information, the first time length is: a sum of a time length starting from a moment the terminal UE receives the RRC message to a moment the UE transmits the preamble to the PCell, and a time length for the UE to perform the PSCell addition(See aforesaid [0112-0119]) or,
in a case that the first information comprises the second indication information, the first time length is: a sum of a time length starting from a moment the UE receives the RRC message to a moment the UE receives the RAR transmitted by the PCell, and a time length for the UE to perform the PSCell addition; or,
in a case that the first information comprises the third indication information, the first time length is: a sum of a time length starting from a moment the UE receives the RRC message to a moment the UE receives the MSG4 transmitted by the PCell, and a time length for the terminal UE to perform the PSCell addition; or,
in a case that the first information comprises the fourth indication information, the first time length is: a sum of a time length starting from a moment the UE receives the RRC message to a moment the UE transmits the MSGA to the PCell, and a time length for the UE to perform the PSCell addition; or,
in a case that the first information comprises the fifth indication information, the first time length is: a sum of a time length starting from a moment the UE receives the RRC message to a moment the UE receives the MSGB transmitted by the PCell, and a time length for the UE to perform the PSCell addition (These alternatives are not examined.).
Regarding claim 17, the method according to claim 13, further comprising:
obtaining a second threshold by the UE, wherein the second threshold is related to a channel quality;
wherein
in response to the channel quality being higher than and/or equal to a first value of the second threshold, the handover delay of the UE comprises the sum of the PCell handover delay and the PSCell addition delay; in response to the channel quality being higher than and/or equal to a second value of the second threshold, the handover delay of the UE comprises the maximum value of the PCell handover delay and the PSCell addition delay (These alternatives are not examined.);
in response to the channel quality being higher than and/or equal to a third value of the second threshold, the handover delay of the UE comprises the PCell handover delay and/or the PSCell addition delay ([0150] “In response to the quality of the source cell being below a configured threshold, and the quality of at least one candidate PSCell being above a configured threshold, the UE 110 aborts the ongoing access attempt and initiates a new access attempt to the candidate PSCell with a best quality, resetting the RA attempt counter.”);
in response to the channel quality being higher than and/or equal to a fourth value of the second threshold, the handover delay of the UE comprises the sum of the PCell search time and the PSCell search time; or in response to the channel quality being higher than and/or equal to a fifth value of the second threshold, the handover delay of the UE comprises the sum of the PCell search time, the PCell synchronization time, the PSCell search time, and the PSCell synchronization time (These alternatives are not examined.).
Regarding claim 25, a communication device, comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing a program operable on the processor, wherein the processor is configured to perform the method of claim 13 (See Fig. 1 for 155 “Memory” and 152 “Processor(s)”.
Claim(s) 14 and 20 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saily et al. (US 2021/0235333, “Saily”) in view of Chang et al. (US 2025/0374139, “Chang”) and further in view of Zhang et al. (US 2021/0219194, “Zhang”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Saily unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claim 14, it is noted that while disclosing a handover procedure, Saily does not specifically teach about two different durations. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Zhang as follows;
the method according to claim 13, further comprising: obtaining second information by the UE,
wherein the second information comprises one or more of:
sixth indication information for indicating that the handover delay of the UE comprises the sum of the PCell handover delay and the PSCell addition delay (See [Zhang, Fig. 6] for 614 and 616.);
seventh indication information for indicating that the handover delay of the UE comprises the maximum value of the PCell handover delay and the PSCell addition delay;
eighth indication information for indicating that the handover delay of the UE comprises the PCell handover delay and/or the PSCell addition delay;
ninth indication information for indicating that the handover delay of the UE comprises the sum of the PCell search time and the PSCell search time; or
tenth indication information for indicating that the handover delay of the UE comprises the sum of the PCell search time, the PCell synchronization time, the PSCell search time, and the PSCell synchronization time (These alternatives are not examined.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Islam by using the features of Zhang in order to provide a robust technique to be employed in various wireless communication standards such that “The method includes performing the handover while communicating with the source cell and target cell during the transient period.” [Zhang, 0007].
Regarding claim 20, the method according to claim 13, further comprising: receiving fourth information by the UE from a network side device; wherein the fourth information comprises one or more of: fourteenth indication information for indicating whether the UE performs a handover with a PSCell addition through a parallel processing (This alternative is not examined.); fifteenth indication information for indicating whether the UE performs a handover with a PSCell addition through a serial processing (See Fig. 4 for Handover Command 430.); sixteenth instruction information for indicating that a fifth operation is to be processed in parallel; or seventeenth instruction information for indicating that a sixth operation is to be processed in serial (These alternatives are not examined.).
The rational and motivation for adding this teaching of Zhang are the same as for claim 14.
Claim(s) 18 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saily et al. (US 2021/0235333, “Saily”) in view of Chang et al. (US 2025/0374139, “Chang”) and further in view of Geng et al. (US 2023/0092054, “Geng”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Saily unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claim 18, it is noted that while disclosing a handover procedure, Islam does not specifically teach about transmitting capability. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Geng as follows;
the method according to claim 1 and the method according to claim 13, respectively, further comprising:
transmitting third information by the UE to a network side device;
wherein the third information comprises one or more of:
whether the UE supports performing a PCell handover and a PSCell addition based on a parallel processing (This alternative is not examined.);
whether the UE supports performing a PCell handover and a PSCell addition based on a serial processing ([Geng, claim 9 and Fig. 4] “receiving capability information of the terminal device, wherein the capability information indicates that the terminal device supports a random access process-free handover mechanism and/or a handover complete message-free handover mechanism.”);
whether the UE supports that the handover delay comprises the sum of the PCell handover delay and the PSCell addition delay; whether the UE supports that the handover delay comprises the maximum value of the PCell handover delay and the PSCell addition delay; whether the UE supports that the handover delay comprises the PCell handover delay and/or the PSCell addition delay; whether the UE supports that the handover delay comprises the sum of the PCell search time and the PSCell search time; whether the UE supports that the handover delay comprises the sum of the PCell search time, the PCell synchronization time, the PSCell search time, and the PSCell synchronization time; eleventh indication information for indicating to perform a PSCell addition after a second operation; twelfth indication information for indicating that the UE supports a parallel processing of a third operation; or thirteenth indication information for indicating that the UE supports a serial processing of a fourth operation (These alternatives are not examined.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Islam by using the features of Geng in order to congestion and large overheads such that “a communication method and apparatus, in a cell jump scenario, to reduce uplink congestion and signaling overheads of a target cell that are caused by cell handover, and improve radio resource utilization” [Geng, 0007].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 6 was objected with allowable subject matter in the previous office action dated 03/26/2026 with reasons for allowance given then, and said claim remains objected now.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Harry H. Kim whose telephone number and email address are as follows; 571-272-5009, harry.kim2@uspto.gov.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Derrick Ferris can be reached at 571-272-3123.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from www.uspto.gov. For questions or assistance, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (in USA or Canada) or 571-272-1000.
/HARRY H KIM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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