DETAILED ACTION
1. Claims 1-2 have been examined and are pending.
Response to Amendment
2. In response to the amendments received in the Office on 7/27/2026, the Office acknowledges the current status of the claims: claims 1 and 2 have been amended, and no new matter appears to be included.
3. In response to the amendments received in the Office on 7/27/2026, the objection to the title of the specification has been withdrawn. The new title has been entered.
Response to Arguments
4. Applicant's arguments filed 7/26/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Examiner notes the newly-amended limitation reciting “in a case that a parameter “scg-State” is not included in the RRC signaling indicating the SCG is activated, the processing circuitry (re)initializes all the suspended configured uplink grants of grant type 1 associated with the PSCell” is interpreted as a contingent limitation, since “in a case that” suggests the limitations that follow are not required to be disclosed by the prior art of record. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim 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 (MPEP 2111.04). Examiner respectfully suggests amending the bracketed limitation to positively recite features in order for said limitation to be given patentable distinction. However, Kim explicitly discloses “in a case that a parameter “scg-State” is not included in the RRC signaling indicating the SCG is activated, the processing circuitry (re)initializes all the suspended configured uplink grants of grant type 1 associated with the PSCell” in at least (Kim: [0252-0253] – “if the scg-State is not included in the E-UTRA RRCConnectionReconfiguration message or E-UTRA RRCConnectionResume message containing the RRCReconfiguration message: 4> perform SCG activation”; [0323-0332] – corresponds to an SCG to be activated and (re)initialized the uplink Type 1 grants on the PSCell. See also [0275-0281].).
Examiner maintains the rejection(s) in view of the newly-amended feature being disclosed by Kim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Claims 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by United States Patent Application Publication 2024/0388931 A1 to Kim et al. (hereinafter “Kim”).
Regarding Claim 1, Kim discloses a terminal apparatus for communicating with a base station apparatus (Kim: Figure 5 with [0020], [0092-0101]), the terminal apparatus comprising:
processing circuitry (Kim: Figure 5, element 102) configured to communicate using a master cell group (MCG) and a secondary cell group (SCG) (Kim: [0006], [0123-0129] – corresponds to a dual connectivity user equipment (UE) operative to communicate with a base station (or node) via a master cell group (MCG) or secondary cell group (SCG).); and
receiving circuitry (Kim: Figure 5 with 106) configured to receive radio resource control (RRC) signaling from the base station apparatus (Kim: [0006], [0119], [0123-0129] – corresponds to a dual connectivity user equipment (UE) operative to communicate with a base station (or node) via a master cell group (MCG) or secondary cell group (SCG). “At RRC connection establishment/re-establishment/handover, one serving cell provides the NAS mobility information, and at RRC connection re-establishment/handover, one serving cell provides the security input. This cell is referred to as the primary cell (PCell). The PCell is a cell, operating on the primary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates the connection re-establishment procedure. Depending on UE capabilities, secondary cells (SCells) can be configured to form together with the PCell a set of serving cells.”), wherein the MCG includes at least a primary cell (PCell) (Kim: [0119] – corresponds to an MCG comprising a PCell.), the SCG includes at least a primary secondary cell (PSCell) (Kim: [0119] – corresponds to an SCG comprising a PSCell.), the processing circuitry deactivates the SCG based on the signalling indicating the SCG to be deactivated (Kim: [0242-0247] – higher layer signaling may indicate that an SCG is in a deactivated state.) and suspends all configured uplink grants of grant type 1 associated with the PSCell (Kim: [0333-0338] – when SCG is deactivated, the PSCell uplink grant Type 1 is suspended.), the processing circuitry activates the SCG based on the signalling indicating the SCG to be activated and (re)initializes all the suspended configured uplink grants of grant type 1 associated with the PSCell (Kim: [0323-0332] – corresponds to an SCG to be activated and (re-)initialized the uplink Type 1 grants on the PSCell.), and
in a case that a parameter “scg-State” is not included in the RRC signaling indicating the SCG is activated, the processing circuitry (re)initializes all the suspended configured uplink grants of grant type 1 associated with the PSCell in at least (Kim: [0252-0253] – “if the scg-State is not included in the E-UTRA RRCConnectionReconfiguration message or E-UTRA RRCConnectionResume message containing the RRCReconfiguration message: 4> perform SCG activation”; [0323-0332] – corresponds to an SCG to be activated and (re)initialized the uplink Type 1 grants on the PSCell. See also [0275-0281].).
Claim 2, directed to a method embodiment of claim 1, recites similar features as claim 1 and is therefore rejected upon the same grounds as claim 1. Please see above rejection of claim 1.
Conclusion
8. Applicant is encouraged to submit a written authorization for Internet communications (PTO/SB/439, http://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/sb0439.pdf) in the instant patent application to authorize the examiner to communicate with the applicant via email. The authorization will allow the examiner to better practice compact prosecution. The written authorization can be submitted via one of the following methods only: (1) Central Fax which can be found in the Conclusion section of this Office action; (2) regular postal mail; (3) EFS WEB; or (4) the service window on the Alexandria campus. EFS web is the recommended way to submit the form since this allows the form to be entered into the file wrapper within the same day (system dependent). Written authorization submitted via other methods, such as direct fax to the examiner or email, will not be accepted. See MPEP § 502.03.
9. 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN H ELLIOTT IV whose telephone number is (571)270-7163. The examiner can normally be reached M, T, R, F 5:00 AM-5:00 PM, W 5:00 AM-3:00 PM (EDT).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Thier can be reached at (571) 272-2832. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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BENJAMIN H. ELLIOTT IV
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2474
/BENJAMIN H ELLIOTT IV/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474 September 14, 2026
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