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 .
Introduction
This is a final office action in response to remarks filed on 13 July 2026. Claims 1, 4, 6-7, 9-10, 14, 17, 23-24, 27, 35, 37, and 41 are amended. No additional claims are canceled or added. Claims 1, 3-4, 6-7, 9-10, 13-14, 17-18, 23-24, 27, 35, 37, 39, and 41-42 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 20 May 2026 and 17 August 2026 were filed after the mailing date of the non-final rejection on 22 April 20226. The submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Interpretation
The claims have been considered according to the latest Patent Eligibility Guidelines and are considered eligible.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 9-11, filed 13 July 2026, with respect to the rejections of claims 1, 3-4, 6-7, 10, 13, 18, 23-24, 39, and 42 under 35 USC 102(a)(1) and claims 9, 14, 17, 27, 35, 37, and 41 under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejections have been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made incorporating newly discovered Guo et al. (U.S. Patent Publication 2021/0176682).
Examiner notes that the arguments are focused on the applicability of the cited prior art to the amended claim language of independent claim 1. Independent claim 24 and all dependent claims are grouped into the remarks about claim 1. Examiner has relied upon newly discovered prior art Guo et al. (U.S. Patent Publication 2021/0176682) in the rejection below to teach the amended claim language.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
Claims 1, 3-4, 6-7, 10, 13, 18, 23-24, 39, and 42 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou et al. (U.S. Patent Publication 2022/0014983) in view of Guo et al. (U.S. Patent Publication 2021/0176682).
Regarding claim 1, Zhou disclosed a method for wireless communication comprising:
receiving, by a user equipment (UE) from a basestation (see Zhou Fig. 7 #702: UE receives candidate configurations; Fig. 8 #802: network entity transmits candidate configurations to UE), a radio resource (RRC) configuration message (see Zhou [0062]: “As an initial step, RRC signaling may be used to configure a set of cells for L1/L2 mobility. A cell set may be designed to be large enough to cover meaningful mobility (e.g., anticipated mobility of a UE within a given area and a given time). As will be described below, mobility management may be performed by activating/de-activating cells in the cell set.”) that includes a plurality of candidate cells with configurations, cell identification (ID) information, and one or more execution conditions (see Zhou [0077]: “…multiple candidate target PCIs [physical cell identifiers] can be preconfigured to the UE by the gNB.”; [0078]: “…The gNB may further configure at least one HO condition per candidate target PCI…”);
evaluating, by the UE, the one or more execution conditions for the plurality of candidate cells to identify at least one candidate cell from the plurality of candidate cells (see Zhou [0079]: “Whenever the HO condition is satisfied for a candidate target PCI, the UE may initiate a reconfiguration…”), wherein the one or more execution conditions comprise at least one: a list of measurement configuration identifier information; an L1 measurement of the candidate cell becoming an offset better than an L1 measurement of a serving cell or a special cell (SpCell) of the UE, or an L1 measurement of a serving cell or an SpCell of the UE becoming worse than a first threshold and an L1 measurement of the candidate cell becomes better than a second threshold (see Guo combination below); and
sending, from the UE to the basestation, a communication to the identified at least one candidate cell based on the configuration of that candidate cell (see Zhou [0079]: “Whenever the HO condition is satisfied for a candidate target PCI, the UE may initiate a reconfiguration with a synchronization (e.g., via a RACH) on an uplink (UL) resource configured for the candidate target PCI. Completion of the RACH based L1/L2 HO may be indicated via a HO complete message signaled via L1/L2 signaling. This HO complete message may be sent from the UE to the RRH and/or a cell associated with the candidate target PCI…”).
Although Zhou disclosed sending RRC configuration messages (see Zhou [0062]) and also evaluating execution conditions when determining whether or not perform reconfiguration for a handover (see Zhou [0079]), Zhou did not explicitly disclose “wherein the one or more execution conditions comprise at least one: a list of measurement configuration identifier information; an L1 measurement of the candidate cell becoming an offset better than an L1 measurement of a serving cell or a special cell (SpCell) of the UE, or an L1 measurement of a serving cell or an SpCell of the UE becoming worse than a first threshold and an L1 measurement of the candidate cell becomes better than a second threshold”.
However in a related art, Guo disclosed modifying an existing RRC connection (see Guo [0008]) such that the network configures the UE with one or more candidate target SpCells in the conditional reconfiguration and provides the configuration parameters for the target SpCell in the Conditional Reconfiguration information element (see Guo [0009]). The RRC reconfiguration message includes CHO configuration (CHO-Config) and CHO triggering events (see Guo [0010]). The UE monitors measurement quantities (e.g., Guo [0027]: RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, etc.) of the target candidate cell to determine if any of the CHO triggering events are met (see Guo [0010]) and applying the stored CHO configuration to the target candidate cell when two trigger events are simultaneously fulfilled (see Guo [0010]). The events include Event A3 and Event A5 (see Guo [0013]), i.e. “wherein the one or more execution conditions comprise at least one: …an L1 measurement of the candidate cell becoming an offset better than an L1 measurement of a serving cell or a special cell (SpCell) of the UE, or an L1 measurement of a serving cell or an SpCell of the UE becoming worse than a first threshold and an L1 measurement of the candidate cell becomes better than a second threshold”, whether a neighbor cell becomes an offset better than the serving cell (see Guo [0021]), and may also be identified by a measurement ID included in a measurement ID list within a variable measurement configuration indicated in the CHO-Config (see Guo [0014]), i.e. “wherein the one or more execution conditions comprise at least one: a list of measurement configuration identifier information”.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Zhou and Guo to further clarify the content of Zhou’s RRC messages and to also clarify the types of execution conditions. Including Guo’s teachings would reduce the number of failure occurrences during conditional handover while a UE is moving (see Guo [0018]).
Regarding claim 3, Zhou-Guo disclosed the method of claim 1,
wherein the communication to the identified at least one candidate cell is a Layer 1 or Layer 2 (L1/L2) signaling (see Zhou [0036]: “…As shown in FIG. 1, a UE 120a includes a layer 1/layer 2 (L1/L2) mobility manager 122 that is configured to perform operations 700 of FIG. 7. A BS 110a includes an L1/L2 mobility manager 112 that is configured to perform operations 800 of FIG. 8.”; [0053]: “Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to mobility techniques that allow for dynamically updating a set of cells and/or beams activated to serve a user equipment (UE). As will be described in greater detail below, setoff activated cells may be updated based on a physical (PHY) layer (Layer1 or L1) or a medium access control (MAC) layer (Layer2 or L2) signaling that indicates one or more cells and/or beams to activate and/or de-activate.”); and
wherein the L1 signaling comprises at least one of a downlink control information (DCI) (see Zhou [0042]: “At the BS 110a, a transmit processor 220 may receive data from a data source 212 and control information from a controller/processor 240. The control information may be for…a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)…”; [0076]: “…A gNB may dynamically select a subset of PCIs of a same serving cell to serve a user equipment (UE) via L1/L2 signaling (e.g., a downlink control information (DCI) or a MAC control element (MAC-CE))…”), a uplink control information (UCI), a physical layer acknowledge (ACK) signaling, and the L2 signaling comprises a medium access control element (MAC CE) (see Zhou [0042]: “At the BS 110a, a transmit processor 220 may receive data from a data source 212 and control information from a controller/processor 240.…A medium access control—control element (MAC-CE) is a MAC layer communication structure that may be used for control command exchange between wireless nodes…”; [0076]: “…A gNB may dynamically select a subset of PCIs of a same serving cell to serve a user equipment (UE) via L1/L2 signaling (e.g., a downlink control information (DCI) or a MAC control element (MAC-CE))…”).
Regarding claim 4, Zhou-Guo disclosed the method of claim 1,
wherein the evaluating comprises comparing a measurement result of the plurality of candidate cells with the one or more execution conditions (see Zhou [0064]: “Which cells are activated for any given UE may depend on UE reported measurements…”); and
wherein the identified at least one candidate cell satisfies the one or more execution conditions (see Zhou [0064]: “Which cells are activated for any given UE may depend on UE reported measurements…”; [0078]: “The gNB may also configure the UE to measure an L1 metric per candidate target PCI… The HO condition may take the L1 metric as input…”).
Regarding claim 6, Zhou-Guo disclosed the method of claim 1, wherein the RRC configuration message comprises at least one of an information item to indicate that multiple candidate cells can be identified together (see Zhou [0106]: “…modifying may include code for modifying a configuration for at least one cell group (CG) where the one or more of the candidate target PCIs are associated with component carriers (CCs) of the at least one CG.”), or that at least one execution condition for multiple candidate cells are to be identified together.
Regarding claim 7, Zhou-Guo disclosed the method of claim 1, wherein the communication comprises
cell ID information of the identified at least one candidate cell (see Zhou [0077]: “…multiple candidate target PCIs [physical cell identifiers] can be preconfigured to the UE by the gNB.”; [0078]: “…The gNB may further configure at least one HO condition per candidate target PCI…”), the cell ID information including at least one of a candidate cell configuration index, a serving cell ID, a physical cell identity (PCI) (see Zhou [0077]: “…multiple candidate target PCIs [physical cell identifiers] can be preconfigured to the UE by the gNB.”), a PCI and frequency, a reference signal (RS) ID related to the identified at least one candidate cell, or a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state ID related to the candidate cell; or
an information to indicate which of the candidate cells have been identified together.
Regarding claim 10, Zhou-Guo disclosed the method of claim 1,
wherein the plurality of candidate cells comprise separate lists for any of the plurality of candidate cells that are configured as special cells (SpCells) and any of the plurality of candidate cells that are configured as secondary cells (SCells), and identifying the at least one candidate cell from the plurality of candidate cells is based on the separate lists; or
wherein the plurality of candidate cells comprise a list that each of the plurality of candidate cells are configured as either the SpCells or the SCells (see Zhou [0094]: “…DC configuration may include a special cell (SPCell) configuration and an individual SCell configuration in each CG”); or
wherein the plurality of candidate cells comprise a list that each of the plurality of candidate cells is configured as a candidate cell as both a special cell (SpCell) and a secondary cell (SCell).
Regarding claim 13, Zhou-Guo disclosed the method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:
activating a stored cell configuration of the identified at least one candidate cell; applying a stored cell configuration of the identified at least one candidate cell; or performing a mobility from a current serving cell to the identified at least one candidate cell (see Zhou [0079]: “…HO complete message may be sent from the UE to the RRH and/or a cell associated with the candidate target PCI”).
Regarding claim 18, Zhou-Guo disclosed the method of claim 1, further comprising:
activating the identified at least one candidate cell, wherein when the identified at least one candidate cell is activated as a primary cell (PCell), a serving cell identification is set to zero (see Zhou [0082]: “…setup/activate the CCs (CC4-CC7) in the new CA configuration (e.g., after the PCI selection command).”; [0101]: “…the role for a CC may be a PCell in an MCG...”); and
wherein when the identified at least one candidate cell is activated as a secondary cell (SCell) or a primary secondary cell (PSCell), the serving cell identification is set based on a received identification for the identified at least one candidate cell (see Zhou [0082]: “…setup/activate the CCs (CC4-CC7) in the new CA configuration (e.g., after the PCI selection command).”; [0101]: “…the role for a CC may be a PCell in an MCG, a primary secondary cell (PSCell) in an SCG, and/or a SCell in an MCG or SCG.”).
Regarding claim 23, Zhou-Guo disclosed the method of claim 1, wherein the identified at least one candidate cell comprises a candidate cell group that is at least one of a candidate master cell group (MCG), or a candidate secondary cell group (SCG) (see Zhou [0101]: “…the role of each CG may be MCG or SCG.”).
Regarding claim 24, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed as described in claim 1 above. Examiner notes that both claim 1 and claim 24 are method claims, however claim 1 is from the perspective of a UE whereas claim 24 is from the perspective of a base station. Zhou disclosed, as recited in claim 24:
A method for wireless communication comprising:
sending, by a basestation to a user equipment (UE) (see Zhou Fig. 7 #702: UE receives candidate configurations; Fig. 8 #802: network entity transmits candidate configurations to UE), a radio resource control (RRC) configuration message (see Zhou [0062]: “As an initial step, RRC signaling may be used to configure a set of cells for L1/L2 mobility. A cell set may be designed to be large enough to cover meaningful mobility (e.g., anticipated mobility of a UE within a given area and a given time). As will be described below, mobility management may be performed by activating/de-activating cells in the cell set.”) that includes a plurality of candidate cells with configurations, cell identification (ID) information, and one or more execution conditions (see Zhou [0077]: “…multiple candidate target PCIs [physical cell identifiers] can be preconfigured to the UE by the gNB.”; [0078]: “…The gNB may further configure at least one HO condition per candidate target PCI…”); and
receiving, by the basestation from the UE, a communication at an identified at least one candidate cell from the plurality of the candidate cells that is identified based on an evaluation of the plurality of the candidate cells and their configurations (see Zhou [0079]: “Whenever the HO condition is satisfied for a candidate target PCI, the UE may initiate a reconfiguration with a synchronization (e.g., via a RACH) on an uplink (UL) resource configured for the candidate target PCI. Completion of the RACH based L1/L2 HO may be indicated via a HO complete message signaled via L1/L2 signaling. This HO complete message may be sent from the UE to the RRH and/or a cell associated with the candidate target PCI…”),
wherein the one or more execution conditions comprise at least one of: a list of measurement configuration identifier information; an L1 measurement of a neighbor cell of the candidate cell becoming an offset better than an L1 measurement of a serving cell or a special cell (SpCell) of the UE; or an L1 measurement of a serving cell or SpCell of the UE becoming worse than a first threshold and an L1 measurement of the candidate cell becomes better than a second threshold (see Guo combination below).
Although Zhou disclosed sending RRC configuration messages (see Zhou [0062]) and also evaluating execution conditions when determining whether or not perform reconfiguration for a handover (see Zhou [0079]), Zhou did not explicitly disclose “wherein the one or more execution conditions comprise at least one of: a list of measurement configuration identifier information; an L1 measurement of a neighbor cell of the candidate cell becoming an offset better than an L1 measurement of a serving cell or a special cell (SpCell) of the UE; or an L1 measurement of a serving cell or SpCell of the UE becoming worse than a first threshold and an L1 measurement of the candidate cell becomes better than a second threshold”.
However in a related art, Guo disclosed modifying an existing RRC connection (see Guo [0008]) such that the network configures the UE with one or more candidate target SpCells in the conditional reconfiguration and provides the configuration parameters for the target SpCell in the Conditional Reconfiguration information element (see Guo [0009]). The RRC reconfiguration message includes CHO configuration (CHO-Config) and CHO triggering events (see Guo [0010]). The UE monitors measurement quantities (e.g., Guo [0027]: RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, etc.) of the target candidate cell to determine if any of the CHO triggering events are met (see Guo [0010]) and applying the stored CHO configuration to the target candidate cell when two trigger events are simultaneously fulfilled (see Guo [0010]). The events include Event A3 and Event A5 (see Guo [0013]), i.e. “wherein the one or more execution conditions comprise at least one of:…an L1 measurement of a serving cell or SpCell of the UE becoming worse than a first threshold and an L1 measurement of the candidate cell becomes better than a second threshold”, whether a neighbor cell becomes an offset better than the serving cell (see Guo [0021]), i.e. “wherein the one or more execution conditions comprise at least one of:…an L1 measurement of a neighbor cell of the candidate cell becoming an offset better than an L1 measurement of a serving cell or a special cell (SpCell) of the UE”, and may also be identified by a measurement ID included in a measurement ID list within a variable measurement configuration indicated in the CHO-Config (see Guo [0014]), i.e. “wherein the one or more execution conditions comprise at least one of: a list of measurement configuration identifier information”.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Zhou and Guo to further clarify the content of Zhou’s RRC messages and to also clarify the types of execution conditions. Including Guo’s teachings would reduce the number of failure occurrences during conditional handover while a UE is moving (see Guo [0018]).
Regarding claim 39, Zhou-Guo disclosed a wireless communication apparatus comprising at least one processor and a memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to read code from the memory and implement the method recited in claim 1 (see Zhou Fig. 9 #904 processor; #912 computer-readable medium; #914-918: code for performing method is stored on computer-readable media).
Regarding claim 42, Zhou-Guo disclosed a wireless communication apparatus comprising at least one processor and a memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to read code from the memory and implement the method recited in claim 24 (see Zhou Fig. 10 #1004 processor; #1012 computer-readable medium; #1014-1018: code for performing method is stored on computer-readable medium).
Claims 9, 14, 17, 27, 35, 37, and 41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou-Guo as applied to claims 1, 13, and 24 above, and further in view of Wu et al. (U.S. Patent Publication 2023/0145958).
Regarding claim 9, Zhou disclosed the invention, substantially as claimed, as described in the method of claim 1, but did not explicitly disclose “wherein the sending the communication to the identified at least one candidate cell is based on a condition that comprises at least one of an out of sync indication from a serving cell or a special cell (SpCell), or a failure of the serving cell or the SpCell”.
Examiner notes that it is well-known in the art that handover conditions include failures and synchronization issues in the serving cell. However in a related art, Wu disclosed “During UE 101 evaluating the set of execution conditions based on the CHO configuration information, a RLF in a MCG may happen. According to some embodiments of the present application, the UE 101 declares a radio link failure in a MCG in response to one of: an out-of-sync timer expires, a random access problem occurs, a maximum number of retransmissions has been reached, and a timer started in response to that a measurement report is triggered expires.” (see Wu [0070]). “The UE may receive a RRC reconfiguration message in response to the MCG [master cell group] failure information. The RRC reconfiguration message may include a HO command for a cell. The cell may be one of the set of cells with the CHO configuration or another cell other than the set of cells.” (see Wu [0084]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Zhou and Wu to further describe the situations in which handover occurs. Including Wu’s teachings would provide improved technology for conditional handovers and fast master cell group link recovery (see Wu [0005]).
Regarding claim 14, Zhou disclosed the invention, substantially as claimed, as described in the method of claim 13 above, but did not explicitly disclose “starting a timer for the activating or the performing of the mobility, wherein the timer is a media access control (MAC) layer timer or a radio resource control (RRC) layer timer, the timer being stopped based on a condition that comprises at least one of a successful transmission of the communication to the identified at least one candidate cell, failures of the current serving cell, or an information from an upper layer indicating a stopping of the timer; and determining a failure in the activating or the performing of the mobility based on an expiration of the timer.”
However in a related art, Wu disclosed “During UE 101 evaluating the set of execution conditions based on the CHO configuration information, a RLF in a MCG may happen. According to some embodiments of the present application, the UE 101 declares a radio link failure in a MCG in response to one of: an out-of-sync timer expires, a random access problem occurs, a maximum number of retransmissions has been reached, and a timer started in response to that a measurement report is triggered expires.” (see Wu [0070]). “According to some embodiments of the present application, in response to the radio link failure in the MCG, the UE may initiate a fast MCG link recovery procedure as shown in FIG. 2, and start a timer associated with the fast MCG link recovery procedure. For example, the timer associated with the fast MCG link recovery procedure may be T316 as specified in 3GPP standard documents. In some embodiments of the present application, in the case that the execution condition for a cell is met while the timer is running, the UE 101 may also perform a CHO procedure for the cell. Accordingly, in response to performing the CHO procedure, the UE may stop the timer associated with the fast MCG link recovery procedure.” (see Wu [0078]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Zhou and Wu to further describe the situations in which handover occurs. Including Wu’s teachings would provide improved technology for conditional handovers and fast master cell group link recovery (see Wu [0005]).
Regarding claim 17, Zhou-Wu disclosed the method of claim 14, further comprising at least one of:
reporting, by the UE to the basestation, the failure in the activating or in the performing of the mobility, wherein the failure is reported via a MAC CE or an RRC signaling;
informing the upper layer about the failure in the activating or in the performing of the mobility; or
selecting another cell among the identified at least one candidate cell to perform another activating of the selected another cell or another of performing the mobility to the selected another cell (see Wu [0082]: “According to some embodiments of the present application, in response to the radio link failure in the MCG, the UE may initiate a fast MCG link recovery procedure as shown in FIG. 2. During the fast MCG link recovery procedure, the UE 101 may receive a RRC reconfiguration message including a HO command (e.g., a reconfigurationWithSync configuration) for a cell (e.g., cell A). The UE 101 may perform the HO to the cell A according to the HO command. In the case that the HO to the cell fails, the UE may initiate a re-establishment procedure. During the re-establishment procedure, in the case that cell A with CHO configuration is selected, the UE may perform a CHO procedure for cell A…”; [0083]: “…in response to the RLF in a MCG, the UE 101 may transmit MCG failure information to the MN 102. The MCG failure information may indicate a failure type….”; [0084]: “The UE may receive a RRC reconfiguration message in response to the MCG failure information. The RRC reconfiguration message may include a HO command for a cell. The cell may be one of the set of cells with the CHO configuration or another cell other than the set of cells.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Zhou and Wu to further describe the situations in which handover occurs. Including Wu’s teachings would provide improved technology for conditional handovers and fast master cell group link recovery (see Wu [0005]).
Regarding claim 27, Zhou disclosed the invention, substantially as claimed, as described in the method of claim 24, but did not explicitly disclose “wherein the receiving the communication at the identified at least one candidate cell is based on a condition that comprises at least one of the identified at least one candidate cell satisfying a triggering condition, events triggered from out of sync indications from a serving cell or a special cell (SpCell), or failures of the serving cell or the SpCell.”
Examiner notes that it is well-known in the art that handover conditions include failures and synchronization issues in the serving cell. However in a related art, Wu disclosed “During UE 101 evaluating the set of execution conditions based on the CHO configuration information, a RLF in a MCG may happen. According to some embodiments of the present application, the UE 101 declares a radio link failure in a MCG in response to one of: an out-of-sync timer expires, a random access problem occurs, a maximum number of retransmissions has been reached, and a timer started in response to that a measurement report is triggered expires.” (see Wu [0070]). “The UE may receive a RRC reconfiguration message in response to the MCG [master cell group] failure information. The RRC reconfiguration message may include a HO command for a cell. The cell may be one of the set of cells with the CHO configuration or another cell other than the set of cells.” (see Wu [0084]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Zhou and Wu to further describe the situations in which handover occurs. Including Wu’s teachings would provide improved technology for conditional handovers and fast master cell group link recovery (see Wu [0005]).
Regarding claim 35, Zhou disclosed the invention, substantially as claimed, as described in the method of claim 24, but did not explicitly disclose “sending a message, by the basestation to the UE, a message comprising at least one indicator to remove all stored candidate cell configuration or to remove a list of the candidate cells, wherein the message is at least one of a handover command, a primary secondary cell (PSCell) addition/change command, or a message to command a release of an radio resource control (RRC) connection or a suspension of the RRC connection; and wherein the UE removes at least one stored candidate cell configuration based on the indicator or the identified list of candidate cells to be removed reception of the message”.
However in a related art, Wu disclosed “The UE may receive a RRC reconfiguration message in response to the MCG [master cell group] failure information. The RRC reconfiguration message may include a HO command for a cell. The cell may be one of the set of cells with the CHO configuration or another cell other than the set of cells.” (see Wu [0084]). “In an embodiment of the present application, in the case that the cell is one of the set of cells with the CHO configuration, the UE 101 may remove the CHO configuration for the cell, such that the UE 101 may not perform the CHO procedure for the cell.” (see Wu [0085]). “In another embodiment of the present application, in addition to the HO command, the RRC reconfiguration message may also include at least one of: information regarding modifying a CHO configuration for at least one cell of the set of cells; and information regarding removing a CHO configuration for at least one cell of the set of cells. After receiving the RRC reconfiguration message, the UE may not perform the CHO procedure for the cell that for which the CHO configuration is removed.” (see Wu [0086])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Zhou and Wu to further describe the situations in which handover occurs. Including Wu’s teachings would provide improved technology for conditional handovers and fast master cell group link recovery (see Wu [0005]).
Regarding claim 37, Zhou disclosed the invention, substantially as claimed, as described in the method of claim 24, but did not explicitly disclose “sending a message, by the basestation to the UE, to resume a suspended RRC connection, wherein the message comprises one of a list of the plurality of candidate cells to be resumed, activated, maintained, or restored”.
However in a related art, Wu disclosed “In another embodiment of the present application, the UE may resume a part of radio bearers (RBs) or all RBs that were suspended when initiating the fast MCG link recovery procedure.” (see Wu [0079]). “…During the fast MCG link recovery procedure, the UE 101 may receive a RRC reconfiguration message including a HO command (e.g., a reconfigurationWithSync configuration) for a cell (e.g., cell A). The UE 101 may perform the HO to the cell A according to the HO command. In the case that the HO to the cell fails, the UE may initiate a re-establishment procedure. During the re-establishment procedure, in the case that cell A with CHO configuration is selected, the UE may perform a CHO procedure for cell A…” (see Wu [0082]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Zhou and Wu to further describe the situations in which handover occurs. Including Wu’s teachings would provide improved technology for conditional handovers and fast master cell group link recovery (see Wu [0005]).
Regarding claim 41, Zhou disclosed the invention, substantially as claimed, as described in the method of claim 1, but did not explicitly disclose “receiving a message, by the UE from the basestation, wherein the message comprises at least one of a handover command, a primary secondary cell (PSCell) addition/change command, or a message to command a release of a radio resource control (RRC) connection or a suspension of the RRC connection; and removing at least one stored candidate cell configuration based on reception of the message”.
However in a related art, Wu disclosed “The UE may receive a RRC reconfiguration message in response to the MCG [master cell group] failure information. The RRC reconfiguration message may include a HO command for a cell. The cell may be one of the set of cells with the CHO configuration or another cell other than the set of cells.” (see Wu [0084]). “In an embodiment of the present application, in the case that the cell is one of the set of cells with the CHO configuration, the UE 101 may remove the CHO configuration for the cell, such that the UE 101 may not perform the CHO procedure for the cell.” (see Wu [0085]). “In another embodiment of the present application, in addition to the HO command, the RRC reconfiguration message may also include at least one of: information regarding modifying a CHO configuration for at least one cell of the set of cells; and information regarding removing a CHO configuration for at least one cell of the set of cells. After receiving the RRC reconfiguration message, the UE may not perform the CHO procedure for the cell that for which the CHO configuration is removed.” (see Wu [0086])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Zhou and Wu to further describe the situations in which handover occurs. Including Wu’s teachings would provide improved technology for conditional handovers and fast master cell group link recovery (see Wu [0005]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Eklöf et al. (U.S. Patent 12,557,000): Fig. 5, 21:56-22:10: send RRCReconfiguration message containing CPAC configuration to UE; MN monitors multiple MN configurations for reception of messages from UE, including configuration to be applied upon fulfillment of an execution condition; MN receives RRCReconfigurationComplete message from UE; MN receives an indication of the UE-selected configuration including the conditional reconfiguration ID or target cell and then the MN reconfigures itself based on the UE-selected configuration
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.
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