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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination, in the “Request for Continued Examination (RCE)” filed on 04/14/2015, under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 04/08/2026 has been entered.
Summary
This action is in reply to Applicant’s Amendments and Remarks filed on 04/08/2026.
Claims 1-8 and 10-17 are pending.
Claims 9 and 18 have been canceled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 04/08/2026 with respect to claims 1-8 and 10-17 have been considered but they are moot as they are not applicable to the combination of prior arts used in this office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Claims 1-8 and 10-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 1, lines 6-7 recites “determining, by the UE, whether to initiate an MCG fast recovery procedure or a radio connection re-establishment procedure based on a cause of the failure associated with the MN”.
Fig. 4 and specification [0076-0077] describes following MCG RLF detection, failure to communicate with SN about MCG failure information and therefore failure to get message 312 causing failure of MCG fast failure recovery as in Fig. 3, which in turn causes to UE to restart RRC re-establishment with MN.
Fig. 6 and specification [0076-0077] describes detecting integrity check failure or reconfiguration failure from a received RRC message from MN, causing SN disconnect and RRC re-establishment procedure with MN.
There is no explicit or implicit disclosure in the specification as filed disclosing “determining, by the UE, whether to initiate an MCG fast recovery procedure or a radio connection re-establishment procedure…” which indicates potential different determination by UE for an MCG RLF detection for example.
The specification clearly describes UE start MCG fast recovery procedure for MCG RLF detection, as indicated by Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, and RRC re-establishment for RRC message integrity check failure or reconfiguration failure as indicated by Fig. 6 of the instant application’s original disclosure. There is no case for “determining … whether”.
Accordingly amended independent claim 1 and corresponding dependent claims 2-8 are rejected.
Similarly amended independent claim 10 and corresponding dependent claims 11-17 are rejected.
For continuation of prosecution the above limitation of amended claim 1 is read as “determining, by the UE,
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 of this title, 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 8, 10 and 17 are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vivo et al. (R2-1911563 “Running CR to 37.340 for CA/DC enhancements”, hereinafter ‘VIVO-63’) in view of Vivo (R2-1905827 “Remaining issues on MCG fast recovery”, of record, hereinafter ‘VIVO’).
Regarding claim 1, VIVO-63 teaches a method for failure recovery in a user equipment (UE) communicating in dual connectivity (DC) with a master node (MN) and a secondary node (SN) (
Page 1: Reasons for change:
….. RAN2 agreements on LTE_NR_DC_CA_enh-Core WI
RAN2#105bis agreements:
When MCG failure occurs, UE follows SCG failure-like procedure:
UE does not trigger RRC connection re-establishment.
UE triggers an MCG failure procedure in which a failure information message is transmitted to the network via SCG
See also Page 3,
3.1 Definitions
Fast MCG link recovery: in MR-DC, an RRC procedure where the UE sends an MCG Failure Information message to the MN via the SCG upon the detection of a radio link failure on the MCG.), the method comprising:
detecting, by a UE communicating in DC with an MN and an SN, a master cell group (MCG) radio link failure associated with the MN (Page 1: Section 1
Page 3,
3.1 Definitions
Fast MCG link recovery: in MR-DC, an RRC procedure where the UE sends an MCG Failure Information message to the MN via the SCG upon the detection of a radio link failure on the MCG);
determining, by the UE, whether to initiate an MCG fast recovery procedure or a radio connection re-establishment procedure based on a cause of the failure associated with the MN (
Page 1: Reasons for change:
RAN2#105bis agreements:
When MCG failure occurs, UE follows SCG failure-like procedure:
UE does not trigger RRC connection re-establishment.
UE triggers an MCG failure procedure in which a failure information message is transmitted to the network via SCG
MCG fast recovery targets the following use cases MCG leg RLF
MCG failure indication should include:
Available measurement results of MCG
MCG link failure cause
Pages 1-2:
RAN2#106 agreements:
Once the MCG failure indication is triggered, the UE shall:
transmit the MCG failure indication;
suspend MCG transmission for all SRBs and DRBs;
………
If SCG failure is detected while MCG is suspended then initiate RRC re-establishment procedure
Upon receiving the MCG failure indication, the MN sends reconfiguration with sync or RRC Release to the UE via SRB1
Upon sending a MCG failure indication, UE starts a timer
Upon resumption of MCG, UE stops the timer
Upon expiry of the timer, UE initiates RRC connection re-establishment procedure
See also Pages 4-5:
7.7 SCG/MCG failure handling
If radio link failure is detected for MCG, and fast MCG link recovery can be used, the UE can report the failure via SCG. Otherwise, the UE initiates the RRC connection re-establishment procedure.
The following MCG failure case triggers fast MCG link recovery:
- MCG RLF;
During fast MCG link recovery, the UE suspends MCG transmissions for all radio bearers and reports the MCG Failure Information message to the MN via the SCG, using the SCG leg of split SRB1 or SRB3, instead of triggering re-establishment.
The UE includes in the MCG Failure Information message the measurement results available according to current measurement configuration of both the MN and the SN. Once the fast MCG link recovery is triggered, UE maintains the current measurement configurations from both the MN and the SN, and continue measurements based on configuration from the MN and the SN, if possible. The UE initiates the RRC connection re-establishment procedure if it does not receive an MN RRC reconfiguration message or MN RRC release message within a certain time after fast MCG link recovery was initiated.
(Construed UE determines to start to initiate an MCG fast recovery procedure when UE detects MCG RLF (Cause Type 1),
Then UE determines to initiates the RRC connection re-establishment procedure when UE does not receive an MN RRC reconfiguration message or MN RRC release message within a certain time after fast MCG link recovery was initiated (Cause Type 2)))
in response to determining to initiate the MCG fast recovery procedure based on the failure cause being the MCG radio link failure, transmitting, by the UE, an MCG failure information message to the SN via signaling radio bearer 3 (SRB3) in an uplink information transfer multi-radio DC (MR-DC) message (
Page 3:
3.1 Definitions
Fast MCG link recovery: in MR-DC, an RRC procedure where the UE sends an MCG Failure Information message to the MN via the SCG upon the detection of a radio link failure on the MCG
SRB3: in EN-DC, NGEN-DC and NR-DC, a direct SRB between the SN and the UE.
Page 4:
7.7 SCG/MCG failure handling
If radio link failure is detected for MCG, and fast MCG link recovery can be used, the UE can report the failure via SCG. Otherwise, the UE initiates the RRC connection re-establishment procedure.
The following MCG failure case triggers fast MCG link recovery:
- MCG RLF;
During fast MCG link recovery, the UE suspends MCG transmissions for all radio bearers and reports the MCG Failure Information message to the MN via the SCG, using the SCG ….. SRB3, instead of triggering re-establishment.
);
receiving, by the UE, an MCG failure recovery message from the SN (
See Pages 1-2:
RAN2#106 agreements:
Upon receiving the MCG failure indication, the MN sends reconfiguration with sync or RRC Release to the UE via SRB1.
Upon reception of reconfig with sync the UE resumes MCG transmission if suspended
RAN2#107 agreements:
If PDCP duplication is not activated, upon detection of MCG failure the primaryPath for split SRB1 is implicitly reconfigured to the SCG. The UE expects the network to explicitly reconfigure the primaryPath back to MCG in the MCG recovery or in a Re-establishment
SRB3, if configured, can be used for MCG fast recovery.
Page 5:
Upon reception of the MCG Failure Indication, the MN can send RRC reconfiguration message or RRC release message to the UE, using the SCG leg of split SRB1 or SRB3. Upon receiving an RRC reconfiguration message, the UE resumes MCG transmissions for all radio bearers.);
transmitting, by the UE, an MCG failure recovery complete message to the MN (
Page 5:
Upon reception of the MCG Failure Indication, the MN can send RRC reconfiguration message …. to the UE, using the SCG …. SRB3. Upon receiving an RRC reconfiguration message, the UE resumes MCG transmissions for all radio bearers.
Page 9:
Agreements
3: For MCG fast recovery via SRB3, the MN response message in DL (either a reconfiguration with sync or release message) is encapsulated by the SN in an SN RRC message.
FFS Transmission of the complete message);
detecting, by the UE, another MCG failure which is an integrity check failure or reconfiguration failure (
Pages 1-2:
RAN2#106 agreements:
Once the MCG failure indication is triggered, the UE shall:
transmit the MCG failure indication;
suspend MCG transmission for all SRBs and DRBs;
Page 4:
SRB3 may also be used by the UE to transmit an encapsulated MCG Failure Information message and receive in response an encapsulated MN RRC reconfiguration message …..
During fast MCG link recovery, the UE suspends MCG transmissions for all radio bearers and reports the MCG Failure Information message to the MN via the SCG, using the SCG ….. SRB3, instead of triggering re-establishment……. . The UE initiates the RRC connection re-establishment procedure if it does not receive an MN RRC reconfiguration message …. within a certain time after fast MCG link recovery was initiated
Page 5:
Upon reception of the MCG Failure Indication, the MN can send RRC reconfiguration message …. to the UE, using the SCG …. SRB3. Upon receiving an RRC reconfiguration message, the UE resumes MCG transmissions for all radio bearers.
The following SCG failure cases are supported:
…….
For EN-DC, NGEN-DC and NR-DC, SCG RRC integrity check failure (on SRB3).
Upon SCG failure, ……. If SCG failure is detected while MCG transmissions for all radio bearers are suspended, the UE initiates the RRC connection re-establishment procedure.
(In this case, the limitation is interpreted as the another failure can occur any time, for example, when the UE is in DC and recovering from an MCG leg RLF failure, the first failure.
Then it is construed that after sending MCG Failure Information message to the MN, UE waits according to certain timer for RRC reconfiguration message from MN/MCG via SCG SRB3, and while waiting if timers expires or UE detects another failure associated with MN/MCG due to RRC integrity check failure on SRB3, through which the RRC reconfiguration message from MN/MCG is expected, causing not correctly receiving RRC reconfiguration message from MN/MCG, UE detects an implied MN reconfiguration failure));
in response to determining to initiate the radio connection re-establishment procedure based on the failure cause being the integrity check failure or the reconfiguration failure, transmitting, by the UE, a radio connection re-establishment request message to the MN (
Page 2:
RAN2#107 agreements:
• If PDCP duplication is not activated, upon detection of MCG failure the primaryPath for split SRB1 is implicitly reconfigured to the SCG. The UE expects the network to explicitly reconfigure the primaryPath back to MCG in the MCG recovery or in a Re-establishment
Page 4:
The UE initiates the RRC connection re-establishment procedure if it does not receive an MN RRC reconfiguration message …. within a certain time after fast MCG link recovery was initiated
Page 5:
Upon reception of the MCG Failure Indication, the MN can send RRC reconfiguration message …. to the UE, using the SCG …. SRB3. Upon receiving an RRC reconfiguration message, the UE resumes MCG transmissions for all radio bearers.
For EN-DC, NGEN-DC and NR-DC, SCG RRC integrity check failure (on SRB3).
Upon SCG failure, ……. If SCG failure is detected while MCG transmissions for all radio bearers are suspended, the UE initiates the RRC connection re-establishment procedure.
(Construed UE waits according to certain timer for RRC reconfiguration message from MN/MCG via SCG SRB3, and while waiting for MN RRC message via SCG if timers expires or UE detects RRC integrity check failure on SRB3 causing not correctly receiving RRC reconfiguration message from MN/MCG, UE detects, at least an implied, MN RRC reconfiguration failure due to detected integrity check failure in SRB3 carrying the RRC message from MN and initiates the RRC connection re-establishment procedure with MN/MCG)).
VIVO-63 does not explicitly disclose transmitting, by the UE, an MCG failure recovery complete message to the MN.
In an analogous art, VIVO teaches transmitting, by the UE, an MCG failure recovery complete message to the MN (
Page 2:
For above basic states of fast recovery procedure of MCG link, it would be necessary to answer the following questions:
After UE triggering fast recovery, when to consider that the fast recovery succeeded?
If fast recovery fails, what should be considered as UE behaviour?
2.1. Successful fast recovery
Proposal 1: After fast recovery triggering, UE starts a timer (T) for reception of fast recovery RRC reconfiguration message from network.
If UE receives the fast recovery RRC reconfiguration message before the timer T expires, UE can send the fast recovery RRC reconfiguration complete and the fast recovery would succeed.
Proposal 2: After fast recovery triggering, if UE receives for fast recovery RRC reconfiguration message before fast recovery timer expire, the fast recovery is considered successful. Otherwise, the fast recovery is considered as failure.
(See also Instant Application Specification Fig. 3 (Prior Art) message 316)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to take the technique of transmitting RRC reconfiguration complete to network of VIVO to the technique for LTE NR Dual connectivity and Carrier Aggregation enhancement of VIVO-63 in order to take the advantage of method for acknowledging to network for successful fast recovery (indicating a deterministic outcome) (VIVO: 2 Discussion, 2.1 Successful fast recovery).
Regarding claim 8, VIVO-63, in view of VIVO, teaches the method of claim 1, wherein detecting the integrity check failure or reconfiguration failure includes detecting the integrity check failure or the reconfiguration failure in response to a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from the MN (
Page 2:
RAN2#107 agreements:
• If PDCP duplication is not activated, upon detection of MCG failure the primaryPath for split SRB1 is implicitly reconfigured to the SCG. The UE expects the network to explicitly reconfigure the primaryPath back to MCG in the MCG recovery or in a Re-establishment
Page 4:
The UE initiates the RRC connection re-establishment procedure if it does not receive an MN RRC reconfiguration message …. within a certain time after fast MCG link recovery was initiated
Page 5:
Upon reception of the MCG Failure Indication, the MN can send RRC reconfiguration message …. to the UE, using the SCG …. SRB3. Upon receiving an RRC reconfiguration message, the UE resumes MCG transmissions for all radio bearers.
For EN-DC, NGEN-DC and NR-DC, SCG RRC integrity check failure (on SRB3).
Upon SCG failure, ……. If SCG failure is detected while MCG transmissions for all radio bearers are suspended, the UE initiates the RRC connection re-establishment procedure.
(Construed UE waits according to certain timer for RRC reconfiguration message from MN/MCG via SCG SRB3, and while waiting for MN RRC message via SCG if timers expires or UE detects RRC integrity check failure on SRB3 causing not correctly receiving RRC reconfiguration message from MN/MCG, UE detects MN RRC reconfiguration failure, as implicit, and initiates the RRC connection re-establishment procedure with MN/MCG)).
Regarding claim 10, the claim is interpreted mutatis mutandis of claim 1 and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 1.
Regarding claim 17, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 8.
Claims 2, 3, 11 and 12 are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vivo et al. (R2-1911563 “Running CR to 37.340 for CA/DC enhancements”, hereinafter ‘VIVO-63’) in view of Vivo (R2-1905827 “Remaining issues on MCG fast recovery”, of record, hereinafter ‘VIVO’) and with further in view of Tsuboi et al. (US 20220279586 A1 with priority of JP 2019-146723, of IDS, hereinafter ‘TSUBOI’).
Regarding claim 2, VIVO-63, in view of VIVO, teaches the method of claim 1.
VIVO-63 and VIVO do not explicitly disclose receiving, by the UE from the MN, a handover command;
starting, by the UE, a timer for configuring a maximum amount of time in which to perform a random access procedure for connecting to a PCell with the MN;
performing, by the UE, the random access procedure with the MN for connecting to the PCell;
detecting, by the UE, a handover failure in response to the timer expiring before the random access procedure has been completed; and
transmitting, by the UE, the radio connection re-establishment request message to the MN.
In an analogous art TSUBOI teaches receiving, by the UE from the MN, a handover command (
[0129] In the MR-DC, the master node may be a base station including primary RRC functions related to MR-DC, for example, ….., and to perform handover and the like, and the secondary base station may be a base station including some RRC functions …..
[0164] FIG. 9 illustrates an example of the conditions for start, stop, and expiry of each of the timers of the EUTRA. Note that similar conditions may also be applied in the NR, though the timer name and/or the message name may differ in the NR…..
See Fig. 9, T304 Start reason, T304 Stop reason and at T304 expiry in case of sell change order from E-UTRA or intra E-UTRA handover, initiate the RRC connection re-establishment procedure…..
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[0198] Source MN 1006 may then initiate an inter-MN handover procedure to a target-MN 1008. As part of the inter-MN handover procedure, at 1012, target SN 1008 may transmit a handover message to source MN 1006. At 1014, source MN 1006 may then transmit an RRC reconfiguration message (e.g., including a handover command, a reconfigureWithSync indication, etc.) to SN 1004, and SN 1004 may forward the RRC reconfiguration message to UE 1002. In some cases, if the handover procedure fails (e.g., if the handover timer expires), UE 1002 may initiate an RRC reestablishment procedure to reestablish a dual-connectivity configuration.
[0245] An example of processing related to handover between the same RATs (i.e., between the NRs) in NR will be described using FIG. 8….
[0247] The Source gNB determines handoff of the terminal apparatus, based on information such as the measurement results reported (step S802).
[0251] The Source gNB sends the terminal apparatus the container received from the Target gNB (the first RRC reconfiguration message (RRCReconfiguration message)) (step S806). The RRC reconfiguration message may include some or all of the identifier of the target cell, a new C-RNTI, the security algorithm identity of the Target gNB for a selected security algorithm, a set of resources for the dedicated random access channel, the configuration of a UE-specific CSI-RS, common random access channel resources, and the system information of the target cell.);
starting, by the UE, a timer for configuring a maximum amount of time in which to perform a random access procedure for connecting to a PCell with the MN (
[0156] A set of serving cells including two subsets may be configured for the terminal apparatus. The two subsets may include a cell group (master cell group) including one or multiple serving cells including the primary cell (PCell).
[0198] At 1014, source MN 1006 may then transmit an RRC reconfiguration message (e.g., including a handover command ….), ….to UE 1002. In some cases, if the handover procedure fails (e.g., if the handover timer expires)…
[0263] In a case that the timer T304 expires, the terminal apparatus performs some or all of steps of processing (A) to (D) below.
(Obviously indicating a handover timer T304 has been started));
performing, by the UE, the random access procedure with the MN for connecting to the PCell (See Fig. 9, T304 Start reason, T304 Stop reason and at T304 expiry in case of sell change order from E-UTRA or intra E-UTRA handover, initiate the RRC connection re-establishment procedure…..
[0254] In a case that no RACH-less handover is configured by the first RRC reconfiguration message, the terminal apparatus performs synchronization with the Target eNB and uses the random access channel to access the cell used as a target.); and
detecting, by the UE, a handover failure in response to the timer expiring before the random access procedure has been completed (
[0198] if the handover procedure fails (e.g., if the handover timer expires), UE 1002 may initiate an RRC reestablishment procedure to reestablish a dual-connectivity configuration.
[0254] In a case that no RACH-less handover is configured by the first RRC reconfiguration message, the terminal apparatus performs synchronization with the Target eNB and uses the random access channel to access the cell used as a target.
[0257] With RACH-less handover not configured, in a case that the terminal apparatus successfully accesses the target cell, the terminal apparatus may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message (RRCReconfigurationComplete message) to the Target gNB to confirm handover.
[0263] In a case that the timer T304 expires, the terminal apparatus performs some or all of steps of processing (A) to (D) below.
[0265] (B) In response to expiry of the timer T304 of the MCG, the configurations for the terminal apparatus are changed back to the configurations used in the PCell of the handover source.
[0266] (D) In response to expiry of the timer T304 of the MCG, the RRC connection re-establishment procedure is initiated.); and
transmitting, by the UE, the radio connection re-establishment request message to the MN (
[0198] if the handover procedure fails (e.g., if the handover timer expires), UE 1002 may initiate an RRC reestablishment procedure to reestablish a dual-connectivity configuration.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to take the technique of timer associated with RA procedure for handover in MCG of TSUBOI to the technique for LTE NR Dual connectivity and Carrier Aggregation enhancement of VIVO-63 and VIVO in order to take the advantage of method for distinguishing the processing for detecting radio link failure in the Source MCG to prevent unnecessary re-establishment processing for handover if completed within a finite time and do a re-establishment if handover is not completed within a finite time for enabling efficient control of mobility (TSUBOI: [0023, 0257, 0263-0266]).
Regarding claim 3, VIVO-63, in view of VIVO and TSUBOI, teaches the method of claim 2.
VIVO-63 and VIVO do not explicitly disclose wherein transmitting the radio connection re-establishment request message to the MN includes transmitting the radio connection re-establishment request message in response to determining that the timer expired before the random access procedure has been completed.
TSUBOI teaches wherein transmitting the radio connection re-establishment request message to the MN includes transmitting the radio connection re-establishment request message in response to determining that the timer expired before the random access procedure has been completed ([0198] if the handover procedure fails (e.g., if the handover timer expires), UE 1002 may initiate an RRC reestablishment procedure to reestablish a dual-connectivity configuration.
[0254] In a case that no RACH-less handover is configured by the first RRC reconfiguration message, the terminal apparatus performs synchronization with the Target eNB and uses the random access channel to access the cell used as a target.
[0257] With RACH-less handover not configured, in a case that the terminal apparatus successfully accesses the target cell, the terminal apparatus may send the RRC reconfiguration complete message (RRCReconfigurationComplete message) to the Target gNB to confirm handover.
[0263] In a case that the timer T304 expires, the terminal apparatus performs some or all of steps of processing (A) to (D) below.
[0265] (B) In response to expiry of the timer T304 of the MCG, the configurations for the terminal apparatus are changed back to the configurations used in the PCell of the handover source.
[0266] (D) In response to expiry of the timer T304 of the MCG, the RRC connection re-establishment procedure is initiated.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to take the technique of timer associated with RA procedure for handover in MCG of TSUBOI to the technique for LTE NR Dual connectivity and Carrier Aggregation enhancement of VIVO-63 and VIVO in order to take the advantage of method for distinguishing the processing for detecting radio link failure in the Source MCG to prevent unnecessary re-establishment processing for handover if completed within a finite time and do a re-establishment if handover is not completed within a finite time for enabling efficient control of mobility (TSUBOI: [0023, 0257, 0263-0266]).
Regarding claim 11, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 2.
Regarding claim 12, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 3.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-7 and 13-16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and in intervening claims, and if the reason for rejection under 35 USC 112 (a) and 112 (b) are overcome.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 4, VIVO-63, VIVO, FUTAKI, TSUBOI or any prior arts of record either alone or in combination fails to teach the method of claim 2, further comprising:
receiving, by the UE from the MN, a handover command including a first time value for a first timer for performing a first random access procedure with the MN and a second time value for a second timer for performing a second random access procedure with the SN;
starting, by the UE, the first timer and the second timer;
performing, by the UE, the first random access procedure with the MN;
detecting, by the UE, the handover failure in response to the first timer expiring before the random access procedure has been completed;
performing, by the UE, the second random access procedure with the SN;
stopping, by the UE, the second timer in response to completing the second random access procedure; and
transmitting the radio connection re-establishment request message to the MN in response to determining that the first timer expired before the first random access procedure has been completed.
Claim 13 with similar elements as in claim 4 is also interpreted same as claim 4.
Dependent claims 5-7 and 14-16 being dependent on claim 4 and claim 13, are also interpreted same as claim 4 and claim 13.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Rugeland et al. (US 20220345957 A1), describing MASTER CELL GROUP FAILURE WHILE THERE IS AN ONGOING SECONDARY CELL GROUP CHANGE
Hu et al. (US 20220225203 A1), describing Communication Method And Communications Apparatus
Palat et al. (US 20200404725 A1), describing SIGNALING RADIO BEARER TYPE 3 (SRB3) AND SECONDARY CELL GROUP (SCG) FAILURE HANDLING
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHAH M RAHMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-8951. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30AM-5:30PM PST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, UN C CHO can be reached at 571-272-7919. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHAH M RAHMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413
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