DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Application
2 This instant Office Action is in response to Original Filing filed on 6/25/2024.
3. This Office Action is made Non-Final.
4. Claims 1-20 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
5. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 6/25/24, 10/8/24, 8/4/25 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
1. Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the serving cell” in Line 2. The phrase “serving cell” has not been recited prior. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
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.
2. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. US 20240121840 hereafter Wu in view of Liu US 20230012097 hereafter Liu.
As to Claim 1. Wu discloses a method performed by a first terminal [i.e. Terminal Device-100 or First Device] in a wireless communication system, the method comprising [Figs. 1, 6, Sections 0002, 0165: This application relates terminal devices, communication technologies, network connection method and system. The communication system includes a plurality of terminal devices, for example, a terminal device-100 and a terminal device-200]:
identifying a connection state [i.e. Signal Strength/Bluetooth Indicator or Status bar] of a second terminal [i.e. Second Device/Terminal Device-200 or Another/other Device]; and
based on the second terminal being connected with the first terminal using short-range [i.e. Bluetooth/Wi-Fi P2P/NFC; Section 0168: The terminal device discover another device (i.e. second device) using a short-range communication technology such as BT (Bluetooth) or NFC, and communicate with the another device after establishing a connection] communication and the second terminal not being connected to a service cell of the first terminal over a wireless network [Figs. 7, 12, Sections 0005, 0276, 0417: The first device establishes a communication connection to the second device, where the connection includes a wireless fidelity peer-to-peer (Wi-Fi P2P) connection or a Bluetooth connection. The status bar include signal strength indicators of a Bluetooth indicator and a Wi-Fi signal and the like. The connection capability information of the another device is displayed by the terminal device-100 and further display connection capability information of the another device, e.g. display signal strength, a signal transmission rate, and not limited herein],
receiving capability information from the second terminal [Sections 0162, 0178, 0554: That is, the second device share one or more connection capabilities of the second device with the first device. The terminal device obtains capability information of the terminal device-200 (i.e. second terminal). Both the terminal device-400 and the terminal device-500 (i.e. second terminal) discover each other, establish a Bluetooth connection; then, terminal device-400 and terminal device-500 determine capabilities of each other through signal interaction; the terminal device 400 sends a capability query request to the terminal device 500 by using a Bluetooth connection, and makes determination based on a capability query response from device-500 (i.e. second terminal)];
and transmitting a list [i.e. Table 1] of at least one candidate cell [i.e. Cell/Cellular Networks, 0372] identified based on the capability information to the second terminal [Table-1, Sections 0177, 0302, 0400, 0407: The terminal device-100 learn of capability information of another terminal device (i.e. second device), and communicate information further indicate identifier of a network and quality of the network. In this embodiment, the cellular network option indicates a cellular network and include an identifier. The capability includes whether the terminal device connects to a cellular network service and are enabled. A network connection capability of the terminal device shown in Table-1 specifically includes cellular network whose identifier is “4G 139xxxxxxxx”, a cellular network whose identifier is “5G 139xxxxxxxx”, and Network quality of the several networks is respectively high, high, medium, and high],
wherein the first terminal is a host device, and the second terminal is a remote device connectable with the at least one candidate cell over the wireless network [Sections 0159, 0300, 0490, 0500: A terminal device may also be referred to as a primary device or a host. The display area is used to display a cellular network corresponding to a cellular network to which another terminal device connects. Another device (i.e. second device) near the terminal device 100 refer to as a remote device. The terminal device-100 and terminal device-200 connects with a cellular network],
based on the short-range communication connection being released [Table-1, Sections 0500, 0605: The terminal device-100 and terminal device-200 connects with a cellular network. The terminal device establishes a Bluetooth connection (i.e. short-range) to the terminal device-500 but determining, based on signal feedback sent by the terminal device-500, the terminal device-400 may disconnect (release) the Bluetooth connection].
Although, Wu discloses list of candidate cell/cellular network (i.e. Table 1) for wireless network connection it does not explicitly state that the candidate cell/cellular network used for connection of the second terminal; thus does not explicitly state wherein the list includes information of the at least one candidate cell for wireless network connection of the second terminal,
However, Liu teaches and wherein the list includes information of the at least one candidate cell for wireless network connection of the second terminal [Sections 0041, 0045, 0080, 0113: The second type of network may be a cellular network such as 4G or 5G; the first type of network may be a short-range communication such as Blue Tooth (BT) or Wi-Fi. The measurement result report can be used as basis for cell reselection by the smart watch (i.e. second device); in this case, the power consumption of the Blue Tooth connection between the smart watch and the cell phone is lower than the power consumption for the cellular network. The first communication device and second communication device both have the ability to access the first type of network and the second type of network; and the second communication device may access the second type of network. The mobile phone, sends a cell reselection instruction to the wearable device, the reselection instruction indicating a target cell (i.e. candidate cell) for reselection].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have combined the method of Wu relating to the terminal device communicate to other terminal device cellular network/cell information table/list which includes cell identifier and network quality; the terminal device establishes a Bluetooth connection (i.e. short-range) to the terminal device but based on signal feedback the Bluetooth connection (i.e. short range) can be released or disconnected with the teaching of Liu relating to second device use target cell (i.e. candidate cell) for reselection or accessing second type of network which may be a cellular network such as 4G or 5G because power consumption of the Blue Tooth connection (i.e. short range) between the smart watch and the cell phone is lower than the power consumption for the cellular network. By combining the methods/systems, the list/table can include information about a candidate/target cell for the second device to use because the short range/Bluetooth connection is released/disconnected and reselect/switch to another network for continued communication between the devices.
As to Claim 2. Wu discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the capability information comprises information of a network function supported by the second terminal, wherein the network function includes at least one of supplementary uplink (SUL), reduced capability (RedCap), multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO), 5th generation (5G) standalone (SA), or 5G non-standalone (NSA). wherein the at least one candidate cell is a cell supporting the network function [Sections 0162, 0372, 0407: That is, the second device share one or more connection capabilities of the second device with the first device. The cellular network further include 5G or the like. A network connection capability of the terminal device includes 5G].
As to Claim 3. Wu discloses the method of claim 2, wherein transmitting the list [i.e. Table 1] of the at least one candidate cell to the second terminal comprises: transmitting the list of the at least one candidate cell to the second terminal; wherein the list of the at least one candidate cell includes at least one of a cell identifier, frequency information, a signal strength, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) level, a bandwidth, a number of antennas, or information of functionality supported by the cell, and wherein the information of the functionality supported by the cell includes information on whether the at least one candidate cell supports the network function [Table-1, Sections 0177, 0302, 0400, 0407: The terminal device-100 learn of capability information of another terminal device (i.e. second device), and communicate information further indicate identifier of a network and quality of the network. In this embodiment, the cellular network option indicates a cellular network and include an identifier. The capability includes whether the terminal device connects to a cellular network service and are enabled. A network connection capability of the terminal device shown in Table-1 specifically includes cellular network whose identifier is “4G 139xxxxxxxx”, a cellular network whose identifier is “5G 139xxxxxxxx”, and Network quality of the several networks is respectively high, high, medium, and high],
Wu is silent on based on a quality of the short-range communication being equal to or less than a threshold,
However, Liu teaches based on a quality of the short-range communication being equal to or less than a threshold [Sections 0045, 0113: The measurement result report can be used as basis for cell reselection by the smart watch (i.e. second device); in this case, the power consumption (i.e. quality) of the Blue Tooth connection between the smart watch and the cell phone is lower than the power consumption for the cellular network. The mobile phone, sends a cell reselection instruction to the wearable device, the reselection instruction indicating a target cell (i.e. candidate cell) for reselection].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have combined the method of Wu relating to the terminal device communicate to other terminal device cellular network/cell information table/list which includes cell identifier and network quality; the terminal device establishes a Bluetooth connection (i.e. short-range) to the terminal device but based on signal feedback the Bluetooth connection (i.e. short range) can be released or disconnected with the teaching of Liu relating to power consumption (i.e.. quality) of the Blue Tooth connection (i.e. short range) between the smart watch and the cell phone is lower than the power consumption for the cellular network. By combining the methods/systems, the second terminal can switch connection from short-range/Bluetooth to cellular network/cell base on short range connection quality being less than a threshold or power. By combining the methods/systems, the second terminal can switch to a second/another connection based on the quality of the first connection without undue experimentation.
As to Claim 4. Wu discloses the method of claim 2, wherein the at least one candidate cell is included in at least one neighboring cell other than the serving cell of at least the first terminal [Table-1, Sections 0302, 0407: In this embodiment, the cellular network option indicates a cellular network and include an identifier. Table-1 specifically includes cellular network whose identifier is “4G 139xxxxxxxx”, a cellular network whose identifier is “5G 139xxxxxxxx”, and Network quality of the several networks is respectively high, high, medium, and high],
and wherein the at least one neighboring cell is discovered by the first terminal, based on the short-range communication connection being released [Table-1, Sections 0500, 0605: The terminal device-100 and terminal device-200 connects with a cellular network. The terminal device establishes a Bluetooth connection (i.e. short-range) to the terminal device-500 but determining, based on signal feedback sent by the terminal device-500, the terminal device-400 may disconnect (release) the Bluetooth connection].
As to Claim 5. Wu discloses the method of claim 2, wherein transmitting the list of the at least one candidate cell to the second terminal comprises: identifying at least one first candidate cell based on the capability information [Table-1, Sections 0177, 0302: The terminal device-100 learn of capability information of another terminal device (i.e. second device), and communicate information further indicate identifier of a network and quality of the network. In this embodiment, the cellular network option indicates a cellular network and include an identifier],
receiving changed capability information from the second terminal; and transmitting to the second terminal a list of at least one second candidate cell identified based on the at least one first candidate cell and the changed capability information [Table 1, Section 0177, 0413: The terminal device-100 learn of capability information of another terminal device (i.e. second device), and communicate information further indicate identifier of a network and quality of the network. When the network connection capability of the terminal device changes or is updated, the terminal device send the network connection capability information of the terminal device to the another device in the communication system to ensure that another terminal device can learn of a latest network connection capability of the terminal device].
As to Claim 6. Wu discloses a method performed by a second terminal [i.e. Second Device/Terminal Device-200 or Another/other Device] in a wireless communication system, the method comprising [Figs. 1, 6, Sections 0002, 0165: This application relates terminal devices, communication technologies, network connection method and system. The communication system includes a plurality of terminal devices, for example, a terminal device-100 and a terminal device-200]:
based on the second terminal being connected to a first terminal [i.e. Terminal Device-100 or First Device] using short-range communication [i.e. Bluetooth/Wi-Fi P2P/NFC; Section 0168: The terminal device discover another device (i.e. second device) using a short-range communication technology such as BT (Bluetooth) or NFC, and communicate with the another device after establishing a connection] and the second terminal not being connected with a serving cell of the first terminal over a wireless network [Figs. 7, 12, Sections 0005, 0276, 0417: The first device establishes a communication connection to the second device, where the connection includes a wireless fidelity peer-to-peer (Wi-Fi P2P) connection or a Bluetooth connection. The status bar include signal strength indicators of a Bluetooth indicator and a Wi-Fi signal and the like. The connection capability information of the another device is displayed by the terminal device-100 and further display connection capability information of the another device, e.g. display signal strength, a signal transmission rate, and not limited herein],
transmitting capability information to the first terminal [Sections 0162, 0178, 0554: That is, the second device share one or more connection capabilities of the second device with the first device. The terminal device obtains capability information of the terminal device-200 (i.e. second terminal). Both the terminal device-400 and the terminal device-500 (i.e. second terminal) discover each other, establish a Bluetooth connection; then, terminal device-400 and terminal device-500 determine capabilities of each other through signal interaction; the terminal device 400 sends a capability query request to the terminal device 500 by using a Bluetooth connection, and makes determination based on a capability query response from device-500 (i.e. second terminal)];
receiving a list [i.e. Table 1] of at least one candidate cell [i.e. Cell/Cellular Networks, 0372] identified based on the capability information from the first terminal; and searching for a serving cell of the second terminal based on the list of the at least one candidate cell [Table-1, Sections 0177, 0302, 0400, 0407: The terminal device-100 learn of capability information of another terminal device (i.e. second device), and communicate information further indicate identifier of a network and quality of the network. In this embodiment, the cellular network option indicates a cellular network and include an identifier. The capability includes whether the terminal device connects to a cellular network service and are enabled. A network connection capability of the terminal device shown in Table-1 specifically includes cellular network whose identifier is “4G 139xxxxxxxx”, a cellular network whose identifier is “5G 139xxxxxxxx”, and Network quality of the several networks is respectively high, high, medium, and high],
wherein the first terminal is a host device, and the second terminal is a remote device connectable with the at least one candidate cell over the wireless network [Sections 0159, 0300, 0490, 0500: A terminal device may also be referred to as a primary device or a host. The display area is used to display a cellular network corresponding to a cellular network to which another terminal device connects. Another device (i.e. second device) near the terminal device 100 refer to as a remote device. The terminal device-100 and terminal device-200 connects with a cellular network],
based on the short-range communication connection being released [Table-1, Sections 0500, 0605: The terminal device-100 and terminal device-200 connects with a cellular network. The terminal device establishes a Bluetooth connection (i.e. short-range) to the terminal device-500 but determining, based on signal feedback sent by the terminal device-500, the terminal device-400 may disconnect (release) the Bluetooth connection].
Although, Wu discloses list of candidate cell/cellular network (i.e. Table 1) for wireless network connection it does not explicitly state that the candidate cell/cellular network used for connection of the second terminal; thus does not explicitly state and wherein the list includes information of the at least one candidate cell for wireless network connection of the second terminal,
However, Liu teaches and wherein the list includes information of the at least one candidate cell for wireless network connection of the second terminal [Sections 0041, 0045, 0080, 0113: The second type of network may be a cellular network such as 4G or 5G; the first type of network may be a short-range communication such as Blue Tooth (BT) or Wi-Fi. The measurement result report can be used as basis for cell reselection by the smart watch (i.e. second device); in this case, the power consumption of the Blue Tooth connection between the smart watch and the cell phone is lower than the power consumption for the cellular network. The first communication device and second communication device both have the ability to access the first type of network and the second type of network; and the second communication device may access the second type of network. The mobile phone, sends a cell reselection instruction to the wearable device, the reselection instruction indicating a target cell (i.e. candidate cell) for reselection].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have combined the method of Wu relating to the terminal device communicate to other terminal device cellular network/cell information table/list which includes cell identifier and network quality; the terminal device establishes a Bluetooth connection (i.e. short-range) to the terminal device but based on signal feedback the Bluetooth connection (i.e. short range) can be released or disconnected with the teaching of Liu relating to second device use target cell (i.e. candidate cell) for reselection or accessing second type of network which may be a cellular network such as 4G or 5G because power consumption of the Blue Tooth connection (i.e. short range) between the smart watch and the cell phone is lower than the power consumption for the cellular network. By combining the methods/systems, the list/table can include information about a candidate/target cell for the second device to use because the short range/Bluetooth connection is released/disconnected and reselect/switch to another network for continued communication between the devices.
As to Claim 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the capability information includes information of a network function supported by the second terminal, wherein the network function including at least one of supplementary uplink (SUL), reduced capability (RedCap), multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO), 5th generation (5G) standalone (SA), or 5G non-standalone (NSA), and wherein the at least one candidate cell is a cell supporting the network function [See Claim 2 Rejection because both claims have similar subject matter therefore similar rejection applies herein].
As to Claim 8. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving the list of the at least one candidate cell from the first terminal comprises: receiving the list of the at least one candidate cell from the first terminal, based on a quality of the short-range communication being equal to or less than a threshold, wherein the list of the at least one candidate cell includes at least one of a cell identifier, frequency information, a signal strength, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) level, a bandwidth, a number of antennas, or information of functionality supported by the cell, and wherein the information of the functionality supported by the cell includes information on whether the at least one candidate cell supports the network function [See Claim 3 Rejection because both claims have similar subject matter therefore similar rejection applies herein].
As to Claim 9. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one candidate cell is included in at least one neighboring cell other than the serving cell of at least the first terminal, and wherein the at least one neighboring cell is discovered by the first terminal, based on the short-range communication connection being released [See Claim 4 Rejection because both claims have similar subject matter therefore similar rejection applies herein].
As to Claim 10. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving the list of the at least one candidate cell from the first terminal comprises: transmitting changed capability information to the first terminal; and receiving from the first terminal a list of at least one second candidate cell identified based on the changed capability information, wherein at least one first candidate cell is identified based on the at least one first candidate cell and the capability information [See Claim 5 Rejection because both claims have similar subject matter therefore similar rejection applies herein].
As to Claim 11. Wu discloses a first terminal [i.e. Terminal Device-100 or First Device] in a wireless communication system, the first terminal comprising [Figs. 1, 6, Sections 0002, 0165: This application relates terminal devices, communication technologies, network connection method and system. The communication system includes a plurality of terminal devices, for example, a terminal device-100 and a terminal device-200]:
a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled with the transceiver and configured to [Fig. 16, Sections 0657: FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a terminal device 400 (i.e. first device) may include a transceiver unit-1001 and a processing unit 1002]:
identify a connection state [i.e. Signal Strength/Bluetooth Indicator or Status bar] of a second terminal [i.e. Second Device/Terminal Device-200 or Another/other Device], based on the second terminal being connected with the first terminal using short-range [i.e. Bluetooth/Wi-Fi P2P/NFC; Section 0168: The terminal device discover another device (i.e. second device) using a short-range communication technology such as BT (Bluetooth) or NFC, and communicate with the another device after establishing a connection] communication and the second terminal not being connected with a serving cell of the first terminal over a wireless network [Figs. 7, 12, Sections 0005, 0276, 0417: The first device establishes a communication connection to the second device, where the connection includes a wireless fidelity peer-to-peer (Wi-Fi P2P) connection or a Bluetooth connection. The status bar include signal strength indicators of a Bluetooth indicator and a Wi-Fi signal and the like. The connection capability information of the another device is displayed by the terminal device-100 and further display connection capability information of the another device, e.g. display signal strength, a signal transmission rate, and not limited herein],
receive capability information from the second terminal [Sections 0162, 0178, 0554: That is, the second device share one or more connection capabilities of the second device with the first device. The terminal device obtains capability information of the terminal device-200 (i.e. second terminal). Both the terminal device-400 and the terminal device-500 (i.e. second terminal) discover each other, establish a Bluetooth connection; then, terminal device-400 and terminal device-500 determine capabilities of each other through signal interaction; the terminal device 400 sends a capability query request to the terminal device 500 by using a Bluetooth connection, and makes determination based on a capability query response from device-500 (i.e. second terminal)];
and transmit a list [i.e. Table 1] of at least one candidate cell [i.e. Cell/Cellular Networks, 0372] identified based on the capability information to the second terminal[Table-1, Sections 0177, 0302, 0400, 0407: The terminal device-100 learn of capability information of another terminal device (i.e. second device), and communicate information further indicate identifier of a network and quality of the network. In this embodiment, the cellular network option indicates a cellular network and include an identifier. The capability includes whether the terminal device connects to a cellular network service and are enabled. A network connection capability of the terminal device shown in Table-1 specifically includes cellular network whose identifier is “4G 139xxxxxxxx”, a cellular network whose identifier is “5G 139xxxxxxxx”, and Network quality of the several networks is respectively high, high, medium, and high],
wherein the first terminal is a host device, and the second terminal is a remote device connectable with the at least one candidate cell over the wireless network [Sections 0159, 0300, 0490, 0500: A terminal device may also be referred to as a primary device or a host. The display area is used to display a cellular network corresponding to a cellular network to which another terminal device connects. Another device (i.e. second device) near the terminal device 100 refer to as a remote device. The terminal device-100 and terminal device-200 connects with a cellular network],
based on the short-range communication connection being released [Table-1, Sections 0500, 0605: The terminal device-100 and terminal device-200 connects with a cellular network. The terminal device establishes a Bluetooth connection (i.e. short-range) to the terminal device-500 but determining, based on signal feedback sent by the terminal device-500, the terminal device-400 may disconnect (release) the Bluetooth connection].
Although, Wu discloses list of candidate cell/cellular network (i.e. Table 1) for wireless network connection it does not explicitly state that the candidate cell/cellular network used for connection of the second terminal; thus does not explicitly state and wherein the list includes information of the at least one candidate cell for wireless network connection of the second terminal,
However, Liu teaches and wherein the list includes information of the at least one candidate cell for wireless network connection of the second terminal [Sections 0041, 0045, 0080, 0113: The second type of network may be a cellular network such as 4G or 5G; the first type of network may be a short-range communication such as Blue Tooth (BT) or Wi-Fi. The measurement result report can be used as basis for cell reselection by the smart watch (i.e. second device); in this case, the power consumption of the Blue Tooth connection between the smart watch and the cell phone is lower than the power consumption for the cellular network. The first communication device and second communication device both have the ability to access the first type of network and the second type of network; and the second communication device may access the second type of network. The mobile phone, sends a cell reselection instruction to the wearable device, the reselection instruction indicating a target cell (i.e. candidate cell) for reselection].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have combined the method of Wu relating to the terminal device communicate to other terminal device cellular network/cell information table/list which includes cell identifier and network quality; the terminal device establishes a Bluetooth connection (i.e. short-range) to the terminal device but based on signal feedback the Bluetooth connection (i.e. short range) can be released or disconnected with the teaching of Liu relating to second device use target cell (i.e. candidate cell) for reselection or accessing second type of network which may be a cellular network such as 4G or 5G because power consumption of the Blue Tooth connection (i.e. short range) between the smart watch and the cell phone is lower than the power consumption for the cellular network. By combining the methods/systems, the list/table can include information about a candidate/target cell for the second device to use because the short range/Bluetooth connection is released/disconnected and reselect/switch to another network for continued communication between the devices.
As to Claim 12. The first terminal of claim 11, wherein the capability information includes information of a network function supported by the second terminal, wherein the network function including at least one of supplementary uplink (SUL), reduced capability (RedCap), multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO), 5th generation (5G) standalone (SA), or 5G non-standalone (NSA), and wherein the at least one candidate cell is a cell supporting the network function [See Claim 2 Rejection because both claims have similar subject matter therefore similar rejection applies herein].
As to Claim 13. The first terminal of claim 12, wherein at least one processor is configured to: transmit the list of the at least one candidate cell to the second terminal, based on a quality of the short-range communication being equal to or less than a threshold, wherein the list of the at least one candidate cell includes at least one of a cell identifier, frequency information, a signal strength, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) level, a bandwidth, a number of antennas, or information of functionality supported by the cell, and wherein the information of the functionality supported by the cell includes information on whether the at least one candidate cell supports the network function [See Claim 3 Rejection because both claims have similar subject matter therefore similar rejection applies herein].
As to Claim 14. The first terminal of claim 12, wherein the at least one candidate cell is included in at least one neighboring cell other than the serving cell of at least the first terminal, and wherein the at least one neighboring cell is discovered by the first terminal, based on the short-range communication connection being released [See Claim 4 Rejection because both claims have similar subject matter therefore similar rejection applies herein].
As to Claim 15. The first terminal of claim 12, wherein at least one processor is configured to: identify at least one first candidate cell based on the capability information, receive changed capability information from the second terminal, and transmit to the second terminal a list of at least one second candidate cell identified based on the at least one first candidate cell and the changed capability information [See Claim 5 Rejection because both claims have similar subject matter therefore similar rejection applies herein].
As to Claim 16. Wu discloses a second terminal [i.e. Second Device/Terminal Device-200 or Another/other Device] in a wireless communication system, the second terminal comprising [Figs. 1, 6, Sections 0002, 0165: This application relates terminal devices, communication technologies, network connection method and system. The communication system includes a plurality of terminal devices, for example, a terminal device-100 and a terminal device-200]:
a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled with the transceiver and configured to [Fig. 17, Sections 0664: FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a terminal device 500 (i.e. second device) may include a transceiver unit-1101 and a processing unit 1103]:
based on the second terminal being connected with a first terminal [i.e. Terminal Device-100 or First Device] using short-range communication [i.e. Bluetooth/Wi-Fi P2P/NFC; Section 0168: The terminal device discover another device (i.e. second device) using a short-range communication technology such as BT (Bluetooth) or NFC, and communicate with the another device after establishing a connection] and the second terminal not being connected with a serving cell of the first terminal over a wireless network [Figs. 7, 12, Sections 0005, 0276, 0417: The first device establishes a communication connection to the second device, where the connection includes a wireless fidelity peer-to-peer (Wi-Fi P2P) connection or a Bluetooth connection. The status bar include signal strength indicators of a Bluetooth indicator and a Wi-Fi signal and the like. The connection capability information of the another device is displayed by the terminal device-100 and further display connection capability information of the another device, e.g. display signal strength, a signal transmission rate, and not limited herein],
transmit capability information to the first terminal [Sections 0162, 0178, 0554: That is, the second device share one or more connection capabilities of the second device with the first device. The terminal device obtains capability information of the terminal device-200 (i.e. second terminal). Both the terminal device-400 and the terminal device-500 (i.e. second terminal) discover each other, establish a Bluetooth connection; then, terminal device-400 and terminal device-500 determine capabilities of each other through signal interaction; the terminal device 400 sends a capability query request to the terminal device 500 by using a Bluetooth connection, and makes determination based on a capability query response from device-500 (i.e. second terminal)];
receive a list [i.e. Table 1] of at least one candidate cell [i.e. Cell/Cellular Networks, 0372] identified based on the capability information from the first terminal, and search for a serving cell of the second terminal based on the list of the at least one candidate cell [Table-1, Sections 0177, 0302, 0400, 0407: The terminal device-100 learn of capability information of another terminal device (i.e. second device), and communicate information further indicate identifier of a network and quality of the network. In this embodiment, the cellular network option indicates a cellular network and include an identifier. The capability includes whether the terminal device connects to a cellular network service and are enabled. A network connection capability of the terminal device shown in Table-1 specifically includes cellular network whose identifier is “4G 139xxxxxxxx”, a cellular network whose identifier is “5G 139xxxxxxxx”, and Network quality of the several networks is respectively high, high, medium, and high],
wherein the first terminal is a host device, and the second terminal is a remote device connectable with the at least one candidate cell over the wireless network [Sections 0159, 0300, 0490, 0500: A terminal device may also be referred to as a primary device or a host. The display area is used to display a cellular network corresponding to a cellular network to which another terminal device connects. Another device (i.e. second device) near the terminal device 100 refer to as a remote device. The terminal device-100 and terminal device-200 connects with a cellular network],
based on the short-range communication connection being released [Table-1, Sections 0500, 0605: The terminal device-100 and terminal device-200 connects with a cellular network. The terminal device establishes a Bluetooth connection (i.e. short-range) to the terminal device-500 but determining, based on signal feedback sent by the terminal device-500, the terminal device-400 may disconnect (release) the Bluetooth connection].
Although, Wu discloses list of candidate cell/cellular network (i.e. Table 1) for wireless network connection it does not explicitly state that the candidate cell/cellular network used for connection of the second terminal; thus does not explicitly state and wherein the list includes information of the at least one candidate cell for wireless network connection of the second terminal,
However, Liu teaches and wherein the list includes information of the at least one candidate cell for wireless network connection of the second terminal [Sections 0041, 0045, 0080, 0113: The second type of network may be a cellular network such as 4G or 5G; the first type of network may be a short-range communication such as Blue Tooth (BT) or Wi-Fi. The measurement result report can be used as basis for cell reselection by the smart watch (i.e. second device); in this case, the power consumption of the Blue Tooth connection between the smart watch and the cell phone is lower than the power consumption for the cellular network. The first communication device and second communication device both have the ability to access the first type of network and the second type of network; and the second communication device may access the second type of network. The mobile phone, sends a cell reselection instruction to the wearable device, the reselection instruction indicating a target cell (i.e. candidate cell) for reselection].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have combined the method of Wu relating to the terminal device communicate to other terminal device cellular network/cell information table/list which includes cell identifier and network quality; the terminal device establishes a Bluetooth connection (i.e. short-range) to the terminal device but based on signal feedback the Bluetooth connection (i.e. short range) can be released or disconnected with the teaching of Liu relating to second device use target cell (i.e. candidate cell) for reselection or accessing second type of network which may be a cellular network such as 4G or 5G because power consumption of the Blue Tooth connection (i.e. short range) between the smart watch and the cell phone is lower than the power consumption for the cellular network. By combining the methods/systems, the list/table can include information about a candidate/target cell for the second device to use because the short range/Bluetooth connection is released/disconnected and reselect/switch to another network for continued communication between the devices.
As to Claim 17. The second terminal of claim 16, wherein the capability information includes information of a network function supported by the second terminal, wherein the network function including at least one of supplementary uplink (SUL), reduced capability (RedCap), multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO), 5th generation (5G) standalone (SA), or 5G non-standalone (NSA), and wherein the at least one candidate cell is a cell supporting the network function [See Claim 2 Rejection because both claims have similar subject matter therefore similar rejection applies herein].
As to Claim 18. The second terminal of claim 17, wherein at least one processor is configured to: receive the list of the at least one candidate cell from the first terminal, based on a quality of the short-range communication being equal to or less than a threshold, wherein the list of the at least one candidate cell includes at least one of a cell identifier, frequency information, a signal strength, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) level, a bandwidth, a number of antennas, or information of functionality supported by the cell, and wherein the information of the functionality supported by the cell includes information on whether the at least one candidate cell supports the network function [See Claim 3 Rejection because both claims have similar subject matter therefore similar rejection applies herein].
As to Claim 19. The second terminal of claim 17, wherein the at least one candidate cell is included in at least one neighboring cell other than the serving cell of at least the first terminal, and wherein the at least one neighboring cell is discovered by the first terminal, based on the short-range communication connection being released [See Claim 4 Rejection because both claims have similar subject matter therefore similar rejection applies herein].
As to Claim 20. The second terminal of claim 17, wherein at least one processor is configured to: transmit changed capability information to the first terminal, and receive from the first terminal a list of at least one second candidate cell identified based on the changed capability information, wherein at least one first candidate cell is identified based on at least one first candidate cell and the capability information [See Claim 5 Rejection because both claims have similar subject matter therefore similar rejection applies herein].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Kim et al. US 20190174296.
Furthermore, each additional prior arts cited on PTO-892 but not applied in rejection contains a disclosed description related to the claimed subject matter found either in the Figures, description summary and/or disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAEL M ULYSSE whose telephone number is (571)272-1228. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
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June 5, 2026
/JAEL M ULYSSE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477
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