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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s provisionally election of group II identified as claims 26-35 in the reply filed on 6/23/2026 is acknowledged.
REMARKS
1. On pages 1-2 of the remark Applicant argued examiner didn’t recite any prior art for the common limitation "wherein the first indication information indicates that the first access network device cannot meet a time service precision required by the terminal device" and therefore restriction was improper.
In response:
The examiner respectfully disagrees. Applicant improperly and narrowly read this claim limitation "wherein the first indication information indicates that the first access network device cannot meet a time service precision required by the terminal device" is a common limitation in claims 17 and 26 as argued on page 2. Claim 17 is directed to clock management network element that receives the indication as shown in Applicant’s own Fig at 3(b):301b whereas claims 26 and 31 are directed to terminal device that receives the indication as shown in Applicant’s own Fig at 4B:404. Network element and terminal device are two different equipment in the wireless communication and their function is also different and therefore this limitation is not considered as a common limitation.
For the above reasons, examiner maintains the restriction
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
1. 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 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.
2. 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.
Claims 26, 29, 31 and 34 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication No US 2023/0136428 to Tan et al. (hereinafter Tan) in view of in view of U.S. Publication No US 2023/0092723 to Qu et al. (hereinafter Qu)
As to claims 26 and 31, Tan discloses a method, comprising: receiving, by a terminal device, a notification message from an access network device, wherein the notification message comprises indication information and a time service precision of the access network device, and the indication information indicates that the access network device cannot meet a time service precision required by the terminal device (Tan; Fig.8; [0052]; [0076]; [0119] shows and discloses when the source base station determines that the UE satisfies the handover condition, the source base station sends the handover request including the request for the precision clock information to the target base station, and then the source base station receives the precision clock information of the target base station so that precision clock synchronization between the UE and the target base station to which the UE is handed over can be achieved after cell handover. In the clock synchronization method provided in this embodiment, the UE receives the first RRC reconfiguration information that is sent by the source base station and includes the clock difference between the target base station and the source base station, and thus the UE can perform delay compensation on the target cell according to the clock difference so that precision clock synchronization between the UE and the target base station to which the UE is handed over can be achieved after cell handover means source base station cannot meet a time service precision required by the terminal device and therefore sending precision clock information of the target base station);
Tan at [0104] discloses the UE measures a neighbor cell and reports a measurement result including an indication that precision clock information is required to a source gNB, Tan fails to disclose sending, by the terminal device, a first request message to a clock management network element. However, Qu discloses
sending, by the terminal device, a first request message to a clock management network element when the terminal device does not accept reduction of time service precision, wherein the first request message comprises identification information of the terminal device and the time service precision required by the terminal device, and the first request message requests clock information meeting the time service precision required by the terminal device (Qu; [0050] discloses when the time synchronization precision that is between the UE and the access network device and that corresponds to the time synchronization information is greater than the threshold, the air interface time synchronization precision may be adjusted, so that it can be ensured that the 5GS time synchronization precision meets the requirement, and that the TSN time synchronization precision meets the requirement. Fig.17; [0242]; [0245] discloses The UE may send the time synchronization information to the RAN device in real time or periodically, or may send the time synchronization information to the RAN device when an air interface time synchronization precision needs to be adjusted. The UE network element may include the time synchronization information in a message and send the message to the RAN device, or may directly send the time synchronization information to the RAN device. After receiving the time synchronization information from the UE, the RAN device may adjust the air interface time synchronization precision based on the time synchronization information. The RAN device may increase the air interface time synchronization precision, or reduce the air interface time synchronization precision)
It is obvious for a person of ordinary skilled in the art to combine the teachings before the effective filing date of the invention. One would be motivated to combine the teachings so that the RAN device can adjust the air interface time synchronization precision based on the time synchronization information received from the UE.
As to claims 29 and 34, the rejection of claim 26 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Tan-Qu discloses wherein the access network device provides a service for the terminal device after handover (Tan; Fig.8; [0052]; [0076]; [0119] shows and discloses when the source base station determines that the UE satisfies the handover condition, the source base station sends the handover request including the request for the precision clock information to the target base station, and then the source base station receives the precision clock information of the target base station so that precision clock synchronization between the UE and the target base station to which the UE is handed over can be achieved after cell handover).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 27-28, 30, 32-33 and 35 are objected, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FAISAL CHOUDHURY whose telephone number is (571)270-3001. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8AM-6P.M.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Avellino can be reached at 5712723905. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/FAISAL CHOUDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
Prosecution Insights