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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/05/2026 was filed after the mailing date of the non-final office action on 03/04/2026. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner
Status of the Application
This Office action is in response to the amendment and remarks filed June 4, 2026. Claims 1-20 have been amended; no claims have been added or cancelled. Claims 1-20 are pending and are examined herein. Claims 1-4, 6-18 and 20 are rejected. Claims 5 and 19 remain objected to. THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed June 4, 2026, with respect to the rejections of claims 1-4, 6-18 and 20 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
With respect to Applicant's statement that “the amended claims are allowable for at least the reasons identified by the Examiner” (Remarks, page 12, second full paragraph), the statement over-reads the prior indication. The indication of allowable subject matter in the Office action mailed March 4, 2026 was conditional and specific: claims 5 and 19 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Claims 5 and 19 were amended only in form (“when” revised to “on a condition that”; “first node” conformed to “UE”) and remain in dependent form, and independent claims 1 and 17 were not amended to incorporate the two-stage cell-evaluation limitations of claims 5 and 19. Accordingly, the conditional indication does not extend to claims 1-4, 6-18 and 20, which stand rejected as set forth below.
In regard to Applicant's argument (Remarks, pages 13 lines 8-10) that “The claimed ‘target time length,’ by contrast, is the time window within which the UE must complete its evaluation of a candidate cell during cell selection” and that paragraph [0037] of Cheng describes only a network-side, energy-saving configuration, the Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, the claims do not define the “target time length” as a completion deadline, nor do they exclude a configured or assumed measurement window; as amended, the claims require executing cell selection comprising evaluating a first cell within a target time length, the length taking a first or second value according to the on-demand condition of the first SSB group. Cheng’s paragraph [0037] is not limited to the network side: it expressly recites what the UE assumes for its SSB-based measurement timing (“the UE may assume a default SSB periodicity as 20 ms and the network can configure {5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160} ms”) -- a UE-side temporal structure that bounds when and for how long the UE can evaluate a cell whose SSBs are transmitted under that configuration. Consistently, Cheng’s paragraph [0068], of record for claims 13 and 20, describes the UE measuring SSB “within the configured SMTC window,” i.e., a UE-side evaluation time window.
The post-release cell-selection context is supplied by 3GPP TS 38.304 § 5.2.6, not by Cheng alone; one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejection is based on a combination of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091 (Fed. Cir. 1986); MPEP 2145(IV).
As to Applicant's argument that “That ON/OFF request does not disclose that, during post-release cell selection, the UE assigns the cell-evaluation target time length to a first value when the first SSB group is on demand and to a second value when the first SSB group is not on demand” (Remarks, pages 14, lines 7-9), the Examiner respectfully disagrees. Paragraph [0057] establishes two distinct SSB transmission regimes: the ON request “is a message to start the on-demand SSB transmission,” and the OFF request “is a message to fall back to the SSB transmission with the basic configurations.” Each regime carries its own timing configuration: the on-demand regime per the recommended on-demand SSB periodicity/offset fields of paragraph [0058], and the basic regime per the configured or assumed periodicity of paragraph [0037]. Because the temporal window governing SSB-based evaluation of the cell differs according to which regime is active, the target time length takes a first value when the SSB group is on demand and a second value when it is not, as claimed. The claims recite no additional mechanism beyond this conditional dependence.
Turning to Applicant's argument that “A field (like a bitmap) identifying SSB indices is not a disclosure that the claimed first SSB group has an on-demand status that determines a cell-selection evaluation target time length” (Remarks, page 15, lines 5-7), the Examiner respectfully disagrees. Paragraph [0059] is relied upon for the group-level linkage, not in isolation: the SSB-group-presence and “inOneGroup” bitmaps identify which SSB group of the cell is transmitted on demand, and the ON/OFF and timing fields of paragraphs [0057]-[0058] attach the applicable timing configuration to that identified group. Read together -- as the rejection reads them -- these passages supply the claimed relationship between the first SSB group of the first cell and the target time length used to evaluate that cell.
With respect to Applicant's argument that the stated rationale “does not explain why a person of ordinary skill in the art would have modified Cheng’s SSB periodicity, SMTC, or ON/OFF request fields into a cell-selection timer post RRC Release” (Remarks, page 16, lines 1-3), the argument is not persuasive. The motivation of record does not rest on a bare assertion that cell selection uses SSBs; it rests on the taught coupling in Cheng itself between the UE’s measurement window and on-demand SSB operation: paragraph [0068] expressly describes the case “[w]hen the UE cannot measure SSB within the configured SMTC window,” upon which the UE may initiate on-demand SSB.
A person of ordinary skill implementing 3GPP TS 38.304 § 5.2.6 cell selection in a network employing Cheng’s on-demand SSB operation would therefore bound the evaluation of a candidate cell by the timing configuration applicable to that cell’s SSB group, because SSB availability -- and hence the opportunity to measure -- is governed by that configuration. This is the combination of familiar elements according to known methods yielding the predictable result identified in the rejection (bounded, more reliable measurement opportunities during cell selection). See KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398 (2007).
Finally, in regard to Applicant's argument that “Cheng does not provide motivation to reduce UE scanning time and power consumption” in view of paragraph [0038] (Remarks, pages 15-16), the argument is not persuasive. Paragraph [0038] identifies engineering trade-offs of network-side energy-saving approaches (e.g., that increasing SSB period may degrade cell search performance and increase UE search time). The mere disclosure of trade-offs or alternative designs does not constitute a teaching away. See In re Fulton, 391 F.3d 1195, 1201 (Fed. Cir. 2004); In re Gurley, 27 F.3d 551, 553 (Fed. Cir. 1994). Paragraph [0038] neither criticizes nor discourages conditioning the UE’s cell-evaluation window on the on-demand status of an SSB group; to the contrary, the very cost it recognizes -- that sparse SSB transmission requires more UE search time -- is the reason a person of ordinary skill would tailor the evaluation time length to SSB availability, as the rejection explains and as Cheng’s QoS-based triggering (paragraph [0067]) confirms.
For at least these reasons, the rejections of claims 1-4, 7-11, 13-15, 17, 18 and 20 are maintained and are restated below to address the amended claim language. The limitation newly introduced into claim 8 by the amendment is addressed by the modified ground set forth below, which was necessitated by Applicant's amendment. The rejections of claims 6, 12 and 16 are withdrawn, as set forth in the Allowable Subject Matter section below.
Claim Objections
Claims 5 and 19 remain objected to, and claims 6, 12 and 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 any intervening claims. The objection is one of form, not substance (MPEP § 608.01(n)): each claim adds subject matter that distinguishes over the prior art of record, but cannot be allowed in dependent form while its base claim stands rejected.
The amendments to claims 5 and 19 (“when” revised to “on a condition that”; “first node” conformed to “UE”) are formal and do not alter claim scope; the prior indication of allowable subject matter is accordingly maintained. The rejections of claims 6, 12 and 16 are withdrawn: claims 12 and 16 depend from claim 5, and claim 6 recites the same two-stage cell-evaluation limitation that distinguishes claims 5 and 19; each therefore includes the subject matter indicated allowable.
To place these claims in condition for allowance, Applicant may rewrite each in independent form (claim 5 with the limitations of claim 1; claim 6 with those of claims 1, 2 and 4; claims 12 and 16 with those of claims 1 and 5; claim 19 with those of claim 17), or amend claims 1 and 17 to incorporate the two-stage cell-evaluation limitation, on which the objected claims are allowable as they stand.
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 1-4, 7-11, 13-15, 17, 18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP (TS 38.304 v17.5.0, 2023-07) in view of Cheng (US 2025/0112715 A1).
Regarding claim 1, 3GPP discloses: receive a first signal indicating releasing a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection; enter an RRC_IDLE state or an RRC_INACTIVE state; and execute cell selection, because 3GPP teaches that at reception of an RRCRelease message the UE transitions to RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE and then performs cell selection to find a suitable cell to camp on: (3GPP, § 5.2.6 “At reception of RRCRelease message to transition the UE to RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE, UE shall attempt to camp on a suitable cell according to redirectedCarrierInfo if included in the RRCRelease message”; 3GPP, § 5.2.6 “If no suitable cell is found according to the above, the UE shall perform cell selection using stored information in order to find a suitable cell to camp on”)
Although 3GPP teaches release of the RRC connection, the transition to RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE, and the ensuing cell selection to find a suitable cell to camp on: (3GPP, § 5.2.6), 3GPP does not explicitly disclose the recited UE architecture, evaluating the first cell within a target time length, or conditioning the target time length on whether the first SSB group of the first cell is on demand.
However, 3GPP in view of Cheng discloses A user equipment (UE) for wireless communications, the UE comprising: a transceiver; and a processor, wherein the transceiver and the processor are configured to because Cheng teaches, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a wireless communication network comprising a network node and a plurality of UEs -- a UE that receives RRC signaling and transmits requests necessarily comprising a transceiver and a processor configured to perform those operations (Cheng, [FIG. 1] and para [0035], “Scenario 100 involves at least one network node (e.g., gNB) and a plurality of UEs, which may be a part of a wireless communication network”).
Furthermore, Cheng discloses the executing cell selection comprising evaluating a first cell within a target time length because Cheng teaches that, for evaluating a cell’s SSBs, the UE may assume a default SSB periodicity of 20 milliseconds, a target time length -- the network being configurable anywhere in {5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160} milliseconds (Cheng, para [0037], “On the other hand, a network may also increase the SSB periodicity (e.g., from 5 ms to 20 ms) for network energy saving. For example, the UE may assume a default SSB periodicity as 20 ms and the network can configure {5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160} ms”).
Moreover, Cheng discloses wherein on a condition that a first Synchronization Signal and PBCH block (SSB) group of the first cell is on demand, the target time length is a first value, and wherein on a condition that the first SSB group of the first cell is not on demand, the target time length is a second value because Cheng teaches an ON/OFF request switching between the on-demand SSB transmission and the basic (not on-demand) SSB transmission, each regime governed by its own timing configuration, such that the applicable time length takes a first value when the SSB group is on demand and a second value when it is not (Cheng, para [0057], “The field of ON/OFF request may indicate the recommended indication to switch ON/OFF on-demand SSB transmission, which could be per SSB frequency, cell, TRP, or SSB. The ON request is a message to start the on-demand SSB transmission”; Cheng, para [0057], “The OFF request is a message to fall back to the SSB transmission with the basic configurations”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Cheng’s SSB measurement timing-window controls (e.g., SMTC start/end and SMTC duration) and on-demand SSB ON/OFF signaling into 3GPP TS 38.304’s post-RRCRelease transition to RRC_IDLE/RRC_INACTIVE and associated cell selection, because 3GPP TS 38.304’s required cell selection/evaluation relies on SSB acquisition/measurement and Cheng provides a known, compatible way to schedule and bound those measurements to improve predictability and efficiency; doing so predictably yields reduced UE scanning time and power consumption and more reliable measurement opportunities during cell selection by tailoring the target measurement time length based on whether the SSB is “on-demand” versus “not on-demand,” without changing the fundamental operation of 3GPP TS 38.304’s cell selection workflow.
Regarding claim 2, 3GPP in view of Cheng discloses The UE according to claim 1, wherein evaluating the first cell comprises: measuring at least one SSB in the first SSB group to obtain a first measurement result, wherein the first measurement result measures quality of the first cell, as Cheng further discloses SSB measurement used by the UE to obtain measurement results indicative of cell quality (Cheng, para [0067], “The UE may determine whether to trigger an on-demand SSB request based on its QoS requirement, L1-RSRP or L1-SINR measurement. For example, if the QoS requirement or the RSRP threshold cannot be met, the UE will initiate a request for on-demand SSB”).
Accordingly, the rationale for combining 3GPP and Cheng is the same as that for claim 1.
Regarding claim 3, 3GPP in view of Cheng discloses The UE according to claim 1, wherein evaluating a first cell comprises: determining Srxlev of the first cell, and whether the Srxlev of the first cell comprises a first offset depending on whether the first SSB group is on demand, wherein on a condition that the first SSB group is on demand, the Srxlev of the first cell comprises a first offset, and wherein on a condition that the first SSB group is not on demand, the Srxlev of the first cell does not comprise a first offset, as 3GPP further discloses the cell selection criterion S evaluated from Srxlev, with the temporarily applied offset Qoffsettemp -- the claimed first offset -- selectively comprised in the Srxlev determination (3GPP, § 5.2.3.2 “The cell selection criterion S is fulfilled when: Srxlev > 0 AND Squal > 0 where: Srxlev = Qrxlevmeas – (Qrxlevmin + Qrxlevminoffset) – Pcompensation – Qoffsettemp”; 3GPP, § 5.2.3.2 “Qoffsettemp Offset temporarily applied to a cell as specified in TS 38.331 [3] (dB)”). Furthermore, as to conditioning the first offset on the on-demand status of the first SSB group, Cheng further discloses the ON/OFF regime distinction supplying the on-demand condition (Cheng, para [0057], “The field of ON/OFF request may indicate the recommended indication to switch ON/OFF on-demand SSB transmission, which could be per SSB frequency, cell, TRP, or SSB”).
Accordingly, the rationale for combining 3GPP and Cheng is the same as that for claim 1.
Regarding claim 4, 3GPP in view of Cheng discloses The UE according to claim 2, wherein evaluating a first cell comprises: determining Srxlev of the first cell, and whether the Srxlev of the first cell comprises a first offset depending on whether the first SSB group is on demand, wherein on a condition that the first SSB group is on demand, the Srxlev of the first cell comprises a first offset, and wherein on a condition that the first SSB group is not on demand, the Srxlev of the first cell does not comprise a first offset, as 3GPP further discloses the cell selection criterion S evaluated from Srxlev, with the temporarily applied offset Qoffsettemp -- the claimed first offset -- selectively comprised in the Srxlev determination (3GPP, § 5.2.3.2 “The cell selection criterion S is fulfilled when: Srxlev > 0 AND Squal > 0 where: Srxlev = Qrxlevmeas – (Qrxlevmin + Qrxlevminoffset) – Pcompensation – Qoffsettemp”; 3GPP, § 5.2.3.2 “Qoffsettemp Offset temporarily applied to a cell as specified in TS 38.331 [3] (dB)”). Furthermore, as to conditioning the first offset on the on-demand status of the first SSB group, Cheng further discloses the ON/OFF regime distinction supplying the on-demand condition (Cheng, para [0057], “The field of ON/OFF request may indicate the recommended indication to switch ON/OFF on-demand SSB transmission, which could be per SSB frequency, cell, TRP, or SSB”).
Accordingly, the rationale for combining 3GPP and Cheng is the same as that for claim 1.
Regarding claim 7, 3GPP in view of Cheng discloses The UE according to claim 1, wherein the second value is based on a period of resources requesting SSBs comprised in the first SSB group, as Cheng further discloses indexing the recommended group of SSBs (the SSBs comprised in the first SSB group) by group-presence and inOneGroup bitmaps, the applicable second value being drawn from the configurable period resources for those SSBs (Cheng, para [0059], “The field of SSB group presence may indicate a recommended group of SSB indices. The first/leftmost bit may correspond to the SS/PBCH index 0-7. The second bit may correspond to SS/PBCH block 8-15 and so on”; Cheng, para [0037], “the UE may assume a default SSB periodicity as 20 ms and the network can configure {5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160} ms”).
Accordingly, the rationale for combining 3GPP and Cheng is the same as that for claim 1.
Regarding claim 8, 3GPP in view of Cheng discloses The UE according to claim 1, wherein the transceiver and the processor are configured to: monitor a paging on at least one time-frequency resource, wherein the at least one time-frequency resource is based on whether the first SSB group is on demand, as 3GPP further discloses that in RRC_IDLE/RRC_INACTIVE the UE monitors paging occasions determined from the actually transmitted SSBs (3GPP, § 7.1 “A PO is a set of 'S*X' consecutive PDCCH monitoring occasions where 'S' is the number of actual transmitted SSBs determined according to ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1”; 3GPP, § 7.1 “The [x*S+K]th PDCCH monitoring occasion for paging in the PO corresponds to the Kth transmitted SSB”). Furthermore, as Cheng further discloses, whether the SSBs of a group are transmitted at all is governed by the on-demand ON/OFF regime, whereby the paging monitoring occasions -- corresponding one-to-one to the actually transmitted SSBs -- are based on whether the first SSB group is on demand (Cheng, para [0057], “The field of ON/OFF request may indicate the recommended indication to switch ON/OFF on-demand SSB transmission, which could be per SSB frequency, cell, TRP, or SSB”).
Accordingly, the rationale for combining 3GPP and Cheng is the same as that for claim 1.
Regarding claim 9, 3GPP in view of Cheng discloses The UE according to claim 1, wherein the transceiver and the processor are configured to: as a response to a first condition being satisfied, transmit a first signal for requesting an SSB of the first cell; and receive an SSB of the first cell, wherein the first condition comprises failure to receive an SSB of the first cell within a time length of a first value, as Cheng further discloses initiation of an on-demand SSB request (the first signal) when the UE cannot measure an SSB within the configured window, the network configuring a threshold number of SSB detection failures, the requested on-demand SSB then being received (Cheng, para [0068], “When the UE cannot measure SSB within the configured SMTC window or pre-defined resources, the UE may initiate on-demand SSB based on the measurement result and/or UE location for expected SSB configurations. The network node may configure a threshold for a number of SSB detection failures”; Cheng, para [0068], “For example, the UE may trigger an on-demand SSB request if the number of failures is greater than 3”).
Accordingly, the rationale for combining 3GPP and Cheng is the same as that for claim 1.
Regarding claim 10, 3GPP in view of Cheng discloses The UE according to claim 1, wherein the transceiver and the processor are configured to: as a response to a second condition being satisfied, transmit a first signal for requesting an SSB of the first cell; and receive an SSB of the first cell, wherein the second condition comprises failure to found a suitable cell within a time length of a third value, as Cheng further discloses the on-demand SSB request initiated upon failure to measure or qualify the cell’s SSBs within the bounded window -- under the S criterion of 3GPP TS 38.304 § 5.2.3.2, the failure to find the cell suitable within that window (Cheng, para [0068], “When the UE cannot measure SSB within the configured SMTC window or pre-defined resources, the UE may initiate on-demand SSB based on the measurement result and/or UE location for expected SSB configurations”).
Accordingly, the rationale for combining 3GPP and Cheng is the same as that for claim 1.
Regarding claim 11, 3GPP in view of Cheng discloses The UE according to claim 3, wherein the transceiver and the processor are configured to: as a response to a second condition being satisfied, transmit a first signal for requesting an SSB of the first cell; and receive an SSB of the first cell, wherein the second condition comprises failure to found a suitable cell within a time length of a third value, as Cheng further discloses the on-demand SSB request initiated upon failure to measure or qualify the cell’s SSBs within the bounded window -- under the S criterion of 3GPP TS 38.304 § 5.2.3.2, the failure to find the cell suitable within that window (Cheng, para [0068], “When the UE cannot measure SSB within the configured SMTC window or pre-defined resources, the UE may initiate on-demand SSB based on the measurement result and/or UE location for expected SSB configurations”).
Accordingly, the rationale for combining 3GPP and Cheng is the same as that for claim 1.
Regarding claim 13, 3GPP in view of Cheng discloses The UE according to claim 1, wherein the transceiver and the processor are configured to: as a response to the first cell not meeting S criterion within a first time length, initiate measurements on all neighboring cells, wherein the first time length is based on whether the first SSB group is on demand, and wherein the UE selects the first cell, as Cheng further discloses an ON/OFF indication for on-demand SSB operation associated with an SSB set/group for a cell, together with timing-window parameters providing a configurable time length for SSB measurement/evaluation and for determining SSB failure -- the first cell not meeting the S criterion within the first time length -- thereby supplying the on-demand-dependent time-length gating that triggers the fall-back measurements (Cheng, para [0056], “the UE may transmit a request for on-demand SSB parameters including, for example but not limited to, at least one of start/end time of SSB transmission (e.g., SMTC), SSB ID (e.g., ssb-index), SSB set (e.g., ssb-ToMeasure), SSB periodicity and offset”; Cheng, para [0068], “When the UE cannot measure SSB within the configured SMTC window or pre-defined resources, the UE may initiate on-demand SSB based on the measurement result and/or UE location for expected SSB configurations. The network node may configure a threshold for a number of SSB detection failures”).
Accordingly, the rationale for combining 3GPP and Cheng is the same as that for claim 1.
Regarding claim 14, 3GPP in view of Cheng discloses The UE according to claim 2, wherein the transceiver and the processor are configured to: as a response to the first cell not meeting S criterion within a first time length, initiate measurements on all neighboring cells, wherein the first time length is based on whether the first SSB group is on demand, and wherein the UE selects the first cell, as Cheng further discloses an ON/OFF indication for on-demand SSB operation associated with an SSB set/group for a cell, together with timing-window parameters providing a configurable time length for SSB measurement/evaluation and for determining SSB failure -- the first cell not meeting the S criterion within the first time length -- thereby supplying the on-demand-dependent time-length gating that triggers the fall-back measurements (Cheng, para [0056], “the UE may transmit a request for on-demand SSB parameters including, for example but not limited to, at least one of start/end time of SSB transmission (e.g., SMTC), SSB ID (e.g., ssb-index), SSB set (e.g., ssb-ToMeasure), SSB periodicity and offset”; Cheng, para [0068], “When the UE cannot measure SSB within the configured SMTC window or pre-defined resources, the UE may initiate on-demand SSB based on the measurement result and/or UE location for expected SSB configurations. The network node may configure a threshold for a number of SSB detection failures”).
Accordingly, the rationale for combining 3GPP and Cheng is the same as that for claim 1.
Regarding claim 15, 3GPP in view of Cheng discloses The UE according to claim 4, wherein the transceiver and the processor are configured to: as a response to the first cell not meeting S criterion within a first time length, initiate measurements on all neighboring cells, wherein the first time length is based on whether the first SSB group is on demand, and wherein the UE selects the first cell, as Cheng further discloses an ON/OFF indication for on-demand SSB operation associated with an SSB set/group for a cell, together with timing-window parameters providing a configurable time length for SSB measurement/evaluation and for determining SSB failure -- the first cell not meeting the S criterion within the first time length -- thereby supplying the on-demand-dependent time-length gating that triggers the fall-back measurements (Cheng, para [0056], “the UE may transmit a request for on-demand SSB parameters including, for example but not limited to, at least one of start/end time of SSB transmission (e.g., SMTC), SSB ID (e.g., ssb-index), SSB set (e.g., ssb-ToMeasure), SSB periodicity and offset”; Cheng, para [0068], “When the UE cannot measure SSB within the configured SMTC window or pre-defined resources, the UE may initiate on-demand SSB based on the measurement result and/or UE location for expected SSB configurations. The network node may configure a threshold for a number of SSB detection failures”).
Accordingly, the rationale for combining 3GPP and Cheng is the same as that for claim 1.
Regarding claim 17, the claim recites: A method in a user equipment (UE) for wireless communications, the method comprising: receiving a first signal indicating releasing a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection; entering an RRC_IDLE state or an RRC_INACTIVE state; executing cell selection comprising evaluating a first cell within a target time length, wherein on a condition that a first Synchronization Signal and PBCH block (SSB) group of the first cell is on demand, the target time length is a first value, and wherein on a condition that the first SSB group of the first cell is not on demand, the target time length is a second value. Claim 17 is analogous to claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons.
Regarding claim 18, the claim recites: The method according to claim 17, wherein evaluating the first cell comprises: determining Srxlev of the first cell, and whether the Srxlev of the first cell comprises a first offset depending on whether the first SSB group is on demand, wherein on a condition that the first SSB group is on demand, the Srxlev of the first cell comprises a first offset, and wherein on a condition that the first SSB group is not on demand, the Srxlev of the first cell does not comprise a first offset. Claim 18 is analogous to claim 3 and is rejected for the same reasons.
Regarding claim 20, the claim recites: The method according to claim 17, comprising: as a response to the first cell not meeting S criterion within a first time length, initiating measurements on all neighboring cells, wherein the first time length is based on whether the first SSB group is on demand, and wherein the UE selects the first cell. Claim 20 is analogous to claim 13 and is rejected for the same reasons.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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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/CHONGSUH PARK/Examiner, Art Unit 2478
/JOSEPH E AVELLINO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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