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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-10 are pending in the instant application.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of foreign priority document (KR) 10-2023-0097752, however a translation of said application has not been made of record in accordance with 37 CFR 1.55.
Should applicant desire to obtain the benefit of foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), a certified English translation of the foreign application must be submitted in reply to this action. 37 CFR 41.154(b) and 41.202(e). When an English language translation of a non-English language foreign application is required, the translation must be that of the certified copy (of the foreign application as filed) submitted together with a statement that the translation of the certified copy is accurate. See MPEP §§ 215 and 216.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 07/26/2024 and 01/21/2025 were filed before the mailing of a First Office Action on the Merits. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) are being considered by the examiner.
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, 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 non-obviousness.
Claims 6-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. US20210099926A1 (hereinafter referred to as Chen) in view of Bergqvist et al. US 20250287283A1 (hereinafter referred to as Bergqvist).
Regarding claim 6, Chen discloses a terminal in a wireless communication system, the terminal comprising: a transceiver; and a controller coupled with the transceiver and configured to (Fig. 9, ¶¶ 0190-0191, a node 900 may include a transceiver 920, a processor 928, a memory 934… The transceiver 920 may be configured to receive data and control channels): obtain a first type of conditional reconfiguration and a second type of conditional reconfiguration (̬¶ 0064, The first type is conditional reconfiguration for PCell change, also referred to as conditional reconfiguration for handover or conditional handover (CHO). The second type is conditional reconfiguration for PSCell change, also referred to as conditional PSCell change (CPC)), identify whether at least one condition associated with the first type of conditional reconfiguration and the second type of conditional reconfiguration is fulfilled (¶ 0064, A conditional reconfiguration procedure may be a reconfiguration procedure executed by the UE when one or more execution conditions (also referred to as triggering conditions) are met), wherein: in case that a condition for a primary cell (PCell) associated with the first type of conditional reconfiguration is fulfilled (¶ 0065, CHO may be a handover procedure that is executed by the UE when one or more handover execution conditions are met), the PCell associated with the first type of conditional reconfiguration is identified as a triggered cell (Fig. 1, ¶ 0070, The CHO Ack message #1 may include configuration of CHO candidate cell(s) of the target BS #1 106[Examiner’s Note: In this instance “candidate” cell is synonymous with “triggered” cell -that is a cell that has been evaluated as meeting the minimum signal threshold and is being considered for a potential switch, but has not yet received a formal handover command]), and in case that conditions for a PCell and a primary secondary cell group cell (PSCell) associated with the second type of conditional reconfiguration are fulfilled, the PCell and the PSCell associated with the second type of conditional reconfiguration are identified as a pair of triggered cells (¶ 0087, In some implementations, if a conditional reconfiguration command for PCell change is executed (e.g., an associated execution condition is satisfied) by a UE, the UE may continue evaluating the triggering condition(s) of conditional reconfiguration for PSCell addition/change. ¶ 0090, In some implementations, if a conditional reconfiguration command for PSCell addition/change is executed (e.g., an associated execution condition is satisfied) or the associated conditional reconfiguration is applied by a UE, the UE may keep the link to the PCell (or the MN). In some implementation, a conditional reconfiguration command may be associated with a conditional reconfiguration command ID. [Examiner Note: CPC maintains connection with MN/Pcell while changing PSCell. Reference treats PCell+PSCell as combined unit during CPC…i.e. “triggered cell pair”]).
Chen does not explicitly disclose identifying whether one or more pairs of triggered cells exist, in case that the one or more pairs of triggered cells do not exist, identifying whether one or more triggered cells exist, and in case that the one or more triggered cells exist, apply the first type of conditional reconfiguration. However, in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, Bergqvist teaches
identify whether one or more pairs of triggered cells exist (¶ 0175, the UE determines whether to maintain a stored conditional reconfiguration (e.g., for CPC) after execution of a mobility procedure based on whether the conditional reconfiguration includes a delta configuration or an indication to release and then add the SCG configuration [Examiner Note: Here, reference effectively distinguishes paired (SCG-involved) vs single configs]), in case that the one or more pairs of triggered cells do not exist (¶ 0156, stored conditional reconfigurations are released after having been stored during a predetermined number of executed mobility procedures, with the predetermined number being fixed, based on type of executed mobility procedure and/or stored conditional reconfiguration, etc.), identify whether one or more triggered cells exist, and in case that the one or more triggered cells exist, apply the first type of conditional reconfiguration. (¶¶ 0240-252, selectively maintaining or releasing each of the stored conditional reconfigurations in block 1450 is based on one or more of the following:… an indication received from the RAN in relation to the first mobility procedure; content of the stored conditional reconfiguration; content of one or more other of the stored conditional reconfigurations; type of mobility procedure associated with the stored conditional reconfiguration; identity of the first target cell; content of the first reconfiguration; type of the executed first mobility procedure; number of mobility procedures executed by the UE while the conditional reconfiguration has been stored; duration that the conditional reconfiguration has been stored; state of the first target cell, or cell group comprising the first target cell, after execution of the first mobility procedure, state of a candidate target cell after execution of the corresponding mobility procedure; and a match or correspondence between one or more parameters of the first configuration ).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use these above-mentioned features disclosed by Bergqvist with the system disclosed by Chen, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of encapsulating multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC) conditional mobility scenarios. Chen establishes behavioral differences between CHO (PCell-only) and CPC (PCell+PSCell) [Chen: ¶ 0064]. Bergqvist supplies the decision framework for managing multiple concurrent conditional reconfigurations with type-based prioritization [Bergqvist: ¶¶ 0146-158].
Regarding claim 7, Chen discloses the terminal of claim 6, wherein controller is further configured to: in case that the one or more pairs of triggered cells exist (¶ 0090, if a conditional reconfiguration command for PSCell addition/change is executed (e.g., an associated execution condition is satisfied) or the associated conditional reconfiguration is applied by a UE, the UE may keep the link to the PCell (or the MN)). Chen does not disclose applying the second type of conditional reconfiguration.
However, in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, Bergqvist teaches applying the second type of conditional reconfiguration (¶ 0177, the UE determines whether to maintain a stored conditional reconfiguration (e.g., for CPC) after execution of a mobility procedure based on an implicit indication, such as whether that conditional reconfiguration contains another conditional reconfiguration. For example, the UE releases the stored conditional reconfiguration if it includes another conditional reconfiguration and maintains the stored conditional reconfiguration if it does not include another conditional reconfiguration. As another example, the implicit indication can be a type of mobility procedure associated with the conditional reconfiguration, such as CHO, CPA, or CPC).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use these above-mentioned type-based decision making for conditional reconfiguration features disclosed by Bergqvist [¶ 0175-186] with the PCell+PSCell pairing concepts disclosed by Chen [¶ 0090], since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of ensuring consistent handling of different conditional reconfiguration types.
Regarding claim 8, Chen discloses the terminal of claim 6, wherein controller is further configured to: in case that multiple pairs of triggered cells exist reconfiguration (¶ 0181, The conditional reconfiguration may include a configuration of the target PSCell and an execution condition. In one implementation, the conditional reconfiguration may include multiple configurations of multiple target PSCells and multiple execution conditions, each of which may be associated with one of the configurations of the target PSCells).
Chen does not explicitly disclose, selecting one of the multiple pairs of triggered cells and applying the second type of conditional reconfiguration. However, in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, Bergqvist teaches selecting one of the multiple pairs of triggered cells and applying the second type of conditional reconfiguration (¶ 0232, The first mobility procedure and the plurality of stored conditional reconfigurations are associated with a same one of the MCG and an SCG for the UE. The exemplary method also includes the operations of block 1450, where the UE can selectively maintain or release each of the stored conditional reconfigurations, after executing the mobility procedure.). With Chen’s multiple candidate cells intersecting with Bergqvist’s selective maintenance framework, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to select amongst multiple paired configurations based on established criteria (cell identity, config content).
Regarding claim 9, Bergqvist in view of Chen, discloses the terminal of claim 6, wherein the first type of conditional reconfiguration and the second type of conditional reconfiguration are associated with different conditional reconfiguration identifiers, respectively (Figs. 10A, 10B, 10C, ¶¶ 0164-167, FIG. 10A shows an exemplary ASN.1 data structure for a ConditionalReconfiguration IE, which is used to add, modify, and release conditional configurations. Within this IE, the condConfigToAddModList IE is a list of the configurations of candidate SpCells to be added or modified for CHO or CPC. FIG. 10B shows an exemplary ASN.1 data structure for a condConfigToAddModList IE. Each configuration is included in a CondConfigToAddMod field, which include a condExecutionCond sub-field and a condRRCReconfig sub-field. The condExecutionCond sub-field provides the execution condition that needs to be fulfilled to trigger the execution of the conditional configuration, which is included in the condRRCReconfig sub-field. Both sub-fields are mandatory present when a condConfigId is being added. Otherwise, when the condRRCReconfig associated with a condConfigId is being modified the sub-fields are optionally present and the UE uses the stored value when the sub-fields are absent. Likewise, the field condConfigToRemoveList is a list of the configuration of candidate SpCells to be removed. When the network removes the stored conditional configuration for a candidate cell, the network releases the measID(s) associated with the condExecutionCond if it is not used by the condExecutionCond of other candidate cells. FIG. 10C shows an exemplary ASN.1 data structure for the CondConfigId field of the ConditionalReconfiguration IE shown in FIG. 10A. This field identifies a CHO configuration or a CPC configuration by an integer value).
Regarding claim 10, Chen discloses the terminal of claim 7, wherein the controller further configured to transmit, via a transceiver a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration complete message including an absolute radio frequency channel number value and a physical cell identifier of the PSCell associated with the second type of conditional reconfiguration (¶ 0179, RRC Reconfiguration Complete message (or other RRC signaling) may include specific information (e.g., the UE ID, target cell ID, information related to the target SN, the executed conditional reconfiguration command (ID), or indication/information of condition SN change, but not limited thereto). The MN may determine that a conditional reconfiguration command is executed based on the information included in the RRC Reconfiguration Complete message (or in the other RRC signaling). ¶ 0091 the response/bye message may include information of at least one of the cell ID of the target PSCell, the target SN, and the conditional reconfiguration command ID, but not limited thereto. ¶ 0192, a receiver 924 (e.g., receiving/reception circuitry) and may be configured to transmit and/or receive time and/or frequency resource partitioning information [Examiner’s Note: Reference teaches transmitting an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the PSCell and identifies the PSCell by its physical cell identity from configuration.]).
Features of claims 1-5 correspond to features of claims 6-10, respectively, and are therefore rejected using the same rationale(s) and same prior art(s) applied to claims 6-10 above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TEMITOPE OLUWASEUN FOLAYAN whose telephone number is (571)270-0630. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8 a.m - 5 p.m. ET..
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, Edan Orgad can be reached at (571) 272-7884. 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.
/T.O.F./Examiner, Art Unit 2414
/EDAN ORGAD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2414
Prosecution Insights