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 07/30/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission.
For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to
www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
Claims 1-6 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 3 and 6-7 of U.S. Patent No. US 12,082,062 B2. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claims 1-6 are “anticipated by” claims 1, 3 and 6-7 of U.S. Patent No. US 12,082,062 B2.
Application No. 18/788,833 (Instant)
US 12,082,062 B2
1) A handover method, applied to a terminal, comprising: upon receiving indication information from a source cell during a first conditional handover, performing, by the terminal, at least one of the following operations: ignoring the indication information; continuing execution of the first conditional handover.
2)The handover method according to claim 1, wherein the indication information comprises at least one of the following: a handover command; a conditional handover command; a trigger condition for conditional handover; a message for removing a conditional handover command; a message for removing a trigger condition for conditional handover; and configuration or reconfiguration information for conditional handover.
3)The method according to claim 2, wherein the configuration or reconfiguration information for conditional handover comprises at least one of the following: a trigger condition for conditional handover; a random access resource of a candidate target cell for conditional handover; and radio resource control RRC configuration information of a source cell.
5) The method according to claim 1, wherein the performing, according to the indication information, an operation indicated by the indication information comprises: performing a handover operation according to indication of the indication information; or performing a conditional handover operation according to indication of the indication information; or removing the first conditional handover according to indication of the indication information; or removing a trigger condition for the first conditional handover according to indication of the indication information.
6) The method according to claim 5, wherein the performing a handover operation according to indication of the indication information comprises: performing a conditional handover operation according to the indication of the indication information in a case that the indication information comprises configuration information of a target cell corresponding to the first conditional handover; or performing a conditional handover operation according to configuration or reconfiguration information for the first conditional handover in a case that the indication information comprises configuration information of a target cell corresponding to the first conditional handover.
1) A handover method, applied to a terminal, comprising: upon receiving indication information from a source cell during a first conditional handover, performing, by the terminal, stopping the first conditional handover; and, performing, according to the indication information, an operation indicated by the indication information, wherein the receiving, during a first conditional handover, the indication information transmitted by a source cell comprises: receiving the indication information transmitted by the source cell, after the terminal initiates random access to a target cell; wherein the stopping the first conditional handover comprises: stopping a first timer and/or second timer that is running, wherein the first timer is a timer for determining whether a conditional handover has failed; and the second timer is a timer for controlling conditional handover configuration and deconfiguration; wherein, during running of the second timer, a handover command for the conditional handover is valid or configuration information for the conditional handover is valid; and otherwise, a handover command for the conditional handover is invalid or configuration information for the conditional handover is invalid, and wherein the operation indicated by the indication information, the indication information comprises at least one of the following: a conditional handover command; a trigger condition for conditional handover; and, configuration or reconfiguration information for conditional handover.
3) The method according to claim 1, wherein the configuration or reconfiguration information for conditional handover comprises at least one of the following: a trigger condition for conditional handover; a random access resource of a candidate target cell for conditional handover; or, radio resource control RRC configuration information of a source cell.
6) (Previously presented) The method according to claim 1, wherein the performing, according to the indication information, an operation indicated by the indication information comprises: performing a handover operation according to indication of the indication information; or
performing a conditional handover operation according to indication of the indication information; or removing the first conditional handover according to indication of the indication information; or removing a trigger condition for the first conditional handover according to indication of the indication information.
7) The method according to claim 6, wherein the performing a handover operation according to indication of the indication information comprises: performing a conditional handover operation according to the indication of the indication information in a case that the indication information comprises configuration information of a target cell corresponding to the first conditional handover; or performing a conditional handover operation according to configuration or reconfiguration information for the first conditional handover in a case that the indication information comprises configuration information of a target cell corresponding to the first conditional handover.
Similarly, all other dependent claims of the instant application (Application No. 18/788,833) are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over combinations of dependent claims (similar to combinations of independent/dependent claims as shown above) of U.S. Patent No. US 12,082,062 B2. Although those claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because combination of those dependent claims are “anticipated by” the combination of dependent claims of U.S. Patent No. US 12,082,062 B2.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-6, 9-16 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(2) as being anticipated by Yan et al. (2021/0377831 as submitted in IDS), Yan831 hereinafter. Yan831 teaches all of the limitations of the specified claim with the following reasoning that follows.
Re. claims 1, 11 and 20, Yan831 teaches a handover method (Fig. 6 & ¶0080/¶0082), applied to a terminal (Fig.4, Terminal device/Fig. 6, Terminal device/Fig. 7), a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (Fig. 4, 402 & ¶0030 /¶0250-¶0252), wherein the non- transitory computer-readable storage medium stores a program (Fig. 4, 402 & ¶0030 /¶0250-¶025), and when the program is executed by a processor (Fig. 4,401/Fig. 7, 703 & ¶0031), steps of a handover method (Fig. 6) are implemented and a terminal (Fig.4, Terminal device/Fig. 6, Terminal device/Fig. 7), comprising a processor (Fig. 4,401/Fig. 7, 703 & ¶0031), a memory (Fig. 4, 402 & ¶0030 /¶0250-¶0252), and a program stored in the memory and capable of running on the processor (Fig. 4, 402 & ¶0030 /¶0250-¶0252) wherein when the program is executed by the processor (Fig. 4, 402 & ¶0030 /¶0250-¶0252), steps of a handover method (Fig. 6) are implemented, wherein the handover method (Fig. 6) comprises: upon receiving indication information from a source cell during a first conditional handover (Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0009 - a terminal device receives conditional handover configuration information. The conditional handover configuration information includes a handover trigger condition and information about M candidate cells, where M is a positive integer. Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0080 - S601. The first network device sends a message 1 to the terminal device. Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0081 - The message 1 may include conditional handover configuration information. The conditional handover configuration information includes a handover trigger condition and information about M candidate cells. The first network device may be referred to as a source network device), performing, by the terminal, at least one of the following operations: ignoring the indication information (Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0016 - for a cell to which a conditional handover has failed (such as a candidate target cell or a to-be-determined cell), if, within a time interval indicated by the first time information, the network device has reconfigured a relevant parameter (using A3 as an example, has reconfigured the parameter R) in a handover trigger condition corresponding to the cell to which the conditional handover has failed, the network device may delete, discard, or ignore the relevant information received from the terminal device and corresponding to the cell to which the conditional handover has failed, and not adjust the relevant parameter in the handover trigger condition corresponding to the cell to which the conditional handover has failed. Fig.1/Fig.6 & ¶0118 - After receiving the conditional handover configuration information, the terminal device determines whether a candidate cell meets the handover trigger condition; if the terminal receives a conventional handover message before a cell meeting the handover trigger condition is determined or before the terminal device successfully accesses a cell meeting the handover trigger condition that has been determined, the terminal device may attempt to access the second target cell according to the conventional handover message. If the terminal device successfully accesses the second target cell, optionally, the terminal device may discard or delete the conditional handover configuration information.); continuing execution of the first conditional handover (Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0082 - the conditional handover configuration information may further include information required for random access performed by the terminal device to access any one or more of the M candidate cells. The terminal device may initiate contention-free access to the candidate cell based on the information. Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0118 - If the terminal device fails in accessing the second target cell, the terminal device may continue to perform the conditional handover according to the conditional handover configuration information. Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0132 - based on the conditional handover configuration information, whether a cell in the candidate cells meets the handover trigger condition, the determining is performed for a maximum of N times, where N may be specified in a protocol or may be sent by the network device to the terminal device (for example, the message 1 sent by the first network device to the terminal device may contain a value of N, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 1). In this implementation, if the terminal device fails in accessing a cell that meets the handover trigger condition among the configured candidate cells, or, if the terminal device determines that a cell among the candidate cells does not meet the handover trigger condition, the terminal device may continue to perform subsequent determining, that is, determine whether any cell in the candidate cells meets the handover trigger condition (in this case, the terminal device may perform the determining by “polling” or in a “one-off” manner, and this is not specifically limited in this application). The terminal device does not stop the determining until: (1) a total quantity of times of determining by the terminal device reaches N; or (2) before a quantity of times of determining reaches N, the terminal device determines a cell meeting the handover trigger condition and successfully accesses the cell meeting the handover trigger condition. Examiner interprets that one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “at least one of the following operations” and “Or”);
Re. claims 2 and 12, Yan831 teaches claims 1 and 11.
Yan831 further teaches wherein the indication information comprises at least one of the following: a handover command; a conditional handover command; a trigger condition for conditional handover (Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0080 - S601. The first network device sends a message 1 to the terminal device. Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0081 - The message 1 may include conditional handover configuration information. The conditional handover configuration information includes a handover trigger condition and information about M candidate cells. Examiner interprets that one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “at least one of the following operations” and “Or”); a message for removing a conditional handover command; a message for removing a trigger condition for conditional handover; or, configuration or reconfiguration information for conditional handover (Fig. 1/Fig. 6 & ¶0080 - S601. The first network device sends a message 1 to the terminal device. Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0081 - The message 1 may include conditional handover configuration information. The conditional handover configuration information includes a handover trigger condition and information about M candidate cells. Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0083 - After receiving the message 1 sent by the first network device, the terminal device may determine, based on the conditional handover configuration information included in the message 1, whether any one of the M candidate cells meets the handover trigger condition, so as to determine at least one candidate target cell and/or at least one to-be-determined cell. The at least one candidate target cell includes X cells that meet the handover trigger condition. Examiner interprets that one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “at least one of the following operations” and “Or”) .
Re. claims 3 and 13, Yan831 teaches claims 2 and 12.
Yan831 further teaches wherein the configuration or reconfiguration information for conditional handover comprises at least one of the following: a trigger condition for conditional handover (Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0080 - S601. The first network device sends a message 1 to the terminal device. Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0081 - The message 1 may include conditional handover configuration information. The conditional handover configuration information includes a handover trigger condition and information about M candidate cells. Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0083 - After receiving the message 1 sent by the first network device, the terminal device may determine, based on the conditional handover configuration information included in the message 1, whether any one of the M candidate cells meets the handover trigger condition, so as to determine at least one candidate target cell and/or at least one to-be-determined cell. The at least one candidate target cell includes X cells that meet the handover trigger condition. Examiner interprets that one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “at least one of the following operations” and “Or”); a random access resource of a candidate target cell for conditional handover (Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0082 - the conditional handover configuration information may further include information required for random access performed by the terminal device to access any one or more of the M candidate cells. The terminal device may initiate contention-free access to the candidate cell based on the information. Examiner interprets that one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “at least one of the following operations” and “Or”); or, radio resource control RRC configuration information of a source cell.
Re. claims 4 and 14, Yan831 teaches claims 1 and 11.
Yan831 further teaches wherein the continuing execution of the first conditional handover comprises: continuing to determine whether a measurement result satisfies a trigger condition for the first conditional handover (Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0120 - Because the terminal device fails in performing the conventional handover according to the conventional handover message, the terminal device may continue to determine, based on the conditional handover configuration information received before the handover message, whether the candidate cells meet the handover trigger condition. When a candidate target cell and/or a to-be-determined cell exist/exists in the candidate cells, the terminal device may record and report information about the candidate target cell and/or the to-be-determined cell. Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0132 - based on the conditional handover configuration information, whether a cell in the candidate cells meets the handover trigger condition, the determining is performed for a maximum of N times, where N may be specified in a protocol or may be sent by the network device to the terminal device (for example, the message 1 sent by the first network device to the terminal device may contain a value of N, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 1). In this implementation, if the terminal device fails in accessing a cell that meets the handover trigger condition among the configured candidate cells, or, if the terminal device determines that a cell among the candidate cells does not meet the handover trigger condition, the terminal device may continue to perform subsequent determining, that is, determine whether any cell in the candidate cells meets the handover trigger condition (in this case, the terminal device may perform the determining by “polling” or in a “one-off” manner, and this is not specifically limited in this application). The terminal device does not stop the determining until: (1) a total quantity of times of determining by the terminal device reaches N; or (2) before a quantity of times of determining reaches N, the terminal device determines a cell meeting the handover trigger condition and successfully accesses the cell meeting the handover trigger condition); or continuing to initiate random access to a target cell corresponding to the first conditional handover (Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0082 - the conditional handover configuration information may further include information required for random access performed by the terminal device to access any one or more of the M candidate cells. The terminal device may initiate contention-free access to the candidate cell based on the information. Examiner interprets that one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “Or”); or continuing to complete a random access procedure with a target cell corresponding to the first conditional handover.
Re. claims 5 and 15, Yan831 teaches claims 1 and 11.
Yan831 further teaches wherein the performing, according to the indication information, an operation indicated by the indication information (Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0009 - a terminal device receives conditional handover configuration information. The conditional handover configuration information includes a handover trigger condition and information about M candidate cells, where M is a positive integer. Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0080 - S601. The first network device sends a message 1 to the terminal device. Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0081 - The message 1 may include conditional handover configuration information. The conditional handover configuration information includes a handover trigger condition and information about M candidate cells. The first network device may be referred to as a source network device.) comprises: performing a handover operation according to indication of the indication information (Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0082 - the conditional handover configuration information may further include information required for random access performed by the terminal device to access any one or more of the M candidate cells. The terminal device may initiate contention-free access to the candidate cell based on the information.); or performing a conditional handover operation according to indication of the indication information (Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0082 - the conditional handover configuration information may further include information required for random access performed by the terminal device to access any one or more of the M candidate cells. The terminal device may initiate contention-free access to the candidate cell based on the information. Examiner interprets that one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “Or”); or removing the first conditional handover according to indication of the indication information; or removing a trigger condition for the first conditional handover according to indication of the indication information.
Re. claims 6 and 16, Yan831 teaches claims 5 and 15.
Yan831 further teaches wherein the performing a handover operation according to indication of the indication information comprises: performing a conditional handover operation according to the indication of the indication information in a case that the indication information comprises configuration information of a target cell corresponding to the first conditional handover (Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0080 - S601. The first network device sends a message 1 to the terminal device. Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0081 - The message 1 may include conditional handover configuration information. The conditional handover configuration information includes a handover trigger condition and information about M candidate cells. The first network device may be referred to as a source network device. Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0082 - the conditional handover configuration information may further include information required for random access performed by the terminal device to access any one or more of the M candidate cells. The terminal device may initiate contention-free access to the candidate cell based on the information. Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0083 - After receiving the message 1 sent by the first network device, the terminal device may determine, based on the conditional handover configuration information included in the message 1, whether any one of the M candidate cells meets the handover trigger condition, so as to determine at least one candidate target cell and/or at least one to-be-determined cell. The at least one candidate target cell includes X cells that meet the handover trigger condition. Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0085 - S602. The terminal device sends MRO-related information to the second network device. Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0090 - After receiving the message that includes the MRO-related information from the terminal device, the second network device performs step S603 if determining to forward the message to the first network device. Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0111 - the MRO-related information further includes second information. The second information is information about a cell when the terminal device successfully performs a conditional handover. Examiner interprets that one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “Or”); or performing a conditional handover operation according to configuration or reconfiguration information for the first conditional handover in a case that the indication information comprises configuration information of a target cell corresponding to the first conditional handover.
Re. claims 9 and 19, Yan831 teaches claims 1 and 11.
Yan831 further teaches wherein the terminal ignores the indication information or continues execution of the first conditional handover, in a case that the indication information satisfies any one of the following conditions: the indication information comprises no handover command (Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0119 - When the conditional handover mechanism is used as a supplementary technology to the conventional handover mechanism, another possible scenario 2 is: After receiving the conditional handover configuration information, the terminal device determines a cell meeting the handover trigger condition and successfully hands over to the cell. That is, before the terminal device successfully hands over to the cell meeting the handover trigger condition, the source network device sends no conventional handover message to the terminal device; or, the source network device sends a conventional handover message to the terminal device but the terminal device fails in receiving the conventional handover message sent by the source network device. In this case, the terminal device may perform the conditional handover according to the conditional handover configuration information. Examiner interprets that one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “any one of” and “Or”); the indication information comprises no configuration or reconfiguration information corresponding to a target cell to which the terminal is initiating random access; and the indication information comprises no message for removing a conditional handover command that corresponds to a target node to which random access is being initiated or no message for removing a trigger condition for conditional handover that corresponds to a target node to which random access is being initiated.
Re. claim 10, Yan831 teaches claim 2.
Yan831 further teaches wherein the continuing execution of the first conditional handover comprises: continuing to determine whether a measurement result satisfies a trigger condition for the first conditional handover; or continuing to initiate random access to a target cell corresponding to the first conditional handover (Fig. 1/ Fig. 6 & ¶0133 - when the terminal device determines, based on the conditional handover configuration information, whether a cell in the candidate cells meets the handover trigger condition, a maximum of R random access attempts are made….., the message 1 sent by the first network device to the terminal device may contain a value of R, where R is an integer greater than or equal to 1………. if the terminal device determines that a cell among the candidate cells does not meet the handover trigger condition, the terminal device may continue to perform subsequent determining, that is, determine whether any cell in the candidate cells meets the handover trigger condition …The terminal device does not stop the determining or terminate this CHO procedure until: (1) a total quantity of random access attempts initiated by the terminal device reaches R; or (2) before a total quantity of random access attempts reaches R, the terminal device determines a cell meeting the handover trigger condition and successfully accesses the cell meeting the handover trigger condition; Examiner interprets that one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence “Or”); or continuing to complete a random access procedure with a target cell corresponding to the first conditional handover.
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.
In 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claims 7 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yan831, in view of Latheef et al. (2022/0256423), Latheef hereinafter.
Re. claims 7 and 17, Yan831 teaches claims 5 and 15.
Yet, Yan831 does not expressly teach wherein in the case of performing a handover operation according to indication of the indication information, the method further comprises: continuing running a first timer and/or a second timer; or restarting a first timer and/or a second timer; wherein the first timer is a timer for determining whether a conditional handover has failed; and the second timer is a timer for controlling conditional handover configuration and deconfiguration.
However, in the analogous art, Latheef explicitly discloses wherein in the case of performing a handover operation according to indication of the indication information, the method further comprises: continuing running a first timer and/or a second timer (Fig. 1A/1B/2A & ¶0089 - At step 204a, the UE may determine whether the conditional handover (CHO) configuration is provided in the handover configuration. For example, in the UE (100) as illustrated in the FIG. 1B, the processor (160) can be configured to determine that the conditional handover (CHO) configuration is provided in the handover configuration. Fig. 1A/1B/2A & ¶0090 - At step 206a, the UE may continue the radio link monitoring (RLM) timer and the radio link monitoring procedure on the source cell, in response to determining that the CHO configuration is provided in the handover configuration. For example, in the UE (100) as illustrated in the FIG. 1B, the processor (160) can be configured to continue the radio link monitoring (RLM) timer and the radio link monitoring procedure on the source cell, in response to determining that the CHO configuration is provided in the handover configuration. Examiner interprets that one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “and/or” and “Or”); or restarting a first timer and/or a second timer; wherein the first timer is a timer for determining whether a conditional handover has failed; and the second timer is a timer for controlling conditional handover configuration and deconfiguration.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Yan831’s invention of a system and a method for optimizing handover parameters under conditional handover mechanism in a wireless communication system to include Latheef’s invention of method and apparatus for executing conditional handover in a wireless communication system, because it provides an efficient mechanism in reducing power consumption of a terminal in the wireless communication system. (¶0064-¶0065, Latheef)
Claim 8 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yan831, in view of Latheef, further in view of Chen et al. (2019/0223073), ChenFG hereinafter.
Re. claims 8 and 18, Yan831 and Latheef teach claims 7 and 17.
Yet, Yan831 and Latheef do not expressly teach wherein, during running of the second timer, a handover command for the conditional handover is valid or configuration information for the conditional handover is valid; and otherwise, a handover command for the conditional handover is invalid or configuration information for the conditional handover is invalid.
However, in the analogous art, Latheef explicitly discloses wherein, during running of the second timer, a handover command for the conditional handover is valid or configuration information for the conditional handover is valid; and otherwise, a handover command for the conditional handover is invalid or configuration information for the conditional handover is invalid. (Fig. 4 & ¶0092 - a life timer may be included in a CHO command to indicate a time period during which a corresponding CHO command remains valid. If the life timer of a CHO command is present, the UE may consider the CHO command as being valid until the life timer expires. The life timer may start when the UE receives the corresponding CHO command. In one implementation, the life timer and the leaving condition may coexist. For example, in some of the present embodiments, if a leaving condition of a CHO command is fulfilled but the life timer of the CHO command is still running, the CHO command may be considered as being invalid and be released. Fig. 4 & ¶0105 - After the UE receives CHO commands #1 and #2, in action 434, UE 402 may start evaluating the triggering conditions and leaving conditions (if present) while the corresponding CHO command is still valid. Upon a triggering condition of a CHO command being fulfilled and the life timer (if configured) still running, UE 402 may execute the CHO command for handover. Fig. 4 & ¶0106 - if the leaving condition of the CHO command is fulfilled or the life timer of a CHO command is expired, the corresponding CHO command may become invalid and thus may be released.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Yan831’s invention of a system and a method for optimizing handover parameters under conditional handover mechanism in a wireless communication system and Latheef’s invention of method and apparatus for executing conditional handover in a wireless communication system to include ChenFG’s invention of method and apparatus for conditional handover in 5G/New Radio (NR) network, because it provides an efficient mechanism for a serving base station in controlling conditional handover procedures over a pluralities of user equipments (UEs) in order to forwarding data to the intended user equipment (UE), reducing unpredictable UE behaviors when conditional handover (CHO) is triggered in the 5G/NR network. (¶0002-¶0010, ChenFG)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Eklöf et al. (2022/0201582); See Abstract, ¶0004, ¶0054-¶0069, ¶0118-¶0125, ¶0136-¶0163, ¶0198-¶0302 along with Fig. 2A-2B, 3A-3B, Fig. 4, Fig. 7A-7B, Fig. 8-9.
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #105bis; R2-1904662; Source: Qualcomm Incorporated; Title: LTE Conditional HO design considerations; Xian, China, April 8th – 12th, 2019, as submitted in IDS. See §2.1. See following snapshots are relevant, pertaining to the inventive concept, should be used in future prosecution or litigation in reference to any patent granted.
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMED SHAMSUL CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)272-0485. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday 9 AM- 6 PM EST (Friday Var.).
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, Hassan Phillips can be reached on 571-272-3940. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MOHAMMED S CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467
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