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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Japanese Patent Office on 2/9/2022. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the Japanese Patent application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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 (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 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.
Claim(s) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by CHENG et al (US 2024/0121710)
Regarding claim 1, CHENG et al (hereinafter, CHENG) discloses a cell reselection method in a mobile communication system, the cell reselection method comprising the steps of:
transmitting, by a network node, slice non-supporting cell information indicating presence of a cell not supporting a network slice in a frequency comprised in slice frequency information indicating a correspondence relationship between the network slice, the frequency, and a frequency priority (CHENG: Fig. 8 and Fig. 9, ¶113, ¶116, ¶118, the UE receives, from a network node, as shown in Fig. 8, supported slice information; this information includes a correspondence between the network slice, a frequency associated with it and for the frequency a priority for that slice; this frequency is in a corresponding cell; ¶135, this information includes information indicating that a cell e.g. Cell 3 does not support Slice 2); and
performing, by a user equipment, slice-specific cell reselection, based on the slice non-supporting cell information (CHENG: ¶120, ¶110, the UE performs a slice-specific cell reselection based on the received supported slice information).
Regarding claim 2, CHENG discloses the cell reselection method according to claim 1, wherein the performing comprises
performing, by the user equipment, the slice-specific cell reselection on a frequency other than the frequency indicated by the slice non-supporting cell information without checking whether a highest ranked cell supports the network slice (CHENG: ¶154, ¶159, the UE performs selection of a frequency other than a barred frequency i.e. without checking if the highest ranked cell supports the slice).
Regarding claim 3, CHENG discloses user equipment comprising a receiver configured to receive from a network node, slice non-supporting cell information indicating presence of a cell not supporting a network slice in a frequency comprised in slice frequency information indicating a correspondence relationship between the network slice, the frequency, and a frequency priority, and a controller configured to perform slice-specific cell reselection, based on the slice non-supporting cell information (CHENG: Fig. 8 and Fig. 9, ¶113, ¶116, ¶118, the UE receives, from a network node, as shown in Fig. 8, supported slice information; this information includes a correspondence between the network slice, a frequency associated with it and for the frequency a priority for that slice; this frequency is in a corresponding cell; ¶135, this information includes information indicating that a cell e.g. Cell 3 does not support Slice 2; CHENG: ¶120, ¶110, the UE performs a slice-specific cell reselection based on the received supported slice information).
Regarding claim 4, CHENG cell reselection method in a mobile communication system, the cell reselection method comprising the steps of:
transmitting, by a network node, slice support status information indicating whether network slices supported by cells are all identical in a predetermined range larger than a cell range (CHENG: ¶49-50, ¶51, transmitting by the network, to a UE upon receiving a request from the UE, a S-NSSAI list within a tracking area); and
performing, by a user equipment, slice-specific cell reselection, based on the slice support status information (CHENG: ¶74, the reselection is slice-specific and is based on the slice support status information which includes the allowed NSSAI in the tracking area (TAI)).
Regarding claim 5, CHENG cell reselection method according to claim 4, wherein the slice support status information indicates that the network slices supported by the cells in the predetermined range are all identical, or the slice support status information indicates that the network slices supported by the cells in the predetermined range are not identical (CHENG: ¶49, the uniform S-NSSAIs are indicated corresponding to a tracking area identity (TAI) which indicates that the supported slices are uniform i.e. identical throughout the tracking area).
Regarding claim 6, CHENG cell reselection method according to claim 4, wherein the predetermined range is one of a Tracking Area (TA), a Registration Area (RA), and a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) (CHENG: ¶49-50, the NSSAIs are uniform throughout a tracking area (TA)).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
See PTO-492.
Document B discloses apparatuses, methods, and systems are disclosed for receiving selection assistance information corresponding to a preferred network slice. One apparatus includes a processor and a transceiver that receives selection assistance information corresponding to a set of preferred network slices from the mobile communication network, where the selection assistance information includes an indication of at least one preferred network slice starting with a most preferred network slice in a priority order, the selection assistance information further including target cell detection information and/or target cell selection information. The processor performs cell search on a highest priority frequency layer corresponding to the most preferred network slice and selects a cell of the highest priority frequency layer that supports the most preferred network slice based on results of the cell search.
Document C discloses the disclosure relates to a communication method and system for converging a 5th-Generation (5G) communication system for supporting higher data rates beyond a 4th-Generation (4G) system with a technology for Internet of Things (IoT). The disclosure may be applied to intelligent services based on the 5G communication technology and the IoT-related technology, such as smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car, connected car, health care, digital education, smart retail, security and safety services. The disclosure provides a method performed by a terminal, comprising: receiving, from a base station, slice information for a cell reselection; identifying a slice among one or more slices based on slice priority information; identifying a cell that is a strongest and suitable cell based on the slice information; and in case that the cell supports the slice, selecting the cell.
Document U discloses that 5th Generation (5G) mobile networks is anticipated to serve large number of devices with multiple services in the single network. Due to heterogeneous service demand in a single network, 5G is presumed to be service based amalgamated with network slicing. The network will create a dedicated slice with dedicated resources and network elements based on the requested service. With so many devices and services under one umbrella of 5G, mobility becomes one of the crucial aspect, which can further have lot of impact on 5G NR (New Radio) requirements such as, radio resource optimization, seamless connectivity, minimal handovers and Quality of Experience (QoE). MAS5G (Move Smartly in 5G) explores the avenues of mobility management, wherein we consider three main services of 5G i.e. (1) enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), (2) Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC) and (3) massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC). Unlike considering single mobility policy for all type of services (in the current networks), we propose MAS5G Central Mobility Manager (CMM), which will create dedicated schema for each service based on the network slice. With the help of User Equipment (UE) capability if network slice subscribed by subscriber is having skewed features and mobility requirement, MAS5G CMM creates schema as per the requirements of a particular network slice. It can help Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) to provide dedicated attributes of Access and Mobility applied to devices based on predefined schemas. Through our simulation experiment, based on real time mMTC and eMBB traffic traces, we show that MAS5G is able to curtail the number of handovers, thus, saving the energy at UE significantly, which further helps to boost the QoE.
Document V discloses that SA is the target network architecture of 5G network evolution and development, which adopts a brand new network deployment. But it will coexist with current LTE networks for quite a long time. In order to ensure that UE enjoy uninterrupted service in the mobile procedure, the network needs to provide efficient mobility management. Mobility management can be divided into cell reselection, handover, and redirection based on UE state. And it can be divided into intra-system mobility management and inter-system mobility management according to whether the service cells cross the system. To achieve the 0ms interruption delay of handover, R16 had proposed several mobility management enhancement solutions. The document mainly introduced the mobility management between NR cells, the interoperability between 4G/5G cells and the mobility management enhancement solutions in R16, which provided a reference for the mobility management optimization of 5G SA network.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMER S MIAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7524. The examiner can normally be reached M,T,W,Th: 10a-7p, Fri, 9a-12p.
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OMER S. MIAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2461
/OMER S MIAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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