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 .
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al (US 12562786 B2) hereinafter as Liu in view of Goyal et al (US 20240284373 A1) hereinafter as Goyal.
Regarding claim(s) 1,14 Liu discloses a method and apparatus of a terminal (See Fig(s). 1, with terminal 120), comprising:
receiving, from a first transmission and reception point (TRP) connected to the terminal, a message indicating terminal-based timing advance (TA) acquisition (See ¶ 21,30-31, The UE receives timing advance (TA) commands associated with a configured TA group (TAG) to adjust its uplink transmission timing to synchronize with the network for uplink transmission);
receiving synchronization signal block(s) (SSB(s)) from one or more TRPs belonging to neighboring cell(s) according to the indication of the first TRP (See Fig(s). 2, See ¶ 26,39, UE received SSB associated with first TRP… A TRP0 212 operating on a BWP over the carrier is co-located with the base station or cell 210, and broadcasts a PCID/SSB for the cell 210.);
determining a timing advance (TA) based on the SSB(s) (See ¶ 39, The TRP1 214 may not be co-located with the TRP0 212. However, in some deployment, e.g., at frequency range 2 (FR2), the TRP1 214 may also broadcast the same PCID as the TRP0 212 does, and transmit a SSB as a reference for timing/beam (e.g., the SSB can be used by a UE for timing synchronization and initial beam acquisition for communication with the TRP1 214);
transmitting information on the TA to the first TRP (See Fig(s). 2, See ¶ 41, The TA value in the TA command is generally related to the distance between the TRP0 212 and the UE 202. The UE 202 then transmits uplink signals/channels over the carrier to both TRP0 212 and TRP1 214).
Liu fails to disclose receiving a cell switch command from the first TRP; and establishing a connection with a second TRP selected according to the cell switch command among the one or more TRPs belonging to the neighboring cell(s).
Goyal discloses receiving a cell switch command from the first TRP; and establishing a connection with a second TRP selected according to the cell switch command among the one or more TRPs belonging to the neighboring cell(s) (See Fig(s). 2, See ¶ 21,25, Once the source DU 104 decides that the UE should be handed over to a target cell (e.g., target DU 106), the source DU triggers, at 17, the cell switch, using at 18 a cell switch command (e.g., a MAC Control Element (CE)). The cell switch command depicted at 18 may also include the TA of the target DU or cell.).
Cell switching with TA acquisition eliminates the need of UL synchronization with the target cell upon cell switch and hence reduces the interruption time.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teachings of Goyal within Liu, so as to reduce the interruption time when cell switching by UEs.
Regarding claim 8, (Note: Claim 8 performs the mirrored method of claim 1)
Liu discloses a method of a first TRP (See Fig(s). 1, with TRP 110), comprising:
receiving, from a terminal connected to the first TRP capability information of the terminal (See ¶ 98, Support multiple cells (BWPs, SCSs) on one carrier, UE capability for M-TRP DL (with or without specifying multiple tracking loops on one carrier), especially for inter-cell M-TRP.);
transmitting a message indicating terminal-based timing advance (TA) acquisition to the terminal (See ¶ 21,30-31, The UE receives timing advance (TA) commands associated with a configured TA group (TAG) to adjust its uplink transmission timing to synchronize with the network for uplink transmission);
receiving a TA for one or more TRPs belonging to neighboring cells of the terminal from the terminal (See Fig(s). 2, See ¶ 41, The TA value in the TA command is generally related to the distance between the TRP0 212 and the UE 202. The UE 202 then transmits uplink signals/channels over the carrier to both TRP0 212 and TRP1 214).
receiving synchronization signal block(s) (SSB(s)) from one or more TRPs belonging to neighboring cell(s) according to the indication of the first TRP (See Fig(s). 2, See ¶ 26,39, UE received SSB associated with first TRP… A TRP0 212 operating on a BWP over the carrier is co-located with the base station or cell 210, and broadcasts a PCID/SSB for the cell 210.).
Liu fails to disclose transmitting/receiving a cell switch command from the first TRP; and establishing a connection with a second TRP selected according to the cell switch command among the one or more TRPs belonging to the neighboring cell(s).
Goyal discloses transmitting/receiving a cell switch command from the first TRP; and establishing a connection with a second TRP selected according to the cell switch command among the one or more TRPs belonging to the neighboring cell(s) (See Fig(s). 2, See ¶ 21,25, Once the source DU 104 decides that the UE should be handed over to a target cell (e.g., target DU 106), the source DU triggers, at 17, the cell switch, using at 18 a cell switch command (e.g., a MAC Control Element (CE)). The cell switch command depicted at 18 may also include the TA of the target DU or cell.).
Cell switching with TA acquisition eliminates the need of UL synchronization with the target cell upon cell switch and hence reduces the interruption time.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teachings of Goyal within Liu, so as to reduce the interruption time when cell switching by UEs.
Further with regards to claim 14, Liu discloses a processor and memory (See Fig(s). 17, processor 1704, memory 1706).
Regarding claim(s) 2,9,15, Goyal discloses wherein the message indicating terminal-based TA acquisition is a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (See Fig(s). 2, See ¶ 21,25, Once the source DU 104 decides that the UE should be handed over to a target cell (e.g., target DU 106), the source DU triggers, at 17, the cell switch, using at 18 a cell switch command (e.g., a MAC Control Element (CE)). Reasons for combining same as claim 1.
Regarding claim(s) 3,10, 16,Liu discloses comprising: before receiving the message indicating terminal-based TA acquisition, transmitting capability information of the terminal to the first TRP (See ¶ 79).
Regarding claim(s) 4,11,13,17, Liu discloses wherein the capability information of the terminal includes at least one of information indicating whether the terminal performs a cross-correlation operation for the SSB(s) received from the one or more TRPs belonging to the neighboring cell(s) or a message indicating whether the terminal performs a timing difference update operation based on the TA (See ¶ 31, Each TAG may update its corresponding TA periodically. When receiving a TA command of a cell associate with a TAG, a UE adjusts its uplink transmission timing, e.g., for transmission of PUCCH, PUSCH, and/or SRS of the cell, based on the received TA command of the associated TAG.).
Regarding claim(s) 5,18, Liu discloses after receiving the message indicating terminal-based TA acquisition, releasing a random access channel (RACH)-based TA acquisition scheme using a random access response (RAR)-less mode (See Fig(s). 2, See ¶ 60, . The UE 202 may then transmit a RACH preamble to the TRP1 214, and receive, e.g., in a random access response (RAR), a TA command of a second TAG or RG, e.g., TAG2 or RG2, which is associated with the carrier and includes the TRP1 214.).
Regarding claim(s) 6, 19,Liu discloses wherein the TA is determined by the terminal performing a cross-correlation operation for the SSB(s) (See ¶ 38, 57, 94,Then properties of RS1 (destination RS or target RS) may be derived according to the QCL types from the associated RSs (i.e., source RS or reference RS, e.g., RS2). Note that the source RS may be a SSB. Note also that the source RS and destination RS may be on the same carrier or different carriers (i.e., cross-carrier QCL).).
Regarding claim(s) 7,12,20, Goyal discloses wherein the cell switch command includes at least one of a MAC-CE index field, a cell identity (ID) field, a beam index field, a TA field, or a terminal-based TA measurement indication field (See Fig(s). 2, See ¶ 21,25, Once the source DU 104 decides that the UE should be handed over to a target cell (e.g., target DU 106), the source DU triggers, at 17, the cell switch, using at 18 a cell switch command (e.g., a MAC Control Element (CE)). Reasons for combining same as claim 1.
.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Raj Jain whose telephone number is (571) 272-3145. The examiner can normally be reached on M-Th ~8 ~6.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Derrick Ferris can be reached on 571-272-3123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RAJ JAIN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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