CTNF 18/804,836 CTNF 79565 Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Drawings 06-22 AIA The drawings are objected to because the letterings on some of the figures are not legible (e.g. 202 in Fig.2 . Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-12-aia AIA (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. 07-15-03-aia AIA Claim(s) 1, 5, 12, 15, 18 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Liu et al. US 2026/0089582 (Liu) . Regarding claim 1, Liu teaches a user equipment (UE, 106 in Fig.1) comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the UE to perform (1200 in Fig.12 comprising 1204, 1205 and 1206 and also see Fig.16): receiving, from a radio access network node, a conditional handover configuration for a plurality of target cells (receiving from NE 904 by UE 902, slice specific CHO configuration including a list of neighbor cells, note [0140]) and a radio condition for conditional handover of the UE for a plurality of target cells (triggering conditions for selection of the best candidate cell, note [0140]; priority information, [0142]), receiving, from the radio access network node, an indication that the UE is allowed to select and connect to a preferred target cell from the plurality of target cells (receiving from NE 904 an indication of order of the slice specific CHO configuration based on slice priorities, note [0142]) selecting the preferred target cell from the plurality of target cells (select a candidate cell, note [0147]) based on network slice area of service availability information (Network Slice Area of Service (NS-AoS) is defined as the area where a UE can access and receive services from a specific network slice, note [0004] of the instant application; Liu also teaches wherein UE 902 selects candidate cell based on priority network slices(s), note [0147-0148]) for each target cell configured at the UE and the radio condition (triggering condition, note 0147); and transmitting, a request to connect to the preferred target cell (note paragraphs 0151, 0160 and see 926 in Fig.9, 1024 in Fig.10). Regarding claim 5, Liu further teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the UE to perform: receiving, from the radio access network node, power imbalance information for each of the plurality of target cells (power control commands including one or more closed loop power control parameters, note [0079] as part of physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) that is allocated by base station that may be communicated to UE). Regarding claim 12, the claim is rejected as applied to claim 1. Liu further teaches a radio access network node (104 in Fig.1). Regarding claim 15, Liu further teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the UE to perform: transmitting, to the user equipment, information required to complete a conditional handover to the preferred target cell (conditional handover CHO configuration information is sent to UE 902 note [0142]). Regarding claim 18, Liu teaches all as applied to claim 5. Regarding claim 20, the claim is rejected as applied to claim 1 . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-23-aia AIA 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 nonobviousness. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 2, 3, 16 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. US 2026/0089582 (Liu) in view of Horn et al. US 2016/0323798 (Horn) . Regarding claim 2, Liu teaches all as applied to claim 1, however does not explicitly teach wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the UE to perform: receiving a mapping between a physical cell identifier and a global cell identifier for at least one of the plurality of target cells. Horn teaches, in a similar field of endeavor, receiving a mapping between a physical cell identifier and a global cell identifier for at least one of the plurality of target cells (note paragraphs 0031 and 0082). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Horn in the system of Liu for the purpose of measurement procedure for identifying booster eNBs with a known physical cell identity (PCI)-to-cell global identity (CGI) mapping (note [0031] of Horn). Regarding claim 3, Horn further teaches wherein the mapping is received in a system information block, SIB, sent by the radio access network node (note mapping [0082], reported using SIB [0084]). Regarding claim 16, Liu teaches all as applied to claim 2. Regarding claim 17, Liu teaches all as applied to claim 3 . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 4, 7, 9, 13 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. US 2026/0089582 (Liu) in view of Zhang et al. US 2026/0046260 (Zhang) . Regarding claim 4, Liu teaches all as applied to claim 1, however, does not explicitly teach wherein the network slice area of service availability information for a target cell comprises information indicating availability or unavailability of at least one network slice at the target cell wherein the at least one network slice is unavailable at the target cell when the at least one network slice is configured with zero resources at the target cell. Zhang teaches wherein the network slice area of service availability information for a target cell comprises information indicating availability or unavailability of at least one network slice at the target cell wherein the at least one network slice is unavailable at the target cell when the at least one network slice is configured with zero resources at the target cell (note [0254] network slice area of service or NS-AoS indicates resource is allocated or not, available or not, to a slice). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Zhang in the system Liu for the purpose of indicating when the slice is allowed and/or rejected to be used within certain areas of registration area RA (note [0254]). Regarding claim 7, Liu teaches all as applied to claim 1, however, does not explicitly teach wherein the selecting comprises: determining whether, at a first target cell of the plurality of targets cells, one or more network slices currently in use or allowed to be used by the UE are available based on the network slice area of service availability information for the first target network cell. Zhang teaches wherein the selecting comprises: determining whether, at a first target cell of the plurality of targets cells, one or more network slices currently in use or allowed to be used by the UE are available based on the network slice area of service availability information for the first target network cell (note [0254] network slice area of service or NS-AoS indicates resource is allocated or not, available or not, to a slice). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Zhang in the system Liu for the purpose of indicating when the slice is allowed and/or rejected to be used within certain areas of registration area RA (note [0254]). Regarding claim 9, Liu in view of Zhang teaches all as applied to claim 7. Liu further teaches determining whether one or more network slices are available or not based on priority network slices(s), note [0147-0148]) for each target cell configured at the UE and the radio condition (triggering condition, note 0147). Thus Liu further teaches ranking the plurality of target cells abased on network slices categorized as having a high UE priority (note [0147-0148]). Although Liu does not explicitly mention selecting a third target cell and connecting to the third target cell, the third target cell having the highest ranking, and connecting to the third target cell, one of ordinary skilled in the art would recognize such implementation as Liu teaches that the candidate cell with the highest priority level would be selected (note paragraphs 0147, 0148). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement as recited in the claim for the purpose of effectively selecting the best candidate cell. Regarding claim 13, Liu teaches all as applied to claim 4. Regarding claim 14, Liu teaches all as applied to claim 9 . Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim s 6, 8, 10, 11 and 19 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. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAM K. AHN whose telephone number is (571)272-3044. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9-5PM. 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, James Kramer can be reached at 571-272-6783. 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If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /SAM K AHN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2633 Application/Control Number: 18/804,836 Page 2 Art Unit: 2633 Application/Control Number: 18/804,836 Page 3 Art Unit: 2633 Application/Control Number: 18/804,836 Page 4 Art Unit: 2633 Application/Control Number: 18/804,836 Page 5 Art Unit: 2633 Application/Control Number: 18/804,836 Page 6 Art Unit: 2633 Application/Control Number: 18/804,836 Page 7 Art Unit: 2633 Application/Control Number: 18/804,836 Page 8 Art Unit: 2633
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