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 under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. GB2312778.0, filed on August 22, 2023.
Status
Claims 1-42 have been cancelled and new claims 43-62 have been added by preliminary amendment filed August 21, 2024.
Claims 43-62 are now pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on August 21, 2024 was in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed August 21, 2024 are compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) and accepted.
Claim Objections
Claim 56 objected to because of the following informalities: in line one the claim recites “The method according to claim 55, further comprising in the TA acquisition report”. Examiner notes that the word “including” is missing. The word “include” is present in the associated claim 44. The missing word therefore, appears to be a typo and would improve clarity if included. Appropriate correction is required.
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 nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 43-62 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Pat. Pub. 20250039813 to Shiyang Leng et al. (hereinafter Leng) in view of US Pat. Pub. US 20250274827 to Fasil Abdul Latheef et al. (hereinafter Latheef).
Regarding claim 43, Leng in view of Jeon teaches An apparatus comprising at least one processing core (Leng Fig. 3A processor 340) and at least one memory (Leng Fig. 3A memory 360) storing instructions (Leng Fig. 3A applications 362) that, when executed by the at least one processing core, cause the apparatus at least to:
receive, via a transceiver of a user equipment, configuration information related to reporting an early timing advance, TA, acquisition; (Leng Fig. 5, block 505 and para. [0084] teaches that a serving cell sends a configuration to a UE for early timing advance.)
receive, from via the transceiver of the user equipment, at least one instruction to acquire at least one TA value of at least one candidate cell; (Leng para. [0140] teaches that a UE may receive “an Absolute Timing Advance Command (TAC) MAC CE or a TAC MAC CE or a new MAC CE for early TA acquisition” which Examiner interprets as “an instruction”. Para. [0140] further teaches that the MAC CE “The MAC CE can include the absolute TA of a non-serving cell, and/or the ID of the non-serving cell identifying the cell for which the TA included in the MAC CE is applied, and/or the TAG ID of the non-serving cell” which is a TA value of a candidate cell.)
Leng does NOT specifically teach generate an early timing advance acquisition report based on the at least one TA value and on the configuration information; and instruct the transceiver of the user equipment to transmit an indication indicative of availability of the early TA acquisition report.
In the same field of endeavor, Latheef teaches generate an early timing advance acquisition report based on the at least one TA value and on the configuration information; (Latheef teaches that the UE generates a measurement report based on TA values as shown in Fig. 44, for example,
Fig. 44:
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instruct the transceiver of the user equipment to transmit an indication indicative of availability of the early TA acquisition report. (Latheef teaches in para. [0716] and in Fig. 41, “the wireless device may send to the second base station, a first indicator to indicate the presence of the mobility related report (e.g., rlf-report, successHO-report, ltm-report). For example, the mobility related report may comprise a successHO-report.)” As shown:
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that the transmission of a reference signal (e.g., preamble) to a target candidate target cell, “before receiving an L1/L2 signal (with or without comprising a TA estimated by the target base station for the candidate target cell) indicating to perform LTM and/or cell switch to the candidate target Cell, is referred to as an early TA acquisition (ETA) procedure. By implementing the ETA, before the wireless device performs the HO, the target base station may obtain the TA to be used by the wireless device after performing the HO/LTM to the candidate target cell.” The preamble is an “indication” of the availability of the early TA acquisition report because it is part of the ETA procedure and provides reference to a candidate cell.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective date of the present invention to combine Latheef with Leng. Each of Latheef and Leng are in the field of wireless communications and directed to timing advance notifications. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Latheef with Leng in order to provide a flexible architecture as taught in Latheef para. [0066] and through the options 1 and 2 for early timing advance acquisition taught in paras. [0613]-[0615].
Regarding claim 44, Leng in view of Latheef teaches The apparatus according to claim 43 as stated. Leng does NOT teach that the apparatus is configured to include in the TA acquisition report information concerning the acquiring of the at least one timing advance value of the at least one candidate cell as a response to at least one logging criterion being fulfilled
In the same field of endeavor, Latheef teaches “configured to include in the TA acquisition report information concerning the acquiring of the at least one timing advance value of the at least one candidate cell as a response to at least one logging criterion being fulfilled.” (Latheef teaches in para. [0541] that “The wireless device may maintain a TAC for a TAG associated with the candidate target cell. The wireless device may maintain the candidate target cell as a non-serving cell. The response (e.g., RAR and/or the TAC MAC CE) may indicate (e.g., one or more bitfields of the MAC CE) whether the TA value in the response (e.g., RAR and/or the TAC MAC CE) is for a serving cell (or a TAG associated the serving cell), e.g., of the serving DU, or for a non-serving cell (e.g., the candidate target cell) of the candidate DU.” Thus, the “maintaining” of a TAC is logging of criterion including a TA value.)
Regarding claim 45, Leng in view of Latheef teaches The apparatus according to claim 44 as stated. Leng teaches further configured to obtain the at least one logging criterion from the configuration information related to reporting the early TA acquisition. (Leng para. [0140] teaches that a UE may receive “an Absolute Timing Advance Command (TAC) MAC CE or a TAC MAC CE or a new MAC CE for early TA acquisition” shown in Fig. 7 and described in para. [0161] which includes Early TA Contention Resolution Identity MAC CE 700:
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Regarding claim 46, Leng in view of Latheef teaches The apparatus according to claim 43 as stated. Leng further teaches wherein the apparatus is configured to transmit physical-layer measurement reports on a physical layer and a radio link layer in uplink direction. (Leng teaches in para. [0163] and Fig. 6, that the UE performs a 4-step CBRA for early TA acquisition, which is a physical layer measurement including Msg3 620 C-RNTI of non-serving cell which, as shown is an uplink in the radio link layer:
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Regarding claim 47, Leng in view of Latheef teach The apparatus according to claim 46 as stated. Leng does NOT teach wherein the apparatus is configured to compile the physical-layer measurement reports by measuring candidate-cell signal strengths on the physical layer.
In the same field of endeavor, Latheef teaches that the apparatus is configured to compile the physical-layer measurement reports by measuring candidate-cell signal strengths on the physical layer. (Latheef teaches in para. [0507] that the report for L1/L2 triggered mobility (LTM) the reports include signal strength reference-signal received power (RSRP), received signal quality (RSRQ!) and/or signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR).)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective date of the present invention to combine Latheef with Leng. Each of Latheef and Leng are in the field of wireless communications and directed to timing advance notifications. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Latheef with Leng in order to provide a flexible architecture as taught in Latheef para. [0066] and through the options 1 and 2 for early timing advance acquisition taught in paras. [0613]-[0615].
Regarding claim 48, Leng in view of Latheef teaches The apparatus according to claim 43 as stated. Leng does NOT teach wherein the apparatus is configured to initialize the early TA acquisition report as a response to determining that one or more timing advance was acquired which did not lead to a cell switch.
In the same field of endeavor Latheef teaches the apparatus is configured to initialize the early TA acquisition report as a response to determining that one or more timing advance was acquired which did not lead to a cell switch. (Latheef teaches in para. [0529] and in Figs. 28-31 that according to the early TA procedure, the UE may not perform an RA procedure with a target cell if the target cell is the same as the candidate target cell to which the wireless device transmits the uplink reference signal.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective date of the present invention to combine Latheef with Leng. Each of Latheef and Leng are in the field of wireless communications and directed to timing advance notifications. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Latheef with Leng in order to provide a flexible architecture as taught in Latheef para. [0066] and through the options 1 and 2 for early timing advance acquisition taught in paras. [0613]-[0615].
Regarding claim 49, Leng in view of Latheef teaches The apparatus according to claim 43 as stated. Leng does NOT teach wherein the apparatus is configured to provide the early TA acquisition report to a network which the apparatus is served by. (Leng teaches in Fig. 8 and para. [0170] early TA acquisition “with serving cell involvement” wherein at step 801 UE sends Msg3 to serving cell 802 wherein the C-RNTI is of the non-serving cell 802:
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Regarding claim 50, Leng teaches The apparatus according to claim 44, wherein the at least one logging criterion comprises at least one of the following:
a reception of an instruction of the early TA acquisition of the at least one candidate cell for a first time;
a reception of an instruction of the early TA acquisition of the at least one candidate cell for a second time;
a reception of an instruct of the early TA acquisition of the at least one candidate cell for re-transmission of a physical random access channel, PRACH, preamble;
a reception of an instruction of the early TA acquisition of a second candidate cell for a first time;
a reception of the early TA acquisition of the at least one candidate cell via a random access response;
a reception of the early TA acquisition of the at least one candidate cell via a medium access control, MAC, control element, CE, during a cell switch;
or
a reception of a cell switch command via the MAC CE. (Leng teaches receipt of a MAC-CE “Early TA Contention Resolution Identity MAC-CE” as shown in Fig. 7 wherein the “cell switch” is explained in Fig. 5, operation 515 for early TA acquisition.) Examiner notes the “OR” negates a requirement to find a teaching of each alternative element.
Regarding claim 51, Leng in view of Latheef teaches The apparatus according to claim 43 as stated. Leng does NOT teach wherein the apparatus is to include in the early TA acquisition report at least one of the following: a physical cell identity of the candidate cell; a frequency of the candidate cell; a first number indicating how many times the apparatus has been instructed to acquire TA value of the at least one candidate cell; a second number indicating how many times the apparatus has transmitted a physical random access channel, PRACH, preamble to acquire TA value to a beam of the at least one candidate cell; one or more of physical layer measurement results of a signal strength of the at least one candidate cell; a random access preamble identity and beam identity that the apparatus has used to transmit PRACH preamble to the at least one candidate cell to acquire TA value; a geographic location together with time of TA acquisition of the at least one candidate cell; an identity of a method used acquisition of TA value of the at least one candidate cell; a number of times for the early TA acquisition is instructed for the at least one candidate cell;
or
a number of PRACH preamble re-transmissions for acquisition of TA value of the at least one candidate cell.
In the same field of endeavor, Latheef teaches wherein the apparatus is to include in the early TA acquisition report at least one of the following:
a physical cell identity of the candidate cell; (Latheef teaches in para. [0059] and Fig. 32, that when a UE receives an RRC reconfiguration message, the UE performs L1/L2 measurement report for a list of candidate target cells including layer 1 RSRP, layer 1 RSRQ, PMI, RI, layer 1 SINR, CQI, etc.)
a frequency of the candidate cell; (Latheef teaches in para. [0059] and Fig. 32, that when a UE receives an RRC reconfiguration message, the UE performs L1/L2 measurement report including the CSI/beam of each candidate cell)
a first number indicating how many times the apparatus has been instructed to acquire TA value of the at least one candidate cell; a second number indicating how many times the apparatus has transmitted a physical random access channel, PRACH, preamble to acquire TA value to a beam of the at least one candidate cell; one or more of physical layer measurement results of a signal strength of the at least one candidate cell; a random access preamble identity and beam identity that the apparatus has used to transmit PRACH preamble to the at least one candidate cell to acquire TA value; a geographic location together with time of TA acquisition of the at least one candidate cell; an identity of a method used acquisition of TA value of the at least one candidate cell; a number of times for the early TA acquisition is instructed for the at least one candidate cell;
or
a number of PRACH preamble re-transmissions for acquisition of TA value of the at least one candidate cell.
Examiner notes the “OR” negates a requirement to find a teaching of each alternative element.
Regarding claim 52, Leng in view of Latheef teaches An apparatus comprising at least one processing core (Leng Fig. 3B processor 378) and at least one memory storing instructions (Leng Fig. 3B memory 380) that, when executed by the at least one processing core, cause the apparatus at least to:
prepare at least one target cell related to a user equipment served by a base station in which the apparatus is located; (Leng Fig. 5, block 505 and para. [0084] teaches that a serving cell sends a configuration to a UE for early timing advance.)
generate configuration information comprising at least one of a timing advance, TA, acquisition criterion and a TA acquisition report configuration, (Latheef para. [0084] teaches that the UE receives from the serving cell the early TA configuration for non-serving cells including a candidate cell with conditional reconfiguration provided for a CHO, CLTM, conditional primary secondary cell group (SCG) cell (PSCell) addition and change (CPAC), CHO with candidate secondary cell groups (SCGs), or a non-serving cell (e.g., an additional cell) in inter-cell multi-TRP operation, which are “acquisition criterion”.
and
Leng does NOT teach provide the configuration information to a distributed unit of the base station.
In the same field of endeavor, Latheef teaches provide the configuration information to a distributed unit of the base station. (Latheef teaches in para. [0534] and Fig. 32 that configuration information is provided to the DU from the CU including “RRC reconfiguration” to the Serving DU:
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective date of the present invention to combine Latheef with Leng. Each of Latheef and Leng are in the field of wireless communications and directed to timing advance notifications. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Latheef with Leng in order to provide a flexible architecture as taught in Latheef para. [0066] and through the options 1 and 2 for early timing advance acquisition taught in paras. [0613]-[0615].
Regarding claim 53, Leng in view of Latheef teaches The apparatus according to claim 52 as stated. Leng does NOT teach further configured to receive an indication that the user equipment has an early TA acquisition report.
In the same field of endeavor, Latheef teaches configured to receive an indication that the user equipment has an early TA acquisition report. (Latheef Fig. 32 illustrates that in Option 1 for the early TA procedure, the CU receives a “TA indication” from the candidate DU as part of the Early TA procedure. Para. [0540] teaches that the candidate DU may send and/or forward the estimated TA value for the candidate target cell to the serving DU via the CU of the base station.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective date of the present invention to combine Latheef with Leng. Each of Latheef and Leng are in the field of wireless communications and directed to timing advance notifications. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Latheef with Leng in order to provide a flexible architecture as taught in Latheef para. [0066] and through the options 1 and 2 for early timing advance acquisition taught in paras. [0613]-[0615].
Regarding claim 54, Leng in view of Latheef teaches The apparatus according to claim 53 as stated. Leng does NOT teach wherein the apparatus is further configured to request the early TA acquisition report from the user equipment via one of the at least one target cell, and to receive the early TA acquisition report from the user equipment.
In the same field of endeavor, Latheef teaches request the early TA acquisition report from the user equipment via one of the at least one target cell, and to receive the early TA acquisition report from the user equipment. (Leng teaches in para. [0080] that the network may request the UE perform early TA acquisition via a cell switch command with a target candidate cell. Leng para. [0085] teaches that the serving cell may perform early TA configuration via an RRCReconfiguration message wherein the non-serving cell identifies the serving cell based on a PRACH preamble. Leng para. [0137] teaches that the non-serving cell can send to the serving cell the TA and RA-RNTI for the received PRACH preamble so the serving cell can inform the UE the TA of the non-serving cell.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective date of the present invention to combine Latheef with Leng. Each of Latheef and Leng are in the field of wireless communications and directed to timing advance notifications. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Latheef with Leng in order to provide a flexible architecture as taught in Latheef para. [0066] and through the options 1 and 2 for early timing advance acquisition taught in paras. [0613]-[0615].
Regarding claim 55, Leng in view of Latheef teaches A method, comprising:
receiving, via a transceiver of a user equipment, configuration information related to reporting an early timing advance, TA, acquisition; (Leng Fig. 5, block 505 and para. [0084] teaches that a serving cell sends a configuration to a UE for early timing advance.)
receiving, from via the transceiver of the user equipment, at least one instruction to acquire at least one TA value of at least one candidate cell; (Leng para. [0140] teaches that a UE may receive “an Absolute Timing Advance Command (TAC) MAC CE or a TAC MAC CE or a new MAC CE for early TA acquisition” which Examiner interprets as “an instruction”. Para. [0140] further teaches that the MAC CE “The MAC CE can include the absolute TA of a non-serving cell, and/or the ID of the non-serving cell identifying the cell for which the TA included in the MAC CE is applied, and/or the TAG ID of the non-serving cell” which is a TA value of a candidate cell.)
Leng does NOT specifically teach generating an early timing advance acquisition report based on the at least one TA value and on the configuration information;
In the same field of endeavor, Latheef teaches generating an early timing advance acquisition report based on the at least one TA value and on the configuration information; (Latheef teaches that the UE generates a measurement report based on TA values as shown in Fig. 44, for example,
Fig. 44:
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instructing the transceiver of the user equipment to transmit an indication indicative of availability of the early TA acquisition report. (Latheef teaches in para. [0716] and in Fig. 41, “the wireless device may send to the second base station, a first indicator to indicate the presence of the mobility related report (e.g., rlf-report, successHO-report, ltm-report). For example, the mobility related report may comprise a successHO-report.)” As shown:
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that the transmission of a reference signal (e.g., preamble) to a target candidate target cell, “before receiving an L1/L2 signal (with or without comprising a TA estimated by the target base station for the candidate target cell) indicating to perform LTM and/or cell switch to the candidate target Cell, is referred to as an early TA acquisition (ETA) procedure. By implementing the ETA, before the wireless device performs the HO, the target base station may obtain the TA to be used by the wireless device after performing the HO/LTM to the candidate target cell.” The preamble is an “indication” of the availability of the early TA acquisition report because it is part of the ETA procedure and provides reference to a candidate cell.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective date of the present invention to combine Latheef with Leng. Each of Latheef and Leng are in the field of wireless communications and directed to timing advance notifications. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Latheef with Leng in order to provide a flexible architecture as taught in Latheef para. [0066] and through the options 1 and 2 for early timing advance acquisition taught in paras. [0613]-[0615].
Regarding claim 56, Leng in view of Latheef teaches The method according to claim 55 as stated. Leng does NOT teach further comprising in the TA acquisition report information concerning the acquiring of the at least one timing advance value of the at least one candidate cell as a response to at least one logging criterion being fulfilled.
In the same field of endeavor, Latheef teaches “in the TA acquisition report information concerning the acquiring of the at least one timing advance value of the at least one candidate cell as a response to at least one logging criterion being fulfilled.” (Latheef teaches in para. [0541] that “The wireless device may maintain a TAC for a TAG associated with the candidate target cell. The wireless device may maintain the candidate target cell as a non-serving cell. The response (e.g., RAR and/or the TAC MAC CE) may indicate (e.g., one or more bitfields of the MAC CE) whether the TA value in the response (e.g., RAR and/or the TAC MAC CE) is for a serving cell (or a TAG associated the serving cell), e.g., of the serving DU, or for a non-serving cell (e.g., the candidate target cell) of the candidate DU.” Thus, the “maintaining” of a TAC is logging of criterion including a TA value.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective date of the present invention to combine Latheef with Leng. Each of Latheef and Leng are in the field of wireless communications and directed to timing advance notifications. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Latheef with Leng in order to provide a flexible architecture as taught in Latheef para. [0066] and through the options 1 and 2 for early timing advance acquisition taught in paras. [0613]-[0615].
Regarding claim 57, Leng in view of Latheef teaches The method according to claim 56 as stated. Leng teaches further comprising obtaining the at least one logging criterion from the configuration information related to reporting the early TA acquisition. (Leng para. [0140] teaches that a UE may receive “an Absolute Timing Advance Command (TAC) MAC CE or a TAC MAC CE or a new MAC CE for early TA acquisition” shown in Fig. 7 and described in para. [0161] which includes Early TA Contention Resolution Identity MAC CE 700:
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Regarding claim 58, Leng in view of Latheef teaches The method according to claim 55 as stated. Leng teaches wherein the method comprises transmitting physical-layer measurement reports on a physical layer and a radio link layer in uplink direction. (Leng teaches in para. [0163] and Fig. 6, that the UE performs a 4-step CBRA for early TA acquisition, which is a physical layer measurement including Msg3 620 C-RNTI of non-serving cell which, as shown is an uplink in the radio link layer:
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Regarding claim 59, Leng in view of Latheef teaches The method according to claim 58 as stated. Leng does NOT teach further comprising compiling the physical-layer measurement reports by measuring candidate-cell signal strengths on the physical layer.
In the same field of endeavor, Latheef teaches compiling the physical-layer measurement reports by measuring candidate-cell signal strengths on the physical layer. (Latheef teaches in para. [0507] that the report for L1/L2 triggered mobility (LTM) the reports include signal strength reference-signal received power (RSRP), received signal quality (RSRQ!) and/or signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR).)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective date of the present invention to combine Latheef with Leng. Each of Latheef and Leng are in the field of wireless communications and directed to timing advance notifications. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Latheef with Leng in order to provide a flexible architecture as taught in Latheef para. [0066] and through the options 1 and 2 for early timing advance acquisition taught in paras. [0613]-[0615].
Regarding claim 60, Leng in view of Latheef teaches The method according to claim 55 as stated. Leng does NOT teach wherein the method further comprises initializing the early TA acquisition report as a response to determining that one or more timing advance was acquired which did not lead to a cell switch.
In the same field of endeavor Latheef teaches initializing the early TA acquisition report as a response to determining that one or more timing advance was acquired which did not lead to a cell switch. (Latheef teaches in para. [0529] and in Figs. 28-31 that according to the early TA procedure, the UE may not perform an RA procedure with a target cell if the target cell is the same as the candidate target cell to which the wireless device transmits the uplink reference signal.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective date of the present invention to combine Latheef with Leng. Each of Latheef and Leng are in the field of wireless communications and directed to timing advance notifications. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Latheef with Leng in order to provide a flexible architecture as taught in Latheef para. [0066] and through the options 1 and 2 for early timing advance acquisition taught in paras. [0613]-[0615].
Regarding claim 61, Leng in view of Latheef teaches The method according to claim 55 as stated. Leng further teaches providing the early TA acquisition report to a network which the apparatus is served by. (Leng teaches in Fig. 8 and para. [0170] early TA acquisition “with serving cell involvement” wherein at step 801 UE sends Msg3 to serving cell 802 wherein the C-RNTI is of the non-serving cell 802:
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Regarding claim 62, Leng in view of Latheef teaches The method according to claim 56 as stated. Leng further teaches wherein the at least one logging criterion comprises at least one of the following:
a reception of an instruction of the early TA acquisition of the at least one candidate cell for a first time; a reception of an instruction of the early TA acquisition of the at least one candidate cell for a second time; a reception of an instruct of the early TA acquisition of the at least one candidate cell for re-transmission of a physical random access channel, PRACH, preamble; a reception of an instruction of the early TA acquisition of a second candidate cell for a first time, a reception of the early TA acquisition of the at least one candidate cell via a random access response; a reception of the early TA acquisition of the at least one candidate cell via a medium access control, MAC, control element, CE, during a cell switch;
or
a reception of a cell switch command via the MAC CE. (Leng teaches receipt of a MAC-CE “Early TA Contention Resolution Identity MAC-CE” as shown in Fig. 7 wherein the “cell switch” is explained in Fig. 5, operation 515 for early TA acquisition.) Examiner notes the “OR” negates a requirement to find a teaching of each alternative element.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARGARET MARIE ANDERSON whose telephone number is (703)756-1068. The examiner can normally be reached M-F.
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/MARGARET MARIE ANDERSON/Examiner, Art Unit 2412 /CHARLES C JIANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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