TECHNIQUES FOR PERFORMING MINIMIZATION OF DRIVE TEST (MDT)

Application No. 18/814,281

• Filed: Aug 23, 2024
• Priority: Jan 31, 2019 — WO PCT/CN2019/074194
  • Jan 30, 2020 — nonprovisional of PCTCN2020074079
  • Jul 28, 2021 — continuation of 12/328,611
• Examiner: AJAYI, JOEL
• Assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
• OA Round: 1 (Non-Final)

Office Action

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 .
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.

Claims 1-3, 5-8, 11-13, 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable by Racz (U.S. Patent Application Number: 2011/0319115).
Consider claim 1; Racz discloses a method for wireless communications at a first radio access network (RAN), comprising:
receiving a minimization of drive test (MDT) configuration for a user equipment (UE) [“…The MME also initiates activation of an MDT trace session (immediate MDT) for a particular UE at UE context setup at the eNB, when the UE context in the MME includes a stored immediate MDT trace configuration…” (par. 31, lines 1-4)];
storing the MDT configuration at the first RAN [“…the MME downloads the logged MDT trace session parameters to the eNB at UE context setup…” (par. 32, lines 2-3)];
determining that the UE in in a radio resource control (RRC) connected state at a second RAN [“…when the UE is in connected mode and has a logged MDT trace session configured, the logged MDT trace parameters are passed on to the next eNB at handover.” (par. 43, lines 7-10)]; and
transmitting the MDT configuration to the second RAN [“…when the UE is in connected mode and has a logged MDT trace session configured, the logged MDT trace parameters are passed on to the next eNB at handover.” (par. 43, lines 7-10)], in accordance with the determination that the UE in in the RRC connected state at the second RAN [“…when the UE is in connected mode and has a logged MDT trace session configured, the logged MDT trace parameters are passed on to the next eNB at handover.” (par. 43, lines 7-10)].
Consider claim 2; Racz discloses the MDT configuration indicates a logged MDT configuration indicating the UE to perform and log MDT measurements during a camped normally state of the UE [“…when the UE is in connected mode and has a logged MDT trace session configured, the logged MDT trace parameters are passed on to the next eNB at handover.” (par. 43, lines 7-10)], and wherein the camped normally state indicates a state during which the UE is camped on a cell [“…the area selection conditions are evaluated by the UE for logged MDT.” (par. 43, lines 11-12)].
Consider claim 3; Racz discloses the MDT configuration indicates a logged MDT configuration indicating the UE to perform and log MDT measurements during a cell selection state of the UE [“…when the UE is in connected mode and has a logged MDT trace session configured, the logged MDT trace parameters are passed on to the next eNB at handover.” (par. 43, lines 7-10) “…the area selection conditions are evaluated by the UE for logged MDT.” (par. 43, lines 11-12)], and wherein the cell selection state indicates a state during which the UE searches for a cell [“…the area selection conditions are evaluated by the UE for logged MDT.” (par. 43, lines 11-12)].
Consider claim 5; Racz discloses the storing comprises caching the MDT configuration in a memory at the first RAN [“…the MME downloads the logged MDT trace session parameters to the eNB at UE context setup…” (par. 32, lines 2-3) “An input/output (I/O) mechanism 51 receives trace control and configuration parameters from…the MME 11. The I/O mechanism forwards the parameters to a processing unit 53, which includes a processor 54, a memory 55 for storing computer program instructions for the processor…” (par. 63, lines 3-9)].
Consider claim 6; Racz discloses the storing comprises updating UE context information of the UE at the first RAN to add the MDT configuration [“…The MME also initiates activation of an MDT trace session (immediate MDT) for a particular UE at UE context setup at the eNB, when the UE context in the MME includes a stored immediate MDT trace configuration…” (par. 31, lines 1-4) “…the MME downloads the logged MDT trace session parameters to the eNB at UE context setup…” (par. 32, lines 2-3)].
Consider claim 7; Racz discloses receiving a message from the second RAN requesting the MDT configuration for the UE [“…the target eNB may need to invoke the Trace Request procedure after each cell change.” (par. 51, lines 10-12) “…when the UE is in connected mode and has a logged MDT trace session configured, the logged MDT trace parameters are passed on to the next eNB at handover.” (par. 43, lines 7-10)].
Consider claim 8; Racz discloses transmitting the MDT configuration to the second RAN [“…when the UE is in connected mode and has a logged MDT trace session configured, the logged MDT trace parameters are passed on to the next eNB at handover.” (par. 43, lines 7-10)], in response to the received message [“…the target eNB may need to invoke the Trace Request procedure after each cell change.” (par. 51, lines 10-12)].
Consider claim 11; Racz discloses an apparatus for wireless communications at a first radio access network (RAN), comprising:
one or more memories comprising instructions [“An input/output (I/O) mechanism 51 receives trace control and configuration parameters from…the MME 11. The I/O mechanism forwards the parameters to a processing unit 53, which includes a processor 54, a memory 55 for storing computer program instructions for the processor…” (par. 63, lines 3-9)]; and
one or more processors configured, individually or in any combination, to execute the instructions and cause the apparatus to “An input/output (I/O) mechanism 51 receives trace control and configuration parameters from…the MME 11. The I/O mechanism forwards the parameters to a processing unit 53, which includes a processor 54, a memory 55 for storing computer program instructions for the processor…” (par. 63, lines 3-9)]. Claim 11 reflects the method comprising computer executable instructions for implementing the article of manufacture as claimed in claim 1, and is rejected along the same rationale.
Claims 12, 13, 15-18 reflects the method comprising computer executable instructions for implementing the article of manufacture as claimed in claim 2, 3, 5-8, and is rejected along the same rationale.
Allowable Subject Matter
Dependent claims 4, 9, 10, 14, 19, 20 contain patentable subject matter that would all need to be included in their respective independent claim. It would need to be clear what the first and second RAN are. The typographical error “in in” in the independent claims would also need to be corrected.
Conclusion
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to Joel Ajayi whose telephone number is [phone]. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 7:30am to 5:00pm.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Jeanette Parker can be reached on [phone]. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is [phone].
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/JOEL AJAYI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646

Prosecution Timeline

• Aug 23, 2024: Application Filed
• Jul 16, 2026: Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)