DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present U.S. non-provisional application is being examined under the first-inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA . The present U.S. non-provisional application, filed on August 28, 2024, claims benefit to U.S. provisional applications, filed on July 30, 2024 and September 12, 2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on August 28, 2024 and March 6, 2025 were filed before the mailing of a first Office action in the present U.S. non-provisional application, in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-8 and 12-18 would be considered as allowable if rewritten into independent form to include all of the limitations of the respective base claim and any intervening claims. The claimed invention is neither anticipated by the prior art of record, nor considered as obvious in view thereof to a person having ordinary skill in the art.
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.
Claims 1, 9-11, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as unpatentable over ERICSSON (WO 2024/213994 A1).
1. A user equipment (UE) (ERICSSON, FIG. 8) comprising:
a transceiver (ERICSSON, FIG. 8, Id.) configured to:
receive a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message including a configuration of a lower layer triggered mobility (LTM) candidate cell (ERICSSON, paras. [0026], [0123], “A basic principle with L1/L2-triggered mobility (LTM) is that the UE is pre-configured, by the network, with an RRC configuration per LTM candidate cell, sometimes also known as a LTM candidate cell configuration. Such a LTM candidate cell configuration may be an RRCReconfiguration message…”); and
receive an LTM cell switch command instructing the UE to perform an LTM cell switch to the LTM candidate cell (ERICSSON, paras. [0026], [0123], “…The network then triggers the execution of a LTM cell switch in the UE to one of these LTM candidate cells by transmitting an LTM cell switch command (such as a MAC CE), to the UE, which then connects to the particular LTM candidate cell and switches to an RRC configuration of this LTM candidate cell…” Id.); and
a processor operably coupled to the transceiver, the processor (ERICSSON, FIG. 8, Id.) configured to:
determine whether the LTM candidate cell belongs to a master cell group (MCG) (ERICSSON, paras. [0038], [0123], “…In the context of some embodiments, switching to the LTM candidate cell configuration comprises the UE considering that an LTM candidate cell becomes its new special cell (SpCell) e.g. PCell in case of LTM being configured for a Master Cell Group (MCG) and/or PSCell in case of LTM being configured for a Secondary Cell Group (SCG); or, changing its SpCell from the current PCell to an LTM candidate cell. […] NOTE 0: If this RRCReconfiguration is associated to the MCG and includes reconfigurationWithSync in spCellConfig and dedicatedSIBl-Delivery, the UE initiates (if needed) the request to acquire required SIBs, according to clause 5.2.2.3.5, only after the random access procedure towards the target SpCell is completed.”); and
determine whether the configuration of the LTM candidate cell includes a system information block 1 (SIB1) (ERICSSON, paras. [0038], [0123], “…In the context of some embodiments, switching to the LTM candidate cell configuration comprises the UE considering that an LTM candidate cell becomes its new special cell (SpCell) e.g. PCell in case of LTM being configured for a Master Cell Group (MCG) and/or PSCell in case of LTM being configured for a Secondary Cell Group (SCG); or, changing its SpCell from the current PCell to an LTM candidate cell. […] NOTE 0: If this RRCReconfiguration is associated to the MCG and includes reconfigurationWithSync in spCellConfig and dedicatedSIBl-Delivery, the UE initiates (if needed) the request to acquire required SIBs, according to clause 5.2.2.3.5, only after the random access procedure towards the target SpCell is completed.” Id.),
wherein the transceiver is further configured to, when the LTM candidate cell belongs to the MCG and the configuration of the LTM candidate cell includes the SIB1, transmit a system information (SI) request to the LTM candidate cell after the LTM cell switch to the LTM candidate cell is successfully completed (ERICSSON, paras. [0038], [0123], “…In the context of some embodiments, switching to the LTM candidate cell configuration comprises the UE considering that an LTM candidate cell becomes its new special cell (SpCell) e.g. PCell in case of LTM being configured for a Master Cell Group (MCG) and/or PSCell in case of LTM being configured for a Secondary Cell Group (SCG); or, changing its SpCell from the current PCell to an LTM candidate cell. […] NOTE 0: If this RRCReconfiguration is associated to the MCG and includes reconfigurationWithSync in spCellConfig and dedicatedSIBl-Delivery, the UE initiates (if needed) the request to acquire required SIBs, according to clause 5.2.2.3.5, only after the random access procedure towards the target SpCell is completed.” Id.)
ERICSSON may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in additional embodiments, ERICSSON provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as wherein the transceiver is further configured to, when the LTM candidate cell belongs to the MCG and the configuration of the LTM candidate cell includes the SIB1, transmit a system information (SI) request to the LTM candidate cell after the LTM cell switch to the LTM candidate cell is successfully completed (ERICSSON, paras. [0038], [0123], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of ERICSSON are for reasons of performing reconfiguration with sync (ERICSSON, paras. [0038], [0123], Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of performing reconfiguration with sync.
9. The UE of Claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to, when the LTM candidate cell belongs to the MCG and the configuration of the LTM candidate cell includes the SIB1, process the SIB1 before processing the configuration of the LTM candidate cell (MPEP 2143, Order of processing is considered as one of a finite number of identified and predictable solutions with a reasonable expectation of success.)
10. The UE of Claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to, when the LTM candidate cell belongs to the MCG and the configuration of the LTM candidate cell includes the SIB1, process the configuration of the LTM candidate cell before processing the SIB1 (MPEP 2143, Id. Order of processing is considered as one of a finite number of identified and predictable solutions with a reasonable expectation of success.)
11. A method of operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message including a configuration of a lower layer triggered mobility (LTM) candidate cell (ERICSSON, paras. [0026], [0123], Id.);
receiving an LTM cell switch command instructing the UE to perform an LTM cell switch to the LTM candidate cell (ERICSSON, paras. [0026], [0123], Id.);
determining whether the LTM candidate cell belongs to a master cell group (MCG) (ERICSSON, paras. [0038], [0123], Id.);
determining whether the configuration of the LTM candidate cell includes a system information block 1 (SIB1) (ERICSSON, paras. [0038], [0123], Id.); and
when the LTM candidate cell belongs to the MCG and the configuration of the LTM candidate cell includes the SIB1, transmitting a system information (SI) request to the LTM candidate cell after the LTM cell switch to the LTM candidate cell is successfully completed (ERICSSON, paras. [0038], [0123], Id. cf. Claim 1).
ERICSSON may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in additional embodiments, ERICSSON provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as when the LTM candidate cell belongs to the MCG and the configuration of the LTM candidate cell includes the SIB1, transmitting a system information (SI) request to the LTM candidate cell after the LTM cell switch to the LTM candidate cell is successfully completed (ERICSSON, paras. [0038], [0123], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of ERICSSON are for reasons of performing reconfiguration with sync (ERICSSON, paras. [0038], [0123], Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of performing reconfiguration with sync.
19. The method of Claim 11, further comprising, when the LTM candidate cell belongs to the MCG and the configuration of the LTM candidate cell includes the SIB1, processing the SIB1 before processing the configuration of the LTM candidate cell (MPEP 2143, Id. cf. Claim 9).
20. The method of Claim 11, further comprising, when the LTM candidate cell belongs to the MCG and the configuration of the LTM candidate cell includes the SIB1, processing the configuration of the LTM candidate cell before processing the SIB1 (MPEP 2143, Id. cf. Claim 10).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record (PTO-1449, PTO-892) and not relied upon is considered pertinent to the subject matter of the present U.S. non-provisional application.
Agiwal et al. (US 2023/0144750 A1) provides prior art disclosure considered as relevant to the subject matter of the claimed invention (Agiwal, para. [0007], “In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, a method by a terminal in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes receiving, from a base station, a first radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message including a configuration for an on-demand system information block (SIB) request; transmitting, to the base station, a first dedicated SIB request message based on the configuration in an RRC connected state; starting a timer based on the first dedicated SIB request message; receiving, from the base station, a second RRC reconfiguration message including information on a reconfiguration with synchronization for a master cell group associated with the base station; stopping the timer based on the second RRC reconfiguration message; and transmitting, to a target base station of the master cell group, a second dedicated SIB request message based on the second RRC reconfiguration message.”)
Agiwal et al. (US 2021/0185758 A1) provides prior art disclosure considered as relevant to the subject matter of the claimed invention (Agiwal, para. [0008], “In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, a method performed by a terminal is provided. The method comprises: receiving, while the terminal being in a radio resource control (RRC) connected state, an RRC message including a system information block 1 (SIB1) and information associated with a reconfiguration with sync for a target special cell (SpCell); identifying that the terminal has not stored a valid version of at least one required SIB based on the SIB1; transmitting, to the target SpCell, a dedicated SIB request message for the at least one required SIB after a random access procedure to the target SpCell is completed.”)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Timothy J. Weidner whose telephone number is (571) 270-1825. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayaz R. Sheikh can be reached on (571) 272-3795. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TIMOTHY J WEIDNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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