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 § 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 (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.
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.
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.
1. Claims 1, 8-11 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al (2019/0166536) in view of Plestid et al (2015/0011211).
Regarding claims 1 and 11. Kim teaches a method and a User Equipment (UE) for managing inter Radio Access Technology (RAT) handover in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising: memory including one or more storage mediums storing instructions; and at least one processor including processing circuitry, wherein the instructions, when being executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively (figure 1, 0010, 0024-0025 wherein UE comprises memory, processor and program), cause the UE to:
detect a communication session established via a first RAT managed by a network (0060, 0062, 0078 – UE handovers from 5G to LTE when the temperature of the first communication module (e.g., 5G module) increases to a first reference temperature or higher while transmitting data and may perform handover from LTE to 5G again when temperature of the 5G decreases to the second reference temperature or lower in the handover state);
detect a temperature of the UE, the temperature being reaching each of a plurality of reference temperature levels, wherein the plurality of reference temperature levels are lesser than a maximum temperature level (0046, 0051, 0054-0055 and TABLE 1 and TABLE 2 discloses plurality of reference temperatures, 0060, 0062, 0078 – UE handovers from 5G to LTE when the temperature of the first communication module (e.g., 5G module) increases to a first reference temperature or higher while transmitting data and may perform handover from LTE to 5G again when temperature of the 5G decreases to the second reference temperature or lower in the handover state); and
Kim does not explicitly teach transmit one or more requests, to the network, for performing inter RAT handover from the first RAT to the second RAT, based on the detected temperature of the UE.
However, Kim teaches the network may get involved with the signaling (0043).
Plestid teaches inter-RAT handovers based on temperature and/or interference (0001-0002) and the UE sends an inter-RAT handover request with an indication that the reason for the inter-RAT HO request is thermal overload (0047, 0049, 0052-0053) and the network directs traffic to the most appropriate access technology based on the information in the HO request (0054).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Kim to send a HO request with thermal overload reason to the network at taught by Plestid which reduces the processing load on the UE which further reduces overheating at the UE side.
Regarding claim 8. Kim teaches wherein the inter RAT handover from the first RAT to the second RAT is implemented in advance of the temperature of the UE reaching the maximum temperature level (0046, 0049, 0051, 0054, TABLE 1 and TABLE 2, 0062 – thresholds are used to perform inter-RAT HO before UE overheats).
Plestid teaches using thresholds (0049, 0052-0054) for UE inter-RAT handover before the UE becomes overheated.
Regarding claim 9. identify that the temperature of the UE reaches the maximum temperature level; and in response to identifying that the temperature of the UE reaches the maximum temperature level, disconnect the communication session and establish another communication session via the second RAT managed by a network (0048 – power off first communication module when performing HO, TABLE 2 – temperature of 30 degrees and TIME = 20 minutes (off time of the first communication module), 0101, 0112, 0150 – turn off first communication module to quickly cool the first overheated communication module).
Plestid teaches switching off radios (0022, 0035) in order to avoid thermal overload of the UE, as well as, moving the connection from LTE to 5G and/or 5G to LTE (0047, 0049, 0052-0054).
Regarding claims 10 and 20. Kim does not explicitly teach wherein a priority of the first RAT is higher than a priority of the second RAT.
Plestid teaches a simple algorithm may be used to dictate that WiFi is always used in preference to 3GPP when available (0020, 0049 – Preferred Access Technology/Network, 0053 – Preferred Access Technology, 0056 – Routing Rule identifies the preferred access technology and may also provide alternative access technologies that are used if the preferred access technology is not available).
2. Claims 2, 7, 12, 17, 18 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim in view of Plestid further in view o Peng et al (2019/0082368).
Regarding claims 2 and 12. Kim in view of Plestid do not teach determine that measurements related to the second RAT are not configured in the UE by the network; and based on the determining that the measurements related to the second RAT are not configured in the UE, transmit at least one of a first request or a second request.
Peng teaches the UE roams to a second inter-RAT cell and does not yet have HO configurations. The UE sends measurement report in the HO request to the first inter-RAT cell wherein the first inter-RAT cell obtains HO configuration information from the second inter-RAT and forwards the configuration to the UE which enables the UE to be handed over to a target inter-RAT cell (figure 2, 0167-0173).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Kim in view of Plestid to send measurement report information in a HO request as taught by Peng which enables the network to determine handoff configurations to be used when handing off the UE to an inter-RAT cell thereby reducing signaling (Peng at 0173).
Regarding claims 7 and 17. Kim teaches determine, by the UE, that measurements related to the second RAT are configured in the UE by the network; and based on the determining that the measurements related to the second RAT in the UE are configured in the UE by the network, transmit a third request, to the network, for performing the inter RAT handover from the first RAT to the second RAT, in case of that the temperature of the UE reaches a second reference temperature level among the plurality of reference temperature levels (0046, 0051, 0054-0055 and TABLE 1 and TABLE 2 discloses plurality of reference temperatures, 0060, 0062, 0078 – UE handovers from 5G to LTE when the temperature of the first communication module (e.g., 5G module) increases to a first reference temperature or higher while transmitting data and may perform handover from LTE to 5G again when temperature of the 5G decreases to the second reference temperature or lower in the handover state).
Plestid teaches inter-RAT handovers based on temperature and/or interference (0001-0002) and the UE sends an inter-RAT handover request with an indication that the reason for the inter-RAT HO request is thermal overload (0052-0053) and the network directs traffic to the most appropriate access technology based on the information in the HO request (0054).
Regarding claim 18. Kim teaches wherein the inter RAT handover from the first RAT to the second RAT is implemented in advance of the temperature of the UE reaching the maximum temperature level (0046, 0049, 0051, 0054, TABLE 1 and TABLE 2, 0062 – thresholds are used to perform inter-RAT HO before UE overheats).
Plestid teaches using thresholds (0049, 0052-0054) for UE inter-RAT handover before the UE becomes overheated.
Regarding claim 19. identify that the temperature of the UE reaches the maximum temperature level; and in response to identifying that the temperature of the UE reaches the maximum temperature level, disconnect the communication session and establish another communication session via the second RAT managed by a network (0048 – power off first communication module when performing HO, TABLE 2 – temperature of 30 degrees and TIME = 20 minutes (off time of the first communication module), 0101, 0112, 0150 – turn off first communication module to quickly cool the first overheated communication module).
Plestid teaches switching off radios (0022, 0035) in order to avoid thermal overload of the UE, as well as, moving the connection from LTE to 5G and/or 5G to LTE (0047, 0049, 0052-0054).
Allowable Subject Matter
3. Claims 3-6 and 13-16 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.
Conclusion
4. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
---(2021/0096973) Jha et al teaches UE detects communication session on first RAT (5G network) and detects the UE is about to overheat on the 5G network and transmits a HO message to request HO to LTE network thereby reducing UE overheating (0108).
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BARRY W TAYLOR whose telephone number is (571)272-7509. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday: 7-5.
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/BARRY W TAYLOR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646
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