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.
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 1-8 and 19-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (.US 2013/0114446 A1), hereinafter “Liu”, in view of Joachim Axmon et al.(WO 2020/222172 A1), hereinafter “Axmon”.
Claims 1 and 19:
Regarding claim 1, Liu teaches, a method implemented by a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) for wireless communications (Liu: [abstract] “A method of managing one or more test measurements associated with a communication system using a wireless transmit/ receive unit (WTRU) is disclosed”), the method comprising:
receiving configuration information for measurement reporting, wherein the configuration information indicates 1) a first triggering condition to start measurement, (Liu: [abstract] “The method includes receiving, by the WTRU, a measurement configuration including at least a trigger indicating a condition or event for initiation of the one or more test measurements”) 2) a second triggering condition to report measurement (), 3) a first set of parameters and a second set of parameters for measurement, and 4) a measurement report configuration;
performing, based on the first triggering condition being satisfied for at least one cell, 1) a first measurement on the at least one cell using the first set of parameters (Liu: [abstract] determining, by the WTRU, whether the trigger has been satisfied, as a determination result; initiating the one or more test measurements in accordance with the determination result; and measuring, by the WTRU, the one or more test measurements”; [0008] “The method may include: receiving, by the WTRU, a measurement configuration indicating parameters for taking the test measurements; and taking, by the WTRU, the test measurements including at least one of the test measurements associated with a first layer of the protocol stack and at least a second one of the test measurements associated with a second, different layer of the protocol stack in accordance with the indicated parameters of the measurement configuration.”), and 2) a second measurement on the at least one cell using the second set of parameters.
Liu, though teaches, “The list of measurements may include a reporting trigger” ([0301]), and “In case of event-triggered reports, the message may be sent when the report event condition is met.” ([0144]), however fails to expressly teach, transmitting, based on the second triggering condition being satisfied and the measurement report configuration, a measurement report including at least the first measurement or the second measurement, and 2) a second measurement on the at least one cell using the second set of parameters, and 2) a second triggering condition to report measurement (), 3) a first set of parameters and a second set of parameters for measurement, and 4) a measurement report configuration.
Axmon in the same field of endeavor teaches, the following:
[0004] “UE is configured by the NW to carry out measurements”;
[0063] The disclosure describes methods at the UE or wireless device for performing/reporting measurements based on multiple measurement configurations;
[0065] The disclosure also describes methods for the NW ( or network node) to provide multiple sets of measurement/reporting configurations to the UE;
[0066] Two separate measConfig IEs that contain a set of measurement objects, reporting configurations, associated with the measurement objects and reporting configs via measIDs, etc.; and
[0069] Through NW configuration, each measurement configuration can also be configured to trigger or not trigger the sending of reporting towards the NW, when the triggering conditions are fulfilled. That is, when the triggering conditions are fulfilled, the reporting configuration can result in triggering of a report.
The disclosures by Axmon shows that the claim elements that are not expressly taught by Liu are taught by Axmon. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine disclosure by Axmon with that of Liu and come up with the claimed invention motivated by support for handovers as disclosed by Axmon, “[0151] In some examples, the plurality of measurement configurations may comprise handover commands and/or measurement gaps.”.
Claim 19 is for an apparatus performing method of claim 1. Claim is a change in category with respect to claim 1. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 1. Existence of processor and memory is implied.
Claims 2 and 20:
Regarding claim 2, combination of Liu and Axmon teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above), wherein the measurement report includes the first measurement and the second measurement and is transmitted using the measurement report configuration (Axmon: [0105] "triggering the sending of measurement reports"; [0133] "triggering reporting of first and second measurements"; [0140] "report associated with a second measurement configuration from the wireless device”).
Claim 20 is for an apparatus performing method of claim 2. Claim is a change in category with respect to claim 2. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 2.
Claims 3 and 21:
Regarding claim 3, combination of Liu and Axmon teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above), wherein the first triggering condition comprises any of: information indicating a quality of service (QoS) degradation of the at least one cell, a measurement result for the at least one cell being equal to or less than a threshold, or an indication from a network (Axmon: [0095]: ''UE starts to perform measurements when SpCell quality is below the threshold'].).
Claim 21 is for an apparatus performing method of claim 3. Claim is a change in category with respect to claim 3. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 3.
Claims 4 and 22:
Regarding claim 4, combination of Liu and Axmon teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above), wherein the second triggering condition comprises any of: information indicating a quality of service (QoS) degradation of the at least one cell, a measurement result for the at least one cell being equal to or less than a threshold, an indication from a network, information indicating a measurement report size, or a radio link failure (RLF) (Axmon: [0004] "NW-configured measurement events"; [0079] "Based on these NW-configured measurement events, the UE triggers measurement reports to the NW”].
Claim 22 is for an apparatus performing method of claim 4. Claim is a change in category with respect to claim 4. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 4.
Claims 5 and 23:
Regarding claim 5, combination of Liu and Axmon teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above), wherein the measurement report configuration comprises any of: a maximum payload size, a measurement report size, a pre-configured measurement reporting instance, or a pre-configured measurement reporting time (Liu: [0283] “The measurement period may be either a configured parameter or a preconfigured value. The time-to-trigger ( e.g., a time-to-trigger value) may be either a configured parameter or a preconfigured value.”; Axmon: [0063]: "a first measurement that fulfills a condition can trigger a second measurement within a certain time period or frequency”).
Claim 23 is for an apparatus performing method of claim 5. Claim is a change in category with respect to claim 5. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 5.
Claims 6 and 24:
Regarding claim 6, combination of Liu and Axmon teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above), wherein the measurement report is based on an RLF trigger and comprises snapshot information of measurement on the at least one cell (implied by disclosure in Liu: [0210] “[0210] (4) Based on WTRU mobility situations such as WTRU speed and/or direction including, for example, the WTRU frequent HOs (ping-panging) (e.g., above a threshold number of times in a predetermined period) and/or frequent RLF situations ( e.g., above a threshold number of times in a predetermined period and/or persisting for a predetermined duration of time), among others;”).
Claim 24 is for an apparatus performing method of claim 6 Claim is a change in category with respect to claim 6. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 6.
Claims 7 and 25:
Regarding claim 7, combination of Liu and Axmon teaches the method of claim 6 (discussed above),The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one cell comprises a cell associated with a configured radio access technology (RAT) or a non-configured RAT (implied by disclosure in Axmon: [0009]: "the network can configure a list of cell specific offsets, a list of 'blacklisted' cells and a list of 'whitelisted' cells. Blacklisted cells are not applicable in event evaluation or measurement reporting. Whitelisted cells are the only ones applicable in event evaluation or measurement reporting”).
Claim 25 is for an apparatus performing method of claim 7. Claim is a change in category with respect to claim 7. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 7.
Claims 8 and 26:
Regarding claim 8, combination of Liu and Axmon teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above), wherein the configuration information indicates the WTRU to perform measurement storage (Axmon: [0073] “[0073] As described above, the term unlocked could mean that a measurement configuration is activated, i.e. the UE receives and stores a measConfig (e.g. of type MeasConfig, comprising reporting configurations, measurement identifiers, measurement objects, measurement gap configurations, etc.)”).
Claim 26 is for an apparatus performing method of claim 8. Claim is a change in category with respect to claim 8 Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 8.
Claims 27 and 29:
Regarding claim 27, combination of Liu and Axmon teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above), wherein the configuration information indicates a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT for performing measurements, and wherein the first measurement is performed via the first RAT using the first set of parameters, and the second measurement is performed via the second RAT using the second set of parameters (implied by disclosures in Axmon:
[0066] Two separate measConfig IEs that contain a set of measurement objects, reporting configurations, associated with the measurement objects and reporting configs via measIDs, etc.;);
[0112] A UE configured with a set of conditional RRCReconfiguration(s), shall execute a handover ( or conditional handover) when the condition for the handover is fulfilled. In the context of this disclosure, the term "conditional handover related configuration(s)" may be for a cell, list of cell(s), measurement object(s) or frequencies. In the case of cell association, they may be for the same RAT or for a different RAT”; and
Disclosures in Fig.5.)
Claim 29 is for an apparatus performing method of claim 27. Claim is a change in category with respect to claim 27. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 27.
Claims 28 and 30are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over combination of Liu and Axmon as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Houstein et al. (US-20230189382-A1), hereinafter “Houstein”.
Claims 28 and 30:
Regarding claim 28, combination of Liu and Axmon teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above).
The claim, wherein the first and second measurements are conducted while the WTRU is in an inactive state, wherein the measurement report is transmitted while the WTRU is in an active state, and wherein the second triggering condition comprises the WTRU transitioning into the active state, however, is not expressly taught by combination of Liu and Axmon, but is implied by disclosures in Houstein,
[0034] “For logged MDT, the network sends logged measurement configuration to the UE in connected mode, and then the UE collects measurements in RRC_IDLE/INACTIVE. Upon UE restarting the RRC connection, the UE firstly sends available indicator(s) to the network, and then the network can command the UE to send the measurements as indicated in [TR 37.816]”; and
[324] “Embodiments allow for a plurality of advantages. For example, measurements are logged during active mode (currently they can be logged only in IDLE and INACTIVE state, or they can be collected and reported immediately in CONNECTED STATE)”.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine disclosure by Houstein with that of the combination of Liu and Axmon motivated by use of active and inactive states optimally for measurements and reporting.
Claim 30 is for an apparatus performing method of claim 28. Claim is a change in category with respect to claim 28. Claim is rejected based on rejection of claim 28.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US-12581372-B2 teaches wireless communication and to techniques and apparatuses for network to network ( e.g., inter-radio access technology (RAT)) redirection and ping-pong improvements.;
US 20220053512 A1 teaches use of LTE and new radio access technologies;
US-20190380164-A1 teaches aggregation of radio resources provided according to multiple radio interfaces
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/INTEKHAAB A SIDDIQUEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
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