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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to the application filed on 09/13/2024 has a total of 20 claims pending in the application; there are 3 independent claims and 17 dependent claims, all of which are ready for examination by the examiner.
Remarks
The claims were presented as follow:
Claims 1-3, 5,7, 9, 12-20, 22, 24, 26, 29-30 are pending.
Claims 4, 6, 8, 10-11, 21, 23, 25, 27-28, 31-36 are cancelled.
Title
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. The examiner suggests the title “measurement configuration processing method for a dual-connectivity UE”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 7, 9, 15-17, 24, 26 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
In claims 7, 9, 15-17, 24, 26, applicant claims characters “X, Y, Z” without a corresponding meaning to each letter. Appropriate correction is required.
Dependent claims are also rejected since the base claim is rejected.
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 (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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 5,7, 9, 12-20, 22, 24, 26, 29-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being unpatentable by ABRAHAM et al. Publication No. (US 20250008361 A1).
Regarding claim 1, ABRAHAM teaches an information processing method, wherein the method is performed by a first access device (first node “master node” (MN 100) FIG.1), and the method comprises:
performing communication of measurement gap information for a dual-connectivity user equipment (UE) with a second access device (the first node 100 performing communication with a second node 200 by sending an Inter-Node Message (INM) comprising a Cell Group (CG) configuration including the first node capability to the second node (secondary node (SN 200)) in the wireless network (1000) to configure measurement gap for at least one User Equipment (UE) (300) associated with the second node (200) [0154-155] FIG.10).
Regarding claim 2, ABRAHAM teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein performing communication of the measurement gap information for the dual-connectivity user equipment (UE) with the second access device comprises at least one of: sending first measurement gap information of the first access device for the dual- connectivity UE to the second access device; or receiving second measurement gap information of the second access device for the dual-connectivity UE (receiving the INM comprising the CG configuration information from the second node (200). The CG configuration information includes information of the measurement gap created for the at least one UE (300) [0154-155] FIG.11).
Regarding claim 3, ABRAHAM teaches the method according to claim 2, wherein sending the first measurement gap information of the first access device for the dual-connectivity UE to the second access device comprises: sending the first measurement gap information to the second access device after generating a measurement gap configuration for the dual-connectivity UE; or, receiving request information sent by the second access device, and sending the first measurement gap information to the second access device based on the request information, wherein receiving the second measurement gap information of the second access device for the dual-connectivity UE comprises: receiving the second measurement gap information sent by the second access device after generating a measurement gap configuration for the dual-connectivity UE; or sending request information to the second access device, and receiving a second measurement gap information sent based on the request information (Measurement gap configuration assistance information can be exchanged between the MN and the SN. For the case of per-UE gap, the SN indicates to the MN the list of SN configured frequencies in FR1 and FR2 measured by the UE. For the per-FR gap case, the SN indicates to the MN the list of SN configured frequencies in FR1 measured by the UE and the MN indicates to the SN the list of MN configured frequencies in FR2 measured by the UE. In NE-DC, the MN indicates the configured per-UE or FR1 measurement gap pattern to the SN. The SN can provide a gap request to the MN, without indicating any list of frequencies. [0075] the first Node indicates the changed activation status required for the preconfigured gap. The second Node activates or deactivates the preconfigured gap based on the first Node request/indication and informs the first Node [0116] FIG.6).
Claim 4. (Cancelled).
Regarding claim 5, ABRAHAM teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the measurement gap information comprises: a number of sets of measurement gap configurations, wherein the measurement gap information further comprises the measurement gap configuration: wherein the measurement gap configuration comprises at least one of: a period: a duration: or an offset (Measurement gap configuration includes a gap offset, gap length, and repetition period and measurement gap timing advance. Gap offset specifies the subframe (and/or slot) where the measurement gap occurs. Gap length gives the duration of the gap while the repetition period defines how often the measurement gap can occur [0062] FIG.12).
Claim 6. (Cancelled).
Regarding claim 7, ABRAHAM teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:
in response to receiving second measurement gap information before generating a measurement gap configuration for the dual-connectivity UE, generating the measurement gap configuration for the dual-connectivity UE according to the second measurement gap information, wherein generating the measurement gap configuration for the dual-connectivity UE according to the second measurement gap information comprises: generating Z sets of measurement gap configurations for the dual-connectivity UE in response to that the second measurement gap information indicates that the second access device configures Y sets of measurement gap configurations for the dual- connectivity UE, wherein a sum of Y and Z is less than or equal to a total number of sets X of measurement gap configurations supported by the dual-connectivity UE (generating the Cell Group (CG) configuration comprising at least one of not allowed preconfigured measurement gap allowed, a maximum number of measurement gaps created by the second device (200) as zero, and the maximum number of network controlled small gap (NCSG) as zero. At S612, the method includes sending the INM comprising the CG configuration to the first node (100) for configuring the at least one UE (300) associated with the first node (100) with measurement gap [0159-160 FIG.6).
Claim 8. (Cancelled).
Regarding claim 9, ABRAHAM teaches the method according to claim 1 any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the method further comprises: in response to receiving second measurement gap information of the second access device for the dual-connectivity UE after generating a measurement gap configuration for the dual-connectivity UE, comparing a sum of a number of sets Z of measurement gap configurations of the first access device for the dual-connectivity UE and a number of sets Y of measurement gap configurations of the second access device for the dual- connectivity UE with a total number of sets X of measurement gap configurations supported by the dual-connectivity UE (generating, by a first node, a configuration (e.g., Cell Group (CG) configuration or the like) comprising a first node capability when the first node has capability to support one of the preconfigured measurement gap, the multiple measurement gaps, and the NCSG. Further, the method includes sending, by the first node, an Inter-Node Message (INM) comprising the configuration including the first node capability to a second node in the wireless network to configure measurement gap for at least one User Equipment (UE) associated with the second node [0027-28]); and determining whether to update the measurement gap configuration for the dual- connectivity UE in response to the sum of Y and Z being greater than X, wherein determining whether to update the measurement gap configuration for the dual-connectivity UE in response to the sum of Y and Z being greater than X comprises: determining to update the measurement gap configuration for the dual-connectivity UE in response to that the first access device is an access device of a primary secondary cell of the dual-connectivity UE; or determining not to update the measurement gap configuration for the dual- connectivity UE in response to that the first access device is an access device of a primary cell of the dual-connectivity UE, wherein the method further comprises: generating less than or equal to X-Y sets of measurement gap configurations for the dual-connectivity UE in response to determining to update the measurement gap configuration for the dual-connectivity UE (updating the MN (200) on the SN capability for NR measurement enhancement, the SN (100) sends the INM (CG-Config) supporting of the preconfigured gaps, the multiple gaps, the NCSG, maximum number of multiple gaps and maximum number of NCSG supported to the MN (200), the MN (200) decides the measurement gap configuration of per UE/perFR1/FR2 gaps based on the received support information from the SN (100), the MN (200) sends the INM (CG-Config-Info) with measurement gap configuration to the SN (100) [0166] FIG.10).
Claims 10-11. (Cancelled).
Regarding claim 12, ABRAHAM teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein performing communication of the measurement gap information for the dual- connectivity user equipment (UE) with the second access device comprises: performing communication of the measurement gap information for the dual- connectivity UE with the second access device via an Xn interface; or, performing communication of the measurement gap information for the dual- connectivity UE with the second access device via an NG interface (The MN and SN are connected via a network interface and at least the MN is connected to the core network. NG-RAN supports NG-RAN E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity (NGEN-DC), in which a UE is connected to one ng-eNB (a E-UTRA base station that can connect to 5G core) that acts as a MN and one gNB (5G base station) that acts as a SN. NG-RAN also supports NR-E-UTRA Dual Connectivity (NE-DC), in which a UE is connected to one gNB that acts as a MN and one ng-eNB that acts as a SN. The NG-RAN supports a NR-DC where both MN and SN are gNBs. The MN and the SN can be connected using Xn (between gNB-gNB, gNB-ngeNB or ngeNBngeNB) or X2 (gNB-eNB or eNB-cNB) interface [0066] FIG.11).
Regarding claim 13, ABRAHAM teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: receiving capability indication information of the dual-connectivity UE, wherein the capability indication information is at least used to determine a number of sets of measurement gap configurations supported by the dual-connectivity UE (the first node informs its capability of NR measurement gap enhancement features i.e. support of multiple measurement gaps, preconfigured gaps and NCSG to the second node [0098] Capabilities informed by the first Node include whether the first Node supports multiple measurement gaps, preconfigured gaps and NCSG. Capability also may include the maximum number of gaps supported—for e.g. maximum number of measurement gaps, maximum number of NCSG, maximum number of measurement gaps and NCSG together, maximum number of preconfigured gaps, maximum number of per UE (300) or per FR gaps [0101]).
Regarding claim 14, ABRAHAM teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein, the first access device is an access device of a primary cell of the dual-connectivity UE, and the second access device is an access device of a primary secondary cell of the dual-connectivity UE; or, the first access device is the access device of the primary secondary cell of the dual- connectivity UE, and the second access device is the access device of the primary cell of the dual-connectivity UE (One node acts as the master node (MN) and the other as the secondary node (SN). The MN and SN are connected via a network interface and at least the MN is connected to the core network. NG-RAN supports NG-RAN E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity (NGEN-DC), in which a UE is connected to one ng-eNB (a E-UTRA base station that can connect to 5G core) that acts as a MN and one gNB (5G base station) that acts as a SN [0066] FIG.10).
Regarding claims 15-17, the independent claim and each dependent claim are related to the same limitation set for hereinabove in claims 1-4, 5, 7, 9, 12-14, wherein the difference used is the limitations were presented from the “UE” side with controlling the measurement gap configuration sent by the primary secondary cell (ABRAHAM: [0045-50]) and the wordings of the claims were interchanged within the claim itself or some of the claims were presented as a combination of two or more previously presented limitations. This change does not affect the limitation of the above treated claims. Adding these phrases to the claims and interchanging the wording did not introduce new limitations to these claims. Therefore, these claims were rejected for similar reasons as stated above.
Regarding claims 18-20, 22, 24, 26, 29-30, the independent claim and each dependent claim are related to the same limitation set for hereinabove in claims 1-4, 5, 7, 9, 12-14, wherein the difference used is the limitations were presented from an “apparatus” side with ca processor, transceiver and a memory with instructions (ABRAHAM: [0137-138] FIG.2) and the wordings of the claims were interchanged within the claim itself or some of the claims were presented as a combination of two or more previously presented limitations. This change does not affect the limitation of the above treated claims. Adding these phrases to the claims and interchanging the wording did not introduce new limitations to these claims. Therefore, these claims were rejected for similar reasons as stated above.
Claims 21, 23, 25, 27-28, and 31-36 (Cancelled).
Conclusion
When responding to this office action, Applicant is advised to clearly point out the patentable novelty which he or she thinks the claims present, in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made. He or she must also show how the amendments avoid such references or objections See 37 CFR 1.111 (c).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABDELNABI O MUSA whose telephone number is (571)270-1901, and email address is abdelnabi.musa@uspto.gov ‘preferred’. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9:00 am - 5:00 pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kevin Bates, can be reached on 571-2723980. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABDELNABI O MUSA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472
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