Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. This communication is in response to the Application No. 18/847,125 filed on 9/13/24. Claims 1 – 3, 5 – 7, 9 – 10, 13, 15- 17, 20 – 24, 26, 30 – 31 has been examined.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Claim(s) 1 – 2, 15 – 16, 30 – 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Nokia (WO 2021/195012).
Regarding claim 1, A method for a neighbor cell measurement, performed by a terminal, comprising:
receiving configuration information of a first measurement window, wherein the first measurement window is configured for a beam measurement based on a reference signal of a neighbor cell (Fig. 5 illustrates the potential steps of an example embodiment. In accordance with one aspect, an example method 500 may be provided comprising: determining a discovery window, 510; determining that one or more measurements of respective reference signals of a plurality of neighboring cells is needed, 520; configuring one or more user equipments to perform the one or more needed measurements, wherein the configuring of the one or more user equipments is configured to cause the one or more user equipments to measure on at least one segment of the discovery window, 530; and obtaining, from the one or more configured user equipments, at least one of the one or more needed measurements, 540, paragraph 56); and
measuring the reference signal based on the first measurement window, to obtain a beam measurement result of the neighbor cell (The shaded portion of the neighbor cell DRS window indicates where the neighbor cell could be transmitting a DRS, 410, of which a cell serving UEl, UB2, UB3, and/or UE4 may want to obtain measurements. The UBs may be configured by the gNB with measurement windows of duration 6 msec and periodicity 20 msec, but different offsets. For example, UBI may begin measuring 420 at offset Oas compared to a specific slot and SFN of the serving cell, while the measurement ofUE2, 430, may be offset by 5 msec with respect to the specific slot and SFN of the serving cell, paragraph 54).
Regarding claim 2, The method according to claim 1, wherein the configuration information of the first measurement window comprises at least one of following first configuration parameters:
a first length of the first measurement window (DRS may be transmitted at regular intervals. For example, SSB may be transmitted during a 5 msec window length, with a periodicity that may be configured to be 20, 40, or 80 msec, etc. AUE may be configured by its serving cell to measure the DRS of the serving cell and the DRS of neighboring cell(s), paragraph 24);
a first cycle of the first measurement window;
a first offset value of the first measurement window (For example, UBI may begin measuring 420 at offset 0 as compared to a specific slot and SFN of the serving cell, while the measurement ofUE2, 430, may be offset by 5 msec with respect to the specific slot and SFN of the serving cell, paragraph 54); or
a first timing advance of the first measurement window (a timing advance value associated with the respective selected user equipment, or one or more respective neighboring cells for which the respective selected user equipment previously measured a reference signal, paragraph 70).
Regarding claim 15, A method for a neighbor cell measurement, performed by a network device, comprising:
sending configuration information of a first measurement window, wherein the first measurement window is configured for a beam measurement based on a reference signal of a neighbor cell (Fig. 5 illustrates the potential steps of an example embodiment. In accordance with one aspect, an example method 500 may be provided comprising: determining a discovery window, 510; determining that one or more measurements of respective reference signals of a plurality of neighboring cells is needed, 520; configuring one or more user equipments to perform the one or more needed measurements, wherein the configuring of the one or more user equipments is configured to cause the one or more user equipments to measure on at least one segment of the discovery window, 530; and obtaining, from the one or more configured user equipments, at least one of the one or more needed measurements, 540, paragraph 56; The direction of a UE may be determined based on the beam on which the UE is located and/or SSB used by the serving gNB for communicating with the UE, paragraph 52; a segment of the discovery window that needs to be measured, a location of a cell of the base station that needs to be measured, or a beam that needs to be measured, paragraph 66); and
receiving a beam measurement result of the neighbor cell obtained by a terminal through performing a measurement based on the reference signal (a timing advance value associated with the respective selected user equipment, or one or more respective neighboring cells for which the respective selected user equipment previously measured a reference signal, paragraph 70; The direction of a UE may be determined based on the beam on which the UE is located and/or SSB used by the serving gNB for communicating with the UE. The location of a UE may be determined based on the direction of the UE and/or based on the timing advance associated with the UE, paragraph 48).
Regarding claim 16, the method substantially has same limitations as claim 2, thus the same rejection.
Regarding claim 30, the terminal substantially has same limitations as claim 15, thus the same rejection is applicable.
Regarding claim 31, A network device, comprising:
a processor (processor, 120, paragraph 10, Fig. 1); and
a transceiver coupled to the processor (transceiver, 130, paragraph 10, Fig. 1);
wherein the processor is configured to perform the method according to claim 15.
Allowable Subject Matter
6. Claims 3, 5 – 7, 9 – 10, 13, 17, 20 – 24, 26 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
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TANMAY K SHAH whose telephone number is (571)270-3624. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri - 8:00 - 5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh Fan can be reached at 571-272-3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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TANMAY K. SHAH
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2632
/TANMAY K SHAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632
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