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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) was/were submitted on 9/18/24, 10/9/25, 7/28/26. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 1 is/are objected to because of the following informalities: change “located; transmitting” to “located; and transmitting”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim(s) 2 is/are objected to because of the following informalities: change “MN” to “(MN)”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim(s) 10 and 30 is/are objected to because of the following informalities: change “claims” to “claim”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim(s) 21 is/are objected to because of the following informalities: change “the processor” to “a processor” and “a processor” to “the processor” and “processor;” to “processor; and” and it is suggested to change “indicate the target PSCell and/or” to “indicate at least one of the target PSCell or” to be consistent with claim 1. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim(s) 23 is/are objected to because of the following informalities: change “processor;” to “processor; and”. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 5-9 and 25-28 is/are 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.
Claim 5 recites the limitations "the cell identification information" and “the frequency information”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim. Does Applicant meant to have this claim be dependent on claim 2?
Claim 6 recites the limitations “the reconfiguration identifier” and “the reconfiguration message for the PCell issued by the network device”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim. Does Applicant meant to have this claim be dependent on claim 2?
Claim 7 recites the limitations "the numbering information” and “the candidate PSCell list”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim. Does Applicant meant to have this claim be dependent on claim 2?
Claim 8 recites the limitation "the identification information”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Does Applicant meant to have this claim be dependent on claim 2?
Claim 9 recites the limitation "the cell group identification information of the cell group”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Does Applicant meant to have this claim be dependent on claim 2?
Claims 25-28 recite similar limitations of claims 5-8, respectively and are thus rejected under similar rationale.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-9, 21-25, and 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20210400760 by Yang (IDS filed 7/28/26).
Regarding claim 21, Yang teaches a user equipment (fig. 12, shows a UE; ¶ 48, a terminal device such as a user equipment (UE); ¶ 245, FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of a hardware structure of an electronic device (terminal device or base station) according to the embodiments of the present disclosure), comprising:
a memory, configured to store a computer program (fig. 17, memory 1702; ¶ 246-248);
a transceiver, configured to transmit and receive data under control of the processor (fig. 6, shows bidirectional communication between terminal device and base station. In view of fig. 6, the terminal device must have a transceiver in order to perform bidirectional communication with a base station; ¶ 248);
a processor, configured to read the computer program from the memory and perform following operations (fig. 17, processor 1701; ¶ 248):
determining a PCell reconfiguration completion message according to a target primary cell (PCell) and a target primary secondary cell (PSCell) which are to be switched (¶ 188, UE reports indication information for indicating that the target PSCell satisfies the condition of PSCell addition/change to the target PCell/MN after the PCell handover is completed; ¶ 186, the PCell handover procedure is performed for handover to a target PCell within the coverage area of a target MN; ¶ 190, indication information may be carried in a handover complete message (e.g., an RRCReconfigurationComplete message),
wherein the PCell reconfiguration completion message comprises a PSCell reconfiguration completion message and indication information (¶ 188, UE reports indication information for indicating that the target PSCell satisfies the condition of PSCell addition/change to the target PCell/MN after the PCell handover is completed; ¶ 189, indication information may include a frequency point of the target PSCell and physical cell identity (PCI) information; ¶ 141, the indication information includes at least one of a frequency point of the target primary secondary cell or a physical cell identity of the target primary secondary cell; ¶ 190, indication information may be carried in a handover complete message (e.g., an RRCReconfigurationComplete message),
wherein the indication information is configured to indicate the target PSCell and/or a target secondary node (SN) where the target PSCell is located (¶ 189, indication information may include a frequency point of the target PSCell and physical cell identity (PCI) information; ¶ 141, the indication information includes at least one of a frequency point of the target primary secondary cell or a physical cell identity of the target primary secondary cell);
and transmitting the PCell reconfiguration completion message to a network device (¶ 188, the UE reports indication information for indicating that the target PSCell satisfies the condition of PSCell addition/change to the target PCell/MN after the PCell handover is completed; ¶ 190, indication information may be carried in a handover complete message (e.g., an RRCReconfigurationComplete message).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yang’s teachings with Yang’s one or more other embodiments’ teachings. The motivation is ensuring that an access of a terminal device to a target primary secondary cell does not affect a service provided by dual connectivity for the terminal device (Yang ¶ 5).
Regarding claim 22, Yang teaches the user equipment according to claim 21, wherein the indication information comprises at least one of the following: cell identification information of the target PSCell (Yang ¶ 189, indication information may include a frequency point of the target PSCell and physical cell identity (PCI) information; ¶ 141, the indication information includes at least one of a frequency point of the target primary secondary cell or a physical cell identity of the target primary secondary cell); frequency information of the target PSCell (Yang ¶ 189, indication information may include a frequency point of the target PSCell and physical cell identity (PCI) information; ¶ 141, the indication information includes at least one of a frequency point of the target primary secondary cell or a physical cell identity of the target primary secondary cell); a reconfiguration identifier corresponding to the PCell reconfiguration completion message, wherein the reconfiguration identifier is the same as a reconfiguration identifier carried in a reconfiguration message for a PCell issued by the network device; numbering information of the target PSCell, wherein the numbering information comprises a serial number of the target PSCell in a candidate PSCell list of the PCell reconfiguration completion message; identification information of the target PSCell, wherein the identification information of the target PSCell is an identifier assigned to a candidate PSCell associated with the target PCell by a network side node where the target PSCell is located, and the network side node comprises an MN where the target PCell is located; and cell group identification information of a cell group where the target PSCell is located.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yang’s teachings with Yang’s one or more other embodiments’ teachings. The motivation is ensuring that an access of a terminal device to a target primary secondary cell does not affect a service provided by dual connectivity for the terminal device (Yang ¶ 5).
Regarding claim 23, Yang teaches a network device (fig. 12, target MN; ¶ 3, A base station managing the MCG is referred to as a master node (MN), and a base station managing the SCG is referred to as a secondary node (SN);¶ 245, FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of a hardware structure of an electronic device (terminal device or base station) according to the embodiments of the present disclosure), comprising:
a memory, configured to store a computer program (fig. 17, memory 1702; ¶ 246-248);
a transceiver, configured to transmit and receive data under control of a processor (fig. 6, shows bidirectional communication between terminal device and base station. In view of fig. 6, the base station must have a transceiver in order to perform bidirectional communication with a terminal device; ¶ 248);
the processor, configured to read the computer program from the memory and perform following operations (fig. 17, processor 1701; ¶ 248):
receiving a PCell reconfiguration completion message transmitted by a user equipment (¶ 188, UE reports indication information for indicating that the target PSCell satisfies the condition of PSCell addition/change to the target PCell/MN after the PCell handover is completed; ¶ 190, indication information may be carried in a handover complete message (e.g., an RRCReconfigurationComplete message),
wherein the PCell reconfiguration completion message comprises a PSCell reconfiguration completion message and indication information (¶ 188, UE reports indication information for indicating that the target PSCell satisfies the condition of PSCell addition/change to the target PCell/MN after the PCell handover is completed; ¶ 189, indication information may include a frequency point of the target PSCell and physical cell identity (PCI) information; ¶ 141, the indication information includes at least one of a frequency point of the target primary secondary cell or a physical cell identity of the target primary secondary cell; ¶ 190, indication information may be carried in a handover complete message (e.g., an RRCReconfigurationComplete message),
wherein the indication information is configured to indicate at least one of a target PSCell or a target SN where a target PSCell is located (¶ 189, indication information may include a frequency point of the target PSCell and physical cell identity (PCI) information; ¶ 141, the indication information includes at least one of a frequency point of the target primary secondary cell or a physical cell identity of the target primary secondary cell);
determining the target SN according to the indication information (¶ 192, the target MN may immediately initiate a target PSCell addition/change request to the target SN, using the indication information, for the UE to add or change the PSCell. Although not explicitly stated, since the target MN sends a target PSCell addition/change request to the target SN using the indication information, the target MN must determine a destination (in this case the target SN) to send the target PSCell addition/change request according to/using the indication information; ¶ 181, the target SN where the target PSCell…is located);
and transmitting the PSCell reconfiguration completion message to the target SN (¶ 192, the target MN may immediately initiate a target PSCell addition/change request to the target SN, using the indication information, for the UE to add or change the PSCell).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yang’s teachings with Yang’s one or more other embodiments’ teachings. The motivation is ensuring that an access of a terminal device to a target primary secondary cell does not affect a service provided by dual connectivity for the terminal device (Yang ¶ 5).
Claim 24 recite similar limitations of claim 22 and is thus rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding claim 25, Yang teaches the network device according to claim 23, wherein when the indication information comprises at least one of the cell identification information or the frequency information of the target PSCell (Yang ¶ 189, indication information may include a frequency point of the target PSCell and physical cell identity (PCI) information; ¶ 141, the indication information includes at least one of a frequency point of the target primary secondary cell or a physical cell identity of the target primary secondary cell), the determining the target SN based on the indication information comprises:
determining a PSCell indicated by at least one of the frequency information or the cell identification information as the target PSCell (Yang ¶ 192, the target MN…using the indication information; ¶ 189, indication information may include a frequency point of the target PSCell and physical cell identity (PCI) information; ¶ 141, the indication information includes at least one of a frequency point of the target primary secondary cell or a physical cell identity of the target primary secondary cell. Although not explicitly stated, since the target MN uses a frequency point of the target PSCell and physical cell identity (PCI) information of the target PSCell, the target MN must know/determine them in order to use them);
and determining a node where the target PSCell is located as the target SN (Yang ¶ 192, the target MN may immediately initiate a target PSCell addition/change request to the target SN, using the indication information, for the UE to add or change the PSCell; ¶ 181, the target SN where the target PSCell…is located. Although not explicitly stated, since the target MN sends a target PSCell addition/change request to the target SN, the target MN must determine a destination node/device (in this case the target SN) to send the target PSCell addition/change request).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yang’s teachings with Yang’s one or more other embodiments’ teachings. The motivation is ensuring that an access of a terminal device to a target primary secondary cell does not affect a service provided by dual connectivity for the terminal device (Yang ¶ 5).
Regarding claim 31, Yang teaches a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium, wherein the non-transitory processor readable storage medium stores a computer program for causing a processor to execute (fig. 17, memory 1702; ¶ 246-248) the information processing method according to claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yang’s teachings with Yang’s one or more other embodiments’ teachings. The motivation is ensuring that an access of a terminal device to a target primary secondary cell does not affect a service provided by dual connectivity for the terminal device (Yang ¶ 5).
Claims 1-5 recite similar limitations of claims 21-25, respectively and are thus rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding claim 6, Yang teaches the information processing method according to claim 3, wherein when the indication information comprises the reconfiguration identifier corresponding to the PCell reconfiguration completion message, the determining the target SN according to the indication information comprises: determining, according to the reconfiguration identifier, a target reconfiguration message in the reconfiguration message for the PCell issued by the network device matching the reconfiguration identifier; determining a PSCell applied in a PSCell reconfiguration message contained in the target reconfiguration message as the target PSCell; and determining a node where the target PSCell is located as the target SN (given non-patentable weight since the condition is not satisfied. See MPEP 2111.04(II) for more information).
Regarding claim 7, Yang teaches the information processing method according to claim 3, wherein when the indication information comprises the numbering information of the target PSCell, the determining the target SN based on the indication information comprises: determining, according to the numbering information, a PSCell in the candidate PSCell list which is at a same position as the numbering information as the target PSCell; and determining a node where the target PSCell is located as the target SN (given non-patentable weight since the condition is not satisfied. See MPEP 2111.04(II) for more information).
Regarding claim 8, Yang teaches the information processing method according to claim 3, wherein when the indication information comprises the identification information of the target PSCell, the determining the target SN based on the indication information comprises: determining, according to the identification information of the target PSCell, a PSCell in a candidate PSCell list matching the identification information of the target PSCell as the target PSCell; and determining a node where the target PSCell is located as the target SN (given non-patentable weight since the condition is not satisfied. See MPEP 2111.04(II) for more information).
Regarding claim 9, Yang teaches the information processing method according to claim 3, wherein when the indication information comprises the cell group identification information of the cell group where the target PSCell is located, the determining the target SN according to the indication information comprises: acquiring the cell group identification information of the cell group where the target PSCell is located according to the indication information; determining, according to the cell group identification information, a cell group which is in a candidate cell group corresponding to the network device and of which cell group identification information is as same as the cell group identification information; and determining an SN where the cell group is located as the target SN (given non-patentable weight since the condition is not satisfied. See MPEP 2111.04(II) for more information).
Claim(s) 10 and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang in view of US 20220369181 by Selvaganapathy et al. (hereinafter Selvaganapathy).
Regarding claim 30, Yang teaches the network device according to claims 23.
Although Yang teaches the processor is further configured to and the target SN, Yang does not explicitly disclose the processor is further configured to: transmit a node release indication to a further SN, wherein the further SN does not comprise the target SN, and the node release indication is configured to indicate the further SN to release a reserved resource.
Selvaganapathy in the same or similar field of endeavor teaches a processor is configured to: transmit a node release indication to a further SN, wherein the further SN does not comprise a target SN, and the node release indication is configured to indicate the further SN to release a reserved resource (¶ 65, In response to receiving the UE context release message from the target MN 130, the source SN 122 may release radio resources associated with UE 110; fig. 4b, shows target SN and source SN being different; fig. 2, processor 202; ¶ 47). By modifying Yang’s teachings of the processor is further configured to and the target SN with Selvaganapathy’s teachings of a processor is configured to: transmit a node release indication to a further SN, wherein the further SN does not comprise a target SN, and the node release indication is configured to indicate the further SN to release a reserved resource, the modification results in the processor is further configured to: transmit a node release indication to a further SN, wherein the further SN does not comprise the target SN, and the node release indication is configured to indicate the further SN to release a reserved resource.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yang’s teachings with Selvaganapathy’s above teachings. The motivation is enabling reduction of signaling overhead and improving reliability and throughput of a dual connectivity system (Selvaganapathy ¶ 4). Known work in one field of endeavor (Selvaganapathy prior art) may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one (Yang prior art) based on design incentives (enabling reduction of signaling overhead and improving reliability and throughput of a dual connectivity system) or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one or ordinary skill in the art.
Claim 10 recite similar limitations of claim 30 and is thus rejected under similar rationale.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 26-28 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 20200359287 discloses a UE sending an RRC reconfiguration completion message indicating that the UE completed PCell and PScell handover.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER P CHAU whose telephone number is (571)270-7152. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30 A.M - 6 P.M. ET M-F.
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/PETER P CHAU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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