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 (IDS) submitted on October 2, 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on October 2, 2024. These drawings are acceptable.
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.
Claim(s) 21-24, 37, and 44-51 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kadiri et al. (hereinafter “Kadiri”, US 2024/0022968) in view of Dai et al. (hereinafter “Dai”, US 2025/0071850).
Regarding claims 21, 37, and 44, Kadiri discloses a method, an apparatus, and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying a computer program comprising instruction which, when the program is executed by a computer of a User Equipment (UE), cause the computer for reselecting, a new serving cell of a wireless communication system, the method at the UE comprising:
receiving, from a serving base station as part of a Multicast Broadcast Service, MBS, procedure for receiving a multicast MBS session, multicast MBS information for one or more candidate base stations (i.e., source eNB 404 transmits system information including MB service information for a second RAT as described in paragraph 0074), the multicast MBS information for a candidate base station indicating whether the respective candidate base station can support a multicast MBS service for the UE (i.e., the MB service information includes NR MBS service information and identifies a set of NR frequencies for one or more neighbor base stations (including for the target gNB 406), and indicate whether the MB service is a multicast service or a broadcast service as described in paragraph 0074);
selecting one of the one or more candidate base stations as a new serving base station for the UE based on the received multicast MBS information (i.e., selecting a neighbor base station as described in paragraph 0075-0076).
Kadiri, however, does not expressly disclose a serving cell, and candidate cells.
In a similar endeavor, Dai discloses method and apparatus of supporting multicast and broadcast service (MBS). Dai also discloses a serving cell and candidate cells (i.e., a list of cells belonging to gNB and neighbor BSs as described in paragraphs 0076-0079).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art to modify the teachings of the cited references and arrive at the present invention.
The motivation/suggestion for doing so would have been to enable the UE to continue receiving multicast service.
Regarding claims 22 and 47, Kadiri and Dai disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Kadiri also discloses wherein the UE is participating in one or more multicast Multicast Broadcast Service, MBS, sessions (i.e., MBS as described in paragraph 0068).
Regarding claims 23 and 48, Kadiri and Dai disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Kadiri also discloses wherein the UE is operating in a RRC_INACTIVE state (i.e., RRC inactive state as described in paragraph 0083).
Regarding claims 24 and 49, Kadiri and Dai disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Dai also discloses in response to selecting the one of the one or more candidate cells as the new serving cell, switching to the new serving cell (i.e., selecting a cell as described in paragraphs 0080-0081).
Regarding claims 45 and 50, Kadiri and Dai disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Dai also discloses wherein receiving comprises receiving, from a serving base station as part of a Multicast Broadcast Service, MBS, procedure for establishing a multicast MBS session, the multicast MBS information for one or more candidate cells (i.e., establishing a multicast service as described in paragraphs 0009 and 0042).
Regarding claims 46 and 51, Kadiri and Dai disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Dai also discloses wherein the MBS information includes a list of cells that can provide one or more multicast MBS services for the UE (i.e., gNB1 transmits the MRB configuration information for multicast reception in RRC non-connected state of all cells in the list to the UE as described in paragraphs 0077-0079).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WAYNE CAI whose telephone number is (571)272-7798. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday, 7:00 AM-5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, KATHY WANG-HURST can be reached on (571)270-5371. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Wayne H Cai/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644
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