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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 6-8, 16-18, 25, 27-29, and 31-34, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Da Silva et al. (US 2023/0199577 A1).
Regarding claim(s) 1 and 25, Da Silva discloses:
a communication apparatus (fig.17 the network node e.g. a base station), comprising a processor (fig.17 the processing circuitry) and a memory (fig.17 element 1730), wherein the memory stores a computer program, and the processor is configured to perform:
a method for controlling release of a source secondary node (fig.5 depicts a secondary node release method), executed by a source master node (fig.5 Source MN (1st Node) which is the Source Master Node), comprising:
receiving indication information sent by a target master node (fig.5 the handover success message sent from the target candidate MN-1 (3rd Node) when the UE sends the RRC_RECONFIGURATION_COMPLETE (RRCReconfiguration for SCG)), wherein the indication information is sent to source master node (fig.5 the handover success message as discussed above) after the target master node receives a reconfiguration complete message (fig.5 the UE sends the RRC Reconfiguration Complete message to the Target Candidate MN-1); and
initiating a source secondary node release procedure based on the indication information (fig.5 the Source MN initiates SN release procedure after reception of the handover success message), wherein the indication information is used to instruct the source master node to initiate the source secondary node release procedure (Fig.5 the Handover success provides an indication that the UE has been handed over from the Source MN to the Target Candidate MN-1, thus, the Source MN may release the SN).
Regarding claims 3 and 31, Da Silva discloses:
wherein the indication information is implicit indication information, or explicit indication information (fig.5 the handover complete message may be explicit and/or implicit).
Regarding claim 6, Da Silva discloses:
wherein the receiving the indication information sent by the target master node comprises:
determining receipt of the indication information, in response to receiving a handover success message sent by the target master node (fig.5 based on the handover message the S-MN perform S-SN Release Request, thus, the indication has been determined).
Regarding claims 7 and 33, Da Silva discloses:
wherein the source master node is configured to send a release request message to the source secondary node (fig.5 the Source MN sends the SN Release Request).
Regarding claim 8, 18, and 34, Da Silva discloses:
wherein the target master node is configured to send a handover success message to the source master node, wherein the handover success message is used to indicate the indication information (fig.5 the target MN sends the handover success message to the Source MN).
Regarding claims 16 and 28, Da Silva discloses:
a communication apparatus (fig.17 the network node e.g. a base station), comprising a processor (fig.17 the processing circuitry) and a memory (fig.17 element 1730), wherein the memory stores a computer program, and the processor is configured to perform:
a method for control release of a source secondary node (fig.5 the source secondary node release procedure), executed by a target master node (fig.5 the Target Candidate MN-1 (3rd Node) which is selected based on Conditional Handover), comprising:
receiving a reconfiguration complete message sent by a terminal (fig.5 the RRC Reconfiguration Complete message is sent from the UE to the Target Candidate MN-1);
forwarding the reconfiguration complete message to a target secondary node (fig.5 the SN reconfiguration complete is sent from the Target MN-1 to the Target SN once sent from the UE); and
sending indication information to a source master node (fig.5 the Handover Success message is sent from the Target MN to the Source MN), wherein the indication information is used to instruct the source master node to initiate a source secondary node release procedure (fig.5 the Handover Success message causes and indicates that the Source MN should release the Source SN).
Regarding claim 17, the disclosure of Da Silva teaches:
wherein the sending the indication information to the source master node comprises any one of:
sending the indication information to the source master node, in response to receiving a reconfiguration complete message (fig.5 the reconfiguration complete message is sent from the UE to the target, and the target sends handover complete message to the S-MN); or, forwarding the indication information to the source master node, in response to receiving the indication information sent by a target secondary node.
Regarding claims 27 and 32, Da Silva discloses:
wherein the source master node is configured to initiate a conditional handover (CHO) and conditional primary secondary cell (PSCell) change (fig.4 source MN determines to configure CHO, wherein the CHO from PCell to target PCell causes the PScell to be released as shown in fig.5).
Regarding claim 29, the disclosure of Da Silva teaches:
a communication system (fig.5 which depicts a communications system) for controlling release of a source secondary node (fig.5 depicts a secondary node release procedure), comprising:
a terminal (fig.5 a User Equipment), a source master node (fig.5 depicts a Source MN), a target master node (fig.5 depicts a target MN), a source secondary node (fig.5 depicts a Source SN), and a target secondary node (fig.5 depicts a target SN);
wherein, the terminal is configured to send a reconfiguration complete message to the target master node (fig.5 the UE sends the RRC Reconfiguration Message to the Target MN);
the target master node is configured to send indication information to the source master node (fig.5 the target MN sends the HO Success message to the Source MN), wherein the indication information is used to instruct the source master node to initiate a source secondary node release procedure (fig.5 the HO Success causes the SN release message);
the target master node is further configured to forward the reconfiguration complete message to the target secondary node (fig.5 the Target MN-1 sends the SN Reconfiguration Complete message to the Target Candidate SN);
the source master node is configured to initiate the source secondary node release procedure based on the indication information (fig.5 wherein the Source MN sends the SN release request to the Source SN).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 30 is 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMAAL HENSON whose telephone number is (571)272-5339. The examiner can normally be reached M-Thu: 7:30 am - 6:30 pm.
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JAMAAL HENSON
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2411
/JAMAAL HENSON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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