DETAILED ACTION
Claim(s) 1-20 have been examined and are pending.
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 § 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 1, 3, 10, and 16 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 1 recites the limitation "the transceiver". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 3 recites the limitation "the transceiver". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "the timer". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 16 recites the limitation "the transceiver". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
For the purposes of examination claim(s) 1 and 16 will be examined in the following manner,
Claim 1
“1. A user equipment (UE), comprising:
at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to:
in response to fulfilling a trigger condition, generate first information associated with a successful completion of a primary secondary cell group cell (PSCell) change procedure or a conditional PSCell addition and change (CPAC) procedure, wherein the UE switches from a source PSCell to a target PSCell during the PSCell change procedure or the CPAC procedure; and
transmit the first information
Claim 3
“3. a master node (MN), comprising:
at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the MN to:
transmit a radio resource control (RRC) message for a primary secondary cell group cell (PSCell) change procedure or a conditional PSCell addition and change (CPAC) procedure via [[the]] a transceiver to a user equipment (UE); and
receive first information associated with a successful completion of the PSCell change procedure or the CPAC procedure via the transceiver from the UE, wherein the UE switches from a source PSCell to a target PSCell during the PSCell change procedure or the CPAC procedure.”
Claim 10
“10. The MN of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the MN to: start a timer in response to receiving the first information; and identify that that both the first information and the second information are associated with the PSCell change procedure or the CPAC procedure, in response to receiving the second information before an expiry of [[the]] a timer.”
Claim 16
“16. a method performed by a master node (MN), the method comprising:
transmitting a radio resource control (RRC) message for a primary secondary cell group cell (PSCell) change procedure or a conditional PSCell addition and change (CPAC) procedure via
receiving first information associated with a successful completion of the PSCell change procedure or the CPAC procedure via [[the]] a transceiver from the UE, wherein the UE switches from a source PSCell to a target PSCell during the PSCell change procedure or the CPAC procedure.”
Claim Interpretation
With respect to the method of claim 16, that the broadest reasonable interpretation of a method claim containing contingent limitations such as where (A) the first information includes at least one of: information associated with the first measurement frequency or identity or object, or cell information associated with the first measurement frequency or identity or object or where the (B) the first information includes at least one of: information associated with the second measurement frequency or identity or object, or cell information associated with the second measurement frequency or identity or object, requires only those steps that must be performed (i.e. the steps of parent claim 3) and does not include steps that are not required to be performed because the condition(s) precedent such as where (i) a ratio between a value of elapsed running time of timer T312 related to a first measurement frequency or identity or object of the target PSCell and a configured value of the timer T312 is longer than a first threshold or (ii) a ratio between a value of elapsed running time of timer T312 related to a second measurement frequency or identity or object and a configured value of the timer T312 is longer than a second threshold, are not met. See Ex parte Schulhauser, Appeal 2013-007847 (PTAB April 28, 2016) for an analysis of contingent claim limitations in the context of both method claims and system claims.
Regarding Claim 20, in a case where maintaining proper antecedent basis of a limitation, “…the information container” depends on a condition that makes the limitation optional, such as where in parent claim 13, “….the second message includes at least one of…an information container” the condition will be regarded as requiring the limitation.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 15, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by ERICSSON (“Conditional PSCell Change / Addition” R2-2101270, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #113e, January 25th – February 5th, 2021).
In regards to claim 15, ERICSSON (“Conditional PSCell Change / Addition” R2-2101270, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #113e, January 25th – February 5th, 2021 ) teaches a method performed by a source secondary node (SN), the method comprising (See [Section 2.2, Fig. 3] which illustrates a source secondary node, S-SN):
receiving first information associated with a successful completion of a primary secondary cell group cell (PSCell) change procedure or a conditional PSCell addition and change (CPAC) procedure from a master node (MN), wherein a user equipment (UE) switches from a source PSCell managed by the source SN to a target PSCell during the PSCell change procedure or the CPAC procedure (See [Section 2.2, Fig. 3], where the S-SN receives first information, RRCReconfigurationComplete**, associated with a successful completion of a PSCell change procedure from a Master Node, MN, wherein a UE switches a source PSCell managed by the S-SN, to a target PSCell managed by the T-SN, during the PSCell change procedure).
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.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 4, 5, 16, 17, 18, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ERICSSON (“Conditional PSCell Change / Addition” R2-2101270, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #113e, January 25th – February 5th, 2021) in view of Ramachandra (US 20250048202 A1)
In regards to claim 1, ERICSSON (“Conditional PSCell Change / Addition” R2-2101270, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #113e, January 25th – February 5th, 2021 ) teaches a user equipment (UE), comprising (See [Section 2.2, Fig. 3] which illustrates a UE):
in response to fulfilling a trigger condition, generate first information associated with a successful completion of a primary secondary cell group cell (PSCell) change procedure or a conditional PSCell addition and change (CPAC) procedure, wherein the UE switches from a source PSCell to a target PSCell during the PSCell change procedure or the CPAC procedure (See in [Section 2.2 SN-initiated inter-SN CPC under subsection Complete upon SN-initiated inter-SN configuration and execution] where it recites in response to fulfilling a trigger condition, upon fulfillment of the CPC conditions, generating first information, RRCRecongigurationComplete**, associated with successful completion of a PSCell change procedure, wherein the UE switches from a source PSCell to a target PSCell during the PSCell Change Procedure.); and
transmit the first information via the transceiver to a master node (MN) or a target secondary node (SN) which manages the target PSCell (See [Section 2.2, Fig. 3] where the UE transmits a “7. RRCReconfigurationCompleteMessage” to a master node, MN).
The UE of Ericsson differs from that of claim 1, in that Ericsson is silent on wherein the UE comprises at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to perform the features of claim 1. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art involving UEs.
Ramachandra (US 20250048202 A1) teaches where a UE comprises at least one memory and a processor coupled to the at least one memory. Ramachandra further teach where the processor and the at least one memory of the UE are used to facilitate wireless communication (“[0225] UE 2000 includes processing circuitry 2002 that is operatively coupled via a bus 2004 to an input/output interface 2006, a power source 2008, a memory 2010, a communication interface 2012, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in FIG. 20. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc. [0226] Processing circuitry 2002 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in memory 2010… [0231] Processing circuitry 2002 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using communication interface 2012..Communication interface 2012 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network).…”).
Thus based upon the teachings of RAMACHANDRA it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE of ERICSSON to include at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to perform operations pertaining to wireless communications as similarly seen in RAMACHANDRA, to thus arrive at claim 1, in order to provide a benefit of a reliable physical structure to realize the wireless communication features taught by ERICSSON.
In regards to claim 3, ERICSSON (“Conditional PSCell Change / Addition” R2-2101270, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #113e, January 25th – February 5th, 2021 ) teaches a master node (MN), comprising (See [Section 2.2, Fig. 3] which illustrates a MN):
transmit a radio resource control (RRC) message for a primary secondary cell group cell (PSCell) change procedure or a conditional PSCell addition and change (CPAC) procedure via the transceiver to a user equipment (UE) (See in [Fig. 3] where the MN transmits a RRC message, “4b. RRCReconfiguration (including CPC as an MN-configuration + nr-scg=RCReconfiguration***)” for a PSCell change procedure to a UE.); and
receive first information associated with a successful completion of the PSCell change procedure or the CPAC procedure via the transceiver from the UE, wherein the UE switches from a source PSCell to a target PSCell during the PSCell change procedure or the CPAC procedure (See [Section 2.2, Fig. 3] where the MN receives a “7. RRCReconfigurationCompleteMessage” transmitted from the UE).
The MN of Ericsson differs from that of claim 3, in that Ericsson is silent on wherein the ME comprises at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the MN to perform the features of claim 3. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art involving network nodes.
Ramachandra (US 20250048202 A1) teaches where a network node comprises at least one memory and a processor coupled to the at least one memory. Ramachandra further teach where the processor and the at least one memory of the network node are used to facilitate wireless communication (“[0238] FIG. 21 shows a network node 2100 in accordance with some embodiments. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs, e.g., radio access points) and base stations (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, eNBs, gNBs, etc.)..… [0241] Network node 2100 includes processing circuitry 2102, memory 2104, communication interface 2106, and power source 2108. Network node 2100 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.)… [0242] Processing circuitry 2102 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 2100 components, such as memory 2104, to provide network node 2100 functionality… [0245] Communication interface 2106 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between a network node, access network, and/or UE. As illustrated, communication interface 2106 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 2116 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection.”).
Thus based upon the teachings of RAMACHANDRA it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the network node of ERICSSON (i.e the MN) to include at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the MN to perform operations pertaining to wireless communications as similarly seen in RAMACHANDRA, to thus arrive at claim 3, in order to provide a benefit of a reliable physical structure to realize the wireless communication features taught by ERICSSON.
In regards to claim 16, ERICSSON (“Conditional PSCell Change / Addition” R2-2101270, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #113e, January 25th – February 5th, 2021 ) teaches a method performed by a master node (MN), the method comprising:
transmitting a radio resource control (RRC) message for a primary secondary cell group cell (PSCell) change procedure or a conditional PSCell addition and change (CPAC) procedure via the transceiver to a user equipment (UE) (See in [Fig. 3] where the MN transmits a RRC message, “4b. RRCReconfiguration (including CPC as an MN-configuration + nr-scg=RCReconfiguration***)” for a PSCell change procedure to a UE.);and
receiving first information associated with a successful completion of the PSCell change procedure or the CPAC procedure(See [Section 2.2, Fig. 3] where the MN receives a “7. RRCReconfigurationCompleteMessage” transmitted from the UE).
The method of Ericsson differs from that of claim 16, in that Ericsson is silent on receiving the first information via a transceiver from the UE, as arranged with the remaining elements of claim 16. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art wireless communication features.
Ramachandra (US 20250048202 A1) teaches where a UE comprises a transceiver, where the transceiver of the UE are used to facilitate wireless communication to and from network nodes (“[0225] UE 2000 includes processing circuitry 2002 that is operatively coupled via a bus 2004 to an input/output interface 2006, a power source 2008, a memory 2010, a communication interface 2012, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in FIG. 20. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc. [0226] Processing circuitry 2002 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in memory 2010… [0231] Processing circuitry 2002 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using communication interface 2012..Communication interface 2012 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network).…”).
Thus based upon the teachings of RAMACHANDRA it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of ERICSSON (i.e the MN) to rely upon use of a transceiver at the UE perform operations pertaining to wireless communications as similarly seen in RAMACHANDRA, to thus arrive at claim 16, in order to provide a benefit of a reliable physical structure to realize the wireless communication features taught by ERICSSON.
In regards to claim 4, ERICSSON is silent on the MN of claim 3, wherein:
in response to the first information being generated when a ratio between a value of elapsed running time of timer T312 related to a first measurement frequency or identity or object of the target PSCell and a configured value of the timer T312 is longer than a first threshold, the first information includes at least one of: information associated with the first measurement frequency or identity or object, or cell information associated with the first measurement frequency or identity or object; and
in response to the first information being generated when a ratio between a value of elapsed running time of timer T312 related to a second measurement frequency or identity or object and a configured value of the timer T312 is longer than a second threshold, the first information includes at least one of: information associated with the second measurement frequency or identity or object, or cell information associated with the second measurement frequency or identity or object. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art involving handover.
Ramachandra (US 20250048202 A1) teaches a handover feature (See [Par. 1 -12] which describes the technical field of endeavor as being directed to handover). RAMACHANDRA further teaches with respect to handover, a successful handover report (SHR), that is transmitted from a UE to a network side device (See at least [Abstract, Par. 1, and elsewhere throughout the disclosure of RAMACHANDRA]). With respect to the SHR, RAMACHANDRA teaches, generating the SHR in response to when a ratio between a value of elapsed time of a timer 312 related to a first measurement frequency or identity or object of a target cell and a configured value of a timer T312 being longer than a first threshold, where the first information includes at least one of: information associated with the first measurement frequency or identity or object, or target cell information associated with the first measurement frequency or identity or object; and
generating the SHR in response to a ratio between a value of elapsed time of a timer 312 related to a second measurement frequency or identity or object of a target cell and a configured value of a timer T312 being longer than a second threshold, where the first information includes at least one of: information associated with the second frequency measurement or identity or object or target cell information associated with the second measurement frequency identity or object (See at least [Par. 11 - 24] also see “[0152] One condition that triggers SHR is also related to T312, specifically a threshold value (e.g., thresholdPercentageT312) that indicates a percentage of the elapsed time to the configured maximum time for T312. Once the HO is executed, the UE starts checking whether the T312 value is above the configured thresholdPercentageT312. The UE generate a SHR when the T312 value exceeds thresholdPercentageT312.[0153] When a UE is configured with multiple measID-linked reporting configurations in which T312 has been enabled and also with a thresholdPercentageT312 triggering condition for SHR, the network is currently unable to determine which of the configured T312-related conditions triggered SHR by the UE. For example, it is unclear whether SHR is triggered by T312 associated with a measID-linked reporting configuration for the target cell related frequency or by T312 associated with a reporting configurations associated for frequencies of cells other than the target. This can cause various ambiguities in how the network interprets a SHR received from the UE.[0154] Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure provide flexible and efficient techniques whereby a UE receives a SHR configuration from a RAN node, with the SHR configuration including one or more of the following: [0155] a list of T312 thresholds, where each entry corresponds to a specific frequency, a specific measurement object, a specific measurement identity, or a specific reporting configuration identity; [0156] a specific indication of which measurement frequency related configuration is applicable to the T312 threshold included in the SHR configuration; [0157] an implicit indication that the T312 threshold is applicable to measurements on the frequency of a HO target cell; and [0158] an implicit indication that the T312 threshold is applicable to measurements on the frequencies of CHO candidate target cell(s). [0159] The UE can store the SHR configuration received in this manner and use it to trigger sending of a SHR whenever needed while operating in RRC_CONNECTED state. The UE's SHR includes at least one of the following: [0160] indication of which measurement object(s) met the triggering condition; [0161] indication of which measurement identity(ies) met the triggering condition; [0162] indication of which reporting configuration(s) met the triggering condition; [0163] indication of which reporting configuration ID(s) met the triggering condition; [0164] indication of which candidate target cell ID(s) met the triggering condition [0165] indication of which frequency(ies) met the triggering condition; and [0166] the T312 value configured by the network, associated with the triggering condition that was met.”)
Thus, based upon the teachings of Ramachandra (US 20250048202 A1) it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the handoff feature involving PSCell Change of ERICSSON by adopting a feature where in response to the first information being generated when a ratio between a value of elapsed running time of timer T312 related to a first measurement frequency or identity or object of the target PSCell and a configured value of the timer T312 is longer than a first threshold, the first information includes at least one of: information associated with the first measurement frequency or identity or object, or cell information associated with the first measurement frequency or identity or object; and
in response to the first information being generated when a ratio between a value of elapsed running time of timer T312 related to a second measurement frequency or identity or object and a configured value of the timer T312 is longer than a second threshold, the first information includes at least one of: information associated with the second measurement frequency or identity or object, or cell information associated with the second measurement frequency or identity or object, as similarly seen in RAMACHANDRA, to thus arrive at claim 4, in order to provide a successful handover report (SHR) in a case the UE is configured with multiple SHR configurations.
In regards to claim 17, ERCISSON is silent on the method of claim 16, wherein: in response to the first information being generated when a ratio between a value of elapsed running time of timer T312 related to a first measurement frequency or identity or object of the target PSCell and a configured value of the timer T312 is longer than a first threshold, the first information includes at least one of: information associated with the first measurement frequency or identity or object, or cell information associated with the first measurement frequency or identity or object; and in response to the first information being generated when a ratio between a value of elapsed running time of timer T312 related to a second measurement frequency or identity or object and a configured value of the timer T312 is longer than a second threshold, the first information includes at least one of: information associated with the second measurement frequency or identity or object, or cell information associated with the second measurement frequency or identity or object. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art involving handover.
Ramachandra (US 20250048202 A1) teaches a handover feature (See [Par. 1 -12] which describes the technical field of endeavor as being directed to handover). RAMACHANDRA further teaches with respect to handover, a successful handover report (SHR), that is transmitted from a UE to a network side device (See at least [Abstract, Par. 1, and elsewhere throughout the disclosure of RAMACHANDRA]). With respect to the SHR, RAMACHANDRA teaches, generating the SHR in response to when a ratio between a value of elapsed time of a timer 312 related to a first measurement frequency or identity or object of a target cell and a configured value of a timer T312 being longer than a first threshold, where the first information includes at least one of: information associated with the first measurement frequency or identity or object, or target cell information associated with the first measurement frequency or identity or object; and generating the SHR in response to a ratio between a value of elapsed time of a timer 312 related to a second measurement frequency or identity or object of a target cell and a configured value of a timer T312 being longer than a second threshold, where the first information includes at least one of: information associated with the second frequency measurement or identity or object or target cell information associated with the second measurement frequency identity or object (See at least [Par. 11 - 24] also see “[0152] One condition that triggers SHR is also related to T312, specifically a threshold value (e.g., thresholdPercentageT312) that indicates a percentage of the elapsed time to the configured maximum time for T312. Once the HO is executed, the UE starts checking whether the T312 value is above the configured thresholdPercentageT312. The UE generate a SHR when the T312 value exceeds thresholdPercentageT312.[0153] When a UE is configured with multiple measID-linked reporting configurations in which T312 has been enabled and also with a thresholdPercentageT312 triggering condition for SHR, the network is currently unable to determine which of the configured T312-related conditions triggered SHR by the UE. For example, it is unclear whether SHR is triggered by T312 associated with a measID-linked reporting configuration for the target cell related frequency or by T312 associated with a reporting configurations associated for frequencies of cells other than the target. This can cause various ambiguities in how the network interprets a SHR received from the UE.[0154] Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure provide flexible and efficient techniques whereby a UE receives a SHR configuration from a RAN node, with the SHR configuration including one or more of the following: [0155] a list of T312 thresholds, where each entry corresponds to a specific frequency, a specific measurement object, a specific measurement identity, or a specific reporting configuration identity; [0156] a specific indication of which measurement frequency related configuration is applicable to the T312 threshold included in the SHR configuration; [0157] an implicit indication that the T312 threshold is applicable to measurements on the frequency of a HO target cell; and [0158] an implicit indication that the T312 threshold is applicable to measurements on the frequencies of CHO candidate target cell(s). [0159] The UE can store the SHR configuration received in this manner and use it to trigger sending of a SHR whenever needed while operating in RRC_CONNECTED state. The UE's SHR includes at least one of the following: [0160] indication of which measurement object(s) met the triggering condition; [0161] indication of which measurement identity(ies) met the triggering condition; [0162] indication of which reporting configuration(s) met the triggering condition; [0163] indication of which reporting configuration ID(s) met the triggering condition; [0164] indication of which candidate target cell ID(s) met the triggering condition [0165] indication of which frequency(ies) met the triggering condition; and [0166] the T312 value configured by the network, associated with the triggering condition that was met.”)
Thus, based upon the teachings of Ramachandra (US 20250048202 A1) it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the handoff feature involving PSCell Change of ERICSSON by adopting a feature where in response to the first information being generated when a ratio between a value of elapsed running time of timer T312 related to a first measurement frequency or identity or object of the target PSCell and a configured value of the timer T312 is longer than a first threshold, the first information includes at least one of: information associated with the first measurement frequency or identity or object, or cell information associated with the first measurement frequency or identity or object; and
in response to the first information being generated when a ratio between a value of elapsed running time of timer T312 related to a second measurement frequency or identity or object and a configured value of the timer T312 is longer than a second threshold, the first information includes at least one of: information associated with the second measurement frequency or identity or object, or cell information associated with the second measurement frequency or identity or object, as similarly seen in RAMACHANDRA, to thus arrive at claim 17, in order to provide a successful handover report (SHR) in a case the UE is configured with multiple SHR configurations.
In regards to claim 5, ERICSSON (“Conditional PSCell Change / Addition” R2-2101270, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #113e, January 25th – February 5th, 2021 ) teaches the MN of claim 3, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the MN to transmit the first information via the transceiver to at least one of: a source secondary node (SN) which manages the source PSCell, or a target SN which manages the target PSCell (See [Section 2.2, Fig. 3] where the MN transmits a “9. S-NODE RECONFIGURATION COMPLETE inc. RRCReconfigurationComplete**” to a target SN, T-SN).
In regards to claim 18, the combination of ERICSSON in view of RAMACHANDRA suggest the method of claim 17, further comprising transmitting the first information via the transceiver to at least one of: a source secondary node (SN) which manages the source PSCell, or a target SN which manages the target PSCellm(See [ERICSSON, Section 2.2, Fig. 3] where the MN transmits a “9. S-NODE RECONFIGURATION COMPLETE inc. RRCReconfigurationComplete**” to a target SN, T-SN).
Claim(s) 2 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ERICSSON (“Conditional PSCell Change / Addition” R2-2101270, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #113e, January 25th – February 5th, 2021) in view of Ramachandra (US 20250048202 A1) in view of CHANG (USPGPub No. 2025/0106753).
In regards to claim 2, the combination of ERICSSON in view of Ramachandra (US 20250048202 A1) the UE of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to transmit an indication for indicating an optional capability for generating the first information via the transceiver to the MN. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior involving PSCell handover.
CHANG (USPGPub No. 2025/0106753) teaches a feature PSCell Handover, where a UE transmits an indication for indicating an optional capability for generating first information to a network side to improve mobility robustness of a PSCell (“[0033] As described above, the SHR mechanism when the PCell handover is standardized in the NR system of Release 17 to further optimize mobility robustness in the handover scenario. However, a study objective in Release 18 is to introduce a PSCell change report (successful PSCell change report, SPCR) in a PSCell change scenario. Information of a successful PSCell change procedure is reported to the network side, so that the network side can optimize and adjust a parameter of the PSCell change, so as to improve mobility robustness of the PSCell. In the present disclosure, it is assumed that a reporting procedure of the SPCR is similar to that of the SHR. That is, if UE that has successfully performed a PSCell change procedure determines that an SPCR needs to be generated, the UE stores, in a corresponding UE variable, content of the generated SPCR, and indicates, to the network side by means of an RRC message, that the stored SPCR is present thereon…”).
Thus, based upon the teachings of CHANG it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the PSCell handover feature of ERICSSON in view of RAMACHANDRA, by having the UE transmit an indication of an optional capability for generating the first information to a network side, the MN, as similarly seen in CHANG, to thus arrive at claim 2, in order to improve a mobility robustness of the PSCell Change/Handover.
In regard to claim 14, the combination of ERICSSON in view of RAMACHANDRA is silent on the MN of claim 3, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the MN to receive an indication for indicating an optional capability for generating the first information via the transceiver from the UE. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior involving PSCell handover.
CHANG (USPGPub No. 2025/0106753) teaches a feature PSCell Handover, where a UE transmits an indication for indicating an optional capability for generating first information to a network side to improve mobility robustness of a PSCell (“[0033] As described above, the SHR mechanism when the PCell handover is standardized in the NR system of Release 17 to further optimize mobility robustness in the handover scenario. However, a study objective in Release 18 is to introduce a PSCell change report (successful PSCell change report, SPCR) in a PSCell change scenario. Information of a successful PSCell change procedure is reported to the network side, so that the network side can optimize and adjust a parameter of the PSCell change, so as to improve mobility robustness of the PSCell. In the present disclosure, it is assumed that a reporting procedure of the SPCR is similar to that of the SHR. That is, if UE that has successfully performed a PSCell change procedure determines that an SPCR needs to be generated, the UE stores, in a corresponding UE variable, content of the generated SPCR, and indicates, to the network side by means of an RRC message, that the stored SPCR is present thereon…”).
Thus, based upon the teachings of CHANG it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the PSCell handover feature of ERICSSON in view of RAMACHANDRA, by having the UE transmit an indication of an optional capability for generating the first information to a network side, the MN, as similarly seen in CHANG, to thus arrive at claim 14, in order to improve a mobility robustness of the PSCell Change/Handover.
Claim(s) 6-7, 12, 13, 19, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ERICSSON (“Conditional PSCell Change / Addition” R2-2101270, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #113e, January 25th – February 5th, 2021) in view of Ramachandra (US 20250048202 A1) in view of FAN (USPGPub No. 20210168673).
In regards to claim 6, the combination of ERICSSON in view of RAMACHANDRA is silent on the MN of claim 3, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the MN to receive second information associated with a secondary cell group (SCG) failure via the transceiver from the UE.
Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art involving dual connectivity. FAN (USPGPub No. 20210168673) teaches a dual connectivity feature which involves detecting a radio link failure. FAN further teaches where based upon detected radio link failure, the UE sends to a MN, second information associated with a SCG failure, a SCG failure message, to a MN and the MN sends the SCG failure message to a SN (See [Abstract] and where it recites “[0164] In signaling message 1 the UE is configured with MN RRC measurements (such as LTE RRC) and in signaling message 2 the UE is configured with SN RRC measurements (such as NR RRC). The vertical arrows 3 illustrates that the UE performs measurements according to the received configurations. Further the UE detects a failure of the SCG, e.g. through an RLF detection on the PSCell. In signaling message 4 the UE sends an SCG failure to the MN according to the present disclosure and the MN forwards the information in the SCG failure message to an SN in signaling message 5, as described herein. The dashed line indicates that the information may be forwarded to the previous SN or to a different node that supports the technology of the SN, e.g. during SN change of the UE.”).
Thus based upon the teachings of FAN it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the dual connectivity feature suggested by the combined teachings of ERICSSON in view of RAMACHANDRA, by adopting a feature to detect and notify of SCG failure as seen in the dual connectivity feature of FAN, to thus arrive at the MN of claim 3, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the MN to receive second information associated with a secondary cell group (SCG) failure via the transceiver from the UE, in order enhance the reliability of the dual connectivity feature of ERICSSON in view of RAMACHANDRA.
In regards to claim 7, the combination of ERICSSON in view of RAMACHANDRA in view of FAN is believed to suggest the MN of claim 6, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the MN to transmit the second information via the transceiver to at least one of: a source secondary node (SN) which manages the source PSCell, or a target SN which manages the target PSCell, for the same rationale relied upon to motivate the combination of ERICSSON in view of RAMACHANDRA in view of FAN to arrive at claim 6.
In regards to claim 12, ERICSSON (“Conditional PSCell Change / Addition” R2-2101270, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #113e, January 25th – February 5th, 2021) in view of Ramachandra (US 20250048202 A1) in view of FAN (USPGPub No. 20210168673) suggest the MN of claim 7, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the MN to transmit a second message via the transceiver to at least one of: a source secondary node (SN) which manages the source PSCell, or a target SN which manages the target PSCell (See ERICSSON, [Fig. 3] “.9 S-NODE RECONFIGURATION COMPLETE (inc. RRCReconfigurationComplete**” also note where it recites, [Section 2.4 Feedback message/ compliance check] “With the solution proposed in this paper (see P5 and P6) nothing like that would be required. However, the UE would apply an SCG RRC Reconfiguration upon CPC execution (e.g. denoted RRCReconfiguration***) which would lead to an RRCReconfigurationComplete*** in response, to be embedded to the RRCReconfigurationComplete transmitted to the SN via SRB1.” ).
In regards to claim 13, the combination of ERICSSON (“Conditional PSCell Change / Addition” R2-2101270, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #113e, January 25th – February 5th, 2021) in view of Ramachandra (US 20250048202 A1) in view of FAN (USPGPub No. 20210168673) suggest the MN of claim 12, wherein the second message includes at least one of: a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) of the source PSCell; a C-RNTI of the target PSCell; first time information related to the first information; second time information related to the second information; an indication for indicating whether both the first information and the second information are associated with the PSCell change procedure or the CPAC procedure; an AP ID of the UE allocated at the MN; an AP ID of the UE allocated at the source SN; an AP ID of the UE allocated at the target SN; or an information container used to identify information related to the PSCell change procedure or the CPAC procedure(See ERICSSON, [Fig. 3] “.9 S-NODE RECONFIGURATION COMPLETE (inc. RRCReconfigurationComplete**” also note where it recites, [Section 2.4 Feedback message/ compliance check] “With the solution proposed in this paper (see P5 and P6) nothing like that would be required. However, the UE would apply an SCG RRC Reconfiguration upon CPC execution (e.g. denoted RRCReconfiguration***) which would lead to an RRCReconfigurationComplete*** in response, to be embedded to the RRCReconfigurationComplete transmitted to the SN via SRB1.” ).
In regards to claim 20, the combination of ERICSSON (“Conditional PSCell Change / Addition” R2-2101270, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #113e, January 25th – February 5th, 2021) in view of Ramachandra (US 20250048202 A1) in view of FAN (USPGPub No. 20210168673) suggest the MN of claim 13, wherein the information container is received from the source SN (See ERICSSON, [Fig. 3] “.9 S-NODE RECONFIGURATION COMPLETE (inc. RRCReconfigurationComplete**” also note where it recites, [Section 2.4 Feedback message/ compliance check] “With the solution proposed in this paper (see P5 and P6) nothing like that would be required. However, the UE would apply an SCG RRC Reconfiguration upon CPC execution (e.g. denoted RRCReconfiguration***) which would lead to an RRCReconfigurationComplete*** in response, to be embedded to the RRCReconfigurationComplete transmitted to the SN via SRB1.” ).
In regards to claim 19, the combination of ERICSSON in view of RAMACHANDRA is silent on the method of claim 17, further comprising receiving second information associated with a secondary cell group (SCG) failure via the transceiver from the UE. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art involving dual connectivity.
FAN (USPGPub No. 20210168673) teaches a dual connectivity feature which involves detecting a radio link failure. FAN further teaches where based upon detected radio link failure, the UE sends to a MN, second information associated with a SCG failure, a SCG failure message, to a MN and the MN sends the SCG failure message to a SN (See [Abstract] and where it recites “[0164] In signaling message 1 the UE is configured with MN RRC measurements (such as LTE RRC) and in signaling message 2 the UE is configured with SN RRC measurements (such as NR RRC). The vertical arrows 3 illustrates that the UE performs measurements according to the received configurations. Further the UE detects a failure of the SCG, e.g. through an RLF detection on the PSCell. In signaling message 4 the UE sends an SCG failure to the MN according to the present disclosure and the MN forwards the information in the SCG failure message to an SN in signaling message 5, as described herein. The dashed line indicates that the information may be forwarded to the previous SN or to a different node that supports the technology of the SN, e.g. during SN change of the UE.”).
Thus based upon the teachings of FAN it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the dual connectivity feature suggested by the combined teachings of ERICSSON in view of RAMACHANDRA, by adopting a feature to detect and notify of SCG failure as seen in the dual connectivity feature of FAN, to thus arrive at the method of claim 17, further comprising receiving second information associated with a secondary cell group (SCG) failure via the transceiver from the UE, in order enhance the reliability of the dual connectivity feature of ERICSSON in view of RAMACHANDRA.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ERICSSON (“Conditional PSCell Change / Addition” R2-2101270, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #113e, January 25th – February 5th, 2021) in view of Ramachandra (US 20250048202 A1) in view of FAN (USPGPub No. 20210168673) in view of WANG (“US 20240306048 A1”).
In regards to claim 8, the combination of ERICSSON (“Conditional PSCell Change / Addition” R2-2101270, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #113e, January 25th – February 5th, 2021) in view of Ramachandra (US 20250048202 A1) in view of FAN (USPGPub No. 20210168673) is silent on the MN of claim 6, wherein at least one of the first information or the second information includes at least one of: a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) of the source PSCell; a C-RNTI of the target PSCell; first time information related to the first information; second time information related to the second information; or an indication for indicating whether both the first information and the second information are associated with the PSCell change procedure or the CPAC procedure. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art involving PSCell change procedure.
WANG (“US 20240306048 A1”) teaches a feature for PSCell change, where first information includes first time information (“[0043] Upon receipt of the configuration regarding the storing of the information concerning the PSCell change, the terminal device 110 may store 220 the information (may also referred to as SPCR information herein) based on the configuration. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may be configured with SPCR configuration for MN-initiated PSCell change or SPCR for SN-initiated PSCell change. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine whether a condition for triggering the storing of the information is satisfied. If determining that the condition is satisfied, the terminal device 110 may store or collect contents corresponding to the condition as the information. In this way, signaling overhead and UE storage resource can be reduced.[0044] In some embodiments, the condition may comprise a radio link problem of a source PSCell (also referred to as a first cell herein) of the PSCell change. For example, the radio link problem may comprise at least one of the following events: T310/T312 is running; radio link control (RLC) retransmission is ongoing; beam failure is detected; or consistent listen before talk (LBT) failure is detected. In this case, the terminal device 110 may collect the corresponding contents of the information. [0045] In some embodiments, if the condition of radio link problem is satisfied, the terminal device 110 may store radio link problem related parameters of the source PSCell. For example, T310/T312 value, RLC retransmission times, beam failure related information, consistent LBT failure related information. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may store the measurement result of the source PSCell, a target PSCell (also referred to as a second cell herein) and neighboring cells when the condition is satisfied. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may store an identity (ID) of the source PSCell and an ID of the target PSCell. In some embodiments, the terminal may store identity (ID) of the PCell (primary cell of MN) when the PSCell change initiated. In some embodiments, the PCell ID is only reported in case of MN-initiated PSCell change. In some embodiments the terminal device 110 may store an identifier of the terminal device 110 in the source PSCell and the PCell. For example, the identifier may be a cell-radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) or the like. In some embodiments, the Identifier of the terminal device 110 in the PCell is only reported in case of MN-initiated PSCell change… [0052] After storage of the information, the terminal device 110 may transmit 230 the information to the network device 120. In other words, the SPCR information is reported to the network side.”)
Thus based upon the teachings of WANG it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the PSCell change feature of ERICSSON (“Conditional PSCell Change / Addition” R2-2101270, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #113e, January 25th – February 5th, 2021) in view of Ramachandra (US 20250048202 A1) in view of FAN (USPGPub No. 20210168673) by modifying the first information suggested by the combination of ERCISSON in view of RAMACHANDRA in view of FAN (see ERICSSON’s [Fig. 3] “7. RRCReconfigurationCompleteMessage” which indicates a PSCell Change), by including first time information (i.e. T310/T312) as seen in the first information (i.e. successful PSCell change report (SPCR)) of WANG to thus arrive at claim 8, in order to take advantage of benefits yielded by a successful PSCell report such as improving network performance (See WANG, “[0037] According to embodiments of the present application, information concerning a PSCell change can be stored based on a configuration regarding the storing of the information and then reported to the network side (for example, the network device 120) as needed. In this way, a reporting of a successful PSCell change can be facilitated and network performance can be improved. More details will be described with reference to FIG. 2. “)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 9-11 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
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/TARELL A HAMPTON/Examiner, Art Unit 2476 /AYAZ R SHEIKH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2476
