DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . The instant First Office Action on the merits is in response to claims filed on 10/16/2024.
Claims 1-19 are pending. Claims 1, 9 and 15 are the base independent claims.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted was filed before the mailing of a first Office action on the merits. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97(b). Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) is acknowledged.
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.
Claims 9-10 and 12-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TANG et al (US 2024/0422669) in view of YANG et al (WO 2022265293, citation is based on its English publication EP 4358440).
Regarding claim 9, TANG discloses a processor of a user equipment (UE) (fig. 4) configured to perform operations comprising:
the configuration (par 146; e.g. a configuration for the WD) including a parameter for a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle duration (par 149, par 168; or table 5; length of the DRX) and a parameter indicating an upper limit for an evaluation period for performing cell measurement and evaluation (par 173; e.g. WD 22 performs serving cell measurement and/or evaluates measurement requirements within Nserv number of DRX cycles); and
performing the cell measurement and evaluation for at least the evaluation period while in a radio resource control (RRC) idle state (par 147; the configuration is further usable by the WD 22 to perform a first measurement on Celll; and evaluate whether the WD 22 meets the cell selection criterion for Cell; par 151, reference signal periodicity, par 170-176; in idle mode).
The reference does not disclose:
receiving a configuration from a base station of a network for operations on frequency range FR2-2 (emphasis added).
However, YANG discloses:
In par [0108], [0114], the UE 100 may receive a measurement configuration ("measconfig") IE of an NR cell. Also see par [0133] or fig. 11, in the FR2 (Frequency Range 2: 24250MHz~ 71000MHz, FR2-1 (or FR2.1): 24250MHz~52600MHz, FR2-2(orFR2.2): 52600MHz~ 71000MHz) band, When the terminal performs measurements for the serving cell and neighboring cells, different sets of beams may be used. Thus, UE receives a configuration for FR2-2.
In view of the above, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of communication protocol configured for the electronic system of YANG with the electronic system of TANG. One is motivated as such to use the correct beam setting (YANG, par [0133]).
Regarding claim 10, TANG discloses:
wherein the cell comprises a serving cell, and when a cell selection criterion S is not satisfied for an entirety of the evaluation period, performing neighbor cell measurement and evaluation to find a suitable cell (par 176; e.g. the serving cell does not fulfil the cell selection criterion S, the WD 22 may initiate the measurements of cells).
Regarding claim 12, YANG discloses:
wherein the UE comprises eight antenna elements per panel for performing the operations on FR2-2 (par [0136]; the number of reception beams in the serving cell may be 8).
Regarding claim 13, YANG discloses:
reporting a capability to the network for receiving the configuration for the upper limit for the evaluation period for performing serving cell measurement and evaluation for FR2-2 (par [0144], the terminal may inform the network of its RX beam set capability information).
Regarding claim 14, TANG discloses:
wherein the cell comprises a neighbor cell and the cell measurement and evaluation is intra- frequency measurements or inter-frequency measurements (par 45; e.g. searches and measurements using the intra-frequency, inter-frequency).
Regarding claims 15-19, TANG in view of YANG also discloses a base station configured to perform an operation similar to the operation of the user equipment of claims 9-10 and 12-14 based on the mapping above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-8 are allowed.
Claim 11 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 YAOTANG WANG whose telephone number is (571)272-4023. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00-18:00 ET (M, W, TH & alternate F).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, HADI ARMOUCHE can be reached at 571-270-3618. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/YAOTANG WANG/SCE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409
Prosecution Insights