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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements filed on 10/23/2024 and 10/21/2025 have been considered.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 10/23/2024 are accepted.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 9 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the enablement requirement. A single means/step claim, i.e. where a means/step recitation does not appear in combination with another recited means/step, is subjected to an undue breath rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph. In re Hyatt, 708F.2d712, 714-715, 218 USPQ 195, 197 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (MPEP 2164.08(a)). A single means/step claim which covered every conceivable means for achieving the stated purpose was held nonenabling for the scope of the claim because the specification disclosed at most only those means known to the inventor.
With respect to claim 16, while two “means” are recited (i.e. processor and memory), only a single means (i.e. the processor) is configured to perform the single step in claim 9 and accordingly, also fails for “undue breath”.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 9, 15, 16 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Min et al. (WO2022/044908A1 hereinafter, Min).
Regarding claim 1, Min teaches a method for recording location information for a report of successful primary secondary cell (PSCell) addition or change (PAC) (Fig. 4 [6/8] and Page 3 “Further, the handover is, in a broad sense, the addition or modification of a cell (primary cell (PCell) or secondary cell (PSCell, SCell)) included in a cell group (for example, a master cell group (MCG) or a secondary cell group (SCG))”), performed by a terminal (Fig. 4 [200]), comprising:
recording location information of the terminal in response to triggering the report of successful PAC. (Fig. 5B [Common LocationInformation], Page 19 “FIG. 5B is an example (No. 2) of the contents of the Successful handover Report” and Page 4 “The settings related to handover include the contents related to various timers (for example, T304, T312 (details will be described later)) and wireless communication quality (for example, Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Signal-to-. Interference plus Noise power Ratio (SINR)), UE200 location information may be included.”)
Regarding claim 2, Min teaches recording available location information in case there is the available location information in the terminal. (Fig. 5B [Common LocationInformation] and Page 4 “The settings related to handover include the contents related to various timers (for example, T304, T312 (details will be described later)) and wireless communication quality (for example, Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Signal-to-. Interference plus Noise power Ratio (SINR)), UE200 location information may be included.”)
Regarding claim 9, Min teaches a method for recording location information for a report of success primary secondary cell (PSCell) addition or change (PAC), performed by a network device (Fig. 4 [100B]), comprising:
receiving location information sent by a terminal. (Fig. 4 [8], Fig. 5B [Common LocationInformation], Page 19 “FIG. 5B is an example (No. 2) of the contents of the Successful handover Report” and Page 4 “The settings related to handover include the contents related to various timers (for example, T304, T312 (details will be described later)) and wireless communication quality (for example, Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Signal-to-. Interference plus Noise power Ratio (SINR)), UE200 location information may be included.”)
Regarding claim 15, Min teaches a terminal, comprising:
a processor; (Fig. 2 [240] and Fig. 9 [1001])
a memory for storing a computer program, (Fig. 9 [1002] and Page 12 “Further, the processor 1001 reads a program (program code), a software module, data, etc. from at least one of the storage 1003 and the communication device 1004 into the memory 1002, and executes various processes according to these.”)
wherein the processor (Page 12 “Each functional block of the device (see FIGS. 2 and 3) is realized by any hardware element of the computer device or a combination of the hardware elements” and “Further, the processor 1001 reads a program (program code), a software module, data, etc. from at least one of the storage 1003 and the communication device 1004 into the memory 1002, and executes various processes according to these. As the program, a program that causes a computer to execute at least a part of the operations described in the above-described embodiment is used”) is configured to:
record location information of the terminal in response to triggering a report of successful primary secondary cell (PSCell) addition or change (PAC). (Fig. 5B [Common LocationInformation], Page 19 “FIG. 5B is an example (No. 2) of the contents of the Successful handover Report” and Page 4 “The settings related to handover include the contents related to various timers (for example, T304, T312 (details will be described later)) and wireless communication quality (for example, Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Signal-to-. Interference plus Noise power Ratio (SINR)), UE200 location information may be included.”)
Regarding claim 16, Min teaches a network device (Fig. 3 [100B]), comprising:
a processor; (Fig. 3 [130] and Fig. 9 [1001]) and
a memory for storing a computer program, (Fig. 9 [1002] and Page 12 “Further, the processor 1001 reads a program (program code), a software module, data, etc. from at least one of the storage 1003 and the communication device 1004 into the memory 1002, and executes various processes according to these.”)
wherein the processor is configured to perform the method according to claim 9. (Page 12 “Each functional block of the device (see FIGS. 2 and 3) is realized by any hardware element of the computer device or a combination of the hardware elements” and “Further, the processor 1001 reads a program (program code), a software module, data, etc. from at least one of the storage 1003 and the communication device 1004 into the memory 1002, and executes various processes according to these. As the program, a program that causes a computer to execute at least a part of the operations described in the above-described embodiment is used”)
Regarding claim 21, Min teaches wherein the processor is further configured to:
record location information of the terminal in response to triggering the report of successful PAC. (Fig. 5B [Common LocationInformation], Page 19 “FIG. 5B is an example (No. 2) of the contents of the Successful handover Report” and Page 4 “The settings related to handover include the contents related to various timers (for example, T304, T312 (details will be described later)) and wireless communication quality (for example, Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Signal-to-. Interference plus Noise power Ratio (SINR)), UE200 location information may be included.”)
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.
Claims 3-8, 10-12 and 22-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Min in view of 3GPP TS 38.331 v16.1.0 Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (07-2020), hereinafter, 3GPP.
Regarding claim 3, Min teaches receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message sent by a network device for the report of successful PAC; (Page 11 “The radio quality (RSRP / RSRQ / SINR) source PCell and source PSCell when RRC Reconfiguration Msg. Is received before conducting RACH with target PSCell)”)
determining whether the RRC reconfiguration message carries indication information of the location information (i.e. that the UE will start compiling a successful handover report when the UE receives a measConfig from the network, see Page 10 “The UE200 may start compiling the Successful handover Report if any of the following compilation conditions are satisfied (S20). -When the UE receives a measCondfig from the network”), after triggering the report of successful PAC in response to the RRC reconfiguration message. (Page 10 “When the UE starts compiling the Measurement Report-When the UE sends the Measurement Report-When the UE receives the Handover command The timing when the UE200 actually starts compiling the Successful handover Report is the same as the above-mentioned timing. It does not have to be simultaneous, and some delay may be tolerated”)
Min differs from the claimed invention by not explicitly reciting determining whether there is available location information in the terminal in response to the RRC reconfiguration message carrying the indication information of the location information; and recording the available location information in response to there being the available location information in the terminal.
In an analogous art, 3GPP teaches RRC protocol model for wireless communications (Page 27) that includes determining whether the RRC reconfiguration message carries indication information of the location information (Page 61 “In (NG)ENDC and NR-DC, only measConfig, radioBearerConfig, conditionalReconfiguration, otherConfig and/or secondaryCellGroup are included in RRCReconfiguration received via SRB3”, with at least “measConfig” being “indication information of the location information”),
determining whether there is available location information in the terminal in response to the RRC reconfiguration message carrying the indication information of the location information; (Page 85 “The UE is requested to attempt to have valid detailed location information available whenever sending a measurement report for which it is configured to include available detailed location information” and Page 160 “if the includeCommonLocationInfo is configured in the corresponding reportConfig for this measId and detailedlocation information that has not been reported is available, set the content of commonLocationInfo of the locationInfo as follows” for sending a measurement report, see Page 155 [5.5.5]) and
recording the available location information in response to there being the available location information in the terminal. (Page 85 “The UE is requested to attempt to have valid detailed location information available whenever sending a measurement report for which it is configured to include available detailed location information” and Page 160 “if the includeCommonLocationInfo is configured in the corresponding reportConfig for this measId and detailedlocation information that has not been reported is available, set the content of commonLocationInfo of the locationInfo as follows” for sending a measurement report, see Page 155 [5.5.5])
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to be motivated to implement the invention of Min after modifying it to incorporate the specific details of the RRC messaging protocol of 3GPP since the 3GPP document is one of the governing documents to ensure interoperability between manufacturers in the wireless telecommunication space.
Regarding claim 4, Min teaches wherein recording the location information of the terminal comprises:
receiving measurement configuration information sent by a network device. (Page 10 “The UE200 may start compiling the Successful handover Report if any of the following compilation conditions are satisfied (S20). -When the UE receives a measCondfig from the network”)
Min differs from the claimed invention by not explicitly reciting recording the location information of the terminal in response to the measurement configuration information comprises indication information for location measurement, wherein the indication information for location measurement comprises at least one of: includeCommonLocationInfo, includeBT-Meas, includeWLAN-Meas, or includeSensor-Meas.
In an analogous art, 3GPP teaches RRC protocol model for wireless communications (Page 27) that includes recording the location information of the terminal in response to the measurement configuration information comprises indication information for location measurement (Page 85 “The UE is requested to attempt to have valid detailed location information available whenever sending a measurement report for which it is configured to include available detailed location information” and Page 160 “if the includeCommonLocationInfo is configured in the corresponding reportConfig for this measId and detailedlocation information that has not been reported is available, set the content of commonLocationInfo of the locationInfo as follows” for sending a measurement report, see Page 155 [5.5.5]), wherein the indication information for location measurement comprises at least one of: includeCommonLocationInfo, includeBT-Meas, includeWLAN-Meas, or includeSensor-Meas. (Page 160 “if the includeCommonLocationInfo is configured in the corresponding reportConfig for this measId and detailed location information that has not been reported is available”, “if the includeWLAN-Meas is configured in the corresponding reportConfig for this measId, set the wlan-LocationInfo of the locationInfo in the measResults as follows: 2> if available, include the LogMeasResultWLAN, in order of decreasing RSSI for WLAN APs; 1> if the includeBT-Meas is configured in the corresponding reportConfig for this measId, set the BT-LocationInfo of the locationInfo in the measResults as follows: 2> if available, include the LogMeasResultBT, in order of decreasing RSSI for Bluetooth beacons; 1> if the includeSensor-Meas is configured in the corresponding reportConfig for this measId, set the sensor-LocationInfo of the locationInfo in the measResults as follows”)
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to be motivated to implement the invention of Min after modifying it to incorporate the specific details of the RRC messaging protocol of 3GPP since the 3GPP document is one of the governing documents to ensure interoperability between manufacturers in the wireless telecommunication space.
Regarding claim 5, Min in view of 3GPP teaches wherein the measurement configuration information is a reportConfigToAddModList in a MeasConfig. (3GPP Page 130 “1> if the received measConfig includes the reportConfigToAddModList: 2> perform the reporting configuration addition/modification procedure as specified in 5.5.2.7” and Page 134 “5.5.2.7 Reporting configuration addition/modification The UE shall: 1> for each reportConfigId included in the received reportConfigToAddModList:”
Regarding claim 6, Min teaches receiving an RRC reconfiguration message sent by a network device. (Page 11 “The radio quality (RSRP / RSRQ / SINR) source PCell and source PSCell when RRC Reconfiguration Msg. Is received before conducting RACH with target PSCell)”)
Min differs from the claimed invention by not explicitly reciting recording the location information of the terminal in response to OtherConfig in the RRC reconfiguration message indicating an obtainCommonLocation.
In an analogous art, 3GPP teaches RRC protocol model for wireless communications (Page 27) that includes recording the location information of the terminal in response to OtherConfig in the RRC reconfiguration message indicating an obtainCommonLocation. (Page 85 “if the received otherConfig includes the obtainCommonLocation: 2> include available detailed location information for any subsequent measurement report or any subsequent RLF report, CEF report and SCGFailureInformation; NOTE 1: The UE is requested to attempt to have valid detailed location information available whenever sending a measurement report for which it is configured to include available detailed location information. The UE may not succeed e.g. because the user manually disabled the GPS hardware, due to no/poor satellite coverage. Further details, e.g. regarding when to activate GNSS, are up to UE implementation.”)
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to be motivated to implement the invention of Min after modifying it to incorporate the specific details of the RRC messaging protocol of 3GPP since the 3GPP document is one of the governing documents to ensure interoperability between manufacturers in the wireless telecommunication space.
Regarding claim 7, Min in view of 3GPP teaches wherein recording the location information of the terminal comprises:
obtaining global navigation satellite system (GNSS) location information in case there is no available GNSS location information in the terminal; (3GPP Page 85 “The UE is requested to attempt to have valid detailed location information available whenever sending a measurement report for which it is configured to include available detailed location information. The UE may not succeed e.g. because the user manually disabled the GPS hardware, due to no/poor satellite coverage. Further details, e.g. regarding when to activate GNSS, are up to UE implementation”) and
recording the GNSS location information as the location information of the terminal. (Page 740 “obtainCommonLocation Requests the UE to attempt to have detailed location information available using GNSS. NR configures the field if includeCommonLocationInfo is configured for one or more Measurements”)
Regarding claim 8, Min teaches the limitations of claim 1 above, but differs from the claimed invention by not explicitly reciting in a case the terminal obtains a user consent, obtaining the location information of the terminal based on the user consent; and recording the location information of the terminal.
In an analogous art, 3GPP teaches RRC protocol model for wireless communications (Page 27) that includes in a case the terminal obtains a user consent, obtaining the location information of the terminal based on the user consent; (Page 85 “The UE is requested to attempt to have valid detailed location information available whenever sending a measurement report for which it is configured to include available detailed location information. The UE may not succeed e.g. because the user manually disabled the GPS hardware, due to no/poor satellite coverage. Further details, e.g. regarding when to activate GNSS, are up to UE implementation.”) and recording the location information of the terminal. (Page 85 “1> if the received otherConfig includes the obtainCommonLocation: 2> include available detailed location information for any subsequent measurement report or any subsequent RLF report, CEF report and SCGFailureInformation”)
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to be motivated to implement the invention of Min after modifying it to incorporate the specific details of the RRC messaging protocol of 3GPP since the 3GPP document is one of the governing documents to ensure interoperability between manufacturers in the wireless telecommunication space.
Regarding claim 10, Min teaches before receiving the location information sent by the terminal (Fig. 4 [8]), further comprising:
sending a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message for the report of successful PAC to the terminal (Fig. 4 [7] and Page 11 “The radio quality (RSRP / RSRQ / SINR) source PCell and source PSCell when RRC Reconfiguration Msg. Is received before conducting RACH with target PSCell)”), wherein the RRC reconfiguration message carries indication information of the location information. (i.e. that the UE will start compiling a successful handover report when the UE receives a measConfig from the network, see Page 10 “The UE200 may start compiling the Successful handover Report if any of the following compilation conditions are satisfied (S20). -When the UE receives a measCondfig from the network”)
Min differs from the claimed invention by not explicitly reciting obtaining a user consent based on a user-defined feature (UDF) in a core network.
In an analogous art, 3GPP teaches RRC protocol model for wireless communications (Page 27) that includes obtaining a user consent based on a user-defined feature (UDF) in a core network. (Page 200 “The network initiates the procedure by sending the UEInformationRequest message. The network should initiate this procedure only after successful security activation” note: the Examiner views “successful security activation” as being user consent for a UDF)
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to be motivated to implement the invention of Min after modifying it to incorporate the specific details of the RRC messaging protocol of 3GPP since the 3GPP document is one of the governing documents to ensure interoperability between manufacturers in the wireless telecommunication space.
Regarding claim 11, the limitations of claim 11 are rejected as being the same reasons set forth above in claim 4.
Regarding claim 12, the limitations of claim 12 are rejected as being the same reasons set forth above in claim 6.
Regarding claim 22, the limitations of claim 22 are rejected as being the same reasons set forth above in claim 3.
Regarding claims 23-26, the limitations of claims 23-26 are rejected as being the same reasons set forth above in claims 4, and 6-8.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
EP-3962175-A1 to Yang which discloses cell reconfiguration, reporting measurement results for handovers and has a common assignee with the instant application.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW C SAMS whose telephone number is (571)272-8099. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Matthew Anderson can be reached at (571)272-4177. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Matthew C Sams/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646
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