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 (IDSs) submitted on 10/25/2024, 08/20/2025, and 11/13/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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)(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.
Claims 21-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Mochizuki et al, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0159561 (hereinafter Mochizuki, disclosed in the IDS filed 11/13/2025).
Regarding Claim 21, Mochizuki teaches a method (“method . . . for executing inter-cell mobility control with L1/L2 mobility” – See [¶0085] “capable of reducing the delay time or the like at the time of Mobility” – See [¶0086]) for a source distributed unit (DU) (whereby a base station “may be divided into a central unit (hereinafter may be referred to as CU) 215 and a distributed unit (hereinafter may be referred to as DU) 216” and “One DU 216 constitutes one or more cells” – See [¶0113]), the method comprising:
receiving a lower-layer measurement report from a terminal device (“The DU may notify the UE of the L1 measurement setting” and “The UE may report the L1 measurement result to the DU” – See [¶0185], e.g., as shown in Fig. 13, “In step ST1217, the UE transmits the L1 measurement result of the candidate cell to the source cell. In step ST1218, DU #1 that has received the L1 measurement result of the candidate cell from the UE determines to change the cell for the UE” – See [¶0376]);
determining a target cell for a lower-layer signaling based cell change or addition (“DU #1 that has determined the cell change of the UE in step ST1218 may notify the UE that the cell has been changed to the target cell in step ST1220 from the source cell . . . [b[y using MAC signaling, DU #1 can transmit information of the determined target cell to the UE for which the cell change has been determined” – See [¶0378] and Fig. 13); and
transmitting, to a central unit (CU), a first message indicating that the lower-layer signaling based cell change or addition is triggered for the target cell (“DU #1 may notify the CU of the cell change result” and “the notification preferably includes information related to the cell change” – See [¶0377] and Fig. 13 at step ST1219, i.e., before “[i]n step ST1222 the UE performs the PCell change to the target cell” – See [¶0380]).
Therefore, Claim 21 is anticipated by Mochizuki.
Regarding Claim 22, dependent from Claim 21, further teaches the method according to claim 21, wherein the first message (when “[t]he DU transmits, to the CU, information related to the cell change by the inter-cell L1/L2 mobility . . . the information may be referred to as information related to the cell change” and “[w]hen the DU determines the cell change, the information related to the determined target cell may be included in the information related to the cell change” –See [¶0346] comprises at least one of the following:
an identity information of the target cell, or reference signal (RS) or transmission configuration indicator (TCI) information of the target cell (“Identifier of target cell” – See [¶0349] or “Identifier of target beam,” i.e., TCI information – See [¶0350]).
Therefore, Claim 22 is anticipated by Mochizuki.
Regarding Claim 23, dependent from Claim 21, Mochizuki further teaches the method according to claim 21, wherein
the lower-layer measurement report is a L1 measurement report (“In step ST1217, the UE transmits the L1 measurement result of the candidate cell to the source cell. In step ST1218, DU #1 that has received the L1 measurement result of the candidate cell from the UE determines to change the cell for the UE” – See [¶0376] and Fig. 13), and
the lower-layer signaling based cell change or addition is a L1/L2 signaling based cell change or addition (“the inter-cell mobility processing can be set to L1/L2 mobility” – See [¶0383] whereby “the notification of the TCI-state information of the target cell, the cell change, and the PDCCH transmission from the beam of the target cell in steps ST1220 to ST1223 can be performed between the UE and DU #1. These can be performed only by the L1/L2 control” – See [¶0382])
Therefore, Claim 23 is anticipated by Mochizuki.
Regarding Claim 24, dependent from Claim 21, further teaches the method according to claim 21, further comprising:
receiving, from the CU, a second message regarding the target cell for the lower-layer signaling based cell change or addition (“the CU can recognize that the inter-cell L1/L2 mobility has been performed” – See [¶0360] and “[t]he CU may transmit the RRC setting with the target cell being the PCell to the DU” – See [¶0361]).
Therefore, Claim 24 is anticipated by Mochizuki.
Regarding Claim 25, teaches a method for a central unit (CU), (“method . . . for executing inter-cell mobility control with L1/L2 mobility” – See [¶0085] “capable of reducing the delay time or the like at the time of Mobility” – See [¶0086] whereby a base station “may be divided into a central unit (hereinafter may be referred to as CU) 215 and a distributed unit (hereinafter may be referred to as DU) 216” and “[t]he CU 215 is connected to the DU 216 by an Fl interface” – See [¶0113]) the method comprising:
transmitting, to at least one candidate distributed unit (DU) for a lower-layer signaling based cell change or addition, a user equipment (UE) context setup request message which includes a configuration for a lower-layer measurement (“The CU notifies the DU of the L1 measurement setting for inter-cell L1/L2 mobility” and “Fl signaling may be used for notification from the CU to the DU”– See [¶0282], e.g., “An existing message may be used for transmission of the information. For example, UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST” – See [¶0329];
receiving, from a source DU, a first message indicating that the lower-layer signaling based cell change or addition is initiated (“DU #1 may notify the CU of the cell change result” and “the notification preferably includes information related to the cell change” – See [¶0377] and Fig. 13 at step ST1219, i.e., before “[i]n step ST1222 the UE performs the PCell change to the target cell” – See [¶0380]); and
transmitting, to a target DU which is one of the at least one candidate DU (“As an inter-cell L1/L2 mobility processing method including between different DUs, the method disclosed [in Fig. 13] may be appropriately applied” – See [¶0385] whereby “the gNB [e.g., CU] determines a DU that is a candidate for the target in the inter-cell L1/L2 mobility . . . [t]he number of candidate DUs may be one or more”– See [¶0386], e.g., “the CU may determine the candidate DU by using, for example, location information or speed information acquired from the UE. For example, a DU close to the location of the UE is determined as a candidate DU” – See [¶0388])
an identity information of a target cell (when “[t]he DU may determine the candidate cell . . . the CU transmits information related to inter-cell L1/L2 mobility to the candidate DU” – See [¶0396] including “(6) Information related to candidate DU” – See [¶0404] comprising “(6-2) Information related to candidate cell” – See [¶0409]; “The candidate cell identifier may be set so as not to overlap for each CU. There is one candidate cell identifier between different DUs of the same CU” and “Since candidate cells can be identified in the same CU, for example, inter-cell L1/L2 mobility processing including between different DUs in the same CU can be facilitated” and “The candidate cell identifier may be set so as not to overlap for each DU” – See [¶0427])
or a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) information of the target cell.
Therefore, Claim 25 is anticipated by Mochizuki.
Regarding Claims 26-28, dependent from Claim 25, they merely recite the same limitations as in Claims 23, 22 and 24, respectively, each dependent from Claim 21, only from the perspective of the CU of Claim 25 communicating, e.g., with the DU of Claim 21. Because each of the Claims 22-25 is anticipated by Mochizuki, Claims 26-28 are anticipated by Mochizuki.
Regarding Claim 29, Mochizuki teaches, in Fig. 13, a method for a terminal device, the method comprising:
transmitting a lower-layer measurement report to a source distributed unit (DU) (“In step ST1217, the UE transmits the L1 measurement result of the candidate cell to the source cell.” – See [¶0376]);
receiving a lower-layer signal for a lower-layer signaling based cell change or addition from the source DU, which received the lower-layer measurement report and determined a target cell for the lower-layer signaling based cell change or addition (“In step ST1218, DU #1 that has received the L1 measurement result of the candidate cell from the UE determines to change the cell for the UE” – See id.; and “By using MAC signaling, DU #1 can transmit information of the determined target cell to the UE for which the cell change has been determined” – See [¶0378]).
Therefore, Claim 29 is anticipated by Mochizuki.
Regarding Claim 30, dependent from Claim 29, further teaches the method according to claim 29, wherein the same limitations as required by Claim 23 apply using the same language. Because Claim 23 is anticipated by Mochizuki, Claim 30 is anticipated by Mochizuki.
Regarding Claim 31, Mochizuki teaches in Fig. 2 a source distributed unit (DU), comprising: at least one memory having instructions stored therein; at least one processor configured to executed the instructions, that when executed control the source DU to perform operations (“FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the base station 213 illustrated in FIG. 2” – See [¶0123] e.g. “the configuration of the DU 216 illustrated in FIG. 2” includes “protocol processing unit 403 in the DU 216 perform[ing] protocol processing such as PHY, MAC, and RLC” – See [¶0129] and “the encoder unit 405, and the decoder unit 410, is implemented by processing circuitry including a processor and a memory, or dedicated processing circuitry such as FPGA, ASIC, or DSP” – See [¶0127] and Fig. 5) comprising: all the steps of the method recited in Claim 21 using the same language. Because Claim 21 is anticipated by Mochizuki, Claim 31 is anticipated by Mochizuki.
Regarding Claim 32, Mochizuki teaches in Fig. 2 a central unit (CU), comprising: at least one memory having instructions stored therein; at least one processor configured to executed the instructions, that when executed control the CU to perform operations (“FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the base station 213 illustrated in FIG. 2” – See [¶0123] e.g. “the configuration of the CU 215 illustrated in FIG. 2” includes “the protocol processing unit 403. The protocol processing unit 403 in the CU 215 performs protocol processing such as PDCP and SDAP” – See [¶0128] and “the control unit 411 . . . the 5GC communication unit 412 . . . the other base station communication unit 402 . . . implemented by processing circuitry including a processor and a memory, or dedicated processing circuitry such as FPGA, ASIC, or DSP” – See [¶0127] and Fig. 5) comprising: all the steps of the method recited in Claim 25 using the same language. Because Claim 25 is anticipated by Mochizuki, Claim 32 is anticipated by Mochizuki.
In sum, Claims 21-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(2) as anticipated by Mochizuki.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Pezeshki et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0151055 disclosing exchanges of information about the plurality of candidate cells via Layer 1 (L1)/Layer 2 (L2) signaling;
Chandrashekar et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0048223, 2025/0240682, 2025/0008363, and 2024/0334269 disclosing various aspects regarding enhancements for lower layer mobility;
Damnjanovic et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0264346 discloses measurement reports for layer 1 (L1) or layer 2 (L2) mobility on a per distributed unit (DU) basis;
Centoza et al., WIPO Patent Application Publication No. 2022/234540 discloses L1/L2 inter-cell mobility;
Ying et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0125849 discloses methods for beam management with inter-cell mobility;
3GPP TS 38.473 V17.0.0 (2022-04), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NG-RAN; F1 application protocol (F1AP) (Release 17)”;
Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG2 meeting #114-e, R2-2106901, Agenda Item: 8.17.2, May 2021;
Final Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #104-e, R1-2102281, Agenda Item: 8.1.1, February 2021.
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/L.G.G./ Examiner, Art Unit 2478
/JOSEPH E AVELLINO/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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