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 .
This communication is response to claims filed on 10/28/24 via a preliminary amendment, which is considered by the examiner.
Claims 1 & 3-21 are presented for examination.
Claim 2 is canceled.
Claims 16-21 are newly added.
Information Disclosure Statement’s
6. The information disclosure statement(s) submitted on 10/28/24 have being considered by the examiner and made of record in the application file.
Drawing
7. The drawings filed on 10/28/24 are accepted by the examiner.
Claims Objections
8. Claims 15-21 are objected to because of minor informalities:
9. Claim 15 recite, “a master node (MN) in a radio access network (RAN), the MN configured to provide, with a source secondary node (S-SN), a dual connectivity (DC) connection to a user equipment (UE), the MN comprising processing hardware and configured to:” in the preamble . It’s is suggested to amend it to: “a master node (MN) in a radio access network (RAN), the MN configured to provide, with a source secondary node (S-SN), a dual connectivity (DC) connection to a user equipment (UE), the MN comprising: processing hardware and configured to:”.
10. Claims 16-21 are also objected since they are dependent upon objected independent claim set forth above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
11. 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.
12. Claims 10-11 & 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by 3GPP et al. (hereinafter referred as 3GPP) NPL Document, “Multi-connectivity; stage 2 (Release 17) 2022-03” (as disclosed in the IDS).
Regarding claim 10: 3GPP discloses a method in a source secondary node (S-SN) that provides, with a master node (MN), a dual connectivity (DC) connection to a user equipment (UE) (See Section 10.5.2; SN initiated conditional inter-SN Change,” Fig. 10.5.2-4. The procedure expressly involves UE, MN, S-SN and T-SN(s)), the method comprising:
transmitting, to the MN, a first message indicating that a change in the SN is required for the UE (See FIG. 10.5.2-4 & Section 10.5.2; : source SN initiates the procedure by sending SN Change Required), the message including one or more of information elements (IEs) for one or more of target SNs (See Section 10.5.2; message contains candidate target node ID(s) and proposed PSCell candidates; Steps 2/3 concern target SN(s)), to one of which the UE connects after a respective condition is satisfied (See Section 10.5.2; UE evaluates execution conditions and, when one candidate PSCell condition is satisfied, applies the RRC configuration corresponding to the selected candidate. Section 10.5 in addition teaches CPC as PSCell change executed when executed conditions are met), each of the IEs including (i) an identifier of a respective one of the one or more of target SNs (See Section 10.5.2; candidate target node ID(s)) and (ii) respective candidate cell information (See Section 10.5.2; list of proposed PSCell candidates; Step 2/3 forwards the proposed PSCell candidates to target SN(s)); and
receiving, from the MN, a second message indicating that the change in the SN is confirmed (See Section 10.5.2; MN sends SN Change Confirm toward source SN indicating CPC is prepared).
Regarding claim 11: 3GPP discloses a method, wherein each of the plurality of IEs is a Multiple Target S-NG-RAN Node Item (See Section 10.5.2; S-NG).
Regarding claim 14: 3GPP discloses a method, wherein the candidate cell information includes trigger conditions for respective candidate cells (See Section 10.6 expressly equates execution conditions with one or two trigger conditions).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
13. In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 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 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
14. Claims 1, 3-9, 12-13 & 15-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP, in Huawei of Craft et al. (hereinafter referred as Huawei) NPL Document, “((TP to CPAC BL CR for TS 38.423) Preparation of multiple T-SNs in SN imitated inter-SN CPC), 21 Feb-3 Mar 2022”.
Regarding claims 1 & 15: 3GPP discloses a master node (MN) (Fig. 10.5.2-4; MN)/method in a radio access network (RAN), the MN configured to provide, with a source secondary node (S-SN), a dual connectivity (DC) connection to a user equipment (UE) (See Section 10.5.2; SN initiated conditional inter-SN Change,” Fig. 10.5.2-4. The procedure expressly involves UE, MN, S-SN and T-SN(s)), the MN comprising
processing hardware (Fig. 10.5.2-4; MN is equipped with a processor/controller) and configured to:
receive, from the S-SN, a first message indicating that a change in the SN is required for the UE (See FIG. 10.5.2-4 & Section 10.5.2; : source SN initiates the procedure by sending SN Change Required),
the message including one or more information elements (IEs) for one or more target SNs (See Section 10.5.2; message contains candidate target node ID(s) and proposed PSCell candidates; Steps 2/3 concern target SN(s)), to one of which the UE connects after a respective condition is satisfied (See Section 10.5.2; UE evaluates execution conditions and, when one candidate PSCell condition is satisfied, applies the RRC configuration corresponding to the selected candidate. Section 10.5 in addition teaches CPC as PSCell change executed when execution conditions are met), each of the IEs including (i) an identifier of a respective one of the plurality of one or more target SNs (See Section 10.5.2; candidate target node ID(s)) and (ii) respective candidate cell information (See Section 10.5.2; list of proposed PSCell candidates; Step 2/3 forwards the proposed PSCell candidates to target SN(s)), and
transmit, to the S-SN, a second message indicating that the change in the SN is confirmed (See Section 10.5.2; MN sends SN Change Confirm toward source SN indicating CPC is prepared).
3GPP does not explicitly disclose in response to determining that the first message includes the IEs for the one or more target SNs, ignore a target SN information element (IE) included in the first message.
However, Huawei from the same field of endeavor discloses in response to determining that the first message includes the IEs for the one or more target SNs (See Section 8.3.5.2; if the Target SN List to be prepared IE is included, the M-NG-RAN node considers the request to concern preparation of multiple candidate target NG-RAN nodes), ignore a target SN information element (IE) included in the first message (See Proposal 2: a T-SN List to be prepared IE and states that the existing Target SN ID IE is ignored if the new IE is present).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include determining that the first message includes the IEs for the one or more target SNs, ignore a target SN information element (IE) included in the first message as taught by Huawei in the system of 3GPP ,would have yield predictable results of interoperability and compatibility between the telecommunication equipment vendors and service providers and resulted in the improve system (KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S.Ct. 1727, 1742, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1396 (2007)).
Regarding claims 3 & 16: The combination of 3GPP and Huawei disclose a master node (MN).
Furthermore, Huawei discloses the master node, further comprising: in response to determining that the first message includes the IEs for the plurality of target SNs:
ignoring an S-NG-RAN node to M-NG-RAN node container IE included in the first message (See Proposal 2: a T-SN List to be prepared IE and states that the existing Target SN ID IE is ignored if the new IE is present).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include in response to determining that the first message includes the IEs for the plurality of target SNs: ignoring an S-NG-RAN node to M-NG-RAN node container IE included in the first message as taught by Huawei in the system of 3GPP, would have yield predictable results of interoperability and compatibility between the telecommunication equipment vendors and service providers and resulted in the improve system (KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S.Ct. 1727, 1742, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1396 (2007)).
Regarding claims 4 & 17: The combination of 3GPP and Huawei disclose a master node (MN).
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses the master node, wherein each of the one or more IEs is a Multiple Target S-NG-RAN Node Item (See Section 10.5.2; S-NG).
Regarding claims 5 & 18: The combination of 3GPP and Huawei disclose a master node (MN).
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses the master node, wherein the candidate cell information in each of the one or more IEs is included in a respective CG-Config IE (See Section 10.5.2; Steps 2/3, teaches candidate PSCells and corresponding SCG radio-resource configurations).
Regarding claim 6: The combination of 3GPP and Huawei disclose a master node (MN).
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses the master node, wherein the candidate cell information is included in an RRC Container (See Section 10.5.2; the candidate-specific SCG configuration in an NR RRCReconfiguration message and CPC configuration comprising a list of RRC reconfiguration messages) OR (See Huawei; Section 9.1.2.11; supplies the container/CG-Config protocol context).
Regarding claims 7 & 19: The combination of 3GPP and Huawei disclose a master node (MN).
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses the master node, wherein the candidate cell information includes trigger conditions for respective candidate cells (See Section 10.5.2; proposed PSCell candidates include execution conditions. Section 10.6 also discloses an execution condition may consist of one or two trigger conditions, including CPC events A3/A5).
Regarding claims 8 & 20: The combination of 3GPP and Huawei disclose a master node (MN).
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses the master node, wherein: the first message is an S-Node Change Required message (See Section 410.5.2; SN change required).
Regarding claim 9: The combination of 3GPP and Huawei disclose a master node (MN).
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses the master node, wherein: the first message is an SgNB Change Required message (See section 10.5.1 & Fig. 10.5.1-4, Step 1, expressly identifies SgNB Change Required and candidate target SN ID(s), proposed PSCell candidates and execution conditions).
Regarding claim 12: 3GPP discloses all the limitations of the claimed invention with an exception of wherein the candidate cell information in each of the plurality of IEs is included in a respective CG-Config IE.
However, Huawei from the same field of endeavor discloses a method, wherein the candidate cell information in each of the plurality of IEs is included in a respective CG-Config IE (See Section 9.1.2.11, S-NG-RAN-node-to-M-NG-RAN-node Container includes CG-Config).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the candidate cell information in each of the plurality of IEs is included in a respective CG-Config IE as taught by Huawei in the system of 3GPP ,would have yield predictable results of interoperability and compatibility between the telecommunication equipment vendors and service providers and resulted in the improve system (KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S.Ct. 1727, 1742, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1396 (2007)).
Regarding claim 13: The combination of 3GPP and Huawei disclose a method.
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses the method, wherein the candidate cell information is included in an RRC Container (See Section 10.5.2; Steps 2/3 and 6, candidate PSCell-specific NR RRC configuration and CPC RRC reconfiguration structure).
Regarding claim 21: The combination of 3GPP and Huawei disclose a master node (MN).
Furthermore, 3GPP discloses the master node, wherein the candidate cell information is included in an RRC Container (See Section 10.5.2; Steps 2/3 and 6, candidate PSCell-specific NR RRC configuration and CPC RRC reconfiguration structure).
Conclusion
15. The prior art of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
A. Da Silva et al. 2023/0209425 A1 (Title: Preserving cell group addition/change configuration..) (See Abstract, Para. 0012 & 0037-0038).
B. Teyeb et al. 2016/0057663 A1 (Title: Preserving core network interfaces after selective) (See abstract, Para. 0006 & 00813-0016).
C. Kim et al. 2025/0126672 A1 (Title: Method and apparatus for conditional handover in mobile wireless communication system) (See FIG. 1, Para. 0046, 0050 & 0160).
16. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MEWALE A AMBAYE whose telephone number is (571)270-1076. The examiner can normally be reached on M.F 6a.m.-2p.m..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian Moore can be reached on (571)272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MEWALE A AMBAYE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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