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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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) 1-5, 10-20 and 22-26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) (1) as being anticipated by Chincholi et al. (Chincholi), U.S. Patent Pub. No 2017/0230780.
Regarding claims 1 and 22, Chincholi discloses an apparatus and method of a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: one or more processors, coupled to a memory, configured to: decode, from signaling received from a next generation node B (gNB), an indication for a radio link monitoring (RLM) in-sync (IS) aggregation level (AL) parameter (The UE monitors reference signals (e.g., cell-specific RS) and compares the measurements to reliability thresholds to determine whether the UE is out-of-service (OOS) or in-sync.) (0043); decode downlink control information (DCI) in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) from the gNB with a selected number of control channel elements (CCEs) based on the AL parameter (the UE monitors reference signals (e.g., cell-specific RS) and compares the measurements to reliability thresholds to determine whether the UE is out-of-service (OOS) or in-sync. Certain systems, such as enhanced machine type communications (eMTC) and/or narrowband Internet-of-Things (NB-IoT) systems transmit downlink control information (DCI) within a narrowband control channel. These systems may support mobility.) (0043); and perform one of an in-sync (IS) evaluation or an out-of-sync (OOS) evaluation based on the RLM IS AL parameter (The UE monitors reference signals (e.g., cell-specific RS) and compares the measurements to reliability thresholds to determine whether the UE is out-of-service (OOS) or in-sync.) (0043).
Regarding claims 2 and 23, Chincholi discloses wherein the signaling received from the gNB is radio resource control signaling (A BS is an entity that communicates with user equipments (UEs) and may also be referred to as a e Node B (eNB), a Node B, an access point, a 5G NB, gNB,) (0047).
Regarding claims 3 and 24, Chincholi discloses wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine the UE is in-sync when an SINR gap between a block error rate (BLER) versus SINR of the DCI decoded in the PDCCH, as measured at a first OOS BLER level relative to a second IS BLER level, is less than a selected threshold (The UE can compare the downlink radio link quality to RLM thresholds, Q.sub.out and Q.sub.in. Q.sub.out corresponds to the threshold at which the downlink radio link cannot be reliably relieved (e.g., 10% physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) block error rate (BLER)). If the downlink radio link signal quality falls below the Q, threshold, the UE may be considered in an out-of-synchronization (OOS) state) (0104).
Regarding claims 4 and 25, Chincholi discloses wherein the OOS BLER level is between 5 and 15 percent and the IS BLER level is between 0.1 and 4 percent (In certain systems, Q.sub.out and Q.sub.in threshold values are fixed for certain aggregation levels, in order to ensure that that the Q.sub.out and Q.sub.in thresholds correspond to a particular signal reliability, such as 2% and 10% PDCCH BLER, respectively.) (0106; see 0107).
Regarding claims 5 and 26, Chincholi discloses wherein the signaling received from the gNB is for a cell specific configuration for an AL level of RLM (According to certain aspects, the UE may maintain (e.g., store) lookup tables (LUTs) containing RLM threshold values associated with the different BS configured parameters and UE measured parameters. For example, for each control channel configuration (e.g., each combination of aggregation level, repetition level, transmission mode, and number of PRBs parameters), the UE may maintain (e.g., store) multiple sets of LUTs associated with (e.g., mapping) that control channel configuration.) (0115).
Regarding claim 10, Chincholi discloses wherein the indicated RLM IS AL consists of one of 2, 4, 8, or 16 (0065).
Regarding claim 11, Chincholi discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indicated RLM IS AL indicates an AL parameter to use based on one or more target block error rates of a DL signal in the PDCCH or one or more target signal to interference plus noise (SINR) parameters of the DL signal in the PDCCH (the measurement events may be chosen by the UE (e.g., selected), for example, based on a target BLER (e.g., a target control channel BLER).) (0118; see also 0104; The UE can compare the downlink radio link quality to RLM thresholds, Q.sub.out and Q.sub.in. Q.sub.out corresponds to the threshold at which the downlink radio link cannot be reliably relieved (e.g., 10% physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) block error rate (BLER)). (0104).
Regarding claim 12, Chincholi discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to apply a power boosting reduction of a selected amount when performing the IS evaluation, wherein the selected amount is predefined in a specification or configured by a network, and the selected amount is cell specific or reference signal specific (0114).
Regarding claim 13, Chincholi discloses an apparatus of a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: one or more processors (see figure 2), coupled to a memory (see figure 2), configured to: decode, from signaling received from a next generation node B (gNB), one or more reference signals; determine a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) (Parameters measured by the UE may include channel impulse response (CIR), delay spread (Extended Vehicular A model (EVA), Extended Pedestrian A model (EPA), Extended Urban model (ETU)), UE speed, Doppler, reference signal receive power (RSRP), reference signal receive quality (RSRQ), Signal to Interference plus noise ratio (SINR)) (0114) of the one or more reference signals (The UE monitors reference signals (e.g., cell-specific RS) and compares the measurements to reliability thresholds to determine whether the UE is out-of-service (OOS) or in-sync.) (0043); select a radio link monitoring (RLM) in-sync (IS) aggregation level (AL) parameter based on the SINR (the UE monitors reference signals (e.g., cell-specific RS) and compares the measurements to reliability thresholds to determine whether the UE is out-of-service (OOS) or in-sync. Certain systems, such as enhanced machine type communications (eMTC) and/or narrowband Internet-of-Things (NB-IoT) systems transmit downlink control information (DCI) within a narrowband control channel. These systems may support mobility.) (0043); and perform one of an in-sync evaluation or an out- of-sync evaluation based on the RLM IS AL parameter (The UE monitors reference signals (e.g., cell-specific RS) and compares the measurements to reliability thresholds to determine whether the UE is out-of-service (OOS) or in-sync.) (0043).
Regarding claim 14, Chincholi discloses the apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to decode downlink control information (DCI) in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) from the gNB with a selected number of control channel elements (CCEs) based on the AL parameter (The UE can compare the downlink radio link quality to RLM thresholds, Q.sub.out and Q.sub.in. Q.sub.out corresponds to the threshold at which the downlink radio link cannot be reliably relieved (e.g., 10% physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) block error rate (BLER)). If the downlink radio link signal quality falls below the Q, threshold, the UE may be considered in an out-of-synchronization (OOS) state) (0104).
Regarding claim 15, Chincholi discloses the apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more reference signals are channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) (The UE may perform RLM. The UE monitors the downlink quality based on cell-specific reference signals (CRS) in order to detect the downlink radio link quality. In certain system, such as NB-IoT, the UE monitors the downlink quality based on narrowband reference signals (NRS).) (0104).
Regarding claim 16, Chincholi discloses the apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more reference signals are synchronization signal block (SSB) reference signals comprising demodulation reference signals (DMRS) in a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) in the SSB or a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) in the SSB (a BS may transmit a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) on the downlink in the center of the system bandwidth for each cell supported by the BS. The PSS and SSS may be transmitted in symbol periods 6 and 5, respectively, in subframes 0 and 5 of each radio frame with the normal cyclic prefix, as shown in FIG. 3. The PSS and SSS may be used by UEs for cell search and acquisition. The BS may transmit a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) across the system bandwidth for each cell supported by the eNB. The CRS may be transmitted in certain symbol periods of each subframe and may be used by the UEs to perform channel estimation, channel quality measurement, and/or other functions. The BS may also transmit a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) in symbol periods 0 to 3 in slot 1 of certain radio frames. The PBCH may carry some system information.) (0062).
Regarding claim 17, Chincholi discloses the apparatus of claim 13, wherein the UE performs RLM using channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) and calculates the SINR based on the CSI-RS (UE may be located within the coverage of multiple BSs. One of these BSs may be selected to serve the UE. The serving BS may be selected based on various criteria such as received signal strength, received signal quality, pathloss, etc. Received signal quality may be quantified by a signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SINR), or a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or some other metric. The UE may operate in a dominant interference scenario in which the UE may observe high interference from one or more interfering BSs.) (0069).
Regarding claim 18, Chincholi discloses the apparatus of claim 13, wherein the UE performs RLM using a synchronization signal block (SSB) and calculates the SINR based on the SSB (a BS may transmit a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) on the downlink in the center of the system bandwidth for each cell supported by the BS. The PSS and SSS may be transmitted in symbol periods 6 and 5, respectively, in subframes 0 and 5 of each radio frame with the normal cyclic prefix, as shown in FIG. 3. The PSS and SSS may be used by UEs for cell search and acquisition. The BS may transmit a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) across the system bandwidth for each cell supported by the eNB. The CRS may be transmitted in certain symbol periods of each subframe and may be used by the UEs to perform channel estimation, channel quality measurement, and/or other functions. The BS may also transmit a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) in symbol periods 0 to 3 in slot 1 of certain radio frames. The PBCH may carry some system information.) (0062).
Regarding claim 19, Chincholi discloses the apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to select the AL parameter relative to a threshold level of the SINR, wherein the threshold level is predefined in a specification or configured by a network (According to certain aspects, the UE (e.g., MTC UE and/or IoT device) may maintain different RLM thresholds for different control channel configurations (e.g., MPDCCH or NPDCCH). As the UE moves across (e.g., transitions between) coverage regions, the UE can adjust (e.g., adapt dynamically) the RLM thresholds based on parameters of the current control channel configuration and measures parameters related to the channel condition and geometry. For example, the parameters configured by the BS may include aggregation level, repetition level, transmission mode (TM), and/or number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) in PRB resource set. Parameters measured by the UE may include channel impulse response (CIR), delay spread (Extended Vehicular A model (EVA), Extended Pedestrian A model (EPA), Extended Urban model (ETU)), UE speed, Doppler, reference signal receive power (RSRP), reference signal receive quality (RSRQ), Signal to Interference plus noise ratio (SINR)) (0114).
Regarding claim 20, Chincholi discloses the apparatus of claim 19, wherein the threshold level is cell specific or reference signal specific (According to certain aspects, the UE (e.g., MTC UE and/or IoT device) may maintain different RLM thresholds for different control channel configurations (e.g., MPDCCH or NPDCCH). As the UE moves across (e.g., transitions between) coverage regions, the UE can adjust (e.g., adapt dynamically) the RLM thresholds based on parameters of the current control channel configuration and measures parameters related to the channel condition and geometry.) (0114).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Nagaraja et al. U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2022/0256377 discloses radio link monitoring with sub-bands and interference measurements.
Thangarasa et al. U.S. Patent Pub. No. 20200037186, discloses a wireless device, network node and methods performed therein.
Dalsgaard et al. U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2020/0037179 discloses enhanced radio link monitoring for user equipment.
Yiu et al. U.S. patent Pub. No. 20190327651 discloses a GNB, user equipment, and methods for handover in new radio (NR) systems.
Yoo et al. U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2011/0256861 discloses radio link monitoring (RLM) and reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement for heterogeneous networks.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TEMICA M. BEAMER whose telephone number is (571)272-7797. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday; 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
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/TEMICA M BEAMER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646
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