DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to claims filed on 18 November 2024 and Information Disclosure Statements filed on 27 January 2025 and 13 July 2026.
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 27 January 2025 and 13 July 2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered and attached by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
Claims 1-23 were originally filed on 18 November 2024.
Claims 1-23 have been canceled and the Specification and claims 24-42 have been amended by Preliminary Amendments filed on 18 November 2024.
Claims 24-42 remain pending for examination.
Claim Objections
Claim 42 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding Claim 42, Line 6 — "comprising" should be followed by a colon (:).
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
The factual inquiries 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.
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.
Claim 42 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung (US 2020/0305039) in view of Lee et al. (US 2013/0142104, hereinafter Lee).
Regarding Claim 42, Jung discloses a base station comprising:
at least one transceiver (Fig. 1L and ¶¶ 518-520 disclose a base station including a radio frequency (RF) processor performing functions for transmitting and receiving signals through wireless channels and a baseband processor converting between baseband signals (received or to be transmitted) and bitstreams);
at least one processor (Fig. 1L, ¶¶ 518 and 523 disclose the base station as further including a controller including at least one processor transmitting and receiving signals via the RF processor and baseband processor and reading and recording data from and to storage); and
at least one memory operably connectable to the at least one processor and storing instructions that (Fig. 1L, ¶¶ 518 and 522 disclose the base station as yet further including storage storing programs, applications, and data, wherein the storage may include a plurality of memories), based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform operations (¶ 524 discloses that the methods described therein may be implemented as hardware, software, or a combination thereof (e.g. the hardware/software disclosed in Fig. 1L and associated description)) comprising
transmitting, via the at least one transceiver, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Release message to a wireless device (Fig. 1G and ¶ 173 disclose a user equipment (UE) in an RRC connected mode receiving an RRCRelease message from a base station (BS));
wherein a serving cell is de-prioritized based on a result of measurement related to the multicast session satisfying a triggering condition (as the claim is currently written, serving cell de-prioritization is an action of the UE, not the BS; thus, this “wherein” clause is not limiting on the claimed method of the BS), and
wherein de-prioritizing the serving cell includes at least one of i) considering the serving cell as barred for a certain period of time, ii) applying a negative-offset to ranking of the serving cell, or iii) considering a serving frequency on which the serving cell operates to be a lowest priority for a certain period of time (as the claim is currently written, serving cell de-prioritization is an action of the UE, not the BS; thus, this “wherein” clause is not limiting on the claimed method of the BS).
Jung may not explicitly disclose where the method further comprising:
transmitting, via the at least one transceiver, a multicast session to the wireless while the wireless device in an idle state or an inactive state,
However, in analogous art, Lee discloses a method of a base station comprising:
transmitting, via the at least one transceiver, a multicast session to the wireless while the wireless device in an idle state or an inactive state (Figs. 8-9, ¶ 18, 77, and 81-83 disclose a base station effectively providing Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) to a UE, wherein the UE enters an RRC Idle mode/state, and receives a Multicast Control Channel (MCCH) and Multicast Traffic Channel (MTCH) from a selected cell (of the base station) while the UE remains in the RRC Idle state).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Lee to modify Jung in order to have the base station that instructs a user equipment to enter an low activity RRC state, such as either the RRC IDLE or RRC INACTIVE states, to continue to provide MBMS to the UE . One would have been motivated to do this, because such provision of MBMS while the UE is in an RRC IDLE or RRC INACTIVE state enables the base station to provide effective MBMS to the UE (Lee ¶ 18).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 24-41 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
The prior art of record does not teach or suggest the ordered combination of all of the features of at least independent claims 24 and 41. Specifically, the prior art of record fails to disclose a UE deprioritizing a serving cell by either barring the cell for a period of time, applying a negative offset to the serving cell's ranking, or setting the serving cell's frequency to have lowest priority, in ordered combination with all the other features of at least any one of the independent claims.
Jung (US 2020/0305039), Lee et al. (US 2013/0142104, hereinafter Lee), Pham Van et al. (US 2025/0301533, hereinafter Pham Van), and Kim et al. (US 9,479,988, hereinafter Kim) were found to be the closest prior art to the claimed invention.
Jung, at Figs. 1G-1H and associated description, discloses a UE in an RRC Connected state receiving an RRC release message and entering an RRC IDLE or RRC INACTIVE state, camping on a suitable New Radio (serving) cell, measuring RSRP or RSRQ of the serving cell, and performing cell reselection accordingly. However Jung does not appear to disclose the UE receiving a multicast session from the network while in the IDLE or INACTIVE state or performing cell reselection by deprioritizing the serving cell.
Lee, at Figs. 8-9 and associated description, including ¶ 18, discloses a base station providing an effective MBMS to a user equipment, and a UE in RRC IDLE mode receiving a Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH) transmission or an MBMS control channel (MCCH) transmission for receiving MBMS, then performing cell reselection before or after receiving the MCCH transmission. However, Lee does not disclose details about how the reselection is performed, such as by de-prioritization as claimed.
Pham Van, at Fig. 4 and associated description, discloses a UE in an RRC-INACTIVE state, receiving multicast data until performing a measurement, and possibly performing cell reselection according to the measurement result. However, Phan Van does not appear to disclose performing cell reselection by deprioritizing the serving cell, let alone in at least one of the alternatively claimed ways of deprioritizing the serving cell.
Kim et al. (US 9,479,988), at Fig. 8-10 and associated description, discloses a UE receiving MBMS and performing cell reselection by applying frequency priority. While Kim may disclose deprioritizing the serving cell to prevent reattaching to a cell that was already requested RRC release, thereby preventing continuous cycling through RRC states, Kim does not appear to describe any one of the three alternatively-claimed ways of deprioritizing the serving cell.
Further search and consideration did not reveal other prior art that could be reasonably read, alone or in combination with the prior art of record, to disclose the subject matter at issue.
Thus, at least independent claims 24 and 41 are allowed over the prior art of record. Dependent claims 25-40 are likewise allowed for at least the same reasons, because they depend on claim 24. Therefore, claims 24-41 are allowed.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Jung (US 2020/0305039), at Figs. 1G-1H and associated description, discloses a UE in an RRC Connected state receiving an RRC release message and entering an RRC IDLE or RRC INACTIVE state, camping on a suitable New Radio (serving) cell, measuring RSRP or RSRQ of the serving cell, and performing cell reselection accordingly;
Lee et al. (US 2013/0142104), at Figs. 8-9 and associated description, including ¶ 18, discloses a base station providing an effective MBMS to a user equipment, and a UE in RRC IDLE mode receiving a Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH) transmission or an MBMS control channel (MCCH) transmission for receiving MBMS, then performing cell reselection before or after receiving the MCCH transmission;
Pham Van et al. (US 2025/0301533), at Fig. 4 and associated description, discloses a UE in an RRC-INACTIVE state, receiving multicast data until performing a measurement, and possibly performing cell reselection according to the measurement result; and
Kim et al. (US 9,479,988), at Fig. 8-10 and associated description, discloses a UE receiving MBMS and performing cell reselection by applying frequency priority;
Jung et al. (US 9,408,127), at Fig. 10 and associated description, discloses a UE receiving MBMS from cell 1 and having an RRC connection established with cell 1, cell 1 sending an RRC release message to the UE, the UE performing measurements while in an IDLE state, and re-selecting a cell based on autonomous priority handling;
Kim et al. (US 2017/0339606), at Figs. 11-14 and associated description, discloses a UE receiving MBMS configuration information, possibly entering into an RRC connected state with the base station or cell for MBMS, and receiving MBMS;
Kim et al. (US 2018/0035265), at Fig. 8-10 and associated description, discloses a UE being RRC connected to a first cell, receiving SIB15 from the first cell including MBMS-related service information and either entering into an RRC IDLE state or suspending the RRC connection, then performing cell re-selection and then receiving MBMS service; and
Huawei, "New Work Item on NR support of Multicast and Broadcast Services," 3rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #86, RP-193248, Sitges, Spain, December 9th-12th, 2019, pp. 1-5, at §4.1, 2nd bullet point, discloses basic functions for UEs in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE, wherein the UE continues to receive multicast (PTM) in order to maintain commonality between the various RRC states as much as possible.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THOMAS R CAIRNS whose telephone number is (571)270-0487. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5PM ET M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, MARCUS SMITH can be reached at (571) 270-1096. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Thomas R Cairns/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2468
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