DETAILED ACTION
This action is a response to an application filed on 12/20/24 in which claims 1-8, 10-14, 18, 19 and 21-25 are pending.
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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1, 12, 19, 21 and 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Non-Patent Literature: ZTE, Discussion on Inter-DU Mobility with Dual Connectivity and Huawei Mobility enhancements under CU-DU architecture.
As to claim 1, ZTE teaches a base station, comprising:
a centralized unit (CU) comprising memory coupled to one or more processors that are configured to (ZTE Fig 1 gNB-CU):
communicate with a user equipment (UE) via a first distributed unit (DU) of the base station (ZTE steps 1: Measurement report step 2: UL RRC message transfer);
receive, via a first connection between a user equipment (UE) and a first distributed unit (DU)the UE via the first DU, a measurement report of one or more wireless signals detected by the UE (ZTE steps 1: Measurement report step 2: UL RRC message transfer);
determine, based on the measurement report, to enable a connection between the UE and a second DU (ZTE page 2 step 3 gNB-CU makes a decision to add target cell gNB-DU2 to serve UE based on UE measurement report)
communicate, with the second DU, of the second DU for communicating communication with the UE (ZTE step 3 and step 4 send a UE context setup request to the gNB-DU2);
send to the UE via the first DU, a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message for communicating communication with the second DU (ZTE Fig. 1 step 5 RRC Connection Reconfiguration); and
send signaling to, with the UE, via the connection between the UE and the first DU and a second connection between the UE and the second DU (ZTE Fig. 1 step 10 connecting with gNB-DU1 and gNB-DU2)
ZTE does not teach
to configure a media access control (MAC) layer
comprising information to configure a MAC layer of the UE
However Huawei does teach
to configure a media access control (MAC) layer (Huawei page 2 1st paragraph RLC and MAC entity are initialized in the target DU)
comprising information to configure a MAC layer of the UE (Huawei page 2 1st paragraph RLC and MAC entity are initialized in the target DU)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of ZTE and Huawei, because Huawei teaches us a method for 0ms interruption for inter-DU intra-CU handover (Huawei page 2 1st paragraph)
As to claim 12, ZTE teaches a base station, comprising: a distributed unit (DU) comprising memory coupled to one or more processors that are configured to (ZTE Fig 1 gNB-DU):
receive, from a centralized unit (CU) of another base station in communication with a user equipment (UE) via another DU, a UE setup context request message (ZTE step 3 and step 4 send a UE context setup request to the gNB-DU2);
configure, in response to the UE setup context request message, communication with the UE;
send, to the CU, UE setup context response message (ZTE Fig. 1 context response); and
establish, , a connection with the UE (ZTE Fig. 1 step 10 connecting with gNB-DU1 and gNB-DU2)
ZTE does not teach
a media access control (MAC) layer of the second said another DU for communicating
using the MAC layer
However Huawei does teach
a media access control (MAC) layer of the second said another DU for communicating
using the MAC layer (Huawei page 2 1st paragraph RLC and MAC entity are initialized in the target DU)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of ZTE and Huawei for the same reasons stated in claim 1.
As to claim 21, ZTE teaches a baseband processor of a user equipment (UE), comprising: one or more processors configured to (ZTE fig 1):
send, to a centralized unit (CU) via a base station comprising a first distributed unit (DU) and a centralized unit (CU), a measurement report of one or more wireless signals detected by the UE (ZTE steps 1: Measurement report step 2: UL RRC message transfer);
receive, in response to the measurement report, a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message comprising information for second DU (ZTE Fig. 1 step 5 RRC Connection Reconfiguration);
configure, based on the RRC reconfiguration message information, the UE (ZTE step 3 and step 4 send a UE context setup request to the gNB-DU2); and communicate receive first signaling from the first DU and second signaling from the second DU (ZTE Fig. 1 step 10 connecting with gNB-DU1 and gNB-DU2)
ZTE does not teach
configuring a media access control (MAC) layer of the UE to communicate
However Huawei does teach
configuring a media access control (MAC) layer of the UE to communicate (Huawei page 2 1st paragraph RLC and MAC entity are initialized in the target DU)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of ZTE and Huawei for the same reasons stated in claim 1.
As to claim 19, the combination of ZTE and Huawei teach the base station DU of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
the DU is configured to configure a radio link control (RLC) layer, corresponding to the MAC layer, for communicating communication with the UE (Huawei page 2 1st paragraph RLC and MAC entity are initialized in the target DU); and
send to the CU with corresponding data plane configuration information corresponding to the configured RLC layer, in a UE setup context response message (ZTE step 3 and step 4 send a UE context setup request to the gNB-DU2 and response);
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of ZTE and Huawei for the same reasons stated in claim 1.
As to claim 25, the combination of ZTE And Huawei teach the UE of claim 21, wherein the information RRC reconfiguration message causes the UE to configure the MAC layer by creating an additional MAC layer and radio link control (RLC) layer for communicating communication with the second DU different than a MAC layer and RLC layer used for communicating communication with the first DU (ZTE Fig. 1 step 5 RRC Connection Reconfiguration Huawei page 2 1st paragraph RLC and MAC entity are initialized in the target DU and page 1 section 2 different Dus and DU consists of PHY, MAC and RLC) page 3 target DU added as secondary node established corresponding MAC and RLC);
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of ZTE and Huawei for the same reasons stated in claim 1.
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZTE, Huawei and
WU et al. (WO 2023/220612 A1), herein Wu.
As to claim 18, the combination of ZTE and Huawei teach the base station DU of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
ZTE nor Huawei teach
the DU is configured to communicate with the UE based on a transmission and reception point (TRP) ID provided to the UE by a TRP of the DU.
However Wu does teach
the DU is configured to communicate with the UE based on a transmission and reception point (TRP) ID provided to the UE by a TRP of the DU (Wu [0113] At block 514, the CU transmits a third CU-to-DU message to the DU to command the DU to activate at least one of the PPW configuration(s) J, event 330). At block 516, the CU receives one or more measurement results from the UE via the DU (e.g., event 340) and the DU-to-CU message includes a TRP ID of a particular TRP as well as the TRP information of the TRP, and the CU 172 includes the TRP ID and TRP information in the BS-to-LMF message [0054] After performing 306 the TRP Information Exchange procedure, the LMF 168 transmits 308, to the CU 172, ^Measurement Preconfiguration Required message (i.e., LMF-to- BS message or NRPPa message) to request to configure PRS processing window(s) (PPW(s)) for the UE 102 to measure PRS(s) transmitted by the TRP(s))
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of ZTE and Huawei, with Wu, because Wu teaches us [0052] In some implementations, the CU 172 transmits at least one TRP Information Request message (i.e., CU-to-DU message(s) or Fl AP message(s)) to other DU(s) (not shown in Fig. 3A) to request the other DU(s) to provide detailed information for TRP(s) operated by the other DU(s).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 22, 23 and 24 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AYANAH S GEORGE whose telephone number is (571)272-8880. The examiner can normally be reached 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hassan Phillips can be reached at 572-272-3940. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
AYANAH S. GEORGE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2467
/AYANAH S GEORGE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467
