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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application no.
KR1020230138321 filed in REPUBLIC OF KOREA on 10/17/2023. It is noted that the applicant has filed a certified copy of the application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/30/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-12 are objected to because of the following informalities (for record clarity): (note: line numbers correlate to line numbers in document, as filed 09/30/2024)
Claim 1, line 10, “conditional reconfiguration execution” should read - - the conditional reconfiguration execution - -; line 12, “a measurement report configuration” should read - - the measurement report configuration - -; line 14, “CIO” should read - -a CIO - - and line 14 and 19, “CIO information” should read - - CIO information for the specific cell - - . line 16, “physical cell identity” should read - - a physical cell identity - -; line 17 “frequency” should read - - a frequency- -.
Claim 2, line 23, “configuration of the specific cell“ should read - - a configuration of the specific cell”.
“Claim 5, lines 7 and 8, “sum . . . “should read - - a sum - -.
Claims 2-6 are objected to by virtue of their dependency (directly/indirectly) on Claim 1.
Claim 7, line 20-21, “measurement for one or more - - --” should read - - a measurement for one or more - - or - - -measurements for one or more - - -; line 27, “CIO” should read - -a CIO - -; line 29, “physical cell identity” should read - - a physical cell identity- -.
Claims 8-11 are objected to by virtue of their dependency (directly/indirectly) on Claim 7.
Claim 12, line 33, “measurement for one or more - - --” should read - - a measurement for one or more - - or - - -measurements for one or more - - -. line 10, to “initiate conditional reconfiguration execution; and perform conditional reconfiguration execution…” should read - - to initiate a conditional reconfiguration execution; and perform the conditional reconfiguration execution… - -
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION. —The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 9, line 10 recites the limitation "the first information". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by SHI et al. (US 20230180083 A1), hereinafter SHI.
Regarding Claim 1, SHI teaches a method performed by a terminal (SHI, Abstract; FIG. 1, ¶0031, ¶0078; ¶0081; ¶0088; FIG. 6, handover method and apparatus/UE “terminal”) the method comprising:
receiving by the terminal from a base station a radio resource control (RRC) message (SHI, ¶0008, FIG. 1, ¶0031, a UE/ ”terminal” receives a radio resource control reconfiguration message (“a RRC message”) sent by a source base station; see also FIG. 6), wherein the RRC message comprises a measurement configuration and one or more embedded RRC messages (SHI, ¶0079, [t]he conditional handover command is included in RRCReconfiguration generated by the source base station [and] may include conditional handover commands of multiple target cells;¶0077 [t]he RRCReconfiguration message generated by each target cell includes an RRC message transaction identifier (rrc-TransactionIdentifier) allocated to the RRCReconfiguration by the target cell/ “embedded messages” );
performing, by the terminal based on the measurement configuration, [a] measurement for one or more measurement identities (SHI, ¶0079, [t]he identifier information indicating the measurement configuration of the “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell may be identified by a measurement identity (measID). . . [and] [o]ne measID is associated with one measurement object and one report configuration.; [t]he UE may determine the “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell through the measID; see also ¶0086 reportConfig1 measID1 and reportConfig2 and measID2);
determining, by the terminal based on measurement for a measurement identity, to initiate [a] conditional reconfiguration execution (SHI, FIG. 6, at S440; ¶0081, if a measurement result of a target cell meets a reporting condition of a report configuration (reportConfig) associated with the measID for indicating the measurement configuration of the “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell, it is determined that the “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell is met); and
performing, by the terminal, [the] conditional reconfiguration execution to a specific cell (SHI, ¶0081, when the UE determines that there is a target cell that meets a “conditional handover execution condition” of this target cell indicated in the RRCReconfiguration, the UE performs the handover and accesses the target cell; a target cell interpreted to correspond to “a specific cell”),
wherein, in case that a measurement report configuration associated with the measurement identity comprises cell individual offset (CIO) information for the specific cell, a first parameter related to [a] CIO in the CIO information is applied to the specific cell (SHI, ¶0088, the source base station modifies . . or increases . . . a cell individual offset of the target cell/ “specific cell” in a measurement object configuration associated with the measID; [and] [t]he cell individual offset (CIO) is used by the UE to evaluate the “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell / “specific cell”),
wherein the specific cell is determined based on: a second parameter related to [a] physical cell identity (SHI, ¶0079, cited herein; the PCI of each target cell is specified by the report configuration,) and a third parameter related to [a] frequency of a specific signal (SHI, ¶0079, [t]he RRCReconfiguration includes a list of target cells for a conditional handover . . .[and] [t]he list of the target cells for the conditional handover includes frequency information (“a frequency” of . . . and a PCI (“a physical cell identity”)/”second parameter” of each target cell / “specific cell”, . . .;see also ¶0032; ¶0088), and
wherein the first parameter, the second parameter, and the third parameter are comprised in the CIO information (SHI, ¶#0088, a cell individual offset of the target cell in a measurement object configuration associated with the measID in addition to providing, in the list of the target cells for the conditional handover, an ARFCN (frequency information) and a PCI of each conditional handover cell, a conditional handover command of the target cell, and identifier information (for example, measID) indicating a measurement configuration of a “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell).
Regarding Claim 2, SHI teaches Claim 1.
SHI further teaches an embedded RRC message that comprises configuration of the specific cell is applied in case that condition reconfiguration execution to the specific cell is performed (SHI, ¶0081, when the UE determines that there is a target cell that meets a “conditional handover execution condition” of this target cell indicated in the RRCReconfiguration (“embedded RRC message”), the UE performs the handover and accesses the target cell; a target cell interpreted to correspond to “a specific cell”)).
Regarding Claim 3, SHI teaches Claim 1.
SHI further teaches physical cell identity indicated by the second parameter is identical to a physical cell identity of the specific cell (SHI, ¶0079, PCI [parameter] of each target cell / “specific cell”; ¶0060, the conditional handover command includes target cell information, information required by the UE to access the target cell/ “specific cell”, a “conditional handover execution condition” and the like. The target cell information includes a PCI of the target cell and frequency information used by the target cell.); and the physical cell identity of the specific cell is indicated in serving cell configuration comprised in an embedded RRC message associated with the specific cell (SHI, ¶0077, the RRCReconfiguration message generated by each target cell includes an RRC message transaction identifier (rrc-TransactionIdentifier) allocated to the RRCReconfiguration by the target cell /specific cell).
Regarding Claim 4, SHI teaches Claim 1.
SHI further teaches the terminal determines to initiate conditional reconfiguration execution for the specific cell based on the measurement identity in case that: the measurement identity is associated with a conditional event (SHI, ¶0054-0055, the measurement report contains a measurement result of the cell; ¶0042; ¶0079, [t]he identifier information indicating the measurement configuration of the “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell may be identified by a measurement identity (measID)) [and] ¶0081 If a measurement result of a target cell meets a reporting condition of a report configuration (reportConfig) associated with the measID for indicating the measurement configuration of the “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell / “specific neighbour cell”, it is determined that the “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell is met; see also ¶0082-0086; ¶0092-0094, A3, A4, A5 with respect to CHO conditions )an entry condition of the conditional event is fulfilled during a specific time duration (SHI, ¶0088; 0092-0094 , a timer/ time to Trigger, corresponds to “an entry condition”).
Regarding Claim 5, SHI teaches Claim 4.
SHI further teaches the entry condition of the conditional event is fulfilled in case that a first value is greater than a second value (SHI, ¶0092-0094 e.g. trigger of an A3 event] Also taking the A3 event as an example, before the list of the target cells for the handover is received, the A3 event configured for the UE in measID1 by the base station is that the signal quality of a neighbour cell is one offset higher than the signal quality of the serving cell, and the offset is configured to be 3 dB ); the first value is [a] sum of measurement result of the specific cell and a specific CIO; and the second value is [a] sum of measurement result of a special cell, a frequency specific offset, and a second CIO (SHI, ¶0157, the UE calculates the sum of the offset and an offset in the measurement object configuration associated with the measurement configuration identifier information (“first value”), or the UE calculates the sum of the threshold and an threshold in the measurement object configuration associated with the measurement configuration identifier information (“second value”).
Regarding Claim 6, SHI teaches Claim 5.
SHI further teaches the specific CIO is determined based on the first parameter in the measurement report configuration , ¶0088 the source base station modifies (if configuring in advance) or increases (if not configuring in advance) a cell individual offset of the target cell in a measurement object configuration associated with the measID (“first parameter”) ; and the second CIO is determined based on a parameter in a measurement object configuration (SHI, ¶0088 the source base station modifies (if configuring in advance) or increases (if not configuring in advance) a cell individual offset of the target cell in a measurement object configuration associated with the measID in addition to providing, in the list of the target cells for the conditional handover, an ARFCN and a PCI of each conditional handover cell, a conditional handover command of the target cell, and identifier information (for example, measID) indicating a measurement configuration of a “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell. The cell individual offset is used by the UE to evaluate the “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell).
Regarding Claim 7, SHI teaches a method performed by a terminal (SHI, FIG. 1, ¶0031, handover method and apparatus/UE “terminal”) the method comprising:
receiving by the terminal from a base station a radio resource control (RRC) message (SHI, ¶0008, FIG. 1, ¶0031, a UE/ ”terminal” receives a radio resource control reconfiguration message (“a RRC message”) sent by a source base station; see also FIG. 6), wherein the RRC message comprises a measurement configuration (SHI, ¶0079, [t]he conditional handover command is included in RRCReconfiguration generated by the source base station [and] may include conditional handover commands of multiple target cells);
performing, by the terminal based on the measurement configuration,[a] measurement for one or more measurement identities (SHI, ¶0079, [t]he identifier information indicating the measurement configuration of the “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell may be identified by a measurement identity (measID). . . [and] [o]ne measID is associated with one measurement object and one report configuration.; [t]he UE may determine the “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell through the measID);
determining, by the terminal for a measurement identity, to initiate [a] conditional reconfiguration execution (SHI, FIG. 6, at S440; ¶0081, if a measurement result of a target cell meets a reporting condition of a report configuration (reportConfig) associated with the measID for indicating the measurement configuration of the “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell, it is determined that the “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell is met); and
transmitting, by the terminal to the base station, a measurement report message (SHI, FIG. 3, ¶0054 at S310, the UE sends a measurement report to a source base station; see also ¶0055),
wherein, in case that a measurement report configuration associated with the measurement identity comprises a first cell individual offset (CIO) information, a first parameter related to CIO is applied to a specific neighbour cell (SHI, ¶0088, the source base station modifies. . or increases . . . a cell individual offset of the target cell/ “specific cell” in a measurement object configuration associated with the measID; [and] [t]he cell individual offset (CIO) is used by the UE to evaluate the “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell / “specific cell”),
wherein the specific neighbour cell is determined based on: a second parameter related to physical cell identity and a third parameter related to frequency of a specific signal (SHI, ¶0055, [i]nformation of a cell that meets the “advance handover preparation condition” is reported in the measurement report. . . [and] includes a cell identifier such as a physical cell identifier (PCI)/ “a second parameter”, a measurement result of the cell, a measurement result of a beam that meets a reporting condition in the cell . . .[which] refers to a measurement result of a certain single measurement reference signal, while the measurement result of the cell is a measurement result of multiple measurement reference signals in the cell after being averaged. The measurement reference signal includes, for example, synchronization signal (SS) blocks, interpreted to correspond to “a frequency of a specific signal” / “a third parameter”; see also ¶0032; ¶0079; ¶0088, cited in Claim 1 herein); and the first parameter, the second parameter and the third parameter (cited herein), SHI does not explicitly teach the first parameter, the second parameter, and the third parameter are comprised in the first CIO information.
Regarding Claim 8, SHI teaches Claim 7.
SHI further teaches the measurement report message comprises: the measurement identity; (SHI, ¶0054-0055, the measurement report contains a measurement result of the cell; ¶0042, ¶0079, [t]he identifier information indicating the measurement configuration of the “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell may be identified by a measurement identity (measID)) and a measurement result of the specific neighbour cell (SHI, ¶0081 If a measurement result of a target cell meets a reporting condition of a report configuration (reportConfig) associated with the measID for indicating the measurement configuration of the “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell / “specific neighbour cell”, it is determined that the “conditional handover execution condition” of the target cell is met).
Regarding Claim 9, SHI teaches Claim 7.
SHI further teaches the measurement configuration comprises: a measurement object configuration, wherein the measurement object configuration comprises a second CIO information, wherein the second CIO information comprises one or more cell individual offsets (CIOs), and wherein each of the one or more CIOs in the first information is associated with a physical cell identity (SHI, FIG. 6, ¶0088 at S440, the RRC reconfiguration message comprises a measurement object configuration that comprises cell individual offsets and physical cell identities of the respective target cells of a list of target cell); and
a measurement report configuration, wherein the measurement report configuration comprises the first CIO information, wherein the first CIO information comprises one or more CIOs, and wherein each of the one or more CIOs in the first CIO information is associated with a physical cell identity and a frequency of synchronization signal (SS) (SHI, ¶0054-0055 the RRC reconfiguration message comprises a report configuration (reportconfig), for enabling UE measurements of the list of target cells for the purpose of ascertaining whether a conditional handover execution condition is met, that specifies frequency information (which is associated with synchronization signal (SS) blocks in the handover condition measurements, [and] ¶0079, physical cell identities of the respective target cells of the list of target cells, whereby ¶0095, [w]hen a source base station configures reportConfig, the source base station configures two sets of parameters for the same event, for example, configures two thresholds for evaluating a neighbour cell, configures two offsets, and indicates one set of the two sets of parameters to be used for a normal handover and the other set to be used for a conditional handover).
Regarding Claim 10, SHI teaches Claim 7.
SHI further teaches in case that the measurement report configuration associated with the measurement identity does not comprise the first CIO information, a fourth parameter related to CIO is applied to the specific neighbour cell (SHI, ¶0070, conditional handover related to the signal quality /”fourth parameter” of a neighbour cell meeting an advance handover preparation condition, which examiner interpreted to correspond to “a specific neighbour cell”).
Regarding Claim 11, SHI teaches Claim 10.
SHI further teaches the fourth parameter related to [the] CIO is comprised in a measurement object configuration (SHI, ¶0072 the base station configures a frequency as a measurement object. Different frequencies are configured as different measurement objects; see also ¶0088; ¶0090-0091).
Regarding Claim 12, the claim discloses similar features of Claim 1 and is rejected same rationales of Claim 1, in apparatus form (SHI, a terminal (¶0013, electronic device / UE) comprising: a transceiver, a memory (¶0013, memory (of “terminal”) stores a computer program), and a controller (¶0013 processor) coupled to the transceiver and the memory).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TRACY L WILLIAMS whose telephone number is 571-270-7694. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 8:30-5:30. 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, Ayman Abaza can be reached at 571-270-0422. 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.
/TRACY L WILLIAMS/Examiner, Art Unit 2465
/AYMAN A ABAZA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465