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 .
Examiner finds no 35 USC 101 rejections in the current claim language.
Double Patenting Considerations:
U.S. Pat. No. 12,113,836 (parent case):
The claim language of related patent ‘836 (same assignee (T-Mobile USA, Inc.) and common inventor (Muhammad Rahman) does not disclose the “prioritize the second option over the first option based on one or more measurement results corresponding to the NR access technology exceeding a threshold” (and other detailed steps), as seen in the independent claim language of the present Application.
Therefore, there are no double patenting rejections in the current Application with regard to ‘836.
U.S. Pat. No. 11,621,982 (parent case):
The claim language of related patent ‘982 (same assignee (T-Mobile USA, Inc.) and common inventor (Muhammad Rahman) does not disclose the “prioritize the second option over the first option based on one or more measurement results corresponding to the NR access technology exceeding a threshold” (and other detailed steps), as seen in the independent claim language of the present Application.
Therefore, there are no double patenting rejections in the current Application with regard to ‘982.
U.S. Pat. No. 11,310,700:
The claim language of related patent ‘700 (same assignee (T-Mobile USA, Inc.) and no common inventors) does not disclose the “prioritize the second option over the first option based on one or more measurement results corresponding to the NR access technology exceeding a threshold” (and other detailed steps), as seen in the independent claim language of the present Application.
Therefore, there are no double patenting rejections in the current Application with regard to ‘700.
Claim Objections
Claims 23, 30, and 31 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 23 recites the limitation "the IMS voice session" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Examiner recommends the language “the voice session with the IMS”;
Claim 30 recites the limitation "the IMS voice session" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Examiner recommends the language “the voice session with the IMS”;
Claim 31 recites the limitation "the device" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Examiner recommends the language “wireless device”.
Examiner recommends a thorough review of the claim language in order to correct other possible antecedent basis concerns.
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 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.
(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.
Claims 21 – 40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Xu et al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2023/0224768) (Apparatus and Method of Pruning New Radio Cells That Do Not Support Voice Over new Radio From A Measurement Report).
21. A method for wireless communication (paragraph 5 “... an apparatus for wireless communication of a UE ...”), comprising:
receiving, by a first access node configured to support a New Radio (NR) access technology, a request from a wireless device to establish a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session (paragraph 25 “...at 601, UE 602 resides on NG-RAN 604 and initiates the establishment of the mobile originating (MO) and/or mobile terminating (MT) IMS voice session with its NR serving gNB. At 603, NG-RAN 604 receives the network-initiated packet data unit (PDU) session modification request to set up quality-of-service (QoS) flow for a voice session ...”),
wherein the first access node is configured to support a fallback to a Long Term Evolution (LTE) access technology for the PDU session (paragraph 25 “... At 605, NG-RAN 604 may trigger fallback to EPS when an indication to redirect EPS fallback for voice, network configuration, and/or radio conditions is received from AMF 608 ...”);
determining, by the first access node, that the fallback to the LTE access technology is a first option for establishing the PDU session (paragraph 25 “... At 605, NG-RAN 604 may trigger fallback to EPS when an indication to redirect EPS fallback for voice, network configuration, and/or radio conditions is received from AMF 608 ...”; paragraph 79 “At 452, the apparatus may automatically reestablish the voice session with the IMS via LTE …”);
determining, based on a capability of the wireless device indicating that the wireless device supports the NR access technology, that the NR access technology is a second option for establishing the PDU session (paragraph 26 “... When the MR indicates to the 4G network that channel conditions at the first NR cell or a second NR cell meet certain thresholds, the 4G network may redirect UE 602 back to the 5G network ...”);
prioritizing, by the first access node, the second option over the first option based on one or more measurement results corresponding to the NR access technology exceeding a threshold (paragraphs 64 “... reference signal received power (RSRP) ... Event ‘Bl’ may occur when a channel condition associated with second gNB 104b becomes higher than a threshold. Event ‘B2’ may occur when channel condition(s) at first gNB 104a meet or drop below a first threshold and when the signal condition(s) at second gNB 104b meet or exceed a second threshold”; paragraph 66 “When it is determined (at 424) that both the first NR cell and/or the second NR cell are on the whitelist, the operation may move to 426. At 426, the apparatus may send the MR including information associated with both the first NR cell and the second NR cell to the eNB...”);
establishing the PDU session using the second option of the NR access technology (paragraph 66 “... referring to FIG. 3C, when UE 102 sends (at 323) the MR to eNB 104c, eNB 104c may initiate handover/redirection to first gNB 104a or second gNB 104b since they both supports VoNR, which may have better conditions than the LTE serving cell ...”).
22. The method of claim 21, wherein the PDU session is related to a voice session with an Internet Protocol Multimedia System (IMS) (Fig. 6; paragraph 25 “UE 602 resides on NG-RAN 604 and initiates the establishment of the mobile originating (MO) and/or mobile terminating (MT) IMS voice session with its NR serving gNB. At 603, NG-RAN 604 receives the network-initiated packet data unit (PDU) session modification request to set up quality-of-service (QoS) flow for a voice session”).
23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:
configuring, by the first access node, a Quality of Service (QOS) for establishing the IMS voice session (Fig. 6; paragraph 25 “UE 602 resides on NG-RAN 604 and initiates the establishment of the mobile originating (MO) and/or mobile terminating (MT) IMS voice session with its NR serving gNB. At 603, NG-RAN 604 receives the network-initiated packet data unit (PDU) session modification request to set up quality-of-service (QoS) flow for a voice session …”; paragraph 21 “IMS is predominantly used for delivering voice and video-based multimedia services (referred to hereinafter as “voice session”) over IP networks such as LTE”).
24. The method of claim 21, wherein the prioritizing is further based on at least one of a first coverage area associated with the NR access technology (Abstract “… The apparatus may initiate, at a new radio (NR) serving cell, a voice session with an IMS …”; paragraph 7 “… The process may include initiating, at a first NR cell, a voice session with an IMS …”) or a second coverage area associated with the LTE access technology (paragraph 25 “... At 605, NG-RAN 604 may trigger fallback to EPS when an indication to redirect EPS fallback for voice, network configuration, and/or radio conditions is received from AMF 608 ...”); paragraph 79 “At 452, the apparatus may automatically reestablish the voice session with the IMS via LTE when the voice session is terminated. For example, referring to FIG. 3E, when IMS voice session failure occurs, UE 102 may automatically reestablish (at 335) the IMS voice session with eNB 104c”).
25. The method of claim 21, wherein the one or more measurement results comprise at least one of Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) reported by the wireless device (paragraph 64 (“the apparatus may generate a first inter-RAT measurement report including information associated with the first NR cell and/or the second NR cell when at least one channel condition is met. For example, referring to FIG. 3C, during the IMS voice session in which UE 102 communicates with IMS 318 via eNB 104c, UE 102 may generate (at 317) an MR indicating, among others, the channel conditions (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-noise and interference ratio (SINR), etc.) measured for first gNB 104a and second gNB 104”).
26. The method of claim 21, comprising:
determining, by the first access node, that a network condition of the PDU session using the NR access technology drops below a second threshold (paragraph 64 “The first inter-RAT measurement report may be associated with an event ‘B1’ or event ‘B2’ triggering condition. Event ‘B1’ may occur when a channel condition associated with second gNB 104b becomes higher than a threshold. Event ‘B2’ may occur when channel condition(s) at first gNB 104a meet or drop below a first threshold and when the signal condition(s) at second gNB 104b meet or exceed a second threshold”); and
initiating, by the first access node, a handover procedure for the PDU session to fallback to the LTE access technology (Fig. 3C; paragraph 66 “when UE 102 sends (at 323) the MR to eNB 104c, eNB 104c may initiate handover/redirection to first gNB 104a or second gNB 104b since they both supports VoNR, which may have better conditions than the LTE serving cell”).
27. The method of claim 21, wherein the wireless device is configured to operate in a roaming mode (“handover procedure” (paragraph 25) implies a roaming mode), and wherein the first access node is located in a visited network (Fig. 6; paragraph 25 “At 611b, UE 602 may attach the packet data network (PDN) connectivity request with the “handover” request type. After the completion of the 5GS to EPS handover procedure, at 613, either SMF 614 or P-GW 614 may re-initiate the configuration of the dedicated bearer for IMS voice and map the 5G QoS to EPC QoS parameter”).
28. An apparatus for wireless communication (paragraph 5 “... an apparatus for wireless communication of a UE ...”) configured to support a New Radio (NR) access technology (Abstract “The apparatus may initiate, at a new radio (NR) serving cell, a voice session with an IMS”), comprising at least one processor (paragraph 5 “The apparatus may include a memory and at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to perform operations associated with wireless communication”) that is configured to cause the apparatus to:
receive a request from a wireless device to establish a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session (paragraph 25 “... at 601, UE 602 resides on NG-RAN 604 and initiates the establishment of the mobile originating (MO) and/or mobile terminating (MT) IMS voice session with its NR serving gNB. At 603, NG-RAN 604 receives the network-initiated packet data unit (PDU) session modification request to set up quality-of-service (QoS) flow for a voice session ...”),
wherein the apparatus is configured to support a fallback to a Long Term Evolution (LTE) access technology for the PDU session (paragraph 25 “... At 605, NG-RAN 604 may trigger fallback to EPS when an indication to redirect EPS fallback for voice, network configuration, and/or radio conditions is received from AMF 608 ...”);
determine that the fallback to the LTE access technology is a first option for establishing the PDU session (Fig. 6; paragraph 25 “... At 605, NG-RAN 604 may trigger fallback to EPS when an indication to redirect EPS fallback for voice, network configuration, and/or radio conditions is received from AMF 608 ...”; paragraph 79 “At 452, the apparatus may automatically reestablish the voice session with the IMS via LTE …”);
determine, based on a capability of the wireless device indicating that the wireless device supports the NR access technology, that the NR access technology is a second option for establishing the PDU session (paragraph 26 “... When the MR indicates to the 4G network that channel conditions at the first NR cell or a second NR cell meet certain thresholds, the 4G network may redirect UE 602 back to the 5G network ...”);
prioritize the second option over the first option based on one or more measurement results corresponding to the NR access technology exceeding a threshold (paragraphs 64 “... reference signal received power (RSRP) ... Event ‘Bl’ may occur when a channel condition associated with second gNB 104b becomes higher than a threshold. Event ‘B2’ may occur when channel condition(s) at first gNB 104a meet or drop below a first threshold and when the signal condition(s) at second gNB 104b meet or exceed a second threshold”; paragraph 66 “When it is determined (at 424) that both the first NR cell and/or the second NR cell are on the whitelist, the operation may move to 426. At 426, the apparatus may send the MR including information associated with both the first NR cell and the second NR cell to the eNB...”);
establish the PDU session using the second option of the NR access technology (paragraph 66 “... referring to FIG. 3C, when UE 102 sends (at 323) the MR to eNB 104c, eNB 104c may initiate handover/redirection to first gNB 104a or second gNB 104b since they both supports VoNR, which may have better conditions than the LTE serving cell ...”).
29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the PDU session is related to a voice session with an Internet Protocol Multimedia System (IMS) (Fig. 6; paragraph 25 “UE 602 resides on NG-RAN 604 and initiates the establishment of the mobile originating (MO) and/or mobile terminating (MT) IMS voice session with its NR serving gNB. At 603, NG-RAN 604 receives the network-initiated packet data unit (PDU) session modification request to set up quality-of-service (QoS) flow for a voice session”).
30. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising:
configure a Quality of Service (QOS) for establishing the IMS voice session (Fig. 6; paragraph 25 “UE 602 resides on NG-RAN 604 and initiates the establishment of the mobile originating (MO) and/or mobile terminating (MT) IMS voice session with its NR serving gNB. At 603, NG-RAN 604 receives the network-initiated packet data unit (PDU) session modification request to set up quality-of-service (QoS) flow for a voice session …”; paragraph 21 “IMS is predominantly used for delivering voice and video-based multimedia services (referred to hereinafter as “voice session”) over IP networks such as LTE”).
Regarding claim 31, the rejection of claim 24 under 35 USC 102 (see above) applies fully.
32. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the one or more measurement results comprise at least one of Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) reported by the wireless device (paragraph 64 (“the apparatus may generate a first inter-RAT measurement report including information associated with the first NR cell and/or the second NR cell when at least one channel condition is met. For example, referring to FIG. 3C, during the IMS voice session in which UE 102 communicates with IMS 318 via eNB 104c, UE 102 may generate (at 317) an MR indicating, among others, the channel conditions (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-noise and interference ratio (SINR), etc.) measured for first gNB 104a and second gNB 104”).
33. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to:
determine that a network condition of the PDU session using the NR access technology drops below a second threshold (paragraph 64 “The first inter-RAT measurement report may be associated with an event ‘B1’ or event ‘B2’ triggering condition. Event ‘B1’ may occur when a channel condition associated with second gNB 104b becomes higher than a threshold. Event ‘B2’ may occur when channel condition(s) at first gNB 104a meet or drop below a first threshold and when the signal condition(s) at second gNB 104b meet or exceed a second threshold”); and
initiate a handover procedure for the PDU session to fallback to the LTE access technology (Fig. 3C; paragraph 66 “when UE 102 sends (at 323) the MR to eNB 104c, eNB 104c may initiate handover/redirection to first gNB 104a or second gNB 104b since they both supports VoNR, which may have better conditions than the LTE serving cell”).
Regarding claim 34, the rejection of claim 27 under 35 USC 102 (see above) applies fully.
35. A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions recorded thereon (paragraph 7 “a non-transitory computer-readable medium encoding instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, perform a process for voice communication of a UE. The process may include initiating, at a first NR cell, a voice session with an IMS …”), wherein the instructions when executed by at least one data processor of a system configured to support a New Radio (NR) access technology, cause the system to (paragraph 7; paragraph 5 “... an apparatus for wireless communication of a UE ... apparatus may include a memory and at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to perform operations associated with wireless communication ... NR... ”; paragraphs 83, 91):
receive a request from a wireless device to establish a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session (paragraph 25 “... at 601, UE 602 resides on NG-RAN 604 and initiates the establishment of the mobile originating (MO) and/or mobile terminating (MT) IMS voice session with its NR serving gNB. At 603, NG-RAN 604 receives the network-initiated packet data unit (PDU) session modification request to set up quality-of-service (QoS) flow for a voice session ...”),
wherein the system is configured to support a fallback to a Long Term Evolution (LTE) access technology for the PDU session (paragraph 25 “... At 605, NG-RAN 604 may trigger fallback to EPS when an indication to redirect EPS fallback for voice, network configuration, and/or radio conditions is received from AMF 608 ...”);
determine that the fallback to the LTE access technology is a first option for establishing the PDU session (Fig. 6; paragraph 25 “... At 605, NG-RAN 604 may trigger fallback to EPS when an indication to redirect EPS fallback for voice, network configuration, and/or radio conditions is received from AMF 608 ...”; paragraph 79 “At 452, the apparatus may automatically reestablish the voice session with the IMS via LTE …”);
determine, based on a capability of the wireless device indicating that the wireless device supports the NR access technology, that the NR access technology is a second option for establishing the PDU session (paragraph 26 “... When the MR indicates to the 4G network that channel conditions at the first NR cell or a second NR cell meet certain thresholds, the 4G network may redirect UE 602 back to the 5G network ...”);
prioritize the second option over the first option based on one or more measurement results corresponding to the NR access technology exceeding a threshold (paragraphs 64 “... reference signal received power (RSRP) ... Event ‘Bl’ may occur when a channel condition associated with second gNB 104b becomes higher than a threshold. Event ‘B2’ may occur when channel condition(s) at first gNB 104a meet or drop below a first threshold and when the signal condition(s) at second gNB 104b meet or exceed a second threshold”; paragraph 66 “When it is determined (at 424) that both the first NR cell and/or the second NR cell are on the whitelist, the operation may move to 426. At 426, the apparatus may send the MR including information associated with both the first NR cell and the second NR cell to the eNB...”);
establish the PDU session using the second option of the NR access technology (paragraph 66 “... referring to FIG. 3C, when UE 102 sends (at 323) the MR to eNB 104c, eNB 104c may initiate handover/redirection to first gNB 104a or second gNB 104b since they both supports VoNR, which may have better conditions than the LTE serving cell ...”).
Regarding dependent claims 36 – 40, the rejection of claims dependent 22 and 24 – 27 applies fully.
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/KENNETH R COULTER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2445
/KRC/