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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 10/22/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The RCE and amendment filed 10/22/2025 has been entered
Claims 1-24 are rejected.
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 1-12 and 14-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Yiu (US 2021/0076275) in view of Li (2024/0172020).
Regarding Claim 1, Yiu teaches an apparatus, comprising:
at least one processor (Yiu, Fig 4, paragraphs 85, system 400 may be implemented in or by a UE, paragraph 87, system 400 may include processor(s) and memory); and
at least one memory comprising computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to (Yiu, Fig 4, paragraphs 85, system 400 may be implemented in or by a UE, paragraph 87, system 400 may include processor(s) and memory)
receive, at a reduced capability user equipment from a network element, a signal comprising information for a measurement relaxation (Yiu, Fig 9, paragraph 255, at step 902 a SIB message is received from gNB which includes an indication of one or more conditions to trigger a relaxation of radio resource management (RRM) measurements by the UE, Fig 1, paragraph 22, any of the UEs 101 may be IoT UEs, which may comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections, hence reduced capability);
determine whether the measurement relaxation is allowed based on the received information, the measurement relaxation being allowed based on a mobility of the reduced capability user equipment (Yiu, paragraph 229, different handling of RRM measurement relaxation may be based on a UEs characteristic such as the UE’s subscription information and the UE’s mobility state, Fig 9, Paragraph 255, at step 906 the flow includes determining whether the one or more conditions for relaxation of RRM measurements are satisfied); and
perform relaxed or non-relaxed measurements based on the determination (Yiu, Fig 9, paragraph 255, at step 908 the RRM measurements are relaxed by the UE based on determining that the one or more conditions are satisfied).
Yiu does not explicitly teach the below limitations:
(determine whether the measurement relaxation is allowed based on the received information) and a reduced capability of the reduced capability user equipment, (the measurement relaxation being allowed based on) the reduced capability of the reduced capability user equipment and (a mobility of the reduced capability user equipment);
However Li teaches the below limitations:
(determine whether the measurement relaxation is allowed based on the received information) and a reduced capability of the reduced capability user equipment, (the measurement relaxation being allowed based on) the reduced capability of the reduced capability user equipment and (a mobility of the reduced capability user equipment) (Li, paragraph 70, in order to perform further relaxation or compatibility on an original measurement relaxation framework, a new determination threshold is introduced for the Redcap terminal);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Yiu by adding measurement relaxation based on reduced capability of UE as taught by Li. Because Yiu and Li teach relaxed measurements, and specifically Li teaches measurement relaxation based on reduced capability of UE for the benefit of the analogous art of a method for measurement relaxation (Li, abstract).
Regarding Claim 2, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the measurement relaxation is not allowed when the reduced capability user equipment is mobile, near a cell edge, when a cell power or quality is low, or when a reference signal received power measurement is not static (Yiu, paragraph 223 and 226, UE may activate relaxed measurement criteria if UE is not at a cell edge, meaning that serving cell/beam RSRP/RSRQ/SINR is above a threshold), and
wherein when the measurement relaxation is not allowed, the apparatus is further caused to ignore the information (Yiu, paragraph 223 and 226, UE may activate relaxed measurement criteria if UE is not at a cell edge, hence if the UE is at the cell edge the relaxation does not occur, hence relaxation parameters would be ‘ignored’).
Regarding Claim 3, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the information comprises an indication that the reduced capability user equipment is stationary (Yiu, Paragraph 218, triggering crtiteria for the UE to move between relaxed and normal RRM measurements considers if the UE is stationary or with low mobility).
Regarding Claim 4, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the measurement relaxation is achieved both in a time and frequency manner (Yiu, Paragraph 217, RRM measurement relaxation by allowing measurements with longer intervals, and/or by reducing the number of cells/carriers to be measured).
Regarding Claim 5, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the reduced capability comprise one or more of Rx branches, Rx ports, Tx branches, reduced Tx power class, reduced processing capabilities, or reduced capability apparatus types (Yiu, Fig 1, paragraph 22, any of the UEs 101 may be IoT UEs, which may comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections).
Regarding Claim 6, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the signal is received via dedicated signaling or broadcast signaling (Yiu, Fig 9, paragraph 255, at step 902 a broadcast SIB message is received from gNB which includes an indication of one or more conditions to trigger a relaxation of radio resource management (RRM) measurements by the UE).
Regarding Claim 7, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the information is targeted toward one or more radio resource control states comprising an idle state, an inactive state, and a connected state (Yiu, paragraph 216, network-configured mechanism to relax intra and inter-frequency RRM measurement for neighbour cells for RRC_IDLE/INACTIVE with minimal mobility performance impacts).
Regarding Claim 8, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the measurement relaxation is a radio link monitoring measurement relaxation or a radio resource management measurement (Yiu, Fig 9, paragraph 255, at step 908 the RRM measurements are relaxed by the UE based on determining that the one or more conditions are satisfied).
Regarding Claim 9, Yiu teaches an apparatus, comprising:
at least one processor (Yiu, Fig 4, paragraphs 85, system 400 may be a network component such as a base station, paragraph 87, paragraph 87, system 400 may include processor(s) and memory); and
at least one memory comprising computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to (Yiu, Fig 4, paragraphs 85, system 400 may be a network component such as a base station, paragraph 87, paragraph 87, system 400 may include processor(s) and memory)
configure a reduced capability user equipment having a reduced capability by transmitting to the reduced capability user equipment a signal comprising information on whether a radio resource management measurement relaxation is allowed (Yiu, Fig 9, paragraph 255, at step 902 a SIB message is received from gNB which includes an indication of one or more conditions to trigger a relaxation of radio resource management (RRM) measurements by the UE, Fig 1, paragraph 22, any of the UEs 101 may be IoT UEs, which may comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections, hence reduced capability).
Yiu does not explicitly teach the below limitation:
(configure a reduced capability user equipment having a reduced capability by transmitting to the reduced capability user equipment a signal comprising information on whether a radio resource management measurement relaxation is allowed) for the reduced capability user equipment based on a reduced capability of the reduced capability user equipment;
However Li teaches the below limitation:
(configure a reduced capability user equipment having a reduced capability by transmitting to the reduced capability user equipment a signal comprising information on whether a radio resource management measurement relaxation is allowed) for the reduced capability user equipment based on a reduced capability of the reduced capability user equipment (Li, paragraph 70, in order to perform further relaxation or compatibility on an original measurement relaxation framework, a new determination threshold is introduced for the Redcap terminal);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Yiu by adding measurement relaxation based on reduced capability of UE as taught by Li. Because Yiu and Li teach relaxed measurements, and specifically Li teaches measurement relaxation based on reduced capability of UE for the benefit of the analogous art of a method for measurement relaxation (Li, abstract).
Regarding Claim 10, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the radio resource management measurement relaxation is not allowed when the reduced capability user equipment is mobile, near a cell edge, when a cell power or quality is low, or when a reference signal received power measurement is not static (Yiu, paragraph 223 and 226, UE may activate relaxed measurement criteria if UE is not at a cell edge, meaning that serving cell/beam RSRP/RSRQ/SINR is above a threshold).
Regarding Claim 11, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the signal is transmitted via dedicated signaling or broadcast signaling (Yiu, Fig 9, paragraph 255, at step 902 a broadcast SIB message is received from gNB which includes an indication of one or more conditions to trigger a relaxation of radio resource management (RRM) measurements by the UE).
Regarding Claim 12, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the information is targeted toward one or more radio resource control states comprising an idle state, an inactive state, and a connected state (Yiu, paragraph 216, network-configured mechanism to relax intra and inter-frequency RRM measurement for neighbour cells for RRC_IDLE/INACTIVE with minimal mobility performance impacts).
Regarding Claim 14, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the adjustment is performed for a relaxed measurement criterion for a reduced capability user equipment with a low mobility, or for a relaxed measurement criterion for a reduced capability user equipment located away from a cell edge (Yiu, paragraph 223 and 226, UE may activate relaxed measurement criteria if UE is not at a cell edge, hence if the UE is at the cell edge the relaxation does not occur).
Regarding Claim 15, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to:
configure a reduced capability user equipment type or a number of Rx branch specific adjustments (Yiu, Fig 9, paragraph 255, at step 902 a SIB message is received from gNB which includes an indication of one or more conditions to trigger a relaxation of radio resource management (RRM) measurements by the UE, Fig 1, paragraph 22, any of the UEs 101 may be IoT UEs, which may comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections, hence reduced capability).
Regarding Claim 16, Yiu teaches a method, comprising:
receiving, by a reduced capability user equipment from a network element, a signal comprising information for a measurement relaxation (Yiu, Fig 9, paragraph 255, at step 902 a SIB message is received from gNB which includes an indication of one or more conditions to trigger a relaxation of radio resource management (RRM) measurements by the UE, Fig 1, paragraph 22, any of the UEs 101 may be IoT UEs, which may comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections, hence reduced capability);
determining whether the measurement relaxation is allowed based on the received information, the measurement relaxation being allowed based on a mobility of the reduced capability user equipment (Yiu, paragraph 229, different handling of RRM measurement relaxation may be based on a UEs characteristic such as the UE’s subscription information and the UE’s mobility state, Fig 9, Paragraph 255, at step 906 the flow includes determining whether the one or more conditions for relaxation of RRM measurements are satisfied); and
performing relaxed or non-relaxed measurements based on the determination (Yiu, Fig 9, paragraph 255, at step 908 the RRM measurements are relaxed by the UE based on determining that the one or more conditions are satisfied).
Yiu does not explicitly teach the below limitation:
(determining whether the measurement relaxation is allowed based on the received information) and a reduced capability of the reduced capability user equipment, (the measurement relaxation being allowed based on) the reduced capability of the reduced capability user equipment and (a mobility of the reduced capability user equipment);
However Li teaches the below limitation:
(determining whether the measurement relaxation is allowed based on the received information) and a reduced capability of the reduced capability user equipment, (the measurement relaxation being allowed based on) the reduced capability of the reduced capability user equipment and (a mobility of the reduced capability user equipment) (Li, paragraph 70, in order to perform further relaxation or compatibility on an original measurement relaxation framework, a new determination threshold is introduced for the Redcap terminal);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Yiu by adding measurement relaxation based on reduced capability of UE as taught by Li. Because Yiu and Li teach relaxed measurements, and specifically Li teaches measurement relaxation based on reduced capability of UE for the benefit of the analogous art of a method for measurement relaxation (Li, abstract).
Regarding Claim 17, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the measurement relaxation is not allowed when the reduced capability user equipment is mobile, near a cell edge, when a cell power or quality is low, or when a reference signal received power measurement is not static (Yiu, paragraph 223 and 226, UE may activate relaxed measurement criteria if UE is not at a cell edge, meaning that serving cell/beam RSRP/RSRQ/SINR is above a threshold).
Regarding Claim 18, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the information comprises an indication that the reduced capability user equipment is stationary or low mobile (Yiu, Paragraph 218, triggering crtiteria for the UE to move between relaxed and normal RRM measurements considers if the UE is stationary or with low mobility).
Regarding Claim 19, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the measurement relaxation is achieved both in a time and frequency manner (Yiu, Paragraph 217, RRM measurement relaxation by allowing measurements with longer intervals, and/or by reducing the number of cells/carriers to be measured).
Regarding Claim 20, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the reduced capability comprise one or more of Rx branches, Rx ports, Tx branches, reduced Tx power class, reduced processing capabilities, or reduced capability user equipment types (Yiu, Fig 1, paragraph 22, any of the UEs 101 may be IoT UEs, which may comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections).
Regarding Claim 21, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the signal is received via dedicated signaling or broadcast signaling (Yiu, Fig 9, paragraph 255, at step 902 a broadcast SIB message is received from gNB which includes an indication of one or more conditions to trigger a relaxation of radio resource management (RRM) measurements by the UE).
Regarding Claim 22, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the information is targeted toward one or more radio resource control states comprising an idle state, an inactive state, and a connected state (Yiu, paragraph 216, network-configured mechanism to relax intra and inter-frequency RRM measurement for neighbour cells for RRC_IDLE/INACTIVE with minimal mobility performance impacts).
Regarding Claim 23, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the measurement relaxation is a radio link monitoring measurement relaxation or a radio resource management measurement (Yiu, Fig 9, paragraph 255, at step 908 the RRM measurements are relaxed by the UE based on determining that the one or more conditions are satisfied).
Regarding Claim 24, Yiu teaches a method, comprising:
configuring, by a network element, a reduced capability user equipment having a reduced capability by transmitting to the reduced capability user equipment a signal comprising information on whether a radio resource management measurement relaxation is allowed (Yiu, Fig 9, paragraph 255, at step 902 a SIB message is received from gNB which includes an indication of one or more conditions to trigger a relaxation of radio resource management (RRM) measurements by the UE, Fig 1, paragraph 22, any of the UEs 101 may be IoT UEs, which may comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections, hence reduced capability);
Yiu does not explicitly teach the below limitation:
(configuring, by a network element, a reduced capability user equipment having a reduced capability by transmitting to the reduced capability user equipment a signal comprising information on whether a radio resource management measurement relaxation is allowed) for the reduced capability user equipment based on a reduced capability of the reduced capability user equipment;
However Li teaches the below limitation:
(configuring, by a network element, a reduced capability user equipment having a reduced capability by transmitting to the reduced capability user equipment a signal comprising information on whether a radio resource management measurement relaxation is allowed) for the reduced capability user equipment based on a reduced capability of the reduced capability user equipment (Li, paragraph 70, in order to perform further relaxation or compatibility on an original measurement relaxation framework, a new determination threshold is introduced for the Redcap terminal);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Yiu by adding measurement relaxation based on reduced capability of UE as taught by Li. Because Yiu and Li teach relaxed measurements, and specifically Li teaches measurement relaxation based on reduced capability of UE for the benefit of the analogous art of a method for measurement relaxation (Li, abstract).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Yiu (US 2021/0076275) and Li (2024/0172020), and further in view of Liu (US 2019/0320490).
Regarding Claim 13, Yiu and Li further teach wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to:
adjust measurement configuration criteria for a reduced capability user equipment (Yiu, Fig 9, paragraph 255, at step 902 a SIB message is received from gNB which includes an indication of one or more conditions to trigger a relaxation of radio resource management (RRM) measurements by the UE, Fig 1, paragraph 22, any of the UEs 101 may be IoT UEs, which may comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections, hence reduced capability);
Yiu and Li do not explicitly teach wherein the adjustment comprises adjusting one or more of an addition or subtraction offset or multiplier for radio resource management or radio link monitoring relaxation parameters, however Liu teaches wherein the adjustment comprises adjusting one or more of an addition or subtraction offset or multiplier for radio resource management or radio link monitoring relaxation parameters (Liu, paragraph 122, in the relaxed RRM measurement mode, the UE may perform only a single measurement for multiple cycles, e.g., once every M DRX cycles).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Yiu and Li by adding a multiplier for RRM relaxed measurement as taught by Liu. Because Yiu, Li, and Liu teach relaxed measurements, and specifically Liu teaches adding a multiplier for RRM relaxed measurement for the benefit of the analogous art of improving power savings and reliability of communication for DRX/eDRX modes (Liu, abstract).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments have been fully considered but are respectfully not persuasive.
For the independent claims, Applicant argues that Yiu and Li do not teach that the determination of whether the measurement relaxation is allowed or not is based partly on a reduced capability of the reduced capability user equipment (Remarks, page 6 last paragraph). However Li in paragraph 70 teaches that in order to perform further relaxation or compatibility, a new determination threshold is introduced for the Redcap terminal. Hence, determination of whether measurement relaxation is allowed is based on a determination threshold as taught by Li. Applicant's argument is therefore respectfully not persuasive
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAD N DEFAUW whose telephone number is (571)272-6905. The examiner can normally be reached on the first Thursday and Friday of the bi-week, and the second Monday and Tuesday of the bi-week.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Jiang can be reached on (571) 270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/T.N.D/Examiner, Art Unit 2412
/CHARLES C JIANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2412
Prosecution Insights