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 .
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.
Claims 11 and 15 are 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.
Regarding claim 11, claim 11 recites ‘…wherein the source cell receives the MIi message from the UE during a time period preceding a reception of one of the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfiguration WithSync…’ It is unclear who or what is performing ‘a reception’.
Regarding claim 15, claim 15 recites ‘…wherein the source cell receives the MIi message from the UE during a time period preceding a reception of one of the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfiguration WithSync…’ It is unclear who or what is performing ‘a reception’.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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, and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tseng (WO2022194272A1).
Regarding claim 1, Tseng discloses method performed by a user equipment (UE) for signalling a multicast broadcast services (MBS) interest indication (MII), the method comprising: (See Tseng para. 103, 104; UE delivering MBSInterestIndication (MII))
transmitting, to a source cell, an MII message; (See Tseng para. 104; UE delivering (e.g. transmitting) MII to serving cell (e.g. source cell); see also para. 239; serving cell may also be known as source cell; para. 236; serving RAN receives MII from UE (e.g. transmitting))
receiving, from the source cell, one of a RRC_Reconfiguration or a RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync, wherein the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync is received during UE mobility; (See Tseng para. 115; serving cell transmits (e.g. UE receives) a RRC_Reconfiguration without sync or a RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync during handover procedure (e.g. UE mobility); see also para. 113)
connecting with a target cell upon receiving one of the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync; and (See Tseng para. 239; UE handovers to the candidate cell (e.g. target cell); see also para. 116; UE handover to candidate cell (e.g. target cell); para.115)
transmitting, to the target cell, the MII message. (See Tseng para. 240; UE transmits MII message to target cell after handover)
Regarding claim 4, Tseng discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the MII message includes at least one of subcarrier spacing information, a carrier frequency, a frequency band indicator, or a common frequency resource (CFR) of one or more non-serving cells providing an MBS. (See Tseng para. 226, 228, 233; MII message includes; para. 228; MBS Frequency List; para. 233; subcarrier spacing; para. 243; MII message indicates configs related to target Cell (e.g. non-serving cell) which provides MBS)
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 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tseng (WO2022194272A1) and further in view of R2-2309559 (CATT, CBN “Remaining Issues on Shared Processing” – Xiamen, China, 13 Oct 2023).
Regarding claim 2, Tseng discloses the method of claim 1, wherein connecting with the target cell further comprises:
receiving, from the target cell, a system information block (SIB) (See Tseng para. 241, 242; target cell delivers MBS-SIB to the UE (e.g. UE receives) and this message triggers the MII message)
Tseng does not explicitly disclose wherein the SIB comprising nonServingCellMII. However, R2-2309559 does disclose wherein the SIB comprising nonServingCellMII. (See R2-2309559 pg. 2, section 2; nonServingCellMII in SIB) Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the method of Tseng to include the teaching of wherein the SIB comprising nonServingCellMII of R2-2309559 with the motivation being to allow for shared processing and further to provide a known, interoperable, and predictable implementation that conforms to 3GPP standards and further to provide the UE an explicit broadcast indication that the cell supports/permits shared-processing MII procedure before the UE starts sending those reports which saves battery, processing, and wireless resources.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tseng (WO2022194272A1) and further in view of 3GPP TS 38.331v17.2.0 (“5G; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification (3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.2.0 Release 17”; Oct 2022).
Regarding claim 3, Tseng discloses the method of claim 1. Tseng does not explicitly disclose further comprising transmitting the MII message to the source cell during a time period preceding a reception of one of the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync. However, 3GPP TS 38.331v17.2.0 does disclose transmitting the MII message to the source cell during a time period preceding a reception of one of the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync. (See 3GPP TS 38.331v17.2.0 section 5.3.5.3, pg. 86; UE transmits MII message during last 1 second preceding reception of RRC_Reconfiguration message) Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the method of Tseng to include the teaching of transmitting the MII message to the source cell during a time period preceding a reception of one of the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync of 3GPP TS 38.331v17.2.0 with the motivation being to ensure the target has current MII and further it avoids loss of an MII because of a handover and further it promotes interoperability and standards compliance with the 3GPP suite of standards which saves time and money.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 5, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tseng (WO2022194272A1).
Regarding claim 5, Tseng discloses a user equipment (UE) for signalling a multicast broadcast services (MBS) interest indication (MII), the UE comprising: (See Tseng para. 103, 104; UE delivering MBSInterestIndication (MII))
a transceiver; and
a processor operably coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to: (See Tseng fig. 5; processor executing an algorithm stored in memory and a transceiver)
transmit, to a source cell, an MII message, (See Tseng para. 104; UE delivering (e.g. transmitting) MII to serving cell (e.g. source cell); see also para. 239; serving cell may also be known as source cell; para. 236; serving RAN receives MII from UE (e.g. transmitting))
receive, from the source cell, one of a RRC_Reconfiguration or a RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync, wherein the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync is received during UE mobility, (See Tseng para. 115; serving cell transmits (e.g. UE receives) a RRC_Reconfiguration without sync or a RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync during handover procedure (e.g. UE mobility); see also para. 113)
connect with a target cell upon receiving one of the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync, and (See Tseng para. 239; UE handovers to the candidate cell (e.g. target cell); see also para. 116; UE handover to candidate cell (e.g. target cell); para.115)
transmit, to the target cell, the MII message. (See Tseng para. 240; UE transmits MII message to target cell after handover)
Regarding claim 8, Tseng discloses the UE of claim 5, wherein the MII message includes at least one of subcarrier spacing information, a carrier frequency, a frequency band indicator, or a common frequency resource (CFR) of one or more non-serving cells providing an MBS. (See Tseng para. 226, 228, 233; MII message includes; para. 228; MBS Frequency List; para. 233; subcarrier spacing; para. 243; MII message indicates configs related to target Cell (e.g. non-serving cell) which provides MBS)
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 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tseng (WO2022194272A1) and further in view of R2-2309559 (CATT, CBN “Remaining Issues on Shared Processing” – Xiamen, China, 13 Oct 2023).
Regarding claim 6, Tseng discloses the UE of claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to:
receiving, from the target cell, a system information block (SIB) (See Tseng para. 241, 242; target cell delivers MBS-SIB to the UE (e.g. UE receives) and this message triggers the MII message)
Tseng does not explicitly disclose wherein the SIB comprising nonServingCellMII. However, R2-2309559 does disclose wherein the SIB comprising nonServingCellMII. (See R2-2309559 pg. 2, section 2; nonServingCellMII in SIB) Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the method of Tseng to include the teaching of wherein the SIB comprising nonServingCellMII of R2-2309559 with the motivation being to allow for shared processing and further to provide a known, interoperable, and predictable implementation that conforms to 3GPP standards and further to provide the UE an explicit broadcast indication that the cell supports/permits shared-processing MII procedure before the UE starts sending those reports which saves battery, processing, and wireless resources.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tseng (WO2022194272A1) and further in view of 3GPP TS 38.331v17.2.0 (“5G; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification (3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.2.0 Release 17”; Oct 2022).
Regarding claim 7, Tseng discloses the UE of claim 5. Tseng does not explicitly disclose wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the MII message to the source cell during a time period preceding a reception of one of the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync. However, 3GPP TS 38.331v17.2.0 does disclose wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the MII message to the source cell during a time period preceding a reception of one of the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync (See 3GPP TS 38.331v17.2.0 section 5.3.5.3, pg. 86; UE transmits MII message during last 1 second preceding reception of RRC_Reconfiguration message) Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the method of Tseng to include the teaching of wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the MII message to the source cell during a time period preceding a reception of one of the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync of 3GPP TS 38.331v17.2.0 with the motivation being to ensure the target has current MII and further it avoids loss of an MII because of a handover and further it promotes interoperability and standards compliance with the 3GPP suite of standards which saves time and money.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 9, and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tseng (WO2022194272A1).
Regarding claim 9, Tseng discloses a system for signalling a multicast broadcast services (MBS) interest indication (MII), the system comprising: (See Tseng para. 103, 104; UE delivering MBSInterestIndication (MII))
a target cell; and
a source cell configured to: (See Tseng para. 239, 240; serving cell (e.g. source cell) and target cell)
receive, from a user equipment (UE), an MII message, (See Tseng para. 236 serving cell receives MII from UE)
transmit, to the UE, one of a RRC_Reconfiguration or a RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync, wherein the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync is transmitted during UE mobility, (See Tseng para. 115; serving cell transmits RRCReconfig message with or without reconfigwithsync during handover (e.g. mobility))
wherein the target cell is configured to:
connect with the UE based on the UE receiving one of the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync, and (See Tseng para. 239; UE handovers to the candidate cell (e.g. target cell); see also para. 116; UE handover to candidate cell (e.g. target cell); para.115)
receive, from the UE, the MII message. (See Tseng para. 240; UE transmits MII message to target cell after handover)
Regarding claim 12, Tseng discloses the system of claim 9, wherein the MII message includes at least one of subcarrier spacing information, a carrier frequency, a frequency band indicator, or a common frequency resource (CFR) of one or more non-serving cells providing an MBS. (See Tseng para. 226, 228, 233; MII message includes; para. 228; MBS Frequency List; para. 233; subcarrier spacing; para. 243; MII message indicates configs related to target Cell (e.g. non-serving cell) which provides MBS)
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 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tseng (WO2022194272A1) and further in view of R2-2309559 (CATT, CBN “Remaining Issues on Shared Processing” – Xiamen, China, 13 Oct 2023).
Regarding claim 10, Tseng discloses the system of claim 9, wherein the target cell is further configured to:
connect with the UE: and (See Tseng para. 239; UE handovers (e.g. connects with) to the candidate cell (e.g. target cell); see also para. 116; UE handover to candidate cell (e.g. target cell); para.115)
transmit, to the UE, a system information block (SIB) (See Tseng para. 241, 242; target cell delivers MBS-SIB to the UE (e.g. UE receives) and this message triggers the MII message)
Tseng does not explicitly disclose wherein the SIB comprising nonServingCellMII. However, R2-2309559 does disclose wherein the SIB comprising nonServingCellMII. (See R2-2309559 pg. 2, section 2; nonServingCellMII in SIB) Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the method of Tseng to include the teaching of wherein the SIB comprising nonServingCellMII of R2-2309559 with the motivation being to allow for shared processing and further to provide a known, interoperable, and predictable implementation that conforms to 3GPP standards and further to provide the UE an explicit broadcast indication that the cell supports/permits shared-processing MII procedure before the UE starts sending those reports which saves battery, processing, and wireless resources.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tseng (WO2022194272A1) and further in view of 3GPP TS 38.331v17.2.0 (“5G; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification (3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.2.0 Release 17”; Oct 2022).
Regarding claim 11, Tseng discloses the system of claim 9. Tseng does not explicitly disclose wherein the source cell receives the MII message from the UE during a time period preceding a reception of one of the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync. However, 3GPP TS 38.331v17.2.0 does disclose wherein the source cell receives the MII message from the UE during a time period preceding a reception of one of the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync. (See 3GPP TS 38.331v17.2.0 section 5.3.5.3, pg. 86; UE transmits MII message during last 1 second preceding reception of RRC_Reconfiguration message) Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the method of Tseng to include the teaching of wherein the source cell receives the MII message from the UE during a time period preceding a reception of one of the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync of 3GPP TS 38.331v17.2.0 with the motivation being to ensure the target has current MII and further it avoids loss of an MII because of a handover and further it promotes interoperability and standards compliance with the 3GPP suite of standards which saves time and money.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 13, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tseng (WO2022194272A1).
Regarding claim 13, Tseng discloses a method performed by a system comprising a source cell and a target cell for signalling a multicast broadcast services (MBS) interest indication (MII), the method comprising: (See Tseng para. 103, 104; UE delivering MBSInterestIndication (MII)) (See Tseng para. 239, 240; serving cell (e.g. source cell) and target cell)
receiving, by the source cell from a user equipment (UE), an MII message; (See Tseng para. 236 serving cell receives MII from UE)
transmitting, by the source cell to the UE, one of a RRC_Reconfiguration or a RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync, wherein the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync is transmitted during UE mobility; (See Tseng para. 115; serving cell transmits RRCReconfig message with or without reconfigwithsync during handover (e.g. mobility))
connecting, by the target cell with the UE, based on the UE receiving one of the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync; and (See Tseng para. 239; UE handovers to the candidate cell (e.g. target cell); see also para. 116; UE handover to candidate cell (e.g. target cell); para.115)
receiving, by the target cell from the UE, the MII message. (See Tseng para. 240; UE transmits MII message to target cell after handover)
Regarding claim 16, Tseng discloses the method of claim 13, wherein the MII message includes at least one of subcarrier spacing information, a carrier frequency, a frequency band indicator, or a common frequency resource (CFR) of one or more non-serving cells providing an MBS. (See Tseng para. 226, 228, 233; MII message includes; para. 228; MBS Frequency List; para. 233; subcarrier spacing; para. 243; MII message indicates configs related to target Cell (e.g. non-serving cell) which provides MBS)
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 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tseng (WO2022194272A1) and further in view of R2-2309559 (CATT, CBN “Remaining Issues on Shared Processing” – Xiamen, China, 13 Oct 2023).
Regarding claim 14, Tseng discloses the method of claim 13, wherein connecting with the UE by the target cell further comprises:
transmitting, to the UE, a system information block (SIB). (See Tseng para. 241, 242; target cell delivers MBS-SIB to the UE (e.g. UE receives) and this message triggers the MII message)
Tseng does not explicitly disclose wherein the SIB comprising nonServingCellMII. However, R2-2309559 does disclose wherein the SIB comprising nonServingCellMII. (See R2-2309559 pg. 2, section 2; nonServingCellMII in SIB) Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the method of Tseng to include the teaching of wherein the SIB comprising nonServingCellMII of R2-2309559 with the motivation being to allow for shared processing and further to provide a known, interoperable, and predictable implementation that conforms to 3GPP standards and further to provide the UE an explicit broadcast indication that the cell supports/permits shared-processing MII procedure before the UE starts sending those reports which saves battery, processing, and wireless resources.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tseng (WO2022194272A1) and further in view of 3GPP TS 38.331v17.2.0 (“5G; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification (3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.2.0 Release 17”; Oct 2022).
Regarding claim 15, Tseng discloses the method of claim 13. Tseng does not explicitly disclose wherein the source cell receives the MII message from the UE during a time period preceding a reception of one of the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync. However, 3GPP TS 38.331v17.2.0 does disclose wherein the source cell receives the MII message from the UE during a time period preceding a reception of one of the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync. (See 3GPP TS 38.331v17.2.0 section 5.3.5.3, pg. 86; UE transmits MII message during last 1 second preceding reception of RRC_Reconfiguration message) Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the method of Tseng to include the teaching of wherein the source cell receives the MII message from the UE during a time period preceding a reception of one of the RRC_Reconfiguration or the RRC_Reconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync of 3GPP TS 38.331v17.2.0 with the motivation being to ensure the target has current MII and further it avoids loss of an MII because of a handover and further it promotes interoperability and standards compliance with the 3GPP suite of standards which saves time and money.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEPHEN J CLAWSON whose telephone number is (571)270-7498. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-5:00 pm est.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Huy D Vu can be reached at (571) 272-3155. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Stephen J Clawson/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
