DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
2. Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
3. 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.
4. Claims 1-5, 7-13, 15-17, and 19-20 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.
Claim 1 recites, “deactivating the secondary cell or maintaining a closed state of carrier aggregation in a case that the network-side equipment does not configure the secondary cell of carrier aggregation for the terminal”. According to the claim limitation, the terminal deactivates a secondary cell when the network side does not configure the secondary cell for carrier aggregation. Deactivation indicates to make something inactive from an active state. When the secondary cell is not even configured for carrier aggregation, how can the terminal deactivate a non-configured secondary cell.
Claims 2-5, 17, 19-20 depend upon claim 1 above and thereby, are rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 1.
Claim 9 recites limitation similar to claim 1 above and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 1.
Claims 10-13 depend upon claim 9 above and thereby, are rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 9.
Claims 4, 7, 12, 15, recite an A4 event but does not provide any definition of the claimed A4 event. Without a definition of claimed A4 event, performing A4 event measurement, generating and transmitting an A4 event measurement report are not clear.
Claim 5, 8, 13, 16, recite an A4 event but does not provide any definition of the claimed A4 event. Without a definition of claimed A4 event, performing A4 event measurement, generating and transmitting an A4 event measurement report are not clear.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
5. 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)(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.
6. Claims 1-2, 6, 9-10, 14, and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Dange et al (US 20230032513,hereinagfter referred to as Dange).
Re claim 1, Dange teaches a carrier aggregation control method, applied to a terminal (UE) (Fig. 4), wherein the method comprises:
(i) receiving a first message delivered by a network-side equipment (receiving paging message/RRC release message/MobilityFromNRCommand message) (Fig. 4, Par 0037, Par 0040, Par 0047, Par 0058-0059, Par 0067, Par 0069);
(ii) reporting corresponding carrier aggregation association information (including/terminating measurement of one or more frequencies for SCell setup) to the network-side equipment based on a service state of the terminal (initiated service belongs to the first service or the second service set), wherein the carrier aggregation association information indicates whether the network-side equipment configures a secondary cell of carrier aggregation for the terminal (measurement report of one or more frequencies indicates to setup SCell; absence of the measurement report of one or more frequencies indicates not to setup SCell) (Fig. 1A-B, Fig. 4, Par 0028, Par 0034-0040, Par 0048-0052, Par 0055-0060, Par 0066-0070); and
(iii) in response to a second message delivered by the network-side equipment (SCell setup configuration, Fig. 1A-B), based on the carrier aggregation association information (reporting the measurement of one or more frequencies (i.e., idleMeasAvailable IE) for SCell setup), activating the secondary cell (SCell addition/connected with the base station associated with the secondary cell, Fig. 1A-B), in a case that the network-side equipment configures the secondary cell of carrier aggregation for the terminal (voiceFallbackIndication IE is not included in one of the MobilityFromNRCommand message and the RRC release message, measIdleConfig IE in the RRC connection release message, measurement report of one or more frequencies indicates to setup SCell and performing SCell addition/connection based on the SCell setup configuration) (Fig. 1A-B, Fig. 4, Par 0007-0008, Par 0034-0040, Par 0044, Par 0059-0060, Par 0066-0070), and
(iv) deactivating the secondary cell (not adding/connecting with the SCell) or maintaining a closed state of carrier aggregation (maintaining only PCell connection) in a case that the network-side equipment does not configure the secondary cell of carrier aggregation for the terminal (voiceFallbackIndication IE is included in one of the MobilityFromNRCommand message and the RRC release message, absence of the measurement report of one or more frequencies indicates not to setup SCell) (Fig. 4, Par 0028, Par 0038-0040, Par 0056-0060, Par 0065-0069).
Claim 9 recites a terminal performing the steps recited in claim 1 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 1. Dange further teaches that the terminal comprises a processor (502) and a memory (513) storing instructions to be executed by the processor (Fig. 5, Par 0072-0077).
Claim 17 recites a non-transitory readable storage medium storing instructions to executed by a processor to perform the steps recited in claim 1 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 1. Dange further teaches a non-transitory readable storage medium storing instructions to executed by a processor (Par 0079).
Claim 19 recites a chip performing the steps recited in claim 1 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 1. Dange further teaches that the chip comprises a processor and a communications interface coupled to the processor (Fig. 5, Par 0072-0077).
Claim 20 recites a computer program product performing the steps recited in claim 1 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 1.
Re claims 2, 10, Dange teaches that the service state comprises an
important network service state (second service set including highPriority access, mission critical service priority access), a non-important network service state (first service set including mo-SMS, delay tolerant access), and a non-network service state (idle state), and generating the carrier aggregation association information based on the service state of the terminal (including/terminating measurement of one or more frequencies for SCell setup) comprises the following cases: in a case that a current service state of the terminal is the important network service state (second service set including highPriority access, mission critical service priority access), the carrier aggregation association information indicates that the network-side equipment configures a secondary cell of carrier aggregation for the terminal (voiceFallbackIndication IE is not included in one of the MobilityFromNRCommand message and the RRC release message, measIdleConfig IE in the RRC connection release message, measurement report of one or more frequencies indicates to setup SCell and performing SCell addition/connection based on the SCell setup configuration); and in a case that the current service state of the terminal is the non-important network service state or the non-network service state (first service set including mo-SMS, delay tolerant access), the carrier aggregation association information indicates that the network-side equipment does not configure a secondary cell of carrier aggregation for the terminal (voiceFallbackIndication IE is included in one of the MobilityFromNRCommand message and the RRC release message, absence of the measurement report of one or more frequencies indicates not to setup SCell) (Fig. 1A-B, Fig. 4, Par 0007-0008, Par 0028, Par 0034-0040, Par 0044, Par 0056-0060, Par 0065-0070).
Re claim 6, Dange teaches a carrier aggregation control method, applied to a network-side equipment (Base station, Fig. 1A-B, Fig. 4), wherein the method comprises:
(i) delivering a first message to a terminal (paging message/RRC release message/MobilityFromNRCommand message) (Fig. 4, Par 0037, Par 0040, Par 0047, Par 0058-0059, Par 0067, Par 0069);
(ii) receiving carrier aggregation association information reported by the terminal in response to the first message (receiving a message including/excluding measurement of one or more frequencies for SCell setup), wherein the carrier aggregation association information is generated by the terminal based on a service state of the terminal (measurement report included/excluded based on the first service set and the second service set), and the carrier aggregation association information indicates whether the network-side equipment configures a secondary cell of carrier aggregation for the terminal (voiceFallbackIndication IE is not included in one of the MobilityFromNRCommand message and the RRC release message, measIdleConfig IE in the RRC connection release message, measurement report of one or more frequencies indicates to setup SCell; voiceFallbackIndication IE is included in one of the MobilityFromNRCommand message and the RRC release message, absence of the measurement report of one or more frequencies indicates not to setup SCell) (Fig. 1A-B, Fig. 4, Par 0007-0008, Par 0028, Par 0034-0040, Par 0044, Par 0056-0060, Par 0065-0070; and
(iii) determining, based on the carrier aggregation association information (message including/excluding measurement of one or more frequencies for SCell setup), whether to configure the secondary cell of carrier aggregation for the terminal (SCell setup configuration is provided when measurements of one or more frequencies for SCell setup are received, otherwise SCell setup configuration is not provided) (Fig. 1A-B, Fig. 4, Par 0007-0008, Par 0034-0040, Par 0044, Par 0059-0060, Par 0066-0070).
Claim 14 recites a network side equipment performing the steps recited in claim 6 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 6. Dange further teaches that the terminal comprises a processor and a memory storing program to be executed by the processor (Fig. 5, Par 0072-0077, Par 0079).
Claim 18 recites a non-transitory readable storage medium storing instructions to executed by a processor to perform the steps recited in claim 6 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 6. Dange further teaches a non-transitory readable storage medium storing instructions to executed by a processor (Par 0079).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
7. 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.
8. Claims 4, 7, 12, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dange as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Ishii et al (US 20130100829, hereinafter referred to as Ishii).
Re claims 4, 12, Dange teaches that he first message is an a association information to the a
Dange discloses to receive measurement instructions and provide a report including the measurement of one or more frequencies.
Dange does not disclose to receive an A4 event measurement instruction and send an A4 event measurement report for carrier aggregation.
Ishii teaches to receive an A4 event measurement instruction and send an A4 event measurement report for carrier aggregation (Fig. 3-4, Par 0057-0062, Par 0070-0074, Par 0084-0087).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dange by including the step to receive an A4 event measurement instruction and send an A4 event measurement report for carrier aggregation, as taught by Ishii for the purpose of efficiently performing carrier aggregation to achieve system efficiency and stability of connectivity by reducing unnecessary control signals, as taught by Ishii (Par 0029-0031).
Re claims 7, 15, Dange teaches to receive an
Dange discloses to receive measurement instructions and provide a report including the measurement of one or more frequencies.
Dange does not disclose to receive an A4 event measurement report for carrier aggregation.
Ishii teaches to receive an A4 event measurement report for carrier aggregation (Fig. 3-4, Par 0057-0062, Par 0070-0074, Par 0084-0087).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dange by including the step to receive an A4 event measurement report for carrier aggregation, as taught by Ishii for the purpose of efficiently performing carrier aggregation to achieve system efficiency and stability of connectivity by reducing unnecessary control signals, as taught by Ishii (Par 0029-0031).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 5, 8, 11, 13, and 16 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Relevant Prior Art
Xu et al (US 20200314836 A1) discloses to use an assistance information framework to perform fast carrier aggregation and dual connectivity configuration. In this regard, a wireless device provides assistance information including buffer status information to a base station and based on the assistance information, the base station provides a carrier aggregation or dual connectivity configuration to the wireless device (Fig. 7-10, Par 0088-0097).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HARUN UR R CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)270-3895. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kwang B Yao can be reached at 5712723182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HARUN CHOWDHURY/Examiner, Art Unit 2473
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