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 Objections
Claim 16 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 16 recites “… or an uplink media access control control element”, which appear should have been -- or an uplink media access control element.--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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)(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 1, 2, 6-8 and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by D1 (US 20190174378 A1).
For claim 1, D1 discloses a wireless communication method for use in a wireless terminal, the wireless communication method comprising:
receiving, from a wireless network node, a system information block of an anchor cell, wherein the system information block of the anchor cell comprises a radio resource configuration for at least one non-anchor cell (FIGs. 1-10 and associated text, such as “[0091] As shown in FIG. 1, at step S110, the UE receives configuration information from an eNB. The configuration information indicates an anchor carrier and/or one or more non-anchor carriers supporting random access. …”),
selecting the anchor cell or one of the at least one non-anchor cell based on the radio resource configuration (FIGs. 1-10 and associated text, such as “[0094] At step S120, the UE selects one carrier from the anchor carrier and/or one or more non-anchor carriers supporting random access as a random access carrier according to the configuration information.”; note that carries are radio resources), and
performing a random access procedure in the selected cell (“[0115] At step S130, the UE performs random access by using the random access carrier.”).
Independent claim 18 is rejected because it is a claim of a generic wireless terminal that performs the method of claim 1 and has the same subject matter.
Claim 19 is rejected because it is a claim of a non-transitory computer-readable program medium with code for performing the method of claim 1 and has the same subject matter.
As to claim 2, D1 discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein the radio resource configuration for a first non-anchor cell in the at least one non-anchor cell comprises at least one of:
a physical cell identity of the first non-anchor cell,
uplink frequency information of the first non-anchor cell,
downlink frequency information of the first non-anchor cell,
a physical random access channel (PRACH) resource configuration of the first non-anchor cell (“[0246] … non-anchor carrier configuration information, or an RACH configuration and a PRACH configuration corresponding to a non-anchor carrier. …”),
a common search space configuration of the first non-anchor cell (“[0087] NPRACH-ParametersList: this information element respectively configures NPRACH parameters for a set of NPRACH resources, including at least one of the following parameters: … npdcch-NumRepetitions-RA for indicating the maximum number of repetitions of an NPDCCH common search space related to an RAR, an Msg3 retransmission, and an Msg4, npdcch-StartSF-CSS-RA for indicating a starting subframe configuration of an NPDCCH common search space related to an RAR, an Msg3 retransmission, and an Msg4, and npdcch-Offset-RA for indicating a partial period offset of a starting subframe of an NPDCCH common search space.”),
a reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold of the first non-anchor cell (“[0103] For example, the UE can select a corresponding carrier as the random access carrier based on a measured signal strength (measured RSRP or enhanced coverage level). …”),
a weight or an indication for a random access process on the first non-anchor cell (“[0106] In one implementation, the configuration information comprises an indication for indicating whether a non-anchor carrier shares the same random access resource configuration with a corresponding anchor carrier.”), or
at least one downlink reference signal of the first non-anchor cell (“[0114] … the UE selects one of the configured downlink non-anchor carriers as a downlink carrier for executing random access, for example, in an equal probability random selection manner.”).
As to claim 6, D1 discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein selecting the anchor cell or one of the at least one non-anchor cell based on the radio resource configuration comprises:
selecting the anchor cell or the at least one non-anchor cell based on at least one of a first weight of the anchor cell for the random access procedure or a second weight of the at least one non-anchor cell for the random access procedure (“[0114] … the UE selects one of the configured downlink non-anchor carriers as a downlink carrier for executing random access, for example, in an equal probability random selection manner.”), and
selecting one of the at least one non-anchor cell if the at least one non-anchor cell is selected (“[0016] … selecting one non-anchor carrier for random access from one or more carriers supporting random access.”).
As to claim 7, D1 discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein the radio resource configuration comprises an indication of performing the random access procedure on the non-anchor cell procedure (“[0114] … the UE selects one of the configured downlink non-anchor carriers as a downlink carrier for executing random access, for example, in an equal probability random selection manner.”), and
wherein selecting the anchor cell or one of the at least one non-anchor cell based on the radio resource configuration comprises: selecting one of the at least one non-anchor cell (“[0114] … the UE selects one of the configured downlink non-anchor carriers as a downlink carrier for executing random access, for example, in an equal probability random selection manner.”).
As to claim 8, D1 discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein the radio resource configuration comprises an indication of performing the random access procedure on the anchor cell or the non-anchor cell (FIGs. 1-10 and associated text, such as “[0094] At step S120, the UE selects one carrier from the anchor carrier and/or one or more non-anchor carriers supporting random access as a random access carrier according to the configuration information.”), and
wherein selecting the anchor cell or one of the at least one non-anchor cell based on the radio resource configuration comprises: selecting the anchor cell or one of the at least one non-anchor cell (FIGs. 1-10 and associated text, such as “[0094] At step S120, the UE selects one carrier from the anchor carrier and/or one or more non-anchor carriers supporting random access as a random access carrier according to the configuration information.”).
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.
Claims 3-5 and 9-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 in view of SONG (US 20140362750 A1).
As to claim 3, D1 discloses claim 1, and is silent on: wherein the anchor cell and a first non-anchor cell of the at least one non-anchor cell have a same physical cell identity if the radio resource configuration does not comprise a physical cell identity of the first non-anchor cell.
However, SONG, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses a UE may be in an area the shared by both anchor cell 204-7 and at least one of non-anchor cell and a Cell ID is required if an non-anchor cell is to be used as an operating cell (FIG. 3 and the associated text, such as “[0167] The request message can include an identifier Cell-ID of the node to deactivate, such as E-UTRAN Cell Global Identifier (ECGI). This X2-AP message can then be transmitted to the non-anchor cell 204 with the Cell-ID”). It would have been an obvious try to use PCI (physical cell identity) of the anchor cell as the PCI of the non-anchor cell used for the UE if the PCI of the non-anchor cell is not available when PCI is required for the communication between the UE and a non-anchor used as the operating cell according to MPEP 2143.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the application to combine D1 and SONG for the benefit of for wireless communication using a non-anchor cell ([0167] of SONG).
As to claim 4, D1 discloses claim 1, and is silent on: wherein a first non-anchor cell in the at least one non-anchor cell shares at least one downlink reference signal with the anchor cell or a second non-anchor cell in the at least one non-anchor cell.
However, SONG, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses a UE may be in an area the shared by an anchor cell 204-7 and at least one of non-anchor cells 204-[1-6] (FIG. 3), and a reference signal is required if an non-anchor cell is to be used as an operating cell (FIG. 3 and the associated text, such as “[0102] The request message can be an X2-Application Protocol message. The request message can further indicate measuring a reference signal transmitted by user equipment. The indication of measuring a reference signal can include one or more of a configuration of the reference signal, a configuration of measuring the reference signal, or triggering criteria of reporting measurement results.”). It would have been an obvious try to use the reference signal of the anchor cell as the reference signal of the non-anchor cell selected by the UE for communication if the reference signal of the non-anchor cell is not available when reference signal is required for the communication between the UE and a non-anchor cell used as the operating cell according to MPEP 2143.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the application to combine D1 and SONG for the benefit of for wireless communication using a non-anchor cell ([0102] of SONG).
As to claim 5, D1 discloses claim 1, D1 is silent on: wherein selecting the anchor cell or one of the at least one non-anchor cell based on the radio resource configuration comprises: selecting the anchor cell or one of the at least one non-anchor cell based on a weight of each of the anchor cell and the at least one non-anchor cell for the random access procedure.
However, SONG, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses a UE may be in an area the shared by both anchor cell 204-7 and at least one of non-anchor cells 204-[1-6] (FIG. 3), and a reference signal is required if an non-anchor cell is to be used as an operating cell (FIG. 3 and the associated text, such as “[0102] The request message can be an X2-Application Protocol message. The request message can further indicate measuring a reference signal transmitted by user equipment. The indication of measuring a reference signal can include one or more of a configuration of the reference signal, a configuration of measuring the reference signal, or triggering criteria of reporting measurement results.”; note that measurement of the reference signal or triggering criteria may be considered as a weight). OOSA would have been motivated to use measurement of the reference signal as weight taught by SONG to the cell selection by D1 to yield a predictable result of conducting wireless communication for the UE according to MPEP 2143.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the application to combine D1 and SONG for the benefit of for wireless communication using a non-anchor cell ([0102] of SONG).
As to claim 9, D1 in view of SONG discloses claim 5, SONG further discloses: wherein a reference signal received power of the selected cell is greater than or equal to a reference signal received power threshold of the selected cell (resource configuration comprises: selecting the anchor cell or one of the at least one non-anchor cell (FIGs. 1-15 and associated text, such as “[0263] … The criteria for the UE to trigger measurement reports may also be signaled to the UE via RRC or SIB message, e.g., the threshold of the received discovery signal strength for the UE …“ in view of the parent claims). The motivation of cobining D1 and SONG is the same as stated in the parent claim.
As to claim 10, D1 discloses claim 1, and is silent on but SONG, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses: wherein performing the random access procedure on the selected cell comprises:
transmitting, to the wireless network node in the selected cell, candidate cell information associated with at least one candidate cell (“[0246] The UE could measure the discovery signal as indicated at 1523 of flow diagram 1500 and report a dormant node to the serving node via measurement reports if certain criteria are met as indicated at 1524. ...”),
receiving, from the wireless network node in the selected cell, mobility information associated with one of the at least one candidate cell (“[0246] … The measurement configuration may include the quantity to measure, filtering parameters such as window length etc. . . . The criteria for the UE to trigger measurement reports may also be signaled to the UE via RRC or SIB message, e.g., the threshold of the received discovery signal strength for the UE to report a dormant node.”), and
transmitting, to the wireless network node in the candidate cell associated with the mobility information, a radio resource control response message (“[0247] … The transmit power level can be recommended by the serving node as part of the modified CAR X2-AP message. The configuration of the low density discovery signal can also be signaled to UE 1320 via, for example, Radio Resource Control (RRC) so that the UE 820 can perform measurements. ...”). The motivation of cobining D1 and SONG is the same as stated in the parent claim.
As to claim 11, D1 in view of SONG discloses claim 10, D1 further discloses: wherein the candidate cell information associated with the at least one candidate cell is included in a Message 3 of the random access procedure (FIGs. 1-10 and associated text, such as “[0021] … The performing random access by using the target anchor carrier or the non-anchor carrier according to the determination result comprises: sending a preamble and/or an MSG3 message to a target base station on an uplink carrier associated with the determined target anchor carrier or non-anchor carrier; …”).
As to claim 12, D1 in view of SONG discloses claim 10, D1 further discloses:
transmitting, to the wireless network node, a Message 3 of the random access procedure in the selected cell (FIGs. 1-10 and associated text, such as “[0021] … The performing random access by using the target anchor carrier or the non-anchor carrier according to the determination result comprises: sending a preamble and/or an MSG3 message to a target base station on an uplink carrier associated with the determined target anchor carrier or non-anchor carrier; …”), and
receiving, from the wireless network node, a report indication for the candidate cell information (“[0021] … receiving an RAR and/or an MSG4 message from the target base station on a downlink carrier associated with the determined target anchor carrier or non-anchor carrier”).
As to claim 13, D1 in view of SONG discloses claim 10, D1 further discloses:
handing over to the candidate cell associated with the mobility information (FIGs. 1-10 and associated text, such as “[0020] … the handover command message is an RRC connection reconfiguration message comprising mobility control information.”), or
SONG further discloses: adding the candidate cell associated with the mobility information as a secondary cell for a carrier aggregation or a dual connectivity (“[0228] In some implementations, UE 1320 served by a small node 1304-1 is dual-connected to both the macro node 1308 (not shown) and the small node 1304-1. ...”).
As to claim 14, D1 in view of SONG discloses claim 10, D1 further discloses:
receiving, from the wireless network node in the candidate cell associated with the mobility information, system information for a radio resource control connected state information (FIGs. 1-10 and associated text, such as “[0008] … The method comprises: receiving a handover command message from a source base station, the handover command message comprising information about a target anchor carrier; determining whether to use the target anchor carrier or a non-anchor carrier for random access based on the handover command message; and performing random access by using the target anchor carrier or the non-anchor carrier according to the determination result.” And “[0004] … An anchor carrier is defined as a carrier that a UE assumes to transmit data related to NB-IoT, such as a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS)/Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), or a System Information Block (SIB). A non-anchor carrier is defined as a carrier that a UE assumes not to transmit data related to NB-IoT, such as a PBCH, a PSS, an SSS, or an SIB. …”).
As to claim 15, D1 discloses claim 1, and is silent but SONG discloses: wherein performing the random access procedure in the selected cell comprises:
transmitting, to the wireless network node in the selected cell, a capability indication of supporting the random access procedure in the non-anchor cell (FIGs 1-15 and associated text, such as “[0246] The UE could measure the discovery signal as indicated at 1523 of flow diagram 1500 and report a dormant node to the serving node via measurement reports if certain criteria are met as indicated at 1524. The UE measurement configuration (i.e. how the UE performs measurements on discovery signal) can be signaled to the UE via RRC or SIB message. …”). OOSA would have been motivated to use measurement of the reference signal as weight taught by SONG to the cell selection by D1 to yield a predictable result of conducting wireless communication for the UE according to MPEP 2143.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the application to combine D1 and SONG for the benefit of for wireless communication between the UE and the selected cell ([0246] of SONG).
As to claim 16, D1 in view of SONG discloses claim 15, D1 further discloses: wherein the capability indication is included in a Message 3 (FIGs. 1-10 and associated text, such as “[0021] … The performing random access by using the target anchor carrier or the non-anchor carrier according to the determination result comprises: sending a preamble and/or an MSG3 message to a target base station on an uplink carrier associated with the determined target anchor carrier or non-anchor carrier; …”), a Message 5 of the random access procedure, a user equipment capability information message or an uplink media access control element (“[0021] … receiving an RAR and/or an MSG4 message from the target base station on a downlink carrier associated with the determined target anchor carrier or non-anchor carrier”. Note that Message 5 (MSG5) is a standard message just like MSG3 or MAG4 that can be used for carrying a user equipment capability information message or an uplink media access control element, Examiner takes an official notice on this statement. For example, it Lee (US 20220232635 A1) discloses it in “[0216] Thereafter, the BS may allocate Msg3 resources, may transmit the Msg4, or may allocate the Msg5 resources, according to the UE capability or the UE type.”).
As to claim 17, D1 in view of SONG discloses claim 15, D1 further discloses: wherein performing the random access procedure in the selected cell further comprises:
receiving, from the wireless network node, a preamble configuration of a third non-anchor cell in the at least one non-anchor cell by downlink configuration information or a radio resource control message, and transmitting, to the wireless network node in the third non-anchor cell, a random access preamble based on the preamble configuration, wherein the preamble configuration includes at least one of a cell identity of the third non-anchor cell, uplink frequency information of the third non-anchor cell or a preamble index (FIGs. 1-10 and associated text, such as “[0021] … The performing random access by using the target anchor carrier or the non-anchor carrier according to the determination result comprises: sending a preamble and/or an MSG3 message to a target base station on an uplink carrier associated with the determined target anchor carrier or non-anchor carrier; and receiving an RAR and/or an MSG4 message from the target base station on a downlink carrier associated with the determined target anchor carrier or non-anchor carrier.”).
Conclusion
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/JIANYE WU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
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