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 32 is objected to because of the following informalities: the claim recites “A baseband processor”. This should be corrected to –A Base station processor—to be compliant with the specification. Appropriate correction is required.
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(s) 1, 3-5, 32-35, and 40-42 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PANAGIOTIS et al. (WO 2022106019 A1) in view of Kim et al. (S 20220232605 A1).
Regarding claim 1, PANAGIOTIS et al. teaches A method for conditional handover, comprising:
receiving a mobile device operating consuming a service of the network monitors the connection quality and regularly transmits measurement reports to the current base station indicating the current state of the radio quality, PANAGIOTIS [0034] the UE reports current channel and radio environment conditions to the source gNB );
providing, to one or more target base stations, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. teaches the XR traffic characteristics as part of a conditional handover (PANAGIOTIS [0032] the source gNBl transmits a handover request to the target gNB2 ... the handover request includes an XR context specifying a current state of the XR application, PANAGIOTIS [0041] the XR context includes information specifying the current state of the XR application executed at the UE, referred to as XR characteristics. The XR characteristics may include the degrees of freedom of the XR application (DoF));
receiving, from the one or more target base stations, handover request acknowledgments (PANAGIOTIS [0039] the target gNB prepares the handover with given Layer 1/ Layer 2 procedures and sends, in activity 35, a handover Request Acknowledge to the source gNB), wherein the handover request acknowledgments are based, at least in part, on admission control procedures performed based on the XR traffic characteristics (PANAGIOTIS [0037] an admission control procedure may be performed by the target gNB based on the XR context in order to accept or reject the handover request... the target base station evaluates the XR characteristics specified by the XR context); and
generating a list of candidate target base stations based on the handover request acknowledgments (PANAGIOTIS [0050] The handover procedure type where multiple candidate target gNBs are prepared for a handover is referred to as Conditional handover (CHO). These gNBs are also provided as candidate target gNBs to the UE ).
PANAGIOTIS et al. do not teach
receiving extended reality (XR) traffic characteristics.
In a similar endeavor, Kim et al. teach
receiving extended reality (XR) traffic characteristics (Kim [0081] information transmitted by a UE 115 may have a traffic pattern that is based on periodic XR data flows. In some cases, a UE 115 may provide one or more scheduling parameters to a base station 105 ).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified PANAGIOTIS et al. by incorporating Kim et al. providing the base station with XR traffic characteristics to arrive at the invention.
The motivation of doing so would have enabled the base station to allocate resources for uplink communication.
Regarding claim 3, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. teaches the method of claim 1,
wherein the XR traffic characteristics are provided via an information element (Kim [0091] the UE can request uplink scheduling by sending the UAI to the serving base station (e.g., in uplink control information (UCI), in RRC signaling (e.g., in an information element for UAI)).
The motivation of doing so would have enabled the base station to allocate resources for uplink communication
Regarding claim 4, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. teaches the method of claim 1,
wherein the XR traffic characteristics are received from a user equipment (UE) (Kim [0037] a UE may provide one or more scheduling parameters to a base station to assist the base station with resource allocation for uplink communications associated with an XR session).
The motivation of doing so would have enabled the base station to allocate resources for uplink communication
Regarding claim 5, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. teaches the method of The method of claim 4,
wherein the XR traffic characteristics are flow specific (Kim [0081] information transmitted by a UE 115 may have a traffic pattern that is based on periodic XR data flows. In some cases, a UE 115 may provide one or more scheduling parameters to a base station 105).
The motivation of doing so would have enabled the base station to allocate resources for uplink communication
Regarding claim 32, PANAGIOTIS et al. teaches A baseband processor (PANAGIOTIS Fig. 7 network node 411), comprising:
a memory (PANAGIOTIS Fig. 7 MEMORY 412); and
at least one processor (PANAGIOTIS Fig. 7 PROCESSOR 413) in communication with the memory (PANAGIOTIS Fig. 7 showing PROCESSOR 413 connected to MEMORY 412) and configured to:
receive a mobile device operating consuming a service of the network monitors the connection quality and regularly transmits measurement reports to the current base station indicating the current state of the radio quality, PANAGIOTIS [0034] the UE reports current channel and radio environment conditions to the source gNB );
provide, to one or more target base stations, the XR traffic characteristics as part of a conditional handover (PANAGIOTIS [0032] the source gNBl transmits a handover request to the target gNB2 ... the handover request includes an XR context specifying a current state of the XR application, PANAGIOTIS [0041] the XR context includes information specifying the current state of the XR application executed at the UE, referred to as XR characteristics. The XR characteristics may include the degrees of freedom of the XR application (DoF));
receive, from the one or more target base stations, handover request acknowledgments (PANAGIOTIS [0039] the target gNB prepares the handover with given Layer 1/ Layer 2 procedures and sends, in activity 35, a handover Request Acknowledge to the source gNB), wherein the handover request acknowledgments are based, at least in part, on admission control procedures performed based on the XR traffic characteristics (PANAGIOTIS [0037] an admission control procedure may be performed by the target gNB based on the XR context in order to accept or reject the handover request... the target base station evaluates the XR characteristics specified by the XR context); and
generate a list of candidate target base stations based on the handover request acknowledgments (PANAGIOTIS [0050] The handover procedure type where multiple candidate target gNBs are prepared for a handover is referred to as Conditional handover (CHO). These gNBs are also provided as candidate target gNBs to the UE ).
PANAGIOTIS et al. do not teach
Receive extended reality (XR) traffic characteristics.
In a similar endeavor, Kim et al. teach
receive extended reality (XR) traffic characteristics (Kim [0081] information transmitted by a UE 115 may have a traffic pattern that is based on periodic XR data flows. In some cases, a UE 115 may provide one or more scheduling parameters to a base station 105 ).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified PANAGIOTIS et al. by incorporating Kim et al. providing the base station with XR traffic characteristics to arrive at the invention.
The motivation of doing so would have enabled the base station to allocate resources for uplink communication.
Regarding claim 33, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. teaches The baseband processor of claim 32,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
provide, to a user equipment (UE), the list of candidate target base stations (PANAGIOTIS [0050] These gNBs are also provided as candidate target gNBs to the UE).
Regarding claim 34, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. teaches the baseband processor of claim 33,
wherein the list of candidate target base stations is provided (PANAGIOTIS [0050] These gNBs are also provided as candidate target gNBs to the UE) via a radio resource control, RRC, reconfiguration message (PANAGIOTIS [0040] the source gNB triggers the UE handover e.g. by sending an RRC Reconfiguration message to the UE).
Regarding claim 35, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. teaches The baseband processor of claim 33,
wherein to provide, to the UE, the list of candidate target base stations, the at least one processor is further configured to provide a conditional handover configuration to the UE (PANAGIOTIS [0040] the source gNB triggers the UE handover e.g. by sending an RRC Reconfiguration message to the UE).
Regarding claim 40, PANAGIOTIS et al. teaches A non-transitory computer readable memory medium comprising instructions (PANAGIOTIS [0077] Memory 412 stores program instructions ) executable by a processor to:
receive a mobile device operating consuming a service of the network monitors the connection quality and regularly transmits measurement reports to the current base station indicating the current state of the radio quality, PANAGIOTIS [0034] the UE reports current channel and radio environment conditions to the source gNB );
provide, to one or more target base stations, the XR traffic characteristics as part of a conditional handover (PANAGIOTIS [0032] the source gNBl transmits a handover request to the target gNB2 ... the handover request includes an XR context specifying a current state of the XR application, PANAGIOTIS [0041] the XR context includes information specifying the current state of the XR application executed at the UE, referred to as XR characteristics. The XR characteristics may include the degrees of freedom of the XR application (DoF));
receive, from the one or more target base stations, handover request acknowledgments (PANAGIOTIS [0039] the target gNB prepares the handover with given Layer 1/ Layer 2 procedures and sends, in activity 35, a handover Request Acknowledge to the source gNB), wherein the handover request acknowledgments are based, at least in part, on admission control procedures performed based on the XR traffic characteristics (PANAGIOTIS [0037] an admission control procedure may be performed by the target gNB based on the XR context in order to accept or reject the handover request... the target base station evaluates the XR characteristics specified by the XR context); and
generate a list of candidate target base stations based on the handover request acknowledgments (PANAGIOTIS [0050] The handover procedure type where multiple candidate target gNBs are prepared for a handover is referred to as Conditional handover (CHO). These gNBs are also provided as candidate target gNBs to the UE ).
PANAGIOTIS et al. do not teach
Receive extended reality (XR) traffic characteristics.
In a similar endeavor, Kim et al. teach
receive extended reality (XR) traffic characteristics (Kim [0081] information transmitted by a UE 115 may have a traffic pattern that is based on periodic XR data flows. In some cases, a UE 115 may provide one or more scheduling parameters to a base station 105 ).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified PANAGIOTIS et al. by incorporating Kim et al. providing the base station with XR traffic characteristics to arrive at the invention.
The motivation of doing so would have enabled the base station to allocate resources for uplink communication.
Regarding claim 41, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. teaches the non-transitory computer readable memory medium claim 40,
wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:
reserve, based on load measurements (PANAGIOTIS [0071] When the admission control procedure has accepted the handover request in activity 66, and more than one EAS was on the candidate list, the network (e.g. the target base station) may select the EAS. This selection may be based on multiple criteria like load balancing of network), radio resources at one of the one or more target base stations (PANAGIOTIS [0032] enable the target gNB2 to reserve radio resources for the connection with the UE 12.).
Regarding claim 42, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. teaches the non-transitory computer readable memory medium claim 41,
wherein the radio resources are reserved until a conditional handover is cancelled (PANAGIOTIS [0058] in response to a mobility event indicating a cancelation of the handover, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. teaches the candidate target EAS which has not been selected, releases the previously reserved resources).
Claims 2 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PANAGIOTIS et al. (WO 2022106019 A1) in view of Kim et al. (S 20220232605 A1), and in further view of Rahman et al. (US 20230422127 A1)
Regarding claim 2, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. teaches the method of claim 1,
wherein the XR traffic characteristics are provided over an Xn interface.
However, Rahman teaches
traffic characteristics are provided over an Xn interface (Rahman [0021] Exchange of traffic load status information is performed by sending messages over a control connection, e.g. X2 or Xn connection between neighboring network nodes).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified the combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. by incorporating Rahman Xn interface for exchanging traffic load status information to provide the XR traffic characteristics of PANAGIOTIS et al. to arrive at the invention.
The motivation of doing so would have enabled information exchange between base stations
Regarding claim 8, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al., Kim et al., and Rahman teaches the method of claim 6,
wherein the XR traffic characteristics are user equipment (UE) specific or flow specific (Kim [0081] information transmitted by a UE 115 may have a traffic pattern that is based on periodic XR data flows).
The motivation of doing so would have enabled the base station to allocate resources for uplink communication.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PANAGIOTIS et al. (WO 2022106019 A1) in view of Kim et al. (S 20220232605 A1), and in further view of Liu et al. (US 20220322175 A1).
Regarding claim 6, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. teaches the method of claim 1, but does not teach
wherein the XR traffic characteristics are received from a core network.
However, Liu et al. teaches
wherein the XR traffic characteristics are received from a core network (Liu [0136] the load information may be received from another base station through a core network via an S1 or an N2 communication interface).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. by incorporating Liu et al. core network to arrive at the invention.
The motivation of doing so would have enabled information exchange between base stations.
Claim 36 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PANAGIOTIS et al. (WO 2022106019 A1) in view of Kim et al. (S 20220232605 A1), and in further view of Chiu et al. (US 20240056928 A1)
Regarding claim 36, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. teaches The baseband processor of claim 35, but does not teach
wherein the conditional handover configuration comprises trigger conditions, wherein the trigger conditions include threshold values for one or more of:
reference signal (RS) received power (RSRP);
RS received quality (RSRQ); or
signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR).
In a similar endeavor, Chin et al. teach
wherein the conditional handover configuration comprises trigger conditions (Chiu [0037] the handover criteria may include a combination of such values), wherein the trigger conditions include threshold values for one or more of:
reference signal (RS) received power (RSRP) (Chiu [0037] Target RSRP>Variable Target RSRP threshold);
RS received quality (RSRQ); or
signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) (Chiu [0037] Target SINR>Variable Target SINR threshold).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. by incorporating Chiu et al. handover criteria to arrive at the invention
The motivation of doing so would have selected a good target cell for handover.
Claim 38-39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PANAGIOTIS et al. (WO 2022106019 A1) in view of Kim et al. (S 20220232605 A1), and in further view of Li et al. (US 20230106995 A1)
Regarding claim 38, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. teaches The baseband processor of claim 35, but does not teach
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
assign, to each of the one or more neighbor cells, a priority level based on loading conditions of the one or more target base stations, wherein higher priority levels are assigned to neighboring cells with lower loading conditions and lower priority levels are assigned to neighboring cells with higher loading conditions, thereby dissuading the UE from selection of neighboring cells with higher loading conditions, and wherein the conditional handover configuration includes indications of the assigned priority levels.
In similar endeavor, Li et al. teach
assign, to each of the one or more neighbor cells, a priority level based on loading conditions of the one or more target base stations, wherein higher priority levels are assigned to neighboring cells with lower loading conditions and lower priority levels are assigned to neighboring cells with higher loading conditions (Li [0094] the terminal device can select a cell with a high priority from the low-load cells as the target cell for reselection), thereby dissuading the UE from selection of neighboring cells with higher loading conditions (Li [0094] which facilitates load balancing among the cells and ensures reliable data transmission of the terminal device), and wherein the conditional handover configuration includes indications of the assigned priority levels (Li [0169]-[0170] the processing unit 710 may be further configured to: . . . select, from the at least one candidate inter-frequency neighboring cell, an inter-frequency neighboring cell whose measurement result meets a cell selection criterion as the target cell when the priority of the at least one candidate inter-frequency neighboring cell is higher than the priority of the serving cell) .
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. by incorporating Li et al. handover criteria to arrive at the invention.
The motivation of doing so would have balanced loads among cells.
Regarding claim 39, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. teaches The baseband processor of claim 35, but does not teach
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
assign, to each of the one or more target base stations, a processing preference based on loading conditions of the one or more target base stations, wherein neighboring cells with lower loading conditions are to be processed by the UE prior to neighboring cells with higher loading conditions , and wherein the conditional handover configuration includes an indication of the processing order of the neighboring cells.
In similar endeavor, Li et al. teach
assign, to each of the one or more target base stations, a processing preference based on loading conditions of the one or more target base stations, wherein neighboring cells with lower loading conditions are to be processed by the UE prior to neighboring cells with higher loading conditions(Li [0094] the terminal device can select a cell with a high priority from the low-load cells as the target cell for reselection), and wherein the conditional handover configuration includes an indication of the processing order of the neighboring cells (Li [0169]-[0170] the processing unit 710 may be further configured to: . . . select, from the at least one candidate inter-frequency neighboring cell, an inter-frequency neighboring cell whose measurement result meets a cell selection criterion as the target cell when the priority of the at least one candidate inter-frequency neighboring cell is higher than the priority of the serving cell) .
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. by incorporating Li et al. handover criteria to arrive at the invention.
The motivation of doing so would have balanced loads among cells.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, 37, and 43 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 7, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. teaches the method of claim 3, but does not teach
wherein the information element comprises a Time Sensitive Communication (TSC) Traffic Characteristics information element.
Regarding claim 37, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. teaches The baseband processor of claim 36, but does not teach
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
apply a weighting factor or a negative offset to one or more of the trigger conditions, wherein the weighting factor or the negative offset is based, at least in part, on load indications or capacity indications received from one or more neighbor cells.
Regarding claim 43, The combination of PANAGIOTIS et al. and Kim et al. teaches non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 40, but does not teach
wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:
determine that availability of radio resources at one of the one or more target base stations has changed; and
update the list of candidate target base stations based on the change in radio resources, thereby generating an updated list of candidate target base stations
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAID M ELNOUBI whose telephone number is (571)272-9732. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:30AM to 6:00PM ET.
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/SAID M ELNOUBI/ Examiner, Art Unit 2644
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