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 .
This office action is in response to the Applicant’s communication filed on 02/05/2025.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 20220174593 (Teyeb’593).
Regarding claim 19, Teyeb’593 teaches “A method for performing communication, performed by a base station (FIG 8 with corresponding description with respect to network node), comprising:
configuring, to a UE (User Equipment), to perform cell measurement in idle mode or inactive mode (paragraph 0139: the UE receives a message (e.g., a RRC Connection Release) that triggers the UE to transition from the connected state to a dormant state (e.g., idle mode or suspended mode) (step 800). The message includes an idle mode measurement configuration that includes a measurement duration time (e.g., a timer value for the T331 timer) and a validity time value (i.e., a timer value for the Txxx timer).);
receiving, from the UE, a report for a result of the cell measurement, wherein the base station skips to receive the report for the result of the cell measurement, based on a time difference between the time at which the report for the result of the cell measurement are received and the time at which the UE performs the cell measurement exceeding a time threshold (paragraph 0140: The UE determines whether an amount of time that has elapsed is greater than the validity time (step 808) (corresponding to “a time threshold”). More specifically, the validity time is defined with respect to the expiry of the first timer (e.g., T331) and, as such, the UE determines whether the amount of time that has elapsed since the expiry of the first timer is greater than the validity time. Paragraph 0141: If the elapsed amount of time is not greater than the validity time, the UE sends the idle mode measurements to the network node. Conversely, if the elapsed amount of time is greater than the validity time: (a) the UE does not indicate, to the network node, that idle mode measurements are available and (b) the UE deletes the idle mode measurements (e.g., deletes a report(s) containing the idle mode measurements) (step 812). In this manner, the UE ensures that idle mode measurements that may be too old are not reported to the network when the UE transitions from the dormant state back to the connected state.).”
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 1, 3, 5 – 7, 9, 10, 12 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20220174593 (Teyeb’593).
Regarding claims 1 and 10, Teyeb’593 teaches “A method for performing communication, performed by a UE (User Equipment) (FIG 8 with corresponding description with respect to user equipment UE), comprising:
performing cell measurement in idle mode or inactive mode (paragraph 0140: While in the dormant state (and as long as the first timer has not expired or been stopped), the UE performs one or more idle mode measurements in accordance with the idle mode measurement configuration (step 804).);
performing RRC (Radio Resource Control) state transition the idle mode or the inactive mode to connected mode (FIG 8 and paragraph 0140: the UE subsequently receives a message (e.g., an RRC connection setup or RRC Connection Resume) from the network node (step 806).);
receiving, from a base station, a request for a result of the cell measurement (although not disclosed in FIG 8, it is, nevertheless, part of the standard procedure as disclosed in paragraphs 0038 – 0039: if the UE is configured to store idle measurements, the network may send a request to the UE after resume/setup to determine whether the UE has idle measurements available. To allow the network to know, and possibly request, the UE to report early measurements, the UE may indicate the availability of stored idle measurements. Also paragraph 0040: to allow the network to know, and possibly request, the UE to report early measurements, the UE may also indicate the availability of stored idle measurements in RRCConnectionResumeComplete. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the application to include the step of receiving a request for the results in the process of FIG 8 simply as part of the standard procedure.);
reporting, to the base station, the result of the cell measurement, wherein the UE skips to report the result of the cell measurement, based on a time difference between the time at which reporting the results of the cell measurement are performed and the time at which the cell measurement is performed exceeding a time threshold (paragraph 0140: The UE determines whether an amount of time that has elapsed is greater than the validity time (step 808) (corresponding to “a time threshold”). More specifically, the validity time is defined with respect to the expiry of the first timer (e.g., T331) and, as such, the UE determines whether the amount of time that has elapsed since the expiry of the first timer is greater than the validity time. Paragraph 0141: If the elapsed amount of time is not greater than the validity time, the UE sends the idle mode measurements to the network node. Conversely, if the elapsed amount of time is greater than the validity time: (a) the UE does not indicate, to the network node, that idle mode measurements are available and (b) the UE deletes the idle mode measurements (e.g., deletes a report(s) containing the idle mode measurements) (step 812). In this manner, the UE ensures that idle mode measurements that may be too old are not reported to the network when the UE transitions from the dormant state back to the connected state.).”
Regarding claims 3 and 12, Teyeb’593 teaches “wherein the result of the cell measurement is RSRP (Reference Signals Received Power) or RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality) (Table 5.6.20 in paragraph 0144, section VarMeasIdleReport: rsrpResult-r15; RSRP-Range, rsrqResult-r15, RSRQ-Range-r13).”
Regarding claims 5 and 14, Teyeb’593 teaches “performing validity verification for the result of the cell measurement during performing the RRC state transition (paragraph 0140: the UE subsequently receives a message (e.g., an RRC connection setup or RRC Connection Resume) from the network node (step 806) (thus, “performing the RRC state transition”). The UE determines whether an amount of time that has elapsed is greater than the validity time (step 808). More specifically, the validity time is defined with respect to the expiry of the first timer (e.g., T331) and, as such, the UE determines whether the amount of time that has elapsed since the expiry of the first timer is greater than the validity time.).”
Regarding claim 6, Teyeb’593 teaches “wherein the step of performing the validity verification comprises: determining whether the time difference between the time at which reporting the result of the cell measurement is performed and the time at which the cell measurement is performed exceeds the time threshold (paragraph 0140: While in the dormant state (and as long as the first timer has not expired or been stopped), the UE performs one or more idle mode measurements in accordance with the idle mode measurement configuration (step 804). The UE determines whether the amount of time that has elapsed since the expiry of the first timer is greater than the validity time. The elapsed amount of time may be calculated as: current time−(timestamp of Inactive UE context+T331), where current time corresponds to the claimed “the time at which reporting the result of the cell measurement is performed” and (timestamp of Inactive UE context+T331) corresponds to the claimed “time at which the cell measurement is performed”. The calculated elapsed amount of time is then compared to the validity time (corresponds to the claimed “time threshold”).),
wherein the step of reporting the result of the cell measurement is performed, based on a result of the validity verification (Paragraph 0141: If the elapsed amount of time is not greater than the validity time, the UE sends the idle mode measurements to the network node. Conversely, if the elapsed amount of time is greater than the validity time: the UE deletes the idle mode measurements (e.g., deletes a report(s) containing the idle mode measurements) (step 812). In this manner, the UE ensures that idle mode measurements that may be too old are not reported to the network when the UE transitions from the dormant state back to the connected state.).”
Regarding claim 7, Teyeb’593 teaches “discarding the result of the cell measurement, based on the time threshold having passed from the time at which the cell measurement is performed (Paragraph 0141: if the elapsed amount of time is greater than the validity time (“the time threshold having passed from the time at which the cell measurement is performed”): the UE deletes the idle mode measurements (e.g., deletes a report(s) containing the idle mode measurements) (step 812).).”
Regarding claim 9, Teyeb’593 teaches “receiving, from the base station, configuration for the cell measurement before the RRC state transition, wherein the step of performing the cell measurement is performed, based on the configuration (paragraph 0139: the UE receives a message (e.g., a RRC Connection Release) that triggers the UE to transition from the connected state to a dormant state (e.g., idle mode or suspended mode) (step 800), which is prior to receiving message 806 (see FIG 8) representing initiation of “the RRC state transition”. The message includes an idle mode measurement configuration that includes a measurement duration time (e.g., a timer value for the T331 timer) and a validity time value (i.e., a timer value for the Txxx timer).).”
Claims 2 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20220174593 (Teyeb’593) as applied to claims 1 and 10 above, and further in view of US 20210235300 (Teyeb’300).
Regarding claims 2 and 11, Teyeb’593 does not teach “wherein the UE skips to report the result of the cell measurement, based on a serving cell of the UE at the time of reporting the results of the cell measurement being different from the serving cell of the UE at the time of performing the cell measurement.”
Teyeb’300 in par. 0162 – 0163 teaches that the UE will delete early measurement results when they are outdated, where the duration for being considered outdated to be specified in RAN4 measurement requirements (e.g. early measurements older than x seconds will not be reported). This is similar to the principle of operation of Teyeb’593, which is explained in the rejection of claim 1 above. However, Teyeb’300 goes on to state that an important consideration for early measurements is to ensure that the network will not try to setup the UE with CA/DC based on older measurements that were gathered at a different location than where the UE is located at the moment as the UE may not even be in the coverage of the reported frequencies/cells. In other words, Teyeb’300 teaches that older measurements which were performed in a different cell may not be usable for proper operation in a current cell. Thus, when the UE is configured for early measurements, the UE may keep the early measurement results for including them in the next logging duration, along with the location/time they were captured, but may not report them for early measurement reporting on transition to CONNECTED mode.
Therefore, based on this disclosure of Teyeb’300, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the application to skip, in the system of Teyeb’593, reporting early measurement results collected in a previous cell if the user equipment is located in a different cell upon transition to CONNECTED mode. Doing so would have prevented reporting outdated early measurements gathered at a different location in a cell different than where the UE is located at the moment, thus ensuring that the network will not try to setup the UE with CA/DC based on older measurements (see Teyeb’300, paragraph 0162).
Claims 4 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20220174593 (Teyeb’593) as applied to claims 3 and 12 above, and further in view of US 20220345926 (Siomina) and US 20230247721 (Kim).
Regarding claims 4 and 13, Teyeb’593 does not teach “performing new cell measurement, wherein the cell measurement is measurement for a serving cell of the UE, wherein the new cell measurement is measurement for a serving cell of the UE, wherein a serving cell of the UE at the time of performing the cell measurement and the serving cell of the UE at the time of performing the new cell measurement are the same, wherein the UE skips to report the result of the cell measurement, based on the result of the cell measurement and a result of the new cell measurement being greater than or equal to a threshold.”
Siomina teaches “performing new cell measurement, wherein the cell measurement is measurement for a serving cell of the UE, wherein the new cell measurement is measurement for a serving cell of the UE, wherein a serving cell of the UE at the time of performing the cell measurement and the serving cell of the UE at the time of performing the new cell measurement are the same (The wireless device configured to: before expiration of a first timer, perform first measurements of a cell (corresponding to claimed “the cell measurement”) while meeting a first performance target, and after the first timer has stopped, perform second measurements (corresponding to claimed “new cell measurement”) of the cell (“the” means that it is the same serving cell) while meeting a second performance target different from the first performance target.).” Additionally, paragraph 0026 teaches transmitting a report of the at least one of the first measurements and second measurements (corresponding to the claimed “report the result of the cell measurement”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the application to utilize disclosed by Siomina performing two subsequent measurements in the same cell, in the system of Teyeb’593. Doing so would have allowed to avoid reporting too old measurements, which is not useful for fast CA configuration (see Siomina, paragraphs 0015 and 0022), as well as to differentiate between the EMR measurements during the T331 and the additional measurements before reporting (see Siomina, paragraph 0023).
Lastly, Kim teaches reporting for idle/inactive measurements. The report quantities may Indicates which measurement quantities UE is requested to report in the idle/inactive measurement report. The quality threshold may indicate one or more quality thresholds for reporting the measured cells for idle/inactive NR measurements. The quality threshold may comprise at least one of: RSRP threshold; RSRQ threshold.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the application to utilize disclosed by Kim criteria for reporting measurements collected by the user equipment during idle/inactive period, in the system of combined Teyeb’593 and Siomina’s disclosures. Doing so would have allowed to report only those measurements that meet the threshold requirement.
Although Kim is silent on whether the condition is for the measurement to be above or below the respective threshold, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have immediately recognized that there may be only two distinct cases in this matter: reporting when the measured value is below the respective threshold, or reporting when the measured value is above the respective threshold. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date that since the number of options is small and readily recognizable, to try each of these options, including the option of reporting only when the value is below the threshold, with the expectation of success since, according to the Supreme Court, “a person of ordinary skill has good reason to pursue the known options within his or her technical grasp. If this leads to the anticipated success, it is likely that product [was] not of innovation but of ordinary skill and common sense. In that instance the fact that a combination was obvious to try might show that it was obvious under § 103.”KSR, 550 U.S. 82 USPQ2d at 1397.
In the system of combined Teyeb’593, Siomina and Kim’s disclosures, if the criterion of transmitting the measurement report is selected to be that the measured value is below the respective threshold, the device would perform two sequential cell measurements and report the measurements only if both measurements are below the threshold, which is the same as “skips to report the result of the cell measurement, based on the result of the cell measurement and a result of the new cell measurement being greater than or equal to a threshold”, as the claim requires.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20220174593 (Teyeb’593) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US 20210392537 (Da Silva).
Regarding claim 8, Teyeb’593 teaches “receiving, from the base station, an RRC resume message, based on the RRC state transition being performed from the inactive mode to connected mode (paragraph 0140: the UE subsequently receives a message (e.g., an RRC Connection Resume) from the network node (step 806).)…”
Teyeb’593 does not disclose “wherein the RRC resume message includes a request for the result of the cell measurement.”
Da Silva also relates to early measurement reporting (see title). FIG 11 with corresponding description in paragraphs 0190 – 0192 teaches a similar method in which indication that the UE is to include early measurements performed in a dormant state (e.g., idle/inactive state) with an RRC Resume Complete like message is provided in the RRCResume like message.
Particularly, Da Silva teaches “the RRC resume message includes a request for the result of the cell measurement (paragraph 0192: the network node transmits to the UE an RRCResume message (step 1106). The RRCResume message includes an indication that the UE is to include early measurements performed in RRC inactive state (“a request for the result of the cell measurement”) with an RRC Resume Complete message. The UE transmits, to the network node, an RRCResumeComplete message (step 1108) including the early measurements performed by the UE.).”
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the application to include, in the RRC resume message, a request for measurements performed in an idle state, as disclosed by Da Silva, and use it in the system of Teyeb’593. Doing so would have allowed to utilize a single transmission for both RRC resume message and request for measurements, thus reducing signaling overhead thus yielding predictable results since, according to the Supreme Court, “[t]he combination of familiar elements according to known methods is likely to be obvious when it does no more than yield predictable results.” KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 416 (2007).
Conclusion
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/GENNADIY TSVEY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648
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