DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 .
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.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. In particular, this Application is the bypass application of an international application that was filed on 31 Dec 2019.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements, submitted on 11 Aug 2022 and 21 Dec 2022, are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to any claim have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable by Shi (CN 109218344, published on 15 Jan 2019) (citations based on English Translation, US 2020/0137646) in view of Turtinen (US 20200178206).
Regarding claims 1 and 9, Shi teaches a communication method and a communication apparatus, comprising: a memory storing computer-readable instructions Shi, ¶333 – memory 102 of terminal shown in figure 6); a transceiver (Shi, figure 6 - communication module) configured for
receiving configuration information from a first network device (Shi, ¶324 – step s301 in figure 5), wherein the configuration information includes a correspondence between height information and a first parameter (Shi, ¶331 – flight status is classified as either on the ground or in the air; pg. 16, table 1, 2nd column – “first tracking area list” for ground parameter configuration and “second tracking area list” for air parameter configuration, where both configurations are provided to the terminal; Shi, ¶¶249-250 – height status of terminal determines if terminal should be configured for the ground or the air, which results in a “correspondence” between height and a parameter configuration); and
determining a target parameter based on a current height of a terminal device and the configuration information (Shi, ¶328 – terminal selects target parameter configuration [i.e. either the ground or air parameter configuration] from the plurality of received parameter configurations based on flight height status; Shi, ¶¶257 and 326 – terminal measures its height status in order to select the target parameter configuration),
wherein the current height of the terminal device is relative to the first network device (Shi, ¶253 – height may be height of terminal relative to a bast station), and the target parameter comprises one or more of a tracking area parameter corresponding to the current height of the terminal device or a radio access network notification area parameter corresponding to the current height of the terminal device (Shi, ¶¶64, 67, 72 – target parameter configuration may be either the first parameter configuration or the second parameter configuration, where both the first and second parameter configurations include a tracking area list).
Shi does not explicitly teach “wherein the tracking area parameter comprises a tracking area identifier or a tracking area code, and the radio access network notification area parameter comprises a radio access network notification area identifier or a radio access network notification area code.” However, Turtinen teaches a tracking area identifier or code and a paging area code. Turtinen, ¶¶75, 78-80. At the time of the invention (pre-AIA ) or at the effective filing date of the invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to use the TAC and/or RPAC, taught by Turtinen, to identify the cells on the tracking list, taught by Shi, in order to uniquely identify each tracking area. Turtinen, ¶¶9, 62-63.
Regarding claims 2 and 10, the combination of Shi and Turtinen also teaches wherein the receiving the configuration information further includes receiving a height threshold (Shi, ¶261 – height threshold received from base station), and the determining the target parameter based on the current height of the terminal device and the configuration information includes: determining current height information based on the current height and the threshold, and determining the target parameter based on the current height information and the configuration information. Shi, ¶261 (based on the threshold, the terminal determines if it is on the ground or in the air and based on that determination, uses either the tracking area list for the ground or the air).
Regarding claims 3, 6, and 11, the combination of Shi and Turtinen also teaches wherein the height information includes a height range or a height level. Shi, ¶261 (height threshold is a height level).
Regarding claims 4, 8, and 12, the combination of Shi and Turtinen also teaches sending measurement information to the first network device, wherein the measurement information includes identification information of a cell and a height corresponding to the cell. Shi, ¶326 (step s302, which is initially discussed in ¶¶ 252-253 as a terminal measuring at least one status parameter, such as height and a neighboring cell measurement value). Claim 8 recites the inverse of claims 4 and 12 by having the measurement information be received by the network device, but is unpatentable based on the same citations of Shi).
Regarding claim 5, Huang teaches a communication method, comprising:
determining, by a first network device, a correspondence between a first parameter and height information (Shi, ¶331 – flight status is classified as either on the ground or in the air; pg. 16, table 1, 2nd column – “first tracking area list” for ground parameter configuration and “second tracking area list” for air parameter configuration, where both configurations are provided to the terminal; Shi, ¶¶249-250 – height status of terminal determines if terminal should be configured for the ground or the air, which results in a “correspondence” between height and a parameter configuration); and
sending, by the first network device, configuration information to a terminal device (Shi, ¶324 – step s301 in figure 5), to cause
the terminal device to determine a target parameter based on a current height of a terminal device and the configuration information (Shi, ¶328 – terminal selects target parameter configuration [i.e. either the ground or air parameter configuration] from the plurality of received parameter configurations based on flight height status; Shi, ¶¶257 and 326 – terminal measures its height status in order to select the target parameter configuration),
wherein the current height of the terminal device is relative to the first network device (Shi, ¶253 – height may be height of terminal relative to a bast station), and
the target parameter comprises one or more of a tracking area parameter corresponding to the current height of the terminal device or a radio access network notification area parameter corresponding to the current height of the terminal device (Shi, ¶¶64, 67, 72 – target parameter configuration may be either the first parameter configuration or the second parameter configuration, where both the first and second parameter configurations include a tracking area list).
Shi does not explicitly teach “wherein the tracking area parameter comprises a tracking area identifier or a tracking area code, and the radio access network notification area parameter comprises a radio access network notification area identifier or a radio access network notification area code.” However, Turtinen teaches a tracking area identifier or code and a paging area code. Turtinen, ¶¶75, 78-80. At the time of the invention (pre-AIA ) or at the effective filing date of the invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to use the TAC and/or RPAC, taught by Turtinen, to identify the cells on the tracking list, taught by Shi, in order to uniquely identify each tracking area. Turtinen, ¶¶9, 62-63; see also id. at ¶82 for a tradeoff between signaling size and addressing a large notification area.
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Shi and Turtinen also teaches wherein the sending the configuration information includes sending a height threshold, wherein the height threshold is related to the height information (Shi, ¶261 – height threshold received from base station).
Regarding claims 13 and 17, the combination of Shi and Turtinen also teaches wherein the first parameter includes a tracking area parameter corresponding to the height information. Shi, pg. 16, table 1 (the configurations provided by the base station are differentiated based on whether the terminal is on the ground or in the air [i.e. a comparison of its height to a threshold] and each configuration includes “tracking area list”); see also Turtinen, ¶¶75, 78-80 for specific tracking area identifiers or codes).
Regarding claims 14 and 18, the combination of Shi and Turtinen also teaches wherein the first parameter includes a radio access network notification area parameter corresponding to the height information. Shi, pg. 16, table 1 (the configurations provided by the base station are differentiated based on whether the terminal is on the ground or in the air [i.e. a comparison of its height to a threshold] and each configuration includes “tracking area list”); Turtinen, ¶¶60, 73 (RNAs are a subset of the list of tracking area identifiers with a value that comprises TAI + RPAC) and ¶80.
Regarding claims 15 and 19, the combination of Shi and Turtinen also teaches wherein the first parameter includes a cell selection or reselection parameter. Shi, pg. 16 (table 1 provides the parameter configuration for both the ground and the air and each configuration includes “cell selection and reselection parameter”).
Regarding claims 16 and 20, the combination of Shi and Turtinen also teaches wherein the first parameter includes a measurement configuration parameter corresponding to the target parameter. Shi, pg. 16 (table 1 provides the parameter configurations for both the ground and the air and each configuration includes a “measurement-related parameter”).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN S LAMONT whose telephone number is (571)270-7514 and fax number is 571-270-8514 and email address is benjamin.lamont@uspto.gov (see MPEP 502.03 for authorizing unsecure communication). The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7am to 3pm EST.
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/Benjamin Lamont/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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