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 .
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed 01/22/2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 8, and 15 have been amended. Claims 1, 4-8, 11-15 and 18-19 are pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 01/22/2026, have been fully considered and entered but they are moot based on new grounds for rejection.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148
USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining
obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating
obviousness or non-obviousness.
Claims 1, 4, 8 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao et al. (US 20210352714 A1) hereinafter Gao in view of CIOCHINA et al. (US 2023/0024479 A1) hereinafter CIOCHINA.
Regarding claim 1,
Gao teaches receiving, by a terminal device, first indication information (configuration/system information or paging message [0006] and [0008]; Fig. 3A-4D), wherein the first indication information comprises: information indicating the type of target candidate cell is a satellite communication network type (target type of cell which may be satellite or non-satellite based [0046] and [0049]); sending, by the terminal device, a random access preamble to the target candidate cell based on a first timing advance (initiating or continuing Random Access, RA, by transmitting a preamble based on the configuration information [0041]-[0043]), and the first timing advance is a common timing advance of the target candidate cell (default timing advance [0046]).
Gao does not explicitly teach the first indication information comprising correspondences between a plurality of common timing advances of the target candidate cell and a plurality of moments at which an uplink signal would be sent; and determining, by the terminal device based on the type of target candidate cell and a first correspondence of the correspondence, the first timing advance corresponding to a first moment, where the first moment is determined by the terminal device based on a moment at which random access is initiated to the target candidate cell, and the first correspondence is a correspondence between the first timing advance and the first moment of the target candidate cell.
CIOCHINA teaches the first indication information comprising correspondences between a plurality of common timing advances of the target candidate cell and a plurality of moments at which an uplink signal would be sent (data representing a function of variation in the timing advance, where the timing advance is used for uplink transmission to a second cell [0006][0009] and [0023]-[0024]);
and determining, by the terminal device based on the type of target candidate cell and a first correspondence of the correspondences (determining, by the earth terminal, based on the orbit of the satellite and an index corresponding to a function of variation in the timing advance [0006]-[0009] and [0023]-[0024]),
a first timing advance corresponding to a first moment (a first index which corresponds to a first function, where the function can be used to retrieve a timing advance for a second cell [0023]),
where the first moment is determined by the terminal device based on a moment at which random access is initiated to the target candidate cell (step S13, using the TA to transmit a first message in the RACH procedure [0219]-[0225]), and the first correspondence is a correspondence between the first timing advance and the first moment of the target candidate cell (a first index or value is used to determine the timing advance value, which corresponds to the instant a UE should transmit a first message in the random access procedure [0006]-[0009], [0023]-[0024] and [0219]-[0225]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of CIOCHINA to the teachings of Gao. One would have been motivated to do so, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would enable quick channel access during handover (CIOCHINA [0004]).
Regarding claim 4,
Gao and CIOCHINA teach all features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Gao further teaches the first indication information further comprises a first preset condition (configuration information including reselection configuration which contain reselection criteria [0046]-[0056]), determining, by the terminal device, the target candidate cell that meets the first preset condition (the UE may determine a target cell based on the reselection criteria [0046]-[0056]).
Claims [8 and 11] “communication apparatus” are rejected under the same reasoning as claims [1 and 4] “communication method”, respectively, where Gao teaches the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions executed by the processor ([0025]-[0032]; element 204 of Fig. 2).
Claims 5, 12, 15, 18 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao and CIOCHINA, and in further view of Kusashima et al. (US 20210175964 A1) hereinafter Kusashima.
Regarding claim 5,
Gao and CIOCHINA teach all features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Gao and CIOCHINA do not explicitly teach receiving, by the terminal device, second indication information sent by the target candidate cell, wherein the second indication information comprises a second timing advance, and the second timing advance is a positive number or a negative number.
Kusashima teaches receiving, by the terminal device, second indication information sent by the target candidate cell (transmitting an RA response, RAR [0182]), wherein the second indication information comprises a second timing advance (RAR including a timing advance value [0182]), and the second timing advance is a positive number or a negative number (timing advance can take equal to or greater than 0 [0205]-[0208]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of Kusashima to the teachings of Gao and CIOCHINA. One would have been motivated to do so, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would mitigate the effects of propagation delay on channel quality (Kusashima [0006]-[0007]).
Regarding claim 15,
Gao teaches a communication apparatus (base station [0025]-[0032]; element 202 of Fig. 2), comprising: at least one processor (BS processor module [0025]-[0032]; element 214 of Fig. 2); and at least one memory coupled to the processor (BS memory module coupled to BS processor [0025]-[0032]; element 216 of Fig. 2), the memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor (instructions contained in BS memory module can be executed by the BS processor module [0025]-[0032]), cause the communication apparatus to perform operations comprising: sending first indication information to a terminal device (transmitting, by a first communication node, configuration information [0007] and [0009]); and receiving a random access preamble sent by the terminal device based on a first timing advance (a communication device initiating or continuing random access, RA, by sending an RA preamble based on a timing advance offset or a default timing advance for a cell [0007], [0009], and [0046]; Figs. 3C and 4C).
Gao does not explicitly teach the first indication information comprises correspondences between a plurality of common timing advances of the communication apparatus and a plurality of moments at which an uplink signal would be sent; and the timing advance being from a plurality of timing advances.
CIOCHINA teaches the first indication information comprises correspondences between a plurality of common timing advances of the communication apparatus and a plurality of moments at which an uplink signal would be sent (data representing a function of variation in the timing advance, where the timing advance is used for uplink transmission to a second cell [0006][0009] and [0023]-[0024]); and the timing advance being from a plurality of timing advances (function from a set of functions [0006][0009] and [0023]-[0024]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of CIOCHINA to the teachings of Gao. One would have been motivated to do so, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would enable quick channel access during handover (CIOCHINA [0004]).
Gao and CIOCHINA do not explicitly teach information indicating that a type of the communication apparatus is a satellite communication network type.
Kusashima teaches information indicating that a type of the communication apparatus is a satellite communication network type (satellite device related information including the type of the satellite station [0233]-[0243]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of Kusashima to the teachings of Gao and CIOCHINA. One would have been motivated to do so, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would mitigate the effects of propagation delay on channel quality (Kusashima [0006]-[0007]).
Regarding claim 18,
Gao and CIOCHINA and Kusashima teach all features of claim 15, as outlined above.
Gao further teaches the first indication information further comprises a first preset condition (configuration information including reselection configuration which contain reselection criteria [0046]-[0056]), and the first preset condition is configured to be used by the terminal device to determine a target candidate base station that meets the first preset condition (the UE may determine a target cell based on the reselection criteria [0046]-[0056]).
Regarding claim 19,
Gao and CIOCHINA and Kusashima teach all features of claim 15, as outlined above.
Gao and CIOCHINA do not explicitly teach sending second indication information to the terminal device, wherein the second indication information comprises a second timing advance, the second timing advance is determined by the communication apparatus based on the random access preamble, and the second timing advance is a positive number or a negative number.
Kusashima teaches sending second indication information to the terminal device (transmitting an RA response, RAR [0182]), wherein the second indication information comprises a second timing advance (RAR including a timing advance value [0182]), the second timing advance is determined by the communication apparatus based on the random access preamble (the timing advance value is determined based on the PRACH [0182]), and the second timing advance is a positive number or a negative number (timing advance can take equal to or greater than 0 [0205]-[0208]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of Kusashima to the teachings of Gao and CIOCHINA. One would have been motivated to do so, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would mitigate the effects of propagation delay on channel quality (Kusashima [0006]-[0007]).
Claim [12] “communication apparatus” are rejected under the same reasoning as claim [5] “communication method”, respectively, where Gao teaches the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions executed by the processor ([0025]-[0032]; element 204 of Fig. 2).
Claims 7 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao and CIOCHINA, and in further view of OUCHI et al. (US 20200296673 A1) hereinafter OUCHI.
Regarding claim 7,
Gao and CIOCHINA teach all features of claim 1, as outlined above, where CIOCHINA teaches correspondence between a common timing advance and a moment (data representing a function of variation in the timing advance, where the timing advance is used for uplink transmission to a second cell [0006][0009] and [0023]-[0024]).
Gao and CIOCHINA do not explicitly teach a plurality of candidate cells served by a same base station have a same correspondence.
OUCHI teaches a plurality of candidate cells served by a same base station have a same correspondence between a common timing advance and a moment (multiple cells sharing an identical TAG [0189]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of OUCHI to the teachings of Gao and CIOCHINA. One would have been motivated to do so, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would allow different configurations to coexist (OUCHI [0004]).
Claim [14] “communication apparatus” are rejected under the same reasoning as claim [7] “communication method”, respectively, where Gao teaches the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions executed by the processor ([0025]-[0032]; element 204 of Fig. 2).
Claims 6 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao and CIOCHINA in view of Cheng et al. (US 20220015131 A1) hereinafter Cheng.
Regarding claim 6,
Gao and CIOCHINA teach all features of claim 5, as outlined above.
Gao and CIOCHINA do not explicitly teach sending, by the terminal device, third indication information to the one target candidate cell based on a third timing advance, wherein the third indication information comprises a reconfiguration complete message, and the third timing advance is obtained by adding the first timing advance and the second timing advance.
Cheng teaches sending, by the terminal device, third indication information to the one target candidate cell based on a third timing advance (transmitting a message based on a calculated TA [0110]), wherein the third indication information comprises a reconfiguration complete message (the message being a reconfiguration complete message [0110]). Please note that obtaining the third timing advance by adding the first timing advance and the second timing advance is an obvious alternative to the timing advance calculation shown in Cheng ([0125]) where instead of relying on the indications sent by the base stations to update the timing advance, the UE itself calculates the timing advance difference based on the propagation delay difference between the two base stations.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of Cheng to the teachings of Gao and CIOCHINA. One would have been motivated to do so, with reasonable expectation of success, because it would adjust the timing advance for subsequent uplink transmissions (Cheng [0110]).
Claim [13] “communication apparatus” are rejected under the same reasoning as claim [6] “communication method”, respectively, where Gao teaches the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions executed by the processor ([0025]-[0032]; element 204 of Fig. 2).
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 ABDUL AZIZ SANTARISI whose telephone number is (703)756-4586. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8 AM - 5:00 PM ET. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayman Abaza can be reached on (571)270-0422. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABDUL AZIZ SANTARISI/Examiner, Art Unit 2465
/AYMAN A ABAZA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465