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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on February 17, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed February 17, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Tripathi further teaches wherein the configuration information further includes information related to a valid time duration for the first power control configuration (Section 0101, the PC and AMC are based on the NTN type which indicates the type of orbit such a GEO or LEO (Sections 0055, 0058), when a LEO orbit is selected said LEO orbit will be in effect for a finite period of time, which is the time duration), and wherein, based on an end time point of the valid time duration, the UE switches the first power control configuration to a second power control configuration (Section 0101, the PC and AMC are based on the NTN type which indicates the type of orbit such a GEO or LEO (Sections 0055, 0058), when a LEO orbit is selected said LEO orbit will be in effect for a finite period of time, which is the time duration, when a GEO orbit is selected there will be a switch from the LEO orbit and thus the end point of the time said LEO orbit is in effect).
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, 4, 10, 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tripathi et al. (US 2021/0119861) in view of Gutt et al. (US 2013/0197860)
Regarding Claim 1, Tripathi teaches a method comprising: receiving, by a user equipment (UE), configuration information related to a non-terrestrial network (NTN) ((Sections 0055, 0058) corresponds power control information, which is AMC and PC (Section 0101), which is configuration information, AMC automatically selects the most effective modulation scheme and coding rate according to channel conditions so as to improve the power utilization and spectrum utilization); receiving, by the UE, a downlink control channel including downlink control information, wherein the downlink control information includes resource assignment information for a transmission of an uplink data channel (Section 0101, DCI provides scheduling, which is the resource assignment for the PUSCH); and transmitting, by the UE, the uplink data channel based on the resource assignment information (Section 0101, PUSCH can be transmitted); wherein the downlink control channel is received from the NTN and the uplink data channel is transmitted to the NTN (Section 0101 shows that the DCI scheduling and PUSCH transmission is in relation to an NTN type), wherein the configuration information includes power control configurations for the uplink data channel related to the NTN ((Sections 0055, 0058) corresponds power control information, which is AMC and PC (Section 0101), which is configuration information, AMC automatically selects the most effective modulation scheme and coding rate according to channel conditions so as to improve the power utilization and spectrum utilization), and wherein the UE determines a first power control configuration from among the power control configurations based on the NTN type (Section 0101, the PC and AMC are based on the NTN type which indicates the type of orbit such a GEO or LEO (Sections 0055, 0058)), wherein a transmission power of the uplink data channel is determined based on the first power control configuration (Section 0101, the PC and AMC are based on the NTN type which indicates the type of orbit such a GEO or LEO (Sections 0055, 0058)), wherein the configuration information further includes information related to a valid time duration for the first power control configuration (Section 0101, the PC and AMC are based on the NTN type which indicates the type of orbit such a GEO or LEO (Sections 0055, 0058), when a LEO orbit is selected said LEO orbit will be in effect for a finite period of time, which is the time duration), and wherein, based on an end time point of the valid time duration, the UE switches the first power control configuration to a second power control configuration (Section 0101, the PC and AMC are based on the NTN type which indicates the type of orbit such a GEO or LEO (Sections 0055, 0058), when a LEO orbit is selected said LEO orbit will be in effect for a finite period of time, which is the time duration, when a GEO orbit is selected there will be a switch from the LEO orbit and thus the end point of the time said LEO orbit is in effect).
Tripathi does not teach wherein the configuration information includes satellite ephemeris information related to the NTN, and wherein the UE estimates a position of the NTN based on the satellite ephemeris information, determines a first power control configuration from among the power control configurations based on the position of the NTN.
Gutt, which also teaches the use of satellites, teaches wherein the configuration information includes satellite ephemeris information related to the NTN (ephemerides is received from the LEO satellite (Sections 0086, 0087) which renders a scenario wherein the ephemerides are related to the LEO satellite), and wherein the user device estimates a position of the NTN based on the satellite ephemeris information (Section 0087, satellite position).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Tripathi with the above features of Gutt for the purpose of providing an improvement in navigation system performance when the user receiver device is located in an attenuated environment, a jammed environment, and/or an occluded environment, such as indoors as taught by Gutt. The combination of Tripathi and Gutt teaches determines a first power control configuration from among the power control configurations based on the position of the NTN.
Regarding Claim 10, Tripathi teaches a method comprising: transmitting, by a NTN, configuration information related to the NTN including power control configurations to a user equipment ((Sections 0055, 0058) corresponds power control information, which is AMC and PC (Section 0101), which is configuration information, AMC automatically selects the most effective modulation scheme and coding rate according to channel conditions so as to improve the power utilization and spectrum utilization); transmitting, by the NTN, a downlink control channel including downlink control information, wherein the downlink control information includes resource assignment information for a transmission of an uplink data channel (Section 0101, DCI provides scheduling, which is the resource assignment for the PUSCH) and receiving the uplink data channel based on the resource assignment information (Section 0101, PUSCH can be transmitted), wherein a transmission power of the uplink data channel is determined based on a first power control configuration among the power control configurations ((Sections 0055, 0058) corresponds power control information, which is AMC and PC (Section 0101), which is configuration information, AMC automatically selects the most effective modulation scheme and coding rate according to channel conditions so as to improve the power utilization and spectrum utilization), and wherein the first power control configuration is determined among the power control configurations based on the NTN type (Section 0101, the PC and AMC are based on the NTN type which indicates the type of orbit such a GEO or LEO (Sections 0055, 0058)), wherein, based on an end time point of the valid time duration, the UE switches the first power control configuration to a second power control configuration (Section 0101, the PC and AMC are based on the NTN type which indicates the type of orbit such a GEO or LEO (Sections 0055, 0058), when a LEO orbit is selected said LEO orbit will be in effect for a finite period of time, which is the time duration, when a GEO orbit is selected there will be a switch from the LEO orbit and thus the end point of the time said LEO orbit is in effect).
Tripathi does not teach wherein the configuration information further includes satellite ephemeris information related to the NTN, and wherein the first power control configuration is determined among the power control configurations based on a position of the NTN estimated using the satellite ephemeris information.
Gutt, which also teaches the use of satellites, teaches wherein the configuration information includes satellite ephemeris information related to the NTN (ephemerides is received from the LEO satellite (Sections 0086, 0087) which renders a scenario wherein the ephemerides are related to the LEO satellite), and wherein the user device estimates a position of the NTN based on the satellite ephemeris information (Section 0087, satellite position).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Tripathi with the above features of Gutt for the purpose of providing an improvement in navigation system performance when the user receiver device is located in an attenuated environment, a jammed environment, and/or an occluded environment, such as indoors as taught by Gutt. The combination of Tripathi and Gutt teaches determines a first power control configuration from among the power control configurations based on the position of the NTN estimated using the satellite ephemeris information.
Regarding Claim 12, Tripathi teaches a user equipment (UE) comprising: a radio frequency (RF) transceiver; and a processor connected to the RF transceiver, wherein the processor is configured to control the RF transceiver to receive configuration information related to an NTN (NTN type which is signaled (Sections 0055, 0058) to the UE corresponds power control information, which is AMC and PC (Section 0101), which is configuration information, AMC automatically selects the most effective modulation scheme and coding rate according to channel conditions so as to improve the power utilization and spectrum utilization, typical UEs comprise RF transceivers and processors), receive a downlink control channel including downlink control information, wherein the downlink control information includes resource assignment information for a transmission of an uplink data channel (Section 0101, DCI provides scheduling, which is the resource assignment for the PUSCH), transmit the uplink data channel based on the resource assignment information (Section 0101, PUSCH can be transmitted), wherein the downlink control channel is received from the NTN and the uplink data channel is transmitted to the NTN (Section 0101 shows that the DCI scheduling and PUSCH transmission is in relation to an NTN type), wherein the configuration information includes power control configurations for the uplink data channel related to the NTN ((Sections 0055, 0058) corresponds power control information, which is AMC and PC (Section 0101), which is configuration information, AMC automatically selects the most effective modulation scheme and coding rate according to channel conditions so as to improve the power utilization and spectrum utilization), and wherein the UE determines a first power control configuration from among the power control configurations based on the NTN type (Section 0101, the PC and AMC are based on the NTN type which indicates the type of orbit such a GEO or LEO (Sections 0055, 0058)), and wherein a transmission power of the uplink data channel is determined based on the first power control configuration (Section 0101, the PC and AMC are based on the NTN type which indicates the type of orbit such a GEO or LEO (Sections 0055, 0058)), wherein, based on an end time point of the valid time duration, the UE switches the first power control configuration to a second power control configuration (Section 0101, the PC and AMC are based on the NTN type which indicates the type of orbit such a GEO or LEO (Sections 0055, 0058), when a LEO orbit is selected said LEO orbit will be in effect for a finite period of time, which is the time duration, when a GEO orbit is selected there will be a switch from the LEO orbit and thus the end point of the time said LEO orbit is in effect).
Tripathi does not teach wherein the configuration information includes satellite ephemeris information related to the NTN, and wherein the processor is further configured to estimate a position of the NTN based on the satellite ephemeris information, determine a first power control configuration from among the power control configurations based on the position of the NTN.
Gutt, which also teaches the use of satellites, teaches wherein the configuration information includes satellite ephemeris information related to the NTN (ephemerides is received from the LEO satellite (Sections 0086, 0087) which renders a scenario wherein the ephemerides are related to the LEO satellite), and wherein the processor is further configured to estimate a position of the NTN based on the satellite ephemeris information (Section 0087, satellite position).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Tripathi with the above features of Gutt for the purpose of providing an improvement in navigation system performance when the user receiver device is located in an attenuated environment, a jammed environment, and/or an occluded environment, such as indoors as taught by Gutt. The combination of Tripathi and Gutt teaches determines a first power control configuration from among the power control configurations based on the position of the NTN.
Regarding Claim 4, Tripathi combination teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claims 1. Tripathi further teaches wherein the UE determines whether to change the first power control configuration to a second power control configuration among the power control configurations based on a change of the position of the NTN from a first position to a second position (Section 0101, which is AMC and PC can be changed based on change in NTN type (Section 0055), changing from GEO orbit to a LEO orbit renders a scenario wherein there is a change in position).
Claim(s) 5 – 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tripathi et al. (US 2021/0119861) in view of Gutt et al. (US 2013/0197860), as applied to Claim 1 set forth above, and further in view of Wyler (US 2018/0062737).
Regarding Claim 5, Tripathi combination teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claims 1. Tripathi does not teach wherein the configuration information further includes information on satellite orbit ranges corresponding to the power control configurations.
Wyler, which also teaches the use of satellites, teaches GEO orbits and LEO orbits (Figure 2, Section 0059, GEO orbit range, which is approximately 36,000 km altitude above the earth and LEO orbit range is 180 – 2000 km altitude above the earth).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Tripathi combination with the above features of Wyler for the purpose of increasing the capacity of a satellite system as taught by Wyler. The combination of the Tripathi combination and Wyler teaches information on satellite orbit ranges corresponding to the power control configurations.
Regarding Claim 6, Tripathi combination teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 5. Tripathi further teaches wherein the UE determines a satellite orbit range to which the position of the NTN belongs among the satellite orbit ranges (Section 0055, when the NTN type changes, which is when the type of orbit changes the corresponding orbit range changes).
Tripathi combination does not teach among the satellite orbit ranges based on the satellite ephemeris information.
Gutt, which also teaches the use of satellites, teaches wherein the configuration information includes satellite ephemeris information related to the NTN (ephemerides is received from the LEO satellite (Sections 0086, 0087) which renders a scenario wherein the ephemerides are related to the LEO satellite).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Tripathi with the above features of Gutt for the purpose of providing an improvement in navigation system performance when the user receiver device is located in an attenuated environment, a jammed environment, and/or an occluded environment, such as indoors as taught by Gutt. The combination of Tripathi and Gutt teaches satellite orbit ranges based on the satellite ephemeris information.
Regarding Claim 7, Tripathi combination teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 5. Tripathi further teaches wherein based on a change of the satellite orbit range to which the position of the NTN belongs, from a first satellite orbit range to a second satellite orbit range, the first power control configuration is changed to a second power control configuration corresponding to the second satellite orbit range (Section 0055, when the NTN type changes, which is when the type of orbit changes the corresponding orbit range changes, Section 0101, this renders a scenario wherein the AMC and PC parameters are applied).
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tripathi et al. (US 2021/0119861) in view of Gutt et al. (US 2013/0197860), as applied to Claim 1 set forth above, and further in view of Yi et al. (US 2020/0120584)
Regarding Claim 9, Tripathi combination teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Tripathi does not teach wherein the power control configurations are pre-mapped to a plurality of BWP indexes, and wherein the UE performs BWP switching with a BWP index corresponding to the first power control configuration.
Yi, which also teaches power control, teaches wherein the power control configurations are pre-mapped to a plurality of (bandwidth part) BWP indexes, and wherein the UE performs BWP switching with a BWP index corresponding to the first power control configuration (Section 0203, multiple DCI fields can be sent thus rendering multiple TPCs and thus multiple BWP indexes).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Tripathi combination with the above features of Yi for the purpose of effectively monitoring a control resource set in order to read remaining minimum system information as taught by Yi.
Conclusion
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/RAYMOND S DEAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645 Raymond S. Dean
March 10, 2026