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 .
Priority
The instant application claims priority to the PCT PCT/CN2021/101659
06/22/2021 Foreign application 07/03/2020.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted, IDS - 12/24/2023, 08/14/2024, 12/09/2024, 04/03/2025, 02/02/2026 and 06/15/2026. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Continued Examination (RCE)
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has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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
02/05/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 07/15/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-2, 6-9, 15,16, 21-26 and 30-35 are pending in the application. Claims 1 and 15 were amended. Claims were 3-5, 10-14, 17-20 and 27-29 were cancelled.
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
he claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner
in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness
under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
• Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
• Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
• Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
• Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating
• obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the
claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any
evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to
point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly
owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to
consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2)
prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2, 6-9, 13-16, and 21-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cao et al. (US-20220393754-A1), hereinafter “Cao” in view of TR-38.821- Solutions for NR to support Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN); 3rd Generation Partnership Project, Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network, Solutions for NR to support non-terrestrial networks (NTN) (Year: 2019) hereinafter “3GPP”.
Regarding Claim 1,
Cao discloses, ‘A communication method, comprising: receiving, by a terminal in a non-terrestrial network communication system, a control message, wherein the control message comprises an identifier corresponding to left hand circular polarization (LHCP) or an identifier corresponding to right hand circular polarization (RHCP)’;
Disclosure Cao, the method includes receiving the polarization information includes signaling, from the base station, the polarization information to a wireless communication device by RRC configuration/HO [0037] and the polarization includes SSB index for the LHCP/RHCP, disclosure claim 1, 2, and 5 to 7. And, in Fig. 9 and 10 includes circular polarization as LHCP or RHCP, an identifier and SSB index. Fig. 9 includes frequency reuse scheme that is provided with an identifier and SSB index; circular polarization [0096-0097]; and disclosure claim 10 and claim 11; the terminal in Fig. 3, Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 illustrates NTN-NW [0126].
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And didn’t disclose, ‘measurement’, control/configuration,
3GPP in the relevant art discloses, in Fig. 7.3.2.1.1-1, page-96 illustrates
HO-procedures measurement configuration/RRC. and in Fig. 7.3.2.1.1-1: illustrates scenarios for TN and NTN-NW HO-mechanism measurement events, page-96. Mobility enhancement to measurement configuration and reporting, section 7.3.2.2.1, page-99, and CHO procedures measurement-based, page-101.
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Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of Cao and to modify with that of 3GPP to come up with the claim invention;
CAO motive to identify the association between the SSB index and the polarization based on the configuration received by RRC-configuration. And, report the capabilities to perform/determine polarization, disclosure Claim 1 to 6 and 10. Specific motive to consider factors such as propagation delay and time gap while perform the polarization. Complemented by 3GPP measurement-based configuration for NTN-NW considered the propagation delay, and mobility enhancement in conditional/event-based triggering in NTN-NW based on location and RSRP/RSRQ. This would enhance the coverage and provide more reliability in NTN-NW.
CAO though discloses, ‘polarization direction corresponds to the identifier’ (disclosed above CAO Claim 1 to 6 and 10),
And CAO didn’t disclose, ’performing, by the terminal, cell measurement based on the measurement control message; reporting, by the terminal, a measurement result when a measurement reporting condition is met’;
3GPP in the relevant art discloses, For GEO satellites the cell coverage is very large so that the UE’s mobility will happen rare. The terminal perform measurement and cell selection/reselection uses ephemeris and location. In Fig. 7.3.2.1.1-1: illustrates the cell measurement, that is event-based cell measurement and reporting-procedure. Enhancements to Measurement Configuration/Reporting that is based on location/combination of location and RSRP/RSRQ; and trigger-condition, page-99. And, motive would be identical to first claim element disclosed above.
Cao discloses, ‘receiving, by a terminal, a handover command, wherein the handover command includes indication information indicating a polarization direction of a target cell to be accessed by the terminal’ (a terminal receiving the polarization information Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration/ handover configuration. wherein the signaling comprises an association between two or more of Reference Signals (RSs), a plurality of frequency resources, the polarization information, or channels. The polarization associated to SSB-based-index disclosure Claim 1, 2, 5 to 7. In Fig. 3 illustrates terminal communicates with BS includes polarization information; Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 includes BS and terminal in a network that can include a satellite and/or airborne vehicles in NTN; polarization information is for a resource including one/more of a cell, a target spot beam, neighboring beams, or Bandwidth Part (BWP) [0026]. Polarization information referred as polarization capabilities includes target cel/SSB/beam/BWP [0106]. In Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 illustrates both GEO and non-GEO satellite to provide communication to a terminal by one/more gateways [0121]; polarization (e.g., LHCP, RHCP) [0126]. In Fig. 10 illustrates a table between cell identifier/SSB index/beam index/BWP index and polarization. The configuration-HO [0134].),
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And CAO discloses “and wherein the cell handover command” (disclosure claim 1) and didn’t disclose, ‘is issued based on measurement result’;
3GPP in the relevant discloses, measurement-configuration measurement-event- based in Fig. 7.3.2.1.1-1 page-96 and page-99. Motive would be identical disclosed above. CAO, Fig. 9 complemented by 3GPP in Fig. 7.3.1 illustrates (a) PCI-map-to-satellite beams (same-beam for several satellite and (b) one PCI-per-satellite, page-90.
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3GPP discloses ‘and performing, by the terminal, cell handover
Regarding Claim 2,
‘The method according to claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Cao discloses, ‘the indication information is carried in a radio resource control (RRC) control, RRC message.’ (Terminal receiving polarization information from BS an indication or signaling of RRC configuration [0006], [0027], disclosure claim 1.)
Regarding Claim 6,
‘The method according to claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Cao though discloses, ‘wherein, the control message is user equipment (UE)-specific message.’ (control message and configuration includes polarization priority information includes LHCP or RHCP as disclosed above; Disclosure claim 1, receiving by a terminal polarization from the BS that comprises RRC configuration or handover configuration. This specific to the terminal as request from network device to a specific UE polarization capability information. polarization capabilities indicate that the wireless communication device supports Left Hand Circular Polarization (LHCP)-polarization or Right Hand Circular Polarization (RHCP). That’s from BS to a specific terminal to modify and adjust polarization from a first polarization to second polarization after a time gap to offset after scheduling or configuration corresponding to adjusting to the second polarization is detected by the wireless communication device [0022, 0027]. Receive UE-specific-signaling [0024].)
And, didn’t disclose, ‘the measurement’ control/configuration,
3GPP discloses, disclosed above in claim 1. Motive to modify would be identical as disclosed in Claim 1 above.
Regarding Claim 7,
‘The method according to claim 1’ (disclosed above),
CAO discloses, ‘wherein, the control message is carried in a radio resource control (RRC) message.’ (disclosure claim 1),
And, didn’t disclose, ‘the measurement’ control/configuration,
3GPP discloses, disclosed above in claim 1. Motive to modify would be identical as disclosed in Claim 1 above.
Regarding Claim 21,
‘The method according to claim 1’ (disclosed above),
CAO discloses, ‘wherein the control message is a radio resource control (RRC) connection configuration message’,
And, didn’t disclose, ‘the measurement’ and ‘RRC-reconfiguration’,
3GPP discloses, in Fig. 7.3.2.1.1-1, page-96 and motive to modify would be identical as disclosed in Claim 1 above.
Regarding Claim 24,
‘The method according to claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Cao discloses, ‘wherein the handover command further includes an identifier of the target cell.’ (Fig. 10 includes identifier of the cell and configuration of handover/cell switch [0134].)
Regarding Claim 8,
Similar to Claim 1 disclosed above, ‘A communication method, comprising: sending, by a network device in a non-terrestrial network communication system, a measurement control message, wherein the measurement control message comprises an identifier corresponding to a polarization direction, wherein the polarization direction is left hand circular polarization (LHCP) or right hand circular polarization (RHCP);receiving, by the network device, a measurement result from a terminal when a measurement reporting condition is met, wherein the measurement result is a result of measurement performed in the polarization direction corresponding to the identifier included in the measurement control message; generating, by the network device, a cell handover command, wherein the cell handover command includes indication information indicating a polarization direction of a target cell to be accessed by the terminal, and wherein the cell handover command is issued based on the measurement result; and sending, by the network device to the terminal, the cell handover command.’ (Disclosure claim 1, Cao discloses the BS send to the terminal polarization and handover configuration, disclosure claim 1, 17 and 20.)
Regarding Claim 9,
Similar to Claim 2 disclosed above, ‘The method according to claim 8, wherein the indication information is carried in a radio resource control (RRC) message.’
Regarding Claim 22,
Similar to Claim 21 disclosed above, ‘The method according to claim 8, wherein the measurement control message is a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message.’
Regarding Claim 25,
Similar to Claim 24 disclosed above, ‘The method according to claim 8, wherein the handover command further includes an identifier of the target cell.’
Regarding Claim 26,
Similar to Claim 24 disclosed above, ‘The method according to claim 15, wherein the handover command further includes an identifier of the target cell.’
Regarding Claim 15,
Similar to Claim 1 disclosed above and apparatus, ‘A communication apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program for execution by the processor, the computer program including instructions to: receive a measurement control message, wherein the measurement control message comprises an identifier corresponding to a polarization direction, wherein the polarization direction is left hand circular polarization (LHCP) or right hand circular polarization (RHCP), and the communication apparatus is a communication apparatus in a non- terrestrial network communication system; perform cell measurement in the polarization direction corresponding to the identifier included in the measurement control message; report a measurement result when a measurement reporting condition is met; receive a cell handover command, wherein the cell handover command includes indication information indicating a polarization direction of a target cell to be accessed by the communications apparatus, and wherein the cell handover command is issued based on the measurement result; and perform cell handover based on the cell handover command.’ (Fig. 4 apparatus terminal device).
Regarding Claim 16,
Similar to Claim 2 disclosed above, ‘The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the indication information is carried in a radio resource control (RRC) message.’
Regarding Claim 23,
Similar to Claim 21 disclosed above, ‘The method according to claim 15, wherein the measurement control message is a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message.’
Claims 30-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CAO et al. in view of 3GPP and further in view of Bevin et at. (US-20150123873-A1), hereinafter “Bevin”.
Regarding Claim 30,
‘The method according to claim 1, wherein the identifier corresponding to the polarization direction indicates a polarization direction with higher priority.’
Bevin the relevant art discloses, the polarization direction with higher priority, disclosure claim 10 and claim 17, and [0044-0045]. Bevin disclosure, dual-polarized and multi-antenna system selection at transceiver uses DPDT-switch for polarization selection to specific antenna in Fig. 2, and Fig. 7.
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of CAO and 3GPP to modify with that of Bevin to come up with the claim invention.
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CAO motive to identify the association between the resource index and the polarization based on the configuration received by RRC-configuration. And, report the capabilities to perform/determine polarization, disclosure Claim 1 to 6 and 19. In FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of an example frequency reuse scheme with 1-N-map between a cell and SSBs, and each SSB for BWP. In Fig. 10 illustrates cell identifier/SSB index/beam index/BWP index and polarization. And, in Fig. 11 for SSB on different-frequency [0055-0058]. CAO motive to optimize time synchronization with a minimal guard time between changes in duplex direction uses uplink and downlink transceiver modules and duplex switch coupled-antenna [0112]. That is complemented by Bevin includes polarization priority Bevin [0044-0045] to enhance the capability of transceiver based on polarization priority efficiently switches/changes to specific polarization priority, Bevin disclosure Claim 17.
Regarding Claim 31,
‘The method according to claim 8’ (disclosed above),
Similar to Claim 30 disclosed above, ‘wherein the identifier corresponding to the polarization direction indicates a polarization direction with higher priority.’
Regarding Claim 32,
‘The method according to claim 15’ (disclosed above),
Similar to Claim 30 disclosed above, ‘wherein the identifier corresponding to the polarization direction indicates a polarization direction with higher priority.’
Regarding Claim 33,
‘The method according to claim 30’ (disclosed above),
Similar to Claim 1 disclosed above, ‘wherein the performing cell measurement includes: performing measurement in the polarization direction’
And further to include, ‘with the higher priority.’ (disclosed by Bevin and identical motive to Claim 30.)
Regarding Claim 34,
‘The method according to claim 31’ (disclosed above),
Similar to Claim 8 disclosed above, ‘wherein the performing cell measurement includes: performing measurement in the polarization direction’
And further to include, ‘with the higher priority.’ (disclosed by Bevin and identical motive to Claim 30.)
Regarding Claim 35,
‘The method according to claim 32’ (disclosed above),
Similar to Claim 1 disclosed above, ‘wherein the performing cell measurement includes: performing measurement in the polarization direction’
And further to include, ‘with the higher priority.’ (disclosed by Bevin and identical motive to Claim 30.)
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07/15/2026 have been fully considered but they are
not persuasive.
Applicant Arguments and Examiners response:
With respect to applicant’s arguments/remarks, examiner responses are,
Regarding the applicant argument page-7 to 11, “prior art rejection”,
“Claims 1-2, 6-9, 15-16, and 21-26 have been rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication No. 2022/0407546 ("Nishio") in view of "TR-38.821 - Solutions for NR to support Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN); 3rd Generation Partnership Project, Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network, Solutions for NR to support non- terrestrial networks" ("3GPP").”
Examiner presented prior art to this OA from previously cited PTO-892 and OA, appropriately addressed relevant disclosures for the Claims 1-2, 6-9, 15, 16, and 20-6 disclosed by Cao et al. (US-20220393754-A1), hereinafter “Cao” in view of TR-38.821- Solutions for NR to support Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN); 3rd Generation Partnership Project, Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network, Solutions for NR to support non-terrestrial networks (NTN) (Year: 2019) hereinafter “3GPP”.
And, Claims 30-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CAO et al. in view of 3GPP and further in view of Bevin et at. (US-20150123873-A1), hereinafter “Bevin”. For details the relevant disclosures presented to this OA page-3 to page-18.
Examiner presents the claims subject matter and claims summarized here,
Received by terminal in NTN [Wingdings font/0xE0] measurement control message [Wingdings font/0xE0] identifier to polarization LHCP/RHCP, CAO discloses claim 1, exactly presented here,
“A wireless communication method, comprising:
receiving, by a wireless communication device from a base station, polarization information,
wherein receiving the polarization information comprises monitoring, by the wireless communication device, the polarization information being signaled by the base station, and wherein the signaling comprises one or more of system information, Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration, or handover configuration.
And, CAO Claim 2, wherein the signaling comprises an association between two or more of Reference Signals (RSs), a plurality of frequency resources, the polarization information, or channels.”
CAO Claim 4 to 7 and 10, polarization associated to a resource index to specific polarization that includes LHCP/RHCP.
Therefore, first claim element disclosed by CAO and though discloses HO/RRC-configuration yet didn’t specific to measurement control message/configuration that is very specific by 3GPP, in Fig. 7.3.2.1.1-1 illustrates measurement configuration/RRC, page-96.
Regarding second claim element,
Performing by terminal measurement control message and reporting by the terminal measurement result when reporting condition met, disclosed by 3GPP in in Fig. 7.3.2.1.1-1, measurement-event-triggered and reporting, cell selection/re-selection, perform-HO and trigger-based-reporting includes location/RSRP, page-96 to 100.
And the cell measurement in the polarization direction to the identifier CAO [0134].
Regarding the 3rd claim element received by terminal cell-HO indicates a polarization direction of a target cell, CAO disclosure claim 1, 2, 5 to 7 and 10.
Regarding the 4th claim element perform by the terminal cell-HO disclosed by 3GPP in Fig. 7.3.2.1.1-1, page 96-100.
Examiner thanks to applicant and attorney for their time and effort.
Conclusion
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/S.A./Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/CHRISTOPHER M CRUTCHFIELD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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