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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 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 for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Applicant's arguments filed 11/7/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
On page 13 of the Applicant’s Response, Applicant: “First of all, it is respectfully submitted that none of the cited references teaches or remotely suggests the features…"wherein the value of the scheduling offset information is indicated by a number of slots, in unites of a subcarrier spacing (SCS) used for a frequency range (FR) 2 band of NR," recited in amended independent claim 1 and similarly recited in amended independent claims 6, 11, and 16…However, the above paragraph [0154] of Wang does not specify the Subcarrier Spacing (SCS) in terms of FR2 requirements…Furthermore, this reference makes no mention of the FR2 band.“.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant’s argument. Wang discloses a problem in NTN systems where the latency is longer than the standard allowed delay between transmission of data and reception of acknowledgement which prevents the UE from making timing advance adjustments. To solve this problem Wang proposes an additional delay added to the time between receiving the data on the PDSCH and transmitting the HARQ-ACK on the PUCCH. The delay is a time offset, K offset, set in number of slots (p154-155). Since the time duration of a slot depends on the SCS of the transmission, K offset is calculated in terms of the time duration of slots. For example, K offset is calculated as max_RTD/slot duration where the slot duration is .125ms when the SCS is 120kHz, and the value of K offset is represented as number of slots based on the SCS (p198-209). Furthermore, the example of 120kHz subcarrier spacing is representative of the FR2 frequency, i.e. carrier frequency > 6GHz. Wang discloses this SCS and carrier frequency relation in Table 3.
In view of the above discussions the rejection of claims 1-20 still stands.
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 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 nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 3-6, 8-11, 13-16, and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US 2022/0408389) (“Wang”) in view of Klenner et al. (US 2025/0158701) (“Klenner”).
For claims 1, 6, 11, and 16; Wang discloses: generating NTN configuration information; and transmitting a message comprising the generated NTN configuration information to a user equipment (UE) via an NTN payload (paragraph 139, 401: Koffset is delivered in RRC signaling corresponding to the BWP; if the UE switches to a noninitial BWP, Koffset is delivered in BWP-DownlinkCommon or BWPUplinkCommon); wherein the NTN configuration information comprises scheduling offset information (paragraph 402,546-547: Kwhen the UE performs beam switching, the base station may send, to the UE by using BWP-DownlinkDedicated and BWPUplinkDedicated signaling, Koffset used in a target beam; or send, to the UE, a difference between Koffset used in the target beam and Koffset used in a serving beam), wherein the scheduling offset information is applied to a difference between physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) reception and physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission or a difference between PDCCH reception and physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission (paragraph 154-155, 365, 403: BWP-DownlinkDedicated comprising "pdcch-Config" and BWP-UplinkDedicated comprising "pucch-Config"), and wherein the scheduling offset information is indicated by a number of slots, based on subcarrier spacing (SCS) for a frequency range (FR) 2 band of the NR (paragraph 154, 199-209: Generally, a maximum value of K1 is 15. When a subcarrier spacing (SCS) is 30 KHz, and one slot is 0.5 ms, the slots indicated by the offsets KO, K1, K2 and KOffset depend on the SCS used in the frequency range).
Wang does not expressly disclose, but Klenner from similar fields of endeavor teaches: polarization information for downlink transmission on service link between a satellite and the UE, polarization information for uplink transmission on the service link between the satellite and the UE, ephemeris information of the satellite (paragraph 167,193-199: the epoch time is the reference time of the ephemeris and common TA parameters (assistance information). In other words, ephemeris and common TA parameters are generated based on the epoch time. The UE 950 calculates satellite 910 location and feeder link 930 delay based on the time indicated as epoch time and determined satellite location based on ephemeris…system information can include at least one of: Ephemeris; Timing advance parameters; Validity duration for uplink synchronization information; Cell reference location; Scheduling offset between uplink and downlink; and Polarization indication for uplink and/or downlink). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the signaling as described by Klenner in the NTN configuration as described by Wang. The motivation is to improve synchronization.
For claim 3, 8, 13, and 18; Wang discloses the subject matter in claim 1 as described above in the office action. Wang discloses: wherein the message comprises a system information (SI) message including a system information block (SIB) 19, a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message, an RRC setup message, or an RRC resume message. (paragraph 178, 580: The base station broadcasts the initial Koffset value of the cell by using a broadcast message (such as the SIB 1) or sends the initial Koffset value to the UE by using RRC signaling (such as RRC setup RRCSetup signaling, RRC reconfiguration RRCReconfiguration signaling, or RRC resume RRCResume signaling)).
Wang does not expressly disclose, but Klenner from similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the SCS is 60 kilohertz (kHz) (paragraph 40: NR may support more than one value of subcarrier spacing. Correspondingly, subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz . . . are being considered at the moment). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the signaling as described by Klenner in the NTN configuration as described by Wang. The motivation is to improve synchronization.
For claim 4, 9, 14, and 19; Wang discloses the subject matter in claim 1 as described above in the office action.
Wang does not expressly disclose, but Klenner from similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the NTN configuration information includes information of a validity duration for uplink (UL) synchronization (paragraph 142, 152, 193: Validity duration for UL sync information), wherein the information of the validity duration for the UL synchronization indicates one of a plurality of possible values, and wherein at least one of the plurality of possible values has a value greater than 900 seconds. (paragraph 170, 202: The validity may be longer than the SFN cycle 1110. For example, for LEO, the maximum validity duration is currently envisaged to be 240 s (or even infinite for GEO)). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the signaling as described by Klenner in the NTN configuration as described by Wang. The motivation is to improve synchronization.
For claim 5, 10, 15, and 20; Wang discloses the subject matter in claim 1 as described above in the office action.
Wang does not expressly disclose, but Klenner from similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the NTN configuration information includes information of an epoch time, and wherein the information of the epoch time is indicated based on a hyper frame number (HFN), a system frame number (SFN), and a subframe number. (paragraph 163, 229-236: Epoch time indicates the epoch time for the assistance information (i.e. Serving satellite ephemeris and Common TA parameters). When explicitly provided through SIB, or through dedicated signaling, epoch time is the starting time of a DL sub-frame, indicated by an SFN and a sub-frame number signaled together with the assistance information… the network indicate HFN (Hyper Frame Number), SFN and a sub frame number as the epoch time). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the signaling as described by Klenner in the NTN configuration as described by Wang. The motivation is to improve synchronization.
Claim(s) 2, 7, 12, and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Klenner as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Cheng et al. (US 2022/0369264) (“Cheng”).
For claim 2, 7, 12, and 17; Wang discloses the subject matter in claim 1 as described above in the office action.
Wang does not expressly disclose, but Cheng from similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the NTN configuration information further comprises medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) offset information, wherein the MAC CE offset information is applied to a difference between MAC CE reception and MAC CE activation timing, and wherein the MAC CE offset information is indicated by a number of slots, based on the SCS (paragraph 99: if K_mac is provided by an RRC message from a gNB to an NTN UE, the UE may apply K_mac to determine a MAC action time when a MAC CE command is received. In one example, if the UE receives a MAC CE activation command, the UE may apply the activation command in a first slot that is after a slot k+N(μ)+K_mac slot subframe, where k is a slot where the UE may transmit a PUCCH with HARQ-ACK information for the PDSCH providing the activation command and N is a function of SCS configuration for a PUCCH denoted by μ). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the signaling as described by Cheng in the NTN timing as described by Wang. The motivation is to improve synchronization.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Yiu (US 2021/0227442); Yiu discloses a new event may be defined for a UE entering a location within a distance. In this embodiment, the network may configure a location with a distance (e.g. a location 102 with distance d1 in FIG. 1). When the UE enters the region (e.g., circular region) defined by the location 102 and distance d1 in FIG. 1, the UE will send measurement report to the network.
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 JOHN D BLANTON whose telephone number is (571)270-3933. The examiner can normally be reached 7am-6pm EST, Mon-Thu.
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/JOHN D BLANTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466