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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 2/26/26 has been entered.
Response to Arguments/Amendments
Applicant's arguments/amendment filed 2/26/26 have been fully considered but they are moot due to the fact that all independent claims have been significantly amended to which new ground rejections have been made below.
To facilitate speedy prosecution on merit, the following address some of Applicant’s arguments as follows.
Applicant argues:
a) Examiner appears to have mapped D1’s "common TA" to both the claimed "common timing offset" and the claimed "valid time-related information"; Examiner is equating the claimed "common timing-related information" including "common timing offset" and "valid time-related information," Applicant respectfully disagrees and submits that a person of ordinary skill in the art would not have equated these two components.
b) D1 does not disclose or suggest "wherein the start moment comprises: a boundary of a system information window at which the common timing-related information is received." as recited in amended claim 1.
Examiner responses are as follow:
a) TA stands for “Time Advance”. A "common TA" is a "common timing offset" by definition (with Advance being timing offset), and a “common TA” is also a piece of “valid time-related information”. Just like that a statement “an apple is a fruit” does not contradict the statement “an apple is a food”; and the two statements in combination do not suggest “fruit” is equal to “food” because “food” is much broader than “fruit”.
b) D1 teaches a SIB includes the common timing-related information. Joseph teaches each SIB is a subframe with has a window with starting boundary and ending boundary. The combination of D1 and Joseph teaches the cited claim limitation.
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 1,3-6,8,12-15,17-18,22-23,26 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 (3GPP R1-1908049, NPL dated 11/14/24, 36 pages) in view of Joseph (US 20210153152 A1).
For claim 1, D1 discloses a method for determining an uplink timing advance, performed by a terminal (Figure 16, UE), the method comprising:
receiving common timing-related information broadcasted by a cell (FIGs. 16 and 17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, 3rd para “Satellites can broadcast a common TA to all UEs in one beam, which roughly compensates the received uplink signal RTT delay. A common TA can be calculated according to the RTT between the closest point within the beam to the satellite and the satellite/gateway”; note that “common TA” is a common timing offset, and the satellite/gateway suggests a cell);
determining the uplink timing advance based on the common timing-related information (FIGs. 16-17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, 3rd para “… A common TA can be calculated according to the RTT between the closest point within the beam to the satellite and the satellite/gateway. In Figure 17, for a regenerative satellite the common TA is 2*d1/c, where c is the speed of light. However, for a transparent satellite the common TA is 2*(d1+d2)/c.”)
receiving valid time-related information of the common timing-related information, broadcasted by the cell (FIGs. 16-17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, 3rd para “Satellites can broadcast a common TA to all UEs in one beam …”); and
determining that the common timing-related information that is received is valid based on the valid time-related information (FIGs. 16-17 in view of Section 2.2.1, 3rd para “… A common TA can be calculated according to the RTT between the closest point within the beam to the satellite and the satellite/gateway. In Figure 17, for a regenerative satellite the common TA is 2*d1/c, where c is the speed of light. However, for a transparent satellite the common TA is 2*(d1+d2)/c.”);
wherein the common timing-related information comprises at least one of: a common timing offset (Section 2.2.1, 3rd para “Satellites can broadcast a common TA to all UEs in one beam, which roughly compensates the received uplink signal RTT delay. A common TA can be calculated according to the RTT between the closest point within the beam to the satellite and the satellite/gateway”; note that “common TA” is a “common timing offset”) or a time drift rate (Section 2.2.3, Observation 21, 2nd para, “To reduce the signaling overhead, the UE could update the TA by itself based on the timing drift rate, which can be acquired from the gNB indication or the UE’s own estimate. …”);
wherein determining the uplink timing advance based on the common timing-related information comprises: determining the uplink timing advance based on a common timing offset and a time drift rate of a start moment (FIGs. 16 and 17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, 3rd para “Satellites can broadcast a common TA to all UEs in one beam, which roughly compensates the received uplink signal RTT delay. A common TA can be calculated according to the RTT between the closest point within the beam to the satellite and the satellite/gateway”; and a time drift rate (Section 2.2.3, Observation 21, 2nd para, “To reduce the signaling overhead, the UE could update the TA by itself based on the timing drift rate, which can be acquired from the gNB indication or the UE’s own estimate. …”);
wherein the start moment comprises: a boundary of a system information including the common timing-related information (FIGs. 16-17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, Closed-loop, 3rd para “Additionally, the full/partial common TA can be broadcasted in different signaling, such as indicated in SIB1, and in different forms, such as indicated by a table index”).
D1 does not specifically state, but Joseph, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses: a SIB is associated with a boundary of a system information window at which the common timing-related information is received (“[0065] At 406B, UE 120 (e.g., antenna(s) 252a … 252r, demodulators(s) 254a . . . 254r, MIMO detector 256, RX processor 258) switches from the unicast network timing reference to a broadcast network timing reference for clock synchronization in response to the one or more detected events. In an example, clock synchronization performed in accordance with the broadcast network timing reference comprises updating the clock maintained at the UE based upon one or more system information block (SIB) communications (e.g., SIB9 communications) that each map to a respective subframe that is at or immediately after an ending boundary of a system information (SI) window in which the respective SIB communication is transmitted”; in other words, each SIB map to a subframe which has a window with a starting boundary and ending boundary). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Joseph above to the SIB disclosed by D1 to yield a predictable result of providing detailed information of SIB.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine D1 and Joseph for the benefit of providing detailed information of SIB ([0065] of Joseph).
For claim 15, D1 discloses a method for broadcasting common timing-related information, performed by a network device (Figure 16, Satellite/Gateway) correspond to a cell (Section 2.2.2, 1st para, “the TA command can indicate up to 2ms, corresponding to 300 km cell radius”), the method comprising:
broadcasting the common timing-related information (FIGs. 16-17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, 3rd para “Satellites can broadcast a common TA to all UEs in one beam, which roughly compensates the received uplink signal RTT delay. A common TA can be calculated according to the RTT between the closest point within the beam to the satellite and the satellite/gateway”), wherein the common timing-related information is provided for a terminal in the cell to determine an uplink timing advance (Section 2.2.1, 3rd para “… A common TA can be calculated according to the RTT between the closest point within the beam to the satellite and the satellite/gateway. In Figure 17, for a regenerative satellite the common TA is 2*d1/c, where c is the speed of light. However, for a transparent satellite/gNB the common TA is 2*(d1+d2)/c.”);
wherein the common timing-related information comprises at least one of: a common timing offset or a time drift rate (Section 2.2.1, 3rd para “Satellites can broadcast a common TA to all UEs in one beam, which roughly compensates the received uplink signal RTT delay. A common TA can be calculated according to the RTT between the closest point within the beam to the satellite and the satellite/gateway”; note that “common TA” is a “common timing offset”) or a time drift rate (p8, last para “… the satellite motion will incur timing drift. For satellites with orbit altitude 600km, the relative moving speed of UE and satellite is about 7.4km/s (elevation angle = 10 degree). The corresponding relative position change between UE and satellite is about 7.4 meters in 1 ms time interval. The downlink timing drift in 1 ms is about 24.8ns, …”);
wherein the valid time-related information is used for the terminal to determine the uplink timing advance based on a common timing offset and a time drift rate of a start moment (Section 2.2.1, 3rd para “Satellites can broadcast a common TA to all UEs in one beam, which roughly compensates the received uplink signal RTT delay. A common TA can be calculated according to the RTT between the closest point within the beam to the satellite and the satellite/gateway”; note that “common TA” is a “common timing offset”) and a time drift rate (Section 2.2.3, Observation 21, 2nd para, “To reduce the signaling overhead, the UE could update the TA by itself based on the timing drift rate, which can be acquired from the gNB indication or the UE’s own estimate. …”);
wherein the start moment comprises: a boundary of a system information including the common timing-related information (FIGs. 16-17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, Closed-loop, 3rd para “Additionally, the full/partial common TA can be broadcasted in different signaling, such as indicated in SIB1, and in different forms, such as indicated by a table index”).
D1 does not specifically state, but Joseph, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses: a SIB is associated with a boundary of a system information window at which the terminal receives the common timing-related information (“[0065] At 406B, UE 120 (e.g., antenna(s) 252a . . . 252r, demodulators(s) 254a . . . 254r, MIMO detector 256, RX processor 258) switches from the unicast network timing reference to a broadcast network timing reference for clock synchronization in response to the one or more detected events. In an example, clock synchronization performed in accordance with the broadcast network timing reference comprises updating the clock maintained at the UE based upon one or more system information block (SIB) communications (e.g., SIB9 communications) that each map to a respective subframe that is at or immediately after an ending boundary of a system information (SI) window in which the respective SIB communication is transmitted”; in other words, each SIB map to a subframe which has a window with a starting boundary and ending boundary). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Joseph above to the SIB disclosed by D1 to yield a predictable result of providing detailed information of SIB.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine D1 and Joseph for the benefit of providing detailed information of SIB ([0065] of Joseph).
Independent claim 26 is rejected because it is a claim of a generic terminal that performs the method of claim 1 and has the same subject matter as claim 1.
Claim 28 is rejected because it is a claim of a generic network device that performs the method of claim 15 and has the same subject matter as claim 15.
As to claim 3, D1 in view of Joseph closes claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein determining the uplink timing advance based on the common timing offset and the time drift rate of the start moment (see the parent claims) comprises:
updating the common timing offset based on the common timing offset of the start moment, the time drift rate and a duration from the start moment to a timing advance update moment (FIGs. 16-17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.3, 1st para under Observation 21 “… the UE could update the TA by itself based on the timing drift rate, which can be acquired from the gNB indication or the UE’s own estimate. To support a UE to implement TA self-adjustment, the following 3 options can be considered: … (1) … the UE calculates the TA value based on the previous received TA adjustment command and the indicated timing drift rate …”, Section 2.2.1, 3rd para “… A common TA can be calculated according to the RTT between the closest point within the beam to the satellite and the satellite/gateway. In Figure 17, for a regenerative satellite the common TA is 2*d1/c, where c is the speed of light. However, for a transparent satellite the common TA is 2*(d1+d2)/c.”, and Section 2.2.3, Observation 21, 2nd para, “To reduce the signaling overhead, the UE could update the TA by itself based on the timing drift rate, which can be acquired from the gNB indication or the UE’s own estimate. …”; note that a “start moment” is the start moment of RTT); and
determining the uplink timing advance based on the updated common timing offset (FIGs. 16-17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, Proposal 3: “To obtain the TA for transmitting a preamble, consider at least the following options: … Option 1: gNB broadcasts the full common TA … Option 2: gNB broadcasts the partial common TA and the network compensates the residual delay. FFS: Details on signaling and forms … Option 3: The UE calculates the TA according to its position and the satellite ephemeris. FFS: Effects of positioning error and ephemeris error”).
As to claim 4, D1 in view of Joseph discloses claim 3, D1 further discloses: wherein the start moment further comprises at least one of:
a boundary of a nearest system frame number previous to or following a moment at which the common timing-related information is received (FIGs. 16-17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, Closed-loop, 3rd para “Additionally, the full/partial common TA can be broadcasted in different signaling, such as indicated in SIB1, and in different forms, such as indicated by a table index”; note that SIB1 includes system frame number information); or
a boundary of a transmission period of a system information block (SIB1) previous to or following a moment at which the common timing-related information is received, wherein the SIB1 is configured to carry the common timing-related information (FIGs. 16-17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, Closed-loop, 3rd para “Additionally, the full/partial common TA can be broadcasted in different signaling, such as indicated in SIB1, and in different forms, such as indicated by a table index”).
As to claim 5, D1 in view of Joseph discloses claim 3, D1 further discloses:
wherein the time drift rate comprises a first drift rate and a second drift rate (FIGs. 16-17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.3, paras under Observation 21 “… (2) The gNB broadcasts a cell/beam-specific common timing drift rate to UEs within a certain area. After the initial access, the UE uses the common timing drift rate to update the TA value before receiving a new TA adjustment command. The UE will adjust the timing drift rate based on subsequent TA commands. The common timing drift rate shared by all UEs within a certain area contributes to reducing signaling overhead. This method is more suitable for cases with smaller variation of the timing drift rate, e.g. small cell size at low elevation angles in regenerative cases.”), and the uplink timing advance is further calculated based on a specific timing advance of the terminal (Section 2.2.3, 1st para under Observation 21 “… (1) … the UE calculates the TA value based on the previous received TA adjustment command and the indicated timing drift rate …”), and determining the uplink timing advance based on the common timing-related information comprises:
updating the specific timing advance of the terminal based on the first drift rate (FIGs. 16-17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.3, 1st para under Observation 21 “… (1) … the UE calculates the TA value based on the previous received TA adjustment command and the indicated timing drift rate …”), and
determining the uplink timing advance based on the updated specific timing advance of the terminal, the common timing-related information and the second drift rate (FIGs. 16-17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.3, paras under Observation 21 “… (2) The gNB broadcasts a cell/beam-specific common timing drift rate to UEs within a certain area. After the initial access, the UE uses the common timing drift rate to update the TA value before receiving a new TA adjustment command. The UE will adjust the timing drift rate based on subsequent TA commands. The common timing drift rate shared by all UEs within a certain area contributes to reducing signaling overhead. ….”).
As to claim 6, D1 in view of Joseph discloses claim 3, D1 further discloses:
wherein the uplink timing advance is further calculated based on a specific timing advance of the terminal (FIGs. 16-17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.3, 1st para under Observation 21 “… (1) … the UE calculates the TA value based on the previous received TA adjustment command and the indicated timing drift rate …”), and determining the uplink timing advance based on the common timing-related information comprises:
updating the specific timing advance of the terminal based on the time drift rate (FIGs. 16-17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.3, 1st para under Observation 21 “… (1) … the UE calculates the TA value based on the previous received TA adjustment command and the indicated timing drift rate …”); and
determining the uplink timing advance based on the updated specific timing advance of the terminal, the common timing-related information and the time drift rate (FIGs. 16-17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.3, paras under Observation 21 “… (2) The gNB broadcasts a cell/beam-specific common timing drift rate to UEs within a certain area. After the initial access, the UE uses the common timing drift rate to update the TA value before receiving a new TA adjustment command. The UE will adjust the timing drift rate based on subsequent TA commands. The common timing drift rate shared by all UEs within a certain area contributes to reducing signaling overhead. ….”).
As to claim 8, D1 in view of Joseph discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses:
wherein determining that the common timing-related information that is received is valid based on the valid time-related information comprises:
in response to the valid time-related information being a valid cutoff moment, determining that the common timing-related information that is received is valid within a duration from a start moment to the valid cutoff moment (FIGs. 16-17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, 3rd para “… A common TA can be calculated according to the RTT between the closest point within the beam to the satellite and the satellite/gateway. In Figure 17, for a regenerative satellite the common TA is 2*d1/c, where c is the speed of light. However, for a transparent satellite the common TA is 2*(d1+d2)/c.”; note that FIGs. 16 and 17 show that the start and end of RTT as being a start moment and a valid cutoff moment);
in response to the valid time-related information being a valid duration, determining that the common timing-related information that is received is valid within the valid duration from a start moment (FIGs. 16-17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.3, 1st para under Observation 21 “… the UE could update the TA by itself based on the timing drift rate, which can be acquired from the gNB indication or the UE’s own estimate. To support a UE to implement TA self-adjustment, the following 3 options can be considered: … (1) … the UE calculates the TA value based on the previous received TA adjustment command …”);
in response to the valid time-related information being a valid start moment, determining that the common timing-related information that is received is valid from the valid start moment (FIGs. 16-17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, 3rd para “Satellites can broadcast a common TA to all UEs in one beam, which roughly compensates the received uplink signal RTT delay. A common TA can be calculated according to the RTT between the closest point within the beam to the satellite and the satellite/gateway”); or
in response to the valid time-related information being a valid start moment and a valid cutoff moment), determining that the common timing-related information that is received is valid within a duration from the valid start moment to the valid cutoff moment (FIGs. 16 and 17 and associated text, e.g, FIG. 16 show that the start and end of RTT as being a start moment and a valid cutoff moment and the duration is RTT).
As to claim 12, D1 in view of Joseph discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein the valid time-related information comprises at least one of a valid start moment or a valid cutoff moment (FIGs. 16 and 17 and associated text, for example, FIG. 16 show that the start and end of RTT as being a start moment and a valid cutoff moment and the duration is RTT), and the method further comprises:
determining an offset of the at least one of the valid start moment or the valid cutoff moment relative to a moment at which the common timing-related information is received based on indication information sent by the cell (FIGs. 16 and 17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, Proposal 3: “To obtain the TA for transmitting a preamble, consider at least the following options: … Option 1: gNB broadcasts the full common TA …”).
As to claim 13, D1 in view of Joseph discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein determining that the common timing-related information that has received is valid based on the valid time-related information comprises:
in response to a valid cutoff moment in the common timing-related information being an end moment of a system information modification period corresponding to a moment at which the common timing-related information is received, determining that the common timing-related information that has received is valid before the valid cutoff moment (FIGs. 16 and 17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, Closed-loop, 3rd para “Additionally, the full/partial common TA can be broadcasted in different signaling, such as indicated in SIB1, and in different forms, such as indicated by a table index”).
As to claim 14, D1 in view of Joseph discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein determining that the common timing-related information that is received is valid based on the valid time-related information (see parent claims) comprises:
in response to a valid cutoff moment in the common timing-related information being an end moment of a system information modification period corresponding to a moment at which the common timing-related information is received, determining that the common timing-related information that is received is valid before the valid cutoff moment (FIGs. 16 and 17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, Closed-loop, 3rd para “Additionally, the full/partial common TA can be broadcasted in different signaling, such as indicated in SIB1, and in different forms, such as indicated by a table index”).
As to claim 17, D1 in view of Joseph discloses claim 15, D1 further discloses: broadcasting valid time-related information of the common timing-related information (FIGs. 16 and 17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, Closed-loop, 3rd para “Additionally, the full/partial common TA can be broadcasted in different signaling, such as indicated in SIB1”).
As to claim 18, D1 in view of Joseph discloses claim 17, D1 further discloses: wherein the valid time-related information is a valid cutoff moment, and the method further comprises:
after the valid cutoff moment, broadcasting paging in response to system information carrying the common timing-related information being updated (FIGs. 16 and 17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, Closed-loop, 3rd para “Additionally, the full/partial common TA can be broadcasted in different signaling, such as indicated in SIB1”);
wherein the valid time-related information is a valid duration (FIGs. 16 and 17 and associated text, such as that FIG. 16 shows RTT), and the method further comprises: after the valid duration from a start moment, broadcasting paging in response to system information carrying the common timing-related information being updated (FIGs. 16 and 17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, Closed-loop, 3rd para “Additionally, the full/partial common TA can be broadcasted in different signaling, such as indicated in SIB1”);
wherein the valid time-related information is a valid start moment (see FIG. 16), and the method further comprises: starting from the valid start moment, broadcasting paging in response to system information carrying the common timing-related information being updated (FIGs. 16 and 17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, Closed-loop, 3rd para “Additionally, the full/partial common TA can be broadcasted in different signaling, such as indicated in SIB1”); or
wherein the valid time-related information comprises a valid start moment and a valid cutoff moment (see FIG. 16), and the method further comprises: after the valid cutoff moment, broadcasting paging in response to system information carrying the common timing-related information being updated (FIGs. 16 and 17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, Closed-loop, 3rd para “Additionally, the full/partial common TA can be broadcasted in different signaling, such as indicated in SIB1”).
As to claim 22, D1 in view of Joseph discloses claim 17, D1 further discloses: wherein the valid time-related information comprises at least one of a valid start moment or a valid cutoff moment (see FIG. 16), and the method further comprises:
sending indication information to indicate a system frame number corresponding to the at least one of the valid start moment or the valid cutoff moment (FIGs. 16 and 17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, Closed-loop, 3rd para “Additionally, the full/partial common TA can be broadcasted in different signaling, such as indicated in SIB1”; note that SIB1 includes system frame number information).
As to claim 23, D1 in view of Joseph discloses claim 17, D1 further discloses: wherein the valid time-related information comprises at least one of a valid start moment or a valid cutoff moment (see FIG. 16), and the method further comprises:
sending indication information to indicate an offset of the at least one of the valid start moment or the valid cutoff moment relative to a moment at which the common timing-related information is received (FIGs. 16 and 17 and associated text, such as Section 2.2.1, 3rd para “Satellites can broadcast a common TA to all UEs in one beam, which roughly compensates the received uplink signal RTT delay. A common TA can be calculated according to the RTT between the closest point within the beam to the satellite and the satellite/gateway”).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIANYE WU whose telephone number is (571)270-1665. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 8am-6pm.
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/JIANYE WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462