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 .
This office action is in response to the amendment filed on 01/20/2026. Claims 1-4, 6-15, 17-22 are pending in this application and have been considered below.
Response to Amendment
Applicant's arguments filed 01/20/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The examiner thoroughly reviewed Applicant’s arguments but firmly believes that the cited reference reasonably and properly meets the claimed limitation as rejected.
Applicant’s arguments: The cited portion of Muhammad relied on by the Office Action, however, is not included in Muhammad Provisional 1 or Muhammad Provisional 2. According to M.P.E.P. § 2136.03 Part III, the critical reference date of a U.S. patent or U.S. application publications and certain international application publications entitled to the benefit of the filing date of a provisional application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) is the filing date of the provisional application with certain exceptions if the provisional application(s) properly supports the subject matter relied upon to make the rejection in compliance with 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph. Accordingly, the priority date for at least the portions of Muhammad cited by the Office Action is no earlier than April 13, 2021, which is later than the priority date relied on in the instant Application (January 25, 2021). Accordingly, the cited portion of Muhammad is not prior art and the rejection is improper.
The examiner’s response: Provisional application 63137916 discloses “Proposal 4: Agree on a following method to determine measurement GAPs for UE without gNB having the UE location information, 1. gNB need to transmit the neighbour cells ephemeris to UE in RRC signalling as part of MeasObjectNR RRC. 2. UE can calculate the propagation delays of the neighbour Cell/Satellites based on its location and neighbouring satellite ephemeris. 3. If UE detect significant RTD >"X"ms between Serving and Neighbouring satellites it would inform gNB via RRC message. 4. gNB would then configure the measurement GAPs for each neighbour or extend the measurement gap based on UE feedback. 5. UE need to calculate RTD's for neighbours after pre-configured period "Y" indicated by gNB and report the RTD to serving cell via RRC message in case RTD change for neighbour > "Z" ” on page 3. Provisional application 63140578 discloses the same embodiment with more in-depth details on pages 6-12. Therefore, the provisional application(s) properly supports the subject matter relied upon to make the rejection.
Applicant’s arguments: Muhammad does not disclose, teach, or suggest the newly added claim element "transmitting, to a network node, a report indicating the adapted measurement configuration," as recited in amended claim 1
The examiner’s response: Muhammad discloses “terminal 1100 transmits a delay propagation report 1156 to the serving cell. In some embodiments, the delay propagation report includes more detailed information than propagation delay values, such as relative timings of measurement windows and measurement signals from the perspective of terminal 1100” and “terminal 1100 transmits individual cell measurement window specifications 1176 to serving cell 1110” in paragraph [0070]. Therefore, the examiner believes the prior art Muhammad discloses the claimed “transmitting, to a network node, a report indicating the adapted measurement configuration”.
Applicant's arguments with respect to claims 1-4, 6-15, 17-22 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection because of the amendment changes the scope of the invention.
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 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) 1-4, 6-15, 17-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Muhammad et al. (US 2022/0232498 A1) (Muhammad herein after).
Re Claims 1 and 12, Muhammad discloses a method performed by a wireless device and a wireless device (terminal Figure 13) comprising processing circuitry and a memory (processing circuitry and memory [0089]), the method comprising:
obtaining location information associated with the wireless device and ephemeris data for one or more satellite cells (reporting section or a subsection thereof receives ephemeris data of a satellite and cell measurement window specifications from a serving cell of a cellular network [0043]; determining section obtains the geographic location from a Global Positioning System (GPS) chip within the terminal, direct user input, or other ways without using the cellular network [0044]);
receiving a measurement configuration to measure reference signals from the one or more satellite cells (detecting section or a sub-section thereof transmits ephemeris data of a satellite and cell measurement window specifications to a terminal [0034]);
dynamically adapting the measurement configuration based on the location of the wireless device and the ephemeris data for the one or more satellite cells (compensating section 1392 configures individual cell measurement window specifications to receive measurements signals of any neighboring cells that would otherwise not be received according to cell measurement window specifications. [0085]);
transmitting, to a network node, a report indicating the adapted measurement configuration (In response to determining a significant difference in delay propagation between serving cell 1110 and any neighboring cells, or in response to a determination that meets other reporting conditions specified by the serving cell, terminal 1100 transmits a delay propagation report 1156 to the serving cell; Terminal 1100 transmits individual cell measurement window specifications 1176 to serving cell 1110 [0070]); and
based on the adapted measurement configuration (compensating section or a subsection thereof transmits the cell measurement window specifications modified at S562 to connected terminals [0053], terminal 1100 configures individual cell measurement window specifications 1176 to define measurements windows for receiving at least one measurement signal of any neighboring cells from which a measurement signal would not arrive within any time frames defined by modified cell measurement window specifications 1168 [0070]), measuring a reference signal from the one or more satellite cells (terminal is connected to a serving cell, the terminal is provided SMTC specifications by the network, the specifications defining windows of time during which the terminal can perform measurements on neighboring cell SSBs [0020]).
Muhammad discloses the claimed invention except all the steps in the claim are disclosed in a single embodiment. However, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time the invention was filed to utilize the teachings taught by Muhammad for satellite signal propagation delay variation compensation to achieve the same expected result of the claimed method and system.
Re Claims 2 and 13, Muhammad discloses the method of claim 1 and the wireless device of claim 12, wherein adapting the measurement configuration comprises adapting a measurement window and/or at least one measurement gap associated with the measurement window (compensating section 1392 configures individual cell measurement window specifications to receive measurements signals of any neighboring cells that would otherwise not be received according to cell measurement window specifications [0085]).
Re Claims 3 and 14, Muhammad discloses the method of claim 2 and the wireless device of claim 13, wherein adapting the measurement window comprises shifting a start time of the measurement window (measurement window 630A starts at time 632A after a delay 633A of 1 ms. Because the total propagation delay between NTN-gateway 110B, the neighboring cell, and terminal 100 changes from about 13.4 ms to 10.6 ms, measurement signal 637A starts at time 638A by an advancement 639A of 2.8 ms [0054]).
Re Claims 4 and 15, Muhammad discloses the method of claim 2 and the wireless device of claim 13, wherein adapting the measurement window comprises adjusting a length of the measurement window (cell measurement window specifications were modified by the serving cell to have a longer duration [0054]).
Re Claims 6 and 17, Muhammad discloses the method of claim 1 and the wireless device of claim 12, wherein the measurement configuration comprises a Synchronization Signal Block Measurement Timing Configuration, SMTC, and the reference signal comprises a Synchronization Signal Block, SSB (the terminal is provided SMTC specifications by the network, the specifications defining windows of time during which the terminal can perform measurements on neighboring cell SSBs [0020]).
Re Claims 7 and 18, Muhammad discloses a method performed by a base station and a base station (serving cell, Figure 12) comprising processing circuitry and a memory (processing circuitry and memory [0089]), the method comprising:
obtaining location information associated with a wireless device and ephemeris data for one or more satellite cells (detecting section or a sub-section thereof transmits ephemeris data of a satellite and cell measurement window specifications to a terminal. [0034]);
transmitting, to the wireless device, a measurement configuration for the wireless device to measure reference signals from one or more satellite cells (cell measurement window specifications include periodicity, duration, and offset. In some embodiments where cell measurements are performed according to SMTC protocol [0035]);
receiving, from the wireless device, a report indicating the wireless device adapted the measurement configuration (In response to determining a significant difference in delay propagation between serving cell 1110 and any neighboring cells, or in response to a determination that meets other reporting conditions specified by the serving cell, terminal 1100 transmits a delay propagation report 1156 to the serving cell; Terminal 1100 transmits individual cell measurement window specifications 1176 to serving cell 1110 [0070]); and
dynamically adapting the measurement configuration based on the ephemeris data for the one or more satellite cells and the location information associated with the wireless device (the indication includes information representing an offset between the measurement window and the measurement signal as perceived by the terminal that transmitted the indication, information that allows the serving cell to determine an offset between the measurement window and the measurement signal as perceived by the terminal that transmitted the indication, or any other information that can be used by serving cell to determine an adequate compensation [0038], terminal 1100 configures individual cell measurement window specifications 1176 to define measurements windows for receiving at least one measurement signal of any neighboring cells from which a measurement signal would not arrive within any time frames defined by modified cell measurement window specifications 1168 [0070])).
Muhammad discloses the claimed invention except all the steps in the claim are disclosed in a single embodiment. However, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time the invention was filed to utilize the teachings taught by Muhammad for satellite signal propagation delay variation compensation to achieve the same expected result of the claimed method and system.
Re Claims 8 and 19, Muhammad discloses the method of claim 7 and the base station of claim 18, further comprising scheduling or not scheduling at least one uplink or downlink transmission for the wireless device based on the adapted measurement configuration (SMTC window periodicity (also referred to as Measurement Gap Repetition Period (MGRP)) can be 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, or 160 ms, while the SMTC window duration can be 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 ms. The serving cell does not schedule communication with the terminal during the measurement gap. The network ensures that SSBs from neighboring cells are transmitted during the measurement gaps so that the terminal is able to measure the neighboring cell SSB strength and quality [0020]).
Re Claims 9 and 20, Muhammad discloses the method of claim 7 and the base station of claim 18, wherein adapting the measurement configuration comprises adapting a measurement window and/or at least one measurement gap associated with the measurement window (serving cell provides measurement gaps for the terminal that coincide with any time frames defined by the individual measurement window specifications [0067]).
Re Claims 10 and 21, Muhammad discloses the method of claim 9 and the base station of claim 20, wherein adapting the measurement window comprises shifting a start time of the measurement window (measurement window 630A starts at time 632A after a delay 633A of 1 ms. Because the total propagation delay between NTN-gateway 110B, the neighboring cell, and terminal 100 changes from about 13.4 ms to 10.6 ms, measurement signal 637A starts at time 638A by an advancement 639A of 2.8 ms [0054]).
Re Claims 11 and 22, Muhammad discloses the method of claim 9 and the base station of claim 20, wherein adapting the measurement window comprises adjusting a length of the measurement window (cell measurement window specifications were modified by the serving cell to have a longer duration [0054]).
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 KENNETH T LAM whose telephone number is (571)270-1862. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:00 PM.
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, Hannah S. Wang can be reached at (571) 272-9018. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/KENNETH T LAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631