CTNF 18/283,412 CTNF 86017 DETAILED ACTION Status of Application: Claims 1-9, 12-20, 45, AND 47 are present for examination at this time. Claims 1-8, 13-19, 45, and 47 are rejected. Please refer to Forms 892 of record in this application and/or submitted IDSes to resolve any possible discrepancies in the listed reference numbers, titles, and/or author or inventor names. Applicant is reminded that claim mapping is provided as a courtesy to the applicant, but applicant should consider a reference as a whole, as the entire reference gives context to mapped sections. Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Priority Applicant’s claim for foreign/domestic priority under 35 U.S.C. 119/120 is acknowledged. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement(s) submitted on September 14, 2012 has/have been considered by the Examiner and made of record in the application file. Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim s 9, 12, and 20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim,but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Claim Rejections 35 U.S.C. 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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 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. 07-15-03-aia AIA Claim s 1-8, 13-19, 45, and 47 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) (2) as being anticipated by “Methods For Indicating Polarization Capabilities Of User Equipment In A Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN)” , by Liberg, WO2021/05567 (“Liberg”) . 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – 07-08-aia AIA (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 07-12-aia AIA (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. With regard to Claims 1, 13, 45, and 47 Liberg discloses , an information transmission method, performed by a first base station (Liberg at page 8 ll. 30-32 and Liberg at page 1 line 32-page 2 line 3 “As specified by 3GPP, E-UTRAN 100 is responsible for all radio-related functions in the network, including radio bearer control, radio admission control, radio mobility control, scheduling, and dynamic allocation of resources to UEs (e.g., UE 120) in uplink and downlink, as well as security of the communications with UEs. These functions reside in the eNBs, such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115. Each of the eNBs can serve a geographic coverage area including one more cells, including cells 106, 111, and 116 served by eNBs 105, 110, and 115, respectively.” ) and comprising: sending first polarization configuration information to a first user equipment (UE) (Liberg at page 17 ll 27-32 where the UE receives from the network node, i.e., the eNB which is a type of base station, indication of the polarization capabilities of the first cell) , wherein the first polarization configuration information is configured to indicate an antenna polarization configuration associated with a data transmission (Id. and for the same reason and page 2 ll. 10-14 where the information is data flowing between the eNB and the UEs). Differences in Claim 13: Claim 13 is a broader version of claim 1, and is read on with the same art. Claims 45 and 47 are the apparatuses with a processor, memory, and instructions that execute the steps of claims 1 and 13 respectively. This is disclosed in Liberg at page 24 ll. 8-28 “Processing circuitry 870 can comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide various functionality of network node 860, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 860 components (e.g., device readable medium 880). Such functionality can include any of the various wireless features, functions, or benefits discussed herein. For example, processing circuitry 870 can execute instructions stored in device readable medium 880 or in memory within processing circuitry 870. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 870 can include a system on a chip (SOC). As a more specific example, instructions (also referred to as a computer program product) stored in medium 880 can include instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry 870, can configure network node 860 to perform operations corresponding to various exemplary methods (e.g., procedures) described herein.” With regard to Claims 2 and 14 Liberg discloses , the method according to claim 1 (and related Claim 13), wherein the first polarization configuration information is configured to indicate at least one of: an antenna polarization configuration for a downlink data transmission; or an antenna polarization configuration for an uplink data transmission (Liberg at page 2 ll 10-14 where the information is data flowing between the eNB and the UEs). With regard to Claims 3 and 17 Liberg discloses , the method according to claim 1 (and related Claim 13), wherein the antenna polarization configuration comprises at least one of: linear polarization; left hand circular polarization (LHCP); right hand circular polarization (RHCP); or circular polarization (Liberg at page 5 line 25 through page 6 line where the system can send information about many types of polarization). With regard to Claims 4 and 18 Liberg discloses , the method according to claim 1 (and related Claim 13), wherein sending the first polarization configuration information to the first UE comprises one of: sending a main information block (MIB) carrying the first polarization configuration information to the first UE (Liberg at page 17 line 33-page 18 line 2 where the configuration information can be in an MIB) ; sending a system message carrying the first polarization configuration information to the first UE; sending a high-layer signaling carrying the first polarization configuration information to the first UE; sending a first initial access message carrying the first polarization configuration information to the first UE; or sending a physical layer signaling carrying the first polarization configuration information to the first UE. Also see Liberg at page 6 ll. 4-7 for further support of the notion that a second network node could perform this function , as it is not limited to just one node in the system. With regard to Claims 5 and 19 Liberg discloses , the method according to claim 4 (and related Claim 18), wherein the first polarization configuration information is configured to indicate antenna polarization configurations of one or more service beams (Liberg at page 13 ll. 25-30 “For example, in an NTN, there may be UEs with different antenna types. Some UEs may be equipped with linearly polarized antennas, while some other UEs may be equipped with circularly polarized antennas. On the other hand, satellite transmitters typically use circular polarization. However, a UE (such as the device shown in Figure 4A) that is unaware that a particular satellite (or cell/spotbeam) is associated with a specific polarization mode will not adapt its receiver accordingly” and page 15 ll. 26-29 “For example, if the UE indicates support for a particular polarization mode (e.g., LHCP), the network node can select a cell (or spotbeam) supporting the indicated polarization mode for handing over the UE, or as a secondary cell for the UE.”) With regard to Claim 6 Liberg discloses the method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining an antenna polarization configuration of a cell associated with the first base station based on an antenna polarization configuration of a cell associated with a second base station in response to the cell associated with the first base station having overlapping coverage areas with the cell associated with the second base station. (Liberg at page 15 line 30 – page 16 line “In some cases, a network node may communicate with a UE supporting multiple polarization modes using multiple beams, e.g., one configured for RHCP and one for LHCP. In one example, the UE may be in an overlapping region between two spotbeams where the UE could experience similar signal strength in the two spot beams. Considering the example illustrated by Figures 4A-B, a UE can be near the overlapping region of spotbeams 1 and 2, which are both on carrier frequency FA but on different polarization modes (e.g., PA in spotbeam 1, PB in spotbeam 2). In this scenario, the UE can benefit from receiving PDSCH concurrently from both spotbeams 1 and 2. For example, this can enable the UE to receive two layers of data, with one scheduled on each PDSCH. To facilitate this capability, a UE can be equipped with two antenna panels, with one being arranged to receive PA (e.g., from spotbeam 1) and the other being arranged to receive PB (e.g., from spotbeam 2).”) With regard to Claim 7 Liberg discloses the method according to claim 6, further comprising: receiving, from the second base station, indication information indicating the antenna polarization configuration of the cell associated with the second base station. (Liberg page 1 ll. 25-30 “An overall exemplary architecture of a network comprising LTE and SAE is shown in Figure1. E-UTRAN 100 includes one or more evolved Node B’s (eNB), such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115, and one or more user equipment (UE), such as UE 120. As used within the 3GPP standards, “user equipment” or “UE” means any wireless communication device (e.g, smartphone or computing device) that is capable of communicating with 3GPP-standard-compliant network equipment, including E-UTRAN as well as UTRAN and/or GERAN, as the third-generation (“3G”) and second-generation (“2G”) 3GPP RANs are commonly known.” and Liberg page 2 ll. 6-13 “The eNBs in the E-UTRAN communicate with each other via the X2 interface, as shown in Figure 1. The eNBs also are responsible for the E-UTRAN interface to the EPC 130, specifically the SI interface to the Mobility Management Entity (MME) and the Serving Gateway (SGW), shown collectively as MME/S-GWs 134 and 138 in Figure 1. In general, the MME/S- GW handles both the overall control of the UE and data flow between the UE and the rest of the EPC. More specifically, the MME processes the signaling ( e.g ., control plane) protocols between the UE and the EPC, which are known as the Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocols. The SGW handles all Internet Protocol (IP) data packets (e.g., data or user plane) between the UE and the EPC and serves as the local mobility anchor for the data bearers when UE 120 moves between eNBs, such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115.” ) With regard to Claim 8 Liberg discloses , the method according to claim 7, wherein receiving, from the second base station, the indication information indicating the antenna polarization configuration of the cell associated with the second base station comprises at least one of: receiving the indication information via an inter-base-station interface; or receiving the indication information via an inter-satellite communication link (ISL) associated with the first base station (Liberg at page 18, ll. 38-45 “The communication system of Figure 11 as a whole enables connectivity between the connected UEs 1191, 1192 and host computer 1130. The connectivity can be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection 1150. Host computer 1130 and the connected UEs 1191, 1192 are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via OTT connection 1150, using access network 1111, core network 1114, any intermediate network 1120 and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. OTT connection 1150 can be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which OTT connection 1150 passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, base station 1112 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from host computer 1130 to be forwarded ( e.g ., handed over) to a connected UE 1191. Similarly, base station 1112 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE 1191 towards the host computer 1130.” where the information for communicating configuration information to the eNBs is the same interface, OTT which is an inter-base station interface). With regard to Claim 15 Liberg discloses , the method according to claim 14, further comprising: determining the antenna polarization configuration for the downlink data transmission as the antenna polarization configuration for the uplink data transmission (Liberg at page 5 ll. 25-30 “In various embodiments, the indicated polarization capabilities of the UE can include any of the following:• a UE type (e.g., associated with mandatory support of such polarization capabilities); • one or more polarization modes supported by the UE; • a polarization correspondence between uplink and downlink signals that is supported by the UE;”. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSHUA SCHWARTZ whose telephone number is (571)270-7494. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:30-5. 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 supervisory colleague, Alexander Sofocleous can be reached at 571-272-0635. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /JOSHUA L SCHWARTZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 4100 Application/Control Number: 18/283,412 Page 2 Art Unit: 4100 Application/Control Number: 18/283,412 Page 3 Art Unit: 4100
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