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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 19, 23-25 are objected to because of the following informalities: It has been held that an element is "any" performing a function is not a positive limitation but only requires the ability to so perform and manage independently' are intended use and typical of claim limitation which may not distinguish over the prior art. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 24 is objected to because of the following informalities: It has been held that an element is "adapted" performing a function is not a positive limitation but only requires the ability to so perform and manage independently' are intended use and typical of claim limitation which may not distinguish over the prior art. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 13 is objected to because of the following informalities: end of the claim add . and delete ; . Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 –
(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.
Claim(s) 1-19 and 23-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Jeong et al (20220225265).
Regarding claim 1, Jeong et al discloses, a method of operating a communication device (UE, fig. 3…) in a non- terrestrial network, NTN (abstract, ¶ 0204, 0216), that includes a network node (gNB/core node), the method comprising:
determining a location of the communication device (UE) using global navigation satellite systems, GNSS, measurements (¶ 0209, 0239, the UE determines the identity of the earth-fixed tracking area (where the UE is located) using the estimated identities of the cells/subcells and the mapping between the virtual cell/subcell identities and the earth-fixed TAs. The UE may report its confidence about the earth-fixed tracking area ID quantitatively or qualitatively and the UE may report an absolute or relative time of the GNSS-based location used in the earth-fixed tracking area ID determination in an example approach.); and
reporting location information based on the location to the network node, wherein reporting the location information comprises reporting a tracking area identifier, TAI, associated with a tracking area, TA, in which the communication device is located (¶ 0209, 0239, the UE may report its confidence about the earth-fixed tracking area ID quantitatively or qualitatively. The UE may report an absolute or relative time of the GNSS-based location used in the earth-fixed tracking area ID determination in an example approach and when the UE sends to the network a registration request message including one or more of the following: (i) TAIs observed by the UE, (ii) its GNSS-based location along with an indication about the UE's confidence on the accuracy of this location with possible indication of “GNSS not visible/GNSS visibility poor/GNSS visible”, for example, the accuracy of the location can be also implicitly included in the GNSS-based location information, (iii) its virtual cell ID, (iv) time stamp associated with the GNSS-based location, and (v) estimated speed and direction of travel if available).
Regarding claim 2, Jeong et al discloses, in claim 1 further, Jeong et al discloses, further comprising: determining the TAI based on at least one of: the location; a list of a plurality of TAIs associated with the NTN; information regarding TAI borders associated with each TAI of the plurality TAIs; and a validity timer associated with a signal broadcast from the network node (¶ 0209-0211, 0239, the UE may report its confidence about the earth-fixed tracking area ID quantitatively or qualitatively. The UE may report an absolute or relative time of the GNSS-based location used in the earth-fixed tracking area ID determination in an example approach and when the UE sends to the network a registration request message including one or more of the following: (i) TAIs observed by the UE, (ii) its GNSS-based location along with an indication about the UE's confidence on the accuracy of this location with possible indication of “GNSS not visible/GNSS visibility poor/GNSS visible”, for example, the accuracy of the location can be also implicitly included in the GNSS-based location information, (iii) its virtual cell ID, (iv) time stamp associated with the GNSS-based location, and (v) estimated speed and direction of travel if available).
Regarding claim 3, Jeong et al discloses, in claim 1 further, Jeong et al discloses, wherein reporting the location information comprises reporting the location to the network node during a radio resource control, RRC, connection establishment procedure, and wherein reporting the location information further comprises reporting the location in at least one of a: RRC setup complete message and a RRC setup request message (¶ 0225, 0238, RRC messages such as RRC setup request, RRC setup complete, RRC reconfiguration complete, and measurement report are used by the UE to convey the border crossing indication and the country code/PLMN.).
Regarding claim 4, Jeong et al discloses, in claim 1 further, Jeong et al discloses, wherein reporting the location information further comprises reporting the location in an uplink non-access stratum, NAS message (¶ 0005-0007, the transceiver configured to: transmit, to a UE, an SIB including multiple TAIs and the indication in a NAS registration/tracking area update operation, and receive, from the UE, an RRC message including information for the UE location, wherein the RRC message encapsulates a NAS message).
Regarding claim 5, Jeong et al discloses, in claim 1 further, Jeong et al discloses, wherein reporting the location information further comprises transmitting an indication of a period of time during which the location may be used by the network node, and wherein the period of time comprises at least one of: a lifetime of a radio resource control, RRC, connection between the communication device and the network node; and only for a specific location reporting occasion (¶ 0208-0209, 0206, 0233,, the gNB broadcasts TAIs in SIB1 such that these TAIs include not only the TAs illuminated by the cell's beam but also the TAs that are expected to be illuminated by the cell's beam in future. In an example approach, the gNB broadcasts TAIs of all the TAs that are expected to be illuminated at any instant during a target time window. This target window can be defined to be the SIB1 window (e.g., 160 ms in 5G NR) in an example approach. Non-SIB1 time windows are defined for conveying TAIs in SIB1 or other SIBs (e.g., those for a TN or an NTN) in another example approach. The TAI-carrying SIB is compatible with Earth-fixed TAs such that a UE located in a given TA would always find its TAI in the TAIs being broadcast by the gNB).
Regarding claim 6, Jeong et al discloses, in claim 1 further, Jeong et al discloses,
further comprising: receiving a request for the location from the network node, wherein reporting the location information comprises reporting the location in response to receiving the request for the location (¶ 0270-0272, the UE may receive from the gNB in system information an indication of one or more of the following features: (i) its use/support of earth-fixed virtual cells, (ii) the need for the UE to report its GNSS-based location in registration/tracking area update related AS/NAS messages, and (iii) the need for the UE to report its GNSS-based location in registration/tracking area update related AS/NAS messages. In the absence of one or more of such indications, the reporting can be made mandatory for the UE via specifications or rules).
Regarding claim 7, Jeong et al discloses, in claim 1 further, Jeong et al discloses, wherein reporting the location information comprises reporting the location in response to at least one of: determining that multiple tracking area identifiers, TAIs, are broadcast in a cell of the network node; and a purpose of the RRC connection establishment is to send a registration request non-access stratum, NAS, message (¶ 0233, 0273, when the UE sends to the network a registration request message including one or more of the following: (i) TAIs observed by the UE, (ii) its GNSS-based location along with an indication about the UE's confidence on the accuracy of this location with possible indication of “GNSS not visible/GNSS visibility poor/GNSS visible,” for example, the accuracy of the location can be also implicitly included in the GNSS-based location information, (iii) its virtual cell ID, (iv) time stamp associated with the GNSS-based location, and (v) estimated speed and direction of travel).
Regarding claim 8, Jeong et al discloses, in claim 1 further, Jeong et al discloses, wherein the network node comprises one of a radio access network, RAN, node or a core network, CN, node (¶ 0270-0272, the UE may receive from the gNB in system information an indication of one or more of the following features: (i) its use/support of earth-fixed virtual cells, (ii) the need for the UE to report its GNSS-based location in registration/tracking area update related AS/NAS messages, and (iii) the need for the UE to report its GNSS-based location in registration/tracking area update related AS/NAS messages.).
Regarding claim 9, Jeong et al discloses, a method of operating a radio access network, RAN, node in a non-terrestrial network, NTN, that includes a communication device, the method comprising (abstract):
determining one or more tracking area identifiers, TAIs, to transmit to a core network, CN, node, the one or more TAIs being associated with a cell in which the location device (¶ 0238-0239, 0241-0245, when the UE sends to the network a registration request message including one or more of the following: (i) TAIs observed by the UE, (ii) its GNSS-based location; the gNB uses the UE-reported GNSS location to determine the virtual cell identity and provides such identity to the AMF in step F5S6. In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the gNB maps the virtual cell identity that it has determined or obtained from the UE); and
transmitting the one or more TAIs to the CN node (¶ 0241-0245, when the UE sends to the network a registration request message including one or more of the following: (i) TAIs observed by the UE, (ii) its GNSS-based location and the gNB/eNB forwards the UE's NAS message to the AMF/mobile management entity (MME) using an NGAP/S1AP message such as INITIAL UE MESSAGE or UPLINK NAS TRANSPORT; the gNB/eNB sends a single TAI to the MME/AMF. This TAI reflects UE's GNSS-based location and/or the virtual cell ID. In one more approach, the gNB/eNB sends multiple TAIs to the MME/AMF to enhance reliability of the registration to be carried out by the MME/AMF.).
Regarding claim 10, Jeong et al discloses, in claim 9 further, Jeong et al discloses, wherein the one or more TAIs are associated with the cell in which multiple TAIs are broadcast in parallel, wherein determining the one or more TAIs to transmit comprises determining to transmit all the TAIs being broadcast in parallel in the cell, and wherein transmitting the one or more TAIs comprises transmitting all the TAIs being broadcast in parallel in the cell to the CN node (¶ 0233, 0236-0237, the gNB broadcasts a compact representation of TAIs in a SIB. For example, instead of broadcasting full TAIs, the gNB separates the common part of TAIs (e.g., common fields across the broadcast TAIs such as PLMN ID) and dedicated parts of TAIs. This may reduce the size of the SIB. In one approach, the common part can be indicated first, followed by dedicated parts of different TAIs. In another approach, the first TAI is fully specified and remaining TAIs are specified by defining dedicated non-common parts).
Regarding claim 11, Jeong et al discloses, in claim 9 further, Jeong et al discloses, wherein the one or more TAIs are associated with the cell in which a single TAI that changes with regular or irregular time intervals is broadcast, and wherein determining the one or more TAIs to transmit comprises determining to transmit to the CN node, at least one of: a first TAI that is currently being periodically broadcast in the cell; and a second TAI that is not currently being periodically broadcast in the cell, but will be broadcast within a period of time shorter than a predetermined threshold amount of time (¶ 0233, 0236-0237, the gNB broadcasts TAIs in SIB1 such that these TAIs include not only the TAs illuminated by the cell's beam but also the TAs that are expected to be illuminated by the cell's beam in future. In an example approach, the gNB broadcasts TAIs of all the TAs that are expected to be illuminated at any instant during a target time window. This target window can be defined to be the SIB1 window (e.g., 160 ms in 5G NR) in an example approach. Non-SIB1 time windows are defined for conveying TAIs in SIB1 or other SIBs (e.g., those for a TN or an NTN) in another example approach. The TAI-carrying SIB is compatible with Earth-fixed TAs such that a UE located in a given TA would always find its TAI in the TAIs being broadcast by the gNB and the gNB broadcasts a compact representation of TAIs in a SIB. For example, instead of broadcasting full TAIs, the gNB separates the common part of TAIs (e.g., common fields across the broadcast TAIs such as PLMN ID) and dedicated parts of TAIs. This may reduce the size of the SIB. In one approach, the common part can be indicated first, followed by dedicated parts of different TAIs. In another approach, the first TAI is fully specified and remaining TAIs are specified by defining dedicated non-common parts) .
Regarding claim 12, Jeong et al discloses, in claim 9 further, Jeong et al discloses, wherein determining the one or more TAIs to transmit comprises determining a TAI associated with a tracking area, TA, in which the communication device is located (¶ 0209, 0233, 0236-0237, the gNB broadcasts TAIs in SIB1 such that these TAIs include not only the TAs illuminated by the cell's beam but also the TAs that are expected to be illuminated by the cell's beam in future. In an example approach, the gNB broadcasts TAIs of all the TAs that are expected to be illuminated at any instant during a target time window).
Regarding claim 13, Jeong et al discloses, in claim 9 further, Jeong et al discloses, further comprising: determining a location of the communication device; and determining the TA in which the communication device is located based on the location of the communication device (¶ 0209, 0239, the UE determines the identity of the earth-fixed tracking area (where the UE is located) using the estimated identities of the virtual cells/subcells and the mapping between the virtual cell/subcell identities and the earth-fixed TAs. The UE may report its confidence about the earth-fixed tracking area ID quantitatively or qualitatively (e.g., less reliable due to poor GNSS availability or old GNSS location or an indicator of positioning ambiguity). The UE may report an absolute or relative time of the GNSS-based location used in the earth-fixed tracking area ID determination in an example approach).
Regarding claim 14, Jeong et al discloses, in claim 9 further, Jeong et al discloses, wherein determining the location comprises determining the location based on a beam used for communication with the communication device (0233, the gNB broadcasts TAIs in SIB1 such that these TAIs include not only the TAs illuminated by the cell's beam but also the TAs that are expected to be illuminated by the cell's beam in future. In an example approach, the gNB broadcasts TAIs of all the TAs that are expected to be illuminated at any instant during a target time window. This target window can be defined to be the SIB1 window (e.g., 160 ms in 5G NR) in an example approach. Non-SIB1 time windows are defined for conveying TAIs in SIB1 or other SIBs (e.g., those for a TN or an NTN) in another example approach. The TAI-carrying SIB is compatible with Earth-fixed TAs such that a UE located in a given TA would always find its TAI in the TAIs being broadcast by the gNB).
Regarding claim 15, Jeong et al discloses, in claim 1 further, Jeong et al discloses, wherein transmitting the second TAI comprises transmitting a next generation application protocol, NGAP, message to the CN node including the second TAI (¶ 0242, 0246, the gNB/eNB forwards the UE's NAS message to the AMF/mobile management entity (MME) using an NGAP/S1AP message such as INITIAL UE MESSAGE or UPLINK NAS TRANSPORT).
Regarding claim 16, Jeong et al discloses, in claim 9 further, Jeong et al discloses, determining to request an updated location based on an amount of time since receiving a previous location from the communication device exceeding a threshold value; and responsive to determining that the amount of time exceeds the threshold value, transmitting a request for the updated location to the communication device (¶ 0123, 0248, 0254, 0280, If a neighbor cell exceeds such threshold, it is reported by the UE in steps F6S5, F6S10, or F6S12).
Regarding claim 17, Jeong et al discloses, in claim 1 further, Jeong et al discloses, further comprising: determining the second TAI based on an amount of time before a TAI switch from the first TAI being periodically broadcast in the cell in which the communication device is located to the second TAI being periodically broadcast in the cell, wherein transmitting the second TAI comprises at least one of: responsive to the amount of time being less than a threshold value, transmitting the first TAI and the second TAI to the CN node (¶ 0123, 0248, 0254, 0280, If a neighbor cell exceeds such threshold, it is reported by the UE in steps F6S5, F6S10, or F6S12); transmitting the first TAI, the second TAI, and the amount of time before the TAI switch, and wherein the second TAI is different from the first TAI (¶ 0123, 0248, 0254, 0280, If a neighbor cell exceeds such threshold, it is reported by the UE in steps F6S5, F6S10, or F6S12, the gNB broadcasts TAIs in SIB1 such that these TAIs include not only the TAs illuminated by the cell's beam but also the TAs that are expected to be illuminated by the cell's beam in future. In an example approach, the gNB broadcasts TAIs of all the TAs that are expected to be illuminated at any instant during a target time window. This target window can be defined to be the SIB1 window (e.g., 160 ms in 5G NR) in an example approach. Non-SIB1 time windows are defined for conveying TAIs in SIB1 or other SIBs (e.g., those for a TN or an NTN) in another example approach. The TAI-carrying SIB is compatible with earth-fixed TAIs such that a UE located in a given TAI would always find its TAI in the TAIs being broadcast by the gNB).
Regarding claim 18, Jeong et al discloses, in claim 9, 11, further, Jeong et al discloses, further comprising: receiving configuration information from the CN node, wherein transmitting the second TAI comprises transmitting the second TAI based on the configuration information (¶ 0123, 0248, 0254, 0280, If a neighbor cell exceeds such threshold, it is reported by the UE in steps F6S5, F6S10, or F6S12, the gNB broadcasts TAIs in SIB1 such that these TAIs include not only the TAs illuminated by the cell's beam but also the TAs that are expected to be illuminated by the cell's beam in future. In an example approach, the gNB broadcasts TAIs of all the TAs that are expected to be illuminated at any instant during a target time window. This target window can be defined to be the SIB1 window (e.g., 160 ms in 5G NR) in an example approach. Non-SIB1 time windows are defined for conveying TAIs in SIB1 or other SIBs (e.g., those for a TN or an NTN) in another example approach. The TAI-carrying SIB is compatible with earth-fixed TAIs such that a UE located in a given TAI would always find its TAI in the TAIs being broadcast by the gNB).
Regarding claim 19, Jeong et al discloses, in claim 11 further, Jeong et al discloses, further comprising: transmitting a request, to the communication device, for permission to use location information associated with the communication device, wherein the request for permission comprises a request for permission to use at least one of: location information previously reported by the communication device; any location information reported by the communication device during a radio resource control, RRC, connection between the communication device and the network node; and information associated with a location of the communication device for core network related procedures (¶ 0233, 0239-0245, the gNB broadcasts TAIs in SIB1 such that these TAIs include not only the TAs illuminated by the cell's beam but also the TAs that are expected to be illuminated by the cell's beam in future. In an example approach, the gNB broadcasts TAIs of all the TAs that are expected to be illuminated at any instant during a target time window. This target window can be defined to be the SIB1 window (e.g., 160 ms in 5G NR) in an example approach. Non-SIB1 time windows are defined for conveying TAIs in SIB1 or other SIBs (e.g., those for a TN or an NTN) in another example approach. The TAI-carrying SIB is compatible with Earth-fixed TAs such that a UE located in a given TA would always find its TAI in the TAIs being broadcast by the gNB).
Regarding claim 23, Jeong et al discloses, a communication device in a non-terrestrial network, NTN, that includes a network node, the communication device (abstract) comprising:
processing circuitry (340, fig. 3); and memory (360, fig. 3) coupled to the processing circuitry and having instructions stored therein that are executable by the processing circuitry to cause the communication device to perform operations comprising any of the operations of (¶ 0058-0059, fig. 3):
determining a location of the communication device using global navigation satellite systems, GNSS, measurements (¶ 0209, 0239, the UE determines the identity of the earth-fixed tracking area (where the UE is located) using the estimated identities of the cells/subcells and the mapping between the virtual cell/subcell identities and the earth-fixed TAs. The UE may report its confidence about the earth-fixed tracking area ID quantitatively or qualitatively and the UE may report an absolute or relative time of the GNSS-based location used in the earth-fixed tracking area ID determination in an example approach.); and
reporting location information based on the location to the network node, wherein reporting the location information comprises reporting a tracking area identifier, TAI, associated with a tracking area, TA, in which the communication device is located (¶ 0209, 0239, the UE may report its confidence about the earth-fixed tracking area ID quantitatively or qualitatively. The UE may report an absolute or relative time of the GNSS-based location used in the earth-fixed tracking area ID determination in an example approach and when the UE sends to the network a registration request message including one or more of the following: (i) TAIs observed by the UE, (ii) its GNSS-based location along with an indication about the UE's confidence on the accuracy of this location with possible indication of “GNSS not visible/GNSS visibility poor/GNSS visible”, for example, the accuracy of the location can be also implicitly included in the GNSS-based location information, (iii) its virtual cell ID, (iv) time stamp associated with the GNSS-based location, and (v) estimated speed and direction of travel if available).
Regarding claim 24, Jeong et al discloses, a communication device in a non-terrestrial network, NTN, that includes a network node, the communication device adapted to perform any of the operations of (abstract, fig. 18):
determining a location of the communication device using global navigation satellite systems, GNSS, measurements (¶ 0209, 0239, the UE determines the identity of the earth-fixed tracking area (where the UE is located) using the estimated identities of the cells/subcells and the mapping between the virtual cell/subcell identities and the earth-fixed TAs. The UE may report its confidence about the earth-fixed tracking area ID quantitatively or qualitatively and the UE may report an absolute or relative time of the GNSS-based location used in the earth-fixed tracking area ID determination in an example approach.); and
reporting location information based on the location to the network node, wherein reporting the location information comprises reporting a tracking area identifier, TAI, associated with a tracking area, TA, in which the communication device is located (¶ 0209, 0239, the UE may report its confidence about the earth-fixed tracking area ID quantitatively or qualitatively. The UE may report an absolute or relative time of the GNSS-based location used in the earth-fixed tracking area ID determination in an example approach and when the UE sends to the network a registration request message including one or more of the following: (i) TAIs observed by the UE, (ii) its GNSS-based location along with an indication about the UE's confidence on the accuracy of this location with possible indication of “GNSS not visible/GNSS visibility poor/GNSS visible”, for example, the accuracy of the location can be also implicitly included in the GNSS-based location information, (iii) its virtual cell ID, (iv) time stamp associated with the GNSS-based location, and (v) estimated speed and direction of travel if available).
Regarding claim 25, Jeong et al discloses, in claim 1 further, Jeong et al discloses, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing thereon computer program comprising program code to be executed by processing circuitry of a communication device in a non-terrestrial network, NTN, that includes a network node, whereby execution of the program code causes the communication device to perform operations comprising any of the operations of (abstract, fig. 1):
determining a location of the communication device using global navigation satellite systems, GNSS, measurements (¶ 0209, 0239, the UE determines the identity of the earth-fixed tracking area (where the UE is located) using the estimated identities of the cells/subcells and the mapping between the virtual cell/subcell identities and the earth-fixed TAs. The UE may report its confidence about the earth-fixed tracking area ID quantitatively or qualitatively and the UE may report an absolute or relative time of the GNSS-based location used in the earth-fixed tracking area ID determination in an example approach.); and
reporting location information based on the location to the network node, wherein reporting the location information comprises reporting a tracking area identifier, TAI, associated with a tracking area, TA, in which the communication device is located (¶ 0209, 0239, the UE may report its confidence about the earth-fixed tracking area ID quantitatively or qualitatively. The UE may report an absolute or relative time of the GNSS-based location used in the earth-fixed tracking area ID determination in an example approach and when the UE sends to the network a registration request message including one or more of the following: (i) TAIs observed by the UE, (ii) its GNSS-based location along with an indication about the UE's confidence on the accuracy of this location with possible indication of “GNSS not visible/GNSS visibility poor/GNSS visible”, for example, the accuracy of the location can be also implicitly included in the GNSS-based location information, (iii) its virtual cell ID, (iv) time stamp associated with the GNSS-based location, and (v) estimated speed and direction of travel if available).
Conclusion
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/KHAWAR IQBAL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643