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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/27/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
The amendments to the claims filed on 07/17/2026 have been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-2, 8 and 26, rejected under 35 USC 102 and claims 9-14 and 20 rejected under 35 USC 103 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.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: the claim recites “Non-Territorial Network (NTN)” for examination purposes examiner interpreted this to mean “Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN)” to match the application title and the standard term used by those of ordinary skill in the art. Appropriate correction is required.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: paragraphs 1-3, 55 and 64 recite “Non-Territorial Network (NTN)” for examination purposes examiner interpreted this to mean “Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN)” to match the application title and the standard term used by those of ordinary skill in the art. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-2, 8 and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo et al. (US-12557067-B2, filing date: 2020-08-05) hereinafter Luo in view of Määttänen et al. (US- 20220086713 -A1, EFD: 2019-01-11) hereinafter Määttänen.
Regarding Claim 1, Luo discloses a method for reporting position information of a terminal in a Non- Territorial Network (NTN), performed by the terminal, comprising (Luo par. 49;The terminal device obtains location coordinates Sat_pos of the NTN device and location coordinates UE_pos of the terminal device): obtaining position information of the terminal, wherein a precision of the position information is less than a precision of a positioning system in the terminal (Luo, par. 44; In a possible design, the system information further includes an offset of a timing advance TA of the terminal device and change information of the offset); and reporting the position information to a network device (Luo, par. 50; The terminal device calculates, based on the location coordinates Sat_pos of the NTN device and the location coordinates UE_pos of the terminal device, a TA of sending uplink data by the terminal device) Examiner notes, Luo inherently discloses the reporting the position of the terminal (UE) during the uplink transmission to determine the location of both the terminal and satellite (NTN).
Luo does not explicitly disclose the positioning information reported by the terminal device is less than a positioning system in the terminal. However in analogous art Määttänen discloses an index based location positioning system in non-terrestrial networks (Määttänen, par. 6; The present patent disclosure is broadly directed to systems, methods, apparatuses, devices, and associated non-transitory computer-readable media for reducing signaling load with respect to user equipment (UE) location reporting in a non-terrestrial network (NTN) environment interoperable with one or more terrestrial cellular communications networks. Some example embodiments are directed to an index-based location reporting scheme wherein a UE may receive a list of reference locations from a network node, each identified with an index. Responsive to receiving the list of indexed reference locations, the UE may report to the network node an index or a subset of indices of one or more reference locations that match a specific reporting criterion. In some example embodiments, reporting of index-based location information by the UE may be configurably triggered, e.g., periodically or in response to the occurrence of a particular event, condition, etc) which can be configure to report the terminal position with reduced precision (Määttänen, par. 72; a UE terminal can therefore be configured to report its measured position with reduced precision).
Therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Luo’s positioning methods with Määttänen teaching for reporting reduced precision terminal positioning to improve UL resource consumption.
Regarding Claim 2, the combination of Luo and Määttänen further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the position information comprises at least one of: an area identifier (ID), offset position information, or an anchor ID (Luo, par. 51; In addition, during calculation of the TA, an offset of the TA usually needs to be further considered. Herein, offset may be used to reflect another parameter that affects the value of the TA and that is different from the location coordinates Sat_pos of the NTN device and the location coordinates UE_pos of the terminal device).
Regarding Claim 8, the combination of Luo and Määttänen further teaches the method of claim 2, wherein obtaining the offset position information of the terminal comprises one of: generating a first offset angle and a first offset length (Luo, par. 54; In addition, offset may be further used to reflect a parameter such as a timing advance offset N.sub.TA_offset of a time-division duplex (TDD) system or a distance between the NTN device and a virtual coordinate location); and obtaining the offset position information of the terminal according to the first offset angle and the first offset length based on a polar coordinate system by taking an absolute geographical position of the terminal as a pole (Luo, fig. 5, par. 53; offset may be used to reflect a positioning error of the NTN device or the terminal device. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, O represents a location determined by the terminal device based on a positioning system (positioning based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)), O′ represents a location determined by the NTN device based on an ephemeris (positioning based on ephemeris), H represents an obit altitude of the NTN device, S represents a distance of the terminal device to a sub-satellite point of the NTN device (distance from sub-satellite point), D represents a range of a positioning error of the terminal device, E represents a range of a positioning error of the NTN device, and a distance for calculating the TA may be |Sat_pos−UE_pos|); generating a second offset angle; and obtaining the offset position information of the terminal according to the second offset angle and a preset second offset length based on a polar coordinate system by taking an absolute geographical position of the terminal as a pole (Luo, par. 56; a virtual coordinate location may be notified to the terminal device, and the distance from the NTN device to the terminal device may also be determined based on the virtual coordinate location. In addition, UE_pos represents a location of the terminal device); or generating an offset longitudinal length and an offset latitudinal length (Luo, par. 66; a distance is used as a dimension of the offset, and the TA is calculated in a calculation manner of Formula 1. When another dimension is used for the offset, the TA may be calculated in a corresponding calculation manner ); and obtaining the offset position information of the terminal according to the offset longitudinal length, the offset latitudinal length and a geographical coordinate of the terminal (Luo, pars. 64-65; Obtaining the location parameter and the time point to, the terminal device may calculate, based on Formula 2 and Formula 3, the location coordinates Sat_pos of the NTN device and offset at a moment t at which the uplink data is sent. Then, when the location coordinates Sat_pos of the NTN device and offset and the location coordinates UE_pos of the terminal device are known, the TA of sending MSG1 by the terminal device at the moment t can be calculated based on Formula 1), Examiner notes, Luo inherently discloses the generation/calculation of angles as observed in figure 5, in addition to inherently disclose the generation of multiple offset values as they are calculated over time.
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Regarding Claim 26, the combination of Luo and Määttänen further discloses a communication device, comprising: a processor; and a memory storing computer programs executable by the processor, wherein the processor is configured to: obtain position information of the communication device, wherein a precision of the position information is less than a precision of a positioning system in the communication device (Luo, fig. 9, par. 189; The communication apparatus 70 includes at least one processor 701 and at least one interface circuit 704. In addition, the communication apparatus 70 may further include a communication line 702 and a memory 703); and report the position information to a network device (Luo, par. 104; in the NTN, the location parameter of the NTN device is usually used only when the terminal device accesses a network or performs mobility management; in addition, an updating period of the location parameter of the NTN device is shorter than an updating period of other system information).
Luo does not explicitly disclose the positioning information reported by the terminal device is less than a positioning system in the terminal. However in analogous art Määttänen discloses an index based location positioning system in non-terrestrial networks (Määttänen, par. 6; The present patent disclosure is broadly directed to systems, methods, apparatuses, devices, and associated non-transitory computer-readable media for reducing signaling load with respect to user equipment (UE) location reporting in a non-terrestrial network (NTN) environment interoperable with one or more terrestrial cellular communications networks. Some example embodiments are directed to an index-based location reporting scheme wherein a UE may receive a list of reference locations from a network node, each identified with an index. Responsive to receiving the list of indexed reference locations, the UE may report to the network node an index or a subset of indices of one or more reference locations that match a specific reporting criterion. In some example embodiments, reporting of index-based location information by the UE may be configurably triggered, e.g., periodically or in response to the occurrence of a particular event, condition, etc) which can be configure to report the terminal position with reduced precision (Määttänen, par. 72; a UE terminal can therefore be configured to report its measured position with reduced precision).
Therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Luo’s positioning methods with Määttänen teaching for reporting reduced precision terminal positioning to improve UL resource consumption.
Claim(s) 9-14 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo et al. (US-12557067-B2, filing date: 2020-08-05) hereinafter Luo in view of Määttänen et al. (US- 20220086713 -A1, EFD: 2019-01-11) hereinafter Määttänen and further in view of Myung et al. (US-20240073842-A1, filing date: 2021-05-21) hereinafter Myung.
Regarding Claim 9, the combination of Luo and Määttänen further discloses the method of claim 8, wherein generating the first offset angle and the first offset length comprises: generating a first random angle between a first angle and a first maximum angle, and determining the first random angle as the first offset angle; and generating a first random length between a first length and a first maximum length, and determining the first random length as the first offset length (Luo, par. 123; The terminal device calculates, based on the end time point t0, the location parameter of the NTN device, and an offset-related parameter, a distance between the NTN device and the terminal device at a moment t at which uplink data is sent, and further determines a TA at the moment t).
the combination of Luo and Määttänen does not explicitly disclose the generating a first random angle between a first angle and a first maximum angle, and determining the first random angle as the first offset angle. However, Myung discloses a system performed by a Non-terrestrial network for transferring system information, including position information and a timing advance offset (Myung, abstract; method performed by a terminal in a non-terrestrial network (NTN) system may include receiving, from a base station, system information including position information about the base station and information about a common timing advance (TA) offset) which uses the NTN elevation angle and the maximum difference value of round trip delay (Myung, par. 41; a maximum difference value of round trip delay times which varies according to a location of a user within one beam) to calculate the offset (Myung, fig. 27, par. 250; continuous movement of a satellite with respect to a UE located on the ground or on the earth as the satellite revolves around the earth along a satellite orbit. Since the distance between the UE and the satellite varies depending on an elevation angle at which the UE views the satellite, the propagation delay between the UE, the satellite, and the base station may be different) see also figs. 21-22 and 31.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Luo’s methods for determining a location of a non-terrestrial device with Määttänen teaching for reporting reduced precision terminal positioning and Myung’s methods for applying timing advance offset in a communication system to enhance the NTN and UE terminal positioning determination and provide better quality of service to users in the coverage area.
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Regarding Claim 11, the combination of Luo, Määttänen and Myung further teach the method of claim 8, wherein generating the second offset angle comprises: generating a second random angle between a second angle and a second maximum angle, and determining the second random angle as the second offset angle (Myung, figs. 17-18, par. 246; The speed of the satellite may be calculated from the altitude of the satellite, which corresponds to a speed making the gravity, which is the force that the earth pulls the satellite, the same as the centripetal force generated according to the revolution of the satellite, and may be calculated as shown in FIG. 18. FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a speed of a satellite calculated at an altitude of the satellite. As identified in FIG. 17, an angle α is determined by an elevation angle Θ, and thus a value of Doppler shift is determined according to the elevation angle Θ) Examiner notes, it is inherent the system will generate multiple offset angles at each will be performed at a different point in time, where there will be a difference in location, elevation angle, distance, etc. of the NTN and UE terminal, which both Luo and Myung disclose.
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Regarding Claim 13, the combination of Luo, Määttänen and Myung further teach the method of claim 8, wherein generating the offset longitudinal length and the offset latitudinal length comprises: generating a second random length between a second length and a second maximum length, and determining the second random length as the offset longitudinal length (Luo, par. 28; the location parameter of the NTN device includes longitude and latitude of the NTN device and a height of the NTN device); and generating a third random length between a third length and a third maximum length, and determining the third random length value as the offset latitudinal length (Luo, figs. 4-5, par. 63; the location parameter sent by the network device to the terminal device may include the location coordinates {x, y, z} of the NTN device, a velocity {Vx, Vy, Vz}, acceleration {ax, ay, az}, a value d of the offset, a change rate v.sub.o of the offset, a derivative a_d of the change rate of the offset, and the like. In addition, the network device further notifies the terminal device of a time point t0 corresponding to the location parameter) Examiner notes it is inherent the system will generate multiple lengths or distances between the NTN and the UE as they are calculated over time, see Luo, par 47.
Regarding Claim 14, the combination of Luo, Määttänen and Myung further teach the method of claim 8, further comprising: in response to a change in a position of the terminal and a distance between updated position information and position information reported last time being greater than a threshold, reporting the updated position information (Myung, par. 325; The UE calculates, determines, and reports N.sub.TA,UE-specific described through the first example embodiment and the second example embodiment. A value of N.sub.TA,UE-specific may be calculated based on the distance between the UE and a non-terrestrial network (NTN) satellite. The UE may calculate its own location by receiving signals from navigation satellites in a satellite navigation system, and the navigation satellite may be different from the NTN satellite); or in response to the change in the position of the terminal and the distance between the updated position information and the position information reported last time being greater than the threshold for a second preset time period, reporting the updated position information to the network device (Luo, par.61; because an updating period of the location parameter of the NTN device may be shorter than that of another type of system information, when the network device sends, to the terminal device, the system information carrying the location parameter of the NTN device, the system information may be frequently updated, and consequently, SI update is very frequently prompted).
Regarding Claim 20, the combination of Luo, Määttänen and Myung further teach the method of claim 1, wherein reporting the position information to the network device comprises: reporting the position information to the network device (Myung, par. 12; The UE may calculate a portion of the time offset, based on locations of the UE and the satellite and time information, apply same, and report same to the base station) based on control information of the network device (Myung, par. 145; The PDSCH may be transmitted after the control channel transmission interval, and scheduling information, such as a specific mapping position in the frequency domain and a modulation scheme, is determined based on the DCI transmitted through the PDCCH); wherein the control information of the network device comprises at least one of: a position reporting indication sent by the network device to the terminal via a dedicated signaling (Myung par. 208; The position in which the SSB block is transmitted may be configured in the UE through system information or dedicated signaling); a position reporting indication carried in a system broadcast by the network device (Myung, par. 326; the satellite may transmit information on the location of the satellite through broadcast information, and the UE may receive the information on the location of the satellite transmitted by the satellite and compare the information on the location with its own location); an indication for periodically reporting position information configured for the terminal by the network device through a dedicated signaling (Luo, par. 61; the system information may be frequently updated, and consequently, SI update is very frequently prompted); and an area range provided by the network device in a system broadcast or a dedicated signaling (Luo, fig. 4, par. 35; . A user equipment (UE) may check, using the field, whether a previously stored SI message is still valid (for example, whether the UE goes back to a coverage area of the cell from an outside of coverage of the cell)) Examiner notes, see also Myung’s figs. 12, 14-15, 27C-27D, .
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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.
Other Pertinent Art Not Relied Upon
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Harris (US-7642955-B2) Position Privacy in an Electronic device, 2010. A privacy enhancement device for electronic device such as a cellular telephone. The privacy enhancement device may include a jammer which may produces false information, e.g. false information indicative of pseudo ranges. In addition, the navigation information used on the position detecting device may be locally stored versions of dynamically changing information. The navigation operation may be carried out using a Web service.
Pillai et al. (US-8494549-B1) Network Client Location Obscurity, 2013. A service may request the location of a network client in order to deliver advertisements for goods and services that are geographically near the client. It is desirable for the network to provide an obscured, or approximate, location to protect the privacy of the client. The network queries the client for its PN list. From the PN list, the network determines the active cell sectors and active cell towers. The network determines all cell sectors associated with the active cell towers, and excludes the sectors that encompass the client. From the non-excluded sectors, a cell sector is randomly selected. A geographic location is randomly selected from within the cell sector. A region that encompasses the geographic location is determined, and an identifier associated with the region, such as a ZIP code, is sent to the service. The exact location of the client cannot be determined from the regional identifier.
Akdim et al. (US-20230008399-A1) UE Assisted Mobility Management, 2023. Apparatuses, systems, and methods for UE assisted mobility management. A UE may receive, from a network, an initial list of measurement cells, filter the initial list of measurement cells based on criteria to generate an optimized cell list, perform cell measurements based on the optimized cell list, and report, to the network, cell measurements based on the optimized cell list. The criteria may be based, at least in part, on at least one of UE location, UE mobility pattern, and/or UE privacy preservation. The UE may use a geolocation and/or a mobility pattern of the UE and geolocations of cells to filter out cells. The UE may use a privacy preservation algorithm on a previously filtered list of measurement cells to filter out cells to avoid allowing the network to estimate a geolocation of the UE based on the reported measurements.
Wang et al. (US-8909250-B1) Obscuring True Location For Location-based Services, 2014. A location of a client device may be obscured by using generated random offsets and/or a set of regions. In one implementation, the location of a client device may be obscured using a first random offset and a second random offset. A pseudo-location may be determined based on the location of the client device, the first random offset, and the second random offset. The pseudo-location may be transmitted to a third-party for a location-based service. In another implementation, the location of a client device may be obscured using a first random offset and a set of regions. An intermediate location may be determined based on the location of the client device and the first random offset. A region of the set of regions may be determined based on the intermediate location. A pseudo-location may be transmitted to a third-party for a location-based service based on the determined region.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARIO R CAMPERO MIRAMONTES whose telephone number is (571)272-5792. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Thursday 0600 - 1600.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yuwen (Kevin) Pan can be reached at (571) 272-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARIO R CAMPERO MIRAMONTES/Examiner, Art Unit 2649 /YUWEN PAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2649
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