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 .
Preliminary Amendment Acknowledgement
The Preliminary Amendment filed on 02/01/2024 has been acknowledged and considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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) 1-10, 12-28 and 30-31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Shrestha et al. (Pub. No. US 2022/0046504).
Regarding claim 1. Shrestha teaches a cell reselection method, performed by a user equipment (UE) (Shrestha, the Abstract, Fig. 2), comprising:
receiving time information (Shrestha, Fig. 5, pp [133], [136]: time information); and
determining a cell reselection moment according to the time information and a cell reselection status (Shrestha, Fig. 5, pp [131]-[133], [141]-[143]: cell reselection based on time condition of satellite coverage, a satellite movement condition, an elevation angle difference condition, e.g., time and distance difference, an angle of arrival condition, a frequency information condition, a quality delta condition, or a network trigger signal condition, cell IDs statuses of a first and second satellites and fixed radio cells or quasi-earth fixed cells).
Regarding claim 19. Shrestha teaches a cell reselection method, performed by a network device (Shrestha, the Abstract, Fig. 2), comprising:
sending time information (Shrestha, Fig. 5, pp [133], [136]: time information);
wherein the time information and a cell reselection status are configured for a user equipment (UE) to determine a cell reselection moment (Shrestha, Fig. 5, pp [131]-[133], [141]-[143]: cell reselection based on time condition of satellite coverage, a satellite movement condition, an elevation angle difference condition, e.g., time and distance difference, an angle of arrival condition, a frequency information condition, a quality delta condition, or a network trigger signal condition, cell IDs statuses of a first and second satellites and fixed radio cells or quasi-earth fixed cells).
Regarding claim 31. Shrestha teaches a user equipment (UE) (Shrestha, the Abstract, Fig. 2), comprising:
a processor (Shrestha, pp [11], [15]); and a memory (Shrestha, pp [11], [15]) storing instructions executable by the processor, wherein the processor is configured to:
receive time information (Shrestha, Fig. 5, pp [133], [136]: time information); and
determine a cell reselection moment according to the time information and a cell reselection status (Shrestha, Fig. 5, pp [131]-[133], [141]-[143]: cell reselection based on time condition of satellite coverage, a satellite movement condition, an elevation angle difference condition, e.g., time and distance difference, an angle of arrival condition, a frequency information condition, a quality delta condition, or a network trigger signal condition, cell IDs statuses of a first and second satellites and fixed radio cells or quasi-earth fixed cells).
Regarding claim 2. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the cell reselection status comprises at least one of:
a network type (Shrestha, Fig. 3, pp [61], [131]: fixed radio cell network, pp [141]: quasi earth fixed cells); or
an application scenario involved in the time information (Shrestha, pp [95]-[97]).
Regarding claim 3. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 2, wherein the network type comprises one of:
an earth moving type, indicating a type of NTN Non-terrestrial networks network where an area covered by a satellite beam on the earth moves (Shrestha, pp [79], [98], [105]-[106]);
an earth fixed type, indicating a type of NTN network where the area covered by the satellite beam on the earth is fixed (Shrestha, pp [131], [141]);
a quasi earth fixed type, indicating a type of NTN network where a first area covered by the satellite beam on the earth is fixed within a predetermined time, and the satellite beam covers a second area on the earth when the predetermined time is reached (Shrestha, pp [131], [141]).
Regarding claim 4. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 2, wherein the application scenario comprises one of:
a cell reselection scenario triggered by a service link switch (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]); or
a cell reselection scenario triggered by a feeder link switch (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]).
Regarding claim 5. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 2, wherein at least one of the network type or the application scenario is determined based on one of a field of a received first message carrying the time information or received indication information (Shrestha, pp [94]-[97], [123]-[125]).
Regarding claim 6. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 5, wherein the time information being carried in different fields of the first message indicates at least one of the network type being different or the application scenario involved in the time information being different (Shrestha, pp [89]-[91], [123]-[125]).
Regarding claim 7. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 5, wherein the indication information comprises type indication information; wherein the type indication information comprises one of:
first type indication information to indicate that the network type is an earth moving type (Shrestha, pp [79], [98], [105]-[106]);
second type indication information to indicate that the network type is an earth fixed type (Shrestha, pp [131], [141]); or
third type indication information to indicate that the network type is a quasi earth fixed type (Shrestha, pp [131], [141]).
Regarding claim 8. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 5, wherein the indication information comprises switch indication information; wherein the switch indication information comprises one of:
first switch indication information to indicate that the time information relates to a cell reselection scenario triggered by a service link switch (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]); or
second switch indication information to indicate that the time information relates to a cell reselection scenario triggered by a feeder link switch (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]).
Regarding claim 9. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 8, wherein in response to the indication information not comprising the switch indication information, the time information relates to the cell reselection scenario triggered by the service link switch and the cell reselection scenario triggered by the feeder link switch (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]).
Regarding claim 10. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 4, wherein in response to a serving cell of the UE being an earth moving type, one serving cell is associated with one or two pieces of the time information, wherein in response to one serving cell being associated with two pieces of time information, one piece of the time information relates to the cell reselection scenario triggered by the service link switch (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]), and the other piece of the time information relates to the cell reselection scenario triggered by the feeder link switch (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]).
Regarding claim 12. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 4, wherein in response to a serving cell of the UE being a quasi earth fixed type, one serving cell is associated with one piece of the time information (Shrestha, pp [131], [133], [136], [141]).
Regarding claim 13. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 4, wherein determining the cell reselection moment according to the time information and the cell reselection status comprises one of:
in response to the network type being an earth moving type and the time information relating to the cell reselection scenario triggered by the feeder link switch, determining the cell reselection moment triggered by the feeder link switch based on the time information (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]);
in response to the time information relating to the cell reselection scenario triggered by the feeder link switch (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]), determining the cell reselection moment triggered by the feeder link switch based on the time information (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]); or
in response to the network type being the earth moving type, determining the cell reselection moment triggered by the feeder link switch based on the time information (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]).
Regarding claim 14. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 13, further comprising:
before the cell reselection moment determined based on the time information, determining a cell reselection triggered by the service link switch based on a cell reselection criterion (Shrestha, pp [141]-[144]).
Regarding claim 15. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 4, wherein determining the cell reselection moment according to the time information and the cell reselection status comprises:
in response to the network type being an earth moving type and the serving cell being associated with two pieces of the time information, determining the cell reselection moment based on an earlier piece of time information of the two pieces of the time information (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]).
Regarding claim 16. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 4, wherein determining the cell reselection moment according to the time information and the cell reselection status comprises:
in response to the network type being an earth moving type and the time information relating to the cell reselection scenario triggered by the service link switch (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]), determining the cell reselection moment triggered by the service link switch based on the time information (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]).
Regarding claim 17. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 4, wherein determining the cell reselection moment according to the time information and the cell reselection status comprises:
in response to the network type being a quasi earth fixed type, determining the cell reselection moment based on the time information (Shrestha, pp [131], [133], [136], [141]).
Regarding claim 18. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the time information is time information of Coordinated Universal Time (Shrestha, pp [47], [50]).
Regarding claim 20. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 19, wherein the cell reselection status comprises at least one of:
a network type (Shrestha, Fig. 3, pp [61], [131]: fixed radio cell network, pp [141]: quasi earth fixed cells); or
an application scenario involved in the time information (Shrestha, pp [95], [97]).
Regarding claim 21. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 20, wherein the network type comprises one of:
an earth moving type, indicating a type of NTN network where an area covered by a satellite beam on the earth moves (Shrestha, pp [79], [98], [105]-[106]);
an earth fixed type, indicating a type of NTN network where the area covered by the satellite beam on the earth is fixed (Shrestha, pp [131], [141]); or
a quasi earth fixed type, indicating a type of NTN network where a first area covered by the satellite beam on the earth is fixed within a predetermined time, and the satellite beam covers a second area on the earth when the predetermined time is reached (Shrestha, pp [131], [141]).
Regarding claim 22. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 20, wherein the application scenario comprises one of:
a cell reselection scenario triggered by a service link switch (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]); or
a cell reselection scenario triggered by a feeder link switch (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]).
Regarding claim 23. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 20, wherein at least one of the network type and/or or the application scenario is determined based on one of a field of a first message carrying the time information or indication information (Shrestha, pp [94]-[97], [123]-[125]).
Regarding claim 24. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 23, wherein the time information being carried in different fields of the first message indicates at least one of the network type being different and/or or the application scenario involved in the time information being different (Shrestha, pp [94]-[97], [123]-[125]).
Regarding claim 25. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 23, wherein the indication information comprises type indication information; wherein the type indication information comprises one of:
first type indication information to indicate that the network type is an earth moving type (Shrestha, pp [79], [98], [105]-[106]);
second type indication information to indicate that the network type is an earth fixed type (Shrestha, pp [131], [141]); or
third type indication information to indicate that the network type is a quasi earth fixed type (Shrestha, pp [131], [141]).
Regarding claim 26. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 23, wherein the indication information comprises switch indication information; wherein the switch indication information comprises one of:
first switch indication information used to indicate that the time information relates to a cell reselection scenario triggered by a service link switch (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]); or
second switch indication information used to indicate that the time information relates to a cell reselection scenario triggered by a feeder link switch (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]).
Regarding claim 27. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 26, wherein in response to the indication information not comprising the switch indication information, the time information relates to the cell reselection scenario triggered by the service link switch and the cell reselection scenario triggered by the feeder link switch (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]).
Regarding claim 28. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 22, wherein in response to a serving cell of the UE being an earth moving type, one serving cell is associated with one or two pieces of the time information, wherein in response to one serving cell being associated with two pieces of the time information, one piece of the time information relates to the cell reselection scenario triggered by the service link switch (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]), and the other piece of the time information relates to the cell reselection scenario triggered by the feeder link switch (Shrestha, pp [68], [71], [82], [84]).
Regarding claim 30. Shrestha teaches the method according to claim 22, wherein in response to a serving cell of the UE being a quasi earth fixed type, one serving cell is associated with one piece of the time information (Shrestha, pp [131]-[133], [141]-[143]).
Reference(s) related but not used in the rejection
Iwata et al. (Pub. No. US 2004/0137842), teaches a communication/broadcasting system provides a communication service and/or a broadcasting service between a communication/broadcasting center station and a mobile station and a fixed station present in a beam spot through orbiting satellites controlled by a satellite control station in order to prevent a degraded quality and permit users to receive the provision of the services at any location in a service area through the satellite positioned at an elevation angle suitable for communications/broadcasting. The orbiting satellite is switched to another at a timing at which the elevation angle can be kept high, thereby preventing a degraded quality of communications/broadcasting.
Tripathi et al. (Pub. No. US 2022/0150806), teaches methods and apparatuses of UE for an efficient neighbor cell search in a wireless communication network. A method of a UE comprises: receiving system information including time instance information for performing measurements on neighboring cells; identifying a time instance included in the time instance information; determining, based on a comparison between a current absolute time and the time instance, whether to perform the measurements on the neighboring cells; and skipping performing the measurements on the neighboring cells based on a determination that the current absolute time is before the time instance.
Yun et al. (Pub. No. US 2020/0178135), teaches a handover method performed by a terminal in a non-terrestrial network may comprise transmitting a measurement report including measurement results for neighbor cells to a serving satellite base station; receiving, from the serving satellite base station, connection configuration information for at least one target base station candidate and information on an activation time when the connection configuration information for the at least one target base station candidate is activated; and performing a handover to a first target base station candidate among the at least one target base station candidate based on information received from the at least one target base station candidate at the activation time.
Conclusion
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/HUY C HO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644