DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 07/12/2026 has been entered.
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 .
Claims 1-3, 5-10, 12, 13, 15-20 and 23-25 are pending in this office action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to amendment filed 6/15/2026 have been considered but are moot in view of new grounds of rejection.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 12, 17, 18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Vogedes et al (US 2024/0063894 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Vogedes teaches a wireless communication method, comprising:
obtaining, by a terminal device, characteristic information of a neighbor cell belonging to a terrestrial network (Vogedes: Fig. 16; [0236]-[0238], UE detects TN cells and obtains PCI); and
transmitting, by the terminal device, first information to a network device belonging to a non-terrestrial network, the first information comprising the characteristic information of the neighbor cell, or the first information comprising the characteristic information of the neighbor cell and characteristic information of the terminal device (Vogedes: Fig. 16; [0238], UE transmits PCI to NTN node);
wherein the characteristic information of the neighbor cell comprises first indication information, and the first indication information indicates whether a terrestrial neighbor cell is near the terminal device and/or whether a neighbor cell not configured by the network device is near the terminal device (Vogedes: [0070], [0237] UE detects and obtain RSRP of TN cells).
Regarding claim 12, Vogedes teaches a wireless communication method, comprising:
receiving, by a network device belonging to a non-terrestrial network, first information transmitted by a terminal device, the first information comprising the characteristic information of the neighbor cell, or the first information comprising the characteristic information of the neighbor cell and characteristic information of the terminal device (Vogedes: Fig. 16; [0238], UE transmits PCI to NTN node);
wherein the characteristic information of the neighbor cell comprises first indication information, and the first indication information indicates whether a terrestrial neighbor cell is near the terminal device and/or whether a neighbor cell not configured by the network device is near the terminal device (Vogedes: [0070], [0237] UE detects and obtain RSRP of TN cells).
Regarding claim 17, Vogedes teaches a terminal device, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory has a computer program stored thereon, and the processor is configured to invoke and execute the computer program stored in the memory to:
obtain characteristic information of a neighbor cell belonging to a terrestrial network (Vogedes: Fig. 16; [0236]-[0238], UE detects TN cells and obtains PCI); and
transmit first information to a network device belonging to a non-terrestrial network, the first information comprising the characteristic information of the neighbor cell, or the first information comprising the characteristic information of the neighbor cell and characteristic information of the terminal device (Vogedes: Fig. 16; [0238], UE transmits PCI to NTN node);
wherein the characteristic information of the neighbor cell comprises first indication information, and the first indication information indicates whether a terrestrial neighbor cell is near the terminal device and/or whether a neighbor cell not configured by the network device is near the terminal device (Vogedes: [0070], [0237] UE detects and obtain RSRP of TN cells).
Regarding claim 20, Vogedes teaches a network device, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory has a computer program stored thereon, and the processor is configured to invoke and execute the computer program stored in the memory to perform the method according to claim 12 (See rejection of claim 12).
Regarding claims 2 and 18, Vogedes teaches wherein the characteristic information of the neighbor cell comprises at least one of: operator-related network identification information of the neighbor cell, Tracking Area (TA) configuration information of the neighbor cell, frequency point configuration information of the neighbor cell, Synchronization Measurement Timing Configuration (SMTC) information of the neighbor cell, Cell Global Identity (CGI) configuration information of the neighbor cell, Physical Cell Identifier (PCI) configuration information of the neighbor cell (Vogedes: Fig. 16; [0236]-[0238], UE detects TN cells and obtains PCI), beam configuration information of the neighbor cell, Sub-Carrier Spacing (SCS) configuration information of the neighbor cell, bandwidth configuration information of the neighbor cell, a cell-level signal measurement result of the neighbor cell, or a beam-level measurement result of the neighbor cell.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 3, 5-10, 13, 15, 16, 19 and 23-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vogedes et al (US 2024/0063894 A1) in view of Zhang et al (US 2021/0051560 A1).
Regarding claims 3, 13, 19 and 24, Vogedes does not explicitly disclose transmitting, by the terminal device, a second message to the network device, the second message being used to request the network device to allow the terminal transmit the first information.
Zhang teaches transmitting, by the terminal device, a second message to the network device, the second message being used to request the network device to allow the terminal transmit the first information (Zhang: Figs. 4-5; [0189], [0196], UE transmits capability information/second message to report its capability to report band information).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Vogedes by transmitting, by the terminal device, a second message to the network device, the second message being used to request the network device to allow the terminal transmit the first information as disclosed by Zhang to provide a system for effective handover (Zhang: Abstract).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Vogedes in view of Zhang teaches receiving, by the terminal device, first configuration information and/or second configuration information transmitted by the network device, the first configuration information being used to configure content included in the first information reported by the terminal device, and the second configuration information being used to configure a format in which the terminal device reports the first information (Zhang: Fig. 5:S501; [0193]-[0194]).
Regarding claim 6, Vogedes in view of Zhang teaches wherein the first configuration information and/or the second configuration information is transmitted via a third message, the third message indicating that the network device allows the terminal device to transmit the first information (Zhang: Fig. 5:S501; [0193]-[0194]).
Regarding claims 7 and 16, Vogedes in view of Zhang teaches transmitting, by the terminal device, a fourth message to the network device, the fourth message being used to request the network device to configure configuration information for obtaining the characteristic information of the neighbor cell and/or configuration information for triggering reporting of the characteristic information of the neighbor cell (Zhang: Fig. 5; [0204]-[0205] UE transmit band information and CGI of a neighboring cell indication handover to the neighboring cell); and receiving, by the terminal device, third configuration information transmitted by the network device, the third configuration information being used by the terminal device to obtain the characteristic information of the neighbor cell and/or trigger the reporting of the characteristic information of the neighbor cell (Zhang: Fig. 5; [0117], [0205] UE receives downlink ARFCN/configuration for the UE to derive key for accessing the target cell).
Regarding claim 8, Vogedes in view of Zhang teaches wherein the fourth message comprises at least one of: second indication information indicating that the terminal device requests a Measurement Gap (MG) configuration; a desired MG configuration of the terminal device; a type of task the terminal device expects to perform; or third indication information indicating that the terminal device desires to leave a current network connection (Zhang: Fig. 5; [0204]-[0205] UE transmit band information and CGI of a neighboring cell indication handover to the neighboring cell).
Regarding claim 9, Vogedes in view of Zhang teaches wherein the third configuration information comprises at least one of: a Measurement Gap (MG) configuration allowed by the network device; an upper limit on a number of frequency points required by the network device to be measured by the terminal device; an upper limit on a number of cells required by the network device to be measured by the terminal device; or a trigger condition for the terminal device to report the characteristic information of the neighbor cell (Zhang: Fig. 5; [0117], [0193], [0205] UE receives downlink ARFCN/configuration for the UE to derive key for accessing the target cell).
Regarding claim 10, Vogedes in view of Zhang teaches wherein the characteristic information of the terminal device comprises at least one of: location information of the terminal device; or capability information of the terminal device (Zhang: Fig. 4; S401b; UE capability reported) wherein the capability information of the terminal device comprises at least one of: a frequency band or frequency band combination supported by the terminal device; a bandwidth supported by the terminal device (Zhang: Fig. 4:S401b; [0189], the capability information is used to indicate whether the UE supports reporting of the band information of the cell).
Regarding claims 23 and 25, Vogedes in view of Zhang teaches wherein said transmitting, by the terminal device, the first information to the network device comprises: transmitting, by the terminal device, the first information to the network device in response to receiving a third message transmitted by the network device, the third message indicating that the network device allows the terminal device to transmit the first information (Zhang: Figs. 4-5:S501; [0189], [0193], [0196], UE receives RRC message S501/third message from the base station to report information; UE transmits capability information to report its capability (allow) to report band information).
Conclusion
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/KODZOVI ACOLATSE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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