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 .
Response to Amendment
This is in response to an amendment/response filed 5/13/2026.
No claims have been cancelled.
No claims have been added.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending.
The Electronic Terminal Disclaimer filed on 4/1/2026 is approved.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 5/13/2026 have been fully considered and they are persuasive.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 5 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The sentence in claim 5 and 15 is not complete. Currently, the sentence reads “…wherein determining the set of two or more candidate channels for use by the NTN in a geographic area is static, such that the set of two or more candidate channels is only changed when portions of the electromagnetic spectrum allocated to the NTN or allocated to the TN channel”. It’s not clear if the sentence should read “…such that the set of two or more candidate channels is only changed when portions of the electromagnetic spectrum are allocated to the NTN or allocated to the TN channel” or “such that the set of two or more candidate channels is only changed when portions of the electromagnetic spectrum allocated to the NTN or allocated to the TN channel are…”. 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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 5, 6, 10-12, 15, 16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miyagawa et al. US 20160345189 (hereinafter “Miyagawa”) in view of Cao et al. US 20220167338 (hereinafter “Cao”)
As to claim 1 and 11 (claim 1 is the method claim for the apparatus in claim 11):
Miyagawa discloses:
A method of operating a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) to cover two or more geographic areas, and where a Terrestrial Network (TN) is also operating in at least one of the geographic areas, the method comprising: determining channels that are allocated for use by the TN; determining a set of two or more candidate channels for use by the NTN from areas of electromagnetic spectrum that are allocated for use by the NTN and which electromagnetic spectrum does not overlap with the channels allocated for use by the TN, the two or more candidate channels each specifying one or more frequencies available for communication between the NTN and two or more User Equipments (UEs) operating within the two or more geographic areas; (“Furtheremore, in the case that an allocation control is performed so that the frequencies used in the terrestrial cellular base stations 20 and the frequencies used in the satellite base station 30 do not overlapped with each other as shown in aforementioned FIG. 3, as shown in FIG. 16B, the radio transmission system A corresponding to terrestrial cellular base stations is used for communications between the terrestrial cellular base stations 20 and the mobile station apparatus 10 via the radio resources of frequencies f0 and f1. On the other hand, the radio transmission system B corresponding to satellite base stations is used for communications between the satellite base station 30 and the mobile station apparatus 10 via the radio resources of frequencies f2 and f3.”, Miyagawa [0109]) (FIG. 1, 3, 6A, and 16B, Miyagawa) (Examiner’s Note: the cited figures (e.g. FIG. 1 and FIG. 6A) show multiple UEs operating in two or more “geographic areas”)
Miyagawa as described above does not explicitly teach:
assigning one of the set of candidate channels for use by the NTN as an active channel for the UEs to communicate using the NTN in a first one of the geographic areas; and assigning one of the set of candidate channels for use by the UEs as an active channel for the UEs to communicate using the NTN in a second one of the geographic areas.
However, Cao further teaches assigning different frequencies for use by the NTN at different areas which includes:
assigning one of the set of candidate channels for use by the NTN as an active channel for the UEs to communicate using the NTN in a first one of the geographic areas; and assigning one of the set of candidate channels for use by the UEs as an active channel for the UEs to communicate using the NTN in a second one of the geographic areas. (FIG. 4 shows different frequencies assigned to different geographic areas, Cao) (“On the other hand, to achieve high efficiency, the frequency reuse as shown in FIG. 4 can be used in NTN deployment. In some NTN applications, the beam switching and the frequency resource change happen together. This can be supported by bundling beams and BWPs. A typical four-color frequency reuse and corresponding BWP mapping example is provided in FIG. 5.”, Cao [0043])
Miyagawa and Cao are analogous because they pertain to resource assignment for NTNs.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include assigning different frequencies for use by the NTN at different areas as described in Cao into Miyagawa. By modifying the method to include assigning different frequencies for use by the NTN at different areas as taught by Cao, the benefits of improved resource assignment at different locations (Cao [0043] and Miyagawa [FIG. 6A]) are achieved.
As to claim 2 and 12 (claim 2 is the method claim for the apparatus in claim 12):
Miyagawa as described above does not explicitly teach:
The method of claim 1 additionally comprising: assigning one or more of the candidate channels for use by the NTN as one or more non-active channels in the first one of the geographic areas, such that at least one of the non-active channels is the same as the active channel assigned to the second one of the geographic areas.
However, Cao further teaches assigning different frequencies for use by the NTN at different areas which includes:
The method of claim 1 additionally comprising: assigning one or more of the candidate channels for use by the NTN as one or more non-active channels in the first one of the geographic areas, such that at least one of the non-active channels is the same as the active channel assigned to the second one of the geographic areas. (“On the other hand, to achieve high efficiency, the frequency reuse as shown in FIG. 4 can be used in NTN deployment. In some NTN applications, the beam switching and the frequency resource change happen together. This can be supported by bundling beams and BWPs. A typical four-color frequency reuse and corresponding BWP mapping example is provided in FIG. 5.”, Cao [0043]) (As shown in FIG. 4 as the active area changes over time, an active channel or frequency such as ‘freq 4’ is non-active in another area, Cao)
Miyagawa and Cao are analogous because they pertain to resource assignment for NTNs.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include assigning different frequencies for use by the NTN at different areas as described in Cao into Miyagawa. By modifying the method to include assigning different frequencies for use by the NTN at different areas as taught by Cao, the benefits of improved resource assignment at different locations (Cao [0043] and Miyagawa [FIG. 6A]) are achieved.
As to claim 5 and 15 (claim 5 is the method claim for the apparatus in claim 15):
The method of claim 1 wherein determining the set of two or more candidate channels for use by the NTN in a geographic area is static, such that the set of two or more candidate channels is only changed when portions of the electromagnetic spectrum allocated to the NTN or allocated to the TN channel. (“Furtheremore, in the case that an allocation control is performed so that the frequencies used in the terrestrial cellular base stations 20 and the frequencies used in the satellite base station 30 do not overlapped with each other as shown in aforementioned FIG. 3, as shown in FIG. 16B, the radio transmission system A corresponding to terrestrial cellular base stations is used for communications between the terrestrial cellular base stations 20 and the mobile station apparatus 10 via the radio resources of frequencies f0 and f1. On the other hand, the radio transmission system B corresponding to satellite base stations is used for communications between the satellite base station 30 and the mobile station apparatus 10 via the radio resources of frequencies f2 and f3.”, Miyagawa [0109]) (FIG. 1, 3, 6A, and 16B, Miyagawa) (Examiner’s Note: It’s not clear what is meant by this limitation. Please refer to the 112(b) rejection)
As to claim 6 and 16 (claim 6 is the method claim for the apparatus in claim 16):
Miyagawa discloses:
The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the active channels is further assigned to:
(a) maximize at least one of throughput, channel quality or signal strength of the NTN;
(b) minimize out of band interference between the TN and NTN, and/or (c) minimize intra-NTN-band handover interference when one of UEs moves from one geographic area to another geographic area. (“In this case, the interference between the terrestrial cellular mobile communication system and the satellite mobile communication system can be prevented more surely by allocating the divided frequency band used in the same frequency band in each base station in the common area so as not to overlap with each other. Moreover, the allocation rate of the divided frequency band allocated for the satellite base station in the emergent condition is increased more than that in the normal condition. Accordingly, while improving the spectral efficiency of the terrestrial cellular mobile communication system in the normal condition, and the communications in the terrestrial cellular base stations in which a failure is occurred in the common area can be covered with the satellite communication system in the emergent condition. Therefore, it is capable of surely providing the mobile communication services using mobile station apparatuses in the terrestrial cellular mobile communication system and the satellite mobile communication system.”, Miyagawa [0014])
As to claim 10 and 20 (claim 10 is the method claim for the apparatus in claim 20):
Miyagawa discloses:
The method of claim 1 wherein the channels are assigned from a super-NTN spectrum that includes parts of the electromagnetic spectrum allocated for both the TN and NTN in at least one of the geographic areas. (FIG. 3A and 3B show that parts of the frequency spectrum are allocated for both the TN and NTN in a geographic area, Miyagawa)
Claim(s) 3, 4, 13, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miyagawa in view of Cao, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Fu et al. US 20250056255 (hereinafter “Fu”)
As to claim 3 and 13 (claim 3 is the method claim for the apparatus in claim 13):
Miyagawa as described above does not explicitly teach:
The method of claim 2 additionally comprising: at a gNodeB operating within the NTN, receiving information regarding movement of a selected one of the UEs from the first geographic area to the second geographic area; and transmitting an instruction to the selected one of the UEs to switch its assigned active channel.
However, Cao further teaches assigning different frequencies for use by the NTN at different areas which includes:
and transmitting an instruction to the selected one of the UEs to switch its assigned active channel. (“On the other hand, to achieve high efficiency, the frequency reuse as shown in FIG. 4 can be used in NTN deployment. In some NTN applications, the beam switching and the frequency resource change happen together. This can be supported by bundling beams and BWPs. A typical four-color frequency reuse and corresponding BWP mapping example is provided in FIG. 5.”, Cao [0043]) (“In an NTN network, the mobility due to satellite movement is generally the dominant factor. In some use cases, high speed UEs (like aircraft) movement becomes another non-negligible factor. Thanks to the highly predictable satellite orbit and planned airline, the beam/frequency switching due to mobility can be supported by following ways.”, Cao [0044]) (“In some implementations, the network device uses (i) RRC reconfiguration, (ii) PDCCH DCI format 0_1, or (iii) PDCCH DCI format 1_1 to inform the UE to switch BWP if needed. In some implementations, the network device may instruct the switching to the resource that has been previously reported by the UE. In some implementations, the network device may instruct the switching to a resource determined by the network device, in which the resource can be: (i) one of the candidate resource reported by UE, or (ii) a resource determined by the network device regardless of what the UE has reported.”, Cao [0093])
Miyagawa and Cao are analogous because they pertain to resource assignment for NTNs.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include assigning different frequencies for use by the NTN at different areas as described in Cao into Miyagawa. By modifying the method to include assigning different frequencies for use by the NTN at different areas as taught by Cao, the benefits of improved resource assignment at different locations (Cao [0043] and Miyagawa [FIG. 6A]) are achieved.
The combination of Cao and Miyagawa as described above does not explicitly teach:
at a gNodeB operating within the NTN, receiving information regarding movement of a selected one of the UEs from the first geographic area to the second geographic area;
However, Fu further teaches receiving information regarding movement of UEs which includes:
at a gNodeB operating within the NTN, receiving information regarding movement of a selected one of the UEs (“Although FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the wireless network 100, various changes can be made to FIG. 1. The wireless network 100 can include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement”, Fu [0044]) from the first geographic area to the second geographic area; (“In the embodiment of the present disclosure, when the UE reports the information related to the position of the UE to the serving node, the UE may report the position information of the UE (for example, when it is granted by the user) or may report the relative position information between the UE and the node/the beam of the node. For example, according to its own position and the reference location of the beam of the serving satellite in the received second information, the UE may calculate and report the relative position relationship between the UE and this beam; and, according to its own position and the reference location of the beam of the neighboring node of the serving node in the second information, the UE may calculate and report the relative position relationship between the UE and this beam.”, Fu [0127]) (FIG. 1 shows different coverage areas, Fu)
Fu, Miyagawa, and Cao are analogous because they pertain to communication management between UEs and NTN.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include receiving information regarding movement of UEs as described in Fu into Miyagawa as modified by Cao. By modifying the method to include receiving information regarding movement of UEs as taught by Fu, the benefits of improved resource assignment at different locations (Cao [0043] and Miyagawa [FIG. 6A]) and tracking UE movement (Fu [0127]) are achieved.
As to claim 4 (claim 4 is the method claim for the apparatus in claim 14):
The combination of Cao and Miyagawa as described above does not explicitly teach:
The method of claim 3 wherein transmitting an instruction further comprises: using information from UEs for conditional handover for intra-frequency or inter-frequency handovers.
However, Fu further teaches conditional handovers including intra-frequency and inter-frequency handovers which includes:
The method of claim 3 wherein transmitting an instruction further comprises: using information from UEs for conditional handover for intra-frequency or inter-frequency handovers. (“The gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a plurality of first User Equipments (UEs) within a coverage area 120 of gNB 102.”, Fu [0041]) (“Although FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the wireless network 100, various changes can be made to FIG. 1. The wireless network 100 can include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement, for example. Furthermore, the gNB 101 can directly communicate with any number of UEs and provide wireless broadband access to the network 130 for those UEs.”, Fu [0044]) (“In a wireless communication system, when the UE is in a connected state (RRC_CONNECTED), the network may realize the mobility management of the UE through a handover process, that is, the UE in the connected state may be switched from one cell to another cell thorough a cell handover or cell conditional handover process. This is because the movement of the UE or the movement of network coverage will lead to the constant change of the channel condition around the UE. In order to support the mobility management of the UE and timely obtain the channel condition of current surrounding cells of the UE, a network node will send the configuration information of radio resource management to the UE to configure the UE to perform RRM measurement, the UE in the connected state will report an RRM measurement result to the network node to assist the network to make a handover decision.”, Fu [0075]) (“The target cell search time is the time required by the UE to search a target cell during the cell handover. If the UE receives a handover command and if the target cell is unknown, the target cell search time is required; and, if the target cell is known, the target cell search time may be 0. In the current related art, the target cell search time for a UE generally only depends on the type of the target cell (for example, the target cell is an unknown intra-frequency cell or an unknown inter-frequency cell), so that the target cell search times for some UEs are too long.”, Fu [0147]) (“Optionally, when the target cell is a cell in a frequency range 1 (FR1 for short): if the target cell is an unknown intra-frequency cell and the Es/Iot (the ratio of useful signals to interference and noise on a symbol) of the target cell is greater than or equal to a first threshold (dB), T.sub.search=T.sub.rs Ms; and, if the target cell is an unknown inter-frequency cell and the Es/Iot of the target cell is greater than or equal to the first threshold (dB), T.sub.search=3*T.sub.rs Ms.”, Fu [0199])
Fu, Miyagawa, and Cao are analogous because they pertain to communication management between UEs and NTN.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include conditional handovers including intra-frequency and inter-frequency handovers as described in Fu into Miyagawa as modified by Cao. By modifying the method to include conditional handovers including intra-frequency and inter-frequency handovers s as taught by Fu, the benefits of improved resource assignment at different locations (Cao [0043] and Miyagawa [FIG. 6A]) and tracking UE movement (Fu [0127]) are achieved.
Claim(s) 7 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miyagawa in view of Cao, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Sherman et al. US 6463279 (hereinafter “Sherman”)
As to claim 7 and 17 (claim 7 is the method claim for the apparatus in claim 17):
The combination of Cao and Miyagawa as described above does not explicitly teach:
The method of claim 1 wherein assigning one of the set of candidate channels for use as the active channel for the UEs to communicate using the NTN in the first one of the geographic areas further comprises: i. mapping two or more of the UEs to the one of the set of candidate channels having largest bandwidth; or ii. distributing two or more of the set of candidate channels to two or more of the UEs, based on the respective bandwidths of the two or more of the set of candidate channels.
However, Sherman further teaches mapping channels to UEs which includes:
The method of claim 1 wherein assigning one of the set of candidate channels for use as the active channel for the UEs to communicate using the NTN in the first one of the geographic areas further comprises: i. mapping two or more of the UEs to the one of the set of candidate channels having largest bandwidth; or ii. distributing two or more of the set of candidate channels to two or more of the UEs, based on the respective bandwidths of the two or more of the set of candidate channels. (“Therefore, multiple-satellite networks of this invention have a channel allocation within their particular, limited spectrum bandwidths that maximizes network capacity, while also protecting the quality of user terminal circuits.”, Sherman [15])(“FIG. 6 shows a fixed-grid "tiling" of satellite-cellular traffic nodes for the 13 frequencies available in a given satellite beam, indicated here by a hexagon. Each tile represents a node that is assigned a channel frequency and a given number of user-terminal links. Each number in FIG. 6 identifies the particular channel frequency used by each tile. The tiles are laid out so as to maximize the distance between tiles where a given frequency is reused. For maximum network capacity, the tiling pattern should be such that this maximum separation between reused channels is maintained as the beams move across the earth's surface.”, Sherman [50])
Sherman, Miyagawa and Cao are analogous because they pertain to communication management between UEs and NTN.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include mapping channels to UEs as described in Sherman into Miyagawa as modified by Cao. By modifying the method to include mapping channels to UEs as taught by Sherman, the benefits of improved resource assignment at different locations (Cao [0043] and Miyagawa [FIG. 6A]) and channel mapping (Sherman [50]) are achieved.
Claim(s) 8 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miyagawa in view of Cao, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Veerepalli et al. US 20150063193 (hereinafter “Veerepalli”)
As to claim 8 and 18 (claim 8 is the method claim for the apparatus in claim 18):
The combination of Cao and Miyagawa as described above does not explicitly teach:
The method of claim 1 additionally comprising: determining when a selected UE is located near a border of the first one of the geographic areas, and then assigning the active channels of the second one of the areas to a non-active list of the selected UE.
However, Veerepalli further teaches channel management when a UE is near a border which includes:
The method of claim 1 additionally comprising: determining when a selected UE is located near a border of the first one of the geographic areas, and then assigning the active channels of the second one of the areas to a non-active list of the selected UE. (“Referring to FIG. 10, in step 1041, Cell A 1010 broadcasts the Cell A SIB15 1011 to the UE 1001. In step 1043, when the UE 101 selects a service corresponding to F2:SAI2, the SL of the UE 1001 sends a TMGI request corresponding to F2:SAI2 to the ML of the UE 1001. In step 1045, the UE 1001 starts a T.sub.act timer. In step 1047, because Cell A 1010 does not provide F2 of the selected service, if the UE 1001 is close to a border of Cell D 1030, the UE 1001 performs a cell reselection procedure to reselect Cell D 1030 from Cell A 1010, thereby changing the serving frequency for the UE 1001 from F1 to F2. It is noted that the cell reselection process takes some time, and T.sub.act provides time to cover the time it takes for the cell reselection, to avoid immediately placing F2:SAI2 in the blacklist. In step 1049, the UE 1001 receives the Cell D SIB15 1031 from Cell D 1030. In step 1051, the UE 1001 determines that SAI2 on F2 is on the intra-frequency SAI list for F2 because Cell D 1030 supports a service associated with F2:SAI2. Thus, as long as T.sub.act has not expired, the UE 1001 does not place F2:SAI2 in the blacklist even if the service corresponding to the desired TMGI has not started (e.g., the UE 1001 has not received the desired TMGI). In this example, because SAI2 on F2 is in the intra-frequency SAI list, the UE 1001 does not blacklist SAI2 on F2, at least until T.sub.act expires.”, Veerepalli [0086]) (Examiner’s Note: if the T.sub.act timer expires, F2:SAI2 is placed on the blacklist which maps to “non-active list”)
Veerepalli, Miyagawa, and Cao are analogous because they pertain to communication management for moving UEs.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include channel management when a UE is near a border as described in Veerepalli into Miyagawa as modified by Cao. By modifying the method to include channel management when a UE is near a border as taught by Veerepalli, the benefits of improved resource assignment at different locations (Cao [0043] and Miyagawa [FIG. 6A]) and improved channel management (Veerepalli [86]) are achieved.
Claim(s) 9 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miyagawa in view of Cao, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Fu et al. US 20250056255 (hereinafter “Fu”) and Zhang et al. US 20210195488 (hereinafter “Zhang”)
As to claim 9 and 19 (claim 9 is the method claim for the apparatus in claim 19):
The combination of Cao and Miyagawa as described above does not explicitly teach:
The method of claim 2 additionally comprising: at a gNodeB operating within the NTN, receiving information regarding movement of a selected UE from the first geographic area to the second geographic area;
However, Fu further teaches tracking UE movement which includes:
The method of claim 2 additionally comprising: at a gNodeB operating within the NTN, receiving information regarding movement of a selected UE from the first geographic area to the second geographic area; (“In the embodiment of the present disclosure, when the UE reports the information related to the position of the UE to the serving node, the UE may report the position information of the UE (for example, when it is granted by the user) or may report the relative position information between the UE and the node/the beam of the node. For example, according to its own position and the reference location of the beam of the serving satellite in the received second information, the UE may calculate and report the relative position relationship between the UE and this beam; and, according to its own position and the reference location of the beam of the neighboring node of the serving node in the second information, the UE may calculate and report the relative position relationship between the UE and this beam.”, Fu [0127]) (FIG. 1 shows different coverage areas, Fu)
Fu, Miyagawa, and Cao are analogous because they pertain to communication management between UEs and NTN.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include conditional handovers including intra-frequency and inter-frequency handovers as described in Fu into Miyagawa as modified by Cao. By modifying the method to include conditional handovers including intra-frequency and inter-frequency handovers s as taught by Fu, the benefits of improved resource assignment at different locations (Cao [0043] and Miyagawa [FIG. 6A]) and tracking UE movement (Fu [0127]) are achieved.
The combination of Cao, Fu, and Miyagawa as described above does not explicitly teach:
when the active channels of the first and second geographic areas are the same, then: (a) not switching the selected UE to a new active channel; and (b) effecting an intra-frequency handover such that the UE operates within a different portion of the active channel;
and Otherwise: (c) switching the selected UE to a new active channel that corresponds to at least one of the non-active channels; and (d) effecting an inter-frequency handover such that the UE operates within a portion of the new active channel.
However, Zhang further teaches intra-frequency and inter-frequency handover which includes:
when the active channels of the first and second geographic areas are the same (FIG. 2 shows different geographic areas, Zhang) (“In this example, when both the source and target cells utilize BWPs that are intra-frequency (i.e., in the same frequency range 602)”, Zhang [0084]), then: (a) not switching the selected UE to a new active channel; and (b) effecting an intra-frequency handover such that the UE operates within a different portion of the active channel; (“During this time, if the UE moves from one cell to another, or if signal quality from a neighboring cell exceeds that from the serving cell for a given amount of time, the UE may undertake a handoff or handover from the serving cell to the neighboring (target) cell.”, Zhang [0048]) (“FIG. 6 illustrates exemplary frequency BWPs used in a source cell and a target cell, which are shown side by side to illustrate BWP correspondence between the two cells. In this example, when both the source and target cells utilize BWPs that are intra-frequency (i.e., in the same frequency range 602), and further that a source cell BWP 604 with an N number of resource blocks (RB) and target cell BWP 606 are substantially the same, switching is allowed, and a UE will switch from the source to the target cell.”, Zhang [0084]) (“According to another aspect, the active DL/UL BWP of the target cell does not need to be confined within or identical to that of the source cell. That is, the DL/UL BWP may be partially overlapping or non-overlapping within the intra-frequency L1/L2 cell switching.”, Zhang [0085])
and Otherwise: (c) switching the selected UE to a new active channel that corresponds to at least one of the non-active channels; and (d) effecting an inter-frequency handover such that the UE operates within a portion of the new active channel. (“Additionally in other aspects, the present disclosure is also applicable to BWPs that are in different frequency bandwidths (e.g., inter-frequency), in which case the RBs or carriers may belong to different operating frequency bands (e.g., inter-band).”, Zhang [0087]) (“In particular, inter-frequency L1/L2 cell switching may include one or both of the two cases of intra-band and inter-band inter-frequency L1/L2 cell switches. As a visual example of this scenario, FIG. 8 illustrates exemplary frequency BWPs used in a source cell and a target cell, which are shown side by side to illustrate BWP correspondence between the two cells. In this example, both the source and target cells utilize BWPs that are intra-frequency (i.e., in the same frequency range 802) and also utilize BWPs in other frequency ranges (e.g., the inter-frequency range 804, which includes frequencies above or in addition to the intra frequency range 802 in this example). Also in this example, L1/L2 cell switching could be configured to allow switching when there are intra-band BWPs such as BWP 806 and BWP 808. Additionally, the cell switching can be configured to allow switching when there is a BWP in the inter-frequency range as shown by BWP 810 or BWP 812, as examples. It is noted that although the bandwidth parts are shown with an “N” number of RBs, the same RB numbers among the BWPs is not limited to such and each bandwidth part may have different numbers of RBs based on different numerologies.”, Zhang [0088])
Zhang, Fu, Miyagawa and Cao are analogous because they pertain to communication management for moving UEs..
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include intra-frequency and inter-frequency handover as described in Zhang into Miyagawa as modified by Cao and Fu. By modifying the method to include intra-frequency and inter-frequency handover as taught by Zhang, the benefits of improved resource assignment at different locations (Cao [0043], Zhang [0088], and Miyagawa [FIG. 6A]) and tracking UE movement (Fu [0127]) are achieved.
Conclusion
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/A.C.K./
Examiner
Art Unit 2471
/MOHAMMAD S ADHAMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
Prosecution Insights