DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
2. The instant application claims priority to the PCT/CN2021/105058
Filing Date 07/07/2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted, IDS - 01/05/2024, 06/14/2024 and 05/21/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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
he 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:
• Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
• Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
• Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
• Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating
• obviousness or non-obviousness.
5. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the
claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any
evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to
point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly
owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to
consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2)
prior art against the later invention.
6. Claims 1-7, 14-16 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hyoungsuk-Jeon et al. (US-20250151074-A1), hereinafter “Hyoungsuk-Jeon” in view of Zhe Fu et al. (US-20230007523-A1) hereinafter “Zhe Fu”.
Regarding Claim 1,
Hyoungsuk-Jeon discloses, ‘A method for Small Data Transmission (SDT) processing in a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN), executed by a terminal device, comprises:’ (The terminal perform the SDT and the SDT includes in non-terrestrial network [0209, 0211]),
And didn’t disclose, ‘determining location information of the terminal device’
Zhe Fu in the relevant art discloses, the terminal determine measurement parameters from the config and that include location in non-terrestrial [0135-0136].
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of Hyoungsuk-Jeon and to include with that of Zhe Fu to come up with the claim invention,
Hyoungsuk-Jeon provide motive to determine the-location uses computing device configured as illustrated in Fig. 15 [0198]. And, terminal determine based on cell-config parameters activate parameters and the-location [0213, 0254]. That can derive to specifically determine the-location [0135-0136] and can achieve accurately determine the location [0109]. This can improve reliability and latency, Hyoungsuk-Jeon [0211].
Hyoungsuk-Jeon discloses, ‘and performing a determination of an SDT transmission condition based on the location information of the terminal device’ (Fig. 15 includes computing device and configured to determine location [0198]. And, the SDT comprise location and in a non-terrestrial network [0209].)
Regarding Claim 2,
‘The method according to claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Hyoungsuk-Jeon, ‘wherein, performing the determination of the SDT transmission condition, comprises: determining whether a Timing Advance (TA) value for the SDT is valid or not valid’ (The terminal determine to TA is valid (or not) [0238] and Fig. 21.)
And didn’t disclose, ’based on the location information.’ (Disclosed first part of the Claim 1 and motive would be identical to Claim 1 disclosed above).
Regarding Claim 3,
‘The method according to claim 2’ (disclosed above),
Hyoungsuk-Jeon discloses, ‘wherein, determining whether the TA value for the SDT is valid or not valid comprises at least one of: for the SDT using configured grant resource allocation, determining that the TA value for the SDT is valid ’ (disclosure, configured grant resources for the SDT, disclosure claim 17; the terminal perform operations: receive CG-UL grant, CG-config for the SDT; And, a BWP for SDT [0300]; CG-config valid/activated/re-activated; config-parameters for pre-configured grant to start in time-reference [0217] and Fig. 18; Perform the TA validation for the UL in Fig. 20. Update-location uses TAU/RAU [0281] based on cell changed-config Fig. 24.
And didn’t disclose, ‘in response to the location information meeting a first preset condition’ (Zhe Fu discloses [0135-0136]. The condition to activate the measurement parameters; also include the activation condition for each activating sync-block timing config (SMTC) parameter [0141]. Response to event-triggered measurement [0043]).
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of Hyoungsuk-Jeon and to include with that of Zhe Fu to come up with the claim invention,
Hyoungsuk-Jeon provide motive to provide UL BWP to activate and switch between configured BWPs adaptation [0114-0115], activate pre-configured-grant RRC/MAC CE/DCI [0218]. And, can capitalize this activation to perform the activation condition as disclosed Zhe Fu [0141]. This would improve the communication performance between terminal-network [0051] and the SDT [0210].
Identical to first part of this claim only include RSRP ‘or for the SDT using the configured grant resource allocation, in response to the location information meeting the first preset condition and Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP) change information meeting a first change condition, determining that the TA value for the SDT is valid.’ (RSRP change condition Zhe Fu discloses, [0201, 0204]. Motive would be identical to first part)
Regarding Claim 4,
‘The method according to claim 3’ (disclosed above),
Zhe Fu discloses, ‘wherein the location information meeting the first preset condition comprises at least one of:
an increase in a distance from the terminal device to a network-side device compared to a last obtained or recorded distance from the terminal device to the network-side device is equal to or less than a first distance threshold,
a decrease in the distance compared to the last obtained or recorded distance is equal to or less than the first distance threshold,
an increase in a Round Trip Time (RTT) between the terminal device and the network-side device compared to a last obtained or recorded RTT between the terminal device and the network-side device is equal to or less than a first time threshold,
a decrease in the RTT compared to the last obtained or recorded RTT is equal to or less than the first time threshold,
an increase in a TA value estimated by the terminal device relative to a currently used TA value is equal to or less than a first TA threshold,
or a decrease in the TA value estimated by the terminal device relative to the currently used TA value is equal to or less than the first TA threshold ((The terminal determine the first measurement from the plurality of the measurement parameters based on the first configuration includes [0135-0136]:
a location, a distance between terminal-network
a distance between the terminal- reference point,
an RTT between the terminal-network device,
a TA between the terminal-network device.
And, the first config-information configured to a condition-activating the measurement parameter. And, the activation-condition include: activation threshold further include a distance threshold, a TA threshold and a RTT threshold [0141]. The terminal device determine the measurement time to perform the measurement on the [0170-0173].
Determine the distance smaller/larger distance; the distance is less than or equal to first distance threshold [0176-0178].
Similar to distance, TA between the terminal-network is less than equal to first TA threshold [0189]. And, the first RTT threshold [0206, 0209].);
Motive would be identical to Claim 3 disclosed above. Hyoungsuk-Jeon includes activate/re-activate/initiate transmission based on one or more conditions, valid config and validation conditions for the TAT and TA [0235-0238]. And, measure parameters RSRP [0149, 0161], Fig. 21 and measurement-based validation/config [0241]. This would achieve more throughput.
Zhe Fu discloses, ‘and the RSRP change information meeting the first change condition, comprises: an absolute value of a difference between a currently measured RSRP value of a downlink pathloss reference and a stored RSRP value of downlink pathloss reference is less than a first RSRP threshold.’ (a link-loss between the terminal device and the network device, RSRP between the terminal-network [0196, 0204]. And motive would be identical to first claim element as part of RSRP and path-loss. Hyoungsuk-Jeon include path-loss link scaling [0256])
Regarding Claim 5,
‘The method according to claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Hyoungsuk-Jeon discloses, ‘wherein, performing the determination of the SDT transmission condition comprises: determining whether to initiate the SDT’ ([0209, 0211].)
And didn’t discloses, ‘based on the location information.’ (discloses above first part of Claim 1 and motive would be identical disclosed above.)
Regarding Claim 6,
‘The method according to claim 5’ (disclosed above),
Hyoungsuk-Jeon discloses, ‘wherein, determining whether to initiate the SDT’ (disclosed above),
Zhe Fu discloses, ‘based on the location information comprises one of: in response to the location information meeting a second preset condition, determining to initiate the SDT; or in response to the location information meeting the second preset condition and Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP) change information meeting a second change condition, determining to initiate the SDT.’ ([0204])
Regarding Claim 7,
‘The method according to claim 6’ (disclosed above),
Zhe Fu discloses, ‘wherein the location information of meeting the second preset condition, comprises at least one:
a distance from the terminal device to a network-side device is less than a second distance threshold,
a Round Trip Time (RTT) between the terminal device and the network-side device is less than a second time threshold,
an increase in a TA value estimated by the terminal device relative to a currently used TA value is equal to or less than a second TA threshold,
a decrease in the TA value estimated by the terminal device relative to the currently used TA value is equal to or less than the second TA threshold;
and the RSRP change information meeting the second change condition, comprises: a currently measured RSRP value of a downlink pathloss reference is greater than a second RSRP threshold.’ (Condition for activate-each-SMTC parameter periodicity of SMTC/measurement. Activation condition-threshold: distance, TA, RTT; a plurality of the activation condition [0141-0144].
The second distance threshold [0179], second TA threshold [0189], second RTT threshold [0208-0209] and the RSRP change condition include link-loss [0204]. Motive would be identical to Claim 3 as include second preset-condition instead of the first.)
Regarding Claim 14,
‘The method according to claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Hyoungsuk-Jeon discloses, ‘wherein performing the determination of the SDT transmission condition includes: determining whether a Time Alignment Timer (TAT) has timed out based on the location information.’ (the terminal can perform TAT based validation [0238] and Fig. 20.)
Regarding Claim 15,
‘The method according to claim 14, wherein, determining whether the TAT has timed out comprises:’(disclosed above),
Identical to Claim 3 and 7 disclosed above, ‘in response to the location information meeting a seventh preset condition, wherein the location information meeting the seventh preset condition comprises at least one of: a distance from the terminal device to a network side device is greater than the seventh distance threshold, a Round Trip Time (RTT) between the terminal device and the network side device is greater than a seventh time threshold, an increase in a Timing Advance (TA) value estimated by the terminal device relative to a currently used TA value is equal to or greater than a fifth TA threshold, or a decrease in the TA value estimated by the terminal device relative to the currently used TA value is equal to or greater than the fifth TA threshold’,
And further to include disclosed above in Claim 14, ‘determining that the TAT has timed out,’ (motive identical to claim 3, 7 and 9 disclosed above.)
Regarding Claim 16,
‘The method according to claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Hyoungsuk-Jeon discloses, ‘further comprises: in a case a timer starts timing after transmission is initiated on a dedicated Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) resource configured by the NTN, performing an enhanced process on the timer.’ ( The terminal device determine TA, UL timing for the UL PUSCH; run TAT during a time interval. Config parameters indicate a value of the TAT indicate a duration(e.g. how long) the TA offset is valid and adjust UL timing for UL transmission. And, adjust TA offset to determine the cell associated to TAG. [0230] and Fig. 20. And, config parameters includes UL BWP (e.g. PUSCH) [0258].
Regarding Claim 19,
Hyoungsuk-Jeon discloses Fig. 15 includes device, processor and memory, ‘A communication device comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores a computer program, and the processor executes the computer program to enable the communication device to perform the method according to claim 1.’ (disclosed above)
Regarding Claim 20,
Hyoungsuk-Jeon discloses Fig. 15 [0196], ‘A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for storing instructions, wherein, when the instructions are executed, the method according to claim 1 is implemented.’
7. Claims 8-13 and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable
over Hyoungsuk-Jeon et al. in view of Zhe Fu et al. and further in view of Agiwal (US-20240090045-A1) hereinafter “Agiwal”.
Regarding Claim 8,
‘The method according to claim 1, wherein performing the determination of the SDT transmission condition comprises: based on the location information’ (disclosed above),
And didn’t disclose, ‘determining whether to initiate message 3 (Msg3) of a four-step random access process for initial access of the SDT or to initiate message A (MsgA) of a two-step random access process for initial access of the SDT.’
Agiwal discloses, performed by terminal, the SDT for a 4-step-rach procedure, disclosure Claim 1-2. And, determination of the Rach in Fig. 5.
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of Hyoungsuk-Jeon and Zhe Fu to include with that of Agiwal to come up with the claim invention,
Hyoungsuk-Jeon discloses rach in Fig. 13 and disclosure claim 8. Someone would further provide rach-SDT. This would provide more reliability and improve the latency for low latency devices higher data rates [0040].
Regarding Claim 9,
‘The method according to claim 8, wherein, based on the location information’ (disclosed above),
Agiwal discloses, ‘determining whether to initiate the Msg3 of the four-step random access process for the initial access of the SDT or to initiate the MsgA of the two-step random access process for the initial access of the SDT, comprises one of:
initiating the MsgA of the two-step random access process for the initial access of the SDT' (disclosed above claim 8);
And didn’t disclose, ‘in response to the location information meeting a third preset condition,’
Zhe Fu discloses, the activation condition for each activating sync-block timing config (SMTC) parameter [0141] and Fig. 4 time length/period.
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of Hyoungsuk-Jeon and Zhe Fu to include with that of Agiwal to come up with the claim invention,
Agiwal provide details of the conditions Zhe Fu and perform rach-based-SDT Zhe Fu [0195]. Reduces the propagation delay.
Zhe Fu discloses, ‘in response to the location information not meeting the third preset condition’ (the activation condition and the activation threshold includes: distance, TA and RTT. The plurality of measurement parameters and the plurality of activation condition [0141-0144] ),
And further to include, ‘initiating the Msg3 of the four-step random access process for the initial access of the SDT’ (disclosed in claim 8 and motive would be identical to first part of this claim) ;
‘in response to the location information meeting the third preset condition and Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP) change information meeting a third change condition’ ([0204]),
And to include disclosed above, ‘initiating the MsgA of the two-step random access process for the initial access of the SDT’(motive identical to first part of this claim disclosed above);
Identical to first part of this claim disclosed above, ‘or in response to the RSRP change information not meeting the third change condition, initiating the Msg3 of the four-step random access process for the initial access of the SDT.’
Regarding Claim 10,
‘The method according to claim 9’ (disclosed above),
Zhe Fu discloses, ‘wherein the location information meeting the third preset condition, comprises at least one of:
a distance from the terminal device to a network side device is less than a third distance threshold, a Round Trip Time (RTT) between the terminal device and the network side device is less than a third time threshold,
an increase in a Timing Advance (TA) value estimated by the terminal device relative to a currently used TA value is equal to or less than a third TA threshold,
and a decrease in the TA value estimated by the terminal device relative to the currently used TA value is equal to or less than the third TA threshold’ (third distance threshold [0179, 0221]; plurality of measurement parameters includes greater than second TA threshold within the SMTC [0194, 0234-0236]. Motive would be identical to Claim 3 and 7 disclosed above as similar to first and the second condition. );
Zhe FU discloses, ‘and the RSRP change information meeting the third change condition, comprises: a currently measured RSRP value of downlink pathloss reference is greater than a third RSRP threshold value.’ (plurality of measurement parameter include SMTC period and the RSRP threshold [0246]. Motive identical to claim 3 and Claim 7 disclosed above.)
Regarding Claim 11,
‘The method according to claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Aigwal discloses, ‘wherein, performing the determination of the SDT transmission condition comprises: determining whether to initiate the SDT on a Supplemental UpLink (SUL) or a Normal UpLink (NUL) based on the location information.’ (initiated for the SUL or NUL [0085, 0096-0101]; Motive would be identical to Claim 8 disclosed above.)
Regarding Claim 12,
‘The method according to claim 11, wherein, determining whether to initiate the SDT on the SUL or the NUL’ (disclosed above),
Zhe Fu disclosed above, ‘based on the location information comprises: in response to the location information meeting a fourth preset condition’ (identical to Claim 3, 7 and 9 disclosed above),
And further to include disclosed above, ‘initiating the SDT on the SUL’ (Agiwal discloses claim 11 and motive identical to claim 8 disclosed above);
Identical to Claim 9 disclosed above, ‘in response to the location information not meeting the fourth preset condition, initiating the SDT on the NUL’ (number of preset condition disclosed above and Agiwal discloses);
Identical to Claim 3, 7 and 9 disclosed above only include SUL/NUL conditions disclosed in claim 11, ‘in response to the location information meeting a fifth preset condition and Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP) change information meeting a fourth change condition, initiating the SDT on the NUL; in response to the location information not meeting the fifth preset condition, initiating the SDT on the SUL’; ‘in response to the RSRP change information not meeting the fourth change condition, initiating the SDT on the SUL; in response to the location information meeting a sixth preset condition and the RSRP change information meeting a fifth change condition, initiating the SDT on the SUL; in response to the location information not meeting the sixth preset condition, initiating the SDT on the NUL; or in response to the RSRP change information not meeting the fifth change condition, initiating the SDT on the NUL.’
Regarding Claim 13,
‘The method according to claim 12’ (disclosed above),
Identical to Claim 3, 7, 9 and 12 disclosed above as preset condition, ‘wherein the location information meeting the fourth preset condition comprises at least one of: a distance from the terminal device to a network side device is greater than a fourth distance threshold, a Round Trip Time (RTT) between the terminal device and the network side device is greater than a fourth time threshold, an increase in a Timing Advance (TA) value estimated by the terminal device relative to a currently used TA value is equal to or greater than a fourth TA threshold, or a decrease in the TA value estimated by the terminal device relative to the currently used TA value is equal to or greater than the fourth TA threshold; the location information meeting the fifth preset condition comprises at least one of: the distance is less than a fifth distance threshold, or the RTT between the terminal device and the network side device is less than a fifth time threshold; the RSRP change information meeting the fourth change condition includes: a currently measured RSRP value of downlink pathloss reference is greater than a fourth RSRP threshold value; the location information meeting the sixth preset condition comprises at least one of: the distance is greater than a sixth distance threshold, or the RTT between the terminal device and the network side device is greater than a sixth time threshold; and the RSRP change information meeting the fifth change condition comprises: the currently measured RSRP value of downlink pathloss reference is less than the fifth RSRP threshold value.’
Regarding Claim 17,
‘The method according to claim 16’ (disclosed above),
Zhe Fu discloses, ‘wherein performing the enhanced process on the timer comprises: offsetting a start time of the timer by one Round Trip Time (RTT) between the terminal device and a base station’ (starting time offset [0041] and RTT between the terminal-network [0136]; starting time of the sync-measurement-config time [0274].);
‘or increasing a timing value of the timer by one RTT between the terminal device and the base station, wherein the timer is any one of the following:’ (Fig.4 and [0058-0062]),
And didn’t discloses, ‘a configured grant timer for the SDT’ (Hyoungsuk-Jeon, CG timer [0256]);
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of Hyoungsuk-Jeon and Zhe Fu to include with that of Agiwal to come up with the claim invention,
Hyoungsuk-Jeon include satellite/NTN and delay require sync in TA and TAT further motive to adjust TA [0230]. Agiwal calculate delay-difference [0087]. And Agiwal further provide scaling factor to extend the periodicity of the baseline-config [0166]. This would provide more reliability in communication.
‘a configured grant retransmission timer for the SDT’(Hyoungsuk-Jeon, [0256]));
Hyoungsuk-Jeon discloses, ‘a first preset timer, wherein the terminal device is allowed to initiate retransmission automatically after the first preset timer has timed out; or a second preset timer, wherein the terminal device waits for feedback from the base station during the second preset timer timing.’ (The terminal uses hybriq-ARQ for re-transmission of UL and include PDCCH to monitor successful transmission [0250]. Fig. 17 include availability in a time period.)
Regarding Claim 18,
Hyoungsuk-Jeon discloses, ‘A method for Small Data Transmission (SDT) processing in a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN), executed by a network side device, comprises:’
And didn’t disclose, ‘receiving an SDT random access request sent by a terminal device, wherein the SDT random access request carries an SDT indication, which is configured to inform the network side device that wireless access signaling will be used to carry small data packets’;
Agiwal discloses, rach-SDT from the terminal, disclosure Claim 5.
‘and in response to the SDT random access request, sending a random access response to the terminal device, wherein the random access response carries an uplink configured grant resource allocated to the terminal device and threshold information, and wherein the threshold information is used as a determining criterion for the terminal device to perform a determination of an SDT transmission condition’ (SDT rach includes the UL grant [0053]. Perform the SDT based on conditions [0123]. And, conditions include: threshold conditions [0204] )
And didn’t disclose, ‘threshold configuration’ and ‘based on location information of the terminal device.’
Zhe Fu discloses, threshold config [0043, 0046] and determine location [0135-0136].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to
applicant's disclosure:
3GPP TSG-RAN WG4 Meeting # 99-e, R4-2108971,Electronic Meeting, May. 19-27, 2021,Qualcomm Incorporated, "Timing requirements in NTN Systems";
3GPP TR 38.821 V16.0.0-2019-12; 3GPP TSG Radio Access Network Solutions for NR to support non-terrestrial networks (NTN) (Release 16);
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #113-e, R2-2101213, E-meeting, 25th Jan – 5th Feb, 2021, Huawei, HiSilicon, "Small data transmission with CG-based scheme " (Year: 2021);
3GPP TSG-RAN2 Meeting #113 Electronic, R2- 2100145, 25th January – 5th February 2021, Samsung, "Configured Grant based Small Data Transmission" (Year: 2021);
Rao et al. (US-20230379860-A1), “Methods and apparatus for power-efficient positioning in wireless communication systems”; The terminal receive CG-config and includes TA; acquire-location, location-determination method [0053]); terminal-specific TA used for SDT [0225]. The terminal non-terrestrial capable GNSS capabilities, satellite specific location/direction/speed of the satellite ephemeris periodically [0186]. The terminal determine location-based TA [0053]. Also, a payload size of the measurement; payload size threshold. And, RSRP associated SDT [0323]. includes TA to receive configuration for SRS positioning, LPP and SDT resource (e.g., CG/rach) [0173-0174]. The terminal determine PRS/SRSp configurations are valid or not [0192]. And, UL/DL PRS/SRS method includes RS [0098]. CG-resources that is SDT resource allocation [0174]; receive CG-config; receive location-request (in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3), location-based positioning for the CG-config; validity of CG-config [0213, 0215, 0221]. number of RSRP values and the terminal Rx-Tx time differences [0272]; RSRP/differential power [0297]. The terminal save CG-config; PRS/SRSp configuration include position-resource; config applicable for serving cells/nodes identify to same-RNA [0211]; apply CG-config includes: location-request, estimated/calculated terminal-location [0215].
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/S.A./Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/CHRISTOPHER M CRUTCHFIELD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466