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
Amendments filed on 05/11/2026 are entered. The amendments change the scopes of the previously presented claims. New grounds of rejections are applied to the currently amended claims and the current Office Action is made FINAL as necessitated by the claim amendments.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 10 and 19 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim 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.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 6-7 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang (US 2023/0199688) in views of Zhang (US 2022/0338150) and Wigard (US 2024/0089883).
Wang discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 1, a communication method, comprising:
determining, by a first communication apparatus (see terminal recited in paragraph [0081] that performs the method in Fig. 7), a target reference point (see step S710 in Fig. 7 and paragraph [0081], which recites “a target reference point is selected from the above-mentioned plurality of common TA reference points based on the location of the terminal”) that is determined by the first communication apparatus based on a pre-configuration determining manner and that is a distance from a location of the first communication apparatus (see “in the above terminal, the processing unit determines a distance from the terminal to each of the common timing advance reference points based on the location, and the processing unit selects a common timing advance reference point closest to the terminal as the target reference point” recited in paragraph [0011], wherein selecting a closest reference points being the pre-configuration determining manner);
determining, by the first communication apparatus, information about a first TA, wherein the information about the first TA indicates TA information between the first communication apparatus and the target reference point (see “a random access procedure, the complete TA is determined based on the terminal-specific TA indicated by the RAR message and the common TA corresponding to the selected target reference point. For example, the complete TA is the sum of the terminal-specific TA and the common TA” recited in paragraph [0086]).
Regarding claim 7, wherein, before the determining the target reference point, the method further comprises: receiving, by the first communication apparatus, second configuration information for configuring a set of reference points, wherein the set of reference points comprises the target reference point (see step S710 in Fig. 7, wherein the UE receive information related to a plurality of common TA reference points of a cell, then take a reference point closest to the terminal from the plurality of common TA reference points).
Regarding claim 19, a communication apparatus (see terminal recited in paragraph [0081] that performs the method in Fig. 7), comprising at least one memory and at least one processor (see processor 810 and memory 820 in Fig. 8), wherein the at least one memory is configured to store instructions, executable by the at least one processor to cause the communication apparatus to:
determine a target reference point (see step S710 in Fig. 7 and paragraph [0081], which recites “a target reference point is selected from the above-mentioned plurality of common TA reference points based on the location of the terminal”);
determine information about a first TA, wherein the information about the first TA indicates TA information between the first communication apparatus and the target reference point (see “a random access procedure, the complete TA is determined based on the terminal-specific TA indicated by the RAR message and the common TA corresponding to the selected target reference point. For example, the complete TA is the sum of the terminal-specific TA and the common TA” recited in paragraph [0086]).
Wang does not disclose the following features: regarding claims 1 and 19, wherein the target reference point is a virtual reference point; sending, by the first communication apparatus, first information, wherein the first information comprises the information about the first TA and information about the target reference point; regarding claim 3, before the sending the first information comprising information about the target reference point, the method further comprises: sending, by the first communication apparatus, a first request message, wherein the first request message requests to report the information about the target reference point; and receiving, by the first communication apparatus, a first response message responsive to the first request message, wherein the first response message indicates that reporting of the information about the target reference point is allowed; regarding claim 6, wherein the information about the target reference point is three-dimensional coordinate system information, longitude and latitude coordinate system information, or index information.
Zhang discloses the following features.
Regarding claims 1 and 19, wherein the target reference point is a virtual reference point (see “the reference point is virtual node” recited in paragraph [0138]);
sending, by the first communication apparatus, first information, wherein the first information comprises the information about the first TA (see “the UE reports the calculated value for synchronization (e.g. TA value and/or frequency offset) to the BS” recited in paragraph [0200], and see paragraph [0140], which recites “the UE calculates TA value based on values (e.g. TA values and/or TA value drift rate) related to at least one of paths P1, P2 or P3, wherein the path P1 is the path between the BS and a ground station, the path P2 is the path between the BS and the reference point and the path P3 is the path between the UE and the reference point”).
Wigard discloses the following features.
Regarding claims 1 and 19, wherein the first information comprises information about the target reference point (see “The UE may report a reference location of the UE at a first time point” recited in paragraph [0044], which may be reported using an reference point index or reference point coordinate as shown in paragraph [0049], wherein the reference point may be selected among a number of reference points as shown in paragraph [0051]).
Regarding claim 3, before the sending the first information comprising information about the target reference point (see Fig. 2 and paragraph [0056], wherein the UE determines the reference TA in step 208, which must occur prior to the sending of any TA information by the UE, including the sending of TA information as taught by Zhang above), the method further comprises: sending, by the first communication apparatus, a first request message, wherein the first request message requests to report the information about the target reference point (see step 202 in Fig. 2, wherein “the UE 110 may report 202 a reference location” as recited in paragraph [0046] to “enable TA exchange between UE and RAN” as recited in paragraph [0045], wherein the transmission in step 202 acts as a request for the TA exchange using the specified “reference location”); and receiving, by the first communication apparatus, a first response message responsive to the first request message, wherein the first response message indicates that reporting of the information about the target reference point is allowed (see step 204 in Fig. 2 and paragraph [0052], wherein the UE 120 receives a response from the gNB 110 in response to the message 202; the message 204 allows the reporting of information in step 212 that includes information about the reference location as shown in paragraph [0063]).
Regarding claim 6, wherein the information about the target reference point is three-dimensional coordinate system information, longitude and latitude coordinate system information, or index information (see “Each reference point may be associated with an index” recited paragraph [0049]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current application to modify the system of Wang using features, as taught by Zhang and Wigard, in order to allow the UE to calculate the timing advance value (see paragraphs [0126]-0139] of Zhang) and in order to report and update reference point selected by the UE (see paragraph [0043]-[0044] of Wigard).
Claim(s) 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang, Zhang and Wigard as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Myung (US 2024/0073842).
Wang, Zhang and Wigard disclose the features as shown above.
Wang does not disclose the following features: regarding claim 4, receiving, by the first communication apparatus, first configuration information for configuring a sending policy of the first information; and the sending the first information comprises: sending, by the first communication apparatus, the first information based on the first configuration information; regarding claim 5, wherein the sending policy comprises at least one of sending frequency of the first information, a sending periodicity of the first information, a time domain resource carrying the first information, or a frequency domain resource carrying the first information
Myung discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 4, receiving, by the first communication apparatus, first configuration information for configuring a sending policy of the first information (see step 3030 in Fig. 30B, wherein the UE receives configuration information related to TA report transmitted by the base station); and the sending the first information comprises: sending, by the first communication apparatus, the first information based on the first configuration information (see step 3050 in Fig. 30B, wherein the UE transmits the TA report according to configuration in step 3030).
Regarding claim 5, wherein the sending policy comprises at least one of sending frequency of the first information, a sending periodicity of the first information, a time domain resource carrying the first information, or a frequency domain resource carrying the first information (see “The configuration information may include, for example, at least one piece of information for configuring the TA report, such as a period and offset for performing the TA report, a TA report trigger condition, TA value reference time point information, a type of TA information to be reported, or resource configuration information for performing the TA report” recited in paragraph [0324]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current application to modify the system of Wang, Zhang and Wigard using features, as taught by Myung, in order to configure the TA reporting (see paragraph [0323] of Myung).
Claim(s) 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang, Zhang and Wigard as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Shin (US 2025/0048291).
Wang, Zhang and Wigard disclose the features as shown above.
Wang does not disclose the following features: regarding claim 8, wherein the information about the first TA comprises at least one of: an offset between the first TA and a second TA, wherein the first TA is a TA between the first communication apparatus and a second communication apparatus, and the second TA is a TA between the target reference point and the second communication apparatus (Wang discloses a first TA and a second TA, but does not show that the TA being between the target reference point/first communication and second communication device as required in claim 8); or an offset between Koffset corresponding to the first TA and Koffset corresponding to the second TA; regarding claim 9, wherein both of the first TA and the second TA are service link side TAs.
Shin discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 8, wherein the information about the first TA comprises at least one of:
an offset between the first TA and a second TA (see Full TA in Fig. 8(a) that includes the Common TA and the UE specific differential TA), wherein the first TA is a TA between the first communication apparatus and a second communication apparatus (see Fig. 8(a), wherein the UE specific differential TA being the TA based on a function between the UE and the satellite base station), and the second TA is a TA between the target reference point and the second communication apparatus (see Fig. 8(a), wherein the UE specific differential TA being the TA based on a function between the Reference Point and the satellite base station); or
an offset between Koffset corresponding to the first TA and Koffset corresponding to the second TA (see paragraph [0169], which describes K-offset value acquired through the sum of a common TA and a UE-specific TA).
Regarding claim 9, wherein both of the first TA and the second TA are service link side TAs (see Fig. 8(a), shown the common TA and the UE-specific TA being on the service side links that connects the terminal to the base station).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current application to modify the system of Wang, Zhang and Wigard using features, as taught by Shin, in order to determine the timing advance value that is actually used by a terminal in a connection mode for uplink signal transmission (see paragraph [0182] of Shin).
Claim(s) 10, 12 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang in view of Wigard.
Zhang discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 10, a communication method, comprising:
receiving, by a second communication apparatus (see “BS” recited in paragraph [0200]), first information, wherein the first information comprises information about a TA (see “the UE reports the calculated value for synchronization (e.g. TA value and/or frequency offset) to the BS” recited in paragraph [0200]), wherein the information about the first TA indicates TA information between a first communication apparatus and the target reference point (see “the UE reports the calculated value for synchronization (e.g. TA value and/or frequency offset) to the BS” recited in paragraph [0200], and see paragraph [0140], which recites “the UE calculates TA value based on values (e.g. TA values and/or TA value drift rate) related to at least one of paths P1, P2 or P3, wherein the path P1 is the path between the BS and a ground station, the path P2 is the path between the BS and the reference point and the path P3 is the path between the UE and the reference point”), the target reference point is a virtual reference point (see “the reference point is virtual node” recited in paragraph [0138]) that is a distance from a location of the first communication apparatus (see Fig. 5A, wherein the UE is a distance, P3, away from the reference point); and
determining, by the second communication apparatus, a TA between the second communication apparatus and the first communication apparatus based on the first information (see paragraph [0266]-[0267], wherein the wireless network node receives the synchronization value, which include the TA value, as shown in paragraph [0269], and schedule uplink resources based on the synchronization value).
Zhang does not disclose the following features: regarding claim 10, wherein the first information comprises information about the target reference point, wherein the target reference point is determined by the first communication apparatus based on a pre-configuration determining manner and that is a distance from a location of the first communication apparatus; regarding claim 12, before the receiving the first information, the method further comprises: receiving, by the second communication apparatus, a first request message, wherein the first request message requests to report the information about the target reference point; and sending, by the second communication apparatus, a first response message responsive to the first request message, wherein the first response message indicates that reporting of the information about the target reference point is allowed; regarding claim 15, wherein the information about the target reference point is three-dimensional coordinate system information, longitude and latitude coordinate system information, or index information.
Wigard discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 10, wherein the first information comprises information about the target reference point, wherein the target reference point is determined by the first communication apparatus based on a pre-configuration determining manner and that is a distance from a location of the first communication apparatus (see “The UE may report a reference location of the UE at a first time point” recited in paragraph [0044], which may be reported using an reference point index or reference point coordinate as shown in paragraph [0049], wherein the reference point may be selected among a number of reference points as shown in paragraph [0051] wherein selecting a closest reference points being the pre-configuration determining manner).
Regarding claim 12, before the receiving the first information (see Fig. 2 and paragraph [0056], wherein the UE determines the reference TA in step 208, which must occur prior to the sending of any TA information by the UE, including the sending of TA information as taught by Shin above), the method further comprises: receiving, by the second communication apparatus, a first request message, wherein the first request message requests to report the information about the target reference point (see step 202 in Fig. 2, wherein “the UE 110 may report 202 a reference location” as recited in paragraph [0046] to “enable TA exchange between UE and RAN” as recited in paragraph [0045], wherein the transmission in step 202 acts as a request for the TA exchange using the specified “reference location”); sending, by the second communication apparatus, a first response message responsive to the first request message, wherein the first response message indicates that reporting of the information about the target reference point is allowed (see step 204 in Fig. 2 and paragraph [0052], wherein the UE 120 receives a response from the gNB 110 in response to the message 202; the message 204 allows the reporting of information in step 212 that includes information about the reference location as shown in paragraph [0063]).
Regarding claim 15, wherein the information about the target reference point is three-dimensional coordinate system information, longitude and latitude coordinate system information, or index information (see “Each reference point may be associated with an index” recited paragraph [0049]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current application to modify the system of Zhang using features, as taught by Wigard, in order to enable TA exchange between UE and RAN (see paragraph [0045] of Wigard).
Claim(s) 13-14 and 17-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang and Wigard as applied to claim 10 above, and further in view of Shin.
Zhang and Wigard disclose the features as shown above.
Zhang does not disclose the following features: regarding claim 13, wherein, before the receiving the first information, the method further comprises: sending, by the second communication apparatus, first configuration information for configuring a sending policy of the first information; regarding claim 14, wherein the sending policy comprises at least one of a sending frequency of the first information, a sending periodicity of the first information, a time domain resource carrying the first information, and a frequency domain resource carrying the first information; regarding claim 17, wherein the information about the first TA comprises at least one of: an offset between the first TA and a second TA, wherein the first TA is a TA between the first communication apparatus and a second communication apparatus and the second TA is a TA between the target reference point and the second communication apparatus; or an offset between Koffset corresponding to the first TA and Koffset corresponding to the second TA; regarding claim 18, wherein both of the first TA and the second TA are service link side TAs.
Shin discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 13, wherein, before the receiving the first information, the method further comprises: sending, by the second communication apparatus, first configuration information for configuring a sending policy of the first information (see “A base station may configure/indicate a TA update period to a terminal” recited in paragraph [0186], which must occur prior to the TA update transmission by the terminal; this paragraphs shows the configuration of the TA update period, while Shin also discloses other configuration of the TA update in other paragraphs).
Regarding claim 14, wherein the sending policy comprises at least one of a sending frequency of the first information, a sending periodicity of the first information (see “A base station may configure/indicate a TA update period to a terminal” recited in paragraph [0186], which must occur prior to the TA update transmission by the terminal; this paragraphs shows the configuration of the TA update period, while Shin also discloses other configuration of the TA update in other paragraphs), a time domain resource carrying the first information, and a frequency domain resource carrying the first information (paragraph [0192] shows that the base station instructing the terminal to update TA information using resources indicated by the base station).
Regarding claim 17, wherein the information about the first TA comprises at least one of:
an offset between the first TA and a second TA (see Full TA in Fig. 8(a) that includes the Common TA and the UE specific differential TA), wherein the first TA is a TA between the first communication apparatus and a second communication apparatus (see Fig. 8(a), wherein the UE specific differential TA being the TA based on a function between the UE and the satellite base station), and the second TA is a TA between the target reference point and the second communication apparatus (see Fig. 8(a), wherein the UE specific differential TA being the TA based on a function between the Reference Point and the satellite base station); or
an offset between Koffset corresponding to the first TA and Koffset corresponding to the second TA (see paragraph [0169], which describes K-offset value acquired through the sum of a common TA and a UE-specific TA).
Regarding claim 18, wherein both of the first TA and the second TA are service link side TAs (see Fig. 8(a), shown the common TA and the UE-specific TA being on the service side links that connects the terminal to the base station).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current application to modify the system of Zhang and Wigard using features, as taught by Shin, in order to keep the timing advance information of UEs updated (see paragraph [0186] of Shin).
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang and Wigard as applied to claim 10 above, and further in view of Wang.
Zhang and Wigard disclose the features as shown above.
Zhang does not disclose the following features: regarding claim 16, wherein, before the receiving the first information, the method further comprises: sending, by the second communication apparatus, second configuration information for configuring a set of reference points, wherein the set of reference points comprises the target reference point.
Wang discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 16, wherein, before the receiving the first information, the method further comprises: sending, by the second communication apparatus, second configuration information for configuring a set of reference points, wherein the set of reference points comprises the target reference point (see step S710 in Fig. 7, wherein the UE receive information related to a plurality of common TA reference points of a cell, then take a reference point closest to the terminal from the plurality of common TA reference points).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current application to modify the system of Zhang and Wigard using features, as taught by Wang, in order to allow the terminal to select an appropriate timing advance reference point (see paragraph [0063] of Wang).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUTAI KAO whose telephone number is (571)272-9719. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00-17:00 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kwang Yao can be reached at (571)272-3182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JUTAI KAO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473
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