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 .
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-8, 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a(1) as being anticipated by Leng et al. (hereinafter Leng)(US 2023/0199680).
Regarding claim 1, Leng teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: one or more memories; a transceiver; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories and the transceiver, configured to cause the UE to: perform a mobility operation within or to a non-terrestrial network (NTN) (item 1110 in Fig. 11; also P[0117]); and transmit, via the transceiver, a report indicating a success or failure of the mobility operation if a timing difference of the mobility operation satisfies a threshold associated with at least one of the NTN or the mobility operation(item 1112 in Fig. 11; P[0117-0118], delay threshold; hysteresis time are configured for reporting), or transmit, via the transceiver, the report indicating the success or failure of the mobility operation regardless of whether the timing difference satisfies the threshold associated with at least one of the NTN or the mobility operation or does not satisfy the threshold associated with at least one of the NTN or the mobility operation, wherein the report indicates whether the timing difference satisfies the threshold associated with at least one of the NTN or the mobility operation or does not satisfy the threshold associated with at least one of the NTN or the mobility operation(item 1114 in Fig. 11; also P[0117-0118]).
Regarding claim 2, Leng teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mobility operation comprises a handover(P[0142], handover).
Regarding claim 3, Leng teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mobility operation comprises a primary secondary cell change or addition(P[0142], mobility between cells).
Regarding claim 4, Leng teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the timing difference comprises a propagation delay difference(item 1114 in Fig. 11; propagation delay).
Regarding claim 5, Leng teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the timing difference comprises a timing adjustment drift(item 1114 in Fig. 11; propagation delay).
Regarding claim 6, Leng teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the timing difference comprises an offset of a synchronization signal block measurement timing configuration(abstract, offset; measuring an SSB).
Regarding claim 7, Leng teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to receive configuration information indicating the threshold(P[0086], offset threshold).
Regarding claim 8, Leng teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to transmit the report, are configured to cause the UE to transmit the report further in response to at least one of: the UE failing to synchronize to a new satellite, the UE failing to select a beam for which a configuration of the report was provided, the UE failing to select a beam for which the report is enabled, or the UE falling back to a random-access-channel (RACH)-based handover from a configured RACH-less handover(P[0081], not able to detect SSBs).
Claim 29 is rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 1.
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.
Claim(s) 9-20, 27-28, 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Ramachandra et al. (hereinafter Ramachandra)(US 2024/0406760).
Regarding claim 9, Ramachandra teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising(Figs. 1-2):
one or more memories; a transceiver; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories and the transceiver, configured to cause the UE to: collect, in association with an out-of-coverage (OOC) state for at least one of a terrestrial network (TN) or a non-terrestrial network (NTN), logged minimization of drive test (MDT) information; and transmit, via the transceiver, a logged MDT report indicating the OOC state and the logged MDT information(P[0088-0089]; UE may log an indication of whether the UE has coverage from the NTN or not while being served by TN cell; unable to detect any cells on the NTN related frequencies or TN related frequencies; indicator in the MDT report that UE was out of coverage; also Fig. 4, items 400 and 410).
Regarding claim 10, Ramachandra teaches the apparatus of claim 9, wherein the OOC state indicates one of: the TN being in coverage and the NTN being OOC, the NTN being in coverage and the TN being OOC, or both the TN and the NTN being OOC(P[0088-0089]; out of coverage).
Regarding claim 11, Ramachandra teaches the apparatus of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to collect the logged MDT information, are configured to cause the UE to collect the logged MDT information in response to an event corresponding to the OOC state(P[0095], location information and an indication that UE is out of coverage; logged values; also P[0090-0094]).
Regarding claim 12, Ramachandra teaches the apparatus of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to collect the logged MDT information, are configured to cause the UE to log the OOC state in association with the logged MDT information(P[0095], location information and an indication that UE is out of coverage; logged values; also P[0090-0094]).
Regarding claim 13, Ramachandra teaches the apparatus of claim 9, wherein the logged MDT information or the logged MDT report indicates whether a coverage outage was indicated as a predicted coverage outage(P[0124], predicted to be in coverage of a satellite) .
Regarding claim 14, Ramachandra teaches the apparatus of claim 9, wherein the logged MDT information indicates a difference between a predicted coverage outage and an observed coverage outage(P[0124], MDT measurements collected when the device was served by a cell; predicted to be in the coverage of satellite serving the cell; MDT measurement report).
Regarding claim 15, Ramachandra teaches the apparatus of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to collect the logged MDT information, are configured to cause the UE to collect the logged MDT information after a logged measurement timer has expired(P[0124], MDT measurement report reports a duration for which the wireless communication device has been in the coverage of a satellite).
Regarding claim 16, Ramachandra teaches the apparatus of claim 15, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to collect the logged MDT information, are configured to cause the UE to store the logged MDT information until a start of a next NTN connection.(P[0077], MDT logging related NTN; logging may be performed by UE in any state).
Regarding claim 17, Ramachandra teaches the apparatus of claim 15, wherein a duration of the logged measurement timer is associated with the NTN(P[0092], duration of NTN cell coverage time).
Regarding claim 18, Ramachandra teaches the apparatus of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to collect the logged MDT information, are configured to cause the UE to collect the logged MDT information in accordance with an interval, wherein a duration of the interval is associated with the NTN(P0092], UE logs; duration of NTN coverage time which is duration of time for which the UE was in this coverage area of the NTN cell)).
Regarding claim 19, Ramachandra teaches the apparatus of claim 9, wherein the logged MDT information or the logged MDT report indicates whether a measurement of the logged MDT information was performed inside or outside of an indicated TN coverage area or includes an indicator of whether one or more neighboring frequencies, cells, or beams for which the measurement is collected belong to the TN or the NTN(P[0081-0082], location information being logged while being served by NTN cell; also while being served by a TN cell).
Regarding claim 20, Ramachandra teaches the apparatus of claim 19, wherein the logged MDT information or the logged MDT report further indicates a detected frequency that is not indicated as associated with the indicated TN coverage area(P[0089], UE may log an indication; TN related frequency; UE out of coverage of the TN; also P[0100]).
Regarding claim 27, Ramachandra teaches the apparatus of claim 9, wherein the logged MDT report or the logged MDT information indicates a length of time for which the UE was on a given serving cell after location-based measurement is triggered(P[0124], duration for which device has been in the coverage area serving the cell).
Regarding claim 28, Ramachandra teaches the apparatus of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to identify a trigger for location-based measurement, wherein the logged MDT information or the logged MDT report indicates a distance between the UE and a neighbor cell reference location indicated by the trigger(P[0082], location threshold with respect to a reference location; served by a TN cell and closer to NTN cell; UE may be closer or further way …distance…from the threshold;).
Claim 30 is rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 9.
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.
Claim(s) 21-26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ramachandra et al. (hereinafter Ramachandra)(US 2024/0406760) as in view of Li et al. (hereinafter Li)(US 2025/0142505).
Regarding claim 21, Ramachandra teaches all the particulars of the claim except the apparatus wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to receive, via the transceiver, a configuration of a plurality of synchronization signal block (SSB) measurement timing configuration (SMTC) offsets, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to collect the logged MDT information, are configured to cause the UE to collect the logged MDT information using an SMTC offset of the plurality of SMTC offsets, wherein the logged MDT report or the logged MDT information indicates the SMTC offset. However, Li teaches in an analogous art wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to receive, via the transceiver, a configuration of a plurality of synchronization signal block (SSB) measurement timing configuration (SMTC) offsets, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to collect the logged MDT information, are configured to cause the UE to collect the logged MDT information using an SMTC offset of the plurality of SMTC offsets, wherein the logged MDT report or the logged MDT information indicates the SMTC offset(P[0174], plurality of timing offset windows selectable by the wireless device for the SSB measurement time; ; P[0322], MDT; P[0118], logging measurement results). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to use the apparatus wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to receive, via the transceiver, a configuration of a plurality of synchronization signal block (SSB) measurement timing configuration (SMTC) offsets, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to collect the logged MDT information, are configured to cause the UE to collect the logged MDT information using an SMTC offset of the plurality of SMTC offsets, wherein the logged MDT report or the logged MDT information indicates the SMTC offset in order to have improved efficiency.
Regarding claim 22, Ramachandra teaches all the particulars of the claim except the apparatus wherein the logged MDT report or the logged MDT information indicates a synchronization signal block (SSB) measurement timing configuration (SMTC) offset that was not used to collect the logged MDT information(abstract, SSB measurement time; P[0115], SMTC window and time offset; SSB transmission; ; P[0322], MDT; P[0118], logging measurement results). However, Li teaches in an analogous art wherein the logged MDT report or the logged MDT information indicates a synchronization signal block (SSB) measurement timing configuration (SMTC) offset that was not used to collect the logged MDT information. Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to use the apparatus wherein the logged MDT report or the logged MDT information indicates a synchronization signal block (SSB) measurement timing configuration (SMTC) offset that was not used to collect the logged MDT information in order to have improved efficiency.
Regarding claim 23, Ramachandra teaches all the particulars of the claim except the apparatus wherein the logged MDT report or the logged MDT information indicates an offset between a synchronization signal block measurement timing configuration of a camped cell and a synchronization signal block measurement timing configuration of a neighbor cell. However, Li teaches in an analogous art wherein the logged MDT report or the logged MDT information indicates an offset between a synchronization signal block measurement timing configuration of a camped cell and a synchronization signal block measurement timing configuration of a neighbor cell(P[0113], SSB between serving cell and a neighboring cell; P[0115], offset in SSB transmission between different cells ; P[0322], MDT; P[0118], logging measurement results). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to use the apparatus wherein the logged MDT report or the logged MDT information indicates an offset between a synchronization signal block measurement timing configuration of a camped cell and a synchronization signal block measurement timing configuration of a neighbor cell in order to have improved efficiency.
Regarding claim 24, Ramachandra in view of Li teaches the apparatus of claim 23, wherein the offset corresponds to a particular measurement of the logged MDT information(Li: abstract; P[0322], MDT; P[0118], logging measurement results).
Regarding claim 25, Ramachandra teaches all the particulars of the claim except the apparatus wherein the logged MDT information indicates a second offset corresponding to another measurement of the logged MDT information. However, Li teaches in an analogous art wherein the logged MDT information indicates a second offset corresponding to another measurement of the logged MDT information(P0150], first and second measurement time; timing offset; P[0322], MDT; P[0118], logging measurement results). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to use the apparatus wherein the logged MDT information indicates a second offset corresponding to another measurement of the logged MDT information in order to have improved efficiency.
Regarding claim 26, Ramachandra teaches all the particulars of the claim except the apparatus, wherein the logged MDT report or the logged MDT information indicates an offset between a propagation delay of a camped cell and a propagation delay of a neighbor cell. However, Li teaches in an analogous art wherein the logged MDT report or the logged MDT information indicates an offset between a propagation delay of a camped cell and a propagation delay of a neighbor cell(P[01145], propagation delay between UE and serving cell vary over time due to the movement of the satellite. propagation delay towards neighbor cells on neighboring satellites will also change over time; P[0322], MDT; P[0118], logging measurement results). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to use the apparatus wherein the logged MDT report or the logged MDT information indicates an offset between a propagation delay of a camped cell and a propagation delay of a neighbor cell in order to have improved efficiency.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MUTHUSWAMY GANAPATHY MANOHARAN whose telephone number is (571)272-5515. The examiner can normally be reached 6:30am-3:00pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Alison T Slater can be reached at 571-270-0375. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MUTHUSWAMY G MANOHARAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647