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 .
2. Applicant’s amendments, filed on 03/19/2026 regarding rejection of claims 1-2, 4-9, 11-20 has been considered and entered. Claims 3 and claim 10 is/are cancelled.
3. Applicant’s arguments filed on 03/19/2026 with respect to claims 1-2, 4-9, 11-20 have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to new combinations of references including new prior arts being used in the current rejection. The new grounds of rejection are necessitated by amendment.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hosseinian (US 20230403667 A1) hereinafter Hosseinian and further in view of Lei (CN 115190081 B ) hereinafter Lei; translated copy attached
As to claim 1. Hosseinian teaches a wireless communication method by a user equipment (UE), comprising: ([0172] Fig. 18, the electronic device 1801 (which may be similar to, or the same as, the UE 101))
determining, by the UE, a first information and/or a second information; ([0124] Fig. 1, Fig. 12, Process 1204 may be UE 101 determining a timing advance. )
and applying, by the UE, the first information and/or the second information for a downlink reception and/or an uplink transmission. ([0126] Fig. 1, Fig. 12, UE 101 transmitting/applying,, or indicating, data using a timing advance to gateway 103/uplink)
wherein the first position, ([0089]Fig. 1, UE 101 may also receive ephemeris data of satellite 102, which may be satellite position data.)
the second position( [0017] The method wherein the UE further receives a reference point position data, wherein the reference point position data is located in a cell that the UE is located in.)
Hosseinian does not teach wherein the second information comprises a second timing advance, and the second timing advance is relevant to a feeder link (FL) propagation delay; the FL propagation delay is obtained from at least one of the followings: a first position, a second position, a third position, a parameter, or an offset, the third position, the parameter, and/or the offset is provided by the base station to the UE; the first position, the second position, the third position, the parameter, and/or the offset is provided in the system information and/or UE-specific radio resource control (RRC) configuration.
Lei teaches wherein the second information comprises a second timing advance([0102] the terminal device sums the first TA and CTA to obtain the second TA);
, and the second timing advance is relevant to a feeder link (FL) propagation delay;([0054 ] [0058][0060] second timing advance TA) may be the round-trip propagation delay between the satellite and the terminal device, terminal transmit via Network device 101 can transmit data with satellite 103 via feeder link)
the FL propagation delay is obtained from at least one of the followings: a first position, a second position, a third position, a parameter, or an offset,( [0055][0060] network device 101 sends a first parameter to satellite 103 for extending the transmission interval length, and then satellite 103 sends the first parameter to terminal device 102 for extending the transmission interval length. the terminal device can determine the round-trip propagation delay between the terminal and the satellite based on its own location information and ephemeris information i.e., FL delay obtain location of satellite/first position).
, the third position,([0130][0135] the propagation delay between the third location and the location of the first device, where the third location is the closest location to the first device in the cell)
the parameter, and/or the offset is provided by the base station to the UE;([0067] [0077]the network device may send a first parameter to the terminal device, the first parameter mentioned above includes one or more of the following: scheduling delay K_offset)
the first position, the second position, the third position, the parameter, and/or the offset is provided in the system information and/or UE-specific radio resource control (RRC) configuration.([0078]0109] terminal devices can receive system messages or RRC-specific signaling sent by network devices; e terminal device receives Radio Resource Control (RRC) dedicated signaling sent by the network device, the RRC dedicated signaling including the first parameter).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine teaching of Lei with the teaching of Hosseinian because Lei teaches that size of the terminal device's compensation for TA i.e., the second timing advance TA, round-trip propagation delay between the satellite and the terminal device would ensure the terminal device's advance transmission, hat there is a sufficiently large time interval between the PDCCH reception time and the PUSCH transmission time for the UE to transmit in advance.(Lei [0058])
Claim 20 are interpreted and rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 1.
As to claim 2. The combination of Hosseinian and Lei specifically Hosseinian teaches wherein the first information comprises a first timing advance, ([0081]Fig. 1, Fig. 2, UE calculates timing advance between UE and satellite/service link)
the first timing advance is relevant to a service link (SL) propagation delay, ([0081]Fig. 1, Fig. 2, UE 101 may receive first propagation delay relevant first timing advance)
and/or the second timing advance is relevant to a feeder link (FL) propagation delay; ([0092][0109]Fig. 1, Fig. 5, Fig. 9, UE 101 determining a second propagation delay Tg,s between satellite 102 and the reference point at gateway 103, common timing advance 903 Tcommon which may be timing advance between satellite 102 and gateway 103)
the second timing advance is equal to twice of the FL propagation delay,; ([0092][0104]Fig. 1, Fig. 5, Fig. 7, UE 101 determining a second propagation delay Tg,s between satellite 102 and the reference point at gateway 103, UE 101 receiving geolocation data of UE 101, ephemeris data of satellite 102, geolocation data of reference point 704, and a common timing advance 703.)
the FL propagation delay comprises a delay between a non-terrestrial network (NTN) satellite, a space-borne vehicle, or
an airborne vehicle and a reference point (RP), and/or the FL propagation delay is common to one or more UEs within a serving cell; ([0104] Fig. 1, Fig. 7. Fig. 8, Process 801 may be UE 101 receiving geolocation data of UE 101, ephemeris data of satellite 102, geolocation data of reference point 704, and a common timing advance 703 within serving cell) and
the RP is on a base station or a gateway. ([0083] Fig. 4, reference point 405 may be the geolocation of gateway 103)
As to claim 4. The combination of Hosseinian and Lei specifically Hosseinian teaches wherein the first position is a position of a non-terrestrial network (NTN) satellite, a space-borne vehicle, or an airborne vehicle, and/or the second position is a position of a reference point (RP). ([0092] UE 101 may determine a first propagation delay Tg.s,u between UE 101 and satellite 102)
As to claim 5. The combination of Hosseinian and Lei specifically Hosseinian teaches wherein the position of the RP or the third position is static over time. ([0108] Fig. 1, Fig. 7, Satellite 102 geolocation data extracted from ephemeris data and reference point 705 geolocation data may be the same,)
As to claim 6 The combination of Hosseinian and Lei specifically Hosseinian teaches, wherein the FL propagation delay is calculated from a distance and a velocity relevant to the first position, the second position, the third position, the parameter, or the offset;([0081] Fig. 1, UE 101 may also be able to calculate second distance between satellite 102 and gateway 103 using satellite position data of satellite 102 and gateway position data of gateway 103, UE 101 may receive second propagation delay data)
the velocity is a speed over a link between the first position and the second position; ([0107] Fig. 1, Fig. 8, UE 101 may determine a timing advance between satellite 102 and reference point 704 T.sub.r,s which may be distance d.sub.r,s divided by the speed, c, o )
and the FL propagation delay at time TO is calculated by the distance at time TO divided by the velocity at time TO ([0081] Fig. 1, Fig. 2, second propagation delay/Feeder link delay, may be calculated from the second distance by dividing the second distance by a speed)
As to claim 9. The combination of Hosseinian and Lei specifically Hosseinian teaches wherein the first position, the second position, and/or the third position comprises one or more reference time corresponding to a position of the first position, the second position, ([0131] Fig. 13, first position, the second position, and/or the third position comprises reference time 1307, 1304, 1307)
and/or the third position and/or a velocity of the first position, the second position, and/or the third position; and
the one or more reference time are corresponding to one or more slot boundaries or frame boundaries. ([0130] Fig. 13, A subframe 1302 may be within subframes 1301. In one embodiment, subframe 1302 may transmit data downlink from gateway 103 to UE 101 at a gateway downlink reference time 1303, which may be received by UE 101 at a UE downlink reference time 1304. There may be a slot number associated with gateway downlink reference time 1303 and there also may be a slot number associated with UE downlink reference time 1304.)
As to claim 13. The combination of Hosseinian and Lei specifically Hosseinian teaches, wherein the FL propagation delay is obtained from the first position, the third position and the parameter. ;([0081] Fig. 1, UE 101 able to calculate second distance between satellite 102 and gateway 103 using satellite position data of satellite 102 and gateway position
Claim(s) 7, 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hosseinian, Lei and further in view of Freedman et al. (US 9189451 B1 ) hereinafter Freedman
As to claim 7. The combination of Hosseinian and Lei does not teach , wherein the first position, the second position, and/or the third position comprises values at two dimensions or three dimensions;
Freedman teaches wherein the first position, the second position, and/or the third position comprises values at two dimensions or three dimensions; ([0026] Fig. 1, FOV may cover an area with an arc of 90 degrees in both the X-axis and the Y-axis with respect to the nominal (that is, un-gimbaled) direction of the image sensor 110 in the reference frame of the satellite 105. )
and the two dimensions comprise positions in axis X and axis Y, and/or the three dimensions comprise positions in axis X, axis Y and axis Z. ([0026] Fig. 1, FOV may cover an area with an arc of 90 degrees in both the X-axis and the Y-axis with respect to the nominal (that is, un-gimbaled) direction of the image sensor 110 in the reference frame of the satellite 105. )
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine teaching of Freedman with the teaching of Hosseinian, Lei because Freedman teaches that angular speed (that is, rotational speed) and a direction that specifies both the direction of rotation and the axis of rotation would greatly increase the probability of detection of orbital debris by an image sensor mounted on a satellite.(Freedman [0016])
As to claim 8 The combination of Hosseinian and Lei does not teach wherein the first position, the second position, and/or the third position comprises velocity at two dimensions or three dimensions; and the two dimensions comprise positions in axis X and axis Y, and/or the three dimensions comprise positions in axis X, axis Y and axis Z.
Freedman teaches wherein the first position, the second position, and/or the third position comprises velocity at two dimensions or three dimensions; ([0041] Fig. 2A, the probability of orbital debris having an angular velocity within a particular set of angular velocities corresponding to a 2D area or region of the graph 210 may be calculated by integrating in two dimensions the non-normalized probability function over the particular set of angular velocities)
and the two dimensions comprise positions in axis X and axis Y, and/or the three dimensions comprise positions in axis X, axis Y and axis Z. ([0041] the probability function used to generate the graph 210 would have to be multiplied by the maximum probability constant and then would have to be integrated over the X and Y components of angular velocities to determine the volume under the 80%-100% triangle)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine teaching of Freedman with the teaching of Hosseinian and Lei because Freedman teaches that angular speed (that is, rotational speed) and a direction that specifies both the direction of rotation and the axis of rotation would greatly increase the probability of detection of orbital debris by an image sensor mounted on a satellite.(Freedman [0016])
Claim(s) 19, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yeo et al. (US 20220095258 A1) hereinafter Yeo and in view of Lei (CN 115190081 B ) hereinafter Lei
As to claim 19. Yeo teaches A wireless communication method by a base station comprising: ([0338] the base station may transmit location information )
controlling a user equipment (UE) to determine a first information and/or a second information; ([0338] the base station may transmit location information of a satellite and reference location information, so the terminal may calculate a distance between the satellite and a reference location based on the location information of the satellite and the reference location information, and calculate the common TA value based on the calculated distance between the satellite and the reference location)
and controlling the UE to apply the first information and/or the second information for a downlink reception and/or an uplink transmission. ([0458] wherein the TA of the terminal is determined based on the common TA and a terminal-specific TA used for compensating for link delay between the base station and the terminal, and wherein the terminal-specific TA is estimated by the terminal.)
Yeo does not teach wherein the second information comprises a second timing advance, and the second timing advance is relevant to a feeder link (FL) propagation delay; the FL propagation delay is obtained from at least one of the followings: a first position, a second position, a third position, a parameter, or an offset, wherein the first position, the second position, the third position, the parameter, and/or the offset is provided by the base station to the UE; the first position, the second position, the third position, the parameter, and/or the offset is provided in the system information and/or UE-specific radio resource control (RRC) configuration.
Lei teaches wherein the second information comprises a second timing advance, ([0102] the terminal device sums the first TA and CTA to obtain the second TA);
and the second timing advance is relevant to a feeder link (FL) propagation delay; the FL propagation delay is obtained from at least one of the followings: a first position, a second position, a third position, a parameter, or an offset, ,( [0055][0060] network device 101 sends a first parameter to satellite 103 for extending the transmission interval length, and then satellite 103 sends the first parameter to terminal device 102 for extending the transmission interval length. the terminal device can determine the round-trip propagation delay between the terminal and the satellite based on its own location information and ephemeris information i.e., FL delay obtain location of satellite/first position).
wherein the first position, the second position,([0069] first location and the location of the first device; the first location may refer to the location farthest from the first device in the coverage area of the cell where the terminal device is located; ince a cell includes one or more beams, RTT<sub>max</sub> may also be the round-trip propagation delay between the second location and the location of the first device, where the second location refers to the location farthest from the first device in the beam coverage area of the cell where the terminal device is located.)
the third position, ,([0130][0135] the propagation delay between the third location and the location of the first device, where the third location is the closest location to the first device in the cell)
the parameter, and/or the offset is provided by the base station to the UE; ;([0067] [0077]the network device may send a first parameter to the terminal device, the first parameter mentioned above includes one or more of the following: scheduling delay K_offset)
the first position, ([0069] first location and the location of the first device; the first location may refer to the location farthest from the first device in the coverage area of the cell where the terminal device is located;
the second position, the third position, the parameter, and/or the offset is provided in the system information and/or UE-specific radio resource control (RRC) configuration. .([0078]0109] terminal devices can receive system messages or RRC-specific signaling sent by network devices; e terminal device receives Radio Resource Control (RRC) dedicated signaling sent by the network device, the RRC dedicated signaling including the first parameter).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine teaching of Lei with the teaching of Hosseinian because Lei teaches that size of the terminal device's compensation for TA i.e., the second timing advance TA, round-trip propagation delay between the satellite and the terminal device would ensure the terminal device's advance transmission, hat there is a sufficiently large time interval between the PDCCH reception time and the PUSCH transmission time for the UE to transmit in advance.(Lei [0058])
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claims 11, 12, 14-18 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Regarding claims 11, 12, 14-18 prior art WU; Qiang et al. [US 20170005741 A1] teaches in para 0121] Based on the examples illustrated in FIGS.2, , 4, 8 and 9, it will be appreciated that the half-duplex frame patterns at the gateway 200, the satellite 300, and the UT 400 and/or 401 may be repeated for frames beyond those illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9, for example, beyond frame k+4, k+5, . . . .
In one aspect, the satellite FL transmit time reference at Sat FSL TX may be set as a zero offset time reference. In one aspect, the timelines for the gateway transmitter and receiver and for the UT transmitter and receiver may be derived based on the time delays of respective frames relative to the satellite FL transmit time reference. It will be appreciated that a zero offset time reference may be set in other manners to provide the desired relative time delays at the gateway 200 and at the UT 400 and/or 401.
And prior art Lin [US 20230038582 A1] disclose in para [0027] Due to long RTT delay, all the uplink transmissions will apply a very long time advance (TA) value this will impact the downlink reception. A time domain location offset is applied to shift the time of an uplink transmission. Thus, the user equipment, UE, will apply a time domain location offset value (designated here as K_offset) to the initial time domain location scheduled or configured for an uplink transmission.
And in para [0033] While examples 1-3 illustrate the cases where the full K_offset value is indicated either by a cell level indication, or a beam level indication or a UE level indication, in this example, we describe a joint indication by a combination of the examples 1 to 3. Assume that a K_offset may be decomposed to K_offset=K_offset1+K_offset2, where K_offset1 may be a common value which is related to a reference RTT to a reference point and K_offset2 is an offset correction value which may be positive or negative or zero.
The interpretation of K_offset2 is how close between the reference offset (K_offset1) and the true offset (K_offset). The advantage is that if K_offset1 is not changed very often, the base station will only update the K_offset2 for the K_offset adjustment, thus the signaling overhead can be greatly reduced.
However, combination or prior arts records Wu and Lin does not teach
For claim 11
wherein the FL propagation delay is obtained from the first position, the third position and the offset; the FL propagation delay is obtained from a second delay and shifted by the offset in time; a value of the offset is positive, negative, or zero; the second delay is calculated from a second distance and a second velocity; the second distance is between the first position and the third position; and the second velocity is a speed over a link between the first position and the third position.
For claim 12
wherein the FL propagation delay is obtained from the first position and the third position,
the FL propagation delay is obtained from a second delay
the second delay is calculated from a second distance and a second velocity; the second distance is between the first position and the third position; and
the second velocity is a speed over a link between the first position and the third position
and for claim 14,
wherein the FL propagation delay is obtained from a second delay and shifted by a second offset in time, and/or the FL propagation delay at time TO is obtained from the second delay at time T0+offset;
the second offset is obtained from the second delay at one or more reference time (T_ref) and the parameter;
the parameter comprises one or more FL delay values corresponding to the one or more reference time (T_ref) a value of the second offset is positive, negative, or zero;
an absolute value of the difference between the FL propagation delay at the one or more reference time T_ref and the second delay at the one or more reference time T_ref shifted by the second offset is less than a first value, and/or the FL propagation delay at the one or more reference time T_ref is equal to the second delay at the one or more reference time T_ref shifted by the second offset;
the first value is pre-defined or pre-configured, and/or the first value is a maximum tolerance error of a difference between the FL propagation delay and the second delay shifted by the second offset, and/or the first value is zero;
a unit of the first value comprises millisecond, microsecond, or nanosecond; and the first value is equal to or less than 1 millisecond, 1 microsecond, or 1 nanosecond.
Therefore, claims 11, 12 and 14 independently includes allowable subject matters if rewritten or amended to overcome the objections set forth in this office action and in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Claims 15-18, dependent form claim 14 would also be allowable for the same reasons.
Conclusion
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
SHIN; Seokmin et al. [US 20220330191 A1] METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING COMMUNICATION IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
LIU; Xiangdong [US 20220272757 A1] RANDOM ACCESS FOR BROADBAND 4G AND 5G OVER SATELLITE
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 ATIQUE AHMED whose telephone number is (571)272-6244. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30 - 7:30 PM M-F Eastern.
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/ATIQUE AHMED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413