DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present U.S. non-provisional application is being examined under the first-inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA . The present U.S. non-provisional application, filed on October 4, 2023, is the U.S. national stage of an international PCT application, filed on April 11, 2022, and claims benefit to a U.S. provisional application, filed on April 9, 2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on October 4, 2023 was filed before the mailing date of a first Office action in the present U.S. non-provisional application, in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
This Office action is responsive to the election and amendment on December 16, 2025. The election of invention group I without traverse is acknowledged. Claims 21-24 were canceled. Claim 25 was added. Claims 1-20 and 25 are pending for consideration in the present U.S. non-provisional application. It is noted that the amendment is not compliant with 37 CFR 1.121(c)(4) because claim text is presented for canceled claims.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-10 and 15-20 would be considered as allowable if rewritten into independent form to include all of the limitations of the respective base claim and any intervening claims. The claimed invention is neither anticipated by the prior art of record, nor considered as obvious in view thereof to a person having ordinary skill in the art.
Double Patenting
Claims 1-4, 11-14 and 25 are provisionally rejected on the ground of non-statutory double patenting as being unpatentable over reference claims 1-20 (cf. reference claims 9, 19) of U.S. Patent Application No. 18/554,548 in view of Li et al. (US 2023/0156599 A1). The claims at issue for consideration are not identical, but they are not patentably distinct from each other because Li et al. provides prior art disclosure and suggestions for the additional limitations of the present claims, such as modifying an RRC connection timer (Li, paras. [0129], [0191], “In the embodiment of the present application, the radio link monitoring timer may refer to a T310 timer, which can be used to time waiting time for monitoring a radio link failure. […] When stopping executing the RRM measurement, a running T310 timer is stopped at the same time (to prevent T310 from timing out during the feeder link switch and then triggering RRC reestablishment).”) Accordingly, the present claims are considered as obvious variants of the reference claims to a person having ordinary skill in the art.
The non-statutory double patenting rejections are based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A non-statutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the claims at issue are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 C.F.R. 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a non-statutory double patenting ground(s) provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. MPEP 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA , MPEP 2159. MPEP 706.02(l)(1)-706.02(l)(3) for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used (www.uspto.gov/forms/). The filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using the eTerminal Disclaimer website. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For additional information about eTerminal Disclaimers, see http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
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.
Claims 1-4, 11-14 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as unpatentable over Hu et al. (US 2023/0208508 A1) in view of Li et al. (US 2023/0156599 A1).
1. A method performed by a wireless device capable of operating in a non-terrestrial network (NTN), the method (Hu, FIG. 4) comprising:
determining an amount of time until a service link or feeder link switch (Hu, paras. [0057], [0059], “…The network device transmits the indication information to the terminal device after learning of the feeder link switch event. Optionally, the indication information includes at least one of: first time information, second time information, and duration information. The first time information indicates a start moment of the feeder link switch. The second time information indicates a completion moment of the feeder link switch. The duration information indicates a duration of the feeder link switch. Exemplarily, assuming that the start moment of the feeder link switch is t1, the completion moment of the feeder link switch is t2, and the duration of the feeder link switch is Δt, then t2=t1+Δt.”); and
based on the determined amount of time, modifying a radio resource control (RRC) connection timer (Li, paras. [0189], [0191], “A second optional implementation is: the feeder link switch indication information may indicate two pieces of time information, for example, t1 (a starting time of the feeder link switch, which is equivalent to the starting time of the radio link being in the interrupted state as described in the above (1)) and t2 (the time when the feeder link switching is completed). After receiving the feeder link switch indication information, the terminal device stops executing the RRM measurement, the RLM measurement, the beam failure detection and so on at time t1, and starts the RRM measurement, the RLM measurement, the beam failure detection and so on at time t2. […] When stopping executing the RRM measurement, a running T310 timer is stopped at the same time (to prevent T310 from timing out during the feeder link switch and then triggering RRC reestablishment).”)
Hu et al. may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Li et al. provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as modifying an RRC connection timer (Li, paras. [0189], [0191], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Li et al. are for reasons of preventing a triggering of an RRC re-establishment during a feeder link switch (Li, paras. [0189], [0191], Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of preventing a triggering of an RRC re-establishment during a feeder link switch.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the RRC connection timer comprises shortening the RRC connection timer based on an expected time to be served (Li, paras. [0189], [0191], Id.)
3. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the RRC connection timer comprises expiring the RRC connection timer based on an expected time to be served (Hu, paras. [0061], [0075], “…(dataInactivityTimer). When the terminal device receives a MAC service data unit (SDU) for a dedicated transmission channel (DTCH), a dedicated control channel (DCCH), or a common control channel (CCCH), or transmits a MAC SDU for a DTCH or a DCCH during the monitoring of a control channel, the terminal device starts or restarts the timer and continuously monitors the control channel until the timer expires.”)
4. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the RRC connection timer comprises lengthening the RRC connection timer based on an expected time to be served (Li, paras. [0189], [0191], Id.)
11. A wireless device capable of operating in a non-terrestrial network (NTN), the wireless device comprising processing circuitry (Hu, FIG. 4, Id.) operable to:
determine an amount of time until a service link or feeder link switch (Hu, paras. [0057], [0059], Id.); and
based on the determined amount of time, modify a radio resource control (RRC) connection timer (Li, paras. [0189], [0191], Id. cf. Claim 1).
Hu et al. may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Li et al. provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as modifying an RRC connection timer (Li, paras. [0189], [0191], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Li et al. are for reasons of preventing a triggering of an RRC re-establishment during a feeder link switch (Li, paras. [0189], [0191], Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of preventing a triggering of an RRC re-establishment during a feeder link switch.
12. The wireless device of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is operable to modify the RRC connection timer by shortening the RRC connection timer based on an expected time to be served (Li, paras. [0189], [0191], Id. cf. Claim 2).
13. The wireless device of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is operable to modify the RRC connection timer by expiring the RRC connection timer based on an expected time to be served (Hu, paras. [0061], [0075], Id. cf. Claim 3).
14. The wireless device of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is operable to modify the RRC connection timer by lengthening the RRC connection timer based on an expected time to be served (Li, paras. [0189], [0191], Id. cf. Claim 4).
25. A system operating in a non-terrestrial network (NTN), the system comprising: a wireless device; and a network node configured to communicate with the wireless device, wherein the wireless device is (Hu, FIG. 4, Id.) configured to:
determine an amount of time until a service link or feeder link switch (Hu, paras. [0057], [0059], Id.); and
based on the determined amount of time, modify a radio resource control (RRC) connection timer (Li, paras. [0189], [0191], Id. cf. Claim 1).
Hu et al. may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Li et al. provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as modifying an RRC connection timer (Li, paras. [0189], [0191], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Li et al. are for reasons of preventing a triggering of an RRC re-establishment during a feeder link switch (Li, paras. [0189], [0191], Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of preventing a triggering of an RRC re-establishment during a feeder link switch.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record (PTO-1449, PTO-892) and not relied upon is considered pertinent to the subject matter of the present U.S. non-provisional application.
Wigard et al. (US 2021/0273717 A1) provides prior art disclosure considered as relevant to the subject matter of the claimed invention (Wigard, Abstract, “Systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for dynamic cell-specific delay for timing scaling in a non-terrestrial network (NTN). For example, certain embodiments may utilize a cell-common delay composed of FL and part of SL (until a cell-specific reference surface). A network node (e.g., a gNB) may calculate the cell-common delay as a function of time (T_c(t)) and may provide this function to the UEs (the satellite path may beis deterministic). The function of time may be a combination of two functions representing the FL and SL. The function can may be broadcasted in a system information block (SIB) or transmitted directly to the UE through radio resource control (RRC) signaling…”)
Lee et al. (US 2023/0308167 A1) provides prior art disclosure considered as relevant to the subject matter of the claimed invention (Lee, Abstract, “A method and apparatus for pausing Radio Link Failure detection for Non-Terrestrial Networks is provided. A wireless device establishes a connection with a Radio Access Node (RAN) node. A wireless device initiating a Radio Link Failure (RLF) detection for the connection. A wireless device receives, from the RAN node, information on feeder link switching which informs that an NTN gateway for the RAN node is switched. A wireless device stops the initiated RLF detection based on the information on the feeder link switching.”)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Timothy J. Weidner whose telephone number is (571) 270-1825. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time.
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/TIMOTHY J WEIDNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476