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
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 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) 1 - 4, 8 - 14, and 16 - 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kumar, U.S. Patent No. 12,245,051.
Kumar teaches:
1. A method, comprising:
receiving, by a user equipment comprising at least one processor from a terrestrial radio network node, a service class relaying indication message comprising a first service class indication indicative of a service class corresponding to the terrestrial radio network node being configured to facilitate delivery of at least a portion of non-terrestrial traffic corresponding to a communication session between the user equipment and a non-terrestrial network node (handover procedure may be initiated from an NTN (non-terrestrial network) to a second cell which is part of the terrestrial network, col. 31, lines 33 - 36);
determining, by the user equipment, that the delivery of at least the portion of non-terrestrial traffic is to be facilitated by the terrestrial radio network node (the handover procedure would indicate that traffic was to be sent from the current node to the terrestrial node);
transmitting, by the user equipment to the terrestrial radio network node, a connection establishment request message comprising a second service class indication indicative of the service class (Quality of Service (QoS) is utilized to determine network connection, col. 1, lines 62 – 67);
based on the transmitting of the connection establishment request message, establishing, by the user equipment, a connection with the terrestrial radio network node to result in an established connection (handover implies a connection to a new node); and
transmitting, by the user equipment to the terrestrial radio network node according to the established connection, at least a portion of at least the portion of non-terrestrial traffic (handover implies data would be sent to the new node).
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the connection establishment request message further comprises a non-terrestrial network node identifier corresponding to the non-terrestrial network node (UE may include a satellite identifier, col. 8, lines 5 – 9).
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining that the delivery of at least the portion of non-terrestrial traffic is to be facilitated by the terrestrial radio network node comprises:
receiving, from the non-terrestrial network node, a traffic-relaying indication indicative that the user equipment is to offload the delivery of at least the portion of non-terrestrial traffic to the terrestrial radio network node (a handover implies traffic would be sent through the new node).
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the traffic-relaying indication is transmitted by the non-terrestrial network node based on a determination, by the non-terrestrial network node, that a signal strength corresponding to the user equipment is not greater than a strength value specified by a configured uplink transmission signal strength criterion (cell measurements are sent from TN and NTN devices, col. 15, lines 26 – 36).
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
transmitting, by the user equipment to the terrestrial radio network node, non-terrestrial control information corresponding to non-terrestrial downlink traffic associated with the communication session between the user equipment and a non-terrestrial network node (data collection reports are shared with the NTN, TN, and UE, abstract).
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
transmitting, by the user equipment to the terrestrial radio network node, non-terrestrial control information corresponding to non-terrestrial downlink traffic control information associated with the communication session between the user equipment and a non-terrestrial network node (data collection reports are shared with the NTN, TN, and UE, abstract).
10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least the portion of non-terrestrial traffic comprises uplink traffic associated with the communication session between the user equipment and the non-terrestrial network node (communications links may be uplink, col. 3, lines 47 – 55).
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the service class relaying indication message is broadcast by the terrestrial radio network node in a system information block message (SIB is utilized, col. 14, lines 8 – 28).
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the user equipment operates in an idle mode with respect to the terrestrial radio network node before the established connection is established (cell selection can occur in IDLE mode, col. 12, lines 14 – 18).
13. A user equipment, comprising:
at least one processor configured to process executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
receiving, from a terrestrial radio network node, a relaying service class message comprising a non-terrestrial uplink traffic relaying service class indication indicative of the terrestrial radio network node being configured to facilitate delivery of a non-terrestrial uplink traffic flow associated with an established non-terrestrial communication session between the user equipment and a non-terrestrial network node (handover procedure may be initiated from an NTN (non-terrestrial network) to a second cell which is part of the terrestrial network, col. 31, lines 33 - 36);
determining that delivery of the non-terrestrial uplink traffic flow is to be facilitated by the terrestrial radio network node (the handover procedure would indicate that traffic was to be sent from the current node to the terrestrial node);
establishing a terrestrial connection with the terrestrial radio network node to result in an established terrestrial connection (the handover procedure would indicate that traffic was to be sent from the current node to the terrestrial node); and
transmitting, to the terrestrial radio network node via the established terrestrial connection, at least a portion of the non-terrestrial uplink traffic flow (handover implies data would be sent to the new node).
14. The user equipment of claim 13, wherein the determining that the delivery of the non-terrestrial uplink traffic flow is to be facilitated by the terrestrial radio network node comprises receiving, from the non-terrestrial network node, a traffic-relaying indication indicative that the user equipment is to offload the delivery of non-terrestrial uplink traffic flow to the terrestrial radio network node (a handover implies traffic would be sent through the new node).
16. The user equipment of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:
transmitting, to the terrestrial radio network node, non-terrestrial control information corresponding to the established non-terrestrial communication session, wherein the non-terrestrial control information is to be directed, by the terrestrial radio network node, to the non-terrestrial network node (handover procedure may be initiated from an NTN (non-terrestrial network) to a second cell which is part of the terrestrial network, col. 31, lines 33 - 36).
17. A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a user equipment, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
receiving, via a broadcast by a terrestrial radio network node using a system information block message, a non-terrestrial uplink traffic relaying service class indication indicative of the terrestrial radio network node being configured to facilitate delivery of a non-terrestrial uplink traffic flow associated with an established non-terrestrial communication session between the user equipment and a non-terrestrial network node (handover procedure may be initiated from an NTN (non-terrestrial network) to a second cell which is part of the terrestrial network, col. 31, lines 33 - 36);
determining that delivery of the non-terrestrial uplink traffic flow is to be facilitated by the terrestrial radio network node; establishing a terrestrial connection with the terrestrial radio network node to result in an established terrestrial connection (the handover procedure would indicate that traffic was to be sent from the current node to the terrestrial node); and
transmitting, to the terrestrial radio network node according to the established terrestrial connection, at least a portion of the non-terrestrial uplink traffic flow (handover implies data would be sent to the new node).
18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the determining that the delivery of the non-terrestrial uplink traffic flow is to be facilitated by the terrestrial radio network node comprises receiving, from the non-terrestrial network node, a traffic-relaying indication indicative that the user equipment is to offload the delivery of the non-terrestrial uplink traffic flow to the terrestrial radio network node (a handover implies traffic would be sent through the new node).
19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the user equipment operates in an idle mode with respect to the terrestrial radio network node before the established terrestrial connection was established (cell selection can occur in IDLE mode, col. 12, lines 14 – 18).
20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:
transmitting, to non-terrestrial network node, a traffic-relaying indication indicative that the user equipment is to offload the delivery of the non-terrestrial uplink traffic flow to the terrestrial radio network node (handover procedure may be initiated from an NTN (non-terrestrial network) to a second cell which is part of the terrestrial network, col. 31, lines 33 - 36).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 5 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kumar as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Srivnastava, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2015/0189567.
Kumar teaches utilizing a satellite network for data transmission in a wireless communications network. Kumar does not teach utilizing the error rate as a metric for selecting a new station for transmission. However, Srivnastava teaches utilizing an error rate to justify selecting a new station for transmission. It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time of the filing to modify the teachings of Kumar to incorporate the known technique of tracking an error rate as taught by Srivnastava in order to obtain the predictable result of minimizing errors on the network.
The combination teaches:
5. The method of claim 3, wherein the traffic-relaying indication is transmitted by the non-terrestrial network node based on a determination, by the non-terrestrial network node, that an uplink error rate corresponding to uplink traffic received by the non-terrestrial network node from the user equipment is not less than an error rate value specified by an uplink error rate criterion (handover occurs due to uplink error rate, [0031], Srivnastava).
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining that the delivery of at least the portion of non-terrestrial traffic is to be facilitated by the terrestrial radio network node comprises:
determining that an uplink transmission power corresponding to transmission of uplink traffic is to be not greater than a transmission power specified by a configured uplink traffic transmission power criterion (disconnects (and therefore handovers) may be triggered by power threshold, Srivastava, [0006]).
Claim(s) 6 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kumar as applied to claims 1 and 13 above, and further in view of Cui, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2023/0164580.
Kumar teaches utilizing a satellite to assist with communication in a wireless network. Kumar does not teach monitoring a device’s battery level. However, Cui teaches monitoring the battery level of a network device. It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time of filing to modify the teachings of Kumar to incorporate the known technique of monitoring a battery level of a network device as taught by Cui in order to obtain the predictable result of ensuring a device has adequate power to operate.
The combination teaches:
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining that the delivery of at least the portion of non-terrestrial traffic is to be facilitated by the terrestrial radio network node comprises:
determining that a battery charge value corresponding to the user equipment is not greater than a battery charge threshold specified by a configured battery charge criterion (handover may be initiated due to battery level, [0042], Cui).
15. The user equipment of claim 13, wherein the determining that the delivery of the non-terrestrial uplink traffic flow is to be facilitated by the terrestrial radio network node comprises determining that a battery charge value corresponding to the user equipment is not greater than a value defined by a configured battery charge criterion (handover may be initiated due to battery level, [0042], Cui).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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PETER G. SOLINSKY
Examiner
Art Unit 2463
/Peter G Solinsky/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463