Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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 § 112(b)
2. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
3. Claims 13-16 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 13 (line 10) recites “the at least one packet.” “The at least one packet” is indefinite, as it lacks antecedent basis. For purposes of examination, the examiner’s interpretation of “the at least one packet” in claim 13 (line 10) is “the at least one packet identifier.” Whether the intent is for the limitation “the at least one packet” to be “the at least one packet identifier”, or not, correction is required for claim 13 to be definite.
Claims 14-16 are rejected as being dependent of rejected claim 13.
Claim 19 (line 8-9) recites “the at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit.” “The at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit” is indefinite, as it lacks antecedent basis. For purposes of examination, the examiner’s interpretation of “the at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit” in claim 19 (line 8-9) is “the at least one unsuccessfully received packet.” Whether the intent is for the limitation “the at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit” to be “the at least one unsuccessfully received packet”, or not, correction is required for claim 19 to be definite.
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.
5. Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hassan Hussein ‘194 (US 2020/0228194, “Hassan Hussein ‘194”), in view of Park ‘400 (US 2022/0286400, “Park ‘400”).
Regarding claim 1, Hassan Hussein ‘194 discloses a method, comprising:
facilitating, by a terrestrial radio network node (FIG. 3, para 79-83; terrestrial/ground base station 40) comprising at least one processor (para 149; microprocessor),
receiving, from a user equipment, a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request indicative of at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit corresponding to at least one non-terrestrial downlink traffic flow (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; a data packet is transmitted by a satellite to a user equipment (UE) via a non-terrestrial downlink traffic flow; the data packet is the data packet of redundancy version RV0; in case of an error in receiving the data packet, the UE sends a HARQ NACK to the terrestrial base station, rather than the satellite, to request retransmission of the data packet; the NACK that the UE sends to the terrestrial base station rather than the satellite reads on a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request (dHARQ));
facilitating, by the terrestrial radio network node, transmitting, to a non-terrestrial network component, a non-terrestrial payload fetch request (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; the terrestrial base station forwards the NACK to the satellite, where the NACK is originally sent from the UE to the terrestrial base station to request retransmission of the data packet, where the retransmitted data packet is of redundancy version RV1; the satellite reads on a non-terrestrial network component);
facilitating, by the terrestrial radio network node, receiving, from the non-terrestrial network component, at least one retransmitted protocol data unit (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; the terrestrial base station receives from the satellite the retransmitted data unit of redundancy version RV1); and
facilitating, by the terrestrial radio network node, transmitting, to the user equipment, the at least one retransmitted protocol data unit (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; the terrestrial base station sends to the UE the retransmitted data unit of redundancy version RV1).
Although Hassan Hussein ‘194 discloses receiving, from a user equipment, a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request indicative of at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit corresponding to at least one non-terrestrial downlink traffic flow, Hassan Hussein ‘194 does not specifically disclose request comprising at least one protocol data unit identifier indicative of at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit. Further, although Hassan Hussein ‘194 discloses facilitating, by the terrestrial radio network node, transmitting, to a non-terrestrial network component, a non-terrestrial payload fetch request, Hassan Hussein ‘194 does not specifically disclose transmitting a payload fetch request comprising the at least one protocol data unit identifier. Furthermore, although Hassan Hussein ‘194 discloses facilitating, by the terrestrial radio network node, receiving, from the non-terrestrial network component, at least one retransmitted protocol data unit, Hassan Hussein ‘194 does not specifically disclose receiving at least one retransmitted protocol data unit corresponding to the at least one protocol data unit identifier.
Park ‘400 teaches request comprising at least one protocol data unit identifier indicative of at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit (para 64 and 70; NACK request for packet retransmission includes the packet identifier indicative of the unsuccessfully received packet);
transmitting a payload fetch request comprising the at least one protocol data unit identifier (para 64 and 70; transmission of the NACK request for packet retransmission that includes the packet identifier);
receiving at least one retransmitted protocol data unit corresponding to the at least one protocol data unit identifier (para 32, 64, and 70; the identified packet is retransmitted to a device; thus, the indicated packet is received, corresponding to the packet identifier).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Hassan Hussein ‘194’s terrestrial radio network node that receives a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request, to include Park ‘400’s transmission of a NACK request for packet retransmission that includes the packet identifier. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a video packet transmitting method that is robust to packet loss (Park ‘400, para 4).
Regarding claim 2, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 1, as outlined above.
Further, Hassan Hussein ‘194 teaches wherein the at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit is directed to the user equipment (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; the data packet is not received successfully by the UE).
Regarding claim 3, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 1, as outlined above.
Further, Hassan Hussein ‘194 teaches wherein the non-terrestrial network component comprises a non-terrestrial network gateway or a user plane function (FIG. 3, para 79-83; the non-terrestrial system that communicates with the UE includes the satellite and a gateway; thus, the satellite and gateway non-terrestrial components perform a user plane function).
Regarding claim 4, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 3, as outlined above.
Further, Hassan Hussein ‘194 teaches wherein the user plane function is a component of a core network (FIG. 1, para 51; the gateway is connected to the cellular/mobile core network (CN); thus, the user plane function is a component of the core network).
Regarding claim 5, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 1, as outlined above.
Further, Hassan Hussein ‘194 teaches wherein the at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit was transmitted to the user equipment by a non-terrestrial network node (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; the data packet that is not received successfully by the UE was transmitted by the satellite; the satellite reads on a non-terrestrial network node).
Regarding claim 6, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 1, as outlined above.
Further, Hassan Hussein ‘194 teaches wherein the at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit comprises at least one packet of a group of non-terrestrial downlink packets (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; a group of packets consisting of the original packet and its retransmissions are received from the satellite, some directly and others via the terrestrial base station; thus, the original packet that is not received successfully by the UE is one of the group of non-terrestrial downlink packets from the satellite).
Furthermore, Park ‘400 teaches wherein the at least one protocol data unit identifier is indicative of the group of non-terrestrial downlink packets (para 64 and 70; the NACK request is a signal that requests retransmission of packets; the NACK request includes the packet identifier indicative of the unsuccessfully received packet; thus, the packet identifier is indicative of the group of packets that require retransmission).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined terrestrial radio network node of Hassan Hussein ‘194 and Park ‘400, to further include Park ‘400’s packet identifier that is indicative of a group of packets that require retransmission. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a video packet transmitting method that is robust to packet loss (Park ‘400, para 4).
Regarding claim 7, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 1, as outlined above.
Further, Hassan Hussein ‘194 teaches wherein the delegated hybrid automatic repeat request further comprises at least one of:
a target non-terrestrial network node identifier corresponding to a non-terrestrial network node that transmitted the at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit,
a redundancy version indication indicative of a redundancy version corresponding to the at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit, or
a modulation and coding indication indicative of modulation and coding information used to transmit the at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit (FIG. 3, para 27 and 79-83; a modulation and coding scheme is chosen according to the requirement of non-terrestrial transmission to the UE; examiner notes the use of alternative language; for rejection purposes, only one of the alternative limitations must be disclosed by prior art).
Regarding claim 8, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 7, as outlined above.
Further, Hassan Hussein ‘194 teaches wherein the facilitating of the transmitting of the at least one retransmitted protocol data unit comprises facilitating the transmitting according to the modulation and coding information used to transmit the at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit (FIG. 3, para 8, 27, 39, and 79-83; a modulation and coding scheme is chosen according to the transmission of non-terrestrial downlink communication of data packets to the UE).
Regarding claim 9, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 7, as outlined above.
Further, Hassan Hussein ‘194 teaches wherein the redundancy version is a first redundancy version (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; the originally transmitted data packet is the data packet of redundancy version RV0; redundancy version RV0 reads on a first redundancy version), and
wherein the facilitating of the transmitting of the at least one retransmitted protocol data unit comprises facilitating the transmitting according to a second redundancy version that is sequentially subsequent to the first redundancy version (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; the originally transmitted data packet is the data packet of redundancy version RV0; in case of an error in receiving the originally transmitted data packet, the subsequently transmitted, retransmitted data packet is of redundancy version RV1; redundancy version RV1 reads on a second redundancy version).
6. Claims 10 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hassan Hussein ‘194, in view of Park ‘400, and further in view of Elshafie ‘778 (US 2024/0121778, “Elshafie ‘778”).
Regarding claim 10, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 9, as outlined above.
However, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 does not specifically disclose further comprising: facilitating, by the terrestrial radio network node, transmitting, to the user equipment, a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request combine indication indicative to the user equipment to enable combination of the at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit and the at least one retransmitted protocol data unit.
Elshafie ‘778 teaches further comprising: facilitating, by the terrestrial radio network node, transmitting, to the user equipment, a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request combine indication indicative to the user equipment to enable combination of the at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit and the at least one retransmitted protocol data unit (FIG. 8, para 127; network node indicates to the mobile station that the original data packet the mobile station receives should be combined with the retransmission of the data packet).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined terrestrial radio network node of Hassan Hussein ‘194 and Park ‘400, to include Elshafie ‘778’s network node that indicates to the mobile station that the original data packet the mobile station receives should be combined with the retransmission of the data packet. The motivation for doing so would have been to address increasing demand for mobile broadband access with further improvements in radio access technologies (Elshafie ‘778, para 4).
Regarding claim 11, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 1, as outlined above.
Further, Hassan Hussein ‘194 teaches wherein the facilitating of the transmitting of the at least one retransmitted protocol data unit comprises facilitating the transmitting according to the modulation and coding scheme (para 27; a modulation and coding scheme is chosen according to communication requirements for transmission between the user equipment and the terrestrial node).
However, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 does not specifically disclose wherein a redundancy version indication is absent from the delegated hybrid automatic repeat request, and wherein the method further comprises: determining, by the terrestrial radio network node, at least one channel condition parameter metric corresponding to a communication link between the terrestrial radio network node and the user equipment; and based on the at least one channel condition parameter metric, determining, by the terrestrial radio network node, a modulation and coding scheme.
Elshafie ‘778 teaches wherein a redundancy version indication is absent from the delegated hybrid automatic repeat request (FIG. 8, para 116 and 127; the network node transmits to the mobile station a combining indication that indicates one of a HARQ-ACK process identifier or a redundancy version (RV) associated with the data packet; thus, when the combining indicator indicates the HARQ-ACK process identifier, the redundancy version is absent from the combining indicator), and
wherein the method further comprises:
determining, by the terrestrial radio network node, at least one channel condition parameter metric corresponding to a communication link between the terrestrial radio network node and the user equipment (FIGS. 1-2, para 49-50; the network node receives from the UE a channel quality indicator (CQI) for communication between the network node and the UE; thus, the network node determines the CQI corresponding to the communication link between the network node and the UE; the CQI reads on at least one channel condition parameter metric); and
based on the at least one channel condition parameter metric, determining, by the terrestrial radio network node, a modulation and coding scheme (FIGS. 1-2, para 49-50; the network node selects a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) based on the CQI received from the UE).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined terrestrial radio network node of Hassan Hussein ‘194 and Park ‘400, to include Elshafie ‘778’s network node that selects a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) based on the CQI received from the UE. The motivation for doing so would have been to address increasing demand for mobile broadband access with further improvements in radio access technologies (Elshafie ‘778, para 4).
7. Claims 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hassan Hussein ‘194, in view of Park ‘400, and further in view of Wang ‘789 (US 2023/0259789, “Wang ‘789”).
Regarding claim 13, Hassan Hussein ‘194 discloses a terrestrial radio network node (FIG. 3, para 79-83; terrestrial/ground base station 40), comprising
at least one processor configured to process executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, facilitate performance of operations (para 154; a computer program having a program code runs on a computer), comprising:
receiving, from a user equipment, a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request indicative of at least one unsuccessfully received packet corresponding to at least one non-terrestrial downlink traffic flow (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; a data packet is transmitted by a satellite to a user equipment (UE) via a non-terrestrial downlink traffic flow; the data packet is the data packet of redundancy version RV0; in case of an error in receiving the data packet, the UE sends a HARQ NACK to the terrestrial base station, rather than the satellite, to request retransmission of the data packet; the NACK that the UE sends to the terrestrial base station rather than the satellite reads on a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request (dHARQ));
transmitting a non-terrestrial payload fetch request (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; the terrestrial base station forwards the NACK to the satellite, where the NACK is originally sent from the UE to the terrestrial base station to request retransmission of the data packet, where the retransmitted data packet is of redundancy version RV1);
responsive to the non-terrestrial payload fetch request, receiving at least one retransmitted packet (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; the terrestrial base station receives from the satellite the retransmitted data unit of redundancy version RV1, to be transmitted to the UE according to the NACK request); and
transmitting, to the user equipment, the at least one retransmitted packet (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; the terrestrial base station sends to the UE the retransmitted data unit of redundancy version RV1).
Although Hassan Hussein ‘194 discloses receiving, from a user equipment, a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request indicative of at least one unsuccessfully received packet corresponding to at least one non-terrestrial downlink traffic flow, Hassan Hussein ‘194 does not specifically disclose request comprising at least one packet identifier indicative of at least one unsuccessfully received packet. Further, although Hassan Hussein ‘194 discloses transmitting a non-terrestrial payload fetch request, Hassan Hussein ‘194 does not specifically disclose transmitting a payload fetch request comprising the at least one packet identifier. Furthermore, although Hassan Hussein ‘194 discloses responsive to the non-terrestrial payload fetch request, receiving at least one retransmitted packet, Hassan Hussein ‘194 does not specifically disclose receiving at least one retransmitted packet corresponding to the at least one packet.
Park ‘400 teaches request comprising at least one packet identifier indicative of at least one unsuccessfully received packet (para 64 and 70; NACK request for packet retransmission includes the packet identifier indicative of the unsuccessfully received packet);
transmitting a payload fetch request comprising the at least one packet identifier (para 64 and 70; transmission of the NACK request for packet retransmission that includes the packet identifier);
receiving at least one retransmitted packet corresponding to the at least one packet (para 32, 64, and 70; the identified packet is retransmitted to a device; thus, the indicated packet is received, corresponding to the packet identifier).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Hassan Hussein ‘194’s terrestrial radio network node that receives a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request, to include Park ‘400’s transmission of a NACK request for packet retransmission that includes the packet identifier. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a video packet transmitting method that is robust to packet loss (Park ‘400, para 4).
Although Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 discloses transmitting a non-terrestrial payload fetch request, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 does not specifically disclose transmitting, to a core network component, a request. Further, although Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 discloses responsive to the non-terrestrial payload fetch request, receiving at least one retransmitted packet, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 does not specifically disclose receiving, from the core network component, at least one packet.
Wang ‘789 teaches transmitting, to a core network component, a request (FIG. 1, para 45; base station sends a HARQ to the core network);
receiving, from the core network component, at least one packet (FIG. 1, para 45; the base station receives information from the core network).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined terrestrial radio network node of Hassan Hussein ‘194 and Park ‘400, to include Wang ‘789’s base station that sends a HARQ to the core network. The motivation for doing so would have been to produce devices capable of wirelessly communicating using higher frequency ranges (Wang ‘789, para 1).
Regarding claim 14, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 and Wang ‘789 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 13, as outlined above.
Further, Hassan Hussein ‘194 teaches wherein the delegated hybrid automatic repeat request further comprises at least one of:
a target non-terrestrial network node identifier corresponding to a non-terrestrial network node that transmitted the at least one unsuccessfully received packet,
a redundancy version indication indicative of a redundancy version corresponding to the at least one unsuccessfully received packet, or
a modulation and coding indication indicative of modulation and coding information used to transmit the at least one unsuccessfully received packet (FIG. 3, para 27 and 79-83; a modulation and coding scheme is chosen according to the requirement of non-terrestrial communication with the UE; examiner notes the use of alternative language; for rejection purposes, only one of the alternative limitations must be disclosed by prior art).
Regarding claim 15, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 and Wang ‘789 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 14, as outlined above.
Further, Hassan Hussein ‘194 teaches wherein the redundancy version is a first redundancy version (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; the originally transmitted data packet is the data packet of redundancy version RV0; redundancy version RV0 reads on a first redundancy version), and
wherein the transmitting of the at least one retransmitted packet is facilitated according to a second redundancy version that is sequentially subsequent to the first redundancy version (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; the originally transmitted data packet is the data packet of redundancy version RV0; in case of an error in receiving the originally transmitted data packet, the subsequently transmitted, retransmitted data packet is of redundancy version RV1; redundancy version RV1 reads on a second redundancy version) and
according to the modulation and coding information used to transmit the at least one unsuccessfully received packet (FIG. 3, para 8, 27, 39, and 79-83; a modulation and coding scheme is chosen according to the requirement of non-terrestrial downlink communication of data packets to the UE).
8. Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hassan Hussein ‘194, in view of Park ‘400, further in view of Wang ‘789, and further in view of Elshafie ‘778.
Regarding claim 16, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 and Wang ‘789 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 13, as outlined above.
However, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 and Wang ‘789 does not specifically disclose wherein the operations further comprise: facilitating, by the terrestrial radio network node, transmitting, to the user equipment, a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request combine indication indicative to the user equipment to enable combination of the at least one unsuccessfully received packet and the at least one retransmitted packet.
Elshafie ‘778 teaches wherein the operations further comprise: facilitating, by the terrestrial radio network node, transmitting, to the user equipment, a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request combine indication indicative to the user equipment to enable combination of the at least one unsuccessfully received packet and the at least one retransmitted packet (FIG. 8, para 127; network node indicates to the mobile station that the original data packet the mobile station receives should be combined with the retransmission of the data packet).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined terrestrial radio network node of Hassan Hussein ‘194, Park ‘400, and Wang ‘789, to include Elshafie ‘778’s network node that indicates to the mobile station that the original data packet the mobile station receives should be combined with the retransmission of the data packet. The motivation for doing so would have been to address increasing demand for mobile broadband access with further improvements in radio access technologies (Elshafie ‘778, para 4).
9. Claims 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hassan Hussein ‘194, in view of Park ‘400, further in view of Wang ‘789, and further in view of Liu ‘868 (US 2026/0046868, “Liu ‘868”).
Regarding claim 17, Hassan Hussein ‘194 discloses a non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a terrestrial radio network node, facilitate performance of operations (FIG. 3, para 79-83 and 150; terrestrial/ground base station 40, implemented as a digital storage medium that stores electronically readable control signals that cooperate with a programmable computer system to perform operations), comprising:
receiving, from a user equipment, a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request indicative of at least one unsuccessfully received packet corresponding to at least one non-terrestrial downlink traffic flow, transmitted to the user equipment by a non-terrestrial network node (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; a data packet is transmitted by a satellite to a user equipment (UE) via a non-terrestrial downlink traffic flow; the data packet is the data packet of redundancy version RV0; in case of an error in receiving the data packet, the UE sends a HARQ NACK to the terrestrial base station, rather than the satellite, to request retransmission of the data packet; the NACK that the UE sends to the terrestrial base station rather than the satellite reads on a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request (dHARQ); the satellite reads on a non-terrestrial network node);
transmitting a non-terrestrial payload fetch request (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; the terrestrial base station forwards the NACK to the satellite, where the NACK is originally sent from the UE to the terrestrial base station to request retransmission of the data packet, where the retransmitted data packet is of redundancy version RV1);
receiving at least one retransmitted packet (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; the terrestrial base station receives from the satellite the retransmitted data unit of redundancy version RV1); and
transmitting, to the user equipment, the at least one retransmitted packet (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; the terrestrial base station sends to the UE the retransmitted data unit of redundancy version RV1).
Although Hassan Hussein ‘194 discloses receiving, from a user equipment, a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request indicative of at least one unsuccessfully received packet corresponding to at least one non-terrestrial downlink traffic flow, transmitted to the user equipment by a non-terrestrial network node, Hassan Hussein ‘194 does not specifically disclose request comprising at least one packet identifier indicative of at least one unsuccessfully received packet. Further, although Hassan Hussein ‘194 discloses transmitting a non-terrestrial payload fetch request, Hassan Hussein ‘194 does not specifically disclose transmitting a payload fetch request comprising the at least one packet identifier. Furthermore, although Hassan Hussein ‘194 discloses receiving at least one retransmitted packet, Hassan Hussein ‘194 does not specifically disclose receiving at least one retransmitted packet corresponding to the at least one packet identifier.
Park ‘400 teaches request comprising at least one packet identifier indicative of at least one unsuccessfully received packet (para 64 and 70; NACK request for packet retransmission includes the packet identifier indicative of the unsuccessfully received packet);
transmitting a payload fetch request comprising the at least one packet identifier (para 64 and 70; transmission of the NACK request for packet retransmission that includes the packet identifier);
receiving at least one retransmitted packet corresponding to the at least one packet identifier (para 32, 64, and 70; the identified packet is retransmitted to a device; thus, the indicated packet is received, corresponding to the packet identifier).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Hassan Hussein ‘194’s terrestrial radio network node that receives a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request, to include Park ‘400’s transmission of a NACK request for packet retransmission that includes the packet identifier. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a video packet transmitting method that is robust to packet loss (Park ‘400, para 4).
Although Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 discloses transmitting a non-terrestrial payload fetch request, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 does not specifically disclose transmitting, to a core network component, a request. Further, although Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 discloses receiving at least one retransmitted packet, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 does not specifically disclose receiving, from the core network component, at least one packet.
Wang ‘789 teaches transmitting, to a core network component, a request (FIG. 1, para 45; base station sends a HARQ to the core network);
receiving, from the core network component, at least one packet (FIG. 1, para 45; the base station receives information from the core network).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined terrestrial radio network node of Hassan Hussein ‘194 and Park ‘400, to include Wang ‘789’s base station that sends a HARQ to the core network. The motivation for doing so would have been to produce devices capable of wirelessly communicating using higher frequency ranges (Wang ‘789, para 1).
Although Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 and Wang ‘789 discloses receiving, from a user equipment, a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request indicative of at least one unsuccessfully received packet corresponding to at least one non-terrestrial downlink traffic flow, transmitted to the user equipment by a non-terrestrial network node, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 and Wang ‘789 does not specifically disclose a request comprising a non-terrestrial network node identifier corresponding to the non-terrestrial network node. Further, although Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 and Wang ‘789 discloses transmitting a non-terrestrial payload fetch request, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400 and Wang ‘789 does not specifically disclose a request comprising the non-terrestrial network node identifier.
Liu ‘868 teaches a request comprising a non-terrestrial network node identifier corresponding to the non-terrestrial network node (FIG. 3, para 17 and 117; a message includes identifier information for a non-terrestrial relay node);
a request comprising the non-terrestrial network node identifier (FIG. 3, para 17 and 117; a message includes identifier information for a non-terrestrial relay node).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined terrestrial radio network node of Hassan Hussein ‘194, Park ‘400, and Wang ‘789, to include Liu ‘868’s message that includes identifier information for a non-terrestrial relay node. The motivation for doing so would have been to enable wireless devices to establish wireless communications with different types of non-terrestrial entities in such a manner as to improve an efficiency and reliability of wireless communications between the wireless device and respective non-terrestrial entities (Liu ‘868, para 58).
Regarding claim 18, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400, Wang ‘789, and Liu ‘868 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 17, as outlined above.
Further, Hassan Hussein ‘194 teaches wherein the delegated hybrid automatic repeat request further comprises at least one of:
a redundancy version indication indicative of a redundancy version corresponding to the at least one unsuccessfully received packet, or
a modulation and coding indication indicative of modulation and coding information used to transmit the at least one unsuccessfully received packet (FIG. 3, para 27 and 79-83; a modulation and coding scheme is chosen according to the requirement of non-terrestrial communication with the UE; examiner notes the use of alternative language; for rejection purposes, only one of the alternative limitations must be disclosed by prior art).
10. Claim 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hassan Hussein ‘194, in view of Park ‘400, further in view of Wang ‘789, further in view of Liu ‘868, further in view of Elshafie ‘778, and further in view of Lu ‘041 (US 2024/0260041, “Lu ‘041”).
Regarding claim 19, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400, Wang ‘789, and Liu ‘868 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 18, as outlined above.
Further, Hassan Hussein ‘194 teaches wherein the redundancy version is a first redundancy version (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; the originally transmitted data packet is the data packet of redundancy version RV0; redundancy version RV0 reads on a first redundancy version), and
wherein the transmitting of the at least one retransmitted packet is facilitated according to a second redundancy version that is sequentially subsequent to the first redundancy version (FIG. 3, para 8, 39, and 79-83; the originally transmitted data packet is the data packet of redundancy version RV0; in case of an error in receiving the originally transmitted data packet, the subsequently transmitted, retransmitted data packet is of redundancy version RV1; redundancy version RV1 reads on a second redundancy version) and
according to the modulation and coding information used to transmit the at least one unsuccessfully received packet (FIG. 3, para 8, 27, 39, and 79-83; a modulation and coding scheme is chosen according to the requirement of non-terrestrial downlink communication of data packets to the UE).
However, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400, Wang ‘789, and Liu ‘868 does not specifically disclose wherein the operations further comprise: transmitting, to the user equipment, a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request combine indication indicative to the user equipment to enable the at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit and the at least one retransmitted packet to be combined.
Elshafie ‘778 teaches wherein the operations further comprise: transmitting, to the user equipment, a delegated hybrid automatic repeat request combine indication indicative to the user equipment to enable the at least one unsuccessfully received protocol data unit and the at least one retransmitted packet to be combined (FIG. 8, para 127; network node indicates to the mobile station that the original data packet the mobile station receives should be combined with the retransmission of the data packet).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined terrestrial radio network node of Hassan Hussein ‘194, Park ‘400, Wang ‘789, and Liu ‘868, to include Elshafie ‘778’s network node that indicates to the mobile station that the original data packet the mobile station receives should be combined with the retransmission of the data packet. The motivation for doing so would have been to address increasing demand for mobile broadband access with further improvements in radio access technologies (Elshafie ‘778, para 4).
Although Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400, Wang ‘789, Liu ‘868, and Elshafie ‘778 discloses wherein the transmitting of the at least one retransmitted packet is facilitated according to a second redundancy version that is sequentially subsequent to the first redundancy version, Hassan Hussein ‘194 in combination with Park ‘400, Wang ‘789, Liu ‘868, and Elshafie ‘778 does not specifically disclose sequentially subsequent, with respect to a circular sequence.
Lu ‘041 teaches sequentially subsequent, with respect to a circular sequence (FIGS. 4 and 13, para 170 and 573; coded bit sequences are stored in a circular buffer; the coded bits are sequentially mapped to time-frequency resources in order of RV sequences; the RV sequencies are subsequent with respect to the circular sequence of RVs).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined terrestrial radio network node of Hassan Hussein ‘194, Park ‘400, Wang ‘789, Liu ‘868, and Elshafie ‘778, to include Lu ‘041’s coded bit sequences that are stored in a circular buffer. The motivation for doing so would have been to increase a decoding success rate of uplink transmission of a terminal device (Lu ‘041, para 3-4).
Allowable Subject Matter
11. Claims 12 and 20 are objected to as being dependent upon rejected base claims, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claims and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/NEVENA ZECEVIC SANDHU/Examiner, Art Unit 2474
/Michael Thier/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2474