DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 4-7, 13 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Rashid (US 11,316,582).
Regarding claim 1, Rashid describes a non-geosynchronous orbit (NGSO) satellite of a satellite constellation (fig. 1 & col. 1 line 59 & col. 2 line 41, NGO (NGSO) SAT1 & SAT2 as part of constellation), the NGSO satellite comprising:
a feeder link (FL) system to receive analog feeder uplink communications from a currently active gateway radio unit (GW-RU) and to transmit analog feeder downlink communications to the currently active GW-RU (fig. 1 & col. 7 lines 58 to col. 8 line 1, uplink 1 (UL1) & downlink 1 (DL1) comprises a FL system for communication from/to satellite 102(2) and ground station 106 (active GW-RU), see also col. 5 lines 56-57. See also col. 15 lines 36-38. Electromagnetic signals/radio waves (analog) are used, col. 4 lines 22-23),
a user link (UL) system to form forward user beams and return user beams, to transmit user downlink communications via the forward user beams, and to receive user uplink communications via the return user beams (fig. 1 & col. 7 lines 58-66, UL3 & DL3 comprises a UL system for communication from/to satellite 102(2) and User Terminal (UT) 108, wherein data transmission in such links use subbeams, col. 10 lines 5-14);
an inter-satellite link (ISL) system to transmit outbound ISL signals to one or more other NGSO satellites of the satellite constellation via one or more ISLs and to receive inbound ISL signals from the one or more other NGSO satellites of the satellite constellation via the one or more ISLs (fig. 1 & col. 8 lines 1-4 & col. 14 lines 30-35, ISL 190 enables SAT1 & SAT2 to communicate with each other (inbound & outbound) within the constellation);
one or more processors configured to perform on-board routing by:
determining whether each analog feeder uplink communication is one of a set of forward relay signals or one of a set of ISL forwarding signals, whether each user uplink communication is one of a set of return relay signals or one of the set of ISL forwarding signals, and whether each inbound ISL signal is one of the set of forward relay signals, one of the set of return relay signals, or one of the set of ISL forwarding signals; and routing the set of forward relay signals to the UL system for transmission as the user downlink communications, the set of return relay signals to the FL system for transmission as the feeder downlink communications, and the set of ISL forwarding signals to the ISL system for transmission as the outbound ISL signals (fig. 1 & col. 18 lines 49-51 & col. 19 lines 4-6, combination of a data packet’s fixed header comprising source address + destination address, plus a extension header 508 comprising routing data indicating all intermediate nodes in the path to use, enables an intermediate node (satellite) to select next node for transferring/forwarding/routing the packet towards downstream to destination. Hence, satellite 102(2) determines whether each data packet from ground station on UL1 (analog feeder uplink communication) is to be forwarded to ground station 106 on DL1 link (forward relay signals) or to ISL 190 (ISL forwarding signals), whether data packet from UT 108 on UL3 (user uplink communication) is to be forwarded to ground station 106 on DL1 link (return relay signals) or to satellite SAT 102(1) on ISL link 190 (ISL forwarding signals), and whether each signal received from SAT 102(1) on ISL 190 (inbound ISL signal) is to be forwarded to ground station 106 on DL1 link (return relay signals) or to a tertiary SAT in constellation [not shown] (ISL forwarding signals)).
Regarding claim 2, Rashid describes:
a router coupled with the FL system, the UL system, and the ISL system, wherein the router comprises the one of the one or more processors to perform the on-board routing (fig. 1 & col. 18 lines 49-51 & col. 19 lines 4-6, satellite receives data packet with fixed header & extension header 508 comprising routing data indicating intermediate nodes & destination node for intermediate node (satellite) to select next node for transferring/forwarding/routing the packet towards downstream to destination, the satellite comprising processor(s), col. 12 lines 1-5).
Regarding claim 4, Rashid describes:
wherein the ISL system comprises one or more ISL antennas (fig. 2 and col. 14 lines 10-12 & 30-47, satellite 102 has communication system 212 comprising ISL transceivers 272 & coupling antennas 282);
an ISL receiver to receive the inbound ISL signals via the one or more ISLs via the one or more ISL antennas and an ISL transmitter to transmit the ISL outbound signals via the one or more ISLs via the one or more ISL antennas. (fig. 2 and col. 14 lines 10-12 & 30-47, satellite 102 has communication system 212 comprising ISL transceivers 272 (transmitters & receivers) & coupling antennas 282 to transmit & receive ISL signals).
Regarding claim 5, Rashid describes:
the feeder uplink communications and the inbound ISL signals comprise control information (fig. 1 & col. 18 lines 42-55, data packets in UL1 (feeder uplink communications) and ISL 190 (inbound ISL signals) to satellite 102(2) comprise header fields routing data (control information), see also col. 19 lines 4-6); and
the one or more processors perform the on-board routing according to the control information (col. 12 line 5, satellite 102 having processor(s) to receive and forward/relay the data packets according to the data packet’s routing data comprising [all] intermediate nodes between source & destination, col. 18 lines 49-53 & col. 19 lines 4-6).
Regarding claim 6, Rashid describes:
wherein, for each of the outbound ISL signals and for each of the inbound ISL signals: the control information includes a respective destination tag; and the one or more processors performs the on-board routing based on the respective destination tag (col. 12 line 5, satellite 102 having processor(s) to receive and forward/relay the data packets according to the data packet’s routing data comprising [all] intermediate nodes between source & destination, col. 18 lines 49-53 & col. 19 lines 4-6).
Regarding claim 7, Rashid describes:
wherein each of the outbound ISL signals and each of the inbound ISL signals is associated with a respective destination NGSO satellite of the satellite constellation, and its respective destination tag indicates a unique identifier of the respective destination NGSO satellite (fig. 2 & col. 12 line 5, data packets SAT2 102(2) receives from SAT1 102(1) via ISL150 and forward/relay the data packets to another SAT in SAT constellation [not illustrated] according to the data packet’s routing data comprising [all] intermediate nodes (destination tag indicates a unique identifier of the respective destination NGSO satellite) between source & destination, col. 18 lines 49-53 & col. 19 lines 4-6).
Regarding claim 13, Rashid describes a method for on-board routing in a non-geosynchronous orbit (NGSO) satellite of a satellite constellation with analog feeder links (fig. 1 & col. 1 line 59 & col. 2 line 41, NGO (NGSO) SAT1 & SAT2 as part of constellation), the method comprising:
receiving, by the NGSO satellite, a plurality of received signals comprising a set of analog feeder uplink communications received from a currently active gateway radio unit (GW-RU) (fig. 1 & col. 7 lines 58 to col. 8 line 1, uplink 1 (UL1) & downlink 1 (DL1) comprises a FL system for communication from/to satellite 102(2) and ground station 106 (active GW-RU), see also col. 5 lines 56-57. See also col. 15 lines 36-38. Electromagnetic signals/radio waves (analog) are used, col. 4 lines 22-23), a set of analog user uplink communications received via a plurality of return user beams (fig. 1 & col. 7 lines 58-66, UL3 & DL3 comprises a UL system for communication from/to satellite 102(2) and User Terminal (UT) 108, wherein data transmission in such links use subbeams, col. 10 lines 5-14), and a set of digital inbound inter-satellite link (ISL) signals received from one or more other NGSO satellites of the satellite constellation via one or more ISLs (fig. 1 & col. 8 lines 1-4 & col. 14 lines 30-35, ISL 190 enables SAT1 & SAT2 to communicate with each other (inbound & outbound) within the constellation); and
performing on-board routing of each of the plurality of received signals, by the NGSO satellite, by: determining whether the received signal is one of a set of forward relay signals, one of a set of return relay signals, or one of a set of ISL forwarding signals; and routing the received signal as one of: a user downlink communication for transmission via one of a plurality of forward user beams responsive to determining that the received signal is one of the set of forward relay signals; a feeder downlink communication for transmission to the currently active GW-RU responsive to determining that the received signal is one of the set of return relay signals; or an outbound ISL signal for transmission to another of the NGSO satellites of the satellite constellation via a corresponding one of the ISLs responsive to determining that the received signal is one of the set of ISL forwarding signals (fig. 1 & col. 18 lines 49-51 & col. 19 lines 4-6, combination of a data packet’s fixed header comprising source address + destination address, plus a extension header 508 comprising routing data indicating all intermediate nodes in the path to use, enables an intermediate node (satellite) to select next node for transferring/forwarding/routing the packet towards downstream to destination. Hence, satellite 102(2) determines whether each data packet from ground station on UL1 (analog feeder uplink communication) is to be forwarded to ground station 106 on DL1 link (forward relay signals) or to ISL 190 (ISL forwarding signals), whether data packet from UT 108 on UL3 (user uplink communication) is to be forwarded to ground station 106 on DL1 link (return relay signals) or to satellite SAT 102(1) on ISL link 190 (ISL forwarding signals), and whether each signal received from SAT 102(1) on ISL 190 (inbound ISL signal) is to be forwarded to ground station 106 on DL1 link (return relay signals) or to a tertiary SAT in constellation [not shown] (ISL forwarding signals)).
Regarding claim 19, Rashid describes:
wherein the determining for each of the plurality of received signals comprises:
for each analog feeder uplink communication, determining whether the feeder uplink communication is one of a set of forward relay signals or one of a set of ISL forwarding signals; for each analog user uplink communication, determining whether the user uplink communication is one of a set of return relay signals or one of the set of ISL forwarding signals; and for each digital inbound ISL signal, determining whether the inbound ISL signal is one of the set of forward relay signals, one of the set of return relay signals, or one of the set of ISL forwarding signals fig. 1 & col. 18 lines 49-51 & col. 19 lines 4-6, combination of a data packet’s fixed header comprising source address + destination address, plus a extension header 508 comprising routing data indicating all intermediate nodes in the path to use, enables an intermediate node (satellite) to select next node for transferring/forwarding/routing the packet towards downstream to destination. Hence, satellite 102(2) determines whether each data packet from ground station on UL1 (analog feeder uplink communication) is to be forwarded to ground station 106 on DL1 link (forward relay signals) or to ISL 190 (ISL forwarding signals), whether data packet from UT 108 on UL3 (user uplink communication) is to be forwarded to ground station 106 on DL1 link (return relay signals) or to satellite SAT 102(1) on ISL link 190 (ISL forwarding signals), and whether each signal received from SAT 102(1) on ISL 190 (inbound ISL signal) is to be forwarded to ground station 106 on DL1 link (return relay signals) or to a tertiary SAT in constellation [not shown] (ISL forwarding signals)).
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 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rashid as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Liu (US 7,502,382).
Regarding claim 8, Rashid fails to further explicitly describe:
wherein each of the outbound ISL signals and each of the inbound ISL signals is associated with a respective destination NGSO satellite that is a number of hops away in the satellite constellation, and its respective destination tag indicates the number of hops.
Liu also describes satellite constellation communication (title & fig. 1A), further describing:
wherein each of the outbound ISL signals and each of the inbound ISL signals is associated with a respective destination NGSO satellite that is a number of hops away in the satellite constellation, and its respective destination tag indicates the number of hops (fig. 1A & col. 10 lines 9-10, an intermediate satellite transmits/forwards/relays (outbound ISL) its received packet (inbound ISL signal), with each [received &] transmitted packet comprising a hop count & destination satellites [for multicasting] in the packet’s fields. See also col. 8 lines 33-36).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the inbound & outbound ISL signals in Rashid to comprise a number of hops away in the satellite constellation in the destination tag to the destination NGSO satellite as in Liu.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this enhances packet completion rate in environments with link failures (Liu, col. 2 lines 21-24).
Regarding claim 9, Rashid already describe the satellite constellation comprises a plurality of NGSO satellites, but fails to further explicitly describe:
satellites traversing a same orbital path in a same orbital plane.
the ISL system comprises a first ISL antenna configured to communicate via a first ISL with a next NGSO satellite of the satellite constellation along the orbital path and a second ISL antenna configured to communicate via a second ISL with a previous NGSO satellite of the satellite constellation along the orbital path.
Liu also describes satellite constellation communication (title & fig. 1A), further describing:
satellites traversing a same orbital path in a same orbital plane (col. 4 lines 29-36, groups of satellites may use different orbital planes, For the same orbital plane, satellites reside in corresponding clockwise/counterclockwise path direction (same orbital plane) (col. 10 lines 9-22, as well as col. 4 lines 39-45, in-plane subset satellite communication clockwise or counterclockwise), wherein satellites/network nodes are not stationary, col. 1 lines 26-29); and
the ISL system comprises a first ISL antenna configured to communicate via a first ISL with a next NGSO satellite of the satellite constellation along the orbital path and a second ISL antenna configured to communicate via a second ISL with a previous NGSO satellite of the satellite constellation along the orbital path (col. 16 lines 3-12, each satellite node comprising receiving antenna and transmitting antenna to communicate with the next satellite (first ISL) and the previous satellite (second ISL) in-plane. See also col. 4 lines 39-45: in-plane subset satellite communication clockwise or counterclockwise).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the in the satellite constellation of Rashid to have orbital planes where an intermediary satellite in an orbital plane communicate with previous and next satellite using separate, corresponding reception & transmitting antennas as in Liu.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this enhances packet completion rate in environments with link failures (Liu, col. 2 lines 21-24).
Regarding claim 10, Rashid already describe the satellite constellation comprises a plurality of NGSO satellites, but fails to further explicitly describe:
satellites traversing a same orbital path in a same orbital plane; and the ISL system comprises only a single ISL antenna configured to communicate via a single ISL with one other NGSO satellite of the satellite constellation that is adjacent along the orbital path.
Liu also describes satellite constellation communication (title & fig. 1A), further describing:
satellites traversing a same orbital path in a same orbital plane (col. 4 lines 29-36, groups of satellites may use different orbital planes, For the same orbital plane, satellites reside in corresponding clockwise/counterclockwise path direction (same orbital plane) (col. 10 lines 9-22, as well as col. 4 lines 39-45, in-plane subset satellite communication clockwise or counterclockwise), wherein satellites/network nodes are not stationary, col. 1 lines 26-29); and
satellites traversing a same orbital path in a same orbital plane; and the ISL system comprises only a single ISL antenna configured to communicate via a single ISL with one other NGSO satellite of the satellite constellation that is adjacent along the orbital path (col. 16 lines 3-12, each satellite node can comprises any quantity of (1) antenna to communicate with the next or previous satellite (single ISL) within the clockwise/counter-clockwise plane in-plane. See also col. 4 lines 39-45).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the in the satellite constellation of Rashid to have orbital planes where an intermediary satellite in an orbital plane communicate with previous or next satellite using single as in Liu.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this enhances packet completion rate in environments with link failures (Liu, col. 2 lines 21-24).
Claims 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rashid as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Uchino (US 2025/0113274).
Regarding claim 11, Rashid already describes satellite relaying received feeder link signals to another satellite via ISL & vice versa in claim 1.
Rashid fail to further explicitly describe:
wherein the one or more processors is configured further to:
for each feeder uplink communication determined to be one of the set of ISL forwarding signals, convert the feeder uplink communication to a digital signal prior to transmission via the ISL system; and
for each inbound ISL signal determined to be one of the set of return relay signals, convert the inbound ISL signal to an analog signal prior to transmission by the FL system.
Uchino also describe communication comprising satellite relaying (para. 102), with UE, Gateway & inter-satellite (fig. 1 & para. 135), further describing:
wherein the one or more processors is configured further to:
for each feeder uplink communication determined to be one of the set of ISL forwarding signals, convert the feeder uplink communication to a digital signal prior to transmission via the ISL system; and for each inbound ISL signal determined to be one of the set of return relay signals, convert the inbound ISL signal to an analog signal prior to transmission by the FL system (fig. 22 & para. 303-306, apparatus 2200 as DU (satellite) communicating with gateway 810 (fig. 1), with its reception component 2202 receiving (feeder) uplink communication from gateway and performing analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion, and its transmission component 2204 transmitting downlink (return relay) signals to gateway by use of digital-to-analog (D/A) conversion first. Also, ISL communication between satellites uses optical link (by definition, optical transmission is type of digital transmission when light is used to convey binary data)).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to specify that the satellite relaying between feeder station and another satellite (ISL system), it deploys A/D & D/A respectively as in Uchino.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this further improves communications as demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase (Uchino, para. 4).
Regarding claim 12, Rashid and Uchino combined describe:
wherein: each uplink communication is received as an analog subchannel signal; and the one or more processors is configured further to: for each user uplink communication determined to be one of the set of ISL forwarding signals, convert the feeder uplink communication to a digital signal prior to transmission via the ISL system; and for each inbound ISL signal determined to be one of the set of forward relay signals, convert the inbound ISL signal to an analog signal prior to transmission by the UL system (Uchino, fig. 22 & para. 303-306, apparatus 2200 as DU (satellite) communicating with gateway 810 (fig. 1), with its reception component 2202 receiving (feeder) uplink communication signal as an analog subchannel signal from gateway and performing analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion, and its transmission component 2204 transmitting downlink (return relay) signals to gateway by use of digital-to-analog (D/A) conversion first. Also, ISL communication between satellites uses optical link (by definition, optical transmission is type of digital transmission when light is used to convey binary data)).
Claims 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rashid as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Liu (US 2017/0265177).
Regarding claim 14, Rashid already describes receiving comprises receiving the set of analog forward uplink communications of a forward uplink carrier as in claim 1 language, but fails to further explicitly describe:
forward uplink communications as a respective one of a plurality of resource block channels (RBCs); and the plurality of RBCs comprises:
a plurality of relay RBCs, each to carry traffic associated with a respective one of the plurality of forward user beams in each of a plurality of time slots; and one or more ISL RBCs, each to carry traffic associated with a respective one of the one or more ISLs.
Liu also describes satellite(s) 300 communicating with user terminal 401, SNP 200 and inter-satellite communication (para. 66), further describing:
forward uplink communications as a respective one of a plurality of resource block channels (RBCs); and the plurality of RBCs comprises: a plurality of relay RBCs, each to carry traffic associated with a respective one of the plurality of forward user beams in each of a plurality of time slots; and one or more ISL RBCs, each to carry traffic associated with a respective one of the one or more ISLs (fig. 1 & para. 86, forward uplink communications 116 to satellite 300 from multiple user terminals 400, 401 may be time-division multiplexed together, represented in x-axis time by resource blocks in carriers (resource block channels RBC), fig. 6 & para. 95. Such RBC information are transmitted & received in timeslots, para. 169. One user’s RBC transmission may be directed back to another user (forward user beams), while another user’s RBCs transmission may be directed to inter-satellite communication (ISL) in order to communicate with the SNP 200 further away, see para. 66).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the uplink communications using (sub)beams of Rashid to use RBCs with associated timeslots as in Liu.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this allows for greater fraction of resource being used and lowering the UL control overhead (Liu, para. 5).
Regarding claim 15, Rashid and Liu combined describe:
the forward uplink carrier comprises N RBCs, including J relay RBCs and N-J ISL RBCs; and N and J are fixed-value positive integers (fig. 1 & para. 86, forward uplink communications 116 to satellite 300 from multiple user terminals 400, 401 may be time-division multiplexed together, represented in x-axis time by resource blocks in carriers (resource block channels RBC), fig. 6 & para. 95. Such RBC information are transmitted & received in timeslots, para. 169. One user’s RBC transmission may be directed back to another user (forward user beams), while another user’s RBCs transmission may be directed to inter-satellite communication (ISL) in order to communicate with the SNP 200 further away, see para. 66).
Regarding claim 20, Rashid already describes:
wherein the routing for each of the plurality of received signals comprises:
for each of the plurality of received signals determined to be one of the set of forward relay signals, routing the respective signal to a user-link (UL) transmitter (Tx); for each of the plurality of received signals determined to by one of the set of return relay signals, routing the respective signal to a feeder-link (FL) Tx; and
for each of the plurality of received signals determined to by one of the set of return relay signals, routing the respective signal to a feeder-link (FL) Tx in claim 1.
Rashid fail to further explicitly describe:
applying analog-to-digital conversion to each of the set of analog feeder uplink communications and to each of the set of analog user uplink signals, such that each of the plurality of received signals is a respective digital signal of a plurality of digital signals;
routing the respective digital signal to a user-link (UL) transmitter (Tx) and converting the respective digital signal by the UL Tx to an analog downlink subchannel signal for transmission via the one of the pluralities of forward user beams;
routing the respective digital signal to a feeder-link (FL) Tx and converting the digital signal by the FL Tx to an analog downlink subchannel signal for transmission to the currently active GW-RU; and for each of the plurality of received signals determined to be one of the set of ISL forwarding signals, routing the respective digital signal to an ISL system for communication as a digital outbound ISL signal via the corresponding one of the ISLs.
Uchino also describe communication comprising satellite relaying (para. 102), with UE, Gateway & inter-satellite (fig. 1 & para. 135), further describing:
applying analog-to-digital conversion to each of the set of analog feeder uplink communications and to each of the set of analog user uplink signals, such that each of the plurality of received signals is a respective digital signal of a plurality of digital signals; routing the respective digital signal to a user-link (UL) transmitter (Tx) and converting the respective digital signal by the UL Tx to an analog downlink subchannel signal for transmission via the one of the plurality of forward user beams; and for each feeder uplink communication determined to be one of the set of ISL forwarding signals, convert the feeder uplink communication to a digital signal prior to transmission via the ISL system; and for each inbound ISL signal determined to be one of the set of return relay signals, convert the inbound ISL signal to an analog signal prior to transmission by the FL system (fig. 22 & para. 303-306, apparatus 2200 as DU (satellite) communicating with gateway 810 (fig. 1), with its reception component 2202 receiving (feeder) uplink communication from gateway and performing analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion, and its transmission component 2204 transmitting downlink (return relay) signals to gateway by use of digital-to-analog (D/A) conversion first. Also, ISL communication between satellites uses optical link (by definition, optical transmission is type of digital transmission when light is used to convey binary data)).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to specify that the satellite relaying between feeder station, UEs, and another satellite (ISL system), it deploys A/D & D/A respectively & uses digital transmission within ISL as in Uchino.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this further improves communications as demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase (Uchino, para. 4).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 16-18 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.
Regarding claim 3, the prior art fails to further explicitly describe:
a router coupled with the FL system, the UL system, and the ISL system, wherein:
the FL system comprises a first portion of the one or more processors to determine whether each analog feeder uplink communication is one of a set of forward relay signals or one of a set of ISL forwarding signals, and either to route the one of the set of forward relay signals directly to the UL system for transmission, or to route the one of the set of ISL forwarding signals to the router; the UL system comprises a second portion of the one or more processors to determine whether each user uplink communication is one of a set of return relay signals or one of the set of ISL forwarding signals, and either to route the one of the set of return relay signals directly to the FL system for transmission, or to route the one of the set of ISL forwarding signals to the router; and the router comprises a third portion of the one or more processors to determine whether each inbound ISL signal is one of the set of forward relay signals, one of the set of return relay signals, or one of the set of ISL forwarding signals, and either to route the one of the set of forward relay signals to the UL system for transmission, to route the one of the set of return relay signals to the FL system for transmission, or to route the one of the set of ISL forwarding signals to the ISL system for transmission.
Each of the closest prior art, Kim (US 2025/0106793) describing a processor 310 (in an NTN entity (fig. 3 & para. 26) in relaying/forwarding/routing transmission from/to communication node 220, terrestrial gateway 230 and other satellite via ISL (fig. 2), Mansour (US 2025/0096886) describing processor(s) 106 performing intersatellite coverage management (fig. 1-2), and Rashid describing satellite comprising processor(s) for executing its steps (col. 12 lines 1-5), in combination, fail to render all of the above additional limitations as a whole obvious.
Regarding claim 16, the prior art fails to further explicitly describe:
the receiving further comprises concurrently receiving control information via a control channel of the forward uplink carrier; and the performing the on-board routing is at least partially based on the control information.
Each of the two closest prior art, Choiniere (US 2022/0052756) describing resource deployment optimizer with satellite feeder & inter satellite links (fig. 2) and Irani (US 20180013486) describing space network node receiving data from terrestrial and space nodes (title) both describing separate signal and data signal reception and processing, in combination with Rashid, fail to render the features as a whole, especially the underscored feature of concurrent reception of control information, obvious.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Gopal (US 20150024677) describing space-based & mobile terrestrial communication between user devices, relay satellites, satellites & hub/gateways (abstract), Sun (CN 114124191) describing low-orbit constellation network system comprising links to UE, land-based systems & inter-satellites (fig. 1), a control center networking controller, for periodically changing rule according to the low orbit constellation topology, performing centralized inter-satellite route calculation, generating inter-satellite forwarding table; injecting the inter-satellite forwarding table to the satellite-mounted exchanger of each low-orbit satellite Jiang (CN 108923845) describing satellite communication system for communication between a gateway state, satellites, terminal device (fig. 1), Shen (CN 111464234) describing enhancement of low-orbit satellite communication performance based on multi-satellite cooperation (title), Hreha (US 2018/0019809) - link satellite system with optical inter-satellite based on RF feeder uplink beam (title), Wahlberg (WO 2007082719) describing satellite communications with mobile terrestrial terminals (title), Khan (US 2010/0068993) describing air interface that extends baseline LTE interface to a new satellite S-LTE interface with new modulation, channels & coding (abstract), Mansour (US 2025/0096886) describing inter satellite coverage managemnet (title), Choi (KR 20240076552) describing intersatellite communication in non-terrestrial network (title), Simoens (US 2021/0344415) describing satellite communications where forward feeder link bandwidth are reduced and routing on-board the satellite to determine to which other satellite a packet must be sent (para. 13), Kang (WO 2021164374) describing mobile gateway station, communication satellite, & low-orbit satellite communication system (title), Ravishankar (US 2021/0092640) & (US 2023/0269780) each describing non-geostationary satellite system with inter-satellite links (abstract, para. 108-109), Ravishankar (US 2018/0316414) describing distributed MIMO LEO (low earth orbit) satellite system with ISL & feeder links (fig. 1), and Tronc (US 2012/0300815) describing hybrid space system based on a constellation of low-orbit satellites working as space repeaters (title).
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WARNER WONG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2469
/WARNER WONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469