DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-20 are pending for examination.
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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim under CN 202310371220 filed on 4/7/2023.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP; TSG RAN; NR; NR and NG-RAN Overall Description; Stage 2 (Release 17)', 3GPP TS 38.300 V17.4.0 (3GPP), in view of 3GPP; TSG RAN; NR; User Equipment (UE) procedures in Idle mode and RRC Inactive state (Release 17)', 3GPP TS 38.304 V17.4.0 (3GPP-1).
Regarding Claim 1, 3GPP discloses a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: in a radio resource control (RRC) idle or RRC inactive and information on a reference location of a serving cell; and in case that a distance between the UE in the RRC idle or the RRC inactive and the reference location of the serving cell is larger than the threshold, performing the location-based measurement for cell reselection (3GPP p.175 s.16.14.3.3 Measurements – see assistance information with common TA parameters and the UE can perform time-based and location based measurements on neighbor cells in RRC_IDLE/RCC_INACTIVE).
However, 3GPP does not disclose receiving, from a base station, a system information block (SIB) including information on a threshold for a location-based measurement
3GPP-1 teaches receiving, from a base station, a system information block (SIB) including information on a threshold for a location-based measurement (3GPP-1 p.23 s.5.2.4.2 Measurement Rules for Cell Re-selection – Following rules are used by the UE to limit needed measurements: If the serving cell fulfils Srxlev > SIntraSearchP and Squal > SIntraSearchQ: If distanceThresh and referenceLocation are broadcasted in SIB19, and if UE supports location-based measurement initiation and has obtained its location information)
Therefore, it 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 to modify 3GPP receiving, from a base station, a system information block (SIB) including information on a threshold for a location-based measurement, as taught by 3GPP-1. One would be motivated as the threshold would be parameters measured for the max distance.
Regarding Claim 2, 3GPP and 3GPP-1 teach the method of claim 1, as outlined above.
However, 3GPP does not explicitly disclose the location-based measurement for the cell reselection is performed, in case that location information of the UE is obtained
3GPP-1 teaches the location-based measurement for the cell reselection is performed, in case that location information of the UE is obtained (3GPP-1 p.23 s.5.2.4.2 Measurement Rules for Cell Re-selection – Following rules are used by the UE to limit needed measurements: If the serving cell fulfils Srxlev > SIntraSearchP and Squal > SIntraSearchQ: If distanceThresh and referenceLocation are broadcasted in SIB19, and if UE supports location-based measurement initiation and has obtained its location information…the UE shall perform measurements of NR inter-frequency cells of equal or lower priority, or inter-RAT frequency cells of lower priority).
Therefore, it 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 to modify 3GPP to have location-based measurement for the cell reselection is performed, in case that location information of the UE is obtained, as taught by 3GPP-1. One would be motivated to reduce processing of measurements by limiting the conditions to do a location-based measurement.
Regarding Claim 3, 3GPP, in combination, further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the SIB further includes information on a list of neighbour cells (3GPP p.58 s.7.3.1 Overview – SIB3 contains information about the serving frequency and intra-frequency neighbouring cells relevant for cell re-selection (including cell re-selection parameters common for a frequency as well as cell specific re-selection parameters)).
Regarding Claim 4, 3GPP, in combination, further discloses the method of claim 3, wherein the information on the list of the neighbour cells includes information on a frequency and information on a cell identity (ID) (3GPP p.63 s.8.2 Network Identities – The PLMN ID included in the NCGI should be the first PLMN ID within the set of PLMN IDs associated to the NR Cell Identity in SIB1, following the order of broadcast).
Regarding Claim 5, 3GPP, in combination, further discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: camping on a cell which meets reselection criterion based on the location-based measurement (3GPP p.175 s.16.14.3.3 Measurements – Measurement rules for cell re-selection based on timing information and location information).
Regarding Claim 6, 3GPP1, in combination, teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the SIB further includes coverage information of the serving cell (3GPP-1 p.23 s.5.2.4.2 Measurement Rules for Cell Re-selection – Following rules are used by the UE to limit needed measurements: If the serving cell fulfils Srxlev > SIntraSearchP and Squal > SIntraSearchQ: If distanceThresh and referenceLocation are broadcasted in SIB19).
Regarding Claim 7, 3GPP, in combination, further discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: performing a time-based measurement based on information associated with time the serving cell stops serving an area in which the UE is included (3GPP p.175 s.16.14.3.3 Measurements – see assistance information with common TA parameters and the UE can perform time-based and location based measurements on neighbor cells in RRC_IDLE/RCC_INACTIVE).
Regarding Claim 8, 3GPP, in combination, further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the information on the reference location is referenced to time (3GPP p.175 s.16.14.3.3 Measurements – see assistance information with common TA parameters and the UE can perform time-based and location based measurements on neighbor cells in RRC_IDLE/RCC_INACTIVE).
Regarding Claim 9, 3GPP, in combination, further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the serving cell is associated with an earth moving system (3GPP p.172-173, s.16.14.1 Overview – Figure 16.14.1-1 below illustrates an example of a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) providing non-terrestrial NR access to the UE by means of an NTN payload and an NTN Gateway, depicting a service link between the NTN payload and a UE, and a feeder link between the NTN Gateway and the NTN payload; Three types of service links are supported: Earth-moving: provisioned by beam(s) whose coverage area slides over the Earth surface (e.g., the case of NGSO satellites generating fixed or non-steerable beams)).
Regarding Claim 10, 3GPP, in combination, further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the location-based measurement includes an intra-frequency measurement or an inter-frequency measurement (3GPP-1 p.23 s.5.2.4.2 Measurement Rules for Cell Re-selection – the UE shall perform measurements of NR inter-frequency cells of equal or lower priority, or inter-RAT frequency cells of lower priority).
With regard to claim 11, the claim limitations are essentially the same as claim 1 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject claim 1 is applied to claim 11.
With regard to claim 12, the claim limitations are essentially the same as claim 2 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject claim 2 is applied to claim 12.
With regard to claim 13, the claim limitations are essentially the same as claim 3 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject claim 3 is applied to claim 13.
With regard to claim 14, the claim limitations are essentially the same as claim 4 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject claim 4 is applied to claim 14.
With regard to claim 15, the claim limitations are essentially the same as claim 5 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject claim 5 is applied to claim 15.
With regard to claim 16, the claim limitations are essentially the same as claim 6 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject claim 6 is applied to claim 16.
With regard to claim 17, the claim limitations are essentially the same as claim 7 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject claim 7 is applied to claim 17.
With regard to claim 18, the claim limitations are essentially the same as claim 8 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject claim 8 is applied to claim 18.
With regard to claim 19, the claim limitations are essentially the same as claim 9 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject claim 9 is applied to claim 19.
With regard to claim 20, the claim limitations are essentially the same as claim 10 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject claim 10 is applied to claim 20.
Conclusion
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/AMIR SHAHNAMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2483