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 .
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Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of invention-I (claims 1-11) in the reply filed on 05/21/2026 is acknowledged. The non-elected invention-II (claims 12-20) are canceled. Applicant newly submitted claims 21-29.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 5-6 and 26-27 is/are objected because of the following informalities (or vagueness): Claims 5 and 26 recite identical feature, and claims 6 and 27 recite identical feature. Claim 26 depends from claim 1 which is a device claim. However, claim 27 depends from claim 26 recites about the non-transitory CRM. Appropriate clarification is required.
For the examination purpose, claim 26 depends from claim 21.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 8-9, 21-24, 26 and 28-29 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 2024/0049273, “Lee”) in view of Zhang (US 2023/0319541).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Lee unless otherwise mentioned.
Lee comprises the following features:
With respect to independent claims:
Regarding claim 1, a device, comprising:
a processing system including a processor (See Fig. 7 for 710 “Processing Circuitry”); and a memory (See Fig. 7 for 720 “Memory”) that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations ([0135] “the memory 720 can be configured to store program instructions. The processing circuitry 710, when executing the program instructions, can perform the functions and processes.”), the operations comprising:
determining that a first resource associated with a first cellular network is functioning in a degraded state ([0037] “the 5%-tile worst NTN UE experiences a throughput loss ratio larger than 20%. The root causes for these issues can be attributed to severe aggregated TN BS interference and severe aggregated TN UE interference.”);
determining an impact of the degraded state (aforesaid [0037] “a throughput loss ratio larger than 20%”);
based on the impact exceeding a first threshold (see aforesaid [0037] “20%”), identifying a second resource to mitigate the impact ([0040] “allocating a radio resource to a TN cell (e.g., the TN BS 111 or 112) based on a radio resource of a first NTN cell (e.g., the NTN cell 152 or 153).”); and
activating the second resource ([0059 and Fig. 4] “At step S240, the process 200 can determine a radio resource for the TN BS based on a radio resource of the other NTN beam and allocate the determined radio resource to the TN BS.”, and [0073] “the TN BS 603 can configure a cell and transmit a cell configuration message to the TN UE 605 according to the radio resource allocation information.”).
It is noted that while disclosing a TN-NTN system, Lee does not specifically teach about roaming. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Zhang as follows;
the activating of the second resource enables roaming with respect to a user equipment associated with a user that is a subscriber of the first cellular network ([Zhang, 0018] “The roaming network 104 may be configured in a similar way to the home network 102. That is, the roaming partner may provide subscribers of the wireless carrier with roaming PLMN 114 coverage by assigning a particular PLMN code to multiple cells within a geographical area, and this roaming PLMN 114 coverage may be augmented by assigning one or more additional PLMN codes to additional cells within the geographical area”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Lee by using the features of Zhang in order to effectively provide roaming services such that “the wireless carrier may assign an additional PLMN code(s) to additional cells within the geographical area, and the additional PLMN code(s) can be provided, by the home network, to the subscribers' mobile devices in the form of a list of equivalent PLMNs” [Zhang, 0001].
Regarding claim 21, it is a CRM claim corresponding to the method claim 1, except the limitations, “executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor of a first network operator” ([0135] “the memory 720 can be configured to store program instructions. The processing circuitry 710, when executing the program instructions, can perform the functions and processes.”), and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 29, it is a terminal claim corresponding to the method claim 1, and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
With respect to dependent claims:
Regarding claims 2 and 23, the device of claim 1 and the CRM of claim 21, respectively, wherein the second resource is included as part of a non-terrestrial network ([0067, Fig. 3 and Fig. 6A] “At step S660, the controller 601 can determine an NTN beam (e.g., NTN beam 1)”).
Regarding claims 3 and 24, the device of claim 2 and the CRM of claim 21, respectively, wherein the second resource includes a satellite (See Fig. 3).
Regarding claims 5 and 26, the device of claim 1 and the CRM of claim 21, respectively, wherein the second resource is included as part of a second cellular network ([Zhang, Fig. 1 and Fig. 2]).
Regarding claims 8 and 28, the device of claim 1 and the CRM of claim 21, respectively, wherein the determining of the impact includes determining an extent of loss of functionality ([0037] “the average throughput loss ratio exceeds 90%, indicating significant degradation.”) or capacity (This alternative is not examined.).
Regarding claim 9, the device of claim 1, wherein the determining of the impact includes determining the impact in terms of specified geographical locations ([0067] “At step S660, the controller 601 can determine an NTN beam (e.g., NTN beam 1), and determine that the TN BS 603 is in a beam coverage of the NTN beam 1.”).
Regarding claim 22, the non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the first resource includes a base station (See Fig. 3, Fig. 6B, and aforesaid [0037]).
Claim(s) 4 and 25 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 2024/0049273, “Lee”) in view of Zhang (US 2023/0319541) and further in view of Lien et al. (US 2023/0170987, “Lien”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Lee unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claims 4 and 25, it is noted that while disclosing a TN-NTN system, Lee does not specifically teach about changing a satellite position. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Lien as follows;
the device of claim 3 and the CRM of claim 21, respectively, wherein the activating of the second resource includes changing a position of the satellite ([Lien, 0063] “The satellite 100 or the satellite 200 can detect orbit information, and determine whether the satellite is about to enter or leave the service area 50 based on the orbit information.”, and [Lien, 00664] “During the first phase, the satellite 100 is about to leave the service area 50 corresponding to a non-terrestrial network or the ground station 500, and the satellite 200 is about to enter the service area 50.”), changing an orientation of the satellite, or a combination thereof (These alternatives are not examined.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Lee by using the features of Lien in order to effectively provide radio resources in NTN communications such that “The disclosure provides a satellite, ground station, satellite communication system and method for managing radio resources of non-terrestrial networks, which can efficiently perform radio resource scheduling.” [Lien, 0009].
Claim(s) 6 and 27 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 2024/0049273, “Lee”) in view of Zhang (US 2023/0319541) and further in view of Agretti et al. (US 2012/0157092, “Agretti”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Lee unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claims 6 and 27, it is noted that while disclosing a TN-NTN system, Lee does not specifically teach about two different providers. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Agretti as follows;
the device of claim 5 and the CRM of claim 26, respectively, wherein the first cellular network is operated by a first network operator and the second cellular network is operated by a second network operator that is different from the first network operator ([Agretti, 0002] “When a subscriber travels outside the service provider's designated coverage area, the subscriber's mobile phone is considered to be roaming and must attach to another service provider's mobile network--a visited networ”, and [Agretti, 0011] “UE 101 may detect three VPMNs 102-104 while searching for a roaming provider.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Lee by using the features of Agretti in order to effectively attach to a visited network such that “The signaling messages correspond to attempts by roaming home network subscribers to attach to the visited network.” [Agretti, 0006].
Claim(s) 7 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 2024/0049273, “Lee”) in view of Zhang (US 2023/0319541) and further in view of VonEhr (US 12,568,420).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Lee unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claim 7, it is noted that while disclosing a TN-NTN system, Lee does not specifically teach about a degraded state based on a heartbeat signal. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by VonEhr as follows;
the device of claim 1, wherein the determining that the first resource associated with the first cellular network is functioning in the degraded state is based on a monitoring of a heartbeat signal ([VonEhr, Col. 5; 29-34] “if the network connectivity system 130 has not received heartbeat notifications from the back-office system 150 for a certain period of time (e.g., one or more heartbeat periods), the AV 102 or the AV compute system 120 may enter a degraded state of operation.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Lee by using the features of VonEhr in order to effectively attach to a visited network such that “The present disclosure generally relates to autonomous vehicles (AVs) and, more specifically, to toggling network operator connectivity for AVs” [VonEhr, Col. 1; 9-11].
Claim(s) 10-11 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 2024/0049273, “Lee”) in view of Zhang (US 2023/0319541) and further in view of Sahin et al. (US 2025/0358836, “Sahin”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Lee unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claim 10, it is noted that while disclosing a TN-NTN system, Lee does not specifically teach about performance on a new resource. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Sahin as follows;
the device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: subsequent to the activating of the second resource, determining that the impact is less than a second threshold ([Sahin, 0053] “the at least one CCG may indicate at least one of the following: how to activate/deactivate resources (e.g., UEs (e.g., identified by ID) that may perform activation/deactivation); any threshold values or ranges associated with (de) activation (e.g., in time or distance); SL channel conditions (e.g., line of sight (LOS)/non-line of sight (NLOS), SL reference signal received power (RSRP), etc.)”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Lee by using the features of Sahin in order to effectively utilize allocated resources such that “utilizing at least one resource within the at least one configured grant for sidelink transmission based on at least one indication by at least another user equipment activating or deactivating the at least one resource.” [Sahin, 0004].
Regarding claim 11, the device of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise: based on the determining that the impact is less than the second threshold, deactivating the second resource (See aforesaid [Sahin, 0053]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Harry H. Kim whose telephone number and email address are as follows; 571-272-5009, harry.kim2@uspto.gov.
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/HARRY H KIM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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