DETAILED ACTION
The instant application having application No 18/660961 filed on 05/10/2024 is presented for examination by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-9, 11, 14-17 and 20 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Syed Hussain (U.S 20250088929, Mar. 13, 2025) in view of Maaref et al. (US 20240056925, Feb. 15, 2024).
Regarding Claim 1, Syed Hussain discloses responsive to the at least one session transfer request, facilitating, by the terrestrial radio network node, receiving session transfer information, directed to the terrestrial radio network node by a first network element associated with the at least one non-terrestrial radio network node, corresponding to the at least one communication session to be facilitated by the terrestrial radio network node during a conditional handover period(page 27, par(0276-0277), line 1-20, receiving, from a terrestrial network entity, a handover request including information that indicates an NTN entity and a time duration during which the UE is to refrain from reconnecting with the terrestrial network entity, performed by a handover request manager include establishing a communication link with the NTN entity based on the handover request, performed between the UE and the NTN entity the connection established performed by a communication link manager);
and facilitating, by the terrestrial radio network node during the conditional handover period, delivery of traffic corresponding to the at least one communication session with respect to the at least one user equipment according to the session transfer information (page 19, par (0193), line 1-10, the communications manager support wireless communication, the communications manager for receiving, from a terrestrial network entity, a handover request including information that indicates an NTN entity and a time duration during which the UE is to refrain from reconnecting with the terrestrial network entity, the communications manager is capable of, configured to, or operable to support for establishing a communication link with the NTN entity based on the handover request).
Syed Hussain discloses all aspects of the claimed invention, except facilitating, by a terrestrial radio network node comprising at least one processor, receiving, from at least one user equipment, at least one connection establishment request comprising a conditional handover indication; responsive to the at least one connection establishment request and based on the conditional handover indication, facilitating, by the terrestrial radio network node, directing, to at least one non-terrestrial radio network node that is facilitating at least one communication session with the at least one user equipment, at least one session transfer request indicative of at least one of the at least one user equipment with respect to which at least one of the at least one communication session is to be facilitated by the terrestrial radio network node.
Maaref is the same field of invention teaches facilitating, by a terrestrial radio network node comprising at least one processor, receiving, from at least one user equipment, at least one connection establishment request comprising a conditional handover indication(page 7, par(0072-0073), line 1-10, the motivation for the multiple random access request messages is that a BS having an optimum downlink towards the UE to receive the random access response message, Consider NR multi-TRP handover from a source BS to a target BS);
responsive to the at least one connection establishment request and based on the conditional handover indication, facilitating, by the terrestrial radio network node, directing, to at least one non-terrestrial radio network node that is facilitating at least one communication session with the at least one user equipment, at least one session transfer request indicative of at least one of the at least one user equipment with respect to which at least one of the at least one communication session is to be facilitated by the terrestrial radio network node(page 7, par(0079), line 1-10, application relate to exploiting the direct communication link between the NTN BS 170B (non-terrestrial radio network) and the TN BS 170A (terrestrial radio network) to enable a UE to efficiently switch from a connection with the TN BS 170A to a connection with the NTN BS 170B or vice versa).
Syed Hussain and Maaref are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor of access to a service device.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the transfer request indicative of at least one of the at least one user equipment with respect to which at least one of the at least one communication session is to be facilitated by the terrestrial radio network node the teaching of Syed Hussain to include the motivation for the multiple random access request messages is that a BS having an optimum downlink towards the UE to receive the random access response message teaching of Maaref because it is providing the benefit of speeding up the UE obtaining access to the non-terrestrial subsystem and saves power at the UE.
Regarding Claim 2, Syed Hussain discloses facilitating, by the terrestrial radio network node, receiving conditional handover configuration information, directed to the terrestrial radio network node by a second network element associated with the at least one non-terrestrial radio network node, wherein the conditional handover configuration information comprises at least one time value indicative of the conditional handover period(page 19, par (0193), line 1-10, the communications manager support wireless communication, the communications manager for receiving, from a terrestrial network entity, a handover request including information that indicates an NTN entity and a time duration during which the UE is to refrain from reconnecting with the terrestrial network entity, the communications manager is capable of, configured to, or operable to support for establishing a communication link with the NTN entity based on the handover request).
Regarding Claim 3, Syed Hussain discloses after the conditional handover period, facilitating, by the terrestrial radio network node, directing, to a second network element associated with the at least one non-terrestrial radio network node, updated session information corresponding to the at least one communication session(page 27, par(0276-0277), line 1-20, receiving, from a terrestrial network entity, a handover request including information that indicates an NTN entity and a time duration during which the UE is to refrain from reconnecting with the terrestrial network entity, performed by a handover request manager include establishing a communication link with the NTN entity based on the handover request, performed between the UE and the NTN entity the connection established performed by a communication link manager).
Regarding Claim 4, Syed Hussain discloses the first network element and the second network element are different (page 1, par (0004), line 1-10, indicating information related to a network energy saving (NES) mode for the network entity, TN and NTN coexistence refer to a TN and an NTN serving a same geographical area via different frequency bands).
Regarding Claim 5, Syed Hussain discloses at least one of the first network element or the second network element comprises at least one of a core network element; a shared terrestrial/non-terrestrial network element; a gateway; or the at least one non-terrestrial radio network node(page 27, par(0276-0277), line 1-20, receiving, from a terrestrial network entity, a handover request including information that indicates an NTN entity and a time duration during which the UE is to refrain from reconnecting with the terrestrial network entity).
Regarding Claim 6, Syed Hussain discloses all aspects of the claimed invention, except the updated session information comprises at least one of a downlink packet number corresponding to a last downlink packet delivered by the terrestrial radio network node to the at least one user equipment, a downlink packet number corresponding to a last downlink packet delivered by the terrestrial radio network node to the at least one user equipment, or a quality of service indication indicative of a quality of service associated with the at least one communication session.
Maaref is the same field of invention teaches the updated session information comprises at least one of a downlink packet number corresponding to a last downlink packet delivered by the terrestrial radio network node to the at least one user equipment, a downlink packet number corresponding to a last downlink packet delivered by the terrestrial radio network node to the at least one user equipment, or a quality of service indication indicative of a quality of service associated with the at least one communication session (page 7, par(0072-0073), line 1-10, the motivation for the multiple random access request messages is that a BS having an optimum downlink towards the UE to receive the random access response message, Consider NR multi-TRP handover from a source BS to a target BS).
Regarding Claim 7, Syed Hussain discloses after the directing of the updated session information to the second network element, flushing, by the terrestrial radio network node, the updated session information(page 27, par(0276-0277), line 1-20, receiving, from a terrestrial network entity, a handover request including information that indicates an NTN entity and a time duration during which the UE is to refrain from reconnecting with the terrestrial network entity, performed by a handover request manager include establishing a communication link with the NTN entity based on the handover request, performed between the UE and the NTN entity the connection established performed by a communication link manager).
Regarding Claim 8, Syed Hussain discloses the at least one connection establishment request is transmitted by the at least one user equipment based on at least one conditional handover command, directed to the at least one user equipment by the at least one non-terrestrial radio network node, indicative to the at least one user equipment to attempt transfer of the at least one communication session according to at least one conditional handover target node signal strength rank(page 27, par(0276-0277), line 1-20, receiving, from a terrestrial network entity, a handover request including information that indicates an NTN entity and a time duration during which the UE is to refrain from reconnecting with the terrestrial network entity, performed by a handover request manager include establishing a communication link with the NTN entity based on the handover request, performed between the UE and the NTN entity the connection established performed by a communication link manager).
Regarding Claim 9, Syed Hussain discloses the terrestrial radio network node corresponds to the at least one conditional handover target node signal strength rank (page 10, par (0113), line 1-10, The single receive configuration aligned along a beam direction determined based on listening according to different receive configuration directions (e.g., a beam direction determined to have a highest signal strength).
Regarding Claim 11, Syed Hussain discloses responsive to the conditional handover indication, transmitting, to the non-terrestrial radio network node, a transfer request indicative of the user equipment(page 27, par(0276-0277), line 1-20, receiving, from a terrestrial network entity, a handover request including information that indicates an NTN entity and a time duration during which the UE is to refrain from reconnecting with the terrestrial network entity, performed by a handover request manager include establishing a communication link with the NTN entity based on the handover request, performed between the UE and the NTN entity the connection established performed by a communication link manager);
responsive to the transfer request, receiving session transfer information, directed to the terrestrial radio network node by a first network element associated with the non-terrestrial radio network node, corresponding to the communication session to be facilitated by the terrestrial radio network node during a conditional handover period; and delivering, during the conditional handover period, the communication traffic according to the session transfer information(page 19, par (0193), line 1-10, the communications manager support wireless communication, the communications manager for receiving, from a terrestrial network entity, a handover request including information that indicates an NTN entity and a time duration during which the UE is to refrain from reconnecting with the terrestrial network entity, the communications manager is capable of, configured to, or operable to support for establishing a communication link with the NTN entity based on the handover request).
Syed Hussain discloses all aspects of the claimed invention, except a terrestrial radio network node, comprising at least one processor configured to process executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising receiving, from a user equipment, a connection establishment request comprising a conditional handover indication indicative of a request to handover, to the terrestrial radio network node, delivery of communication traffic corresponding to a communication session being facilitated by a non-terrestrial radio network node.
Maaref is the same field of invention teaches a terrestrial radio network node, comprising at least one processor configured to process executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising receiving, from a user equipment, a connection establishment request comprising a conditional handover indication indicative of a request to handover(page 7, par(0072-0073), line 1-10, the motivation for the multiple random access request messages is that a BS having an optimum downlink towards the UE to receive the random access response message, Consider NR multi-TRP handover from a source BS to a target BS), to the terrestrial radio network node, delivery of communication traffic corresponding to a communication session being facilitated by a non-terrestrial radio network node (page 7, par(0079), line 1-10, application relate to exploiting the direct communication link between the NTN BS 170B (non-terrestrial radio network) and the TN BS 170A (terrestrial radio network) to enable a UE to efficiently switch from a connection with the TN BS 170A to a connection with the NTN BS 170B or vice versa).
Syed Hussain and Maaref are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor of access to a service device.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the transfer request indicative of at least one of the at least one user equipment with respect to which at least one of the at least one communication session is to be facilitated by the terrestrial radio network node the teaching of Syed Hussain to include the motivation for the multiple random access request messages is that a BS having an optimum downlink towards the UE to receive the random access response message teaching of Maaref because it is providing the benefit of speeding up the UE obtaining access to the non-terrestrial subsystem and saves power at the UE.
Regarding Claim 14, Syed Hussain discloses the connection establishment request comprises a non-terrestrial radio network node identifier indicative of the non-terrestrial radio network node with respect to which handover of the delivering of the communication traffic is requested by the connection establishment request(page 19, par (0193), line 1-10, the communications manager support wireless communication, the communications manager for receiving, from a terrestrial network entity, a handover request including information that indicates an NTN entity and a time duration during which the UE is to refrain from reconnecting with the terrestrial network entity, the communications manager is capable of, configured to, or operable to support for establishing a communication link with the NTN entity based on the handover request).
Regarding Claim 15, Syed Hussain discloses the operations further comprise: responsive to the transfer request, receiving, from the non-terrestrial radio network node, at least one time indication indicative of the conditional handover period(page 19, par (0193), line 1-10, the communications manager support wireless communication, the communications manager for receiving, from a terrestrial network entity, a handover request including information that indicates an NTN entity and a time duration during which the UE is to refrain from reconnecting with the terrestrial network entity, the communications manager is capable of, configured to, or operable to support for establishing a communication link with the NTN entity based on the handover request).
Regarding Claim 16, Syed Hussain discloses the operations further comprise: after expiration of the conditional handover period, directing, to the non-terrestrial radio network node, updated session information corresponding to the delivering, during the conditional handover period, of the communication traffic; and after the directing of the updated session information to the non-terrestrial radio network node, flushing the updated session information(page 27, par(0276-0277), line 1-20, receiving, from a terrestrial network entity, a handover request including information that indicates an NTN entity and a time duration during which the UE is to refrain from reconnecting with the terrestrial network entity, performed by a handover request manager include establishing a communication link with the NTN entity based on the handover request, performed between the UE and the NTN entity the connection established performed by a communication link manager).
Regarding Claim 17, Syed Hussain discloses responsive to the conditional handover indication, transmitting, to the non-terrestrial radio network node a session transfer request indicative of the user equipment(page 27, par(0276-0277), line 1-20, receiving, from a terrestrial network entity, a handover request including information that indicates an NTN entity and a time duration during which the UE is to refrain from reconnecting with the terrestrial network entity, performed by a handover request manager include establishing a communication link with the NTN entity based on the handover request);
responsive to the session transfer request, receiving session transfer information, comprising session context information corresponding to the communication session, directed to the terrestrial radio network node by a first network element associated with the non-terrestrial radio network node, corresponding to the communication session to be facilitated by the terrestrial radio network node during a conditional handover period;
facilitating, during the conditional handover period, delivering of the communication traffic according to the session transfer information(page 19, par (0193), line 1-10, the communications manager support wireless communication, the communications manager for receiving, from a terrestrial network entity, a handover request including information that indicates an NTN entity and a time duration during which the UE is to refrain from reconnecting with the terrestrial network entity, the communications manager is capable of, configured to, or operable to support for establishing a communication link with the NTN entity based on the handover request);
determining that the conditional handover period has expired; based on the conditional handover period being determined to have expired, directing, to the non-terrestrial radio network node, updated session information corresponding to the delivery, during the conditional handover period, of the communication traffic; and flushing the updated session information(page 27, par(0276-0277), line 1-20, receiving, from a terrestrial network entity, a handover request including information that indicates an NTN entity and a time duration during which the UE is to refrain from reconnecting with the terrestrial network entity, performed by a handover request manager include establishing a communication link with the NTN entity based on the handover request, performed between the UE and the NTN entity the connection established performed by a communication link manager).
Syed Hussain discloses all aspects of the claimed invention, except a terrestrial radio network node, facilitate performance of operations, comprising receiving, from a user equipment, a connection establishment request comprising a conditional handover indication indicative of a request to handover, to the terrestrial radio network node, delivery of communication traffic corresponding to a communication session being facilitated by a non-terrestrial radio network node.
Maaref is the same field of invention teaches a terrestrial radio network node, facilitate performance of operations, comprising receiving, from a user equipment, a connection establishment request comprising a conditional handover indication indicative of a request to handover(page 7, par(0072-0073), line 1-10, the motivation for the multiple random access request messages is that a BS having an optimum downlink towards the UE to receive the random access response message, Consider NR multi-TRP handover from a source BS to a target BS), to the terrestrial radio network node, delivery of communication traffic corresponding to a communication session being facilitated by a non-terrestrial radio network node(page 7, par(0079), line 1-10, application relate to exploiting the direct communication link between the NTN BS 170B (non-terrestrial radio network) and the TN BS 170A (terrestrial radio network) to enable a UE to efficiently switch from a connection with the TN BS 170A to a connection with the NTN BS 170B or vice versa).
Syed Hussain and Maaref are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor of access to a service device.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the transfer request indicative of at least one of the at least one user equipment with respect to which at least one of the at least one communication session is to be facilitated by the terrestrial radio network node the teaching of Syed Hussain to include the motivation for the multiple random access request messages is that a BS having an optimum downlink towards the UE to receive the random access response message teaching of Maaref because it is providing the benefit of speeding up the UE obtaining access to the non-terrestrial subsystem and saves power at the UE.
Regarding Claim 20, Syed Hussain discloses the connection establishment request comprises a non-terrestrial radio network node identifier indicative of the non-terrestrial radio network node with respect to which handover of the delivery of the communication traffic is requested by the connection establishment request(page 19, par (0193), line 1-10, the communications manager support wireless communication, the communications manager for receiving, from a terrestrial network entity, a handover request including information that indicates an NTN entity and a time duration during which the UE is to refrain from reconnecting with the terrestrial network entity, the communications manager is capable of, configured to, or operable to support for establishing a communication link with the NTN entity based on the handover request).
Examiner Notice
Claim 1 would be allowable if (i) claim 10 is incorporated into the independent claim 1.
Claim 11 would be allowable if (i) claim 12 is incorporated into the independent claim 11.
Claim 17 would be allowable if (i) claim 18 is incorporated into the independent claim 17.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure are:
Belleschi et al. (US 20250203426) teaches Reporting of NTN-Related SON Information.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, NGO RICKY can be reached on 571-272-3139. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/IQBAL ZAIDI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464
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