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 .
This action is in response to the filing of 8/21/2024. Claims 1-20 are pending and have been considered below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1,7,8,9,15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Edge (US 2023/0079636).
Regarding claim 1:
Edge discloses a system and computer-implemented method (abstract; figures) comprising:
determining, by a user device, that the user device is within range of a particular satellite (para 6-9; figures 1-3 [UE and satellites shown]; figs 7-9; para 95, partially reproduced herein with emphasis {satellite cell may be selected by the UE 105 based on characteristics of the satellite cell that are either acceptable or better than corresponding characteristics for other satellite cells that are available at the location of the UE 105} [selected satellite is determined satellite, at the location]);
sending, by the user device, a connection request to the particular satellite in response to determining that the user device is within range of the particular satellite, wherein the connection request is forwarded to a network device, via the particular satellite, to indicate to the network device that the user device is available to receive messages via the particular satellite (Para 120 {the UE 105 may transmit a random access channel (RACH) message 1166 via the SV 710 to a gNB 106/202/307 (not shown in FIG. 11) that supports the satellite cell to start to establish the connection with the serving PLMN}; figures 8, 11; Para 91 {acquisition information 730 may be received via a satellite}; fig 13); and
receiving, by the user device and via the particular satellite, a message from the network device in response to sending the connection request (para 120 {…Camping may include receiving and decoding information 1158 broadcast by SV 710 or by a gNB …}; figures; and see throughout the disclosure).
Regarding claim 7:
Edge discloses all of the subject matter as described above and wherein scanning, by the user device, a plurality of frequency bands to detect a presence of the particular satellite, and further comprising transitioning from an idle state to a connected state in response to detecting the presence of the particular satellite, wherein the particular satellite provides access to a public land mobile network (para 119 {the UE 105 may scan for and receive a synchronization signal block (SSB) 1156 from the satellite cell. The SSB 1156 may include a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal}; para 7 {leave the inactive state and enter an active state}; para 136 {leaving the inactive state and entering an active state}; figures; and throughout).
Regarding claim 8:
Edge discloses all of the subject matter as described above and wherein the idle state corresponds to a Radio Resource Control (RRC) idle state, and wherein the connected state corresponds to a RRC connected state (para 67 [a Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol]; para 120; figures; para 145 {RRC connection control (such as RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release)}).
Regarding claims 9 and 15:
Edge discloses all of the subject matter as described above in claim 1, and further discloses a user device (figures) comprising: a memory (744 in figure 7; figures 12,14); and a processor coupled to the memory (742 in fig 7; figs 12,14), and a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that (para 91, 153; and see throughout), when executed causes the processor to perform operations as describe above in claim 1, thus claims 9,15 are rejected with similar rationale under the teachings of the prior art as above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6,10-14,16-20 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kwon et al. (US 2024/0313853) discloses a system and method for providing satellite communication connection.
Chen et al. (US 2024/0334525) discloses a system and method for access network device to connect to terminal.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HIRDEPAL SINGH whose telephone number is (571)270-1688. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00-5:00 M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hannah S Wang can be reached on (571) 272-9018. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HIRDEPAL SINGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631
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