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 .
Examiner’s Note
Applicant(s) are reminded that optional or conditional elements do not narrow the claims because they can always be omitted. See e.g. MPEP §2106 II C: "Language that suggest or makes optional but does not require steps to be performed or does not limit a claim to a particular structure does not limit the scope of a claim or claim limitation. [Emphasis in original.]"; and In re Johnston, 435 F.3d 1381, 77 USPQ2d 1788, 1790 (Fed. Cir. 2006) "As a matter of linguistic precision, optional elements do not narrow the claim because they can always be omitted." In re Johnston, 435 F.3d 1381, 77 USPQ2d 1788, 1790 (Fed. Cir. 2006) (where the Federal Circuit affirmed the Board's claim construction of “further including that said wall may be smooth, corrugated, or profiled with increased dimensional proportions as pipe size is increased" since "this additional content did not narrow the scope of the claim because these limitations are stated in the permissive form 'may.'”).
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged with the benefit of an earlier filing date of March 2, 2023 for PCT/CN2023/079224.
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55 with the benefit of a prior-filed application with the priority of Chinese Patent Application No. 202210224939.0 filed on March 9, 2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on January 2, 2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 5, 10, 14, 15, and 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.
Claim Objections
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities:
i. Claim 11 recites “determining, a timing advance based on the reference moment” in line 10. It is suggested to replace with “determining, a timing advance based on the reference time” for consistency and clarification.
Appropriate correction is required.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 – 3, 6 – 9, 11 – 13, and 16 – 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Chun-Che Chien (US Patent Application Publication 2022/0240208). Hereinafter Chien.
Regarding claim 1, Chien discloses a timing advance determining method, comprising:
obtaining, first information about a reference time signal, wherein the reference time signal is a periodic signal (the source gNB periodically transmits propagation-delay-related values, such as reference time information (RTI) and/or timing advance (TA) to the UE, paragraphs [0110], [0119]);
determining, based on the first information, a reference time at which the reference time signal is generated (the UE performs a RACH procedure with the source gNB and obtains a propagation-delay-related value, where the propagation-delay-related includes a value of at least one of timing advance (TA), propagation delay (PD), paragraphs [0120], [0121]); and
determining, a timing advance based on the reference time and a first time at which the first communication apparatus receives a downlink signal (the UE receives DL synchronization signals from the source gNB and the target gNB respectively and derives receiving time difference between a DL synchronization signal from the source gNB and a DL synchronization signal from the target gNB, where the UE derives the timing advance (TA) value of the target gNB based on the TA value of the source gNB as well as the receiving time difference between the first synchronization signal of the source gNB and the second synchronization signal of the target gNB, paragraphs [0121], [0122]).
Regarding claim 2, Chien discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the first information comprises:
a period of the reference time signal (the source gNB periodically transmits propagation-delay-related values, such as reference time information (RTI) and/or timing advance (TA) to the UE, where the gNB periodically set up a timer and transmits RTI or TA in RRC message, paragraphs [0110], [0119]); or
a first index useable to indicate the period of the reference time signal.
Regarding claim 3, Chien discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein
the period of the reference time signal is greater than or equal to a first delay (the UE performs propagation delay compensation on the RTI received from the source gNB using the TA value of the target gNB, where a PD triggering condition indicates the UE to perform PD compensation when the value of TA exceeds the range of TA value or is larger than a threshold, paragraphs [0089], [0123]); and
the first delay is a transmission delay between the first communication apparatus and a second communication apparatus (the UE receives DL synchronization signals from the source gNB and the target gNB respectively and derives receiving time difference between a DL synchronization signal from the source gNB and a DL synchronization signal from the target gNB, where the UE derives the timing advance (TA) value of the target gNB based on the TA value of the source gNB as well as the receiving time difference between the first synchronization signal of the source gNB and the second synchronization signal of the target gNB, paragraphs [0121], [0122]), or the first delay is a difference between a maximum value of the transmission delay between the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus and a minimum value of the transmission delay between the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus.
Regarding claim 6, Chien discloses a timing advance determining method, comprising:
determining, first information about a reference time signal, wherein the reference time signal is a periodic signal, and the first information is useable for determining a reference time at which the reference time signal is generated (the source gNB periodically transmits propagation-delay-related values, such as reference time information (RTI) and/or timing advance (TA) to the UE, where the gNB periodically set up a timer and transmits RTI or TA in RRC message, and the UE performs a RACH procedure with the source gNB and obtains a propagation-delay-related value, then the UE receives DL synchronization signals from the source gNB and the target gNB respectively and derives receiving time difference between a DL synchronization signal from the source gNB and a DL synchronization signal from the target gNB, where the UE derives the timing advance (TA) value of the target gNB based on the TA value of the source gNB as well as the receiving time difference between the first synchronization signal of the source gNB and the second synchronization signal of the target gNB, paragraphs [0110], [0119] – [0122]); and
sending, the first information (the source gNB periodically transmits propagation-delay-related values, such as reference time information (RTI) and/or timing advance (TA) to the UE, where the gNB periodically set up a timer and transmits RTI or TA in RRC message, and the UE performs a RACH procedure with the source gNB and obtains a propagation-delay-related value, then the UE receives DL synchronization signals from the source gNB and the target gNB respectively and derives receiving time difference between a DL synchronization signal from the source gNB and a DL synchronization signal from the target gNB, where the UE derives the timing advance (TA) value of the target gNB based on the TA value of the source gNB as well as the receiving time difference between the first synchronization signal of the source gNB and the second synchronization signal of the target gNB, paragraphs [0110], [0119] – [0122]).
Regarding claim 7, Chien discloses the method according to claim 6, wherein the determining, the first information about the reference time signal comprises:
determining, a period of the reference time signal based on positional information between the second communication apparatus and a first communication apparatus and a first mapping, wherein the first mapping is a correspondence between the positional information and the period of the reference time signal (the source gNB periodically transmits propagation-delay-related values, such as reference time information (RTI) and/or timing advance (TA) to the UE, where the gNB periodically set up a timer and transmits RTI or TA in RRC message, and the UE performs a RACH procedure with the source gNB and obtains a propagation-delay-related value, then the UE receives DL synchronization signals from the source gNB and the target gNB respectively and derives receiving time difference between a DL synchronization signal from the source gNB and a DL synchronization signal from the target gNB, where the UE derives the timing advance (TA) value of the target gNB based on the TA value of the source gNB as well as the receiving time difference between the first synchronization signal of the source gNB and the second synchronization signal of the target gNB, paragraphs [0110], [0119] – [0122]; the target gNB provides geography location and beam related information to the source gNB, where the source gNB transmits the message indicating the geographic location and beam related information of the target gNB to the UE, where the geography location and beam related information includes a mapping between a geography location and a beam, and a mapping between the beam and a propagation-delay-related value, such that the UE detecting the beam determines the geographic location and the propagation-delay-related value associated with the beam, paragraph [0129]).
Regarding claim 8, Chien discloses the method according to claim 7, wherein the first information comprises:
the period of the reference time signal (the source gNB periodically transmits propagation-delay-related values, such as reference time information (RTI) and/or timing advance (TA) to the UE, where the gNB periodically set up a timer and transmits RTI or TA in RRC message, paragraphs [0110], [0119]); or
a first index useable to indicate the period of the reference time signal.
Regarding claim 9, Chien discloses the method according to claim 7, wherein
the period of the reference time signal is greater than or equal to a first delay (the UE performs propagation delay compensation on the RTI received from the source gNB using the TA value of the target gNB, where a PD triggering condition indicates the UE to perform PD compensation when the value of TA exceeds the range of TA value or is larger than a threshold, paragraphs [0089], [0123]); and
the first delay is a transmission delay between the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus (the UE receives DL synchronization signals from the source gNB and the target gNB respectively and derives receiving time difference between a DL synchronization signal from the source gNB and a DL synchronization signal from the target gNB, where the UE derives the timing advance (TA) value of the target gNB based on the TA value of the source gNB as well as the receiving time difference between the first synchronization signal of the source gNB and the second synchronization signal of the target gNB, paragraphs [0121], [0122]), or the first delay is a difference between a maximum value of the transmission delay between the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus and a minimum value of the transmission delay between the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus.
Regarding claim 11, Chien discloses a timing advance determining apparatus (the system 700), comprising:
at least one processor (the system 700 includes processing unit, paragraphs [0167] – [0168]), and one or more non-transitory memories coupled to the at least one processor (the system 700 includes memory/storage, paragraphs [0167], [0173]), wherein the one or more non-transitory memories is configured to store programming instructions (the memory/storage is used to load and store data and/or instructions, paragraph [0173]), and the at least one processor is configured to execute the programming instructions to thereby perform operations (the processors are coupled with the memory/storage and configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications and/or operating systems running on the system, paragraphs [0167], [0168], [0173]) comprising:
obtaining, first information about a reference time signal, wherein the reference time signal is a periodic signal (the source gNB periodically transmits propagation-delay-related values, such as reference time information (RTI) and/or timing advance (TA) to the UE, paragraphs [0110], [0119]);
determining, based on the first information, a reference time at which the reference time signal is generated (the UE performs a RACH procedure with the source gNB and obtains a propagation-delay-related value, where the propagation-delay-related includes a value of at least one of timing advance (TA), propagation delay (PD), paragraphs [0120], [0121]); and
determining, a timing advance based on the reference moment and a first time at which the first communication apparatus receives a downlink signal (the UE receives DL synchronization signals from the source gNB and the target gNB respectively and derives receiving time difference between a DL synchronization signal from the source gNB and a DL synchronization signal from the target gNB, where the UE derives the timing advance (TA) value of the target gNB based on the TA value of the source gNB as well as the receiving time difference between the first synchronization signal of the source gNB and the second synchronization signal of the target gNB, paragraphs [0121], [0122]).
Regarding claim 12, Chien discloses the apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the first information comprises:
a period of the reference time signal (the source gNB periodically transmits propagation-delay-related values, such as reference time information (RTI) and/or timing advance (TA) to the UE, where the gNB periodically set up a timer and transmits RTI or TA in RRC message, paragraphs [0110], [0119]); or
a first index useable to indicate the period of the reference time signal.
Regarding claim 13, Chien discloses the apparatus according to claim 12, wherein
the period of the reference time signal is greater than or equal to a first delay (the UE performs propagation delay compensation on the RTI received from the source gNB using the TA value of the target gNB, where a PD triggering condition indicates the UE to perform PD compensation when the value of TA exceeds the range of TA value or is larger than a threshold, paragraphs [0089], [0123]); and
the first delay is a transmission delay between the first communication apparatus and a second communication apparatus (the UE receives DL synchronization signals from the source gNB and the target gNB respectively and derives receiving time difference between a DL synchronization signal from the source gNB and a DL synchronization signal from the target gNB, where the UE derives the timing advance (TA) value of the target gNB based on the TA value of the source gNB as well as the receiving time difference between the first synchronization signal of the source gNB and the second synchronization signal of the target gNB, paragraphs [0121], [0122]), or the first delay is a difference between a maximum value of the transmission delay between the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus and a minimum value of the transmission delay between the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus.
Regarding claim 16, Chien discloses a timing advance determining apparatus (the system 700), comprising:
at least one processor (the system 700 includes processing unit, paragraphs [0167] – [0168]), and one or more non-transitory memories coupled to the at least one processor (the system 700 includes memory/storage, paragraphs [0167], [0173]), wherein the one or more non-transitory memories is configured to store programming instructions (the memory/storage is used to load and store data and/or instructions, paragraph [0173]), and the at least one processor is configured to execute the programming instructions to thereby perform operations (the processors are coupled with the memory/storage and configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications and/or operating systems running on the system, paragraphs [0167], [0168], [0173]) comprising:
determining, first information about a reference time signal, wherein the reference time signal is a periodic signal, and the first information is useable for determining a reference time at which the reference time signal is generated (the source gNB periodically transmits propagation-delay-related values, such as reference time information (RTI) and/or timing advance (TA) to the UE, where the gNB periodically set up a timer and transmits RTI or TA in RRC message, and the UE performs a RACH procedure with the source gNB and obtains a propagation-delay-related value, then the UE receives DL synchronization signals from the source gNB and the target gNB respectively and derives receiving time difference between a DL synchronization signal from the source gNB and a DL synchronization signal from the target gNB, where the UE derives the timing advance (TA) value of the target gNB based on the TA value of the source gNB as well as the receiving time difference between the first synchronization signal of the source gNB and the second synchronization signal of the target gNB, paragraphs [0110], [0119] – [0122]); and
sending, the first information (the source gNB periodically transmits propagation-delay-related values, such as reference time information (RTI) and/or timing advance (TA) to the UE, where the gNB periodically set up a timer and transmits RTI or TA in RRC message, and the UE performs a RACH procedure with the source gNB and obtains a propagation-delay-related value, then the UE receives DL synchronization signals from the source gNB and the target gNB respectively and derives receiving time difference between a DL synchronization signal from the source gNB and a DL synchronization signal from the target gNB, where the UE derives the timing advance (TA) value of the target gNB based on the TA value of the source gNB as well as the receiving time difference between the first synchronization signal of the source gNB and the second synchronization signal of the target gNB, paragraphs [0110], [0119] – [0122]).
Regarding claim 17, Chien discloses the apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the determining, the first information about the reference time signal comprises:
determining, a period of the reference time signal based on positional information between the second communication apparatus and a first communication apparatus and a first mapping, wherein the first mapping is a correspondence between the positional information and the period of the reference time signal (the source gNB periodically transmits propagation-delay-related values, such as reference time information (RTI) and/or timing advance (TA) to the UE, where the gNB periodically set up a timer and transmits RTI or TA in RRC message, and the UE performs a RACH procedure with the source gNB and obtains a propagation-delay-related value, then the UE receives DL synchronization signals from the source gNB and the target gNB respectively and derives receiving time difference between a DL synchronization signal from the source gNB and a DL synchronization signal from the target gNB, where the UE derives the timing advance (TA) value of the target gNB based on the TA value of the source gNB as well as the receiving time difference between the first synchronization signal of the source gNB and the second synchronization signal of the target gNB, paragraphs [0110], [0119] – [0122]; the target gNB provides geography location and beam related information to the source gNB, where the source gNB transmits the message indicating the geographic location and beam related information of the target gNB to the UE, where the geography location and beam related information includes a mapping between a geography location and a beam, and a mapping between the beam and a propagation-delay-related value, such that the UE detecting the beam determines the geographic location and the propagation-delay-related value associated with the beam, paragraph [0129]).
Regarding claim 18, Chien discloses the apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the first information comprises:
the period of the reference time signal (the source gNB periodically transmits propagation-delay-related values, such as reference time information (RTI) and/or timing advance (TA) to the UE, where the gNB periodically set up a timer and transmits RTI or TA in RRC message, paragraphs [0110], [0119]); or
a first index useable to indicate the period of the reference time signal.
Regarding claim 19, Chien discloses the apparatus according to claim 18, wherein
the period of the reference time signal is greater than or equal to a first delay (the UE performs propagation delay compensation on the RTI received from the source gNB using the TA value of the target gNB, where a PD triggering condition indicates the UE to perform PD compensation when the value of TA exceeds the range of TA value or is larger than a threshold, paragraphs [0089], [0123]); and
the first delay is a transmission delay between the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus (the UE receives DL synchronization signals from the source gNB and the target gNB respectively and derives receiving time difference between a DL synchronization signal from the source gNB and a DL synchronization signal from the target gNB, where the UE derives the timing advance (TA) value of the target gNB based on the TA value of the source gNB as well as the receiving time difference between the first synchronization signal of the source gNB and the second synchronization signal of the target gNB, paragraphs [0121], [0122]), or the first delay is a difference between a maximum value of the transmission delay between the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus and a minimum value of the transmission delay between the first communication apparatus and the second communication apparatus.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
LIU et al (US Patent Application Publication 2022/0201637) – the first signaling is used to determine the first time-frequency resource set, and the first signaling is used to determine a reference time-frequency resource set, a first Timing Advance (TA) quantity is used to determine a TA quantity of an uplink timing relative to a downlink timing, a time length of a time interval between a start time of the second time-frequency resource set in time domain and a start time of the reference time-frequency resource set in time domain is equal to a first time length, the first time length is equal to one of X candidate time lengths, there exists one of the X candidate time lengths being greater than the first TA quantity, X being a positive integer greater than 1, and the first TA quantity is used to determine the first time length out of the X candidate time lengths
LASELVA et al (US Patent Application Publication 2022/0225257) – the one or more timing advance conditions includes at least one of whether the first set of neighbor cells at the first time instance contains at least a threshold of the neighbor cells from the second set of neighbor cells at the second time instance, whether a difference between measurement data acquired at the second time instance and the first time instance is less than a predefined threshold value for the measurement data, whether a difference between a reference signal received power at the second time instance and a reference signal received power at the first time instance is less than a predefined threshold value for the reference signal received power, whether a difference between a differential reference signal received power at the second time instance and a differential reference signal received power at the first time instance is less than a predefined threshold value for the differential reference signal received power, and whether a difference between a differential time-of-arrival of a downlink signal at the second time instance and a differential time-of-arrival of the downlink signal at the first time instance is less than a predefined threshold value for the differential time-of-arrival
WANG et al (US Patent Application Publication 2023/0027812) – the network device receives downlink signal, determines a first reference moment of a signal period of the downlink signal, where the first reference moment includes a start receiving moment of the signal period, determines a first time interval between the start receiving moment and a start moment of a first period in which the terminal is located, determines whether a start sending moment of the signal period is within the first period, and determining the start sending moment, where a period is a duration distributed at an equal interval on a time axis based on the first time interval, and determines a timing advance based on the start receiving moment and the start sending moment, and an uplink signal is sent based on the timing advance
DAI et al (US Patent Application Publication 2024/0224212) – the UE receives a handover command instructing the UE to hand over to a target BS from a source base station (BS), obtains an indication of a timing advance (TA) for communicating with the target BS, wherein the indication of the TA for communicating with the target BS is based on a TA used for communicating with the source BS and a first time difference between a first reference signal associated with the source BS and a second reference signal associated with the target BS, and transmits one or more signals to the target BS using the TA for communicating with the target BS based on the handover command
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAI J CHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-5448. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 10AM-6PM EST.
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/Kai Chang/Examiner, Art Unit 2468
/Thomas R Cairns/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2468
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