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 Office action is in response to the preliminary amendment filed on 08/21/2024. Claims 11-20 and 23-24 have been canceled, new claims 27-32 have been added.
Claims 1-10, 21-22 and 25-32 are presented for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/15/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1-10, 21-22 and 27-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by ROY et al. (US 2022/0225132 A1).
As to claim 1, ROY discloses the invention as claimed, including a measurement configuration method, performed by a terminal (Fig. 1, 101), comprising:
obtaining first scaling information corresponding to a non-terrestrial communication type of the terminal (¶0010, “receiving from the serving cell an updated measurement configuration that indicates a fifth SMTC corresponding to the first neighbor cell of the UE and determined based on the SMTC offset, and a third measurement gap configuration corresponding to the second neighbor cell and determined based on the measurement gap offset”; ¶0031, “the UE 101 may perform radio resource management (RRM) measurement according to a measurement configuration 133 received from the serving cell 142”; ¶0046, “the UE 101 can be configured a second SMTC corresponding to the neighbor cell 141. The second SMTC indicates SMTC windows 332 and 334. The timings of the second SMTC (based on the time at the serving cell 142) can be determined based on information of the propagation delays 341 and 351 or the delay difference 351)”; ¶0062, “the UE 101 can determine a current location of the satellite 103 based on the PVT information or ephemeris of the satellite 103. The UE 101 can also obtain a location of itself based on a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Based on the location of the satellite 103 and the location of the UE 101, the UE 101 can determine a propagation delay of the service link 112”); and
determining time restriction information of a target measurement based on the first scaling information (Figs. 3-6; ¶0008, “An SMTC offset can be determined based on the position of the second neighbor cell. The SMTC offset is based on a timing of the serving cell. The SMTC offset can be one of a time offset with respect to the first SMTC, a time offset with respect to the second SMTC, or a time offset indicating a starting position of an SMTC window within a periodicity of the second SMTC”; ¶0046, “the UE 101 can be configured a second SMTC corresponding to the neighbor cell 141. The second SMTC indicates SMTC windows 332 and 334. The timings of the second SMTC (based on the time at the serving cell 142) can be determined based on information of the propagation delays 341 and 351 or the delay difference 351)”).
As to claim 2, ROY discloses the method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the first scaling information corresponding to the non-terrestrial communication type of the terminal comprises: receiving the first scaling information sent by a network device (¶0010, “receiving from the serving cell an updated measurement configuration that indicates a fifth SMTC corresponding to the first neighbor cell of the UE and determined based on the SMTC offset, and a third measurement gap configuration corresponding to the second neighbor cell and determined based on the measurement gap offset”; ¶0046, “the UE 101 can be configured a second SMTC corresponding to the neighbor cell 141. The second SMTC indicates SMTC windows 332 and 334. The timings of the second SMTC (based on the time at the serving cell 142) can be determined based on information of the propagation delays 341 and 351 or the delay difference 351)”; ¶0062, “the UE 101 can determine a current location of the satellite 103 based on the PVT information or ephemeris of the satellite 103. The UE 101 can also obtain a location of itself based on a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Based on the location of the satellite 103 and the location of the UE 101, the UE 101 can determine a propagation delay of the service link 112”).
As to claim 3, ROY discloses the method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the first scaling information corresponding to the non-terrestrial communication type of the terminal comprises: obtaining a correspondence between at least one piece of scaling information and at least one non-terrestrial communication type agreed by a specification; and determining the first scaling information according to the non-terrestrial communication type of the terminal (¶0010, “receiving from the serving cell an updated measurement configuration that indicates a fifth SMTC corresponding to the first neighbor cell of the UE and determined based on the SMTC offset, and a third measurement gap configuration corresponding to the second neighbor cell and determined based on the measurement gap offset”; ¶0046, “the UE 101 can be configured a second SMTC corresponding to the neighbor cell 141. The second SMTC indicates SMTC windows 332 and 334. The timings of the second SMTC (based on the time at the serving cell 142) can be determined based on information of the propagation delays 341 and 351 or the delay difference 351)”; ¶0062, “the UE 101 can determine a current location of the satellite 103 based on the PVT information or ephemeris of the satellite 103. The UE 101 can also obtain a location of itself based on a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Based on the location of the satellite 103 and the location of the UE 101, the UE 101 can determine a propagation delay of the service link 112”).
As to claim 4, ROY discloses the method of claim 2, wherein in response to the terminal being in an idle state or an inactive state, the first scaling information is carried in a system information block (SIB); or in response to the terminal being in a connected state, the first scaling information is carried in a radio resource control (RRC) signaling (¶0013, “receiving periodically an update of an ephemeris, PVT information, and/or a feeder link delay of the second satellite associated with the first neighbor cell from the serving cell through one or a combination of a system information block (SIB), a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, and a MAC control element (CE)”).
As to claim 5, ROY discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the non-terrestrial communication type comprises at least one of: a geostationary earth orbiting (GEO) satellite, a medium earth orbiting (MEO) satellite, a scenario of a low earth orbiting (LEO) satellite-based earth-moving serving cell, a scenario of LEO satellite-based earth-fixed serving cell, or a high altitude platform station (HAPS) (¶0004, “Non-terrestrial networks (NTN) can include satellite communication networks, high altitude platform systems (HAPS), air-to-ground networks, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and the like. Satellite communication networks can be based on low Earth orbiting (LEO) satellites, medium Earth orbiting (MEO) satellites, and geostationary Earth orbiting (GEO) satellites”).
As to claim 6, ROY discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the target measurement comprises at least one of: a mobility management of the terminal, radio link monitoring (RLM), a radio resource management (RRM), or a beam management (¶0031, “the UE 101 may perform radio resource management (RRM) measurement according to a measurement configuration 133 received from the serving cell 142”; ¶0032, “The RRM measurement can be performed in both the neighbor cell 141 and the serving cell 142”; ¶0102, “a satellite with a payload can be configured to transmit multiple beams each corresponding to a cell”).
As to claim 7, ROY discloses a measurement configuration method, performed by a network device, comprising:
sending, according to a non-terrestrial communication type corresponding to the network device, first scaling information corresponding to the non-terrestrial communication type to a terminal (¶0061, “The UE 101 can update the SMTC and measurement gap configuration regularly and inform the network about the updated configurations by sending a report. The report can, for example, include one or more time offsets. In various examples, the time offsets can take various forms. For example, for updating the SMTC of a neighbor cell, an SMTC offset can be a time offset from a previous SMTC configuration of the neighbor cell that was provided to the UE 101 by the network; a time offset with respect to an SMTC of a serving cell; or, a time offset indicating a starting position of an SMTC window within a periodicity of the SMTC of the neighbor cell”; ¶0070, “The UE 101 can accordingly determine an update of an SMTC offset and a measurement gap configuration for the neighbor cell 141 regularly. The UE 101 can inform the network about the update by sending a report”), wherein the first scaling information is used to determine time restriction information of a target measurement Figs. 3-6; ¶0008, “An SMTC offset can be determined based on the position of the second neighbor cell. The SMTC offset is based on a timing of the serving cell. The SMTC offset can be one of a time offset with respect to the first SMTC, a time offset with respect to the second SMTC, or a time offset indicating a starting position of an SMTC window within a periodicity of the second SMTC”; ¶0046, “the UE 101 can be configured a second SMTC corresponding to the neighbor cell 141. The second SMTC indicates SMTC windows 332 and 334. The timings of the second SMTC (based on the time at the serving cell 142) can be determined based on information of the propagation delays 341 and 351 or the delay difference 351)”).
As to claims 8-10, they are rejected for the same reasons set forth in claims 4-6 above, respectively.
As to claim 21, it is rejected for the same reasons set forth in claims 4-6 above. In addition, ROY discloses a communication device (Fig. 8, 800), comprising:
a processor (Fig. 8, 810); and
a memory, wherein the memory stores a computer program (Fig. 8, 820) (¶0010; ¶0112; ¶0116).
As to claim 22, ROY discloses a communication device (Fig. 8, 800), comprising: a processor (Fig. 8, 810); and a memory (Fig. 8, 820), wherein the memory stores a computer program, and the processor executes the computer program stored in the memory to perform the method of claim 7 (¶0010; ¶0112; ¶0116).
As to claim 25, ROY discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed, the method of claim 1 is implemented (¶0010; ¶0112; ¶0116).
As to claim 26, ROY discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed, the method of claim 7 is implemented (¶0010; ¶0112; ¶0116).
As to claims 27-28, they are rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim 5 above.
As to claims 29-32, they are rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim 6 above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
KHIRALLAH et al. (US 2024/0073763), LI et al. (US 2025/0047373), Salim et al. (US 2026/0040171), Joern Krause, 3GPP, MCC, “Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), May 14, 2014 disclose method and apparatus for non-terrestrial network mobility in wireless communication system.
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/JUNGWON CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454 June 06, 2026
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