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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/06/2025 and 08/30/2024 are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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(s) 1, 11 and 15 – 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Krishnamurthy et al. US 20230135149 A1, hereinafter Krishnamurthy.
Regarding claim 1, Krishnamurthy teaches a user equipment (UE), comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to: (Krishnamurthy: Summary, Fig. 4 and Fig. 2 para. [0066-0067] UE 120 Para. [0139] one or more components of the set of components may be implemented at least in part as software stored in a memory. For example, a component (or a portion of a component) may be implemented as instructions or code stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by a controller or a processor to perform the functions or operations)
receive a first configuration message including a first configuration and a first mean ephemeris; and
(Krishnamurthy: Fig. 4 and para. [0082] 410, the base station may transmit, and the UE may receive, ephemeris information associated with a satellite in an NTN. Ephemeris information may include various parameters that define orbital mechanics that can be used to describe or derive the location and orbital behavior of an astronomical body, such as a star or an Earth-orbiting object (e.g., the satellite in the NTN). For example, the ephemeris information signaled from the base station to the UE may be expressed in a two-line element (TLE) format, and may include a satellite number, one or more international designators (e.g., the last two digits of a launch year and/or a launch number of a year), an inclination in degrees, an eccentricity, a mean anomaly, a mean motion (e.g., revolutions per day), and/or one or more time derivatives of the mean motion, among other examples. Accordingly, the ephemeris information may generally express mean orbital parameters (correspond to claim limitation “first mean ephemeris”)),
identify the first mean ephemeris in the first configuration message based on the first configuration. (Krishnamurthy: Fig. 4 and para. [0082] 410 whereby the UE can then use the ephemeris information and a simplified general propagation model to calculate a location of the satellite revolving about the Earth in True Equator, Mean Equinox (TEME) coordinates)
Regarding claim 11, Krishnamurthy teaches base station, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the base station to: (Krishnamurthy: Summary, Fig. 4 and Fig. 2 para. [0064-0065] base station 110 may include a communication unit 244 and may communicate with the network controller 130 via the communication unit 244. The base station 110 may include a scheduler 246 to schedule one or more UEs 120 for downlink and/or uplink communications. Para. [0065] controller/processor 240 of the base station 110, the controller/processor 280 of the UE 120, and/or any other component(s) of FIG. 2. The memory 242 and the memory 282 may store data and program codes for the base station 110 and the UE 120, respectively. Para. [0139] one or more components of the set of components may be implemented at least in part as software stored in a memory. For example, a component (or a portion of a component) may be implemented as instructions or code stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by a controller or a processor to perform the functions or operations)
generate a first configuration message including a first configuration and a first mean ephemeris; and (Krishnamurthy: Fig. 4 and para. [0082] 410, the base station may transmit, and the UE may receive, ephemeris information associated with a satellite in an NTN. Ephemeris information may include various parameters that define orbital mechanics that can be used to describe or derive the location and orbital behavior of an astronomical body, such as a star or an Earth-orbiting object (e.g., the satellite in the NTN). For example, the ephemeris information signaled from the base station to the UE may be expressed in a two-line element (TLE) format, and may include a satellite number, one or more international designators (e.g., the last two digits of a launch year and/or a launch number of a year), an inclination in degrees, an eccentricity, a mean anomaly, a mean motion (e.g., revolutions per day), and/or one or more time derivatives of the mean motion, among other examples. Accordingly, the ephemeris information may generally express mean orbital parameters (correspond to claim limitation “first mean ephemeris”))
transmit the first configuration message. (Krishnamurthy: Fig. 4 and para. [0082] 410, the base station may transmit, and the UE may receive, ephemeris information associated with a satellite in an NTN)
Regarding claim 15, Krishnamurthy teaches a method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: (Krishnamurthy: Summary, Fig. 4 and Fig. 2 para. [0066-0067] UE 120 Para. [0139] one or more components of the set of components may be implemented at least in part as software stored in a memory. For example, a component (or a portion of a component) may be implemented as instructions or code stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by a controller or a processor to perform the functions or operations) and Krishnamurthy teaches all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 1, and therefore method claim 15 is rejected using the same rationales.
Regarding claim 16, Krishnamurthy teaches a processor for wireless communication, comprising: at least one controller coupled with at least one memory and configured to cause the processor to: (Krishnamurthy: Summary, Fig. 4 and Fig. 2 para. [0066-0067] UE 120 Para. [0139] one or more components of the set of components may be implemented at least in part as software stored in a memory. For example, a component (or a portion of a component) may be implemented as instructions or code stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by a controller or a processor to perform the functions or operations) and Krishnamurthy teaches all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 1, and therefore apparatus claim 16 is rejected using the same rationales.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 2, 8 – 10, 12 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krishnamurthy in view of Wu et al. US 20250254656 A1, hereinafter Wu (provisional application no. 63/363574 filed on Apr. 25, 2022, hereinafter Wu’574).
Regarding claim 2, Krishnamurthy teaches the UE of claim 1, Krishnamurthy does not explicitly teach: wherein the first configuration message includes a system information block (SIB) dedicated for discontinuous coverage or a dedicated signaling message for discontinuous coverage.
Wu from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the first configuration message includes a system information block (SIB) dedicated for discontinuous coverage (Wu: para. [0078] ephemeris information broadcasted in the system information provides the constellation and trajectory/movement information of the serving and the neighboring satellites, which helps UE to predict/estimate when it will be within and when it will be outside the NTN coverage. Para. [0088] and FIG. 8 , the UE in some cases should not deactivate the AS functions and/or the radio modules during the estimated periods of discontinuous coverage (see block 812) if the UE can camp on a TN cell during the periods of discontinuous coverage. In some cases, an NTN base station signals availability of a TN cell in the system information. Wu’574: para. [0074 & 0084])
or a dedicated signaling message for discontinuous coverage.
(Wu: para. [0102] UE at block 1308 deactivates 1214 its AS functions and/or its radio modules upon leaving the coverage of the current satellite (due to the satellite movement) at block 1308, when the UE is capable of estimating the pattern of discontinuous coverage using NTN cell-related assistance information or satellite-related assistance information (corresponds to claim limitation “dedicated signaling message”). Wu’574: para. [0098]) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Wu in the apparatus of Krishnamurthy. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for ephemeris information broadcasted in the system information provides the constellation and trajectory/movement information of the serving and the neighboring satellites, which helps UE to predict/estimate when it will be within and when it will be outside the NTN coverage. However, relying on only the ephemeris information may not be sufficient for a UE to estimate/predict the coverage, as not every satellite projects its beams/cells onto the Earth perpendicularly and have the same sizes of the coverage. Some other information may be required for the UE to estimate/predict the coverage of the NTN cell more precisely (Wu: para. [0078]).
Regarding claim 8, Krishnamurthy teaches the UE of claim 1, Krishnamurthy does not explicitly teach: wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to acquire a second configuration and a second mean ephemeris in response to at least one of the following: a second configuration message for updating a mean ephemeris being received; a validity timer for the first mean ephemeris being expired; a predicted interruption period of network coverage has passed; waking up from a power saving mode after an interruption of network coverage; selecting or reselecting to a cell after an interruption of network coverage; completing random access to a cell after an interruption of network coverage; or identifying the first mean ephemeris in the first configuration message being failed.
Wu from the same or similar fields of endeavor teach: wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to acquire a second configuration and a second mean ephemeris in response to at least one of the following: a second configuration message for updating a mean ephemeris being received; a validity timer for the first mean ephemeris being expired;
a predicted interruption period of network coverage has passed; (Wu: para. [0078] predict/estimate when it will be within and when it will be outside the NTN coverage. Wu’574: para. [0074])
waking up from a power saving mode after an interruption of network coverage; (Wu: para. [0106] the UE wakes up and monitors the paging during the second initially configured PTW 1406. Because the UE is not within the area of coverage of any satellite during the entire PTW 1406, the UE extends the PTW by an extension period 1408. The UE stops the extended PTW when at least one of the POs for the UE is within the period of coverage 1414. The network can page the UE starting at the earliest PO that falls within the period of satellite coverage 1414, if there is a pending MT event for the UE. Wu’574: para. [0102])
selecting or reselecting to a cell after an interruption of network coverage; (Wu: para. [0049] UE 102 can select, reselect, or hand over from one of the cells 124 and 126 to the other. Para. [0102] At block 1310, the UE determines that it has entered the area of coverage of the next satellite and reactivates 1220 the AS functions and/or its radio modules, so as to perform the necessary idle mode operations such as conducting measurement and evaluating cell reselection criteria. Wu’574: para. [0098 & 0045])
completing random access to a cell after an interruption of network coverage; (Wu: para. [0100] initiating 1232 a Random Access (RA) procedure with the eNB 106. Wu’574: para. [0096]) or identifying the first mean ephemeris in the first configuration message being failed. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Wu in the apparatus of Krishnamurthy. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for ephemeris information broadcasted in the system information provides the constellation and trajectory/movement information of the serving and the neighboring satellites, which helps UE to predict/estimate when it will be within and when it will be outside the NTN coverage. However, relying on only the ephemeris information may not be sufficient for a UE to estimate/predict the coverage, as not every satellite projects its beams/cells onto the Earth perpendicularly and have the same sizes of the coverage. Some other information may be required for the UE to estimate/predict the coverage of the NTN cell more precisely (Wu: para. [0078]).
Regarding claim 9 , Krishnamurthy and Wu teach the UE of claim 8, Krishnamurthy does not explicitly teach: wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to: transmit a request for the second mean ephemeris to a base station (BS) and receive the second configuration and the second mean ephemeris (Krishnamurthy: para. [0082] ephemeris information may generally express mean orbital parameters) in a dedicated signaling; or receive a system information block including the second configuration and the second mean ephemeris.
(Krishnamurthy: para. [0084] base station may signal the ephemeris information to the UE in a particular downlink slot, K0, which may then be used to define the starting time for a satellite ephemeris epoch. In this way, by defining the epoch time to as the starting time for a downlink slot K0 at the reference point in which the ephemeris information is signaled, the notation tN may be used to denote the starting time for an uplink slot Nat the reference point, where tN=(N−K0) multiplied by the slot duration. Para. [0095] UE may compute the transmit time for an uplink slot N using the approximate common delay value signaled by the base station and the satellite ephemeris information (corresponds to claim limitation “second/different mean ephemeris”). In particular, FIG. 5C illustrates an example where the UE is computing a transmit time for an uplink signal to arrive at the reference point at time T5, which is the starting point of uplink slot N (e.g., tN=T5). Accordingly, the actual delay for an uplink signal to arrive at the reference point at time T5 may be based on the geometric distance between the location of the reference point at time T5 and the location of the satellite at time T4. Accordingly, to minimize errors, the geometric distance between the location of the reference point at time T5 and the location of the satellite at time T4 may be approximated by the geometric distance between the locations of the reference point and the satellite at time T4.)
Regarding claim 10, Krishnamurthy teaches the UE of claim 1, Krishnamurthy does not explicitly teach: wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to perform at least one of the following: predict coverage discontinuity based on the first mean ephemeris; disable neighbor cell measurement triggering; or stop on-going measurement for neighbor cells.
Wu from the same or similar fields of endeavor teach: wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to perform at least one of the following: predict coverage discontinuity based on the first mean ephemeris; disable neighbor cell measurement triggering; or stop on-going measurement for neighbor cells. (Wu: para. [0078] ephemeris information broadcasted in the system information provides the constellation and trajectory/movement information of the serving and the neighboring satellites, which helps UE to predict/estimate when it will be within and when it will be outside the NTN coverage. Para. [0088] and FIG. 8 , the UE in some cases should not deactivate the AS functions and/or the radio modules during the estimated periods of discontinuous coverage (see block 812) if the UE can camp on a TN cell during the periods of discontinuous coverage. In some cases, an NTN base station signals availability of a TN cell in the system information. Wu’574: para. [0074 & 0084]) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Wu in the apparatus of Krishnamurthy. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for ephemeris information broadcasted in the system information provides the constellation and trajectory/movement information of the serving and the neighboring satellites, which helps UE to predict/estimate when it will be within and when it will be outside the NTN coverage. However, relying on only the ephemeris information may not be sufficient for a UE to estimate/predict the coverage, as not every satellite projects its beams/cells onto the Earth perpendicularly and have the same sizes of the coverage. Some other information may be required for the UE to estimate/predict the coverage of the NTN cell more precisely (Wu: para. [0078]).
Regarding claim 12, Krishnamurthy and Wu teach all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 2, and therefore apparatus claim 12 is rejected using the same rationales.
Regarding claim 17, Krishnamurthy and Wu teach all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 2, and therefore apparatus claim 17 is rejected using the same rationales.
Claim(s) 3, 6, 13 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krishnamurthy in view of ERICSSON: "Open issues on discontinuous coverage", 3GPP DRAFT; R2-2205860, 3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT (3GPP), MOBILE COMPETENCE CENTRE ; 650, ROUTE DES LUCIOLES ; F-06921 SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS CEDEX ; FRANCE, vol. RAN WG2, no. Electronic meeting ;20220509 - 20220520 25 April 2022 (2022-04-25), XP052142885 (listed in applicant submitted IDS and listed as D1 in PCT search report), hereinafter Ericsson.
Regarding claim 3, Krishnamurthy teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein the first configuration includes at least one of the following: an epoch time associated with the first mean ephemeris; (Krishnamurthy: para. [0083] UE may determine an epoch time (or reference time) associated with the satellite ephemeris information)
Krishnamurthy does not explicitly teach: an ephemeris type indication indicating at least one ephemeris type; at least two information elements, wherein each information element is dedicated for one ephemeris type; a validity time for the first mean ephemeris; an averaged time duration associated with the first mean ephemeris; a start serving time associated with the first mean ephemeris; one or more identifiers of radio access network (RAN) nodes associated with the first mean ephemeris; an identifier of a group of RAN nodes associated with the first mean ephemeris; or a format for the first mean ephemeris.
Ericsson from the same or similar fields of endeavor teach: wherein the first configuration includes at least one of the following: an ephemeris type indication indicating at least one ephemeris type (ephemeris type); at least two information elements, wherein each information element is dedicated for one ephemeris type (ephemeris type); a validity time for the first mean ephemeris; an epoch time (epoch time will be provided with the ephemeris information) associated with the first mean ephemeris; an averaged time duration associated with the first mean ephemeris; a start serving time associated with the first mean ephemeris; one or more identifiers of radio access network (RAN) nodes associated with the first mean ephemeris; an identifier of a group of RAN nodes associated with the first mean ephemeris; (Ericsson: section 2.4 - For Prediction of discontinuous coverage, Information about satellite id, ephemeris type (FFS if two, three of four types) and epoch time will be provided with the ephemeris information. Section 2.5 - estimate a satellite pass based on mean satellite ephemeris and coverage related information) or a format for the first mean ephemeris. (Ericsson: section 2.1 proposal 2 single ephemeris format to make specification simpler in Rel-17. Proposal 3 Postpone the consideration of alternative formats to Rel-18) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Ericsson in the apparatus of Krishnamurthy. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for provide a decent accuracy but does not entail a high computational cost (Ericsson: page 3 section 2.1).
Regarding claim 6, Krishnamurthy teaches the UE of claim 3, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to apply at least a part of the first configuration to the first mean ephemeris for discontinuous coverage, wherein applying the at least a part of the first configuration includes at least one of the following: applying the epoch time to the first mean ephemeris; (Krishnamurthy: para. [0083] UE may determine an epoch time (or reference time) associated with the satellite ephemeris information)
Krishnamurthy does not explicitly teach: determining the first mean ephemeris is valid before the validity time; determining the first mean ephemeris is a mean ephemeris during the averaged time duration; determining the first mean ephemeris is associated with one or more RAN nodes with the one or more identifiers; or determining the first mean ephemeris is associated with a group of RAN nodes with the identifier of a group of RAN nodes.
Ericsson from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to apply at least a part of the first configuration to the first mean ephemeris for discontinuous coverage, wherein applying the at least a part of the first configuration includes at least one of the following: determining the first mean ephemeris is valid before the validity time; applying the epoch time to the first mean ephemeris (epoch time); determining the first mean ephemeris is a mean ephemeris during the averaged time duration; determining the first mean ephemeris is associated with one or more RAN nodes with the one or more identifiers; or determining the first mean ephemeris is associated with a group of RAN nodes with the identifier of a group of RAN nodes. (Ericsson: section 2.4 - For Prediction of discontinuous coverage, Information about satellite id, ephemeris type (FFS if two, three of four types) and epoch time will be provided with the ephemeris information. Section 2.5 - estimate a satellite pass based on mean satellite ephemeris and coverage related information) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Ericsson in the apparatus of Krishnamurthy. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for provide a decent accuracy but does not entail a high computational cost (Ericsson: page 3 section 2.1).
Regarding claim 13, Krishnamurthy and Ericsson teach all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 3, and therefore apparatus claim 13 is rejected using the same rationales.
Regarding claim 18, Krishnamurthy and Ericsson teach all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 3, and therefore apparatus claim 18 is rejected using the same rationales.
Claim(s) 4 – 5, 14 and 19 – 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krishnamurthy and Ericsson as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of SATELIOT ET AL: "ASN.1 proposal for satellite assistance information for prediction of discontinuous coverage", 3GPP DRAFT; R2-2206115, 3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT (3GPP), MOBILE COMPETENCE CENTRE ; 650, ROUTE DES LUCIOLES ; F-06921 SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS CEDEX ; FRANCE, vol. RAN WG2, no. Electronic Meeting; 20220509 - 20220520 29 April 2022 (2022-04-29), XP052204727 (listed in applicant submitted IDS and listed as D2 in PCT search report), hereinafter Sateliot.
Regarding claim 4, Krishnamurthy and Ericsson teach the UE of claim 3, Krishnamurthy and Ericsson do not explicitly teach: wherein the format includes at least one of a simplified general perturbations 4 (SGP4) format ephemeris or a two line elements (TLE) format ephemeris.
Sateliot from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the format includes at least one of a simplified general perturbations 4 (SGP4) format ephemeris or a two line elements (TLE) format ephemeris. (Sateliot: pages 8 bottom paragraph - “sgp4EphemerisParameters-r17”, a SGP4-based ephemeris format defined in accordance to the widely adopted industry standard TLE format could be adopted. The SGP4-based ephemeris has the major advantage that it is accurate to within tens of kilometres over several days [3], which makes it highly suitable for discontinuous coverage of IoT devices. Given SGP4 ephemeris knowledge an IoT device could be scheduled for a paging opportunity a week in the future and until then be capable of initiating MO-traffic based on the coverage knowledge obtained from the SGP4-based ephemeris) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Sateliot in the apparatus of Krishnamurthy and Ericsson. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for SGP4-based ephemeris has the major advantage that it is accurate to within tens of kilometres over several days [3], which makes it highly suitable for discontinuous coverage of IoT devices. Given SGP4 ephemeris knowledge an IoT device could be scheduled for a paging opportunity a week in the future and until then be capable of initiating MO-traffic based on the coverage knowledge obtained from the SGP4-based ephemeris (Sateliot: pages 8 bottom paragraph).
Regarding claim 5, Krishnamurthy and Ericsson teach the UE of claim 3, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to identify the first mean ephemeris based on at least one of the following condition being met: the epoch time is a time offset of a beginning of a current day or a current week; the start serving time is a time offset of the beginning of the current day or the current week; (Krishnamurthy: para. [0083-0084 & 0090 & 0128 & 0150] epoch time may be defined to enable the UE to compute a common timing offset based on the location of the satellite at a time instant when an uplink signal transmitted by the UE is to arrive at the satellite or a reference point. For example, as described above, the reference point may be defined as the location in the NTN where downlink and uplink slots are synchronized (e.g., aligned in time with an offset given by NTA,offset, which may have a zero or non-zero value) and a slot duration is constant over time, where the reference point may be at the base station or another location between the satellite and the base station. Accordingly, in some aspects, the epoch time or reference time for the ephemeris information may be defined as a starting time for a downlink slot at the reference point)
Krishnamurthy do not explicitly teach: the ephemeris type indication indicates a mean ephemeris type; an information element of the at least two information elements indicates that a mean ephemeris is included in the first configuration message; a value of the validity time is larger than a first threshold; a unit of the epoch time is larger than a second threshold; a unit of the epoch time is in second; the averaged time duration is included in the first configuration; two or more identifiers of RAN nodes is included in the first configuration; the identifier of a group of RAN nodes is included in the first configuration; or a format of an ephemeris included in the first configuration message corresponds to the format for the first mean ephemeris; a format of an ephemeris included in the first configuration message is in a simplified general perturbations 4 (SGP4) format ephemeris or a two line elements (TLE) format.
Ericsson from the same or similar fields of endeavor teach: the ephemeris type indication indicates a mean ephemeris type (ephemeris type); an information element of the at least two information elements indicates that a mean ephemeris is included in the first configuration message; a value of the validity time is larger than a first threshold (Ericsson: page 3, 2.1 - a validity of a few days would be enough in most discontinuous coverage scenarios (R1-2106776) where the maximum out of coverage interval is expected to be around 14 hours); a unit of the epoch time is larger than a second threshold; a unit of the epoch time is in second (epoch time will be provided with the ephemeris information); the averaged time duration is included in the first configuration; two or more identifiers of RAN nodes is included in the first configuration; the identifier of a group of RAN nodes is included in the first configuration; or a format of an ephemeris included in the first configuration message corresponds to the format for the first mean ephemeris; (Ericsson: section 2.1 proposal 2 single ephemeris format to make specification simpler in Rel-17. Proposal 3 Postpone the consideration of alternative formats to Rel-18) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Ericsson in the apparatus of Krishnamurthy. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for provide a decent accuracy but does not entail a high computational cost (Ericsson: page 3 section 2.1).
Krishnamurthy and Ericsson do not explicitly teach: a format of an ephemeris included in the first configuration message is in a simplified general perturbations 4 (SGP4) format ephemeris or a two line elements (TLE) format.
Sateliot from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: a format of an ephemeris included in the first configuration message is in a simplified general perturbations 4 (SGP4) format ephemeris or a two line elements (TLE) format. (Sateliot: pages 8 bottom paragraph - “sgp4EphemerisParameters-r17”, a SGP4-based ephemeris format defined in accordance to the widely adopted industry standard TLE format could be adopted. The SGP4-based ephemeris has the major advantage that it is accurate to within tens of kilometres over several days [3], which makes it highly suitable for discontinuous coverage of IoT devices. Given SGP4 ephemeris knowledge an IoT device could be scheduled for a paging opportunity a week in the future and until then be capable of initiating MO-traffic based on the coverage knowledge obtained from the SGP4-based ephemeris) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Sateliot in the apparatus of Krishnamurthy and Ericsson. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for SGP4-based ephemeris has the major advantage that it is accurate to within tens of kilometres over several days [3], which makes it highly suitable for discontinuous coverage of IoT devices. Given SGP4 ephemeris knowledge an IoT device could be scheduled for a paging opportunity a week in the future and until then be capable of initiating MO-traffic based on the coverage knowledge obtained from the SGP4-based ephemeris (Sateliot: pages 8 bottom paragraph).
Regarding claim 14, Krishnamurthy, Ericsson and Sateliot teach all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 4, and therefore apparatus claim 14 is rejected using the same rationales.
Regarding claims 19 – 20, Krishnamurthy, Ericsson and Sateliot teach all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claims 4 – 5, and therefore apparatus claims 19 – 20 are rejected using the same rationales.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krishnamurthy and Ericsson as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of CMCC: "Discussion on open issues for support of discontinuous coverage", 3GPP DRAFT; R2-2205033, 3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT (3GPP), MOBILE COMPETENCE CENTRE ; 650, ROUTE DES LUCIOLES ; F-06921 SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS CEDEX ; FRANCE, vol. RAN WG2, no. Electronic Meeting; 20220509 - 20220520 25 April 2022 (2022-04-25), XP052138632 (listed in applicant submitted IDS and listed as D3 in PCT search report), hereinafter CMCC.
Regarding claim 7, Krishnamurthy and Ericsson teach the UE of claim 3, Krishnamurthy and Ericsson do not explicitly teach: wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to: maintain a validity timer for the first mean ephemeris, wherein the validity timer is started at the epoch time and expires at the validity time.
CMCC from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to: maintain a validity timer for the first mean ephemeris, wherein the validity timer is started at the epoch time and expires at the validity time. (CMCC: proposal 3 - validity time of the mean ephemeris elements can be provided explicitly or implicitly indicated by the type of mean ephemeris elements) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of CMCC in the apparatus of Krishnamurthy and Ericsson. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for validity time is also needed for prediction of discontinuous coverage (CMCC: section 2.2 page 4 1st paragraph).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please also see PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WUTCHUNG CHU whose telephone number is (571)272-4064. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM.
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/WUTCHUNG CHU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2418
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