DETAILED ACTION
Claim(s) 1-12 and 14 have been examined and are pending.
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 .
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, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 14, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by CHEN (US 20240057005 A1).
In regards to claim 1, CHEN (US 20240057005 A1) teaches a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising (Note the UE(s), terminal device(s), also referred to as a communication apparatus, recited throughout the disclosure of CHEN. Also see [Fig. 6 – Fig. 7] which show the terminal devices, operating in a wireless communication system):
receiving, from a base station, configuration information related to a plurality of UL segments corresponding to each of a plurality of synchronization signal block (SSB) indices (CHEN teaches receiving from a base station, network device, configuration information, first information, related to a plurality of UL segments corresponding to each of a plurality of SSB indices
“[0007] In at least one embodiment, the terminal device obtains the first information corresponding to an index of a beam in which the terminal device is located. [0008] Based on the foregoing solution, the terminal device obtains the first information corresponding to the index of the beam in which the terminal device is located. Indexes of different beams correspond to relative speeds between the network device and the terminal device in the different beams, so that a quantity of times that a terminal device with a low speed adjusts the timing advance TA value is reduced, and a transmission delay of the uplink signal is reduced.
[0009] In at least one embodiment, the terminal device obtains the first information corresponding to an index of a synchronization signal block (SSB) used during random access.”); and
performing repeated transmission of a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble in a period corresponding to a first UL segment among the plurality of UL segments, wherein the first UL segment corresponds to a specific SSB index selected by the UE among the plurality of SSB indices (CHEN [Par. 158 – Par 168] teaches performing repeated transmission of a PRACH preamble, random access preamble , in a period corresponding to a first UL segment among the plurality of UL segments, quantity of time units, wherein the first UL segment corresponds to a specific index, SSB index with a strongest signal quality, selected by the UE among the plurality of SSB indices,).
In regards to claim 12, CHEN (US 20240057005 A1) teaches a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising: at least one transceiver; and at least one processor connected to the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to (Note the UE(s), terminal device(s), also referred to as a communication apparatus, recited throughout the disclosure of CHEN. Also see [Fig. 6 – Fig. 7] which show the terminal devices, operating in a wireless communication system. Also see [Fig. 12] which illustrates the physical structure of the terminal devices/communication apparatus, the physical structure comprising a processor, connected to at least one transceiver, where the processor is configured to perform the features recited below):
receive, from a base station through the at least one transceiver, configuration information related to a plurality of UL segments corresponding to each of a plurality of (SSB) indices (CHEN teaches receiving from a base station, network device, configuration information, first information, related to a plurality of UL segments corresponding to each of a plurality of SSB indices
“[0007] In at least one embodiment, the terminal device obtains the first information corresponding to an index of a beam in which the terminal device is located. [0008] Based on the foregoing solution, the terminal device obtains the first information corresponding to the index of the beam in which the terminal device is located. Indexes of different beams correspond to relative speeds between the network device and the terminal device in the different beams, so that a quantity of times that a terminal device with a low speed adjusts the timing advance TA value is reduced, and a transmission delay of the uplink signal is reduced.
[0009] In at least one embodiment, the terminal device obtains the first information corresponding to an index of a synchronization signal block (SSB) used during random access.”); and perform repeated transmission of a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble in a period corresponding to a first UL segment among the plurality of UL segments, wherein the first UL segment corresponds to a specific SSB index selected by the UE among the plurality of SSB indices (CHEN [Par. 158 – Par 168] teaches performing repeated transmission of a PRACH preamble, random access preamble , in a period corresponding to a first UL segment among the plurality of UL segments, quantity of time units, wherein the first UL segment corresponds to a specific index, SSB index with a strongest signal quality, selected by the UE among the plurality of SSB indices,).
In regards to claim 14, CHEN (US 20240057005 A1) teaches a base station in a wireless communication system, the base station comprising: at least one transceiver; and at least one processor connected to the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to (Note the base station(s), network device(s), also referred to as a communication apparatus, recited throughout the disclosure of CHEN. Also see [Fig. 6 – Fig. 7] which show the network device(s), operating in a wireless communication system. Further refer to [Fig. 12] which illustrates the physical structure of the base station(s)/network device/communication apparatus, the physical structure comprising a processor, connected to at least one transceiver, where the processor is configured to perform the features recited below): transmit, to a user equipment (UE) through the at least one transceiver, configuration information related to a plurality of UL segments corresponding to each of a plurality of (SSB) indices (CHEN teaches a base station, network device, transmitting, configuration information, first information, related to a plurality of UL segments corresponding to each of a plurality of SSB indices to a UE, “[0007] In at least one embodiment, the terminal device obtains the first information corresponding to an index of a beam in which the terminal device is located. [0008] Based on the foregoing solution, the terminal device obtains the first information corresponding to the index of the beam in which the terminal device is located. Indexes of different beams correspond to relative speeds between the network device and the terminal device in the different beams, so that a quantity of times that a terminal device with a low speed adjusts the timing advance TA value is reduced, and a transmission delay of the uplink signal is reduced.
[0009] In at least one embodiment, the terminal device obtains the first information corresponding to an index of a synchronization signal block (SSB) used during random access.”); and
perform repeated reception of a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble in a period corresponding to a first UL segment among the plurality of UL segments, wherein the first UL segment corresponds to a specific SSB index selected by the UE among the plurality of SSB indices (CHEN [Par. 158 – Par 168] teaches the base station/network device performing repeated reception of a PRACH preamble, random access preamble , in a period corresponding to a first UL segment among the plurality of UL segments, quantity of time units, wherein the first UL segment corresponds to a specific index, SSB index with a strongest signal quality, selected by the UE among the plurality of SSB indices,).
In regards to claim 2, CHEN (US 20240057005 A1) teaches the method of claim 1, wherein: a same UL timing advance (TA) value is applied to the repeated transmission of the PRACH preamble in the period corresponding to the first UL segment (“[0011] In at least one embodiment, the quantity of time units is related to a repetition count or transmission duration. The repetition count is a maximum consecutive repetition count of the first message, and the transmission duration is maximum consecutive transmission duration of the first message. Optionally, timing advance TA values of the first message in different maximum consecutive transmission duration are different.”).
In regards to claim 3, CHEN (US 20240057005 A1) teaches the method of claim 1, wherein: a specific number of PRACH preambles are mapped to the specific SSB index, and the specific number of PRACH preambles are repeatedly transmitted within the period corresponding to the first UL segment (See CHEN [Par. 158 – Par. 168] and [Table 3] “[0159] Alternatively, different orbital altitudes has different relationships between the SSB index and the quantity of time units of the random access preamble sequence. For example, one-time symbol group repetition duration of a random access preamble sequence 2 is the longest, and a quantity of time units corresponding to the random access preamble sequence 2 is the smallest. Therefore, the relationship between the SSB index with a strongest signal quality and the quantity of time units of the random access preamble sequence is defined based on the minimum quantity of time units. In response to sending random access preamble sequences in different formats, the terminal device uses a same quantity of time units. For example, in response to the quantity of time units being a repetition count, in response to the SSB index with a strongest signal quality being 0, the repetition count of the random access preamble sequence is 1. In response to the SSB index with a strongest signal quality being 1, the repetition count of the random access preamble sequence is 2…. [0168] Based on the foregoing solution, the maximum consecutive repetition count of the random access preamble sequence and the quantity of time units of the uplink data is determined based on the SSB index with a strongest signal quality, so that a timing advance TA offset caused by satellite motion is reduced, a quantity of times that the terminal device with a small elevation angle of the satellite adjusts timing advance TA is reduced, and random access latency is also reduced.”)
In regards to claim 10, CHEN (US 20240057005 A1) teaches the method of claim 1, wherein: the configuration information is received from the base station through at least one of system information block (SIB) or radio resource control (RRC) signaling (“[0188] In another example, the first information is at a terminal level. The satellite configures the quantity of time units at a terminal device level for the terminal device. For example, the satellite configures the quantity of time units at the terminal device level for the terminal device by using RRC signaling, a MAC CE, or downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI). Optionally, the satellite alternatively configures the quantity of time units at the terminal device level by using a combination of signaling such as RRC signaling, a MAC CE, and DCI.”).
In regards to claim 11, CHEN (US 20240057005 A1) teaches the method of claim 1, wherein: the wireless communication system is a NTN system (“[0091] Embodiments described herein are applied to a non-terrestrial network (NTN), a 4G network, a 5G network, a future communication network, or the like. The following explains and describes terms in at least one embodiment.”).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHEN (US 20240057005 A1) in view of ADAWIN (“US 20230140213 A1”)
In regards to claim 4, CHEN (US 20240057005 A1) is silent on the method of claim 3, wherein: a signal is transmitted to the base station to request a change in a number of PRACH preambles corresponding to the specific SSB index. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art involving repeatedly transmitting a number of uplink messages.
ADAWIN (“US 20230140213 A1”) teaches a feature where a signal is transmitted to a base station, that either implicitly or explicitly requests a change in a number of uplink messages repeatedly transmitted, (“[0234] This UL signal/channel may be a contention-free or contention-based Physical Random-Access Channel (PRACH), PUCCH (e.g., carrying ACK/NACK), or PUSCH carrying MAC-CE or uplink control information (UCI) for example. A UE needs to indicate the desired number of repetitions either explicitly or implicitly. For the explicit case, a dedicated field indicating in UCI/MAC-CE may indicate the desired offset in the number of repetitions, or direct mapping to the desired number of repletion such as mapping the PRACH occasion/DMRS initialization sequence of PUSCH/PUCCH with desired offset. The explicit indication is beneficial especially when operating in frequency division duplexing (FDD) mode. On the other hand, the implicit indication is based on measurement conducted by gNB. For example, gNB may measure the quality of PRACH or DMRS of PUCCH/PUSCH and adjust the indicated number of repetitions accordingly. This is beneficial in the case of time division duplexing (TDD) operation mode. Please note that the desired offset in the number of repetitions may increase, decrease, or terminate the repetitions.”).
Thus, based upon the teachings of ADAWIN, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify CHEN (US 20240057005 A1)’s feature for repeatedly transmitting multiple uplink messages (i.e. PRACH/preambles) according to a specific SSB index, by transmitting a signal to request a change in a number of uplink messages (i.e. PRACH preambles corresponding to the specific SSB index) as similarly seen in ADAWIN, to thus arrive at claim 4, in order to address the need for transmitting such a request identified by ADAWIN.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHEN (US 20240057005 A1) in view of WIACEK (“US 20220264497 A1”).
In regards to claim 5, CHEN (US 20240057005 A1) is silent on the method of claim 1, wherein: in the period corresponding to the first UL segment, signaling for updating information related to a non-terrestrial network (NTN) from the base station is not received from the base station. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art involving communication in a NTN.
WIACEK (“US 20220264497 A1”) for example teaches where signaling for updating information related to a NTN, signaling for updating a TA, is not received from a base station (“[0103] It should be noted that, in some implementations, the TA command transmitted by the eNB 202 in Msg2/MsgB of RA procedure and/or MAC CE TA Updates may be omitted (e.g., skipped, not transmitted, etc.) in the downlink transmissions from the eNB as the UE may use T.sub.TOAVAL or T.sub.TOA value as a timing advance (TA) index value.”).
Thus, based upon the teachings of WIACEK, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify CHEN’s NTN feature involving updating of timing advances for UL segments (see CHEN [Par. 9 – Par. 10] which discusses adjustment of a timing advance for UL segments corresponding to particular SSB indexes), such that in a period corresponding to a first UL segment (i.e. a period corresponding to PRACH/preamble transmission corresponding to a particular SSB index), signaling for updating information related to a NTN from the base station (i.e. signaling such as TA updates) is not received from the base station, as similarly seen in WIACEK, to thus arrive at claim 5. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a modification in order to address problem involving increased usage of downlink resources due to constant Timing Advance (TA) updates (See where WIACEK recites, “[0031] However, in high-speed/very high-speed scenarios, the UE or base station (or both of them) may be in motion. In such scenarios, additional TA correction values may be needed. But, the additional TA correction values may require more downlink radio resources for maintaining synchronization at the UE. In some more such scenarios, for example, in non-terrestrial network (NTN) applications, a satellite with a base station (e.g., a satellite cell) may be moving at a speed of 7.5 kms/s (e.g., 27,000 kms/hr) and for a UE with a speed of 0 km/s (e.g., a stationary UE), approximately 96 MAC CE TA updates per second may be needed to maintain the required synchronization, for example, synchronization based on 3GPP LTE standards as described above. [0032] Therefore, there is desire/need to efficiently apply TA correction values if motion patterns of high-speed base station and/or UE are not known, the relative speeds of base station and/or UE are rapidly changing, and/or when the position of base station and/or UE are not known.”)
Claim(s) 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHEN (US 20240057005 A1) in view of LIN (US 20240147397 A1).
In regards to claim 8, CHEN teaches the method of claim 1, wherein: the plurality of UL segments include a first UL segment and a second UL segment corresponding to the specific SSB index subsequent to the first UL segment (See Table 3, which discloses a first UL segment corresponding to a specific SSB index, such as SSB index 0, and further discloses a second UL segment corresponding to a specific SSB index subsequent to the first UL segment, such as SSB index 1),
CHEN differs from claim 8, in that CHEN is silent on a feature for determining whether a parameter for the UL TA used in the period corresponding to the first UL segment is valid after the first UL segment ends is determined by the UE, as arranged with the remaining elements of claim 8. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art featuring repeated transmission of an uplink communication.
LIN (US 20240147397 A1) teaches a feature where a plurality of segments includes a first UL segment and a second UL segment. LIN also teaches determining whether a parameter for UL TA used in a period corresponding to the first UL segment is valid after the first UL segments ends. LIN also suggests configuration of a timing gap, in order to handle a situation when it is determined that the UL TA is determined to be invalid. (“[0172] In some embodiments, when TA is determined as invalid (e.g. due to TAT expires or when SS-RSRP changes too much (e.g. magnitude of SS-RSRP change is above threshold) or when SS-RSRP is too low (e.g. SS-RSRP is below threshold)) during the transmission of a first set of one or more repetitions (e.g. for PUSCH), the remaining repetitions (e.g. for PUSCH) may be transmitted using one or more of the following principles/rules (pre-defined or configured): [0173] Still transmitted using the latest TA [0174] Not transmitted [0175] The decision of whether to transmit or not transmit is based on one or more of the following conditions [0176] Whether TAT expires [0177] Whether a measured SS-RSRP change is larger than an RSRP change threshold [0178] Whether a measured SS-RSRP is above an RSRP threshold [0179] E.g. still transmit the remaining repetitions when the measured SS-RSRP is above a RSRP threshold, otherwise no transmissions of the remaining repetitions [0180] Whether the time gap until the remaining transmissions is larger than a threshold [0181] The remaining repetitions can be delayed, or postponed or suspended if TA become invalid during the transmission where repetitions in PUSCH is applied until the TA becomes valid again. [0182] UE may perform the remaining or entire data using fallback procedures such as switching to CONNECTED mode and carrying out the transmissions, performs transmissions using random access.”).
Thus, based upon the teachings of LIN, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to modify CHEN’s feature for repeated uplink transmissions (i.e. the plurality of UL segments that include a first UL segment and a second UL segment corresponding to the specific SSB index subsequent to the first UL segment taught by CHEN), by further determining whether a parameter for the UL TA used in the period corresponding to the first UL segment is valid after the first UL segment ends, as similarly seen in LIN, to thus arrive at claim 8. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a modification in order to provide an efficient means for performing uplink synchronization based upon a validity of a uplink timing advance parameter.
In regards to claim 9, CHEN is silent on the method of claim 8, wherein: a timing gap is configured or predefined by the base station between the period corresponding to the first UL segment and a period corresponding to the second UL segment.
Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art featuring repeated transmission of an uplink communication.
LIN (US 20240147397 A1) teaches a feature where a plurality of segments includes a first UL segment and a second UL segment. LIN also teaches determining whether a parameter for UL TA used in a period corresponding to the first UL segment is valid after the first UL segments ends. LIN also suggests configuration of a timing gap in a period between the first UL segment and the second UL segment, in order to handle a situation when it is determined that the UL TA is determined to be invalid. (“[0172] In some embodiments, when TA is determined as invalid (e.g. due to TAT expires or when SS-RSRP changes too much (e.g. magnitude of SS-RSRP change is above threshold) or when SS-RSRP is too low (e.g. SS-RSRP is below threshold)) during the transmission of a first set of one or more repetitions (e.g. for PUSCH), the remaining repetitions (e.g. for PUSCH) may be transmitted using one or more of the following principles/rules (pre-defined or configured): [0173] Still transmitted using the latest TA [0174] Not transmitted [0175] The decision of whether to transmit or not transmit is based on one or more of the following conditions [0176] Whether TAT expires [0177] Whether a measured SS-RSRP change is larger than an RSRP change threshold [0178] Whether a measured SS-RSRP is above an RSRP threshold [0179] E.g. still transmit the remaining repetitions when the measured SS-RSRP is above a RSRP threshold, otherwise no transmissions of the remaining repetitions [0180] Whether the time gap until the remaining transmissions is larger than a threshold [0181] The remaining repetitions can be delayed, or postponed or suspended if TA become invalid during the transmission where repetitions in PUSCH is applied until the TA becomes valid again. [0182] UE may perform the remaining or entire data using fallback procedures such as switching to CONNECTED mode and carrying out the transmissions, performs transmissions using random access.”).
Thus, based upon the teachings of LIN, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to modify CHEN’s feature for repeated uplink transmissions (i.e. the plurality of UL segments that include a first UL segment and a second UL segment corresponding to the specific SSB index subsequent to the first UL segment taught by CHEN), by further determining whether a parameter for the UL TA used in the period corresponding to the first UL segment is valid after the first UL segment ends, and by having the base station configure a timing gap is between the period corresponding to the first UL segment and a period corresponding to the second UL segment as similarly seen in LIN, to thus arrive at claim 9. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a modification in order to provide an efficient means for performing uplink synchronization based upon a validity of an uplink timing advance parameter.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 6-7 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TARELL A HAMPTON whose telephone number is (571)270-7162. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
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/TARELL A HAMPTON/Examiner, Art Unit 2476 /AYAZ R SHEIKH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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