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 .
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sateliot publication R2-2301886 (‘Complementing discontinuous coverage with minimum support for discontinuous feeder link operation’).
Sateliot teaches a Store & Forward Satellite operation where addition of a “flag” in SIB31 to inform UEs that the network is operating in S&F mode (page 2). The additional flag can be broadly and reasonably interpreted as a “data priority Information associated with at least one store-and-forward operation performed by the network device” since the UE adapts “its behaviour for S&F operation, for instance, selecting/adapting the application layer behaviour (e.g. not using applications with TCP transport). Also, the UE could use this Information to make better decisions on e.g. network selection (e.g. a terminal may choose not to select a network operating under S&F if other options are available” (item 1 on page 2).
With respect to the claims, references to the prior art appear in parenthesis.
Claims
1. (Original) A terminal device (Sateliot R2-2301886, the UE in the deployment of IoT NTN services with sparse LEO constellations on page 1) comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the terminal device at least to:
receive, from a network device of a non-terrestrial network (NTN), data priority information associated with at least one store-and-forward operation performed by the network device in the NTN (Item 1. Addition of a “flag” in SIB31 to inform UEs that the network is operating in S&F mode is data priority Information since the UE adapts its functions based on whether the flag is set or not on page 2) ; and
perform, based on the data priority information, an operation for uplink data of the terminal device (Uplink operation is performed based on the flag such as “selecting/adapting the application layer behaviour” or “the UE could use this Information to make better decision on e.g. network selection” (Item 1 on page 2)).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Andrae et al. (WO 2026/074049 A1), Agarwal et al. (WO 2025/063674 A1) and Chun et al. (WO 2025/097019 A1) teach store and forward satellite systems subsequent to Applicant’s foreign priority date .
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MELVIN C MARCELO whose telephone number is (571)272-3125. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-6:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Asad Nawaz can be reached at 571-272-3988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
MELVIN C. MARCELO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2463
/MELVIN C MARCELO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463 June 25, 2026
Prosecution Insights