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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 10-11 recite the terms “Q-offset” and “Q-hysteresis” without defining the meaning of “Q”. It is not understood whether “Q” is a simple alphabet or an abbreviation of another term. The specification also does not provide any definition of the term “Q-offset”, “Q-hysteresis” or “Q”. The scope of the claims 10-11 therefore cannot be determined and are rejected herein.
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) 1-4, 9 and 12-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zhou (US 2015/0245280).
Zhou discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 1, a method of a terminal (see STA 710 in Fig. 7 or STA 120b in Fig. 1), comprising:
receiving system information including terrestrial cell reselection parameters and on-board cell reselection parameters (see “Means 1102 and means 1104 interact such that apparatus 1100 may selectively associated with a desired AP based on a priority scan utilizing information about other available APs. As noted herein such information may be provided by nearby APs via direct signaling to the STA, through a neighbor list or via autonomous detection by the STA” recited in paragraph [0138], wherein an STA obtains information of nearby APs for cell reselection; and see Fig. 1, wherein the APs include onboard AP 110c and terrestrial APs 110a, 110b);
determining whether the terminal is in an on-board state with respect to a first base station (see “A moving STA 710 (moving because it is onboard a vehicle 745) may prefer the OB AP 740 over LR AP 730, and LR AP 730 over SR AP 720 due to relative link stability” recited in paragraph [0113]; and see “In an embodiment, the OB AP 740 may transmit a dedicated beacon including an OB AP 740 indicator, identification, and operating channel, that SR AP 720 and LR AP 730 may include in their respective neighbor lists, having that information available for transmission to other wireless devices, e.g., STA 710. For example, the indicator may comprise an indication that the OB AP 740 is an onboard access point, in addition to containing the OB AP 740 BSSID (Basic Service Set Identification) or MAC (Media Access Control) address…” recited in paragraph [0118]); and
in response to determining that the terminal is in the on-board state with respect to the first base station, performing cell reselection by applying the on-board cell reselection parameters for cell reselection evaluation on the first base station (see “a moving STA 710 associated with SR AP 720 or LR AP 730 can quickly detect and switch to an association with OB AP 740 within range, as indicated in the neighbor lists of the land-based APs (e.g., SR AP 720 or LR AP 730)” recited in paragraph [0119]).
Regarding claim 2, before determining whether the terminal is in the on-board state with respect to the first base station, camping on the first base station (see “In one aspect, a wireless station may be associated with a first access point and communicating with the first access point via a contention-based communication protocol. The wireless station may detect movement of the wireless station. Based at least in part on the motion of the wireless station or information regarding at least a second access point, the wireless station may initiate a selective scan for at least the second access point” recited in the abstract, wherein the wireless station initially camps on a cell associated with the first access point prior to the wireless station starts moving), wherein the first base station is a moving base station (see Fig. 1, wherein the first base station may be any of the base station the wireless station 120b is in range of, such as the moving base station 110c in Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 3, before determining whether the terminal is in the on-board state with respect to the first base station, camping on a second base station (see “In one aspect, a wireless station may be associated with a first access point and communicating with the first access point via a contention-based communication protocol. The wireless station may detect movement of the wireless station. Based at least in part on the motion of the wireless station or information regarding at least a second access point, the wireless station may initiate a selective scan for at least the second access point” recited in the abstract, wherein the wireless station initially camps on a cell associated with the first access point prior to the wireless station starts moving), wherein the first base station is a moving base station and the second based station is a terrestrial base station (see Fig. 1, wherein the first base station may be any of the base station the wireless station 120b is in range of, such as the terrestrial access point 110b, and a moving access point 110c is also present in the vicinity).
Regarding claim 4, in response to determining that the terminal is not in the on-board state with respect to the first base station, performing cell reselection by applying the terrestrial cell reselection parameters for cell reselection evaluation on the first base station (see Fig. 5, when the STA 510 does not detect an onboard AP, the STA 510 selects a terrestrial AP such as AP 530, as described in paragraph [0093], which recites “a moving STA 510 may have an established association 515 with SR AP 520…Advantageously, a LR AP 530 may be able to provide the moving STA 510 with suitable service quality for a longer duration than the SR AP 520, due to the speed of, and distance covered by, the STA 510. A STA 510 may further prefer, and selectively associate with the longer range APs (AP 530) thereby reducing the handover rate and potentially saving power due to the reduced signaling”; that is, STA 510 is initially camping on the cell provided by SR AP 520, which is a terrestrial AP, the STA 510 reselects the terrestrial LR AP 530 by applying cell reselection parameters, such as signal quality).
Regarding claim 9, wherein a cell reselection priority of the on-board cell reselection parameters is higher than a cell reselection priority of the terrestrial cell reselection parameters (see “Notionally, an OB AP 740 may be capable of providing STA 710 with the most reliable (i.e., most stable) connection given the relative motion: OB AP 740 and STA 710 are moving together, thus STA 710 is not required to handover to another AP. Accordingly, the OB AP 740 may have the highest priority, followed by the LR AP 730, and SR AP 720, respectively” recited in paragraph [0113], wherein the OB AP 740, which is the onboard access point, has the highest priority).
Regarding claim 12, a terminal (see STA 710 in Fig. 7, STA 120b in Fig. 1 or wireless device 208 in Fig. 2) comprising at least one processor (see processor 204 in Fig. 2), wherein the at least one processor causes the terminal to perform:
receiving system information including terrestrial cell reselection parameters and on-board cell reselection parameters (see “Means 1102 and means 1104 interact such that apparatus 1100 may selectively associated with a desired AP based on a priority scan utilizing information about other available APs. As noted herein such information may be provided by nearby APs via direct signaling to the STA, through a neighbor list or via autonomous detection by the STA” recited in paragraph [0138], wherein an STA obtains information of nearby APs for cell reselection; and see Fig. 1, wherein the APs include onboard AP 110c and terrestrial APs 110a, 110b);
determining whether the terminal is in an on-board state with respect to a first base station (see “A moving STA 710 (moving because it is onboard a vehicle 745) may prefer the OB AP 740 over LR AP 730, and LR AP 730 over SR AP 720 due to relative link stability” recited in paragraph [0113]; and see “In an embodiment, the OB AP 740 may transmit a dedicated beacon including an OB AP 740 indicator, identification, and operating channel, that SR AP 720 and LR AP 730 may include in their respective neighbor lists, having that information available for transmission to other wireless devices, e.g., STA 710. For example, the indicator may comprise an indication that the OB AP 740 is an onboard access point, in addition to containing the OB AP 740 BSSID (Basic Service Set Identification) or MAC (Media Access Control) address…” recited in paragraph [0118]); and
in response to determining that the terminal is in the on-board state with respect to the first base station, performing cell reselection by applying the on-board cell reselection parameters for cell reselection evaluation on the first base station (see “a moving STA 710 associated with SR AP 720 or LR AP 730 can quickly detect and switch to an association with OB AP 740 within range, as indicated in the neighbor lists of the land-based APs (e.g., SR AP 720 or LR AP 730)” recited in paragraph [0119]).
Regarding claim 13, before determining whether the terminal is in the on-board state with respect to the first base station, camping on the first base station (see “In one aspect, a wireless station may be associated with a first access point and communicating with the first access point via a contention-based communication protocol. The wireless station may detect movement of the wireless station. Based at least in part on the motion of the wireless station or information regarding at least a second access point, the wireless station may initiate a selective scan for at least the second access point” recited in the abstract, wherein the wireless station initially camps on a cell associated with the first access point prior to the wireless station starts moving), wherein the first base station is a moving base station (see Fig. 1, wherein the first base station may be any of the base station the wireless station 120b is in range of, such as the moving base station 110c in Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 14, before determining whether the terminal is in the on-board state with respect to the first base station, camping on a second base station (see “In one aspect, a wireless station may be associated with a first access point and communicating with the first access point via a contention-based communication protocol. The wireless station may detect movement of the wireless station. Based at least in part on the motion of the wireless station or information regarding at least a second access point, the wireless station may initiate a selective scan for at least the second access point” recited in the abstract, wherein the wireless station initially camps on a cell associated with the first access point prior to the wireless station starts moving), wherein the first base station is a moving base station and the second based station is a terrestrial base station (see Fig. 1, wherein the first base station may be any of the base station the wireless station 120b is in range of, such as the terrestrial access point 110b, and a moving access point 110c is also present in the vicinity).
Regarding claim 15, in response to determining that the terminal is not in the on-board state with respect to the first base station, performing cell reselection by applying the terrestrial cell reselection parameters for cell reselection evaluation on the first base station (see Fig. 5, when the STA 510 does not detect an onboard AP, the STA 510 selects a terrestrial AP such as AP 530, as described in paragraph [0093], which recites “a moving STA 510 may have an established association 515 with SR AP 520…Advantageously, a LR AP 530 may be able to provide the moving STA 510 with suitable service quality for a longer duration than the SR AP 520, due to the speed of, and distance covered by, the STA 510. A STA 510 may further prefer, and selectively associate with the longer range APs (AP 530) thereby reducing the handover rate and potentially saving power due to the reduced signaling”; that is, STA 510 is initially camping on the cell provided by SR AP 520, which is a terrestrial AP, the STA 510 reselects the terrestrial LR AP 530 by applying cell reselection parameters, such as signal quality).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-8 and 16-19 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.
Wilhelmsson (US 2017/0105172) discloses determining relative speed with a mobile terminal and a base station by measuring the change in RSSI during a certain period (paragraph [0077]). Wilhelmsson uses this measurement to determine the relative speed between a mobile terminal and a base station, but does not utilize this measurement to determine “whether the terminal is in the on-board state with respect to the [first] base station” as required in currently presented claims 5-8 and 16-19.
Claims 10-11 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Zisimopoulos (US 2021/0084603) discloses the use of a Q-offset value to bias cell-reselection either for or against a cell relative to other cells (paragraph [0061]). Zisimopoulos does not disclose the Q-offset being associated with whether the cell is on-board or terrestrial as required in currently presented claim 10.
Dahlen (US 2014/0242993) and Mach (US 2013/0295951) discloses the use of cell reselection hysteresis parameter for moving UEs (paragraph [0017] of Dahlen and [0017] of Mach). Neither reference disclose the hysteresis parameter being associated with whether the cell is on-board or terrestrial as required in currently presented claim 11.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUTAI KAO whose telephone number is (571)272-9719. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00-17:00 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kwang Yao can be reached at (571)272-3182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JUTAI KAO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473
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