DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to the RCE filed 29 December 2025. Claims 1-12 and 14-15 are pending in this application.
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 29 December 2025 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1-3, 6, 8-11, and 14-15 are is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Medeiros de Amorim et al. (US 2025/0056385) in view of Hiben et al. (US 2015/0117323) and Fu et al. (WO 2024/082936, citing the machine translation provided with the first Office action).
For Claims 1 and 15, Medeiros teaches a method for broadcasting system information, applied to a base station; and an electronic device comprising: at least one processor; and a memory in communication connection with the at least one processor; wherein the memory stores an instruction executable by the at least one processor (see paragraph 7: base station hardware); the method comprising:
determining an edge beam footprint of a first cell, wherein the first cell is a ground coverage region corresponding to the base station on the satellite, and the edge beam footprint is located at an edge position of the ground coverage region (see paragraphs 47, 64); and
broadcasting system information associated with one or more neighbor cells of the first cell and system information associated with the first cell to the edge beam footprint in a process of broadcasting the system information to the ground coverage region through a satellite beam (see paragraph 59: SIB19, broadcast; paragraphs 62-63);
wherein the broadcasting the system information associated with one or more neighbor cells of the first cell to the edge beam footprint comprises: sending indication information to the edge beam footprint (see paragraph 59: at edge of cell), wherein the indication information is provided to a user equipment for the user equipment to determine that the user equipment is located at the edge beam footprint (see paragraphs 55, 59), and indicate to the user equipment to update system information in a latest receiving occasion (see paragraphs 60-62, 73: indicate to UE to acquire SIB of neighbor cell; paragraph 63: time at which the NTN stops serving is indicated in IE to instruct UE to switch to other satellite; paragraph 64: UE detects trigger).
Medeiros as applied above is not explicit as to, but in a similar field of endeavor Hiben teaches the edge beam footprint being distinguished from a non-edge beam footprint of the first cell that is not located at the edge position of the ground coverage region (see paragraph 31: broadcast area includes central and edge sectors); and
broadcasting information associated with neighbor cells to an edge beam footprint and not broadcasting the information associated with the one or more neighbor cells of the first cell to the non-edge beam footprint of the first cell (see paragraph 31: content of beam broadcast to edge sectors relates to adjacent broadcast area, content of beam broadcast to central sector does not).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to distinguish the contents of beams directed to the edges of a ground coverage region from those of beams directed to the center of a ground coverage region as in Hiben when implementing the method of Medeiros. The motivation would be to improve overall network performance by selectively assisting signaling at the edges of a coverage region.
The references as applied above are not explicit as to, but Fu teaches a base station on a satellite (see abstract).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to employ the signaling process of Medeiros in a satellite base station as in Fu. The motivation would be to ensure the user equipment have the system information needed to prepare for handing over to another satellite.
For Claims 9 and 14, Medeiros teaches a method for receiving system information, applied to a user equipment; and a user equipment, comprising: at least one processor; and a memory in communication connection with the at least one processor, wherein the memory stores an instruction to cause the at least one processor to execute the method (see paragraphs 9, 81-83: user equipment, processor, memory); the method comprising:
the user equipment at an edge beam footprint of the first cell, wherein the first cell is a ground coverage region corresponding to a base station on a satellite, and wherein the edge beam footprint is located at an edge position of the ground coverage region (see paragraphs 47, 64: trigger);
receiving indication information sent by the base station on the satellite at the edge beam footprint, wherein the indication information indicates to the user equipment that the user equipment is located at the edge beam footprint (see paragraphs 55, 59);
determining according to the indication information, that the user equipment is located at the edge beam footprint (see paragraphs 60-62, 73: indicate to UE to acquire SIB of neighbor cell; paragraph 63: time at which the NTN stops serving is indicated in IE to instruct UE to switch to other satellite; paragraph 64: UE detects trigger);
at the edge beam footprint of the first cell, receiving system information associated with one or more neighbor cells of the first cell and system information associated with the first cell broadcasted by the base station on the satellite (see paragraphs 60-62, 73).
Medeiros as applied above is not explicit as to, but in a similar field of endeavor Hiben teaches, at the non-edge beam footprint of the first cell, not receiving the information associated with one or more neighbor cells of the first cell not broadcasted by the base station on the satellite (see paragraph 31: content of beam broadcast to edge sectors relates to adjacent broadcast area, content of beam broadcast to central sector does not).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to distinguish the contents of beams directed to the edges of a ground coverage region from those of beams directed to the center of a ground coverage region as in Hiben when implementing the method of Medeiros. The motivation would be to improve overall network performance by selectively assisting signaling at the edges of a coverage region.
The references as applied above are not explicit as to, but Fu teaches moving, by the user equipment, from a non-edge beam footprint of a first cell to an edge beam footprint of the first cell (see marked portion on page 9).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to employ the signaling process of Medeiros in the case of UE mobility as in Fu. One of ordinary skill would have been able to do so with the reasonably predictable result of providing appropriate system information to a UE at the edge of a satellite cell, regardless of how it came to be at that position.
For Claim 2, Medeiros further teaches the method, further comprising: broadcasting the system information associated with the first cell to a non-edge beam footprint corresponding to the first cell (see paragraphs 63-64, 68, 72).
For Claim 3, Medeiros further teaches the method, wherein the system information associated with the one or more neighbor cells comprises at least one of following information: system information block SIB2, SIB3, SIB4, SIB5, and one or more NTN-specific parameters associated with the one or more neighbor cells in SIB 19 (see paragraph 55), and
wherein the system information associated with the first cell comprises: the SIB 19 comprising one or more NTN-specific parameters associated with the first cell, and system information unrelated to the one or more neighbor cells (see paragraphs 55, 57-58).
For Claim 6, Medeiros further teaches the method, wherein the system information associated with the one or more neighbor cells of the first cell comprises: system information associated with all neighbor cells of the first cell (see paragraph 55; at least implicit).
For Claim 8, Medeiros further teaches the method, wherein the system information associated with the one or more neighbor cells of the first cell comprises: system information associated with a first neighbor cell of the first cell (see paragraph 55).
For Claim 10, Medeiros further teaches the method, after the determining that the user equipment is located at the edge beam footprint, further comprising: updating system information in a latest receiving occasion (see paragraph 60).
For Claim 11, Medeiros further teaches the method, wherein the system information associated with the one or more neighbor cells comprises at least one of the following: system information associated with all neighbor cells of the first cell; system information associated with part of all neighbor cells of the first cell; or system information associated with a first neighbor cell of the first cell (see paragraph 55).
Claim(s) 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Medeiros de Amorim et al. (US 2025/0056385), Hiben et al. (US 2015/0117323), and Fu et al. (WO 2024/082936) as applied to claims 1 and 9 above, and further in view of Gao et al. (US 2023/0308957).
For Claim 4, the references as applied above are not explicit as to, but Gao teaches the method, wherein the indication information comprises modification information for system information, and a modification of a broadcast control channel (BCCH) corresponding to system information blocks SIB1, SIB2, SIB3,SIB4, SIB5 and SIB 19 is indicated in a case that the modification information for the system information is 1 (see paragraphs 73, 178, Table 32).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to use a standard indication as in Gao when implementing the method of Medeiros and Fu. The motivation would be to ensure compliance with existing systems.
For Claim 5, Medeiros teaches carrying the indication information in a paging message (see paragraphs 69, 73; claim 12 suggests that a paging message is a short message).
The references as applied above are not explicit as to, but Gao teaches the indication information in a short message (see paragraphs 73, 178, Table 32).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to use standard messaging as in Gao when implementing the method of Medeiros and Fu. The motivation would be to ensure compliance with existing systems.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Medeiros de Amorim et al. (US 2025/0056385), Hiben et al. (US 2015/0117323), and Fu et al. (WO 2024/082936) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Tao (WO 2023/108572, citing the machine translation provided herewith).
For Claim 7, the references as applied above are not explicit as to, but Tao teaches the method, wherein the system information associated with the one or more neighbor cells of the first cell comprises: system information associated with part of all neighbor cells of the first cell (see abstract, marked portion on page 9).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to collect partial system information as in Tao when implementing the method of Medeiros and Fu. The motivation would be to conserve overhead by avoiding transmission of information that may not be needed.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Medeiros de Amorim et al. (US 2025/0056385), Hiben et al. (US 2015/0117323), and Fu et al. (WO 2024/082936) as applied to claim 9 above, and further in view of Hong (WO 2022/155972, citing the machine translation provided herewith) and Gao et al. (US 2023/0308957).
For Claim 12, Medeiros as modified by Fu above teaches the method, further comprising: monitoring for a message sent by the base station on the satellite in a paging occasion corresponding to the user equipment (see paragraphs 60, 78).
The references as applied above are not explicit as to, but Hong teaches monitoring in a paging occasion corresponding to the user equipment in a case that the user equipment is currently in an idle state or an inactive state (see indicated portion of page 7); and
monitoring for a message in any paging occasion in a case that the user equipment is currently in a connected state (see indicated portion of page 7).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to monitor for paging as in Hong when implementing the system of Medeiros and Fu. The motivation would be to ensure the UE can receive signaling regardless of its state.
The references as applied above are not explicit as to, but Gao teaches a short message (see paragraphs 73, 178, Table 32).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to use standard messaging as in Gao when implementing the method of Medeiros and Fu. The motivation would be to ensure compliance with existing systems.
Response to Arguments
The amendment filed 29 December 2025 has been entered.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to rejections under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered, but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection introduced herein. The claims remain rejected under 35 USC 103.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Marupaduga et al. (US 10135509) teaches a system in which a base station adjusts the broadcast beam based on the number of UEs at the cell edge. Zhou et al. (US 2025/0358809) teaches a system in which different beams are transmitted based on satellite ephemera.
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/CASSANDRA L DECKER/Examiner, Art Unit 2466 2/4/2025
/FARUK HAMZA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2466