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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HAN et al. (U.S. Pub No. 2019/0037530 A1) in view of LIN et al. (U.S. Pub No. 202/0374863 A1).
1, Han teaches a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving, from a network, a beam prediction configuration [par 0015, 0085, 0086, The disclosure provides an apparatus and a method for efficiently selecting beams by predicting the movement of a terminal in a wireless communication system. the terminal 520 may receive signals from a base station (not shown). The terminal 520 may perform a beam search procedure in order to improve the quality of a reception signal. The terminal 520 may identify a beam (downlink reception beam) to be used for downlink communication through a beam search procedure. The signal may be a reference signal transmitted from the base station. For example, the reference signal may be one of a beam reference signal (BRS), a beam refinement reference signal (BRRS), a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS), and a demodulation-RS (DM-RS).];
receiving, from the network, error statistics for each of a plurality of beam directions [par 0085, 0086, The terminal 520 may identify a beam (downlink reception beam) to be used for downlink communication through a beam search procedure. The terminal 520, as a beam search procedure, may receive signals through respective beams operated in the terminal 520. The signal may be a reference signal transmitted from the base station. For example, the channel quality may be beam reference signal received power (BRSRP) and reference signal received power (RSRP), and may be at
least one of reference signal received quality (RSRQ), a received signal strength indicator (RSRI), a signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR), a carrier-to- interference and noise ratio (CINR), a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), an error vector magnitude (EVM), a bit error rate (BER), and a block error rate (BLER)|;
responsive to the UE identifying a first beam direction of the plurality of beam directions [par 0140, The terminal may perform a beam search for the first beam. The terminal may receive a signal from the base station through the first beam. The terminal may perform a search for the first beam, and may then store the first direction information on the first direction of the first beam. The terminal may store the search result of the first beam corresponding to the first direction information. The terminal may include the first direction in a search set. The search set includes directions in which the search has been performed],
using the ML model and the beam prediction configuration[par 0119, 0241, More specifically, whenever the measurement information is reported, the terminal, based on the reported measurement information, determines whether or not the current beam direction falls within the effective range of the reference direction. Whenever the measurement information is reported, the terminal may calculate the direction of the currently set beam, thereby determining whether or not the direction of the beam falls within the effective range, or, based on the amount of change included in the measurement information, may determine whether or not the direction of the beam falls within the effective range. the terminal may obtain the expected movement information of the terminal through a learning procedure by means of machine learning. The terminal may determine patterns of a user. The patterns may be intended to represent movement information. Based on a setting input to the terminal, information measured by a sensor of the terminal, or information received from an external device, the terminal may identify a pattern of the user, which has the highest probability of being performed for a predetermined period of time],
transmitting an uplink (UL) communication to the network in the first beam direction based at least in part on a comparison of the first error statistic with a first threshold[par 0100, 0102, The terminal may obtain measurement information from at least one sensor. The terminal may determine a quantitative value for identifying the beam in response to the directional change due to the movement from the measured values included in the measurement information. For example, the terminal may determine an attitude parameter. The terminal may determine physical quantities representing the attitude of the terminal through the measured value. The terminal is required to maintain the first direction of the first beam in the reference direction in order to provide feedback on the beams of the base station when performing the transmission beams search of the base station. When the terminal moves, the direction of the first beam may be no longer the reference direction (the first direction)],
responsive to the UE predicting identifying a second beam direction of the plurality of beam directions [par 0098, In operation 603, based on measurement information on the movement, the terminal may determine second direction information on the second direction of the second beam],
using the ML model and the beam prediction configuration [par 0241, the terminal may obtain the expected movement information of the terminal through a learning procedure by means of machine learning. The terminal may determine patterns of a user. The patterns may be intended to represent movement information. Based on a setting input to the terminal, information measured by a sensor of the terminal, or information received from an external device, the terminal may identify a pattern of the user, which has the highest probability of being performed for a predetermined period of time. The terminal may determine, as expected movement information, movement-related parameter values corresponding to the identified pattern],
the second beam direction associated with a second error statistic of the error statistics different from the first error statistic [par 0086, 0141, the terminal may determine whether or not the second direction belongs to the search set. If the second direction belongs to the effective range of the first direction in the search set, the terminal may determine that the second direction belongs to the search set. The terminal may not perform a beam search for the second direction, because it is predicted that, even if a beam search for the second direction is performed, the result thereof is similar to that of the first beam search. When identifying the beam, various indices indicative of the channel quality may be used. For example, the channel quality may be beam reference signal received power (BRSRP) and reference signal received power (RSRP), and may be at least one of reference signal received quality (RSRQ), a received signal strength indicator (RSRI), a signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR), a carrier-to-interference and noise ratio (CINR), a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), an error vector magnitude (EVM), a bit error rate (BER), and a block error rate (BLER).The examiner interpretation one or more reference can be used to determine a beam direction]
transmitting the UL communication to the network in a third beam direction
different from the second beam direction based at least in part on a comparison of the second error statistic with a second threshold [par 0143, 0230, claim 2, The terminal determines a third direction for the third beam at a time 933, when setting the third beam after the time allocated for the second beam has elapsed. The terminal determines the third direction using the fifth measurement information, which has been most recently obtained (at the time 915) since the time 933. Like the second direction, the terminal may determine whether or not the third direction belongs to the search set. if the second direction is not within an effective range of the first direction, transmitting or receiving a signal for the beam search by using the second beam; and if the second direction is within the effective range of the first direction, identifying a third beam which is different from the second beam, among a plurality of beams of the apparatus].
Han fail to show each error statistic of the error statistics indicating, for a corresponding beam direction of the plurality of beam directions, a likelihood that the corresponding beam direction will be correctly identified, using a machine learning (ML) model at the UE, as a beam direction selected for communication with the network
In an analogous art LIN to show each error statistic of the error statistics indicating, for a corresponding beam direction of the plurality of beam directions [par 0168, 0177, 0178, Prediction error refers to the difference between an optimal beam index and a predicted beam index. 95.7% of predicted beam indices are correct as described above, and most of the remaining 4.3% of incorrectly predicted beam indices are a direct neighboring beam index (+1 or −1 index difference) of the optimal beam index. This indicates that incorrectly predicted beam indices can be corrected by running an additional round of beam refinement across just a predicted beam index and direct neighbor beam indices. From FIG. 16, it is evident that the remaining incorrectly determined beam indices for the 1.sup.st and 2.sup.nd beams (6.3% and 9.3%) are primarily neighboring beam indices (−3 to +3 index difference) of the optimal beams. With an additional round of beam refinement across just these neighboring beams, these errors can be corrected],
a likelihood that the corresponding beam direction will be correctly identified, using a machine learning (ML) model at the UE, as a beam direction selected for communication with the network [par 0067, 0078, 0085, 0179, In a second embodiment, the training stage and prediction stage are for UE-side beam prediction. FIG. 2 is a signal flow diagram illustrating ML-assisted UE-side beam prediction according to the second embodiment. The data samples are used by the BS at 319 to train one or ML module(s) for BS and UE beam direction prediction. ML module training options include, for example, training a single ML module for both BS beam prediction and UE beam prediction, and training multiple ML modules including a first ML module for BS beam prediction and a second ML module for UE beam prediction. For each location, a respective antenna beam direction for communications between the network equipment and a UE at each of the locations is determined at 404].
Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Han and LIN because to reduce the signaling overhead involved in beamforming, particularly in mmWave applications. [LIN, par 0005]
2, Han and LIN describe the method of claim 1, wherein the beam prediction configuration comprises a machine learning configuration [Han, par 0241, the terminal may obtain the expected movement information of the terminal through a learning procedure by means of machine learning. The terminal may determine patterns of a user].
3, Han illustrates the method of claim 2, further comprising: Han fail to show identifying the first beam direction based on the machine learning configuration and previously recorded channel measurements associated with the plurality of beam directions; or identifying the second beam direction based on the machine learning configuration and the previously recorded channel measurements associated with the plurality of beam directions.
In an analogous art LIN show identifying the first beam direction based on the machine learning configuration and previously recorded channel measurements associated with the plurality of beam directions; or identifying the second beam direction based on the machine learning configuration and the previously recorded channel measurements associated with the plurality of beam directions [par 0054, 0102, 0241, UE movement history is also or instead used to predict future location so that UE to BS signaling can be reduced. The terminal is required to maintain the first direction of the first beam in the reference direction in order to provide feedback on the beams of the base station when performing the transmission beams search of the base station. When the terminal moves, the direction of the first beam may be no longer the reference direction (the first direction). Thus, the terminal may determine whether or not the direction of another beam corresponds to the reference direction. the terminal may obtain the expected movement information of the terminal through a learning procedure by means of machine learning].
Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Han and LIN because to reduce the signaling overhead involved in beamforming, particularly in mmWave applications. [LIN, par 0005]
4. Han and LIN disclose the method of claim 1, wherein the error statistics further indicate, for each of the plurality of beam directions, at least one of: an error rate; or a difference in a signal power between the respective beam direction and an observed best beam direction [Han, par 0086, When identifying the beam, various indices indicative of the channel quality may be used. For example, the channel quality may be beam reference signal received power (BRSRP) and reference signal received power (RSRP), and may be at least one of reference signal received quality (RSRQ), a received signal strength indicator (RSRI), a signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR), a carrier-to-interference and noise ratio (CINR), a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), an error vector magnitude (EVM), a bit error rate (BER), and a block error rate (BLER). The terminal 520, based on the channel quality of each beam, may identify an optimal beam among the beams. The optimal beam may be referred to as a “preferred beam” or a “best beam”. The optimal beam means a beam corresponding to the case in which a measured channel quality value is the maximum (signal magnitude-related channel quality) or the case in which a measured channel quality value is the minimum (error rate-related channel quality)].
5, Han and LIN demonstrate the method of claim 1, wherein: the transmitting the UL communication in the first beam direction comprises: responsive to the first error statistic exceeding a first threshold associated with the first beam direction, selecting the first beam direction for the transmitting the UL communication [claim 8, determining third direction information regarding a third direction of the first beam according to the movement of the apparatus, based on the first direction information and the
measurement information, wherein the performing of the beam search comprises: identifying a beam which is within a threshold range of the third direction among a plurality beams of the apparatus];
and the transmitting the UL communication in the third beam direction comprises: responsive to the second error statistic being below the second threshold associated with the second beam direction[par 0086, The terminal 520, based on the channel quality of each beam, may identify an optimal beam among the beams. The optimal beam may be referred to as a “preferred beam” or a “best beam’. The optimal beam means a beam corresponding to the case in which a measured channel quality value is the maximum (signal magnitude-related channel quality) or the case in which a measured channel quality value is the minimum (error rate-related channel quality)],
selecting the third beam direction for the transmitting the UL communication [par 0143, The terminal determines a third direction for the third beam at a time 933, when setting the third beam after the time allocated for the second beam has elapsed. The terminal determines the third direction using the fifth measurement information, which has been most recently obtained (at the time 915) since the time]
6. Han and LIN disclose the method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, to the network, a feedback signal indicating the second error statistic is below the second threshold [par 0098, 0196, 230, the terminal may determine second direction information on the second direction of the second beam. Here, the movement means a change in the state of the terminal, such as rotating, moving, or tilting of the terminal. On the other hand, if the set reference direction becomes out of the range of directions (hereinafter, referred to as “direction coverage” or “threshold range”) in which the beams of the terminal can be oriented after the movement, the terminal may require a new beam search procedure. The terminal may receive all of the signals through the omni-directional beam, and may measure the channel quality for each of the signals. The terminal may generate feedback information on the top N signals having good channel quality, and may transmit the feedback information to the base station (beam reporting). The base station may identify an optimal beam to be used for communication from the feedback information],
obtaining channel measurements of a reference signal burst in the plurality of beam directions [par 0089, For example, the terminal 520 may receive reference signals transmitted from the base station in different beam directions for a downlink transmission beam search of the base station. The terminal 520 needs to receive the Signals in the same direction in order to measure the channel quality for the respective beams of the base station);
and selecting, based on the channel measurements, the third beam direction for the UL communication [par 0143, The terminal determines a third direction for the third beam at a time 933, when setting the third beam after the time allocated for the second beam has elapsed. The terminal determines the third direction using the fifth measurement information, which has been most recently obtained (at the time 915) since the time 933. Like the second direction, the terminal may determine whether or not the third direction belongs to the search set].
7, Han and LIN conveys the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the network, at least one signal indicating a first error threshold for the first beam direction and a second error threshold for the second beam direction [Han par 0104, 0105, Hereinafter, in the disclosure, an effective range will be used to determine the identity between the beams. The effective range means a range within a predetermined angle in a specific direction. In other words, the effective range means a rotation allowance range in a specific direction. For example, the effective range of the first direction may include directions within a rotational range of 3 degrees. The beams within the effective range of a specific direction may perform a beamforming function the same as or similar to the beam in the specific direction. he terminal may determine whether or not the second direction falls within the effective range of the first direction. In the case where the terminal wishes to maintain directivity (directivity fixation) (e.g., the transmission beam search of the base station)],
wherein the transmitting the UL communication in the first beam direction is based on a comparison of the first error statistic with the first error threshold[par 0100, 0102, The terminal may obtain measurement information from at least one sensor. The terminal may determine a quantitative value for identifying the beam in response to the directional change due to the movement from the measured values included in the measurement information. For example, the terminal may determine an attitude parameter. The terminal may determine physical quantities representing the attitude of the terminal through the measured value. The terminal is required to maintain the first direction of the first beam in the reference direction in order to provide feedback on the beams of the base station when performing the transmission beams search of the base station. When the terminal moves, the direction of the first beam may be no longer the reference direction (the first direction)]
and wherein the transmitting the UL communication in the third beam direction is based on a comparison of the second error statistic with the second error threshold [par 0142, 0143, When the terminal performs a beam search in the direction of another identified beam (i.e., the direction out of the effective range of the first direction), the terminal may include the direction of another identified beam in the search set. In some other embodiments, the terminal may not receive a reference signal during the corresponding resource interval. The terminal may operate in a low-power mode. The terminal determines a third direction for the third beam at a time 933, when setting the third beam after the time allocated for the second beam has elapsed Like the second direction, the terminal may determine whether or not the third direction belongs to the search set.].
8, Han reveals the method of claim 1, Han fail to show wherein: the transmitting the UL communication in the first beam direction is based on a first beam prediction probability of the first beam direction exceeding a first beam prediction threshold, wherein the first beam prediction probability is based on the beam prediction configuration;
In an analogous art LIN show wherein: the transmitting the UL communication in the first beam direction is based on a first beam prediction probability of the first beam direction exceeding a first beam prediction threshold [par 0047, For the case of a single ML module, 1) the ML module outputs a probability of each possible beam being the 1.sup.st beam, a probability of each possible beam being the 2.sup.nd beam, ..., and each beam with highest probability being the n-th (1<=n<=N) beam is selected; or 2) the ML module outputs a probability of each beam, then the N beams with N largest probability are selected. For option 1), supposing there are M beams in total, the single ML module has M*N outputs, including M outputs indicating probabilities for the M beams, for each of the N beam predictions. For option 2), the N beam probabilities provide a measure of “strength” of each beam; the larger the probability, the stronger the beam]
and the transmitting the UL communication in the third beam direction is based on a second beam prediction probability of the second beam direction being smaller than a second beam prediction threshold[par 0047, For option 2), the N beam probabilities provide a measure of “strength” of each beam; the larger the probability, the stronger the beam]
wherein the second beam prediction probability is based on the beam prediction configuration [par 0047, /n an alternative embodiment, one ML module is trained for all N beam predictions, again using data samples collected for the N most reliable beam directions per UE location during training. For the case of a single ML module, 1) the ML module outputs a probability of each possible beam being the 1.sup.st beam, a probability of each possible beam being the 2.sup.nd beam]
Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Han and LIN because this would reduce the signaling overhead involved in beamforming, particularly in mmWave applications.
9. Han and LIN disclose the method of claim 8, wherein: the first beam prediction threshold is based on the first error statistic; and the second beam prediction threshold is based on the second error statistic [HAN, par 0120, 0152, When the second measurement information is reported, the terminal determines whether or not the currently set beam direction falls within the effective range of the reference direction at the time 732. The terminal, based on the reference sensor value and the second measurement information, may determine whether or not the direction indicated by the currently set reception beam 750 falls within the effective range of the reference direction. If the direction indicated by the reception beam 750 is out of the effective range at the time 732, the terminal may identify a beam belonging to the effective range. For example, the terminal may determine whether or not a beam search procedure for the second direction has already been performed. The terminal may determine whether or not the second direction belongs to a search set. The search set may include a plurality of directions. The terminal may determine whether or not to perform a search in respective directions through the direction information on the respective directions included in the search set. If the second direction falls within the effective range of at least one of a plurality of directions, the terminal may determine that the second direction belongs to the search set. However, if the second direction does not fall within the effective range of any one of the plurality of directions, the terminal may determine that the second direction does not belong to the search set],
10. Han and LIN display the method of claim 1, wherein the error statistics foreach beam direction of the plurality of beam directions further indicate: error statistics for the beam direction[par 0084, 0086, The terminal changes, searches for, compensates for, or identifies the beam, taking into account the direction in which the beam is actually oriented, thereby controlling directivity. Directivity control may be an operation for directivity fixation to maintain the direction of the beam that is in use by the terminal (e.g., a base station beam search), or may be an operation for directivity diversity to transmit signals in multiple directions from the terminal (a terminal beam search)];
and error statistics for at least one additional parameter, the at least one additional parameter comprising one or more of: a power saving mode of the UE; a location of the UE; or a sub-use case of the UE [par 0142, When the terminal performs a beam search in the direction of another identified beam (i.e., the direction out of the effective range of the first direction), the terminal may include the direction of another identified beam in the search set. In some other embodiments, the terminal may not receive a reference signal during the corresponding resource interval. The terminal may operate in a low-power mode].
11, Han disclose a method of wireless communication performed by a network unit, the method comprising: transmitting, to a user equipment (UE) a beam prediction configuration par 0015, 0086, The disclosure provides an apparatus and a method for efficiently selecting beams by predicting the movement of a terminal in a wireless communication system. The terminal 520 may receive a plurality of signals from the base station. The terminal 520 may receive a plurality of signals by means of different beams, respectively. The terminal 520 may measure the signals received through the respective beams to thus determine the channel quality for each beam. When identifying the beam, various indices indicative of the channel quality may be used];
transmitting, to the UE error statistics for each of a plurality of beam directions[par 0085, 0086, The terminal 520 may identify a beam (downlink reception beam) to be used for downlink communication through a beam search procedure. The terminal 520, as a beam search procedure, may receive signals through respective beams operated in the terminal 520. The signal may be a reference signal transmitted from the base station. For example, the channel quality may be beam reference signal received power (BRSRP) and reference signal received power (RSRP), and may be at least one of reference signal received quality (RSRQ), a received signal strength indicator (RSRI), a signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR), a carrier-to- interference and noise ratio (CINR), a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), an error vector magnitude (EVM), a bit error rate (BER), and a block error rate (BLER)|,
receiving from the UE, a feedback signal indicating an error statistic for a predicted beam direction is below a threshold[par 230, The terminal may receive all of the signals through the omni-directional beam, and may measure the channel quality for each of the signals. The terminal may generate feedback information on the top N signals having good channel quality, and may transmit the feedback information to the base station (beam reporting). The base station may identify an optimal beam to be used for communication from the feedback information);
and transmitting, to the UE based on the feedback signal, one or more reference signals in each of the plurality of beam directions[par 0085, 0230, 0232, The base station may identify an optimal beam to be used for communication from the feedback information. The terminal may sequentially set a plurality of beams, thereby measuring the quality of the signal transmitted from the base station. At this time, the base station may transmit a beamformed signal. In some embodiments, the base station may transmit signals through the optimal beam obtained in operation 1710. The terminal 520, as a beam search procedure, may receive signals through respective beams operated in the terminal 520. The signal may be a reference signal transmitted from the base station. For example, the reference signal may be one of a beam reference signal (BRS), a beam refinement reference signal (BRRS), a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS), and a demodulation-RS (DM-RS). According to another embodiment, the reference signal may be replaced by a synchronization signal (SS)].
Han fail to show each error statistic of the error statistics indicating, for a corresponding beam direction of the plurality of beam directions, a likelihood that the corresponding beam direction will be correctly identified, using a machine learning (ML) model at the UE, as a beam direction selected for communication with the network unit
In an analogous art LIN to show each error statistic of the error statistics indicating, for a corresponding beam direction of the plurality of beam directions [par 0168, 0177, 0178, Prediction error refers to the difference between an optimal beam index and a predicted beam index. 95.7% of predicted beam indices are correct as described above, and most of the remaining 4.3% of incorrectly predicted beam indices are a direct neighboring beam index (+1 or −1 index difference) of the optimal beam index. This indicates that incorrectly predicted beam indices can be corrected by running an additional round of beam refinement across just a predicted beam index and direct neighbor beam indices. From FIG. 16, it is evident that the remaining incorrectly determined beam indices for the 1.sup.st and 2.sup.nd beams (6.3% and 9.3%) are primarily neighboring beam indices (−3 to +3 index difference) of the optimal beams. With an additional round of beam refinement across just these neighboring beams, these errors can be corrected],
a likelihood that the corresponding beam direction will be correctly identified, using a machine learning (ML) model at the UE, as a beam direction selected for communication with the network [par 0067, 0078, 0085, 0179, In a second embodiment, the training stage and prediction stage are for UE-side beam prediction. FIG. 2 is a signal flow diagram illustrating ML-assisted UE-side beam prediction according to the second embodiment. The data samples are used by the BS at 319 to train one or ML module(s) for BS and UE beam direction prediction. ML module training options include, for example, training a single ML module for both BS beam prediction and UE beam prediction, and training multiple ML modules including a first ML module for BS beam prediction and a second ML module for UE beam prediction. For each location, a respective antenna beam direction for communications between the network equipment and a UE at each of the locations is determined at 404].
Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Han and LIN because to reduce the signaling overhead involved in beamforming, particularly in mmWave applications. [LIN, par 0005]
12. Han and LIN provide the method of claim 11, wherein the beam prediction configuration comprises a machine learning configuration[HAN par 0241, the terminal may obtain the expected movement information of the terminal through a learning procedure by means of machine learning. The terminal may determine patterns of a user].
13. Han and LIN reveal The method of claim 11, wherein the error statistics further indicate, for each of the plurality of beam directions, at least one of: an error rate; or difference in a signal power between the respective beam direction and an observed best beam direction [HAN par 0086, When identifying the beam, various indices indicative of the channel quality may be used. For example, the channel quality may be beam reference signal received power (BRSRP) and reference signal received power (RSRP), and may be at least one of reference signal received quality (RSRQ), a received signal strength indicator (RSRI), a signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR), a carrier-to-interference and noise ratio (CINR), a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), an error vector magnitude (EVM), a bit error rate (BER), and a block error rate (BLER). The terminal 520, based on the channel quality of each beam, may identify an optimal beam among the beams. The optimal beam may be referred to as a “preferred beam” or a “best beam”. The optimal beam means a beam corresponding to the case in which a measured channel quality value is the maximum (signal magnitude-related channel quality) or the case in which a measured channel quality value is the minimum (error rate-related channel quality)].
14. Han and Lin describes the method of claim 11, further comprising: transmitting, to the UE, at least one signal indicating a first error threshold for a first beam direction and a second error threshold for a second beam direction [Han par 0104, Hereinafter, in the disclosure, an effective range will be used to determine the identity between the beams. The effective range means a range within a predetermined angle in a specific direction. In other words, the effective range means a rotation allowance range in a specific direction. For example, the effective range of the first direction may include directions within a rotational range of 3 degrees. The beams within the effective range of a specific direction may perform a beamforming function the same as or similar to the beam in the specific direction],
wherein: the first error threshold is based on a first error statistic associated with the first beam direction, the first error statistic indicated in the error statistics [par 0094, the terminal may determine first direction information on a first direction of a first beam in operation 601. Here, the direction means a bearing at which the beam is oriented. The terminal may determine the first direction information on the first direction of the first beam before the terminal moves. Even if the terminal moves, the terminal can identify the first beam through the index indicating the first beam, but the direction in which the first beam is oriented changes];
and the second error threshold is based on a second error statistic associated with the second beam direction, the second error statistic indicated in the error statistics[par 0141, In order to determine whether or not to perform a beam search for the second beam, the terminal may determine whether or not the second direction belongs to the search set. If the second direction belongs to the effective range of the first direction in the search set, the terminal may determine that the second direction belongs to the search set. The terminal may not perform a beam search for the second direction, because it is predicted that, even if a beam search for the second direction is performed, the result thereof is similar to that of the first beam search].
15. Han creates the method of claim 11, wherein the error statistics for each beam direction of the plurality of beam directions comprise: error statistics for the beam direction[par 0084, 0086, The terminal changes, searches for, compensates for, or identifies the beam, taking into account the direction in which the beam is actually oriented, thereby controlling directivity. Directivity control may be an operation for directivity fixation to maintain the direction of the beam that is in use by the terminal (e.g., a base station beam search), or may be an operation for directivity diversity to transmit signals in multiple directions from the terminal (a terminal beam search)];
and error statistics for at least one additional parameter, the at least one additional parameter comprising one or more of: a power saving mode of the UE; a location of the UE; or a sub-use case of the UE[par 0142, When the terminal performs a beam search in the direction of another identified beam (i.e., the direction out of the effective range of the first direction), the terminal may include the direction of another identified beam in the search set. In some other embodiments, the terminal may not receive a reference signal during the corresponding resource interval. The terminal may operate in a low-power mode].
16. Han provide a user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory device; a transceiver; and a processor in communication with the memory device and the transceiver [par
0254, The one or more programs stored in the computer-readable storage medium may be configured for execution by one or more processors within the electronic device. The at least one program may include instructions that cause the electronic device to perform the methods according to various embodiments of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims and/or disclosed herein],
wherein the UE is configured to: receive, from a network, a beam prediction configuration[par 0015, 0085, 0086,The disclosure provides an apparatus and a method for efficiently selecting beams by predicting the movement of a terminal in a wireless communication system. the terminal 520 may receive signals from a base station (not shown). The terminal 520 may perform a beam search procedure in order to improve the quality of a reception signal. The terminal 520 may identify a beam (downlink reception beam) to be used for downlink communication through a beam search procedure. The signal may be a reference signal transmitted from the base station. For example, the reference signal may be one of a beam reference signal (BRS), a beam refinement reference signal (BRRS), a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS), and a demodulation-RS (DM-RS).];
receive, from the network, error statistics for each of a plurality of beam directions[par 0085, 0086, The terminal 520 may identify a beam (downlink reception beam) to be used for downlink communication through a beam search procedure. The terminal 520, as a beam search procedure, may receive signals through respective beams operated in the terminal 520. The signal may be a reference signal transmitted from the base station. For example, the channel quality may be beam reference signal received power (BRSRP) and reference signal received power (RSRP), and may be at least one of reference signal received quality (RSRQ), a received signal strength indicator (RSRI), a signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR), a carrier-to- interference and noise ratio (CINR), a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), an error vector magnitude (EVM), a bit error rate (BER), and a block error rate (BLER)|;
responsive to the UE indicating a first beam direction of the plurality of beam directions [par 0140, The terminal may perform a beam search for the first beam. The terminal may receive a signal from the base station through the first beam. The terminal may perform a search for the first beam, and may then store the first direction information on the first direction of the first beam. The terminal may store the search result of the first beam corresponding to the first direction information. The terminal may include the first direction in a search set. The search set includes directions in which the search has been performed],
using the ML model and the beam prediction configuration[par 0119, 0241, More specifically, whenever the measurement information is reported, the terminal, based on the reported measurement information, determines whether or not the current beam direction falls within the effective range of the reference direction. Whenever the measurement information is reported, the terminal may calculate the direction of the currently set beam, thereby determining whether or not the direction of the beam falls within the effective range, or, based on the amount of change included in the measurement information, may determine whether or not the direction of the beam falls within the effective range. the terminal may obtain the expected movement information of the terminal through a learning procedure by means of machine learning. The terminal may determine patterns of a user. The patterns may be intended to represent movement information. Based on a setting input to the terminal, information measured by a sensor of the terminal, or information received from an external device, the terminal may identify a pattern of the user, which has the highest probability of being performed for a predetermined period of time],
the first beam direction associated with a first error statistic of the error statistics received from the network [par 0140, When setting a first beam, the terminal determines first direction information for the first direction of the first beam at a time 931. The terminal determines the first direction information using the first measurement information, which has been most recently obtained (at the time 911) since the time 931. The terminal may perform a beam search for the first beam. The terminal may receive a signal from the base station through the first beam. The terminal may perform a search for the first beam, and may then store the first direction information on the first direction of the first beam]
transmitting an uplink (UL) communication to the network in the first beam direction based at least in part on a comparison of the first error statistics with a first threshold [par 0100, 0102, The terminal may obtain measurement information from at least one sensor. The terminal may determine a quantitative value for identifying the beam in response to the directional change due to the movement from the measured values included in the measurement information. For example, the terminal may determine an attitude parameter. The terminal may determine physical quantities representing the attitude of the terminal through the measured value. The terminal is required to maintain the first direction of the first beam in the reference direction in order to provide feedback on the beams of the base station when performing the transmission beams search of the base station. When the terminal moves, the direction of the first beam may be no longer the reference direction (the first direction)],
responsive to the UE predicting identifying a second beam direction of the plurality of beam directions [par 0098, In operation 603, based on measurement information on the movement, the terminal may determine second direction information on the second direction of the second beam],
using the ML model and the beam prediction configuration [par 0241, the terminal may obtain the expected movement information of the terminal through a learning procedure by means of machine learning. The terminal may determine patterns of a user. The patterns may be intended to represent movement information. Based on a setting input to the terminal, information measured by a sensor of the terminal, or information received from an external device, the terminal may identify a pattern of the user, which has the highest probability of being performed for a predetermined period of time. The terminal may determine, as expected movement information, movement-related parameter values corresponding to the identified pattern],
the second beam direction associated with a second error statistic of the error statistics different from the first error statistic [par 0086, When identifying the beam, various indices indicative of the channel quality may be used. For example, the channel quality may be beam reference signal received power (BRSRP) and reference signal received power (RSRP), and may be at least one of reference signal received quality (RSRQ), a received signal strength indicator (RSRI), a signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR), a carrier-to-interference and noise ratio (CINR), a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), an error vector magnitude (EVM), a bit error rate (BER), and a block error rate (BLER).The examiner interpretation one or more reference can be used to determine a beam direction]
transmitting the UL communication to the network in a third beam direction
different from the second beam direction based at least in part on a comparison of the second error statistic with a second threshold [par 0143, claim 2, The terminal determines a third direction for the third beam at a time 933, when setting the third beam after the time allocated for the second beam has elapsed. The terminal determines the third direction using the fifth measurement information, which has been most recently obtained (at the time 915) since the time 933. Like the second direction, the terminal may determine whether or not the third direction belongs to the search set. if the second direction is not within an effective range of the first direction, transmitting or receiving a signal for the beam search by using the second beam; and if the second direction is within the effective range of the first direction, identifying a third beam which is different from the second beam, among a plurality of beams of the apparatus].
Han fail to show each error statistic of the error statistics indicating, for a corresponding beam direction of the plurality of beam directions, a likelihood that the corresponding beam direction will be correctly identified, using a machine learning (ML) model at the UE, as a beam direction selected for communication with the network
In an analogous art LIN to show each error statistic of the error statistics indicating, for a corresponding beam direction of the plurality of beam directions [par 0168, 0177, 0178, Prediction error refers to the difference between an optimal beam index and a predicted beam index. 95.7% of predicted beam indices are correct as described above, and most of the remaining 4.3% of incorrectly predicted beam indices are a direct neighboring beam index (+1 or −1 index difference) of the optimal beam index. This indicates that incorrectly predicted beam indices can be corrected by running an additional round of beam refinement across just a predicted beam index and direct neighbor beam indices. From FIG. 16, it is evident that the remaining incorrectly determined beam indices for the 1.sup.st and 2.sup.nd beams (6.3% and 9.3%) are primarily neighboring beam indices (−3 to +3 index difference) of the optimal beams. With an additional round of beam refinement across just these neighboring beams, these errors can be corrected],
a likelihood that the corresponding beam direction will be correctly identified, using a machine learning (ML) model at the UE, as a beam direction selected for communication with the network [par 0067, 0078, 0085, 0179, In a second embodiment, the training stage and prediction stage are for UE-side beam prediction. FIG. 2 is a signal flow diagram illustrating ML-assisted UE-side beam prediction according to the second embodiment. The data samples are used by the BS at 319 to train one or ML module(s) for BS and UE beam direction prediction. ML module training options include, for example, training a single ML module for both BS beam prediction and UE beam prediction, and training multiple ML modules including a first ML module for BS beam prediction and a second ML module for UE beam prediction. For each location, a respective antenna beam direction for communications between the network equipment and a UE at each of the locations is determined at 404].
Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Han and LIN because to reduce the signaling overhead involved in beamforming, particularly in mmWave applications. [LIN, par 0005]
17. Han and LIN defines the UE of claim 16, wherein the beam prediction configuration comprises a machine learning configuration[par 0241, the terminal may obtain the expected movement information of the terminal through a learning procedure by means of machine learning. The terminal may determine patterns of a user].
18, Han and LIN demonstrate the UE of claim 17, Han fail to show wherein the UE is further configured to: identify the first beam direction based on the machine learning configuration and previously recorded channel measurements associated with the plurality of beam directions; or identify the second beam direction based on the machine learning configuration and previously recorded channel measurements associated with the plurality of beam directions.
In an analogous art LIN show wherein the UE is further configured to: identify the first beam direction based on the machine learning configuration and previously recorded channel measurements associated with the plurality of beam directions; or identify the second beam direction based on the machine learning configuration and previously recorded channel measurements associated with the plurality of beam directions[par 0054, 0102, 0241, UE movement history is also or instead used to predict future location so that UE to BS signaling can be reduced. The terminal is required to maintain the first direction of the first beam in the reference direction in order to provide feedback on the beams of the base station when performing the transmission beams search of the base station. When the terminal moves, the direction of the first beam may be no longer the reference direction (the first direction). Thus, the terminal may determine whether or not the direction of another beam corresponds to the reference direction. the terminal may obtain the expected movement information of the terminal through a learning procedure by means of machine learning].
Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Han and LIN because to reduce the signaling overhead involved in beamforming, particularly in mmWave applications. [LIN, par 0005]
19.Han and LIN provide the UE of claim 16, wherein the error statistics indicate, for each of the plurality of beam directions, at least one of: an error rate; or a difference in a signal power between the respective beam direction and an observed best beam direction[par 0086, When identifying the beam, various indices indicative of the channel quality may be used. For example, the channel quality may be beam reference signal received power (BRSRP) and reference signal received power (RSRP), and may be at least one of reference signal received quality (RSRQ), a received signal strength indicator (RSRI), a signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR), a carrier-to-interference and noise ratio (CINR), a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), an error vector magnitude (EVM), a bit error rate (BER), and a block error rate (BLER). The terminal 520, based on the channel quality of each beam, may identify an optimal beam among the beams. The optimal beam may be referred to as a “preferred beam” or a “best beam”. The optimal beam means a beam corresponding to the case in which a measured channel quality value is the maximum (signal magnitude-related channel quality) or the case in which a measured channel quality value is the minimum (error rate-related channel quality)].
20, Han and LIN defines the UE of claim 16, wherein: the UE configured to transmit the UL communication in the first beam direction comprises the UE configured to: responsive to the first error statistic exceeding a first threshold associated with the first beam direction[par 0140, When setting a first beam, the terminal determines first direction information for the first direction of the first beam at a time 931. The terminal determines the first direction information using the first measurement information, which has been most recently obtained (at the time 911) since the time 931. The terminal may perform a beam search for the first beam. The terminal may receive a signal from the base station through the first beam. The terminal may perform a search for the first beam, and may then store the first direction information on the first direction of the first beam];
select the first beam direction for the transmitting the UL communication[par 0100, 0102, The terminal may obtain measurement information from at least one sensor. The terminal may determine a quantitative value for identifying the beam in response to the directional change due to the movement from the measured values included in the measurement information. For example, the terminal may determine an attitude parameter. The terminal may determine physical quantities representing the attitude of the terminal through the measured value. The terminal is required to maintain the first direction of the first beam in the reference direction in order to provide feedback on the beams of the base station when performing the transmission beams search of the base station. When the terminal moves, the direction of the first beam may be no longer the reference direction (the first direction)],
and the UE configured to transmit to the UL communication in the third beam direction comprises: responsive to the second error statistic being below a second threshold associated with the second beam direction, select the third beam direction for the transmitting the UL communication[par 0143, 0230, The terminal determines a third direction for the third beam at a time 933, when setting the third beam after the time allocated for the second beam has elapsed. The terminal determines the third direction using the fifth measurement information, which has been most recently obtained (at the time 915) since the time. Like the second direction, the terminal may determine whether or not the third direction belongs to the search set.]
21. Han and LIN disclose the UE of claim 16, wherein the UE is further configured to: transmit, to the network, a feedback signal indicating the second error statistic is below a threshold[par 230, The terminal may receive all of the signals through the omni- directional beam, and may measure the channel quality for each of the signals. The terminal may generate feedback information on the top N signals having good channel quality, and may transmit the feedback information to the base station (beam reporting). The base station may identify an optimal beam to be used for communication from the feedback information],
obtain channel measurements of a reference signal burst in the plurality of beam directions[par 0089, For example, the terminal 520 may receive reference signals transmitted from the base station in different beam directions for a downlink transmission beam search of the base station. The terminal 520 needs to receive the Signals in the same direction in order to measure the channel quality for the respective beams of the base station);
and select, based on the channel measurements, the third beam direction for the UL communication [par 0143, The terminal determines a third direction for the third
beam at a time 933, when setting the third beam after the time allocated for the second beam has elapsed. The terminal determines the third direction using the fifth measurement information, which has been most recently obtained (at the time 915) since the time 933. Like the second direction, the terminal may determine whether or not the third direction belongs to the search set].
22. Han reveal the UE of claim 16, wherein the UE is further configured to: receive, from the network, at least one signal indicating a first error threshold for the first beam direction and a second error threshold for the second beam direction[Han par 0104, Hereinafter, in the disclosure, an effective range will be used to determine the identity between the beams. The effective range means a range within a predetermined angle in a specific direction. In other words, the effective range means a rotation allowance range in a specific direction. For example, the effective range of the first direction may include directions within a rotational range of 3 degrees. The beams within the effective range of a specific direction may perform a beamforming function the same as or similar to the beam in the specific direction],
wherein the transmitting the UL communication in the first beam direction is based on a comparison of the first error statistic with the first error threshold[par 0100, 0102, The terminal may obtain measurement information from at least one sensor. The terminal may determine a quantitative value for identifying the beam in response to the directional change due to the movement from the measured values included in the measurement information. For example, the terminal may determine an attitude parameter. The terminal may determine physical quantities representing the attitude of the terminal through the measured value. The terminal is required to maintain the first direction of the first beam in the reference direction in order to provide feedback on the beams of the base station when performing the transmission beams search of the base station. When the terminal moves, the direction of the first beam may be no longer the reference direction (the first direction)],
and wherein the transmitting the UL communication in the third beam direction is based on a comparison of the second error statistic with the second error threshold[par 0143, claim 2, The terminal determines a third direction for the third beam at a time 933, when setting the third beam after the time allocated for the second beam has elapsed. The terminal determines the third direction using the fifth measurement information, which has been most recently obtained (at the time 915) since the time 933. Like the second direction, the terminal may determine whether or not the third direction belongs to the search set. if the second direction is not within an effective range of the first direction, transmitting or receiving a signal for the beam search by using the second beam; and if the second direction is within the effective range of the first direction, identifying a third beam which is different from the second beam, among a plurality of beams of the apparatus].
23. Han provide the UE of claim 16, Han fail to show wherein: the UE configured to transmit the UL communication in the first beam direction is based on a first beam prediction probability of the first beam direction exceeding a first beam prediction threshold, wherein the first beam prediction probability is based on the beam prediction configuration; and the UE configured to transmit the UL communication in the third beam direction is based on a second beam prediction probability of the second beam direction being smaller than a second beam prediction threshold, wherein the second beam prediction probability is based on the beam prediction configuration.
In an analogous art LIN show wherein: the UE configured to transmit the UL communication in the first beam direction is based on a first beam prediction probability of the first beam direction exceeding a first beam prediction threshold, wherein the first beam prediction probability is based on the beam prediction configuration [par 0047, For the case of a single ML module, 1) the ML module outputs a probability of each
possible beam being the 1.sup.st beam, a probability of each possible beam being the 2.sup.nd beam, ..., and each beam with highest probability being the n-th (1<=n<=N) beam is selected; or 2) the ML module outputs a probability of each beam, then the N beams with N largest probability are selected. For option 1), supposing there are M beams in total, the single ML module has M*N outputs, including M outputs indicating probabilities for the M beams, for each of the N beam predictions. For option 2), the N beam probabilities provide a measure of “strength” of each beam; the larger the probability, the stronger the beam]
and the UE configured to transmit the UL communication in the third beam direction is based on a second beam prediction probability of the second beam direction being smaller than a second beam prediction threshold[par 0047, For option 2), the N beam probabilities provide a measure of “strength” of each beam; the larger the probability, the stronger the beam]
wherein the second beam prediction probability is based on the beam prediction configuration[par 0047, In an alternative embodiment, one ML module is trained for all N beam predictions, again using data samples collected for the N most reliable beam directions per UE location during training. For the case of a single ML module, 1) the ML module outputs a probability of each possible beam being the 1.sup.st beam, a probability of each possible beam being the 2.sup.nd beam]
Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Han and LIN because this would reduce the signaling overhead involved in beamforming, particularly in mmWave applications.
24. Han and LIN illustrate the UE of claim 23, wherein: the first beam prediction threshold is based on the first error statistic; and the second beam prediction threshold is based on the second error statistic[par 0120, 0152, When the second measurement information is reported, the terminal determines whether or not the currently set beam direction falls within the effective range of the reference direction at the time 732. The terminal, based on the reference sensor value and the second measurement information, may determine whether or not the direction indicated by the currently set reception beam 750 falls within the effective range of the reference direction. If the direction indicated by the reception beam 750 is out of the effective range at the time 732, the terminal may identify a beam belonging to the effective range. For example, the terminal may determine whether or not a beam search procedure for the second direction has already been performed. The terminal may determine whether or not the second direction belongs to a search set. The search set may include a plurality of directions. The terminal may determine whether or not to perform a search in respective directions through the direction information on the respective directions included in the search set. If the second direction falls within the effective range of at least one of a plurality of directions, the terminal may determine that the second direction belongs to the search set. However, if the second direction does not fall within the effective range of any one of the plurality of directions, the terminal may determine that the second direction does not belong to the search set],
25. Han display the UE of claim 16, wherein the error statistics foreach beam direction of the plurality of beam directions further indicate: error statistics for the beam direction[par 0084, 0086, The terminal changes, searches for, compensates for, or identifies the beam, taking into account the direction in which the beam is actually oriented, thereby controlling directivity. Directivity control may be an operation for directivity fixation to maintain the direction of the beam that is in use by the terminal (e.9., a base station beam search), or may be an operation for directivity diversity to transmit signals in multiple directions from the terminal (a terminal beam search)|
and error statistics for predicting at least one additional parameter, the at least one additional parameter comprising one or more of: a power saving mode of the UE; a location of the UE; or a sub-use case of the UE[par 0142, When the terminal performs a beam search in the direction of another identified beam (i.e., the direction out of the effective range of the first direction), the terminal may include the direction of another identified beam in the search set. In some other embodiments, the terminal may not receive a reference signal during the corresponding resource interval. The terminal may operate in a low-power mode].
26. Han defines a network unit, comprising: a memory device; a transceiver; and a processor in communication with the memory device and the transceiver [par 0062, Accordingly, all or a part of the communication unit 210 may be referred to as a “transmitter”, a “receiver”, or a “transceiver”. In the following description, the transmission and reception performed through a wireless channel will be used to encompass the execution of the process by the communication unit 210 as described above]
wherein the network unit is configured to: transmit, to a user equipment (UE) a beam prediction configuration[par 0085, 0086, The terminal 520 may identify a beam (downlink reception beam) to be used for downlink communication through a beam search procedure. The terminal 520, as a beam search procedure, may receive signals through respective beams operated in the terminal 520. The signal may be a reference signal transmitted from the base station. For example, the channel quality may be beam reference signal received power (BRSRP) and reference signal received power (RSRP), and may be at least one of reference signal received quality (RSRQ), a received signal strength indicator (RSRI), a signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR), a carrier-to- interference and noise ratio (CINR), a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), an error vector magnitude (EVM), a bit error rate (BER), and a block error rate (BLER)|;
transmit, to the UE error statistics for each of a plurality of beam directions[par 0085, 0086, The terminal 520 may identify a beam (downlink reception beam) to be used for downlink communication through a beam search procedure. The terminal 520, as a beam search procedure, may receive signals through respective beams operated in the terminal 520. The signal may be a reference signal transmitted from the base station. For example, the channel quality may be beam reference signal received power (BRSRP) and reference signal received power (RSRP), and may be at least one of reference signal received quality (RSRQ), a received signal strength indicator (RSRI), a signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR), a carrier-to- interference and noise ratio (CINR), a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), an error vector magnitude (EVM), a bit error rate (BER), and a block error rate (BLER)|;
receive, from the UE, a feedback signal indicating an error statistic for a predicted beam direction is below a threshold[par 0085, 0230, 0232, The base station may identify an optimal beam to be used for communication from the feedback information. The terminal may sequentially set a plurality of beams, thereby measuring the quality of the signal transmitted from the base station. At this time, the base station may transmit a beamformed signal. In some embodiments, the base station may transmit signals through the optimal beam obtained in operation 1710. The terminal 520, as a beam search procedure, may receive signals through respective beams operated in the terminal 520. The signal may be a reference signal transmitted from the base station. For example, the reference signal may be one of a beam reference signal (BRS), a beam refinement reference signal (BRRS), a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS), and a demodulation-RS (DM-RS). According to another embodiment, the reference signal may be replaced by a synchronization signal (SS)]
and transmit, to the UE based on the feedback signal, one or more reference signals in each of the plurality of beam direction [par 0085, 0230, 0232, The base station may identify an optimal beam to be used for communication from the feedback information. The terminal may sequentially set a plurality of beams, thereby measuring the quality of the signal transmitted from the base station. At this time, the base station may transmit a beamformed signal. In some embodiments, the base station may transmit signals through the optimal beam obtained in operation 1710. The terminal 520, as a beam search procedure, may receive signals through respective beams operated in the terminal 520. The signal may be a reference signal transmitted from the base station. For example, the reference signal may be one of a beam reference signal (BRS), a beam refinement reference signal (BRRS), a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS), and a demodulation-RS (DM-RS). According to another embodiment, the reference signal may be replaced by a synchronization signal (SS)].
Han fail to show each error statistic of the error statistics indicating, for a corresponding beam direction of the plurality of beam directions, a likelihood that the corresponding beam direction will be correctly identified, using a machine learning (ML) model at the UE, as a beam direction selected for communication with the network unit
In an analogous art LIN to show each error statistic of the error statistics indicating, for a corresponding beam direction of the plurality of beam directions [par 0168, 0177, 0178, Prediction error refers to the difference between an optimal beam index and a predicted beam index. 95.7% of predicted beam indices are correct as described above, and most of the remaining 4.3% of incorrectly predicted beam indices are a direct neighboring beam index (+1 or −1 index difference) of the optimal beam index. This indicates that incorrectly predicted beam indices can be corrected by running an additional round of beam refinement across just a predicted beam index and direct neighbor beam indices. From FIG. 16, it is evident that the remaining incorrectly determined beam indices for the 1.sup.st and 2.sup.nd beams (6.3% and 9.3%) are primarily neighboring beam indices (−3 to +3 index difference) of the optimal beams. With an additional round of beam refinement across just these neighboring beams, these errors can be corrected],
a likelihood that the corresponding beam direction will be correctly identified, using a machine learning (ML) model at the UE, as a beam direction selected for communication with the network [par 0067, 0078, 0085, 0179, In a second embodiment, the training stage and prediction stage are for UE-side beam prediction. FIG. 2 is a signal flow diagram illustrating ML-assisted UE-side beam prediction according to the second embodiment. The data samples are used by the BS at 319 to train one or ML module(s) for BS and UE beam direction prediction. ML module training options include, for example, training a single ML module for both BS beam prediction and UE beam prediction, and training multiple ML modules including a first ML module for BS beam prediction and a second ML module for UE beam prediction. For each location, a respective antenna beam direction for communications between the network equipment and a UE at each of the locations is determined at 404].
Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Han and LIN because to reduce the signaling overhead involved in beamforming, particularly in mmWave applications. [LIN, par 0005]
27, Han and LIN demonstrate the network unit of claim 26, wherein the beam prediction configuration comprises a machine learning configuration[Han, par 0241, the terminal may obtain the expected movement information of the terminal through a learning procedure by means of machine learning. The terminal may determine patterns of a user].
28. Han and LIN provides the network unit of claim 26, wherein the error statistics indicate, for each of the plurality of beam directions, at least one of: an error rate; or a difference in a signal power between the respective beam direction and a best beam direction |par 0086, When identifying the beam, various indices indicative of the channel quality may be used. For example, the channel quality may be beam reference signal received power (BRSHP) and reference signal received power (RSRP), and may be at least one of reference signal received quality (RSRQ), a received signal strength indicator (RSRI), a Signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR), a carrier-to-interference and noise ratio (CINR), a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), an error vector magnitude (EVM), a bit error rate (BER), and a block error rate (BLER). The terminal 520, based on the channel quality of each beam, may identify an optimal beam among the beams. The optimal beam may be referred to as a “preferred beam” or a “best beam”. The optimal beam means a beam corresponding to the case in which a measured channel quality value is the maximum (signal magnitude-related channel quality) or the case in which a measured channel quality value is the minimum (error rate-related channel quality)].
29. Han convey the network unit of claim 26, wherein the network unit is further configured to: transmit, to the UE, at least one signal indicating a first error threshold for a first beam direction and a second error threshold fora second beam direction[Han par 0104, Hereinafter, in the disclosure, an effective range will be used to determine the identity between the beams. The effective range means a range within a predetermined angle in a specific direction. In other words, the effective range means a rotation allowance range in a specific direction. For example, the effective range of the first direction may include directions within a rotational range of 3 degrees. The beams within the effective range of a specific direction may perform a beamforming function the same as or similar to the beam in the specific direction],
wherein: the first error threshold is based on a first error statistic associated with the first beam direction, the first error statistic indicated in the error statistics [par 0094, the terminal may determine first direction information on a first direction of a first beam in operation 601. Here, the direction means a bearing at which the beam is oriented. The terminal may determine the first direction information on the first direction of the first beam before the terminal moves. Even if the terminal moves, the terminal can identify the first beam through the index indicating the first beam, but the direction in which the first beam is oriented changes];
and the second error threshold is based on a second error statistic associated with the second beam direction, the second error statistic indicated in the error statistics[par 0141, In order to determine whether or not to perform a beam search for the second beam, the terminal may determine whether or not the second direction belongs to the search set. If the second direction belongs to the effective range of the first direction in the search set, the terminal may determine that the second direction belongs to the search set. The terminal may not perform a beam search for the second direction, because it is predicted that, even if a beam search for the second direction is performed, the result thereof is similar to that of the first beam search].
30. Han discloses the network unit of claim 26, wherein the error statistics for each beam direction of the plurality of beam directions further indicate: error statistics for the beam direction; and error statistics for at least one additional parameter[par 0084, 0086, The terminal changes, searches for, compensates for, or identifies the beam, taking into account the direction in which the beam ts actually oriented, thereby controlling directivity. Directivity control may be an operation for directivity fixation to maintain the direction of the beam that is in use by the terminal (e.g., a base station beam search), or may be an operation for directivity diversity to transmit signals in multiple directions from the terminal (a terminal beam search)];,
the at least one additional parameter comprising one or more of: a power saving mode of the UE; a location of the UE; or a sub-use case of the UE[par 0142, When the terminal performs a beam search in the direction of another identified beam (i.e., the direction out of the effective range of the first direction), the terminal may include the direction of another identified beam in the search set. In some other embodiments, the terminal may not receive a reference signal during the corresponding resource interval. The terminal may operate in a low-power mode].
Response to Arguments
Examiner Note: the examiner made a non-final rejection because claim 9 was not rejected in the previous non-final office action.
Applicant respectfully submits that HAN does not disclose each and every feature recited in amended claim 1. For example, HAN does not disclose "receiving, from the network, error statistics for each of a plurality of beam directions, each error statistic of the error statistics indicating, for a corresponding beam direction of the plurality of beam directions, a likelihood that the corresponding beam direction will be correctly identified, using a machine learning (ML) model at the UE, as a beam direction selected for communication with the network," and "responsive to the UE identifying a first beam direction of the plurality of beam directions, using the ML model and the beam prediction configuration, the first beam direction associated with a first error statistic of the error statistics received from the network, transmitting an uplink (UL) communication to the network in the first beam direction based at least in part on a comparison of the first error statistic with a first threshold," as recited in amended claim 1.
Even assuming, arguendo, that the Examiner's interpretation of HAN is reasonable, which the Applicant does not concede, Applicant respectfully submits that HAN does not disclose at least the above features of amended claim 1.
The examiner position the applicant’s argument are moot In view of newly rejected claims.
In contrast, the claims require that the error statistics received from the network for each beam direction indicate "a likelihood that the corresponding beam direction will be correctly identified, using a machine learning (ML) model at the UE, as a beam direction selected for communication with the network." In other words, the error statistics must reflect the prediction accuracy of an ML-based beam prediction model, as applied at the UE, for each beam direction.
The examiner response the applicant argument is moot in view of newly rejected claims.
Accordingly, HAN does not disclose, at least, "receiving, from the network, error statistics for each of a plurality of beam directions, each error statistic of the error statistics indicating, for a corresponding beam direction of the plurality of beam directions, a likelihood that the corresponding beam direction will be correctly identified, using a machine learning (ML) model at the UE, as a beam direction selected for communication with the network," and "responsive to the UE identifying a first beam direction of the plurality of beam directions, using the ML model and the beam prediction configuration, the first beam direction associated with a first error statistic of the error statistics received from the network, transmitting an uplink (UL) communication to the network in the first beam direction based at least in part on a comparison of the first error statistic with a first threshold," as recited in amended claim 1.
For at least the foregoing reasons, Applicant submits that amended claim 1 is patentable over HAN. Independent claims 11, 16, and 26, as amended, recite similar features. Therefore, independent claims 1, 11, 16, and 26, and the claims that depend thereon, are patentable over HAN.
Accordingly, Applicant respectfully requests that the Examiner reconsider and withdraw the rejection of claims 1, 2, 4-7, 10-17, 19-22, and 25-30 under 35 U.S.C. § 102 based on HAN.
The examiner response the applicant argument is moot in view of newly rejected claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JASON A HARLEY whose telephone number is (571)270-5435. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30-300 6:30-8:30.
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, Marcus Smith can be reached at (571) 270-1096. 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.
/JASON A HARLEY/Examiner, Art Unit 2468
Prosecution Insights