DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 11, and 16 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 1/9/2026 has been entered. Claim 22 has been added. Claim 21 has been cancelled. Claims 1-2, 4-20, and 22 remain pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-2, 5-6, 8-12, 14, 16-17, and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ali et al. (US 2023/0189021), hereinafter Ali, Baligh et al. (US 2023/0308140), hereinafter Baligh, Elshafie et al. (US 2025/0047327), hereinafter Elshafie, and of Amara et al. (US 2025/0293726), hereinafter Amara.
Regarding Claim 1, Ali teaches: A method, comprising: providing, by a wireless access point (AP) to a Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) device that includes a plurality of configurable reflecting elements, tuning information for an RIS tuning procedure that is to be performed by the wireless AP involving a wireless client for a wireless local area network: “The control information includes a time domain allocation of symbols, slots, or a combination thereof configured to carry positioning reference signal information and positioning spatial information for beamforming the reflected positioning reference signal with a determined angle of departure. In some embodiments, the method 1300 includes configuring 1304 a reconfigurable intelligent surface based on the control information” (Ali ¶ 0099); performing the RIS tuning procedure involving the wireless client, wherein the RIS tuning procedure comprises performing a plurality of sounding frame transmissions in which the RIS device is to configure the plurality of configurable reflecting elements according to a particular dispersion mode configuration of the plurality of dispersion mode configurations for each sounding frame transmission of the plurality of sounding frame transmissions: “In various embodiments, a gNB may configure a RIS to perform beam sweeping of a single port PRS signal from different RIS segments in different time slots. Each RIS segment may be configured to apply beamforming in a certain direction and to apply beam sweeping for multiple PRS slots. The PRS period may be divided into multiple slots. Each group of PRS slots may be reflected from one RIS segment, while other segments are turned off. For the PRS slot group associated with each segment, different spatial filters are configured to (e.g., transmitted to) the segment to be applied on different PRS slots in the group so that the PRS signal is beamformed with sweeping to different directions to cover the required area. The UE is configured with a PRS resource set to be transmitted from the gNB and configured to measure and report PRS measurement associated with corresponding time slots (e.g., PRS group for each segment and the slots in each group). For a preconfigured pattern, the UE is configured to report the beam quality, AoD, or a combination thereof to the gNB” (Ali ¶ 0085).
Ali does not teach: providing a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) device for a surface or structure that causes multipath interference in a wireless local area network (WLAN), wherein the RIS device includes a plurality of configurable reflecting elements; wherein the tuning information identifies the wireless client and a plurality of dispersion mode configurations of the plurality of configurable reflecting elements of the RIS device that are to be utilized by the RIS device for the RIS tuning procedure; and identifying, based on the RIS tuning procedure, a guard interval value and a particular dispersion mode configuration of the RIS device that is to be utilized for subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client, wherein the particular dispersion mode configuration is to cause the RIS device to dissipate multipath interference caused by the structure or surface for which the RIS device is provided for the subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client.
Regarding Claim 1, Baligh teaches: wherein the tuning information identifies the wireless client: “Step 1172 involves the BS sending the RIS a list of UEs in the proximity of the RIS that are possible UEs with which the RIS could form a link. Step 1174 involves the BS configuring the UE for RIS discovery. This step may involve the BS sending configuration information identifying a type of RS that the UE should send that will be detected by RIS and scheduling information for when the UE should send the RS. Therefore, when the UE sends the RS, the RIS can identify which UE sent the RS” (Baligh ¶ 0182) and a plurality of dispersion mode configurations of the plurality of configurable reflecting elements of the RIS device that are to be utilized by the RIS device for the RIS tuning procedure: “The BS provides the RIS configuration information that may include one or more of beam shape, beam direction and/or beam width of the impinging and/or reflecting beams at the RIS and the RIS can then determine a phase shift for each configurable element to achieve a desired RIS pattern. The direction may be expressed in absolute or relative terms with respect to other beam directions or previous RIS patterns, for example a few degrees of update in a particular direction” (Baligh ¶ 0194).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Ali with Baligh for the purpose of increasing network capacity by controlling the network topology. According to Baligh: “The ability to control the environment and network topology through strategic deployment of RISs, and other non-terrestrial and controllable nodes is an important paradigm shift in MIMO system, such as 6G MIMO . . . Instead, by controlling the environment and network topology, MIMO aims to be able to change the wireless channel and adapt the network condition to increase the network capacity” (Baligh ¶ 0064).
Baligh does not teach: providing a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) device for a surface or structure that causes multipath interference in a wireless local area network (WLAN), wherein the RIS device includes a plurality of configurable reflecting elements; identifying, based on the RIS tuning procedure, a guard interval value and a particular dispersion mode configuration of the RIS device that is to be utilized for subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client, wherein the particular dispersion mode configuration is to cause the RIS device to dissipate multipath interference caused by the structure or surface for which the RIS device is provided for the subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client.
Regarding Claim 1, Elshafie teaches: identifying, based on the RIS tuning procedure, a guard interval value and a particular dispersion mode configuration of the RIS device that is to be utilized for subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client: “based on the capability of the RIS 625, the network device may divide the resource pool 820 into sub-resource pools 805 and 815 where there is a gap 810 between the sub-resource pools 805 and 815. In some examples, the transmitting UE 115 may use the same beam across the sub resource pools 805 and 815 and the RIS may change configurations of the RIS across the two sub-resource pools 805 and 815. In some examples, the RIS may use the same RIS configuration across the two sub-resource pools 805 and 815 and the transmitting UE 115 may change beams (e.g., change beamformers) across the sub-resource pools 805 and 815” (Elshafie ¶ 0176).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Ali and Baligh with Elshafie for the purpose of reducing interference and allowing for sidelink communications by UEs utilizing an RIS. According to Elshafie: “the receiving UE may report the best or strongest beams and the worst or weakest beams (which may be helpful in groupcast cases or when the transmitting UE serves multiple receiving UEs in a unicast manner in order to reduce interference. The transmitting UE and the receiving UE may transmit and receive sidelink communications using the RIS based on the beam report” (Elshafie ¶ 0004).
Elshafie does not teach: providing a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) device for a surface or structure that causes multipath interference in a wireless local area network (WLAN), wherein the RIS device includes a plurality of configurable reflecting elements; wherein the particular dispersion mode configuration is to cause the RIS device to reduce multipath interference for the subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client.
Regarding Claim 1, Amara teaches: providing a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) device for a surface or structure that causes multipath interference in a wireless local area network (WLAN), wherein the RIS device includes a plurality of configurable reflecting elements: “In another aspect, the present disclosure provides an entity for use in a wireless communication network, said entity being a full duplex node, a base station, an access point or a digitally controllable scatterer, said entity comprising the control unit” (Amara ¶ 0015) “Each of the first DCS 104A and the second DCS 104B may include suitable logic, circuitry, and/or interfaces that is configured to provide a number of propagation paths between the FD node 102 and other communicating nodes, for example, a TX and a RX, in such a way that the effect of the self-interference signal 116 at the FD node 102 is reduced. Furthermore, each of the first DCS 104A and the second DCS 104B is configured to enlarge a region of coverage of the FD node 102. Each of the first DCS 104A and the second DCS 104B can be implemented either in form of an Intelligent Reflective Surface (IRS), or a Reflective Intelligent Surface (RIS) or a Large Intelligent Surface (LIS), where a large number of reflective elements or scattering elements, also known as unit elements, are used on a surface” (Amara ¶ 0041); the particular dispersion mode configuration is to cause the RIS device to dissipate multipath interference caused by the structure or surface for which the RIS device is provided for the subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client: “Optionally, the control unit 106 further comprises the first computing unit 208 for computing phase shifts ϕ.sub.d for each digitally controllable scatterer d, in the subset d.sub.i, taking into account a constraint defined for a target residual self-interference level at the receiver unit 110. The phase shifts ϕ.sub.d for each DCS d, in the subset d.sub.i are computed. If specific phase shifts vector is used by the identifying unit 204 or the DCS control unit 206, then that phase shift vector can be refined by the first computing unit 208 or can be kept same for simplicity. The computation of the phase shifts ϕ.sub.d takes into account the constraint defined for the target residual SI level after propagation domain mitigation at the receiver unit 110” (Amara ¶ 0050).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Ali with Amara for the purpose of solving multipath interference problems. According to Amara: “the isolation is not effective in a multipath environment because the received SI has components due to reflections from surrounding objects and extension to multiple antenna systems is difficult . . . The reason being there are some regions where these solutions cannot be used, hence coverage area cannot be ensured. Thus, there exists a technical problem of degradation of the incoming signal-of-interest due to self-interference as well as reduced coverage area of the FD node” (Amara ¶ 0004).
Regarding Claim 2, Ali teaches: The method of claim 1, further comprising: instructing the RIS device to provide the particular dispersion mode configuration prior to the wireless AP performing the subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client: “In some embodiments, the method 1200 further comprises transmitting a positioning reference signal measurement for multiple reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, multiple reconfigurable intelligent surface segments, or a combination thereof to a location management function. In various embodiments, the method 1200 further comprises reporting a measurement, a beam quality, or a combination thereof to a base station for each group of symbols, each group of slots, or a combination thereof associated with different reconfigurable intelligent surfaces” (Ali ¶ 0097).
Regarding Claim 5, Ali teaches: The method of claim 1, further comprising: providing, by the wireless AP, dispersion mode configuration information to the RIS device that identifies a configuration of the plurality of configurable reflecting elements for each dispersion mode configuration of the plurality of dispersion mode configurations and identifies a particular dispersion mode identifier for each dispersion mode of the plurality of dispersion mode configurations: “the method 1100 further comprises transmitting the multi-port positioning reference signal configuration with different frequency offsets corresponding to different reconfigurable intelligent surfaces to the receiving device, and indicating to the receiving device to report a measurement corresponding to a positioning reference signal associated with each reconfigurable intelligent surface identifier of a plurality of reconfigurable intelligent surface identifiers. In one embodiment, the method 1100 further comprises transmitting, to the receiving device, a location management function configuration of the multi-port positioning reference signal, wherein the location management function configuration comprises a time domain allocation of different positioning reference signals corresponding to different antenna ports, and positioning reference signal symbols, positioning slots, or a combination thereof are grouped and associated with different positioning reference signal ports” (Ali ¶ 0090).
Regarding Claim 6, Ali teaches: The method of claim 1, further comprising: obtaining, by the wireless AP, one of: a confirmation from the RIS device that the RIS device has accepted the tuning information as provided by the wireless AP; or updated tuning information from the RIS device for the RIS tuning procedure: “In some embodiments, the method 1200 further comprises transmitting a positioning reference signal measurement for multiple reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, multiple reconfigurable intelligent surface segments, or a combination thereof to a location management function. In various embodiments, the method 1200 further comprises reporting a measurement, a beam quality, or a combination thereof to a base station for each group of symbols, each group of slots, or a combination thereof associated with different reconfigurable intelligent surfaces” (Ali ¶ 0097).
Regarding Claim 8, Ali teaches: The method of claim 7, further comprising: identifying a particular guard interval value and a particular corresponding dispersion mode configuration of the RIS device that is to be utilized for transmissions involving any wireless client of the plurality of wireless clients: “The configured periodicity and resource slot offset of the PRS transmissions may be a function of a number of RIS elements in the vicinity of the UE (e.g., the LMF configures a periodicity with shorter intervals for RIS-based PRS transmissions when compared to the direct PRS transmission from gNB to UE for increased reliability and to account for the signaling delay between a gNB, an RIS, and a UE)” (Ali ¶ 0073)
Regarding Claim 9, Ali teaches: The method of claim 8, further comprising: instructing the RIS device to implement the particular corresponding dispersion mode configuration for the transmissions involving any wireless client of the plurality of wireless clients: “The gNB configures each RIS controller to beamform the specific PRS signal towards the UE. FIG. 5 shows an example of configuring 4 gNBs and/or TRPs (e.g., 2 TRPs with 2 RISs and the other two with single or no RIS in case of PRS configuration comb-6)” (Ali ¶ 0067).
Regarding Claim 10, Ali teaches: The method of claim 1, wherein the RIS device is mounted on or near an interference producing structure or surface within coverage area of the wireless local area network provided by the wireless AP: “The ability to control a surface to perform a specific beamforming of a reflected signal to a preferred direction with configurable beam gain and/or width that may open the door for other applications other than coverage extension. Indoor and/or outdoor positioning with the help of RIS may be seen as an application that may be brought to a system by using controllable manipulation of a reflection from multiple intelligent surfaces. This may be beneficial in areas where a non-line-of-sight (“NLOS”) and/or multipath effect is prevalent.” (Ali ¶ 0059).
Regarding Claim 11, Ali teaches: One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations: “The apparatus 200 includes one embodiment of the remote unit 102. Furthermore, the remote unit 102 may include a processor 202, a memory 204, an input device 206, a display 208, a transmitter 210, and a receiver 212” (Ali ¶ 0047), comprising: providing, by a wireless access point (AP) to a Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) device that includes a plurality of configurable reflecting elements, tuning information for an RIS tuning procedure that is to be performed by the wireless AP involving a wireless client for a wireless local area network: “The control information includes a time domain allocation of symbols, slots, or a combination thereof configured to carry positioning reference signal information and positioning spatial information for beamforming the reflected positioning reference signal with a determined angle of departure. In some embodiments, the method 1300 includes configuring 1304 a reconfigurable intelligent surface based on the control information” (Ali ¶ 0099); performing the RIS tuning procedure involving the wireless client, wherein the RIS tuning procedure comprises performing a plurality of sounding frame transmissions in which the RIS device is to configure the plurality of configurable reflecting elements according to a particular dispersion mode configuration of the plurality of dispersion mode configurations for each sounding frame transmission of the plurality of sounding frame transmissions: “In various embodiments, a gNB may configure a RIS to perform beam sweeping of a single port PRS signal from different RIS segments in different time slots. Each RIS segment may be configured to apply beamforming in a certain direction and to apply beam sweeping for multiple PRS slots. The PRS period may be divided into multiple slots. Each group of PRS slots may be reflected from one RIS segment, while other segments are turned off. For the PRS slot group associated with each segment, different spatial filters are configured to (e.g., transmitted to) the segment to be applied on different PRS slots in the group so that the PRS signal is beamformed with sweeping to different directions to cover the required area. The UE is configured with a PRS resource set to be transmitted from the gNB and configured to measure and report PRS measurement associated with corresponding time slots (e.g., PRS group for each segment and the slots in each group). For a preconfigured pattern, the UE is configured to report the beam quality, AoD, or a combination thereof to the gNB” (Ali ¶ 0085).
Ali does not teach: providing a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) device for a surface or structure that causes multipath interference in a wireless local area network (WLAN), wherein the RIS device includes a plurality of configurable reflecting elements; wherein the tuning information identifies the wireless client and a plurality of dispersion mode configurations of the plurality of configurable reflecting elements of the RIS device that are to be utilized by the RIS device for the RIS tuning procedure; and identifying, based on the RIS tuning procedure, a guard interval value and a particular dispersion mode configuration of the RIS device that is to be utilized for subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client, wherein the particular dispersion mode configuration is to cause the RIS device to reduce multipath interference for the subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client.
Regarding Claim 11, Baligh teaches: wherein the tuning information identifies the wireless client: “Step 1172 involves the BS sending the RIS a list of UEs in the proximity of the RIS that are possible UEs with which the RIS could form a link. Step 1174 involves the BS configuring the UE for RIS discovery. This step may involve the BS sending configuration information identifying a type of RS that the UE should send that will be detected by RIS and scheduling information for when the UE should send the RS. Therefore, when the UE sends the RS, the RIS can identify which UE sent the RS” (Baligh ¶ 0182) and a plurality of dispersion mode configurations of the plurality of configurable reflecting elements of the RIS device that are to be utilized by the RIS device for the RIS tuning procedure: “The BS provides the RIS configuration information that may include one or more of beam shape, beam direction and/or beam width of the impinging and/or reflecting beams at the RIS and the RIS can then determine a phase shift for each configurable element to achieve a desired RIS pattern. The direction may be expressed in absolute or relative terms with respect to other beam directions or previous RIS patterns, for example a few degrees of update in a particular direction” (Baligh ¶ 0194).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Ali with Baligh for the purpose of increasing network capacity by controlling the network topology. According to Baligh: “The ability to control the environment and network topology through strategic deployment of RISs, and other non-terrestrial and controllable nodes is an important paradigm shift in MIMO system, such as 6G MIMO . . . Instead, by controlling the environment and network topology, MIMO aims to be able to change the wireless channel and adapt the network condition to increase the network capacity” (Baligh ¶ 0064).
Baligh does not teach: providing a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) device for a surface or structure that causes multipath interference in a wireless local area network (WLAN), wherein the RIS device includes a plurality of configurable reflecting elements; identifying, based on the RIS tuning procedure, a guard interval value and a particular dispersion mode configuration of the RIS device that is to be utilized for subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client, wherein the particular dispersion mode configuration is to cause the RIS device to reduce multipath interference for the subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client.
Regarding Claim 11, Elshafie teaches: identifying, based on the RIS tuning procedure, a guard interval value and a particular dispersion mode configuration of the RIS device that is to be utilized for subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client: “based on the capability of the RIS 625, the network device may divide the resource pool 820 into sub-resource pools 805 and 815 where there is a gap 810 between the sub-resource pools 805 and 815. In some examples, the transmitting UE 115 may use the same beam across the sub resource pools 805 and 815 and the RIS may change configurations of the RIS across the two sub-resource pools 805 and 815. In some examples, the RIS may use the same RIS configuration across the two sub-resource pools 805 and 815 and the transmitting UE 115 may change beams (e.g., change beamformers) across the sub-resource pools 805 and 815” (Elshafie ¶ 0176).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Ali and Baligh with Elshafie for the purpose of reducing interference and allowing for sidelink communications by UEs utilizing an RIS. According to Elshafie: “the receiving UE may report the best or strongest beams and the worst or weakest beams (which may be helpful in groupcast cases or when the transmitting UE serves multiple receiving UEs in a unicast manner in order to reduce interference. The transmitting UE and the receiving UE may transmit and receive sidelink communications using the RIS based on the beam report” (Elshafie ¶ 0004).
Elshafie does not teach: providing a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) device for a surface or structure that causes multipath interference in a wireless local area network (WLAN), wherein the RIS device includes a plurality of configurable reflecting elements; wherein the particular dispersion mode configuration is to cause the RIS device to reduce multipath interference for the subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client.
Regarding Claim 11, Amara teaches: providing a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) device for a surface or structure that causes multipath interference in a wireless local area network (WLAN), wherein the RIS device includes a plurality of configurable reflecting elements: “In another aspect, the present disclosure provides an entity for use in a wireless communication network, said entity being a full duplex node, a base station, an access point or a digitally controllable scatterer, said entity comprising the control unit” (Amara ¶ 0015) “Each of the first DCS 104A and the second DCS 104B may include suitable logic, circuitry, and/or interfaces that is configured to provide a number of propagation paths between the FD node 102 and other communicating nodes, for example, a TX and a RX, in such a way that the effect of the self-interference signal 116 at the FD node 102 is reduced. Furthermore, each of the first DCS 104A and the second DCS 104B is configured to enlarge a region of coverage of the FD node 102. Each of the first DCS 104A and the second DCS 104B can be implemented either in form of an Intelligent Reflective Surface (IRS), or a Reflective Intelligent Surface (RIS) or a Large Intelligent Surface (LIS), where a large number of reflective elements or scattering elements, also known as unit elements, are used on a surface” (Amara ¶ 0041); the particular dispersion mode configuration is to cause the RIS device to dissipate multipath interference caused by the structure or surface for which the RIS device is provided for the subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client: “Optionally, the control unit 106 further comprises the first computing unit 208 for computing phase shifts ϕ.sub.d for each digitally controllable scatterer d, in the subset d.sub.i, taking into account a constraint defined for a target residual self-interference level at the receiver unit 110. The phase shifts ϕ.sub.d for each DCS d, in the subset d.sub.i are computed. If specific phase shifts vector is used by the identifying unit 204 or the DCS control unit 206, then that phase shift vector can be refined by the first computing unit 208 or can be kept same for simplicity. The computation of the phase shifts ϕ.sub.d takes into account the constraint defined for the target residual SI level after propagation domain mitigation at the receiver unit 110” (Amara ¶ 0050).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Ali with Amara for the purpose of solving multipath interference problems. According to Amara: “the isolation is not effective in a multipath environment because the received SI has components due to reflections from surrounding objects and extension to multiple antenna systems is difficult . . . The reason being there are some regions where these solutions cannot be used, hence coverage area cannot be ensured. Thus, there exists a technical problem of degradation of the incoming signal-of-interest due to self-interference as well as reduced coverage area of the FD node” (Amara ¶ 0004).
Regarding Claim 12, Ali teaches: The media of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform further operations, comprising: instructing the RIS device to provide the particular dispersion mode configuration prior to the wireless AP performing the subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client: “In some embodiments, the method 1200 further comprises transmitting a positioning reference signal measurement for multiple reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, multiple reconfigurable intelligent surface segments, or a combination thereof to a location management function. In various embodiments, the method 1200 further comprises reporting a measurement, a beam quality, or a combination thereof to a base station for each group of symbols, each group of slots, or a combination thereof associated with different reconfigurable intelligent surfaces” (Ali ¶ 0097).
Regarding Claim 14, Ali teaches: The media of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform further operations, comprising: providing, by the wireless AP, dispersion mode configuration information to the RIS device that identifies a configuration of the plurality of configurable reflecting elements for each dispersion mode configuration of the plurality of dispersion mode configurations and identifies a particular dispersion mode identifier for each dispersion mode of the plurality of dispersion mode configurations: “the method 1100 further comprises transmitting the multi-port positioning reference signal configuration with different frequency offsets corresponding to different reconfigurable intelligent surfaces to the receiving device, and indicating to the receiving device to report a measurement corresponding to a positioning reference signal associated with each reconfigurable intelligent surface identifier of a plurality of reconfigurable intelligent surface identifiers. In one embodiment, the method 1100 further comprises transmitting, to the receiving device, a location management function configuration of the multi-port positioning reference signal, wherein the location management function configuration comprises a time domain allocation of different positioning reference signals corresponding to different antenna ports, and positioning reference signal symbols, positioning slots, or a combination thereof are grouped and associated with different positioning reference signal ports” (Ali ¶ 0090).
Regarding Claim 16, Ali teaches: A system comprising: at least one memory element for storing data; and at least one processor for executing instructions associated with the data, wherein executing the instructions causes the system to perform operations: “The apparatus 200 includes one embodiment of the remote unit 102. Furthermore, the remote unit 102 may include a processor 202, a memory 204, an input device 206, a display 208, a transmitter 210, and a receiver 212” (Ali ¶ 0047), comprising: providing, by a wireless access point (AP) to a Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) device that includes a plurality of configurable reflecting elements, tuning information for an RIS tuning procedure that is to be performed by the wireless AP involving a wireless client for a wireless local area network: “The control information includes a time domain allocation of symbols, slots, or a combination thereof configured to carry positioning reference signal information and positioning spatial information for beamforming the reflected positioning reference signal with a determined angle of departure. In some embodiments, the method 1300 includes configuring 1304 a reconfigurable intelligent surface based on the control information” (Ali ¶ 0099); performing the RIS tuning procedure involving the wireless client, wherein the RIS tuning procedure comprises performing a plurality of sounding frame transmissions in which the RIS device is to configure the plurality of configurable reflecting elements according to a particular dispersion mode configuration of the plurality of dispersion mode configurations for each sounding frame transmission of the plurality of sounding frame transmissions: “In various embodiments, a gNB may configure a RIS to perform beam sweeping of a single port PRS signal from different RIS segments in different time slots. Each RIS segment may be configured to apply beamforming in a certain direction and to apply beam sweeping for multiple PRS slots. The PRS period may be divided into multiple slots. Each group of PRS slots may be reflected from one RIS segment, while other segments are turned off. For the PRS slot group associated with each segment, different spatial filters are configured to (e.g., transmitted to) the segment to be applied on different PRS slots in the group so that the PRS signal is beamformed with sweeping to different directions to cover the required area. The UE is configured with a PRS resource set to be transmitted from the gNB and configured to measure and report PRS measurement associated with corresponding time slots (e.g., PRS group for each segment and the slots in each group). For a preconfigured pattern, the UE is configured to report the beam quality, AoD, or a combination thereof to the gNB” (Ali ¶ 0085).
Ali does not teach: providing a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) device for a surface or structure that causes multipath interference in a wireless local area network (WLAN), wherein the RIS device includes a plurality of configurable reflecting elements; wherein the tuning information identifies the wireless client and a plurality of dispersion mode configurations of the plurality of configurable reflecting elements of the RIS device that are to be utilized by the RIS device for the RIS tuning procedure; and identifying, based on the RIS tuning procedure, a guard interval value and a particular dispersion mode configuration of the RIS device that is to be utilized for subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client, wherein the particular dispersion mode configuration is to cause the RIS device to reduce multipath interference for the subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client.
Regarding Claim 16, Baligh teaches: wherein the tuning information identifies the wireless client: “Step 1172 involves the BS sending the RIS a list of UEs in the proximity of the RIS that are possible UEs with which the RIS could form a link. Step 1174 involves the BS configuring the UE for RIS discovery. This step may involve the BS sending configuration information identifying a type of RS that the UE should send that will be detected by RIS and scheduling information for when the UE should send the RS. Therefore, when the UE sends the RS, the RIS can identify which UE sent the RS” (Baligh ¶ 0182) and a plurality of dispersion mode configurations of the plurality of configurable reflecting elements of the RIS device that are to be utilized by the RIS device for the RIS tuning procedure: “The BS provides the RIS configuration information that may include one or more of beam shape, beam direction and/or beam width of the impinging and/or reflecting beams at the RIS and the RIS can then determine a phase shift for each configurable element to achieve a desired RIS pattern. The direction may be expressed in absolute or relative terms with respect to other beam directions or previous RIS patterns, for example a few degrees of update in a particular direction” (Baligh ¶ 0194).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Ali with Baligh for the purpose of increasing network capacity by controlling the network topology. According to Baligh: “The ability to control the environment and network topology through strategic deployment of RISs, and other non-terrestrial and controllable nodes is an important paradigm shift in MIMO system, such as 6G MIMO . . . Instead, by controlling the environment and network topology, MIMO aims to be able to change the wireless channel and adapt the network condition to increase the network capacity” (Baligh ¶ 0064).
Baligh does not teach: providing a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) device for a surface or structure that causes multipath interference in a wireless local area network (WLAN), wherein the RIS device includes a plurality of configurable reflecting elements; identifying, based on the RIS tuning procedure, a guard interval value and a particular dispersion mode configuration of the RIS device that is to be utilized for subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client, wherein the particular dispersion mode configuration is to cause the RIS device to reduce multipath interference for the subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client
Regarding Claim 16, Elshafie teaches: identifying, based on the RIS tuning procedure, a guard interval value and a particular dispersion mode configuration of the RIS device that is to be utilized for subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client: “based on the capability of the RIS 625, the network device may divide the resource pool 820 into sub-resource pools 805 and 815 where there is a gap 810 between the sub-resource pools 805 and 815. In some examples, the transmitting UE 115 may use the same beam across the sub resource pools 805 and 815 and the RIS may change configurations of the RIS across the two sub-resource pools 805 and 815. In some examples, the RIS may use the same RIS configuration across the two sub-resource pools 805 and 815 and the transmitting UE 115 may change beams (e.g., change beamformers) across the sub-resource pools 805 and 815” (Elshafie ¶ 0176).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Ali and Baligh with Elshafie for the purpose of reducing interference and allowing for sidelink communications by UEs utilizing an RIS. According to Elshafie: “the receiving UE may report the best or strongest beams and the worst or weakest beams (which may be helpful in groupcast cases or when the transmitting UE serves multiple receiving UEs in a unicast manner in order to reduce interference. The transmitting UE and the receiving UE may transmit and receive sidelink communications using the RIS based on the beam report” (Elshafie ¶ 0004).
Elshafie does not teach: providing a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) device for a surface or structure that causes multipath interference in a wireless local area network (WLAN), wherein the RIS device includes a plurality of configurable reflecting elements; wherein the particular dispersion mode configuration is to cause the RIS device to reduce multipath interference for the subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client.
Regarding Claim 16, Amara teaches: providing a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) device for a surface or structure that causes multipath interference in a wireless local area network (WLAN), wherein the RIS device includes a plurality of configurable reflecting elements: “In another aspect, the present disclosure provides an entity for use in a wireless communication network, said entity being a full duplex node, a base station, an access point or a digitally controllable scatterer, said entity comprising the control unit” (Amara ¶ 0015) “Each of the first DCS 104A and the second DCS 104B may include suitable logic, circuitry, and/or interfaces that is configured to provide a number of propagation paths between the FD node 102 and other communicating nodes, for example, a TX and a RX, in such a way that the effect of the self-interference signal 116 at the FD node 102 is reduced. Furthermore, each of the first DCS 104A and the second DCS 104B is configured to enlarge a region of coverage of the FD node 102. Each of the first DCS 104A and the second DCS 104B can be implemented either in form of an Intelligent Reflective Surface (IRS), or a Reflective Intelligent Surface (RIS) or a Large Intelligent Surface (LIS), where a large number of reflective elements or scattering elements, also known as unit elements, are used on a surface” (Amara ¶ 0041); the particular dispersion mode configuration is to cause the RIS device to dissipate multipath interference caused by the structure or surface for which the RIS device is provided for the subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client: “Optionally, the control unit 106 further comprises the first computing unit 208 for computing phase shifts ϕ.sub.d for each digitally controllable scatterer d, in the subset d.sub.i, taking into account a constraint defined for a target residual self-interference level at the receiver unit 110. The phase shifts ϕ.sub.d for each DCS d, in the subset d.sub.i are computed. If specific phase shifts vector is used by the identifying unit 204 or the DCS control unit 206, then that phase shift vector can be refined by the first computing unit 208 or can be kept same for simplicity. The computation of the phase shifts ϕ.sub.d takes into account the constraint defined for the target residual SI level after propagation domain mitigation at the receiver unit 110” (Amara ¶ 0050).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Ali with Amara for the purpose of solving multipath interference problems. According to Amara: “the isolation is not effective in a multipath environment because the received SI has components due to reflections from surrounding objects and extension to multiple antenna systems is difficult . . . The reason being there are some regions where these solutions cannot be used, hence coverage area cannot be ensured. Thus, there exists a technical problem of degradation of the incoming signal-of-interest due to self-interference as well as reduced coverage area of the FD node” (Amara ¶ 0004).
Regarding Claim 17, Ali teaches: The system of claim 16, wherein executing the instructions causes the system to perform further operations, comprising: instructing the RIS device to provide the particular dispersion mode configuration prior to the wireless AP performing the subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client: “In some embodiments, the method 1200 further comprises transmitting a positioning reference signal measurement for multiple reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, multiple reconfigurable intelligent surface segments, or a combination thereof to a location management function. In various embodiments, the method 1200 further comprises reporting a measurement, a beam quality, or a combination thereof to a base station for each group of symbols, each group of slots, or a combination thereof associated with different reconfigurable intelligent surfaces” (Ali ¶ 0097).
Regarding Claim 19, Ali teaches: The system of claim 16, wherein executing the instructions causes the system to perform further operations, comprising: providing, by the wireless AP, dispersion mode configuration information to the RIS device that identifies a configuration of the plurality of configurable reflecting elements for each dispersion mode configuration of the plurality of dispersion mode configurations and identifies a particular dispersion mode identifier for each dispersion mode of the plurality of dispersion mode configurations: “the method 1100 further comprises transmitting the multi-port positioning reference signal configuration with different frequency offsets corresponding to different reconfigurable intelligent surfaces to the receiving device, and indicating to the receiving device to report a measurement corresponding to a positioning reference signal associated with each reconfigurable intelligent surface identifier of a plurality of reconfigurable intelligent surface identifiers. In one embodiment, the method 1100 further comprises transmitting, to the receiving device, a location management function configuration of the multi-port positioning reference signal, wherein the location management function configuration comprises a time domain allocation of different positioning reference signals corresponding to different antenna ports, and positioning reference signal symbols, positioning slots, or a combination thereof are grouped and associated with different positioning reference signal ports” (Ali ¶ 0090).
Regarding Claim 22, Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, teach: The method of claim 1.
Ali, Baligh, and Elshafie do not teach: the RIS device provided for the surface or structure that creates multipath interference in the WLAN is a first RIS device and the subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client are performed between the wireless AP and the wireless client utilizing a second RIS device.
Regarding Claim 22, Amara teaches: the RIS device provided for the surface or structure that creates multipath interference in the WLAN is a first RIS device and the subsequent transmissions involving the wireless client are performed between the wireless AP and the wireless client utilizing a second RIS device: “The assessing unit 202, identifying unit 204 and the DCS control unit 206 of the control unit 106 are configured to execute the association stage of Algorithm 1. For example, the assessing unit 202 is configured to assess the residual self-interference (SI) level to each DCS in an initial set after propagation domain mitigation is performed. The identifying unit 204 is configured to assess the residual SI level and optionally the SoI level to the one or more DCSs identified in the initial set and identify a subset d.sub.i of the initial set of DCSs, which can be associated for communication of the FD node 102 . . . The decision unit 214 is configured to decide if any DCS should be removed from the subset d.sub.i based on the updated channel state information and if so, updating the subset d.sub.i to exclude that DCS. The information unit 216 is configured to inform other entities in the system about the updated subset d.sub.i. Moreover, Algorithm 1 results in a DCS choice and configuration and the TX and RX beams of the FD node 102 that are designed for reducing the SI in order to meet the residual SI constraints. Moreover, Algorithm 1 may also give an output of no DCS solution, where the subset d.sub.i is an empty set. Also, Algorithm 1 can give as an output a solution where the receiver of the FD node 102 does not require DCS support hence, the FD node 102 uses DCSs in the subset d.sub.i only for signal transmission. Vice versa, Algorithm 1 can give as an output a solution where the transmitter of the FD node 102 does not require DCS support hence, the FD node 102 uses DCSs in the subset d.sub.i only for signal reception” (Amara ¶ 0058). This does mean that Amara teaches mode where the Algorism 1 can give as an output a solution where the FD node uses DCSs in the subset for signal transmission as well as multipath/self-created interference reduction.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Ali with Amara for the purpose of solving multipath interference problems. According to Amara: “the isolation is not effective in a multipath environment because the received SI has components due to reflections from surrounding objects and extension to multiple antenna systems is difficult . . . The reason being there are some regions where these solutions cannot be used, hence coverage area cannot be ensured. Thus, there exists a technical problem of degradation of the incoming signal-of-interest due to self-interference as well as reduced coverage area of the FD node” (Amara ¶ 0004).
Claims 4, 13, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara as applied to claims 1, 11, and 16 above, and further in view of Jung et al. (US 2023/0239814), hereinafter Jung.
Regarding Claim 4, Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara teach: The method of claim 1.
Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara do not teach: the tuning information further identifies a number of sounding frame transmissions that are to be utilized for the RIS tuning procedure, a sounding frame transmission interval, and start time information for the RIS tuning procedure.
Regarding Claim 4, Jung teaches: the tuning information further identifies a number of sounding frame transmissions that are to be utilized for the RIS tuning procedure, a sounding frame transmission interval, and start time information for the RIS tuning procedure: “the periodic SRS configuration parameter may be time domain parameters related to periodic SRS transmission. For example, the periodic SRS configuration parameter may include at least one of a slot period, a slot offset, a start symbol, and a number of symbols for the periodic SRS” (Jung ¶ 0110).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed application to combine the disclosures of Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara with Jung to achieve the predictable result of enabling quicker communication between a base station, terminal, and RIS. According to Jung: “An electronic device according to the disclosure may transmit and receive signals more quickly by controlling a reflection element by considering a propagation delay between a base station and a terminal” (Jung ¶ 0013).
Regarding Claim 13, Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara teach: The media of claim 11.
Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara do not teach: the tuning information further identifies a number of sounding frame transmissions that are to be utilized for the RIS tuning procedure, a sounding frame transmission interval, and start time information for the RIS tuning procedure.
Regarding Claim 13, Jung teaches: the tuning information further identifies a number of sounding frame transmissions that are to be utilized for the RIS tuning procedure, a sounding frame transmission interval, and start time information for the RIS tuning procedure: “the periodic SRS configuration parameter may be time domain parameters related to periodic SRS transmission. For example, the periodic SRS configuration parameter may include at least one of a slot period, a slot offset, a start symbol, and a number of symbols for the periodic SRS” (Jung ¶ 0110).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed application to combine the disclosures of Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara with Jung to achieve the predictable result of enabling quicker communication between a base station, terminal, and RIS. According to Jung: “An electronic device according to the disclosure may transmit and receive signals more quickly by controlling a reflection element by considering a propagation delay between a base station and a terminal” (Jung ¶ 0013).
Regarding Claim 18, Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara teach: The system of claim 16.
Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara do not teach: the tuning information further identifies a number of sounding frame transmissions that are to be utilized for the RIS tuning procedure, a sounding frame transmission interval, and start time information for the RIS tuning procedure.
Regarding Claim 18, Jung teaches: the tuning information further identifies a number of sounding frame transmissions that are to be utilized for the RIS tuning procedure, a sounding frame transmission interval, and start time information for the RIS tuning procedure: “the periodic SRS configuration parameter may be time domain parameters related to periodic SRS transmission. For example, the periodic SRS configuration parameter may include at least one of a slot period, a slot offset, a start symbol, and a number of symbols for the periodic SRS” (Jung ¶ 0110).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed application to combine the disclosures of Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara with Jung to achieve the predictable result of enabling quicker communication between a base station, terminal, and RIS. According to Jung: “An electronic device according to the disclosure may transmit and receive signals more quickly by controlling a reflection element by considering a propagation delay between a base station and a terminal” (Jung ¶ 0013).
Claims 7, 15, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara in further view of Åström et al. (US 2023/0246674), hereinafter Åström.
Regarding Claim 7, Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara teach: The method of claim 1.
Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara do not teach: the RIS tuning procedure is performed for a plurality of wireless clients in which the RIS tuning procedure comprises a plurality of RIS tuning cycles in which, for each tuning cycle of the plurality of tuning cycles, the wireless AP performs a plurality of sounding frame transmissions in which the RIS device is to configure the plurality of configurable reflecting elements according to a corresponding dispersion mode configuration of the plurality of dispersion mode configurations for each sounding frame transmission of the plurality of sounding frame transmissions.
Regarding Claim 7, Åström teaches: the RIS tuning procedure is performed for a plurality of wireless clients in which the RIS tuning procedure comprises a plurality of RIS tuning cycles in which, for each tuning cycle of the plurality of RIS tuning cycles, the wireless AP performs a plurality of sounding frame transmissions in which the RIS device is to configure the plurality of configurable reflecting elements according to a corresponding dispersion mode configuration of the plurality of dispersion mode configurations for each sounding frame transmission of the plurality of sounding frame transmissions: “The network node 18 then determines a configuration in the configuration set for communication with a particular wireless device 14 in this example (Block S102). This can be done in different ways, for example, by receiving signals from the WD at a time instance where the network node 18 knows the particular rIS 20 setting. For example, the network node 18 may send synchronization signal information at times, T1, T2, . . . TN, the synchronization signal information at time Tn causing the rIS 20 to be configured according to a setting Sn at time Tn . . . Thus, the network node 18 may determine a response received at time rTi to be associated with a corresponding rIS 20 setting Si for that WD 14 . . . Then, at Tn, the network node 18 transmits control/data signaling to the WD 14 on the determined second resource set allocation (Block S108). Note that in some embodiments, the rIS 20 may be set with different settings simultaneously to reflect at multiple angles simultaneously. In some embodiments, different settings may be for different areas of the rIS 20. Depending on which reflected beam the WD 14 receives, the WD 14 may perform a random access (RA) at different times, and the network node 18 can determine which beam the WD is receiving based on the RA time” (Åström ¶ 0067).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed application to combine the disclosures of Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara with Åström for the purpose of configuring an RIS with the proper configurations to facilitate partial-LOS signaling. According to Åström: “Thus, to intelligently use these reconfigurable reflective surfaces, the network node is equipped to identify a particular configuration that will best facilitate a pseudo-LOS. The configurations may be made known to the network node at the time of deployment of the rIS and/or the network node, or the configurations may be made known to the network node at or before a time of resource allocation to a WD” (Åström ¶ 0013).
Regarding Claim 15, Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara teach: The media of claim 11.
Ali, Baligh, and Amara do not teach: the RIS tuning procedure is performed for a plurality of wireless clients in which the RIS tuning procedure comprises a plurality of RIS tuning cycles in which, for each tuning cycle of the plurality of tuning cycles, the wireless AP performs a plurality of sounding frame transmissions in which the RIS device is to configure the plurality of configurable reflecting elements according to a corresponding dispersion mode configuration of the plurality of dispersion mode configurations for each sounding frame transmission of the plurality of sounding frame transmissions.
Regarding Claim 15, Åström teaches: the RIS tuning procedure is performed for a plurality of wireless clients in which the RIS tuning procedure comprises a plurality of RIS tuning cycles in which, for each tuning cycle of the plurality of RIS tuning cycles, the wireless AP performs a plurality of sounding frame transmissions in which the RIS device is to configure the plurality of configurable reflecting elements according to a corresponding dispersion mode configuration of the plurality of dispersion mode configurations for each sounding frame transmission of the plurality of sounding frame transmissions: “The network node 18 then determines a configuration in the configuration set for communication with a particular wireless device 14 in this example (Block S102). This can be done in different ways, for example, by receiving signals from the WD at a time instance where the network node 18 knows the particular rIS 20 setting. For example, the network node 18 may send synchronization signal information at times, T1, T2, . . . TN, the synchronization signal information at time Tn causing the rIS 20 to be configured according to a setting Sn at time Tn . . . Thus, the network node 18 may determine a response received at time rTi to be associated with a corresponding rIS 20 setting Si for that WD 14 . . . Then, at Tn, the network node 18 transmits control/data signaling to the WD 14 on the determined second resource set allocation (Block S108). Note that in some embodiments, the rIS 20 may be set with different settings simultaneously to reflect at multiple angles simultaneously. In some embodiments, different settings may be for different areas of the rIS 20. Depending on which reflected beam the WD 14 receives, the WD 14 may perform a random access (RA) at different times, and the network node 18 can determine which beam the WD is receiving based on the RA time” (Åström ¶ 0067).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed application to combine the disclosures of Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara with Åström for the purpose of configuring an RIS with the proper configurations to facilitate partial-LOS signaling. According to Åström: “Thus, to intelligently use these reconfigurable reflective surfaces, the network node is equipped to identify a particular configuration that will best facilitate a pseudo-LOS. The configurations may be made known to the network node at the time of deployment of the rIS and/or the network node, or the configurations may be made known to the network node at or before a time of resource allocation to a WD” (Åström ¶ 0013).
Regarding Claim 20, Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara teach: The system of claim 16.
Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara do not teach: the RIS tuning procedure is performed for a plurality of wireless clients in which the RIS tuning procedure comprises a plurality of RIS tuning cycles in which, for each tuning cycle of the plurality of tuning cycles, the wireless AP performs a plurality of sounding frame transmissions in which the RIS device is to configure the plurality of configurable reflecting elements according to a corresponding dispersion mode configuration of the plurality of dispersion mode configurations for each sounding frame transmission of the plurality of sounding frame transmissions.
Regarding Claim 20, Åström teaches: the RIS tuning procedure is performed for a plurality of wireless clients in which the RIS tuning procedure comprises a plurality of RIS tuning cycles in which, for each tuning cycle of the plurality of RIS tuning cycles, the wireless AP performs a plurality of sounding frame transmissions in which the RIS device is to configure the plurality of configurable reflecting elements according to a corresponding dispersion mode configuration of the plurality of dispersion mode configurations for each sounding frame transmission of the plurality of sounding frame transmissions: “The network node 18 then determines a configuration in the configuration set for communication with a particular wireless device 14 in this example (Block S102). This can be done in different ways, for example, by receiving signals from the WD at a time instance where the network node 18 knows the particular rIS 20 setting. For example, the network node 18 may send synchronization signal information at times, T1, T2, . . . TN, the synchronization signal information at time Tn causing the rIS 20 to be configured according to a setting Sn at time Tn . . . Thus, the network node 18 may determine a response received at time rTi to be associated with a corresponding rIS 20 setting Si for that WD 14 . . . Then, at Tn, the network node 18 transmits control/data signaling to the WD 14 on the determined second resource set allocation (Block S108). Note that in some embodiments, the rIS 20 may be set with different settings simultaneously to reflect at multiple angles simultaneously. In some embodiments, different settings may be for different areas of the rIS 20. Depending on which reflected beam the WD 14 receives, the WD 14 may perform a random access (RA) at different times, and the network node 18 can determine which beam the WD is receiving based on the RA time” (Åström ¶ 0067).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed application to combine the disclosures of Ali, Baligh, Elshafie, and Amara with Åström for the purpose of configuring an RIS with the proper configurations to facilitate partial-LOS signaling. According to Åström: “Thus, to intelligently use these reconfigurable reflective surfaces, the network node is equipped to identify a particular configuration that will best facilitate a pseudo-LOS. The configurations may be made known to the network node at the time of deployment of the rIS and/or the network node, or the configurations may be made known to the network node at or before a time of resource allocation to a WD” (Åström ¶ 0013).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRADLEY DAVIS LYTLE whose telephone number is (703)756-4593. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM EST.
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/BRADLEY D LYTLE JR./Examiner, Art Unit 2473 /B.D.L./Examiner, Art Unit 2473
/KWANG B YAO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2473