DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Objections
Claims 2 and 12 are objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 2, line 6, a period “.” Is needed after “messages. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 12, line 7, a period “.” Is needed after “messages. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1,5,8,11,15 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Divakaran et al. (US 2023/0021077) in view of Meyuhas (US 2022/0201625).
Regarding claim 1, Divakaran et al. discloses a method (fig. 11), comprising: determining a resource (frequency spectrum) allocation regarding one or more multi-link operation (MLO) bands (i.e. dual mode embodiment operating in 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz) (P:0030 and P:0046); and allocating at least one of a transmit (TX) power in wirelessly transmitting in the one or more MLO bands to result in a time averaged specific absorption rate (TA-SAR) (i.e. The TX power controller 107 is further configured to determine transmission power for transmitting the packet based on the priority category and the TAS (i.e. TA-SAR) energy budget, and encode the packet for transmission via the one or more antennas using the determined transmission power (P:0066 and P:0072). Divakaran et al. differs from claim 1 of the claimed invention in that it does not explicit disclose allocating at least one of a transmit (TX) power, a TX duty cycle and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) rate in wirelessly transmitting in the one or more MLO bands to result in a time averaged specific absorption rate (TA-SAR) that is no greater than a predefined limit. Meyuhas teaches devices and method employing predictive back-off estimation schemes for SAR compliance (title/abstract), the transmission energy budget is based on one or more time-averaging specific absorption rate (TAS) parameters for regulating a radiation exposure to a user of the device. The one or more TAS parameters may include a time window or an average transmission power limit. The time window may be 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 100 seconds, or 6 minutes (i.e. no greater than a predefined limit), for example, and may be established by regulatory limits and therefore depend on a geographic region (e.g., a country) or a channel band. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Divakaran et al. with allocating at least one of a transmit (TX) power, a TX duty cycle and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) rate in wirelessly transmitting in the one or more MLO bands to result in a time averaged specific absorption rate (TA-SAR) that is no greater than a predefined limit in order for the wireless device to monitor its power where it does not exceed the SARs limit over a time period when determining a congestion level and when to apply a power and/or time backoff to regulate a radiation exposure to the user of the device when communicating using different frequency bands toward the network, as taught by Meyuhas.
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Divakaran et al. discloses a method as discussed supra in claims 1 and 11 above. Divakaran et al. differs from claims 5 and 15 of the present invention in that it does not explicit disclose arranging one or more TX traffics with respect to at least one of a downlink single-user (DL-SU) transmission, a DL multi-user (DL-MU) transmission and an uplink trigger-based (UL-TB) transmission. Meyuhas teaches Network access nodes 110 and 120 (and, optionally, other network access nodes of radio communication network 100 not explicitly shown in FIG. 1) may accordingly provide a radio access network (i.e. DL) to terminal devices 102 and 104 (i.e. single users)(and, optionally, other terminal devices of radio communication network 100 not explicitly shown in FIG. 1). In an exemplary cellular context, the radio access network provided by network access nodes 110 and 120 may enable terminal devices 102 and 104 to wirelessly access (i.e. UL) the core network via radio communications (fig. 1 and P:0036-P:0037). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Divakaran et al. with arranging one or more TX traffics with respect to at least one of a downlink single-user (DL-SU) transmission, a DL multi-user (DL-MU) transmission and an uplink trigger-based (UL-TB) transmission in order for a network device to send a downlink signal to the wireless device so that the wireless device could to provide the power needed to send a signal to the network device to complete a call to a distant party, as taught by Meyuhas.
Regarding claims 8 and 18, Divakaran et al. discloses a method as discussed supra in claims 1 and 11 above. Divakaran et al. differs from claims 8 and 18 of the present invention in that it does not explicit disclose arranging one or more TX traffics with respect to an uplink single-user (UL-SU) transmission. Meyuhas teaches the radio access network provided by network access nodes 110 and 120 may enable terminal devices 102 and 104 (i.e. single users) to wirelessly access (i.e. UL) the core network via radio communications (fig. 1 and P:0036-P:0037). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Divakaran et al. with arranging one or more TX traffics with respect to an uplink single-user (UL-SU) transmission in order for a network device to send a downlink signal to the wireless device so that the wireless device could to send a signal to the network device to complete a call to a distant party, as taught by Meyuhas.
Regarding claim 11, Divakaran et al. discloses an apparatus (wireless device)(abstract fig. 1), comprising: a transceiver configured to communicate wirelessly (transceiver circuitry and/or fig. 1 numbers 104a and 104b) (P:0039 and P:0027); and a processor (baseband processing circuitry)(fig. 1 number 108) coupled to the transceiver (fig. 1 numbers 104a and 104b) and configured to perform operations comprising: determining a resource (frequency spectrum) allocation regarding one or more multi-link operation (MLO) bands (i.e. dual mode embodiment operating in 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz) (P:0030 and P:0046); and allocating at least one of a transmit (TX) power in wirelessly transmitting in the one or more MLO bands to result in a time averaged specific absorption rate (TA-SAR) (i.e. The TX power controller 107 is further configured to determine transmission power for transmitting the packet based on the priority category and the TAS (i.e. TA-SAR) energy budget, and encode the packet for transmission via the one or more antennas using the determined transmission power (P:0066 and P:0072). Divakaran et al. differs from claim 11 of the claimed invention in that it does not explicit disclose allocating at least one of a transmit (TX) power, a TX duty cycle and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) rate in wirelessly transmitting in the one or more MLO bands to result in a time averaged specific absorption rate (TA-SAR) that is no greater than a predefined limit. Meyuhas teaches devices and method employing predictive back-off estimation schemes for SAR compliance (title/abstract), the transmission energy budget is based on one or more time-averaging specific absorption rate (TAS) parameters for regulating a radiation exposure to a user of the device. The one or more TAS parameters may include a time window or an average transmission power limit. The time window may be 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 100 seconds, or 6 minutes (i.e. no greater than a predefined limit), for example, and may be established by regulatory limits and therefore depend on a geographic region (e.g., a country) or a channel band. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Divakaran et al. with allocating at least one of a transmit (TX) power, a TX duty cycle and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) rate in wirelessly transmitting in the one or more MLO bands to result in a time averaged specific absorption rate (TA-SAR) that is no greater than a predefined limit in order for the wireless device to monitor its power where it does not exceed the SARs limit over a time period when determining a congestion level and when to apply a power and/or time backoff to regulate a radiation exposure to the user of the device when communicating using different frequency bands toward the network, as taught by Meyuhas.
5. Claim(s) 2, 4, 12 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Divakaran et al. (US 2023/0021077) in view of Meyuhas (US 2022/0201625) as applied to claims 1 and 11 above and in further view of Curtiss et al. (US 2022/0086770).
Regarding claims 2 and 12, the combination of Divakaran et al. and Meyuhas differs from claims 2 and 12 of the present invention in that they do not explicit disclose measuring a TX power limit of each of the one or more MLO bands which is mapped to a respective specific absorption rate (SAR) limit; and receiving one or more messages from one or more stations (STAs), wherein the determining comprises determining based on a result of the measuring and the one or more messages. Curtiss et al. teaches the UE 120 may simultaneously transmit signals using the first technology (e.g., 3G, 4G, IEEE 802.11ac, etc.) and the second technology (e.g., 5G, IEEE 802.11ad, etc.), in which RF exposure is measured using different metrics for the first technology and the second technology (e.g., SAR for the first technology and PD for the second technology). In this case, the processor 280 may determine a first maximum allowable power level for the first technology and a second maximum allowable power level for the second technology for transmissions in a time slot that comply with RF exposure limits. (P:0068), and in some aspects, a confidence level may be determined (e.g., based on data in a transmit buffer, transmit logs, communications (i.e. messages) received from another device, etc.) with respect to whether the device was transmitting during the portion of the time window corresponding to the missing RF exposure measurements, and the second transmission power determined based thereon. For example, comparison of the confidence level to a threshold may determine whether a zero or minimum transmission power level is allocated, or whether a maximum allowable power level (or other power level) is allocated to that portion of the time window. In some embodiments, a confidence level may be used to proportionally allocate transmission power to that portion of the time window (P:0091).`
Curtiss et al. does not teach receiving one or more messages from one or more stations (STAs), wherein the determining comprises determining based on a result of the measuring and the one or more messages. However, Curtiss et al. does teach the UE 120a may be configured to communicate directly with/transmit directly to another UE 120 (P:0038). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Divakaran et al. and Meyuhas with measuring a TX power limit of each of the one or more MLO bands which is mapped to a respective specific absorption rate (SAR) limit; and receiving one or more messages from one or more stations (STAs), wherein the determining comprises determining based on a result of the measuring and the one or more messages in order for the wireless device to comply with an RF exposure limits in real time when receiving communication from another wireless device and adjust the transmission power of the wireless device accordingly to the RF exposure limit when transmitting a response to the other wireless device, as taught by Curtiss et al..
Regarding claims 4 and 14, the combination of Divakaran et al. and Meyuhas differs from claims 4 and 14 of the present invention in that they do not explicit disclose allocating at least one of the TX power, the TX duty cycle and the MCS rate based on a TA-SAR measurement regarding a downlink (DL) transmission or an uplink (UL) transmission. Curtiss et al. teaches a method that may be performed by a user equipment (UE) (fig. 1a numbers 120 or 120a) generally includes transmitting a first signal at a first transmission power based on time-averaged RF exposure measurements over a time window (abstract and fig. 4) regarding an uplink transmission (i.e. UE communicating with a base station)(P:0076-P:0077). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Divakaran et al. and Meyuhas with allocating at least one of the TX power, the TX duty cycle and the MCS rate based on a TA-SAR measurement regarding a downlink (DL) transmission or an uplink (UL) transmission in order for the wireless device to comply with an RF exposure limits in real time and adjust the transmission power of the wireless device accordingly to comply with the RF exposure limit when transmitting a call through the base station to a distant party, as taught by Curtiss et al..
6. Claim(s) 3 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Divakaran et al. (US 2023/0021077) in view of Meyuhas (US 2022/0201625) and Curtiss et al. (US 2022/0086770) as applied to claims 1,2,11 and 12 above and in further view of Mohan et al. (US 9,380,536).
Regarding claims 3 and 13, the combination of Divakaran et al., Meyuhas and Curtiss et al. differs from claims 3 and 13 of the present invention in that they do not explicit disclose the one or more messages indicate information one or more receive (RX) performance indices comprising one or more of a received signal strength index (RSSI), a RX performance index (RX PER) and a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Mohan et al. teaches the use of D2D communication enables a UE to discover and interact with other devices within the D2D communication range, for various purposes including information sharing (col. 1 lines 9-13), and determining, by the processor of the mobile device, whether the received power level of the signal from the target device for D2D communications is above the received power level threshold comprises: obtaining one or more of: a received power (P.sub.RX) level, a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), and a signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the received signal from the target device; and comparing the obtained one or more of the P.sub.RX level, the RSSI, and the SNR with the received power level threshold. (col. 19, claim 6, lines 40-51). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify combination of Divakaran et al., Meyuhas and Curtiss et al. with the one or more messages indicate information one or more receive (RX) performance indices comprising one or more of a received signal strength index (RSSI), a RX performance index (RX PER) and a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in order for the wireless device to comply with an RF exposure limits in real time when receiving communication from another wireless device on how to adjust its power based upon the receive signal strength index of a message of the other wireless device, as taught by Mohan et al..
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 6,7,9,10,16,17,19 and 20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Regarding claims 6 and 16, the prior art of record fails to teach or suggest alone, or in combination arranging a low MCS traffic and controlling a high TX power at a high TX power limit band to enhance a transmission range; arranging a high MCS traffic and controlling a low TX power at a low TX power limit band to enhance a throughput; arranging the low MCS traffic and controlling a TX duty cycle at the high TX power limit band to enhance the transmission range; arranging the high MCS traffic and controlling the TX duty cycle at the low TX power limit band to enhance the throughput; arranging the low MCS traffic and controlling the TX power and the TX duty cycle at the high TX power limit band to enhance the transmission range; and arranging the high MCS traffic and controlling the TX power and the TX duty cycle at the low TX power limit band to enhance the throughput.
Regarding claims 7 and 17, the prior art of record fails to teach or suggest alone, or in combination arranging a low MCS traffic and controlling a high TX power at a high TA-SAR limit band to enhance a transmission range; arranging a high MCS traffic and controlling a low TX power at a low TA-SAR limit band to enhance a throughput; arranging the low MCS traffic and controlling a TX duty cycle at the high TA- SAR limit band to enhance the transmission range; arranging the high MCS traffic and controlling the TX duty cycle at the low TA- SAR limit band to enhance the throughput; arranging the low MCS traffic and controlling the TX power and the TX duty cycle at the high TA-SAR limit band to enhance the transmission range; and arranging the high MCS traffic and controlling the TX power and the TX duty cycle at the low TA-SAR limit band to enhance the throughput.
Regarding claims 9 and 19, the prior art of record fails to teach or suggest alone, or in combination arranging a low MCS traffic and controlling a high TX power at a high TX power limit band to enhance a transmission range; arranging a high MCS traffic and controlling a low TX power at a low TX power limit band to enhance a throughput; arranging the low MCS traffic and controlling a TX duty cycle at the high TX power limit band to enhance the transmission range; arranging the high MCS traffic and controlling the TX duty cycle at the low TX power limit band to enhance the throughput; arranging the low MCS traffic and controlling the TX power and the TX duty cycle at the high TX power limit band to enhance the transmission range; and arranging the high MCS traffic and controlling the TX power and the TX duty cycle at the low TX power limit band to enhance the throughput.
Regarding claims 10 and 20, the prior art of record fails to teach or suggest alone, or in combination arranging a low MCS traffic and controlling a high TX power at a high TA-SAR limit band to enhance a transmission range; arranging a high MCS traffic and controlling a low TX power at a low TA-SAR limit band to enhance a throughput; arranging the low MCS traffic and controlling a TX duty cycle at the high TA- SAR limit band to enhance the transmission range; arranging the high MCS traffic and controlling the TX duty cycle at the low TA- SAR limit band to enhance the throughput; arranging the low MCS traffic and controlling the TX power and the TX duty cycle at the high TA-SAR limit band to enhance the transmission range; and arranging the high MCS traffic and controlling the TX power and the TX duty cycle at the low TA-SAR limit band to enhance the throughput.
Conclusion
8. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sarkis et al. (US 2021/0266919) discloses generating coordination information for sidelink communications.
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/KEITH FERGUSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648
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