DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Claims 1, 4, 11, 13, 16, and 20 are amended.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 06/18/2026 has been entered.
Claim Objections
Claim 4 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 4 discloses “wherein the performing joint processing on reference to obtain” in lines 2-3. For clarity and consistency, it is suggested to revise the limitation to “wherein the performing joint processing on reference signals to obtain”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rastegardoost et al., (hereinafter Rastegardoost), U.S. Publication No. 2020/0296635, in view of Abedini et al., (hereinafter Abedini), U.S. Publication No. 2021/0126694.
As per claim 1, Rastegardoost discloses a beam quality measurement method [paragraphs 0242, 0246, 0368, a beam quality measurement method (a beam management procedure; wireless device may measure quality of a beam pair link using one or more RSs)], comprising:
receiving, by a terminal, reference signals [paragraphs 0242, 0246, 0303, 0339, 0425, receiving, by a terminal, reference signals (wireless device may receive one or more RRC messages comprising at least one of parameters: a list of one or more reference signals (CSI-RS and/or SSB) identifying one or more candidate beams)], wherein the reference signals are transmitted by a network device at different moments by using a plurality of beams [fig. 18, 23, 25, paragraphs 0242, 0246, 0303, 0339, 0421, 0425, wherein the reference signals are transmitted by a network device at different moments by using a plurality of beams (RS for measuring quality of a beam pair link; upon detection of the SSB #x the wireless device may start a monitoring window)];
receiving, by the terminal, configuration information of the reference signals [paragraphs 0348, 0368, 0369, receiving, by the terminal, configuration information of the reference signals (the measurements on SSB and/or CSI-RS resources configured by BS; the configuration may be provided by RRC signaling)], wherein the configuration information comprises a joint processing criterion of the reference signals, wherein the joint processing criterion comprises a measurement result processing method based on layer 1 filtering and a measurement result processing method based on layer 3 filtering [fig. 17, 18, paragraphs 0366, 0368-0370, wherein the configuration information comprises a joint processing criterion of the reference signals, wherein the joint processing criterion comprises a measurement result processing method based on layer 1 filtering and a measurement result processing method based on layer 3 filtering (performing filtering at two levels of the reference signals, wherein the two level processing comprises a measurement result processing method based on layer 1 filtering (filtering performed on the measurements (layer 1 filtering) may be provided at point A1) and a measurement result processing method based on layer 3 filtering (filtering performed on the measurements (layer 3 filtering) may be provided at point C1))]; and
performing joint processing on reference signals to obtain a processing result [fig. 17, 18, paragraphs 0366, 0368-0370, performing joint processing on reference signals to obtain a processing result (performing filtering at two levels of the reference signals of a same beam of the network device (e.g., beam specific measurements) and of a same beam of the wireless auxiliary device to obtain a processing result (the wireless device may measure at least one beam of a cell (e.g., serving cell and/or neighboring non-serving cell(s))))], wherein the joint processing uses the measurement result processing method based on layer 1 filtering or the measurement result processing method based on layer 3 filtering [fig. 17, 18, paragraphs 0366, 0368-0370, wherein the joint processing uses the measurement result processing method based on layer 1 filtering or the measurement result processing method based on layer 3 filtering (performing filtering at two levels of the reference signals, wherein the two level processing comprises a measurement result processing method based on layer 1 filtering (filtering performed on the measurements (layer 1 filtering) may be provided at point A1) and a measurement result processing method based on layer 3 filtering (filtering performed on the measurements (layer 3 filtering) may be provided at point C1))].
Rastegardoost does not explicitly disclose reference signals forwarded by a wireless auxiliary device and are separately forwarded by the wireless auxiliary device at different moments by using a plurality of beams.
However, Abedini teaches reference signals forwarded by a wireless auxiliary device [fig. 7, 8, paragraphs 0101, 0165, 0206, reference signals forwarded by a wireless auxiliary device (the base station 802 may transmit a set of reference signals 838 that is received by the UE 804 on the access link 812 through the relay device 806)] and are separately forwarded by the wireless auxiliary device at different moments by using a plurality of beams [fig. 6-8, paragraphs 0115, 0128, 0154, 0165, 0206, separately forwarded by the wireless auxiliary device at different moments by using a plurality of beams (during one of the intervals 610a-f, at least one beam pair (or two beam pairs having a beam of the relay device in common) of the at least one subset may be sufficient for communicating control signaling 614)]; and wherein the reference signals are sent by the network device to the wireless auxiliary device in a same beam, and then forwarded by the wireless auxiliary device to the terminal in a same beam [paragraphs 0041, 0048, 0077, 0078, 0085, 0100, 0120, 0145, 0153, 0171, 0174, 0204, 0218, 0225, wherein the reference signals are sent by the network device to the wireless auxiliary device in a same beam, and then forwarded by the wireless auxiliary device to the terminal in a same beam (transmit and receive directions for one or more of the base station 102/180, the relay device 106, and/or the UE 104 may or may not be the same; communication between the relay device 706 and the UE 704 on the access link 712, and the base station 702 may configure respective active or serving beams for uplink and/or downlink communication on the access link 712 between the relay device 706 and the UE 704 based sets of uplink and/or downlink candidate beam pairs)].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the method described in Rastegardoost by including reference signals forwarded by a wireless auxiliary device as taught by Abedini because it would provide the Rastegardoost’is method with the enhanced capability of facilitating beam training with relay link [Abedini, Abstract, paragraph 0079].
As per claim 2, Rastegardoost discloses the beam quality measurement method according to claim 1, wherein the configuration information further comprises at least one of the following:
an identifier or a port number of the reference signals; a time-frequency resource parameter of the reference signals; a time configuration parameter used to perform reference signal measurement behavior, wherein the time configuration parameter comprises: a start time and an end time of a time window of measurement behavior, or a time length of a time window of measurement behavior, a measurement period, and a minimum time interval of measurement behavior on two adjacent reference signals [paragraphs 0224, 0226, 0230, 0246, 0414, an identifier or a port number of the reference signal; a time-frequency resource parameter of the reference signal (a base station may semi-statically configure a UE with one or more SRS configuration parameters indicating at least one of following: a SRS resource configuration identifier, a number of SRS ports, time domain behavior of SRS resource configuration; scheduled time/frequency duration for a UE)].
As per claim 3, the modified Rastegardoost discloses the beam quality measurement method according to claim 2, wherein the joint processing comprises layer 1 filtering, and the configuration information further comprises at least one of the following:
a quantity of beams of the wireless auxiliary device; an execution time length and an execution period of a beam of the wireless auxiliary device, wherein the execution period is less than a time length of a time window of measurement behavior; a quantity of to-be-measured beams of the wireless auxiliary device and a beam execution time of the to-be-measured beam; or a beam filtering rule of the wireless auxiliary device, wherein the beam filtering rule comprises: selecting Y strongest beams from a plurality of measured beams for layer 1 filtering or selecting Y best measurement results after layer 1 filtering and reporting the Y best measurement results to an upper layer, wherein Y is a positive integer [fig. 18, paragraphs 0349, 0366, 0368-0370, a quantity of beams of the wireless auxiliary device; selecting Y strongest beams from a plurality of measured beams for layer 1 filtering or selecting Y best measurement results after layer 1 filtering and reporting the Y best measurement results to an upper layer, wherein Y is a positive integer (beam measurement quantities to be included in measurement reports may be configured by the network the measurement results of the X best beams; wireless device may perform filtering at two different levels)].
As per claim 4, the modified Rastegardoost discloses the beam quality measurement method according to claim 3, wherein the performing joint processing on reference to obtain a processing result comprises:
inputting measurement results of the reference signals of the same beam of the network device and the reference signals of the same beam of the wireless auxiliary device into a layer 1 filter according to the configuration information to obtain the processing result [fig. 17, 18, paragraphs 0368-0370, inputting measurement results of the reference signals of the same beam of the network device and the reference signals of the same beam of the wireless auxiliary device into a layer 1 filter according to the configuration information to obtain the processing result (the wireless device may measure at least one beam of a cell (e.g., serving cell and/or neighboring non-serving cell(s)); inputs measures at point A may inter layer 1 filtering; the configuration of the beam filters may be provided by RRC signaling)].
As per claim 5, the modified Rastegardoost discloses the beam quality measurement method according to claim 3, further comprising:
determining, by the terminal, a quantity N of times of parallel layer 1 filtering corresponding to the reference signals according to the quantity of beams of the wireless auxiliary device or the quantity of to-be-measured beams of the wireless auxiliary device [fig. 18, paragraphs 0224, 0368-0370, determining, by the terminal, a quantity N of times of parallel layer 1 filtering corresponding to the reference signals according to the quantity of beams of the wireless auxiliary device (inputs measures (parallel layer 1 filtering) at point A may inter layer 1 filtering)].
As per claim 6, Rastegardoost discloses the beam quality measurement method according to claim 3, further comprising:
selecting, by the terminal, Y results from N parallel layer 1 filtering results according to the beam filtering rule and reporting the Y results to the upper layer [fig. 18, paragraphs 0224, 0281, 0286, 0368-0370, selecting, by the terminal, Y results from N parallel layer 1 filtering results according to the beam filtering rule and reporting the Y results to the upper layer (the wireless device may receive from higher layers, among other information, one or more SS/PBCH block indexes; measurements) may be reported by layer 1 to layer 3 after layer 1 filtering at point A1 beam specific measurements)].
As per claim 7, the modified Rastegardoost discloses the beam quality measurement method according to claim 3, further comprising:
measuring, by a physical layer of the terminal, correlation between reference signals of different beams of the wireless auxiliary device [fig. 17, 18, paragraphs 0368-0370, measuring, by a physical layer of the terminal, correlation between reference signals of different beams of the wireless auxiliary device (wireless device may perform filtering at two different levels: at the physical layer to derive beam quality; measurements may inter to the physical layer)], and performing at least one of the following:
reporting a correlation measurement result to the upper layer; or selecting, according to the correlation measurement result, whether to combine measurement results of the reference signals of the different beams of the wireless auxiliary device and reporting a combined result to the upper layer [fig. 18, paragraphs 0224, 0281, 0286, 0368-0370, reporting a correlation measurement result to the upper layer; or selecting, according to the correlation measurement result, whether to combine measurement results of the reference signals of the different beams of the wireless auxiliary device and reporting a combined result to the upper layer (measurements may be reported by layer 1 to layer 3 after layer 1 filtering at point A1 beam specific measurements may be consolidated to derive cell quality; measurement (e.g. cell quality) derived from beam-specific measurements may be reported to layer 3 after beam consolidation/selection at point B)].
As per claim 8, the modified Rastegardoost discloses the beam quality measurement method according to claim 2, wherein the joint processing comprises layer 3 filtering, and the configuration information further comprises at least one of the following:
a quantity of beams of the wireless auxiliary device; an execution time length and an execution period of a beam of the wireless auxiliary device, wherein the execution period is greater than a time length of a time window of measurement behavior; or a quantity of to-be-measured beams of the wireless auxiliary device and a beam execution time of the to-be-measured beam [fig. 18, paragraphs 0349, 0366, 0368-0370, a quantity of beams of the wireless auxiliary device (beam measurement quantities to be included in measurement reports may be configured by the network the measurement results of the X best beams; wireless device may perform filtering at two different levels)].
As per claim 9, the modified Rastegardoost discloses the beam quality measurement method according to claim 8, further comprising:
determining, by the terminal, a quantity N of times of parallel layer 3 filtering corresponding to the reference signals according to the quantity of beams of the wireless auxiliary device or the quantity of to-be-measured beams of the wireless auxiliary device [fig. 18, paragraphs 0368-0370, 0416, determining, by the terminal, a quantity N of times of parallel layer 3 filtering corresponding to the reference signals according to the quantity of beams of the wireless auxiliary device or the quantity of to-be-measured beams of the wireless auxiliary device (K beams may correspond to the measurements on SSB and/or CSI-RS resources configured for L3 mobility by BS and detected by the wireless device at L1)].
As per claim 10, the modified Rastegardoost discloses the beam quality measurement method according to claim 8, wherein the reference signals meet at least one of the following:
reference signals in one time window are forwarded by the same beam of the wireless auxiliary device; or beams of the wireless auxiliary device that are corresponding to different configured time windows are different [fig. 18, 25, paragraphs 0368-0370, 0421, 0425, reference signals in one time window are forwarded by the same beam of the wireless auxiliary device (upon detection of the SSB #x in subframe/slot/symbol “n”, the wireless device may start a monitoring window)].
As per claim 11, the modified Rastegardoost discloses the beam quality measurement method according to claim 8, wherein the performing joint processing on reference signals to obtain a processing result comprises:
inputting an output result of a layer 1 filter into a corresponding layer 3 filter according to the configuration information to obtain the processing result [fig. 18, paragraphs 0368-0370, inputting an output result of a layer 1 filter into a corresponding layer 3 filter according to the configuration information to obtain the processing result (measurements (e.g., beam specific measurements) may be reported by layer 1 to layer 3 after layer 1 filtering at point A1 beam specific measurements)].
As per claim 12, Rastegardoost discloses the beam quality measurement method according to claim 1, wherein the processing result comprises beam information of a plurality of beams of the wireless auxiliary device, and the method further comprises:
reporting the beam information, wherein the beam information comprises identifiers of a plurality of strongest beams [fig. 17, 18, paragraphs 0368-0370, reporting the beam information, wherein the beam information comprises identifiers of a plurality of strongest beams (the measurement results of the X best beams if the wireless device)].
As per claim 13, Rastegardoost discloses a terminal, comprising a processor; a memory having a computer program or an instruction stored thereon, wherein the program or the instruction, when executed by the processor [fig. 3, paragraphs 0206, 0212, terminal, comprising a processor; a memory having a computer program or an instruction stored thereon, wherein the program or the instruction, when executed by the processor (node (e.g. wireless device, base station, AMF, SMF, UPF, servers, switches, antennas, and/or the like) may comprise one or more processors, and memory storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors causes the node to perform certain processes and/or functions)], causes the processor to implement a beam quality measurement method [paragraphs 0242, 0246, 0368, a beam quality measurement method (a beam management procedure; wireless device may measure quality of a beam pair link using one or more RSs)], comprising:
receiving reference signals [paragraphs 0242, 0246, 0303, 0339, 0425, receiving reference signals (wireless device may receive one or more RRC messages comprising at least one of parameters: a list of one or more reference signals (CSI-RS and/or SSB) identifying one or more candidate beams)] wherein the reference signals are transmitted by a network device at different moments by using a plurality of beams [fig. 18, 23, 25, paragraphs 0242, 0246, 0303, 0339, 0421, 0425, wherein the reference signals are transmitted by a network device at different moments by using a plurality of beams (RS for measuring quality of a beam pair link; upon detection of the SSB #x the wireless device may start a monitoring window)];
receiving configuration information of the reference signals [paragraphs 0348, 0368, 0369, receiving configuration information of the reference signals (the measurements on SSB and/or CSI-RS resources configured by BS; the configuration may be provided by RRC signaling)], wherein the configuration information comprises a joint processing criterion of the reference signals, wherein the joint processing criterion comprises a measurement result processing method based on layer 1 filtering and a measurement result processing method based on layer 3 filtering [fig. 17, 18, paragraphs 0366, 0368-0370, wherein the configuration information comprises a joint processing criterion of the reference signals, wherein the joint processing criterion comprises a measurement result processing method based on layer 1 filtering and a measurement result processing method based on layer 3 filtering (performing filtering at two levels of the reference signals, wherein the two level processing comprises a measurement result processing method based on layer 1 filtering (filtering performed on the measurements (layer 1 filtering) may be provided at point A1) and a measurement result processing method based on layer 3 filtering (filtering performed on the measurements (layer 3 filtering) may be provided at point C1))]; and
performing joint processing on reference signals to obtain a processing result [fig. 17, 18, paragraphs 0366, 0368-0370, performing joint processing on reference signals to obtain a processing result (performing filtering at two levels of the reference signals of a same beam of the network device (e.g., beam specific measurements) and of a same beam of the wireless auxiliary device to obtain a processing result (the wireless device may measure at least one beam of a cell (e.g., serving cell and/or neighboring non-serving cell(s))))], wherein the joint processing uses the measurement result processing method based on layer 1 filtering or the measurement result processing method based on layer 3 filtering [fig. 17, 18, paragraphs 0366, 0368-0370, wherein the joint processing uses the measurement result processing method based on layer 1 filtering or the measurement result processing method based on layer 3 filtering (performing filtering at two levels of the reference signals, wherein the two level processing comprises a measurement result processing method based on layer 1 filtering (filtering performed on the measurements (layer 1 filtering) may be provided at point A1) and a measurement result processing method based on layer 3 filtering (filtering performed on the measurements (layer 3 filtering) may be provided at point C1))].
Rastegardoost does not explicitly disclose reference signals forwarded by a wireless auxiliary device and are separately forwarded by the wireless auxiliary device at different moments by using a plurality of beams.
However, Abedini teaches reference signals forwarded by a wireless auxiliary device [fig. 7, 8, paragraphs 0101, 0165, 0206, reference signals forwarded by a wireless auxiliary device (the base station 802 may transmit a set of reference signals 838 that is received by the UE 804 on the access link 812 through the relay device 806)] and are separately forwarded by the wireless auxiliary device at different moments by using a plurality of beams [fig. 6-8, paragraphs 0115, 0128, 0154, 0165, 0206, separately forwarded by the wireless auxiliary device at different moments by using a plurality of beams (during one of the intervals 610a-f, at least one beam pair (or two beam pairs having a beam of the relay device in common) of the at least one subset may be sufficient for communicating control signaling 614)]; and wherein the reference signals are sent by the network device to the wireless auxiliary device in a same beam, and then forwarded by the wireless auxiliary device to the terminal in a same beam [paragraphs 0041, 0048, 0077, 0078, 0085, 0100, 0120, 0145, 0153, 0171, 0174, 0204, 0218, 0225, wherein the reference signals are sent by the network device to the wireless auxiliary device in a same beam, and then forwarded by the wireless auxiliary device to the terminal in a same beam (transmit and receive directions for one or more of the base station 102/180, the relay device 106, and/or the UE 104 may or may not be the same; communication between the relay device 706 and the UE 704 on the access link 712, and the base station 702 may configure respective active or serving beams for uplink and/or downlink communication on the access link 712 between the relay device 706 and the UE 704 based sets of uplink and/or downlink candidate beam pairs)].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the terminal described in Rastegardoost by including reference signals forwarded by a wireless auxiliary device as taught by Abedini because it would provide the Rastegardoost’is terminal with the enhanced capability of facilitating beam training with relay link [Abedini, Abstract, paragraph 0079].
As per claim 14, Rastegardoost discloses the terminal according to claim 13, wherein the configuration information further comprises at least one of the following:
an identifier or a port number of the reference signals; a time-frequency resource parameter of the reference signals; a time configuration parameter used to perform reference signal measurement behavior, wherein the time configuration parameter comprises: a start time and an end time of a time window of measurement behavior, or a time length of a time window of measurement behavior, a measurement period, and a minimum time interval of measurement behavior on two adjacent reference signals [paragraphs 0224, 0226, 0230, 0246, 0414, an identifier or a port number of the reference signal; a time-frequency resource parameter of the reference signal (a base station may semi-statically configure a UE with one or more SRS configuration parameters indicating at least one of following: a SRS resource configuration identifier, a number of SRS ports, time domain behavior of SRS resource configuration; scheduled time/frequency duration for a UE)].
As per claim 15, the modified Rastegardoost discloses the terminal according to claim 14, wherein the joint processing comprises layer 1 filtering, and the configuration information further comprises at least one of the following:
a quantity of beams of the wireless auxiliary device; an execution time length and an execution period of a beam of the wireless auxiliary device, wherein the execution period is less than a time length of a time window of measurement behavior; a quantity of to-be-measured beams of the wireless auxiliary device and a beam execution time of the to-be-measured beam; or a beam filtering rule of the wireless auxiliary device, wherein the beam filtering rule comprises: selecting Y strongest beams from a plurality of measured beams for layer 1 filtering or selecting Y best measurement results after layer 1 filtering and reporting the Y best measurement results to an upper layer, wherein Y is a positive integer [fig. 18, paragraphs 0349, 0366, 0368-0370, a quantity of beams of the wireless auxiliary device; selecting Y strongest beams from a plurality of measured beams for layer 1 filtering or selecting Y best measurement results after layer 1 filtering and reporting the Y best measurement results to an upper layer, wherein Y is a positive integer (beam measurement quantities to be included in measurement reports may be configured by the network the measurement results of the X best beams; wireless device may perform filtering at two different levels)].
As per claim 16, the modified Rastegardoost discloses the terminal according to claim 15, wherein the performing joint processing on reference signals to obtain a processing result comprises:
inputting measurement results of the reference signals of the same beam of the network device and the reference signals of the same beam of the wireless auxiliary device into a layer 1 filter according to the configuration information to obtain the processing result [fig. 17, 18, paragraphs 0368-0370, inputting measurement results of the reference signals of the same beam of the network device and the reference signals of the same beam of the wireless auxiliary device into a layer 1 filter according to the configuration information to obtain the processing result (the wireless device may measure at least one beam of a cell (e.g., serving cell and/or neighboring non-serving cell(s)); inputs measures at point A may inter layer 1 filtering; the configuration of the beam filters may be provided by RRC signaling)].
As per claim 17, the modified Rastegardoost discloses the terminal according to claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:
determining a quantity N of times of parallel layer 1 filtering corresponding to the reference signals according to the quantity of beams of the wireless auxiliary device or the quantity of to-be- measured beams of the wireless auxiliary device [fig. 18, paragraphs 0224, 0368-0370, determining a quantity N of times of parallel layer 1 filtering corresponding to the reference signals according to the quantity of beams of the wireless auxiliary device (inputs measures (parallel layer 1 filtering) at point A may inter layer 1 filtering)].
As per claim 18, Rastegardoost discloses the terminal according to claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:
selecting Y results from N parallel layer 1 filtering results according to the beam filtering rule and reporting the Y results to the upper layer [fig. 18, paragraphs 0224, 0281, 0286, 0368-0370, selecting Y results from N parallel layer 1 filtering results according to the beam filtering rule and reporting the Y results to the upper layer (the wireless device may receive from higher layers, among other information, one or more SS/PBCH block indexes; measurements) may be reported by layer 1 to layer 3 after layer 1 filtering at point A1 beam specific measurements)].
As per claim 19, the modified Rastegardoost discloses the terminal according to claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:
measuring, by a physical layer of the terminal, correlation between reference signals of different beams of the wireless auxiliary device [fig. 17, 18, paragraphs 0368-0370, measuring, by a physical layer of the terminal, correlation between reference signals of different beams of the wireless auxiliary device (wireless device may perform filtering at two different levels: at the physical layer to derive beam quality; measurements may inter to the physical layer)], and performing at least one of the following:
reporting a correlation measurement result to the upper layer; or selecting, according to the correlation measurement result, whether to combine measurement results of the reference signals of the different beams of the wireless auxiliary device and reporting a combined result to the upper layer [fig. 18, paragraphs 0224, 0281, 0286, 0368-0370, reporting a correlation measurement result to the upper layer; or selecting, according to the correlation measurement result, whether to combine measurement results of the reference signals of the different beams of the wireless auxiliary device and reporting a combined result to the upper layer (measurements may be reported by layer 1 to layer 3 after layer 1 filtering at point A1 beam specific measurements may be consolidated to derive cell quality; measurement (e.g. cell quality) derived from beam-specific measurements may be reported to layer 3 after beam consolidation/selection at point B)].
As per claim 20, Rastegardoost discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, storing a computer program or an instruction that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to implement a beam quality measurement method [paragraphs 0242, 0246, 0368, a beam quality measurement method (a beam management procedure; wireless device may measure quality of a beam pair link using one or more RSs)], comprising:
receiving reference signals [paragraphs 0242, 0246, 0303, 0339, 0425, receiving reference signals (wireless device may receive one or more RRC messages comprising at least one of parameters: a list of one or more reference signals (CSI-RS and/or SSB) identifying one or more candidate beams)] wherein the reference signals are transmitted by a network device at different moments by using a plurality of beams [fig. 18, 23, 25, paragraphs 0242, 0246, 0303, 0339, 0421, 0425, wherein the reference signals are transmitted by a network device at different moments by using a plurality of beams (RS for measuring quality of a beam pair link; upon detection of the SSB #x the wireless device may start a monitoring window)];
receiving, by the terminal, configuration information of the reference signals [paragraphs 0348, 0368, 0369, receiving, by the terminal, configuration information of the reference signals (the measurements on SSB and/or CSI-RS resources configured by BS; the configuration may be provided by RRC signaling)], wherein the configuration information comprises a joint processing criterion of the reference signals, wherein the joint processing criterion comprises a measurement result processing method based on layer 1 filtering and a measurement result processing method based on layer 3 filtering [fig. 17, 18, paragraphs 0366, 0368-0370, wherein the configuration information comprises a joint processing criterion of the reference signals, wherein the joint processing criterion comprises a measurement result processing method based on layer 1 filtering and a measurement result processing method based on layer 3 filtering (performing filtering at two levels of the reference signals, wherein the two level processing comprises a measurement result processing method based on layer 1 filtering (filtering performed on the measurements (layer 1 filtering) may be provided at point A1) and a measurement result processing method based on layer 3 filtering (filtering performed on the measurements (layer 3 filtering) may be provided at point C1))]; and
performing joint processing on reference signals to obtain a processing result [fig. 17, 18, paragraphs 0366, 0368-0370, performing joint processing on reference signals to obtain a processing result (performing filtering at two levels of the reference signals of a same beam of the network device (e.g., beam specific measurements) and of a same beam of the wireless auxiliary device to obtain a processing result (the wireless device may measure at least one beam of a cell (e.g., serving cell and/or neighboring non-serving cell(s))))], wherein the joint processing uses the measurement result processing method based on layer 1 filtering or the measurement result processing method based on layer 3 filtering [fig. 17, 18, paragraphs 0366, 0368-0370, wherein the joint processing uses the measurement result processing method based on layer 1 filtering or the measurement result processing method based on layer 3 filtering (performing filtering at two levels of the reference signals, wherein the two level processing comprises a measurement result processing method based on layer 1 filtering (filtering performed on the measurements (layer 1 filtering) may be provided at point A1) and a measurement result processing method based on layer 3 filtering (filtering performed on the measurements (layer 3 filtering) may be provided at point C1))].
Rastegardoost does not explicitly disclose reference signals forwarded by a wireless auxiliary device and are separately forwarded by the wireless auxiliary device at different moments by using a plurality of beams.
However, Abedini teaches reference signals forwarded by a wireless auxiliary device [fig. 7, 8, paragraphs 0101, 0165, 0206, reference signals forwarded by a wireless auxiliary device (the base station 802 may transmit a set of reference signals 838 that is received by the UE 804 on the access link 812 through the relay device 806)] and are separately forwarded by the wireless auxiliary device at different moments by using a plurality of beams [fig. 6-8, paragraphs 0115, 0128, 0154, 0165, 0206, separately forwarded by the wireless auxiliary device at different moments by using a plurality of beams (during one of the intervals 610a-f, at least one beam pair (or two beam pairs having a beam of the relay device in common) of the at least one subset may be sufficient for communicating control signaling 614)]; and wherein the reference signals are sent by the network device to the wireless auxiliary device in a same beam, and then forwarded by the wireless auxiliary device to the terminal in a same beam [paragraphs 0041, 0048, 0077, 0078, 0085, 0100, 0120, 0145, 0153, 0171, 0174, 0204, 0218, 0225, wherein the reference signals are sent by the network device to the wireless auxiliary device in a same beam, and then forwarded by the wireless auxiliary device to the terminal in a same beam (transmit and receive directions for one or more of the base station 102/180, the relay device 106, and/or the UE 104 may or may not be the same; communication between the relay device 706 and the UE 704 on the access link 712, and the base station 702 may configure respective active or serving beams for uplink and/or downlink communication on the access link 712 between the relay device 706 and the UE 704 based sets of uplink and/or downlink candidate beam pairs)].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the medium described in Rastegardoost by including reference signals forwarded by a wireless auxiliary device as taught by Abedini because it would provide the Rastegardoost’is medium with the enhanced capability of facilitating beam training with relay link [Abedini, Abstract, paragraph 0079].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
John Wilson et al., U.S. Publication No. 2018/0220398 discloses the UE monitoring a downlink shared channel using a same beam (beam-pair link) as a downlink control channel.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JACKIE ZUNIGA ABAD whose telephone number is (571)270-7194. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:00pm.
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/JACKIE ZUNIGA ABAD/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
Prosecution Insights