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 the independent claims filed on 01/05/2026 have been considered but are moot because the newly added limitations raises a new scope and do not apply to any of the references being used in the instant office action, thus rendering the applicant’s arguments moot.
The applicant also presented other arguments drawn to the various dependent claims. However, said other arguments are all dependency based, depending from the arguments drawn to the independent claims’ limitations discussed above.
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, 4, 9-11, 13-14, 19-21, 26 and 29-30 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US 2024/0014860, “Wang”) in view of Medra et al. (US 2022/0052764, “Medra”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Wang unless otherwise mentioned.
Wang comprises the following features:
With respect to independent claims:
Regarding claim 1, a method for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE),comprising:
receiving a message indicating a configuration (Note that Wang does not specifically describe ‘receiving a message’. This will be discussed in view of Medra.) of a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)), the RIS comprising a plurality of subsets of elements (See [0062 and Fig. 5] “The RIS implemented by the APD 180 includes an array of “N” configurable surface elements”),
wherein the configuration of the RIS ([0063] “the base station 120 and/or a UE 110 (e.g., a coordinating UE) manage a configuration of the RIS of the APD 180 through use of a surface-configuration codebook 508”) is based at least in part on a respective relative configuration of each subset of the plurality of subsets ([0066 and Fig. 5] “The surface-configuration information stored in a codebook can correspond to a full configuration that specifies an exact configuration (e.g., configure with this value) or a delta configuration that specifies a relative configuration (e.g., modify a current state by this value)…. the phase configuration 0 can specify an angular adjustment configuration for element 502 such that the configurable surface element 502 reflects the incident waveform with a “phase configuration 0” relative angular or directional shift…. As shown in FIG. 5, the base station 120 and/or the UE 110 communicate an indication to the APD 180 that specifies a surface configuration. In the present example, the indication specifies a surface configuration index 510 (SC index 510) that maps to a corresponding surface configuration of the APD 180. In response to receiving the indication, the APD manager 320 retrieves the surface configuration from the surface-configuration codebook 508 using the index and applies the surface configuration to the RIS.” See the table in Fig. 5 for phase configurations per index.);
selecting a first subset of element of the plurality of subsets of elements of the RIS ([0090] “the coordinating UE further apportions the reflection-access between the UEs 110, such as by apportioning a first subset of configurable surface elements to a first UE of the UEs 110, a second subset of configurable surface elements to a second UE of the UEs 110, and so forth.”) to facilitate communications with a network device based at least in part on the configuration of the RIS ([0059] “the coordinating UE and/or the base station 120 select a surface configuration for the RIS 404 that transforms at least a portion of a first wireless signal (e.g., signal ray 492) into a second wireless signal (e.g., signal ray 494) to mitigate the channel impairments by improving a received signal quality.”); and
communicating with the network device via the first subset of elements of the plurality of subsets of elements of RIS based at least in part on the selecting ([01141] “At 935, the base station 120, the first coordinating UE 901, and the other UEs 902 perform multiple signaling and control transactions to incorporate the APD 180 into the intra-UECS communication path(s) used by the UECS 903. To illustrate, the base station 120, the coordinating UE 901, and/or the other UEs 902 communicate apportioned APD-access (e.g., to the APD 180) using similar signaling and control transactions as described by the sub-diagram 730 of FIG. 7. .. the base station 120 apportions reflection-access to the APD 180 for use by the UECS 903 and indicates and/or communicates a configuration that indicates an allocation of time-partitioned reflection access to the APD and/or indicates an allocation of configurable surface elements for the apportioned reflection-access to the first coordinating UE 901. Alternatively or additionally, the base station 120 apportions and communicates control-access, such as by communicating a configuration that indicates an allocation of the physical resources of an APD-control channel (e.g., time-partitioned resources, frequency-partitioned resources, coding-scheme partitioned resources).),
wherein a second subset of elements of the plurality of subsets of elements of the RIS is allocated for a second UE, the first subset of elements being different from the second subset of elements ([0090 and Fig. 5] “the coordinating UE further apportions the reflection-access between the UEs 110, such as by apportioning a first subset of configurable surface elements to a first UE of the UEs 110, a second subset of configurable surface elements to a second UE of the UEs 110, and so forth.”).
It is noted that while disclosing a phase changing device, Wang does not specifically teach about a UE receiving a configuration. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Medra as follows;
receiving a message indicating a configuration ([Medra, 0127] “The network transmits 450 configuration information to the RIS 420 with beamforming and overlay transmission attributes via the auxiliary channel. The network sends 455 at least one downlink control information (DCI) message to the UE 430 including the attributes of the both the original signal being transmitted by the base station 410 and a signal that is being overlaid on the original signal by the RIS 420.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Wang by using the features of Medra in order to effectively convey RF signals such that “Additional aspects of the application provide signalling for configuration information that enable the overlay of information by the RIS.” [Medra, 0006].
Regarding claim 14, a method for wireless communications at a network device, comprising:
determining a configuration of a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) ([0042] “The BS APD manager 266 also selects surface configurations for the APD (e.g., RIS configurations), such as initial surface configurations and/or surface reconfigurations based on link-quality measurements, measurement reports”), the RIS comprising a plurality of subsets of elements (See [0062 and Fig. 5] “The RIS implemented by the APD 180 includes an array of “N” configurable surface elements”),
wherein the configuration of the RIS ([0063] “the base station 120 and/or a UE 110 (e.g., a coordinating UE) manage a configuration of the RIS of the APD 180 through use of a surface-configuration codebook 508”) is based at least in part on a respective relative configuration of each subset of the plurality of subsets ([0066 and Fig. 5] “The surface-configuration information stored in a codebook can correspond to a full configuration that specifies an exact configuration (e.g., configure with this value) or a delta configuration that specifies a relative configuration (e.g., modify a current state by this value)…. the phase configuration 0 can specify an angular adjustment configuration for element 502 such that the configurable surface element 502 reflects the incident waveform with a “phase configuration 0” relative angular or directional shift…. As shown in FIG. 5, the base station 120 and/or the UE 110 communicate an indication to the APD 180 that specifies a surface configuration. In the present example, the indication specifies a surface configuration index 510 (SC index 510) that maps to a corresponding surface configuration of the APD 180. In response to receiving the indication, the APD manager 320 retrieves the surface configuration from the surface-configuration codebook 508 using the index and applies the surface configuration to the RIS.” See the table in Fig. 5 for phase configurations per index.);
transmitting, for a first user equipment (UE), a message indicating the configuration of the RIS (This will be discussed in view of Medra.); and
communicating with the first UE via a first subset of elements of the plurality of subsets of elements of the RIS based at least in part on the configuration of the RIS ([0114 and Fig. 9] “At 935, the base station 120, the first coordinating UE 901, and the other UEs 902 perform multiple signaling and control transactions to incorporate the APD 180 into the intra-UECS communication path(s) used by the UECS 903. To illustrate, the base station 120, the coordinating UE 901, and/or the other UEs 902 communicate apportioned APD-access (e.g., to the APD 180) using similar signaling and control transactions as described by the sub-diagram 730 of FIG. 7. .. the base station 120 apportions reflection-access to the APD 180 for use by the UECS 903 and indicates and/or communicates a configuration that indicates an allocation of time-partitioned reflection access to the APD and/or indicates an allocation of configurable surface elements for the apportioned reflection-access to the first coordinating UE 901. Alternatively or additionally, the base station 120 apportions and communicates control-access, such as by communicating a configuration that indicates an allocation of the physical resources of an APD-control channel (e.g., time-partitioned resources, frequency-partitioned resources, coding-scheme partitioned resources).); and
communicating with a second UE via a second subset of elements of the plurality of subsets of elements of the RIS([0122 and Fig. 10] “At 1020, the base station 120, the second coordinating UE 904, and the other UEs 905 coordinate intra-UECS communications using the APD 180. This can include coordinating the intra-UECS communications using similar signaling and control transactions described by the sub-diagram 765 of FIG. 7, where the second coordinating UE 904 controls the surface configuration of the APD 180 by directly communicating with the APD over an APD-control channel (e.g., using apportioned control-access). Alternatively, this can include coordinating the intra-UECS communications using similar signaling and control transactions described by the sub-diagram 825 of FIG. 8, where base station 120 controls the surface configuration of APD 180 on behalf of the UECS 906. Thus, the base station 120 optionally communicates surface configurations to the APD 180 as part of coordinating the intra-UECS communications.”), the first subset of elements being different from the second subset of elements (See Fig. 5 for 502, 504 and 506, for instance..
It is noted that while disclosing a phase changing device, Wang does not specifically teach about a UE receiving a configuration. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Medra as follows;
transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a message indicating the configuration of the RIS ([Medra, 0127] “The network transmits 450 configuration information to the RIS 420 with beamforming and overlay transmission attributes via the auxiliary channel. The network sends 455 at least one downlink control information (DCI) message to the UE 430 including the attributes of the both the original signal being transmitted by the base station 410 and a signal that is being overlaid on the original signal by the RIS 420.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Wang by using the features of Medra in order to effectively convey RF signals such that “Additional aspects of the application provide signalling for configuration information that enable the overlay of information by the RIS.” [Medra, 0006].
Regarding claim 26, it is an apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim 1, except the limitations, “a processor; memory in electronic communication with the processor; and instructions stored in the memory” (See Fig. 2 for 208 Processor(s) and CRM 210.), and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 30, it is an apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim 14, except the limitations, “a processor; memory in electronic communication with the processor; and instructions stored in the memory” (See Fig. 2 for 258 Processor(s) and CRM 260.), and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 14.
With respect to dependent claims:
Regarding claims 4 and 29, the method of claim 1 and the apparatus of claim 26, respectively, the method further comprising:
accessing a wireless network comprising the network device (See Fig. 4),
wherein the message is received based at least in part on accessing the wireless network and the message assigns the UE the first subset of elements of the plurality of subsets of elements of the RIS for communication ([0090] “such as by apportioning a first subset of configurable surface elements to a first UE of the UEs 110, a second subset of configurable surface elements to a second UE of the UEs 110, and so forth.”).
Regarding claims 9 and 19, the method of claim 1 and the method of claim 14, respectively, wherein: the message assigns the RIS to the UE for a set of time resources, a set of frequency resources, or both (See below [0114].); and the communicating comprises communicating with the network device via the assigned RIS for the set of time resources, the set of frequency resources, or both ([0114] “the base station 120 apportions and communicates control-access, such as by communicating a configuration that indicates an allocation of the physical resources of an APD-control channel (e.g., time-partitioned resources, frequency-partitioned resources, coding-scheme partitioned resources).”).
Regarding claim 10, the method of claim 1, wherein the configuration of the RIS indicates a set of time resources, a set of frequency resources, or both assigned to the RIS ([0114] “the base station 120 apportions and communicates control-access, such as by communicating a configuration that indicates an allocation of the physical resources of an APD-control channel (e.g., time-partitioned resources, frequency-partitioned resources, coding-scheme partitioned resources).”.
Regarding claim 11, the method of claim 1, wherein the configuration of the RIS comprises a location of the RIS ([0080] “the base station 120 indicates APD information to the coordinating UE (e.g., the UE 111). This includes indicating any combination of APD identification information, APD position information, APD control channel information, surface-configuration codebooks, and so forth.”), an uplink reflection angle of the RIS, a downlink reflection angle of the RIS, or a combination thereof (These alternatives are not examined.).
Regarding claim 13, the method of claim 1, wherein the message comprises a downlink control information message (This alternative is not examined.), a radio resource control configuration message ([0072] “the base station 120 transmits a (respective) radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message (not illustrated) that directs each UE to perform measurements. In response to the RRC reconfiguration message,”), a medium access control control element, or a combination thereof (These alternatives are not examined.).
Regarding claim 20, the method of claim 14,
wherein determining the configuration of the RIS comprises: configuring an uplink reflection angle of the RIS (This alternative is not examined.), a downlink reflection angle of the RIS ([0079] “the base station may select the APD in the candidate APDs that includes the highest number of configurable surface elements, has the largest configurable surface area, or has a surface angle best suited to reach one or more UEs”), or both,
wherein the configuration of the RIS comprises the uplink reflection angle of the RIS (This alternative is not examined.), the downlink reflection angle of the RIS ([0064] “one or more surface configurations or phase vectors may be mapped or calibrated to specific angle information”), or both.
Regarding claim 21, the method of claim 20, wherein configuring the uplink reflection angle of the RIS, the downlink reflection angle of the RIS, or both comprises: transmitting a configuration message to the RIS, the configuration message indicating respective uplink reflection angles, respective downlink reflection angles, or both for the plurality of subsets of elements of the RIS ([0066 and Fig. 5] “the base station 120 and/or the UE 110 communicate an indication to the APD 180 that specifies a surface configuration. In the present example, the indication specifies a surface configuration index 510 (SC index 510) that maps to a corresponding surface configuration of the APD 180.”).
Claim(s) 2, 15, 27 and 31 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. 9US 2024/0014860, “Wang”) in view of Medra et al. (US 2022/0052764, “Medra”) and further in view of Zegrar et al. (US 2023/0421412, “Zegrar”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Wang unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claims 2, 27 and 31, it is noted that while disclosing a phase changing device, Wang does not specifically teach about UE performing beamforming operations. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Zegrar as follows;
the method of claim 1, the apparatus of claim 26 and the network device of claim 30, respectively, wherein communicating with the network device comprises:
performing a beamforming operation in a direction corresponding to the RIS ([Zegrar, Fig. 2 and 0058] “a two-stage beam training method is employed, comprising a primary and an auxiliary beam search”);
selecting a communication beam based at least in part on the beamforming operation ([Zegrar, 0067] “This beam may selected and the search may further continue by selecting the beam direction with higher SNR potential and performing the beam scanning to find some pair with maximum SNR.”); and
communicating with the network device via the first subset of elements of the plurality of subsets of elements of the RIS using the selected communication beam ([Zegrar, 0109] “the UE (in general, the receiving device) may be configured to signal to the BS (in general, the transmitting device) some information regarding the channel estimation.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Wang by using the features of Zegrar in order to improve mmWave communications that “Methods and techniques are described for estimating channel in communication system comprising receiving and transmitting device, communicating with each other via a configurable surface” [Zegrar, 0006].
Regarding claim 15, the method of claim 14, wherein communicating with the first UE comprises:
performing a beamforming operation in a direction corresponding to the RIS ([Zegrar, 0040 and Fig. 1] “);
selecting a communication beam based at least in part on the beamforming operation ([Zegrar, 0040 and Fig. 1] “L.sub.g is the number of channel paths received at the RIS 120 (i.e., paths between the BS 110 and the RIS 120), θ.sub.g,l.sup.R, φ.sub.g,l .sup.R are respectively the elevation and azimuth angle of arrival (AoA) at the RIS of the I-th BS-RIS-path, θ.sub.g,l.sup.B, φ.sub.g,l.sup.B are respectively the elevation and azimuth angle of departure (AoD) from the base station of the I-th BS-RIS-path”); and
communicating with the first UE via the first subset of elements of the plurality of subsets of elements of the RIS using the selected communication beam (See [Zegrar, Fig. 1].).
The rational and motivation for adding this teaching of Zegrar are the same as for claim 2.
Claim(s) 5-8, 12, 16-18, 25 and 32-33 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. 9US 2024/0014860, “Wang”) in view of Medra et al. (US 2022/0052764, “Medra”) and further in view of Baligh et al. (US 2023/0327714, “Baligh”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Wang unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claims 5, 16 and 32, it is noted that while disclosing a phase changing device, Wang does not specifically teach about multiple RISs. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Baligh as follows;
the method of claim 1, the method of claim 14 and the network device of claim 30, respectively, wherein the message indicates a plurality of configurations for a plurality of RISs in a wireless network (See [Baligh, Fig. 8] for RIS #1 and RIS #2, and [Baligh, 0341] “messages 812 and 815 may only be sent to the UE 808 if the UE 808 is going to be made aware of the one or both of the RISs 804 and 806.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Wang by using the features of Baligh in order to improve mmWave communications that “methods and devices for utilizing controllable metasurface devices capable of redirecting a wavefront” [Baligh, 0008].
Regarding claim 6, the method of claim 5, wherein selecting the first subset of elements of the plurality of subsets of elements of the RIS of the plurality of RIS comprises:
selecting the RISs for communication based at least in part on a position of the UE, a position of the network device, a position of the RIS indicated by the configuration of the RIS, an uplink reflection angle of the RIS indicated by the configuration of the RIS, a downlink reflection angle of the RIS indicated by the configuration of the RIS (These alternatives are not examined.), a reference signal measurement associated with the RIS ([Baligh, 0343] “At the 840, the UE 808 measures RS redirected from each of the RIS 804 and 806.”, [Baligh, 0346] “At 848, the BS 802 selected RIS#1 804 as the RIS panel that will be used to redirect signals to the UE 808”), or a combination thereof.
Regarding claim 7, the method of claim 6, further comprising: transmitting, to the network device, a feedback message indicating the selected RIS ([0060] “the base station obtains an estimated UE-location using information indicated by the link-quality measurements, measurement reports, and/or other values, and accesses historical data records using the estimated UE-location, where the historical data records include surface configurations that result in acceptable performance levels at the estimated UE-location.”).
Regarding claim 8, the method of claim 7, wherein the feedback message comprises a channel state information feedback message (See aforesaid [0060] “link quality measurements”).
Regarding claim 12, the method of claim 11, wherein: the RIS comprises a first sub-RIS of a total RIS; and the location of the RIS comprises a relative location of the first sub-RIS relative to a second sub-RIS of the total RIS ([Baligh, 0254] “Information about the location of the RIS may be absolute location information such as longitude/latitude/altitude/orientation or relative location information in respect to some other location that is known by the UE”), the uplink reflection angle of the RIS comprises a relative uplink reflection angle of the first sub-RIS relative to an uplink reflection angle of the second sub-RIS of the total RIS, the downlink reflection angle of the RIS comprises a relative downlink reflection angle of the first sub-RIS relative to a downlink reflection angle of the second sub-RIS of the total RIS, or a combination thereof (These alternatives are not examined.).
The rational and motivation for adding this teaching of Baligh are the same as for claim 5.
Regarding claims 17 and 33, the method of claim 16 and the network device of claim 32, respectively, further comprising: receiving a feedback message indicating that the first UE selected the RIS for communication ([0060] “the base station obtains an estimated UE-location using information indicated by the link-quality measurements, measurement reports, and/or other values, and accesses historical data records using the estimated UE-location, where the historical data records include surface configurations that result in acceptable performance levels at the estimated UE-location.”), wherein communicating with the first UE via the first subset of elements of the plurality of subsets of elements of the RIS is based at least in part on the feedback message ([0061] “the wireless link 136 and/or the wireless link 137 include an adaptive phase-changing device-fast-control channel (APD-fast-control channel), where the coordinating UE and/or the network device indicate control information using signaling, sometimes on a slot-by-slot basis, for quick surface-configuration changes (e.g., surface configurations applied on a slot-by-slot basis).”).
Regarding claim 18, the method of claim 17, wherein the feedback message comprises a channel state information feedback message (aforesaid [0060] “the link-quality measurements, measurement reports””).
Regarding claim 25, the method of claim 14, further comprising: activating the RIS based at least in part on the configuration of the RIS, wherein communicating with the first UE via the first subset of elements of the plurality of subsets of elements of the RIS is based at least in part on the activating ([Baligh, 0024] “a base station (BS) identifying a reflective intelligent surface (RIS); the BS setting up a link with a user equipment (UE) via the RIS; and the BS activating the link with the UE.”, and [Baligh, 0025] “the BS setting up the link with the UE via the RIS involves: the BS transmitting first configuration information to the UE to enable the UE to set up channel measurement”).
The rational and motivation for adding this teaching of Baligh are the same as for claim 5.
Claim(s) 22 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. 9US 2024/0014860, “Wang”) in view of Medra et al. (US 2022/0052764, “Medra”) and further in view of Wang et al. (US 2024/0039608, “Wang608”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Wang unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claim 22, it is noted that while disclosing a phase changing device, Wang does not specifically teach about a third UE. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Wang608 as follows;
the method of claim 14, wherein the RIS comprises a first RIS, the method further comprising: communicating with a third UE via a second RIS ([0090] “apportioning a first time-period of the periodic time-partitioned reflection-access to a first UE of the UEs 110, a second time-period of the periodic time-partitioned reflection-access to a second UE of the UEs 110, and so forth”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Wang by using the features of Wang608 in order to improve mmWave communications that “a donor base station determines to include an APD in a communication path for the wireless backhaul link with a node base station and apportions APD access to the APD for the node base station.” [Wang608, 0003].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 24 was objected with allowable subject matter in the previous office action dated 11/05/2025 with reasons for allowance given then, and said claim remains objected now.
Conclusion
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/HARRY H KIM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411