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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/17/2026. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 04/17/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment filed on 04/17/2026 has been entered. Independent Claims 1, 18, 27, and 29 have been amended. Dependent claims 9, 13, and 24 have been amended. No claims have been cancelled. No claims are new. Claims 1-30 are still pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 04/17/2026 on pages 13-14 of applicant’s remark regarding claims 1, 18, 27, and 29. The applicant argues that Ganesan does not teach the amended claim for a measurement containing a SPEF measurement or an SNIR measurement, as the independent claims have been amended to say that.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 18, 27, and 29 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 specified challenged in the argument.
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) 1-13, 17-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being anticipated by Ganesan (Pub.: No.: US 20220330038 A1, hereafter “Ganesan”) in view of Faronius (Pub.: No.: US 20190372646 A1, hereafter “Faronius”), further in view of Tarighat (Pub.: No.: US 20200358518 A1, hereafter “Tarighat”).
Regarding Claim 1, Claim 18, Claim 27, and Claim 29
A wireless communication device (Ganesan Fig. 8: 800) for wireless communication (Ganesan Fig. 8: 825), comprising: one or more processors, and one or more code-storing memories coupled with the one or more processors (Ganesan Fig. 8: 810), the one or more processors (Ganesan Fig. 8: 805) when configured cause the wireless communication device to: receive (Ganesan Fig. 5: 501), from a plurality of relay user equipment (UEs) (Ganesan ¶0122 sidelink among a plurality of UEs embedded with the sidelink transmissions from the Fig. 5 solution), a plurality of beamformed reference signals (Ganesan Fig. 5: 1, e.g. beam sweeping) associated with a set of time resources (Ganesan ¶0096: first timeslot) for beam training (Ganesan Fig. 5: 503) for coordinated relaying (Ganesan ¶0095: specific beam sweeping direction; Ganesan teaches sidelink communication for beamform selection among a plurality of sidelinked UEs, see Fig. 5, Fig. 8, ¶0096 and ¶0122)
transmit (Ganesan ¶0096: indicates) an indication of a reference signal index (Ganesan ¶0096: corresponding timeslot) that indicates the selected beam (Ganesan ¶0096: supports beam correspondence) based at least in part on a determination (Ganesan ¶0098: beam selection) that at least one measurement associated with the plurality of beamformed reference signals (Ganesan ¶0098: beam ID) satisfies one or more measurement criteria (Ganesan ¶0097: received pathloss; Ganesan teaches a timeslot that’s used for feedback to the initial UE used for beam selection based off of at least one measurement, see ¶0096-¶0098).
Ganesan does not explicitly teach
wherein the at least one measurement comprises at least one of: a spectral efficiency (SPEF) measurement associated with a beamformed reference signal of the plurality of beamformed reference signals, or a signal to interference plus noise ratio associated with the beamformed reference signal of the plurality of beamformed reference signals.
However, Faronius teaches
wherein the at least one measurement (Faronius ¶0071: channel quality parameters) comprises at least one of: a spectral efficiency (SPEF) measurement associated with a beamformed reference signal of the plurality of beamformed reference signals (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (Faronius ¶0071: SNIR) associated with the beamformed reference signal (Faronius ¶0071: in a beam selection context) of the plurality of beamformed reference signals (Faronius ¶0071: random access channel with possible network beams; Faronius teaches a channel quality parameter being used in a beam selection context and that parameter includes an SNIR element, see ¶0071).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Ganesan by way of Faronius, to include an element that teaches a channel quality parameter being used in a beam selection context and that parameter includes an SNIR element, as taught by Faronius in ¶0071, to improve an air interface to become more flexible and efficient to reduce round trip latency and provide more services in heavily loaded situations.
Ganesan in view of Faronius does not explicitly teach
select a beam based on at least in part on a beam training procedure having at least one phase, where the at least one phase comprises a UE down-selection procedure;
However, Tarighat teaches
select (Tarighat ¶0042: beam selection) a beam (Tarighat ¶0042: beam configuration) based on at least in part on a beam training procedure (Tarighat ¶0042: training of beam selection process) having at least one phase (Tarighat ¶0042: exchange of measurements and training of beam selection; Tarighat teaches a beam selection for a beam configuration including a training procedure for a phase array during the exchange of measurements and training of beam selection, see ¶0042), where the at least one phase (Tarighat ¶0042: select a beam configuration) comprises a UE (Tarighat Fig. 1: 104B, repeater device) down-selection procedure (Tarighat ¶0042: repeater device may be configured to use the link between the repeater device and one of the first network nodes; Tarighat teaches the beam configuration procedure for the receiving repeater device, see Fig. 1 and ¶0042);
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Ganesan in view of Faronius by way of Tarighat, to include an element that teaches a beam selection for a beam configuration including a training procedure for a phase array during the exchange of measurements and training of beam selection and the beam configuration procedure for the receiving repeater device, as taught by Tarighat in Fig. 1 and ¶0042, to improve RF communication systems to improve beamforming and beam steering for improved transmissions by improving the QoS.
Claim 18 differs by the following limitation, which is also taught by the prior art, Ganesan teaches
A relay user equipment (UE) (Ganesan Fig. 9: 900) for wireless communication (Ganesan Fig. 9: 925), comprising: a memory (Ganesan Fig. 9: 910); and one or more processors, coupled to the memory (Ganesan Fig. 9: 905; Ganesan teaches a wireless communication device with a processor coupled to memory, see Fig. 9),
Regarding Claim 2 and Claim 19
Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat teaches a Wireless Communication Device, a relay UE, and Method as explained above in Claim 1. Ganesan further discloses
wherein the at least one measurement (Ganesan ¶0051: SL direction sensing procedure) further comprises an energy measurement associated with the beamformed reference signal of the plurality of beamformed reference signals (Ganesan ¶0051: RSRP; Ganesan teaches the direction sensing procedure being based on an RSRP measurement from each antenna panel, see ¶0051).
Regarding Claim 3
Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat teaches a Wireless Communication Device, a relay UE, and Method as explained above in Claim 1. Ganesan further discloses
to determine that the at least one measurement (Ganesan ¶0104: field of view) satisfies the one or more measurement criteria (Ganesan ¶0104: required field of view; Ganesan teaches a directional measurement and determining a required amount, see ¶0104).
Regarding Claim 4 and Claim 20
Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat teaches a Wireless Communication Device, a relay UE, and Method as explained above in Claim 1. Ganesan further discloses
wherein the reference signal index (Ganesan ¶0095: corresponding timeslot) comprises at least one of: a reference signal identifier corresponding to a set of reference signal resources (Ganesan ¶0095: discovery request transmission), or a time index corresponding to a time resource of the set of time resources (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim; Ganesan teaches a timeslot containing a discovery request transmission, see ¶0095).
Regarding Claim 5, Claim 21, Claim 28, and Claim 30
Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat teaches a Wireless Communication Device, a relay UE, and Method as explained above in Claim 1. Ganesan further discloses
receive a plurality of instances of a communication (Ganesan Fig. 6A: UE-B, UE-C, UE-D) from the plurality of relay UEs based at least in part on the reference signal index (Ganesan ¶0123: timeslots; Ganesan teaches a plurality of communication devices based on different timeslots, see Fig. 6A and ¶0123).
Regarding Claim 6 and Claim 22
Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat teaches a Wireless Communication Device, a relay UE, and Method as explained above in Claim 5. Ganesan further teaches
wherein the plurality of instances of the communication are encoded based at least in part on one or more precoders (Ganesan Fig. 6C: Frequency 1, 2) associated with the reference signal index (Ganesan ¶0123: timeslots; Ganesan teaches communicating in part due to precoding on separate frequencies to reduce intra-signal noise, see Fig. 6C and ¶0123).
Regarding Claim 7 and Claim 23
Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat teaches a Wireless Communication Device, a relay UE, and Method as explained above in Claim 1. Ganesan further teaches
wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit a training configuration to the plurality of relay UEs (Ganesan ¶0105: mapping table), wherein the training configuration indicates a quantity of time resources in the set of time resources (Ganesan ¶0105: logical channel prioritization procedure; Ganesan teaches sending a mapping table for a logical channel prioritization procedure, see ¶0105).
Regarding Claim 8
Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat teaches a Wireless Communication Device, a relay UE, and Method as explained above in Claim 1. Ganesan further teaches
To transmit the training configuration, are configured to transmit a radio resource control message (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), a medium access control control element (Ganesan Fig. 3B: 360), a downlink control information transmission (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), or a sidelink control information transmission (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim; Ganesan teaches sending the training configuration on a MAC sublayer, see Fig. 3B).
Regarding Claim 9 and Claim 24
Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat teaches a Wireless Communication Device, a relay UE, and Method as explained above in Claim 1. Tarighat further teaches
select the selected beam based at least in part of the beam training procedure (Tarighat ¶0042: beam selection) having at least one phase of the beam selection training procedure (Tarighat ¶0042: training of beam selection process), wherein the at least one phase comprises at least one of a beam down-selection procedure (Tarighat ¶0042: phase array) or a UE down-selection procedure (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim; Tarighat teaches a beam selection for a beam configuration including a training procedure for a phase array, see ¶0042).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Ganesan in view of Faronius by way of Tarighat, to include an element that teaches a beam selection for a beam configuration including a training procedure for a phase array and the beam configuration procedure for the receiving repeater device, as taught by Tarighat in and ¶0042, to improve RF communication systems to improve beamforming and beam steering for improved transmissions by improving the QoS.
Regarding Claim 10 and Claim 25
Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat teaches a Wireless Communication Device, a relay UE, and Method as explained above in Claim 9. Tarighat further teaches
the beam down-selection procedure based at least in part on a selection of a subset of beams of a set of beams being facilitated (Tarighat ¶0042: select a beam configuration), wherein the subset of beams includes the selected beam (Tarighat ¶0042: level beam configuration selection; Tarighat teaches a beam selection process for a level beam, see ¶0042).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Ganesan in view of Faronius by way of Tarighat, to include an element that teaches a beam selection process for a level beam, as taught by Tarighat in ¶0042, to improve RF communication systems to improve beamforming and beam steering for improved transmissions by improving the QoS.
Regarding Claim 11
Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat teaches a Wireless Communication Device, a relay UE, and Method as explained above in Claim 10. Tarighat further teaches
to facilitate the selection of the subset of beams (Tarighat ¶0042: beam selection), are configured to transmit an additional beamformed reference signal to the plurality of relay UEs (Tarighat ¶0042: use the link; Tarighat teaches using the link in the process for beam selection).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Ganesan in view of Faronius by way of Tarighat, to include an element that teaches a beam selection for a beam configuration including a training procedure for a phase array and the beam configuration procedure for the receiving repeater device, as taught by Tarighat in ¶0042, to improve RF communication systems to improve beamforming and beam steering for improved transmissions by improving the QoS.
Regarding Claim 12 and Claim 26
Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat teaches a Wireless Communication Device, a relay UE, and Method as explained above in Claim 9. Tarighat further teaches
perform the UE down-selection procedure based at least in part on the plurality of relay UEs being selected (Tarighat ¶0042: beam selection for its receiving or transmitting array) from among a larger plurality of relay UEs based at least in part on one or more performance measurements associated with the larger plurality of relay UEs (Tarighat ¶0042: link metric measurements (such as SNR or received signal power); Tarighat teaches using link metric measurements for beam selection by the receiving array, see ¶0042).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Ganesan in view of Faronius by way of Tarighat, to include an element that teaches using link metric measurements for beam selection by the receiving array, as taught by Tarighat in ¶0042, to improve RF communication systems to improve beamforming and beam steering for improved transmissions by improving the QoS.
Regarding Claim 13
Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat teaches a Wireless Communication Device, a relay UE, and Method as explained above in Claim 9. Tarighat further teaches
transmit (Tarighat ¶0042: beam configuration) a beam training procedure configuration (Tarighat ¶0042: training of beam selection process) that indicates the at least one phase of the beam selection training procedure (Tarighat ¶0042: phase array; Tarighat teaches a beam configuration based off of the training process for the phase array).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Ganesan in view of Faronius by way of Tarighat, to include an element that teaches a beam configuration based off of the training process for the phase array, as taught by Tarighat in ¶0042, to improve RF communication systems to improve beamforming and beam steering for improved transmissions by improving the QoS.
Regarding Claim 17
Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat teaches a Wireless Communication Device, a relay UE, and Method as explained above in Claim 1. Ganesan further teaches
To receive the plurality of beamformed reference signals, are configured to receive the plurality of beamformed reference signals via a sidelink connection (Ganesan ¶0093: SL-RS; Ganesan teaches a side link reference signal with embedded data transmissions, see ¶0093).
Claim(s) 14-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ganesan (Pub.: No.: US 20220330038 A1, hereafter “Ganesan”), in view of Faronius (Pub.: No.: US 20190372646 A1, hereafter “Faronius”), further in view of Tarighat (Pub.: No.: US 20200358518 A1, hereafter “Tarighat”), and even further in view of Farag (Pub. No.: US 20210227530 A1, hereafter “Farag”).
Regarding Claim 14
Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat teaches a Wireless Communication Device, a relay UE, and Method as explained above in Claim 13. Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat does not explicitly teach
to transmit the beam training procedure, are configured to transmit at least one of a radio resource control message or a medium access control control element.
However, Farag teaches
to transmit the beam training procedure (Farag ¶0074: beam measurement (including training)), are configured to transmit at least one of a radio resource control message (Farag ¶0074: RRC) or a medium access control control element (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim; Farag teaches a beam selection procedure that includes training with the primary signaling mechanism using potentially RRC communicating, see ¶0074).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat by way of Farag, to include an element that teaches a beam selection procedure that includes training with the primary signaling mechanism using potentially RRC communicating, as taught by Farag in ¶0074, to improve radio interface efficiency and coverage by increasing the QoS of users experiences and allow for more dynamic distribution of signals by implementing machine learning technologies with the oversight necessary to maintain the high quality that users are expecting.
Regarding Claim 15
Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat teaches a Wireless Communication Device, a relay UE, and Method as explained above in Claim 13. Farag teaches
transmit an activation indication associated with the beam training procedure via at least one of: a radio resource control message (Farag ¶0074: RRC), a medium access control control element (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), a downlink control information (DCI) transmission (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), or a sidelink control information (SCI) transmission (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim; Farag teaches a beam selection procedure that includes training with the primary signaling mechanism using potentially RRC communicating, see ¶0074).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat by way of Farag, to include an element that teaches a beam selection procedure that includes training with the primary signaling mechanism using potentially RRC communicating, as taught by Farag in ¶0074, to improve radio interface efficiency and coverage by increasing the QoS of users experiences and allow for more dynamic distribution of signals by implementing machine learning technologies with the oversight necessary to maintain the high quality that users are expecting.
Regarding Claim 16
Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat, and even further in view of Farag teaches a Wireless Communication Device, a relay UE, and Method as explained above in Claim 15. Farag further teaches
transmit a gap timing that indicates an amount of time between a first event and a second event (Farag ¶0108: performed from time to time), wherein the first event comprises at least one of an activation or a first training phase, and wherein the second event comprises a second training phase (Farag ¶0108: training duration; Farag teaches the training duration being performed from time to time, see ¶0108).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Ganesan in view of Faronius, further in view of Tarighat by way of Farag, to include an element that teaches the training duration being performed from time to time, as taught by Farag in ¶0108, to improve radio interface efficiency and coverage by increasing the QoS of users experiences and allow for more dynamic distribution of signals by implementing machine learning technologies with the oversight necessary to maintain the high quality that users are expecting.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN MICHAEL WHITAKER whose telephone number is (703)756-4763. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 7:30am - 4:00pm.
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/JUSTIN MICHAEL WHITAKER/Examiner, Art Unit 2415
/JEFFREY M RUTKOWSKI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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