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 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) 1-10,12-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Bhat et al. (US20220400404A1) in view of Nammi et al. (US20200052766A1)
Regarding Claim 1, Bhat teaches, A first communication device, among the first communication device and a second communication device that are connected to each other via an interface and include base station functions disposed in a distributed manner, Fig 6 BPU-first communication device
RPU-second communication device.
[96]- RPU receives from the BPU via the communication link a number N of data packets during a time period
the first communication device comprising:
a memory configured to store instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to perform:
receiving, via the interface, information necessary for beam forming from the second communication device; [84]
In order to prioritize the beamforming weights data to be transferred, the BPU sorts beamforming weights data based on the beam power level.
calculating, each time information necessary for the beam forming is received, based on the information necessary for the beam forming, a beam forming parameter for forming a beam to be used when a downlink signal received from the second communication device is transmitted to a terminal device; and [77-78]- The power threshold PT and the number of major beams N to select are parameters which may be determined by simulations and may be configurable during operating. That is the selected beams are distributed to different data packets of the communication link C2, where the beam weights associated with a relatively higher power level are distributed to packets in a packet region with relatively less likely packet loss.
[85]- In order to prioritize the user data to be transferred, the BPU may alternatively sort user data based on quality of service (QoS) for each user equipment (UE).
Bhat does not teach, generating, each time the beam forming parameter is calculated, a monitoring packet including the calculated beam forming parameter and outputting the monitoring packet to the interface.
Nammi teaches, generating, each time the beam forming parameter is calculated, a monitoring packet including the calculated beam forming parameter and outputting the monitoring packet to the interface.
[85]- To perform the digital beamforming 914 at the remote radio unit, the remote radio unit(= receives the IQ data (frequency modulated data) along with the beamforming coefficients. The digital beamforming block uses the beamforming coefficients along with a basis vector matrix to perform the beamforming on each kth data stream corresponding to P antenna ports. Matrix inherently have low rank. A known codeword is sent between the DU and RU and send indices in the codebook to determine which column to look at and a multiplier for each column.(= outputting the monitoring packet to the interface.
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Bhat, generating, each time the beam forming parameter is calculated, a monitoring packet including the calculated beam forming parameter and outputting the monitoring packet to the interface as taught by Nammi to add monitoring packets to adjust beam forming weights with feedback.
Regarding Claim 2, Bhat does not teach, The first communication device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to perform:,
selecting, from among the monitoring packets, a monitoring packet including a beam forming parameter for a beam using a specific frequency band in an entire frequency band to be used by the beam, and outputting the selected monitoring packet to the interface.
Nammi teaches, The first communication device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to perform:,
selecting, from among the monitoring packets, a monitoring packet including a beam forming parameter for a beam using a specific frequency band in an entire frequency band to be used by the beam, and outputting the selected monitoring packet to the interface.[86]- After beamforming, the IQ data has P ports (each antenna) and F tones (B=P×F matrix).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Bhat, The first communication device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to perform:, selecting, from among the monitoring packets, a monitoring packet including a beam forming parameter for a beam using a specific frequency band in an entire frequency band to be used by the beam, and outputting the selected monitoring packet to the interface. as taught by Nammi to add monitoring packets to adjust beam forming weights with feedback.
Regarding Claim 3, Bhat teaches, The first communication device according to any one of claim 1,
wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to perform selecting, from among the monitoring packets, a monitoring packet including a beam forming parameter for forming a beam used in a specific time of an entire time used for a sequence of communications with the terminal device, and outputting the selected monitoring packet to the interface.[96]- RPU receives from the BPU via the communication link a number N of data packets during a time period T.
Regarding Claim 4, Bhat teaches, The first communication device according to claim 1,wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to perform:
dividing, the monitoring packet into a plurality of data units and transmitting, to the interface, the plurality of divided data units at least one by one.[105]- The data to be transferred, e.g. the beamforming weights data and user data, needs to be divided into multiple segments such that each segment does not exceed the Ethernet data packet size. In this way, the data to be transferred are divided into data packets of the communication link. Each data packet may contain beamforming weights data for many beams.
Regarding Claim 5, Bhat teaches,The first communication device according to claim 1,wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to perform:
receiving, from the second communication device, a request for transmitting the monitoring packet, and [101]- RPU may further generate a packet loss pattern table comprising a list of packet loss patterns for the communication link with different load situations and different user scenarios.
transmitting, according to the request, the monitoring packet to the interface. [106]- The number of data packets N transmitted from BPU to RPU during a time period or a transmission slot depends on the user case,
Regarding Claim 6, Bhat teaches, The first communication device according to claim 1,wherein the information necessary for the beam forming is channel information. [71]- The beam power for a beam n and Physical Resource Group (PRG) k, with (a+jb) as the channel estimates, where a and b are beamforming weights, is calculated using following equation:
Regarding Claim 7, Bhat teaches, The first communication device according to claim 1,wherein the monitoring packet includes a beamforming weight.[78]- That is the selected beams are distributed to different data packets of the communication link C2, where the beam weights associated with a relatively higher power level are distributed to packets in a packet region with relatively less likely packet loss.
Regarding Claim 8, Bhat does not teach, The first communication device according to claim 6, wherein the monitoring packet includes at least one of the channel information, an eigenvalue decomposition result of the channel information, and an inverse matrix of the channel information.
Nammi teaches, The first communication device according to claim 6, wherein the monitoring packet includes at least one of the channel information, an eigenvalue decomposition result of the channel information, and an inverse matrix of the channel information.[45]- From Equation (5) one can deduce that the channel covariance within the TxRU of a given CSI-RS port k is given by ψk. Therefore, the optimum precoder P2k for the kth CSI-RS port can be given by the dominant Eigen vector of ψk as shown in Equation (6).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Bhat, The first communication device according to claim 6, wherein the monitoring packet includes at least one of the channel information, an eigenvalue decomposition result of the channel information, and an inverse matrix of the channel information as taught by Nammi to add monitoring packets to adjust beam forming weights with feedback.
Regarding Claim 9, Bhat teaches, A method to be executed by, among a first communication device and a second communication device that are connected to each other via an interface and include base station functions disposed in a distributed manner,, Fig 6 BPU-first communication device
RPU-second communication device.
[96]- RPU receives from the BPU via the communication link a number N of data packets during a time period
the first communication device, the method comprising: receiving, via the interface, information necessary for beam forming from the second communication device; [84]
In order to prioritize the beamforming weights data to be transferred, the BPU sorts beamforming weights data based on the beam power level.
calculating, each time information necessary for the beam forming is received, based on the information necessary for the beam forming, a beam forming parameter for forming a beam to be used when a downlink signal received from the second communication device is transmitted to a terminal device; and [77-78]- The power threshold PT and the number of major beams N to select are parameters which may be determined by simulations and may be configurable during operating. That is the selected beams are distributed to different data packets of the communication link C2, where the beam weights associated with a relatively higher power level are distributed to packets in a packet region with relatively less likely packet loss.
[85]- In order to prioritize the user data to be transferred, the BPU may alternatively sort user data based on quality of service (QoS) for each user equipment (UE).
Bhat does not teach, generating, each time the beam forming parameter is calculated, a monitoring packet including the calculated beam forming parameter; and outputting the monitoring packet to the interface.
Nammi teaches, generating, each time the beam forming parameter is calculated, a monitoring packet including the calculated beam forming parameter; and outputting the monitoring packet to the interface.
[85]- To perform the digital beamforming 914 at the remote radio unit, the remote radio unit(= receives the IQ data (frequency modulated data) along with the beamforming coefficients. The digital beamforming block uses the beamforming coefficients along with a basis vector matrix to perform the beamforming on each kth data stream corresponding to P antenna ports. Matrix inherently have low rank. A known codeword is sent between the DU and RU and send indices in the codebook to determine which column to look at and a multiplier for each column.(= outputting the monitoring packet to the interface.
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Bhat, generating, each time the beam forming parameter is calculated, a monitoring packet including the calculated beam forming parameter; and outputting the monitoring packet to the interface as taught by Nammi to add monitoring packets to adjust beam forming weights with feedback.
Regarding Claim 10, Bhat teaches, A second communication device, among a first communication device and the second communication device that are connected to each other via an interface and include base station functions disposed in a distributed manner,Fig 6 BPU-first communication device
RPU-second communication device.
[96]- RPU receives from the BPU via the communication link a number N of data packets during a time period
the second communication device comprising a memory configured to store instructions; and wherein the [77-78]- The power threshold PT and the number of major beams N to select are parameters which may be determined by simulations and may be configurable during operating. That is the selected beams are distributed to different data packets of the communication link C2, where the beam weights associated with a relatively higher power level are distributed to packets in a packet region with relatively less likely packet loss.
Bhat does not teach, monitoring packet; the second communication device comprising a memory configured to store instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to perform: transmission means for transmitting, via the interface, information necessary for beam forming and a request for transmitting a monitoring packet, to the first communication device.
Nammi teaches, monitoring packet; the second communication device comprising a memory configured to store instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to perform: transmission means for transmitting, via the interface, information necessary for beam forming and a request for transmitting a monitoring packet, to the first communication device.[85]- To perform the digital beamforming 914 at the remote radio unit, the remote radio unit (= receives the IQ data (frequency modulated data) along with the beamforming coefficients. The digital beamforming block uses the beamforming coefficients along with a basis vector matrix to perform the beamforming on each kth data stream corresponding to P antenna ports. Matrix inherently have low rank. A known codeword is sent between the DU and RU and send indices in the codebook to determine which column to look at and a multiplier for each column. (= outputting the monitoring packet to the interface).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Bhat, monitoring packet; the second communication device comprising a memory configured to store instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to perform: transmission means for transmitting, via the interface, information necessary for beam forming and a request for transmitting a monitoring packet, to the first communication device as taught by Nammi to add monitoring packets to adjust beam forming weights with feedback.
Regarding Claim 12, Bhat does not teach, The method according to claim 9, wherein the method comprises: selecting, from among the monitoring packets, a monitoring packet including a beam forming parameter for a beam using a specific frequency band in an entire frequency band to be used by the beam, and outputting the selected monitoring packet to the interface
Nammi teaches, The method according to claim 9, wherein the method comprises: selecting, from among the monitoring packets, a monitoring packet including a beam forming parameter for a beam using a specific frequency band in an entire frequency band to be used by the beam, and outputting the selected monitoring packet to the interface.[86]- After beamforming, the IQ data has P ports (each antenna) and F tones (B=P×F matrix).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Bhat, The method according to claim 9, wherein the method comprises: selecting, from among the monitoring packets, a monitoring packet including a beam forming parameter for a beam using a specific frequency band in an entire frequency band to be used by the beam, and outputting the selected monitoring packet to the interface as taught by Nammi to add monitoring packets to adjust beam forming weights with feedback.
Regarding Claim 13, Bhat teaches, The method according to claim 9, wherein the method comprises: selecting, from among the monitoring packets, a monitoring packet including a beam forming parameter for forming a beam used in a specific time of an entire time used for a sequence of communications with the terminal device, and outputting the selected monitoring packet to the interface.[96]- RPU receives from the BPU via the communication link a number N of data packets during a time period T.
Regarding Claim 14, Bhat teaches, he method according to claim 9, wherein the method comprises: dividing, the monitoring packet into a plurality of data units and transmitting, to the interface, the plurality of divided data units at least one by one.[105]- The data to be transferred, e.g. the beamforming weights data and user data, needs to be divided into multiple segments such that each segment does not exceed the Ethernet data packet size. In this way, the data to be transferred are divided into data packets of the communication link. Each data packet may contain beamforming weights data for many beams.
Regarding Claim 15, Bhat teaches, The method according to claim 9, wherein the method comprises: receiving, from the second communication device, a request for transmitting the monitoring packet, and [101]- RPU may further generate a packet loss pattern table comprising a list of packet loss patterns for the communication link with different load situations and different user scenarios.
transmitting, according to the request, the monitoring packet to the interface. [106]- The number of data packets N transmitted from BPU to RPU during a time period or a transmission slot depends on the user case,
Regarding Claim 16, Bhat teaches, The method according to claim 9, wherein the information necessary for the beam forming is channel information. [71]- The beam power for a beam n and Physical Resource Group (PRG) k, with (a+jb) as the channel estimates, where a and b are beamforming weights, is calculated using following equation:
Regarding Claim 17, Bhat teaches, The method according to claim 9, wherein the monitoring packet includes a beamforming weight.[78]- That is the selected beams are distributed to different data packets of the communication link C2, where the beam weights associated with a relatively higher power level are distributed to packets in a packet region with relatively less likely packet loss.
Regarding Claim 18, Bhat does not teach, The method according to claim 16, wherein the monitoring packet includes at least one of the channel information, an eigenvalue decomposition result of the channel information, and an inverse matrix of the channel information.
Nammi teaches, The method according to claim 16, wherein the monitoring packet includes at least one of the channel information, an eigenvalue decomposition result of the channel information, and an inverse matrix of the channel information.[45]- From Equation (5) one can deduce that the channel covariance within the TxRU of a given CSI-RS port k is given by ψk. Therefore, the optimum precoder P2k for the kth CSI-RS port can be given by the dominant Eigen vector of ψk as shown in Equation (6).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Bhat, The method according to claim 16, wherein the monitoring packet includes at least one of the channel information, an eigenvalue decomposition result of the channel information, and an inverse matrix of the channel information as taught by Nammi to add monitoring packets to adjust beam forming weights with feedback.
Conclusion
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/ANINDITA SEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2478
/JOSEPH E AVELLINO/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2478