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 .
This office action is in response to Applicant’s amendment filed on 04/16/2026.
Claims 1-7 are currently pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Ottersten et al. (US 2021/0258063 A1; hereafter OTTERSTEN).
With respect to claim 1, OTTERSTEN discloses a terminal (120 in FIG. 1; 3291, 3292 in FIG. 9; 3330 in FIG. 10) comprising:
a receiver (3337, 3331 in FIG. 10) that computes a radio link quality corresponding to one or more reference signals (201 in FIG. 2; paragraph [0090], [0091], [0092], see the measurements of RSRP or CSI-RS and quality values shared between first and second nodes and used for input to a training model); and
a processor (3338 in FIG. 10) that detects a predicted beam failure on the basis of a predicted radio link quality at a future time computed based on the radio link quality (Input Data, ML trained, Target Data in FIG. 6; paragraphs [0090], [0091], [0092], see the machine learning model will predict the time of a beam failure at time t + s).
With respect to claim 2, OTTERSTEN further discloses the terminal according to claim 1, wherein the processor detects the predicted beam failure assuming that the future time during a timer running is the same (Input Data, ML trained, Target Data in FIG. 6; paragraphs [0090], [0091], [0092], see the machine learning model will predict the time of a beam failure at time t + s; Time t +s, Time t + s -1, and Time t + s -2 in Fig. 4).
With respect to claim 5, OTTERSTEN discloses a radio communication method (Abstract; Title) for a terminal (120 in FIG. 1; 3291, 3292 in FIG. 9; 3330 in FIG. 10), the radio communication method comprising:
computing a radio link quality corresponding to one or more reference signals (201 in FIG. 2; paragraph [0090], [0091], [0092], see the measurements of RSRP or CSI-RS and quality values shared between first and second nodes and used for input to a training model); and
detecting a predicted beam failure on the basis of a predicted radio link quality at a future time computed based on the radio link quality (Input Data, ML trained, Target Data in FIG. 6; paragraphs [0090], [0091], [0092], see the machine learning model will predict the time of a beam failure at time t + s).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 3, 4, 6, and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over OTTERSTEN in view of Butt et al. (US 2023/0171836 A1; hereafter BUTT).
With respect to claim 3, OTTERSTEN does not disclose the terminal according to claim 1, wherein the processor performs control to transmit a random access channel for predicted beam failure recovery triggered based on detection of the predicted beam failure.
BUTT discloses (in and invention for machine learning of beam failure management) wherein the processor performs control to transmit a random access channel for predicted beam failure recovery triggered based on detection of the predicted beam failure (paragraphs [0011], [0019], [0074], see the random access procedure started when a beam failure is higher than a threshold or triggered by a threshold crossing).
BUTT teaches the benefit of lesser delay in declaring a beam failure (paragraph [0007] and [0008]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the beam failure modeling and detection as taught by BUTT in the terminal, method, and base station of OTTERSTEN to produce an expected result.
With respect to claim 4, OTTERSTEN further discloses the terminal according to claim 3, wherein the processor performs control to transmit information related to a time when the predicted beam failure recovery is to be performed (204, 210, 205, 211, 206 in FIG. 2; paragraph [0064], see the minimum time needs to switch a beam).
With respect to claim 7, OTTERSTEN does not disclose the terminal according to claim 2, wherein the processor performs control to transmit a random access channel for predicted beam failure recovery triggered based on detection of the predicted beam failure.
BUTT discloses (in and invention for machine learning of beam failure management) wherein the processor performs control to transmit a random access channel for predicted beam failure recovery triggered based on detection of the predicted beam failure (paragraphs [0011], [0019], [0074], see the random access procedure started when a beam failure is higher than a threshold or triggered by a threshold crossing).
BUTT teaches the benefit of lesser delay in declaring a beam failure (paragraph [0007] and [0008]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the beam failure modeling and detection as taught by BUTT in the terminal, method, and base station of OTTERSTEN to produce an expected result.
With respect to claim 6, OTTERSTEN discloses a base station (110 in FIG. 1; 3212a, 3212b in FIG. 9; 3320 in FIG. 10) comprising:
a transmitter (3327 in FIG. 10) that transmits, to a terminal (120 in FIG. 1; 3291, 3292 in FIG. 9; 3330 in FIG. 10), configuration information for detection of a predicted beam failure, on the basis of a predicted radio link quality at a future time (Input Data, ML trained, Target Data in FIG. 6; paragraphs [0090], [0091], [0092], see the machine learning model will predict the time of a beam failure at time t + s) computed based on a radio link quality corresponding to one or more reference signals (201 in FIG. 2; paragraph [0090], [0091], [0092], see the measurements of RSRP or CSI-RS and quality values shared between first and second nodes and used for input to a training model); and
a receiver (3327 in FIG. 10) that receives, from the terminal (120 in FIG. 1; 3291, 3292 in FIG. 9; 3330 in FIG. 10), a measurement report (paragraph [0090], [0091], [0092]).
OTTERSTEN does not disclose receives, from the terminal, a random access channel for predicted beam failure recovery triggered based on the detection of the predicted beam failure.
BUTT discloses (in and invention for machine learning of beam failure management) receives, from the terminal, a random access channel for predicted beam failure recovery triggered based on the detection of the predicted beam failure (paragraphs [0011], [0019], [0074], see the random access procedure started when a beam failure is higher than a threshold or triggered by a threshold crossing).
BUTT teaches the benefit of lesser delay in declaring a beam failure (paragraph [0007] and [0008]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the beam failure modeling and detection as taught by BUTT in the terminal, method, and base station of OTTERSTEN to produce an expected result.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed on 04/16/2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 1-7 under KANG have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new grounds of rejection is made in view of OTTERSTEN and OTTERSTEN combined with BUTT.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Brian T O'Connor whose telephone number is (571)270-1081. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri Flex 10am-6:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gary Mui can be reached at 571-270-1420. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRIAN T O CONNOR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465 June 6, 2026
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