DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to Amendment filed on 1/24/2026. Claims 1, 3-5, 7, 9-11, 13, and
15-17 have been amended. Claims 1-18 remain pending in the application.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 1/24/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed on 1/24/2026 has been entered.
Response to Remarks/Arguments
Applicant’s remarks/arguments (page 10-20), filed on 1/24/2026, with respect to the 103 rejections of
claim 1 have been fully considered but are moot because new ground of rejections using a newly introduced reference (HIRZALLAH et al.) are applied in the current rejection.
Regarding remarks in page 15 for independent claims 1, 7, and 13, applicant asserts that Yoon does not disclose or suggest a configuration in which measurements of neighbor beams are performed by the second RF module based on the reception quality of the serving beam received via the first RF module, independently of any measurement gap.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with the applicant. YANG et al. (US 2020/0178134 Al) discloses (The second monitoring module 901 is configured to monitor received signal strength information of at least one beam link. Yang: Fig.9, [0138]-[0140]).
Claim Objections
Claim 7 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 7, in line 9, “available at the UE” should be replaced by “available at the UE;”
Appropriate corrections are required.
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 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 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that
are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-3, 5-9, 11-15, and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YOON
et al. (US 2021/0144573 Al, hereinafter “Yoon”) in view of YANG et al. (US 2020/0178134 Al, hereinafter “Yang”) and in further view of HIRZALLAH et al. (US 2023/0179953 Al, hereinafter “Hirzallah”).
Regarding claim 1, Yoon discloses:
A method of operating a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network, wherein the method comprises (a method of transmitting and receiving a signal by a user equipment (UE), Yoon: [0007]):
activating, by the UE, a first RF module selected, based on the estimated power loss, from the plurality of RF modules for communication with a serving beam in a serving cell, wherein remaining RF modules from the plurality of RF modules are inactive (user equipment (UE) including a plurality of radio frequency (RF) modules and a plurality of antenna modules in a wireless communication system. when the UE is configured with multiple RF modules and antenna modules, it is not necessary to use all the RF modules and antenna modules. the UE performs communication with a serving cell using a first antenna module among a plurality of antenna modules. A received signal strength indicator (RSSI) is measured in a frequency bandwidth of a receiver of the UE according to definition of an RSSI bandwidth, Yoon: Fig.8, [0016], [0089], [0125], [0135]);
in response to determining that a signal strength associated with the serving beam meets a first signal criteria, selecting, by the UE, at least one second RF module from the remaining inactive RF modules (UE may measure the quality of the neighboring cells using the second antenna module, which is a part of the plural antenna modules, so that the UE may continue to maintain communication with the serving cell even while the quality of the neighboring cells is measured. control the transceiver to measure the received quality of one or more neighboring cells using a second antenna module among the plural antenna modules, Yoon: [0136], [0146]);
Yoon does not explicitly disclose:
measuring, regardless of a measurement gap and while the communication is maintained with the serving beam, at least one neighbor beam from a plurality of neighbor beams of each neighbor cell through the selected at least one second RF module; and
switching the communication with the serving beam in the serving cell to a communication with one of the at least one neighbor beam in a neighbor cell based on the measurement in response to the determining that a signal strength associated with the serving beam meets a second signal criteria that is smaller than the first signal criteria.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Yang teaches:
measuring, regardless of a measurement gap and while the communication is maintained with the serving beam, at least one neighbor beam from a plurality of neighbor beams of each neighbor cell through the selected at least one second RF module (The second monitoring module 901 is configured to monitor received signal strength information of at least one beam link. Yang: Fig.9, [0138]-[0140]); and
switching the communication with the serving beam in the serving cell to a communication with one of the at least one neighbor beam in a neighbor cell based on the measurement in response to the determining that a signal strength associated with the serving beam meets a second signal criteria that is smaller than the first signal criteria (performing beam switching based on indication of the beam switching response. beam switching request includes information about a downlink beam with the quality loss, a measurement value of a quality measurement parameter. the information about the downlink beam to be switched includes an RSSI and/or an RSRP of a beam link. target beam can be determined from the content in the beam switching request according to a predetermined switching rule. the quality measurement parameter includes the RSSI, the first preset condition includes that the RSSI is smaller than a predetermined RSSI threshold. a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the beam link, and the second preset condition includes that the RSSI is smaller than a predetermined RSSI threshold, Yang: Fig. 2, [0066], [0079]-[0086], [0097]-[0101]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yoon in view of Yang in order to further modify measuring, regardless of a measurement gap and while the communication is maintained with the serving beam, at least one neighbor beam from a plurality of neighbor beams of each neighbor cell through the selected at least one second RF module, and switching the communication with the serving beam in the serving cell to a communication with one of the at least one neighbor beam in a neighbor cell based on the measurement in response to the determining that a signal strength associated with the serving beam meets a second signal criteria that is smaller than the first signal criteria from the teachings of Yang.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may be required timely switch to a beam link corresponding to an antenna panel where no blockage event occurs, thereby avoiding interruption of transmissions and achieving effective transmissions (Yang: [0086]).
Yet, Yoon in view of Yang does not explicitly disclose:
estimating, by the U E. a power 1oss associated with each of a plurality of RF modules available at the UE;
However, in the same field of endeavor, Hirzallah teaches:
estimating, by the U E. a power 1oss associated with each of a plurality of RF modules available at the UE (the at least one beam feature may include one or more of: a beam shape, a CDF or a PDF of beam-based spherical EIRP measurements, a beam configuration, a beam measurement, or a beam embedding based on a GCN (e.g., as described in connection with FIG. 15). In addition, the at least one beam feature may be associated with at least one of a transmission beam at a transmitting device or a reception beam at a receiving device. Hirzallah: [0135], [0154], [0199]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yoon and Yang in view of Hirzallah in order to further modify estimating, by the U E. a power 1oss associated with each of a plurality of RF modules available at the UE from the teachings of Hirzallah.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because the channel estimate may be derived from a reference signal and/or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE (Hirzallah: [0072]).
Regarding claim 2, Yoon-Yang-Hirzallah teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Yoon further discloses:
The method of claim 1, further comprising;
creating a list of available neighbor beams for each neighbor cell based on the measurements (To measure the quality of the neighboring cells, the UE may previously receive configuration information about the quality measurement of the neighboring cells from the gNB of the serving cell, Yoon: [0139]).
Regarding claim 3, Yoon-Yang-Hirzallah teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 2 above.
Yoon further discloses:
The method of claim 2, wherein the switching comprises:
retrieving, by the UE, one or more fields related to the list of available neighbor beams (when the UE forms reception beams suitable for the neighboring cells and measures the received quality of the neighboring cells using the reception beams formed to be suitable for the neighboring cells, Yoon: [0100]),
wherein the one or more fields include at least one of information of neighbor cell beam band, neighbor cell frequency, neighbor cell beam identity, a direction of beam including theta and phi angles, a RF module identity number, or strength of signal by corresponding RF module (the configuration information may include the types of antenna modules and the number of antenna modules included in the second antenna module among the plural antenna modules constituting the UE, Yoon: [0139]);
activating, by the UE, at least one third RF module from the remaining inactive RF modules using the retrieved one or more fields (The remaining antenna modules except for the antenna modules used to communicate with the serving cell may be used to perform operations of forming beams in various directions, detecting neighboring cells using the beams formed in various directions, searching for beams optimized for the neighboring cells, and measuring the received quality of the neighboring cells, Yoon: [0125]); and
Yoon in view of Hirzallah does not explicitly disclose:
switching, by the UE, the communication with the serving beam in the serving cell to the communication with one of the at least one neighbor beam in the neighbor cell using the activated at least one third RF module.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Yang teaches:
switching, by the UE, the communication with the serving beam in the serving cell to the communication with one of the at least one neighbor beam in the neighbor cell using the activated at least one third RF module (performing beam switching based on indication of the beam switching response. beam switching request includes information about a downlink beam with the quality loss, a measurement value of a quality measurement parameter. the information about the downlink beam to be switched includes an RSSI and/or an RSRP of a beam link. target beam can be determined from the content in the beam switching request according to a predetermined switching rule. the quality measurement parameter includes the RSSI, the first preset condition includes that the RSSI is smaller than a predetermined RSSI threshold. a received signalstrength indicator (RSSI) of the beam link, and the second preset condition includes that the RSSI is smaller than a predetermined RSSI threshold, Yang: Fig. 2, [0066], [0079]-[0086], [0097]-[0101]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yoon and Hirzallah in view of Yang in order to further modify switching the communication with the serving beam in the serving cell to the communication with one of the at least one neighbor beam in the neighbor cell using the activated at least one third RF module from the teachings of Yang.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may be required timely switch to a beam link corresponding to an antenna panel where no blockage event occurs, thereby avoiding interruption of transmissions and achieving effective transmissions (Yang: [0086]).
Regarding claim 5, Yoon-Yang-Hirzallah teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Yoon further discloses:
The method of claim 1, wherein the activating the first RF module from the plurality of RF modules comprises:
estimating, by the UE, a power loss associated with each of the plurality of RF modules (UE detects a beam having the best received quality from among the plural beams transmitted by the eNB from an initial access procedure. In this case, the size of received power may be used as a quality index in a process of beam selection and operation, Yoon: [0095]); and
activating, by the UE, the RF module having a lowest estimated power loss (UE using the multiple beams searches for a reception beam having the best received quality with respect to each of the transmission beams, forms a pair of each transmission beam and the reception beam having the best received quality, and uses the pair of the beams to communicate with the gNB, Yoon: [0095]).
Regarding claim 6, Yoon-Yang-Hirzallah teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Yoon further discloses:
The method of claim 1, further comprising;
continuing communication with the serving beam using the first RF module in response to determining that the signal strength associated with the serving beam does not meet the second signal criteria (measuring the quality of the one or more neighboring cells may include measuring at least one of reference signal received power (RSRP) or reference signal received quality (RSRQ) for each of the one or more neighboring cells. when the UE is configured with the plural antenna modules. A gNB may configure a threshold of the signal quality of a serving cell for the UE through measurement configuration information in a call setup step. In this case, the gNB may also configure a threshold of the received quality of a neighboring cell. UE may continue to perform CQI reporting on the first CQI process and, if it is determined that measurement for the received quality of the neighboring cell sis needed, the UE may perform CQI reporting on the second CQI process. communication with the serving cell is not disconnected even while the UE measures the quality of the neighboring cells. Yoon: [0011], [0105], [0131], [0141]).
Regarding claim 7, Yoon discloses:
A user equipment (UE) comprises (a method of transmitting and receiving a signal by a user equipment (UE), Yoon: [0007]):
a plurality of Radio Frequency (RF) modules (a user equipment (UE) including a plurality of radio frequency (RF) modules, Yoon: [0016]);
memory storing instructions (include a transceiver, a processor, and a memory. The memory may store the calculated and processed information, Yoon: [0143]); and
at least one processor, including processing circuitry, communicatively coupled to the memory, and the plurality of RF modules (The processor may also be configured to control the transceiver. including a transceiver and a processor, wherein the processor performs communication with a serving cell using a first antenna module among the plural antenna modules, Yoon: [0016], [0143]-[0144], [0149]):
wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually and/or collectively, cause the user equipment to (The processor may control overall operation of the UE, and be configured to calculate and process information for the UE to transmit and receive to and from the external device, Yoon: [0016], [0143]-[0144], [0149]):
activate a first RF module selected, based on the estimated power loss, from the plurality of RF modules for communication with a serving beam in a serving cell, wherein remaining RF modules from the plurality of RF modules are inactive (user equipment (UE) including a plurality of radio frequency (RF) modules and a plurality of antenna modules in a wireless communication system. when the UE is configured with multiple RF modules and antenna modules, it is not necessary to use all the RF modules and antenna modules. the UE performs communication with a serving cell using a first antenna module among a plurality of antenna modules. A received signal strength indicator (RSSI) is measured in a frequency bandwidth of a receiver of the UE according to definition of an RSSI bandwidth, Yoon: Fig.8, [0016], [0089], [0125], [0135]);
in response to determining that a signal strength associated with the serving beam meets a first signal criteria, select at least one second RF module from the remaining inactive RF modules (UE may measure the quality of the neighboring cells using the second antenna module, which is a part of the plural antenna modules, so that the UE may continue to maintain communication with the serving cell even while the quality of the neighboring cells is measured. control the transceiver to measure the received quality of one or more neighboring cells using a second antenna module among the plural antenna modules, Yoon: [0136], [0146]);
Yoon does not explicitly disclose:
measure, regardless of a measurement gap and while the communication is maintained with the serving beam, at least one neighbor beam from a plurality of neighbor beams of each neighbor cell through the selected at least one second RF module; and
switch the communication with the serving beam in the serving cell to a communication with one of the at least one neighbor beam in a neighbor cell based on the measurement in response to determining that a signal strength associated with the serving beam meeting a second signal criteria that is smaller than the first signal criteria.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Yang teaches:
measure, regardless of a measurement gap and while the communication is maintained with the serving beam, at least one neighbor beam from a plurality of neighbor beams of each neighbor cell through the selected at least one second RF module (The second monitoring module 901 is configured to monitor received signal strength information of at least one beam link. Yang: Fig.9, [0138]-[0140]); and
switch the communication with the serving beam in the serving cell to a communication with one of the at least one neighbor beam in a neighbor cell based on the measurement in response to determining that a signal strength associated with the serving beam meeting a second signal criteria that is smaller than the first signal criteria (performing beam switching based on indication of the beam switching response. beam switching request includes information about a downlink beam with the quality loss, a measurement value of a quality measurement parameter. the information about the downlink beam to be switched includes an RSSI and/or an RSRP of a beam link. target beam can be determined from the content in the beam switching request according to a predetermined switching rule. the quality measurement parameter includes the RSSI, the first preset condition includes that the RSSI is smaller than a predetermined RSSI threshold. a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the beam link, and the second preset condition includes that the RSSI is smaller than a predetermined RSSI threshold, Yang: Fig. 2, [0066], [0079]-[0086], [0097]-[0101].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yoon in view of Yang in order to further modify measuring, regardless of a measurement gap and while the communication is maintained with the serving beam, at least one neighbor beam from a plurality of neighbor beams of each neighbor cell through the selected at least one second RF module, and switching the communication with the serving beam in the serving cell to a communication with one of the at least one neighbor beam in a neighbor cell based on the measurement in response to the determining that a signal strength associated with the serving beam meets a second signal criteria that is smaller than the first signal criteria from the teachings of Yang.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may be required timely switch to a beam link corresponding to an antenna panel where no blockage event occurs, thereby avoiding interruption of transmissions and achieving effective transmissions (Yang: [0086]).
Yet, Yoon in view of Yang does not explicitly disclose:
estimate a power loss associated with each of a plurality of RF rnodules available at the UE
However, in the same field of endeavor, Hirzallah teaches:
estimate a power loss associated with each of a plurality of RF rnodules available at the UE (the at least one beam feature may include one or more of: a beam shape, a CDF or a PDF of beam-based spherical EIRP measurements, a beam configuration, a beam measurement, or a beam embedding based on a GCN (e.g., as described in connection with FIG. 15). In addition, the at least one beam feature may be associated with at least one of a transmission beam at a transmitting device or a reception beam at a receiving device. Hirzallah: [0135], [0154], [0199]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yoon and Yang in view of Hirzallah in order to further modify estimating, by the U E. a power 1oss associated with each of a plurality of RF modules available at the UE from the teachings of Hirzallah.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because the channel estimate may be derived from a reference signal and/or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE (Hirzallah: [0072]).
Regarding claim 13, Yoon discloses:
A user equipment (UE) comprises (a method of transmitting and receiving a signal by a user equipment (UE), Yoon: [0007]):
a plurality of Radio Frequency (RF) modules (a user equipment (UE) including a plurality of radio frequency (RF) modules, Yoon: [0016]);
memory storing instructions (include a transceiver, a processor, and a memory. The memory may store the calculated and processed information, Yoon: [0143]); and
at least one processor, including processing circuitry, communicatively coupled to the memory, and the plurality of RF modules (The processor may also be configured to control the transceiver. including a transceiver and a processor, wherein the processor performs communication with a serving cell using a first antenna module among the plural antenna modules, Yoon: [0016], [0143]-[0144], [0149]):
wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually and/or collectively, cause the user equipment to (The processor may control overall operation of the UE, and be configured to calculate and process information for the UE to transmit and receive to and from the external device, Yoon: [0016], [0143]-[0144], [0149]):
activate a first RF module selected. based on the estimated power loss, from the plurality of RF modules for communication with a serving beam in a serving cell, wherein remaining RF modules from the plurality of RF modules are inactive (user equipment (UE) including a plurality of radio frequency (RF) modules and a plurality of antenna modules in a wireless communication system. when the UE is configured with multiple RF modules and antenna modules, it is not necessary to use all the RF modules and antenna modules. the UE performs communication with a serving cell using a first antenna module among a plurality of antenna modules. A received signal strength indicator (RSSI) is measured in a frequency bandwidth of a receiver of the UE according to definition of an RSSI bandwidth, Yoon: Fig.8, [0016], [0089], [0125], [0135]);
select at least one second RF module from the remaining inactive RF modules (control the transceiver to measure the received quality of one or more neighboring cells using a second antenna module among the plural antenna modules, Yoon: [0146]);
Yoon does not explicitly disclose:
in response to determining that a signal strength associated with the serving beam meeting a signal criteria, measure, regardless of a measurement gap and while the communication is maintained with the serving beam, at least one neighbor beam from a plurality of neighbor beams of each neighbor cell through the selected at least one second RF module; and
switch the communication with the serving beam in the serving cell to a communication with one of the at least one neighbor beam in a neighbor cell based on the measurement.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Yang teaches:
in response to determining that a signal strength associated with the serving beam meeting a signal criteria, measure, regardless of a measurement gap and while the communication is maintained with the serving beam, at least one neighbor beam from a plurality of neighbor beams of each neighbor cell through the selected at least one second RF module (The second monitoring module 901 is configured to monitor received signal strength information of at least one beam link. Yang: Fig.9, [0138]-[0140]); and
switch the communication with the serving beam in the serving cell to a communication with one of the at least one neighbor beam in a neighbor cell based on the measurement (performing beam switching based on indication of the beam switching response. beam switching request includes information about a downlink beam with the quality loss, a measurement value of a quality measurement parameter. the information about the downlink beam to be switched includes an RSSI and/or an RSRP of a beam link. target beam can be determined from the content in the beam switching request according to a predetermined switching rule. the quality measurement parameter includes the RSSI, the first preset condition includes that the RSSI is smaller than a predetermined RSSI threshold. a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the beam link, and the second preset condition includes that the RSSI is smaller than a predetermined RSSI threshold, Yang: Fig. 2, [0066], [0079]-[0086], [0097]-[0101]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yoon in view of Yang in order to further modify measuring, regardless of a measurement gap and while the communication is maintained with the serving beam, at least one neighbor beam from a plurality of neighbor beams of each neighbor cell through the selected at least one second RF module, and switching the communication with the serving beam in the serving cell to a communication with one of the at least one neighbor beam in a neighbor cell based on the measurement in response to the determining that a signal strength associated with the serving beam meets a second signal criteria that is smaller than the first signal criteria from the teachings of Yang.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may be required timely switch to a beam link corresponding to an antenna panel where no blockage event occurs, thereby avoiding interruption of transmissions and achieving effective transmissions (Yang: [0086]).
Yet, Yoon in view of Yang does not explicitly disclose:
estimate a power loss associated with each of a plurality of RF modules available at the UE;
However, in the same field of endeavor, Hirzallah teaches:
estimate a power loss associated with each of a plurality of RF modules available at the UE (the at least one beam feature may include one or more of: a beam shape, a CDF or a PDF of beam-based spherical EIRP measurements, a beam configuration, a beam measurement, or a beam embedding based on a GCN (e.g., as described in connection with FIG. 15). In addition, the at least one beam feature may be associated with at least one of a transmission beam at a transmitting device or a reception beam at a receiving device. Hirzallah: [0135], [0154], [0199]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yoon and Yang in view of Hirzallah in order to further modify estimating, by the U E. a power 1oss associated with each of a plurality of RF modules available at the UE from the teachings of Hirzallah.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because the channel estimate may be derived from a reference signal and/or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE (Hirzallah: [0072]).
Regarding claims 8 and 14, Yoon-Yang-Hirzallah teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claims 7 and 13 above.
Yoon further discloses:
wherein the instructions, wherein executed by the at least one processor individually and/or collectively. cause the user equipment to (The processor may control overall operation of the UE, and be configured to calculate and process information for the UE to transmit and receive to and from the external device, Yoon: [0016], [0143]-[0144], [0149]):
create a list of available neighbor beams for each neighbor cell based on the measurements (To measure the quality of the neighboring cells, the UE may previously receive configuration information about the quality measurement of the neighboring cells from the gNB of the serving cell, Yoon: [0139]).
Regarding claims 9 and 15, Yoon-Yang-Hirzallah teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claims 8 and 14 above.
Yoon further discloses:
wherein the instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually and/or collectively, cause the user equipment to (The processor may control overall operation of the UE, and be configured to calculate and process information for the UE to transmit and receive to and from the external device, Yoon: [0016], [0143]-[0144], [0149]):
retrieve one or more fields related to the list of available neighbor beams (when the UE forms reception beams suitable for the neighboring cells and measures the received quality of the neighboring cells using the reception beams formed to be suitable for the neighboring cells, Yoon: [0100]),
wherein the one or more fields include at least one of information of neighbor cell beam band, neighbor cell frequency, neighbor cell beam identity, a direction of beam including theta and phi angles, a RF module identity number, or strength of signal by corresponding RF module (the configuration information may include the types of antenna modules and the number of antenna modules included in the second antenna module among the plural antenna modules constituting the UE, Yoon: [0139]);
activate at least one third RF module from the remaining inactive RF modules using the retrieved one or more fields (The remaining antenna modules except for the antenna modules used to communicate with the serving cell may be used to perform operations of forming beams in various directions, detecting neighboring cells using the beams formed in various directions, searching for beams optimized for the neighboring cells, and measuring the received quality of the neighboring cells, Yoon: [0125]); and
Yoon does not explicitly disclose:
switch the communication with the serving beam in serving cell to the communication with one of the at least one neighbor beam in neighbor cell using the activated at least one third RF module.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Yang teaches:
switch the communication with the serving beam in serving cell to the communication with one of the at least one neighbor beam in neighbor cell using the activated at least one third RF module (performing beam switching based on indication of the beam switching response. beam switching request includes information about a downlink beam with the quality loss, a measurement value of a quality measurement parameter. the information about the downlink beam to be switched includes an RSSI and/or an RSRP of a beam link. target beam can be determined from the content in the beam switching request according to a predetermined switching rule. the quality measurement parameter includes the RSSI, the first preset condition includes that the RSSI is smaller than a predetermined RSSI threshold. a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the beam link, and the second preset condition includes that the RSSI is smaller than a predetermined RSSI threshold, Yang: Fig. 2, [0066], [0079]-[0086], [0097]-[0101])).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yoon and Hirzallah in view of Yang in order to further modify switching the communication with the serving beam in the serving cell to the communication with one of the at least one neighbor beam in the neighbor cell using the activated at least one third RF module from the teachings of Yang.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may be required timely switch to a beam link corresponding to an antenna panel where no blockage event occurs, thereby avoiding interruption of transmissions and achieving effective transmissions (Yang: [0086]).
Regarding claims 11 and 17, Yoon-Yang-Hirzallah teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claims 7 and 13 above.
Yoon further discloses:
wherein executed by the at least one processor individually and/or collectively, cause the user equipment to (The processor may control overall operation of the UE, and be configured to calculate and process information for the UE to transmit and receive to and from the external device, Yoon: [0016], [0143]-[0144], [0149]):
activate the first RF module having a lowest estimated power loss (UE using the multiple beams searches for a reception beam having the best received quality with respect to each of the transmission beams, forms a pair of each transmission beam and the reception beam having the best received quality, and uses the pair of the beams to communicate with the gNB, Yoon: [0095]).
Regarding claims 12 and 18, Yoon-Yang-Hirzallah teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claims 7 and 13 above.
Yoon further discloses:
wherein executed by the at least one processor individually and/or collectively, cause the user equipment to (The processor may control overall operation of the UE, and be configured to calculate and process information for the UE to transmit and receive to and from the external device, Yoon: [0016], [0143]-[0144], [0149]):
continue communication with the serving beam using the first RF module in response to determining that the signal strength associated with the serving beam does not meet the second signal criteria (measuring the quality of the one or more neighboring cells may include measuring at least one of reference signal received power (RSRP) or reference signal received quality (RSRQ) for each of the one or more neighboring cells. when the UE is configured with the plural antenna modules. A gNB may configure a threshold of the signal quality of a serving cell for the UE through measurement configuration information in a call setup step. In this case, the gNB may also configure a threshold of the received quality of a neighboring cell. UE may continue to perform CQI reporting on the first CQI process and, if it is determined that measurement for the received quality of the neighboring cell sis needed, the UE may perform CQI reporting on the second CQI process. communication with the serving cell is not disconnected even while the UE measures the quality of the neighboring cells. Yoon: [0011], [0105], [0131], [0141]).
Claims 4, 10, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoon in view of
Yang and in further view of Hirzallah and in further view of Zhu et al. (US 2021/0058131 Al, hereafter “Zhu”).
Regarding claims 4, 10, and 16, Yoon-Yang-Hirzallah teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claims 3, 9, and 15 above.
Yoon further discloses:
wherein the activating, by the UE, the at least one RF module comprises (The remaining antenna modules except for the antenna modules used to communicate with the serving cell may be used to perform operations of forming beams in various directions, detecting neighboring cells using the beams formed in various directions, searching for beams optimized for the neighboring cells, and measuring the received quality of the neighboring cells, Yoon: [0125]):
Yoon-Yang-Hirzallah does not explicitly disclose:
determining, by the UE, a gain of each of the plurality of RF modules, wherein the gain of each RF module is based on a number of antenna elements in corresponding RF module, and wherein the RF module having a higher number of antenna elements has high gain;
determining, by the UE, a beam direction associated with each RF module by measuring the theta and phi angles and signal strength received at the RF module; and
activating, by the UE, the at least one RF module based on the determined gain and beam direction.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Zhu teaches:
determining, by the UE, a gain of each of the plurality of RF modules, wherein the gain of each RF module is based on a number of antenna elements in corresponding RF module, and wherein the RF module having a higher number of antenna elements has high gain (UE compares the actual measurement with the radiation gains in each row in the look-up table and finds the best comparison result. UE calculates a comparison result for the given row in the look-up table based on the comparison metrics from one or more active beams. the amplitude and phase generated by the n-th phase shifter in the m-th cluster of phase shifters, corresponding to the n-th antenna element on the m-th antenna array/panel, Zhu: [0240], [0330]-[0331]);
determining, by the UE, a beam direction associated with each RF module by measuring the theta and phi angles and signal strength received at the RF module (UE computes the received signal strengths, reference signal received powers (RSRPs), reference signal received qualities (RSRQs), signal- to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) and etc., and treats one of them, several of them, or all of them as the necessary measurement for further processing to assist the receive beam selection. If the measurement processing result is an angular direction or a relative position with respect to the steering directions of the measurement beams, the UE may select the receive beam from the beam codebook, whose steering direction is the closest to the angular direction or the relative position with respect to the steering directions of the measurement beams among one or more other beam codewords in the beam codebook. Zhu: [0192]-[0196]); and
activating, by the UE, the at least one RF module based on the determined gain and beam direction (UE selects the final receive beam from the beam codebook based on the estimated channel angle information; use the selected receive beam for data communications, Zhu: [0719]-[0720]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yoon-Yang-Hirzallah in view of Zhu in order to further modify determining a gain of each of the plurality of RF modules and determining a beam direction associated with each RF module and activating the at least one RF module from the teachings of Zhu.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may significantly improve the radio link quality under high mobility without introducing additional latency for the terminal to access to the network (Zhu: [0456]).
Conclusion
In the case of amendments, applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the
specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and support, for ascertaining the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
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/S.C.L./Examiner, Art Unit 2467
/Robert C Scheibel/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467 March 11, 2026