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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of invention-II (claims 12-16) in the reply filed on 12/03/2025 is acknowledged. The non-elected invention-I (claims 1-11 and 17-19) are canceled.
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) 12 and 15 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (US 2025/0226956, “Li”) in view of Li et al. (US 2025/0192868, “Li868”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Li unless otherwise mentioned.
Li comprises the following features:
With respect to independent claims:
Regarding claim 12, a method of a terminal, comprising:
receiving downlink reference signals from a base station ([0111 and Fig. 9] “As shown by reference number 925, the network entity 910 may transmit a reference signal (e.g., CSI-RS, SSB).”);
generating beam report information based on the downlink reference signals ([0101] “T.sub.L1-RSRP may be the time for L1-RSRP measurement for receive beam refinement in FR2, defined as periodicity of the SSB/CSI-RS with respect to the TCI state. The T.sub.L1-RSPR_Measurement_Period_SSB for SSB and T.sub.L1-RSRP_Measurement_Period_CSI-RS for CSI-RS may be specified.”), and
transmitting the beam report information to the base station ([0097] “if the UE has transmitted at least 1 L1-RSRP report for the target TCI state”);
receiving information on a beam prediction target time from the base station (This will be discussed in view of Li.);
performing beam prediction for the beam prediction target time ([0106] “As shown by example 800, the UE may have already predicted channel characteristics regarding a certain SSB or CSI-RS and a proper receive spatial filter (with respect to QCL-TypeA/C/D) related to such an SSB or CSI-RS, without actually measuring the SSB or CSI-RS. For example, for time domain beam prediction, the UE may predict future L1-RSRPs regarding SSBs”); and
transmitting beam prediction information according to the beam prediction to the base station ([0106] “report the predicted L1-RSRPs without actually measuring them”).
It is noted that while disclosing beam prediction, Li does not specifically teach about receiving a prediction time. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Li868 as follows;
receiving information on a beam prediction target time from the base station ([Li868, 0069 and Fig. 4] “the network node 402 may indicate transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state information to the UE 120 in downlink-grant (DL-grant) DCI, where the TCI state information is based at least in part on a predicted beam at a time duration as shown by reference number 416.”, and [Li868, 0070] “The UE 120 may calculate one or more signal metrics based at least in part on the time duration shown by reference number 416”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Li by using the features of Li868 in order to maintain beam qualities such that “obtaining a trigger condition associated with reporting a difference between a quality of a downlink reference signal and a quality of a Type-D quasi co-located (QCL) source reference signal” [Li868, 0005].
With respect to dependent claims:
Regarding claim 15, the method according to claim 12, further comprising:
receiving information on a prediction target time ([Li868, 0069 and Fig. 4] “the network node 402 may indicate transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state information to the UE 120 in downlink-grant (DL-grant) DCI, where the TCI state information is based at least in part on a predicted beam at a time duration as shown by reference number 416.”) for channel state information from the base station ([Li868, 0087] “the network node 502 may transmit a reference signal on a beam, such as a CSI-RS”);
predicting the channel state information for the predicted target time ([0106] “the UE may have already predicted channel characteristics regarding a certain SSB or CSI-RS”); and
transmitting the predicted channel state information to the base station ([0106] “report the predicted L1-RSRPs without actually measuring them”).
Claim(s) 13 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (US 2025/0226956, “Li”) in view of Li et al. (US 2025/0192868, “Li868”) and further in view of Lee et al. (US 2025/0150119, “Lee”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Li unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claim 13, the method according to claim 12, further comprising:
sharing, with the base station, reference time information on a reference time (This will be discussed in view of Lee.),
wherein the information on the beam prediction target time includes at least one of a start offset (This alternative is not examined.), a valid time period (See aforesaid [Li868, 0069 and Fig. 4] “416”), an end offset, or a specific offset with respect to the reference time (These alternatives are not examined.).
It is noted that while disclosing beam prediction, Li does not specifically teach about sharing a reference information with another entity. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Lee as follows;
sharing, with the base station, reference time information on a reference time ([Lee, 0147] “an offset between a slot in which the RC receives a control signal and a slot at which measurement needs to be started to obtain the optimal beam of the base station”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Li by using the features of Lee in order to efficiently perform beamforming communication such that “the method may comprise transmitting control information for controlling a plurality of reflection patterns of an RIS to an RIS controller (RC), transmitting synchronization signals corresponding to a plurality of beams” [Lee, 0014].
Claim(s) 16 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (US 2025/0226956, “Li”) in view of Li et al. (US 2025/0192868, “Li868”) and further in view of Zhou et al. (US 2023/0269816, “Zhou”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Li unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claim 16, the method according to claim 12, further comprising:
predicting a layer 1 (L1) reference signal received power (RSRP) for a serving beam of the base station (See aforesaid [0106] “L1-RSRPs”);
predicting a beam failure based on the predicted L1 RSRP ([0092 and Fig. 5] “Predictive beam management may also use ML models to predict non-measured beam qualities (for lower power/overhead or better accuracy) and/or to predict future beam blockage or failure”).
It is noted that while disclosing beam prediction, Li does not specifically teach about a predicted time for predicted beam failure. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Zhou as follows;
transmitting information on a predicted time for the predicted beam failure to the base station ([Zhou, 0098] “the DRX component 198 may be configured to identify a predicted beam failure detection (BFD) within a discontinuous reception (DRX) OFF duration associated with a configured DRX.”); and
monitoring a downlink control signal based on the predicted time ([Zhou, 0099] “receiving, from a network entity via MAC-CE or DCI, an activation or a deactivation associated with extending the DRX ON duration based on the predicted BFD.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Li by using the features of Lee in order to efficiently perform beamforming communication in multiple wireless communication standards such that “to identify a predicted BFD within a DRX OFF duration associated with a configured DRX.” [Zhou, 0005].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 14 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The claims contain the following underlined features which, when combined with other features of the claim, prior art of record failed to anticipate or render obvious before the effective filing date of the instant application was filed:
14. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:
sharing, with the base station, periodical beam update time points,
wherein the information on the beam prediction target time includes configuration information indicating an earliest beam update time point after a time point obtained by adding a waiting time to a time point of receiving a beam prediction report trigger signal, or configuration information on an earliest beam update period after the time point obtained by adding the waiting time to the time point of receiving the beam prediction report trigger signal.
Conclusion
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/HARRY H KIM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411