DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to amended claims filed on 02 February 2026. Claims 1-30 are pending examination.
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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 02 February 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant states Rag and Lee, alone and in combination, fails to disclose claim 1, 29 and 30 limitations, “determining transmit powers on a per-connection basis among a plurality of connections based at least in part on the transmit power budget and one or more characteristics associated with the connections.” The examiner respectfully disagrees with applicant.
Rang teaches that a resource manager obtains and processes performance metric information on a per component carrier basis, including data rate, error rate, activation/deactivation information, and power budget information (Rag, [0054]-[0060]). Rag further teaches that power budgets are generated and govern the amount of power used by the radio transmitting signals (Rag, [0061]), and that CC selection logic determines operation of each CC based on such performance metrics and power budget information (Rag, [0064]-[0065]). Thus, Rag discloses using transmit power budget together with characteristics associated with each connection (CC) to determine how each connection is operated.
Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, “obtaining” includes generating or otherwise accessing information. Furthermore, determining operation of each CC based on the power budget and the CC characteristics corresponding to determining transmit power for each connection, since an active CC uses transmit power and a deactivated CC uses no transmit power. Rag also discloses that this information is applied and updated over time as radio transmits and/or receives signals (Rag, [0054]-[0055]), which corresponds to a time interval.
Applicant states Rag and Lee, alone and in combination, fails to disclose claim 1, 29 and 30 limitations, “transmitting signals associated with the connections at the respective transmit powers in the time interval.” The examiner respectfully disagrees with applicant.
Lee teaches that a UE communicates with multiple base stations (BSs), as shown in figs. 18A-18B, each maintain a respective connection with the UE (1804), and each base station transmits a corresponding reference signal (RS A, RS B, RS C) during a defined measurement period (Lee, [0194]-[0197]). Fig. 18B specifically shows these signals being transmitted within the same time interval (measurement period), also at different times so they are not simultaneous. This demonstrates that signals associated with the respective connections are transmitted within a shared time interval.
Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, the claimed “transmitting signals associated with the connections at the respective transmit powers in the time interval.” does not require simultaneous transmission or any particular ordering within the interval. Accordingly, Lee’s sequential transmission of signals from multiple base stations within the measurement period reasonable meets this limitation. In view of Raghunathan’s teaching of determining per-connection characteristics, it would have been obvious to transmit each connection’s signal at its respective transmit power within the same time interval.
Accordingly, the examiner maintains 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection of claim 1, 29, and 30, as well as their dependents based on Raghunathan et al. (hereinafter Rag) (US 2024/0298264 A1), and further in view of Lee et al. (hereinafter Lee) (US 2024/0291577 A1).
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claim(s) 1-12, 15, 19-23, 25, and 29-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Raghunathan et al. (US 2024/0298264 A1) (hereinafter Rag) in view of Lee et al. (US 2024/0291577 A1) (hereinafter Lee).
Regarding Claim 1, Rag-Lee teaches a method:
Wireless communication by a wireless device, comprising (Rag, [0022], Fig. 1: [0022] UE device 10 may establish a connection with a primary base station and one or more secondary base stations at downlink and uplink frequencies (e.g., downlink and uplink frequency bands). In other words, UE device 10 may perform wireless communications with base stations 12A and 12B using a CA or DC scheme in which radio-frequency signals are concurrently conveyed in uplink and/or downlink directions at one or more different frequencies (e.g., using one or more different CCs) with both base station 12A and base station 12B. For example, during wireless communications, UE device 10 may concurrently transmit uplink (UL) signals using multiple CCs (e.g., using multiple different uplink component carriers) to PCELL base station 12A and one or more SCELL base stations 12B. UE device 10 may also concurrently receive downlink (DL) signals from PCELL base station 12A and one or more SCELL base stations 12B using multiple CCs (e.g., using multiple different downlink component carriers). The assignment of different base stations as a PCELL base station (e.g., PCELL base station 12A) or an SCELL base station (e.g., SCELL base station 12B) may change over time.):
obtaining a transmit power budget associated with a time interval (Rag, [0054]- [0065], Fig. 5: [0061] Power budgets 66 may be generated by a power management engine on UE device 10 (e.g., implemented in hardware and/or software in radio 44 and/or elsewhere on UE device 10). The power management engine may, for example, be implemented using AP of UE device 10. The power management engine may, if desired, implement or execute a Code and Power Management Scheme (CPMS) that identifies and processes system level information to periodically generate and apply different power budgets to different components within UE device 10 (e.g., in a manner that optimally balances power consumption with performance level). The power management engine may provide power budgets 66 (e.g., one or more power budgets assigned by the power management engine to radio 44 governing the amount of power to be consumed by radio 44 in transmitting and/or receiving radio-frequency signals).);
determining transmit powers on a per-connection basis among a plurality of connections based at least in part on the transmit power budget and one or more characteristics associated with the connections (Rag, [0042]- [0053], Fig. 4: [0049] Some features of the communications protocol governing radio 44 can consume relatively large amounts of power, such as Enhanced Mobile Broadband of the 5G NR protocol. The communications protocol may include one or more CA and/or DC configurations with different CCs and bandwidths that can cause radio 44 to consume excessive power. Excessive power consumption by radio 44 can reduce battery life for UE device 10 and can produce undesirably high temperatures at one or more surfaces UE device 10, which can be uncomfortable for the user of UE device 10. While increasing the number of SCCs that are actively used by radio 44 for conveying wireless data can increase overall data throughput, increasing the number of SCCs also increases the power consumption of radio 44 and thus the temperature of UE device 10.); and
Thus, Rag do not explicitly teach transmitting signals associated with the connections at the respective transmit powers in the time interval.
Similar to the system of Rag, Lee teaches that the UE may receive reference signals respectively from the plurality of BSs. When the BSs are around the UE and are connected with each other, the BSs may transmit, to the UE and in a measurement period, which can be seen as, transmitting signals associated with the connections at the respective transmit powers in the time interval (Lee, [0194]- [0199], Fig. 18A and 18B: [0197] In operation S1820, the UE 1804 may receive reference signals respectively from the plurality of BSs. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the BSs 1801, 1802, and 1803 are around the UE 1804 and are connected with each other, the BSs 1801, 1802, and 1803 may transmit, to the UE 1804 and in a measurement period, reference signals in order that the reference signals requested from the UE 1804 are not simultaneously transmitted.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Rag with Lee to apply Rag’s power management and prioritization techniques to Lee’s transmit power budgeting framework, thereby improving accuracy of connection management and link condition determination (LOS/NLOS) when using multiple bands, which provides performance benefits (Lee, [0151]).
Regarding Claim 2, Rag teaches the method of claim 1:
Wherein the connections comprise a plurality of links associated with a plurality of frequency channels, a plurality of frequency carriers, a plurality of frequency bands, a plurality of peers, or a combination thereof (Rag, [0019]- [0023], Fig. 1: [0023] System 18 may form a part of a larger communications network that includes network nodes coupled to base stations 12 via wired and/or wireless links. The larger communications network may include one or more wired communications links (e.g., communications links formed using cabling such as ethernet cables, radio-frequency cables such as coaxial cables or other transmission lines, optical fibers or other optical cables, etc.), one or more wireless communications links (e.g., short range wireless communications links that operate over a range of inches, feet, or tens of feet, medium range wireless communications links that operate over a range of hundreds of feet, thousands of feet, miles, or tens of miles, and/or long range wireless communications links that operate over a range of hundreds or thousands of miles, etc.), communications gateways, wireless access points, base stations, switches, routers, servers, modems, repeaters, telephone lines, network cards, line cards, portals, user equipment (e.g., computing devices, mobile devices, etc.), etc. The larger communications network may include communications (network) nodes or terminals coupled together using these components or other components (e.g., some or all of a mesh network, relay network, ring network, local area network, wireless local area network, personal area network, cloud network, star network, tree network, or networks of communications nodes having other network topologies), the Internet, combinations of these, etc. UE device 10 may send data to and/or may receive data from other nodes or terminals in the larger communications network via base stations 12 (e.g., base stations 12A and 12B may serve as an interface between UE device 10 and the rest of the larger communications network). Some or all of the communications network may, if desired, be operated by a corresponding network operator or service provider. Base stations 12 and nodes of communications system 18 other than UE device 10 may sometimes be referred to herein collectively as “the network.”).
Regarding Claim 3, Rag teaches the method of claim 2:
Wherein the frequency bands are in a shared spectrum (Rag, [0026]- [0036]: [0035] Each radio 44 may be coupled to one or more antennas 40 over one or more radio-frequency transmission lines 42. Radio-frequency transmission lines 42 may include coaxial cables, microstrip transmission lines, stripline transmission lines, edge-coupled microstrip transmission lines, edge-coupled stripline transmission lines, transmission lines formed from combinations of transmission lines of these types, etc. Radio-frequency transmission lines 42 may be integrated into rigid and/or flexible printed circuit boards if desired. One or more radio-frequency lines 42 may be shared between multiple radios 44 if desired. Radio-frequency front end (RFFE) modules may be interposed on one or more radio-frequency transmission lines 42. The radio-frequency front end modules may include substrates, integrated circuits, chips, or packages that are separate from radios 44 and may include filter circuitry, switching circuitry, amplifier circuitry, impedance matching circuitry, radio-frequency coupler circuitry, and/or any other desired radio-frequency circuitry for operating on the radio-frequency signals conveyed over radio-frequency transmission lines 42.).
Regarding Claim 4, Rag teaches the method of claim 2:
Wherein the frequency bands include a 2.4 GHz frequency band, a 5 GHz frequency band, a 6 GHz frequency band, or any combination thereof (Rag, [0026]- [0036]: [0036] Radio 44 may transmit and/or receive radio-frequency signals within corresponding frequency bands at radio frequencies (sometimes referred to herein as communications bands or simply as “bands”). The frequency bands handled by radio 44 may include wireless local area network (WLAN) frequency bands (e.g., Wi-Fi® (IEEE 802.11) or other WLAN communications bands) such as a 2.4 GHz WLAN band (e.g., from 2400 to 2480 MHz), a 5 GHz WLAN band (e.g., from 5180 to 5825 MHz), a Wi-Fi® 6E band (e.g., from 5925-7125 MHz), and/or other Wi-Fi® bands (e.g., from 1875-5160 MHz), wireless personal area network (WPAN) frequency bands such as the 2.4 GHz Bluetooth® band or other WPAN communications bands, cellular telephone communications bands such as a cellular low band (LB) (e.g., 600 to 960 MHz), a cellular low-midband (LMB) (e.g., 1400 to 1550 MHz), a cellular midband (MB) (e.g., from 1700 to 2200 MHz), a cellular high band (HB) (e.g., from 2300 to 2700 MHz), a cellular ultra-high band (UHB) (e.g., from 3300 to 5000 MHz, or other cellular communications bands between about 600 MHz and about 5000 MHz), 3G bands, 4G LTE bands, 3GPP 5G New Radio Frequency Range 1 (FR1) bands below 10 GHz, 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR) Frequency Range 2 (FR2) bands between 20 and 60 GHz, other centimeter or millimeter wave frequency bands between 10-300 GHz, near-field communications frequency bands (e.g., at 13.56 MHz), satellite navigation frequency bands such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) L1 band (e.g., at 1575 MHz), L2 band (e.g., at 1228 MHz), L3 band (e.g., at 1381 MHz), L4 band (e.g., at 1380 MHz), and/or L5 band (e.g., at 1176 MHz), a Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) band, a BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) band, ultra-wideband (UWB) frequency bands that operate under the IEEE 802.15.4 protocol and/or other ultra-wideband communications protocols (e.g., a first UWB communications band at 6.5 GHz and/or a second UWB communications band at 8.0 GHz), communications bands under the family of 3GPP wireless communications standards, communications bands under the IEEE 802.XX family of standards, satellite communications bands such as an L-band, S-band (e.g., from 2-4 GHz), C-band (e.g., from 4-8 GHz), X-band, Ku-band (e.g., from 12-18 GHz), Ka-band (e.g., from 26-40 GHz), etc., industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands such as an ISM band between around 900 MHz and 950 MHz or other ISM bands below or above 1 GHz, one or more unlicensed bands, one or more bands reserved for emergency and/or public services, and/or any other desired frequency bands of interest. Wireless circuitry 34 may also be used to perform spatial ranging operations if desired (e.g., using a radar scheme).).
Regarding Claim 5, Rag teaches the method of claim 1:
Wherein the connections are associated with wireless local area network (WLAN) communications, wireless wide area network (WWAN) communications, or any combination thereof (Rag, [0028]- [0030]: [0030] To support interactions with external communications equipment, control circuitry 28 may be used in implementing communications protocols. Communications protocols that may be implemented using control circuitry 28 include internet protocols, wireless local area network (WLAN) protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.11 protocols—sometimes referred to as Wi-Fi®), protocols for other short-range wireless communications links such as the Bluetooth® protocol or other wireless personal area network (WPAN) protocols, IEEE 802.1 lad protocols (e.g., ultra-wideband protocols), cellular telephone protocols (e.g., 3G protocols, 4G (LTE) protocols, 3GPP Fifth Generation (5G) New Radio (NR) protocols, 6G protocols, cellular sideband protocols, etc.), device-to-device (D2D) protocols, antenna diversity protocols, satellite navigation system protocols (e.g., global positioning system (GPS) protocols, global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) protocols, etc.), antenna-based spatial ranging protocols, or any other desired communications protocols. Each communications protocol may be associated with a corresponding radio access technology (RAT) that specifies the physical connection methodology used in implementing the protocol. Radio-frequency signals conveyed using a cellular telephone protocol may sometimes be referred to herein as cellular telephone signals.).
Regarding Claim 6, Lee teaches the method of claim 1:
Thus, Rag do not explicitly teach wherein transmitting the signals comprises transmitting the signals via a plurality of links in the time interval and wherein each of the transmit powers is associated with a particular link among the links.
Similar to the system of Rag, Lee teaches that the UE may receive reference signals respectively from the plurality of BSs. When the BSs are around the UE and are connected with each other, the BSs may transmit, to the UE and in a measurement period, which can be seen as, wherein transmitting the signals comprises transmitting the signals via a plurality of links in the time interval and wherein each of the transmit powers is associated with a particular link among the links (Lee, [0194]- [0199], Fig. 18A and 18B: [0197] In operation S1820, the UE 1804 may receive reference signals respectively from the plurality of BSs. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the BSs 1801, 1802, and 1803 are around the UE 1804 and are connected with each other, the BSs 1801, 1802, and 1803 may transmit, to the UE 1804 and in a measurement period, reference signals in order that the reference signals requested from the UE 1804 are not simultaneously transmitted.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Rag with Lee to apply Rag’s power management and prioritization techniques to Lee’s transmit power budgeting framework, thereby improving accuracy of connection management and link condition determination (LOS/NLOS) when using multiple bands, which provides performance benefits (Lee, [0151]).
Regarding Claim 7, Lee teaches the method of claim 1:
Thus, Rag do not explicitly teach wherein transmitting the signals comprises transmitting the signals to a plurality of peers in the time interval and wherein each of the transmit powers is associated with a particular peer among the peers.
Similar to the system of Rag, Lee teaches that the UE may receive reference signals respectively from the plurality of BSs. When the BSs are around the UE and are connected with each other, the BSs may transmit, to the UE and in a measurement period, which can be seen as, wherein transmitting the signals comprises transmitting the signals to a plurality of peers in the time interval and wherein each of the transmit powers is associated with a particular peer among the peers (Lee, [0194]- [0199], Fig. 18A and 18B: [0197] In operation S1820, the UE 1804 may receive reference signals respectively from the plurality of BSs. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the BSs 1801, 1802, and 1803 are around the UE 1804 and are connected with each other, the BSs 1801, 1802, and 1803 may transmit, to the UE 1804 and in a measurement period, reference signals in order that the reference signals requested from the UE 1804 are not simultaneously transmitted.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Rag with Lee to apply Rag’s power management and prioritization techniques to Lee’s transmit power budgeting framework, thereby improving accuracy of connection management and link condition determination (LOS/NLOS) when using multiple bands, which provides performance benefits (Lee, [0151]).
Regarding Claim 8, Rag teaches the method of claim 1:
Wherein the transmit power budget comprises a maximum allowed time-averaged transmit power based on a radio frequency (RF) exposure limit (Rag, [0024], [0079]- [0086], Fig. 7: [0086] When resource manager 60 selects CC(s) to drop based on the distribution of the CC(s) among DMDC clusters so the DMDC cluster voltage steps down from VHIGH to VMID or from VMID to VLOW, dropping CC(s) in this way may lead to a reduction in power consumption by as much as 250-300 mW, for example. When the allocation of CCs is distributed between two or three DMDC clusters 80, then allocating CCs in a single DMDC cluster until it reaches its maximum capacity (e.g., six CCs) may lead to reduction in power consumption by as much as 100 mW if the DMDC clusters operate using the same clocking frequency.).
Regarding Claim 9, Rag teaches the method of claim 8:
Wherein the transmit powers satisfy a maximum time-averaged transmit power associated with the RF exposure limit (Rag, [0024], [0079]- [0086], Fig. 7: [0086] When resource manager 60 selects CC(s) to drop based on the distribution of the CC(s) among DMDC clusters so the DMDC cluster voltage steps down from VHIGH to VMID or from VMID to VLOW, dropping CC(s) in this way may lead to a reduction in power consumption by as much as 250-300 mW, for example. When the allocation of CCs is distributed between two or three DMDC clusters 80, then allocating CCs in a single DMDC cluster until it reaches its maximum capacity (e.g., six CCs) may lead to reduction in power consumption by as much as 100 mW if the DMDC clusters operate using the same clocking frequency.).
Regarding Claim 10, Rag teaches the method of claim 1:
Wherein obtaining the transmit power budget comprises obtaining the transmit power budget from a controller that controls radio frequency (RF) exposure associated with a plurality of radio access technologies including a radio access technology associated with the connections (Rag, [0054]- [0065], Fig. 2, Fig. 5: [0065] CC selection logic 74 may generate, calculate, compute, produce, output, or otherwise identify the selected SCC based on CC performance metric information 62 (e.g., one or more of data rates 64, power budgets 66, DMDC cluster information 68, error rates 70, and/or activation/deactivation rates 72) and/or control signal CTRL2 (e.g., the frequency F and/or bandwidth B of each active CC). CC selection logic 74 may generate, produce, or output a third control signal CTRL3 that identifies the selected SCC. CC selection logic 74 may provide control signal CTRL3 to radio 44. Radio 44 may identify the selected SCC from control signal CTRL3 and may drop (remove) the selected SCC from subsequent communications (e.g., radio 44 may convey wireless data using the PCC and the set of (N−1) SCCs that include each of the SCCs from the set of N SCCs in FIG. 4 except for the selected SCC). By dropping (e.g., removing or ceasing transmission over) the selected SCC, radio 44 may reduce power consumption and device temperature more than blindly dropping the most recently activated SCC and/or may deteriorate the wireless performance of radio 44 less than blindly dropping the most recently activated SCC. This may serve to optimize power consumption, battery life, device temperature, and wireless performance for UE device 10 while performing wireless communications using the CA or DC scheme.).
Regarding Claim 11, Rag teaches the method of claim 1:
Wherein obtaining the transmit power budget comprises generating the transmit power budget in a standalone mode (Rag, [0054]- [0061], Fig. 5: [0061] Power budgets 66 may be generated by a power management engine on UE device 10 (e.g., implemented in hardware and/or software in radio 44 and/or elsewhere on UE device 10). The power management engine may, for example, be implemented using AP of UE device 10. The power management engine may, if desired, implement or execute a Code and Power Management Scheme (CPMS) that identifies and processes system level information to periodically generate and apply different power budgets to different components within UE device 10 (e.g., in a manner that optimally balances power consumption with performance level). The power management engine may provide power budgets 66 (e.g., one or more power budgets assigned by the power management engine to radio 44 governing the amount of power to be consumed by radio 44 in transmitting and/or receiving radio-frequency signals).).
Regarding Claim 12, Rag-Lee teaches the method of claim 1:
requesting the preliminary transmit power budget, wherein obtaining the transmit power budget comprises obtaining the transmit power budget in response to requesting the preliminary transmit power budget (Rag, [0026]- [0032], Fig. 2: [0032] Input-output circuitry 36 may include wireless circuitry 34 to support wireless communications. Wireless circuitry 34 (sometimes referred to herein as wireless communications circuitry 34) may include one or more antennas 40. Wireless circuitry 34 may also include one or more radios 44. Radio 44 may include circuitry that operates on signals at baseband frequencies (e.g., baseband circuitry) and radio-frequency transceiver circuitry such as one or more radio-frequency transmitters 46 and one or more radio-frequency receivers 48. Transmitter 46 may include signal generator circuitry, modulation or encoder circuitry (e.g., in one or more modems), mixer circuitry for upconverting signals from baseband frequencies to intermediate frequencies and/or radio frequencies, amplifier circuitry such as one or more power amplifiers, digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry, control paths, power supply paths, switching circuitry, filter circuitry, and/or any other circuitry for transmitting radio-frequency signals using one or more antennas 40. Receiver 48 may include demodulation or decoder circuitry (e.g., in one or more modems), mixer circuitry for downconverting signals from intermediate frequencies and/or radio frequencies to baseband frequencies, amplifier circuitry (e.g., one or more low-noise amplifiers (LNAs)), analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuitry, control paths, power supply paths, signal paths, switching circuitry, filter circuitry, and/or any other circuitry for receiving radio-frequency signals using antennas 40. The components of radio 44 may be mounted onto a single substrate or integrated into a single integrated circuit, chip, package, or system-on-chip (SOC) or may be distributed between multiple substrates, integrated circuits, chips, packages, or SOCs.).
Thus, Rag do not explicitly teach determining a preliminary transmit power budget associated with the time interval based at least in part on the one or more characteristics associated with the connections.
Similar to the system of Rag, Lee teaches power delay distribution and threshold voltages of an LOS channel and an NLOS channel along with the difference between an LOS channel and an NLOS channel with respect to multipath channels arriving at respective delay times, which can be seen as, determining a preliminary transmit power budget associated with the time interval based at least in part on the one or more characteristics associated with the connections (Lee, [0159]- [0163], Fig. 13A-13C: [0159] FIGS. 13A, 13B, and 13C illustrate examples of power delay distribution and threshold voltages of an LOS channel and an NLOS channel, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [0160] FIG. 13A shows a difference between an LOS channel and an NLOS channel with respect to multipath channels arriving at respective delay times. In the LOS channel, when a delay time of radio waves arriving first is referred to as T.sub.0, it is shown that intensity of a reception power P(To) 1310 has a value greater than a threshold power Pin(d) 1315. That is, it is possible to check that the BS or the UE can identify an LOS channel via existence of a signal having a reception power value greater than the threshold power 1315. As an example, but not limited thereto, the threshold power 1315 may be configured by using a calculation result of [Equation 7].).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Rag with Lee to use Lee’s LOS/NLOS and delay profile measurements when generating Rag’s transmit power budget, thereby determining the budget based on real-time channel characteristics. This would improve performance of a mobile communication system by using a characteristic of an LOS channel when existence of the LOS channel is identified (Lee, [0185]).
Regarding Claim 15, Rag teaches the method of claim 1:
Wherein the one or more characteristics comprise (Rag, [0024], Fig. 12A and 12B: [0024] Wireless base stations 12A and 12B may each include one or more antennas that provide wireless coverage for UE devices located within corresponding geographic areas or regions, sometimes referred to as cells. The size of the cells may correspond to the maximum transmit power level of the wireless base stations and the over-the-air attenuation characteristics for radio-frequency signals conveyed by the wireless base stations, for example.):
a signal strength (Rag, [0055]- [0057], Fig. 5: See [0056] below.),
a data error rate (Rag, [0055]- [0057], Fig. 5: [0056] CC performance metric information 62 may include any desired information characterizing the wireless performance and/or power consumption of radio 44 in transmitting and/or receiving radio-frequency signals or wireless data in radio-frequency signals. As shown in the example of FIG. 5, CC performance metric information 62 may include at least data rate information such as one or more data rates 64, power budget information such as one or more power budgets 66, demodulation and decoding (DMDC) cluster information 68, error rate information such as one or more error rates 70, activation/deactivation rate information such as one or more activation/deactivation rates 72, and/or any other desired wireless performance metric data associated with the transmission and/or reception of radio-frequency signals by radio 44 (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values, noise floor values, signal quality values, data characterizing the presence of interference, transmitted power level values, received power level values, received signal strength indicator (RSSI) values, receiver sensitivity values, impedance values, scattering parameter values, voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) values, reference signal received power (RSRP) values, etc.).),
a data error ratio,
a signal quality,
a round-trip time,
a channel condition,
a duty cycle,
a distance to another wireless device,
a physical layer characteristic, or
any combination thereof.
Regarding Claim 19, Rag-Lee teaches an apparatus:
Wireless communication, comprising (Rag, Fig. 2, [0026]- [0030]):
a memory (Rag, [0026]- [0027], Fig. 2: [0027] UE device 10 may include control circuitry 28. Control circuitry 28 may include storage such as storage circuitry 30. Storage circuitry 30 may include hard disk drive storage, nonvolatile memory (e.g., flash memory or other electrically-programmable-read-only memory configured to form a solid-state drive), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamic random-access-memory), etc. Storage circuitry 30 may include storage that is integrated within UE device 10 and/or removable storage media.); and
one or more processors coupled to the memory, the one or more processors being configured to (Rag, [0026]- [0029]: [0028] Control circuitry 28 may include processing circuitry such as processing circuitry 32. Processing circuitry 32 may be used to control the operation of UE device 10. Processing circuitry 32 may include on one or more processors such as microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, host processors, baseband processor integrated circuits, application specific integrated circuits, central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), etc. Control circuitry 28 may be configured to perform operations in UE device 10 using hardware (e.g., dedicated hardware or circuitry), firmware, and/or software. Software code for performing operations in UE device 10 may be stored on storage circuitry 30 (e.g., storage circuitry 30 may include non-transitory (tangible) computer readable storage media that stores the software code). The software code may sometimes be referred to as program instructions, software, data, instructions, or code. Software code stored on storage circuitry 30 may be executed by processing circuitry 32.):
obtain a transmit power budget associated with a time interval (Rag, [0032]- [0037], Fig. 2: [0037] Control circuitry 28 may configure transmitter 46 to be inactive by powering off transmitter 46, by providing control signals to switching circuitry on power supply or enable lines for transmitter 46, by providing control signals to control circuitry on transmitter 46, and/or by providing control signals to switching circuitry within transmitter 46, for example. When transmitter 46 is inactive, some or all of transmitter 46 may be inactive (e.g., disabled or powered off) or transmitter 46 may remain powered on but without transmitting radio-frequency signals over antenna(s) 40. Similarly, control circuitry 28 may configure receiver 48 to be inactive by powering off receiver 48, by providing control signals to switching circuitry on power supply or enable lines for receiver 48, by providing control signals to control circuitry on receiver 48, and/or by providing control signals to switching circuitry within receiver 48, for example. When receiver 48 is inactive, some or all of receiver 48 may be disabled (e.g., powered off) or receiver 48 may remain powered on but without actively receiving radio-frequency signals incident upon antenna(s) 40. Transmitter 46 and receiver 48 may consume more power on UE device 10 when active than when inactive (e.g., a battery on UE device 10 may drain more rapidly while transmitter 46 and receiver 48 are active than while transmitter 46 or receiver 48 are inactive). Transitioning transmitter 46 or receiver 48 from an inactive state to an active state may sometimes be referred to herein as waking the transmitter or receiver.);
determine transmit powers on a per-connection basis among a plurality of connections based at least in part on the transmit power budget and one or more characteristics associated with the connections (Rag, [0035]- [0037], Fig. 2: [0035] Each radio 44 may be coupled to one or more antennas 40 over one or more radio-frequency transmission lines 42. Radio-frequency transmission lines 42 may include coaxial cables, microstrip transmission lines, stripline transmission lines, edge-coupled microstrip transmission lines, edge-coupled stripline transmission lines, transmission lines formed from combinations of transmission lines of these types, etc. Radio-frequency transmission lines 42 may be integrated into rigid and/or flexible printed circuit boards if desired. One or more radio-frequency lines 42 may be shared between multiple radios 44 if desired. Radio-frequency front end (RFFE) modules may be interposed on one or more radio-frequency transmission lines 42. The radio-frequency front end modules may include substrates, integrated circuits, chips, or packages that are separate from radios 44 and may include filter circuitry, switching circuitry, amplifier circuitry, impedance matching circuitry, radio-frequency coupler circuitry, and/or any other desired radio-frequency circuitry for operating on the radio-frequency signals conveyed over radio-frequency transmission lines 42.).
Thus, Rag do not explicitly teach control transmission of signals associated with the connections at the respective transmit powers in the time interval (Lee, [0194]- [0199], Fig. 18A and 18B: [0197] In operation S1820, the UE 1804 may receive reference signals respectively from the plurality of BSs. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the BSs 1801, 1802, and 1803 are around the UE 1804 and are connected with each other, the BSs 1801, 1802, and 1803 may transmit, to the UE 1804 and in a measurement period, reference signals in order that the reference signals requested from the UE 1804 are not simultaneously transmitted.).
Similar to the system of Rag, Lee teaches that the UE may receive reference signals respectively from the plurality of BSs. When the BSs are around the UE and are connected with each other, the BSs may transmit, to the UE and in a measurement period, which can be seen as, control transmission of signals associated with the connections at the respective transmit powers in the time interval (Lee, [0194]- [0199], Fig. 18A and 18B: [0197] In operation S1820, the UE 1804 may receive reference signals respectively from the plurality of BSs. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the BSs 1801, 1802, and 1803 are around the UE 1804 and are connected with each other, the BSs 1801, 1802, and 1803 may transmit, to the UE 1804 and in a measurement period, reference signals in order that the reference signals requested from the UE 1804 are not simultaneously transmitted.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Rag with Lee to apply Rag’s power management and prioritization techniques to Lee’s transmit power budgeting framework, thereby improving accuracy of connection management and link condition determination (LOS/NLOS) when using multiple bands, which provides performance benefits (Lee, [0151]).
Regarding Claim 20, Rag teaches the apparatus of claim 19:
Further comprising one or more transmitters coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more transmitters being configured to transmit the signals associated with the connections at the respective transmit powers in the time interval, wherein the connections comprise a plurality of links associated with a plurality of frequency channels, a plurality of frequency carriers, a plurality of frequency bands, a plurality of peers, or a combination thereof (Rag, [0026]- [0037], Fig. 2: [0032] Input-output circuitry 36 may include wireless circuitry 34 to support wireless communications. Wireless circuitry 34 (sometimes referred to herein as wireless communications circuitry 34) may include one or more antennas 40. Wireless circuitry 34 may also include one or more radios 44. Radio 44 may include circuitry that operates on signals at baseband frequencies (e.g., baseband circuitry) and radio-frequency transceiver circuitry such as one or more radio-frequency transmitters 46 and one or more radio-frequency receivers 48. Transmitter 46 may include signal generator circuitry, modulation or encoder circuitry (e.g., in one or more modems), mixer circuitry for upconverting signals from baseband frequencies to intermediate frequencies and/or radio frequencies, amplifier circuitry such as one or more power amplifiers, digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry, control paths, power supply paths, switching circuitry, filter circuitry, and/or any other circuitry for transmitting radio-frequency signals using one or more antennas 40. Receiver 48 may include demodulation or decoder circuitry (e.g., in one or more modems), mixer circuitry for downconverting signals from intermediate frequencies and/or radio frequencies to baseband frequencies, amplifier circuitry (e.g., one or more low-noise amplifiers (LNAs)), analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuitry, control paths, power supply paths, signal paths, switching circuitry, filter circuitry, and/or any other circuitry for receiving radio-frequency signals using antennas 40. The components of radio 44 may be mounted onto a single substrate or integrated into a single integrated circuit, chip, package, or system-on-chip (SOC) or may be distributed between multiple substrates, integrated circuits, chips, packages, or SOCs.).
Regarding Claim 21, Rag teaches the apparatus of claim 20:
Wherein the frequency bands are in a shared spectrum (Rag, [0026]- [0036]: See above for [0035].).
Regarding Claim 22, Rag teaches the apparatus of claim 19:
Wherein the connections are associated with wireless local area network (WLAN) communications, wireless wide area network (WWAN) communications, or any combination thereof (Rag, [0028]- [0030]: See above for [0030]).
Regarding Claim 23, Rag teaches the apparatus of claim 19:
Wherein the transmit power budget comprises a maximum allowed time-averaged transmit power based on a radio frequency (RF) exposure limit (Rag, [0024], [0079]- [0086], Fig. 7: See above for [0086].).
Regarding Claim 25, Rag teaches the apparatus of claim 19:
Wherein the one or more characteristics comprise (Rag, [0024], Fig. 12A and 12B: See above for [0024].):
a signal strength (Rag, [0055]- [0057], Fig. 5: See [0056] above.),
a data error rate (Rag, [0055]- [0057], Fig. 5: See above for [0056].),
a data error ratio,
a signal quality,
a round-trip time,
a channel condition,
a duty cycle,
a distance to another wireless device,
a physical layer characteristic, or
any combination thereof.
Regarding Claim 29 and 30, Rag-Lee teaches an apparatus (Rag, see fig. 2) / a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon for (Rag, see fig. 2):
Wireless communication, comprising:
means for obtaining a transmit power budget associated with a time interval (Rag, [0054]- [0065], Fig. 5: See above for [0061]);
means for determining transmit powers on a per-connection basis among a plurality of connections based at least in part on the transmit power budget and one or more characteristics associated with the connections (Rag, [0042]- [0053], Fig. 4: See above for [0049].); and
Thus, Rag do not explicitly teach means for transmitting signals associated with the connections at the respective transmit powers in the time interval.
Similar to the system of Rag, Lee teaches that the UE may receive reference signals respectively from the plurality of BSs. When the BSs are around the UE and are connected with each other, the BSs may transmit, to the UE and in a measurement period, which can be seen as, means for transmitting signals associated with the connections at the respective transmit powers in the time interval (Lee, [0194]- [0199], Fig. 18A and 18B: See above for [0197]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Rag with Lee to apply Rag’s power management and prioritization techniques to Lee’s transmit power budgeting framework, thereby improving accuracy of connection management and link condition determination (LOS/NLOS) when using multiple bands, which provides performance benefits (Lee, [0151]).
Claim(s) 13-14, 16-18, 24, and 26-28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the system of Rag and Lee as applied to claim 1/19 above, and further in view of Shimizu et al. (US 2022/0279458 A1) (hereinafter Shi):
Regarding Claim 13, Shi teaches the method of claim 1:
Thus, Rag and Lee do not explicitly teach wherein determining the transmit powers comprises determining the transmit powers based on a weight associated with each of the connections.
Similar to the system of Rag and Lee, Shi teaches weighting the transmit power across antenna elements where the gain is smallest at the ends of the linear array and largest at the center (Chebyshev weighing), which can be seen as, wherein determining the transmit powers comprises determining the transmit powers based on a weight associated with each of the connections (Shi, Fig. 4A-4C, [0042]- [0045]: [0043] In FIG. 4B, an abscissa indicates the antenna element number, and the ordinate indicates the weighted gain. The gain of the power radiated from the 8 antenna elements is weighted in steps, so that the gain given to the power radiated from the eight antenna elements is such that the gain of the power radiated from the antenna elements arranged at the ends of the linear arrangement and having the antenna element numbers 1 and 8 is the smallest, and the gain of the power radiated from the antenna elements arranged at the center of the linear arrangement and having the antenna element numbers 4 and 5 is the largest. Such a weighting is the Chebyshev weighting, and a difference in the weighting is small between the adjacent antenna elements.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Rag and Lee with Shi to apply Shi’s known Chebyshev weighting scheme for transmit powers, thereby optimizing the distribution of power across antenna elements in Rag and Lee’s system. It would reduce sidelobe radiation and improve beam performance, leading to more efficient use of transmit power budget and enhanced communication quality (Shi, [0121]).
Regarding Claim 14, Shi teaches the method of claim 13:
Thus, Rag and Lee do not explicitly teach wherein determining the transmit powers comprises determining the weights based on the one or more characteristics associated with the connections.
Similar to the system of Rag and Lee, Shi teaches that in an antenna array, each element may be connected to a phase shifter and amplifier to adjust the phase and gain of its output signal, and that by applying weighting to these parameters it is possible to control the radiation direction of beams and reduce side lobe output, which can be seen as, wherein determining the transmit powers comprises determining the weights based on the one or more characteristics associated with the connections (Shi, Fig. 1A-1B, [0025]-[0031]: [0025] FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B illustrate two beams 50A and 50B. It is assumed that the two beams 50A and 50B are output from a single array antenna which has a plurality of antenna elements arranged in an array. In this example, the beam 50A is indicated by a solid line, and the beam 50B is indicated by a dashed line. In addition, for the sake of convenience, FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B indicate a magnitude of each Signal-to-Interference Ratio (SIR: a ratio of a signal power and an interfering power) by a length of each double-headed arrow. Further, terminals 30A and 30B may be smartphones or the like, for example. [0027] A phase shifter and an amplifier are connected to each antenna element to adjust a phase and a gain of a signal output from each antenna element, and an output and an angle (radiating direction) of each of the two beams 50A and 50B can be adjusting by weighting at least one of the phase and the gain of the signal. In addition, by adjusting the weighting, it is possible to control (reduce) the output of one or a plurality of particular side lobes among the plurality of side lobes 52A and 52B.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Rag and Lee with Shi to incorporate Shi’s weighting of antenna element phase and gain into Rag and Lee’s transmit power allocation framework, in order to optimize beamforming and suppress side lobes. By accomplishing this, it would improve interference management and overall communication quality in multi-connection wireless systems (Shi, [0030]).
Regarding Claim 16, Shi teaches the method of claim 1:
Thus, Rag and Lee do not explicitly teach wherein determining the transmit powers comprises determining the transmit powers based on a sum of weighted transmit powers being less than or equal to the transmit power budget.
Similar to the system of Rag and Lee, Shi teaches that a transmit power budget may be managed using weighting coefficients whose squared values are summed to a constant, making sure that the sum of the weighted transmit powers does not exceed a fixed limit for total radiated power, which can be seen as, wherein determining the transmit powers comprises determining the transmit powers based on a sum of weighted transmit powers being less than or equal to the transmit power budget (Shi, Fig. 8, [0060]- [0073]: [0068] In the formula (3), a vector w.sup.H indicated by bold symbols denotes a complex conjugate transpose of the weighting vector w. As indicated by the following formula (4), a sum of the squares of the weighting coefficients w.sub.0 to w.sub.N−1 included in the weighting vector w is assumed to be a constant C. The formula (4) expresses a constraint for the weighting vector w. The sum of the squares of the weighting coefficients w.sub.0 to w.sub.N−1 may be obtained by multiplying the vector w by the vector w.sup.H. Because the sum of the squares of the weighting coefficients w.sub.0 to w.sub.N−1 is equal to a sum of the power radiated in all directions, the sum of the squares of the weighting coefficients w.sub.0 to w.sub.N−1 is set to the constant C in order to keep the power radiated in all directions constant).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Rag and Lee with Shi to incorporate Shi’s known use of weighting into Rag and Lee’s transmit power budgeting framework, in order to ensure that the total transmit power remains within the budget while still optimizing power distribution across connections. By accomplishing this, it would improve interference management and overall communication quality in multi-connection wireless systems (Shi, [0030]).
Regarding Claim 17, Shi teaches the method of claim 13:
Thus, Rag and Lee do not explicitly teach wherein determining the transmit powers comprises applying a constrained optimization method that uses the weight associated with each of the connections to determine the transmit powers.
Similar to the system of Rag and Lee, Shi teaches that when steps S5-S8 are performed, a determination unit evaluates the output power against thresholds such as a maximum SIR, and then extracts and updates a weighting vector (w) stored in memory. By optimizing the weighing vector through these steps, Shi gets an optimum value for weighting vector that governs transmit power allocation, which can be seen as, wherein determining the transmit powers comprises applying a constrained optimization method that uses the weight associated with each of the connections to determine the transmit powers (Shi, Fig. 10 , [0090]-[0100]: [0099] Further, when the processes of step S5 through S8 are performed and the determination unit 118C determines that the output power w.sub.w.sup.HAw.sub.w is greater than the power αP.sub.A but the power ratio is not greater than the maximum SIR.sub.max (that is, the decision result in step S8 is NO), the weighting extraction unit 120C extracts the weighting vector w.sub.c stored in the memory 121C in step S10, as the weighting vector which is to be ultimately obtained. The decision result in step S8 may become NO after performing the process of each of steps S5 through S8 once. However, in this example, the value of the maximum SIR.sub.max is updated in step S9, while repeating the processes of steps S5 through S8, so as to optimize the weighting vector w.sub.c that is ultimately obtained. In other words, an optimum value of the weighting vector w.sub.c can be obtained.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Rag and Lee with Shi to use Shi’s method of adjusting and optimizing weighting values in Rag and Lee’s allocation system, so that the transmit power can be set to the best levels while staying within system limits. By accomplishing this, it would improve interference management and overall communication quality in multi-connection wireless systems (Shi, [0030]).
Regarding Claim 18, Shi teaches the method of claim 17:
Thus, Rag and Lee do not explicitly teach wherein the constrained optimization method applies a Lagrange multiplier.
Similar to the system of Rag and Lee, Shi teaches using Lagrange’s method to calculate the weighting vector, where a multiplier is applied to keep the solution within constraints, and during the process a reduction ratio is introduced to lower the sidelobe power of one beam that interferes with the main lobes of other beams, which can be seen as, wherein the constrained optimization method applies a Lagrange multiplier (Shi, Fig. 8, [0060]-[0073]: [0071] When the weighting vector w is obtained utilizing Lagrange's method of undetermined coefficients, the following formula (7) may be obtained, where β denotes a reduction ratio for reducing the output power B of the side lobes of the first beam (#1) interfering with the main lobes of the second beam (#2) and the third beam (#3).).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Rag and Lee with Shi to use Shi’s Lagrange multiplier approach to control side lobe interferences in Rag and Lee’s allocation system, leading to clearer signals and better communication (Shi, [0030]).
Regarding Claim 24, Shi teaches the apparatus of claim 19:
Thus, Rag and Lee do not explicitly teach wherein to determine the transmit powers, the one or more processors are further configured to determine the transmit powers based on a weight associated with each of the connections.
Similar to the system of Rag and Lee, Shi teaches processors, like the control and derivation units, to calculate weights for each connection and store them in memory, which can be seen as, wherein to determine the transmit powers, the one or more processors are further configured to determine the transmit powers based on a weight associated with each of the connections (Shi, Fig. 4A-4C, Fig. 9, [0042]- [0045], [0074]-[0089]: [0075] The main control unit 111C, the constraint derivation unit 112C, the weighting vector generation unit 113C, the weighting vector application unit 114C, the reduction ratio derivation unit 115C, the tolerable ratio derivation unit 116C, the SIR derivation unit 117C, the determination unit 118C, the SIR update unit 119C, and the weighting extraction unit 120C represent functions of functional blocks performed by one or more programs executed by the controller 100C. In addition, the memory 121C represents functions of the memory of the controller 100C.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Rag and Lee with Shi to use Shi’s processor-based control of weighted transmit powers in Rag and Lee’s system, so that the transmit power allocation is automated, accurate, and efficiently managed by hardware and software (Shi, [0121]).
Regarding Claim 26, Shi teaches the apparatus of claim 19:
Thus, Rag and Lee do not explicitly teach wherein to determine the transmit powers, the one or more processors are further configured to determine the transmit powers based on a sum of weighted transmit powers being less than or equal to the transmit power budget.
Similar to the system of Rag and Lee, Shi teaches processors, like the control and derivation units, to calculate weights for each connection and store them in memory, which can be seen as, wherein to determine the transmit powers, the one or more processors are further configured to determine the transmit powers based on a sum of weighted transmit powers being less than or equal to the transmit power budget (Shi, Fig. 4A-4C, Fig. 9, [0042]- [0045], [0074]-[0089]: [0075] The main control unit 111C, the constraint derivation unit 112C, the weighting vector generation unit 113C, the weighting vector application unit 114C, the reduction ratio derivation unit 115C, the tolerable ratio derivation unit 116C, the SIR derivation unit 117C, the determination unit 118C, the SIR update unit 119C, and the weighting extraction unit 120C represent functions of functional blocks performed by one or more programs executed by the controller 100C. In addition, the memory 121C represents functions of the memory of the controller 100C.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Rag and Lee with Shi to use Shi’s processor-based control of weighted transmit powers in Rag and Lee’s system, so that the transmit power allocation is automated, accurate, and efficiently managed by hardware and software (Shi, [0121]).
Regarding Claim 27, Shi teaches the apparatus of claim 19:
Thus, Rag and Lee do not explicitly teach wherein to determine the transmit powers, the one or more processors are further configured to apply a constrained optimization method that uses the weight associated with each of the connections to determine the transmit powers.
Similar to the system of Rag and Lee, Shi teaches that when steps S5-S8 are performed, a determination unit evaluates the output power against thresholds such as a maximum SIR, and then extracts and updates a weighting vector (w) stored in memory. By optimizing the weighing vector through these steps, Shi gets an optimum value for weighting vector that governs transmit power allocation, which can be seen as, wherein to determine the transmit powers, the one or more processors are further configured to apply a constrained optimization method that uses the weight associated with each of the connections to determine the transmit powers (Shi, Fig. 10, [0090]-[0100]: [0100] Moreover, even when the determination unit 118C determines in step S8 that the output power w.sub.w.sup.HAw.sub.w is greater than the power αP.sub.A, the weighting extraction unit 120C extracts the weighting vector w.sub.c stored in the memory 121C in step S10, as the weighting vector which is to be ultimately obtained. If the first determination (αP.sub.A<w.sub.w.sup.HAw.sub.w) in step S8 is false (not true), the main lobe has become too small, and thus, the weighting vector w.sub.c before the computation using the reduction ratio β in this state becomes the optimized weighting vector w.sub.c which is to be ultimately obtained. When the reduction ratio β is increased, the SIR increases because the effect of reducing the interference increases, and the main lobe has a tendency to decrease. For this reason, if the first determination (αP.sub.A<w.sub.w.sup.HAw.sub.w) in step S8 is false, this indicates that the reduction ratio β has become too large, and the weighting vector w.sub.c obtained before then becomes the optimum value.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Rag and Lee with Shi to use Shi’s method of adjusting and optimizing weighting values in Rag and Lee’s allocation system, so that the transmit power can be set to the best levels while staying within system limits. By accomplishing this, it would improve interference management and overall communication quality in multi-connection wireless systems (Shi, [0030]).
Regarding Claim 28, Shi teaches the apparatus of claim 27:
Thus, Rag and Lee do not explicitly teach wherein the constrained optimization method applies a Lagrange multiplier.
Similar to the system of Rag and Lee, Shi teaches using Lagrange’s method to calculate the weighting vector, where a multiplier is applied to keep the solution within constraints, and during the process a reduction ratio is introduced to lower the sidelobe power of one beam that interferes with the main lobes of other beams, which can be seen as, wherein the constrained optimization method applies a Lagrange multiplier (Shi, Fig. 8, [0060]-[0073]: [0071] When the weighting vector w is obtained utilizing Lagrange's method of undetermined coefficients, the following formula (7) may be obtained, where β denotes a reduction ratio for reducing the output power B of the side lobes of the first beam (#1) interfering with the main lobes of the second beam (#2) and the third beam (#3).).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Rag and Lee with Shi to use Shi’s Lagrange multiplier approach to control side lobe interferences in Rag and Lee’s allocation system, leading to clearer signals and better communication (Shi, [0030]).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/FRANCESCA LIMA SANTOS/Examiner, Art Unit 2468
/MARCUS SMITH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2468
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