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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kang et al (KR 2016/0,026,091; hereinafter Kang).
Regarding claim 1, Kang disclose an electronic apparatus of performing communication through a communication system implemented using a plurality of relays (e.g. relay base stations (311-1), (311-2), (311-3); ¶ [0042]), the electronic apparatus comprising:
a beam shaping module that shapes a beam to transmit and/or receive data (user terminal (115) configures reception beams of various shapes according to the shapes of the transmission beams; paras. [0006], [0020]);
an antenna aligned to transmit and receive a beam shaped by the beam shaping module (user terminal #1 (115) configures reception beams of various directions received through an inherent antenna according to the directions of the transmission beams transmitted by the antenna, paras. [0006], [0020]); a transceiver to transmit and/or receive the data in relation to another electronic apparatus through the antenna (the user terminal (1000) performs adaptive beam hopping in a multi-cell multi-user communication system and includes a transceiver (1011) for transmitting and receiving signals with at least one base station (1100); paras. [0020]-[0021], [0062]); and
at least one processor (control unit (1013); ¶ [0062]) configured to: determine a beam hopping pattern between the plurality of relays (the user terminal (UT) determine beams exceeding a predetermined criterion among transmission beams of the at least two relay base stations as available beams according to a predetermined criterion, and determine a beam hopping pattern based on the determined available beams; paras. [0018], [0055]); and control at least one of the antenna, the beam shaping module and the transceiver to transmit and receive data through the second relay (according to the beam hopping pattern, the user terminal (315) is configured to receive beam #3 of the second relay, e.g. base station #2, at time 1 and perform the selection of a transmission beam via the antenna, the beam shaping module and the transceiver of the user terminal; paras. [0047], [0056], [0058]); change a relay, which is used to transmit and receive data in relation to the another electronic apparatus sharing the beam hopping pattern, from a first relay included in the plurality of relays to a second relay included in the plurality of relays based on the beam hopping pattern (change the relay base station which is used to transmit and receive data in relation to other user terminals serviced by its respective neighboring base stations sharing the beam hopping pattern, from a first relay (803) included in the plurality of relays (neighboring base stations) to a second relay (805) included in the plurality of relays based on the beam hopping pattern; Fig. 8; ¶ [0058]).
Regarding claim 2, Kang disclose the electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor controls at least one of the antenna and the beam shaping module to transmit a beam to perform uplink beam hopping (transmission beam-to-beam hopping in a a high speed uplink packet access communication system; ¶ [0038]).
Regarding claim 3, Kang disclose the electronic apparatus of claim 2, wherein the uplink beam hopping changes a relay for transmitting the data to the another electronic apparatus (another service terminal), from the first relay (e.g. base station 803) to the second relay (e.g. base station 805) based on the beam hopping pattern (beam hopping pattern; ¶ [0058]).
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 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable
over Kang et al (KR 2016/0,026,091) in view of Pan et al (US 2019/0,191,397; hereinafter Pan).
Regarding claim 4, Kang disclose the electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein Kang do not disclose the apparatus further comprising a relay location tracking apparatus that obtains location information of the plurality of relays. In the same field of endeavor, Pan disclose an apparatus comprising a relay location tracking apparatus that obtains location information of the plurality of relays (the WTRU unit 102 may acquire location information of base stations 114a and 114b; paras. [0083]-[0084]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the apparatus to obtain location information of the relays in order for the apparatus to direct the beam towards the location of the relay base stations.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable
over Kang et al (KR 2016/0,026,091) in view of Pan et al (US 2019/0,191,397) further in view of Liu et al (CN 116,828,394; hereinafter Liu).
Regarding claim 5, Kang and Pan disclose the electronic apparatus of claim 4,
wherein the at least one processor controls at least one of the beam shaping module and the antenna based on the beam hopping pattern (the user terminal 315 determines the direction and shape of the reception beam and antenna at each corresponding time based on the beam hopping pattern, Kang, ¶ [0055]). Kang and Pan do not explicitly disclose the at least one processor controls at least one of the beam shaping module and the antenna based on the location information obtained through the relay location tracking apparatus. In the same field of endeavor, Liu disclose controlling at least one of the beam shaping module and the antenna based on the location information obtained through the relay location tracking apparatus (the communication device 7 comprise a determining unit for computing and controlling the beam vector and the antenna based on the obtained location information, pg. 13, line 21 - pg. 14, line 30). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to do so in order to use the location data to adjust and direct the beam from the antenna towards the target base station.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang et al (KR 2016/0,026,091) in view of Pan et al (US 2019/0,191,397) in view of Liu et al (CN 116,828,394) further in view of Wang et al (US 2025/0,280,302; hereinafter Wang).
Regarding claim 6, Kang, Pan, and Liu disclose the electronic apparatus of claim 5, wherein they do not disclose the beam hopping pattern used to communicate with the another electronic apparatus and timing at which a beam hops according to the beam hopping pattern are shared with the another electronic apparatus. In the same field of endeavor, Wang disclose the beam hopping pattern used to communicate with the another electronic apparatus and timing at which a beam hops according to the beam hopping pattern are shared with the another electronic apparatus (the beam hopping pattern and timing that the beam hops is shared between a first user equipment (UE) and a second UE, i.e. the first UE determine the beam hopping pattern of the first UE based on the received beam hopping pattern and received resources, i.e. time and beam position at which the beam hops, from the second UE, e.g. Fig. 13B; steps S2203-S2204, Fig. 22B; paras. [0026], [0456]-[0457]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to do so in order for the electronic apparatus to determine its own beam hopping pattern based on the received beam hopping pattern sent/shared by the other user electronic equipment.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang et al (KR 2016/0,026,091) in view of Dankberg et al (US 2024/0,291,145; hereinafter Dankberg).
Regarding claim 10, Kang disclose the electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein Kang do not disclose the antenna is a phased array antenna. In the same field of endeavor, Dankberg disclose a user terminal phased array antenna (155) (¶ [0026]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a phased array antenna in order to use the array of feed elements that may be electronically configurable according to phase and/or amplitude manipulation to align signal transmission and/or reception along a desired direction (Dankberg; ¶ [0026]).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang et al (KR 2016/0,026,091) in view of Zhang et al (CN 107,332,606; hereinafter Zhang).
Regarding claim 11, Kang teach the electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein Kang do not disclose the plurality of relays are relays for low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications. In the same field of endeavor, Zhang teach relays for low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications (pg. 2, lines 4-7). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to do so in order to utilize a low earth orbit satellite to transfer information between two different communication apparatuses for purposes such as sharply increasing, using distributed space-time coding (DSTC), channel fading resistance of virtual multiple input multiple output (MIMO) system to improve the quality of relays communication (Zhang; pg. 2, lines 4-11).
Claims 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang et al (KR 2016/0,026,091) in view of Wang et al (US 2025/0,280,302; hereinafter Wang).
Regarding claim 12, Kang disclose a method for a first electronic apparatus to perform communication through a communication system implemented using a plurality of relays (e.g. relay base stations (311-1), (311-2), (311-3); ¶ [0042]), the method comprising:
determining a beam hopping pattern that is a pattern for changing a first relay, which is a relay used to transmit and receive data in relation to a second electronic apparatus and included in the plurality of relays, to another relay included in the plurality of relays (the user terminal (UT) determine beams exceeding a predetermined criterion among transmission beams of the at least two relay base stations as available beams according to a predetermined criterion, and determine a beam hopping pattern based on the determined available beams, the pattern for changing a first relay, e.g. base station 803, to another relay, e.g. base station 805, included in the plurality of relay neighboring base stations, according to the beam hopping pattern, the user terminal (315) is configured to receive beam #3 of the second relay, e.g. base station #2, at time 1 and perform the selection of a transmission beam via the antenna, the beam shaping module and the transceiver of the user terminal; paras. [0018], [0047], [0055], [0056], [0058]);
based on the beam hopping pattern, changing the first relay, which is a relay used to transmit and receive data in relation to the second electronic apparatus, to a second relay that is one relay among the plurality of relays (change the relay base station which is used to transmit and receive data in relation to the other user terminals serviced by its respective neighboring base stations sharing the beam hopping pattern, from a first relay (803) included in the plurality of relays (neighboring base stations) to a second relay (805) included in the plurality of relays based on the beam hopping pattern; Fig. 8; paras. [0058], [0047], [0056]);
shaping a beam for communication with the second electronic apparatus through the second relay (user terminal 115 configures reception beams of various shapes according to the shapes of the transmission beams; paras. [0006], [0020]);
aligning an antenna to transmit and receive data based on the shaped beam (user terminal #1 (115) configures reception beams of various directions received through an inherent antenna according to the directions of the transmission beams transmitted by the antenna, paras. [0006], [0020]); and transmitting and receiving (via transceiver 1011) with the second electronic apparatus through the second relay (e.g. relay station 805), using the inherent antenna; paras. [0020]-[0021], [0058], [0062]).
Kang do not explicitly disclose wherein the beam hopping pattern is shared with the second electronic apparatus. In the same field of endeavor, Wang disclose the beam hopping pattern is shared with the second electronic apparatus (the beam hopping pattern is shared between a first user equipment (UE) and a second UE; steps S2203-S2204, Fig. 22B; paras. [0456]-[0457]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to do so in order for the electronic apparatus to determine its own beam hopping pattern using the received beam hopping pattern sent/shared by the other electronic apparatus.
Regarding claim 13, Kang and Wang disclose a non-transitory computer readable recording medium having a computer program for executing the method of claim 12 (Wang;
paras. [0071]-[0073]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-9 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding claim 7, Kang, Pan, Liu, and Wang disclose the electronic apparatus of claim 6, wherein the cited prior art fails to further disclose or fairly suggest the at least one processor determines one relay among the plurality of relays as the second relay based on the beam hopping pattern, and controls the beam shaping module in order to shape a beam based on at least one of an identifier of the second relay and location information of the second relay.
Regarding claim 8, the cited prior art fails to further disclose or fairly suggest the electronic apparatus of claim 7, wherein the at least one processor controls the antenna to direct a beam shaped by the beam shaping module to the second relay.
Regarding claim 9, the cited prior art fails to further disclose or fairly suggest the electronic apparatus of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor controls the transceiver to transmit the data to the another electronic apparatus through the antenna directing the second relay.
Conclusion
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/LANA N LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648