DETAILED ACTION
This office action is responsive to communications filed on February 7, 2024. Claims 1-20 are 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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement filed on 9/27/2024 has been considered.
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.
Claims 1-8, 11, 12, and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang et al. (US 2025/0380330) in view of Ali et al. (US 2026/0100751).
Regarding Claim 1, Jiang teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a network-controlled repeater (NCR), comprising one or more memories and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories (“The embodiments of this disclosure further provide an electronic device, which may be, for example, a repeater” – See [0310]; “the electronic device 1000 may include a processor 1010 (such as a central processing unit (CPU)) and a memory 1020, the memory 1020 being coupled to the processor 1010. Wherein, the memory 1020 may store various data, and furthermore, it may store a program 1030 for information processing, and execute the program 1030 under control of the processor 1010” – See [0311]; “the processor 1010 may be configured to execute a program to execute the forwarding control method described in the embodiments of the first aspect” – See [0312]), configured to cause the NCR to:
receive, by an NCR mobile termination (NCR-MT) of the NCR and via a control link, control information (“a control link (C-link), … the NCR-MT communicates with the network device via the C-link” – See [0053]; “the mobile termination of the repeater receives a first RRC release message” – See [0068]; “the network device transmits a first RRC release message and/or other signaling than the first RRC release message to a mobile termination of a repeater, the first RRC release message and/or the other signaling including one or more of first information, second information, third information, relevant information of a first timer, first indication information, second indication information, third indication information and fourth indication information. Reference may be made to the embodiments of the first aspect for these information, which shall not be repeated herein any further” – See [0296]; “the first beam is indicated by first indication information” – See [0170]; “the first beam includes a first downlink beam for downlink forwarding and a first uplink beam for uplink forwarding” – See [0141]; The repeater mobile termination (NCR-MT) receives an RRC release message and backhaul beam indications (control information) via the control link);
release, by the NCR-MT, a radio resource control (RRC) connection of the NCR-MT with a network node (“after receiving the first RRC release message, the NCR-MT transitions to the RRC idle state, the RRC connection established between the NCR-MT and the network device is released” – See [0068]; The NCR-MT releases the RRC connection with the network node);
perform, by an NCR forward (NCR-Fwd) of the NCR, a radio frequency (RF) signal forwarding to the network node via a backhaul beam after the RRC connection of the NCR-MT is released and based at least in part on the control information (“the forwarding entity of the repeater forwards signals after the mobile termination of the repeater receives the first RRC release message and/or after the mobile termination transitions to the non-RRC connected state. That is, the forwarding entity of the repeater is in an ON state after the mobile termination of the repeater receives the first RRC release message and/or after the mobile termination transitions to the non-RRC connected state” – See [0069]; “The first beam refers to a beam used by a backhaul link or a beam used by the network device side of the repeater when the forwarding entity of the repeater performs forwarding” – See [0104]; After the RRC connection is released, the forwarding entity of the repeater (NCR-Fwd) forwards signals to the network device via the backhaul beam specified in the first indication (control information)).
Jiang does not explicitly teach ceasing the RF signal forwarding on the backhaul beam based at least in part on an evaluation, by the NCR-MT or the NCR-Fwd, of a condition associated with the backhaul beam for the RF signal forwarding to the network node.
However, Ali teaches ceasing the RF signal forwarding on the backhaul beam based at least in part on an evaluation, by the NCR-MT or the NCR-Fwd, of a condition associated with the backhaul beam for the RF signal forwarding to the network node (“The NCR device 130 is (pr-)configured by the network device 102b to switch OFF the access link transmission/reception in case of beam failure/radio link failure at the backhaul forward link 134. In one implementation, the NCR device 130 measures the RS of the serving beam and the candidate beams. When the NCR device 130 detects that all the measured candidate beams of the backhaul forward link 134 are not satisfying the required threshold, then the NCR device 130 autonomously switches NCR forwarding section 138 OFF for access transmission/reception for power saving and interreference avoidance” – See [0047]; The NCR switches forwarding off (ceases RF signal forwarding) based on an evaluation of the backhaul beam condition).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang to include ceasing the RF signal forwarding on the backhaul beam based at least in part on an evaluation, by the NCR-MT or the NCR-Fwd, of a condition associated with the backhaul beam for the RF signal forwarding to the network node. Motivation for doing so would be to save power and avoid interference (See Ali, [0047]).
Regarding Claim 2, Jiang in view of Ali teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Jiang further teaches that the one or more processors are further configured to cause the NCR to: resume, by the NCR-MT, the RRC connection of the NCR-MT with the network node (“when the non-RRC connected state is an RRC inactive state, the mobile termination of the repeater transmits a connection resume request message (RRCResumeRequest or RRCResumeRequest1)” – See [0233]; The NCR-MT performs an RRC connection resume with the network node).
Regarding Claim 3, Jiang in view of Ali teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Jiang further teaches that the one or more processors, to release the RRC connection, are configured to cause the NCR to: transition the NCR-MT from an RRC connected mode to an RRC inactive mode or an RRC idle mode (“the non-RRC connected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state” – See [0012]; After releasing the RRC connection, the NCR-MT transitions to RRC inactive or RRC idle).
Regarding Claim 4, Jiang in view of Ali teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Jiang further teaches that the one or more processors are further configured to cause the NCR to: receive, by the NCR-MT, an indication of the backhaul beam to be used, following the RRC connection being released, for the RF signal forwarding (“the network device transmits a first RRC release message and/or other signaling than the first RRC release message to a mobile termination of a repeater, the first RRC release message and/or the other signaling including one or more of first information, second information, third information, relevant information of a first timer, first indication information, second indication information, third indication information and fourth indication information. Reference may be made to the embodiments of the first aspect for these information, which shall not be repeated herein any further” – See [0296]; “the first beam is indicated by first indication information” – See [0170]; “the first beam includes a first downlink beam for downlink forwarding and a first uplink beam for uplink forwarding” – See [0141]; The repeater mobile termination (NCR-MT) receives, as part of the control information, an indication of a backhaul beam to use for forwarding, wherein the forwarding is performed after RRC connection release as shown above with respect to Claim 1).
Regarding Claim 5, Jiang in view of Ali teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Jiang further teaches that the one or more processors are further configured to cause the NCR to: determine, by the NCR-MT, the backhaul beam as a last beam used for RF signal forwarding before the RRC connection is released (“the first beam may include: a (last) beam used in performing forwarding and/or in performing reception and/or transmission by a control link or the mobile termination of the repeater before receiving the first RRC release message and/or before transitioning to the non-RRC connected state” – See [0106]; The backhaul beam is a last beam used before RRC connection release).
Regarding Claim 6, Jiang in view of Ali teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Jiang further teaches that the one or more processors are further configured to cause the NCR to: determine, by the NCR-MT, the backhaul beam as a last beam activated for RF signal forwarding before the RRC connection is released (“the first beam may include: a (last) beam used in performing forwarding and/or in performing reception and/or transmission by a control link or the mobile termination of the repeater before receiving the first RRC release message and/or before transitioning to the non-RRC connected state” – See [0106]; The backhaul beam is a last beam used/activated before RRC connection release).
Regarding Claim 7, Jiang in view of Ali teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Jiang further teaches that the one or more processors are further configured to cause the NCR to: determine, by the NCR-MT, the backhaul beam as a last beam used by the NCR-MT for NCR-MT-terminated traffic (“the first beam may include: a (last) beam used in performing forwarding and/or in performing reception and/or transmission by a control link or the mobile termination of the repeater before receiving the first RRC release message and/or before transitioning to the non-RRC connected state” – See [0106]; The backhaul beam is a last beam used for transmitting/receiving mobile terminated traffic before RRC connection release).
Regarding Claim 8, Jiang in view of Ali teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Jiang further teaches that the one or more processors are further configured to cause the NCR to: determine, by the NCR-MT, the backhaul beam as a beam used by the NCR-MT to receive an RRC release message (“a (last) beam used by a control link or the mobile termination of the repeater before receiving the first RRC release message” – See [0107]; The backhaul beam is a last beam used by the mobile termination (NCR-MT) when the RRC release message is received).
Regarding Claim 11, Jiang in view of Ali teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Jiang further teaches that one or more of the backhaul beam or the condition are associated with a direction for forwarding, separate backhaul beams for forwarding are defined for a downlink direction and an uplink direction, and separate conditions for forwarding are defined for the downlink direction and the uplink direction (“the first beam includes a first downlink beam for downlink forwarding and a first uplink beam for uplink forwarding … the first uplink beam includes: a (last) uplink beam used in performing (uplink) forwarding and/or in performing reception and/or transmission by the control link or the mobile termination of the repeater before receiving the first RRC release message and/or before transitioning to the non-RRC connected state and/or when being in the RRC connected state” – See [0141]-[0142]; “The first downlink beam includes: a (last) downlink beam used in performing (downlink) forwarding and/or in performing reception and/or transmission by the control link or the mobile termination of the repeater before receiving the first RRC release message and/or before transitioning to the non-RRC connected state and/or when being in the RRC connected state” – See [0154]-[0155]; Separate uplink and downlink beams are used for the backhaul, wherein separate conditions are defined for the backhaul beams in the uplink and downlink directions).
Regarding Claim 12, Jiang in view of Ali teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Ali further teaches that the condition indicates a threshold value for a beam measurement associated with the backhaul beam (“The NCR device 130 is (pr-)configured by the network device 102b to switch OFF the access link transmission/reception in case of beam failure/radio link failure at the backhaul forward link 134. In one implementation, the NCR device 130 measures the RS of the serving beam and the candidate beams. When the NCR device 130 detects that all the measured candidate beams of the backhaul forward link 134 are not satisfying the required threshold, then the NCR device 130 autonomously switches NCR forwarding section 138 OFF for access transmission/reception for power saving and interreference avoidance” – See [0047]; The condition is a threshold related to RS quality of the backhaul beam), and
the RRC connection is resumed based at least in part on whether a detected beam measurement for the backhaul beam satisfies the threshold value (“the NCR device triggers the beam failure recovery request in response to detecting one of the measured candidate beams having a measured value that is above a predefined threshold value” – See [0016]; The connection is resumed after detecting a candidate backhaul beam that is above (satisfies) a threshold value).
Regarding Claim 17, Jiang in view of Ali teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Ali further teaches that the condition being satisfied is not associated with a cell reselection for the NCR (“The NCR device 130 is (pr-)configured by the network device 102b to switch OFF the access link transmission/reception in case of beam failure/radio link failure at the backhaul forward link 134. In one implementation, the NCR device 130 measures the RS of the serving beam and the candidate beams. When the NCR device 130 detects that all the measured candidate beams of the backhaul forward link 134 are not satisfying the required threshold, then the NCR device 130 autonomously switches NCR forwarding section 138 OFF for access transmission/reception for power saving and interreference avoidance” – See [0047]; The condition being satisfied is associated with a backhaul beam measurement (not a cell reselection)).
Regarding Claim 18, Jiang in view of Ali teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Jiang further teaches that the one or more processors are further configured to cause the NCR to: switch off the NCR-Fwd based at least in part on the RRC connection being resumed (“that the forwarding entity of the repeater does not forward signals may also be referred to as stopping forwarding signals, or that the forwarding entity of the repeater is in an OFF/standby state, which indicates that the NCR-Fwd is not allowed or has no capability or is not intended to forward signals” – See [0234]; “when/after a first condition is satisfied, the forwarding entity of the repeater does not forward the signal; and/or, the mobile termination of the repeater transmits a connection resume request message” – See [0219]; The forwarding entity is switched to an OFF state based on the RRC connection being resumed).
Claims 19 and 20 are rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 1.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang et al. (US 2025/0380330) in view of Ali et al. (US 2026/0100751) and further in view of Zhao et al. (US 2024/0284365).
Regarding Claim 9, Jiang in view of Ali teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Jiang and Ali do not explicitly teach that the backhaul beam is associated with one or more reference signals forwarded by the NCR-Fwd before the RRC connection is released, and the one or more reference signals include one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs).
However, Zhao teaches that the backhaul beam is associated with one or more reference signals forwarded by the NCR-Fwd before the RRC connection is released, and the one or more reference signals include one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) (“the NCR-Fwd may forward a synchronization signal block (namely, Fssbi in FIG. 3) from the base station 110 on A-link by using a wide beam. In this manner, coverage of the synchronization signal block may be increased” – See [0097]; “the NCR-Fwd may forward a synchronization signal block (namely, Fssbi in FIG. 4) from the base station 110 on A-link by using a narrow beam corresponding to the Fssbi. The beamforming gain of the narrow beam is large, so that signal reception quality may be improved” – See [0098]; The NCR-Fwd forwards one or more SSBs).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang such that the backhaul beam is associated with one or more reference signals forwarded by the NCR-Fwd before the RRC connection is released, and the one or more reference signals include one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs). Motivation for doing so would be to improve signal reception quality, reduce signaling overheads, and improve resource utilization efficiency and a probability of successful access of a UE to a communications system (See Zhao, [0099]).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang et al. (US 2025/0380330) in view of Ali et al. (US 2026/0100751) and further in view of Fujishiro (US 2025/0203478).
Regarding Claim 10, Jiang in view of Ali teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Jiang and Ali do not explicitly teach that the backhaul beam is associated with an order of beam measurements reported by the NCR-MT before the RRC connection is released.
However, Fujishiro teaches that the backhaul beam is associated with an order of beam measurements reported by the NCR-MT before the RRC connection is released (“The NCR apparatus 500A (NCR-MT 520A) reports which beam in which direction has had a good reception quality to the gNB 200 during a Random Access CHannel (RACH) procedure. More specifically, the NCR apparatus 500A (NCR-MT 520A) transmits a random access preamble to the gNB 200 at a Random Access CHannel (RACH) occasion associated with an SSB index which has had a good beam reception quality. As a result, the gNB 200 can recognize an optimal beam for the NCR apparatus 500A (NCR-MT 520A)” – See [0108]; The backhaul beam between the network node and the NCR is associated with beam measurements reported by the NCR-MT before release of RRC connection).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang such that the backhaul beam is associated with an order of beam measurements reported by the NCR-MT before the RRC connection is released. Motivation for doing so would be to enable the network node to recognize an optimal beam for the NCR (See Fujishiro, [0108]).
Claims 13 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang et al. (US 2025/0380330) in view of Ali et al. (US 2026/0100751) and further in view of Sedin et al. (WO 2024/162763).
Regarding Claim 13, Jiang in view of Ali teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Jiang and Ali do not explicitly teach that the one or more processors are further configured to cause the NCR to: receive, via a system information block (SIB) or via RRC signaling, an indication of the condition.
However, Sedin teaches receiving, via a system information block (SIB) or via RRC signaling, an indication of the condition (“the cell reselection criterion is fulfilled by different (e.g., NCR-Specific) threshold parameters in comparison to UE parameters. These NCR-specific parameters may include at least the following parameters: Qrxlevmin; Qrlevminoffset; Pcompensation; QoffsetTemp; Qqualmin; Qqualminoffset, contributing to the cell selection criteria conditions Srxlev and Squal, as detailed above” – See [179]; “In some examples, these parameters may be signalled in broadcast system information, over system information block(s), SIB(s), such as SIB1, SIB2, SIB3, or SIB4. In other examples, these parameters may be signalled in RRC messages” – See [180]; The thresholds/condition are received via SIB or RRC signaling).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang to receive, via a system information block (SIB) or via RRC signaling, an indication of the condition. Motivation for doing so would be to enable the NCR to obtain the configuration/indication of the condition via dedicated signaling (See Sedin, [225]).
Regarding Claim 16, Jiang in view of Ali teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Jiang and Ali do not explicitly teach that the one or more processors are further configured to cause the NCR to: receive, by the NCR-MT and after the RRC connection is resumed, updated control information, and the updated control information is based at least in part on a movement of the NCR or a changed environment associated with the NCR.
However, Sedin teaches receiving, by the NCR-MT and after the RRC connection is resumed, updated control information, and the updated control information is based at least in part on a movement of the NCR or a changed environment associated with the NCR (“reporting presence of the repeater node is performed through RRC Resume procedure” – See [12]; “For example, following cell reselection, and on selecting to camp on a second cell, the NCR may determine that the new (second) cell to be in a different location area to the first cell prior to reselection” – See [201]; “In 905, the NCR 920 (i.e., NCR-MT 920b) may acquire (e.g., request, receive etc.) configuration information associated with gNB2 940” – See [215]; After resuming the RRC connection when reselecting to a new gNB in a different location area, the NCR-MT receives updated control information).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang to receive, by the NCR-MT and after the RRC connection is resumed, updated control information, and the updated control information is based at least in part on a movement of the NCR or a changed environment associated with the NCR. Motivation for doing so would be to provide the NCR-MT with configuration information of the new gNB after cell reselection, so that new backhaul and access links may be established based on the configuration information (See Sedin, [215]).
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang et al. (US 2025/0380330) in view of Ali et al. (US 2026/0100751) and further in view of Yang et al. (US 2020/0236606).
Regarding Claim 14, Jiang in view of Ali teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Ali further teaches that the condition is associated with a plurality of backhaul beams, and the condition includes a threshold value (“The NCR device 130 is (pr-)configured by the network device 102b to switch OFF the access link transmission/reception in case of beam failure/radio link failure at the backhaul forward link 134. In one implementation, the NCR device 130 measures the RS of the serving beam and the candidate beams. When the NCR device 130 detects that all the measured candidate beams of the backhaul forward link 134 are not satisfying the required threshold, then the NCR device 130 autonomously switches NCR forwarding section 138 OFF for access transmission/reception for power saving and interreference avoidance” – See [0047]; The threshold/condition is associated with a plurality of backhaul beams (e.g., serving beam and candidate beams)).
Jiang and Ali do not explicitly teach the threshold value is for comparison with an average signal strength of the plurality of backhaul beams.
However, Yang teaches the threshold is compared with an average beam signal strength (“in the case that the statistical average is less than a fifth preset threshold value, determining that the received signal strength information of the beam link meet the first preset condition” – See [0119]; “an average value of multiple received signal strength information is obtained by counting multiple received signal strength information of the same beam link in a preset time period, and then the average value is taken as the received signal strength information of the beam link in a preset time period, thereby improving the accuracy of the received signal strength information” – See [0120]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang such that the threshold value is for comparison with an average signal strength of the plurality of backhaul beams. Motivation for doing so would be to improve the accuracy of the signal strength information (See Yang, [0120]).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang et al. (US 2025/0380330) in view of Ali et al. (US 2026/0100751) and further in view of Hwang et al. (US 2024/0334523).
Regarding Claim 15, Jiang in view of Ali teaches the apparatus of Claim 1. Jiang and Ali do not explicitly teach that the one or more processors are further configured to cause the NCR to: perform, by the NCR-MT, beam measurements for the backhaul beam after the RRC connection is released, wherein the beam measurements for the backhaul beam are indicative of a cell quality for a camped cell associated with the NCR, and the condition is satisfied based at least in part on the beam measurements.
However, Hwang teaches performing, by the NCR-MT, beam measurements for the backhaul beam after the RRC connection is released, wherein the beam measurements for the backhaul beam are indicative of a cell quality for a camped cell associated with the NCR, and the condition is satisfied based at least in part on the beam measurements (“When the MT transitions to the idle or inactive mode after receiving the configuration (operation 9-05), the MT may measure the indicated beam according to the corresponding information or the indicated backhaul link beam in the connected mode (operation 9-10)” – See [0177]; When the RRC connection is released and the NCR-MT is in the idle/inactive mode, it performs beam measurements indicative of a camped cell quality, wherein the measurements are compared with a threshold to determine whether the condition is satisfied).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jiang to perform, by the NCR-MT, beam measurements for the backhaul beam after the RRC connection is released, wherein the beam measurements for the backhaul beam are indicative of a cell quality for a camped cell associated with the NCR, and the condition is satisfied based at least in part on the beam measurements. Motivation for doing so would be to enable the NCR-MT to determine whether beam failure has occurred (See Hwang, [0177]-[0180]).
Conclusion
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/SCOTT M SCIACCA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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