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 .
Status of Claims
This Office Action is in response to claims filed on 8/10/2023.
Claims 1-15 remain pending in the application.
Claim Objections
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities: the phrase “… measurement result, the predetermined …” in line 8 should be read as “… measurement result; the predetermined …”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 2-4 and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 2; claim 2 recites the limitation "… based on first configuration information" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Regarding claims 3-4; claims 3-4 are dependent claim of claim 2, and therefore inherit the 35 U.S.C 112(b) issues of the claim 2.
Regarding claim 7; claim 7 recites obtaining at least one of a reference signal corresponding to one or more first wide transmit beams in the identified first reference signal set, or a reference signal corresponding to one or more narrow transmit beams in the identified first reference signal set, wherein the one or more narrow transmit beams are identified based on measurement results of reference signals corresponding to the one or more first wide transmit beams. This renders claim indefinite. The method obtains either reference signals corresponding to wide transmit beams or reference signals corresponding to narrow transmit beams. When reference signals corresponding to wide transmit beams are not obtained, the narrow transmit beams cannot be identified based on measurements results of reference signals corresponding to wide transmit beams.
Regarding claim 8; claim 8 is dependent claim of claim 7, and therefore inherits the 35 U.S.C 112(b) issues of the claim 7.
Regarding claim 8; claim 8 recites wherein the measurement results of the reference signals corresponding to the at least one second wide transmit beam include higher priority than measurement results of reference signals corresponding to wide transmit beams of the one or more second wide transmit beams other than the at least one second wide transmit beam. This renders the claim indefinite. When reference signals corresponding to wide transmit beams are not obtained, no measurements results of reference signals corresponding to the wide transmit beams can be compared.
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.
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.
Claims 1-6 and 9-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Laddu et al. (US 2023/0353326 A1); in view of Bonfante et al. (WO 2023/208363 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 14; Laddu discloses identifying a first reference signal set for a measurement operation (the UE may identify channel measurement resources CMR1 for measurements; see paragraph [0052] and Fig. 4); obtaining one or more measurement results based on the identified first reference signal set (the UE performs CMR1 measurements; the measurements may be used as an input for the AI/ML model 110; the AL/ML model 110 determines the K best beams; see paragraphs [0054] – [0056] and Fig. 4); and transmitting a report based on the one or more measurement results (the output of the AI/ML model 110 is ranked to indicate the best beams to construct the reporting CSI feedback information; the UE transmits the CSI feedback; see paragraphs [0054] - [0056] and Fig. 4), and wherein the one or more measurement results are generated based on a second AI model (the AL/ML model 110 determines the K best beams; see paragraphs [0054] – [0056] and Fig. 4).
Laddu discloses receiving a first reference signal set for a measurement operation.
Laddu does not explicitly disclose the first reference signal set is generated based on an AI model.
Bonfante discloses wherein the first reference signal set is generated based on a first artificial intelligence (AI) model (the output of ML model 520 may include K best gNB narrow transmit beams; CSI-RSs are transmitted via K transmit beams; see paragraph [0090] and Fig. 6).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Laddu and Bonfante to generate the first reference signal set on an AI model to improve the robustness of the beam prediction (see paragraph [0103] of Bonfante).
Specifically for claim 14; Laddu discloses a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system (UE; see paragraph [0060] and Fig. 6), the UE comprising: a transceiver (transmitter and receiver; see Fig. 6); and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver (processor; see Fig. 6).
Regarding claim 2; Laddu discloses the method of claim 1, wherein identifying the first reference signal set comprises: receiving, from a base station, first configuration information (receiving association of two RS groups; see paragraphs [0040, [0051], Fig. 3A and Fig. 4); and identifying the first reference signal set based on first configuration information (the UE may identify the CMR1 for measurements and input to the AI/ML model; see paragraphs [0040], [0052], Fig. 3A and Fig. 4).
Laddu discloses receiving a first reference signal set for a measurement operation.
Laddu does not explicitly disclose the first reference signal set is generated based on an AI model.
Bonfante discloses wherein the first reference signal set that is configured by the first configuration information is obtained using the first AI model (the output of ML model 520 may include K best gNB narrow transmit beams; CSI-RSs are transmitted via K transmit beams; see paragraph [0090] and Fig. 6).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Laddu and Bonfante to generate the first reference signal set on an AI model to improve the robustness of the beam prediction (see paragraph [0103] of Bonfante).
Regarding claim 3; Laddu discloses receiving a first reference signal set for a measurement operation.
Laddu does not explicitly disclose the first reference signal set is generated based on an AI model using UE-related information.
Bonfante discloses the method of claim 2, wherein the first AI model is trained to output the first reference signal set based on at least one of:
information on one or more potential transmit beams (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of);
information on one or more measured transmit beams (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of);
information on a reference signal set corresponding to the one or more potential transmit beams (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of);
information on one or more measured reference signal sets (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of);
measurement results of the one or more measured transmit beams (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of);
information on a relationship between the one or more measured transmit beams and the one or more potential transmit beams (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of);
information on a relationship between the first reference signal set and the reference signal set corresponding to the one or more potential transmit beams (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of);
time information on the first reference signal set (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of); or
UE-related information (the UE position information is used as input data to the ML model; see paragraph [0077] and Fig. 6).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Laddu and Bonfante to generate the first reference signal set on an AI model using UE related information to enable accurate selection of transmit beams (see paragraph [0035] of Bonfante).
Regarding claim 4; Laddu discloses receiving a first reference signal set for a measurement operation.
Laddu does not explicitly disclose the first reference signal set is generated based on an AI model using UE-related information.
Bonfante discloses the method of claim 3, wherein the UE-related information includes at least one of:
information on a location of the UE (UE position/location information such as latitude and longitude coordinates; see paragraph [0077] and Fig. 6);
information on a speed of the UE; information on a moving direction of the UE (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of);
information on one or more receive beams of the UE (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of);
information on a rotating direction of the UE (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of); or
information on a receiving angle of the UE (no patentable weight is given to other limitations due to the claim language or).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Laddu and Bonfante to generate the first reference signal set on an AI model using UE location information to enable accurate selection of transmit beams (see paragraph [0035] of Bonfante).
Regarding claim 5; Laddu discloses the method of claim 1, wherein identifying the first reference signal set comprises: identifying a set of synchronization signals/physical broadcast channel blocks (SSBs) as the first reference signal set (the actual measurement resources may include SSB; see paragraphs [0040] and [0051]).
Regarding claim 6; Laddu discloses the method of claim 1, wherein identifying the first reference signal set for the measurement operation comprises: identifying the first reference signal set based on reference signal sets corresponding to one or more potential transmit beams configured by a base station (a CSI report configuration M may include channel measurement resources x1, x2 and x3 and prediction resources y1, y2 and y3; the first group of resources are defined as the actual measurement resources; see paragraph [0040] and Fig. 3A).
Regarding claim 9; Laddu discloses the method of claim 1, wherein obtaining one or more measurement results based on the identified first reference signal set comprises: obtaining one or more measurement results corresponding to a second reference signal set using the second AI model based on the measurement results corresponding to the first reference signal set (the measurement parameters (e.g., CRI and RSRP) for each of the measured beams x1-x3 are input to the ML model 110; the ML model provides a list of CRI values for the beams x1-x3 and the predicted y1-y3 may be ranked; see paragraph [0028] and Fig. 1), and wherein the second reference signal set is different from the first reference signal set (x1-x3 are different from y1-y3; see paragraph [0028] and Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 10; Laddu discloses the method of claim 9, wherein the second Al model is trained to output one or more measurement results corresponding to the second reference signal set based on at least one of:
information on one or more potential transmit beams (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of);
information on one or more measured transmit beams (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of);
information on a reference signal set corresponding to the one or more potential transmit beams (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of);
information on one or more measured reference signal sets; measurement results of the one or more measured transmit beams (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of);
information on a relationship between the one or more measured transmit beams and the one or more potential transmit beams (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of);
information on a relationship between the first reference signal set and the reference signal set corresponding to the one or more potential transmit beams (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of);
time information on one or more measurement results corresponding to the second reference signal set (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of); or
UE-related information (UE positioning information is used as input to the ML model 110; see paragraph [0031] and Fig. 2A).
Regarding claim 11; Laddu discloses the method of claim 9, wherein the second reference signal set is determined based on at least one of:
the second reference signal set being the first reference signal set or a subset of the first reference signal set (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of);
the second reference signal set being a reference signal set corresponding to one or more potential transmit beams (the second resource group are predicted resources y1-y3; see paragraph [0044] and Fig. 3A);
the second reference signal being a reference signal set corresponding to a predetermined number of measurement results among the one or more measurement results (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of),
the predetermined number of measurement results including higher priority than measurement results among the one or more measurement results other than the predetermined number of measurement results (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of); or
the second reference signal set being a reference signal set corresponding to measurement results higher than a predefined threshold among the one or more measurement results (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language at least one of).
Regarding claim 12; Laddu discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the report includes at least one of (i) at least one reporting measurement result of the one or more measurement results (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language or) or (ii) information related to a reference signal or a beam corresponding to the at least one reporting measurement result (CSI feedback information includes best beams to be used by the UE; see paragraph [0056] and Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 13; Laddu discloses the method of claim 12, wherein the at least one reporting measurement result includes one or more optimal measurement results among measurement results associated with measurement times of corresponding reference signals in a second reference signal set (CSI feedback information includes best beams to be used by the UE; the CRI ranking of the K best beams includes both the measured subset of beams (x1-x3) and predicted beams (y1-y3); see paragraphs [0029], [0056] and Fig. 4).
Claims 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Laddu; in view of Bonfante; and in further view of Li et al. (US 2025/0175221 A1).
Regarding claim 7; Laddu discloses the method of claim 1, wherein obtaining one or more measurement results based on the identified first reference signal set comprises: obtaining at least one of a reference signal corresponding to one or more first wide transmit beams in the identified first reference signal set (no patentable weight is given due to the claim language or), or a reference signal corresponding to one or more narrow transmit beams in the identified first reference signal set (the UE identifies channel measurement resources (CMR1) for measurements; x1-x3 in CMR1 are narrow beams; see paragraphs [0027], [0051], Fig. 3A and Fig. 4).
The combination of Laddu and Bonfante discloses obtaining a reference signal corresponding to narrow transmit beams.
The combination of Laddu and Bonfante does not explicitly disclose the narrow transmit beams are based on measurement results of reference signals of wide transmit bands.
Li discloses wherein the one or more narrow transmit beams are identified based on measurement results of reference signals corresponding to the one or more first wide transmit beams (a UE may measure wide beams and determine narrow beams; see paragraph [0101]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Laddu, Bonfante and Li to determine narrow transmit beams based on measurement results of reference signals of wide transmit beams to improve beam point accuracy for the UE (see paragraph [0101] of Li).
Regarding claim 8; the combination of Laddu and Bonfante discloses obtaining measurement results of identified reference signals.
The combination of Laddu and Bonfante does not explicitly disclose using measurements of N best wide beams as input data to AI/ML model.
Bonfante discloses wherein the measurement results of the reference signals corresponding to the at least one second wide transmit beam include higher priority than measurement results of reference signals corresponding to wide transmit beams of the one or more second wide transmit beams other than the at least one second wide transmit beam (the UE may use RSRP measurements of N best wide beams as input data to train AI/ML model; see paragraph [0064] and Fig. 4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Laddu and Bonfante to use RSRP measurements of N best wide beams as input data to train AI/ML model improve the robustness of the beam prediction (see paragraph [0103] of Bonfante).
The combination of Laddu and Bonfante discloses obtaining a reference signal corresponding to narrow transmit beams.
The combination of Laddu and Bonfante does not explicitly disclose the narrow transmit beams are associated with wide beams.
Li discloses the method of claim 7, wherein the one or more narrow transmit beams are associated with at least one second wide transmit beam of the one or more first wide transmit beams (a UE may use wide beams to determine narrow beams; see paragraph [0101]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Laddu, Bonfante and Li to associate narrow transmit beams to wide transmit beams to improve beam point accuracy for the UE (see paragraph [0101] of Li).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bonfante; in view of Laddu.
Regarding claim 15; Bonfante discloses a method performed by a base station in a wireless communication system (Fig. 6 illustrates operation of a gNB; see paragraph [0013]), the method comprising: identifying a first reference signal set (the output of ML model 520 may include beam indices of K best gNB narrow transmit beams; CSI-RSs are transmitted via K best beams; see paragraph [0090] and Fig. 6), wherein the first reference signal set is used by a user equipment (UE) (the K best beam indexes are used by the gNB to transmit narrow beams to the UE; see paragraph [0091] and Fig. 6); and receiving a report of one or more measurement results from the UE (the gNB receives measurementReport from the UE; see Fig. 6), wherein the first reference signal set is generated based on a first artificial intelligence (AI) model (the output of ML model 520 may include K best gNB narrow transmit beams; CSI-RSs are transmitted via K best beams; see paragraph [0090] and Fig. 6).
Bonfante disclose a UE transmits measurement report to a gNB.
Bonfante does not explicitly disclose the measurement is generated based on a second AI model.
Laddu discloses wherein the one or more measurement results are generated based on a second AI model (the AL/ML model 110 determines the K best beams to be used by the UE; see paragraphs [0054] – [0056] and Fig. 4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Bonfante and Laddu to use a second AI model to generate measurement results to reduce overhead and latency (see paragraph [0025] of Laddu).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NING LI whose telephone number is (571)270-0624. The examiner can normally be reached Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 8:30am - 5:00pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached at (571) 270-1215. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/N.L/Examiner, Art Unit 2415
/MANSOUR OVEISSI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
Prosecution Insights