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 .
This Office action is in response to the amendment filed on 03/30/2026. Claims 1-4 and 6-9 have been amended and claims 11-20 have been withdrawn from consideration.
Claims 1-10 are presented for examination.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-10 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.
Claim 1, line 4, it is uncertain what is meant by “of the plurality of the plurality of
UEs”. The phrase appears to contain a duplicated expression of “plurality of UEs”, resulting in ambiguity as to the intended subject matter and rendering the claim indefinite under 35 U.S.C. 112(b).
Claim 6, line 11, it has the same deficiency as claim 1 above and is therefore
indefinite under 35 U.S.C. 112(b).
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.
Claims 1 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TAKANO et al. (US 2022/0345908 A1), in view of PEZESHKI et al. (US 2021/0336687 A1).
As to claim 1, discloses the invention as claimed, including a method performed by a base station (Fig. 6, 20) in a wireless communication system (Fig. 6, 1), the method comprising:
receiving, from a plurality of user equipments (UEs) (Fig. 6, 401-3), first location information of the plurality of the plurality of UEs (Fig. 6; ¶0076, “the management device 10 manages the positions of the terminal devices 40 (UE) in the communication system 1 for each terminal device 40 in an area unit (for example, tracking area and RAN notification area) composed of a plurality of cells. The management device 10 may grasp and manage which base station (or cell) the terminal device 40 is connected to, in a communication area of which base station (or cell) the terminal device 40 exists, and the like for each terminal device 40 on a cell-by-cell basis”; ¶0080, “The management device 10 manages the communication of the base station device 20. For example, the management device 10 manages the positions of the terminal devices 40 for each terminal device 40 in an area unit (for example, tracking area, RAN notification area) composed of a plurality of cells. The management device 10 may grasp and manage which base station device (or cell) the terminal device 40 is connected to, in a communication area of which base station device (or cell) the terminal device 40 exists, and the like for each terminal device 40”; ¶0118, “the storage unit 12 stores the radio resource control (RRC) state and the ECM (EPS connection management) state of the terminal device 40. The storage unit 12 may also function as a home memory for storing position information of the terminal device 40”);
determining a first synchronization signal block (SSB) beam sweeping pattern (i.e., beam sweeping cycle, beam sweeping range) based on distribution of the plurality of UEs (¶0049, “Beam sweeping can be performed in two procedures. The first procedure is beam sweeping using a synchronization signal (e.g., SSB (synchronization signal (SS)/physical broad band channel (PBCH) block)). The synchronization signal is a procedure in which the terminal device synchronizes with the network side based on a synchronization signal transmitted from the base station”; ¶0199, “the base station device 20 determines the beam sweeping cycle and beam sweeping range for the idle state based on the requested beam sweeping configuration and various other conditions. Various conditions include, for example, the movement of the terminal device 40 and the amount of tolerable resources. The movement of the terminal device 40 can be determined from the transition of the beam used for the communication of the terminal device 40 up to that point");
transmitting information indicating the first SSB beam sweeping pattern to a neighbor base station and the plurality of UEs (¶0051, “Beam sweeping using a synchronization signal, which is the first procedure, is provided for the entire cell”; ¶0052, "the discussion will proceed focusing on the first beam sweeping. This is because, since the first beam sweeping provides a beam for the coverage of the entire cell"; ¶0058, “The SSB is periodically transmitted from the base station (radio access network (RAN)) into a cell as an SSB burst (SS burst) composed of a plurality of SSBs”; ¶0083, "The base station device 20 may be configured to be capable of wireless communication with another base station device 20…when a plurality of the base station devices 20 is a combination of a gNB CU and a gNB DU, the devices may be connected to each other by an F1 interface. Messages and information (radio resource control (RRC) signaling or data center interconnection (DCI) information) described later may be communicated between the plurality of base station devices 20 (for example, via X2, Xn, and F1 interfaces)"; ¶0085, “The base station device 20 may be capable of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) communication with the terminal device 40…The base station device 20 may be configured to enable NOMA communication with another base station device 20"; ¶0092; ¶0182); and
transmitting an SSB to the plurality of UEs, based on the first SSB beam sweeping pattern (¶0058, “The SSB is periodically transmitted from the base station (radio access network (RAN)) into a cell as an SSB burst (SS burst) composed of a plurality of SSB"; ¶0065; ¶0113; ¶0145, "The base station device 20 notifies the terminal device 40 of the frequency and time resources of the random access occasion. There is a one-to-one relationship between an SSB and a random access occasion. When receiving the resources of the random access occasion corresponding to the SSB, the base station device 20, which directs the transmitting beam in the direction of the SSB, receives the resources using the receiving beam”; ¶0152, “Here, SSB transmission patterns of the first beam sweeping and the second beam sweeping will be described…For example, cases F and G illustrated in FIG. 13 are introduced as new SSB transmission patterns for the first beam sweeping and the second beam sweeping. In the cases F and G illustrated in FIG. 13, at the same frequency (e.g., same BWP or same resource blocks) and the same time interval (e.g., half frame 5 ms, one SS Burst), two SSB groups, in which Lmaxes (and incidentally SCS) are different (i.e., the first beam sweeping and the second beam sweeping), are transmitted”; ¶0182, “The base station device 20 uses the cell in which communication is being performed (CC) (for example, cell (CC) (1)) to notify the terminal device 40 of the determined beam sweeping configuration for random access (S22)”).
Although TAKANO discloses determining a first synchronization signal block (SSB) beam sweeping pattern based on distribution of the plurality of UEs, TAKANO does not specifically disclose learning distribution of the plurality of UEs based on the first location information and an artificial intelligence (AI) model; determining a first synchronization signal block (SSB) beam sweeping pattern based on the learned distribution of the plurality of UEs.
However, PEZESHKI discloses learning distribution of the plurality of UEs based on the first location information and an artificial intelligence (AI) model (Fig. 5, 500; Figs. 8-11; ¶0012, “The machine learning model may be trained to predict whether the UE will be moving or stationary based on time and location information”; ¶0070, “beam management procedures may be enhanced (e.g., in FR2) using side-information and machine learning models. The side information may include, for example, UE position information, which may be latitude/longitude information from a satellite positioning system, time difference of arrival (TDOA), UE orientation information, and the like”; ¶0107, “various decisions related to UE location and/or SSB beam modification may happen at multiple nodes within a wireless network. For example, a beams-per-location database (e.g., such as shown in FIG. 5) may be located at a gNB or at a central server (e.g., an AI-based server) which does the training”); determining a first synchronization signal block (SSB) beam sweeping pattern based on the learned distribution of the plurality of UEs (Figs. 5 and 8-11; ¶0094, “based on the position information (obtained via GPS, reported by the UE, or determined via an LMF), the gNB may know there are only a few UEs at a given time (e.g., at night time), and use their location info to only transmit the SSB beams that those UEs need”; ¶0110, “determine the first subset of SSB beams based on at least one of time or UE position information (e.g., location, direction, and/or orientation) for one or more UEs. For example, based on the position information (e.g., obtained via GPS, reported by the UE, or determined via an LMF), the gNB may know there are only a few UEs at a given time (e.g., at night time), and use their location information to only transmit preferred SSB beams (predicted based on the location information) with higher power to those UEs need and lower power in lower probability (e.g., medium probability) directions”; ¶0139, “a set of beams identified by a machine learning model given the position information for the UE, and the set of beams may be the beams predicted by the machine learning model to be the best beams for use in communications to and from the network entity and the UE”; ¶0162, “detecting at least one condition involving at least one of time, location information for one or more user equipments (UEs), or direction information for the one or more UEs; modifying at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) burst parameter based on the detected 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 the system of TAKANO to include learning distribution of the plurality of UEs based on the first location information and an artificial intelligence (AI) model; determining a first synchronization signal block (SSB) beam sweeping pattern based on the learned distribution of the plurality of UEs, as taught by PEZESHKI because it would improve connection speed and network efficiency by learning the exact locations of the devices (PEZESHKI; ¶0002; ¶0074).
As to claim 6, it is rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim 1 above. In addition, discloses a base station (Fig. 8, 20) comprising:
at least one transceiver (Fig. 8, 21, 23);
at least one processor (Fig. 8, 24) communicatively coupled to the at least one transceiver (Fig. 8, 21, 23); and
at least one memory (Fig. 8, 22), communicatively coupled to the at least one processor (Fig. 8, 24), storing instructions executable by the at least one processor individually or in any combination to cause the base station (¶0119; ¶0121; ¶0132; ¶0133; ¶0135; ¶0139).
Claims 2, 5, 7 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TAKANO et al. (US 2022/0345908 A1), PEZESHKI et al. (US 2021/0336687 A1), further in view of REN et al. (US 2024/0284201 A1).
As to claims 2 and 7, TAKANO does not specifically disclose wherein learning the distribution of the plurality of UEs based on the first location information and the Al model comprises: clustering, by the Al model, the distribution of the plurality of UEs, based on the first location information; and generating a representative UE distribution chart-based on a clustering result.
However, REN discloses wherein learning the distribution of the plurality of UEs based on the first location information and the Al model comprises: clustering, by the Al model, the distribution of the plurality of UEs, based on the first location information; and generating a representative UE distribution chart-based on a clustering result (Fig. 3; Fig. 5; col. 1, lines 52-61, “a machine learned model can cluster cells based on a combination of network data, user equipment data, location data, and map data. Clusters output from the machine learned model can be compared to each other to identify an underperforming cell, to generate recommendations that improve performance of a cell, and/or to determine performance benchmarks for cells or networks across different geographical regions”; col. 1, line 62 – col. 2, line 15, “the machine learned model (also referred to as “the model”) receives data representing user and network attributes in different geographic regions, and outputs clusters of cells that can be further processed in various ways to improve throughput or overall quality of networks in the different geographical regions… the model can identify a percentage distribution of samples, or cells, in one or more clusters. As explained further below, a same or different model can compare clusters one to another to identify improvements for a network regardless of where the network is geographically located”; col. 4, lines 35-46, “the machine learned model may receive user data from the devices (the aforementioned vehicle(s), UE(s), and/or UAV(s)) associated with the first network element 112 and/or the second network element 120, network configuration data from different network elements, location data from a map source”; col. 4, lines 47-56, “the analysis component 130 represents functionality to process the clusters output by the clustering component 128 and determine parameters that improve overall performance (e.g., reduce interference and maximize throughput) of the 5G core network 104 (e.g., performance of the first network element 112 and/or the second network element 120)”; col. 8, lines 20-39; col. 10, lines 30-38, “The input data 506 can be input to a machine learned clustering component 508 (e.g., the clustering component 128). In various examples, the input data 506 can comprise network data associated with different regions in which each region is associated with a cluster value. In some examples, the input data 506 can comprise location(s) of UEs”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of TAKANO to include wherein learning the distribution of the plurality of UEs based on the first location information and the Al model comprises: clustering, by the Al model, the distribution of the plurality of UEs, based on the first location information; and generating a representative UE distribution chart-based on a clustering result, as taught by REN because it would enhance network efficiency by clustering the plurality of mobile devices into groups and processing the groups rather than processing each mobile device individually (REN; col. 9, line 60 – col. 10, line 17).
As to claims 5 and 10, TAKANO discloses the method of claim 2, wherein the first location information comprises at least one of a global positioning system (GPS) coordinate, reference signal received power (RSRP) data, and a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state of the UEs (¶0170, “determines whether the measured value of the received power of the received beam (for example, reference signal received power (RSRP)) is a predetermined threshold value and determines that the beam sweeping, in which a beam is detected with a measured value of the received power equal to or higher than the threshold value, is of high quality”).
Claims 3-4 and 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TAKANO et al. (US 2022/0345908 A1), PEZESHKI et al. (US 2021/0336687 A1), further in view of PRIYANTO et al. (US 2022/0353842 A1), ZHANG et al. (US 2022/0022160 A1).
As to claims 3 and 8, they are rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim 1. In addition, TAKANO receiving parameter information for updating the first SSB beam sweeping pattern (¶0056, “As the frequency increases and the beam becomes sharper, the number of beams required for beam sweeping increases. This is because when an angle covered by the beam changes from 10 degrees to 1 degree, it is simply necessary to use 10 times as many as the beams to cover various directions”; ¶0058, “The SSB is periodically transmitted from the base station (radio access network (RAN)) into a cell as an SSB burst (SS burst) composed of a plurality of SSBs”; ¶0188, “performs a tracking area update of the beam for random access before going out of the range of the beam”; ¶0201, “a request for configuring the beam sweeping for resuming communication to the base station device 20 so as to update the configuration (S37). For example, when the base station device 20 goes out of the set beam range, the base station device 20 updates the beam sweeping range so that the movement destination is in the beam range”);
updating the first SSB beam sweeping pattern to a second SSB beam sweeping pattern, based on second location information received in response to a request transmitted to the plurality of UEs, based on the parameter information (¶0056; ¶0156, “acquires the beam configurations of (at least one of) the first beam sweeping and the second beam sweeping from the base station device 20, selects a preferred beam”; ¶0188, “performs a tracking area update of the beam for random access before going out of the range of the beam”; ¶0189, “when the terminal device 40 goes out of the set beam range, the terminal device 40 connects to the network once and moves to a movement destination”; ¶0201, “when the base station device 20 goes out of the set beam range, the base station device 20 updates the beam sweeping range so that the movement destination is in the beam range. The base station device 20 performs the beam sweeping for the idle state within the updated beam sweeping cycle and beam sweeping range (S38)”);
transmitting information indicating the second SSB beam sweeping pattern to the neighbor base station and the plurality of UEs (¶0051, “Beam sweeping using a synchronization signal, which is the first procedure, is provided for the entire cell”; ¶0052, "the discussion will proceed focusing on the first beam sweeping. This is because, since the first beam sweeping provides a beam for the coverage of the entire cell"; ¶0058, “The SSB is periodically transmitted from the base station (radio access network (RAN)) into a cell as an SSB burst (SS burst) composed of a plurality of SSBs”; ¶0083, "The base station device 20 may be configured to be capable of wireless communication with another base station device 20…when a plurality of the base station devices 20 is a combination of a gNB CU and a gNB DU, the devices may be connected to each other by an F1 interface. Messages and information (radio resource control (RRC) signaling or data center interconnection (DCI) information) described later may be communicated between the plurality of base station devices 20 (for example, via X2, Xn, and F1 interfaces)"; ¶0085, “The base station device 20 may be capable of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) communication with the terminal device 40…The base station device 20 may be configured to enable NOMA communication with another base station device 20"; ¶0092; ¶0182); and
transmitting an SSB to the plurality of UEs, based on the second SSB beam sweeping pattern (¶0058, “The SSB is periodically transmitted from the base station (radio access network (RAN)) into a cell as an SSB burst (SS burst) composed of a plurality of SSB"; ¶0065; ¶0113; ¶0145, "The base station device 20 notifies the terminal device 40 of the frequency and time resources of the random access occasion. There is a one-to-one relationship between an SSB and a random access occasion. When receiving the resources of the random access occasion corresponding to the SSB, the base station device 20, which directs the transmitting beam in the direction of the SSB, receives the resources using the receiving beam”; ¶0152, “Here, SSB transmission patterns of the first beam sweeping and the second beam sweeping will be described…For example, cases F and G illustrated in FIG. 13 are introduced as new SSB transmission patterns for the first beam sweeping and the second beam sweeping. In the cases F and G illustrated in FIG. 13, at the same frequency (e.g., same BWP or same resource blocks) and the same time interval (e.g., half frame 5 ms, one SS Burst), two SSB groups, in which Lmaxes (and incidentally SCS) are different (i.e., the first beam sweeping and the second beam sweeping), are transmitted”; ¶0182, “The base station device 20 uses the cell in which communication is being performed (CC) (for example, cell (CC) (1)) to notify the terminal device 40 of the determined beam sweeping configuration for random access (S22)”);
wherein the parameter information comprises at least one of a number of UEs that have failed in initial connection, a number of UEs connected to the base station, and a cell IP throughput, and is received based on a key performance indicator (KPI) transmitted to the network entity (It is noted that TAKONO’s management device (10), user plane function (UPF), and RRC (Radio Resource Control) perform the monitoring the health of the entire network; Fig. 6; ¶0076, “The management device 10 may grasp and manage which base station (or cell) the terminal device 40 is connected to, in a communication area of which base station (or cell) the terminal device 40 exists, and the like for each terminal device 40 on a cell-by-cell basis”; ¶0077; ¶0083; ¶0091; ¶0118).
Although TAKANO discloses a plurality of base stations including a neighbor station that communicate and exchange information (Fig. 6; ¶0058; ¶0074; ¶0083; ¶0085; ¶0087), TAKANO does not specifically disclose receiving information about an SSB beam sweeping pattern of the neighbor base station from the neighbor base station.
However, PRIYANTO discloses receiving information about an SSB beam sweeping pattern of the neighbor base station from the neighbor base station (Fig. 7a; ¶0076, “In FIG. 6, RAN node 110a may employ beam sweeping over a set of transmit beams 121 (e.g. beams 121a-d) correlated with transmit beam 111a; RAN node 110b sweeps over a set of beams 123 (including beams 123a-d) associated with transmit beam 113b; and RAN node 110c may transmit via beam sweeping with a set of beams 125 (having beams 125a-d) associated with beam 115c”; ¶0079, “receives general reference signals 144 and 146 from a serving RAN node 110a and neighbor RAN node 110b. These reference signals are typically periodic and with the purpose to support data transmission, such as synchronization, cell measurement, and channel quality measurement”; ¶0084, “the serving RAN node 110a transmits configuration information 162 to UE 100. The configuration information 162 informs UE 100 of transmit occasions and beam configurations for targeted reference signals by the serving RAN node 110a and neighboring RAN nodes such as neighbor RAN node 110b. The beam configuration may contain the association of the subsequent reference signal(s) 164, 166 and possible relation to the previous reference signal 144, 146...The serving RAN node 110a transmits targeted references signals 164 and the neighbor RAN node 110b transmit targeted reference signals 166. The targeted reference signals 164 and 166 may be transmitted using beam sweeping of a set of transmit beams”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of TAKANO to include receiving information about an SSB beam sweeping pattern of the neighbor base station from the neighbor base station, as taught by PRIYANTO because it would provide lower latency and higher reliability of connection by identifying the strongest beam in a target neighbor cell (PRIYANTO; ¶0063; ¶0072).
Although TAKANO discloses a core network (Fig. 6, CN, 10) and receiving parameter information for updating the first SSB beam sweeping pattern (¶0056; ¶0058; ¶0188; ¶0201), TAKANO does not specifically disclose that parameter information for updating the first SSB beam sweeping pattern is received from a core network.
However, ZHANG discloses receiving, from a network entity of a core network, parameter information for updating the first SSB beam sweeping pattern (Fig. 7, 706) (Fig. 7, 724; ¶0021, “messages that may be exchanged between a user equipment (UE), network entity, and a core network entity for beam-specific paging”; ¶0054, “the network entity receives, from a core network entity, a paging notification message indicating that paging is awaiting transmission to the UE and an indication of the mobility state of the UE”; ¶0058; ¶0061; ¶0077, “forward the updated mobility state 722 to core network entity 706 for the core network entity 706 to use in signaling how the gNB 704 is to transmit paging messages, as discussed above. subsequently, the core network entity 706 may transmit a paging trigger 724 with the updated indication that that the UE no longer supports beam-specific paging”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of TAKANO to include receiving, from a network entity of a core network, parameter information for updating the first SSB beam sweeping pattern, as taught by ZHANG because it would share the same spatial configuration to maximize resource efficiency (ZHANG; ¶0021; ¶0077).
As to claims 4 and 9, TAKANO discloses the method of claim 1, wherein each of the first SSB sweeping pattern and the second SSB beam sweeping pattern is determined based on a proportional fairness metric for the plurality of UEs, and wherein each of the first SSB sweeping pattern and the second SSB beam sweeping pattern is one of a first pattern of skipping transmission of an SSB for an area in which a small number of UEs are distributed among all SSBs, a second pattern of omitting transmission of an SSB for an area in which a small number of UEs are distributed among all of the SSBs, or a third pattern of repeatedly transmitting an SSB for an area in which a large number of UEs are distributed among all of the SSBs (¶0149, “the base station device 20 performs first beam sweeping having a high frequency band and a large number of beams and second beam sweeping having a low frequency band and a small number of beams. The plurality of types of beam sweeping may be performed on different physical cell IDs (PCIs), that is, different cells, or may be performed on the same PCI, that is, the same cell. If the configurations of the plurality of types of beam sweeping are different in frequency and time resources, it is possible to distinguish between the plurality of types of beam sweeping”).
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-10 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUNGWON CHANG whose telephone number is (571)272-3960. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5:30PM.
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/JUNGWON CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454 June 13, 2026
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