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 Interpretation Under 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
2. Claims 1-8 invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) (or herein pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph) based on the following guidance.
Claim limitations “communicator” and “controller” has been interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because it uses a non-structural term “communicator” and “controller”
coupled with functional language “to perform” and “to deterime”, without reciting sufficient structure to achieve the function. Furthermore, the non-structural term is not preceded by a structural modifier.
Since this claim limitation invokes 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, claims 1-8 are interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification that achieves the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
A review of the specification shows that the following appears to be the corresponding structure described in the specification for the 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph limitation:
a communicator corresponds to 110 (para 0077) and a controller corresponds to 120 (para 0077)
If applicant wishes to provide further explanation or dispute the examiner’s interpretation of the corresponding structure, applicant must identify the corresponding structure with reference to the specification by page and line number, and to the drawing, if any, by reference characters in response to this Office action.
If applicant does not wish to have the claim limitation treated under 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may amend the claim so that it will clearly not invoke 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, or present a sufficient showing that the claim recites sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function to preclude application of 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
For more information, see Supplementary Examination Guidelines for Determining Compliance with 35 U.S.C. § 112 and for Treatment of Related Issues in Patent Applications, 76 FR 7162, 7167 (Feb. 9, 2011).
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.
3. Claims 1-8 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. Claim 1 recite limitations which invoke 35 U.S.C. §112(f), but are not linked to sufficient structure in the original disclosure. While “a communicator” is discussed in paragraph [0047], [0054], [0077]…[0079], and [0092] nothing is said about how this component is composed (meaning, what structure it has). Similarly, “a controller” is discussed in paragraph [0047], [0054], [0077]…[0080], [0092]-[0093] nothing is said about how this component is composed (meaning, what structure it has). As there is insufficient structure for the “a communicator” and “a controller” in the original disclosure, the claims are rejected for failing to distinctly determine the metes and bounds of the invention.
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 for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art maxrelied 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 20claimed 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.
4. Claims 1, 7, 9, 15, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dai et al. (US 2023/0208486, hereinafter Dai) in view of Kim et al. (US 2021/0368437, hereinafter Kim).
Regarding claim 1, Dai discloses a base station (BS of fig. 2) that communicates with one of one or more user terminals (User1…Userk) through one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) (RIS), the base station comprising: a communicator (Para 0051; BS comprising multiple antennas) that configured to perform communication with at least one of the one or more user terminals and the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (Para 0052-0053; fig.2; communication between BS and RIS/User) ; and to determine a matching state of the one or more user terminals and the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces that maximize a sum of data rates for the one or more user terminals connected through the communicator (302 & 304 of fig. 3; para 0026; 0047; 0068-0069; 0073; 0080-0081; maximizing spectral efficiency- Once an initial irregular arrangement of elements and channel matrices are calculated, the optimization procedure for that arrangement may be carried out. This may start with an initialization phase. The initialization phase may comprise the initial topology matrix S.sub.0 based on the initial RIS structure being generated, and the current topology, beamforming design and corresponding user sum-rate being saved as the global optimal solution. A new topology matrix having the preferred (e.g. greatest) user sum-rate is selected from the plurality of second topology matrices. The topology with the desired user sum-rate is the optimal neighbor and may be used at the new optimized topology for the irregular RIS), on/off states of one or more reflective elements included in the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (Para 0007; 0059; and 0090; The ability to turn on/off elements; whether the RIS element at a lattice point is ‘on’ or ‘off’), and a phase value of the one or more reflective elements included in the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (Para 0045; 0047; 0049; 0060; 0077; phase shifts of RIS elements).
Dai does not explicitly disclose a controller connected to the communicator, wherein the controller is configured to determine a total power consumption.
In an analogous art, Kim discloses a controller connected to the communicator (Para 0016-0017; base station comprises of a controller that is connected with the transceiver), wherein the controller is configured to determine a total power consumption (Para 0046-0047; total sum of power consumption). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai’s method/system by having Kim’s disclosure in order to improve resource utilization with reduced power consumption.
Regarding claim 9, Dai discloses a method of operating a base station (BS of fig. 2) and configured to communicate with one or more user terminals (User1…Userk) through one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS), the method comprising:
determining the one or more user terminals (para 0027; 0081) with which to perform communication (Para 0052-0053; fig.2; communication between BS and RIS/User) ; and determining a matching state of the one or more user terminals and the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces that maximize a sum of data rates for the one or more user terminals connected through the communicator (302 & 304 of fig. 3; para 0026; 0047; 0068-0069; 0073; 0080-0081; maximizing spectral efficiency- Once an initial irregular arrangement of elements and channel matrices are calculated, the optimization procedure for that arrangement may be carried out. This may start with an initialization phase. The initialization phase may comprise the initial topology matrix S.sub.0 based on the initial RIS structure being generated, and the current topology, beamforming design and corresponding user sum-rate being saved as the global optimal solution. A new topology matrix having the preferred (e.g. greatest) user sum-rate is selected from the plurality of second topology matrices. The topology with the desired user sum-rate is the optimal neighbor and may be used at the new optimized topology for the irregular RIS), on/off states of one or more reflective elements included in the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (Para 0007; 0059; and 0090; The ability to turn on/off elements; whether the RIS element at a lattice point is ‘on’ or ‘off’), and a phase value of the one or more reflective elements included in the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (Para 0045; 0047; 0049; 0060; 0077; phase shifts of RIS elements).
Dai does not explicitly disclose that the base station includes one or more processors and a memory storing one or more programs executed by the one or more processors to perform the method steps and to determine a total power consumption.
In an analogous art, Kim discloses that the base station includes one or more processors (830 of fig. 8 ; para 0094) and a memory (820) storing one or more programs executed by the one or more processors to perform the method steps (para 0094) and to determine a total power consumption (Para 0046-0047; total sum of power consumption). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai’s method/system by having Kim’s disclosure in order to improve resource utilization with reduced power consumption.
Regarding claims 7 and 15, Dai discloses wherein each of the data rates for the one or more user terminals is greater than or equal to a minimum data rate (Para 0080; throughput may be monitored and the trigger may be if one or both of these drops below a threshold).
Regarding claim 17, Dai discloses a computing device (BS of fig. 2) performing the method comprising:
determining the one or more user terminals (para 0027; 0081) with which to perform communication (Para 0052-0053; fig.2; communication between BS and RIS/User) ; and determining a matching state of the one or more user terminals and the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces that maximize a sum of data rates for the one or more user terminals connected through the communicator (302 & 304 of fig. 3; para 0026; 0047; 0068-0069; 0073; 0080-0081; maximizing spectral efficiency- Once an initial irregular arrangement of elements and channel matrices are calculated, the optimization procedure for that arrangement may be carried out. This may start with an initialization phase. The initialization phase may comprise the initial topology matrix S.sub.0 based on the initial RIS structure being generated, and the current topology, beamforming design and corresponding user sum-rate being saved as the global optimal solution. A new topology matrix having the preferred (e.g. greatest) user sum-rate is selected from the plurality of second topology matrices. The topology with the desired user sum-rate is the optimal neighbor and may be used at the new optimized topology for the irregular RIS), on/off states of one or more reflective elements included in the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (Para 0007; 0059; and 0090; The ability to turn on/off elements; whether the RIS element at a lattice point is ‘on’ or ‘off’), and a phase value of the one or more reflective elements included in the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (Para 0045; 0047; 0049; 0060; 0077; phase shifts of RIS elements).
Dai does not explicitly disclose a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a computer program including one or more instructions that when executed by the computing device including one or more processor perform the above method steps and to determine a total power consumption.
In an analogous art, Kim discloses a non-transitory computer readable storage medium (para 0094; memory 820) storing a computer program including one or more instructions that when executed by the computing device including one or more processor (para 0094; processor) perform the above method steps (para 0094) and to determine a total power consumption (Para 0046-0047; total sum of power consumption). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai’s method/system by having Kim’s disclosure in order to improve resource utilization with reduced power consumption.
Claims 2, 4-6, 8, 10, 12-14 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dai/Kim in view of Zhang (CN 113726390, hereinafter Zhang).
Regarding claims 2 and 10, Dai/Kim does not explicitly disclose wherein the matching state of the one or more user terminals and the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces indicate whether or not the base station uses each of the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces in performing at least one of transmitting and receiving signals to and from each of one or more user terminals.
In an analogous art, Zhang discloses wherein the matching state of the one or more user terminals and the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces indicate whether or not the base station uses each of the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces in performing at least one of transmitting and receiving signals to and from each of one or more user terminals (page 09; para 02; all base stations and all RIS cooperate to provide services for all users. the central CPU is responsible for network control and planning, and according to the base station, RIS and the position of the user to determine the transmission schedule. after receiving the signal sent by each base station, a plurality of RIS working at the same frequency will synchronously reflect the signal to the user. The user can directly receive the signal sent by the base station, also can receive various reflection signals through a plurality of RIS, so as to greatly improve the data transmission rate; page 10; para 02). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai/Kim’s method/system by having Zhang ’s disclosure in order to improve data rate without increasing the total power utilization of the system.
Regarding claims 4 and 12, Dai/Kim does not explicitly disclose wherein the total power consumption is a sum of transmission power of the base station, circuit power consumption of the base station, circuit power consumption of each of the one or more user terminals, and circuit power consumption of each of the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces.
In an analogous art, Zhang discloses wherein the total power consumption is a sum of transmission power of the base station, circuit power consumption of the base station, circuit power consumption of each of the one or more user terminals, and circuit power consumption of each of the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (page 13; para 01-02; page 19; para 01-02; power consumption of the system is the total of transmission power of the base station; static loss at the base station; static loss of RIS and static loss of the UE). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai/Kim’s method/system by having Zhang ’s disclosure in order to improve data rate without increasing the total power utilization of the system.
Regarding claims 5 and 13, Dai does not explicitly disclose wherein the transmission power of the base station is a sum of power for transmitting signals from the base station to the one or more user terminals, and the transmission power of the base station is less than or equal to a maximum transmission power of the base station.
In an analogous art, Kim discloses wherein the transmission power of the base station is a sum of power for transmitting signals from the base station to the one or more user terminals (para 0046-0047; 0086), and the transmission power of the base station is less than or equal to a maximum transmission power of the base station (it’s implied that the transmission power of the base station is equal or less than the maximum transmission power). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai/Kim’s method/system by having Zhang ’s disclosure in order to improve data rate without increasing the total power utilization of the system.
Regarding claims 6 and 14, Dai/Kim does not explicitly disclose wherein the circuit power consumption of each of the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces includes power consumed by the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces consume for phase conversion.
In an analogous art, Zhang discloses wherein the circuit power consumption of each of the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces includes power consumed by the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces consume for phase conversion (page 05; para 01-02; page 09; para 01; page 011; para 02; power for reflective surface phase shift). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai/Kim’s method/system by having Zhang ’s disclosure in order to improve data rate without increasing the total power utilization of the system.
Regarding claims 8 and 16, Dai discloses the matching state of the one or more user terminals and the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces that maximize a sum of data rates for the one or more user terminals connected through the communicator (302 & 304 of fig. 3; para 0047; 0068-0069; 0073; 0080-0081; maximizing spectral efficiency- Once an initial irregular arrangement of elements and channel matrices are calculated, the optimization procedure for that arrangement may be carried out. This may start with an initialization phase. The initialization phase may comprise the initial topology matrix S.sub.0 based on the initial RIS structure being generated, and the current topology, beamforming design and corresponding user sum-rate being saved as the global optimal solution. A new topology matrix having the preferred (e.g. greatest) user sum-rate is selected from the plurality of second topology matrices. The topology with the desired user sum-rate is the optimal neighbor and may be used at the new optimized topology for the irregular RIS), on/off states of one or more reflective elements included in the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (Para 0007; 0059; and 0090; The ability to turn on/off elements; whether the RIS element at a lattice point is ‘on’ or ‘off’), and a phase value of the one or more reflective elements included in the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (Para 0045; 0047; 0049; 0060; 0077; phase shifts of RIS elements).
Dai does not explicitly disclose a controller connected to the communicator, wherein the controller is configured to determine a total power consumption and the determination is performed by using deep reinforcement learning (DRL).
In an analogous art, Kim discloses a controller connected to the communicator (Para 0016-0017; base station comprises of a controller that is connected with the transceiver), wherein the controller is configured to determine a total power consumption (Para 0046-0047; total sum of power consumption) and the determination is performed by using deep reinforcement learning (DRL) (para 0048; DRL). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai’s method/system by having Kim’s disclosure in order to improve resource utilization with reduced power consumption.
Dai/Kim does not explicitly disclose that the determination is performed by convex optimization.
In an analogous art, Zhang discloses that the determination is performed by convex optimization (page 15; para 01 – convex optimization algorithm). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai/Kim’s method/system by having Zhang ’s disclosure in order to improve data rate without increasing the total power utilization of the system.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 11 is 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 11, none of the prior art of record disclose or render obvious the claimed limitations including “wherein, in the case of a reconfigurable intelligent surface with the one or more user terminals matched among the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, at least one reflective element is assigned to each of one or more matched user terminals to be in an on state” when considered as a whole along with other claimed limitations.
There is no prior art rejection for claim 3 for same reason.
Conclusion
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAMINA CHOUDHRY whose telephone number is (571)270-7102. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Thursday (7:30 a.m. to 5.00p.m.).
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/SAMINA F CHOUDHRY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462