DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
This Action is in response to the amendment dated 6/15/2026, for which the amendment and corresponding arguments filed on the same date have been entered. Claims 1-30 are currently pending in this application, with claims 1, 14, 27 and 29 being independent. Claim 12 has been amended. No claims have been cancelled or
added. This Action is made Non-FINAL.
Response to Arguments
With respect to the objection for minor informalities made in the Non-Final Rejection dated 3/27/2026, applicant’s argument filed 6/15/2026 has been fully considered and is persuasive. This objection is withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, with respect to the rejection of the claims filed 6/15/2026, have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of the new reference(s) below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 4-9, 13-15, 17-20, 22, 23, 26, 27, 29 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Bai, et al (US PG Publication 2021/0258942), hereafter Bai.
Regarding claim 1, Bai teaches
a user equipment (UE)
([0009] An apparatus for wireless communications at a UE),
comprising:
one or more memories storing processor-executable code
([0009] The apparatus UE may include a memory and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be executable by the processor); and
one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to
([0009] The apparatus UE may include a memory coupled with the processor. The instructions may be executable by the processor to cause the apparatus):
receive, from a network entity, first signaling allocating a first set of resources for uplink response training of one or more hardware components of the UE, the one or more hardware components comprising a radio frequency chain of the UE
([0087] A UE 115 may be configured with a quantity of RF chains, and the quantity of RF chains at the UE 115 may determine the limit of the quantity of concurrent communications the UE 115 may perform. Each concurrent communication may use a different RF chain, such that the UE 115 may communicate concurrently on the quantity of beams equal to the quantity of configured RF chains. The other different beam training may be limited to training a beam on a CC-basis such that each beam is refined for a single component carrier, and different CCs may have different beams
[0089] The base station 105 may assist the UE 115 in determining a refined UE 115 transmit beam. For example, the base station 105 may schedule the UE 115 to concurrently transmit, via an uplink transmit beam, a reference signal on the group of CCs over a first duration
(the group of CCs over the first duration is the first set of resources));
perform, via the first set of resources and based at least in part on the first signaling, the uplink response training of the one or more hardware components of the UE
([0087] The other different beam training may be limited to training a beam on a CC-basis such that each beam is refined for a single component carrier, and different CCs may have different beams
[0089] Additionally, the base station 105 may assist the UE 115 in determining a refined UE 115 transmit beam. For example, the base station 105 may schedule the UE 115 to concurrently transmit, via an uplink transmit beam, a reference signal on the group of CCs over a first duration);
and
transmit, to the network entity and via a second set of resources, second signaling in accordance with one or more transmission characteristics, the one or more transmission characteristics based at least in part on the uplink response training
([0087] The other different beam training may be limited to training a beam on a CC-basis such that each beam is refined for a single component carrier, and different CCs may have different beams
[0089] The base station 105 may schedule the UE 115 to retransmit the reference signal on the group of CCs over additional durations
(the group of CCs over the additional durations is the second set of resources)).
Regarding claim 4, Bai teaches the UE of claim 1,
wherein:
the first signaling comprises one or more bits, and logic values of the one or more
bits indicate that the first set of resources are for the uplink response training
([0370] Information and signals described herein may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the description).
Regarding claim 5, Bai teaches the UE of claim 1,
wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:
transmit third signaling indicating a capability of the UE to perform the uplink response training, wherein receiving the first signaling is based at least in part on the capability of the UE to perform the uplink response training
([0097] The UE 115-a may transmit a capability report to the base station 105-a. The training of beam 210 of the UE 115-a may be based on the capability report, and more specifically, based on the UE 115-a having insufficient RF chains as determined by the base station 105-a).
Regarding claim 6, Bai teaches the UE of claim 1,
wherein, to receive the first signaling, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:
receive the first signaling allocating the first set of resources and a third set of resources for the uplink response training of the one or more hardware components of the UE
([0087] The other different beam training may be limited to training a beam on a CC-basis such that each beam is refined for a single component carrier, and different CCs may have different beams
[0089] Additionally, the base station 105 may assist the UE 115 in determining a refined UE 115 transmit beam. For example, the base station 105 may schedule the UE 115 to concurrently transmit, via an uplink transmit beam, a reference signal on the group of CCs over a first duration. The base station 105 may then determine a refined beam and indicate the refined beam to the UE 115. The UE 115 may use the indicated beam for future communications on the group of CCs
(the group of CCs over the first duration is the first set of resources and refined beam resource is the third set of resources)); and
receive third signaling activating the first set of resources for the uplink response training, wherein performing the uplink response training via the first set of resources is based at least in part on the third signaling
([0087] The other different beam training may be limited to training a beam on a CC-basis such that each beam is refined for a single component carrier, and different CCs may have different beams
[0089] Additionally, the base station 105 may assist the UE 115 in determining a refined UE 115 transmit beam. For example, the base station 105 may schedule the UE 115 to concurrently transmit, via an uplink transmit beam, a reference signal on the group of CCs over a first duration. The base station 105 may then determine a refined beam and indicate the refined beam to the UE 115. The UE 115 may use the indicated beam for future communications on the group of CCs
(the group of CCs over the first duration that is the first set of resources is scheduled/activated for uplink transmission during training)).
Regarding claim 7, Bai teaches the UE of claim 6,
wherein the first signaling comprises radio resource control signaling
([0092] The applicable set of CCs may be indicated to the UE 115-a via RRC signaling from the base station 105-a. The UE 115-a may be configured by RRC signaling
with up to two sets of CCs)
and the second signaling comprises downlink control information or
a medium access control element
([0092] The base station 105-a may use a MAC-CE to activate a TCI state at a UE 115-a using an indication of a TCI ID. The set of CCs in the same frequency band may be indicated to the UE 115-a prior to receiving the MAC-CE).
Regarding claim 8, Bai teaches the UE of claim 1,
wherein the first set of resources comprises time resources
([0089] The base station 105 may schedule the UE 115 to concurrently transmit, via an uplink transmit beam, a reference signal on the group of CCs over a first duration),
frequency resources, or
both.
Regarding claim 9, Bai teaches the UE of claim 1,
wherein, to receive the first signaling, the one or more processors are individually or
collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:
receive a periodicity associated with the first set of resources, the periodicity comprising a number of slots or a number of symbols, wherein performing the uplink response training via the first set of resources is based at least in part on the periodicity
([0007] Additionally, the base station may aid the UE in determining an optimized UE shared beam, such as a refined (for example, trained) UE shared transmit beam through a procedure such as a beam training procedure or a refinement procedure. For example, as part of the beam training procedure, the base station may schedule the UE to concurrently transmit (for example, over a first symbol), via an uplink transmit beam, a reference signal on multiple CCs over a first duration, and concurrently transmit (for example, over at least a second symbol of the multiple CCs), via a second (for example, different) uplink transmit beam, the reference signal on the multiple CCs over an additional duration, or transmit different instances of the reference signal over multiple additional durations).
Regarding claim 13, Bai teaches the UE of claim 1,
wherein the one or more hardware components comprises
an amplifier,
a duplexer,
an antenna,
a filter
([0005] The transmit beam for the two or more CCs constituting the group may
refer to a shared spatial filter or an analog beamformer. In some other different cases, a shared beam may be trained (for example, refined) for a subset of the CCs (for example, a subset of CCs of the CC group) sharing the beam, but not for all CCs sharing the beam),
an attenuator,
a detector,
a mixer, or a
combination thereof.
Regarding claim 14, Bai teaches
a network entity
([0021] Apparatus for wireless communications at a base station),
comprising:
one or more memories storing processor-executable code
([0021] memory and instructions stored in the memory); and
one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to
([0021] a processor, memory coupled with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be executable by the processor to cause the apparatus):
transmit, to a user equipment (UE), first signaling allocating a first set of resources for uplink response training of one or more hardware components of the UE, the one or more hardware components comprising a radio frequency chain of the UE
([0087] A UE 115 may be configured with a quantity of RF chains, and the quantity of RF chains at the UE 115 may determine the limit of the quantity of concurrent communications the UE 115 may perform. Each concurrent communication may use a different RF chain, such that the UE 115 may communicate concurrently on the quantity of beams equal to the quantity of configured RF chains. The other different beam training may be limited to training a beam on a CC-basis such that each beam is refined for a single component carrier, and different CCs may have different beams
[0089] The base station 105 may assist the UE 115 in determining a refined UE 115 transmit beam. For example, the base station 105 may schedule the UE 115 to concurrently transmit, via an uplink transmit beam, a reference signal on the group of CCs over a first
duration
(the group of CCs over the first duration is the first set of resources)); and
receive, from the UE and via a second set of resources, second signaling in accordance with one or more transmission characteristics, the one or more transmission characteristics based at least in part on the uplink response training
([0087] The other different beam training may be limited to training a beam on a CC-basis such that each beam is refined for a single component carrier, and different CCs may have different beams
[0089] The base station 105 may schedule the UE 115 to retransmit the reference signal on the group of CCs over additional durations
(the group of CCs over the additional durations is the second set of resources)).
Regarding claim 15, Bai teaches the network entity of claim 14,
wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to:
transmit, to the UE, third signaling indicating one or more radio frequency requirements for the UE
([0089] For example, the base station 105 may schedule the UE 115 to concurrently transmit, via an uplink transmit beam, a reference signal on the group of CCs (component carriers/radio frequency channels) over a first duration and retransmit the reference signal on the group of CCs (component carriers/radio frequency channels) over additional durations. The base station 105 may perform measurements on the reference signal for the group of CCs on the different transmit beams in each duration. The base station 105 may then determine a refined beam and indicate the refined beam to the UE 115. The UE 115 may use the indicated beam for future communications on the group of CCs (component carriers/radio frequency channels)
(Base station training of UE includes indicating to the UE to transmit uplink signals over a refined group of CCs (component carriers/radio frequency channels))).
Regarding claim 17, Bai teaches the network entity of claim 14,
wherein:
the first signaling comprises one or more bits, and logic values of the one or more bits indicate that the first set of resources are for the uplink response training
([0370] Information and signals described herein may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the description).
Regarding claim 18, Bai teaches the network entity of claim 14,
wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to:
receive third signaling indicating a capability of the UE to perform the uplink response training, wherein transmitting the first signaling is based at least in part on the capability of the UE to perform the uplink response training
([0097] The UE 115-a may transmit a capability report to the base station
105-a. The training of beam 210 of the UE 115-a may be based on the capability report, and more specifically, based on the UE 115-a having insufficient RF chains as determined by the base station 105-a).
Regarding claim 19, Bai teaches the network entity of claim 14,
wherein, to transmit the first signaling, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to:
transmit the first signaling allocating the first set of resources and a third set of resources for the uplink response training of the one or more hardware components of the UE
([0087] The other different beam training may be limited to training a beam on a CC-basis such that each beam is refined for a single component carrier, and different CCs may have different beams
[0089] Additionally, the base station 105 may assist the UE 115 in
determining a refined UE 115 transmit beam. For example, the base station 105 may schedule the UE 115 to concurrently transmit, via an uplink transmit beam, a reference signal on the group of CCs over a first duration. The base station 105 may then determine a refined beam and indicate the refined beam to the UE 115. The UE 115 may use the indicated beam for future communications on the group of CCs
(the group of CCs over the first duration is the first set of resources and refined beam resource is the third set of resources)); and
transmit third signaling activating the first set of resources for the uplink response training, wherein receiving the second signaling is based at least in
part on the third signaling
([0087] The other different beam training may be limited to training a beam on a CC-basis such that each beam is refined for a single component carrier, and different CCs may have different beams
[0089] Additionally, the base station 105 may assist the UE 115 in determining a refined UE 115 transmit beam. For example, the base station 105 may schedule the UE 115 to concurrently transmit, via an uplink transmit beam, a reference signal on the group of CCs over a first duration. The base station 105 may then determine a refined beam and indicate the refined beam to the UE 115. The UE 115 may use the indicated beam for future communications on the group of CCs
(the group of CCs over the first duration that is the first set of resources is scheduled/activated for uplink transmission during training)).
Regarding claim 20, Bai teaches the network entity of claim 19,
wherein the first signaling comprises radio resource control signaling
([0092] The applicable set of CCs may be indicated to the UE 115-a via RRC signaling from the base station 105-a. The UE 115-a may be configured by RRC signaling with up to two sets of CCs) and
the second signaling comprises downlink control information or
a medium access control control element
([0092] The base station 105-a may use a MAC-CE to activate a TCI state at a UE 115-a using an indication of a TCI ID. The set of CCs in the same frequency band may be indicated to the UE 115-a prior to receiving the MAC-CE).
Regarding claim 22, Bai teaches the network entity of claim 14,
wherein the first set of resources comprises time resources,
frequency resources
([0089] The base station 105 may schedule the UE 115 to concurrently transmit, via an uplink transmit beam, a reference signal on the group of CCs over a first duration), or
both.
Regarding claim 23, Bai teaches the network entity of claim 14,
wherein, to transmit the first signaling, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to:
transmit a periodicity associated with the first set of resources, the periodicity comprising a number of slots or a number of symbols
([0007] Additionally, the base station may aid the UE in determining an optimized UE shared beam, such as a refined (for example, trained) UE shared transmit beam through a procedure such as a beam training procedure or a refinement procedure. For example, as part of the beam training procedure, the base station may schedule the UE to concurrently transmit (for example, over a first symbol), via an uplink transmit beam, a reference signal on multiple CCs over a first duration, and concurrently transmit (for example, over at least a second symbol of the multiple CCs), via a second (for example, different) uplink transmit beam, the reference signal on the multiple CCs over an additional duration, or transmit different instances of the reference signal over multiple additional durations).
Regarding claim 26, Bai teaches the network entity of claim 14,
wherein the one or more hardware components comprises
an amplifier,
a duplexer,
an antenna,
a filter
([0005] The transmit beam for the two or more CCs constituting the group may refer to a shared spatial filter or an analog beamformer. In some other different cases, a shared beam may be trained (for example, refined) for a subset of the CCs (for example, a subset of CCs of the CC group) sharing the beam, but not for all CCs sharing the beam),
an attenuator,
a detector,
a mixer, or
a combination thereof.
Regarding claim 27, Bai teaches
a method for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE), comprising:
receiving, from a network entity, first signaling allocating a first set of resources for uplink response training of one or more hardware components of the UE, the one or more hardware components comprising a radio frequency chain of the UE
([0087] A UE 115 may be configured with a quantity of RF chains, and the quantity of RF chains at the UE 115 may determine the limit of the quantity of concurrent communications the UE 115 may perform. Each concurrent communication may use a different RF chain, such that the UE 115 may communicate concurrently on the quantity of beams equal to the quantity of configured RF chains. The other different beam training may be limited to training a beam on a CC-basis such that each beam is refined for a single component carrier, and different CCs may have different beams
[0089] The base station 105 may assist the UE 115 in determining a refined UE 115 transmit beam. For example, the base station 105 may schedule the UE 115 to concurrently transmit, via an uplink transmit beam, a reference signal on the group of CCs over a first duration
(the group of CCs over the first duration is the first set of resources));
performing, via the first set of resources and based at least in part on the first
signaling, the uplink response training of the one or more hardware components of the UE
([0087] The other different beam training may be limited to training a beam on a CC-basis such that each beam is refined for a single component carrier, and different CCs may have different beams
[0089] Additionally, the base station 105 may assist the UE 115 in determining a refined UE 115 transmit beam. For example, the base station 105 may schedule the UE 115 to concurrently transmit, via an uplink transmit beam, a reference signal on the group of CCs over a first duration); and
transmitting, to the network entity and via a second set of resources, second signaling in accordance with one or more transmission characteristics, the one or more transmission characteristics based at least in part on the uplink response training
([0087] The other different beam training may be limited to training a beam on a CC-basis such that each beam is refined for a single component
carrier, and different CCs may have different beams
[0089] The base station 105 may schedule the UE 115 to retransmit the reference signal on the group of CCs over additional durations
(the group of CCs over the additional durations is the second set of resources)).
Regarding claim 29, Bai teaches
a method for wireless communications at a network entity, comprising:
transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), first signaling allocating a first set of resources for uplink response training of one or more hardware components of the UE,
the one or more hardware components comprising a radio frequency chain of the UE
([0087] A UE 115 may be configured with a quantity of RF chains, and the quantity of RF chains at the UE 115 may determine the limit of the quantity of concurrent communications the UE 115 may perform. Each concurrent communication may use a different RF chain, such that the UE 115 may communicate concurrently on the quantity of beams equal to the quantity of configured RF chains. The other different beam training may be limited to training a beam on a CC-basis such that each beam is refined for a single component carrier, and different CCs may have different beams
[0089] The base station 105 may assist the UE 115 in determining a refined UE 115 transmit beam. For example, the base station 105 may schedule the UE 115 to concurrently transmit, via an uplink transmit beam, a reference signal on the
group of CCs over a first duration
(the group of CCs over the first duration is the first set of resources)); and
receiving, from the UE and via a second set of resources, second signaling in accordance with one or more transmission characteristics, the one or more transmission characteristics based at least in part on the uplink response training
([0087] The other different beam training may be limited to training a beam on a CC-basis such that each beam is refined for a single component carrier, and different CCs may have different beams
[0089] The base station 105 may schedule the UE 115 to retransmit the reference signal on the group of CCs over additional durations
(the group of CCs over the additional durations is the second set of resources)).
Regarding claim 30, Bai teaches the method of claim 29,
further comprising:
transmitting, to the UE, third signaling indicating one or more radio frequency requirements for the UE
([0089] For example, the base station 105 may schedule the UE 115 to concurrently transmit, via an uplink transmit beam, a reference signal on the group of CCs (component carriers/radio frequency channels) over a first duration and retransmit the reference signal on the group of CCs (component carriers/radio frequency channels) over additional durations. The base station 105 may perform measurements on the reference signal for the group of CCs on the different transmit beams in each duration. The base station 105 may then determine a refined beam and indicate the refined beam to the UE 115. The UE 115 may use the indicated beam for future communications on the group of CCs (component carriers/radio frequency channels)
(Base station training of UE includes indicating to the UE to transmit uplink signals over a refined group of CCs (component carriers/radio frequency channels))).
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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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 2, 3, 16 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bai, in view of Yue, et al (US PG Publication 2018/0006696), hereafter Yue.
Regarding claim 2, Bai teaches the UE of claim 1.
Bai does not teach
wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:
receive, from the network entity, third signaling indicating one or more radio frequency requirements for the UE, wherein the UE performs the uplink response training without applying at least one radio frequency requirement of the one or more radio frequency requirements.
In the same field of endeavor, Yue teaches
wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:
receive, from the network entity, third signaling indicating one or more radio frequency requirements for the UE, wherein the UE performs the uplink response training without applying at least one radio frequency requirement of the one or more radio frequency requirements
([0046] Referring to FIG. 6, shown is a flow chart depicting a method 600 for jointly selecting transmit RF beams and user terminal made in response to single beam identifying feedback made with signal strength and/or scheduling weight metrics. More specifically, step 602 represents the end of an RF beam training session in which each responding user terminal has fed back a single beam or beam pattern identifying index together with actual values or tokens for the corresponding CQI and/or the base station has provided a scheduling weight for each user representing how long the user terminal has been waiting since last being
serviced and/or what servicing priority level the user terminal is subscribed to.
[0047] In step 603, the base station (BS) determines which of the fed back indices are not unique (and thus identify colliding users of for each beam in the unique beam set)
[0048] In step 604, the base station (BS) determines if the number of the currently unique beam choices is larger than the usable RF chains in the base station or a predetermined maximum number of selected RF beams for baseband channel training. If the number of the currently unique set of the beam patterns is larger, control passes to step 605a in which the BS selects a subset of the non-colliding beams or beam patterns equal to or less than the number of currently usable RF chains or the predetermined maximum number of selected beams for baseband channel training. Preferably, the feedback information for the unique beams is sorted according to one or more of the additionally fed back metrics so that the BS first selects that pair of unique beam and corresponding user terminal which reported the most favorable one or more metric values such as the strongest signal strength, largest weighted signal strength, best attained transmission rate, largest scheduling weight, best CQI and so forth. Alternatively, if there are enough or more than enough currently usable RF chains, control passes to step 605b where the BS selects all of the unique RF beams reported by their respectively paired user terminals
(When not limited to subset of RF Chains during training, BS performs training without limiting the RF to requirements that include signal quality)).
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 invention of Bai, which includes uplink training for a mobile device, to include Yue’s teaching of uplink training, for the benefit of enabling servicing of a large number of receivers (see [0016]).
Regarding claim 3, Bai teaches the UE of claim 2.
Bai does not teach
wherein the one or more radio frequency requirements comprise a threshold uplink power, a threshold signal quality value, a threshold amount of out-of-band emission, a threshold amount of in-band emission, or a combination thereof.
In the same field of endeavor, Yue teaches
wherein the one or more radio frequency requirements comprise a threshold
uplink power, a threshold signal quality value, a threshold amount of out-of-band emission, a threshold amount of in-band emission, or a combination thereof
([0046] Referring to FIG. 6, shown is a flow chart depicting a method 600 for jointly selecting transmit RF beams and user terminal made in response to single beam identifying feedback made with signal strength and/or scheduling weight metrics. More specifically, step 602 represents the end of an RF beam training session in which each responding user terminal has fed back a single beam or beam pattern identifying index together with actual values or tokens for the corresponding CQI and/or the base station has provided a scheduling weight for each user representing how long the user terminal has been waiting since last being serviced and/or what servicing priority level the user terminal is subscribed to.
[0048] Preferably, the feedback information for the unique beams is sorted
according to one or more of the additionally fed back metrics so that the BS first selects that pair of unique beam and corresponding user terminal which reported the most favorable one or more metric values such as the strongest signal strength, largest weighted signal strength, best attained transmission rate, largest scheduling weight, best CQI and so forth. Alternatively, if there are enough or more than enough currently usable RF chains, control passes to step 605b where the BS selects all of the unique RF beams reported by their respectively paired user terminals).
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 invention of Bai, which includes uplink training for a mobile device, to include Yue’s teaching of uplink training, for the benefit of enabling servicing of a large number of receivers (see [0016]).
Regarding claim 16, Bai teaches the network entity of claim 15.
Bai does not teach
wherein the one or more radio frequency requirements comprise a threshold uplink power, a threshold signal quality value, a threshold amount of out-of-band emission, a threshold amount of in-band emission, or a combination thereof.
In the same field of endeavor, Yue teaches
wherein the one or more radio frequency requirements comprise a threshold uplink power, a threshold signal quality value, a threshold amount of out-of-band emission, a threshold amount of in-band emission, or a combination thereof
([0046] Referring to FIG. 6, shown is a flow chart depicting a method 600 for jointly selecting transmit RF beams and user terminal made in response to single beam identifying feedback made with signal strength and/or scheduling weight metrics. More specifically, step 602 represents the end of an RF beam training session in which each responding user terminal has fed back a single beam or beam pattern identifying index together with actual values or tokens for the corresponding CQI and/or the base station has provided a scheduling weight for each user representing how long the user terminal has been waiting since last being serviced and/or what servicing priority level the user terminal is subscribed to.
[0048] Preferably, the feedback information for the unique beams is sorted according to one or more of the additionally fed back metrics so that the BS first selects that pair of unique beam and corresponding user terminal which reported the most favorable one or more metric values such as the strongest signal strength, largest weighted signal strength, best attained transmission rate, largest scheduling weight, best CQI and so forth. Alternatively, if there are enough or more than enough currently usable RF chains, control passes to step 605b where the BS selects all of the unique RF beams reported by their respectively paired user terminals).
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 invention of Bai, which includes uplink training for a mobile device, to include Yue’s teaching of uplink training, for the benefit of enabling servicing of a large number of receivers (see [0016]).
Regarding claim 28, Bai teaches the method of claim 27.
Bai does not teach
further comprising:
receiving, from the network entity, third signaling indicating one or more radio frequency requirements for the UE, wherein the UE performs the uplink response training without applying at least one radio frequency requirement of the one or more radio frequency requirements.
In the same field of endeavor, Yue teaches
further comprising:
receiving, from the network entity, third signaling indicating one or more radio frequency requirements for the UE, wherein the UE performs the uplink response training without applying at least one radio frequency requirement of the one or more radio frequency requirements
([0046] Referring to FIG. 6, shown is a flow chart depicting a method 600 for jointly selecting transmit RF beams and user terminal made in response to single beam identifying feedback made with signal strength and/or scheduling weight metrics. More specifically, step 602 represents the end of an RF beam training session in which each responding user terminal has fed back a single beam or beam pattern identifying index together with actual values or tokens for the corresponding CQI and/or the base station has provided a scheduling weight for each user representing how long the user terminal has been waiting since last being serviced and/or what servicing priority level the user terminal is subscribed to.
[0047] In step 603, the base station (BS) determines which of the fed back indices are not unique (and thus identify colliding users of for each beam in the unique beam set)
[0048] In step 604, the base station (BS) determines if the number of the
currently unique beam choices is larger than the usable RF chains in the base station or a predetermined maximum number of selected RF beams for baseband channel training. If the number of the currently unique set of the beam patterns is larger, control passes to step 605a in which the BS selects a subset of the non-colliding beams or beam patterns equal to or less than the number of currently usable RF chains or the predetermined maximum number of selected beams for baseband channel training. Preferably, the feedback information for the unique beams is sorted according to one or more of the additionally fed back metrics so that the BS first selects that pair of unique beam and corresponding user terminal which reported the most favorable one or more metric values such as the strongest signal strength, largest weighted signal strength, best attained transmission rate, largest scheduling weight, best CQI and so forth. Alternatively, if there are enough or more than enough currently usable RF chains, control passes to step 605b where the BS selects all of the unique RF beams reported by their respectively paired user terminals
(When not limited to subset of RF Chains during training, BS performs training without limiting the RF to requirements that include signal quality)).
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 invention of Bai, which includes uplink training for a mobile device, to include Yue’s teaching of uplink training, for the benefit of enabling servicing of a large number of receivers (see [0016]).
Claims 10, 11, 24 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Bai, in view of Xi, et al (US PG Publication 2021/0159966), hereafter Xi.
Regarding claim 10, Bai teaches the UE of claim 1.
Bai does not teach
wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:
transmit third signaling requesting resources for the uplink response training based at least in part on a trigger condition being satisfied, wherein receiving the first signaling is based at least in part on the third signaling.
In the same field of endeavor, Xi teaches
wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:
transmit third signaling requesting resources for the uplink response training based at least in part on a trigger condition being satisfied, wherein receiving the first signaling is based at least in part on the third signaling
([0182] If multiple WTRU panels are configured or triggered to perform UL beam training, the panel ID associated with each triggered or configured SRS resource set may be jointly or independently indicated. FIG. 22 illustrates an example of independent physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) beam indication and joint PUSCH beam indication, where SRS field, to indicate a SRS resource ID, may be replaced by an extended SRS request field, to indicate one or multiple SRS resource set IDs).
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 invention of Bai, which includes uplink training for a mobile device, to include Xi’s teaching of uplink training, for the benefit of low latency and efficient beam indication (see [0004]).
Regarding claim 11, Bai, in view of Xi, teaches the UE of claim 10.
Xi further teaches
wherein the trigger condition comprises an operating temperature of the UE being above a threshold, a change in operating frequency, or a combination thereof
([0136] The WTRU may perform initial UL beam training when the WTRU is configured with a higher layer or RRC connection
[0148] A WTRU may be configured with one or multiple BWPs for the DL or the UL where at a given time moment, for each WTRU, only one BWP may be active, for the DL and the UL, respectively. This single active BWP may change dynamically as available frequency or time resources change, a wider bandwidth is needed, radio environment degradation, interference, path loss, or the like. Before switching or changing to a new active BWP, the WTRU may evaluate candidate BWPs based on QoS and then select the target BWP properly. WTRU may be configured or triggered via RRC to perform per-BWP based beam measurement and reporting dynamically).
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 invention of Bai, in view of Xi, which includes uplink training for a mobile device, to include Xi’s teaching of uplink training, for the benefit of low latency and efficient beam indication (see [0004]).
Regarding claim 24, Bai teaches the network entity of claim 14.
Bai does not teach
wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to:
receive third signaling requesting resources for the uplink response training based at least in part on a trigger condition being satisfied, wherein transmitting the first signaling is based at least in part on the third signaling.
In the same field of endeavor, Xi teaches
wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to:
receive third signaling requesting resources for the uplink response training based at least in part on a trigger condition being satisfied, wherein transmitting the first signaling is based at least in part on the third signaling
([0182] If multiple WTRU panels are configured or triggered to perform UL beam training, the panel ID associated with each triggered or configured SRS resource set may be jointly or independently indicated. FIG. 22 illustrates an example of independent physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) beam indication and joint PUSCH beam indication, where SRS field, to indicate a SRS resource ID, may be replaced by an extended SRS request field, to indicate one or multiple SRS resource set IDs).
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 invention of Bai, which includes uplink training for a mobile device, to include Xi’s teaching of uplink training, for the benefit of low latency and efficient beam indication (see [0004]).
Regarding claim 25, Bai, in view of Xi, teaches the network entity of claim 24.
Xi further teaches
wherein the trigger condition comprises an operating temperature of the UE being above a threshold, a change in operating frequency, or a combination thereof
([0136] The WTRU may perform initial UL beam training when the WTRU is configured with a higher layer or RRC connection
[0148] A WTRU may be configured with one or multiple BWPs for the DL or the UL where at a given time moment, for each WTRU, only one BWP may be active, for the DL and the UL, respectively. This single active BWP may change dynamically as available frequency or time resources change, a wider bandwidth is needed, radio environment degradation, interference, path loss, or the like. Before switching or changing to a new active BWP, the WTRU may evaluate candidate BWPs based on QoS and then select the target BWP properly. WTRU may be configured or triggered via RRC to perform per-BWP based beam measurement and reporting dynamically).
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 invention of Bai, in view of Xi, which includes uplink training for a mobile device, to include Xi’s teaching of uplink training, for the benefit of low latency and efficient beam indication (see [0004]).
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bai, in view of Kapetanovic (US PG Publication 2019/0305836).
Regarding claim 21, Bai teaches the network entity of claim 14.
Bai does not teach
wherein, to transmit the first signaling, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to:
transmit, to a group of UEs that are located within a cell associated with the network entity, the first signaling allocating the first set of resources for the uplink response training, wherein the group of UEs comprise the UE.
In the same field of endeavor, Kapetanovic teaches
wherein, to transmit the first signaling, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to:
transmit, to a group of UEs that are located within a cell associated with the network entity, the first signaling allocating the first set of resources for the uplink response training, wherein the group of UEs comprise the UE.
([0038] In the case of uplink beamforming training, the network node 100 may signal a selection for the receive beam to the wireless devices 200
[0040] Consider a single cell with a network node 100 and a group of wireless devices 200 to be trained
[0058] and Fig. 6 Signaling overhead may be expressed in terms of any resource, such as number of time slots used, number of subcarriers used, etc). The network node 100 uses the selected uplink beamforming training to determine one or more beamforming codes for downlink transmissions to one or more wireless devices 200 in said group of wireless devices 200 (block 540).
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 invention of Bai, which includes uplink training for a mobile device, to include Kapetanovic’s teaching of uplink training for a group of mobile devices, for the benefit of, depending on the total number of RF chains at the wireless devices to be served in the downlink, using uplink beamforming training to significantly reduce the training overhead compared to downlink beamforming training and, as a result, increasing the overall throughput of the wireless communication network (see [0006]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 12 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.
Conclusion
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art not Applied
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yu, et al (US PG Publication 2019/0103908), hereafter Yu, teaches beam management circuit performs UL beam training and management procedures to provide UE antenna capability, to transmit reference signals over configured RS resources over different UE beams, and to enable BS to determine selected Beam Pair Links BPLs and beam indication for subsequent data transmission.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the
examiner should be directed to Examiner Frank Donado whose telephone number is (571) 270-5361. The examiner can normally be reached Mondays through Fridays between 8 am and 4 pm.
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/FRANK E. DONADO/Examiner, Art Unit 2641
/Rafael Pérez-Gutiérrez/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2642
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