DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 12-13 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-5, 8-9 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (WO 2022265141 A1) in view of Rahman (US Pub. 2024/0214851) and further in view of Dankberger (WO 2023/278119 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 12, Lee discloses a network entity for wireless communication, comprising:
at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory (page 37 “The first wireless device 1000 includes one or more processors and one or more memories”), wherein the network entity is configured to:
transmit, to a second network entity, information indicative of a request for one or more beam training resources, the one or more beam training resources associated with beamforming between the network entity and the second network entity (page 20 “a trained ML model may be a model in which a list of n candidate beams is derived….in the case of a terminal connected to a specific beam…….when reinforcement learning is completed, information on the updated………The base station and the terminal may input beams within a cell as state information and determine n beams having high rewards for the corresponding beams as candidate beams……….At least one of resource information for a reference signal……transmitted from the base station……according to the request of the terminal”);
receive, from the second network entity, a downlink-reference signal (DL-RS) repetition corresponding to the request (page 15 “Referring to FIG. 10, the terminal receive SSBs within 5 ms every 20 ms…..RSRP of SSB mapped to different beams”, page 20 “At least one of resource information for a reference signal……transmitted from the base station……according to the request of the terminal”);
determine a respective measurement value associated with the DL-RS on one or more respective beam of a plurality of beam (page 15 “Referring to FIG. 10, the terminal receive SSBs within 5 ms every 20 ms…..RSRP of SSB mapped to different beams”); and
transmit, to the second network entity, measurement information indicative of one or more of a ranked order of the plurality of beams based on the respective measurement values or indicative of the respective measurement values (page 15 “Referring to FIG. 10 ……RSRP measurement……UE 1…may inform the base station of downlink beam information………the selected highest beam”, page 17 “In step S1203, the terminal selects four beams having the best RSRP among them and reports”).
Lee discloses plurality of beams. However, Lee fails to a plurality of beam ports associated a beamforming antenna array.
Rahman discloses a plurality of beam ports associated a beamforming antenna array (par.067 “32 CSI-RS antenna ports….One CSI-RS port can then correspond to one sub-array which produces a narrow analog beam through analog beamforming”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of Lee with the above teaching of Rahman in order to provide multi-beam operation transmitted to or received from any direction in space as suggested by Rahman (par.065).
Dankberger discloses the plurality of beam ports comprise inout ports of a phased array antenna feed included in the beamforming antenna array (par.025). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of Lee with the above teaching of Dankberger in order to provide communication via a phased array antenna 155 may be electronically configurable using the array of feed elements 156 to align signal transmission and/or reception along a desired direction.
Regarding claim 2, the modified Lee discloses perform one or more of energy harvesting or backscattering (consideration is optional) based on a downlink signal received from the second network entity and configured based on the measurement information (Lee, page 10 “6G systems…..for energy harvesting, so mobile devices will not need to be charged separately in 6G system”, page 15 “RSRP measurement”).
Regarding claim 3, the modified Lee discloses perform the energy harvesting (Lee, page 10 “6G systems…..for energy harvesting, so mobile devices will not need to be charged separately in 6G system”) or backscattering (consideration is optional) using a selected beam port of the plurality of beam ports, the selected beam port determined based on the measurement information (page 15 “Referring to FIG. 10 ……RSRP measurement……UE 1…may inform the base station of downlink beam information………the selected highest beam”, page 17 “In step S1203, the terminal selects four beams having the best RSRP among them and reports”).
Regarding claim 4, the modified Lee discloses determine a respective reference signal received power (RSRP) value (page 15 “Referring to FIG. 10 ……RSRP measurement……UE 1…may inform the base station of downlink beam information………the selected highest beam”) or a respective received signal strength indicator (RSSI) value associated with the DL-RS repetition on the one or more respective beam ports (Lee, page 16 “Therefore, as a way to………the terminal to *measure the strength of a narrow candidate beam and report the measurement result”, page 15 “Referring to FIG. 10, the terminal receive SSBs within 5 ms every 20 ms…..RSRP of SSB mapped to different beams”).
Regarding claim 5, the modified Lee discloses determine the respective measurement value, the network entity is configured to: determine a harvested power value (Lee, page 28 “CSI-RSRP”, “rsrp-ThesholdBFR”) or a direct current (DC) voltage value associated with the DL-RS repetition on the one or more respective beam ports (consideration is optional).
Regarding claim 8, the modified Lee discloses the information indicative of the request for one or more beam training resources is indicative of one or more of a quantity of DL-RS resources (Lee, page 16 “Specifically, referring to Fig. 11, CSI-RS #0 to #4 of a first terminal”) or a periodicity of DL-RS resources of the DL-RS repetition (page 15 “a downlink beam, DL beam, of the base station…….are repeatedly transmitted at regular interval…..the reference signal….SSBs mapped to different beams”).
Regarding claim 9, the modified Lee discloses the DL-RS repetition comprises a plurality of channel state information-reference signals (CSI-RS) (Lee, page 15 “When the initial beam……the base station may configure the CSI measurement and reporting method of the terminal for continuous……In Nr, a channel state……CSI-RS…….used for beam management of a UE”).
Regarding claim 11, the modified Lee discloses determine a respective measurement value associated with the DL-RS on each beam port of the configured subset of beam ports indicated by the beam sweeping configuration (Lee, page 15 “Referring to FIG. 10……mapped to different beams…..measuring the reference signal……..of SSBs mapped to different beams…..the SSB of index 1 as the highest beam through RSRP measurement…..the SSB of index 11 as the highest beam through RSRP measurement”).
Claims 6-7, 10 and 13-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (WO 2022265141 A1) in view of Rahman (US Pub. 2024/0214851), Dankberger (WO 2023/278119 A1) and further in view of Eid (WO 2022051013 A2).
Regarding claim 6, the modified Lee discloses Lee, page 10 “6G systems…..for energy harvesting, so mobile devices will not need to be charged separately in 6G system”. However, the modified Lee fails to disclose a Rotman lens included in the beamforming antenna array of the network entity.
Eid discloses a Rotman lens included in the beamforming antenna array of the network entity (Eid, par.049, 060). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of the modified Lee with the above teaching of Eid in order to provide Rotman-enabled systems incorporated in user devices, such as cell phones. Such a device could be provided targeted wireless power transfer from a base station.
Regarding claim 7, the modified Lee discloses Lee, page 10 “6G systems…..for energy harvesting, so mobile devices will not need to be charged separately in 6G system”. However, the modified Lee fails to disclose a backscatter user equipment (UE), and wherein the beamforming antenna array of the network entity includes a Rotman lens associated with the plurality of beam ports; and the second network entity is a base station.
Eid discloses the network entity is an ambient Internet-of-Things (AIoT) tag (consideration is optional) or a backscatter user equipment (UE), and wherein the beamforming antenna array of the network entity includes a Rotman lens associated with the plurality of beam ports; and the second network entity is a base station (Eid, par.049, 060). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of the modified Lee with the above teaching of Eid in order to provide Rotman-enabled systems incorporated in user devices, such as cell phones. Such a device could be provided targeted wireless power transfer from a base station.
Regarding claim 10, the modified Lee discloses Lee, page 10 “6G systems…..for energy harvesting, so mobile devices will not need to be charged separately in 6G system”. However, the modified Lee fails to disclose transmit, to the second network entity, capability information indicative of a configuration of the plurality of beam ports or a configuration of a Rotman lens included in the beamforming antenna array of the network entity; and receive, from the second network entity, a beam sweeping configuration indicative of a configured subset of beam ports of the plurality of beam ports, wherein the beam sweeping configuration is based on the capability information (Eid, par.076). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of the modified Lee with the above teaching of Eid in order to provide Rotman-enabled systems incorporated in user devices, such as cell phones. Such a device could be provided targeted wireless power transfer from a base station.
Regarding claim 13, the modified Lee discloses everything as claim 1 above. More specifically, the modified Lee discloses page 10 “6G systems…..for energy harvesting, so mobile devices will not need to be charged separately in 6G system”. However, the modified Lee fails to disclose a configured subset of a plurality of beam ports of the backscatter device.
Eid discloses a configured subset of a plurality of beam ports of the backscatter device (par. 049, 060). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of the modified Lee with the above teaching of Eid in order to provide Rotman-enabled systems incorporated in user devices, such as cell phones. Such a device could be provided targeted wireless power transfer from a base stations.
Regarding claim 14, the modified Lee discloses receive, from the backscatter device, capability information indicative of a configuration of the plurality of beam ports or a configuration of a Rotman lens included in a beamforming antenna array of the backscatter device; and transmit, to the backscatter device, a beam sweeping configuration indicative of the configured subset of beam ports of the plurality of beam ports, wherein the beam sweeping configuration is based on the capability information (Eid, par.076).
Regarding claim 15, the modified Lee discloses to determine a respective measurement value associated with each respective backscattered signal, the network entity is configured to: measure a plurality of backscatter signals corresponding to a retro-reflection (Eid, par.057) of the DL-RS repetition by each beam port of the configured subset, wherein each backscatter signal of the plurality of backscatter signals corresponds to a different measurement occasion associated with the DL-RS repetition (Lee, page 15 “Referring to FIG. 10 ……RSRP measurement……UE 1…may inform the base station of downlink beam information………the selected highest beam”, page 17 “In step S1203, the terminal selects four beams having the best RSRP among them and reports”, page 15 “Referring to FIG. 10, the terminal receive SSBs within 5 ms every 20 ms…..RSRP of SSB mapped to different beams”).
Regarding claim 16, the modified Lee discloses transmit, to the backscatter device, one or more downlink signals configured for beamformed energy harvesting or beamformed backscattering by the backscatter device (Eid, par.077), the one or more downlink signals configured based on beamforming information determined from the measurement information (Lee, page 15 “Referring to FIG. 10 ……RSRP measurement……UE 1…may inform the base station of downlink beam information”).
Regarding claim 17, the modified Lee discloses receive, from the backscatter device, a backscattered signal comprising a retro-reflection of at least a portion of the one or more downlink signals, wherein the backscattered signal and the one or more downlink signals are associated with the same beam port of the plurality of beam ports of the backscatter device (Eid, par.050 “energy harvesting system which maps beam direction to a port to allow for beam steering”).
Regarding claim 18, the modified Lee discloses to determine the respective measurement value associated with each backscattered signal, the network entity is configured to: determine one or more of a reference signal received power (RSRP) value (Lee, page 15 “Referring to FIG. 10, the terminal receive SSBs within 5 ms every 20 ms…..RSRP of SSB mapped to different beams”, a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) value), or a signal-to-interference-to-noise ratio (SINR) value associated with each backscattered signal (consideration is optional).
Regarding claim 19, the modified Lee discloses the backscatter device is an ambient Internet-of-Things (AIoT) tag (consideration is optional) or a backscatter user equipment (UE), and wherein a beamforming antenna array of the network entity includes a Rotman lens associated with the plurality of beam ports (Eid, par.049, 060).
Regarding claim 20, the modified Lee discloses the network entity is a base station (Eid, par.075).
Conclusion
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 Examiner Tu Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)272-7883. The examiner can normally be reached on 8AM-5PM Eastern Time.
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/TU X NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2642