DETAILED ACTION
This communication is response to the application filed on 12/20/2023. Claims 1-20 are pending and presented for examination. The preliminary amendment submitted on 12/20/2023 is acknowledged and entered.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/20/2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 11 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by NPL “Joint Beamforming and Trajectory Optimization for Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces-assisted UAV Communications” by GE LINGHUI et al., (hereafter Linghui), see IDS dated 12/20/2023.
Regarding claim 11, Linghui discloses a method performed by an adaptive phase- changing device, APD (see Linghui, section, ¶ 3), the method comprising:
receiving a resource grant from a high altitude platform station (HAPS), the resource grant including an indication of scheduled air interface resources for an APD-Physical Downlink Control Channel (APD-PDCCH) between the HAPS and the APD (see Linghui, section II, ¶ 1, II.A, ¶ 1: where downlink to a cellular user via a reflective surface with a controller implies resource scheduling to the user);
receiving an indication of phase vectors and timing information for a surface of the APD over the APD-PDCCH (see Linghui, section II.A, ¶ 3-6); and
configuring the surface of the APD using the received indication of phase vectors and timing information to reflect wireless transmissions that travel along a wireless communication path from the HAPS to a User Equipment user equipment (UE), including the surface of the APD (see Linghui, Fig 6; section IV, ¶ 6-7).
Regarding claim 15, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 11. Although phrased as an apparatus claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 11.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 12 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Linghui in view of US 2023/0156804 to Ye et al. (hereafter Ye).
Regarding claim 12, Linghui discloses the method of claim 11, but does not explicitly disclose further comprising: initiating a Random Access Channel procedure with the HAPS; and based on initiating the RACH procedure, receiving an assignment of an APD- Radio Network Temporary Identifier (APD-RNTI) from the HAPS.
However, Ye discloses initiating a Random Access Channel procedure with the HAPS; and based on initiating the RACH procedure, receiving an assignment of an APD- Radio Network Temporary Identifier (APD-RNTI) from the HAPS (see Ye, ¶ 0021: The start of the RAR window and the length of the RAR window used for the RACH procedure may be extended depending on the range of propagation delays (e.g., LEO or GEO satellites). The RNTI associated with the time-frequency resources used for the PRACH preamble and the frame number of the transmission of the PRACH by a UE may be used to scramble the CRC of DCI format 1_0 in the RAR to assist the UE in distinguishing between the RAR for the UE from RARs generated as a response to PRACH preambles transmitted by other UEs during different system frames; ¶ 0075: The RAR window size may be extended for the 4-step RACH procedure depending on whether a satellite in NRN is an LEO satellite or a GEO satellite; ¶ 0076: if the RAR window size is extended to 20 ms for a GEO satellite, the DCI field may indicate the RAR window size extension).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Ye and incorporate it into the system of Linghui to achieve enhanced RACH procedure for non-terrestrial network (see Ye, ¶ 0005).
Regarding claim 16, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 12. Although phrased as an apparatus claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 12.
Claim(s) 13, 14 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Linghui in view of US 2022/0167342 to Raghavan et al. (hereafter Raghavan).
Regarding claim 13, Linghui discloses the method of claim 11, but does not explicitly disclose further comprising: receiving, from the HAPS, an APD-System Information Block (APD-SIB) that includes an indication of a bandwidth part (BWP) for the APD-PDCCH.
However, Raghavan discloses receiving, from the HAPS, an APD-System Information Block (APD-SIB) that includes an indication of a bandwidth part (BWP) for the APD-PDCCH (see Raghavan, ¶ 0088: The bandwidth part information, including one or more BWPs and associated resource BWs (RBWs) may be signaled by one or more System Information Blocks (SIBs) received from a base station).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Raghavan and incorporate it into the system of Linghui to improve reference signal based location estimates (see Raghavan, ¶ 0016).
Regarding claim 14, Linghui in view of Raghavan discloses the method of claim 13, Raghavan discloses receiving a System Information Block Type 1 (SIB1) (see Raghavan, ¶ 0088) but does not further comprising: receiving a System Information Block Type 1 (SIB1) that includes frequency and timing information for the receiving the APD-SIB, and optionally further comprising: searching the APD-PDCCH for an indication of the resource grant: at each slot of the APD-PDCCH; at a given multi-slot periodicity; or in response to an indication in a RACH message.
However, it will be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teaching of receiving a System Information Block Type 1 (SIB1) that includes frequency and timing information for the receiving the APD-SIB and incorporate into the system of Linghui and Raghavan since it is well known in the art for SIB to include frequency and timing information as evidenced by US 2021/0266901 to Zhu et al. (see ¶ 0009 and ¶ 0050). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to include frequency and time information in the SIB1 for efficient resource allocation.
Regarding claim 17, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 13. Although phrased as an apparatus claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 13.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-10 and 18-20 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: wherein the characteristics include one or more of: a minimum time for setting a new Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS), configuration of the APD; an incident angular range of the APD; a reflective angular range of the APD; an ability to subdivide a RIS panel; or how much the RIS panel can be subdivided.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 12,553,979 to Harrebek et al. discloses compensating for dynamic antenna array phase deviation. Satellite communication may utilize geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite systems, but also low earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems, for example, mega-constellations (systems in which hundreds of (nano) satellites are deployed). Each satellite 106 in the mega-constellation may cover several satellite-enabled network entities that create on-ground cells. The on-ground cells may be created through an on-ground relay node 104 or by a gNB located on-ground or in a satellite or part of the gNB may be on a satellite, the DU for example, and part of the gNB may be on the ground, the CU for example. Additionally, or alternatively, high-altitude platform station, HAPS, systems may be utilized. HAPS may be understood as radio stations located on an object at an altitude of 20-50 kilometers and at a fixed point relative to the Earth.
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/RASHEED GIDADO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464