DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed March 23, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The Applicant argues on page 9 of Remarks that John Wilson discloses how “the first set of SSBs” (i.e., part of all SSB beams, is indicated before transmission). In contrast, the amended claim 1 is directed to how all SSB beams are configured before the transmission of the first part of SSB beams. The Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Claim first recites “a first part of synchronization signal block (SSB) beams of a first cell”, and later recites “the SSB beams” which refers back to the same “first part” previously introduced. Nowhere in claim does the claim, either explicitly or implicitly, require that “all SSB beams are configured before the transmission”. Accordingly, the Examiner suggests the Applicant to further amend claim language to clearly recite the argued features.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 14 and 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over John Wilson et al. (hereinafter “John Wilson”, US 2020/0059922) in view of Kim et al. (hereinafter “Kim”, US 2023/0318687).
Regarding claims 1, and 26, John Wilson discloses a beam sending method, applied to a base station, comprising:
sending a first part of synchronization signal block (SSB) beams of a first cell or not sending SSB beams of a first cell (i.e., base station 105a transmits initial access beams 205 have a corresponding SSB (i.e., a first set of SSBs) indicating which of 64 potential SSBs are used for initial access via ssb-PositionsInBurst bitmaps provided in a SIB as described in paragraphs 0083, and 0086);
when a set condition is met, or when set time information and/or frequency domain information are met, activating and/or sending the SSB beams of the first cell (i.e., base station 105a transmits initial access beams 205 have a corresponding SSB (i.e., a first set of SSBs) indicating which of 64 potential SSBs are used for initial access via ssb-PositionsInBurst bitmaps provided in a SIB as described in paragraphs 0083, and 0086);
the activated and/or sent SSB beams are part or all of other SSB beams if the SSB beams are sent, or all or part of the SSB beams of the first cell if the SSB beams are not sent (i.e., a first set of SSBs is a subset of the second set of SSBs as described in paragraph 0084); wherein
the SSB beams of the first cell are divided into at least two parts (i.e., a first set of SSBs, and second set of SSBs as described in paragraphs 0083-0084);
wherein prior to the sending the first part of the SSB beams of the first cell or not sending the SSB beams of the first cell, the method further comprises:
configuring the SSB beams of the first cell for a terminal through a system message or a radio resource control (RRC) signaling (i.e., the first set of SSBs is provided in bitmaps that indicate which of 64 potential SSBs are used for initial access via ssb-PositionsInBurst bitmaps provided in a SIB as described in paragraphs 0083, and 0086).
John Wilson, however, does not expressly disclose:
when a set condition is met, or when set time information and/or frequency domain information are met; and
the set time information and/or frequency domain information are configured by a network in advance through a signaling.
In a similar endeavor, Kim discloses method and device for transmitting and receiving signal in wireless communication system. Kim also discloses:
when a set condition is met, or when set time information and/or frequency domain information are met (i.e., the parameter for the SSB period of the serving cell (i.e., ssb-periodicityServingCell) as described in paragraph 0174); and
the set time information and/or frequency domain information are configured by a network in advance through a signaling (i.e., decoding the PBCH and acquiring remaining system information, accurate time domain information in which the SSB of the serving cell is located is known. The terminal is configured to through an IE. In the case of the ServingCellConfigCommon IE, through the parameter for the SSB period of the serving cell (i.e., ssb-periodicityServingCell), for parameter for the time domain position of the SSB (i.e., ssb-PositionsInBurst) as described in paragraph 0174).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art to modify the teachings of the cited references, and arrive at the present invention.
The motivation/suggestion for doing so would have been to reduce broadcast overhead while still guaranteeing adequate coverage.
With further regard to claim 26, even though the combination of John Wilson and Kim does not expressly disclose a base station comprising a first processor and a first communication interface, it is obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art that the base station includes a processor and a communication interface in order to process data and communicate with other devices within the network.
Regarding claim 2, John Wilson, and Kim disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. John Wilson also discloses wherein the sending the first part of the SSB beams of the first cell comprises:
sending m sets of SSB beams (i.e., Initial Access Beams/SSBs 205 as shown in Fig. 2);
wherein the m sets of SSB beams cover part of the first cell; or, the m sets of SSB beams are m sets of SSB beams among the n sets of SSB beams of the first cell; m is greater than or equal to 1, and m is less than n; n is greater than 1 (i.e., the first set of SSBs is a subset of the second set of SSBs as described in paragraph 0084).
Regarding claim 3, John Wilson, and Kim disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. John Wilson also discloses wherein after the sending m sets of SSB beams, the activating and/or sending the SSB beams of the first cell comprises:
activating and/or sending all or part of SSB beams except the m sets of SSB beams from the n sets of SSB beams (i.e., sending the first set of SSBs as described in paragraph 0083); or,
stopping the sending of the m sets of SSB beams, and activating and/or transmitting all or part of SSB beams except the m sets of SSB beams from the n sets of SSB beams.
Regarding claim 5, John Wilson, and Kim disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. John Wilson also discloses wherein the configuring the SSB beams of the first cell for the terminal through the system message or the RRC signaling comprises:
indicating a transmission state of each part of the SSB beams in the at least two parts of the SSB beams through the system message or the RRC signaling (i.e., instructions for receiving a remaining minimum system information transmission from the base station that indicates the first set of transmission beams as described in paragraph 0011).
Regarding claim 14, John Wilson, and Kim disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. John Wilson also discloses determining whether the SSB beams of each of the at least two parts of SSB beams are sent based on one of the following:
a quantity of terminals whose height is greater than a set height;
a Quality of service QoS requirement of the terminal (i.e., UE performs beam measurement and reports the beam measurement result to the network. A preferred Tx beam indicator and a beam quality metric is transmitted together in the beam reporting process as described in paragraphs 0363-0364).
Claim(s) 6-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over John Wilson in view of Kim, and further in view of Kang et al. (hereinafter “Kang”, US 2019/0253127).
Regarding claim 6, John Wilson, and Kim disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above, but do not expressly disclose features of this claim.
In a similar endeavor, Kang discloses method for performing beam failure recovery in wireless communication system and apparatus. Kang also discloses wherein when the set condition is met, the activating and/or sending the SSB beams of the first cell comprises:
after receiving a first measurement event reported by the terminal, activating and/or sending the SSB beams of the first cell (i.e., in response to receiving a beam failure recovery request S1530 from UE, base station sends a response to beam failure recovery request S1540 as shown in Fig. 15);
wherein the first measurement event indicates that the terminal has no available dedicated beam (i.e., UE identifies new beam S1520 as shown in Fig. 15, effectively indicates that there is no dedicated beam and/or dedicated beams are no longer usable).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art to modify the teachings of the cited references, and arrive at the present invention.
The motivation/suggestion for doing so would have been to enable the UE to get connected with better beams.
Regarding claim 7, John Wilson, Kim, and Kang disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Kang also discloses wherein the first measurement event is reported when the following conditions are met:
a measurement result of any dedicated beam by the terminal is lower than a first set threshold; and/or,
a block error rate (BLER) of data transmission by the terminal is higher than a second set threshold (i.e., BLER of all serving beams are equal to or more than a threshold as described in paragraph 0514).
Regarding claim 8, John Wilson, Kim, and Kang disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Kang also discloses:
determining a codebook, a direction and a transmit power of the activated and/or sent SSB beams according to first information in the first measurement event (i.e., receiving from a base station control information related to a candidate beam configuration as described in Abstract, paragraphs 0019-0021);
the first information comprises at least one of the following:
a measurement result of a dedicated beam by the terminal (i.e., the UE monitors RSs (qo) as described in paragraph 0515, and reporting including beamforming information as described in paragraph 0097);
a height of the terminal;
a distance between the terminal and the base station;
a speed of the terminal;
a first angle, wherein the first angle represents an angle between a line connecting the terminal and the base station and the horizon.
Regarding claim 9, John Wilson, Kim, and Kang disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. John Wilson also discloses:
wherein when activating and/or sending the SSB beams of the first cell, the method further comprises:
sending second information to the terminal (i.e., base station provides a full 64-bit bitmap indicating all SSBs as described in paragraph 0086); wherein
the second information represents configuration information corresponding to the activated and/or sent SSB beams (i.e., base station provides a full 6-bit bitmap indicating all SSBs as described in paragraph 0086).
Regarding claim 10, John Wilson, Kim, and Kang disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Kim also discloses wherein the second information comprises at least one of the following:
indexes of SSB beams;
demodulation reference signal (DMRS) information corresponding to SSB beams (i.e., DMRS as described in paragraph 0114);
remaining minimum system information corresponding to SSB beams.
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over John Wilson in view of Kim, and further in view of Nam et al. (hereinafter “Nam”, US 2022/0131664).
Regarding claim 15, John Wilson, and Kim disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above, but do not expressly disclose features of this claim.
In a similar endeavor, Nam discloses uplink reference signal-based frequency offset pre-compensation. Nam also discloses determining whether the SSB beams of each of the at least two parts of SSB beams are sent based on according to a set route of the terminal, and/or determine the activation time point of the sent SSB beams (i.e., multiple transmit beams for an SFN SSB may be designated to be focused/overlapped on a signal point/region on the path of the high-speed train to maximize gain).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art to modify the teachings of the cited references, and arrive at the present invention.
The motivation/suggestion for doing so would have been to maximize the gain.
Claim(s) 16-21, and 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang in view of Li et al. (hereinafter “Li”, US 2023/0344492), and further in view of John Wilson.
Regarding claims 16, and 27, Kang discloses a beam measurement method, applied to a terminal, comprising:
not performing a measurement of synchronization signal block (SSB) beams, only monitoring and/or measuring a dedicated beam (i.e., UE detects/measures beam failure in S1510 as shown in Fig. 15);
when there is no available dedicated beam, reporting a first measurement event to a base station (i.e., UE identifies new beam S1520 as shown in Fig. 15, effectively indicates that there is no dedicated beam and/or dedicated beams are no longer usable);
wherein the first measurement event is used by the base station to activate and/or send all or part of the SSB beams of the first cell (i.e., in response to receiving a beam failure recovery request S1530 from UE, base station sends a response to beam failure recovery request S1540 as shown in Fig. 15. Also, see paragraphs 0530-0561).
Kang, however, does not expressly disclose:
after accessing a first cell and entering a connected state, not performing a measurement of synchronization signal block (SSB) beams, only monitoring and/or measuring a dedicated beam; and
before the base station sends a first part of the SSB beams of the first cell or not to send the SSB beams of the first cell, the base station configures the SSB beams of the first cell for the terminal through a system message or a radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
In a similar endeavor, Li discloses fast measurement with multiple concurrent beams. Li also discloses:
after accessing a first cell and entering a connected state (i.e., after the UE enters in the connected mode as described in paragraph 0077), not performing a measurement of synchronization signal block (SSB) beams, only monitoring and/or measuring a dedicated beam (i.e., control signal for controlling beam measurement of the UE transmitted via dedicated RRC as described in paragraph 0077).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art to modify the teachings of the cited references, and arrive at the present invention.
The motivation/suggestion for doing so would have been to signal to the UE the measurement control signals.
The combination of Kang and Li does not expressly disclose the remaining features of this claim.
Furthermore, John Wilson discloses random access techniques in beamformed wireless communications. John Wilson also discloses:
before the base station sends a first part of the SSB beams of the first cell or not to send the SSB beams of the first cell, the base station configures the SSB beams of the first cell for the terminal through a system message or a radio resource control (RRC) signaling (i.e., the first set of SSBs is provided in bitmaps that indicate which of 64 potential SSBs are used for initial access via ssb-PositionsInBurst bitmaps provided in a SIB as described in paragraphs 0083, and 0086).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art to modify the teachings of the cited references, and arrive at the present invention.
The motivation/suggestion for doing so would have been to provide for selection of different sets of transmission beams by the UE for establishing beamformed communication with a base station.
With further regard to claim 27, Li also discloses a terminal comprising a second processor (i.e., control circuitry 105 as shown in Fig. 1) and a second communication interface (i.e., receive circuitry 115 as shown in Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 17, Kang, Li, and John Wilson disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Kang also discloses wherein the first measurement event is reported when the following conditions are met:
a measurement result of any dedicated beam by the terminal is lower than a first set threshold; and/or,
a block error rate (BLER) of data transmission by the terminal is higher than a second set threshold (i.e., BLER of all serving beams are equal to or more than a threshold as described in paragraph 0514).
Regarding claim 18, Kang, Li, and John Wilson disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Kang also discloses wherein the first measurement event comprises first information (i.e., receiving from a base station control information related to a candidate beam configuration as described in Abstract, paragraphs 0019-0021); the first information comprises at least one of the following:
a measurement result of a dedicated beam by the terminal (i.e., the UE monitors RSs (qo) as described in paragraph 0515, and reporting including beamforming information as described in paragraph 0097);
a height of the terminal;
a distance between the terminal and the base station;
a speed of the terminal;
a first angle, wherein the first angle represents an angle between a line connecting the terminal and the base station and the horizon.
Regarding claim 19, Kang, Li, and John Wilson disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Kang also discloses wherein when activating and/or sending the SSB beams of the first cell, the method further comprises:
sending second information to the terminal (i.e., base station sends control information related to a candidate beam configuration as described in Abstract); wherein
the second information represents configuration information corresponding to the activated and/or sent SSB beams (i.e., base station sends control information related to a candidate beam configuration as described in Abstract).
Regarding claim 20, Kang, Li, and John Wilson disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Kang also discloses wherein the second information comprises at least one of the following:
indexes of SSB beams;
demodulation reference signal (DMRS) information corresponding to SSB beams (i.e., SSB index, a PBCH DMRS index as described in paragraph 0452);
remaining minimum system information corresponding to SSB beams.
Regarding claim 21, Kang, Li, and John Wilson disclose all limitations recited within claims as described above. Li also discloses wherein the second information is sent through DCI of a PDCCH (i.e., DCI as described in paragraph 0077).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 WAYNE CAI whose telephone number is (571)272-7798. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday, 7:00 AM-5:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, KATHY WANG-HURST can be reached on (571)270-5371. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Wayne H Cai/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644
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