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 .
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to Application No. 18/580,662 filed on 19 January 2024. The application claims 371 priority to PCT/JP2022/026387 filed on 30 June 2022 and claims FOR priority to JP2110935.0 filed on 29 July 2021. The preliminary amendment filed 19 January 2024 cancels claims 1-18 and adds claims 19-38 is hereby acknowledged. Claims 19-38 are presented for examination.
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 19-38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US PGPUB 2022/0038168 A1 to Ma et al and in view of US PGPUB 2023/0224015 A1 to Baig et al.
Regarding Claim 19, Ma discloses a method performed by a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate via a non-terrestrial network (FIG. 2 and 0114 provides for UE 115-a via NTN), the method comprising: receiving, from a network node via the non-terrestrial network, information identifying a set of at least one candidate beam for beam switching, the set of the at least one candidate beam corresponding to a network node in the non-terrestrial network (0113 and 0121 provides for receiving, from satellite 120-a via the NTN, beam identifiers for a set of respective beams 230 to support beam switching); performing measurements of reference signals transmitted via the at least one candidate beam in the set (0115-0016 and 0127 provides for UE 115 performing measurements based on reference signals via beam-granularity measurement reporting); initiating the beam switching to a beam in the set based on a result of the measurements (0117 and 0128 provides for configuring UE 115-a to start to measure a candidate/neighboring beam 230 based on the result of the current beam being worse than a threshold); and transmitting, to the network node via the non-terrestrial network, an indication (0119 and 0137 provides for transmitting a channel quality report of beams 230). Ma doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein the indication is for indicating the beam switching. Baig, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses transmitting, to the network node via the non-terrestrial network, an indication for indicating the beam switching (0044, 0047, and 0052 provides for transmitting, to network node 200, when in time the beam switching command is to be executed per user equipment). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filed date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Baig for communicating details of a beam switch. The beam switch details of Baig, when implemented with the beam measurement reporting of the Ma system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to amend the beam reports in order to detail the beam switching commands into the transmission to the network node. Therefore, the examiner concludes it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to utilize the beam switch details of Baig with the beam measurement reporting of the Ma system for the desirable purpose of improved communication with beam measurements.
Regarding Claim 20, the Ma/Baig system discloses the method according to claim 19, wherein each beam in the set of the at least one candidate beam employs mutually exclusive Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resources to the CSI-RS resources employed by other beams in the set (Ma, 0117 and 0137 provides for an indication of CSI resources on various beams 230).
Regarding Claim 21, the Ma/Baig system discloses the method according to claim 19, wherein the set of the at least one candidate beam is configured based on load balancing or interference coordination at the network node (Ma, 0112 and 0227 provides for reducing interference by using respective bandwidth part).
Regarding Claim 22, the Ma/Baig system discloses the method according to claim 19, wherein the initiating the beam switching is performed without transmitting a measurement report regarding the measurements to the network node (Baig, 0052 provides for reporting the time of a beam switch having been performed and the success/failure of it as a network statistic being reported to the network node). Same motivation as claim 19.
Regarding Claim 23, the Ma/Baig system discloses the method according to claim 19, wherein the beam switching is performed taking a channel condition of the UE into account (Ma, 0105 provides for event conditions being satisfied for a beam).
Regarding Claim 24, the Ma/Baig system discloses the method according to claim 19, wherein the initiating the beam switching is performed in a case where the UE is determined to be within or substantially within a coverage of another beam in the set based on the result of the measurements (Ma, 0117-0118 provides for beam switching triggers comprises the UE measuring candidate beams/neighboring beams associated with beam coverage areas).
Regarding Claim 25, the Ma/Baig system discloses the method according to claim 19, wherein the initiating the beam switching is performed in a case where a quality of a reference signal in a current serving beam is below a threshold based on measurements of the reference signal (Ma, 0117-0118 provides for beam switching triggers comprises the UE measuring candidate beams/neighboring beams associated with beam coverage areas based on a threshold).
Regarding Claim 26, the Ma/Baig system discloses the method according to claim 19, wherein the initiating the beam switching is performed in a case where a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) of a candidate beam in the set is higher than a threshold or higher than the RSRP of a current serving beam by at least a parameter value (Ma, 0117-0118 provides for beam switching triggers comprises the UE measuring candidate beams/neighboring beams associated with beam coverage areas using an indication of RSRP measurements).
Regarding Claim 27, the Ma/Baig system discloses the method according to claim 19, wherein the receiving is performed by using at least one of: Radio Resource Control (RRC) signalling (Ma, 0116 provides for RRC signaling); Medium Access Control (MAC) signalling; and system information.
Regarding Claim 28, the Ma/Baig system discloses the method according to claim 27, wherein the system information (Examiner interprets this limitation to be dependent on an alternative limitation from the Markush group of claim 27) identifies respective sets of at least one candidate beam for each of a plurality of possible serving beams.
Regarding Claim 29, the Ma/Baig system discloses the method according to claim 19, wherein the indication identifies the beam (Ma, 0113 and 0137 provides for a beam identifier).
Regarding Claim 30, the Ma/Baig system discloses the method according to claim 19, wherein the indication indicates the strongest beam in the set based on the result of the measurements (Ma, 0117-0118 provides for beam switching triggers comprises the UE measuring candidate beams/neighboring beams associated with beam coverage areas using an indication of RSRP measurements).
Regarding Claim 31, the Ma/Baig system discloses the method according to claim 19, wherein the transmitting the indication is performed in a case where a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) of the beam is higher than a threshold value or higher than the RSRP of a current serving beam by at least a parameter value (Ma, 0117-0118 provides for beam switching triggers comprises the UE measuring candidate beams/neighboring beams associated with beam coverage areas using an indication of RSRP measurements).
Regarding Claim 32, the Ma/Baig system discloses the method according to claim 31, wherein the parameter value is configured by a base station serving the UE (Ma, 0103 and 0105 provides for satellite 120 provides service for multiple service beam coverage areas in an area).
Regarding Claim 33, the Ma/Baig system discloses the method according to claim 19, wherein the transmitting the indication is performed in a case where a quality of a reference signal in a current serving beam is below a threshold based on measurements of the reference signal (Ma, 0117-0118 provides for beam switching triggers comprises the UE measuring candidate beams/neighboring beams associated with beam coverage areas using an indication of RSRP measurements).
Regarding Claim 34, the Ma/Baig system discloses the method according to claim 19, wherein the transmitting is performed via at least one of: Layer 1 (L1) signalling; MAC layer signalling; and RRC signalling (Ma, 0116 provides for RRC signaling).
Regarding Claim 35, the Ma/Baig system discloses the method according to claim 19, further comprising: receiving, from the network node via the non-terrestrial network, a response to the indication before initiating the beam switching (Baig, 0047 provides for performance feedback is used to determine when in time the beam switching command is to be executed per user equipment 160). Same motivation as claim 19.
Regarding Claim 36, Ma discloses a method performed by a network node configured to communicate with a user equipment (UE) via a non-terrestrial network (FIG. 2 and 0114 provides for satellite 120-a configured to communicate with UE 115-a via NTN), the method comprising: transmitting, to the UE, information identifying a set of at least one candidate beam for beam switching, the set of the at least one candidate beam corresponding to a movement of a network node in the non-terrestrial network (0113 and 0121 provides for satellite 120-a transmitting, to the UE 115-a, beam identifiers for a set of respective beams 230 to support beam switching due to mobility of the UE); and receiving an indication from the UE (0117 and 0128 provides for configuring UE 115-a to start to measure a candidate/neighboring beam 230 based on the result of the current beam being worse than a threshold) based on a result of measurements of reference signals transmitted via the at least one candidate beam in the set (0115-0016 and 0127 provides for UE 115 performing measurements based on reference signals via beam-granularity measurement reporting). Ma doesn’t explicitly disclose receiving an indication from the UE in a case where the UE initiates the beam switching to a beam in the set based on a result of measurements of reference signals transmitted via the at least one candidate beam in the set. Baig, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses receiving an indication from the UE in a case where the UE initiates the beam switching to a beam in the set based on a result of measurements of reference signals transmitted via the at least one candidate beam in the set (0044, 0047, and 0052 provides for receiving an indication from the UE wherein the UE reports when in time the beam switching command is to be executed per user equipment). Same motivation as claim 19.
Regarding Claim 37, similar rejection where the method of claim 19 teaches the user equipment of claim 37.
Regarding Claim 38, similar rejection where the method of claim 36 teaches the network node of claim 38.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US PGPUB 2024/0056847 A1 to Cheema et al discloses RSRP threshold value and potential beam switching.
US PGPUB 2023/0327742 A1 to Matsumura et al discloses beam switching timing based on CSI-RS.
US PGPUB 2022/0353837 A1 to Hosseinian et al discloses a zone that is uniquely allocated to a grouping.
US PGPUB 2020/0252838 A1 to Akdeniz et al discloses beam switching between identified candidate beams.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SCHQUITA GOODWIN whose telephone number is (571)272-5477. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am - 5pm EST.
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/SCHQUITA D GOODWIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2459