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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 8-4-26 has been entered.
Allowable Subject Matter
Prosecution on the merits of this application is reopened on claims 1-3, 8-10 & 15-17 considered unpatentable for the reasons indicated below:
Claims 4-7, 11-14 & 18-20 are 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.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application, Provisional Application 63526919 filed 7-14-23, under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
These information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 3-5-24. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed 3-5-24 are objected to because all numbers in Figure 5 should be labeled with descriptive legends; and all details in each block of Figures 6A-12 are blurry and not clearly visible and should be clearly visible. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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, 8-10 & 15-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou (US 2022/0029680 A1) in view of Roy (US 20260046939 A1).
Regarding Claim 1. (Currently Amended)
A method comprising:
Step (a) — determining a beam measurement periodicity for a beam reporting by a User Equipment (UE) for use in a first beam tracking (Zhou discloses configuring and determining beam management/reporting periodicities (e.g., P1/P2/P3 and reporting schedules) for beam training, tracking, and CSI/SSB reporting. See ¶¶ [0052]-[0055], [0060]-[0063], [0096]-[0100], [0135]-[0139], describing beam management parameters and periodicities, including configurable reporting schedules and periodic measurement/reporting behavior);
Step (b) — performing the first beam tracking according to the beam measurement periodicity (Zhou teaches performing beam tracking and beam refinement (e.g., periodic CSI-RS/SSB measurements and associated beam selection/refinement operations) according to the configured periodicities. See Zhou ¶¶ [0097]-[0100], [0108]-[0110], [0167]);
Step (c) — adaptively adjusting, based on a step size, the beam measurement periodicity based on information related to at least one of a UE measurement report, a current network state, a UE state, or previously observed network behavior (UE measurement report: Zhou uses UE-measured metrics (e.g., RSRP, SNR, best beam indices, and related reports) to drive beam management and reporting behavior (see ¶¶ [0096], [0138], [0167], [0171]). For UE state: Zhou discloses using UE mobility/power/motion-related state (e.g., speed/Doppler/movement profile/dwell time) to select faster or slower measurement/reporting periodicities (Zhou ¶¶ [0095], [0097]-[0100], [0171]). For previously observed network behavior: Zhou describes use of time-based traces such as Best SSB Time (BST), state residence time and/or historical statistics/site-specific learning to inform periodicity selection (Zhou ¶¶ [0102]-[0105], [0169]-[0171]). For current network state: Zhou describes configuring periodicity and reporting schedules in view of system overhead and load considerations and supports dynamic or event-triggered reporting (See ¶¶ [0052]-[0055], [0135]-[0139]). The claim requires adaptation based on at least one of the listed categories; Zhou supplies multiple categories (UE reports, UE state, observed behavior)), the step size being identified based on a channel condition {Zhou: ¶0114 wherein the UE2 610-Fig.6 determines the beam switch metrics based on channel conditions for UE measurement report, ¶0096, ¶0138, ¶0167 & ¶0171}; and
Step (d) — performing additional beam tracking according to the adaptively increased or decreased beam measurement periodicity (Zhou explicitly teaches continuing beam measurement, reporting and tracking operations after adjusting periodicities, i.e., operating beam tracking at the newly configured periodicity (See ¶¶ [0097]-[0100], [0112]-[0115], [0167], [0171])).
Zhou does not explicitly disclose adjusting based on a step size, the step size being identified based on a channel condition.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Roy (US 2026/0046939 A1) disclose adjusting based on a step size, the step size being identified based on a channel condition {Roy: step 316-Fig.3 & ¶0130 wherein “At 316, on a condition that P.sub.BS>λP.sub.TX and no RAR is received within the RAR window for the transmitted RACH preamble, the WTRU may increase transmit power. In some embodiments, the power is increased by the N power ramping steps to transmit another RACH preamble.” Also ¶0117-¶0118, ¶0126-¶0129, ¶0133 and patented claims 2-4 & 12-14}. Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to apply Roy’s teaching to Zhou’s system with the motivation being “to increase the power of the retransmission”{Roy: ¶0117-¶0118 & ¶0126}.
Regarding Claim 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the current network state comprises at least one of: current and previous RSRP measurement reports; a number of UEs on the network; and a traffic load on the network {For current network state: Zhou describes configuring periodicity and reporting schedules in view of system overhead and load considerations and supports dynamic or event-triggered reporting (See ¶¶ [0052]-[0055], [0135]-[0139])}.
Regarding Claim 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE state comprises at least one of: current and previous RSRP measurement reports of the UE; a UE battery level; a maximum UE power consumption level; an application type, a traffic demand, or a reliability requirement of an application executed by the UE; and a location, an orientation, a translational speed, or a rotational speed of the UE {For UE state: Zhou discloses using UE mobility/power/motion-related state (e.g., speed/Doppler/movement profile/dwell time) to select faster or slower measurement/reporting periodicities (Zhou ¶¶ [0095], [0097]-[0100], [0171])}.
Regarding Claim 8. (Currently Amended)
-Claim 8 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claim 1, and further as following:
A device {Zhou: Device 1005-Fig.10} comprising:
a transceiver {Zhou: Transceiver 1020-Fig.10}; and
a processor {Zhou: Processor 1040-Fig.10} operably connected to the transceiver, the processor configured to:
determine a beam measurement periodicity for beam for a beam reporting by a User Equipment (UE) for use in a first beam tracking;
perform the first beam tracking according to the beam measurement periodicity;
adaptively adjust, based on a step size, the beam measurement periodicity based on information related to at least one of a UE measurement report, a current network state, a UE state, or a previously observed network behavior, the step size being identified based on a channel condition; and
perform additional beam tracking according to the adaptively increased or decreased beam measurement periodicity.
Regarding Claim 9. The device of claim 8, wherein the current network state comprises at least one of: current and previous RSRP measurement reports; a number of UEs on the network; and a traffic load on the network.
-Claim 9 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claims 1-2 & 8.
Regarding Claim 10. The device of claim 8, wherein the UE state comprises at least one of: current and previous RSRP measurement reports of the UE; a UE battery level; a maximum UE power consumption level; an application type, a traffic demand, or a reliability requirement of an application executed by the UE; and a location, an orientation, a translational speed, or a rotational speed of the UE.
-Claim 10 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claims 1, 3 & 8.
Regarding Claim 15. (Currently Amended)
-Claim 15 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claims 1 & 8, and further as following:
A non-transitory computer readable medium {Zhou: Memory 1030-Fig.10 & ¶0148-¶0150, e.g. ¶0149 wherein “The processor 1040 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., the memory 1030) to cause the device 1005 to perform various functions (e.g., functions or tasks supporting beam switch related information feedback in wireless communications)”} comprising program code that, when executed by a processor of a device, causes the device to:
determine a beam measurement periodicity for a beam reporting by a User Equipment (UE) for use in a first beam tracking;
perform the first beam tracking according to the beam measurement periodicity;
adaptively adjust, based on a step size, the beam measurement periodicity based on information related to at least one of a UE measurement report, a current network state, a UE state, or a previously observed network behavior, the step size being identified based on a channel condition; and
perform additional beam tracking according to the adaptively increased or decreased beam measurement periodicity.
Regarding Claim 16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the current network state comprises at least one of: current and previous RSRP measurement reports; a number of UEs on the network; and a traffic load on the network.
-Claim 16 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claims 1-2, 8-9 & 15.
Regarding Claim 17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the UE state comprises at least one of: current and previous RSRP measurement reports of the UE; a UE battery level; a maximum UE power consumption level; an application type, a traffic demand, or a reliability requirement of an application executed by the UE; and a location, an orientation, a translational speed, or a rotational speed of the UE.
-Claim 17 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claims 1, 3, 8, 10 & 15.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 8, 10 & 15, 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu (US 2025/0203420 A1) in view of Roy (US 20260046939 A1).
Regarding Claim 1.
A method comprising:
Determining a beam measurement periodicity for a beam reporting by a User Equipment (UE) for use in a first beam tracking (Zhu discloses selecting and configuring the measurement/reporting rate (periodicity) for beam measurement and beam tracking. Zhu describes mechanisms by which the UE (or network) changes measurement/reporting periodicity in response to detected conditions and configures the UE to perform measurements at the selected rate. See Zhu ¶¶ [0060]–[0066], which describe selecting measurement rates and switching to a fastest rate upon motion detection, and ¶¶ [0110]–[0115] describing configuration of measurement/reporting behavior;
Performing the first beam tracking according to the beam measurement periodicity (Zhu teaches performing beam measurement and tracking operations at the selected periodicity. The reference describes that, after selecting a measurement rate, the device conducts beam measurements (e.g., reference-signal based or other beam-quality measures) and uses those measurements to perform beam selection/tracking. See Zhu ¶¶ [0063]–[0066], [0112]–[0115]);
Adaptively adjusting, based on a step size, the beam measurement periodicity based on information related to at least one of a UE measurement report, a current network state, a UE state, or a previously observed network behavior (UE measurement report: Zhu uses beam measurement values and the dynamics of those measurements (e.g., measured signal metrics, rate of change) to guide adjustments to measurement/reporting periodicity. See Zhu ¶¶ [0063]–[0066], [0122]. UE state: Zhu explicitly uses UE motion/IMU-based motion detection (i.e., UE state information) to switch measurement periodicity: when motion is detected the system switches to faster periodicity; when stable the system reduces measurement rate. See Zhu ¶¶ [0060]–[0066], [0069]–[0071]. Previously observed network/measurement behavior: Zhu teaches using the rate-of-change or past dynamics of beam measurements to converge or adjust the measurement periodicity, effectively relying on previously observed measurement behavior to adapt periodicity. See Zhu ¶¶ [0063]–[0066], [0122]]), the step size being identified based on a channel condition {Zhu: ¶0063 wherein “measurements of the reference signals 215 may be performed at the UE 115-a based on a measurement periodicity that is in use at the UE. Such measurement periodicities may be selected based on how quickly channel conditions are changing, or expected to change, at the UE 115-a. For example, a measurement periodicity (also referred to as search periodicity) may be adjusted based on changes in channel conditions”, also ¶0064}; and
Performing additional beam tracking according to the adaptively increased or decreased beam measurement periodicity (Zhu discloses continuing beam measurement/tracking after changing the measurement/reporting periodicity, i.e., the measurement schedule and tracking are performed at the new selected periodicity. See Zhu ¶¶ [0063]–[0066], [0112]–[0115]).
Zhu does not explicitly disclose adjusting based on a step size, the step size being identified based on a channel condition.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Roy (US 2026/0046939 A1) disclose adjusting based on a step size, the step size being identified based on a channel condition {Roy: step 316-Fig.3 & ¶0130 wherein “At 316, on a condition that P.sub.BS>λP.sub.TX and no RAR is received within the RAR window for the transmitted RACH preamble, the WTRU may increase transmit power. In some embodiments, the power is increased by the N power ramping steps to transmit another RACH preamble.” Also ¶0117-¶0118, ¶0126-¶0129, ¶0133 and patented claims 2-4 & 12-14}. Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to apply Roy’s teaching to Zhu’s system with the motivation being “to increase the power of the retransmission”{Roy: ¶0117-¶0118 & ¶0126}.
Regarding Claim 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE state comprises at least one of: current and previous RSRP measurement reports of the UE; a UE battery level; a maximum UE power consumption level; an application type, a traffic demand, or a reliability requirement of an application executed by the UE; and a location, an orientation, a translational speed, or a rotational speed of the UE {For UE state: Zhu explicitly uses UE motion/IMU-based motion detection (i.e., UE state information) to switch measurement periodicity: when motion is detected the system switches to faster periodicity; when stable the system reduces measurement rate. See Zhu ¶¶ [0060]–[0066], [0069]–[0071]}.
Regarding Claim 8.
-Claim 8 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claim 1, and further as following:
A device {Zhu: Device 805-Fig.8} comprising:
a transceiver {Zhu: Transceiver 815-Fig.8}; and
a processor {Zhu: Processor 840-Fig.8} operably connected to the transceiver, the processor configured to:
determine a beam measurement periodicity for beam reporting by a user equipment (UE) for use in a first beam tracking;
perform the first beam tracking according to the beam measurement periodicity;
adaptively adjust, based on a step size, the beam measurement periodicity based on information related to at least one of a UE measurement report, a current network state, a UE state, or a previously observed network behavior, the step size being identified based on a channel condition; and
perform additional beam tracking according to the adaptively increased or decreased beam measurement periodicity.
Regarding Claim 10. The device of claim 8, wherein the UE state comprises at least one of: current and previous RSRP measurement reports of the UE; a UE battery level; a maximum UE power consumption level; an application type, a traffic demand, or a reliability requirement of an application executed by the UE; and a location, an orientation, a translational speed, or a rotational speed of the UE.
-Claim 10 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claims 1, 3 & 8.
Regarding Claim 15.
-Claim 15 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claims 1 & 8, and further as following:
A non-transitory computer readable medium {Zhu: Memory 830-Fig.8 & ¶0095-¶0096 & ¶0099, e.g. ¶0096 wherein “The processor 840 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., the memory 830) to cause the device 805 to perform various functions (e.g., functions or tasks supporting beam switch related information feedback in wireless communications)”} comprising program code that, when executed by a processor of a device, causes the device to:
determine a beam measurement periodicity for a beam reporting by a User Equipment (UE) for use in a first beam tracking;
perform the first beam tracking according to the beam measurement periodicity;
adaptively adjust, based on a step size, the beam measurement periodicity based on information related to at least one of a UE measurement report, a current network state, a UE state, or a previously observed network behavior, the step size being identified based on a channel condition; and
perform additional beam tracking according to the adaptively increased or decreased beam measurement periodicity.
Regarding Claim 17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the UE state comprises at least one of: current and previous RSRP measurement reports of the UE; a UE battery level; a maximum UE power consumption level; an application type, a traffic demand, or a reliability requirement of an application executed by the UE; and a location, an orientation, a translational speed, or a rotational speed of the UE.
-Claim 17 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claims 1, 3, 8, 10 & 15.
Claim(s) 2, 9 & 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu (US 20250203420 A1) in view of Roy (US 20260046939 A1), as applied to claims 1, 8 & 15 as above, and further in view of Zhou (US 20220029680 A1).
Regarding Claim 2. With the same reasons as set forth in the method of claim 1, Zhu does not explicitly disclose wherein the current network state comprises at least one of: current and previous RSRP measurement reports; a number of UEs on the network; and a traffic load on the network.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Zhou (US 20220029680 A1) disclose wherein the current network state comprises at least one of: current and previous RSRP measurement reports; a number of UEs on the network; and a traffic load on the network {For current network state: Zhou describes configuring periodicity and reporting schedules in view of system overhead and load considerations and supports dynamic or event-triggered reporting (See ¶¶ [0052]-[0055], [0135]-[0139])}. Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to Zhou’s teaching to Zhu’s system with the motivation being to “allow the base station to provide beam management periodicity that supports a beam switch periodicity of the UE”{Zhou: ¶0053} and to “allow the base station to more quickly adapt the beam management periodicity so beam switching can be performed”{Zhou: ¶0054}.
Regarding Claim 9. The device of claim 8, wherein the current network state comprises at least one of: current and previous RSRP measurement reports; a number of UEs on the network; and a traffic load on the network.
-Claim 9 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claims 1-2 & 8.
Regarding Claim 16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the current network state comprises at least one of: current and previous RSRP measurement reports; a number of UEs on the network; and a traffic load on the network.
-Claim 16 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claims 1-2, 8-9 & 15.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Awoniyi-Oteri (US 20230057661 A1) discloses methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications in which a user equipment (UE) may be configured to monitor a set of beams, and may request an update to a monitoring configuration based on a position of the UE, an orientation of the UE, a rate of change of the position or orientation, or any combinations thereof. In some cases, the position or orientation information of the UE may include information for a current time period, predictive information for one or more future time periods, other information, or any combinations thereof. The UE may transmit a beam monitoring request to a base station for an updated monitoring configuration, such as a subset of a set of configured beams or an identified scan angle to be monitored by the UE {Figs.1-21}.
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/PHUONGCHAU BA NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464
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