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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description: Community Manager 150.
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. 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 § 102
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 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.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 13, 15 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kiran Venugopal et al. (US 20220078655 A1, hereinafter referred to as Venugopal).
Regarding claim 1, Venugopal teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: one or more memories and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories (Venugopal discloses an apparatus with a processor coupled to memory. See Figure 8). Venugopal also teaches:
at least one processor of the one or more processors configured to cause the UE to: perform a plurality of cell measurements (Venugopal discloses a UE that gets a signal from the base station and takes a plurality of cell measurements. See paragraph [0103]).
and transmit a report that indicates: a first quantity of cell measurements, of the plurality of cell measurements, associated with a first differential value relative to a particular cell measurement of the plurality of cell measurements, and a second quantity of cell measurements, of the plurality of cell measurements, associated with a second differential value relative to the particular cell measurement (Venugopal discloses a UE that transmits a report with first and second values that have differential value associations. See paragraphs [0095], [0103], [0104], Figures 13 and 14).
Regarding claim 2, Venugopal teaches wherein the report includes a bitmap that indicates the first quantity of cell measurements and the second quantity of cell measurements (Venugopal discloses a report that has 7-bit values that show the quantity of measurements. See paragraph [0095]).
Regarding claim 4, Venugopal teaches wherein the bitmap is a truncated bitmap (Venugopal discloses that the multi-bit value can be shortened in certain cases. See paragraph [0095]).
Regarding claim 6, Venugopal teaches:
wherein the report includes a first part and a second part
wherein the first part indicates a size of the second part
and wherein the second part indicates the first quantity of cell measurements and the second quantity of cell measurements
Venugopal discloses that the report has a first and second part that indicates size and a report of the measurements. See paragraphs [0005], [0006], [0007], [0025], [0033] and Abstract.
Regarding claim 7, Venugopal teaches wherein the report includes a value that indicates the first quantity of cell measurements and the second quantity of cell measurements (Venugopal discloses a report with first and second quantities of the beam measurements. See paragraph [0095]).
Regarding claim 13, Venugopal teaches a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: performing a plurality of cell measurements; and transmitting a report that indicates: a first quantity of cell measurements, of the plurality of cell measurements, associated with a first differential value relative to a particular cell measurement of the plurality of cell measurements, and a second quantity of cell measurements, of the plurality of cell measurements, associated with a second differential value relative to the particular cell measurement. Claim 13 is rejected for the same reason as claim 1.
Regarding claim 15, Venugopal teaches wherein the report includes a value that indicates the first quantity of cell measurements and the second quantity of cell measurements. Claim 15 is rejected for the same reason as claim 7.
Regarding claim 19, Venugopal teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions for wireless communication, the set of instructions comprising: one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: perform a plurality of cell measurements; and transmit a report that indicates: a first quantity of cell measurements, of the plurality of cell measurements, associated with a first differential value relative to a particular cell measurement of the plurality of cell measurements, and a second quantity of cell measurements, of the plurality of cell measurements, associated with a second differential value relative to the particular cell measurement. Claim 19 is rejected for the same reasons outlined in claims 1 and 13.
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.
Claims 3 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Venugopal in view of Benjamin Kaiwen Ng et al. (US 11356409 B1, hereinafter referred to as Ng).
Regarding claim 3, Venugopal teaches all aspects of the claimed invention except:
- wherein a first binary value in the bitmap indicates a transition from the first differential value to the second differential value
- wherein a quantity of consecutive second binary values in the bitmap indicates the second quantity of cell measurements.
In the same field of endeavor, Ng discloses a bitmap that shows a transition with a binary value and consecutive binary values that show no transition (See paragraph [47]).
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 modify the Venugopal reference to incorporate a bitmap that indicates transitions and values of data. The motivation to combine is to reduce storage for space efficiency as well as allowing faster querying through the bitmap. Having efficient handling of the transitions makes it easy to detect patterns and changes in state.
Claim 14 is rejected for the same reasons outlined in claims 2 and 3. 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 modify the Venugopal reference that discloses a report [that] includes a bitmap that indicates the first quantity of cell measurements and the second quantity of cell measurements to incorporate the Ng reference wherein a first binary value in the bitmap indicates a transition from the first differential value to the second differential value, and wherein a quantity of consecutive second binary values in the bitmap indicates the second quantity of cell measurements. The motivation to combine the Venugopal and Ng references is to reduce storage for space efficiency as well as allowing faster querying through the bitmap. Having efficient handling of the transitions makes it easy to detect patterns and changes in state.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Venugopal in view of Xiaojie Wang et al. (US 20220256591 A1, hereinafter referred to as Wang).
Regarding claim 5, Venugopal teaches all aspects of the claimed invention except wherein at least one processor of the one or more processors is further configured to cause the UE to compress the bitmap prior to transmitting the report.
In the same field of endeavor, Wang discloses a UE that compresses a bitmap before sending a report (See paragraph [0116]).
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 modify the Venugopal reference to incorporate bitmap compression. The motivation to combine is to reduce storage and memory usage. Compression also allows for faster query processing.
Claims 8, 10, 11, 12, 16, 18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Venugopal in view of Ji-fan Li et al. (CN 113491075 B, hereinafter referred to as Li).
Regarding claim 8, Venugopal teaches all aspects of the claimed invention except:
wherein the value indicates a table index of a table
wherein the table index corresponds to a row of the table indicating the first quantity of cell measurements and the second quantity of cell measurements
In the same field of endeavor, Li discloses an index number that corresponds to the bit information (See paragraph [0015]).
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 modify the Venugopal reference to incorporate a table that indexes the bit information. The motivation to combine is to enable faster filtering and optimizing read-heavy workloads by reducing the need to scan a large data sample. Instead, the bitmap can be indexed for easier retrieval.
Regarding claim 10, Li teaches aspects of the claimed invention except wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to receive a configuration associated with the table.
In the same field of endeavor, Venugopal discloses a UE receiving a configuration to do the measurement (See Figures 13, 14 and 15).
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 modify the Li reference to incorporate a processor that is configured to receive a configuration that fulfills the method. The motivation to combine is to prepare the control plane for the UE. The configuration finalizes the radio set up for data transfer. This is what allows the UE to send the measurement report back to the network node with the proper data.
Regarding claim 11, Venugopal teaches all aspects of the claimed invention except wherein the first differential value corresponds to a first range of cell measurement values and the second differential value corresponds to a second range of cell measurement values.
In the same field of endeavor, Li discloses differential values that corresponds to a range (See paragraph [0338]).
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 modify the Venugopal reference to incorporate a range that will reflect differential values of the measurements. The motivation to combine is to have visibility of changes in data over a period of time. This allows for better comparison of channel conditions and cell measurements.
Regarding claim 12, Venugopal teaches all aspects of the claimed invention except wherein the first range of cell measurement values has a first size and the second range of cell measurement values has a second size different than the first size.
In the same field of endeavor, Li discloses having a range with unique sizes due to the step size incrementing by a number (See paragraph [0338]).
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 modify the Venugopal reference to incorporate quantizing a bit value within a range that organizes the values into different range sizes. The motivation to combine is to have visibility of changes in data over a period of time. This allows for better comparison across channel conditions giving clearer trend identification. The step size, large or small, allows for error detection to spot sudden deviations within the data set.
Claim 16 is rejected for the same reason outlined in claim 8.
Claim 18 is rejected for the same reasons outlined in claims 11 and 12.
Claim 20 is rejected for the same reason outlined in claims 11, 12 and 18.
Claims 9 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Venugopal in view of Li and further in view of Ng.
Regarding claim 9, Li teaches all aspects of the claimed invention except:
- wherein the row indicates a bitmap, wherein a first binary value in the bitmap indicates a transition from the first differential value to the second differential value
- and wherein a quantity of consecutive second binary values in the bitmap indicate the second quantity of cell measurements
In the same field of endeavor, Ng discloses a bitmap that shows a transition with a binary value and consecutive binary values that show no transition (See paragraph [47]).
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 modify the Li reference to incorporate a bitmap that indicates transitions and values of data. The motivation to combine is to reduce storage for space efficiency as well as allowing faster querying through the bitmap. Having efficient handling of the transitions makes it easy to detect patterns and changes in state.
Regarding claim 17, it is rejected for the same reason outlined in claim 9.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Cha et al. (US 20220272731 A1, METHOD FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING SIGNALS, AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING SAME IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM)
Kaikkonen et al. (NPL, MAIN RADIO INTERFACE RELATED SYSTEM PROCEDURES)
TS 38.214 (3GPP, “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for data”)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CAMILLE J ETIENNE whose telephone number is (571)721-1789. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thurs 9:00- 7:00 EST.
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, Ricky Ngo can be reached at (571) 272-3139. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/C.J.E./Examiner, Art Unit 2464
/RICKY Q NGO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2464
Prosecution Insights