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 .
DETAILED ACTION
a. Claims 1-20 in the present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, are being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
b. This is a first action on the merits based on Applicant’s claims submitted on 03/13/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/13/2024 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 3, 4, 9, 11-13, 16, 17, 19, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Jeon US Pub 2024/0147284 (hereinafter “Jeon”).
Regarding claim 1
Jeon discloses an apparatus (“serving cell” [0022]; “gNB 102” in Fig. 2) configured for wireless communications, comprising:
one or more memories (“memory 230” in Fig. 2; [0038]); and
one or more processors (“controller/processor 225” in Fig. 2; [0038]) coupled to the one or more memories, the one or more processors being configured to cause the apparatus to:
obtain assistance information associated with user equipment (UE) mobility (“FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of an example UE procedure for sending assistance information to a serving cell for performing beam prediction according to embodiments of the present disclosure” [0022]);
predict one or more candidate communication links for a communication link modification (i.e. “beam prediction”) based at least in part on the assistance information (“a method for a user equipment (UE) to report information related to a beam prediction” [0005] and furthermore “A UE can predict the probability of future beam failure and inform the serving cell. The serving cell may provide a threshold value such that the UE 116 sends the early BFR indication if the predicted probability is greater than the indicated threshold. If the predicted probability of future beam failure is greater than another threshold value that may be indicated by the serving cell, the UE 116 can initiate proactive beam change procedure towards a new candidate beam.” [0204]); and
communicate with a wireless communications device (i.e. “non-serving cell” [0075]) based at least in part on the one or more candidate communication links (“In RRC CONNECTED, the UE measures multiple beams (at least one) of a cell and the measurements results (power values) are averaged to derive the cell quality. In doing so, the UE is configured to evaluate a subset of the detected beams. Filtering takes place at two distinct levels: at the physical layer to derive beam quality and then at RRC level to derive cell quality from multiple beams. Cell quality from beam measurements is derived in the same way for the serving cell(s) and for the non-serving cell(s). Measurement reports may contain the measurement results of the Xbest beams if the UE is configured to do so by gNB 102.” [0075]).
Regarding claim 3
Jeon previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1,
Jeon further discloses wherein to communicate with the wireless communications device, the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to switch from communicating via a source communication link to at least one of the one or more candidate communication links (“the serving cell provides assistance information to the UE 116 to help the UE 116 to select or switch to a proper beam prediction model… The network 130 indicates to the UE 116 a proper model to be used by the UE 116 based on the assistance information provided by the UE 116. Further alternatively, the UE 116 selects or switches to a proper beam prediction model by itself based on local information available at the UE.” [0163]).
Regarding claim 4
Jeon previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1,
Jeon further discloses wherein the assistance information comprises one or more performance metrics (i.e. “serving cell metrics”) for communication traffic associated with a UE (“In UE-side prediction, as described in FIG. 9, the UE 116 is indicated by the serving cell metrics to monitor the performance of currently used beam prediction model, either AWL-based or non-AWL-based. With the performance monitoring report provided by the UE 116, the serving cell may indicate to the UE 116 to perform model switching, e.g., by indicating model ID, to update or finetune the model with the indication on the dataset or to fallback to a default non-prediction based method.” [0194]).
Regarding claim 9
Jeon previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1,
Jeon further discloses wherein the assistance information comprises a set of candidate communication links (i.e. “first set of beams”, “second set of beams” [0174]) from which the one or more candidate communication links are selected for prediction (“In 920, the UE 116 then performs beam measurement on the first set of beams according to the reference signal configuration. In 930, based on the measurements on the first set of beams, the UE 116 then predicts one or multiple strongest beams from the second set of beams for the indicated one or multiple instances. The UE 116 may perform beam prediction either using AWL-based or non-AUML-based model, which may be indicated by the serving cell using model ID or may be up to UE implementation.” [0174]).
Regarding claim 11
Jeon previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein to predict one or more candidate communication links, the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to:
Jeon further discloses provide input data to a machine learning (ML) model, wherein the input data comprises the assistance information (“When the beam prediction is performed at a UE, the UE 116 may have multiple beam prediction models, either AI/ML-based or non-AI/ML-based, designed/trained for specific scenarios and/or environments. In this case, the serving cell provides assistance information to the UE 116 to help the UE 116 to select or switch to a proper beam prediction model. Alternatively, the models supported by the UE 116 is reported to the serving cell, which can be in terms of model ID with associated information and/or model functionality. The network 130 indicates to the UE 116 a proper model to be used by the UE 116 based on the assistance information provided by the UE 116.” [0163]); and
obtain, from the ML model, output data comprising an indication of the one or more candidate communication links (“Further alternatively, the UE 116 selects or switches to a proper beam prediction model by itself based on local information available at the UE.” [0163]).
Regarding claim 12
Jeon discloses an apparatus (“serving cell” [0022]; “gNB 102” in Fig. 2) configured for wireless communications, comprising:
one or more memories (“memory 230” in Fig. 2; [0038]); and
one or more processors (“controller/processor 225” in Fig. 2; [0038]) coupled to the one or more memories, the one or more processors being configured to cause the apparatus to:
obtain assistance information associated with user equipment (UE) mobility (“In 940, the UE 116 then sends the measurement report to the serving cell along with assistance information.” [0175]);
predict an occurrence of one or more communication failure events based at least in part on the assistance information (“Probability of n-th strongest predicted beam to be within N actual strongest beams at the predicted future instance. Early beam failure indication, e.g., probability of beam failure at the predicted future instance.” [0176-0177]); and
communicate with a wireless communications device (“Method and apparatus for procedures and signaling for a UE to perform beam prediction and send the report, including predicted one or more best beam indexes with or without associated predicted or actual measurement quantities, when the prediction is performed at the UE 116, and for the UE 116 to send the assistance information including such as measurement quantities to the serving cell when the prediction is performed at the network 130.” [0155]) based at least in part on the predicted occurrence of the one or more communication failure events (“Indication on the requirement of more/less resources for beam measurement, i.e., more/less spatial beam sweeping, to perform prediction. Indication on the requirement of larger/smaller number of transmission beam repetition(s) for UE receiver beam prediction. Favorable or preferred angular range of beam directions or directivity for the beam measurement reference signal configuration. Favorable or preferred temporal frequency of beam measurement reference signals. [0182] UE channel environment, e.g., UMa/UMi/InH/rural, clutter/blockage presence/density/severity, line-of-sight (LOS)/non-line-of-sight (NLOS) indication, indoor/outdoor indication, in-car indication, in-building indication, mobility in terms of velocity or categorization of speeds, e.g., pedestrian/vehicle/high-speed train, etc.” [0178-0182]).
Regarding claim 13
Jeon previously discloses the apparatus of claim 12,
Jeon further discloses wherein the one or more communication failure events comprise one or more of: a beam failure (“With prediction based beam management, the occurrence of future beam failure event can be early detected. Therefore, there is a need to define procedures to perform beam failure recovery (BFR) in a proactive manner.” [0145])
Regarding claim 16
Jeon previously discloses the apparatus of claim 12,
Jeon further discloses wherein the assistance information comprises a prediction that at least one event of the one or more communication failure events is expected to occur (“The UE 116 may also provide the serving cell the information on the future instance at which the virtual beam failure is expected to occur.” [0198]).
Regarding claim 17
Jeon previously discloses the apparatus of claim 12,
Jeon further discloses wherein the assistance information comprises one or more requested values of one or more parameters for detection of the one or more communication failure events (“Examples of possible metrics that can be indicated by the serving cell to the UE 116 for performance monitoring and feedback, either for UE-side or network-side predictions, are as follows: The current value of BFI_COUNTER or the statistics as described herein. The UE 116 may be signaled, by the serving cell, a threshold value such that the UE 116 sends corresponding information if a condition is met. Early beam failure indication as described herein. [0198] Virtual BFR if the UE 116 remains with a certain beam, e.g., the previous, current or any beam that is indicated by the serving cell, etc. The UE 116 runs BFI_COUNTER as if the UE 116 is served by the indicated beam and sends the virtual BFR if BFI_COUNTER exceeds a certain threshold value indicated by the serving cell which may be the same or different from beamFailureInstanceMaxCount signaled for the actual BFR. It can be an early indication on the occurrence of virtual beam failure in a future instance.” [0195-0197]).
Regarding claim 19
Jeon previously discloses the apparatus of claim 12, wherein to predict the occurrence of one or more communication failure events, the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to:
provide input data to a machine learning (ML) model, wherein the input data comprises the assistance information; and
obtain, from the ML model, output data comprising an indication of the occurrence of one or more communication failure events.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 19 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in apparatus claim 11. Therefore apparatus claim 19 corresponds to apparatus claim 11 and is rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as used in claim 11 rejection above.
Regarding claim 20
A method for wireless communications, comprising:
obtaining assistance information associated with user equipment (UE) mobility;
predicting one or more candidate communication links for a communication link
modification based at least in part on the assistance information; and
communicating with a wireless communications device based at least in part on the one or more candidate communication links.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 20 is drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claim 1. Therefore method claim 20 corresponds to apparatus claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as used in claim 1 rejection above.
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 of this title, 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.
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 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.
Claims 2 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon US Pub 2024/0147284 (hereinafter “Jeon”), and in view of Ma et al. US Pub 2025/0227594, claiming foreign application priority 2023-12-29 (hereinafter “Ma”).
Regarding claim 2
Jeon previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1,
Jeon further discloses wherein the one or more candidate communication links comprise one or more of: a set of candidate beams (“the UE 116 can initiate proactive beam change procedure towards a new candidate beam. If a contention-free-random-access (CFRA) resource is configured for the new candidate beam, the UE 116 can start the random-access procedure by transmitting random access channel (RACH) preamble on the configured resource. If CFRA resource is not configured for the new candidate beam, the UE 116 can indicate to the serving cell to request to configure CFRA resource for the new candidate beam along with early BFR indication.” [0204]).
Jeon does not specifically teach wherein the one or more candidate communication links comprise one or more of: a set of candidate cells.
In an analogous art, Ma discloses wherein the one or more candidate communication links comprise one or more of: a set of candidate cells (“selecting, by the serving base station, one or more candidate target base stations based on the predicted target base station-beam set” [0372]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Jeon’s method for prediction based beam management in cellular systems to include Ma’s prediction solution of a target base station and serving beams thereof assisted by artificial intelligence (AI), in order to achieve efficient beam management (Ma [0004]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Ma’s prediction solution of a target base station and serving beams thereof assisted by artificial intelligence (AI) into Jeon’s method for prediction based beam management in cellular systems since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 6
Jeon previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the assistance information comprises one or more of:
Jeon further discloses a prediction of one or more velocity (“mobility in terms of velocity or categorization of speeds, e.g., pedestrian/vehicle/high-speed train, etc” [0182]), direction (“Favorable or preferred angular range of beam directions or directivity for the beam measurement reference signal configuration” [0180]),
In an analogous art, Ma discloses orientation of the UE (“The network may use the WTRU orientation information to determine (e.g., predict) the potential (e.g., neighboring) gNBs to be configured for the CHO.” [0146]);
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Jeon’s method for prediction based beam management in cellular systems to include Ma’s prediction solution of a target base station and serving beams thereof assisted by artificial intelligence (AI), in order to achieve efficient beam management (Ma [0004]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Ma’s prediction solution of a target base station and serving beams thereof assisted by artificial intelligence (AI) into Jeon’s method for prediction based beam management in cellular systems since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
9. Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon, and in view of Goyal et al. US Pub 2025/0227794 (hereinafter “Goyal”).
Regarding claim 5
Jeon previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1,
Jeon does not specifically teach wherein the assistance information comprises one or more of: a number of radio link failures over a time period, a number of handover failures over the time period, a number of successful beam switches, or a number of successful handovers over the time period.
In an analogous art, Goyal discloses wherein the assistance information comprises one or more of: a number of radio link failures over a time period (“If the channel quality does not recover (e.g., become above a threshold) during the beam failure detection and the recovery procedure, the WTRU may declare an RLF.” [0205]), a number of handover failures over the time period (“Higher threshold values may lead to the WTRU often failing to timely execute handover to a target gNB leading to a higher number of failed handovers.” [0128]), or a number of successful handovers over the time period (“the WTRU may still successfully complete a handover with the target gNB if a CHO execution condition is satisfied” [0116]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Jeon’s method for prediction based beam management in cellular systems to include Goyal’s method for mobility procedures for highly directional system, in order to predict a capability for determining WTRU orientations associated with receive beams (Goyal [0004]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Goyal’s method for mobility procedures for highly directional system into Jeon’s method for prediction based beam management in cellular systems since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
9. Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon, and in view of Hyde et al. US Pub 2024/0298225 (hereinafter “Hyde”).
Regarding claim 7
Jeon previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the assistance information comprises one or more of:
Jeon further discloses an identifier for the candidate communication link (“beam identifier” [0097]; “cell ID” [0169]).
Jeon does not specifically teach an indication of whether a candidate communication link of the one or more candidate communication links is expected to be in an energy saving mode or an active mode at a particular time; an indication of a start time for the energy saving mode of the candidate communication link; an indication of a duration for the energy saving mode of the candidate communication link; an indication of a duration for the active mode of the candidate communication link.
In an analogous art, Hyde discloses an indication of whether a candidate communication link of the one or more candidate communication links is expected to be in an energy saving mode or an active mode at a particular time (“ML algorithms may predict the energy efficiency and load state of the next period, which can be used to make better decisions on cell activation/deactivation for energy saving, as well as other potential power saving states” [0078]); an indication of a start time for the energy saving mode of the candidate communication link; an indication of a duration for the energy saving mode of the candidate communication link; an indication of a duration for the active mode of the candidate communication link (“wherein may employ strategies that include but are not limited to: increase SSB periodicity, lower the advertised Bandwidth, DTX for BS, increase the SIB blocks periodicity, use wake-up signaling features/DRX features to increase the number of UEs in sleep mode, Secondary cell activation/deactivation, carrier aggregation turn on/off, primary/Macro cell activation/deactivation, partial HO, complete HO, Power on, Power off. Example 3 may include the NG-RAN in example 1 or some other examples herein, wherein is running an AI model to predict the power saving level as well as system performance and corresponding strategies. Example 4 may include the input parameter of the AI model in example 3 or some other example herein, wherein includes information from the node itself and its neighboring cells: Current cell capacity, current/predicted avg. cell throughput, current resource availability, current #of UEs it can handle, current RRC connections, current average time for a UE to connect to the cell from idle state, current CQI information, current mobility information of UEs, the confidence level of predictions for each neighboring cells' data, predicted UE latency and predicted UE throughput. Example 5 may include the output parameter of the AI model in example 3 or some other example herein, wherein includes: the Energy saving strategy in terms of mechanisms adopted (e.g. mechanisms listed on page 4 under section 5.1), the avg. predicted cell throughput, the confidence level of the prediction, the time interval for the prediction, the action to be taken in terms of HO strategy for a single UE or a group of UEs.” [0245-0248]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Jeon’s method for prediction based beam management in cellular systems to include Hyde’s AI-based models for energy saving prediction, in order to achieve efficient power/energy saving (Hyde [0245-0248]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Hyde’s AI-based models for energy saving prediction into Jeon’s method for prediction based beam management in cellular systems since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
9. Claims 8 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon, and in view of Kuhn et al. US Pub 2007/0232311 (hereinafter “Kuhn”).
Regarding claim 8
Jeon previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1,
Jeon does not specifically teach wherein the assistance information comprises a traffic load associated with a candidate communication link of the one or more candidate communication links.
In an analogous art, Kuhn discloses wherein the assistance information comprises a traffic load associated with a candidate communication link (i.e. “candidate target cell”) of the one or more candidate communication links (“According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the source cell access point contributes to select the most appropriate target cell from a plurality of candidate target cells taking in consideration the traffic load situation of the candidate target cells. This is advantageous in a situation where the mobile device may be in a topological situation where, according to the signal strength received, multiple candidate target cells are available and the network according to the invention selects one of said target cells not only for radio signal strength conditions but also taking in consideration the traffic load situation of the candidate target cells. This avoids that a target cell is selected which, from the point of view of traffic load situation, is not the best choice e.g. if a candidate target cell is close to an overload situation or has a higher traffic load than the source cell.” [0030]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Jeon’s method for prediction based beam management in cellular systems to include Kuhn’s method for taking a handover decision in a cellular communications system, in order to achieve efficient handover (Kuhn [0030]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Kuhn’s method for taking a handover decision in a cellular communications system into Jeon’s method for prediction based beam management in cellular systems since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 14
Jeon previously discloses the apparatus of claim 12,
Jeon does not specifically teach wherein to communicate with the wireless communications device, the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to refrain from switching to communicating via at least one candidate communication link based on the predicted occurrence of the one or more communication failure events being associated with the at least one candidate communication link.
In an analogous art, Kuhn discloses wherein to communicate with the wireless communications device, the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to refrain from switching to communicating via at least one candidate communication link (“This avoids that a target cell is selected which, from the point of view of traffic load situation, is not the best choice e.g. if a candidate target cell is close to an overload situation or has a higher traffic load than the source cell.” [0030]) based on the predicted occurrence of the one or more communication failure events being associated with the at least one candidate communication link (“According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the source cell access point contributes to select the most appropriate target cell from a plurality of candidate target cells taking in consideration the traffic load situation of the candidate target cells. This is advantageous in a situation where the mobile device may be in a topological situation where, according to the signal strength received, multiple candidate target cells are available and the network according to the invention selects one of said target cells not only for radio signal strength conditions but also taking in consideration the traffic load situation of the candidate target cells. This avoids that a target cell is selected which, from the point of view of traffic load situation, is not the best choice e.g. if a candidate target cell is close to an overload situation or has a higher traffic load than the source cell.” [0030]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Jeon’s method for prediction based beam management in cellular systems to include Kuhn’s method for taking a handover decision in a cellular communications system, in order to achieve efficient handover (Kuhn [0030]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Kuhn’s method for taking a handover decision in a cellular communications system into Jeon’s method for prediction based beam management in cellular systems since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
9. Claims 10, 15, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon, and in view of Salim et al. US Pub 2025/0260470 (hereinafter “Salim”).
Regarding claim 10
Jeon previously discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein:
Jeon does not specifically teach the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to: predict an interruption time associated with the communication link modification, and adjust one or more parameters for communications with the wireless communications device based on the interruption time; and to communicate with the wireless communications device, the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to communicate with the wireless communications device based on the one or more parameters.
In an analogous art, Salim discloses predict an interruption time associated with the communication link modification (“An example embodiment, referred to as zero outage beam failure recovery, may target recovering from a beam failure event with minimal outage and interruption in a deterministic manner.” [0121]), and
adjust one or more parameters for communications with the wireless communications device based on the interruption time (“The second group of non-radio-measurement-quantity-based-data may group all the remaining assistance information that may be useful to minimize interruptions during the beam failure recovery process. The information elements in the second group may include the parameters and quantities that the WTRU is capable of providing based upon other local interfaces and local sensors etc. A sub-group in the second group of non-radio-measurement-quantity-based-data may include a set of parameters and quantities related to WTRU capability and specific implementation details (including but not limited to antennas, panels, detailed implementation on antenna panels—e.g., field of view, power characteristics, radiation patterns, architecture details as how the transceivers link to different panels, beam steering capabilities including digital, analog/phase-shifts and hybrid based, transition time for beam steering and panel switching delays, etc.).” [0131]); and
to communicate with the wireless communications device, the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to communicate with the wireless communications device based on the one or more parameters (“The WTRU may use its current geographic parameters to determine the suitable candidate beam from the network provided configuration. This process may ensure a zero outage beam recovery in case of beam failure.” [0121]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Jeon’s method for prediction based beam management in cellular systems to include Salim’s method for identifying candidate beams during beam failure recovery, in order to efficiently support beam failure recovery with minimum outage or interruption (Salim [0003]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Salim’s method for identifying candidate beams during beam failure recovery into Jeon’s method for prediction based beam management in cellular systems since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 15
Jeon previously discloses the apparatus of claim 12,
Jeon does not specifically teach wherein the assistance information comprises one or more parameters for detection of the one or more communication failure events.
In an analogous art, Salim discloses wherein the assistance information comprises one or more parameters (“The second group of non-radio-measurement-quantity-based-data may group all the remaining assistance information that may be useful to minimize interruptions during the beam failure recovery process. The information elements in the second group may include the parameters and quantities that the WTRU is capable of providing based upon other local interfaces and local sensors etc. A sub-group in the second group of non-radio-measurement-quantity-based-data may include a set of parameters and quantities related to WTRU capability and specific implementation details (including but not limited to antennas, panels, detailed implementation on antenna panels—e.g., field of view, power characteristics, radiation patterns, architecture details as how the transceivers link to different panels, beam steering capabilities including digital, analog/phase-shifts and hybrid based, transition time for beam steering and panel switching delays, etc.).” [0131]) for detection of the one or more communication failure events (“The WTRU may use its current geographic parameters to determine the suitable candidate beam from the network provided configuration. This process may ensure a zero outage beam recovery in case of beam failure.” [0121]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Jeon’s method for prediction based beam management in cellular systems to include Salim’s method for identifying candidate beams during beam failure recovery, in order to efficiently support beam failure recovery with minimum outage or interruption (Salim [0003]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Salim’s method for identifying candidate beams during beam failure recovery into Jeon’s method for prediction based beam management in cellular systems since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 18
Jeon previously discloses the apparatus of claim 12, wherein:
the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to:
predict an interruption time associated with the occurrence of one or more communication failure events, and
adjust one or more parameters for communications with the wireless communications device based on the interruption time; and
to communicate with the wireless communications device, the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to communicate with the wireless communications device based on the one or more parameters.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 18 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in apparatus claim 10. Therefore apparatus claim 18 corresponds to apparatus claim 10 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 10 rejection above.
Conclusion
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/CHUONG M NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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