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 .
This office action is responsive to the amendment filed 8/12/26.
Claims 1-11, 15-21, 43, and 45 are pending.
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, 2, 5, 11, 15, 43, and 45 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cao et al., US 2022/0393754, (“Cao”), in view of Kang, US 2020/0007197, (“Kang”), newly cited.
Independent Claims
Regarding claim 1, Cao teaches “An information transmission method, performed by an access network device (Fig. 13 performed by a base station), comprising:
sending polarization information, wherein the polarization information comprises a first sequence, and the first sequence indicates a changing sequence of polarization directions of beams” (Fig. 13, step 1302 (transmitting, by a base station to a wireless communication device, polarization information); paragraph nos. 0128, 0146, 0147, and 0152 and in particular, paragraph no. 0146, “the BS may indicate UE the circular polarization direction used in UL/DL transmission” and paragraph no. 0147, “After a UE 304 receives the indication from the BS 302 to change its polarization; see also, Fig. 9A and its respective written description which discloses the changing polarization directions of beams (e.g., LHCP, RHCP) sent by the base station to the UE).
Regarding the newly amended claim limitation of claim 1, Cao appears to implicitly teach “wherein the changing sequence of the polarization directions of the beams comprises a changing sequence relative to a polarization direction of a beam currently covering a user equipment (UE)” (see Fig. 9A which appears to teach that the base station transmits polarization information of LHCP and RHCP to a UE operating within its cell identified by PCI0).
While Cao appears to implicitly teach the newly amended claim limitation of clam 1, Kang teaches this limitation explicitly, see Fig. 1 which shows horizontal polarization of a beam and vertical polarization of the same beam and Fig. 6, steps 610a-1, 610b-1 which teach that a base station transmits first and second polarization information of beam #1 to a UE. The second polarization (e.g., vertical polarization) is a changing sequence relative to a first polarization (e.g., horizontal polarization) of the beam #1 transmitted prior in step 610a-1. See paragraph nos. 0090-0092.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of this claimed invention to modify Cao by incorporating the teachings of Kang to enable the base station to find an optimal combination of a beam and a polarization of the beam, as suggested by Kang in paragraph no. 0089.
Regarding independent claim 43, this independent claim is a corresponding apparatus claim of the method claim 1 and recites similar subject matter. As such, the rationale behind the above rejection of claim 1 applies with equal force to this independent claim and as further amplified below to highlight the minor differences between the claims.
Regarding further independent claim 43, see Cao, Fig. 4, base station 402 for the claimed structural elements of the claim.
Regarding independent claim 11, Cao teaches “An information transmission method, performed by user equipment (UE) (Fig. 12 performed by a wireless communication device/UE), comprising:
receiving polarization information, wherein the polarization information comprises a first sequence, and the first sequence indicates a changing sequence of polarization directions of beams” (Fig. 12, step 1202 (receiving, by a wireless communication device from a base station, polarization information); paragraph nos. 0128, 0146, 0147, and 0152 and in particular, paragraph no. 0146, “the BS may indicate UE the circular polarization direction used in UL/DL transmission” and paragraph no. 0147, “After a UE 304 receives the indication from the BS 302 to change its polarization; see also, Fig. 9A and its respective written description which discloses the changing polarization directions of beams (e.g., LHCP, RHCP) sent by the base station to the UE).
Regarding the newly amended claim limitation of claim 11, Cao appears to implicitly teach “wherein the changing sequence of the polarization directions of the beams comprises a changing sequence relative to a polarization direction of a beam currently covering the UE” (see Fig. 9A which appears to teach that the base station transmits polarization information of LHCP and RHCP to a UE operating within its cell identified by PCI0).
While Cao appears to implicitly teach the newly amended claim limitation of clam 11, Kang teaches this limitation explicitly, see Fig. 1 which shows horizontal polarization of a beam and vertical polarization of the same beam and Fig. 6, steps 610a-1, 610b-1 which teach that a base station transmits first and second polarization information of beam #1 to a UE. The second polarization (e.g., vertical polarization) is a changing sequence relative to a first polarization (e.g., horizontal polarization) of the beam #1 transmitted prior in step 610a-1. See paragraph nos. 0090-0092.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of this claimed invention to modify Cao by incorporating the teachings of Kang to enable the base station to find an optimal combination of a beam and a polarization of the beam, as suggested by Kang in paragraph no. 0089.
Dependent Claims
Regarding claim 2, Cao teaches “wherein, the first sequence comprises a polarization direction sequence comprising the polarization directions of the beams” (see Fig. 9A which shows LHCP and RHCP).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Cao teaches “wherein sending the polarization information comprises at least one of: sending the polarization information for a single user equipment (UE); and sending the polarization information for a UE group, wherein the UE group has at least one UE” (the first alternative limitation is taught in Fig. 13, step 1302 which shows sending polarization information to a single wireless communication device).
Regarding claim 45, see Cao, Fig. 4 which shows a wireless communication device/UE with the claimed structural elements.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cao and Kang as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Wang et al., US 2023/0261825, (“Wang”).
Cao does not teach but Wang teaches “wherein, the first sequence comprises an identity sequence comprising beam identities, wherein each beam identity is pre-configured with a polarization direction” (paragraph no. 0190).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of this claimed invention to modify Cao and Kang by incorporating the teachings of Wang to enable the UE to reduce interference in the subsequent transmission process, as suggested by Wang in paragraph no. 0190.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cao and Kang as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Wang et al., US 2024/0154646 (“Google”).
Cao does not teach but Google teaches “first time information indicating usage time of the polarization direction of each beam” (paragraph no. 0077, “The beam-sweeping pattern may also indicate a time duration for applying each surface configuration and/or position adjustment that moves the APD 182”; note that the changed surface configuration changes the polarization of the beam – see paragraph nos. 0015, 0022).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of this claimed invention to modify Cao and Kang by incorporating the teachings of Google to enable the UE to improve the downlink reception of signals from the base station.
Claim(s) 6 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cao and Kang as applied to claims 5, 15 above and further in view of Yuan et al., US 2023/0094100, (“Yuan”).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Cao does not teach but Yuan teaches “wherein UEs in one UE group are within a coverage of a same beam” (see Fig. 3 and paragraph no. 0051).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of this claimed invention to modify Cao and Kang by incorporating the teachings of Yuan to enable the base station to reduce beam measurement and reporting overhead and/or reduce beam sweep signaling overhead, as suggested by Yuan in paragraph no. 0051.
Claim(s) 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cao and Kang.
Regarding claim 19, Cao teaches “in response to an access network device being a satellite, determining the first sequence based on a polarization direction of a beam of the satellite” (paragraph no. 0093 discloses that the base station can be a satellite).
Cao does not teach determining the first sequence based on the additional factors “an ephemeris of the satellite, a beam layout of the satellite, and UE location information” as recited in claim 19. However, each of these factors is known in the art. Note that since Cao discloses that a base station can be a satellite, an ephemeris of the satellite and a beam layout (e.g., size and/or shape) are implicitly associated with the satellite.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of this claimed invention to modify Cao and Kang by incorporating the additional recited factors in the determination of the first sequence since this is nothing more than the routine application of known additional factors to determine a first sequence of changing polarization directions.
Regarding claim 20, Cao implicitly teaches “in response to a polarization direction of a beam covering the UE being consistent with a polarization direction of an antenna of the UE, communicating with an access network device” (Fig. 12 discloses that the wireless communication device sends to the base station its polarization capabilities and this implicitly indicates that the received polarization direction (e.g., LHCP) of a beam from the base station matches or is consistent with a polarization direction of the UE’s antenna – see also, paragraph no. 0096 for additional evidentiary support). However, assuming arguendo that these limitations are not implicit in Cao, then it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of this claimed invention to modify Cao and Kang by incorporating the limitations above to improve the downlink reception of signals from the base station, especially in the case that the base station is a satellite, as suggested by Cao in paragraph no. 0003.
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cao and Kang as applied to claim 11 above and further in view of Liu et al., US 2022/0286247, (“Liu”).
Cao would appear to implicitly teach “adjusting a polarization direction of an antenna of the UE to be consistent with the changing sequence of the polarization directions of the beams based on the first sequence” (Fig. 12 discloses that the wireless communication device sends to the base station its polarization capabilities and this implicitly indicates that the received polarization direction (e.g., LHCP) of a beam from the base station matches or is consistent with a polarization direction of the UE’s antenna – see also, paragraph no. 0096 for additional evidentiary support ).
Liu teaches that a UE/UAV may adjust its antenna polarization (or direction) to find and select a satisfactory TX/RX beam from the network, see paragraph no. 0088.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of this claimed invention to modify Cao and Kang by incorporating the teachings of Liu to enable the UE to improve the reception of downlink signals from the base station.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-10 and 17-18 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.
Regarding claim 7, the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest “determining a configuration of a power saving mode (PSM) cycle when a user equipment (UE) is in the power saving mode based on a relative relationship between the polarization direction of the beam and a polarization direction of an antenna of the UE, wherein the PSM cycle comprises an activation period and a sleep period.”
Claims 8-10 depend from claim 7.
Regarding claim 17, the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest the limitations cited therein.
Regarding claim 18, the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest “in response to the first sequence not indicating a polarization direction of a beam of a neighboring cell, and the neighboring cell and a current serving cell having a same frequency point, determining that the polarization direction of the beam of the neighboring cell is different from a polarization direction of a beam of the current serving cell.”
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 11, and 43 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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/WON TAE C KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414
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