DETAILED ACTION
Claims status
In response to the application filed on 06/03/2026, claims 14-20 were canceled, and thus claims 1-13, and 21-27 are currently pending for the examination. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 13, 21, and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NILSSON (US 2021/0337397 A1) in view of JIA et al. (US 2021/0083822 A1).
Regarding claim 1; Nilsson teaches a method for a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
transmitting using multiple beams (See Fig. 4: the UE to use omni-directional beams. ¶ [0025]);
identifying a power management maximum power reduction (P-MPR) reference based on one beam (See Fig. 7: the Step s702 comprises UE 502 determining a first power management level (P1) (e.g., an amount by which output power should be reduced, i.e., changes in P-MPR) for a first directional beam (e.g., beam b1), which points in a first direction. Step s704 comprises UE 502 determining a second power management level (P2) for a second directional beam (e.g., beam b3) pointing in a second direction. Note: the first/second power management levels could be analyzed as P-MPR reference under the BRI. ¶ [0035] – ¶ [0036]);
monitoring the P-MPR reference for changes in a P-MPR value (See Fig. 9: a determining module 902 configured to determine a first power management level, P1, i.e., P-MPR value by which output power should be reduced, i.e., changes in P-MPR), for a first directional beam (e.g., b1, b2, or b4) pointing in a first direction and determine a second power management level, P2, i.e., P-MPR value for a second directional beam (e.g., b3) pointing in a second direction; ¶ [0043]); and
triggering a P-MPR report procedure for the multiple beams based on the changes in the power management value (See Fig. 7: @s706, UE 502 using P1 and P2 (i.e., triggering beam report using power reductions or changes based on P-MPR level) to generate a beam (e.g., beam report 501) having a first gain in the first direction and having a second gain in the second direction, wherein the first gain is a function of at least P1 and the second gain is a function of at least P2. ¶ [0037]) associated with the P-MPR reference (See Fig. 9: wherein the first gain is a function of at least P1 and the second gain is a function of at least P2; and a receiver module 906 configured to use the generated beam to receive downlink reference signals transmitted by a network node (e.g., TRP 104). ¶ [0043]).
Even though, Nilsson teaches triggering the P-MPR report procedure for multiple beams based on the reduction of power, Nilsson doesn’t explicitly describe the limitations of “changes in P-MPR value”.
However, Jia discloses determining changes in P-MPR value (Jia: whether to increase target received power is determined according to a change of either of a selected SSB and a selected CSI-RS. ¶ [0012]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide determining changes in P-MPR value as taught by Jia to have incorporated in the system of Nilsson, so that it would provide a method of increasing the success rate of random access and reducing power consumption of the UE. Jia: ¶ [0012].
Regarding claim 13; Nilsson teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising limiting a number of measured beams for P-MPR based on one of: a L1-RSRP (See Figs. 3s, the UE 102 measuring RSRP for each of the directional beams (or “beams” for short) in the set of TRP beams 303 (using a fixed UE RX beam 301) and sending back to the TRP 104 the CSI-RS resource index(s) (CRI(s)) corresponding to the highest RSRP(s), where each CRI corresponds to one of the TRP TX beams 303. ¶ [0006]).
Regarding claim 21; Nilsson teaches an apparatus for a user equipment (UE), comprising: one or more baseband processors configured to cause the UE to:
transmit using multiple beams (See Fig. 4: the UE to use omni-directional beams. ¶ [0025]);
identify a power management maximum power reduction (P-MPR) reference based on one beam (See Fig. 7: the Step s702 comprises UE 502 determining a first power management level (P1) (e.g., an amount by which output power should be reduced, i.e., changes in P-MPR) for a first directional beam (e.g., beam b1), which points in a first direction. Step s704 comprises UE 502 determining a second power management level (P2) for a second directional beam (e.g., beam b3) pointing in a second direction. Note: the first/second power management levels could be analyzed as P-MPR reference under the BRI. ¶ [0035] – ¶ [0036]);
monitor the P-MPR reference for changes in a P-MPR value (See Fig. 9: a determining module 902 configured to determine a first power management level, P1, i.e., P-MPR value by which output power should be reduced, i.e., changes in P-MPR), for a first directional beam (e.g., b1, b2, or b4) pointing in a first direction and determine a second power management level, P2, i.e., P-MPR value for a second directional beam (e.g., b3) pointing in a second direction; ¶ [0043]); and
triggering a P-MPR report procedure for the multiple beams based on the changes in the power management value (See Fig. 7: @s706, UE 502 using P1 and P2 (i.e., triggering beam report using power reductions or changes based on P-MPR level) to generate a beam (e.g., beam report 501) having a first gain in the first direction and having a second gain in the second direction, wherein the first gain is a function of at least P1 and the second gain is a function of at least P2. ¶ [0037]) associated with the P-MPR reference (See Fig. 9: wherein the first gain is a function of at least P1 and the second gain is a function of at least P2; and a receiver module 906 configured to use the generated beam to receive downlink reference signals transmitted by a network node (e.g., TRP 104). ¶ [0043]).
Even though, Nilsson teaches triggering the P-MPR report procedure for multiple beams based on the reduction of power, Nilsson doesn’t explicitly describe using the term “changes in P-MPR value”.
However, Jia discloses determining changes in P-MPR value (Jia: whether to increase target received power is determined according to a change of either of a selected SSB and a selected CSI-RS. ¶ [0012]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide determining changes in P-MPR value as taught by Jia to have incorporated in the system of Nilsson, so that it would provide a method of increasing the success rate of random access and reducing power consumption of the UE. Jia: ¶ [0012].
Regarding claim 25; Nilsson teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to:
transmit using multiple beams (See Fig. 4: the UE to use omni-directional beams. ¶ [0025]);
identify a power management maximum power reduction (P-MPR) reference based on one beam (See Fig. 7: the Step s702 comprises UE 502 determining a first power management level (P1) (e.g., an amount by which output power should be reduced, i.e., changes in P-MPR) for a first directional beam (e.g., beam b1), which points in a first direction. Step s704 comprises UE 502 determining a second power management level (P2) for a second directional beam (e.g., beam b3) pointing in a second direction. Note: the first/second power management levels could be analyzed as P-MPR reference under the BRI. ¶ [0035] – ¶ [0036]);
monitor the P-MPR reference for changes in a P-MPR value (See Fig. 9: a determining module 902 configured to determine a first power management level, P1, i.e., P-MPR value by which output power should be reduced, i.e., changes in P-MPR), for a first directional beam (e.g., b1, b2, or b4) pointing in a first direction and determine a second power management level, P2, i.e., P-MPR value for a second directional beam (e.g., b3) pointing in a second direction; ¶ [0043]); and
triggering a P-MPR report procedure for the multiple beams based on the changes in the power management value (See Fig. 7: @s706, UE 502 using P1 and P2 (i.e., triggering beam report using power reductions or changes based on P-MPR level) to generate a beam (e.g., beam report 501) having a first gain in the first direction and having a second gain in the second direction, wherein the first gain is a function of at least P1 and the second gain is a function of at least P2. ¶ [0037]) associated with the P-MPR reference (See Fig. 9: wherein the first gain is a function of at least P1 and the second gain is a function of at least P2; and a receiver module 906 configured to use the generated beam to receive downlink reference signals transmitted by a network node (e.g., TRP 104). ¶ [0043]).
Even though, Nilsson teaches triggering the P-MPR report procedure for multiple beams based on the reduction of power, Nilsson doesn’t explicitly describe using the term “changes in P-MPR value”.
However, Jia discloses determining changes in P-MPR value (Jia: whether to increase target received power is determined according to a change of either of a selected SSB and a selected CSI-RS. ¶ [0012]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide determining changes in P-MPR value as taught by Jia to have incorporated in the system of Nilsson, so that it would provide a method of increasing the success rate of random access and reducing power consumption of the UE. Jia: ¶ [0012].
[Office’s Note: Because of the alternative claim language such as “at least one or more of…”, only one of the alternative limitations has been analyzed by the examiner].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-12, 22-24, and 26-27 are objected to as being dependent upon the rejected base claims but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Nishio et al. (US 2014/0177301 A1 to discuss the method of reception quality reporting).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAI AUNG whose telephone number is (571)272-3507. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday, Alt Fridays, 7:30 AM- 5:00 PM (EST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Noel Beharry can be reached on 571-270-5630. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SAI AUNG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416
Prosecution Insights