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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims 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.
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.
The factual inquiries 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 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ELSHAFIE et al. Publication No. (US 20240048188 A1) in view of ELSHAFIE et al. Publication No. (US 20240048188 A1).
Regarding claim 1, ELSHAFIE teaches a sending device in a communication system (BS 110a (e.g., gNB) FIG.3), comprising:
a receiving unit (RIS transceiver 1108 FIG.11 FIG.) configured to receive position information of a terminal (receiving one or more Reference Signals (RSs) reflected off a RIS from a UE 120. For example, the transmitter may send multiple beams of RSs. The RIS re-radiates the beams that are received by the receiver [0070-72] FIG.5); and
a control unit (RIS controller 1102 FIG.11 FIG.) configured to determine a first codeword in a first codebook and offset information according to the position information ( the receiver participates in training with a RIS controller and the transmitter, based on a codebook generated by the RIS controller and for applying different precoding to one or more RIS elements, the receiver transmits to the RIS controller, feedback based on the training, wherein the feedback corresponds to the different precoding applied to the one or more RIS elements [0072-74] FIG.5), wherein the first codeword indicates initial phases of at least some elements of a Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) (The RIS 290 may be reconfigured or controlled by a RIS controller 292. Each RIS element may re-radiate radio signals with certain phase or amplitude changes, such as phase shifts. The RIS controller 292 may reconfigure the phase or amplitude changes by applying a precoding weight to each RIS element to enable the RIS 290 to re-radiate an output beam at different directions given a particular input beam [0050-51] FIG.6), and the offset information indicates an offset relative to at least one of the at least some element, the initial phases, and a reference position of the RIS (the RIS may receive signal power from the transmitter (e.g., the BS 110a, UE 120a, or UE 120s) proportional to the number of RIS elements thereon. When the RIS reflects or refracts the radio signal, the RIS elements cause phase shifts to perform conventional beamforming or precoding. The phase shifts are controlled by precoding weights (e.g., a multiplier or an offset of time delay) applied to the RIS elements [0060-61] signaling, to at least the receiver, an index of DFT weights corresponding to a first RS; and generating a series of incremental indices, based on the signaled index of DFT weights, corresponding to other RSs, wherein the incremental indices are generated using an offset value between consecutive weights corresponding to consecutive RSs. [0141-143] FIG.6).
ELSHAFIE does not explicitly teach array elements.
Wang teaches array elements. (Wang: The RIS 318 of the APD 180 includes one or more configurable surface element(s) 320, such as configurable electromagnetic elements, configurable resonator elements, or configurable reflect array antenna elements, The RIS 318 can include array(s) of configurable surface element(s) 320, where an array can include any number of elements having any size [0050-51] FIG.5).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified ELSHAFIE to have array elements in order to support beamforming for the transmission and reception of communications with the base stations (Wang: [0038-40] FIG.7).
Regarding claim 2, the modified ELSHAFIE teaches the sending device of claim 1, wherein the position information includes information about a distance between the RIS and the terminal, and information about an angle of the terminal relative to the RIS (the APD manager 316 communicates a linear adjustment 336 along the X-axis, where the linear adjustment includes any combination of a direction, a velocity, and/or a distance of the adjustment. At times, the APD manager 316 communicates adjustments around the other axes as well, such as any combination of rotational adjustments 338 around the Y-axis 328, linear adjustments 340 along the Y-axis 328, rotational adjustments 342 around the Z-axis 330, and/or linear adjustments 344 along the Z-axis 330 [0055-58] FIG.3); the control unit is further configured to determine radii of a plurality of wave bands generated by the RIS based on the information about the distance (Wang: the APD 180 participates in the uplink and/or downlink communications between the base station 120 and the UE 110 by transforming waveforms using an RIS with a surface configuration determined by the base station 120. To illustrate, the signal ray 191 strikes the surface of the APD 180, labeled as RIS 406, and transforms into the signal ray 192, which is directed towards the UE 110 [0055-58] FIG.3), and determine the first codeword based on the determined radii; and the control unit is further configured to determine the offset information based on the information about the angle (ELSHAFIE: generating a series of incremental indices, based on the signaled index of DFT weights, corresponding to other RSs, wherein the incremental indices are generated using an offset value between consecutive weights corresponding to consecutive RSs [0123-124] FIG.7).
Regarding claim 3, ELSHAFIE teaches the sending device of claim 1, wherein the offset information includes a second codeword in a second codebook (The codebook generator 296 may generate codebooks 294 specific to incoming reference signals, such as the reference signals transmitted by a transmitter (either the BS 110 or the UE 120). The generated codebooks 294 may be stored in the RIS controller 292 for future use in conditions similar to when the codebooks 294 are generated [0050-51] FIG.6b).
Regarding claim 4, ELSHAFIE teaches the sending device of claim 3, wherein the second codebook is a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) codebook, and the offset information indicates an offset relative to the initial phases (the RIS controller generates a codebook for a RIS by computing weights using a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) function or a fractional Fourier transform (FrFT) function, based on reference signals (RSs) transmitted by a transmitter [0077-80] FIG.6B).
Regarding claim 5, ELSHAFIE teaches the sending device of claim 1, wherein the offset information includes an offset relative to at least some array elements (signaling, to at least the receiver, an index of DFT weights corresponding to a first RS; and generating a series of incremental indices, based on the signaled index of DFT weights, corresponding to other RSs, wherein the incremental indices are generated using an offset value between consecutive weights corresponding to consecutive RSs [0123-124] FIG.7).
Regarding claim 6, ELSHAFIE teaches the sending device of claim 1, wherein the sending device is a base station in the communication system, and the base station includes the RIS (FIG. 1, a user equipment (UE), such as the UE 120 (e.g., including the UEs 120a and 120s) in the wireless communication network 100 communicates with a serving base station (BS), such as the BS 110a in a cell 102a in the wireless communication network 100 [0032-33] FIG.1).
Regarding claim 7, ELSHAFIE teaches the sending device of claim 1, wherein the sending device is a Smart Repeater in the communication system, and the Smart Repeater includes the RIS (serving base station (BS), such as the BS 110a in a cell 102a in the wireless communication network 100 [0032-33] FIG.2).
Regarding claims 8-10, the independent claim and each dependent claim are related to the same limitation set for hereinabove in claims 1-7, where the difference used is the limitations were presented from a “terminal” side and the wordings of the claims were interchanged within the claim itself or some of the claims were presented as a combination of two or more previously presented limitations. This change does not affect the limitation of the above-mentioned claims. Adding these phrases to the claims and interchanging the wording did not introduce new limitations to these claims. Therefore, these claims were rejected for similar reasons as stated above.
Conclusion
When responding to this office action, Applicant is advised to clearly point out the patentable novelty which he or she thinks the claims present, in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made. He or she must also show how the amendments avoid such references or objections See 37 CFR 1.111 (c).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABDELNABI O MUSA whose telephone number is (571)270-1901, and email address is abdelnabi.musa@uspto.gov ‘preferred’. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9:00 am - 5:00 pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kevin Bates, can be reached on 571-2723980. 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.
/ABDELNABI O MUSA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472
Prosecution Insights