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 .
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed 05/26/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-16 are pending in the application. Claims 1, 8-10, 12-13 and 16 are amended and claim 17 is cancelled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to independent claim(s) 1 are moot based on new grounds of rejection where DePasquale (US20110080970A1) still discloses the claimed features of the independent claims 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1 - 20 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1 and 16 recites the limitation " wherein the circular polarization of the electromagnetic waves comprises left-circular (L-CIR-POL) and/or right-circular and (R- CIR-POL) polarization components of the circular polarization for supporting two independent data streams or a single data stream using polarization diversity” which is unclear thus making the claim indefinite.
Claims 2-15 also rejected because the depend on rejected claim 1
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7-8 and 10-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Tarighat (US20200358518A1) in view of DePasquale (US20110080970A1).
Regarding claim 1 Tarighat discloses: A method of supporting a wireless transmission from a transmitter device via a coverage enhancing device to a receiver device (Para 0021: “Certain embodiments of the disclosure may be found in a repeater system and method for high-performance communication, for example, data communication. The repeater system and method of the present disclosure not only improves data transfer rates between at least two network nodes as compared to existing wireless communication systems (e.g. a cellular network or other wireless networks), but also enables almost near zero latency communication and an always-connected experience. The repeater system may deploy a plurality of repeater devices, which may be configured to perform distributed multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) operations, and enhance the wireless communication capacity, coverage, and reliability between a source network node and a destination network node, for high-performance communication. In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown, by way of illustration, various embodiments of the present disclosure.”), the coverage enhancing device being reconfigurable to provide multiple spatial filters by applying, at multiple antenna elements, one or more phase shifts to electromagnetic waves of signals of the wireless transmission (Para 0040: “ In some embodiments, the receiving antenna array (e.g. the first receiving antenna array 104A or the second receiving antenna array 106A) and transmitting antenna array (e.g. the first transmitting antenna array 1048 or the second transmitting antenna array 1068) inside a repeater device (e.g. the first repeater device 104 or the second repeater device 106) operate at the same carrier RF frequency. In this case, no frequency shift is applied/observed between the incoming signal compared to the outgoing signal. In some embodiments, the carrier RF frequency of incoming and outgoing signals may be different. This embodiment may be utilized, for 1) better utilization of spectral channels, 2) better overall frequency planning in network, 3) better isolation between the two antenna arrays inside the repeater device operating at same time/channel. In some embodiments, the antenna arrays in a repeater device of the repeater system 102 may deploy classic phase shifters per antenna element to create configurable or programmable antenna radiation patterns. In some embodiments, the antenna arrays may be implemented by other means of creating programmable phase shifts in RF signals per group of radiating elements of a given antenna array. In some embodiments, digital domain computations (e.g. complex multipliers (certain amplitude and certain phase of a signal) or true delay line implementations per radiating element may be deployed to produce directional and/or configurable radiation patterns.”), each one of the multiple antenna elements of the coverage enhancing device being associated with a respective one of two orthogonal polarization components of a polarization of the electromagnetic waves (Para 0055: “In accordance with an embodiment, one or more implementations may be jointly or separately supported by the communication system 300. For example, in a first implementation, all beams and data streams (e.g. streams S11, S12, S21, and S22 carried by different beams of RF signals) shown in the FIG. 3, may be transported over the same antenna radiation polarity (e.g. all transmitted over vertical polarization, or all transmitted over horizontal, or all transmitted over circular polarization). In a second implementation, a subset of beams (and streams) shown in the FIG. 3, may be transported over H polarization, while another subset may be transported over V polarization. Additionally, in some embodiments, the subset of beams in a certain polarization may differ between nodes (i.e. the source network node 308 and the destination network node 310) and the repeater devices 304 and 306. This enables additional configurability, where a stream may be transmitted on a certain polarization type, while being re-transmitted by a repeater device (e.g. the repeater devices 304 or the repeater device 306) of the repeater system 302 on a different polarization type.”), wherein the method comprises: configuring the coverage enhancing device to activate at least one predefined spatial filter of the multiple spatial filters (Para 0041: “In accordance with an embodiment, the repeater system 102 may be configured to perform beam pattern configuration. Each antenna array (either transmitting or receiving) within a repeater device (e.g. the first repeater device 104 or the second repeater device 106) may be further configured to select and form a radiation pattern from a plurality of possible beam patterns. In the case of concurrent multi-beam mode of operation, each beam can be configured independently. Several approach may be used for selecting the beam configurations for various links in/out of each repeater device of the repeater system 102. In a first approach, a localized beam configuration selection may be employed, in which a repeater device (e.g. the first repeater device 104 or the second repeater device 106) may implement operations self-contained within the repeater device to determine what beam configurations to use. For example, the first repeater device 104 may be configured to measure SNR or received signal power to select the best beam configuration when receiving a signal from the source device, such as the first network node 108.”), and upon configuring the coverage enhancing device to activate the at least one predefined spatial filter, configuring the transmitter device to transmit the signals using a circular polarization of the electromagnetic waves (Para 0055: “In accordance with an embodiment, one or more implementations may be jointly or separately supported by the communication system 300. For example, in a first implementation, all beams and data streams (e.g. streams S11, S12, S21, and S22 carried by different beams of RF signals) shown in the FIG. 3, may be transported over the same antenna radiation polarity (e.g. all transmitted over vertical polarization, or all transmitted over horizontal, or all transmitted over circular polarization). In a second implementation, a subset of beams (and streams) shown in the FIG. 3, may be transported over H polarization, while another subset may be transported over V polarization. Additionally, in some embodiments, the subset of beams in a certain polarization may differ between nodes (i.e. the source network node 308 and the destination network node 310) and the repeater devices 304 and 306. This enables additional configurability, where a stream may be transmitted on a certain polarization type, while being re-transmitted by a repeater device (e.g. the repeater devices 304 or the repeater device 306) of the repeater system 302 on a different polarization type.”).
Tarighat does not teach “wherein the circular polarization of the electromagnetic waves comprises left-circular (L-CIR-POL) and/or right-circular and (R- CIR-POL) polarization components of the circular polarization for supporting two independent data streams or a single data stream using polarization diversity”.
However, DePasquale in the analogous arts teaches: wherein the circular polarization of the electromagnetic waves comprises left-circular (L-CIR-POL) and/or right-circular and (R- CIR-POL) polarization components of the circular polarization for supporting two independent data streams or a single data stream using polarization diversity (Para 0012: “The disclosed method comprises: [0013] Allocating in the first signal the traffic of non MIMO user Equipments (e.g. non MIMO HSDPA, Release 99, CCH), the first MIMO data stream and the primary pilot channel. [0014] Allocating in the second signal the second MIMO data stream and the secondary pilot channel. [0015] transmitting the first signal using a first circular polarization (Left Handed Circular LHC or Right Handed Circular RHC); [0016] transmitting the second signal using a second circular polarization which is orthogonal to the first circular polarization (Right Handed Circular RHC or Left Handed Circular LHC).”).
It would have been obvious to someone in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tarighat with DePasquale to incorporate the feature of: wherein the circular polarization of the electromagnetic waves comprises left-circular (L-CIR-POL) and/or right-circular and (R- CIR-POL) polarization components of the circular polarization for supporting two independent data streams or a single data stream using polarization diversity. Tarighat and DePasquale are all considered analogous arts as they all disclose methods for signal transmission in communication networks. However, Tarighat fails to disclose a feature of signal transmission with using different polarizations. This feature is disclosed by DePasquale. It would have been obvious to someone in the art prior to the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Tarighat with DePasquale to incorporate the feature of: wherein the circular polarization of the electromagnetic waves comprises left-circular (L-CIR-POL) and/or right-circular and (R- CIR-POL) polarization components of the circular polarization for supporting two independent data streams or a single data stream using polarization diversity as such a feature would increase the efficiency of the system.
Claim 16 recites limitations that are similar to those of claim 1, therefore claim 16 is rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claim 2 the combination of Tarighat and DePasquale discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Tarighat further teaches: wherein the at least one predefined spatial filter is labeled, in a respective filter codebook (Para 0041: “In accordance with an embodiment, the repeater system 102 may be configured to perform beam pattern configuration. Each antenna array (either transmitting or receiving) within a repeater device (e.g. the first repeater device 104 or the second repeater device 106) may be further configured to select and form a radiation pattern from a plurality of possible beam patterns. In the case of concurrent multi-beam mode of operation, each beam can be configured independently. Several approach may be used for selecting the beam configurations for various links in/out of each repeater device of the repeater system 102. In a first approach, a localized beam configuration selection may be employed, in which a repeater device (e.g. the first repeater device 104 or the second repeater device 106) may implement operations self-contained within the repeater device to determine what beam configurations to use. “), as defining an output beam having a wide beamwidth (Para 0071: “In some embodiments, the repeater device 604 (i.e. the repeater #1) may be further configured to communicate, by use of a transmitting antenna array, wide beams to transmit signals towards the destination network nodes 310 and 606 (nodes B and B′). In this case, the wide beam radiation pattern at output of the repeater device 604 may concurrently provide signal coverage at both the destination network nodes 310 and 606. In this case, a single radiation beam may be sufficient to cover multiple destination nodes (nodes B and B′). In accordance with an embodiment, the plurality of signal parameters (i.e. the complex coefficients) may be selected in the repeater device 604 to adjust a relative power of signals being transported towards the destination network nodes 310 and 606 (nodes B and B′). “).
Regarding claim 3 the combination of Tarighat and DePasquale discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Tarighat further teaches: wherein the at least one predefined spatial filter has a dual-polarization radiation pattern (Para 0055: “In accordance with an embodiment, one or more implementations may be jointly or separately supported by the communication system 300. For example, in a first implementation, all beams and data streams (e.g. streams S11, S12, S21, and S22 carried by different beams of RF signals) shown in the FIG. 3, may be transported over the same antenna radiation polarity (e.g. all transmitted over vertical polarization, or all transmitted over horizontal, or all transmitted over circular polarization). In a second implementation, a subset of beams (and streams) shown in the FIG. 3, may be transported over H polarization, while another subset may be transported over V polarization. Additionally, in some embodiments, the subset of beams in a certain polarization may differ between nodes (i.e. the source network node 308 and the destination network node 310) and the repeater devices 304 and 306. This enables additional configurability, where a stream may be transmitted on a certain polarization type, while being re-transmitted by a repeater device (e.g. the repeater devices 304 or the repeater device 306) of the repeater system 302 on a different polarization type.”).
Regarding claim 4 the combination of Tarighat and DePasquale discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Tarighat further teaches: wherein the at least one predefined spatial filter provides, for a given output direction, different gains to the two orthogonal polarization components of the circular polarization of the electromagnetic waves of the transmitted signals (Para 0056: “In a third implementation, additional cross-coefficients (i.e. the plurality of signal parameters) may be implemented and utilized in following approaches. In a first approach (a), such plurality of signal parameters (e.g. complex value parameters of gain/phase) may use the expression: a.sub.11*exp(j*phi.sub.11). Each repeater device (such as repeater devices 304 and 306) may include different values for these signal parameters. In some embodiments, 8 total complex coefficients (4 coefficients per repeater device in the repeater system 302, in this example), may be derived and selected to: 1) optimize MIMO capacity of the MIMO channel from [S11 S12; S21 S22] to [R11 R12; R21 R22]. In this embodiment, these complex coefficients to maximize the sum of eigenvalues of the 4×4 MIMO channel matrix. 2) Optimize effective SNR for some or all of streams S11_0, S12_0, S21_0, S22_0. In this case, the destination network node 310 (i.e. target) may maximize link robustness and SNR margin.”).
Regarding claim 5 the combination of Tarighat and DePasquale discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Tarighat further teaches: wherein the at least one predefined spatial filter is associated with operating the coverage enhancing device in at least one of a beam-sweeping mode, a beam-acquisition mode, or a broadcasting mode (Para 0043: “In a third approach, a network level beam configuration selection may be performed, in which a master network node (e.g. a base station in the case of a cellular network, or a server in the cloud network) may be configured to acquire various information elements from the various network nodes in the network, and use all such data to select the beam configurations for different nodes and repeater devices of the repeater system 102 in the network. For example, the first network node 108 (i.e. node A) may be configured to acquire measurement data from the first repeater device 104, the second repeater device 106, and the second network node 110 (i.e. node B), and other possible destination nodes in the network. Thereafter, the first network node 108 (i.e. node A) may be configured to process all acquired measurements jointly, and instruct the network nodes and the repeaters devices of the repeater system 102 in the network to use the selected beam configurations, respectively.”).
Regarding claim 7 the combination of Tarighat and DePasquale discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Tarighat further teaches: wherein said configuring of the coverage enhancing device comprises at least one of providing, to the coverage enhancing device, an indicator indicative of the at least one predefined spatial filter on a control link between the coverage enhancing device and at least one of the transmitter device or the receiver device, or adjusting settings of the multiple antenna elements at the coverage enhancing device (Para 0043: “In a third approach, a network level beam configuration selection may be performed, in which a master network node (e.g. a base station in the case of a cellular network, or a server in the cloud network) may be configured to acquire various information elements from the various network nodes in the network, and use all such data to select the beam configurations for different nodes and repeater devices of the repeater system 102 in the network.”).
Regarding claim 8 the combination of Tarighat and DePasquale discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Tarighat further teaches: wherein: a base station of a cellular network implements the receiver device (Para 0025: “The second network node 110 (e.g. Node B) refers to a destination network node. Examples of the second network node 110 may include, but is not limited to, a smartphone, a customer-premises equipment (CPE), a wireless modem, a user equipment, a virtual reality (VR) headset, an augmented reality (AR) device, an in-vehicle device, a home router, a cable or satellite television set-top box, a VoIP base station, or any other customized hardware for telecommunication.”); a wireless communication device connected to the cellular network implements the transmitter device (Para 0024: “The first network node 108 (e.g. Node A) refers to a source network node. Examples of the first network node 108 may include, but is not limited to, a base station (e.g. an Evolved Node B (eNB) or gNB), a small cell, a remote radio unit (RRU), or other network nodes or communication device provided in a network.”); and said configuring of the coverage enhancing device comprises providing, by the base station and to the coverage enhancing device, an indicator indicative of the at least one predefined spatial filter on a control link between the coverage enhancing device and the base station (Para 0043: “In a third approach, a network level beam configuration selection may be performed, in which a master network node (e.g. a base station in the case of a cellular network, or a server in the cloud network) may be configured to acquire various information elements from the various network nodes in the network, and use all such data to select the beam configurations for different nodes and repeater devices of the repeater system 102 in the network. For example, the first network node 108 (i.e. node A) may be configured to acquire measurement data from the first repeater device 104, the second repeater device 106, and the second network node 110 (i.e. node B), and other possible destination nodes in the network. Thereafter, the first network node 108 (i.e. node A) may be configured to process all acquired measurements jointly, and instruct the network nodes and the repeaters devices of the repeater system 102 in the network to use the selected beam configurations, respectively.”).
Regarding claim 10 the combination of Tarighat and DePasquale discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Tarighat further teaches: further comprising: upon configuring the coverage enhancing device to activate the at least one predefined spatial filter (Para 0054: “In this embodiment, a plurality of nodes (e.g., the source network node 308, (i.e. node A), the destination network node 310 (i.e. node B), the repeater device 304 (i.e. repeater #1), and the repeater device 306 (i.e. repeater #2)) may deploy multiple physical antenna arrays to expand on their MIMO processing capabilities, as shown in FIG. 3. In this case, the physically separated (i.e. distinguished) antenna arrays may be deployed for transmitting multiple streams. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, each antenna array may be configured to transmit two data streams through two different beams, and a total four streams are transmitted by the source network node 308, (i.e. node A).”), configuring the transmitter device to transmit the signals using a single data stream for the two orthogonal polarization components of the circular polarization (Para 0055: “In accordance with an embodiment, one or more implementations may be jointly or separately supported by the communication system 300. For example, in a first implementation, all beams and data streams (e.g. streams S11, S12, S21, and S22 carried by different beams of RF signals) shown in the FIG. 3, may be transported over the same antenna radiation polarity (e.g. all transmitted over vertical polarization, or all transmitted over horizontal, or all transmitted over circular polarization). In a second implementation, a subset of beams (and streams) shown in the FIG. 3, may be transported over H polarization, while another subset may be transported over V polarization. Additionally, in some embodiments, the subset of beams in a certain polarization may differ between nodes (i.e. the source network node 308 and the destination network node 310) and the repeater devices 304 and 306. This enables additional configurability, where a stream may be transmitted on a certain polarization type, while being re-transmitted by a repeater device (e.g. the repeater devices 304 or the repeater device 306) of the repeater system 302 on a different polarization type.”).
Regarding claim 11 the combination of Tarighat and DePasquale discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Tarighat further teaches: wherein said configuring of the transmitter device comprises at least one of providing a respective control message to the transmitter device on a control link between the transmitter device and at least one of the coverage enhancing device or the receiver device, or adjusting precoding settings of multiple further antenna elements of the transmitter device (Figure 3; Para 0066: “In accordance with an embodiment, the source network node 308 (i.e. node A) may be configured to utilize different coding methods for generating data streams S11 and S12. Such coding schemes for generating the data streams S11 and S22 may include, but is not limited to, spatial multiplexing, spatial diversity, or MIMO coding, or variations thereof (described for example, in FIG. 1). In some embodiments, the repeater device 504 (i.e. the repeater #1) may implement at least one configuration: 1) a single array, single beam, 2) single array, multi-beam, 3) multi beams over different polarizations, 4) two physically separated arrays, each array with single/multiple beams.”).
Regarding claim 12 the combination of Tarighat and DePasquale discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Tarighat further teaches: a base station of a cellular network implements the receiver device (Para 0025: “The second network node 110 (e.g. Node B) refers to a destination network node. Examples of the second network node 110 may include, but is not limited to, a smartphone, a customer-premises equipment (CPE), a wireless modem, a user equipment, a virtual reality (VR) headset, an augmented reality (AR) device, an in-vehicle device, a home router, a cable or satellite television set-top box, a VoIP base station, or any other customized hardware for telecommunication.”); a wireless communication device connected to the cellular network implements the transmitter device (Para 0024: “The first network node 108 (e.g. Node A) refers to a source network node. Examples of the first network node 108 may include, but is not limited to, a base station (e.g. an Evolved Node B (eNB) or gNB), a small cell, a remote radio unit (RRU), or other network nodes or communication device provided in a network.”); and said configuring of the transmitter device comprises providing, from the base station to the wireless communication device, a respective control message on a control link between the base station and the wireless communication device (Para 0043: “In a third approach, a network level beam configuration selection may be performed, in which a master network node (e.g. a base station in the case of a cellular network, or a server in the cloud network) may be configured to acquire various information elements from the various network nodes in the network, and use all such data to select the beam configurations for different nodes and repeater devices of the repeater system 102 in the network. For example, the first network node 108 (i.e. node A) may be configured to acquire measurement data from the first repeater device 104, the second repeater device 106, and the second network node 110 (i.e. node B), and other possible destination nodes in the network. Thereafter, the first network node 108 (i.e. node A) may be configured to process all acquired measurements jointly, and instruct the network nodes and the repeaters devices of the repeater system 102 in the network to use the selected beam configurations, respectively.”).
Regarding claim 13 the combination of Tarighat and DePasquale discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Tarighat further teaches: wherein the method further comprises: after configuring the coverage enhancing device to activate the at least one predefined spatial filter (Para 0043: “In a third approach, a network level beam configuration selection may be performed, in which a master network node (e.g. a base station in the case of a cellular network, or a server in the cloud network) may be configured to acquire various information elements from the various network nodes in the network, and use all such data to select the beam configurations for different nodes and repeater devices of the repeater system 102 in the network. For example, the first network node 108 (i.e. node A) may be configured to acquire measurement data from the first repeater device 104, the second repeater device 106, and the second network node 110 (i.e. node B), and other possible destination nodes in the network. “), configuring the coverage enhancing device to activate at least one further predefined spatial filter of the multiple spatial filters (Para 0043: “In a third approach, a network level beam configuration selection may be performed, in which a master network node (e.g. a base station in the case of a cellular network, or a server in the cloud network) may be configured to acquire various information elements from the various network nodes in the network, and use all such data to select the beam configurations for different nodes and repeater devices of the repeater system 102 in the network. For example, the first network node 108 (i.e. node A) may be configured to acquire measurement data from the first repeater device 104, the second repeater device 106, and the second network node 110 (i.e. node B), and other possible destination nodes in the network. Thereafter, the first network node 108 (i.e. node A) may be configured to process all acquired measurements jointly, and instruct the network nodes and the repeaters devices of the repeater system 102 in the network to use the selected beam configurations, respectively.”), and upon configuring the coverage enhancing device to activate the at least one further predefined spatial filter, configuring the transmitter device to transmit the signals using multiple data streams for two orthogonal polarization components of the polarization of the electromagnetic waves (Para 0055: “ In accordance with an embodiment, one or more implementations may be jointly or separately supported by the communication system 300. For example, in a first implementation, all beams and data streams (e.g. streams S11, S12, S21, and S22 carried by different beams of RF signals) shown in the FIG. 3, may be transported over the same antenna radiation polarity (e.g. all transmitted over vertical polarization, or all transmitted over horizontal, or all transmitted over circular polarization). In a second implementation, a subset of beams (and streams) shown in the FIG. 3, may be transported over H polarization, while another subset may be transported over V polarization. Additionally, in some embodiments, the subset of beams in a certain polarization may differ between nodes (i.e. the source network node 308 and the destination network node 310) and the repeater devices 304 and 306. This enables additional configurability, where a stream may be transmitted on a certain polarization type, while being re-transmitted by a repeater device (e.g. the repeater devices 304 or the repeater device 306) of the repeater system 302 on a different polarization type.”).
Regarding claim 14 the combination of Tarighat and DePasquale discloses all the limitations of claim 12. Tarighat further teaches: wherein the at least one further spatial filter is associated with operating the coverage enhancing device in a closed-loop beam tracking mode (Para 0043: “ In a third approach, a network level beam configuration selection may be performed, in which a master network node (e.g. a base station in the case of a cellular network, or a server in the cloud network) may be configured to acquire various information elements from the various network nodes in the network, and use all such data to select the beam configurations for different nodes and repeater devices of the repeater system 102 in the network. For example, the first network node 108 (i.e. node A) may be configured to acquire measurement data from the first repeater device 104, the second repeater device 106, and the second network node 110 (i.e. node B), and other possible destination nodes in the network. Thereafter, the first network node 108 (i.e. node A) may be configured to process all acquired measurements jointly, and instruct the network nodes and the repeaters devices of the repeater system 102 in the network to use the selected beam configurations, respectively.”).
Regarding claim 15 the combination of Tarighat and DePasquale discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Tarighat further teaches: wherein the method is implemented by at least one of the transmitted device, the receiver device, or the coverage enhancing device (Para 0079: “These criteria (measurements) from all repeater devices installed on the vehicle 802 may be then processed and analyzed jointly, to identify the optimal subset of repeater devices to be activated/ON. In some embodiments, such measurements may be sent to the ECU (i.e. the processor system) hosted on the vehicle 802 to perform the selection of a suitable repeater device. In some other embodiments, such selection process may be performed on one the first repeater device 104 or the second repeater device 106 (designated as master repeater device), or at the second network node 110 (node B), or at a remote server on the network (e.g. a cloud server). In some embodiments, the selection operation may keep only one repeater active at a time (i.e., select the best repeater with best link quality to the node B).”).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Tarighat (US20200358518A1) in view of DePasquale (US20110080970A1) and further in view of Bengeult (CN1223195C).
Regarding claim 6 the combination of Tarighat and DePasquale discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Tarighat does not “wherein the at least one predefined spatial filter is associated with not operating the coverage enhancing device in a closed-loop beam tracking mode “.
However, Bengeult in the analogous arts teaches: wherein the at least one predefined spatial filter is associated with not operating the coverage enhancing device in a closed-loop beam tracking mode (Description: “receiving antenna 82 may implement a closed-loop tracking system, to align the antenna beam or based on the amplitude of the received signal to adjust polarization of the antenna. the transmitting antenna 74 to the receiving antenna 82 pointing and polarization. the other one can be chosen executive plan is using an open-loop tracking method, IRU (Inertial Reference Unit, inertial reference unit with the on-board) the method and according to the position and height of the mobile platform and the satellite 18 position to determine the pointing and polarization antenna.”).
It would have been obvious to someone in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tarighat with Bengeult to incorporate the feature of: wherein the at least one predefined spatial filter is associated with not operating the coverage enhancing device in a closed-loop beam tracking mode. Tarighat and Bengeult are all considered analogous arts as they all disclose methods for enhancing signals in communication networks. However, Tarighat fails to disclose a feature of sending and receiving a capability message. This feature is disclosed by Bengeult. It would have been obvious to someone in the art prior to the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Tarighat with Bengeult to incorporate the feature of: wherein the at least one predefined spatial filter is associated with not operating the coverage enhancing device in a closed-loop beam tracking mode as such a feature would increase the efficiency of the system.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Tarighat (US20200358518A1) in view of DePasquale (US20110080970A1) and further in view of Raghavan (US20210351830).
Regarding claim 9 the combination of Tarighat and DePasquale discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Tarighat does not teach “obtaining, from the coverage enhancing device and on a control link, a capability message indicative of a capability of the coverage enhancing device to activate the at least one predefined spatial filter “.
However, Raghavan in the analogous arts teaches: obtaining, from the coverage enhancing device and on a control link, a capability message indicative of a capability of the coverage enhancing device to activate the at least one predefined spatial filter (Para 0030: “After determining (e.g., identifying) the subset of antenna elements, the UE transmits to the network entity a message that indicates that the subset of antenna elements is to be used to communicate in the second communication direction. In some implementations, indication of the subset of antenna elements is included in the message. Alternatively, the message may indicate that a different antenna array is used in the second communication direction than in the first communication direction, and the message may not indicate a lack of beam correspondence between the first communication direction and the second communication direction, or may indicate a mixed-mode beam correspondence between the first communication direction and the second communication direction. For example, the message may include a multi-bit field, such as a UE capability field, that indicates a state that is different than a state corresponding to a lack of beam correspondence (e.g., no beam correspondence) and a state that corresponds to beam correspondence (e.g., full beam correspondence).”).
It would have been obvious to someone in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tarighat with Raghavan to incorporate the feature of: obtaining, from the coverage enhancing device and on a control link, a capability message indicative of a capability of the coverage enhancing device to activate the at least one predefined spatial filter. Tarighat and Raghavan are all considered analogous arts as they all disclose methods for enhancing signals in communication networks. However, Tarighat fails to disclose a feature of sending and receiving a capability message. This feature is disclosed by Raghavan. It would have been obvious to someone in the art prior to the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Tarighat with Raghavan to incorporate the feature of: obtaining, from the coverage enhancing device and on a control link, a capability message indicative of a capability of the coverage enhancing device to activate the at least one predefined spatial filter as such a feature would increase the efficiency of the system.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 extension fee 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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/BONGANI JABULANI MASHELE/Examiner, Art Unit 3648
/TIMOTHY A BRAINARD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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