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
This communication is considered fully responsive to the amendment filed on 07/20/2026.
Claims 1, 17 and 20 have been amended.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the independent claims filed on 07/20/2026 have been considered but are moot because the arguments are related solely to newly added limitations addressed in the instant Office Action with previously identified prior art, thus rendering the applicant’s arguments moot.
Applicant’s contention that forwarding and reflection are “significantly different technologies” is not persuasive. Although a repeater and a RIS may use different physical mechanisms, Sahraei expressly identifies its RIS as a passive device configured to “forward or ‘reflect’” incoming wireless beams or signals in a selected direction. See [Sahraei, 0035]. Thus, Sahraei itself teaches that configurable RIS reflection is a known implementation for the signal-forwarding/directing function performed by Abedini’s repeater. The proposed combination therefore applies a know alternative technology to achieve the predictable results of controlled wireless-signal propagation, rather than relying on hindsight.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 11, 13, 17, 20, 30 and 32 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abedini et al. (US 2021/0298069, “Abedini”) in view of Sahraei et al. (US 2024/0106499, “Sahraei”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Abedini unless otherwise mentioned.
Abedini comprises the following features:
With respect to independent claims:
Regarding claim 1, a method performed by a reconfigurable intelligent surface, RIS, node, comprising:
communicating with a base station, BS, in a communication network, to attach to the BS, via an access procedure ([0100 and Fig. 6] “As shown by reference 604, the base station may transmit, and the repeater may receive, the access procedure configuration.”);
further communicating with the BS according to scheduling in the communication network, to receive a configuration from the BS ([0104 and Fig. 6] “As an example, as shown by reference 606, the repeater may receive a first signal associated with the access procedure from the base station”, and [0114] “the configuration information includes an indication of whether to forward signals in resources associated with at least one of: a set of SSBs, PDCCHs associated with scheduling remaining minimum system information associated with the set of SSBs, RACH messages associated with the set of SSBs, or PDCCHs associated with scheduling RACH responses for the RACH messages associated with the set of SSBs.”); and
changing at least one property of a surface to reflect wireless signals in the communication network (This will be discussed in view of Sahraei.), at least based on the configuration ([0104 and Fig. 6] “as shown by reference 608, may forward the first signal to the UE. The first signal may include, for example, a first SSB transmitted by the base station.” Step 608 in Fig. 6: “Forwarded access procedure signal (based at least in part on access procedure configuration and other access procedure information”).
It is noted that while disclosing configuring a repeater for initial procedures, Abedini does not specifically teach about reflecting signals. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Sahraei as follows;
changing at least one property of a surface to reflect wireless signals ([Sahraei, 0033] “the RIS may be configured with one or more planar reflecting elements that can change the phase of a signal incident thereon without changing the amplitude of the incident signal.”, and [Sahraei, 0083] “because the RIS 130 is already configured with the wide beam directed to the UE 120, the RIS 130 may reflect the PDCCH via the wide beam to the UE 120 in a second communication 806.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a PHOSITA to implement the wireless signal forwarding function of Abedini’s configured mmWave repeater using Sahraei’s known configurable RIS reflection technology. The modification amounts to using a known alternative signal-propagation implementation – RIS reflection – for the predictable purpose of forwarding / directing the configured access-procedure signals between the base station and the UE. The combination would predictably provide known benefits identified in Sahraei, including low-cost, time-efficient, and power-efficient extension of air-interface coverage, while preserving Abedini’s BS-controlled access procedure configuration framework.
Regarding claim 17, it is an apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim 1, except the limitations, “a processor” (See Fig. 10 for 1006 “Processor”), “a memory, the memory containing instructions” ([0139 and Fig. 10] “The components may be software modules running in the processor 1006, resident/stored in the computer-readable medium/memory 1008”), and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 20, it is a method claim at a BS corresponding to the method claim 1 in a reciprocal way, and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
With respect to dependent claims:
Regarding claim 11, the method according to claim 1,
wherein the configuration configures the RIS node to adjust a spatial degree of departure of a reflected wireless signal (This alternative is not examined.), or
wherein the access procedure comprises a Physical Random Access Channel, PRACH, procedure ([0089] “From the perspective of a base station, an initial access procedure includes periodically transmitting one or more SSBs and, for each SSB, periodically transmitting physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs) scheduling RMSI, transmitting physical downlink shared channel (PDSCHs) carrying the scheduled RMSI, and having RACH occasions for receiving RACH messages (e.g., RACH preambles).”).
Regarding claims 13 and 32, the method according to claim 1 and the method according to claim 20, respectively,
wherein the RIS node is designated by the BS as a RIS type, different from a regular UE type ([Sahraei, 0034] “The array of reflecting elements may be constructed of a metamaterial having physical properties (e.g., permittivity and permeability) engineered to perform a transformation on electromagnetic fields reflected from the RIS.”, and [Sahraei, 0035] “a RIS may behave like a passive metal mirror or wave modulator, and may be programmed to alter or change an incident wireless signal in a customizable way.”).
Regarding claim 30, the method according to claim 20, wherein the configuration configures the RIS node to adjust a spatial degree of departure of a reflected wireless signal ([Sahraei, 0033] “the RIS may be configured with one or more planar reflecting elements that can change the phase of a signal incident thereon without changing the amplitude of the incident signal.”).
Claim(s) 2-3, 5-7, 10, 21, 23 and 25 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abedini et al. (US 2021/0298069, “Abedini”) in view of Sahraei et al. (US 2024/0106499, “Sahraei”) and further in view of Li et al. (US 2021/0037486, “Li”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Abedini unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claims 2 and 21, it is noted that while disclosing configuring a repeater for initial procedures, Abedini does not specifically teach about measuring signals. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Li as follows;
the method according to claim 1 and the method according to claim 20, respectively, further comprising:
receiving an indication to perform a measurement on signals from at least one UE to the RIS node ([Li, 0121 and Fig. 5] “At 520, base station 505-a may transmit instructions to wireless repeater 550 to monitor for SSBs from base station 505-b.”, and [Li, 0122] “At 522, base station 505-b may transmit one or more SSBs, which may be received by wireless repeater 550.” Note that cited 505-a, Repeater and 505-b are equivalent to the claimed BS, RIS and UE, respectively.);
performing the measurement ([Li, 0122] “As such, at 525, wireless repeater 550 may detect the SSBs transmitted from base station 505-b at 522. In some cases, wireless repeater 550 may detect a set of properties associated with the SSBs of base station 505-b.”); and
reporting the measurement to the base station ([Li, 0123] “At 540, wireless repeater 550 may transmit, to base station 505-a, a report indicating the SSBs from the base station 505-b.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Abedini by using the features of Li in order to improve connections of a wireless repeater such that “The described techniques provide for configuring a wireless repeater to monitor for transmissions from multiple base stations, which may enable the wireless repeater to identify and transmit information for different base stations.” [Li, 0005].
Regarding claims 3 and 23, the method according to 2 and the method according to claim 21, respectively,
wherein the measurement is further on signals from at least one BS to the RIS node (This alternative is not examined.); and/or
wherein the measurement is about physical characteristics of the signals to be measured, including at least one of: a degree of arrival, DoA (This alternative is not examined.), a strength/power, a timing ([Li, 0122] “The set of properties may include, for example, an RSRP associated with the SSBs, or an ID of base station 505-b, or a time offset of signals received from base station 505-b”), or a period (This alternative is not examined.); and/or
wherein the measurement is further about quality of data carried by the signals to be measured, including at least one of: bit error rate, BER, block error rate, BLER, a result of Cyclic Redundancy Check, CRC, a channel quality indicator, CQI, a beam index of reference signals and relevant strengths, or a Precoding Matrix Indicator, PMI (This alternative is not examined.).
Regarding claim 5, the method according to claim 3, further comprising:
analyzing pairs of transmitter and receiver, based on the measurement about the physical characteristics ([Li, 0123] “Wireless repeater 550 may transmit the report in a portion of the bandwidth used to receive SSBs from base station 505-a or a portion of the bandwidth different from the bandwidth used to receive SSBs from base station 505-a.”).
Regarding claim 6, the method according to claim 2, wherein the indication specifies a UE, an uplink channel or a downlink channel, a time domain allocation, and/or a frequency domain allocation, relating to the signals to be measured ([Li, 0121] “The instructions may include an indication of a monitoring time interval for wireless repeater 550 to monitor for SSBs.”).
Regarding claim 7, the method according to claim 6, wherein the indication further specifies physical layer information of the signals to be measured, including at least one of: information about a scramble ID, information about transmission block size, or information about reference signals (See aforesaid [Li, 0121] “SSBs”).
Regarding claim 10, the method according to claim 2, wherein the configuration is determined by the base station, based at least on the measurement ([0094] “As shown in FIG. 6 by reference 602, the base station may determine configuration information associated with configuring involvement of the repeater in an access procedure when forwarding a signal (e.g., to/from the UE).”).
Regarding claim 25, the method according to claim 21, wherein the indication specifies a UE, an uplink channel or a downlink channel, a time domain allocation, and/or a frequency domain allocation, relating to the signals to be measured ([Li, 0121] “The instructions may include an indication of a monitoring time interval for wireless repeater 550 to monitor for SSBs.”); and/or
wherein the indication specifies physical layer information of the signals to be measured, including at least one of: information about a scramble ID, information about transmission block size, or information about reference signals (This alternative is not examined.).
Claim(s) 8 and 27 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abedini et al. (US 2021/0298069, “Abedini”) in view of Sahraei et al. (US 2024/0106499, “Sahraei”) and Li et al. (US 2021/0037486, “Li”), and further in view of Zhang et al. (US 2024/0388946, “Zhang”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Abedini unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claims 8 and 27, it is noted that while disclosing configuring a repeater for initial procedures, Abedini does not specifically teach about an instruction and a report via a MAC CE. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Zhang as follows;
the method according to claim 2 and the method according to claim 21, respectively,
wherein the indication is transmitted via radio resource control, RRC, signaling and the measurement is reported via a measurement report at media access control, MAC, or via RRC signaling (This alternative is not examined.), or
wherein the indication is transmitted via MAC control element, CE and the measurement is reported via MAC CE ([Zhang, 0118] “the base station may instruct the user equipment to perform measurement and reporting by using a newly added MAC control element (MAC CE), so that the user equipment receiving the instruction may report its measurement result (including information of a current height and the like) through the corresponding newly added MAC CE.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Abedini by using the features of Zhang in order to effectively measure LoS signals with interfering signals such that “to provide a scheme for determining, configuring, and updating one or more height thresholds for UAV communications” [Li, 0005].
Claim(s) 14 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abedini et al. (US 2021/0298069, “Abedini”) in view of Sahraei et al. (US 2024/0106499, “Sahraei”) and further in view of Wang et al. (US 2023/0370931, “Wang”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Abedini unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claim 14, it is noted that while disclosing configuring a repeater for initial procedures, Abedini does not specifically teach about giving access of the RIS to a target BS. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Wang as follows;
the method according to claim 1, wherein the RIS node attaches to another BS in a communication network, via a handover procedure ([Wang, 0076] “the (source) base station 121 communicates an APD identifier and/or a surface configuration to the (target) base station 122 through the interface 106. The (target) base station 122 analyzes the APD information to (a) determine whether to use the identified APD when exchanging wireless signals with the UE participating in the handover”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Abedini by using the features of Wang in order to improve performance of data capacity such that “This document describes techniques and apparatuses for using adaptive phase-changing device sharing and handover.” [Wang, 0002].
Claim(s) 15 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abedini et al. (US 2021/0298069, “Abedini”) in view of Sahraei et al. (US 2024/0106499, “Sahraei”) and further in view of Bloy (US 2025/0062530).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Abedini unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claim 15, it is noted that while disclosing configuring a repeater for initial procedures, Abedini does not specifically teach about two frequency bands operated in the RIS. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Bloy as follows;
the method according to claim 1,
wherein the RIS node communicates with the base station via a first type of radio air-interface ([claim 14] “the steerable phased array antenna includes a first array of antenna elements dimensioned for operation in the first radio frequency band”);
wherein the RIS node reflects wireless signals via a second type of radio air-interface ([claim 14] “a second array of antenna elements dimensioned for operation in the second radio frequency band.”); and
wherein the first type of radio air-interface and the second type of radio air-interface occupy a same or different radio frequency band (See above “first radio frequency band” and “second radio frequency band”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Abedini by using the features of Bloy in order to effectively measure signals for source acquisition such that “A dual band radio frequency signal acquisition and source location system, provided with a steerable phased array antenna operable in a first and a second radio frequency band.” [Bloy, Abstract].
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 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Harry H. Kim whose telephone number and email address are as follows; 571-272-5009, harry.kim2@uspto.gov.
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/HARRY H KIM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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