DETAILED ACTION
This communication is response to the application filed 05/31/2024. Claims 1-30 are pending and presented for examination. Preliminary amendment to the specification submitted on 05/31/2024 is acknowledged and entered.
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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05/31/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO 2020/236665 to IDAC Holdings, INC. (hereafter IDAC), see IDS dated 05/31/2024.
Regarding claim 1, IDAC discloses a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication (see IDAC, Fig 1A and Fig 1B; ¶ 0004: FIG. 1A is a system diagram illustrating an example communications system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented; ¶ 0005: FIG. 1 B is a system diagram illustrating an example wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A according to an embodiment), comprising:
a memory; and one or more processors, coupled to the memory (see IDAC, ¶ 0048: The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to, and may receive user input data from, the speaker/microphone 124, the keypad 126, and/or the display/touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit or organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit). The processor 118 may also output user data to the speaker/microphone 124, the keypad 126, and/or the display/touchpad 128. In addition, the processor 118 may access information from, and store data in, any type of suitable memory, such as the non-removable memory 130 and/or the removable memory 132. The non removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card, and the like. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may access information from, and store data in, memory that is not physically located on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or a home computer), configured to:
receive an indication of one or more parameters for transmission of an indication of a power profile of the UE; and transmit, based at least in part on the one or more parameters, the indication of the power profile of the UE for configuring a donor device for energy harvesting (see IDAC, ¶ 0119: The introduction of the EH feature with dedicated resource allocation might necessitate the introduction of control signaling in the form of RRC, MAC, and/or L1 signaling between eNBs and the network to maximize the benefits from the EH feature. An EH device may use one or more of the following information/messages to communicate with the network (e.g., an eNB or a gNB); a) A message requesting a minimum of Eh Joules to be transferred within a certain period T. b) A message defining/reporting the EH device harvesting capability/parameters, e.g., the minimum and/or maximum harvesting bandwidth, RF-to-energy conversion efficiency, and/or waveforms supported; ¶ 0111: An eNB may select the set of RBs for energy harvesting, configure the EH signal transmission schedule, and design the EH signal waveform such that it can efficiently exploit the currently configured DL synchronization and/or reference signals).
Regarding claim 2, IDAC discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein the indication of one or more parameters comprises a selection of a set of parameters from multiple candidate sets of parameters (see IDAC, ¶ 0119: The introduction of the EH feature with dedicated resource allocation might necessitate the introduction of control signaling in the form of RRC, MAC, and/or L1 signaling between eNBs and the network to maximize the benefits from the EH feature. An EH device may use one or more of the following information/messages to communicate with the network (e.g., an eNB or a gNB); a) A message requesting a minimum of Eh Joules to be transferred within a certain period T. b) A message defining/reporting the EH device harvesting capability/parameters, e.g., the minimum and/or maximum harvesting bandwidth, RF-to-energy conversion efficiency, and/or waveforms supported).
Regarding claim 3, IDAC discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters comprise one or more of: information elements to include in the indication of the power profile of the UE, a periodicity for transmitting the indication of the power profile of the UE, or a trigger for transmitting the indication of the power profile of the UE (see IDAC, ¶ 0128: discloses communication between EH device and power supply device which comprises amongst other data a transmission schedule and duration).
Regarding claim 4, IDAC discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein the indication of the power profile comprises one or more of: an indication of an average available power for one or more time units, an indication of an average consumed power for one or more time units, an energy harvesting profile associated with one or more charging technologies supported by the UE, or an indication of one or more charging technologies used by the UE within a threshold amount of time (see IDAC, ¶ 0126: The ZE control signal can be transmitted in-band or over a dedicated band, and/or one or more of the following transmission characteristics can be assumed known or preconfigured at the EH device [3]: Transmission duration(s), such as absolute time duration or relative time duration compared to a reference value; Transmission format, such as modulation scheme and its parameterization, modulation order, number and/or placement of tones, sequence and make-up of the ZE waveform part comprised as part of a transmission; Power profile, such as peak power, average power, a value representative of first or N-th order power distribution profile statistics such as PAPR including the possibility of adjustment factors when calculating these; Transmission settings in use by the transmitter of the ZE control signal, such as frequency location, transmission patterns or sequences if one or more transmission parameters are changed to randomize interference contributions and/or to improve robustness of transmissions).
Regarding claim 5, IDAC discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: identify charging history associated with energy harvesting from one or more charging technologies (see IDAC, discloses that the battery status of the chargeable devices is determined. This requires an adapted hardware and software with the capability to measure voltage and/or current or to integrate values like the current. ¶ 0117, ¶ 0128-¶ 0131, ¶ 0136 are some of several more passages which deal with the overall control of the charging – one part of this is the former charging procedures. E.g., an allocated charging schedule with a defined protocol does not only provide information for the future but also for the parts of this charging schedule which are in the past).
Regarding claim 8, IDAC discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, to receive the indication of the one or more parameters for transmission of the indication of the power profile of the UE, are configured to: receive the indication of the one or more parameters for transmission of the indication of the power profile of the UE (see IDAC, ¶ 0111; ¶ 0119) via radio resource control signaling (see IDAC, ¶ 0054; ¶ 0074: discloses radio resource control).
Regarding claim 16, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 1. Although phrased as a method claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 1.
Regarding claim 17, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 2. Although phrased as a method claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 2.
Regarding claim 18, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 3. Although phrased as a method claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 3.
Regarding claim 19, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 4. Although phrased as a method claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 4.
Regarding claim 20, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 5. Although phrased as a method claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 5.
Regarding claim 23, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 8. Although phrased as a method claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 8.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 6, 7, 21, and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over IDAC in view of US 2013/0086409 to Lu et al. (hereafter Lu).
Regarding claim 6, IDAC discloses the UE of claim 5, IDAC implicitly disclose wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: transmit the charging history (see IDAC, ¶ 0117, ¶ 0128-¶ 0131, ¶ 0136 are some of several more passages which deal with the overall control of the charging – one part of this is the former charging procedures. E.g., an allocated charging schedule with a defined protocol does not only provide information for the future but also for the parts of this charging schedule which are in the past), but does not explicitly disclose indication of the charging history is transmitted.
However, Lu discloses wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: transmit an indication of the charging history (see Lu, ¶ 0216: Keeps track of the battery charge and discharge history in terms of charge/discharge duration and latest charge/discharge time; ¶ 0225: Read from Host Computing Device hardware the battery energy level, the system power usage profile, and system temperature, among other things; ¶ 0226: Record the battery charging and discharging history, such as the charging/discharging duration and battery charging/discharging levels).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the sending of charging history indication as taught by Lu and incorporate it into the system of IDAC to optimize battery lifespan under a wide variety of power demand and environmental use conditions (see Lu, ¶ 0010).
Regarding claim 7, IDAC in view of Lu discloses the UE of claim 6, wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the indication of the charging history, are configured to: transmit an indication of a time between transmitting a request for energy and fulfilment of the request, or transmit an indication of whether previous requests for energy were fulfilled or unfulfilled (see IDAC, ¶ 0148: the handover between cells when the energy harvesting is in progress and there is mobility of the WTRUs. This influences the control of the system in IDAC. Units at the margin of a cell may receive not sufficient power and the charging sequence as to be repeated. This means that insufficient charging attempts will be fed back to the supply station and trigger an additional charging step).
Regarding claim 21, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 6. Although phrased as a method claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 6.
Regarding claim 22, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 7. Although phrased as a method claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 7.
Claim(s) 9-15 and 24-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over IDAC in view of US 2021/0393968 to Monson et al. (hereafter Monson).
Regarding claim 9, IDAC discloses a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication (see IDAC, Fig 1A and Fig 1B; ¶ 0004: FIG. 1A is a system diagram illustrating an example communications system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented; ¶ 0005: FIG. 1 B is a system diagram illustrating an example wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A according to an embodiment), comprising:
a memory; and one or more processors, coupled to the memory (see IDAC, ¶ 0048: The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to, and may receive user input data from, the speaker/microphone 124, the keypad 126, and/or the display/touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit or organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit). The processor 118 may also output user data to the speaker/microphone 124, the keypad 126, and/or the display/touchpad 128. In addition, the processor 118 may access information from, and store data in, any type of suitable memory, such as the non-removable memory 130 and/or the removable memory 132. The non removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card, and the like. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may access information from, and store data in, memory that is not physically located on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or a home computer), configured to:
receive an indication of a power profile of an energy harvesting UE; and transmit, based at least in part on the power profile of the energy harvesting UE, energy harvesting signaling to the energy harvesting UE (see IDAC, ¶ 0119: The introduction of the EH feature with dedicated resource allocation might necessitate the introduction of control signaling in the form of RRC, MAC, and/or L1 signaling between eNBs and the network to maximize the benefits from the EH feature. An EH device may use one or more of the following information/messages to communicate with the network (e.g., an eNB or a gNB); a) A message requesting a minimum of Eh Joules to be transferred within a certain period T. b) A message defining/reporting the EH device harvesting capability/parameters, e.g., the minimum and/or maximum harvesting bandwidth, RF-to-energy conversion efficiency, and/or waveforms supported; ¶ 0111: An eNB may select the set of RBs for energy harvesting, configure the EH signal transmission schedule, and design the EH signal waveform such that it can efficiently exploit the currently configured DL synchronization and/or reference signals).
IDAC does not explicitly discloses receiving charging request associated with the energy harvesting UE.
However, Monson discloses receiving charging request associated with the energy harvesting UE (see Monson, ¶ 0157: If processing circuitry 22 determines that the voltage of power source 24 is below the threshold (“YES” branch of block 232), processing circuitry 22 may control communication circuitry 36 to send a request to an external charging device (e.g., charging device 20 or computing device 101) to deliver RF energy for harvesting by IMD 21A (234). In this manner, if IMD 21A is not able to harvest sufficient amounts of RF energy from ambient RF signals in the environment around IMD 21A, IMD 21A can request a charging device to provide additional RF energy. IMD 21A may continue to transmit the request (e.g., continually or at some predetermined periodic rate) to one or more charging devices, such as any charging devices close enough to receive the request, as long as RF energy is still required to recharge power source 24).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teaching of receiving charging request associated with the energy harvesting UE as taught by Monson and incorporate it into the system of IDAC to achieve improved recharging of devices using radio frequency energy harvesting (see Monson, ¶ 0002).
Regarding claim 10, IDAC in view of Monson discloses the UE of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive, from a network node, an indication of one or more parameters associated with determining whether to transmit the energy harvesting signaling to the energy harvesting UE (see IDAC, ¶ 0111: An eNB may select the set of RBs for energy harvesting, configure the EH signal transmission schedule, and design the EH signal waveform such that it can efficiently exploit the currently configured DL synchronization and/or reference signals).
Regarding claim 11, IDAC in view of Monson discloses the UE of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the energy harvesting signaling, are configured to transmit the energy harvesting signaling based at least in part on one or more of:a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle of the energy harvesting UE determined based at least in part on the power profile of the energy harvesting UE,a number of uplink, downlink, or sidelink communications during a DRX-on duration determined based at least in part on the power profile of the energy harvesting UE,a time separation between resource grants determined based at least in part on the power profile of the energy harvesting UE,a periodicity of reference signals, semi-persistent-scheduling communications, or configured grant communications determined based at least in part on the power profile of the energy harvesting UE, or an energy status of the energy harvesting UE determined based at least in part on the power profile of the energy harvesting UE (see IDAC, ¶ 0135).
Regarding claim 12, IDAC in view of Monson discloses the UE of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the energy harvesting signaling, are configured to: transmit the energy harvesting signaling based at least in part on the power profile of the energy harvesting UE indicating that the energy harvesting UE consumes power at a rate that satisfies a threshold (see IDAC, ¶ 0097; ¶ 0111; ¶ 0120; ¶ 0126; ¶ 0148).
Regarding claim 13, IDAC in view of Monson discloses the UE of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the energy harvesting signaling, are configured to: transmit the energy harvesting signaling with a charging rate that is based at least in part on the power profile of the energy harvesting UE (see IDAC, ¶ 0097; ¶ 0111; ¶ 0120; ¶ 0126; ¶ 0148).
Regarding claim 14, IDAC in view of Monson discloses the UE of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive a first request for the energy harvesting signaling for the energy harvesting UE; and receive a second request for energy harvesting signaling for an additional energy harvesting UE, wherein transmitting the energy harvesting signaling to the energy harvesting UE is based at least in part on the power profile of the energy harvesting UE or a power profile of the additional energy harvesting UE (see IDAC, ¶ 0148: discloses allocation of power to more than one receiver).
Regarding claim 15, IDAC in view of Monson discloses the UE of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the energy harvesting signaling, are configured to: transmit the energy harvesting signaling to the energy harvesting UE based at least in part on the power profile of the energy harvesting UE indicating that the energy harvesting UE consumes power faster than the additional energy harvesting UE (see IDAC, ¶ 0148).
Regarding claim 24, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 9. Although phrased as a method claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 9.
Regarding claim 25, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 10. Although phrased as a method claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 10.
Regarding claim 26, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 11. Although phrased as a method claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 11.
Regarding claim 27, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 12. Although phrased as a method claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 12.
Regarding claim 28, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 13. Although phrased as a method claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 13.
Regarding claim 29, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 14. Although phrased as a method claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 14.
Regarding claim 30, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 15. Although phrased as a method claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 15.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2015/0056947 to Panchal et al. discloses mobile device radio power consumption and battery capacity management. A mobile device may manage the battery of the mobile device by controlling radio power usage. In one implementation, a mobile device may determine a target power usage associated with a radio of the mobile device, the radio implementing a radio link with a base station associated with a cellular wireless network. The mobile device may also determine an actual power usage associated with the radio of the mobile device and compare the actual power usage to the target power usage.
US 2020/0045645 to Chopra et al. discloses power control enhancements for multi-hop integrated access and backhaul. In an embodiment where the communication protocol associated with the IAB network is half duplex, donor node device 202 and replay node device 206 face the constraint where they can only receive or transmit during a particular time frame. Accordingly, during the time frame, donor node device 202 receives transmissions from UE device 204 at the same time as relay node device 206. Similarly, relay node device 206 receives a downlink backhaul link from donor node device 202 at the same time as it receives an uplink access link from UE devices 208 and/or 210. In an embodiment, these transmissions can be space division multiplexed or frequency division multiplexed and thus received during the same slot, and so transmissions are received at the same receiver but may have different power profiles due to the different natures of the transmitters (base station transmitter vs UE transmitter).
US 2011/0105133 to Foster et al. discloses a cellular communication system comprises a base station which can to operate in a restricted mode wherein support is restricted to user equipments of a first associated set of user equipments, such as a Closed Subscriber Group. The base station comprises a profile unit which determines a first transmit power profile where the first transmit power profile is indicative of the base station operating in the restricted mode. The base station further comprises a transmitter for transmitting at least one common channel, such as a pilot signal or a broadcast signal, with a transmit power according to the first transmit power profile. User Equipments may measure the power profile to evaluate whether the base station employs restricted access.
US 2023/0246484 to PARK discloses a wireless power receiver device according to one embodiment of the present application receives wireless power from a wireless power transmitter device, wherein the wireless power receiver device receives the wireless power on the basis of any one of a first power profile, a second power profile having a higher power than the first power profile, and a third power profile having a higher power than the second power profile, and the wireless power transmitter device transmits the wireless power on the basis of any one profile from among the first power profile, the second power profile, and the third power profile, wherein a first data packet including first profile information indicating that the wireless power receiver device supports the third power profile is transmitted to the wireless power transmitter device, and a second data packet including second profile information indicating that the wireless power transmitter device supports the third power profile is received from the wireless power transmitter device.
US 2020/0037246 to Hwang et al. discloses a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus may be a UE. The UE receives, from a base station, a configuration specifying one or more power profiles of the UE. Each of the power profile includes a predetermined value of at least one operational parameter that, while adopted by the UE when the configuration is applied, affects a power consumption of the UE. The UE operates in accordance with a first power profile of the one or more power profiles. The UE determines that a trigger event has occurred. The UE switches to operate in accordance with a second power profile of the one or more power profiles.
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/RASHEED GIDADO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464
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