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 .
This action is in response to the application filed on 06/03/2024.
The Claims 11, 15-18, 23-24, 28-30, 32 have been canceled by the applicant.
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.
Claims 1-10, 12-14, 19-21, 25 and 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Abdelmonem et al. (U.S. Pub. 20180295617).
Regarding claim 1 Abdelmonem disclose, a method performed by a radio unit for mitigating interference in an uplink channel of the radio unit, the method comprising:
detecting an interference level in each one of a plurality of antenna branches of the radio unit para. 55, “The first virtual processing system can be configured to mitigate interference detected in one or more of the plurality of uplink paths”;
selecting one or more of the plurality of branches based on the detecting para. 110, Fig. 10, “After storing the information about the channels having interference signals, at block 318 the adaptive front end controller selects the next DSSS signal from the signals scanned”;
identifying one or more uplink channels on the selected branches that are impacted by interference, based at least in part on the detected interference level, each of the one or more identified uplink channels being associated with one or more downlink carriers para. 110, Fig. 10, “at block 320 the adaptive front end controller may select and activate one or more filters that are located in the path of the DSSS signal to filter out any channel identified as having interference in it”; and
reducing downlink power on at least one of the one or more downlink carriers para. 158, “real-time link adaptation (the way an eNodeB and user equipment (UE) are constantly informing each other about link conditions and adjusting power levels”.
Regarding claim 2 Abdelmonem disclose, wherein the detected interference level in each one of a plurality of antenna branches comprises passive intermodulation (PIM) distortion para. 297, “PIM occurs when RF energy from two or more transmitters is non-linearly mixed in a passive circuit”.
Regarding claim 3 Abdelmonem disclose, wherein the detecting comprises measuring uplink power in at least one uplink channel on the plurality of antenna branches para. 134, “the adaptive front end module 56 can monitor at step 512 interference per frequency increment of the spectrum being scanned based on any power levels measured above the threshold”.
Regarding claim 4 Abdelmonem disclose, wherein selecting comprises detecting a difference between a highest power branch and an average of the plurality of antenna branches, and selecting the highest power branch if the detected difference is greater than a threshold value para. 134, “the adaptive front end module 56 can monitor at step 512 interference per frequency increment of the spectrum being scanned based on any power levels measured above the threshold”.
Regarding claim 5 Abdelmonem disclose, wherein selecting comprises detecting a difference between a highest power branch and a second highest power branch, and selecting the highest power branch if the detected difference is greater than a threshold value para. 256, “At step 988, the system of the subject disclosure can be further adapted to identify one or more affected uplink paths based on one or more measurements that exceed the one or more thresholds of step 984. Responsive to identifying the affected paths and thereby detecting signal interference in such paths based on the threshold(s)”.
Regarding claim 6 Abdelmonem disclose, wherein selecting comprises detecting a difference between a highest power branch and a third highest power branch, and selecting the highest power branch if the detected difference is greater than a threshold value para. 256, “At step 988, the system of the subject disclosure can be further adapted to identify one or more affected uplink paths based on one or more measurements that exceed the one or more thresholds of step 984. Responsive to identifying the affected paths and thereby detecting signal interference in such paths based on the threshold(s)”.
Regarding claim 7 Abdelmonem disclose, further comprising detecting a second difference between a second highest power branch and a third highest power branch, and selecting the second highest power branch if the second detected difference is greater than the threshold value para. 134, “the adaptive front end module 56 can monitor at step 512 interference per frequency increment of the spectrum being scanned based on any power levels measured above the threshold”.
Regarding claim 8 Abdelmonem disclose, wherein detecting the interference level comprises measuring at least one of: uplink received signal strength indicator, uplink interference, and noise para. 105, “Such consistent appearance of channels having highest signal strength over subsequent DSSS signals indicate that channels 15 and 27, and probably the channel 35, may have an interference signal super-imposed on them. At block 310 the adaptive front end controller may use such information to determine which channels may have interference”.
Regarding claim 9 Abdelmonem disclose, wherein measuring uplink power comprises making a plurality of measurements para. 95, “a given measurement of power in a channel provides predictive power over subsequent measurements of power in that particular channel,”.
Regarding claim 10 Abdelmonem disclose, wherein selecting one or more of the plurality of branches comprises selecting a branch para. 103, “At block 306 the adaptive front end controller can select x channels having the highest signal strength from each of the m most recent DSSS signals scanned at the block 302” if a predetermined proportion of the plurality of measurements of the branch are above a preselected value para. 106, “at block 310 the adaptive front end controller may determine a correlation factor for each of the various channels appearing in the x selected highest signal strength channels and compare the calculated correlation factors with a threshold correlation factor”.
Regarding claim 12 Abdelmonem disclose, wherein if the number of selected branches is more than a preset value, then at least one of the selected branches is deselected para. 106, “The number x may be determined by a user. For example, if x is selected to be equal to three, the block 306 may select three highest channels from each of the m (m=4) most recent DSSS signals”.
Regarding claim 13 Abdelmonem disclose, wherein the detecting is performed on the plurality of branches simultaneously para. 53, “detecting, by the first virtual processing system, according to the plurality of measurements of the digital data, an interference condition associated with at least a portion of the plurality of uplink paths associated with the plurality of remote radio units”.
Regarding claim 14 Abdelmonem disclose, wherein the detecting is performed by one of the following methods: continuously, repeatedly at preset time intervals, and upon a triggering event para. 110, “at block 306 the process of determining channels having interference signals is repeated by the adaptive front end controller”.
Regarding claim 19 Abdelmonem disclose, wherein the detecting comprises inputs from an interference rejection combining algorithm para. 74, “The controller 80 is configured to execute any number of a variety of signal processing algorithms to analyze the received RF signal, and determine a filter state for the filter stage 78”.
Regarding claim 20 Abdelmonem disclose, wherein the detecting comprises inputs from a PIM cancellation technique para. 307, “clipping techniques can be used to reduce the amount of PIM energy in the receive signal”.
Regarding claim 21 Abdelmonem disclose, wherein the reducing comprises reducing the downlink power of at least one downlink carrier in one or more selected branches para. 212, “Working with SON interfaces and eNodeB to adjust target power levels to modify cell coverage or reduce inter-cell interference”.
Regarding claim 25 Abdelmonem disclose, wherein the reducing is enabled by the scheduler only when high pathloss users are scheduled in the uplink para. 153, “a resource block scheduler of the second base station may assign the resource blocks to the mobile communication device according to a time slot scheme that avoids the periodicity of the known interference”.
Regarding claim 31 Abdelmonem disclose, A first network node (800), comprising, a processor; and a memory para. 54, “a processor and a memory” having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed on the processor, causes the processor to carry out the method according claim 1 to any one of claims 1-34.
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 of this title, 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) 22 and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abdelmonem et al. (U.S. Pub. 20180295617) in view of Hakanson et al. (U.S. Pub. 20190320444).
Regarding claim 22 Abdelmonem does not specifically disclose, wherein the reducing comprises blocking data from being transmitted in at least one downlink carrier. However, Hakanson teach, “the number of downlink transmission RBs used by RE 214/514 to transmit downlink transmission signals 106a and 106b may be reduced by scheduling no transmissions for downlink transmission RB(x,0) and RB(x,N)… and thereby also reducing downlink power level”, see para. 70.
Abdelmonem and Hakanson are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to mitigate interference.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Hakanson in the system of Abdelmonem to allow the system to block unnecessary transmission of traffic to the terminal. The motivation for doing so would have been to ensure the reduction of power consumption on terminals in the network.
Regarding claim 26 Abdelmonem does not specifically disclose, wherein the reducing comprises preventing reduction of power on any of the one or more downlink carriers associated with a specific one of the one or more uplink channels However, Hakanson teach, para. 76, “The scheduling of downlink transmissions can also be dynamically adjusted, both in power and bandwidth, depending on the need for uplink transmissions and the level of PIM”.
Abdelmonem and Hakanson are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to mitigate interference.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Hakanson in the system of Abdelmonem to ensure that control signaling and important uplink data streams do not get affected by the power reduction. The motivation for doing so would have been to maintain the quality of services by preserving the link.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Nammi (U.S. Pub. 20140198776) which disclose(s) methods of transmitting and/or receiving data transmissions using information relating to other data transmissions and related network nodes.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAUL RIVAS whose telephone number is (571)270–5590. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday – Friday, from 8:30am to 5:00pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy K. Kundu, can be reached on (571) 272 - 8586. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571–272–8300.
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/R.R/ Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/SUJOY K KUNDU/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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