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 following is a final office action in response to applicant’s amendment filed on 07/10/2026 for response of the office action mailed on 04/24/2026. Claims 9, 11, 13, 23, 30 and 32 have been amended. Claims 9, 11, 13, 15-23, 25, 30 and 32 are pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07/10/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Argument #1 on page 7:
Pezeshki, at most, describes that the UE may determine per-path AoAs by extracting them from digital domain observations of received reference signals. For example, Pezeshki states that "UE 115-c may determine per-path AoAs for one or more paths of the received reference signals" and that "[t]he channel cluster information (e.g., AoA, ToA, PDP) may be extracted from the digital domain observations of the received reference signals." Pezeshki, paragraph [0129]. This describes a UE measuring AoAs from received reference signals at the UE side, not the UE receiving TRP-side angular information defined in a TRP's coordinate system and transforming that reported information from a TRP-oriented coordinate system to a UE-oriented coordinate system based on a locally-obtained rotation of the UE, as recited by claim 9 as amended.
Response:
Examiner has considered the applicant’s arguments and respectfully disagrees. The applicant’s arguments are not persuasive because it only focuses on one embodiment, the UE-focused operations in Pezeshki, and does not consider Pezeshki’s disclosure as a whole or the combined teachings of the cited references. For example, ¶0123-¶0124 in Pezeshki shows a UE transmitting reference signals to a base station, where the base station determines per-path AoA based on the UE-transmitted reference signals, and the base station transmits a control message to the UE based on the determined per-path AoA. Therefore, Pezeshki does teach/suggest a UE receiving TRP-side angular information defined by the base station (TRP). Furthermore, the Office relies on Ashari to supply the expressed TRP-side and UE-side coordinate-system teachings that are relied upon in this rejection.
Argument #2 on page 7:
With respect to the "selecting a beam" feature of claim 9, Pezeshki merely describes that "UE 115- c may receive the control message that configures the UE to transmit an uplink message using a first beam selected from a set of different beams and transmit the uplink message using the first beam." Pezeshki, paragraph [0132]. Alternatively, Pezeshki describes that "UE 115-c may receive the control message indicating the per-path AoA determined for each path of the defined number of paths and transmit an uplink message using a first beam selected from a set of different beams based on the per-path AoA determined for each path of the defined number of paths." Pezeshki, paragraph [0133]. Neither of these passages discloses that the UE transforms the per-path AoA information from a first (TRP-oriented) coordinate system to a second (UE-oriented) coordinate system, much less that any such transformation is performed "according to a relation between the first coordinate system and the second coordinate system" that "is determined from a rotation of the UE (300), with respect to the first coordinate system, as locally obtained by the UE (300)," as recited by claim 9 as amended.
Response:
Examiner has considered the applicant’s arguments and respectfully disagrees. The applicant’s arguments are not persuasive because the rejection does not rely solely on Pezeshki for the claimed coordinate-system transformation. Pezeshki teaches that the UE receives per-path AoA information determined by the network and selects an uplink beam based on the received information (¶0123-¶0124, (Fig. 5) ¶0133).
Ashari further teaches separate coordinate systems (TRP horizontal coordinate-system 872 and UE horizontal coordinate-system 810) in Fig. 8, which represents the same beam direction using a transmission azimuth angle corresponding to the TRP coordinate-system and a reception azimuth angle corresponding to the UE coordinate-system.
Lastly, Selen further teaches the transformation aspect of the claimed invention. Based on the UE’s orientation, parameters such as spatial direction can be transformed into the local coordinate system of the UE. In other words, Sele was relied upon to teach the transformation in combination with the beam-selection teachings of Pezeshki and the separate coordinate-system teachings of Ashari.
Argument #3 on page 7:
At most, Pezeshki refers to a single coordinate system used by the UE to express its own AoA determinations, stating that "[c]oordinate system 425 may be used as a reference by UE 115-b to determine per-path AoA relative to the coordinate system 425." Pezeshki, paragraph [0117]. Applicant respectfully submits that this single UE-side reference frame is not the two distinct coordinate systems recited by claim 9, in which the TRP-side angular information is defined in a first coordinate system and the beam is selected in a different second coordinate system, with the UE transforming between them based on a locally-obtained UE rotation.
Response:
Examiner has considered the applicant’s arguments and respectfully disagrees. The applicant’s arguments are not persuasive because the argument focuses on Pezeshki individually, instead of relying on the combined teachings of all the cited references. The two distinct coordinate-systems recited by Claim 9 are taught by Ashari (TRP horizontal coordinate-system 872 and UE horizontal coordinate-system 810) in Fig. 8.
Argument #4 on page 7:
Moreover, Pezeshki does not disclose or teach any rotation of the UE locally obtained by the UE that defines a relation between two coordinate systems. The paragraphs of Pezeshki relied upon by the Examiner for claim 9, namely paragraphs [0126], [0129], and [0132], are silent regarding any such UE- locally-obtained rotation or any UE-side transformation between TRP-oriented and UE-oriented coordinate systems. The surrounding disclosure of Pezeshki at paragraphs [0129]-[0133] is likewise silent on these features. See Pezeshki, paragraphs [0126], [0129]-[0133].
Response:
Examiner has considered the applicant’s arguments and respectfully disagrees. The applicant’s arguments are not persuasive because Selen is relied upon for the feature the applicant says is missing from Pezeshki. Selen teaches that the orientation of the UE may be used to transform a spatial direction into a local coordinate-system of the UE. For further context, Selen teaches that the UE’s orientation is used to determine the rotation of the UE with respect to the serving access node, and that updated UE orientation information can be used to transform the spatial parameters into the UE’s local coordinate-system. Furthermore, referencing Fig. 8, the UE may determine its own orientation using internal sensors, such as a gyroscope (¶0081), therefore Selen teaches the rotation of the UE being locally obtained by the UE.
Final note: Applicant is advised to consider removing the reference numerals from the claims, as such reference numerals are not necessary to define the claimed subject matter. Reference numerals corresponding to elements depicted in the accompanying figures generally do not affect the scope of the claims. Please see MPEP 608.01(m) and 2173.05(s). The claims should define the invention through the express claim language rather than reliance on corresponding reference numerals or figures.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 06/17/2024 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2), which requires a legible copy of each cited foreign patent document; each non-patent literature publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; and all other information or that portion which caused it to be listed, referring to: WO 2021/158166 A1. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered.
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.
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The 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 non-obviousness.
Claims 9, 11, 13, 19-21, 23, 25, 30 and 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pezeshki et al. (US 2021/0184744), Pezeshki hereinafter, and Ashari et al. (US 2024/0276238), Ashari hereinafter, and further in view of Selen et al. (US 2017/0111852), Selen hereinafter.
Re. Claim 9, Pezeshki teaches a method for performing a user equipment (UE)-side beam selection procedure (Fig. 5, 14-15, 18 & ¶0094 - The UE 115 may provide feedback for beam selection), the method being performed by a UE (300), the method comprising: transmitting (S202) uplink signalling towards a transmission and reception point (TRP) TRP (140) of a network node (200); (¶0006 - In some examples, a UE may be configured to transmit references signals to a base station that the base station uses to perform uplink beam management. ¶0085 - Some of the network devices, such as a base station 105, may include subcomponents such as an access network entity 140 … Each access network entity 140 may communicate with the UEs 115 through one or more other access network transmission entities 145, which may be referred to as … transmission/reception points (TRPs));
receiving (S204), from the network node (200), reporting of TRP-side angular information of the UE (300) from the uplink signalling and configuration for the UE (300) to perform a UE-side beam selection procedure based on the TRP-side angular information; (Fig. 5 & ¶0126 - At 505, UE 115-c may receive control signaling indicating a per-path AoA reporting configuration that indicates a defined number of paths for the UE to report. In some cases, the configuration may indicate that UE 115-c should feedback the top N paths (e.g., N most dominant paths) to base station 105-c. Please also see ¶0123-¶0124 and ¶0133);
and selecting (S206), as part of performing the UE-side beam selection procedure, a beam to use for communication with the TRP (140), wherein the beam has a pointing direction that is selected as a function of the TRP-side angular information, (Fig. 5 & ¶0129 - At 520, UE 115-c may determine per-path AoAs for one or more paths of the received reference signals. In some cases, UE 115-c may determine other multi-path channel cluster information such as ToA, number of paths, PDP, etc. The channel cluster information (e.g., AoA, ToA, PDP) may be extracted from the digital domain observations of the received reference signals. ¶0132 - In some implementations, UE 115-c may receive the control message that configures the UE to transmit an uplink message using a first beam selected from a set of different beams, and transmit the uplink message using the first beam);
Yet, Pezeshki does not explicitly teach wherein the TRP-side angular information is defined in a first coordinate system, wherein the beam is selected in a second coordinate system different from the first coordinate system, and wherein the UE (300) as part of selecting the beam transforms the TRP-side angular information from the first coordinate system to the second coordinate system according to a relation between the first coordinate system and the second coordinate system, and wherein the relation is determined from a rotation of the UE (300), with respect to the first coordinate system, as locally obtained by the UE (300).
However, in the analogous art, Ashari explicitly teaches wherein the TRP-side angular information is defined in a first coordinate system, wherein the beam is selected in a second coordinate system different from the first coordinate system, (Fig. 6-8 (Please see separate coordinate systems for TRP and UE in Fig. 8) & ¶0108 - In aspects of the present application, both the UE 110 and the TR-TRP 172 are configured to shift respective receive/transmit beam directions so as to compensate for the mobility of the UE 110 and/or the mobility of the NT-TRP 172 … the beam angular direction adjustment may be indicated, to the UE 110, using a combination of RRC signaling and dynamic indication. ¶0115 - Subsequent to the defining (step 606) of the beam angular direction adjustment, the NT-TRP 172 may indicate (step 608), to the given UE 110, the beam angular direction adjustment. Accordingly, the UE 110 may use the beam angular direction adjustment to manage a pace and a direction of future shifts in the receive beam direction. ¶120 - In another method, both the NT-TRP 172 and the UE 110 may have access to a plurality of possible beam angular direction adjustment configurations. The UE 110 then may select one of the beam angular direction adjustment configurations based on information about mobility of the UE 110);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Ashari to the teaching of Pezeshki. The motivation would be because the invention relates to beam management for wireless communication and, in particular embodiments, to agile beam tracking (¶0002, Ashari).
Yet, Pezeshki and Ashari do not explicitly teach and wherein the UE (300) as part of selecting the beam transforms the TRP-side angular information from the first coordinate system to the second coordinate system according to a relation between the first coordinate system and the second coordinate system, and wherein the relation is determined from a rotation of the UE (300), with respect to the first coordinate system, as locally obtained by the UE (300).
However, in the analogous art, Selen explicitly teaches and wherein the UE (300) as part of selecting the beam transforms the TRP-side angular information from the first coordinate system to the second coordinate system according to a relation between the first coordinate system and the second coordinate system, (Fig. 3-4, 7-9 & ¶0039 - Another kind of spatial information of interest is the orientation of the UE. Based on the orientation, it is possible to transform certain parameters of the prioritization such as a preferred spatial direction into a local frame or coordinate system of the UE. (Fig. 8) ¶0083 - Then, the orientation 231 is used to find the up direction and the rotation of the UE 130 with respect to, e.g., the serving access node 121. (Fig. 9) ¶0101 - At 904, e.g., based on internal sensor data, the UE 130 determines its orientation 231. This allows transforming the information received as part of the control message at 903 into a local frame);
and wherein the relation is determined from a rotation of the UE (300), with respect to the first coordinate system, as locally obtained by the UE (300) (¶0039 - Another kind of spatial information of interest is the orientation of the UE. Based on the orientation, it is possible to transform certain parameters of the prioritization such as a preferred spatial direction into a local frame or coordinate system of the UE. (Fig. 8) ¶0083 - Then, the orientation 231 is used to find the up direction and the rotation of the UE 130 with respect to, e.g., the serving access node 121. (Fig. 9) ¶0101 - At 904, e.g., based on internal sensor data, the UE 130 determines its orientation 231. This allows transforming the information received as part of the control message at 903 into a local frame).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Selen to the teachings of Pezeshki and Ashari. The motivation would be because the invention relates to a device executing transmission on a plurality of beamformed directions depending on an orientation of the device (¶0001, Selen).
Re. Claim 11, Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen teach Claim 9.
Yet, Pezeshki does not explicitly teach the TRP (140) is oriented with respect to the first coordinate system and the UE (300) is oriented with respect to the second coordinate system.
However, in the analogous art, Ashari explicitly teaches the TRP (140) is oriented with respect to the first coordinate system and the UE (300) is oriented with respect to the second coordinate system (Fig. 8 & ¶0140 - The first NT-TRP 172-1 is associated with a TRP horizontal coordinate system 872. The second NT-TRP 172-2 is also associated with the TRP horizontal coordinate system 872. The UE 110 is associated with a UE horizontal coordinate system 810).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Ashari to the teachings of Pezeshki and Selen. The motivation would be because the invention relates to beam management for wireless communication and, in particular embodiments, to agile beam tracking (¶0002, Ashari).
Re. Claim 13, Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen teach Claim 9.
Yet, Pezshki and Ashari do not explicitly teach the relation is determined from information defining the first coordinate system as received in a control message from the network node (200).
However, in the analogous art, Selen explicitly teaches the relation is determined from information defining the first coordinate system as received in a control message from the network node (200) (Fig. 3-4, 7-9 & ¶0100 - Next, at 903, a control message prompting the UE 130 to successively execute transmission on the plurality of beamformed directions 251, 252 is sent by the access node 121. The control message can indicate the preferred spatial direction 310; if prioritization of the various beamformed directions 251, 252 have been determined at greater detail at 902, respective information may be included in the control message—such information may be implicitly indicative of the preferred spatial direction 310. ¶0101 - At 904, e.g., based on internal sensor data, the UE 130 determines its orientation 231. This allows transforming the information received as part of the control message at 903 into a local frame).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Selen to the teachings of Pezeshki and Ashari. The motivation would be because the invention relates to a device executing transmission on a plurality of beamformed directions depending on an orientation of the device (¶0001, Selen).
Re. Claim 19, Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen teach Claim 9.
Pezeshki further teaches the uplink signalling is transmitted in terms of a set of reference signals (Fig. 5, 14-15, 18 & ¶0065 - In some examples, a UE may be configured to transmit uplink reference signals that a base station may use to determine AoA information … The per-path AoA configuration may configure a UE to transmit a set of reference signals to the base station in a multi-path environment).
Re. Claim 20, Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen teach Claim 9.
Pezeshki further teaches the method further comprises: receiving (S208) a control message from the network node (200), the control message indicating that the UE (300) is to perform uplink sounding using the beam selected by the UE (300) (Fig. 5, 16-17 & ¶0065 - The base station may transmit a control message to the UE based on the determined per-path AoA. In some cases, the control message may indicate an uplink beam selected from a set of different uplink beams based on the per-path AoA. The control message may configure the UE to transmit an uplink message based on the indicated uplink beam. In some cases, the control message may indicate the per-path AoA for each path of defined number of paths, and the UE may use the per-path AoA for each path to perform improved uplink communications).
Re. Claim 21, Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen teach Claim 9.
Pezeshki further teaches the method further comprises: transmitting (S210) uplink signalling for uplink sounding in the beam selected by the UE (300) (Fig. 5, 14-15, 18 & ¶0124 - UE 115-b may determine a preferred uplink beam for transmitting an uplink message based on the per-path AoA information. For example, UE 115-b may transmit an uplink message using a beam selected from a set of different beams based on the per-path AoA determined for each path 415. Please also see ¶0065).
Re. Claim 23, Pezeshki teaches a network node (200) for assisting a user equipment (UE)- side beam selection procedure (Fig. 5, 16-17 & ¶0092 - a base station 105 may … conduct beamforming operations for directional communications with a UE 115. Some signals (e.g., synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) may be transmitted by a base station 105 …), the network node (200) comprising processing circuitry (210), the processing circuitry being configured to cause the network node (200) to: (¶0027 - . The apparatus may include a processor, memory coupled with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory);
estimate TRP-side angular information of a UE (300) from uplink signalling received from the UE (300) at a transmission and reception point (TRP) TRP (140) of the network node (200); (¶0063 - The UE may measure each of the received reference signals over the multiple paths and transmit feedback information to the base station indicating the reference signal measurements. ¶0064 - The UE may transmit a feedback report indicating the per-path AoA for a defined number of paths (e.g., the dominant paths). In addition to per-path AoA data, the UE may be configured to report other types of multi-path channel cluster information, including number of paths, a PDP, a ToA, etc., for one or more received reference signal transmissions.¶0065 - In some examples, a UE may be configured to transmit uplink reference signals that a base station may use to determine AoA information … The base station may receive the reference signals and identify the per-path AoA for a defined number of paths (e.g., the dominant paths). Please also see ¶0123-¶0124, ¶0133);
and report the TRP-side angular information towards the UE (300) and configure the UE (300) to perform a UE-side beam selection procedure based on the TRP-side angular information, (¶0065 - The base station may transmit a control message to the UE based on the determined per-path AoA. In some cases, the control message may indicate an uplink beam selected from a set of different uplink beams based on the per-path AoA. The control message may configure the UE to transmit an uplink message based on the indicated uplink beam … For example, the UE may transmit an uplink message based on the per-path AoA determined for each of the paths);
Yet, Pezeshki does not explicitly teach wherein the TRP-side angular information is defined in a first coordinate system, wherein the UE (300) is configured to select a beam to use for communication with the TRP (140) in a second coordinate system different from the first coordinate system, and wherein the UE (300) is configured to, as part of selecting the beam, transform the TRP-side angular information from the first coordinate system to the second coordinate system according to a relation between the first coordinate system and the second coordinate system, the relation being determined from a rotation of the UE (300), with respect to the first coordinate system, as locally obtained by the UE (300).
However, in the analogous art, Ashari explicitly teaches wherein the TRP-side angular information is defined in a first coordinate system, wherein the UE (300) is configured to select a beam to use for communication with the TRP (140) in a second coordinate system different from the first coordinate system, (Fig. 6-8 (Please see separate coordinate systems for TRP and UE in Fig. 8) & ¶0108 - In aspects of the present application, both the UE 110 and the TR-TRP 172 are configured to shift respective receive/transmit beam directions so as to compensate for the mobility of the UE 110 and/or the mobility of the NT-TRP 172 … the beam angular direction adjustment may be indicated, to the UE 110, using a combination of RRC signaling and dynamic indication. ¶0115 - Subsequent to the defining (step 606) of the beam angular direction adjustment, the NT-TRP 172 may indicate (step 608), to the given UE 110, the beam angular direction adjustment. Accordingly, the UE 110 may use the beam angular direction adjustment to manage a pace and a direction of future shifts in the receive beam direction. ¶120 - In another method, both the NT-TRP 172 and the UE 110 may have access to a plurality of possible beam angular direction adjustment configurations. The UE 110 then may select one of the beam angular direction adjustment configurations based on information about mobility of the UE 110);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Ashari to the teaching of Pezeshki. The motivation would be because the invention relates to beam management for wireless communication and, in particular embodiments, to agile beam tracking (¶0002, Ashari).
Yet, Pezeshki and Ashari do not explicitly teach and wherein the UE (300) is configured to, as part of selecting the beam, transform the TRP-side angular information from the first coordinate system to the second coordinate system according to a relation between the first coordinate system and the second coordinate system, the relation being determined from a rotation of the UE (300), with respect to the first coordinate system, as locally obtained by the UE (300).
However, in the analogous art, Selen explicitly teaches and wherein the UE (300) is configured to, as part of selecting the beam, transform the TRP-side angular information from the first coordinate system to the second coordinate system according to a relation between the first coordinate system and the second coordinate system, (Fig. 3-4, 7-9 & ¶0039 - Another kind of spatial information of interest is the orientation of the UE. Based on the orientation, it is possible to transform certain parameters of the prioritization such as a preferred spatial direction into a local frame or coordinate system of the UE. (Fig. 8) ¶0083 - Then, the orientation 231 is used to find the up direction and the rotation of the UE 130 with respect to, e.g., the serving access node 121. (Fig. 9) ¶0101 - At 904, e.g., based on internal sensor data, the UE 130 determines its orientation 231. This allows transforming the information received as part of the control message at 903 into a local frame);
the relation being determined from a rotation of the UE (300), with respect to the first coordinate system, as locally obtained by the UE (300) (¶0039 - Another kind of spatial information of interest is the orientation of the UE. Based on the orientation, it is possible to transform certain parameters of the prioritization such as a preferred spatial direction into a local frame or coordinate system of the UE. (Fig. 8) ¶0083 - Then, the orientation 231 is used to find the up direction and the rotation of the UE 130 with respect to, e.g., the serving access node 121. (Fig. 9) ¶0101 - At 904, e.g., based on internal sensor data, the UE 130 determines its orientation 231. This allows transforming the information received as part of the control message at 903 into a local frame).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Selen to the teachings of Pezeshki and Ashari. The motivation would be because the invention relates to a device executing transmission on a plurality of beamformed directions depending on an orientation of the device (¶0001, Selen).
Re. Claim 25, Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen teach Claim 23.
Pezeshki further teaches network node (200) according to claim 23 further being configured to perform the method of: (Fig. 5, 16-17 & ¶0027-¶0029);
estimating (S102) TRP-side angular information of a UE (300) from uplink signalling received from the UE (300) at a TRP (140) of the network node (200); (¶0063 - The UE may measure each of the received reference signals over the multiple paths and transmit feedback information to the base station indicating the reference signal measurements. ¶0064 - The UE may transmit a feedback report indicating the per-path AoA for a defined number of paths (e.g., the dominant paths). In addition to per-path AoA data, the UE may be configured to report other types of multi-path channel cluster information, including number of paths, a PDP, a ToA, etc., for one or more received reference signal transmissions.¶0065 - In some examples, a UE may be configured to transmit uplink reference signals that a base station may use to determine AoA information … The base station may receive the reference signals and identify the per-path AoA for a defined number of paths (e.g., the dominant paths). Please also see ¶0123-¶0124, ¶0133);
and reporting (S104) the TRP-side angular information towards the UE (300) and configuring the UE (300) to perform a UE-side beam selection procedure based on the TRP-side angular information (¶0065 - The base station may transmit a control message to the UE based on the determined per-path AoA. In some cases, the control message may indicate an uplink beam selected from a set of different uplink beams based on the per-path AoA. The control message may configure the UE to transmit an uplink message based on the indicated uplink beam … For example, the UE may transmit an uplink message based on the per-path AoA determined for each of the paths).
Re. Claim 30, Pezeshki teaches a non-transitory computer readable storage medium (1230) on which a computer program (1220a) is stored, wherein the computer program is for assisting a user equipment (UE)-side beam selection procedure, (Fig. 5, 10-11, 13, 16-17 & ¶0092 - a base station 105 may … conduct beamforming operations for directional communications with a UE 115. Some signals (e.g., synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) may be transmitted by a base station 105 …); the computer program comprising computer code which, when run on processing circuitry (210) of a network node (200), causes the network node (200) to: (Fig. 10-11 & ¶0027, ¶0029, ¶0166);
estimate (S102) transmission and reception point (TRP)-side angular information of a UE (300) from uplink signalling received from the UE (300) at a TRP (140) of the network node (200); (¶0063 - The UE may measure each of the received reference signals over the multiple paths and transmit feedback information to the base station indicating the reference signal measurements. ¶0064 - The UE may transmit a feedback report indicating the per-path AoA for a defined number of paths (e.g., the dominant paths). In addition to per-path AoA data, the UE may be configured to report other types of multi-path channel cluster information, including number of paths, a PDP, a ToA, etc., for one or more received reference signal transmissions.¶0065 - In some examples, a UE may be configured to transmit uplink reference signals that a base station may use to determine AoA information … The base station may receive the reference signals and identify the per-path AoA for a defined number of paths (e.g., the dominant paths). Please also see ¶0123-¶0124, ¶0133);
and report (S104) the TRP-side angular information towards the UE (300) and configure the UE (300) to perform a UE-side beam selection procedure based on the TRP-side angular information, (¶0065 - The base station may transmit a control message to the UE based on the determined per-path AoA. In some cases, the control message may indicate an uplink beam selected from a set of different uplink beams based on the per-path AoA. The control message may configure the UE to transmit an uplink message based on the indicated uplink beam … For example, the UE may transmit an uplink message based on the per-path AoA determined for each of the paths).
Yet, Pezeshki does not explicitly teach wherein the TRP-side angular information is defined in a first coordinate system, wherein the UE (300) is configured to select a beam to use for communication with the TRP (140) in a second coordinate system different from the first coordinate system, and wherein the UE (300) is configured to, as part of selecting the beam, transform the TRP-side angular information from the first coordinate system to the second coordinate system according to a relation between the first coordinate system and the second coordinate system, the relation being determined from a rotation of the UE (300), with respect to the first coordinate system, as locally obtained by the UE (300).
However, in the analogous art, Ashari explicitly teaches wherein the TRP-side angular information is defined in a first coordinate system, wherein the UE (300) is configured to select a beam to use for communication with the TRP (140) in a second coordinate system different from the first coordinate system, (Fig. 6-8 (Please see separate coordinate systems for TRP and UE in Fig. 8) & ¶0108 - In aspects of the present application, both the UE 110 and the TR-TRP 172 are configured to shift respective receive/transmit beam directions so as to compensate for the mobility of the UE 110 and/or the mobility of the NT-TRP 172 … the beam angular direction adjustment may be indicated, to the UE 110, using a combination of RRC signaling and dynamic indication. ¶0115 - Subsequent to the defining (step 606) of the beam angular direction adjustment, the NT-TRP 172 may indicate (step 608), to the given UE 110, the beam angular direction adjustment. Accordingly, the UE 110 may use the beam angular direction adjustment to manage a pace and a direction of future shifts in the receive beam direction. ¶120 - In another method, both the NT-TRP 172 and the UE 110 may have access to a plurality of possible beam angular direction adjustment configurations. The UE 110 then may select one of the beam angular direction adjustment configurations based on information about mobility of the UE 110);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Ashari to the teaching of Pezeshki. The motivation would be because the invention relates to beam management for wireless communication and, in particular embodiments, to agile beam tracking (¶0002, Ashari).
Yet, Pezeshki and Ashari do not explicitly teach and wherein the UE (300) is configured to, as part of selecting the beam, transform the TRP-side angular information from the first coordinate system to the second coordinate system according to a relation between the first coordinate system and the second coordinate system, the relation being determined from a rotation of the UE (300), with respect to the first coordinate system, as locally obtained by the UE (300).
However, in the analogous art, Selen explicitly teaches and wherein the UE (300) is configured to, as part of selecting the beam, transform the TRP-side angular information from the first coordinate system to the second coordinate system according to a relation between the first coordinate system and the second coordinate system, (Fig. 3-4, 7-9 & ¶0039 - Another kind of spatial information of interest is the orientation of the UE. Based on the orientation, it is possible to transform certain parameters of the prioritization such as a preferred spatial direction into a local frame or coordinate system of the UE. (Fig. 8) ¶0083 - Then, the orientation 231 is used to find the up direction and the rotation of the UE 130 with respect to, e.g., the serving access node 121. (Fig. 9) ¶0101 - At 904, e.g., based on internal sensor data, the UE 130 determines its orientation 231. This allows transforming the information received as part of the control message at 903 into a local frame);
the relation being determined from a rotation of the UE (300), with respect to the first coordinate system, as locally obtained by the UE (300) (¶0039 - Another kind of spatial information of interest is the orientation of the UE. Based on the orientation, it is possible to transform certain parameters of the prioritization such as a preferred spatial direction into a local frame or coordinate system of the UE. (Fig. 8) ¶0083 - Then, the orientation 231 is used to find the up direction and the rotation of the UE 130 with respect to, e.g., the serving access node 121. (Fig. 9) ¶0101 - At 904, e.g., based on internal sensor data, the UE 130 determines its orientation 231. This allows transforming the information received as part of the control message at 903 into a local frame).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Selen to the teachings of Pezeshki and Ashari. The motivation would be because the invention relates to a device executing transmission on a plurality of beamformed directions depending on an orientation of the device (¶0001, Selen).
Re. Claim 32, Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen teach Claim 30.
Pezeshki further teaches a computer program product (1210a, 1210b) comprising the non-transitory computer readable storage medium (1230) according to claim 30 (Fig. 10-11 & ¶0256 - Aspect 38: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communications by a base station, the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to perform a method of any of aspects 17 through 26. Please also see ¶0027 and ¶0166).
Claims 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen, as applied to Claims 9, 11, 13, 19-21, 23, 25, 30 and 32 above, and further in view of Cha et al. (US 2022/0390546), Cha hereinafter.
Re. Claim 15, Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen teach Claim 9.
Yet, Pezeshki does not explicitly teach the TRP-side angular information is an estimate of angle-of-arrival at the TRP (140) of the uplink signalling transmitted by the UE (300).
However, in the analogous art, Cha explicitly teaches the TRP-side angular information is an estimate of angle-of-arrival at the TRP (140) of the uplink signalling transmitted by the UE (300) (Fig. 2 & ¶0048 - As illustrated at 210, the UE may send, to the gNB or the TRP, a transmission of positioning SRS resources. As illustrated at 212, the gNB or the TRP may perform AoA measurements and may determine an AoA for each AEG. For example, the gNB or TRP may estimate angle measurements (AoAs) for the configured SRS resource(s) of the UE. The gNB or TRP may estimate AoA measurements per AEG per UE. If there are multiple signal paths, the AoA measurements may be per signal path).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Cha to the teachings of Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen. The motivation would be because the invention provides systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for using angle error groups (AEGs) to improve angle of arrival (AoA) positioning (Abstract, Cha).
Re. Claim 16, Pezeshki, Ashari, Selen and Cha teach Claim 15.
Yet, Pezeshki does not explicitly teach the angle-of-arrival pertains to angle-of-arrival in azimuth, or in elevation, or both azimuth and elevation.
However, in the analogous art, Cha explicitly teaches the angle-of-arrival pertains to angle-of-arrival in azimuth, or in elevation, or both azimuth and elevation (Fig. 2 & ¶0063 - In some embodiments, the one or more angle of arrival measurements may include one or more horizontal angle of arrival measurements (e.g., azimuth) or one or more vertical angle of arrival measurements (e.g., elevation)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Cha to the teachings of Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen. The motivation would be because the invention provides systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for using angle error groups (AEGs) to improve angle of arrival (AoA) positioning (Abstract, Cha).
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen, as applied to Claims 9, 11, 13, 19-21, 23, 25, 30 and 32 above, and further in view of Zhu (Zhu, D., Choi, J., & Heath, R. W. (2017, July). Auxiliary Beam Pair Enabled AoD and AoA Estimation in Closed-Loop Large-Scale Millimeter-Wave MIMO Systems), Zhu hereinafter.
Re. Claim 17, Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen teach Claim 9.
Yet, Pezeshki does not explicitly teach the beam is selected to, according to a given metric, have an angle-of-departure that is spatially aligned with the angle-of-arrival.
However, in the analogous art, Zhu explicitly teaches the beam is selected to, according to a given metric, have an angle-of-departure that is spatially aligned with the angle-of-arrival (Abstract - In this paper, an auxiliary beam pair design is proposed to provide high-resolution estimates of the channel’s angle-of-departure (AoD) and angle-of-arrival (AoA) for mmWave MIMO systems. By performing an amplitude comparison with respect to each auxiliary beam pair, a set of ratio measures that characterize the channel’s AoD and AoA are obtained by the receiver. Either the best ratio measure or the estimated AoD is quantized and fed back to the transmitter via a feedback channel …Page 5, (17) – Lemma 2 implies that if the beam with the highest received signal strength is selected, the probing range of the corresponding auxiliary beam pair covers the transmit spatial frequency to be estimated. To choose the paired beam with respect to the beam selected using Lemma 2, the received signal strengths of its two adjacent beams are tested. The adjacent beam with the highest received signal strength among the two is then selected).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Zhu to the teachings of Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen. The motivation would be because the paper provides methods for estimating the channel’s AoD and AoA through auxiliary beam pair (ABP) design with high accuracy and low training overhead (Page 2, ¶2).
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen, as applied to Claims 9, 11, 13, 19-21, 23, 25, 30 and 32 above, and further in view of Manolakos et al. (US 2024/0129883), Manolakos hereinafter.
Re. Claim 18, Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen teach Claim 9.
Yet, Pezeshi does not explicitly teach the UE (300) is configured to perform a UE-side beam selection procedure only in azimuth domain, only in elevation domain, or in both azimuth and elevation domains.
However, in the analogous art, Manolakos explicitly teaches the UE (300) is configured to perform a UE-side beam selection procedure only in azimuth domain, only in elevation domain, or in both azimuth and elevation domains (Fig. 8 & ¶0099 - FIG. 8 illustrates a flow diagram of an example process 800 for facilitating beam selection by a UE device. ¶0102 - In some implementations, the at least one adjacent beam can be further determined based on an adjacency beam rule that is received from a base station. In one example, the at least one adjacent beam can be physically adjacent to the assigned beam in at least one of an azimuth domain, an elevation domain, or a combination thereof).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Manolakos to the teachings of Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen. The motivation would be because the invention relates to wireless positioning, with examples including improving downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS) prioritization by utilizing PRS resource index information (¶0001, Manolakos).
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen, as applied to Claims 9, 11, 13, 19-21, 23, 25, 30 and 32 above, and further in view of Gao et al. (US 2020/0287604), Gao hereinafter.
Re. Claim 22, Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen teaches Claim 9.
Yet, Pezeshki does not explicitly teach receiving (S212) a beam adjustment indicator from the network node (200); and inactivating (S214) the beam selected by the UE (300) from communication with the TRP (140) when the beam adjustment indicator indicates that received power of the uplink signalling is more than a threshold value lower than received power of previously received uplink signalling from the UE (300).
However, in the analogous art, Gao explicitly teaches receiving (S212) a beam adjustment indicator from the network node (200); (Fig. 1-3 & ¶0007 - For a downlink transmission, a beamforming weight transmitted at a base station side and a beamforming weight received at a terminal side need to be adjusted … ¶0150 – (1) - if the beam reciprocity of the terminal is established, transmitting, by the base station to the terminal, first indication information for instructing the terminal to perform transmission by using the reciprocity beam; ¶0151 – (2) if the beam reciprocity of the terminal is not established, transmitting, by the base station to the terminal, second indication information for instructing the terminal to performs transmission by using a designated uplink transmission beam …
and inactivating (S214) the beam selected by the UE (300) from communication with the TRP (140) when the beam adjustment indicator indicates that received power of the uplink signalling is more than a threshold value lower than received power of previously received uplink signalling from the UE (300) (¶0007 - In a downlink direction, the base station transmits a downlink beam training signal; and the terminal measures the downlink beam training signal, selects an optimal transmission beam transmitted by the base station, feeds beam-related information back to the base station, and selects a corresponding optimal reception beam and stores information of the corresponding optimal reception beam locally. ¶0014 - determining that the beam reciprocity of the second device is established if the reception quality of the reference signal is greater than the reference reception quality, or if difference between the reference reception quality and the reception quality of the reference signal is less than a predefined threshold; ¶0124 - The optimal signal quality may refer to the highest signal power, the highest signal-to-noise ratio, etc. ¶0151 - After the terminal receives the instruction, the terminal may stop transmission performed by using the reciprocity beam and instead, transmit data by using the designated uplink transmission beam).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Gao to the teachings of Pezeshki, Ashari and Selen. The motivation would be because the base station or the terminal needs a method capable of testing whether the beam reciprocity of the opposite communication end is satisfied, so as to improve a communication quality (¶0008, Gao).
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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALYSSA WILLIAMS whose telephone number is (571)270-7673. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8-5pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayman Abaza can be reached on (571) 270-0422. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALYSSA WILLIAMS/Examiner, Art Unit 2465B
/CHRISTOPHER T WYLLIE/Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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