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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 9-13, 15-17 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sahraei et al. (US 2024/0007147).
Regarding claim 9, Sahraei et al. disclose a user device (UE) (Figure 10 and paragraph 152, may be an example of or include the components of a device 705, a device 805, or a UE 115), comprising:
a memory (Figure 10, memory 1030); and
one or more processors (Figure 10, processor 1040) configured to, when executing instructions stored in the memory (Paragraph 155, memory 1030 may store computer-readable, computer-executable code 1035 including instructions that, when executed by the processor 1040, cause the device 1005 to perform various functions), cause the UE to:
perform channel measurements of one or more sub-bands associated with a base station and one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) (Figure 2 and paragraph 97, a signal measurement (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), received signal strength indicator (RSSI), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-noise plus interference ratio (SNIR), signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR)) associated with the direct communication link 215, the communication link 210 via the RIS 205, or both; Figure 6 and paragraphs 122-123, At 620, the base station 105-e may transmit, to the UE 115-j, a RIS configuration message indicating a configuration of the RIS 605…the RIS configuration message may assign the RIS 605 to the UE 115-j for…a set of frequency resources [sub-band]…At 625, the UE 115-j may select the RIS 605 to facilitate communications with the base station 105-e based on the configuration of the RIS 605. In some examples, if the UE 115-j receives configuration information…for multiple RISs in the wireless network, the UE 115-j may select the RIS 605 from the multiple RISs based on…a reference signal measurement associated with the RIS 605);
select at least one RIS of the one or more RISs based on one or more constraints and the channel measurements (Paragraphs 110 and 112, UE selects RIS based on signal quality compared to a threshold or signal strength compared to a threshold; Paragraph 123, At 625, the UE 115-j may select the RIS 605 to facilitate communications with the base station 105-e based on the configuration of the RIS 605. In some examples, if the UE 115-j receives configuration information…for multiple RISs in the wireless network, the UE 115-j may select the RIS 605 from the multiple RISs based on a position of the UE 115-j, a position of the base station 105-e, a position of the RIS 605 indicated by the configuration of the RIS 605, an uplink reflection angle of the RIS 605 indicated by the configuration of the RIS 605, a downlink reflection angle of the RIS 605 indicated by the configuration of the RIS 605, a reference signal measurement associated with the RIS 605, or a combination thereof); and
transmit, to the base station, an indication of the at least one RIS and the channel measurements (Paragraph 124, at 630, the UE 115-j may transmit, to the base station 105-e, a feedback message indicating the selected RIS 605. In some examples, the feedback message may include CSI associated with the RIS 605).
Sahraei et al. do not explicitly disclose selecting at least one sub-band of the one or more sub-bands and transmitting, to the base station, the at least one sub-band. However, Sahraei et al. clearly imply these limitations. According to paragraphs 95 and 122, each RIS has an associated set of frequency resources (i.e. sub-band) that is allocated by the base station. According to paragraph 149, the RIS configuration indicates the set of frequency resources. Thus, when the UE selects a RIS in figure 6 and paragraphs 123 at step 625, the UE is also selecting the RIS’s associated/assigned frequency resources (selecting at least one sub-band of the one or more sub-bands). Furthermore, when the UE transmits, to the base station, the selected RIS in the feedback at step 630 of figure 6 and paragraph 124, the UE is also indicating/transmitting the RIS’s associated/assigned frequency resources (transmitting, to the base station, the at least one sub-band).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Sahraei et al. to explicitly include the aforementioned limitations since a set of frequency resources is already associated with/assigned to each RIS.
Regarding claim 10, Sahraei et al. disclose wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: transmit the channel measurements to the base station via the at least one RIS of the one or more RISs (Figure 6 and paragraph 124, at 630, the UE 115-j may transmit, to the base station 105-e, a feedback message indicating the selected RIS 605. In some examples, the feedback message may include CSI associated with the RIS 605. In some aspects, the UE 115-j may transmit the feedback message to the base station 105-e via the RIS 605).
Regarding claim 11, Sahraei et al. disclose wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: receive, from the base station, configuration information associated with the at least one RIS and the at least one sub-band (Paragraph 93, the base station 105-a may transmit the RIS configuration message 220 directly to the UE 115-a over the direct communication link 215; Paragraph 95, the configuration message 220 may indicate a set of time and frequency resources [sub-band] associated with the RIS 205. For example, the base station 105-a may allocate a frequency and a time slot to the UE 115-a for a beamformed communication based on a configuration of the RIS 205; Paragraph 122, the base station 105-e may transmit, to the UE 115-j, a RIS configuration message indicating a configuration of the RIS 605…the RIS configuration message may assign the RIS 605 to the UE 115-j for a set of time resources, a set of frequency resources [sub-band], or both; Paragraph 149, the configuration of the RIS indicates a set of time resources, a set of frequency resources [sub-band], or both assigned to the RIS).
Regarding claim 12, Sahraei et al. disclose wherein the channel measurements comprise:
a signal-to-noise ratio of each sub-band of the one or more sub-bands,
a sum of signal-to-noise ratios associated with transmission polarizations,
a pathloss associated with direct signaling from the base station to the UE,
a pathloss associated with indirect signaling from the base station to the UE via the one or more RISs,
a reference signal received power associated with direct signaling from the base station to the UE, a reference signal received power associated with indirect signaling from the base station to the UE via the one or more RISs (Figure 2 and paragraph 97, a signal measurement (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), received signal strength indicator (RSSI), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-noise plus interference ratio (SNIR), signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR)) associated with the direct communication link 215, the communication link 210 via the RIS 205, or both),
a time difference of arrival associated with direct signaling from the base station to the UE,
a time difference of arrival associated with indirect signaling from the base station to the UE,
a delay difference estimation associated with direct signaling from the base station to the UE,
a delay difference estimation associated with indirect signaling from the base station to the UE via the one or more RISs, or a combination thereof.
Regarding claim 13, Sahraei et al. disclose wherein the one or more constraints comprise: a signal-to-noise ratio threshold of each sub-band, a path loss threshold, reference signal received power threshold, channel capacity threshold, or a combination thereof (Paragraph 110, for example, the communication link 410-d between the base station 105-c and the UE 115-h is obstructed, experiences interference, or otherwise drops below a quality [signal-to-noise ratio] or signal strength [reference signal received power] threshold, the UE 115-h may use the RIS 405-e to maintain communication with the base station 105-c via the communication link 410-e; Paragraph 112, If, for example, the UE 115-g determines that a communication link 410-c corresponding to the RIS 405-c is experiencing interference [signal-to-noise ratio] or a deterioration in channel conditions (e.g., a low RSSI below an RSSI [reference signal received power] threshold), the UE 115-c may refrain from selecting the RIS 405-c).
Regarding claim 15, Sahraei et al. disclose a base station (Figure 14 and paragraph 188, The device 1405 may be an example of or include the components of a device 1105, a device 1205, or a base station 105), comprising:
a memory (Figure 14, memory 1430); and
one or more processors (Figure 14, processor 1440) configured to, when executing instructions stored in the memory (Paragraph 192, The processor 1440 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., the memory 1430) to cause the device 1405 to perform various functions), cause the base station to:
perform channel measurements of one or more sub-bands associated with a user equipment (UE) and one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) (Figure 6 and paragraph 120, At 610, the base station 105-e may determine a configuration of the RIS 605. In some aspects, the base station 105-e may determine the configuration based on configuring an uplink reflection angle of the RIS 605, configuring a downlink reflection angle of the RIS 605, or both… station 105-e may determine the configuration of the RIS 605 based on a location of the UE 115-j, a location of the base station 105-e, a reference signal measurement associated with the RIS 605, or a combination thereof);
receive, from the UE, an indication of at least one RIS of the one or more RISs that satisfy one or mor constraints (Paragraphs 110 and 112, UE selects RIS based on signal quality compared to a threshold or signal strength compared to a threshold; Paragraph 124, at 630, the UE 115-j may transmit, to the base station 105-e, a feedback message indicating the selected RIS 605. In some examples, the feedback message may include CSI associated with the RIS 605); and
select the at least one RIS based on the channel measurements, the indication of the at least one RIS (Figure 6 and paragraphs 124-125, base station receiving UE RIS selection and UE CSI feedback in step 630 and further performing communication with the UE step 635 based on the UE selection and the UE CSI feedback, thereby selecting the RIS) and one or more additional constraints associated with the base station (Paragraph 125, base station beamforming constraints and resource constraints for communicating with the UE via the selected RIS).
Sahraei et al. do not explicitly disclose the base station receiving, from the UE, an indication of at least one sub-band. However, Sahraei et al. clearly imply these limitations. According to paragraphs 95 and 122, each RIS has an associated set of frequency resources (i.e. sub-band) that is allocated by the base station. According to paragraph 149, the RIS configuration indicates the set of frequency resources. Thus, when the UE transmits, to the base station, the selected RIS in the feedback at step 630 of figure 6 and paragraph 124, the UE is also indicating/transmitting the RIS’s associated/assigned frequency resources (transmitting, to the base station, the at least one sub-band).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Sahraei et al. to explicitly include the aforementioned limitations since a set of frequency resources is already associated with/assigned to each RIS.
Regarding claim 16, Sahraei et al. disclose wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the base station to: transmit configuration information to configured the at least one RISs for communications between the base station the UE via the at least one RIS (Paragraph 93, the base station 105-a may transmit the RIS configuration message 220 directly to the UE 115-a over the direct communication link 215; Paragraph 95, the configuration message 220 may indicate a set of time and frequency resources [sub-band] associated with the RIS 205. For example, the base station 105-a may allocate a frequency and a time slot to the UE 115-a for a beamformed communication based on a configuration of the RIS 205; Paragraph 122, the base station 105-e may transmit, to the UE 115-j, a RIS configuration message indicating a configuration of the RIS 605…the RIS configuration message may assign the RIS 605 to the UE 115-j for a set of time resources, a set of frequency resources [sub-band], or both; Paragraph 149, the configuration of the RIS indicates a set of time resources, a set of frequency resources [sub-band], or both assigned to the RIS); and transmit an indication to the UE of the at least one RIS being selected (Figure 6 and paragraphs 121-122, RIS configuration message indicating configuration of RIS 605).
Regarding claim 17, Sahraei et al. disclose wherein the channel measurements comprise:
a signal-to-noise ratio of each sub-band of the one or more sub-bands,
a sum of signal-to-noise ratios associated with transmission polarizations,
a pathloss associated with direct signaling from the base station to the UE,
a pathloss associated with indirect signaling from the base station to the UE via the one or more RISs,
a reference signal received power associated with direct signaling from the base station to the UE RISs (Figure 2 and paragraph 97, a signal measurement (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), received signal strength indicator (RSSI), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-noise plus interference ratio (SNIR), signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR)) associated with the direct communication link 215, the communication link 210 via the RIS 205, or both),
a reference signal received power associated with indirect signaling from the base station to the UE via the one or more RISs (Figure 2 and paragraph 97, a signal measurement (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), received signal strength indicator (RSSI), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-noise plus interference ratio (SNIR), signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR)) associated with the direct communication link 215, the communication link 210 via the RIS 205, or both), or
a combination thereof.
Regarding claim 19, Sahraei et al. disclose wherein the one or more constraints comprise: a signal-to-noise ratio threshold of each sub-band, a path loss threshold, reference signal received power threshold, channel capacity threshold, or a combination thereof (Paragraph 110, for example, the communication link 410-d between the base station 105-c and the UE 115-h is obstructed, experiences interference, or otherwise drops below a quality [signal-to-noise ratio] or signal strength [reference signal received power] threshold, the UE 115-h may use the RIS 405-e to maintain communication with the base station 105-c via the communication link 410-e; Paragraph 112, If, for example, the UE 115-g determines that a communication link 410-c corresponding to the RIS 405-c is experiencing interference [signal-to-noise ratio] or a deterioration in channel conditions (e.g., a low RSSI below an RSSI [reference signal received power] threshold), the UE 115-c may refrain from selecting the RIS 405-c).
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sahraei et al. as applied to claim 9 above, and further in view of Elshafie et al. (US 2024/0187086).
Regarding claim 14, Sahraei et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Elshafie et al.: wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: receive a channel measurement request from the base station or an interference device (Elshafie et al., Paragraph 102, the UE (e.g., a non-victim UE) may receive, from the base station, an additional DCI with a request for the UE to transmit a measurement report to the base station. The additional DCI may indicate PUCCH resources for transmitting the additional DCI from the UE to the base station. The measurement report may indicate an RSRP, an RSRQ, an SINR, an MCS, and/or a CQI).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Sahraei et al. with the cited disclosure from Elshafie et al. in order to allow the base station to perform interference mitigation based on measurement reporting (Elshafie et al., Paragraph 105).
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sahraei et al. as applied to claim 15 above, and further in view of Ren et al. (US 2024/0162940).
Regarding claim 18, Sahraei et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Ren et al.: wherein the channel measurements comprise: a time difference of arrival associated with direct signaling from the base station to the UE (Ren et al., Paragraph 71, A measurements can be made between signals received via the reflected path and a signal received from a direct path (e.g. non-RIS-reflected path(s) 430). These measurements can be used, for example, in addition with other information (e.g., angle information, measurements using other transmitting devices/RISs, etc.) to determine the position of the UE 105 geometrically), a time difference of arrival associated with indirect signaling from the base station to the UE (Ren et al., Paragraph 71, A measurements can be made between signals received via the reflected path and a signal received from a direct path (e.g. non-RIS-reflected path(s) 430). These measurements can be used, for example, in addition with other information (e.g., angle information, measurements using other transmitting devices/RISs, etc.) to determine the position of the UE 105 geometrically), a delay difference estimation associated with direct signaling from the base station to the UE, a delay difference estimation associated with indirect signaling from the base station to the UE via the one or more RISs, or a combination thereof.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Sahraei et al. with the cited disclose from Ren et al. in order to further determine geometrical positioning of the UE (Ren et al., Paragraph 71).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-8 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: regarding claim 1, the prior art discloses RIS selection based on channel measurements as shown in the rejection above with respect to Sahraei et al. and similarly with respect to Ly et al. (US 2024/0107423) paragraphs 65 and figure 4. The prior art does not disclose that an interference device:
receives a request for interference management from a transmitting device or a receiving device;
transmits channel measurement requests to the receiving device and one or more RISs; and
receives channel measurements form the receiving device and the one or more RIS.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Claim 20 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior discloses the base station transmitting a request for interference management to an interference device as shown above in rejection of claim 14 over Elshafie et al. The prior art does not disclose or adequately suggest that the base station receives a channel measurement request from the interference device and transmits channel measurements to the interference device in response to the channel measurement request.
Conclusion
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/OTIS L THOMPSON, JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477
August 5, 2026
