DETAILED ACTION
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 communication filed on 8/9/2024. Claims 1-20 are pending.
Examiner Note
The examiner is here to serve, to assist, and to help applicant to the very best of his ability. The Primary Patent Examiner position is a position of serving and it is an honor to externally serve the applicant and attorney and to internally serve junior examiners and supervisors. The goal of the examiner is to work with and assist applicant to move cases along as efficiently as possible.
Applicant is encouraged to call examiner to schedule an interview if applicant has any questions about this action, wants to discuss any possible paths forward, has proposed amendments to the claims to run by the examiner, or for any other issues that applicant would like to discuss.
Examiner can normally be reached at (571) 270-3863 or michael.keller@uspto.gov, Monday-Friday, from about 6 AM - 10 PM EST and if your call is missed examiner will try to return call quickly, thank you.
Priority
This application claims priority of PCT/CN2022/075877, filed 2/10/2022. The assignee of record is HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. The listed inventor(s) is/are: Medra, Mostafa; Abu Al Haija, Ahmad Mustafa Musa; Baligh, Mohammadhadi.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 11/12/2024 & 3/18/2025 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 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 provided that all other rejections under 35 USC 101/112 (if any) are obviated upon upcoming amendments/arguments without raising new issues that necessitate further consideration/search.
Claim Objections
Claims 11-12 objected to because of the following informalities: The claims recite “The method of any one of claim 6” which appears to be a typo for “The method of claim 6.”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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) 1-4 & 6-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang (CN 107483125 A, published 12/15/2017; hereinafter Wan) in view of Ali et al. (US 20230189021 A1, filed 12/10/2021; hereinafter Ali).
For Claim 1, Wan teaches a method of beamforming a signal comprising: beamforming the signal to be transmitted, the beamforming comprising applying beam coefficients to a transmitter (Wan Pg 10 to compensate for the original beam shaping coefficient according to the direction where the terminal, obtaining the updated beamforming coefficients, using the updated beamforming coefficient to send data for the LTE/LTE upgrade version cell);
determining configuration information… enabling modification of the signal… (Wan Pg 10 to compensate the original beamforming coefficients according to the direction where the terminal obtain the updated beamforming coefficient is the key point in the step 304. Wan Pg 11 the beam TM7 and TM8 forming is to concentrate the transmit power in the direction where the terminal so that the terminal receiving maximize signal power, at the same time, it can reduce the interference of other directions); and
wherein the configuration information for the RIS pertains to beam direction (Wan Pg 10 direction and angles), beam shape (Wan Pg 10 beam shaping coefficient), and beam robustness of a redirected beam (Wan Pg 10 signal strength).
Wan does not explicitly teach determining configuration information for a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) enabling modification of the signal that impinges on the RIS.
However, Ali teaches determining configuration information for a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) enabling modification of the signal that impinges on the RIS (Ali ¶ 0076 the RIS changes reflection coefficients for different PRS slots to beamform the signal to a different direction).
Ali and Wan are analogous art because they are both related to beam forming.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the RIS techniques of Ali with the system of Wan to improve a positioning accuracy with the help of an RIS including a new configuration of positioning reference signals (“PRS”) to enable the use of multiple RISs for positioning (Ali ¶ 0060).
For Claim 2, Wan-Ali teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the RIS is co-located with the transmitter, the method further comprising using the configuration information to configure the RIS (Ali ¶ 0046 a network unit 104 (e.g., reconfigurable intelligent surface controller) may receive, at a reconfigurable intelligent surface controller, control information for reflecting a positioning reference signal received from a transmitting device and directed to a receiving device.
Please see Figs. 3 and 4 provided in the mapping of claim 3 below, thank you).
For Claim 3, Wan-Ali teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the RIS is located separately from the transmitter, the method further comprising transmitting the configuration information to the RIS (Please see screenshot of Ali Fig. 3 & 4 below, please not transmitter 310 in Fig. 3 and 104 in Fig. 4, thank you:
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For Claim 4, Wan-Ali teaches the method of claim 3, further comprising using the configuration information received by the RIS to determine a configuration for elements of the RIS to redirect the beamformed signal (Ali Claim 1).
For Claim 6, Wan teaches method comprising: determining configuration information for redirecting a beamformed signal… (Wan Pg 10), wherein the configuration information pertains to beam direction, beam shape and beam robustness of a redirected beam (Wan Pgs 10-11). Wan does not explicitly teach a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS). However, Ali teaches a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) (Ali ¶ 0076). Ali and Wan are analogous art because they are both related to beam forming. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the RIS techniques of Ali with the system of Wan to improve a positioning accuracy with the help of an RIS including a new configuration of positioning reference signals (“PRS”) to enable the use of multiple RISs for positioning (Ali ¶ 0060).
For Claim 7, Wan-Ali teaches the method of claim 6, wherein the RIS is located separately from a transmitter, the method further comprising transmitting the configuration information to the RIS (Ali Figs. 3-4).
For Claim 8, Wan-Ali teaches the method of claim 6, wherein the configuration information for redirecting the beamformed signal by the RIS is defined by parameters including one or more of: an angle defining a beam center; a parameter defining a beam width; and a shape representing a desired robustness shape (Ali Pgs 10-11).
For Claim 9, Wan-Ali teaches the method of claim 6, further comprising receiving user equipment (UE) parameter information for use in determining the configuration information (Ali ¶ 0061).
For Claim 10, Wan-Ali teaches the method of claim 9, wherein the UE parameter information for use in determining the configuration information is one or more of: a velocity of the UE; a direction of movement of the UE; a location of the UE; interference measured at the UE; a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) calculated at the UE; or uncertainty of one or more of the velocity of the UE, the direction of movement of the UE, the location of the UE, interference measured at the UE, or the SNR ratio calculated at the UE (Ali ¶ 0078, Fig. 8).
For Claim 11, Wan-Ali teaches the method of any one of claim 6, wherein determining the configuration information is performed for more than one beam (Ali Fig. 8).
For Claim 12, Wan-Ali teaches the method of any one of claim 6, wherein determining configuration information for the RIS includes determining a phase compensation component for at least one of: when phase compensation is needed related to a distance between the RIS and a transmitter; or when phases of the beamformed signal impinging on the RIS do not have uniform phase spacing (Wan Pg 14).
For Claim(s) 13, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 1 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim(s) 14, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 2 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim(s) 15, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 3 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim(s) 16, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 4 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim(s) 17, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 6 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim(s) 18, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 7 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim(s) 19, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 8 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim(s) 20, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 9 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is listed below, thank you:
i. US 20220014935 A1, SYSTEMS AND METHODS USING CONFIGURABLE SURFACES FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
Please see PTO-892 for additional listing of relevant prior art made of record but not relied upon, thank you.
Conclusion
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/MICHAEL A KELLER/
Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2418
Prosecution Insights