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 communication is response to claims filed on 08/28/24.
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement’s
4. The information disclosure statement(s) submitted on 08/28/24 & 04/01/25 have being considered by the examiner and made of record in the application file.
Priority
5. Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Drawing
6. The drawings filed on 08/28/24 are accepted by the examiner.
Specification
7. The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. Examiner suggested to change the title to “TRANSMITTING ONE OR MORE SECTOR SWEEP FRAMES FOR BEAMFORMING”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
8. 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 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 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
9. Claims 1, 4-9, 12-17 & 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lou et al. (hereinafter referred as Lou) US Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0216898 A1, in view of Kakishima et al. (hereinafter referred as Kakishima) US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0259608 A1.
Regarding claims 1 & 17: Lou discloses an electronic device/a method (See FIG. 1B & Para. 0054; WTRU (i.e., Initiator)) comprising:
a wireless communication circuit (See FIG. 1B & Para. 0054; WTRU includes transceiver) configured to transmit and receive a wireless signal;
a processor (See FIG. 1B & Para. 0054; WTRU includes Processor) operatively connected to the wireless communication circuit; and
a memory (See FIG. 1B & Para. 0054; WTRU includes a memory) comprising instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to:
transmit one or more sector sweep frames for beamforming, using sub-carriers of a millimeter wave band (See Para. 0054, 0096-0097 & 0100; 02.11ad is an amendment to the WLAN standard, which specifies the MAC and physical layer (PHY) layers the 60 GHz band. During ISS 315, initiator 305 transmits sector sweep (SS) frames 325 to responder 31); and
receive feedback information on the one or more sector sweep frames through the millimeter wave band (See Para. 0100-0104; during RSS 320, responder 310 transmits SS frames 330 to initiator 305. The SS frames 325 and 330 may be implemented using a Beacon frame or an SSW frame, the SSW frame format includes an SSW feedback field and the SSW feedback field format includes a sector selection field),
wherein the feedback information comprises: a sector identification (ID) of a sector sweep frame received with a strongest signal by an external electronic device among the one or more sector sweep frames (See Para. 0161; if a STA transmits in a slot associated with SectorID=K, it may implicitly indicate that TX sector K is the best sector (e.g., based on STA measurement) for the STA. a SSW frame or short SSW frame may be used as a feedback frame. Thus, the sector ID field in SSW or short SSW frame may be re-interpreted as a weak sector suggested by the STA); and
Lou does not explicitly disclose a sub-carrier index of the sector sweep frame received with the strongest signal.
However, Kakishima from the same field of endeavor discloses a sub-carrier index of the sector sweep frame received with the strongest signal (See FIG. 5, Para. 0059-0060 & 0116; he UE 10 may select, from the subband allocated to the multiple subband CSI-RSs, the subband (e.g., subband index #1) allocated to the subband CSI-RS having the best reception quality. the UE 10 may transmit feedback information to the gNB 20. For example, the feedback information may include the selected subband index (e.g., subband index #1) and the beam index corresponding to the selected subband).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a sub-carrier index of the sector sweep frame received with the strongest signal as taught by Kakishhima in the system of Lou to determine an appropriate subband used for a subband CSI-RS transmission in a CSI acquisition scheme (See Para. 0012; lines 1-2).
Regarding claims 4 & 20: The combination of Lou and Kakishhima disclose an electronic device/a method.
Furthermore, Lou discloses an electronic device, wherein the feedback information is included in a sector sweep feedback field of a sector sweep frame received from the external electronic device (See Para. 0101-0104).
Regarding claim 5: The combination of Lou and Kakishhima disclose an electronic device.
Furthermore, Lou discloses an electronic device, wherein the feedback information is included in a sub-carrier select field of the sector sweep feedback field (See Para. 0101-0104).
Regarding claim 6: The combination of Lou and Kakishhima disclose an electronic device.
Furthermore, Lou discloses an electronic device, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to further: transmit a sector sweep feedback frame in response to the reception of the feedback information; and receive a sector sweep acknowledgement frame from the external electronic device, wherein the sector sweep feedback frame comprises: a sector ID of a sector sweep frame received with a strongest signal among sector sweep frames received from the external electronic device (See Para. 0190-0191); and a sub-carrier index of the sector sweep frame received with the strongest signal among the sector sweep frames received from the external electronic device (See Kakishhima Para. 0059-0060 & 0116).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a sub-carrier index of the sector sweep frame received with the strongest signal among the sector sweep frames received from the external electronic device as taught by Kakishhima in the system of Lou to determine an appropriate subband used for a subband CSI-RS transmission in a CSI acquisition scheme (See Para. 0012; lines 1-2).
Regarding claim 7: The combination of Lou and Kakishhima disclose an electronic device.
Furthermore, Lou discloses an electronic device, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to further: determine a sector ID and a sub-carrier group to be mapped to each of one or more external electronic devices based on the feedback information; and transmit data to each of the one or more external electronic devices based on the determined sector ID and the determined sub-carrier group (See Para. 0190-0191).
Regarding claim 8: The combination of Lou and Kakishhima disclose an electronic device.
Furthermore, Lou discloses an electronic device, wherein the electronic device is configured to perform analog beamforming (See Para. 0082).
Regarding claim 9: Lou discloses an electronic device (See FIG. 1B & Para. 0054; WTRU (i.e., responder)) comprising:
a wireless communication circuit (See FIG. 1B & Para. 0054; WTRU includes transceiver) configured to transmit and receive a wireless signal;
a processor (See FIG. 1B & Para. 0054; WTRU includes Processor) operatively connected to the wireless communication circuit; and
a memory (See FIG. 1B & Para. 0054; WTRU includes a memory) comprising instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to:
receive one or more sector sweep frames for beamforming from an external electronic device through a millimeter wave band (See Para. 0054, 0096-0097 & 0100; 02.11ad is an amendment to the WLAN standard, which specifies the MAC and physical layer (PHY) layers the 60 GHz band. During ISS 315, initiator 305 transmits sector sweep (SS) frames 325 to responder 31); and
transmit feedback information on the one or more sector sweep frames to the external electronic device based on sub-carriers of the millimeter wave band (See Para. 0100-0104; during RSS 320, responder 310 transmits SS frames 330 to initiator 305. The SS frames 325 and 330 may be implemented using a Beacon frame or an SSW frame, the SSW frame format includes an SSW feedback field and the SSW feedback field format includes a sector selection field), and
wherein the feedback information comprises: a sector identification (ID) of a sector sweep frame received with a strongest signal among the one or more sector sweep frames (See Para. 0161; if a STA transmits in a slot associated with SectorID=K, it may implicitly indicate that TX sector K is the best sector (e.g., based on STA measurement) for the STA. a SSW frame or short SSW frame may be used as a feedback frame. Thus, the sector ID field in SSW or short SSW frame may be re-interpreted as a weak sector suggested by the STA).
Lou does not explicitly disclose a sub-carrier index of the sector sweep frame received with the strongest signal.
However, Kakishima from the same field of endeavor discloses a sub-carrier index of the sector sweep frame received with the strongest signal (See FIG. 5, Para. 0059-0060 & 0116; he UE 10 may select, from the subband allocated to the multiple subband CSI-RSs, the subband (e.g., subband index #1) allocated to the subband CSI-RS having the best reception quality. the UE 10 may transmit feedback information to the gNB 20. For example, the feedback information may include the selected subband index (e.g., subband index #1) and the beam index corresponding to the selected subband).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include sub-carrier index of the sector sweep frame received with the strongest signal as taught by Kakishhima in the system of Lou to determine an appropriate subband used for a subband CSI-RS transmission in a CSI acquisition scheme (See Para. 0012; lines 1-2).
Regarding claim 12: The combination of Lou and Kakishhima disclose an electronic device.
Furthermore, Lou discloses an electronic device, wherein the feedback information is included in a sector sweep feedback field of a sector sweep frame that is transmitted by the electronic device to the external electronic device (See Para. 0101-0104).
Regarding claim 13: The combination of Lou and Kakishhima disclose an electronic device.
Furthermore, Lou discloses an electronic device, wherein the feedback information is included in a sub-carrier select field of the sector sweep feedback field (See Para. 0101-0104).
Regarding claim 14: The combination of Lou and Kakishhima disclose an electronic device.
Furthermore, Lou discloses an electronic device, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to further: receive a sector sweep feedback frame from the external electronic device; and transmit a sector sweep acknowledgement frame to the external electronic device, wherein the sector sweep feedback frame comprises: a sector ID of a sector sweep frame received with a strongest signal by the external electronic device among the one or more sector sweep frames (See Para. 0190-0191); and a sub-carrier index of the sector sweep frame received with the strongest signal by the external electronic device (See Kakishhima Para. 0059-0060 & 0116).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a sub-carrier index of the sector sweep frame received with the strongest signal by the external electronic device as taught by Kakishhima in the system of Lou to determine an appropriate subband used for a subband CSI-RS transmission in a CSI acquisition scheme (See Para. 0012; lines 1-2).
Regarding claim 15: The combination of Lou and Kakishhima disclose an electronic device.
Furthermore, Lou discloses an electronic device, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to further: determine a sector ID and a sub-carrier index based on the feedback information; and transmit data to the external electronic device based on the determined sector ID and the determined sub-carrier index (See Para. 0190-0191).
Regarding claim 16: The combination of Lou and Kakishhima disclose an electronic device.
Furthermore, Lou discloses an electronic device, wherein the electronic device is configured to perform analog beamforming (See Para. 0082).
10. Claims 2-3, 10 -11 & 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lou, in view of Kakishima, further in view of Dash et al. (hereinafter referred as Dash) US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0145072 A1.
Regarding claims 2 & 18: The combination of Lou and Kakishhima disclose all the limitations of the claimed invention with an exception of wherein the one or more sector sweep frames comprise a set of sector sweep frames having a same sector ID, and the sector sweep frames having the same sector ID are transmitted through different sub-carriers on a same time domain.
However, Dash from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the one or more sector sweep frames comprise a set of sector sweep frames having a same sector ID, and the sector sweep frames having the same sector ID are transmitted through different sub-carriers on a same time domain (See FIG. 7 & Para. 0076).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the one or more sector sweep frames comprise a set of sector sweep frames having a same sector ID, and the sector sweep frames having the same sector ID are transmitted through different sub-carriers on a same time domain as taught by Dash in the combined system of Kakishhima and Lou to configure the pattern by assigning first precoders to a first subset of the resource space for a first antenna sector of the first wireless node (See abstract; lines 1-2).
Regarding claims 3 & 19: The combination of Lou and Kakishhima and Dash disclose an electronic device/a method.
Furthermore, Dash discloses an electronic device, wherein the one or more sector sweep frames comprise a first set of sector sweep frames and a second set of sector sweep frames, wherein the first set of sector sweep frames and the second set of sector sweep frames are transmitted on different time domains, and a sector ID of the first set of sector sweep frames is different from a sector ID of the second set of sector sweep frames (See FIG. 7 & Para. 0076).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the one or more sector sweep frames comprise a first set of sector sweep frames and a second set of sector sweep frames, wherein the first set of sector sweep frames and the second set of sector sweep frames are transmitted on different time domains, and a sector ID of the first set of sector sweep frames is different from a sector ID of the second set of sector sweep frames as taught by Dash in the combined system of Kakishhima and Lou to configure the pattern by assigning first precoders to a first subset of the resource space for a first antenna sector of the first wireless node (See abstract; lines 1-2).
Regarding claim 10: The combination of Lou and Kakishhima and Dash disclose an electronic device/a method.
Furthermore, Dash discloses an electronic device, wherein the one or more sector sweep frames comprise a set of sector sweep frames having a same sector ID, and the sector sweep frames having the same sector ID are transmitted through different sub-carriers on a same time domain (See FIG. 7 & Para. 0076).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the one or more sector sweep frames comprise a set of sector sweep frames having a same sector ID, and the sector sweep frames having the same sector ID are transmitted through different sub-carriers on a same time domain as taught by Dash in the combined system of Kakishhima and Lou to configure the pattern by assigning first precoders to a first subset of the resource space for a first antenna sector of the first wireless node (See abstract; lines 1-2).
Regarding claim 11: The combination of Lou and Kakishhima and Dash disclose an electronic device/a method.
Furthermore, Dash discloses an electronic device, wherein the one or more sector sweep frames comprise a first set of sector sweep frames and a second set of sector sweep frames, wherein the first set of sector seep frames and the second set of sector sweep frames are transmitted on different time domains, and a sector ID of the first set of sector sweep frames is different from a sector ID of the second set of sector sweep frames (See FIG. 7 & Para. 0076).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the one or more sector sweep frames comprise a first set of sector sweep frames and a second set of sector sweep frames, wherein the first set of sector seep frames and the second set of sector sweep frames are transmitted on different time domains, and a sector ID of the first set of sector sweep frames is different from a sector ID of the second set of sector sweep frames as taught by Dash in the combined system of Kakishhima and Lou to configure the pattern by assigning first precoders to a first subset of the resource space for a first antenna sector of the first wireless node (See abstract; lines 1-2).
Conclusion
11. The prior art of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
A. Eitan et al. 2020/0150263 A1 (Title: WLAN RADAR) (See Abstract, Para. 0012 & 0037-0038).
B. Kasher et al. 2018/0317042 A1 (Title: Passive positioning using directional transmission) (See abstract, Para. 0006 & 00813-0016).
C. Shen et al. 2018/0146466 A1 (Title: Method and system for beamforming for device to device communication) (See FIG. 1, Para. 0046, 0050 & 0160).
12. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MEWALE A AMBAYE whose telephone number is (571)270-1076. The examiner can normally be reached on M.F 6a.m.-2p.m..
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, Ian Moore can be reached on (571)272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MEWALE A AMBAYE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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