DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 8-11, 15, 16 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhang et al. (US-PGPUB 2025/0286601).
Regarding claim 1, Zhang teaches a method comprising: receiving, at a user equipment (UE), configuration information from a base station (BS) [Fig, 6, Step 1, configuration information from base station is received]; transmitting, from the UE, repetitions of joint communication and sensing (JCS)-reference signals (RSs) on a first set of beams based on the configuration information [Para 89-90, transmits report on beam quality based on configuration information to the base station in the second step which includes sensing reference signals, also see Para 50]; determining, by the UE, a beam blockage prediction measurement for communication of a second set of beams received corresponding to the first set of beams [Para 91-95, based on dwelling information beam adjustment and selection is being done for the second set of beams, also see Para 50]; and transmitting, by the UE, the beam blockage prediction measurement to the BS [Para 95, beam report is send to base station which includes interference based on dwelling which introduces blockage in the beams].
Regarding claim 2, Zhang teaches a first set of resources dedicated to JCS transmission and measurement, and a second set of resources dedicated to reporting JCS measurements [Para 89-95].
Regarding claim 3, Zhang teaches at least one of a beam blockage rate, a number of blocked beams, a received signal strength on the second set of beams, and wideband or sub-band measurements [Para 91-93].
Regarding claims 8 and 20, Zhang teaches that the beam blockage prediction measurement is determined based on machine learning (ML) inference [Para 91].
Regarding claim 9, Zhang teaches receiving information on an association between the first set of beams and a second set of beams, wherein the second set of beams comprises one or more predicted blocked DL beams [Para 89-95].
Regarding claim 10, Zhang teaches at least one of a predicted blocked beam at a time instance and probability information for the predicted blocked beam [Para 89-95].
Regarding claim 11, Zhang teaches a wireless system comprising: a user equipment (UE) configured to: receive configuration information from a base station (BS) [Fig, 6, Step 1, configuration information from base station is received]; transmit repetitions of joint communication and sensing (JCS)-reference signals (RSs) on a first set of beams based on the configuration information [Para 89-90, transmits report on beam quality based on configuration information to the base station in the second step which includes sensing reference signals, also see Para 50]; determine a beam blockage prediction measurement for communication of a second set of beams received corresponding to the first set of beams [Para 91-95, based on dwelling information beam adjustment and selection is being done for the second set of beams, also see Para 50]; and transmit the beam blockage prediction measurement to the BS [Para 95, beam report is send to base station which includes interference based on dwelling which introduces blockage in the beams]; and the BS configured to: transmit the configuration information from the UE [Fig. 6, step 1]; and receive the beam blockage prediction measurement from the UE [Fig. 6, Step 5].
Regarding claim 15, Zhang teaches a user equipment (UE) of a wireless system, the UE comprising: a processor [Fig. 10, 1004]; and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to: receive configuration information from a base station (BS) [Fig, 6, Step 1, configuration information from base station is received]; transmit repetitions of joint communication and sensing (JCS)-reference signals (RSs) on a first set of beams based on the configuration information [Para 89-90, transmits report on beam quality based on configuration information to the base station in the second step which includes sensing reference signals, also see Para 50]; determine a beam blockage prediction measurement for communication of a second set of beams received corresponding to the first set of beams [Para 91-95, based on dwelling information beam adjustment and selection is being done for the second set of beams, also see Para 50]; and transmit the beam blockage prediction measurement to the BS [Para 95, beam report is send to base station which includes interference based on dwelling which introduces blockage in the beams].
Regarding claim 16, Zhang teaches a first set of resources dedicated to JCS transmission and measurement, and a second set of resources dedicated to reporting JCS measurements [Para 89-95]; and the beam blockage prediction measurement comprises at least one of a beam blockage rate, a number of blocked beams, a received signal strength on the second set of beams, and wideband or sub-band measurements [Para 91-93].
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.
Claims 5-7, 12-14 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Zhang et al. (US-PGPUB 2025/0286601) in view of Jeon (US-PGPUB 2024/0147284).
Regarding claims 5, 12 and 17, Zhang teaches a method, a wireless system and a UE as discussed in rejection of claims 1, 11 and 15.
However, Zhang does not teach a downlink (DL) beam between the BS and the UE comprises a non-line of sight (N-LOS) link, and the beam blockage prediction measurement comprises a predicted beam blockage.
Jeon teaches a downlink (DL) beam between the BS and the UE comprises a non-line of sight (N-LOS) link, and the beam blockage prediction measurement comprises a predicted beam blockage [Para 166 and 170].
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a NLOS link providing beam blockage prediction so that proper beam prediction can be done.
Regarding claims 6, 13 and 18, Zhang teaches the BS switches from the DL beam to another DL beam based on the predicted beam blockage [Para 168].
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to switch downlink beams so that appropriate beam can be selected for communication.
Regarding claims 7, 14 and 19, Zhang teaches the BS detects a line of sight (LOS) link between the BS and the UE, and further comprising: ceasing, by the UE, determining of the beam blockage prediction measurement [Para 174-176].
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to stop beam blockage prediction measurement determination since strongest beam for communication has been identified.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hemadeh et al. (US-PGPUB 2026/0222163) teaches receiving configuration information including a first set of reference signals (RSs) for CSI prediction from a base station, where CSI prediction parameters includes a set of lengths and resources of prediction windows, prediction accuracy thresholds, and sets of resources for CSI reporting.
Sun et al. (US-PGPUB 2025/0274179) teaches acquiring CSI measurement configuration information. The CSI measurement and reporting is performed based on the CSI measurement configuration information, where the CSI measurement configuration information comprises the following reference signal configuration information, a usage condition corresponding to multiple measurement modes, CSI measurement resource configuration information, measurement mode indication information, and report content.
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/Chandrahas B Patel/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464
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