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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDS filed on 9/4/2024, 9/18/2024 are considered.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 9-10, 15-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Asplund et al (Asplund), US 2021/0067230, in view of Laghate et al (Laghate), US 2020/0389800.
As per claim 1, Asplund teaches the invention including a user equipment (UE) comprising:
At least one processor (pp. 0124-0125), and
At least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor (pp. 0125), caused the UE at least to:
Determine a first rank associated with a first beam set scheduled by one or more network nodes configured in a cell serving the UE for communication between the UE and the one or more network nodes, wherein the first beam set comprises one or more beams (pp. 0018-0025, 0062-0068);
Report to the one or more network nodes radio parameter regarding a second beam set, wherein the second beam set comprises one or more beams (pp. 0018-0025, 0062-0068, 0070-0077, 0080-0089, 0091, 0094); and
Receive from the one or more network nodes a switching command to be scheduled on the reported second beam set instead of the first beam set (pp. 0101-0106).
Asplund does not teach to report that a second rank higher than the first rank is achievable by a second beam set. Laghate teaches to report that a second rank higher than the first rank is achievable by a second beam set (pp. 0048, 0062, 0082, 0084-0085, 0103, 0137). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to combine the teachings of Asplund and Laghate to determinate the ranking of the beam set based on the obtained parameters at the UE instead of the base station and reduce processing need of the base station.
As per claim 2, Asplund and Laghate teach the invention as claimed in claim 1. Wherein: for a beam set comprising at least two beams, the UE is configured to determine a correlation between the at least two beams comprised in the beam set, wherein a higher correlation between said beams indicates a lower rank associated with said beam set.
As per claim 9, Asplund and Laghate teach the invention as claimed in claim 1. Asplund further teaches wherein the one or more beams comprises in the second beam set are all different from the at least one beam comprised in the first beam set (pp. 0086-0089).
As per claim 10, Asplund teaches the invention including a network node comprising:
At least one processor (pp. 0124-0125), and
At least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor (pp. 0125), caused the network node at least to:
Schedule a first beam set for communication with a UE served in a cell in which the network node is configured, wherein the first beam set comprises one or more beams and reported UE measurement on the first beam set indicating a first rank associated with the schedule first beam set (pp. 0018-0025, 0062-0068);
Configure the UE to determine a radio parameter regarding a second beam set, wherein the second beam set comprises one or more beams (pp. 0018-0025, 0062-0068, 0070-0077, 0080-0089, 0091, 0094);
Transmit to the UE a switching command for scheduling the UE on the reported second beam set instead of the first beam set (pp. 0101-0106).
Asplund does not teach the UE to determine a second rank achievable by a second beam set, wherein the second rank is higher than the first rank. Laghate teaches to report that a second rank higher than the first rank is achievable by a second beam set (pp. 0048, 0062, 0082, 0084-0085, 0103, 0137). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to combine the teachings of Asplund and Laghate to determinate the ranking of the beam set based on the obtained parameters at the UE instead of the base station and reduce processing need of the base station.
As per claim 15, Asplund and Laghate teach the invention as claimed in claim 10. Asplund further teaches wherein the network node is configured to transmit to the UE a list of synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block resource indicator (SSBRI) or CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI) related to beams transmitted form the network node to the UE for the UE to perform measurement and determine the achievable second rank and the associated second beam set (pp. 0015).
As per claim 16, Asplund teaches the invention including a method of a user equipment (UE) comprising:
Determining a first rank associated with a first beam set scheduled by one or more network nodes configured in a cell serving the UE for communication between the UE and the one or more network nodes, wherein the first beam set comprises one or more beams (pp. 0018-0025, 0062-0068);
Reporting to the one or more network nodes radio parameter regarding a second beam set, wherein the second beam set comprises one or more beams (pp. 0018-0025, 0062-0068, 0070-0077, 0080-0089, 0091, 0094); and
Receiving from the one or more network nodes a switching command to be scheduled on the reported second beam set instead of the first beam set (pp. 0101-0106).
Asplund does not teach to report that a second rank higher than the first rank is achievable by a second beam set. Laghate teaches to report that a second rank higher than the first rank is achievable by a second beam set (pp. 0048, 0062, 0082, 0084-0085, 0103, 0137). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to combine the teachings of Asplund and Laghate to determinate the ranking of the beam set based on the obtained parameters at the UE instead of the base station and reduce processing need of the base station.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-8, 11-14 and 17-20 are 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.
Karjalainen et al, US 2024/0187077
Zhu et al, US 2022/0174508
KR102373467B1
Kim et al, US 2021/0314046
Kamohara et al, US 2021/0211957
Sun et al, US 2020/0373976
Gao et al, US 2018/0254813
Kim et al, US 2015/0365150
A shortened statutory period for reply to this Office action is set to expire Three MONTHS from the mailing date of this action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KENNY S LIN whose telephone number is (571) 272-3968.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Noel Beharry can be reached on 571-270-5630. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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KENNY S. LIN
Examiner
Art Unit 2416
/Kenny S Lin/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416
August 25, 2026
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