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.
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.
Claims 1-4, 6-8, 11-13, 17-21, 23-25 and 28-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2023/0208479 A1 to Wang et al. (hereafter refers as Wang) in view of US 2023/0421412 A1 to Zegrar et al. (hereafter refers as Zegrar).
Regarding claims 1 and 18, Wang teaches a method for wireless communication at a controller of a reconfigurable intelligent surface (a method for wireless communication at a manager of APD, wherein the APD comprising a reconfigurable intelligent surface, abstract, Fig. 3, 7, 10-11 and paragraphs [49, 71-74]), and an apparatus (the manager of APD, Fig. 3, 7, 10-11) for wireless communication at a controller of a reconfigurable intelligent surface (for wireless communication for the APD which comprising a reconfigurable intelligent surface, abstract, Fig. 3, 7, 10-11 and paragraphs [49, 71-74]), comprising:
a processor (includes a processor, Fig. 3 and paragraph [48, 101, 222-223]);
memory coupled with the processor (includes a memory coupled with the processor, Fig. 3 and paragraph [48, 101, 222-223]); and
instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to (the memory stores therein the instructions which are executable by the processor to cause the manager to perform the method, Fig. 3 and paragraph [48, 101, 222-223]):
receive, from a network entity (from a base station, Fig. 7, 10-11), a first message indicating a beamforming configuration for the reconfigurable intelligent surface (receives surface configuration from the base station, Fig. 7, 10-11 and paragraphs [97, 180-181], wherein the surface configuration indicating a configuration for the RIS for directing beam to particular direction, paragraphs [50, 58, 59, 62, 67, 72, 73]),
receive a second message indicating a beam training procedure for at least one stage of the beamforming configuration (receiving a second message indicating a initiating a phase sweeping pattern to start beam training procedure for a current surface configuration, paragraphs [63, 72, 82, 92, 106, 135-139]);
determine one or more beamforming for the at least one stage based at least in part on the beam training procedure (based on phase sweeping pattern, determining one or more surface configuration indicating parameters for beamforming, paragraphs [63, 72, 82, 92, 106, 135-139]); and
apply the one or more beamforming to the reconfigurable intelligent surface for communications by the network entity using the at least one stage (the manager applies the beamforming configuration to the RIS for communications by the base station to one or more UEs, paragraphs [71-72, 96, 97, 111-112, 139]).
However, Wang does not explicitly teach “a multi-state beamforming configuration, wherein the multi-stage beamforming configuration pertaining to a plurality of stages that includes a first stage and one or more second stages that each refine one or more characteristics of the first stage” and “beamforming matrices”.
Zegrar teaches a multi-stage beamforming configuration for the reconfigurable intelligent surface (a two-stage beam training method/configuration for RIS, paragraphs [58-60, 72-74]), the multi-stage beamforming configuration pertaining to a plurality of stages that includes a first stage and one or more second stages that each refine one or more characteristics of the first stage (wherein the two-stage beam training comprising a plurality of states, wherein a second state is used to identifying an optimal beam from the determined beams found in a first state, paragraphs [60-61, 65-67, 72-75]) and beam training procedure for at least one of the plurality of stages of the multi-stage beamforming configuration (starting a beam training for each stages, paragraphs [60-61, 65-67, 72-75]),
determining one or more beamforming matrices for the at least one of the plurality of stages based at least in part on the beam training procedure (identifying beamforming matrix for forming a reflective beam(s) based on the beam training, paragraphs [31, 33, 40, 64-68]), and
applying the one or more beamforming matrices to the reconfigurable intelligent surface for communications by the network entity using the at least one of the plurality of stages (applying the beamforming matrix to the RIS for communication by the base station using a second state of the plurality of states, paragraphs [72-75, 108-109]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of the multi-state beamforming configuration, wherein the multi-stage beamforming configuration pertaining to a plurality of stages that includes a first stage and one or more second stages that each refine one or more characteristics of the first stage and beamforming matrices as taught by Zegrar, with the teachings of beamforming configuration and beamforming as taught by Wang, for a purpose of increase efficiency in determining beamforming matrix by using multiple stages beamforming configuration to first identify one or more channel characteristics and then refine one or more characteristics of the first stage to identify the beamforming matrix, thus does not have to identify the channel characteristics again or on a plurality of beams/wide range of beams (see Zegrar, paragraphs [59-62] and Fig. 2).
Regarding claims 2 and 19, Zegrar further teaches wherein, in accordance with the multi-stage beamforming configuration, the first stage is associated with one or more first channel characteristics and at least one of the one or more second stages is associated with one or more second channel characteristics that are of shorter duration than the one or more first channel characteristics (wherein the search time for the primary stage/first stage is longer than a search time of the following/second stage, paragraphs [56, 61] and Fig. 2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of the first stage is associated with one or more first channel characteristics and at least one of the one or more second stages is associated with one or more second channel characteristics that are of shorter duration than the one or more first channel characteristics as taught by Zegrar, with the teachings of beamforming configuration and beamforming as taught by Wang, for a purpose of reducing the duration for the identifying one or more characteristics in the second stage (see Zegrar, paragraphs [56, 61] and Fig. 2).
Regarding claims 3 and 20, Zegrar further teaches wherein, in accordance with the multi-stage beamforming configuration, the first stage is associated with a wideband frequency band (the first stage/primary search stage is associated with a wideband frequency band, Fig. 2 and paragraph [61]) and at least one of the one or more second stages is associated with a narrowband frequency band that includes a subset of frequencies of the wideband frequency band (the second stage is associated with a narrow frequency band which includes a subset of frequencies of the wideband, Fig. 2 and paragraph [61]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of wherein, in accordance with the multi-stage beamforming configuration, the first stage is associated with a wideband frequency band and at least one of the one or more second stages is associated with a narrowband frequency band that includes a subset of frequencies of the wideband frequency band as taught by Zegrar, with the teachings of Wang, for a purpose of reducing a number of frequency bands for the second stage, thus increase amount of time for identifying the characteristic(s) (see Zegrar, Fig. 2 and paragraph [61]).
Regarding claims 4 and 21, Zegrar further teaches the first stage is associated with a common beam for uplink and downlink communications (wherein the first stage is associated with direct beam for uplink and downlink communications, paragraphs [30-32, 140]) and at least one of the one or more second stages is associated with one or more differences between the uplink and downlink communications (wherein the second stage is associated with differences between the uplink and downlink communications, paragraphs [30-32, 140]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of the first stage is associated with a common beam for uplink and downlink communications and at least one of the one or more second stages is associated with one or more differences between the uplink and downlink communications as taught by Zegrar, with the teachings of Wang, for a purpose identifying the differences between the uplink and downlink communications (see Zegrar, Fig. 2 and paragraphs [30-32, 140]).
Regarding claims 6 and 23, the combination of Wang and Zegrar further teaches wherein each stage of the plurality of stages is associated with a respective phase granularity (wherein each stage is associated with a particular phase granularity, see Wang, paragraphs [112, 124, 134], see Zegrar, paragraphs [57, 60, 94, 96]).
Regarding claims 7 and 24, the combination of Wang and Zegrar further teaches wherein each stage of the plurality of stages is associated with a respective codebook (wherein each stage is associated with a particular codebook, see Wang, paragraphs [69-71], see Zegrar, paragraphs [59,60, 65-67]).
Regarding claims 8 and 25, the combination of Wang and Zegrar further teaches wherein receiving the second message indicating the beam training procedure comprises: receiving an indication to perform the beam training procedure for two or more stages of the plurality of stages of the multi-stage beamforming configuration (receiving an indication to perform beam training procedure, see Wang, paragraphs [63, 72, 82, 92, 106, 135-139], wherein the beam training procedure is performed for at least two stages see Zegrar, paragraphs [60-61, 65-67, 72-75]).
Regarding claims 11 and 28, the combination of Wang and Zegrar further teaches wherein each stage of the plurality of stages is associated with a respective resource configuration for beam training procedures (wherein each stage is associated with a respective resource configuration for beam training, i.e. frequency bands, see Zegrar, paragraphs [61-65] and Fig. 2, i.e. direction and speed, see Wang, paragraphs [121-123]).
Regarding claim 12, Zegrar further teaches wherein reference signals associated with the one or more second stages have a lower periodicity than reference signals associated with the first stage (wherein the reference signals associated with second stage have a lower period/duration, paragraphs [40, 56, 61] and Fig. 2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of wherein reference signals associated with the one or more second stages have a lower periodicity than reference signals associated with the first stage as taught by Zegrar, with the teachings of beamforming configuration and beamforming as taught by Wang, for a purpose of reducing the duration for the identifying one or more characteristics in the second stage (see Zegrar, paragraphs [56, 61] and Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 13, Zegrar further teaches wherein a parameter reported for the beam training procedure is based at least in part on the at least one of the plurality of stages (number of frequency, phase shifts and time slots for beam training are different for each stage, paragraphs [59-61, 72, 74-75, 129-134]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of wherein a parameter reported for the beam training procedure is based at least in part on the at least one of the plurality of stages as taught by Zegrar, with the teachings of beamforming configuration and beamforming as taught by Wang, for a purpose of reducing amount of parameters being reported for following/second stage (see Zegrar, paragraphs [59-61, 72, 74-75, 129-134]).
Regarding claim 17, Zegrar further teaches receiving an indication of a result of the beam training procedure for the at least one of the plurality of stages based at least in part on the beam training procedure (the manager of RIS estimates channel characteristic(s) during the beam training procedure for at least one stage, see Zegrar, paragraphs [74, 76, 77, 91, 100-102]), wherein determining the one or more beamforming matrices is based at least in part on receiving the indication of the result (determining the beamforming matrix based on the estimation, paragraphs [99-102, 110, 112-116]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of receiving an indication of a result of the beam training procedure for the at least one of the plurality of stages based at least in part on the beam training procedure, wherein determining the one or more beamforming matrices is based at least in part on receiving the indication of the result as taught by Zegrar, with the teachings of beamforming configuration and beamforming as taught by Wang, for a purpose of increase efficiency in determining the beamforming matrix by using the results of beam training procedures for each stage (see Zegrar, paragraphs [99-102, 110, 112-116]).
Regarding claims 29 and 30, Wang teaches a method for wireless communication at a network entity (a method for wireless communication at a base station 120, Fig. 2, 7, 10-11 and paragraphs [49, 71-74]) and an apparatus for wireless communication at a network entity (the base station 120 perform performing the method, Fig. 2, 7, 10-11 and paragraphs [49, 71-74]) comprising:
a processor (includes a processor, Fig. 2 and paragraph [43, 101, 221-223]);
memory coupled with the processor (includes a memory coupled with the processor, Fig. 3 and paragraph [43, 101, 221-223]); and
instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to (the memory stores therein the instructions which are executable by the processor to cause the base station to perform the method, Fig. 2 and paragraph [43, 101, 221-223]):
transmit a first message indicating a beamforming configuration for a reconfigurable intelligent surface (transmit surface configuration, Fig. 7, 10-11 and paragraphs [97, 180-181], wherein the surface configuration indicating a configuration for the RIS for directing beam to particular direction, paragraphs [50, 58, 59, 62, 67, 72, 73]); and
transmit a second message indicating a beam training procedure for at least one stage of the beamforming configuration (transmit a second message indicating a initiating a phase sweeping pattern to start beam training procedure for a current surface configuration, paragraphs [63, 72, 82, 92, 106, 135-139]).
However, Wang does not explicitly teach “a multi-state beamforming configuration, wherein the multi-stage beamforming configuration pertaining to a plurality of stages that includes a first stage and one or more second stages that each refine one or more characteristics of the first stage”.
Zegrar teaches a multi-stage beamforming configuration for the reconfigurable intelligent surface (a two-stage beam training method/configuration for RIS, paragraphs [58-60, 72-74]), the multi-stage beamforming configuration pertaining to a plurality of stages that includes a first stage and one or more second stages that each refine one or more characteristics of the first stage (wherein the two-stage beam training comprising a plurality of states, wherein a second state is used to identifying an optimal beam from the determined beams found in a first state, paragraphs [60-61, 65-67, 72-75]) and beam training procedure for at least one of the plurality of stages of the multi-stage beamforming configuration (starting a beam training for each stages, paragraphs [60-61, 65-67, 72-75]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of the multi-state beamforming configuration, wherein the multi-stage beamforming configuration pertaining to a plurality of stages that includes a first stage and one or more second stages that each refine one or more characteristics of the first stage as taught by Zegrar, with the teachings of beamforming configuration and beamforming as taught by Wang, for a purpose of increase efficiency in determining beamforming matrix by using multiple stages beamforming configuration to first identify one or more channel characteristics and then refine one or more characteristics of the first stage to identify the beamforming matrix, thus does not have to identify the channel characteristics again or on a plurality of beams/wide range of beams (see Zegrar, paragraphs [59-62] and Fig. 2).
Claims 5 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2023/0208479 A1 to Wang et al. (hereafter refers as Wang) in view of US 2023/0421412 A1 to Zegrar et al. (hereafter refers as Zegrar) as applied to claims above, and further in view of US 2021/0384637 A1 to Sciancalepore et al. (hereafter refers as Sciancalepore).
Regarding claims 5 and 22, the combination of Wang and Zegrar does not explicitly teach “first stage is associated with an entire reflective surface of the reconfigurable intelligent surface and at least one of the one or more second stages is associated with one or more subsets of the entire reflective surface of the reconfigurable intelligent surface”.
Sciancalepore teaches a first stage is associated with an entire reflective surface of the reconfigurable intelligent surface (identifying an initial configuration for all element of the RIS, paragraphs [29, 38, 43]) and at least one of the one or more second stages is associated with one or more subsets of the entire reflective surface of the reconfigurable intelligent surface (identifying an updated configuration, i.e. beamforming configuration, for a subset of elements of the RIS, paragraphs [38, 43]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of first stage is associated with an entire reflective surface of the reconfigurable intelligent surface and at least one of the one or more second stages is associated with one or more subsets of the entire reflective surface of the reconfigurable intelligent surface as taught by Sciancalepore, with the teachings of combination of Wang and Zegrar, for a purpose of increase efficiency in using the reflective surface by only use the subset of the entire reflective surface of the RIS for communication (see Sciancalepore, Fig. 2 and paragraphs [30-32, 140]).
Claims 9-10, 14-16, and 26-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2023/0208479 A1 to Wang et al. (hereafter refers as Wang) in view of US 2023/0421412 A1 to Zegrar et al. (hereafter refers as Zegrar) as applied to claims above, and further in view of US 2019/0199410 A1 to Zhao et al. (hereafter refers as Zhao).
Regarding claims 9 and 26, the combination of Wang and Zegrar does not explicitly teach “receiving an indication of a set of reference signals for the beam training procedure, the set of reference signals associated with the at least one of the plurality of stages”.
Zhao teaches receiving an indication of a set of reference signals for the beam training procedure, the set of reference signals associated with the at least one of the plurality of stages (receiving parameters specifying a set of reference signals for beam training procedure, paragraphs [108, 127-128]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of receiving an indication of a set of reference signals for the beam training procedure, the set of reference signals associated with the at least one of the plurality of stages as taught by Zhao, with the teachings of combination of Wang and Zegrar, for a purpose of increase efficiency in beam training procedure by clearly specifying the set of reference signals for beam training(s) (see Zhao, Fig. 8 and paragraphs [108, 127-128]).
Regarding claims 10 and 27, the combination of Wang and Zegrar does not explicitly teach “receiving an indication of a set of reference signals for the beam training procedure and an indication of the at least one of the plurality of stages”.
Zhao teaches receiving an indication of a set of reference signals for the beam training procedure (receiving parameters specifying a set of reference signals for beam training procedure, paragraphs [108, 127-128]) and an indication of the at least one of the plurality of stages (and specifying stage of training, i.e. first direction training, paragraphs [126-129]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of receiving an indication of a set of reference signals for the beam training procedure and an indication of the at least one of the plurality of stages as taught by Zhao, with the teachings of combination of Wang and Zegrar, for a purpose of increase efficiency in beam training procedure by clearly specifying the set of reference signals for beam training(s) (see Zhao, Fig. 8 and paragraphs [108, 127-128]).
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Wang and Zegrar does not explicitly teach “receiving an indication of the at least one of the plurality of stages and an indication of a content of a report for the beam training procedure, the content of the report based at least in part on the at least one of the plurality of stages”.
Zhao teaches receiving an indication of the at least one of the plurality of stages (specifying stage of training, i.e. first direction training, paragraphs [126-129]) and an indication of a content of a report for the beam training procedure (indicating training sequence to be measured, which would be reported for the beam training procedure, paragraphs [127-129]), the content of the report based at least in part on the at least one of the plurality of stages (measurements of the training sequence(s) are included in the report for the beam training procedure, paragraphs [127-129]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of receiving an indication of the at least one of the plurality of stages and an indication of a content of a report for the beam training procedure, the content of the report based at least in part on the at least one of the plurality of stages as taught by Zhao, with the teachings of combination of Wang and Zegrar, for a purpose of increase efficiency in beam training procedure by clearly specifying the content to be reported for each stage of beam training (see Zhao, Fig. 8 and paragraphs [108, 127-128]).
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Wang and Zegrar does not explicitly teach “receiving the first message indicating the plurality of stages; and receiving a third message indicating a respective content of a report for beam training procedures for each of the plurality of stages”.
Zhao teaches receiving the first message indicating the plurality of stages(and specifying stage of training, i.e. first direction training, paragraphs [126-129]); and receiving a third message indicating a respective content of a report for beam training procedures for each of the plurality of stages (indicating training sequence to be measured, which would be reported for the beam training procedure, paragraphs [127-129]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of receiving the first message indicating the plurality of stages; and receiving a third message indicating a respective content of a report for beam training procedures for each of the plurality of stages as taught by Zhao, with the teachings of combination of Wang and Zegrar, for a purpose of increase efficiency in beam training procedure by clearly specifying the content to be reported for each stage of beam training (see Zhao, Fig. 8 and paragraphs [108, 127-128]).
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Wang and Zegrar does not explicitly teach “receiving an indication of the plurality of stages and an indication of a respective content of a report for beam training procedures for each of the plurality of stages”.
Zhao teaches receiving an indication of the plurality of stages (specifying stage of training, i.e. first direction training, paragraphs [126-129]) and an indication of a respective content of a report for beam training procedures for each of the plurality of stages (indicating training sequence to be measured, which would be reported for the beam training procedure, paragraphs [127-129]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of receiving an indication of the plurality of stages and an indication of a respective content of a report for beam training procedures for each of the plurality of stages as taught by Zhao, with the teachings of combination of Wang and Zegrar, for a purpose of increase efficiency in beam training procedure by clearly specifying the content to be reported for each stage of beam training (see Zhao, Fig. 8 and paragraphs [108, 127-128]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2020/0295817 A1 discloses two stages for beamforming training (see Fig. 3-4).
US 2024/0429971 A1 discloses an RIS receives beam reflection configuration from a base station and based on a feedback from UE, receives an updated RIS configuration information (see Fig. 10).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DUNG B. HUYNH whose telephone number is (571)270-7642. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
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/DUNG B HUYNH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469 August 22, 2026
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