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 .
Response to Arguments
1. Applicant's arguments/amendments received on July 28, 2026 have been carefully considered but they are not persuasive because the teaching of all the cited reference reads on the rejected claims (1-3, 7, 10-13, 17, and 19-20) as set forth in the previous rejection. Therefore, the finality of this Office Action is deemed proper.
Contrary to the assertions at pages 7 - 8 of the Arguments, claims 1 and 10-11 are not patentable.
During examination, the USPTO must give claims their broadest reasonable interpretation.
Re claims 1 and 10-11: Applicant argues Maltsev et al. (US 2014/0148107) does not teach the limitation “establishing communication channels in a plurality of directions via a first antenna capable of performing beamforming; acquiring performance indicators for the established communication channels; and directing at least a second antenna in a selected direction based on the acquired obtained performance indicators”. However, the Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant’s assertion that Maltsev does not teach the claimed invention. Contrary to Applicant’s assertion, the Examiner is of the opinion that Maltsev teaches establishing communication channels in a single may provide varying beamwidths simply by varying the frequency bands (i.e., either higher or lower frequency bands) of the signals to be transmitted and/or received, and a multi-element antenna may be employed to provide frequency bands with varying beamwidths, special procedures or protocols to provide specific beam directions and specific beam shapes, and providing multiple frequency bands of varying beamwidths, and information about the beams formed in the lower frequency band may then be used to pretune antenna systems of the base station and user equipment in the higher frequency band, and the antenna systems of both the lower frequency band and the higher frequency band may be co-located or may be close enough to one another that they can be approximated as co-located transmitters, and also Maltsev teaches receiving control signals over the first frequency band with information to assist in pre-configuring the user equipment for establishing a communication channel with the second communication system using the second frequency band, and the information may be used for signal detection, coarse beamforming, CFO estimation, timing synchronization, and other operations useful in acquiring signals, moreover, receiving or acquiring control signals as information for indicating to facilitate signal detection, fine beamforming, CFO estimation, timing synchronization, and other information useful for allowing the user equipment to rapidly establish a communication channel with the base station, and then direct antenna for selecting or estimating beam direction based on receiving control information to facilitate signal detection, fine beamforming, CFO estimation, timing synchronization, and other information (see pages 2, paragraphs 42 – pages 3, paragraphs 48, Fig. 3, 7, 12, 22, 29, 31, pages 19, paragraphs 193 – 200, and pages 4, paragraphs 60 - pages 6, paragraphs 69), regarding the claimed limitation. More specifically, receiving or obtaining control information for establishing communication channels using pretune antenna for capable of performing beamforming, and the antenna for selecting beam direction based on acquired control information. Furthermore, the phrase “performance indicators” as used in this claim is not intended to denote any special or particular meaning and can be used synonymously with the “control information” disclosed in the Maltsev reference.
Applicant’s attention is directed to the rejection below for the reasons as to why this limitation is not patentable.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
2. 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 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
3. Claims 1-3, 7, 10-13, 17, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Maltsev et al. (US 2014/0148107).
Regarding claim 1, Maltsev teaches that a method performed by a radio base station for providing radio coverage in a cell (Fig. 2, 22 and pages 13, paragraphs 145 - 146). establishing communication channels in a plurality of directions via a first antenna
Regarding claim 2, Maltsev teaches that transmitting data to wireless communication devices with which the communication channels are established, and receiving a response to the transmitted data from each wireless communication device (Fig. 22, 23, 28 and pages 18, paragraphs 185 – pages 19, paragraphs 198, where teaches receiving control information to facilitate signal detection, fine beamforming, CFO estimation, timing synchronization, and other information useful for allowing the user equipment to rapidly establish a communication channel with the base station), wherein the acquiring of performance indicators for the established communication channels comprises: determining the performance indicators from the received responses (Fig. 22, 23, 28 and pages 18, paragraphs 185 – pages 19, paragraphs 198).
Regarding claim 3, Maltsev teaches that receiving data from each wireless communication device with which the communication channels are established (Fig. 22, 23, 28 and pages 18, paragraphs 185 – pages 19, paragraphs 198), wherein the acquiring of performance indicators for the established communication channels comprises: determining the performance indicators from the received data (Fig. 22, 23, 28 and pages 18, paragraphs 185 – pages 19, paragraphs 198).
Regarding claim 7, Maltsev teaches that the first antenna being configured to operate at a higher frequency band than the second antenna (Fig. 22, 23, 28 and pages 18, paragraphs 185 – pages 19, paragraphs 198).
Regarding claim 10, Maltsev teaches all the limitation as discussed in claim 1.
Regarding claim 11, Maltsev teaches all the limitation as discussed in claim 1. Furthermore, Maltsev further teaches that a radio base station configured to provide radio coverage in a cell, comprising a processing unit and a memory, said memory containing instructions executable by said processing unit (Fig. 1, 31 and pages 20, paragraphs 213 – 216).
Regarding claim 12, Maltsev teaches all the limitation as discussed in claims 1 and 2.
Regarding claim 13, Maltsev teaches all the limitation as discussed in claims 1 and 3.
Regarding claim 17, Maltsev teaches all the limitation as discussed in claims 1 and 7.
Regarding claim 19, Maltsev teaches all the limitation as discussed in claims 2 and 11.
Regarding claim 20, Maltsev teaches all the limitation as discussed in claims 3 and 11.
Allowable Subject Matter
4. Claims 4-6, 8, 14-16, 18 and 21 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.
The prior art of record fails to disclose the limitation “determining whether or not at least one of the acquired performance indicators is below a performance threshold, and if so the directing of the second antenna in a selected direction based on the acquired obtained performance indicators comprises: directing the second antenna in a direction associated with said at least one acquired performance indicator” as specified the claims.
5. THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN J LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-7880. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri (8:00am-5:00pm).
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, Yuwen Pan can be reached on 571-272-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO
Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
J.L
September 30, 2026
John J Lee
/JOHN J LEE/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649
Prosecution Insights