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
This Office Action is in response to the Applicants' communication filed on 8/9/2024. In virtue of this communication, claims 1-18, 21, 22 are currently presented in the instant application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
The claim recites “computer readable storage medium…” but the term “computer readable storage medium”, given its broadest reasonable interpretation read in light of the specification, does not exclude transitory forms of computer-readable media such as signals, see , which are nonstatutory (In re Nuijten, 500 F.3d 1346, 84 USPQ2d 1495 (Fed. Cir. 2007)). While the specification provides several examples of forms of computer-readable media, these examples do not serve to form a complete definition of the term, and the meaning of the term to the ordinary artisan potentially includes transitory media such as signals, which are not statutory, as well as non-transitory media. (See also USPTO Official Gazette notice 1351 OG 213.).
Therefore, the claim encompasses nonstatutory subject matter.
Examiner suggest applicant to amendment these claim as “non-transitory computer readable storage medium” to overcome 35 U.S.C. 101 rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 1-6, 9-14, 17, 18, 21, 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US Patent Application Publication 20230146485 (hereinafter referred to as Jian).
Consider claim 1, Jian teaches a method for RIS state feedback (see at least ¶ [0109], “…a wireless access node 104 and a plurality of user devices (UD) 102 communicating with each other via an intelligent reflecting device 124 during an uplink communication…”), comprising:
feeding back, by Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS), state information to a Base Station (BS) (see at least ¶ [0109], “…the first and second surface element regions SER1, SER2 may be relatively unimportant in the uplink phase…”), wherein the state information comprises state information of the RIS controller and state information of a plurality of RIS boards managed by the RIS controller (see at least ¶ [0109], “…the surface element regions SER of the intelligent reflecting device 124 form beams all pointing to a same entity, i.e., the wireless access node 104…” and see at least ¶ [0110], “…the region determination node determines the surface element regions, at block 504, the first node and/or the intelligent reflecting device 104 may independently set communication parameters for respective communications between the first node and the surface element regions. In various embodiments, the communication parameters include at least one of transmit beams of the first node or reflection angles associated with the surface element regions. For example, the intelligent reflecting device 124 may independently set reflection angles, such as through setting the phase shifts of the various surface elements 206, for the various surface element regions so that the surface element regions optimally reflect their respective incident signals toward the second nodes with which they are associated or matched…” and see at least ¶ [0120], “…the surface element group determination node may perform channel estimation to determine channel state information for intelligent reflecting devices in the chain, other than the first intelligent reflecting device, in different time slots…” and see at least ¶ [0121], “…the channel state information for the channel segment between the last intelligent reflecting device and the second node may be obtained through channel estimation, such through use of LS or MMSE, and/or compressive sensing, while the channel state information for the other channel segments may be obtained through repetition of beam training or beam sweeping processes…”).
Consider claim 9, Jian teaches a method for RIS state receiving, comprising: receiving, by a base station (BS), state information fed back by Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) (see at least ¶ [0109], “…transmit an uplink signal to the wireless access node 104 via a second surface element region SER2 of the intelligent reflecting device…, … Spatial separation between the first and second surface element regions SER1, SER2 may be relatively unimportant in the uplink phase, or at least not as important as in the downlink phase, since the surface element regions SER of the intelligent reflecting device 124 form beams all pointing to a same entity, i.e., the wireless access node 104…”), wherein the state information comprises state information of the RIS controller and state information of a plurality of RIS boards managed by the RIS controller (see at least ¶ [0039], “…The intelligent reflecting device 200 includes a surface 202 and a controller 204…” and see at least ¶ [0047], “…the controller 204 may control the surface 202 and/or the surface elements 206 to control the reflection magnitudes according to which the surface elements 206 reflect incident signals. Also, in various embodiments, the controller 204 may be configured to determine and/or set any of various communication parameters associated with receiving incident signals and/or outputting reflected signals for communication between other nodes in the wireless communication system 100…” and see at least ¶ [0118], “…the first node may transmit one or more signals to the multiple intelligent reflecting devices 124 for the given second node. In response to receipt of the signals, each of the multiple intelligent reflecting devices 124 may feedback received or arrival signal…”).
Consider claim 17, Jian teaches a RIS state feedback apparatus located on a RIS controller, comprising: a state feedback module configured to feed back state information to a base station (BS), wherein the state information comprises state information about the RIS controller and state information about a plurality of RIS boards managed by the RIS controller (see at least ¶ [0047], “…the controller 204 may be configured to determine channel state information and/or received signal power related to incident signals that the intelligent reflecting device 200 receives and/or reflected signals that the intelligent reflecting device 200 outputs…” and see at least ¶ [0061], “…the intelligent reflecting device 124, such as through use of its controller 204, may have sensing ability, which allows the intelligent reflecting device 124 to obtain the channel state information through channel estimation algorithms, such as least squares (LS) or minimum mean square error (MMSE). The intelligent reflecting device 124 may determine channel state information for different second nodes may by performing channel estimation in different time slots…” and see at least ¶ [0074], “…the first node transmits signals to the second node, the second nodes can feed back channel state information to the first node, and in response the first node can determine the channel state information based on the feedback information from the second nodes…” and see at least ¶ [0093], “…the region assignment node may assign the second nodes to the surface element regions 208 based on channel state information of channels between the surface elements 206 of the intelligent reflecting device 124 and the second nodes. From the channel state information, the region assignment node may determine received signal power or energy for each surface element 206 for each of the second nodes…”).
Consider claim 2 (depends on at least claim 1), Jian discloses the limitations of claim 1 as applied to claim rejection 1 above and further discloses:
Jian teaches wherein feeding back, by Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS), state information to a Base Station (BS), comprising: actively feeding back, by the RIS controller, the state information to the BS during an initial access phase of the RIS controller to the BS (see at least ¶ [0074], “…the first node transmits signals to the second node, the second nodes can feed back channel state information to the first node, and in response the first node can determine the channel state information based on the feedback information from the second nodes…” and see at least ¶ [0110], “…the region determination node determines the surface element regions, at block 504, the first node and/or the intelligent reflecting device 104 may independently set communication parameters for respective communications between the first node and the surface element regions. In various embodiments, the communication parameters include at least one of transmit beams of the first node or reflection angles associated with the surface element regions…”).
Consider claim 3 (depends on at least claim 1), Jian discloses the limitations of claim 1 as applied to claim rejection 1 above and further discloses:
Jian teaches receiving, by the RIS controller, a state information query instruction from the BS during a stable working phase of the RIS controller and the plurality of RIS boards managed by the RIS controller (see at least ¶ [0039], “…The intelligent reflecting device 200 includes a surface 202 and a controller 204…”); feeding back, by the RIS controller, the state information to the BS according to the query instruction (see at least ¶ [0109], “…the first and second surface element regions SER1, SER2 may be relatively unimportant in the uplink phase…”).
Consider claim 4 (depends on at least claim 1), Jian discloses the limitations of claim 1 as applied to claim rejection 1 above and further discloses:
Jian teaches wherein feeding back, by Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS), state information to a Base Station (BS), comprising: during a stable operation stage of the RIS controller and the plurality of RIS boards managed by the RIS controller, when the RIS controller detects that the RIS controller itself or the plurality of RIS boards managed by the RIS controller are in an abnormal state, feeding back, by the RIS controller, the state information to the BS (see at least ¶ [0049], “…the intelligent reflecting device 200 includes an antenna 214 coupled to the transceiver 212 through which the intelligent reflecting device 200 wirelessly communicates with the other communication nodes…” and see at least ¶ [0074], “…the second nodes can feed back channel state information to the first node, and in response the first node can determine the channel state information based on the feedback information from the second nodes…”).
Consider claim 5 (depends on at least claim 1), Jian discloses the limitations of claim 1 as applied to claim rejection 1 above and further discloses:
Jian teaches wherein the state information of the RIS controller comprises at least one of the following: an electric quantity state, a power consumption value, a temperature value, and a working state (see at least ¶ [0037], “…a reflection magnitude is or indicates an amount of power of the incident signal that the surface reflects. The reflection magnitude may be a value in units of power (such as Watts), or may be represented as a percentage or a fraction of the power of the incident signal. The reflection magnitude may be inversely related to an amount of energy of a signal that the surface absorbs upon receipt and reflection of the signal…”).
Consider claim 6 (depends on at least claim 1), Jian discloses the limitations of claim 1 as applied to claim rejection 1 above and further discloses:
Jian teaches wherein the state information of each RIS board comprises at least one of the following: a power consumption value, a temperature value, a codebook read-back state, a coordinate, an azimuth angle, and a down tilt angle (see at least ¶ [0061], “…the surface element group determination node may determine the channel state information using beam searching and/or beam training techniques to perform channel estimation. For example, for downlink transmissions, a codebook for the wireless access node 104 and the intelligent reflecting device 124 may be fixed, and a beam training process may be repeated over several iterations using different beam pairs in order to determine a desired or optimal beam pair, which in turn may provide channel state information that the surface element group determination node can use to determine a surface element group for a given second node…”).
Consider claim 10 (depends on at least claim 9), Jian discloses the limitations of claim 9 as applied to claim rejection 9 above and further discloses:
Jian teaches wherein receiving, by a base station (BS), state information fed back by the RIS, comprising: receiving, by the BS, the state information fed back by the RIS during an initial access stage of the RIS controller to the BS (see at least ¶ [0074], “…the first node transmits signals to the second node, the second nodes can feed back channel state information to the first node, and in response the first node can determine the channel state information based on the feedback information from the second nodes…” and see at least ¶ [0110], “…the region determination node determines the surface element regions, at block 504, the first node and/or the intelligent reflecting device 104 may independently set communication parameters for respective communications between the first node and the surface element regions. In various embodiments, the communication parameters include at least one of transmit beams of the first node or reflection angles associated with the surface element regions…”).
Consider claim 11 (depends on at least claim 9), Jian discloses the limitations of claim 9 as applied to claim rejection 9 above and further discloses:
Jian teaches wherein receiving, by a base station (BS), state information fed back by the RIS, comprising: sending, by the BS, a state information query instruction to the RIS controller, during stable operation phases of the RIS controller and the plurality of RIS boards managed thereby; receiving, by the BS, the state information fed back by the RIS controller according to the state information query instruction (see at least ¶ [0039], “…The intelligent reflecting device 200 includes a surface 202 and a controller 204…”); feeding back, by the RIS controller, the state information to the BS according to the query instruction (see at least ¶ [0109], “…the first and second surface element regions SER1, SER2 may be relatively unimportant in the uplink phase…”).
Consider claim 12 (depends on at least claim 9), Jian discloses the limitations of claim 9 as applied to claim rejection 9 above and further discloses:
Jian teaches wherein receiving, by a base station (BS), state information fed back by the RIS, comprising: receiving, by the BS, the state information fed back by the RIS controller when detecting abnormity of the state of the RIS board corresponding to the RIS controller or managed by the RIS controller (see at least ¶ [0049], “…the intelligent reflecting device 200 includes an antenna 214 coupled to the transceiver 212 through which the intelligent reflecting device 200 wirelessly communicates with the other communication nodes…” and see at least ¶ [0074], “…the second nodes can feed back channel state information to the first node, and in response the first node can determine the channel state information based on the feedback information from the second nodes…”).
Consider claim 13 (depends on at least claim 9), Jian discloses the limitations of claim 9 as applied to claim rejection 9 above and further discloses:
Jian teaches wherein the state information of the RIS controller comprises at least one of the following: an electric quantity state, a power consumption value, a temperature value, and a working state (see at least ¶ [0037], “…a reflection magnitude is or indicates an amount of power of the incident signal that the surface reflects. The reflection magnitude may be a value in units of power (such as Watts), or may be represented as a percentage or a fraction of the power of the incident signal. The reflection magnitude may be inversely related to an amount of energy of a signal that the surface absorbs upon receipt and reflection of the signal…”).
Consider claim 14 (depends on at least claim 9), Jian discloses the limitations of claim 9 as applied to claim rejection 9 above and further discloses:
Jian teaches wherein the state information of each RIS board comprises at least one of the following: a power consumption value, a temperature value, a codebook read-back state, a coordinate, an azimuth angle, and a down tilt angle (see at least ¶ [0061], “…the surface element group determination node may determine the channel state information using beam searching and/or beam training techniques to perform channel estimation. For example, for downlink transmissions, a codebook for the wireless access node 104 and the intelligent reflecting device 124 may be fixed, and a beam training process may be repeated over several iterations using different beam pairs in order to determine a desired or optimal beam pair, which in turn may provide channel state information that the surface element group determination node can use to determine a surface element group for a given second node…”).
Consider claim 18 (depends on at least claim 17), Jian discloses the limitations of claim 9 as applied to claim rejection 17 above and further discloses:
Jian teaches wherein the state feedback module comprises at least one of: a first feedback unit, configured to, at an initial access stage of the RIS controller to the BS, actively feed back the state information to the BS; a second feedback unit, configured to receive a state information query instruction from the BS during a stable operating phase of the plurality of RIS boards managed by the RIS controller, and feed back the state information to the BS according to the state information query instruction; a third feedback unit, configured to detect, during a stable operation stage of the RIS controller and the plurality of RIS boards managed by the RIS controller, a state exception of the RIS controller or the plurality of RIS boards managed by the RIS controller, and feed back the state information to the BS (see at least ¶ [0074], “…the first node transmits signals to the second node, the second nodes can feed back channel state information to the first node, and in response the first node can determine the channel state information based on the feedback information from the second nodes…” and see at least ¶ [0110], “…the region determination node determines the surface element regions, at block 504, the first node and/or the intelligent reflecting device 104 may independently set communication parameters for respective communications between the first node and the surface element regions. In various embodiments, the communication parameters include at least one of transmit beams of the first node or reflection angles associated with the surface element regions…”).
Consider claim 21 (depends on at least claim 1), Jian discloses the limitations of claim 1 as applied to claim rejection 1 above and further discloses:
Jian teaches a computer readable storage medium, wherein the computer readable storage medium stores a computer program, and the computer program is configured to, when executed by a processor, implement the method as claimed in claim 1 (see at least ¶ [0048], Fig. 2A, “…the memory 210 may store therein instructions or code that, when read and executed by the processor 208, cause the processor 208 to perform any of various functions and/or any of various methods…”).
Consider claim 22 (depends on at least claim 1), Jian discloses the limitations of claim 1 as applied to claim rejection 1 above and further discloses:
Jian teaches an electronic apparatus, comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and capable of running on the processor, the processor is configured to execute the computer program to implement the method as claimed in claim 1 (see at least ¶ [0039], Fig. 2A, “…an intelligent reflecting device 200…”).
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 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.
Claims 7, 8, 15, 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Application Publication 20230146485 (hereinafter referred to as Jian) in view of US Patent Application Publication 20240137134 (hereinafter referred to as Sahraei).
Consider claims 7, 15 (depends on at least claims 1, 9), Jian in view of Sahraei discloses the limitations of claim 1, 9 as applied to claim rejection 1, 9 above and further discloses:
Jian disclose all the subject matters of the claimed invention concept. However, Jian does not particularly disclose wherein the RIS controller feeds back the state information to the BS through a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). In an analogous field of endeavor, attention is directed to Sahraei, which teaches wherein the RIS controller feeds back the state information to the BS through a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) (see Sahraei, at least ¶ [0184], “…physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission, reference signal) to the base station 105-b, where the uplink transmission is reflected by the reconfigurable surface 205-b using the third reflection matrix configuration…” and see at least ¶ [0249], “…the first feedback message is transmitted to the base station via the reconfigurable surface with a first transmission power metric, and where the second feedback message is transmitted to the base station via the reconfigurable surface with a second transmission power metric which is less than the first transmission power metric…”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious a finding that one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention could have combined the elements as claimed by the know method, and that in combination. Each element merely performs the same function as it does separately; Jian disclosed invention, and have wherein the RIS controller feeds back the state information to the BS through a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), as taught by Sahraei, thereby, to provide a wireless communications systems have attempted to use active antenna units, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, or both, in order to increase throughput and increase quantities of wireless devices, as discussed by Sahraei, (see at least ¶ [0004]).
Consider claims 8, 16 (depends on at least claims 1, 9), Jian in view of Sahraei discloses the limitations of claim 1, 9 as applied to claim rejection 1, 9 above and further discloses:
Jian disclose all the subject matters of the claimed invention concept. However, Jian does not particularly disclose wherein the RIS controller receives the state information query instruction sent by the BS through a synchronous signal block (SSB) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). In an analogous field of endeavor, attention is directed to Sahraei, which teaches wherein the RIS controller receives the state information query instruction sent by the BS through a synchronous signal block (SSB) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) (see Sahraei, at least ¶ [0224], “…physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, reference signal) from the base station 105-c, where the downlink transmission is reflected by the reconfigurable surface 205-c using the third reflection matrix configuration…” and see at least ¶ [0249], “…the first feedback message is transmitted to the base station via the reconfigurable surface with a first transmission power metric, and where the second feedback message is transmitted to the base station via the reconfigurable surface with a second transmission power metric which is less than the first transmission power metric…”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious a finding that one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention could have combined the elements as claimed by the know method, and that in combination. Each element merely performs the same function as it does separately; Jian disclosed invention, and have wherein the RIS controller receives the state information query instruction sent by the BS through a synchronous signal block (SSB) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), as taught by Sahraei, thereby, to provide a wireless communications systems have attempted to use active antenna units, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, or both, in order to increase throughput and increase quantities of wireless devices, as discussed by Sahraei, (see at least ¶ [0004]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHUONG A NGO whose telephone number is (571)270-7264. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday from 5:30AM-3:30PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anthony S Addy can be reached at (571) 272-7795. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHUONG A NGO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645
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