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 .
Election/Restrictions
Restriction to one of the following inventions is required under 35 U.S.C. 121:
I. Claims 1-10, drawn to base station beam resource reselection for remote user equipment in event of failure, classified in H04W72/0457.
II. Claims 11-16, drawn to intermediate user equipment assisting reconnection process of remote user equipment with base station via beam selection, classified in H04W36/085.
Inventions I and II are related as subcombinations disclosed as usable together in a single combination. The subcombinations are distinct if they do not overlap in scope and are not obvious variants, and if it is shown that at least one subcombination is separately usable. In the instant case, subcombination I has separate utility such as base station providing new beam to the remote UE without the use of the intermediate UE as described in subcombination II. See MPEP § 806.05(d).
The examiner has required restriction between subcombinations usable together. Where applicant elects a subcombination and claims thereto are subsequently found allowable, any claim(s) depending from or otherwise requiring all the limitations of the allowable subcombination will be examined for patentability in accordance with 37 CFR 1.104. See MPEP § 821.04(a). Applicant is advised that if any claim presented in a divisional application is anticipated by, or includes all the limitations of, a claim that is allowable in the present application, such claim may be subject to provisional statutory and/or nonstatutory double patenting rejections over the claims of the instant application.
Because these inventions are independent or distinct for the reasons given above and there would be a serious burden on the examiner if restriction is not required because the inventions have acquired a separate status in the art in view of their different classification, restriction for examination purposes as indicated is proper.
Telephone call and follow-up emails were made to Applicant (representative attorney Ryusuke Satoh) on 22 July 2026 to request an oral election to the above restriction requirement without traverse, resulting Invention group I elected and group II withdrawn.
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 1-4 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pezeshki (US 2021/0336687).
Regarding claim 1, Pezeshki describes a base station comprising:
a controller configured to determine, based on a location of a user equipment (UE) device, an initial set of one or more consecutive beams over which to transmit a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) signal (para. 11, network entity being base station 110 with controller/processor 240); and
a transmitter configured to serially transmit the SSB signal to the UE device via the initial set of one or more consecutive beams (fig. 2 & para. 99, during initial access period, TX modulator 232a (transmitter), being part of the serial circuit of base station 110, transmits downlink to UE by sweeping a set of beams. Sweeping a set of beams is known to have consecutive beams shaped like a broom for sweeping),
the controller further configured to determine, based on heading information of the UE device, a second set of one or more consecutive beams over which to transmit the SSB signal, the transmitter further configured to serially transmit the SSB signal to the UE device via the second set of one or more consecutive beams in a direction associated with the heading information of the UE device (para. 7 & 89-90, base station transmits, based on detecting/receiving one condition, a modified beam set to transmit the [serially generated] SSB signal downlink to the UE by sweeping a set of beams. Again, sweeping a set of beams is known to have consecutive beams shaped like a broom for sweeping). Such condition may be the direction (heading) information for the UE, see para. 89-90. See also fig. 6).
Pezeshki already describes receiving the SSB signal transmission via the initial set of one or more consecutive beams, but fails to further explicitly describe:
determining second set of beams to use in response to failure of reception of the UE device.
Kwon also describes beam reselection for use between base station & UE (fig. 1), further describing:
determining second set of beams to use in response to failure of reception of the UE device (para. 2 & 5 or abstract, base station indicates new beam identification RS resources (second set of beams) to the UE upon a beam (reception) failure between user equipment & base station, for transmitting synchronization signal block resources, para. 13).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the sending of second set of beams in Pezeshki be performed upon failure of reception by the UE device as in Kwon.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this allows the system for a mechanism employed to report and recover from the failure (Kwon para. 4).
Regarding claim 2, Pezeshki and Kwon combined describe:
a receiver configured to receive, from the UE device, periodic transmissions, the controller further configured to determine, based on the periodic transmissions, the heading information of the UE device (Pezeshki, fig. 2 & para. 85-87, base station 110 comprising RX demodulator 232t (receiver) receiving upstream from UE periodic SSBs & detecting (receiving) the condition, Such condition may be the direction (heading) information for the UE, see para. 89-90. See also fig. 6).
Regarding claim 3, Pezeshki and Kwon combined describe:
wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit, to the UE device, one or more instructions instructing the UE device when to begin and end the periodic transmissions (Pezeshki, para. 87 & 102, network entity/base station transmits to UE the SSB as well as SSB burst information of SSB duration & SSB periodicity (when to begin & end). See also fig. 13 #1306).
Regarding claim 4, Pezeshki and Kwon combined describe:
wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit the one or more instructions in a System Information Block (SIB) message (Pezeshki, para. 102, the SSB burst information (instructions) is sent in SIBs).
Regarding claim 7, Pezeshki and Kwon combined describe:
wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit the one or more instructions via dedicated signaling (Pezeshki para. 102, as an alternative, gNB/base station may convey (via dedicated signaling), instead of broadcast, the information (instructions)).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pezeshki in view of Kwon as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Li (US 2025/0344259).
Regarding claim 5, Pezeshki describes base station sending instructions to UE via broadcast (para. 102), but fails to further explicitly describe:
the one or more instructions contain a Destination Layer 2 identifier (ID).
Li also describe wireless network communication (title), further describing:
the one or more instructions contain a Destination Layer 2 identifier (ID) (para. 5, broadcast performed with use of a destination layer-2 ID).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the transmitted instructions in Pezeshki and Kwon to contain a destination layer 2 ID as in Li.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this enhances the limited communication modes of broadcast and groupcast (Li para. 4).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pezeshki in view of Kwon as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Goyal (US 2023/0319747).
Regarding claim 6, Pezeshki and Kwon combined describe:
wherein the transmitter is provides a duration for the periodic transmissions (para. 87, gNB/base station provides information (instructions) to a particular UE comprising the periodic SSB duration, para. 87), but fails to further describe:
configured to transmit the one or more instructions in a paging message that triggers the periodic transmissions and provides a duration for the periodic transmissions.
Goyal also describe base station transmitting to UE SSB signals for beam indication (para. 11), further describing:
configured to transmit the one or more instructions in a paging message that triggers the periodic transmissions and provides a duration for the periodic transmissions (para. 197, gNB/base station sends message comprising information of active set of SSBs in periodic fashion, setting the period (duration) as part of paging cycle(s)).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the base station of Pezeshki and Kwon to transmit in a paging message that triggers periodic transmission & provide its duration as in Goyal.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that use of paging transmission in wireless communication increases resource usages (Goyal, para. 145).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-10 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.
Regarding claim 8, the prior art fails to further explicitly describe:
a receiver configured to receive, from another UE device, the heading information of the UE device.
The closest prior art, Nagaraja (US 2018/0234960) describing beam recovery by use of mobility condition of the UE comprising a direction of the UE relative to the base station, an orientation of the UE, a distance from the base station, or a combination thereof, wherein the beam recovery message comprises an indication of the mobility condition (para. 17, para. 72 + fig. 4, & para. 90), Abdallah (US 2017/0317726) describing relay between AP & destination UE + beam selection (fig. 2 & 5-6), and Pezeshki describing reselecting beams for SSB burst transmission based on a condition comprising direction information for the UE (fig. 6), in combination, fail to render the above additional limitations as a whole obvious.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Vemuri (US 2022/0140874) describing in case of beam failure, pair links can be reestablished (para. 41), Alawich (US 12,439,367) determining A Position Of An Entity Of A Wireless Communication Network (title) where the first and the second entities use respective antenna patterns for transmitting or receiving the reference signal. The position of the first entity is determined using antenna pattern information about the antenna pattern used by the first entity and/or antenna pattern information about the antenna pattern used by the second entity (abstract), Akkarakaran (US 2019/0369201) describing Positioning methods suitable for use in a wireless network that utilizes beamformed communication (title & abstract), Choi (US 2024/0162968) describing recovering beam failure with UE through selected beam (title & fig. 3), Xu (US 2023/0199584) describing switching beam set for beam failure recovery (fig. 5 & para. 31), Matsumura (US 2022/0159484) describing user terminal according to the present disclosure includes: a control section that determines a new candidate beam by using at least one of a plurality of determination criteria configured for the new candidate beam; and a transmitting section that transmits information related to the determined new candidate beam in a beam failure recovery procedure (abstract), Xu (US 2021/0218457) describing performing beam failure detection on a current service beam using a first beam quality index, and select a candidate beam from the other beams using the first beam quality index and a second quality index (abstract), Stirling-Gallacher (US 2021/0212146) describing determine a new beam from a plurality of available beams of the second communication device, in response to a beam failure event with the second communication device (para. 16), where beam failure may occur because the beams direction of these serving beams is no longer the best direction due to movement of the UE (para. 3), Xiang (US 2019/0349031) describing terminal device determining spatial direction information of each beam group, and then sends the spatial direction information of each beam group to the network device, or sends, to the network device, information that is about a correlation between beam groups and that is determined based on the spatial direction information (para. 8), and Wang (US 6,453,177) describing beam forming on the downlink traffic channel signals involves determining the main lobe beam direction and selecting the beam width. The direction of the downlink main lobe beam is based on an average uplink channel estimator or angle of arrival data to select the most likely direction of the desired mobile station (detx 11),
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WARNER WONG whose telephone number is (571)272-8197. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7am - 3:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian Moore can be reached at 571-272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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WARNER WONG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2469
/WARNER WONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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