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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 08/15/2024 and 09/12/2025 were filed after the mailing date of the application on 08/15/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-2, 6-7, 10-12, 21, and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (US 2020/0412498), hereinafter Zhang, Zhou et al. (US 2021/0352503), hereinafter Zhou and Venugopal et all. (US 2020/0304186), hereinafter Venugopal.
Regarding Claim 1, Zhang teaches: A method performed at a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), the method comprising: receiving an indication of a resource on which to report a location of the WTRU: “With respect to wide subcarrier spacing numerology, to achieve low latency requirement, an RS may be allocated at the beginning of both the DL duration and UL duration per a time interval X. If frequency hopping is applied, for example, the NR-RS may be allocated at the beginning of both DL duration (e.g., DL RS) and UL duration (e.g., UL RS) per time interval X per frequency hopping pattern” (Zhang ¶ 0115); transmitting an indication of the location using the resource: “In some cases, as shown at 2806, the UEs can use the DL RS to report their location information” (Zhang ¶ 0182).
Zhang does not teach: receiving, in response to the transmission of the location using the resource, an indication of a first subset of a plurality of measurement resources for enabling beam association on a first subset of a plurality of beam pairs (BPs); determining, based on first measurements performed on the first subset of the plurality of measurement resources, a first beam pair (BP) of the first subset of the plurality of BPs; reporting the first measurements and a service requirement via the first BP to trigger refinement of the beam association; receiving, in response to reporting the first measurements and the service requirement, an indication of a second subset of the plurality of measurement resources for enabling refined beam association on a second subset of the plurality of BPs; determining, based on second measurements performed on the second subset of the plurality of measurement resources, a second BP of the second subset of the plurality of BPs; and performing a transmission using the second BP.
Regarding Claim 1, Zhou teaches: receiving, in response to the transmission of the location using the resource, an indication of a first subset of a plurality of measurement resources for enabling beam association on a first subset of a plurality of beam pairs (BPs): “Another example implementation includes an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising means for receiving a measurement resource configuration indicating a plurality of resource sets each having a resource set-specific channel measurement resource (CMR) and a plurality of resource set-specific interference measurement resources (IMRs), wherein a number of the plurality of resource sets are equal to a total number of candidate transmit beams . . . Additionally, the apparatus further includes means for determining a signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) for each of a plurality of beam pairs of the resource set-specific transmit beam and the plurality of remaining transmit beams for each of the plurality of resource sets, based on the received power of the resource set-specific CMR and of the plurality of resource set-specific IMRs for each of the plurality of resource sets” (Zhou ¶ 0013); determining, based on first measurements performed on the first subset of the plurality of measurement resources, a first beam pair (BP) of the first subset of the plurality of BPs: “Additionally, the apparatus further includes means for selecting two beam pairs from the plurality of beam pairs having a SINR property. Additionally, the apparatus further includes means for reporting the resource set-specific CMR transmit beam identifier and the SINR for each of the two beam pairs” (Zhou ¶ 0013).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang with Zhou for the purpose of enabling effective beam discovery between a UE and base station that meets a SINR property. According to Zhou: “the present disclosure provides a measurement configuration that allows the base station to efficiently transmit a plurality of different combinations of measurement resources on one or more transmit beams to be received on a corresponding one or more receive beams, and for the UE to efficiently calculate and compare SINR values to identify at least two or more beam pairs that meet the SINR property” (Zhou ¶ 0036).
Zhou does not teach: reporting the first measurements and a service requirement via the first BP to trigger refinement of the beam association; receiving, in response to reporting the first measurements and the service requirement, an indication of a second subset of the plurality of measurement resources for enabling refined beam association on a second subset of the plurality of BPs; determining, based on second measurements performed on the second subset of the plurality of measurement resources, a second BP of the second subset of the plurality of BPs; and performing a transmission using the second BP.
Regarding Claim 1, Venugopal teaches: reporting the first measurements and a service requirement via the first BP to trigger refinement of the beam association: “One or more of the UE or base station may then perform a beam refinement procedure (e.g., a P2 or P3 beam refinement procedure in NR systems) and identify one or more refined parameters for communications. In accordance with techniques discussed herein, rather than provide an updated TCI state configuration (which consumes a relatively large amount of overhead and has signaling latency), a UE or base station may provide additional signaling in one or more transmissions (e.g., in a control signaling transmission) that indicates the updated parameter(s)” (Venugopal ¶ 0051); receiving, in response to reporting the first measurements and the service requirement, an indication of a second subset of the plurality of measurement resources for enabling refined beam association on a second subset of the plurality of BPs: “base station 105-b, at 310, optionally may transmit configuration information to the UE 115-b. In some cases, the configuration information may include information related to one or more fields that may be provided in control signaling (e.g., DCI, UCI, a MAC-CE, or any combinations thereof) that may indicate updated beam parameters of a transmitting device. For example, the base station 105-b may configure a single bit that may indicate updated beamforming parameters, and that the UE 115-b is to change one or more beamforming parameters for a subsequent data transmission” (Venugopal ¶ 0092); determining, based on second measurements performed on the second subset of the plurality of measurement resources, a second BP of the second subset of the plurality of BPs: “At 340, the base station 105-b may determine a refined set of beamforming parameters based on the SRS measurements. For example, the base station 105-b may determine parameters for weighting and gain of antennas at one or more antenna panels of the base station 105-b that provide enhanced beam reception” (Venugopal ¶ 0096); and performing a transmission using the second BP: “At 345, the base station 105-b may transmit control information with a beam update indication to the UE 115-b. In some cases, the control information may be DCI transmitted to the UE 115-b that allocates downlink or uplink resources for a subsequent data transmission. In some cases, the control information may be a MAC-CE transmitted to the UE 115-b that includes an indication of the beam update” (Venugopal ¶ 0097).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang and Zhou with Venugopal for the purpose of providing a beam refinement procedure. According to Venugopal: “In some situations, one or more different beamforming parameters may be identified (e.g., due to performing a beam refinement procedure) that may provide enhanced performance relative to the beamforming parameters of the reference signal. Efficient techniques to provide an indication of such refined beamforming parameters may help enhance network performance and reliability” (Venugopal ¶ 0004).
Regarding Claim 2, Zhang and Zhou teach: The method of claim 1.
Zhang and Zhou do not teach: the second BP has a beam width that is narrower than a beam width of the first BP.
Regarding Claim 2, Venugopal teaches: the second BP has a beam width that is narrower than a beam width of the first BP: “The base station may identify one or more updated parameters (e.g., based on a P2 beam refinement procedure), and may determine that a data transmission (e.g., a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission) to the UE is to use the updated parameters (which may be referred to as a second set of beamforming parameters) . . . In some cases, if the beam used for the data transmission is a narrower beam, a new TCI state may need to be indicated, and the base station may trigger an update procedure to provide the new TCI state” (Venugopal ¶ 0052-0053).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang and Zhou with Venugopal for the purpose of providing a beam refinement procedure. According to Venugopal: “In some situations, one or more different beamforming parameters may be identified (e.g., due to performing a beam refinement procedure) that may provide enhanced performance relative to the beamforming parameters of the reference signal. Efficient techniques to provide an indication of such refined beamforming parameters may help enhance network performance and reliability” (Venugopal ¶ 0004).
Regarding Claim 6, Zhang teaches: The method of claim 1.
Zhang does not teach: the first subset of the plurality of measurement resources comprises one or more measurement objects, a set of resources to monitor for a discovery signal or a synchronization signal block (SSB), or a mini measurement gap configuration.
Regarding Claim 6, Zhou teaches: the first subset of the plurality of measurement resources comprises one or more measurement objects, a set of resources to monitor for a discovery signal or a synchronization signal block (SSB), or a mini measurement gap configuration: “The base station 102 initiates the exchange 400 by transmitting the measurement configuration to the UE 104, and the UE 104 configures one or more Rx beams to receive the subsequent measurement signals. Additionally or in the alternative, for example, the base station 102 may send a report configuration, such as a CSI-ReportConfig with the higher layer parameter reportQuantity set to ‘cri-SINR’ or ‘ssb-Index-SINR’. If the UE is configured with the higher layer parameter groupBasedBeamReporting set to ‘disabled’, the UE may report in a single report nrofReportedRSForSINR (higher layer configured) different CRI or SSBRI for each report setting. If the UE is configured with the higher layer parameter groupBasedBeamReporting set to ‘enabled’, the UE may report in a single reporting instance two or more different CRI or SSBRI for each report setting, where CSI-RS and/or SSB resources can be received simultaneously by the UE” (Zhou ¶ 0082).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang with Zhou for the purpose of enabling effective beam discovery between a UE and base station that meets a SINR property. According to Zhou: “the present disclosure provides a measurement configuration that allows the base station to efficiently transmit a plurality of different combinations of measurement resources on one or more transmit beams to be received on a corresponding one or more receive beams, and for the UE to efficiently calculate and compare SINR values to identify at least two or more beam pairs that meet the SINR property” (Zhou ¶ 0036).
Regarding Claim 7, Zhang and Zhou teach: The method of claim 1.
Zhang and Zhou do not teach: the indication of the first subset of the plurality of measurement resources is received via a radio resource control (RRC) message or a medium access control (MAC) control element.
Regarding Claim 7, Venugopal teaches: the indication of the first subset of the plurality of measurement resources is received via a radio resource control (RRC) message or a medium access control (MAC) control element: “At 405, UE 115-c and base station 105-c may establish a connection via a first beam. The connection may be established according to RRC connection establishment techniques, and/or the connection may be configured for a first set of beamforming parameters that are determined based on a beam training procedure. The first beam may have a first set of QCL parameters based on a first TCI state, for example” (Venugopal ¶ 0100).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang and Zhou with Venugopal for the purpose of providing a beam refinement procedure. According to Venugopal: “In some situations, one or more different beamforming parameters may be identified (e.g., due to performing a beam refinement procedure) that may provide enhanced performance relative to the beamforming parameters of the reference signal. Efficient techniques to provide an indication of such refined beamforming parameters may help enhance network performance and reliability” (Venugopal ¶ 0004).
Regarding Claim 10, Zhang and Zhou teach: The method of claim 1.
Zhang and Zhou do not teach: determining to trigger refinement of the first subset of the plurality of BPs based on the service requirements, wherein the service requirements include at least one of an amount of data, a reliability requirement, a latency requirement, or a data type.
Regarding Claim 10, Venugopal teaches: determining to trigger refinement of the first subset of the plurality of BPs based on the service requirements, wherein the service requirements include at least one of an amount of data, a reliability requirement, a latency requirement, or a data type: “One or more of the UE or base station may then perform a beam refinement procedure (e.g., a P2 or P3 beam refinement procedure in NR systems) and identify one or more refined parameters for communications. In accordance with techniques discussed herein, rather than provide an updated TCI state configuration (which consumes a relatively large amount of overhead and has signaling latency), a UE or base station may provide additional signaling in one or more transmissions (e.g., in a control signaling transmission) that indicates the updated parameter(s)” (Venugopal ¶ 0051).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang and Zhou with Venugopal for the purpose of providing a beam refinement procedure. According to Venugopal: “In some situations, one or more different beamforming parameters may be identified (e.g., due to performing a beam refinement procedure) that may provide enhanced performance relative to the beamforming parameters of the reference signal. Efficient techniques to provide an indication of such refined beamforming parameters may help enhance network performance and reliability” (Venugopal ¶ 0004).
Regarding Claim 11, Zhang teaches: A wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) comprising: a processor: “In one embodiment, an apparatus comprises a processor, a memory, and communication circuitry. The apparatus is connected to a network, for instance a new radio (NR) network, via its communication circuitry. The apparatus further comprises computer-executable instructions stored in the memory of the apparatus which, when executed by the processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform operations” (Zhang ¶ 0025) configured to: receive an indication of a resource on which to report a location of the WTRU: “With respect to wide subcarrier spacing numerology, to achieve low latency requirement, an RS may be allocated at the beginning of both the DL duration and UL duration per a time interval X. If frequency hopping is applied, for example, the NR-RS may be allocated at the beginning of both DL duration (e.g., DL RS) and UL duration (e.g., UL RS) per time interval X per frequency hopping pattern” (Zhang ¶ 0115); transmit an indication of the location using the resource: “In some cases, as shown at 2806, the UEs can use the DL RS to report their location information” (Zhang ¶ 0182).
Zhang does not teach: receive, in response to the transmission of the location using the resource, an indication of a first subset of a plurality of measurement resources for enabling beam association on a first subset of a plurality of beam pairs (BPs); determine, based on first measurements performed on the first subset of the plurality of measurement resources, a first beam pair (BP) of the first subset of the plurality of BPs; report the first measurements and a service requirement via the first BP to trigger refinement of the beam association; receive, in response to reporting the first measurements and the service requirement, an indication of a second subset of the plurality of measurement resources for enabling refined beam association on a second subset of the plurality of BPs; determine, based on second measurements performed on the second subset of the plurality of measurement resources, a second BP of the second subset of the plurality of BPs; and perform a transmission using the second BP.
Regarding Claim 11, Zhou teaches: receive, in response to the transmission of the location using the resource, an indication of a first subset of a plurality of measurement resources for enabling beam association on a first subset of a plurality of beam pairs (BPs): “Another example implementation includes an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising means for receiving a measurement resource configuration indicating a plurality of resource sets each having a resource set-specific channel measurement resource (CMR) and a plurality of resource set-specific interference measurement resources (IMRs), wherein a number of the plurality of resource sets are equal to a total number of candidate transmit beams . . . Additionally, the apparatus further includes means for determining a signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) for each of a plurality of beam pairs of the resource set-specific transmit beam and the plurality of remaining transmit beams for each of the plurality of resource sets, based on the received power of the resource set-specific CMR and of the plurality of resource set-specific IMRs for each of the plurality of resource sets” (Zhou ¶ 0013); determine, based on first measurements performed on the first subset of the plurality of measurement resources, a first beam pair (BP) of the first subset of the plurality of BPs: “Additionally, the apparatus further includes means for selecting two beam pairs from the plurality of beam pairs having a SINR property. Additionally, the apparatus further includes means for reporting the resource set-specific CMR transmit beam identifier and the SINR for each of the two beam pairs” (Zhou ¶ 0013).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang with Zhou for the purpose of enabling effective beam discovery between a UE and base station that meets a SINR property. According to Zhou: “the present disclosure provides a measurement configuration that allows the base station to efficiently transmit a plurality of different combinations of measurement resources on one or more transmit beams to be received on a corresponding one or more receive beams, and for the UE to efficiently calculate and compare SINR values to identify at least two or more beam pairs that meet the SINR property” (Zhou ¶ 0036).
Zhou does not teach: report the first measurements and a service requirement via the first BP to trigger refinement of the beam association; receive, in response to reporting the first measurements and the service requirement, an indication of a second subset of the plurality of measurement resources for enabling refined beam association on a second subset of the plurality of BPs; determine, based on second measurements performed on the second subset of the plurality of measurement resources, a second BP of the second subset of the plurality of BPs; and perform a transmission using the second BP.
Regarding Claim 11, Venugopal teaches: report the first measurements and a service requirement via the first BP to trigger refinement of the beam association: “One or more of the UE or base station may then perform a beam refinement procedure (e.g., a P2 or P3 beam refinement procedure in NR systems) and identify one or more refined parameters for communications. In accordance with techniques discussed herein, rather than provide an updated TCI state configuration (which consumes a relatively large amount of overhead and has signaling latency), a UE or base station may provide additional signaling in one or more transmissions (e.g., in a control signaling transmission) that indicates the updated parameter(s)” (Venugopal ¶ 0051); receive, in response to reporting the first measurements and the service requirement, an indication of a second subset of the plurality of measurement resources for enabling refined beam association on a second subset of the plurality of BPs: “base station 105-b, at 310, optionally may transmit configuration information to the UE 115-b. In some cases, the configuration information may include information related to one or more fields that may be provided in control signaling (e.g., DCI, UCI, a MAC-CE, or any combinations thereof) that may indicate updated beam parameters of a transmitting device. For example, the base station 105-b may configure a single bit that may indicate updated beamforming parameters, and that the UE 115-b is to change one or more beamforming parameters for a subsequent data transmission” (Venugopal ¶ 0092); determine, based on second measurements performed on the second subset of the plurality of measurement resources, a second BP of the second subset of the plurality of BPs: “At 340, the base station 105-b may determine a refined set of beamforming parameters based on the SRS measurements. For example, the base station 105-b may determine parameters for weighting and gain of antennas at one or more antenna panels of the base station 105-b that provide enhanced beam reception” (Venugopal ¶ 0096); and perform a transmission using the second BP: “At 345, the base station 105-b may transmit control information with a beam update indication to the UE 115-b. In some cases, the control information may be DCI transmitted to the UE 115-b that allocates downlink or uplink resources for a subsequent data transmission. In some cases, the control information may be a MAC-CE transmitted to the UE 115-b that includes an indication of the beam update” (Venugopal ¶ 0097).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang and Zhou with Venugopal for the purpose of providing a beam refinement procedure. According to Venugopal: “In some situations, one or more different beamforming parameters may be identified (e.g., due to performing a beam refinement procedure) that may provide enhanced performance relative to the beamforming parameters of the reference signal. Efficient techniques to provide an indication of such refined beamforming parameters may help enhance network performance and reliability” (Venugopal ¶ 0004).
Regarding Claim 12, Zhang and Zhou teach: The WTRU of claim 11.
Zhang and Zhou do not teach: the second BP has a beam width that is narrower than a beam width of the first BP.
Regarding Claim 12, Venugopal teaches: the second BP has a beam width that is narrower than a beam width of the first BP: “The base station may identify one or more updated parameters (e.g., based on a P2 beam refinement procedure), and may determine that a data transmission (e.g., a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission) to the UE is to use the updated parameters (which may be referred to as a second set of beamforming parameters) . . . In some cases, if the beam used for the data transmission is a narrower beam, a new TCI state may need to be indicated, and the base station may trigger an update procedure to provide the new TCI state” (Venugopal ¶ 0052-0053).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang and Zhou with Venugopal for the purpose of providing a beam refinement procedure. According to Venugopal: “In some situations, one or more different beamforming parameters may be identified (e.g., due to performing a beam refinement procedure) that may provide enhanced performance relative to the beamforming parameters of the reference signal. Efficient techniques to provide an indication of such refined beamforming parameters may help enhance network performance and reliability” (Venugopal ¶ 0004).
Regarding Claim 20, Zhang and Zhou teach: The WTRU of claim 11.
Zhang and Zhou do not teach: determine to trigger refinement of the first subset of the plurality of BPs based on the service requirements, wherein the service requirements include at least one of an amount of data, a reliability requirement, a latency requirement, or a data type.
Regarding Claim 20, Venugopal teaches: determine to trigger refinement of the first subset of the plurality of BPs based on the service requirements, wherein the service requirements include at least one of an amount of data, a reliability requirement, a latency requirement, or a data type: “One or more of the UE or base station may then perform a beam refinement procedure (e.g., a P2 or P3 beam refinement procedure in NR systems) and identify one or more refined parameters for communications. In accordance with techniques discussed herein, rather than provide an updated TCI state configuration (which consumes a relatively large amount of overhead and has signaling latency), a UE or base station may provide additional signaling in one or more transmissions (e.g., in a control signaling transmission) that indicates the updated parameter(s)” (Venugopal ¶ 0051).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang and Zhou with Venugopal for the purpose of providing a beam refinement procedure. According to Venugopal: “In some situations, one or more different beamforming parameters may be identified (e.g., due to performing a beam refinement procedure) that may provide enhanced performance relative to the beamforming parameters of the reference signal. Efficient techniques to provide an indication of such refined beamforming parameters may help enhance network performance and reliability” (Venugopal ¶ 0004).
Regarding Claim 21, Zhang and Zhou teach: The method of claim 1.
Zhang and Zhou do not teach: each BP of the plurality of BPs is associated with a corresponding base station (BS), wherein the first BP is associated with a first BS, and wherein the second BP is associated with the first BS.
Regarding Claim 21, Venugopal teaches: each BP of the plurality of BPs is associated with a corresponding base station (BS), wherein the first BP is associated with a first BS: “a UE may be configured with one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state configurations. Different TCI states, distinguished by different values of the TCI, may correspond to quasi co-location (QCL) relationships with different reference signal transmissions (e.g. synchronization signal block (SSB) transmissions, channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmissions, and the like). A particular TCI state may be identified based on an initial beam training procedure (e.g., a P1 beam training procedure in NR systems). One or more of the UE or base station may then perform a beam refinement procedure (e.g., a P2 or P3 beam refinement procedure in NR systems) and identify one or more refined parameters for communications” (Venugopal ¶ 0051), and wherein the second BP is associated with the first BS: “At 345, the base station 105-b may transmit control information with a beam update indication to the UE 115-b. In some cases, the control information may be DCI transmitted to the UE 115-b that allocates downlink or uplink resources for a subsequent data transmission. In some cases, the control information may be a MAC-CE transmitted to the UE 115-b that includes an indication of the beam update” (Venugopal ¶ 0097).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang and Zhou with Venugopal for the purpose of providing a beam refinement procedure. According to Venugopal: “In some situations, one or more different beamforming parameters may be identified (e.g., due to performing a beam refinement procedure) that may provide enhanced performance relative to the beamforming parameters of the reference signal. Efficient techniques to provide an indication of such refined beamforming parameters may help enhance network performance and reliability” (Venugopal ¶ 0004).
Regarding Claim 23, Zhang and Zhou teach: The WTRU of claim 11.
Zhang and Zhou do not teach: each BP of the plurality of BPs is associated with a corresponding base station (BS), wherein the first BP is associated with a first BS, and wherein the second BP is associated with the first BS.
Regarding Claim 23, Venugopal teaches: each BP of the plurality of BPs is associated with a corresponding base station (BS), wherein the first BP is associated with a first BS: “a UE may be configured with one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state configurations. Different TCI states, distinguished by different values of the TCI, may correspond to quasi co-location (QCL) relationships with different reference signal transmissions (e.g. synchronization signal block (SSB) transmissions, channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmissions, and the like). A particular TCI state may be identified based on an initial beam training procedure (e.g., a P1 beam training procedure in NR systems). One or more of the UE or base station may then perform a beam refinement procedure (e.g., a P2 or P3 beam refinement procedure in NR systems) and identify one or more refined parameters for communications” (Venugopal ¶ 0051), and wherein the second BP is associated with the first BS: “At 345, the base station 105-b may transmit control information with a beam update indication to the UE 115-b. In some cases, the control information may be DCI transmitted to the UE 115-b that allocates downlink or uplink resources for a subsequent data transmission. In some cases, the control information may be a MAC-CE transmitted to the UE 115-b that includes an indication of the beam update” (Venugopal ¶ 0097).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang and Zhou with Venugopal for the purpose of providing a beam refinement procedure. According to Venugopal: “In some situations, one or more different beamforming parameters may be identified (e.g., due to performing a beam refinement procedure) that may provide enhanced performance relative to the beamforming parameters of the reference signal. Efficient techniques to provide an indication of such refined beamforming parameters may help enhance network performance and reliability” (Venugopal ¶ 0004).
Claims 3-4, 5 and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal as applied to claims 1 and 11 above, and further in view of Li et al. (US 2019/0349049), hereinafter Li.
Regarding Claim 3, Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal teach: The method of claim 2.
Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal do not teach: in response to the second measurements performed on the second subset of the plurality of measurement resources, reporting one or more of the first measurements or one or more of the second measurements to a base station (BS) for receiving on a narrower downlink (DL) transmit beam of the second BP than a DL transmit beam of the first BP.
Regarding Claim 3, Li teaches: in response to the second measurements performed on the second subset of the plurality of measurement resources, reporting one or more of the first measurements or one or more of the second measurements to a base station (BS) for receiving on a narrower downlink (DL) transmit beam of the second BP than a DL transmit beam of the first BP: “notifying, by a terminal device, a base station of a narrow beam whose signal strength is highest and that is aligned between the base station and the terminal device” (Li ¶ 0012) and “For narrow beam alignment when a wide beam pair is established, the base station traverses narrow beams in a wide-beam coverage area. That is, the base station sweeps each narrow beam in the wide-beam coverage area to send a reference signal. The terminal device detects the reference signal sent on each narrow beam, and if one of the narrow beams is a beam whose signal strength is highest, the narrow beam may be used for data communication” (Li ¶ 0044).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal with Li for the purpose of reducing signaling overheads in beam adjustment process. According to Li: “This application provides a downlink-beam adjustment method and an apparatus, and specifically is about determining a to-be-swept beam in a beam adjustment process, to reduce signaling overheads in the beam adjustment process” (Li ¶ 0003).
Regarding Claim 4, Zhang and Zhou teach: The method of claim 3, further comprising:
Zhang and Zhou do not teach: performing a search based on the second subset of the plurality of measurement resources to refine the first BP or to determine the narrower DL transmit beam of the second BP.
Regarding Claim 4, Venugopal teaches: performing a search based on the second subset of the plurality of measurement resources to refine the first BP or to determine the narrower DL transmit beam of the second BP: “At 340, the base station 105-b may determine a refined set of beamforming parameters based on the SRS measurements. For example, the base station 105-b may determine parameters for weighting and gain of antennas at one or more antenna panels of the base station 105-b that provide enhanced beam reception . . . At 350, the UE 115-b may transmit a measurement report with a beam update indication to the base station 105-b. In some cases, the measurement report may be transmitted in UCI from the UE 115-b to the base station 105-b, and the UCI may include one or more bits that indicate the beam update at the UE 115-b. In some cases, the UE 115-b may transmit a MAC-CE that indicated the beam update. The UE 115-b and base station 105-b may transmit one or more data transmissions according to the beam update information” (Venugopal ¶ 0096 and 0098).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang and Zhou with Venugopal for the purpose of providing a beam refinement procedure. According to Venugopal: “In some situations, one or more different beamforming parameters may be identified (e.g., due to performing a beam refinement procedure) that may provide enhanced performance relative to the beamforming parameters of the reference signal. Efficient techniques to provide an indication of such refined beamforming parameters may help enhance network performance and reliability” (Venugopal ¶ 0004).
Regarding Claim 5, Zhang. Zhou, and Venugopal teach: The method of claim 2.
Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal do not teach: the first BP is a widebeam BP, and wherein the second BP is a narrowbeam BP.
Regarding Claim 5, Li teaches: the first BP is a widebeam BP, and wherein the second BP is a narrowbeam BP: “notifying, by a terminal device, a base station of a narrow beam whose signal strength is highest and that is aligned between the base station and the terminal device” (Li ¶ 0012) and “For narrow beam alignment when a wide beam pair is established, the base station traverses narrow beams in a wide-beam coverage area. That is, the base station sweeps each narrow beam in the wide-beam coverage area to send a reference signal. The terminal device detects the reference signal sent on each narrow beam, and if one of the narrow beams is a beam whose signal strength is highest, the narrow beam may be used for data communication” (Li ¶ 0044).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal with Li for the purpose of reducing signaling overheads in beam adjustment process. According to Li: “This application provides a downlink-beam adjustment method and an apparatus, and specifically is about determining a to-be-swept beam in a beam adjustment process, to reduce signaling overheads in the beam adjustment process” (Li ¶ 0003).
Regarding Claim 14, Zhang and Zhou teach: The WTRU of claim 13, further comprising:
Zhang and Zhou do not teach: perform a search based on the second subset of the plurality of measurement resources to refine the first BP or to determine the narrower DL transmit beam of the second BP.
Regarding Claim 14, Venugopal teaches: perform a search based on the second subset of the plurality of measurement resources to refine the first BP or to determine the narrower DL transmit beam of the second BP: “At 340, the base station 105-b may determine a refined set of beamforming parameters based on the SRS measurements. For example, the base station 105-b may determine parameters for weighting and gain of antennas at one or more antenna panels of the base station 105-b that provide enhanced beam reception . . . At 350, the UE 115-b may transmit a measurement report with a beam update indication to the base station 105-b. In some cases, the measurement report may be transmitted in UCI from the UE 115-b to the base station 105-b, and the UCI may include one or more bits that indicate the beam update at the UE 115-b. In some cases, the UE 115-b may transmit a MAC-CE that indicated the beam update. The UE 115-b and base station 105-b may transmit one or more data transmissions according to the beam update information” (Venugopal ¶ 0096 and 0098).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang and Zhou with Venugopal for the purpose of providing a beam refinement procedure. According to Venugopal: “In some situations, one or more different beamforming parameters may be identified (e.g., due to performing a beam refinement procedure) that may provide enhanced performance relative to the beamforming parameters of the reference signal. Efficient techniques to provide an indication of such refined beamforming parameters may help enhance network performance and reliability” (Venugopal ¶ 0004).
Claims 8, 22, and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal as applied to claims 1 and 11 above, and further in view of Laghate et al. (US 2022/0030442), hereinafter Laghate.
Regarding Claim 8, Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal teach: The method of claim 1.
Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal do not teach: performing a neighbor cell discovery using the first subset of the plurality of measurement resources; and reporting, via an uplink (UL) resource, neighbor cell measurement resources or the neighbor cell discovery.
Regarding Claim 8, Laghate teaches: performing a neighbor cell discovery using the first subset of the plurality of measurement resources: “the UE 120 may perform a cell search (e.g., a cell search procedure) using a first set of beams (e.g., a first set of UE receive beams). For example, the UE 120 may measure one or more beams of the second cell by measuring the reference signals transmitted on the one or more beams by the second base station 110 according to the measurement configuration” (Laghate ¶ 0158); and reporting, via an uplink (UL) resource, neighbor cell measurement resources or the neighbor cell discovery: “a UE may measure beams of a serving cell and may report the measurements to the base station according to a measurement configuration. Similarly, the UE may measure beams of one or more neighbor cells and may report the measurements to the base station according to a measurement configuration. The base station may receive the reported measurements from the UE and may perform one or more beam management procedures based at least in part on the reported measurements. For example, the base station may select a cell to add as a secondary cell group (SCG) (e.g., in a dual connectivity mode), may determine a best beam (or beam pair) for communications between the base station and the UE (e.g., a best base station transmit beam and/or a best UE receive beam)” (Laghate ¶ 0006).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal with Laghate for the purpose of improving network performance. According to Laghate: “Some techniques and apparatuses described herein enable improved beam management, reduced battery consumption, improved network performance, and/or higher throughput” (Laghate ¶ 0009).
Regarding Claim 22, Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal teaches: The method of claim 1.
Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal do not teach: each BP of the plurality of BPs is associated with a corresponding base station (BS), wherein the first BP is associated with a first BS, and wherein the second BP is associated with a second BS that is different than the first BS.
Regarding Claim 22, Laghate teaches: each BP of the plurality of BPs is associated with a corresponding base station (BS), wherein the first BP is associated with a first BS, and wherein the second BP is associated with a second BS that is different than the first BS: “the UE 120 may perform a cell search (e.g., a cell search procedure) using a first set of beams (e.g., a first set of UE receive beams). For example, the UE 120 may measure one or more beams of the second cell by measuring the reference signals transmitted on the one or more beams by the second base station 110 according to the measurement configuration” (Laghate ¶ 0158)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal with Laghate for the purpose of improving network performance. According to Laghate: “Some techniques and apparatuses described herein enable improved beam management, reduced battery consumption, improved network performance, and/or higher throughput” (Laghate ¶ 0009).
Regarding Claim 24, Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal teaches: The WTRU of claim 11.
Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal do not teach: each BP of the plurality of BPs is associated with a corresponding base station (BS), wherein the first BP is associated with a first BS, and wherein the second BP is associated with a second BS that is different than the first BS.
Regarding Claim 24, Laghate teaches: each BP of the plurality of BPs is associated with a corresponding base station (BS), wherein the first BP is associated with a first BS, and wherein the second BP is associated with a second BS that is different than the first BS: “the UE 120 may perform a cell search (e.g., a cell search procedure) using a first set of beams (e.g., a first set of UE receive beams). For example, the UE 120 may measure one or more beams of the second cell by measuring the reference signals transmitted on the one or more beams by the second base station 110 according to the measurement configuration” (Laghate ¶ 0158)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal with Laghate for the purpose of improving network performance. According to Laghate: “Some techniques and apparatuses described herein enable improved beam management, reduced battery consumption, improved network performance, and/or higher throughput” (Laghate ¶ 0009).
Claims 9 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal as applied to claims 1 and 11 above, and further in view of Kim et al. (US 2019/0356398), hereinafter Kim.
Regarding Claim 9, Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal teach: The method of claim 1.
Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal do not teach: determining a preferred cell or a preferred at least one beam of a BP; and reporting the preferred cell or a preferred at least one beam.
Regarding Claim 9, Kim teaches: determining a preferred cell or a preferred at least one beam of a BP; and reporting the preferred cell or a preferred at least one beam of a BP: “the UE may report the information of preferred Tx-Rx beam pair to the eNB based a beam measurement. For example, the UE may report the Tx-Rx beam as a pair, or report only the Tx beam index. Alternatively, the UE may transmit a message including an index for the Tx-Rx beam pair to the eNB. More particularly, based on the beam measurement, the UE may transmit a control message (or reporting message) including an information field for a Tx beam index and/or an Rx beam index of the UE that corresponds to the Tx beam to the eNB” (Kim ¶ 0229).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal with Kim for the purpose of improving reception signal of a UE. According to Kim: ”a quality of reception signal of a User Equipment may be improved” (Kim ¶ 0025).
Regarding Claim 19, Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal teach: The WTRU of claim 11.
Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal do not teach: determine a preferred cell or a preferred at least one beam of a BP; and report the preferred cell or a preferred at least one beam.
Regarding Claim 19, Kim teaches: determine a preferred cell or a preferred at least one beam of a BP; and report the preferred cell or a preferred at least one beam of a BP: “the UE may report the information of preferred Tx-Rx beam pair to the eNB based a beam measurement. For example, the UE may report the Tx-Rx beam as a pair, or report only the Tx beam index. Alternatively, the UE may transmit a message including an index for the Tx-Rx beam pair to the eNB. More particularly, based on the beam measurement, the UE may transmit a control message (or reporting message) including an information field for a Tx beam index and/or an Rx beam index of the UE that corresponds to the Tx beam to the eNB” (Kim ¶ 0229).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Zhang, Zhou, and Venugopal with Kim for the purpose of improving reception signal of a UE. According to Kim: ”a quality of reception signal of a User Equipment may be improved” (Kim ¶ 0025).
Conclusion
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/B.D.L./Examiner, Art Unit 2473
/BRADLEY D LYTLE JR./Examiner, Art Unit 2473
/KWANG B YAO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2473
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