DETAILED ACTION
This Non-Final Office Action is in response to application number 18/839,993 filed on August 20th 2024. 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 Statements
The Information Disclosure Statements(IDS), submitted on November 20th 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections – 35 USC § 102
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 1-3,7-12 and 17-19,21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) as being anticipated by Sahrael et al. (US 20240364434 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 21, Sahrael et al. disclose an apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the apparatus to: receive a first notification including a first indication of signal interference and first reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) configuration information (US 20240364434 Paragraphs 80-82 disclose “As further shown in FIG. 5, the serving cell may include at least one RIS (e.g., RIS 405). Accordingly, the base station 110a may transmit, and the RIS 405 may receive, a configuration associated with the channel 505a. For example, the configuration may indicate one or more beams, one or more phases, and/or one or more other beamforming parameters, for the RIS 405 to use on a channel 505b from the RIS 405 to the UE 120. In some aspects, the base station 110a may determine the configuration as described below in connection with FIGS. 6, 7A, and/or 7B.The configuration may be designed such that reflections of interfering signals from the base station 110b transmitted over the channel 505b from the RIS 405 to the UE 120 add destructively with the interfering signals from the base station 110b transmitted over the channel 505a. Therefore, interference at the UE 120 is reduced. Accordingly, the base station 110a may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, a signal on the channel 503 while interference with the signal from the neighbor cell 102b is reduced based at least in part on the configuration that the base station 110a transmitted to the RIS 405. For example, the UE 120 may receive, from the neighbor cell 102b, interference on the channel 505a that is at least partially combined, destructively, with interference on the channel 505b.[0082] By using techniques described in connection with FIG. 5, the RIS 405 reflects an interfering signal from a non-serving cell (e.g., the neighbor cell 102b) towards the UE 120 such that the reflected interfering signal adds destructively with the interfering signal received by the UE 120 on the channel 505a. As a result, the UE 120 experiences decreased interference such that the UE 120 conserves power and processing resources when filtering and decoding signals from the base station 110a. Additionally, the UE 120 is more likely to receive and successfully decode the signals such that the base station 110a engages in fewer re-transmissions due to the decreased interference. As a result of the fewer re-transmissions, the base station 110a and the UE 120 conserve additional power and processing resources as well as reduce network overhead and congestion within the serving cell 102a.” ; generate second RIS configuration information based at least in part on the first RIS configuration information, and configure operation of an RIS based on the second RIS configuration information; receive a second notification including a second indication of signal interference; and configure operation of the RIS based at least in part on the second indication of signal interference (US 20240364434 Paragraphs 0099 discloses “The UE 120 may transmit, and the gNB 110a may receive, a second report based at least in part on the measurements of the second plurality of interference measurement resources. For example, the second report may include a CSI report. In some aspects, the second report may indicate a resource, of the second plurality of interference measurement resources, associated with a lowest measurement of the measurements of the second plurality of interference measurement resources. The indicated resource may be indicative that the phase associated with the indicated resource is a candidate for being used to reduce interference 605. Accordingly, the gNB 110a may use the phase associated with the indicated resource for reducing the interference 605 (e.g., as described in connection with FIG. 8A)”. Additionally Paragraph 0114).
Regarding claim 2, Sahrael et al. disclose the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first indication of one or more of an of an amount of interference, an indication of a coverage area affected by the signal interference, or a direction of one or more interfering signals (US 20240364434 Paragraphs 0086-0087 discloses “As shown in FIG. 6, the gNB 110a may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, a first measurement configuration 610 associated with a first plurality of interference measurement resources on a channel from the RIS 405 to the UE 120. For example, the gNB 110a may transmit the first measurement configuration 610 using an RRC message, a medium access control (MAC) layer control element (MAC-CE), DCI, and/or another type of message. In some aspects, and as shown in FIG. 6, the first measurement configuration 610 may include a plurality of channel state information interference measurement resources (CSI-IMRs). Additionally, the gNB 110a may transmit, and the RIS 405 may receive, one or more instructions 615 associated with the first measurement configuration 610. For example, the gNB 110a may communicate with the RIS 405 on a wired backhaul link and/or a wireless backhaul link. In some aspects, as shown in FIG. 6, the instruction(s) 615 may configure the RIS 405 to sweep a plurality of beams.).
Regarding claim 3, Sahrael et al. disclose the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first RIS configuration information comprises a power reduction request to be applied to the RIS (US 20240364434 Paragraph 0077 discloses “In some aspects, the base station 110a may configure the UE 120 to measure a plurality of interference measurement resources associated with a plurality of beams formed by the RIS 405. Additionally, the base station 110a may configure the UE 120 to measure a plurality of interference measurement resources associated with a plurality of phases used by the RIS 405. Accordingly, the base station 110a may use measurements from the UE 120 to configure the RIS 405 to reflect the interfering signal from the non-serving cell towards the UE 120 such that the reflected interfering signal adds destructively with the interfering signal received by the UE 120 on a direct channel between the non-serving cell and the UE 120.” Additionally Paragraph 0076).
Regarding claim 7, Sahrael et al. disclose the apparatus of claim 1, wherein one or more of the first notification or the second notification are received from an RIS control function of a wireless network (US 20240364434 Paragraphs 80-81 disclose “In some aspects, an RIS (e.g., RIS 405) may include means for reflecting an interfering signal from a non-serving cell towards a served UE such that the reflected interfering signal adds destructively with the interfering signal received by the served UE on a direct channel between the non-serving cell and the served UE. In some aspects, the means for the RIS to perform operations described herein may include, for example, one or more of communication manager 160 (e.g., as described in connection with FIG. 4), transmit processor 220, TX MIMO processor 230, modem 232, antenna 234, MIMO detector 236, receive processor 238, controller/processor 240, memory 242, or scheduler 246. Additionally, or alternatively, the means for the RIS to perform operations described herein may include, for example, one or more of communication manager 160, antenna 252, modem 254, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, transmit processor 264, TX MIMO processor 266, controller/processor 280, or memory 282.”).
Regarding claim 8, Sahrael et al. disclose the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first indication of signal interference comprises one or more of an indication of a coverage area affected by the signal interference or a direction of one or more interfering signals (US 20240364434 Paragraphs 86 discloses “As shown in FIG. 6, the gNB 110a may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, a first measurement configuration 610 associated with a first plurality of interference measurement resources on a channel from the RIS 405 to the UE 120. For example, the gNB 110a may transmit the first measurement configuration 610 using an RRC message, a medium access control (MAC) layer control element (MAC-CE), DCI, and/or another type of message. In some aspects, and as shown in FIG. 6, the first measurement configuration 610 may include a plurality of channel state information interference measurement resources (CSI-IMRs).”), and wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to generate the second RIS configuration information to include a coefficients update to be applied by the RIS to reduce signal interference at the one or more of the coverage area affected by the signal interference or the direction of the one or more interfering signals (US 20240364434 Paragraphs 0100 discloses “By using techniques described in connection with FIGS. 6 and 7A, the base station 110a may configure the RIS 405 to reflect an interfering signal from the non-serving cell towards the UE 120 such that the reflected interfering signal adds destructively with the interference 605 received by the UE 120. As a result, the UE 120 experiences decreased interference such that the UE 120 conserves power and processing resources when filtering and decoding signals from the base station 110a. Additionally, the UE 120 is more likely to receive and successfully decode the signals such that the base station 110a engages in fewer re-transmissions due to the decreased interference. As a result of the fewer re-transmissions, the base station 110a and the UE 120 conserve additional power and processing resources as well as reduce network overhead and congestion within the serving cell 102a.”).
Regarding claim 9, Sahrael et al. disclose the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first indication of signal interference comprises one or more of an indication of a coverage area affected by the signal interference or a direction of one or more interfering signals (US 20240364434 Paragraphs 86 discloses “As shown in FIG. 6, the gNB 110a may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, a first measurement configuration 610 associated with a first plurality of interference measurement resources on a channel from the RIS 405 to the UE 120. For example, the gNB 110a may transmit the first measurement configuration 610 using an RRC message, a medium access control (MAC) layer control element (MAC-CE), DCI, and/or another type of message. In some aspects, and as shown in FIG. 6, the first measurement configuration 610 may include a plurality of channel state information interference measurement resources (CSI-IMRs).”), and wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to generate the second RIS configuration information to include a power reduction instruction to be applied by the RIS to reduce signal interference at the one or more of the coverage area affected by the signal interference or the direction of the one or more interfering signals (US 20240364434 Paragraph 0077 discloses “In some aspects, the base station 110a may configure the UE 120 to measure a plurality of interference measurement resources associated with a plurality of beams formed by the RIS 405. Additionally, the base station 110a may configure the UE 120 to measure a plurality of interference measurement resources associated with a plurality of phases used by the RIS 405. Accordingly, the base station 110a may use measurements from the UE 120 to configure the RIS 405 to reflect the interfering signal from the non-serving cell towards the UE 120 such that the reflected interfering signal adds destructively with the interfering signal received by the UE 120 on a direct channel between the non-serving cell and the UE 120.” Additionally Paragraph 0076)..
Regarding claim 10, Sahrael et al. disclose an apparatus associated with a first network node for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the apparatus to: receive from a user equipment (UE) a first measurement report including a first indication of signal interference (US 20240364434 Paragraph 0059 discloses “In some aspects, a base station (e.g., the base station 110) may include means for transmitting, to a UE (e.g., the UE 120), a first measurement configuration associated with a first plurality of interference measurement resources on a channel from an RIS (e.g., RIS 405) to the UE, wherein the first plurality of interference measurement resources are associated with a plurality of beams; means for receiving, from the UE, a first report based at least in part on measurements of the first plurality of interference measurement resources;”); generate first reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) configuration information and transmit, to a second network node, a first notification that includes the first indication of signal interference and the first RIS configuration information (US 20240364434 Paragraph 0080 discloses “As further shown in FIG. 5, the serving cell may include at least one RIS (e.g., RIS 405). Accordingly, the base station 110a may transmit, and the RIS 405 may receive, a configuration associated with the channel 505a. For example, the configuration may indicate one or more beams, one or more phases, and/or one or more other beamforming parameters, for the RIS 405 to use on a channel 505b from the RIS 405 to the UE 120. In some aspects, the base station 110a may determine the configuration as described below in connection with FIGS. 6, 7A, and/or 7B.”; generate signal measurement configuration information based at least in part on the first RIS configuration information, and transmit the signal measurement configuration information to the UE (US 20240364434 Paragraph 0081 discloses “The configuration may be designed such that reflections of interfering signals from the base station 110b transmitted over the channel 505b from the RIS 405 to the UE 120 add destructively with the interfering signals from the base station 110b transmitted over the channel 505a. Therefore, interference at the UE 120 is reduced. Accordingly, the base station 110a may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, a signal on the channel 503 while interference with the signal from the neighbor cell 102b is reduced based at least in part on the configuration that the base station 110a transmitted to the RIS 405. For example, the UE 120 may receive, from the neighbor cell 102b, interference on the channel 505a that is at least partially combined, destructively, with interference on the channel 505b.”); receive from the UE a second measurement report including a second indication of signal interference based on applying the signal measurement configuration information at the UE; and generate a second notification that includes the second indication of signal interference, and transmit the second notification to the second network node (US 20240364434 Paragraph 0099 discloses “The UE 120 may transmit, and the gNB 110a may receive, a second report based at least in part on the measurements of the second plurality of interference measurement resources. For example, the second report may include a CSI report. In some aspects, the second report may indicate a resource, of the second plurality of interference measurement resources, associated with a lowest measurement of the measurements of the second plurality of interference measurement resources. The indicated resource may be indicative that the phase associated with the indicated resource is a candidate for being used to reduce interference 605. Accordingly, the gNB 110a may use the phase associated with the indicated resource for reducing the interference 605 (e.g., as described in connection with FIG. 8A).” Additionally Paragraph 0114).
Regarding claim 11, Sahrael et al. disclose the apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to generate, based on the first indication of signal interference, the first notification to comprise one or more of an indication of an amount of signal interference, an indication of a coverage area affected by the signal interference, or a direction of one or more interfering signals (US 20240364434 Paragraphs 0086-0087 discloses “As shown in FIG. 6, the gNB 110a may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, a first measurement configuration 610 associated with a first plurality of interference measurement resources on a channel from the RIS 405 to the UE 120. For example, the gNB 110a may transmit the first measurement configuration 610 using an RRC message, a medium access control (MAC) layer control element (MAC-CE), DCI, and/or another type of message. In some aspects, and as shown in FIG. 6, the first measurement configuration 610 may include a plurality of channel state information interference measurement resources (CSI-IMRs). Additionally, the gNB 110a may transmit, and the RIS 405 may receive, one or more instructions 615 associated with the first measurement configuration 610. For example, the gNB 110a may communicate with the RIS 405 on a wired backhaul link and/or a wireless backhaul link. In some aspects, as shown in FIG. 6, the instruction(s) 615 may configure the RIS 405 to sweep a plurality of beams.)..
Regarding claim 12, Sahrael et al. disclose the apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to generate the first RIS configuration information to comprise a power reduction request to be applied to an RIS of the second network node US 20240364434 Paragraph 0077 discloses “In some aspects, the base station 110a may configure the UE 120 to measure a plurality of interference measurement resources associated with a plurality of beams formed by the RIS 405. Additionally, the base station 110a may configure the UE 120 to measure a plurality of interference measurement resources associated with a plurality of phases used by the RIS 405. Accordingly, the base station 110a may use measurements from the UE 120 to configure the RIS 405 to reflect the interfering signal from the non-serving cell towards the UE 120 such that the reflected interfering signal adds destructively with the interfering signal received by the UE 120 on a direct channel between the non-serving cell and the UE 120.” Additionally Paragraph 0076)..
Regarding claim 17, Sahrael et al. disclose an apparatus associated with a control function of a wireless network for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the apparatus to: receive from a first network node an indication of signal interference associated with a user equipment (UE); generate first reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) configuration information and transmit, to a second network node associated with an RIS, a first notification including the indication of signal interference and the first RIS configuration information (US 20240364434 Paragraphs 80-81 disclose “As further shown in FIG. 5, the serving cell may include at least one RIS (e.g., RIS 405). Accordingly, the base station 110a may transmit, and the RIS 405 may receive, a configuration associated with the channel 505a. For example, the configuration may indicate one or more beams, one or more phases, and/or one or more other beamforming parameters, for the RIS 405 to use on a channel 505b from the RIS 405 to the UE 120. In some aspects, the base station 110a may determine the configuration as described below in connection with FIGS. 6, 7A, and/or 7B. [0081] The configuration may be designed such that reflections of interfering signals from the base station 110b transmitted over the channel 505b from the RIS 405 to the UE 120 add destructively with the interfering signals from the base station 110b transmitted over the channel 505a. Therefore, interference at the UE 120 is reduced. Accordingly, the base station 110a may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, a signal on the channel 503 while interference with the signal from the neighbor cell 102b is reduced based at least in part on the configuration that the base station 110a transmitted to the RIS 405. For example, the UE 120 may receive, from the neighbor cell 102b, interference on the channel 505a that is at least partially combined, destructively, with interference on the channel 505b.”); receive from the first network node an updated indication of signal interference associated with the UE; and generate second RIS configuration information based on the updated indication of signal interference associated with the UE, and transmit, to the second network node, a second notification including the second RIS configuration information (US 20240364434 Paragraphs 0099 discloses “The UE 120 may transmit, and the gNB 110a may receive, a second report based at least in part on the measurements of the second plurality of interference measurement resources. For example, the second report may include a CSI report. In some aspects, the second report may indicate a resource, of the second plurality of interference measurement resources, associated with a lowest measurement of the measurements of the second plurality of interference measurement resources. The indicated resource may be indicative that the phase associated with the indicated resource is a candidate for being used to reduce interference 605. Accordingly, the gNB 110a may use the phase associated with the indicated resource for reducing the interference 605 (e.g., as described in connection with FIG. 8A)”. Additionally Paragraph 0114)..
Regarding claim 18, Sahrael et al. disclose the apparatus of claim 17, wherein the apparatus comprises a central unit associated with a wireless network, and the control function comprises an RIS control function implemented at the central unit (US 20240364434 Paragraphs 80-81 disclose “In some aspects, an RIS (e.g., RIS 405) may include means for reflecting an interfering signal from a non-serving cell towards a served UE such that the reflected interfering signal adds destructively with the interfering signal received by the served UE on a direct channel between the non-serving cell and the served UE. In some aspects, the means for the RIS to perform operations described herein may include, for example, one or more of communication manager 160 (e.g., as described in connection with FIG. 4), transmit processor 220, TX MIMO processor 230, modem 232, antenna 234, MIMO detector 236, receive processor 238, controller/processor 240, memory 242, or scheduler 246. Additionally, or alternatively, the means for the RIS to perform operations described herein may include, for example, one or more of communication manager 160, antenna 252, modem 254, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, transmit processor 264, TX MIMO processor 266, controller/processor 280, or memory 282.”)..
Regarding claim 19, Sahrael et al. disclose the apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to generate one or more of the first RIS configuration information or the second RIS configuration information to include a power reduction instruction for the RIS (US 20240364434 Paragraph 82 discloses “By using techniques described in connection with FIG. 5, the RIS 405 reflects an interfering signal from a non-serving cell (e.g., the neighbor cell 102b) towards the UE 120 such that the reflected interfering signal adds destructively with the interfering signal received by the UE 120 on the channel 505a. As a result, the UE 120 experiences decreased interference such that the UE 120 conserves power and processing resources when filtering and decoding signals from the base station 110a. Additionally, the UE 120 is more likely to receive and successfully decode the signals such that the base station 110a engages in fewer re-transmissions due to the decreased interference. As a result of the fewer re-transmissions, the base station 110a and the UE 120 conserve additional power and processing resources as well as reduce network overhead and congestion within the serving cell 102a.”) .
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 may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 4-6 and 13-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.103 as being unpatentable over Sahrael et al. (US 20240364434 A1) in view of Jiang et al. (US 20240080067 A1).
Regarding claim 4, Sahrael et al. disclose the apparatus of claim 1.
Sahrael et al. fail to explicitly disclose wherein the first RIS configuration information comprises an OFF pattern to be applied to the RIS.
However in an analogous art Jiang et al. teaches wherein the first RIS configuration information comprises an OFF pattern to be applied to the RIS (US 20240080067 A1. Paragraph 0077 discloses “ (2) a beamforming mode of a reflected signal or a refracted signal of an RIS or a relay; for example, the beamforming mode of the RIS is obtained by adjusting on or off of a diode associated with the RIS unit, that is, different on or off patterns of different diodes correspond to different beamforming modes of the reflected signal or the refracted signal of the RIS, thus corresponding to different RIS working modes,…”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Sahrael et al. to incorporate the teachings of Jiang et al., wherein the first RIS configuration information comprises an OFF pattern to be applied to the RIS, in order to enable the controlling function flexibility to activate or deactivate specific reflective elements of the RIS, thus enabling the RIS deactivate a interfering reflective component.
Regarding claim 5, Sahrael et al. disclose the apparatus of claim 1.
Sahrael et al. fail to explicitly disclose wherein the first notification is received from a network node, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to generate third RIS configuration information that comprises an OFF pattern of the RIS, and transmit the third RIS configuration information to the network node.
However in an analogous art Jiang et al. teaches wherein the first notification is received from a network node, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to generate third RIS configuration information that comprises an OFF pattern of the RIS (US 20240080067 A1. Paragraph 0077 discloses “ (2) a beamforming mode of a reflected signal or a refracted signal of an RIS or a relay; for example, the beamforming mode of the RIS is obtained by adjusting on or off of a diode associated with the RIS unit, that is, different on or off patterns of different diodes correspond to different beamforming modes of the reflected signal or the refracted signal of the RIS, thus corresponding to different RIS working modes,”), and transmit the third RIS configuration information to the network node (US 20240080067 A1. Paragraph 0061-0062 disclose. “In a same working mode, as shown in FIG. 1a and FIG. 1b, a base station sends a signal to an RIS, and the RIS reflects the signal to a terminal. At this time, the RIS works in working mode 1.[0062] Similarly, in the RIS working mode 1, if the signal is transmitted from the terminal, the base station can also receive the signal transmitted ted through the RIS.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Sahrael et al. to incorporate the teachings of Jiang et al., wherein the first notification is received from a network node, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to generate third RIS configuration information that comprises an OFF pattern of the RIS, in order to enable the controlling function flexibility to activate or deactivate specific reflective elements of the RIS, thus enabling the RIS deactivate a interfering reflective component.
Regarding claim 6, Sahrael et al. disclose the apparatus of claim 1.
Sahrael et al. fail to explicitly disclose wherein the first RIS configuration information comprises an OFF pattern to be applied to the RIS, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to generate the second RIS configuration information to identify one or more time slots to be switched OFF by the RIS.
However in an analogous art Jiang et al. teaches wherein the first RIS configuration information comprises an OFF pattern to be applied to the RIS, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to generate the second RIS configuration information to identify one or more time slots to be switched OFF by the RIS (US 20240080067 A1. Paragraph 0077 discloses “ (2) a beamforming mode of a reflected signal or a refracted signal of an RIS or a relay; for example, the beamforming mode of the RIS is obtained by adjusting on or off of a diode associated with the RIS unit, that is, different on or off patterns of different diodes correspond to different beamforming modes of the reflected signal or the refracted signal of the RIS, thus corresponding to different RIS working modes,”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Sahrael et al. to incorporate the teachings of Jiang et al., wherein the first RIS configuration information comprises an OFF pattern to be applied to the RIS, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to generate the second RIS configuration information to identify one or more time slots to be switched OFF by the RIS, in order to enable the controlling function flexibility to activate or deactivate specific reflective elements of the RIS, thus enabling the RIS deactivate a interfering reflective component.
Regarding claim 13, Sahrael et al. disclose the apparatus of claim 10.
Sahrael et al. fail to explicitly disclose wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to generate the first RIS configuration information to comprise an OFF pattern to be applied to an RIS of the second network node.
However in an analogous art Jiang et al. teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to generate the first RIS configuration information to comprise an OFF pattern to be applied to an RIS of the second network node. (US 20240080067 A1. Paragraph 0077 discloses “ (2) a beamforming mode of a reflected signal or a refracted signal of an RIS or a relay; for example, the beamforming mode of the RIS is obtained by adjusting on or off of a diode associated with the RIS unit, that is, different on or off patterns of different diodes correspond to different beamforming modes of the reflected signal or the refracted signal of the RIS, thus corresponding to different RIS working modes,…”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Sahrael et al. to incorporate the teachings of Jiang et al., wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to generate the first RIS configuration information to comprise an OFF pattern to be applied to an RIS of the second network node, in order to enable the controlling function flexibility to activate or deactivate specific reflective elements of the RIS, thus enabling the RIS deactivate a interfering reflective component.
Regarding claim 14, Sahrael et al. disclose the apparatus of claim 10. and generate the signal measurement configuration information (US 20240364434 Paragraph 0087 discloses “Additionally, the gNB 110a may transmit, and the RIS 405 may receive, one or more instructions 615 associated with the first measurement configuration 610. For example, the gNB 110a may communicate with the RIS 405 on a wired backhaul link and/or a wireless backhaul link. In some aspects, as shown in FIG. 6, the instruction(s) 615 may configure the RIS 405 to sweep a plurality of beams.”) .
Sahrael et al. discloses the generation of the signal measurement configuration information but fails to explicitly disclose the indication of the OFF pattern. wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to: receive from the second network node an indication of an OFF pattern identifying time slots at which an RIS is in an OFF state
However in an analogous art Jian et al. teaches the indication of the OFF pattern. wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to: receive from the second network node an indication of an OFF pattern identifying time slots at which an RIS is in an OFF state (US 20240080067 A1. Paragraph 0077 discloses “ (2) a beamforming mode of a reflected signal or a refracted signal of an RIS or a relay; for example, the beamforming mode of the RIS is obtained by adjusting on or off of a diode associated with the RIS unit, that is, different on or off patterns of different diodes correspond to different beamforming modes of the reflected signal or the refracted signal of the RIS, thus corresponding to different RIS working modes,”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Sahrael et al. to incorporate the teachings of Jiang et al., the indication of the OFF pattern. wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to: receive from the second network node an indication of an OFF pattern identifying time slots at which an RIS is in an OFF state, in order to enable the controlling function flexibility to activate or deactivate specific reflective elements of the RIS, thus enabling the RIS deactivate an interfering reflective component.
Regarding claim 15 and 16, Sahrael et al. discloses the apparatus of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is configured to generate the signal measurement configuration information to include an instruction for the UE to measure signal interference based on the OFF pattern (US 20240364434 Paragraph 0059 discloses “In some aspects, a base station (e.g., the base station 110) may include means for transmitting, to a UE (e.g., the UE 120), a first measurement configuration associated with a first plurality of interference measurement resources on a channel from an RIS (e.g., RIS 405) to the UE, wherein the first plurality of interference measurement resources are associated with a plurality of beams; means for receiving, from the UE, a first report based at least in part on measurements of the first plurality of interference measurement resources; means for transmitting, to the UE, a second measurement configuration associated with a second plurality of interference measurement resources on the channel from the RIS to the UE, wherein the second plurality of interference measurement resources are associated with a plurality of phases; and/or means for receiving, from the UE, a second report based at least in part on measurements of the second plurality of interference measurement resources. The means for the base station to perform operations described herein may include, for example, one or more of communication manager 150, transmit processor 220, TX MIMO processor 230, modem 232, antenna 234, MIMO detector 236, receive processor 238, controller/processor 240, memory 242, or scheduler 246.”).
Sahrael et al. discloses signal measurement configuration information for the UE to measure interference at the UE but fails to explicitly disclose to indicate signal interference detected when the OFF pattern indicates that the RIS is OFF and signal interference detected when the OFF pattern indicates that the RIS is ON.
However in an analogous art Jiang et al. teaches to indicate signal interference detected when the OFF pattern indicates that the RIS is OFF and signal interference detected when the OFF pattern indicates that the RIS is ON (US 20240080067 A1. Paragraph 0077 discloses “ (2) a beamforming mode of a reflected signal or a refracted signal of an RIS or a relay; for example, the beamforming mode of the RIS is obtained by adjusting on or off of a diode associated with the RIS unit, that is, different on or off patterns of different diodes correspond to different beamforming modes of the reflected signal or the refracted signal of the RIS, thus corresponding to different RIS working modes,…”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Sahrael et al. to incorporate the teachings of Jiang et al., to indicate signal interference detected when the OFF pattern indicates that the RIS is OFF and signal interference detected when the OFF pattern indicates that the RIS is ON, in order to enable the controlling function flexibility to activate or deactivate specific reflective elements of the RIS, thus enabling the RIS to deactivate a interfering reflective component.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Samuel Dilan Rutnam whose telephone number is 703-756-1374. The examiner can normally be reached between 8:30am-5:00pm Mon-Fri.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy Kundu can be reached on 571-272-8586.
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Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/Samuel Dilan Rutnam/
Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/MOHAMMAD S ADHAMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
Prosecution Insights