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 .
Claims 1-18, 21 and 24 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement (IDS)
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 23 August 2024 is being 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.
Claim(s) 1, 21 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by SAMSUNG: “Cross-link interference measurements and reporting at a UE”, 3GPP DRAFT; R1-1901063 CLI AT UE, 3rd GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT (3GPP), MOBILE COMETENCE CENTRE; 650, ROUTE DES LUCIOLES; F-06921 SOPHIA_ANTIPOLIS CEDEX; FRANCE, vol. RAN WG1, no. Taipei, Taiwan; 20190121-20190125, 20 January 2019 (2019-01-20), XP051593908, [retrieved from the Internet; URL:/http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Meetings%5F3GPP%5FSYNC/RAN1/Docs/R1%2D1901063%2Ezip [retrieved on 2019-01-20], paragraph [0002]-paragraph [03.1]; figure 2, hereinafter referred as D1.
Regarding claims 1, 21 and 24, D1 discloses a method of operating a first base station (§3.1 and Fig. 5; “gNB1”), the method comprising:
communicating, between the first base station and a second base station, at least one control message for interference management (§3.1: “gNB1 can let gNB2 know the SRS/DMRS patterns of the IAB node 1 via information exchange in backhaul. Then, gNB2 can assign ZP CSI-RS to IAB node 2 and IAB node 2 can perform channel measurement.”) of a interference between a first data link between the first base station (101) a first wireless communication device (Fig. 5: gNB1-Interfering IAB node 1-UE1) and a second data link between the second base station and a second wireless communication device (Fig. 5: gNB2-Victim IAB node 2-UE2), the first data link being via a coverage enhancing device (Fig. 5: gNB1-Interfering IAB node1-UE1), and
in accordance with the at least one control message, configuring a setting of one or more operational parameters of the coverage enhancing device that are associated with the first data link (§2: “the main benefit of RSRP is that the aggressor UE can be identified. With such aggressor information, the gNB can easily coordinate the scheduling of aggressor and victim UEs to mitigate strong CLI and achieve better performance”).
Claim(s) 1, 21 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by (WO 2021/045672 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 21 and 24, (WO 2021/045672 A1) discloses a method of operating a first base station, the method comprising:
communicating, between the first base station (Cell A, TRP A, figure 2) and a second base station (Cell B, TRP B, figure 2), at least one control message for interference management of a interference (CLI) between a first data link (UL) between the first base station (TRP A) a first wireless communication device (UE-1) and a second data link (DL, figure 2) between the second base station (TRP B) and a second wireless communication device (UE-2), the first data link being via a coverage enhancing device, and
in accordance with the at least one control message, configuring a setting of one or more operational parameters of the coverage enhancing device that are associated with the first data link (“Receiving the configuration of a condition controlling when the UE shall start performing CLI measurements (e.g., a parameter that is a threshold for a given measurement)”.
PNG
media_image1.png
478
920
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Claim(s) 1, 14-17, 21 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by (WO 2022/029197 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 21 and 24, (WO 2022/029197 A1) discloses a method of operating a first base station, the method comprising:
communicating, between the first base station (BS1) and a second base station (BS2), at least one control message for interference management of a interference (BS-to-BS interference, (DL-to-UL interference) between a first data link (1808) between the first base station (BS1) a first wireless communication device (UE-1) and a second data link (1806) between the second base station (BS2) and a second wireless communication device (UE2), the first data link being via a coverage enhancing device, and
in accordance with the at least one control message, configuring a setting of one or more operational parameters of the coverage enhancing device that are associated with the first data link.
Regarding claim 14, (WO 2022/029197 A1) teaches wherein the one or more operational parameters of the coverage enhancing device comprise a time-division duplex slot configuration. (“half-duplex or full-duplex).
Regarding claim 15, (WO 2022/029197 A1) teaches wherein the one or more operational parameters of the coverage enhancing device comprise a spatial filter. (“identifying the interference device comprises a combination of information obtained from the reference signal of the interfering device together with its timeslot and the setting of the spatial filter used in the receiving device.”)
Regarding claim 16, (WO 2022/029197 A1) wherein the one or more operational parameters of the coverage enhancing device comprise a gain. (“Higher gain. The gain is higher, because the array gain is on the order of the number of elements in the array.”)
Regarding claim 17, (WO 2022/029197 A1) wherein the one or more operational parameters of the coverage enhancing device comprise a phase.
(“A phase distribution may be used to steer the beam or main lobe 12 in the required direction, e.g., using a uniform power distribution.”).
Claim(s) 1, 21 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Vedantham et al. (US 2011/0117967 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 21 and 24, Vedantham et al. discloses a method of operating a first base station, the method comprising:
communicating, between the first base station (Base station 1) and a second base station (Base station 2), at least one control message for interference management of a interference (110) between a first data link (114) between the first base station (Base station 1) a first wireless communication device (User Equipment 1) and a second data link (116) between the second base station (Base station 2) and a second wireless communication device (User Equipment 2), the first data link being via a coverage enhancing device ([0002]: “As cellular communication network evolve, smaller sized cells, e.g., picocells and/or femtocells (“femtocells”), are being introduced to enhance service with areas where the cellular network is not overloaded or network coverage is weaker than desired“), and
in accordance with the at least one control message, configuring a setting of one or more operational parameters of the coverage enhancing device that are associated with the first data link. (“compute threshold values for interference tiers based on stored interference estimate statistics”).
PNG
media_image2.png
715
1059
media_image2.png
Greyscale
Claim(s) 1, 14-16, 21 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Abdelghaffar et al. (US 2021/0152418 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 21 and 24, Abdlghaffar et al. discloses a method of operating a first base, the method comprising:
communicating, between the first base station (105-a) and a second base station (105-b), at least one control message for interference management of a interference (220-d) between a first data link (210-1) between the first base station (105-a) and a first wireless communication device (115-a) and a second data link (205-b) between the second base station (105-b) and a second wireless communication device (115-b), the first data link being via a coverage enhancing device, and
in accordance with the at least one control message, configuring a setting of one or more operational parameters of the coverage enhancing device that are associated with the first data link ([0226]: “the base station 105 may transmit an indication of one or more spatial filters”).
PNG
media_image3.png
661
615
media_image3.png
Greyscale
Regarding claim 14, Abdlghaffar et al. teaches wherein the one or more operational parameters of the coverage enhancing device comprise a time-division duplex slot configuration.
Regarding claim 15, Abdlghaffar et al. teaches wherein the one or more operational parameters of the coverage enhancing device comprise a spatial filter.
([0091]: “receiving an indication of one or more spatial filters or TCI for uplink transmissions, where transmitting the first message using the first antenna panel may be based on the one or more spatial filters or the TCI.”)
Regarding claim 16, wherein the one or more operational parameters of the coverage enhancing device comprise a gain. (“in this solution the threshold may be the s-Measure, which gains a different meaning”)
Regarding claim 17, wherein the one or more operational parameters of the coverage enhancing device comprise a phase.
([0169]: “The adjustment of signals communicated via the antenna elements may include a transmitting device or a receiving device applying amplitude offsets, phase offsets, or both to signals carried via the antenna element associated with the device.”)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-13 and 18 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRENDA H PHAM whose telephone number is (571)272-3135. The examiner can normally be reached 571-272-3135.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Jiang can be reached at 571-270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
BRENDA H. PHAM
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2412
/BRENDA H PHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
Prosecution Insights