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 .
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 5-9, 11-13, 17, 18, 23, 24, 27-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Liu et al. (US 20200213993 A1), hereinafter Liu.
Regarding claim 1, Liu teaches,
A method for determining a beam, performed by a terminal device, comprising:
receiving beam indication information sent by a network device, wherein the beam indication information indicates an associated reference signal identification sequence within a specified time period; (Paragraph 0059 – “the base station may also transmit information with the same transmission beams on different timeslots and/or resource unit positions within an agreed time period.” Paragraph 0047 – Discussion of the process of grouping of beams according to spatial position and adjacent resource mapping positions. Also discussion of process of choosing a reference beam as a first comparison beam for RSRP measurements and determining which beam measurements to send to the base station.)
an associated reference signal identifier in the associated reference signal identification sequence indicates a sending beam to be adopted by the network device; or (Figure 3, labels S302, Paragraphs 0032, 0033 – The transmission beam is selected based on the transmission beam group information and capability information as sent by the UE. Another aspect of paragraph 0033 - “Alternatively, the base station may select according to the transmission beams included in the transmission beam group information fed back by the UE. For example, the base station may select transmission beams with higher RSRPs to transmit information according to the RSRP results reported by the UE.”)
an associated reference signal identifier in the associated reference signal identification sequence is for the terminal device to determine a sending beam of the terminal device. (Paragraph 0031 – “After the UE determines the reference transmission beam and obtains the beam indices of the transmission beams that need to be reported accordingly, the UE needs to inform the base station of the reference transmission beam so that the base station can accurately acquire information on all the transmission beams fed back by the UE according to the reference transmission beam and the relative number from the reference transmission beam. For example, the UE may notify the base station of the reference transmission beam in an explicit manner, and alternatively, the UE may set one bit for each reported beam and use the bit to notify the base station whether the beam is the reference transmission beam.”)
Regarding claim 2, Liu teaches,
The method according to claim 1, further comprising:
reporting a beam measurement result to the network device for determining the beam indication information; or (Paragraph 0030-0033 – The UE reports beam measurements including RSRP values to the base station.)
determining at least one recommended associated reference signal identification sequence according to a beam measurement result, and reporting the at least one recommended associated reference signal identification sequence for determining the beam indication information. (Paragraph 0030 – The process the UE uses to select a recommended beam using a binary 1 or 0 depending on the measurements of the transmission beam including RSRP.)
Regarding claim 3, Liu teaches,
The method according to claim 2, wherein the beam measurement result comprises:
at least one measurement reference signal identifier, and at least one measurement result corresponding to each measurement reference signal identifier; (Paragraph 0030 – “For example, when a RSRP measurement result of the reference transmission beam is the best, it may be considered that RSRP results of beams in proximity to the spatial position of the reference transmission beam are also good, and hence these beams may be selected as preferred transmission beams in the transmission beam group to be fed back to the base station.” Paragraph 0029 – “Furthermore, when the UE needs to feed back channel measurement results for different transmission beams to the base station, the method in the embodiment of the present disclosure may further include: the base station receiving the channel measurement results reported by the UE and corresponding to at least part of the transmission beams. Alternatively, the channel measurement results may include Reference Signal Receiving Powers (RSRPs), and/or Channel State Information (CSI) of L1 layer that is supported by the respective transmission beams, and the like.”)
wherein the associated reference signal identifier is an identifier in the at least one measurement reference signal identifier. (paragraph 0030 - “For example, the UE may determine a reference transmission beam in one certain transmission beam group according to the channel measurement results (for example, RSRPs) of all transmission beams in the transmission beam group. Here, a beam with the best channel measurement result may be considered as the reference transmission beam.”)
Regarding claim 5, Liu teaches,
The method according to claim 3, wherein the measurement result comprises a measured value of at least one of: a reference signal receiving power (RSRP), a reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ), a received signal strength indication (RSSI), or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR). (paragraph 0030 - “For example, the UE may determine a reference transmission beam in one certain transmission beam group according to the channel measurement results (for example, RSRPs) of all transmission beams in the transmission beam group. Here, a beam with the best channel measurement result may be considered as the reference transmission beam.”)
Regarding claim 6, Liu teaches,
The method according to claim 2, wherein the beam measurement result is obtained by the terminal device through receiving a measurement reference signal according to configuration information of the measurement reference signal and measuring the measurement reference signal; (paragraph 0030 – process for measuring RSRP including setup and how to determine which beam has the highest RSRP.)
the configuration information of the measurement reference signal is specified by a protocol or pre-configured by the network device. (Figure 4, paragraph 0030 – Demonstration of the protocol for how to generate and analyze the RSRP measurements: “As shown in FIG. 4, different transmission beams are mapped to the respective resource mapping positions of a reference signal resource pool, i.e., the corresponding resources are allocated to different transmission beams, which are numbered as 1-16, respectively. In the base station configuration of the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, transmission beams corresponding to adjacent resource mapping positions are adjacent in spatial position, i.e., a beam 2 and a beam 3 are adjacent in spatial position, and a beam 6 and a beam 10 are also adjacent in spatial position. For the above transmission beams 1-16, the UE acquires that the transmission beam of the base station with the highest RSRP is a beam 7 through RSRP measurement. Therefore, the UE may define the beam 7 as the reference transmission beam and consider that RSRPs of beams 3, 6, 8, and 11 that are adjacent in spatial position are relatively high, and report the beams 7, 3, 6, 8, and 11 to the base station.”
Regarding claim 7, Liu teaches,
The method according to claim 1, wherein the beam indication information comprises:
the associated reference signal identification sequence; or (paragraph 0030 – The process for determining which beams to be reported to the base station from the UE depending on the spatial adjacency of the beams. Key part of paragraph 0030 which demonstrates the process by which the beams are determined to be transmitted as a sequence of beams that are related: “As shown in FIG. 4, different transmission beams are mapped to the respective resource mapping positions of a reference signal resource pool, i.e., the corresponding resources are allocated to different transmission beams, which are numbered as 1-16, respectively. In the base station configuration of the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, transmission beams corresponding to adjacent resource mapping positions are adjacent in spatial position, i.e., a beam 2 and a beam 3 are adjacent in spatial position, and a beam 6 and a beam 10 are also adjacent in spatial position. For the above transmission beams 1-16, the UE acquires that the transmission beam of the base station with the highest RSRP is a beam 7 through RSRP measurement. Therefore, the UE may define the beam 7 as the reference transmission beam and consider that RSRPs of beams 3, 6, 8, and 11 that are adjacent in spatial position are relatively high, and report the beams 7, 3, 6, 8, and 11 to the base station. In this case, the UE may report absolute numbers of the respective selected beams, such as 7, 3, 6, 8, 11. Alternatively, in order to save reporting overhead, the UE may also report relative values between indices of the respective beams and an index of the reference transmission beam, which is more meaningful for beam numbers with a large number of bits.”
first M associated reference signal identifiers in the associated reference signal identification sequence, and a calculation function for calculating subsequent associated reference signal identifiers in the associated reference signal identification sequence according to the first M associated reference signal identifiers.
Regarding claim 8, Liu teaches,
The method according to claim 1, further comprising:
determining the associated reference signal identification sequence according to the beam indication information; (paragraph 0030 – “FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of selecting transmission beams for feedback by using positions of reference signal resources in one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, different transmission beams are mapped to the respective resource mapping positions of a reference signal resource pool, i.e., the corresponding resources are allocated to different transmission beams, which are numbered as 1-16, respectively. In the base station configuration of the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, transmission beams corresponding to adjacent resource mapping positions are adjacent in spatial position, i.e., a beam 2 and a beam 3 are adjacent in spatial position, and a beam 6 and a beam 10 are also adjacent in spatial position. For the above transmission beams 1-16, the UE acquires that the transmission beam of the base station with the highest RSRP is a beam 7 through RSRP measurement. Therefore, the UE may define the beam 7 as the reference transmission beam and consider that RSRPs of beams 3, 6, 8, and 11 that are adjacent in spatial position are relatively high, and report the beams 7, 3, 6, 8, and 11 to the base station.”)
determining an associated reference signal identifier to be adopted in at least one sub-time period within the specified time period according to the associated reference signal identification sequence, (Figure 5, paragraph 0038 – The process for dividing into time slots or sub-time periods for transmission beams 1 and 2 which occur during different time slots.) the specified time period, (Figure 4, paragraph 0039 – Describing how the base station can use a specific transmission beams on an agreed upon time period during different time slots. Figure 6, Paragraph 0040 – The UE uses different receive beams for different time periods depending on the configuration.) and a time granularity for beam adjustment within the specified time period; (paragraph 0039 – “Further, the UE may also perform channel measurement according to the information receiving status, and can acquire which case has a better channel quality on different time slots and/or resource units, and select the corresponding reception beams to receive information according to the channel measurement results as much as possible.” Figure 6, Paragraph 0040 – The UE uses different receive beams for different time periods depending on the configuration.)
in the at least sub-time period, for downlink transmission, determining a receiving beam of the terminal device corresponding to a sending beam of the network device indicated by the associated reference signal identifier to be adopted in the at least one sub-time period as a receiving beam for the terminal device to receive a signal; (Figure 5, paragraph 0038 - In this case, the base station and the UE will agree on: in time slot 1, the base station transmits information through the transmission beam 1, and the UE receives through the reception beam 1; in time slot 2, the base station transmits information through the transmission beam 2, and the UE receives through the reception beam 2; and in time slot 3, the base station transmits information through the transmission beams 1 and 2 together, and the UE receives through the reception beams 1 and 2 together. In this way, no matter the base station selects which transmission beam or transmission beams to transmit, the UE can select corresponding reception beams at a corresponding time point to accurately receive information.”)
for uplink transmission, determining, by the terminal device, the sending beam of the terminal device according to a receiving beam of a reference signal corresponding to the associated reference signal identifier. (Figure 5, paragraph 0038 - In this case, the base station and the UE will agree on: in time slot 1, the base station transmits information through the transmission beam 1, and the UE receives through the reception beam 1; in time slot 2, the base station transmits information through the transmission beam 2, and the UE receives through the reception beam 2; and in time slot 3, the base station transmits information through the transmission beams 1 and 2 together, and the UE receives through the reception beams 1 and 2 together. In this way, no matter the base station selects which transmission beam or transmission beams to transmit, the UE can select corresponding reception beams at a corresponding time point to accurately receive information.”)
Regarding claim 9, Liu teaches,
The method according to claim 8, wherein the specified time period and the time granularity for the beam adjustment within the specified time period are determined according to specified configuration information; (paragraph 0039 – The UE can adjust beam reception to increase channel quality based on measurement results within a time period: “Further, the UE may also perform channel measurement according to the information receiving status, and can acquire which case has a better channel quality on different time slots and/or resource units, and select the corresponding reception beams to receive information according to the channel measurement results as much as possible.”)
wherein the specified configuration information is specified by a protocol or pre-configured by the network device. (Figure 5, paragraph 0038 or Figure 6, paragraph 0040 – The configuration for beam transmission between the base station and UE. This would be an example of a protocol used with a series of transmissions first using beam 1 in a first time slot, then using beam 2 in a second time slot, and then the combination of beam 1 and 2 in a third time slot.)
Regarding claim 11, Liu teaches,
A method for determining a beam, performed by a network device, comprising:
sending beam indication information to a terminal device, wherein the beam indication information indicates an associated reference signal identification sequence within a specified time period; (Paragraph 0059 – “the base station may also transmit information with the same transmission beams on different timeslots and/or resource unit positions within an agreed time period.” Paragraph 0047 – Discussion of the process of grouping of beams according to spatial position and adjacent resource mapping positions. Also discussion of process of choosing a reference beam as a first comparison beam for RSRP measurements and determining which beam measurements to send to the base station.)
an associated reference signal identifier in the associated reference signal identification sequence indicates a sending beam to be adopted by the network device; or (Figure 3, labels S302, Paragraphs 0032, 0033 – The transmission beam is selected based on the transmission beam group information and capability information as sent by the UE. Another aspect of paragraph 0033 - “Alternatively, the base station may select according to the transmission beams included in the transmission beam group information fed back by the UE. For example, the base station may select transmission beams with higher RSRPs to transmit information according to the RSRP results reported by the UE.”)
an associated reference signal identifier in the associated reference signal identification sequence is for the terminal device to determine a sending beam of the terminal device. (Paragraph 0031 – “After the UE determines the reference transmission beam and obtains the beam indices of the transmission beams that need to be reported accordingly, the UE needs to inform the base station of the reference transmission beam so that the base station can accurately acquire information on all the transmission beams fed back by the UE according to the reference transmission beam and the relative number from the reference transmission beam. For example, the UE may notify the base station of the reference transmission beam in an explicit manner, and alternatively, the UE may set one bit for each reported beam and use the bit to notify the base station whether the beam is the reference transmission beam.”)
Regarding claim 12, Liu teaches,
The method according to claim 11, further comprising:
receiving a beam measurement result reported by the terminal device, and determining the beam indication information according to the beam measurement result; or (Paragraph 0030-0033 – The UE reports beam measurements including RSRP values to the base station.)
receiving at least one recommended associated reference signal identification sequence reported by the terminal device, and determining the beam indication information according to the at least one recommended associated reference signal identification sequence; (Paragraph 0030 – The process the UE uses to select a recommended beam using a binary 1 or 0 depending on the measurements of the transmission beam including RSRP.)
wherein the at least one recommended associated reference signal identification sequence is determined according to a beam measurement result. (Paragraph 0030 – The process the UE uses to select a recommended beam using a binary 1 or 0 depending on the measurements of the transmission beam including RSRP.)
Regarding claim 13, Liu teaches,
The method according to claim 12, wherein the beam measurement result comprises: at least one measurement reference signal identifier, and at least one measurement result corresponding to each measurement reference signal identifier; (Paragraph 0030 – “For example, when a RSRP measurement result of the reference transmission beam is the best, it may be considered that RSRP results of beams in proximity to the spatial position of the reference transmission beam are also good, and hence these beams may be selected as preferred transmission beams in the transmission beam group to be fed back to the base station.” Paragraph 0029 – “Furthermore, when the UE needs to feed back channel measurement results for different transmission beams to the base station, the method in the embodiment of the present disclosure may further include: the base station receiving the channel measurement results reported by the UE and corresponding to at least part of the transmission beams. Alternatively, the channel measurement results may include Reference Signal Receiving Powers (RSRPs), and/or Channel State Information (CSI) of L1 layer that is supported by the respective transmission beams, and the like.”)
wherein the associated reference signal identifier is an identifier in the at least one measurement reference signal identifier. (paragraph 0030 - “For example, the UE may determine a reference transmission beam in one certain transmission beam group according to the channel measurement results (for example, RSRPs) of all transmission beams in the transmission beam group. Here, a beam with the best channel measurement result may be considered as the reference transmission beam.”)
Regarding claim 17, Liu teaches,
The method according to claim 11, wherein the beam indication information comprises:
the associated reference signal identification sequence; or (paragraph 0030 – The process for determining which beams to be reported to the base station from the UE depending on the spatial adjacency of the beams. Key part of paragraph 0030 which demonstrates the process by which the beams are determined to be transmitted as a sequence of beams that are related: “As shown in FIG. 4, different transmission beams are mapped to the respective resource mapping positions of a reference signal resource pool, i.e., the corresponding resources are allocated to different transmission beams, which are numbered as 1-16, respectively. In the base station configuration of the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, transmission beams corresponding to adjacent resource mapping positions are adjacent in spatial position, i.e., a beam 2 and a beam 3 are adjacent in spatial position, and a beam 6 and a beam 10 are also adjacent in spatial position. For the above transmission beams 1-16, the UE acquires that the transmission beam of the base station with the highest RSRP is a beam 7 through RSRP measurement. Therefore, the UE may define the beam 7 as the reference transmission beam and consider that RSRPs of beams 3, 6, 8, and 11 that are adjacent in spatial position are relatively high, and report the beams 7, 3, 6, 8, and 11 to the base station. In this case, the UE may report absolute numbers of the respective selected beams, such as 7, 3, 6, 8, 11. Alternatively, in order to save reporting overhead, the UE may also report relative values between indices of the respective beams and an index of the reference transmission beam, which is more meaningful for beam numbers with a large number of bits.”
first M associated reference signal identifiers in the associated reference signal identification sequence, and a calculation function for calculating subsequent associated reference signal identifiers in the associated reference signal identification sequence according to the first M associated reference signal identifiers.
Regarding claim 18, Liu teaches,
The method according to claim 11, further comprising:
determining the associated reference signal identification sequence according to the beam indication information; (paragraph 0030 – “FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of selecting transmission beams for feedback by using positions of reference signal resources in one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, different transmission beams are mapped to the respective resource mapping positions of a reference signal resource pool, i.e., the corresponding resources are allocated to different transmission beams, which are numbered as 1-16, respectively. In the base station configuration of the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, transmission beams corresponding to adjacent resource mapping positions are adjacent in spatial position, i.e., a beam 2 and a beam 3 are adjacent in spatial position, and a beam 6 and a beam 10 are also adjacent in spatial position. For the above transmission beams 1-16, the UE acquires that the transmission beam of the base station with the highest RSRP is a beam 7 through RSRP measurement. Therefore, the UE may define the beam 7 as the reference transmission beam and consider that RSRPs of beams 3, 6, 8, and 11 that are adjacent in spatial position are relatively high, and report the beams 7, 3, 6, 8, and 11 to the base station.”)
determining an associated reference signal identifier to be adopted in at least one sub-time period within the specified time period according to the associated reference signal identification sequence, (Figure 5, paragraph 0038 – The process for dividing into time slots or sub-time periods for transmission beams 1 and 2 which occur during different time slots.) the specified time period, (Figure 4, paragraph 0039 – Describing how the base station can use a specific transmission beams on an agreed upon time period during different time slots. Figure 6, Paragraph 0040 – The UE uses different receive beams for different time periods depending on the configuration.) and a time granularity for beam adjustment within the specified time period; (paragraph 0039 – “Further, the UE may also perform channel measurement according to the information receiving status, and can acquire which case has a better channel quality on different time slots and/or resource units, and select the corresponding reception beams to receive information according to the channel measurement results as much as possible.” Figure 6, Paragraph 0040 – The UE uses different receive beams for different time periods depending on the configuration.)
in the at least sub-time period, for downlink transmission, determining a sending beam of the network device indicated by the associated reference signal identifier to be adopted in the at least one sub-time period as a sending beam for the network device to send a signal; (Figure 5, paragraph 0038 - In this case, the base station and the UE will agree on: in time slot 1, the base station transmits information through the transmission beam 1, and the UE receives through the reception beam 1; in time slot 2, the base station transmits information through the transmission beam 2, and the UE receives through the reception beam 2; and in time slot 3, the base station transmits information through the transmission beams 1 and 2 together, and the UE receives through the reception beams 1 and 2 together. In this way, no matter the base station selects which transmission beam or transmission beams to transmit, the UE can select corresponding reception beams at a corresponding time point to accurately receive information.”)
for uplink transmission, determining, by the network device, a receiving beam of the network device according to a sending beam of a reference signal corresponding to the associated reference signal identifier. (Figure 5, paragraph 0038 - In this case, the base station and the UE will agree on: in time slot 1, the base station transmits information through the transmission beam 1, and the UE receives through the reception beam 1; in time slot 2, the base station transmits information through the transmission beam 2, and the UE receives through the reception beam 2; and in time slot 3, the base station transmits information through the transmission beams 1 and 2 together, and the UE receives through the reception beams 1 and 2 together. In this way, no matter the base station selects which transmission beam or transmission beams to transmit, the UE can select corresponding reception beams at a corresponding time point to accurately receive information.”)
Regarding claim 23, Liu teaches,
An apparatus for determining a beam, comprising:
a processor; and (Figure 10, label 1001, paragraph 0103)
a memory, having stored therein a computer program, (Figure 10, label 1003, paragraph 0103)
wherein the processor is configured to receive beam indication information sent by a network device, wherein the beam indication information indicates an associated reference signal identification sequence within a specified time period: (Figure 10, label 1003, paragraph 0103 – use of processor) (Paragraph 0059 – “the base station may also transmit information with the same transmission beams on different timeslots and/or resource unit positions within an agreed time period.” Paragraph 0047 – Discussion of the process of grouping of beams according to spatial position and adjacent resource mapping positions. Also discussion of process of choosing a reference beam as a first comparison beam for RSRP measurements and determining which beam measurements to send to the base station.)
an associated reference signal identifier in the associated reference signal identification sequence indicates a sending beam to be adopted by the network device; or (Figure 3, labels S302, Paragraphs 0032, 0033 – The transmission beam is selected based on the transmission beam group information and capability information as sent by the UE. Another aspect of paragraph 0033 - “Alternatively, the base station may select according to the transmission beams included in the transmission beam group information fed back by the UE. For example, the base station may select transmission beams with higher RSRPs to transmit information according to the RSRP results reported by the UE.”)
an associated reference signal identifier in the associated reference signal identification sequence is for a terminal device to determine a sending beam of the terminal device. (Paragraph 0031 – “After the UE determines the reference transmission beam and obtains the beam indices of the transmission beams that need to be reported accordingly, the UE needs to inform the base station of the reference transmission beam so that the base station can accurately acquire information on all the transmission beams fed back by the UE according to the reference transmission beam and the relative number from the reference transmission beam. For example, the UE may notify the base station of the reference transmission beam in an explicit manner, and alternatively, the UE may set one bit for each reported beam and use the bit to notify the base station whether the beam is the reference transmission beam.”)
Regarding claim 24, Liu teaches,
An apparatus for determining a beam, comprising:
a processor; and (Figure 10, label 1001, paragraph 0103)
a memory, having stored therein a computer program, wherein the processor is configured to perform the method according to claim 11. (Figure 10, label 1003, paragraph 0103)
Regarding claim 27, Liu teaches,
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored therein an instruction that, when executed, causes the method according to claim 1 to be performed. (Figure 10, labels 1001, 1002, paragraph 0108 – control program stored in memory and executed by the processor)
Regarding claim 28, Liu teaches,
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored therein an instruction that, when executed, causes the method according to claim 11 to be performed. (Figure 10, labels 1001, 1002, paragraph 0108 – control program stored in memory and executed by the processor)
Regarding claim 29, Liu teaches,
The method according to claim 7, further comprising:
determining the associated reference signal identification sequence according to the beam indication information; (paragraph 0030 – “FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of selecting transmission beams for feedback by using positions of reference signal resources in one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, different transmission beams are mapped to the respective resource mapping positions of a reference signal resource pool, i.e., the corresponding resources are allocated to different transmission beams, which are numbered as 1-16, respectively. In the base station configuration of the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, transmission beams corresponding to adjacent resource mapping positions are adjacent in spatial position, i.e., a beam 2 and a beam 3 are adjacent in spatial position, and a beam 6 and a beam 10 are also adjacent in spatial position. For the above transmission beams 1-16, the UE acquires that the transmission beam of the base station with the highest RSRP is a beam 7 through RSRP measurement. Therefore, the UE may define the beam 7 as the reference transmission beam and consider that RSRPs of beams 3, 6, 8, and 11 that are adjacent in spatial position are relatively high, and report the beams 7, 3, 6, 8, and 11 to the base station.”)
determining an associated reference signal identifier to be adopted in at least one sub-time period within the specified time period according to the associated reference signal identification sequence, (Figure 5, paragraph 0038 – The process for dividing into time slots or sub-time periods for transmission beams 1 and 2 which occur during different time slots.) the specified time period, (Figure 4, paragraph 0039 – Describing how the base station can use a specific transmission beams on an agreed upon time period during different time slots. Figure 6, Paragraph 0040 – The UE uses different receive beams for different time periods depending on the configuration.) and a time granularity for beam adjustment within the specified time period; (paragraph 0039 – “Further, the UE may also perform channel measurement according to the information receiving status, and can acquire which case has a better channel quality on different time slots and/or resource units, and select the corresponding reception beams to receive information according to the channel measurement results as much as possible.” Figure 6, Paragraph 0040 – The UE uses different receive beams for different time periods depending on the configuration.)
in the at least sub-time period, for downlink transmission, determining a receiving beam of the terminal device corresponding to a sending beam of the network device indicated by the associated reference signal identifier to be adopted in the at least one sub-time period as a receiving beam for the terminal device to receive a signal; (Figure 5, paragraph 0038 - In this case, the base station and the UE will agree on: in time slot 1, the base station transmits information through the transmission beam 1, and the UE receives through the reception beam 1; in time slot 2, the base station transmits information through the transmission beam 2, and the UE receives through the reception beam 2; and in time slot 3, the base station transmits information through the transmission beams 1 and 2 together, and the UE receives through the reception beams 1 and 2 together. In this way, no matter the base station selects which transmission beam or transmission beams to transmit, the UE can select corresponding reception beams at a corresponding time point to accurately receive information.”)
for uplink transmission, determining, by the terminal device, the sending beam of the terminal device according to a receiving beam of a reference signal corresponding to the associated reference signal identifier. (Figure 5, paragraph 0038 - In this case, the base station and the UE will agree on: in time slot 1, the base station transmits information through the transmission beam 1, and the UE receives through the reception beam 1; in time slot 2, the base station transmits information through the transmission beam 2, and the UE receives through the reception beam 2; and in time slot 3, the base station transmits information through the transmission beams 1 and 2 together, and the UE receives through the reception beams 1 and 2 together. In this way, no matter the base station selects which transmission beam or transmission beams to transmit, the UE can select corresponding reception beams at a corresponding time point to accurately receive information.”)
Regarding claim 30, Liu teaches,
The method according to claim 17, further comprising:
determining the associated reference signal identification sequence according to the beam indication information; (paragraph 0030 – “FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of selecting transmission beams for feedback by using positions of reference signal resources in one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, different transmission beams are mapped to the respective resource mapping positions of a reference signal resource pool, i.e., the corresponding resources are allocated to different transmission beams, which are numbered as 1-16, respectively. In the base station configuration of the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, transmission beams corresponding to adjacent resource mapping positions are adjacent in spatial position, i.e., a beam 2 and a beam 3 are adjacent in spatial position, and a beam 6 and a beam 10 are also adjacent in spatial position. For the above transmission beams 1-16, the UE acquires that the transmission beam of the base station with the highest RSRP is a beam 7 through RSRP measurement. Therefore, the UE may define the beam 7 as the reference transmission beam and consider that RSRPs of beams 3, 6, 8, and 11 that are adjacent in spatial position are relatively high, and report the beams 7, 3, 6, 8, and 11 to the base station.”)
determining an associated reference signal identifier to be adopted in at least one sub-time period within the specified time period according to the associated reference signal identification sequence, (Figure 5, paragraph 0038 – The process for dividing into time slots or sub-time periods for transmission beams 1 and 2 which occur during different time slots.) the specified time period, (Figure 4, paragraph 0039 – Describing how the base station can use a specific transmission beams on an agreed upon time period during different time slots. Figure 6, Paragraph 0040 – The UE uses different receive beams for different time periods depending on the configuration.) and a time granularity for beam adjustment within the specified time period; (paragraph 0039 – “Further, the UE may also perform channel measurement according to the information receiving status, and can acquire which case has a better channel quality on different time slots and/or resource units, and select the corresponding reception beams to receive information according to the channel measurement results as much as possible.” Figure 6, Paragraph 0040 – The UE uses different receive beams for different time periods depending on the configuration.)
in the at least sub-time period, for downlink transmission, determining a sending beam of the network device indicated by the associated reference signal identifier to be adopted in the at least one sub-time period as a sending beam for the network device to send a signal; (Figure 5, paragraph 0038 - In this case, the base station and the UE will agree on: in time slot 1, the base station transmits information through the transmission beam 1, and the UE receives through the reception beam 1; in time slot 2, the base station transmits information through the transmission beam 2, and the UE receives through the reception beam 2; and in time slot 3, the base station transmits information through the transmission beams 1 and 2 together, and the UE receives through the reception beams 1 and 2 together. In this way, no matter the base station selects which transmission beam or transmission beams to transmit, the UE can select corresponding reception beams at a corresponding time point to accurately receive information.”)
for uplink transmission, determining, by the network device, a receiving beam of the network device according to a sending beam of a reference signal corresponding to the associated reference signal identifier. (Figure 5, paragraph 0038 - In this case, the base station and the UE will agree on: in time slot 1, the base station transmits information through the transmission beam 1, and the UE receives through the reception beam 1; in time slot 2, the base station transmits information through the transmission beam 2, and the UE receives through the reception beam 2; and in time slot 3, the base station transmits information through the transmission beams 1 and 2 together, and the UE receives through the reception beams 1 and 2 together. In this way, no matter the base station selects which transmission beam or transmission beams to transmit, the UE can select corresponding reception beams at a corresponding time point to accurately receive information.”)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
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 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu in view of Yao et al. (US 20230110740 A1), hereinafter Yao.
Regarding claim 10, Lui teaches,
the specified configuration information indicates the time granularity by at least one of:
a number of radio frames, a number of sub-frames, a number of slots, or a number of symbols. (Figure 5, paragraph 0038 – The configuration as shown in figure 5 contains 3 time slots for beam transmission. Paragraph 0039 – Additional options for configuration of time slots and flexibility for the base station and UE based on an agreed upon time period: “Alternatively, the base station may also transmit information with the same transmission beams on different timeslots and/or resource unit positions within an agreed time period, and the UE may receive information with different reception beams corresponding to the transmission beam group sequentially on different time slots and/or resource units according to the agreement, after receiving the corresponding transmission beam group information indicated by the base station.”
Liu fails to teach,
The method according to claim 9, wherein the specified configuration information indicates a starting time point and an ending time point of the specified time period by at least one of:
a radio frame serial number, a sub-frame serial number, a slot serial number, or a symbol serial number of data, or a symbol serial number of a reference signal;
Yao teaches,
The method according to claim 9, wherein the specified configuration information indicates a starting time point and an ending time point of the specified time period by at least one of:
a radio frame serial number, a sub-frame serial number, a slot serial number, or a symbol serial number of data, or a symbol serial number of a reference signal; (paragraphs 0140-0143 – The time period of transmission is determined by parameters associated with the uplink transmission. The parameters include: “a beam serial number or a beam group serial number; a transmit-receive point serial number or a transmit-receive point group serial number;”).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Liu to incorporate the starting and ending time periods based on a serial number of beam group data teachings of Yao. The purpose of doing so is to determine in a case with more than one uplink transmissions in the same domain resource in one time period how to optimize the transmission (paragraph 0012, Yao).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892 form.
Wang et al. (US 20210326726 A1) – paragraph 0039: Measurement of reference signals including RSRP during a first time period associated with a base station. Transmission of the reference signal with the highest measurement. Additional measurements during a second time period in response to a request. Paragraph 0040 – Using the data for prediction error in a machine learning network, using sample data to create a prediction error and report. Paragraph 0037 – Receiving a threshold of RSRP for a reference signal.
Cezanne et al. (US 20190158319 A1) – Figure 6, paragraph 0118: determining a best beam from measurements of receive power and transmission of the best beam under a report.
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/RYAN CRIGLER/ Examiner, Art Unit 2472
/NICHOLAS A JENSEN/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2472
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