DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election1 without traverse of claim 25 in the reply filed on 04/02/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim 25 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 04/02/2026.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-4, 7-9, 11-13, 23, 26-29 are objected to because of the following informalities: as per claim 1, please define parameters N and M (i.e., as an integer greater…), recited in the claim (see at least claim 1, line 3 and line 5).
Claim 1, line 8 recites “reward value” while the antecedent in line 7 recites “reward values”. Please amend for consistency.
As per claim 23, with respect to “M” , “N” and “reward value”, recited in lines 7, 9, and 12, see objection of claim 1.
Claims 2-4, 7-9, 11-13, and 26-29 are objected to for being dependent on an objected claim.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-4, 7-9, 11-13, 23, 26-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1, last 2 lines, the limitation “the parameters of the probability distribution associated with the first phase offset” lacks of proper antecedent basis.
Claim 2, last line, the limitation “the parameters of the probability distribution associated with the second phase offset” lacks of proper antecedent basis.
Claim 7, line 3, the limitation “the one or more WCDs” lacks of proper antecedent basis. Claim 1, line 19, recites “a plurality of WCDs”. However, it is not clear whether the “the one or more WCDs” in claim 7 is an element of the “plurality of WCDs” (claim 1) or is provided as a new element.
As per claim 9, with respect to “the one or more WCDs”, see rejection of claim 7.
As per claim 23, last 2 lines, with respect to “the parameters of the probability distribution associated with the first phase offset” see claim 1.
As per claim 29, with respect to “the one or more WCDs” see claim 9.
Claims 3-4, 8, 11-13, 26-28 are rejected for being dependent on a rejected claim, respectively.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-4, 7-9, 11-13, 23 and 26-29 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: a method performed by a network node for antenna phase error compensation via reinforcement learning, is disclosed . The closest prior art, Alkhateeb et al US20250317171 A1, discloses a method and apparatus (fig. 1) comprising a learning module (10) including a reinforcement learning agent configured to control a plurality of phase modules coupled to a plurality of antennas. However, it fails to teach the limitations of initializing M sets of phase offsets, wherein each phase offset of each of the M sets of phase offsets corresponds to a difference between two phase deltas of two pairs of antenna branches from N antenna branches with dual polarization, wherein the M sets of phase offsets are respectively associated with M sets of probability distributions, wherein a probability distribution models a probability that a respective phase offset provides for different reward values, the reward value being a function of one or more cell-wide Key Performance Indicators, KPIs, for a cell controlled by the network node; for each of the M sets of probability distributions: respectively sampling a random first set of sample values from the set of probability distributions such that each of the first set of sample values corresponds to a respective phase offset of the set of phase offsets associated with the set of probability distributions ;selecting, from the set of phase offsets, a first phase offset that corresponds to a maximum sample value from the first set of sample values; applying the first phase offset to one or more phases of at least one antenna branch of the N antenna branches during transmission of signals to and/or reception of signals from a plurality of Wireless Communication Devices, WCDs, served by the cell controlled by the network node; while applying the first phase offset, determining a reward value for the first phase offset; and based on the reward value determined while applying the first phase offset, updating the parameters of the probability distribution associated with the first phase offset”, recited in claim 1 and in corresponding apparatus claim 23. Such limitations as recited in the claim are neither anticipated nor rendered obvious by Alkhateeb et al.
Conclusion
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/JEAN B CORRIELUS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633
1 The response erroneously referred to the claim(s) of group II as claim 29. However, a review of the office action mailed on 2/2/2026 showed the sole claim of group II is claim 25. Therefore, it is the examiner understanding that claim 25 was in fact intended in the response. In addition, the office action mailed 02/02/2026 erroneously included canceled claims 5-6, 10, 14-22 and 24 as part of group I. This office action is to correct such deficiencies by removing reference to canceled claims 5-6, 10, 14-22 and 24 from group I. Claims 1-4, 7-9, 11-13, 23, 26-29 are therefore pending while claim 25 is withdrawn.
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