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 21-40 are pending.
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 21-24, 26-34 and 36-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yi et al, application No. 2020/0350972, hereinafter known as Yi in view of Chavva et al, application no. 2019/0238202, hereinafter known as Chavva.
As to claim 21, Yi discloses a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) comprising: a transceiver and processor (Yi, [0212],-[0211], figure 3, wireless device 110, with processor and transceiver), the processor configured to: receive, via the transceiver, a beam recovery configuration (Yi, [0310]-[0311], beam failure and recovery configuration sent by base station to UE ( WTRU); [0326]-[0329], suitable beam candidate list with associated beam metrics to consider and measure, sent by base station to UE), wherein the beam recovery configuration comprises: an indication of at least one candidate beam (Yi, [0326]-[0329], suitable beam candidate list with associated beam metrics to consider and measure); respective reference signal information associated with each candidate beam of the at least one candidate beam (Yi, [0326]-[0329], reference signals associated with beam candidates); respective quality criterion and random access transmission parameters associated with each candidate beam (Yi, [0311], beam quality parameter such as RSP and RACH; RACH parameter used for power ramping for RACH signals); detect a beam failure condition has been met (Yi, [0311]-[0314, parameters used by UE to determine beam failure which may further be based on beam failure counter); and on a condition when the selected candidate beam passes the quality criterion, determine the random access transmission parameters associated to the selected candidate beam based on the random access transmission parameters (Yi, [0310]-[0316], criterion for beam selection; [0326], power ramping and sending RACH transmission when selecting beam); and transmit a random access channel (RACH) transmission to the selected candidate beam according to the determined random access transmission parameters (Yi, [0314], UE starts random access procedure when beam fails). Yi does not expressly disclose however Chavva discloses and respective information associated with each candidate beam of the at least one candidate beam, wherein the respective information comprises an indication of at least one area of coverage associated with a respective candidate beam of the at least one candidate beam (Chavva, figure 5, [0079]-[0080], [0136]-[0137], beam direction and coverage information for selecting a beam); and select at least one candidate beam of the at least one candidate beam based at least on the beam failure condition being met, local sensor data, and the respective area of coverage associated with the selected at least one candidate beam (Chavva, figure 5, [0079]-[0080], [0136]-[0137], beam direction and coverage information for selecting a beam; [0079]-[0090], Using plural information and local measurement of SNR for example (sensor data) to determine optimal beam; figure 9, [0120]-[0122], plural sensor used by UE for beam determination such as gyroscope and accelerometer).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Yi to include the limitations of and respective information associated with each candidate beam of the at least one candidate beam, wherein the respective information comprises an indication of at least one area of coverage associated with a respective candidate beam of the at least one candidate beam; and select at least one candidate beam of the at least one candidate beam based at least on the beam failure condition being met, local sensor data, and the respective area of coverage associated with the selected at least one candidate beam as taught by Chavva. Beam detection, evaluation thereof for failure, is well known in the art so UE can remain connected with the network when there is an issue. Further, an optimal beam is preferred for best a communication link and user experience based on communication environment of the UE as determined by RSRP, coverage area and other sensor information.
As to claim 22, Yi and Chavva disclose the WTRU of claim 21. Yi does not disclose however Brunel dicloses wherein the processor is configured to send, via the transceiver, an indication that the WTRU is capable of using the local sensor data for beam failure recovery (Chavva, [0253], sharing sensor capability with the network).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Yi to include the limitations of wherein the processor is configured to send, via the transceiver, an indication that the WTRU is capable of using the local sensor data for beam failure recovery as taught by Chavva. UE is known in the art to share plural types of capability information with the network, so the network can make communication and resources allocation decisions accordingly.
As to claim 23, Yi and Chavva disclose the WTRU of claim 21. Yi does not disclose however Chavva dicloses wherein the beam recovery configuration further comprises a priority associated with each candidate beam of the at least one candidate beam (Chavva, ([051]-[0163], candidate beams sorted in beam metrics with priority and choosing beam based on the priority).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Yi to include the limitations of wherein the beam recovery configuration further comprises a priority associated with each candidate beam of the at least one candidate beam taught by Chavva. An optimal beam is preferred for best communication link and user experience based on communication environment of the UE as determined by RSRP, coverage area and other sensor information.
As to claim 24, Yi and Chavva disclose the WTRU of claim 23. Yi does not disclose however Chavva dicloses wherein the processor is configured to select the at least one candidate beam based on the priority associated with each candidate beam of the at least one candidate beam Yi, ([051]-[0163], candidate beams sorted in beam metrics with priority and choosing beam based on the priority).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Yi to include the limitations of wherein the beam recovery configuration further comprises a priority associated with each candidate beam of the at least one candidate beam taught by Chavva. An optimal beam is preferred for best communication link and user experience based on communication environment of the UE as determined by RSRP, coverage area and other sensor information.
As to claim 26, Yi discloses wherein the processor is configured to select the at least one candidate beam based on the respective reference signal information associated with each candidate beam of the at least one candidate beam (Yi, [0326]-[0328], reference signal information used in determination of beam).
As to claim 27, Yi discloses wherein the reference signal information comprises at least one of channel state information reference signal information or random access channel information (Yi, [0326], power ramping and sending RACH transmission when selecting beam).
As to claim 28, Yi and Chavva disclose the WTRU of claim 21. Yi does not disclose however Chavva dicloses wherein the information associated with each candidate beam of the at least one candidate beam comprises any combination of global positioning system information, gyroscopic information, or accelerometer information (Chavva, [0121]-[0122], sensor used to determine beam information including gyroscope and accelerometer).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Yi to include the limitations of wherein the information associated with each candidate beam of the at least one candidate beam comprises any combination of global positioning system information, gyroscopic information, or accelerometer information as taught by Chavva. Use of various sensors is known in the art where UE uses sensors such as gyroscope and accelerometer to make communication decisions.
As to claim 29, Yi and Chavva disclose the WTRU of claim 21. Yi does not disclose however Chavva dicloses wherein the processor is configured to provide assistance information to the network to prompt the network to send the beam recovery configuration (Chavva, [0150]-[0166], beam reporting by UE to base station).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Yi to include the limitations of wherein the processor is configured to provide assistance information to the network to prompt the network to send the beam recovery configuration as taught by Chavva. UE shares plural metrics such network conditions and device capability so the network can help in making communication and resource usage decisions.
As to claim 30, Yi and Chavva disclose the WTRU of claim 29. Yi does not disclose however Chavva dicloses wherein the assistance information comprises measurement-based data and non-measurement-based data (Chavva, [0150]-[0166], beam reporting by UE to base station including both measured and not measured metrics).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Yi to include the limitations of wherein the assistance information comprises measurement-based data and non-measurement-based data as taught by Chavva. UE shares plural metrics such network conditions (that may be measurements of the communication environment) and device capability (non-measurement) so the network can help making communication and resource usage decisions.
As to claims 31-34 and 36-40, the claim are rejected as applied respectively above to claims 21-24 and 26-30 by Yi in view of Chavva.
Claims 25 and 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yi in view of Chavva and further in view of Lee et al, application no. 2017/0195893, hereinafter known as Lee.
As to claim 25, Yi and Chavva disclose the WTRU of claim 24. Yi does not disclose however Chavva dicloses wherein the processor is configured to determine beam priority by mapping the network configured mapping to the WTRU's estimated geographic coordinates and orientation (Chavva, [0159], beam determination based on orientation information).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Yi to include the limitations of wherein the processor is configured to determine beam priority by mapping the network configured mapping to the WTRU's estimated geographic coordinates and orientation as taught by Chavva. An optimal beam is preferred for best communication link and user experience based on communication environment of the UE as determined by RSRP, coverage area and other sensor information.
Further as to claim 25, Yi and Chavva do not expressly disclose however Lee discloses beam priority by mapping the network configured mapping to the WTRU's estimated geographic coordinates (Lee, [figure 2, [0027], UE with plural sensors and GPS device to determine geographic location; [0039]-[0040], use of location data to determine beam).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Yi and Chavva to include the limitations of beam priority by mapping the network configured mapping to the WTRU's estimated geographic coordinates as taught by Chavva. An optimal beam is preferred for best communication link and user experience based on communication environment of the UE as determined by RSRP, coverage area and other sensor information.
As to claim 35, the claim is rejected as applied above to claims 25 above by Yi in view of Chavva and further in view of Lee.
Conclusion
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/GAUTAM SHARMA/Examiner, Art Unit 2467
/HASSAN A PHILLIPS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2467
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