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 .
This action is in response to the application filed on 10/21/2024.
The IDS filed on 10/21/2024 and 12/4/2024 are considered.
Claims 1-50 are cancelled.
Claims 51-70 are new.
Claims 51-70 are examined and rejected.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 55-56 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 69-70 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as covering non-statutory subject matter. These claims are directed to computer readable media i.e., the claims do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claims are non-statutory because they cover transitory signal.
This rejection can be overcome by including the limitation “non-transitory” preceding the limitation “computer-readable storage medium”.
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) 51-52, 54, 57-58, 61-69 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhou (US 20220029680 A1, from IDS, hereinafter “Zhou”).
Regarding Claim 51, Zhou teaches an apparatus comprising: processing circuitry (see FIG. 2., a communications system having UE 115-A) configured to:
perform a measurement on a reference signal, the reference signal received on a beam of a base station (see para 91, UE and base station may perform procedures to identify one or more beams that provide a highest signal or link quality (e.g., compared to other beams within a set of base station beams and UE beams), which may include the measurement of one or more reference signals (e.g., CSI-RS, SSBs, etc.) transmitted by base station; also see FIG. 6 step 615); and
generate, for transmission to the base station, of information about the beam based on the measurement, wherein timing of at least one of (i) reception of the reference signal, (ii) performing the measurement, or (iii) the transmission of the information is based on a prediction of a dwelling time in the beam of the base station (see para 95, a metric includes statistics of dwelling time of best base station beams (e.g., SSB beams for P1/P2 periodicity), statistics of dwelling time of best UE (e.g., for P3 periodicity), or combinations thereof. In some cases, this metric includes a time trace of best base station beams (e.g., SSB beams for P1 periodicity, and for best SSB prediction); also see FIG. 6 step 620);
wherein the dwelling time represents a time duration during which the beam has a beam quality better than a predefined beam quality or the highest beam quality among beams of the base station (see FIG. 6. para 114, at 625 … a dwelling time that indicates an expected time duration during which a transmission beam will have more favorable channel conditions than any other of the set of transmission beams of the first device/i.e., base station or UE, a dwelling time that indicates an expected time duration during which a receive beam of the second wireless device 610 will provide more favorable receive conditions than any of a set of other receive beams of the second wireless device 610, a time trace of consecutive transmission beams having a highest quality at the second wireless device 610 for a prior time period); and
interface circuity coupled with the processing circuitry and configured to enable communication (see FIG. 6., para 115, The first wireless device 605 and the second wireless device 610 may then communicate, at step 645).
Regarding Claim 52, Zhou teaches the apparatus of claim 51, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: process configuration information that is received from the base station and that indicates that beam reporting is to be performed (see para 138, receive configuration information from the first device that indicates a periodicity for transmitting the report); and process a beam report trigger that is based on the prediction of the dwelling time, wherein the beam report trigger is received from the base station and after the configuration information is received, wherein the prediction of the dwelling time is generated by the base station (see FIG. 6., para 114, at step 625, the second wireless device determines beam switch metrics including … a dwelling time that indicates an expected time duration/i.e., predicted dwelling time, during which a receive beam of the second wireless device will provide more favorable receive conditions than any of a set of other receive beams of the second wireless device… The second wireless device transmits, at 630, a beam switch metrics report to the first wireless device; also see para 96, the base station configures the UE for periodic or event-triggered reports (e.g., when a metric exceeds an associated threshold)).
Regarding Claim 54, Zhou teaches the apparatus of claim 51, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: generate the prediction of the dwelling time; and cause transmission of the prediction of the dwelling time to the base station, wherein the apparatus is triggered to perform beam reporting based on the prediction of the dwelling time (see FIG. 6., para 114, at step 625, the second wireless device determines beam switch metrics including … a dwelling time that indicates an expected time duration/i.e., predicted dwell time, during which a receive beam of the second wireless device will provide more favorable receive conditions than any of a set of other receive beams of the second wireless device… The second wireless device transmits, at 630, a beam switch metrics report to the first wireless device; also see para 102).
Regarding Claim 57, Zhou teaches the apparatus of claim 54, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: cause transmission, to the base station, of an indication that a beam dwelling time can be predicted over a time interval (see FIG. 6., para 114, at step 625, the second wireless device determines beam switch metrics including … a dwelling time that indicates an expected time duration/i.e., predicted dwell time interval, during which a receive beam of the second wireless device will provide more favorable receive conditions than any of a set of other receive beams of the second wireless device)..
Regarding Claim 58, Zhou teaches the apparatus of claim 51, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: generate the prediction of the dwelling time; generate, based on the prediction of the dwelling time, a beam report that includes the information about the beam; and cause transmission of the beam report to the base station absent a trigger from the base station to send the beam report (see FIG. 6., para 114, at step 625, the second wireless device determines beam switch metrics including … a dwelling time that indicates an expected time duration/i.e., predicted time, during which a receive beam of the second wireless device will provide more favorable receive conditions than any of a set of other receive beams of the second wireless device… The second wireless device transmits, at 630, a beam switch metrics report to the first wireless device/i.e., without a trigger for beam reporting).
Regarding Claim 61, Zhou teaches a method comprising:
generating, for transmission to a user equipment (UE), a reference signal on a beam of a base station (see para 91, UE and base station may perform procedures to identify one or more beams that provide a highest signal or link quality (e.g., compared to other beams within a set of base station beams and UE beams), which may include the measurement of one or more reference signals (e.g., CSI-RS, SSBs, etc.) transmitted by base station; also see FIG. 6 step 615); and
processing information that is received from the UE and that is about the beam based a measurement of the reference signal by the UE, wherein timing of at least one of (i) the transmission of the reference signal, (ii) the measurement being performed by the UE, or (iii) reception of the information from the UE is based on a prediction of a dwelling time of the UE in the beam of the base station (see para 95, a metric includes statistics of dwelling time of best base station beams (e.g., SSB beams for P1/P2 periodicity), statistics of dwelling time of best UE (e.g., for P3 periodicity), or combinations thereof. In some cases, this metric includes a time trace of best base station beams (e.g., SSB beams for P1 periodicity, and for best SSB prediction); also see FIG. 6 step 620),
wherein the dwelling time represents a time duration during which the beam has a beam quality better than a predefined beam quality or the highest beam quality for the UE among beams of the base station see FIG. 6. para 114, at 625 … a dwelling time that indicates an expected time duration during which a transmission beam will have more favorable channel conditions than any other of the set of transmission beams of the first device/i.e., base station or UE, a dwelling time that indicates an expected time duration during which a receive beam of the second wireless device 610 will provide more favorable receive conditions than any of a set of other receive beams of the second wireless device 610, a time trace of consecutive transmission beams having a highest quality at the second wireless device 610 for a prior time period).
Regarding Claim 62, Zhou teaches the method of claim 61 further comprising: generating, for transmission to the UE, configuration information indicating that the UE is to perform beam reporting (see para 138, receive configuration information from the first device that indicates a periodicity for transmitting the report); and generating, for transmission to the UE and after the configuration information is transmitted, a beam report trigger that is based on the prediction of the dwelling time, wherein the prediction of the dwelling time is generated by the base station (see FIG. 6., para 114, at step 625, the second wireless device determines beam switch metrics including … a dwelling time that indicates an expected time duration/i.e., predicted time, during which a receive beam of the second wireless device will provide more favorable receive conditions than any of a set of other receive beams of the second wireless device… The second wireless device transmits, at 630, a beam switch metrics report to the first wireless device; also see para 96, the base station configures the UE for periodic or event-triggered reports (e.g., when a metric exceeds an associated threshold)).
Regarding Claim 63, Zhou teaches the method of claim 62, wherein the configuration information indicates that the UE is to report beam quality for at least a second reference signal that is quasi co-located with a first reference signal indicated in a set of current transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states or that is the same as the first reference signal (see paras 87-89, a base station transmits SSBs that are QCLed with other signals transmitted within wireless communications system … A UE may be configured with one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state configurations. Different TCI states, distinguished by different values of the TCI, may correspond to quasi co-location (QCL) relationships with different reference signal transmissions. For example, each TCI state may be associated with one of the previously received reference signals. The TCI state may provide a spatial QCL reference that the UE can use to set the receive beam… the base station supports beam switch metric reporting techniques that provide for measurements of a number of beams that are transmitted from a first device (e.g., a controlling wireless device, which may be an example of a base station 105, a TRP, a UE 115, a motion controller, etc.) at a second device (e.g., a secondary wireless device, which may be an example of a UE 115).
Regarding Claim 64, Zhou teaches the method of claim 62, wherein the beam report trigger corresponds to a trigger a CSI-report having a delay indicated by a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) (see para 96, a report may be transmitted before beam management is configured by the base station (e.g., at initial access, handover, or before normal operation of industrial IoT devices) ... In some cases, the UE may autonomously transmit the beam metric report (e.g., in a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE) that is configured for such a report)) or downlink control information (DCI).
Regarding Claim 65, Zhou teaches the method of claim 62, wherein the beam report trigger corresponds to a trigger a for a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) for beam reporting or to a periodicity of a semi-persistent CSI-RS for beam reporting (see para 96, a report may be transmitted before beam management is configured by the base station (e.g., at initial access, handover, or before normal operation of industrial IoT devices), or when beam switch periodicity should be changed (e.g., if the best SSB changes faster or slower than a configured P1 report period)).
Regarding Claim 66, Zhou teaches the method of claim 61 further comprising: processing the prediction of the dwelling time received from the UE; and generating, for transmission to the UE based on the prediction of the dwelling time, a trigger to perform beam reporting (see FIG. 6., para 114, at step 625, the second wireless device determines beam switch metrics including … a dwelling time that indicates an expected time duration/i.e., predicted time, during which a receive beam of the second wireless device will provide more favorable receive conditions than any of a set of other receive beams of the second wireless device… The second wireless device transmits, at 630, a beam switch metrics report to the first wireless device; also see para 96, the base station configures the UE for periodic or event-triggered reports (e.g., when a metric exceeds an associated threshold)).
Regarding Claim 67, Zhou teaches the method of claim 61 further comprising: processing a beam report that is received from the UE and that includes the information about the beam, wherein the beam report is sent by the UE based on the prediction of the dwelling time and absent a trigger by the base station to the UE to send the beam report (see FIG. 6., para 114, at step 625, the second wireless device determines beam switch metrics including … a dwelling time that indicates an expected time duration/i.e., predicted time, during which a receive beam of the second wireless device will provide more favorable receive conditions than any of a set of other receive beams of the second wireless device… The second wireless device transmits, at 630, a beam switch metrics report to the first wireless device/i.e., without a trigger for beam reporting).
Regarding Claim 68, Zhou teaches the method of claim 67 further comprising: generating, for transmission before receiving the beam report, configuration information associated with generating the beam report based on the prediction of the dwelling time (see FIG. 6., para 114, at step 625, the second wireless device determines beam switch metrics including … a dwelling time that indicates an expected time duration/i.e., predicted time, during which a receive beam of the second wireless device will provide more favorable receive conditions than any of a set of other receive beams of the second wireless device… The second wireless device transmits, at 630, a beam switch metrics report to the first wireless device; also see para 96, the base station configures the UE for periodic or event-triggered reports (e.g., when a metric exceeds an associated threshold)).
Regarding Claim 69, Zhou teaches one or more computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, upon execution by one or more processors, cause operations comprising:
processing a reference signal received from a base station on a beam of the base station (see para 91, UE and base station may perform procedures to identify one or more beams that provide a highest signal or link quality (e.g., compared to other beams within a set of base station beams and UE beams), which may include the measurement of one or more reference signals (e.g., CSI-RS, SSBs, etc.) transmitted by base station; also see FIG. 6 step 615, para 112, the first wireless device 605 may transmit a number of transmission beams. Such transmission beams may include SSBs, CSI-RS transmissions, or combinations thereof, which may be used for beam management by the first wireless device 605 and the second wireless device);
performing a measurement on the reference signal (see FIG. 6, step 620, para 113, the second wireless device 610 may perform measurements based on signals received via the transmit beams); and
generating, for transmission to the base station, information about the beam based on the measurement, wherein timing of at least one of (i) reception of the reference signal, (ii) performing the measurement, or (iii) the transmission of the information is based on a prediction of a dwelling time in the beam of the base station (see para 95, a metric includes statistics of dwelling time of best base station beams (e.g., SSB beams for P1/P2 periodicity), statistics of dwelling time of best UE (e.g., for P3 periodicity), or combinations thereof. In some cases, this metric includes a time trace of best base station beams (e.g., SSB beams for P1 periodicity, and for best SSB prediction); also see FIG. 6 step 625-630),
wherein the dwelling time represents a time duration during which the beam has a beam quality better than a predefined beam quality or the highest beam quality among beams of the base station (see FIG. 6. para 114, at 625 … a dwelling time that indicates an expected time duration during which a transmission beam will have more favorable channel conditions than any other of the set of transmission beams of the first device/i.e., base station or UE, a dwelling time that indicates an expected time duration during which a receive beam of the second wireless device 610 will provide more favorable receive conditions than any of a set of other receive beams of the second wireless device 610, a time trace of consecutive transmission beams having a highest quality at the second wireless device 610 for a prior time period).
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.
Claim(s) 53, 59-60, 70 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou in view of Matsumura (US 20230020735 A1, hereinafter “Matsumura”).
Regarding Claim 53, Zhou teaches the apparatus of claim 52, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: determine a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state indicated by the configuration information (see para 88, A UE may be configured with one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state configurations);
Zhou does not teach details regarding: generate a first beam report based on the TCI state; and cause transmission of the first beam report to the base station, wherein the prediction of the dwelling time is generated based on the first beam report.
Matsumura teaches this limitation: see paras 56-63, FIG. 4. A network (for example, a base station, or an RRH) may configure or report information related to beam transition indicating transition time of a beam (or dwell time of the beam). Regarding a certain beam, the UE may determine that a beam transmitted from the RRH transitions, based on the beam transition time. The transition time of a beam (or the beam dwell time) may be separately configured for each beam (configured for each beam). For example, a plurality of candidates (or entries) may be reported as the beam transition time or the beam dwell time using higher layer signaling, and a specific candidate may be reported to the UE using at least one of MAC control information and downlink control information (see FIG. 4). FIG. 4 shows a case in which four candidates indicating the beam dwell time are configured for the UE using higher layer signaling, and specific beam dwell time is specified using at least one of MAC control information and downlink control information… measurement and report of at least one of L1-RSRP and L1-SINR are performed and the TCI state reported from the network is assumed, or a receive beam of a synchronization signal block (SSB) index corresponding to a PRACH occasion at the time of the latest (for example, the most recent) PRACH transmission is assumed.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include details perform measurement report based on TCI state, as taught by Matsumura, the motivation being, radio communication in a moving object can be appropriately controlled (see Matsumura, para 9, Advantageous Effects of the invention).
Regarding Claims 59, Zhou teaches the apparatus of claim 58, but does not teach details regarding: process configuration information received from the base station and associated with generating a beam dwelling time prediction and an indication that the beam report is to be generated, wherein the prediction of the dwelling time is performed based on the configuration information; and generate the beam report based on the prediction of the dwelling time and the indication, wherein the beam report includes the information about the beam.
Matsumura teaches this limitation: see paras 56-58, FIG. 4. A network (for example, a base station, or an RRH) may configure or report information related to beam transition indicating transition time of a beam (or dwell time of the beam). Regarding a certain beam, the UE may determine that a beam transmitted from the RRH transitions, based on the beam transition time. The transition time of a beam (or the beam dwell time) may be separately configured for each beam (configured for each beam). For example, a plurality of candidates (or entries) may be reported as the beam transition time or the beam dwell time using higher layer signaling, and a specific candidate may be reported to the UE using at least one of MAC control information and downlink control information (see FIG. 4). FIG. 4 shows a case in which four candidates indicating the beam dwell time are configured for the UE using higher layer signaling, and specific beam dwell time is specified using at least one of MAC control information and downlink control information.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include details of configuration information to measure and report beam dwell time as taught by Matsumura, the motivation being, radio communication in a moving object can be appropriately controlled (see Matsumura, para 9, Advantageous Effects of the invention).
Regarding Claims 60, Zhou teaches the apparatus of claim 58, but does not teach details regarding: process configuration information received from the base station and indicating a list of reference signals (see para 91, UE and base station may perform procedures to identify one or more beams that provide a highest signal or link quality (e.g., compared to other beams within a set of base station beams and UE beams), which may include the measurement of one or more reference signals (e.g., CSI-RS, SSBs, etc.) transmitted by base station),
Zhou does not teach details regarding: the beam report indicates a beam quality for the reference signals and is sent as uplink control information.
Matsumura teaches this limitation: see paras 50, a base station configures information related to beam transition to the UE such as a beam index, a TCI state index, a reference signal index, and a resource index… para 52, FIG. 3 shows a case in which four candidates (beam transition indices #0 to #3) indicating the order of beam transition are configured for the UE using higher layer signaling … at para 99, the UE may report the information related to the higher beam of the cell served by the UE itself (for example, beam #1: 30 dBm, beam #2: 20 dBm) and the information related to the higher beam of another cell (for example, beam #5: 10 dBm, beam #4: 5 dBm), using different uplink control information fields (for example, UCI fields), respectively.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include details of beam quality via UCI as taught by Matsumura, the motivation being, radio communication in a moving object can be appropriately controlled (see Matsumura, para 9, Advantageous Effects of the invention).
Regarding Claim 70, Zhou teaches the one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 69, wherein the operations further comprise: determining the prediction of the dwelling time based on an input to an artificial intelligence model implemented by the UE or the base station, wherein the input includes a past measurement performed on a previously received reference signal on the beam (see para 102, the UE 115-b may measure one or more signals from a set of beams 310 of the second base station 105-c, such as SSBs transmitted in successive beams, and generate a best SSB time trace (BST). The BST, as will be discussed in more detail with respect to FIG. 4, may provide timing information associated with when different beams have a highest quality (e.g., a highest RSRP). In some cases, the UE 115-b may provide the BST to the first base station 105-b in a beam metric report. The first base station 105-b may then, based on the BST provided by the UE 115-b, predict a best SSB for a RACH procedure for the UE 115-a to perform an initial access procedure with the second base station 105-b (e.g., a best SSB for transmissions of RACH MSG1/MSG2/MSG3). In such cases, the first base station 105-a (or other network node) may only need to configure CSI-RS resources that are QCL′ed with the best SSB for the RACH procedure (e.g., for P2/P3 beam management for MSG1/2/3). The BST provided by the UE 115-b may also be used by the first base station 105-b or the second base station 105-c to determine regular beam management periodicity after initial access (e.g., after MSG1/2/3). For example, P1 periodicity can be based on SSB beam dwelling time estimated based on the BST).
Zhou teaches using best SSB trace time, to predict /estimate the dwell time for the best SSB beam.
Zhou does not teach the above, using AI/ML, i.e., the limitation: “dwelling time based on an input to an artificial intelligence model implemented by the UE or the base station, wherein the input includes a past measurement performed on a previously received reference signal on the beam”.
However, it would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include AI/ML learning using the BST trace time based on rationale F - Known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Gao (US 20230327736 A1) teaches in FIG. 4. para 51, measurements of beam dwelling time for a given wireless communication node (e.g., gNB) antenna configuration. The beam dwelling time of the wireless communication node may include a beam dwelling time of a high-speed train (or other vehicles) traveling at 300 km/h, a high-speed train traveling at 500 km/h, and/or a vehicle in a highway traveling at a speed of 120 km/h. The beam dwelling time may be dependent/based/determined by one or more factors. The one or more factors may include the speed of the wireless communication device, the distance between the wireless communication node and the wireless communication device, the width of the beam(s), and/or other factors. In some embodiments, the beam dwelling time may be as small as 7 ms (or other numbers). Current beam management procedures/processes (e.g., beam reporting, beam group activation, and/or beam indication) may fail to update a beam within the smallest value of beam dwelling time (e.g., 7 ms and/or other time instances). In some embodiments, artificial intelligence (AI) techniques/approaches can be used to ensure one or more narrow beams provide better/increased/enhanced coverage and/or performance in high-speed scenarios. For instance, AI techniques can be employed/used/applied in beam prediction with trajectory prediction for mobility.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEEPA BELUR whose telephone number is (571)270-3722. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 am - 4:30 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kevin Bates can be reached at 571-272-3980. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DEEPA BELUR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472
