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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/29/2024 has been considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 1, 4, 6, 7, 13, 14, 19 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mo et al. (US 2022/0159684 A1, hereinafter, “Mo”) in view of Kwon et al. (US 2021/0175935 A1, hereinafter, “Kwon”).
Consider claim 1, Mo teaches a communication system with power reduction (see at least figure 1, figure 5, paras. 117, 125 and 144), the communication system comprising: a plurality of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) communication paths (see at least paras. 34, 101, figures 2 and 5), the MIMO communication paths including, a plurality of downlink communication paths, at least some of the downlink communication paths configured to communicate a same communication signal (see at least figures 2-3 (RX processing), abstract, paras. 62-63, 164, Mo teaches MIMO downlink communication paths communicating RF signal) each downlink communication path including a plurality of downlink communication path components (see at least figure 2 and figure 3 (Rx antenna, Rx processing circuitry, etc.)), and a plurality of uplink communication paths, each uplink communication path including a plurality of uplink communication components (see at least figure 2, figure 3 (TX antenna, TX processing circuitry, etc.); and at least one controller (see at least figure 2 (225), figure 3 (340)) configured to power down at least one of at least one downlink component of the plurality of downlink components and at least one of an uplink component of the plurality of uplink components for power saving (see at least abstract, paras. 6, 116, 125, 144, figures 8-9, Mo teaches at least one of at least one downlink component (all components in DL) is not activated (powered down), as well as, teaches at least one of at least one uplink component (all components in UL chain) is not activated (powered down)).
Mo teaches power down at least one of at least one downlink component of the plurality of downlink components and at least one of an uplink component of the plurality of uplink components for power saving (see above), however, did not particularly teach power down at least one of at least one downlink component of the plurality of downlink components and at least one of an uplink component of the plurality of uplink components during at least one power saving mode. Kwon teaches said limitation (see at least paras. 152-153, Kwon teaches not activating at least a downlink chain (at least one component in UL) at a discontinues reception mode, also having the same process for the uplink path (para. 159)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the application to modify the invention of Mo and teach power down at least one of at least one downlink component of the plurality of downlink components and at least one of an uplink component of the plurality of uplink components during at least one power saving mode, as taught by kwon, thereby, allowing efficient MIMO communication system.
Consider claim 13, Mo teaches a method of operating a communication system with a plurality of multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) communication paths (see at least figure 1, figure 5, paras. 117, 125 and 144), the method comprising: determining if power reduction communication is needed (see at least paras. 116-117, 164, 167, Mo teaches determining for power reduction communication after beam measurement); selecting MIMO communication paths that are configured to communicate a same communication signal to shut down when it is determined that a power reduction communication is needed (see at least abstract, paras. 6, 116, 125, 144, figures 8-9, Mo teaches at least one of at least one downlink component is not used for communication) and powering down at least one component of a plurality of components in the selected MIMO communication paths to shut down the selected MIMO communication paths (see at least abstract, paras. 6, 116, 125, 144, figures 8-9, Mo teaches at least one of at least one downlink component (all components in DL) is not activated (shut down).
Mo teaches determining if power reduction communication is needed (see above), however, did not particularly teach determine if a power reduction mode should be activated. Kwon teaches said limitation (see at least paras. 152-153 and figure 7, determining whether power reduction mode should be used based on received signal).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the application to modify the invention of Mo and determine if a power reduction mode should be activated, as taught by kwon, thereby, allowing efficient MIMO communication system.
Consider claims 4 and 20, Mo in view of Kwon teaches controller is configured to power up the at least one uplink component of the plurality of uplink components upon completion of the power saving mode (see at least figure 7 and paras. 152-153 Kwon).
Consider claims 6 and 14, Mo in view of Kwon teaches the controller is configured to initiate a power saving mode based on one of detected communication signal traffic in at least one uplink communication path (see at least para. 153 and figure 7 which can also work for uplink path (para. 159) in Kwon) and a set schedule (see at least paras. 134-135 and 153).
Consider claim 7, Mo in view of Kwon teaches at least one power consumption sensor to detect a power consumption in at least one of the plurality of downlink communication paths and the plurality of uplink communication paths, the at least one power consumption sensor in communication with the at least one controller (see figures 2-3 and paras. 107-112 in Mo; and para. 62 in Kwon).
Consider claim 19, Mo in view of Kwon teaches monitoring power usage in the components in the plurality of MIMO communication paths (see figures 2-3 and paras. 107-112 in Mo; and para. 62 in Kwon).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-12 are allowed.
Claims 2-3, 5, 8 and 15-18 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FITWI Y HAILEGIORGIS whose telephone number is (571)270-1881. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10AM-6PM.
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FITWI Y. HAILEGIORGIS
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2632
/FITWI Y HAILEGIORGIS/ Examiner, Art Unit 2632