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 Objections
Claim 4 objected to because of the following informalities: “:” colon is missing after “comprising”. Appropriate correction is required.
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, 3-7, 9-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Almalfouh et al. (US 2017/0311189, hereinafter “Almalfouh”) in view of Nagaraja et al. (US 2019/0036590, hereinafter “Nagaraja”).
For claims 1 and 13, Almalfouh discloses A method for wireless communication comprising (FIG. 5 is a flowchart diagram illustrating a method for a wireless device to perform radio link monitoring using downlink control and data decoding performance characteristics, according to some embodiments; see Almalfouh par. 0057 and Fig. 5):
receiving, by a first wireless device, a device-to-device link monitoring configuration (In 502, the wireless device may establish a radio link with a cellular base station…a base station may provide control signals via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and may provide data signals via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); see Almalfouh par. 0059-0060; the wireless device may be able to infer the (e.g., average or approximate) power boosting factor used by the base station to boost transmit power of the control and/or data signals, e.g., based on measured characteristics of received control and/or data signals, and modify its RLM technique accordingly. For example, an amount of bias applied to the in-sync threshold and/or out-of-sync threshold for a RLM evaluation period may be determined based on measurement of the energy metric for successfully received control signals (e.g., PDCCH control channel elements (CCEs)), possibly in combination with one or more other metrics and/or configuration settings, during that RLM evaluation period; see Almalfouh par. 0070),
wherein the device-to-device link monitoring configuration comprises a first value associated with an out-of-sync timer (T), a second value associated with a counter for consecutive out-of-sync indications received from a lower layer (N), and a third value associated with a counter for consecutive in-sync indications received from the lower layer (M) (the characteristics of decoding performance for the control and/or data signals may be used once a certain number of out-of-sync instances have occurred (e.g., once an out-of-sync counter reaches a threshold for implementing the use of characteristics of decoding performance for the control and/or data signals for radio link monitoring), and, once implemented, may cease being used once a certain number of in-sync instances have occurred (e.g., once an in-sync counter reaches a threshold or ceasing the use of characteristics of decoding performance for the control and/or data signals for radio link monitoring); see Almalfouh par. 0080); According to the scenario of FIG. 8, if the control and/or data decoding performance is satisfactory over the evaluation window, the out-of-sync count may be reset (e.g., to 0) or reduced, such as illustrated in the evaluation windows 810, 820. If the control and/or data decoding performance is not satisfactory over the evaluation window, the out-of-sync count may not be reset, and if it reaches the N310 value, the timer T310 may be started. If desired, the techniques described with respect to FIGS. 6-7 may additionally be used to potentially reset the T310 timer once it has begun in this scenario. Note that in the scenario of FIG. 8, it is also possible that the T310 timer may not be started, e.g., due to the out-of-sync count not reaching N310, and due to radio conditions improving such that N311 consecutive in-sync instances occur. In this case, the wireless device may cease utilizing downlink control and/or data decoding performance characteristics for radio link monitoring (e.g., until the next time the number of out-of-sync instances reaches n), possibly even if this occurs in the middle of an evaluation window, such as in the illustrated evaluation window 830; see Almalfouh par. 0092-0093); and
performing a device-to-device link monitoring procedure based on the device-to-device link monitoring configuration (In 504, the wireless device may perform radio link monitoring of the radio link using characteristics of decoding performance for control and/or data signals. The characteristics of decoding performance for control and/or data signals may be used to supplement the use of the reference signals provided by the base station to perform radio link monitoring, according to some embodiments; see Almalfouh par. 0061).
Almalfouh does not explicitly disclose indications received from the lower layer (M). Nagaraja discloses indications received from the lower layer (see Nagaraja Table 1 in pages 9-10 where Timers T313 is stopped upon receiving N314 consecutive in-sync indications from lower layers for the PSCell and Table 2 where N311 and N314 are defined as maximum number of consecutive “in-sync” indications for the PSCell received from lower layers; see Nagaraja par. 0104). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Nagaraja's arrangement in Almalfouh's invention to enable the scheduled entity to begin looking for a more suitable scheduling entity (e.g., another base station) sooner when a radio link failure occurs, thereby avoiding data communication delays and improving the user experience (see Nagaraja par. 0133).
Specifically for claim 13, Almalfouh discloses An apparatus for wireless communication comprising at least one processor and a memory storing instructions, execution of which by the at least one processor causes the apparatus to:(FIG. 3 illustrates one possible block diagram of an UE device, such as UE device 106 or 107. As shown, the UE device 106/107 may include a system on chip (SOC) 300, which may include portions for various purposes. For example, as shown, the SOC 300 may include processor(s) 302 which may execute program instructions for the UE device 106/107, and display circuitry 304 which may perform graphics processing and provide display signals to the display 360. The SOC 300 may also include motion sensing circuitry 370 which may detect motion of the UE 106, for example using a gyroscope, accelerometer, and/or any of various other motion sensing components. The processor(s) 302 may also be coupled to memory management unit (MMU) 340, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor(s) 302 and translate those addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 306, read only memory (ROM) 350, flash memory 310); see Almalfouh par. 0046).
For claims 3, 9, 14 and 18, Almalfouh discloses The method of claim 1, further comprising:
starting the out-of-sync timer based on the counter for the consecutive out-of-sync indications received from a lower layer crossing a first threshold corresponding to the second value (N) for a device-to-device link on a given carrier (Using this radio link monitoring technique, the wireless device may determine that it is out-of-sync during a threshold number of out-of-sync instances (e.g., "N310", which may be specified by standard specification documents, selected by a network infrastructure maker/vendor/operator, and/or otherwise determined) configured to trigger initiation of an out-of-sync or radio link failure timer (e.g., having a length "T310", which may be specified by standard specification documents, selected by a network infrastructure maker/vendor/operator, and/or otherwise determined). The threshold number of out-of-sync instances occurring may also trigger the wireless device to begin utilizing downlink control and/or data decoding performance characteristics when performing radio link monitoring for a subsequent evaluation window (which may be shorter than the length of the out-of-sync/radio link failure timer). In this scenario, if the control and/or data decoding performance is satisfactory (e.g., meets one or more specified conditions) over an evaluation window, the out-of-sync/radio link failure timer may be reset and restarted, such as illustrated in the evaluation window 610; see Almalfouh par. 0086-0087).
For claims 4, 10, 15 and 19, Almalfouh discloses The method of claim 3, further comprising
determining that the out-of-sync timer is running (If, however, the control and/or data decoding performance is not satisfactory (e.g., does not meet the one or more specified conditions) over an evaluation window, the out-of-sync/radio link failure timer may not be modified (e.g., may keep running), such as illustrated in the evaluation window 620. This may eventually result in radio link failure occurring if the out-of-sync/radio link failure timer expires, as shown in FIG. 6; see Almalfouh par. 0087); and
stopping the out-of-sync timer based on the counter for the consecutive in-sync indications received from the lower layer crossing a second threshold corresponding to the third value (M) for the device-to-device link on the given carrier (In the scenario of FIG. 7, the wireless device may similarly initially perform radio link monitoring based on reference signals provided by its serving base station without utilizing downlink control and/or data decoding performance characteristics. Using this radio link monitoring technique, the wireless device may also determine that it is out-of-sync during N310 out-of-sync instances, triggering initiation of the T310 timer. As in FIG. 6, the threshold number of out-of-sync instances occurring may also trigger the wireless device to begin utilizing downlink control and/or data decoding performance characteristics when performing radio link monitoring for a subsequent evaluation window. In this scenario, if the control and/or data decoding performance is satisfactory (e.g., meets one or more specified conditions) over an evaluation window, the out-of-sync/radio link failure timer may be reset and restarted, such as illustrated in the evaluation window 710. If the radio link monitoring subsequently determines that the radio link is in-sync during a threshold number of in-sync instances (e.g.,"N311", which may be specified by standard specification documents, selected by a network infrastructure maker/vendor/operator, and/or otherwise determined), the T310 timer may be stopped, and the wireless device may cease utilizing downlink control and/or data decoding performance characteristics for radio link monitoring (e.g., until the next time the number of out-of-sync instances reaches N310 and T310 starts again). Note that this may occur in the middle of an evaluation window, such as in the illustrated evaluation window 720; see Almalfouh par. 0088-0089).
For claims 5, 11, 16 and 20, Almalfouh discloses The method of claim 3, further comprising:
declaring, upon expiration of the out-of-sync timer, a sidelink failure for the device-to-device link on the given carrier (In such a case, the wireless device might enable a timer (e.g., a hysteresis timer) to provide the network with time to converge on the outer loop and schedule a lower MCS. Such a reduction in MCS, if it occurs, may trigger re-evaluation of the radio link, according to some embodiments, as BLER experienced on the radio link may decrease with the lower MCS; however, if the timer expires without a change of MCS, the wireless device may trigger RLF, e.g., rather than continuing to wait indefinitely for an MCS reduction that may not be forthcoming; see Almalfouh par. 0081).
For claims 6 and 12, Almalfouh discloses The method of claim 1, wherein multiple carriers are aggregated for a transmission on a device-to-device link, and wherein a radio link failure (RLF) for the device-to-device link is declared upon detection of link failures on each of the multiple carriers (in some embodiments, performing radio link monitoring (RLM) may include determining one or more signal quality metric values (e.g., a signal to noise ratio (SNR)) of reference signals (e.g., CRS) provided by the base station via the radio link over the course of a radio link monitoring window, for each of multiple such radio link monitoring windows. …Once the SNR of the CRS is determined, it may be compared to one or more SNR threshold values, and/or possibly mapped to a block error rate (BLER) of decoding a hypothetical control signal from the base station and then compared to one or more BLER thresholds, to determine whether the wireless device is in-sync (e.g., if the SNR/hypothetical BLER is better than an in-sync threshold, which may also be referred to as "Qin" herein) or out-of-sync (e.g., if the SNR/hypothetical BLER is worse than an out-of-sync threshold, which may also be referred to as "Qout" herein). According to some embodiments,… In-sync and out-of-sync counters may be maintained, and may be incremented if it is determined that the wireless device is in-sync or out-of-sync for a particular RLM window. According to some embodiments, if the out-of-sync counter reaches a certain threshold (e.g., if the wireless device has been out-of-sync a certain number of consecutive times), it may be determined that radio link failure has occurred. As another possibility, one or more timers (e.g., an out-of-sync timer) may also or alternatively be utilized as part of determining when radio link failure has occurred; see Almalfouh par. 0062-0064).
For claims 7 and 17, Almalfouh discloses A method for wireless communication comprising (FIG. 5 is a flowchart diagram illustrating a method for a wireless device to perform radio link monitoring using downlink control and data decoding performance characteristics, according to some embodiments; see Almalfouh par. 0057 and Fig. 5):
transmitting, to a first wireless device, a device-to-device link monitoring configuration (In 502, the wireless device may establish a radio link with a cellular base station…a base station may provide control signals via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and may provide data signals via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); see Almalfouh par. 0059-0060; the wireless device may be able to infer the (e.g., average or approximate) power boosting factor used by the base station to boost transmit power of the control and/or data signals, e.g., based on measured characteristics of received control and/or data signals, and modify its RLM technique accordingly. For example, an amount of bias applied to the in-sync threshold and/or out-of-sync threshold for a RLM evaluation period may be determined based on measurement of the energy metric for successfully received control signals (e.g., PDCCH control channel elements (CCEs)), possibly in combination with one or more other metrics and/or configuration settings, during that RLM evaluation period; see Almalfouh par. 0070),
wherein the device-to-device link monitoring configuration comprises a first value associated with an out-of-sync timer (T), a second value associated with a counter for consecutive out-of-sync indications received from a lower layer (N), and a third value associated with a counter for consecutive in-sync indications received from the lower layer (M) (the characteristics of decoding performance for the control and/or data signals may be used once a certain number of out-of-sync instances have occurred (e.g., once an out-of-sync counter reaches a threshold for implementing the use of characteristics of decoding performance for the control and/or data signals for radio link monitoring), and, once implemented, may cease being used once a certain number of in-sync instances have occurred (e.g., once an in-sync counter reaches a threshold or ceasing the use of characteristics of decoding performance for the control and/or data signals for radio link monitoring); see Almalfouh par. 0080); According to the scenario of FIG. 8, if the control and/or data decoding performance is satisfactory over the evaluation window, the out-of-sync count may be reset (e.g., to 0) or reduced, such as illustrated in the evaluation windows 810, 820. If the control and/or data decoding performance is not satisfactory over the evaluation window, the out-of-sync count may not be reset, and if it reaches the N310 value, the timer T310 may be started. If desired, the techniques described with respect to FIGS. 6-7 may additionally be used to potentially reset the T310 timer once it has begun in this scenario. Note that in the scenario of FIG. 8, it is also possible that the T310 timer may not be started, e.g., due to the out-of-sync count not reaching N310, and due to radio conditions improving such that N311 consecutive in-sync instances occur. In this case, the wireless device may cease utilizing downlink control and/or data decoding performance characteristics for radio link monitoring (e.g., until the next time the number of out-of-sync instances reaches n), possibly even if this occurs in the middle of an evaluation window, such as in the illustrated evaluation window 830; see Almalfouh par. 0092-0093), and
wherein the first wireless device is enabled to perform a device-to-device link monitoring procedure based on the device-to-device link monitoring configuration (In 504, the wireless device may perform radio link monitoring of the radio link using characteristics of decoding performance for control and/or data signals. The characteristics of decoding performance for control and/or data signals may be used to supplement the use of the reference signals provided by the base station to perform radio link monitoring, according to some embodiments; see Almalfouh par. 0061).
Almalfouh does not explicitly disclose indications received from the lower layer (M). Nagaraja discloses indications received from the lower layer (see Nagaraja Table 1 in pages 9-10 where Timers T313 is stopped upon receiving N314 consecutive in-sync indications from lower layers for the PSCell and Table 2 where N311 and N314 are defined as maximum number of consecutive “in-sync” indications for the PSCell received from lower layers; see Nagaraja par. 0104). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Nagaraja's arrangement in Almalfouh's invention to enable the scheduled entity to begin looking for a more suitable scheduling entity (e.g., another base station) sooner when a radio link failure occurs, thereby avoiding data communication delays and improving the user experience (see Nagaraja par. 0133).
Specifically for claim 17, Almalfouh discloses An apparatus for wireless communication comprising at least one processor and a memory storing instructions, execution of which by the at least one processor causes the apparatus to: (FIG. 4 illustrates an example block diagram of a base station 102, according to some embodiments. It is noted that the base station of FIG. 4 is merely one example of a possible base station. As shown, the base station 102 may include processor(s) 404 which may execute program instructions for the base station 102. The processor(s) 404 may also be coupled to memory management unit (MMU) 440, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor(s) 404 and translate those addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read only memory (ROM) 450) or to other circuits or devices; see Almalfouh par. 0051).
Claim(s) 2 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Almalfouh and Nagaraja, and further in view of Lim et al. (US 2014/0057670, hereinafter “Lim”).
For claims 2 and 8, the combination of Almalfouh and Nagaraja does not explicitly disclose The method of claim 1, wherein the device-to-device link monitoring configuration further comprises at least one of: a sidelink UE ID, or a maximum number of allowed retransmissions. Lim discloses The method of claim 1, wherein the device-to-device link monitoring configuration further comprises at least one of: a sidelink UE ID (After performing selection or mapping of the target device for the P2P device having requested P2P transmission, the base station forms P2P connection by setting an identifier for a device pair to perform P2P communication and transmits a P2P response message (signal) to two P2P devices (S311); see Lim par. 0092), or a maximum number of allowed retransmissions (after receiving, from the P2P receiver (Device 1), an acknowledge (ACK) signal for the data (or the last traffic) transmitted from the P2P transmitter (Device 2), the P2P transmitter (Device 2) may transmit a P2P transmission completion message to inform completion of P2P transmission. If a non-acknowledge (NACK) signal is received for the last traffic, the last traffic may be retransmitted, and the P2P transmission completion message may be transmitted to the base station after the ACK signal is received; see Lim par. 0107). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Lim's arrangement in Almalfouh's invention to allow a terminal to directly transmit and receive a signal to and from another terminal to which the terminal desires to transmit data, without assistance from a base station or a repeater (see Lim par. 0002).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
-Comstock et al. (US 2022/0052914): see par. 0040-0046 and Fig. 3.
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/CHAE S LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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