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 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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tidestav et al. (US 20230216575 A1) in view of PEZESHKI et al. (US 20230318881 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Tidestav et al. teaches a base station for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the base station to: transmit a first signal via a first beam and a second signal via a second beam (Paragraphs 29, 35, 42, The passage teaches transmitting signaling on different beams, including first reference signaling on one beam and second measurement signaling on another beam), wherein: the second signal is transmitted after the first signal is transmitted (Paragraph 29, The disclosed signaling sequence transmits the first reference signaling before transmitting the second measurement signaling) and the second beam is associated with the HR transmit condition based at least in part on a first response associated with the first signal (Paragraph 29, The network receives a first measurement report responding to the first reference signaling, determines the target beam from that response, and transmits the second signaling using that selected beam), or the first signal is transmitted after the second signal is transmitted and the first beam is associated with the LR transmit condition based at least in part on a second response associated with the second signal, or the first signal and the second signal are transmitted simultaneously, the first beam is associated with the LR transmit condition based at least in part on the second beam being associated with the HR transmit condition or irrespective of whether the second beam is associated with the HR transmit condition.
Tidestav et al. does not explicitly teach the first beam is associated with a low-resolution (LR) transmit condition and the second beam is associated with a high-resolution (HR) transmit condition.
However, PEZESHKI et al. teaches the first beam is associated with a low-resolution (LR) transmit condition and the second beam is associated with a high-resolution (HR) transmit condition (Paragraph 162, 166, 168, The passage teaches selecting between conventional codebook beams and oversampled beamforming beams having finer angular resolution).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the first beam is associated with a low-resolution (LR) transmit condition and the second beam is associated with a high-resolution (HR) transmit condition, as taught by PEZESHKI et al. in the system of Tidestav et al., so that it would improve beam selection accuracy by using an initial lower-resolution beam to efficiently identify a candidate beam direction before refining the transmission with a higher-resolution beam that provides more precise beamforming while reducing beam training overhead and signaling complexity.
Regarding claim 2, Tidestav et al. teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the base station to: transmit configuration information for a transmission of a third signal by a radio node based at least in part on the transmitted first signal or the transmitted second signal, or both; receive the third signal from the radio node based on the transmitted configuration information, wherein the third signal comprises one of the first response or the second response; and determine whether the radio node is in a LR receive condition or an HR receive condition based on the received third signal (Paragraph 29, 46, 95-96, The network node transmits configuration information that triggers or configures subsequent measurement signaling based on previously transmitted reference signaling, receives the resulting measurement report or non-acknowledgement response from the radio node, and uses the reported beam characteristics and transmission-condition information to determine the radio node's receive condition and perform beam selection or switching corresponding to different receive conditions).
Regarding claim 3, Tidestav et al. teaches wherein the third signal comprises a channel state information (CSI) report associated with the first beam (Paragraph 29, 44, 46, 121, The UE measures CSI-RS transmitted on the target/first beam, transmits a measurement report based on those CSI-RS measurements, and the report identifies the associated beam and its channel characteristics).
Regarding claim 4, Tidestav et al. teaches wherein the first signal comprises a first synchronization signal block (SSB) burst associated with a first physical random access channel (PRACH) configuration, wherein the second signal comprises a second SSB burst associated with a second PRACH configuration, wherein the third signal comprises a PRACH transmission received from the radio node, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the base station to: determine whether an SSB corresponding to the received PRACH transmission is associated with the LR transmit condition or the HR transmit condition based at least in part on whether the PRACH transmission is received according to the first PRACH configuration or the second PRACH configuration, wherein the SSB is associated with the first SSB burst or the second SSB burst (Paragraph 29, 40, The passage teaches transmitting multiple periodic SSB bursts on different SSB beams, with each SSB associated with random access signaling on a PRACH, receiving a PRACH transmission from the radio node, using the PRACH/SSB association to identify the corresponding SSB and transmitting beam, and determining the associated target/reference beam for beam switching).
Regarding claim 5, Tidestav et al. teaches wherein the first PRACH configuration and the second PRACH configuration indicate different time-frequency resources for the PRACH transmission, or different sequences for the PRACH transmission, or both (Paragraph 38, 40, 42, 46, 95, The passage teaches configuration information for random access signaling on a random access channel that identifies transmissions using different time/frequency resources and/or signaling sequences).
Regarding claim 6, Tidestav et al. teaches wherein the configuration information comprises a beam description indicating an association of the first beam to one or more transmit beams, and wherein the beam description defines the first beam and indicates that the second beam has a same spatial beam center direction as the first beam (Paragraph 29, 35, 39, 42-43, 57, The passage teaches configuration information that defines a reference/first beam and associates it with one or more corresponding transmit beams through beam associations, beam parameters, and beamforming relationships, while further teaching that associated beams correspond by sharing beamforming parameters and having overlapping or coincident spatial angles centered on their main beam direction).
Regarding claim 7, Tidestav et al. teaches wherein the configuration information comprises a beam description indicating an association of the first beam to one or more transmit beams, wherein the beam description indicates that the first beam is quasi-co-located with the second beam, and wherein the beam description further defines a beam shape of the first beam relative to the second beam (Paragraph 29, 34, 39, 42, 43, 57, 95, The passage teaches configuration information including a beam description that associates a reference beam with one or more associated transmission beams, describes corresponding beams that share the same path, spatial correspondence, and beamforming parameters, and defines beam parameters including angular/spatial extensions, direction, size, and angular distribution, thereby indicating an associated transmit beam, a quasi-co-located relationship between beams, and the beam shape of the first beam relative to the second beam).
Regarding claim 8, Tidestav et al. teaches wherein the configuration information comprises a beam description indicating an association of the first beam to one or more transmit beams, wherein the beam description indicates that the first beam is quasi-co-located with a third beam associated with the LR transmit condition, and wherein the beam description further defines a beam shape common to the first beam and the third beam, a resolution property common to the first beam and the third beam, an energy consumption property of common to the first beam and the third beam, or a combination thereof (Paragraph 29, 34, 35, 39, 41-43, 57-58, The passage teaches configuration information describing a beam and associating a first beam with one or more transmission beams, where the associated beams correspond to one another by sharing beamforming parameters, precoders, propagation paths, and common beam shape).
Regarding claim 9, Tidestav et al. teaches wherein the configuration information comprises a beam description indicating an association of the first beam to one or more transmit beams, wherein the beam description indicates that the first beam is quasi-co-located with the second beam and with a third beam associated with the LR transmit condition, and wherein the beam description further defines a spatial beam center direction of the second beam and a beam shape common to the first beam and the third beam (Paragraph 29, 34, 39, 42, 43, 57, The passage teaches configuration information describing beam associations by indicating a reference beam associated with one or more transmission beams and corresponding beam pairs, where the associated beams share common beamforming parameters, precoders, beam shape, and overlapping spatial paths indicative of quasi-co-location, while the beam definition further specifies the beam's main spatial direction and common beam shape for the associated beams).
Regarding claim 10, Tidestav et al. teaches wherein the configuration information comprises a beam description indicating an association of the first beam to one or more transmit beams, wherein the beam description indicates that the first beam is quasi-co-located with the second beam and with a third beam associated with the HR transmit condition, and wherein the beam description further defines a spatial pattern of the first beam as a combination of the second beam and the third beam (Paragraph 29, 35, 39, 42-43, 57, The passage teaches configuration information describing a beam by identifying associated transmission beams, reporting one or more associated beams or beam pairs, associating beams through common beamforming parameters, precoders, corresponding transmission and reception beam relationships, and modified beamforming).
Regarding claim 11, Tidestav et al. teaches wherein the LR transmit condition is based on a radio chain comprising low-resolution digital-to-analog converters (DACs) or low resolution analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), or both (Paragraph 35, 56, The passage teaches that beam transmission conditions are implemented using radio chains that include ADC chains and DCA (DAC) chains as part of the antenna circuitry, with beamforming and transmission behavior being based on and controlled through those ADC/DAC chains).
Regarding claim 12, Tidestav et al. teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the base station to transmit an indication of the LR transmit condition of the first beam (Paragraph 29, 42, 55, 95, The network node (base station) transmits signaling, control signaling, beam indications, and configuration data that identify and configure the first reference signaling beam, including beam parameters and transmission configuration).
Regarding claim 13, Tidestav et al. teaches wherein the indication comprises one or more of: information embedded in a payload of a physical control channel, information embedded in a payload of a physical data channel, a downlink control information, or a combination thereof (Paragraph 29, 38, 71, 74, 75, 115, The passage teaches that an indication may be conveyed by physical layer control signaling, carried on a physical control channel such as PDCCH, carried on a physical data channel such as PDSCH, implemented as or represented by DCI, and encoded as information within signaling fields).
Regarding claim 14, Tidestav et al. teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the base station to indicate the LR transmit condition of the first beam (Paragraph 29, 42, 95, The network node (base station), via its processor, indicates the transmission condition of the first reference beam by transmitting beam-specific reference signaling, beam indications, and configuration/control signaling identifying and configuring the beam and its associated transmission parameters).
Regarding claim 15, Tidestav et al. teaches wherein the LR transmit condition is indicated by one or more of: a time-frequency resource associated with the first beam, a sequence type associated with the first signal, or a combination thereof (Paragraph 29, 42, 46, 88, 93, The passage teaches that the transmit condition associated with the first reference beam is indicated by time-frequency resources associated with the beam, by the sequence type (sequence of modulation symbols) associated with the first reference signal, or by using both together as signaling characteristics that identify and configure the beam and its associated transmission).
Regarding claim 16, Tidestav et al. teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the base station to transmit a configuration for a first set of transmit beams associated with the LR transmit condition, wherein the first set of transmit beams comprises the first beam (Paragraph 29, 31, 39, 42, 95-96, The network node processor implements a configuring module that determines and transmits configuration data identifying a configured set of transmission/reference beams, where the configuration includes beam indications and parameters for multiple beams, and because the first measurement is configured using the first reference signaling transmitted on different reference signaling beams, the configured first set necessarily includes the first transmitted beam associated with the initial transmission condition).
Regarding claim 17, Tidestav et al. teaches wherein the configuration indicates a first threshold for measurement and reporting of the first set of transmit beams associated with the LR transmit condition and a second threshold for measurement and reporting of a second set of transmit beams associated with the HR transmit condition, wherein the first threshold is different than the second threshold (Paragraph 29, The passage teaches a configuration that separately triggers first-reference-signal and second-reference-signal measurement/reporting procedures, with the second measurement report expressly conditioned on satisfying a channel-quality threshold while the first measurement reporting is independently configured).
Regarding claim 18, Tidestav et al. teaches wherein the configuration indicates a first criterion for ordering measurements associated with the first set of transmit beams and a second criterion for ordering measurements associated with the second set of transmit beams, and wherein the first criterion is different than the second criterion (Paragraph 29, 38, The passage teaches a configuration establishing one measurement process for a first set of reference signaling beams that orders beams according to strongest/best reference beam measurements (e.g., RSRP, signal strength, or delay characteristics) and a separate measurement process for a second set of target-specific beams that orders measurements according to channel quality and target-beam evaluation for beam switching).
Regarding claim 19, Tidestav et al. teaches a method performed by a base station, the method comprising: transmitting a first signal via a first beam; and transmitting and a second signal via a second beam (Paragraphs 29, 35, 42, The passage teaches transmitting signaling on different beams, including first reference signaling on one beam and second measurement signaling on another beam), wherein: the second signal is transmitted after the first signal is transmitted (Paragraph 29, The disclosed signaling sequence transmits the first reference signaling before transmitting the second measurement signaling) and the second beam is associated with the HR transmit condition based at least in part on a first response associated with the first signal (Paragraph 29, The network receives a first measurement report responding to the first reference signaling, determines the target beam from that response, and transmits the second signaling using that selected beam), or the first signal is transmitted after the second signal is transmitted and the first beam is associated with the LR transmit condition based at least in part on a second response associated with the second signal, or the first signal and the second signal are transmitted simultaneously, the first beam is associated with the LR transmit condition based at least in part on the second beam being associated with the HR transmit condition or irrespective of whether the second beam is associated with the HR transmit condition.
Tidestav et al. does not explicitly teach the first beam associated with a low-resolution (LR) transmit condition and the second beam associated with a high-resolution (HR) transmit condition.
However, PEZESHKI et al. teaches the first beam associated with a low-resolution (LR) transmit condition and the second beam associated with a high-resolution (HR) transmit condition (Paragraph 162, 166, 168, The passage teaches selecting between conventional codebook beams and oversampled beamforming beams having finer angular resolution).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the first beam associated with a low-resolution (LR) transmit condition and the second beam associated with a high-resolution (HR) transmit condition, as taught by PEZESHKI et al. in the system of Tidestav et al., so that it would improve beam selection accuracy by using an initial lower-resolution beam to efficiently identify a candidate beam direction before refining the transmission with a higher-resolution beam that provides more precise beamforming while reducing beam training overhead and signaling complexity.
Regarding claim 20, Tidestav et al. teaches a processor for wireless communication, comprising: at least one controller coupled with at least one memory and configured to cause the processor to: transmit a first signal via a first beam and a second signal via a second beam (Paragraphs 29, 35, 42, The passage teaches transmitting signaling on different beams, including first reference signaling on one beam and second measurement signaling on another beam), wherein the second signal is transmitted after the first signal is transmitted (Paragraph 29, The disclosed signaling sequence transmits the first reference signaling before transmitting the second measurement signaling) and the second beam is associated with the HR transmit condition based at least in part on a first response associated with the first signal (Paragraph 29, The network receives a first measurement report responding to the first reference signaling, determines the target beam from that response, and transmits the second signaling using that selected beam), or wherein the first signal is transmitted after the second signal is transmitted and the first beam is associated with the LR transmit condition based at least in part on a second response associated with the second signal, or wherein the first signal and the second signal are transmitted simultaneously, the first beam is associated with the LR transmit condition based at least in part on the second beam being associated with the HR transmit condition or irrespective of whether the second beam is associated with the HR transmit condition.
Tidestav et al. does not explicitly teach the first beam associated with a low-resolution (LR) transmit condition and the second beam associated with a high-resolution (HR) transmit condition.
However, PEZESHKI et al. teaches the first beam associated with a low-resolution (LR) transmit condition and the second beam associated with a high-resolution (HR) transmit condition (Paragraph 162, 166, 168, The passage teaches selecting between conventional codebook beams and oversampled beamforming beams having finer angular resolution).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the first beam associated with a low-resolution (LR) transmit condition and the second beam associated with a high-resolution (HR) transmit condition, as taught by PEZESHKI et al. in the system of Tidestav et al., so that it would improve beam selection accuracy by using an initial lower-resolution beam to efficiently identify a candidate beam direction before refining the transmission with a higher-resolution beam that provides more precise beamforming while reducing beam training overhead and signaling complexity.
Allowable Subject Matter
The claim broadly recites transmitting signals using beams associated with low-resolution and high-resolution transmit conditions, but it does not capture several concepts described as part of the invention's technical contribution. The applicant could consider adding concepts specifying that the LR transmission serves as an initial transmission for obtaining beam-related feedback before transitioning to an HR transmission, that the HR transmit condition is dynamically selected in response to feedback associated with the earlier LR transmission rather than being predetermined, that the LR and HR transmit conditions represent different beamforming resolutions or levels of beam refinement, that the base station adaptively determines whether to perform sequential LR-to-HR transmission, sequential HR-to-LR transmission, or simultaneous LR/HR transmission based on communication conditions or responses, that simultaneous transmission uses the LR beam as a complementary or fallback transmission while the HR beam provides refined directional communication, and that the transmission strategy reduces beam training overhead, improves beam acquisition efficiency, or increases communication reliability by selectively combining LR and HR beam transmissions. Adding concepts that define how the responses are generated or used to update beam selection, how the transmit conditions are determined, or the operational purpose achieved by switching between or jointly transmitting LR and HR beams would further distinguish the invention beyond the current high-level recitation of the transmission order and beam associations.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Xu et al. (US 20200313747 A1)
Lim et al. (US 20200212988 A1)
Bullock (US 20260081635 A1)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW SHAJI KURIAN whose telephone number is (703)756-1878. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-4pm.
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/ANDREW SHAJI KURIAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2464
/RICKY Q NGO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2464
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