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 .
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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.
Claims 1, 4-5, 7-9, 11, 14-15, and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Berliner et al. (Patent No: US 2022/0330102 A1), hereinafter, Berliner, in view of DEES et al. (Patent No: US 2026/0147089 A1), hereinafter DEES, and further in view of Torsner et al. (Patent No: US 2019/0261193 A1), hereinafter, Torsner.
Regarding Claim 1, Berliner teaches,
A method, performed by a first base station (BS), for beam management in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: -Fig. 5; Paragraph [0100] (Fig. 5 shows beam management method at the BS using sensor data in wireless communication system between base station (105-d, e) and UE (115-b). [0101] recites, “FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a process flow 500 that supports sensor-based determination of a provisioned route beam list in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In some examples, the process flow 500 may implement aspects of a wireless communications system 100, a wireless communications system 200, a wireless communications system 300, or a wireless communications system 400 as described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 4. The process flow 500 may include a UE 115-b and base stations 105-d and 105-e, which may be examples of a UE and base stations as described with respect to FIGS. 1 through 4”)
detecting at least one first object including at least one user equipment (UE); -Paragraph [0089] ([0089] recites, “The base station 105-c may be equipped with one or more sensors 325 that are capable of detecting UEs 315 (e.g., such as the UEs 315-a and 315-b)”)
transmitting, to a second BS, a first message including sensing information about the at least one first object; -Fig. 2; -Paragraph [0076, 0083] ([0076] recites, “..The first base station 105 may determine a predicted route for a UE 115 based on obtained sensor measurements. The first base station 105 may determine, for each set of communication beams (e.g., transmit beams, receive beams, or both) associated with a provisioned base station 105 along the predicted route, a subset of relevant beams based on the obtained sensor measurements. The first base station 105 may generate the provisioned route beam list based on each subset of beams and transmit one or more messages including the provisioned route beam list (e.g., for a specific base station 105 or for multiple base stations 105) to the provisioned base stations 105 along the predicted route.”)
estimating a location of the identified at least one UE; -Paragraph [0089] ([0089] recites, “In some examples, a sensor 325 may include any combination of sensing equipment, among other examples, where equipment that serves similar purposes (e.g., redundant equipment) and is included in the sensor 325 may be used to refine a position estimate, velocity estimate, or both for the UEs 315.”)
determining a beamforming vector based on the estimated location; -Paragraph [0038, 0069] ([0038] recites, “…The provisioned base station may perform beamforming procedures, including a beam sweep procedure to determine a set of beams for communications with a UE, using the subset of beams included in the provisioned route beam list. Based on the beamforming procedures, the provisioned base station may select a beam from the subset of beams included in the provisioned route beam list to use to communicate with the UE. In some cases, the predicted route and the provisioned beam list may correspond to a specific UE.” [0069] recites, “A base station 105 may have an antenna array with a number of rows and columns of antenna ports that the base station 105 may use to support beamforming of communications with a UE 115.”)
and transmitting data, to the at least one UE, based on the determined beamforming vector. -Paragraph [0072] ([0072] recites, “A base station 105 or a UE 115 may use beam sweeping techniques as part of beam forming operations. For example, a base station 105 may use multiple antennas or antenna arrays (e.g., antenna panels) to conduct beamforming operations for directional communications with a UE 115. Some signals (e.g., synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) may be transmitted by a base station 105 multiple times in different directions. For example, the base station 105 may transmit a signal according to different beamforming weight sets associated with different directions of transmission. Transmissions in different beam directions may be used to identify (e.g., by a transmitting device, such as a base station 105, or by a receiving device, such as a UE 115) a beam direction for later transmission or reception by the base station 105.”)
Although implicit, Berliner does not explicitly mention,
receiving, as a response to the first message, from the second BS, a second message including sensing information about at least one second object; Identifying the at least one UE based on the at least one first object and the at least one second object;
However, in an analogous invention, DEES teaches,
receiving, as a response to the first message, from the second BS, a second message including sensing information about at least one second object; --Paragraph [0188-0189, 0437] ([0188-0189] recites, “The sensor (S.sub.A) 12 of first device (A) 10 collects measured data D.sub.MA, which may contain data on one or more objects (O) 60. Device (A) 10 may transmit this data to the second device (B) 20 or to the wireless network (e.g., to an object matching service)…. The sensor (SB) 22 of the second device (B) 20 collects measured data D.sub.MB , which may contain data on one or more objects (e.g., including e.g. the one of more objects 60). Device (B) 20 may transmit this data to the first device (A) 10 or to the wireless network (e.g., to an object matching service). In addition to the data, device (B) 20 may transmit information about a field of view (FoV) of the sensor 22, capabilities of the sensor 22 (e.g. sensing modality, resolution), a heading of the sensor 22 and/or a 3D position of the sensor 22 or the second device 20 to the first device (A) 10 or to the wireless network.” [0437] recites, “a cooperative sensing procedure is described in FIG. 15. In this procedure, at least two sensing devices 0501 and 0502, e.g., two base stations or two UEs or a base station and a UE, are involved in the wireless sensing of a target 0500…”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “SENSOR-BASED DETERMINATION OF A PROVISIONED ROUTE BEAM LIST” proposed by Berliner to include the concept of “receiving, as a response to the first message, from the second BS, a second message including sensing information about at least one second object;” of DEES. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the identification of objects for sensing related services [0012].
Although implicit, Berliner and DEES combination do not explicitly mention,
Identifying the at least one UE based on the at least one first object and the at least one second object;
However, in an analogous invention, Torsner teaches,
Identifying the at least one UE based on the at least one first object and the at least one second object; -Fig. 3; Paragraph [0087] ([0087] recites, “FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating yet another example of a wireless communication system in which a change in radio propagation characteristics between a network node and a user device can be predicted based on image information from one or more image sensors according to an embodiment. In this example, it can be appreciated that the presence of one or more obstacles 125 such as vehicles and/or buildings can change the radio propagation conditions and/or characteristics between a network node 110 and a user device 120. It is also possible that movement of the user device 120 may change the radio propagation characteristics. Such changes may be predicted based on using image information obtained from one or more image sensors 115 monitoring the relevant area. By way of example, the image information may be used to estimate relative movement between a user device 120 and at least one obstacle 125 and/or relative movement between a user device 120 and a network node 110.” As described above UE is identified from the sensor data of first and second objects from first and second base station as shown in Fig. 3)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “SENSOR-BASED DETERMINATION OF A PROVISIONED ROUTE BEAM LIST” proposed by Berliner to include the concept of “Identifying the at least one UE based on the at least one first object and the at least one second object;” of Torsner. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve radio resource management [0021].
Regarding Claim 4, Berliner, DEES and Torsner teach the limitations of Claim 1.
Berliner further teaches,
The method of claim 1, further comprising: in case that there is no at least one second object mapped to the at least one first object, determining the beamforming vector based on the sensing information about the at least one first object. -Paragraph [0038, 0072, 0080] ([0080] recites, “The base station 105-a may be equipped with one or more sensors 225, such as a camera assistance sensor, a radar support sensor, a positioning system sensor, or any combination of these or other similar sensors. The base station 105-a may obtain sensor measurements from sensors 225, indicating information such as traffic flow, pedestrian traffic, geographic information (e.g., location of roads, crosswalks, buildings), or any other information related to sensor measurements, the proximate environment, UE interactions, or a combination thereof.” [0038] recites, “…The provisioned base station may perform beamforming procedures, including a beam sweep procedure to determine a set of beams for communications with a UE, using the subset of beams included in the provisioned route beam list. Based on the beamforming procedures, the provisioned base station may select a beam from the subset of beams included in the provisioned route beam list to use to communicate with the UE. In some cases, the predicted route and the provisioned beam list may correspond to a specific UE.” [0072] recites, “..the base station 105 may transmit a signal according to different beamforming weight sets (vector) associated with different directions of transmission. Transmissions in different beam directions may be used to identify (e.g., by a transmitting device, such as a base station 105, or by a receiving device, such as a UE 115) a beam direction for later transmission or reception by the base station 105..”)
Regarding Claim 5, Berliner, DEES and Torsner teach the limitations of Claim 1.
Berliner further teaches,
The method of claim 1, further comprising: in case that the at least one first object is not detected for the at least one UE, determining the beamforming vector based on at least one channel state estimation signal. -Paragraph [0074, 0076] ([0076] recites, “The wireless communications system 100 may support techniques for determining a provisioned route beam list based on sensor measurements obtained at a first base station 105. The first base station 105 may determine a predicted route for a UE 115 based on obtained sensor measurements. The first base station 105 may determine, for each set of communication beams (e.g., transmit beams, receive beams, or both) associated with a provisioned base station 105 along the predicted route, a subset of relevant beams based on the obtained sensor measurements. “ [0074] recites, “The UE 115 may report feedback that indicates precoding weights for one or more beam directions, and the feedback may correspond to a configured number of beams across a system bandwidth or one or more sub-bands. The base station 105 may transmit a reference signal (e.g., a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS)), which may be precoded or unprecoded. The UE 115 may provide feedback for beam selection, which may be a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) or codebook-based feedback (e.g., a multi-panel type codebook, a linear combination type codebook, a port selection type codebook). Although these techniques are described with reference to signals transmitted in one or more directions by a base station 105, a UE 115 may employ similar techniques for transmitting signals multiple times in different directions (e.g., for identifying a beam direction for subsequent transmission or reception by the UE 115) or for transmitting a signal in a single direction (e.g., for transmitting data to a receiving device).” As described above beam forming can be done from sensing data, Channel state signal feedback from the UE or a combination of two. Therefore, in the case of sensor data not available, beamforming is done by feedback of Channel State signal by the UE.)
Regarding Claim 7, Berliner, DEES and Torsner teach the limitations of Claim 1.
Although implicit, Berliner does not explicitly mention,
The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the at least one UE comprises: obtaining visual feature information of the at least one first object and the at least one second object; determining a visual similarity based on the visual feature information; and mapping the at least one first object and the at least one second object based on the visual similarity.
However, in an analogous invention, DEES teaches,
The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the at least one UE comprises: obtaining visual feature information of the at least one first object and the at least one second object; determining a visual similarity based on the visual feature information; and mapping the at least one first object and the at least one second object based on the visual similarity.-Fig. 4; Paragraph [0187-192, 0232] ([0187-0192]recites, “A process is described for matching objects described by data of one given data type and collected by one given device with objects described by data of a different given data type collected by a different device…. The sensor (S.sub.A) 12 of first device (A) 10 collects measured data D.sub.MA, which may contain data on one or more objects (O) 60. Device (A) 10 may transmit this data to the second device (B) 20 or to the wireless network (e.g., to an object matching service)…The sensor (SB) 22 of the second device (B) 20 collects measured data D.sub.MB , which may contain data on one or more objects (e.g., including e.g. the one of more objects 60). Device (B) 20 may transmit this data to the first device (A) 10 or to the wireless network (e.g., to an object matching service). Finally, the matching algorithm (MA) 50 compares each segment of the synthetic data D.sub.S to each segment of the segmented measured data D.sub.MBS and may output a binary matching outcome for each segment (i.e., whether they match or not), as well as an optional matching confidence.” [0232] recites,” The measurement data D.sub.MA of the first device 10 may be a sequence of photographs or a video from multiple angles of the asset (if the sensor 12 is a camera), and/or a set of lidar measurements taken from multiple angles of the asset (if the sensor 12 is a lidar) and/or other measurements of other sensors.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “SENSOR-BASED DETERMINATION OF A PROVISIONED ROUTE BEAM LIST” proposed by Berliner to include the concept of “obtaining visual feature information of the at least one first object and the at least one second object; determining a visual similarity based on the visual feature information; and mapping the at least one first object and the at least one second object based on the visual similarity.” of DEES. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the identification of objects for sensing related services [0012].
Regarding Claim 8, Berliner, DEES and Torsner teach the limitations of Claim 1.
Although implicit, Berliner does not explicitly mention,
The method of claim 1, wherein estimating the location of the identified at least one UE comprises: obtaining a first directional vector based on the first BS and the at least one first object; obtaining a second directional vector based on the second BS and the at least one second object; and obtaining coordinates of the at least one UE based on the first directional vector and the second directional vector.
However, in an analogous invention, DEES teaches,
The method of claim 1, wherein estimating the location of the identified at least one UE comprises: obtaining a first directional vector based on the first BS and the at least one first object; obtaining a second directional vector based on the second BS and the at least one second object; -Paragraph [0168, 0188-0189] ([0168] recites, “A viewpoint (or point of view) is a position in a reference coordinate system from which an object or target area/volume is sensed. Together with the field of view of a sensor being used to sense a target object or target area/volume, and the heading of the sensor (e.g. direction/orientation/angle of the field of view the sensor, or viewing angle), it determines how an object or area is sensed (e.g. which parts of the surface of an object can be captures/sensed by the respective sensor and under which angle).” [0188-0189] recites, “The sensor (S.sub.A) 12 of first device (A) 10 collects measured data D.sub.MA, which may contain data on one or more objects (O) 60…. In addition to the data, device (A) 10 may transmit information about a field of view (FoV) of the sensor 12, capabilities of the sensor 12 (e.g. sensing modality, resolution), a heading of the sensor 12 and/or a 3D position of the sensor 12 or the first device 10 to the second device (B) 20 or to the wireless network…. Device (B) 20 may transmit this data to the first device (A) 10 or to the wireless network (e.g., to an object matching service). In addition to the data, device (B) 20 may transmit information about a field of view (FoV) of the sensor 22”)
and obtaining coordinates of the at least one UE based on the first directional vector and the second directional vector. -Paragraph [0265] ([0265] recites, “…the location of a target and of the first sensing device may be specified as an absolute position (e.g. geographical coordinates) or relative position (e.g. distance/angle from the receiver or other reference device or reference coordinate) or as an area/volume (e.g. an area/volume in which the target is expected to reside or in which it appears to be with minor fluctuations..”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “SENSOR-BASED DETERMINATION OF A PROVISIONED ROUTE BEAM LIST” proposed by Berliner to include the concept of “obtaining a first directional vector based on the first BS and the at least one first object; obtaining a second directional vector based on the second BS and the at least one second object;” of DEES. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the identification of objects for sensing related services [0012].
Regarding Claim 9, Berliner, DEES, Torsner teach the limitations of Claim 7.
Although implicit, Berliner does not explicitly mention,
The method of claim 7, further comprising: transmitting, to the second BS, information about mapping the at least one first object and the at least one second object; and receiving, from the second BS, sensing information based on the information about the mapping.
However, in an analogous invention DEES teaches,
The method of claim 7, further comprising: transmitting, to the second BS, information about mapping the at least one first object and the at least one second object; - Fig. 15; Paragraph [0188, 0437-0438] ([0437-0438] recites, “at least two sensing devices 0501 and 0502, e.g., two base stations or two UEs or a base station and a UE, are involved in the wireless sensing of a target 0500, e.g., a moving target, e.g., a car, a vehicle mounted relay, a UAV, or a person, that moves from a first location 0503 to a second location 0504 and then to a third location 0505…. allows a sensing device to create and maintain its map of its sensing area or sensing volume…. The creation of this map can be done, e.g., by configuring the sensing device or SF with a map based on the known environment (e.g., buildings in a city) and location of the sensing device (e.g., gNB)…” [0188] recites, “The sensor (S.sub.A) 12 of first device (A) 10 collects measured data D.sub.MA, which may contain data on one or more objects (O) 60. Device (A) 10 may transmit this data to the second device (B) 20 or to the wireless network” As described above the two sensing devices can be two base stations and the first base station is transmitting sensing and mapping data about an object (e.g., UE) to the second base station)
and receiving, from the second BS, sensing information based on the information about the mapping. -Paragraph [0189] ([0189] recites, “The sensor (SB) 22 of the second device (B) 20 collects measured data D.sub.MB , which may contain data on one or more objects (e.g., including e.g. the one of more objects 60). Device (B) 20 may transmit this data to the first device (A) 10 or to the wireless network (e.g., to an object matching service). “)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “SENSOR-BASED DETERMINATION OF A PROVISIONED ROUTE BEAM LIST” proposed by Berliner to include the concept of “transmitting, to the second BS, information about mapping the at least one first object and the at least one second object; and receiving, from the second BS, sensing information based on the information about the mapping.” of DEES. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the identification of objects for sensing related services [0012].
Claim 11 is the apparatus claim corresponding to method claim 1. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 1 above which is rejected. Claim 11 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 1.
Berliner further teaches,
A first base station (BS) for managing beams based on sensing information in a wireless communication system, the first BS comprising: a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: -Fig. 6; Paragraph [0005, 0112] ([0005] recites, “An apparatus for wireless communications at a first base station is described. The apparatus may include a processor, memory coupled with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to obtain a sensor measurement using one or more sensors at the first base station, generate a list of communication beams associated with a cell based on the sensor measurement,” [0112] recites, “FIG. 6 shows a block diagram 600 of a device 605 that supports sensor-based determination of a provisioned route beam list in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The device 605 may be an example of aspects of a base station 105 as described herein. The device 605 may include a receiver 610, a transmitter 615, and a communications manager 620. The device 605 may also include a processor. Each of these components may be in communication with one another (e.g., via one or more buses).”)
Claim 14 is essentially the same as Claim 4 and the only difference is claim 14 is derived from claim 11, whereas claim 4 is derived from claim 1. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 4 above which is rejected. Claim 14 is rejected under the same rational as claim 4.
Claim 15 is the apparatus claim corresponding to method claim 5. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 5 above which is rejected. Claim 15 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 5.
Claim 17 is the apparatus claim corresponding to method claim 7. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 7 above which is rejected. Claim 17 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 7.
Claim 18 is the apparatus claim corresponding to method claim 8. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 8 above which is rejected. Claim 18 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 8.
Claim 19 is the apparatus claim corresponding to method claim 9. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 9 above which is rejected. Claim 19 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 9.
Claims 2-3, 10, 12-13, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Berliner in view of DEES, Torsner and further in view of KARJALAINEN et al. (Patent No: US 2021/0281297 A1), hereinafter, KARJALAINEN.
Regarding Claim 2, Berliner, DEES and Torsner teach the limitations of Claim 1.
Berliner further teaches,
The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, to the at least one UE, at least one synchronization signal; -Paragraph [0072] ([0072] recites, “a base station 105 may use multiple antennas or antenna arrays (e.g., antenna panels) to conduct beamforming operations for directional communications with a UE 115. Some signals (e.g., synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) may be transmitted by a base station 105…”)
Although implicit, Berliner does not explicitly mention,
and receiving, from the at least one UE, feedback information including at least one of information about an index of a synchronization signal having a maximum received power intensity among the at least one synchronization signal or information about the received power intensity.
However, in an analogous invention, KARJALAINEN teaches,
and receiving, from the at least one UE, feedback information including at least one of information about an index of a synchronization signal having a maximum received power intensity among the at least one synchronization signal or information about the received power intensity. -Paragraph [0028-0029] ([0028-0029] recites, “As shown, beam group measurements are performed at the UE from antenna ports associated with a configured RS, for example a configured BRS. In this example the first illustrated subframe is reserved for beam measurement by the UE and is referred to herein as a DL sweeping subframe 202. In this example each and every OFDM symbol in the DL sweeping subframe 202 carries the secondary synchronization signal (SSS), the primary synchronization signal (PSS), the extended synchronization signal (ESS)…..After the sweeping subframe 202 (or 202 and 204 if both DL and UL sweeping subframes are used in a given deployment), the mobile device sends its feedback report via uplink control signaling, such as for example an xPUCCH. This feedback report gives up to P different beam groups with the N-best logical beam indices (best matches within the group per UE beam) in conjunction with N-best RSRP/RSRQ levels in each group, For convenience the subframe in which the UE sends its feedback report is termed a feedback subframe 204…”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “SENSOR-BASED DETERMINATION OF A PROVISIONED ROUTE BEAM LIST” proposed by Berliner to include the concept of “and receiving, from the at least one UE, feedback information including at least one of information about an index of a synchronization signal having a maximum received power intensity among the at least one synchronization signal or information about the received power intensity” of KARJALAINEN. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the link budget [0004].
Regarding Claim 3, Berliner, DEES, Torsner and KARJALAINEN teach the limitations of Claim 2.
Although implicit, Berliner does not explicitly mention,
The method of claim 2, further comprising: in case that the index of the synchronization signal having the maximum received power intensity is identical for all the at least one UE, distinguishing the at least one UE by using at least one of the information about the received power intensity or the sensing information about the at least one second object.
However, in an analogous invention, Torsner teaches,
The method of claim 2, further comprising: in case that the index of the synchronization signal having the maximum received power intensity is identical for all the at least one UE, -Fig. 3; Paragraph [0087, 0142] ([0142] recites, “in order to perform an RRM decision e.g., scheduling, CA/DC setup, handover or a CoMP configuration in a beam based system such as NR, reference signals for measurements are transmitted in the target cell in a number of beams, such that the user equipment can detect them and indicate to the network which beam it should be served with. By using information extracted from the camera/image sensor, the transmission of the mobility reference signals can be optimized both in terms of transmission frequency and in which beams they are transmitted. This would ensure a fast RRM decision with a limited amount of reference signals needed to be transmitted. Here, the mobility reference signals may refer to SS/CSI-RS signals and measurements may refer to RSRP, RSRQ, and CSI.” As shown in Fig. 3 beams can be from different non-collocated nodes and there is no restriction on the received power intensity (RSRP) and depends on the propagation paths.)
distinguishing the at least one UE by using at least one of the information about the received power intensity or the sensing information about the at least one second object. -Fig. 3; Paragraph [0087] ([0087] recites,”…In this example, it can be appreciated that the presence of one or more obstacles 125 such as vehicles and/or buildings can change the radio propagation conditions and/or characteristics between a network node 110 and a user device 120. It is also possible that movement of the user device 120 may change the radio propagation characteristics. Such changes may be predicted based on using image information obtained from one or more image sensors 115 monitoring the relevant area…”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “SENSOR-BASED DETERMINATION OF A PROVISIONED ROUTE BEAM LIST” proposed by Berliner to include the concept of “in case that the index of the synchronization signal having the maximum received power intensity is identical for all the at least one UE, distinguishing the at least one UE by using at least one of the information about the received power intensity or the sensing information about the at least one second object.” of Torsner. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve radio resource management [0021].
Regarding Claim 10, Berliner, DEES, Torsner and KARJALAINEN teach the limitations of Claim 2.
Berliner further teaches,
The method of claim 2, further comprising: selecting the second BS based on at least one of the sensing information about the at least one first object or the feedback information.-Paragraph [0004] ([0004] recites, “The method may include obtaining a sensor measurement using one or more sensors at the first base station, generating a list of communication beams associated with a cell based on the sensor measurement, the cell being configured with a set of communication beams and the list of communication beams indicating a subset of the set of communication beams for the cell, and transmitting, to a second base station serving the cell, a message including the list of communication beams and a cell identifier for the cell.” )
Claim 12 is essentially the same as Claim 2 and the only difference is claim 12 is derived from claim 11, whereas claim 2 is derived from claim 1. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 2 above which is rejected. Claim 12 is rejected under the same rational as claim 2.
Claim 13 is essentially the same as Claim 3 and the only difference is claim 13 is derived from claim 12, whereas claim 3 is derived from claim 2. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 3 above which is rejected. Claim 12 is rejected under the same rational as claim 3.
Claim 20 is essentially the same as Claim 10 and the only difference is claim 20 is derived from claim 12, whereas claim 10 is derived from claim 2. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 10 above which is rejected. Claim 20 is rejected under the same rational as claim 10.
Claims 6, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Berliner in view of DEES, Torsner and further in view of ALKHATEEB et al. (Patent No: US 2023/0123472 A1), hereinafter, ALKHATEEB.
Regarding Claim 6, Berliner, DEES and Torsner teach the limitations of Claim 1.
Although implicit, Berliner does not explicitly mention,
The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting of the at least one first object comprises: obtaining a first image captured by the first BS; and obtaining at least one bounding box for the at least one first object in the first image.
However, in an analogous invention, ALKHATEEB teaches,
The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting of the at least one first object comprises: obtaining a first image captured by the first BS; -Fig. 2; Paragraph [0063-0065] (Fig. 2 shows network node base station with sensor (camera) to capture image of surrounding objects. [0063-0065] recites, “FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary vision-aided network node 14 in an environment 10 according to embodiments described herein… A network is trained to directly predict the beam index while the other predicts the user existence (detection) which is then converted to blockage prediction (e.g., using additional data, such as a sub-6 GHz channel)….The idea of predicting the best beamforming vector from a codebook using an image has a strong analogy with image classification. The beam vectors divide the scene (spatial dimensions) into multiple sectors, and the goal of the system is to identify to which sector a user belongs. Assigning images to classes labeled by beam indices can be readily accomplished in LOS situations, as this relies on knowledge of the user's location in the scene.”)
and obtaining at least one bounding box for the at least one first object in the first image. -Fig. 5; Paragraph [0076, 0079] ( [0076] recites, “The neural network architecture includes three main components: object detection, bounding box extraction and beam embedding, and recurrent prediction.” [0079] recites, “Since the prediction in YOLOv3 is performed using a convolutional layer consisting of 1×1 filters, the output of the network is a feature map consisting of the bounding box co-ordinates, the objectness score, and the class prediction. The list of bounding box co-ordinates consists of top-left co-ordinates and the height and width of the bounding box. Embodiments compute the center co-ordinates of each of the bounding boxes from the top-left and the height and the width of the box.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “SENSOR-BASED DETERMINATION OF A PROVISIONED ROUTE BEAM LIST” proposed by Berliner to include the concept of “detecting of the at least one first object comprises: obtaining a first image captured by the first BS; and obtaining at least one bounding box for the at least one first object in the first image.” of ALKHATEEB. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve beam selection and blockage prediction [Abstract].
Claim 16 is the apparatus claim corresponding to method claim 6. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 6 above which is rejected. Claim 16 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 6.
Conclusion
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/AHMED SAIFUDDIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2475
/KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475
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