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 .
DETAILED OFFICE ACTION
This action is responsive to the communication received on November 7th, 2024. Claims 1-20 have been entered and are presented for examination.
Application 18/940,223 has US Provisional Application 63/596,972 11/08/2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on November 7th, 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-4, 7, 11-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by TSAI et al. (US 2022/0399927).
Regarding claims 1, 12, 17-18 TSAI et al. discloses a method for wireless communication by a wireless multi-link device (MLD) (paragraph 0171 [paragraphs 0171, 0188 [FR1 Frequency region 1 (sub 6 GHz) FR2 Frequency region 2 (mm Wave); UE 241 and UE 242 are communicated on FR1 or FR2 at a time]), comprising: establishing a millimeter wave (mmWave) link and a non-mmWave link with a second wireless MLD (paragraph 0171 [paragraphs 0171, 0188 [FR1 Frequency region 1 (sub 6 GHz) FR2 Frequency region 2 (mm Wave); UE 241 and UE 242 are communicated on FR1 or FR2 at a time]); detecting a beam failure of the mmWave link; transmitting, via the non-mmWave link (paragraph 0173 [when SL communication on FR2 fails due to beam failing, we disclose the following methods to use FR1 to assist FR2 when BFR]), a request frame for a candidate beam training procedure to be initiated by the second wireless MLD (paragraph 0183 [RX UE can trigger beam failure request (BFRQ) and send BFRQ indication to TX UE on frequency range (FR1). The transmitted content of BFRQ may include the component carrier (FR2) failing index, resource pool index (on FR2) with or without reporting candidate beams (i.e. no SL-CSI-RS or other SL-RSs)]); receiving, via the mmWave link, candidate beam training packets from the second wireless MLD (paragraph 0177 [The transmitted content when BF occurs on FR2 may include which component carrier (CC) (e.g. FR2) index, resource pool index (on FR2) with or without new beam indices (e.g. a or multiple SL-CSI-RS(s)). In addition, it may include retransmission and feedback resource on FR2. Once RX UE receives the BFR indication on FR1 then RX UE can monitor the selected resource on FR2 to perform BFR and transmit the feedback back to TX UE on FR2]); transmitting, via the non-mmWave link, beam training feedback information regarding the candidate beam training packets (paragraph 0177 [feedback]); and maintaining the mmWave link or switching to the non-mmWave link based on the beam training feedback information (paragraph 0184 [RX UE may send to higher layer upon expiry of timer T.sub.1 on FR2, then RX UE may make a determination to keep monitoring or terminate this SL]).
Regarding claims 2, 13, 19, TSAI et al. discloses all the recited subject matter in claims 1, 12, 18 and further suggests wherein detecting a beam failure of the mmWave link includes: receiving a plurality of packets from the second wireless MLD over the mmWave link (see Figure 13 [PSSCH decoded multiple times during T1]); comparing a received signal strength of each of the plurality of packets to a predetermined threshold (paragraph 0069 [TX UE may monitor feedback channel PSFCH(s) quality. The measurement may be based on a (pre-)defined metric (e.g., L1-RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, or hypothetical BLER) under a certain (pre-)configured threshold, then TX UE physical layer may report a beam failure indication to higher layer for indicating this link (e.g., link i) failure.]); and determining that consecutive packets of the plurality of packets have a received signal strength that is less than the predetermined threshold (see Figure 13 and paragraph 0069 [PSSCH decoded multiple times during T1; TX UE may monitor feedback channel PSFCH(s) quality. The measurement may be based on a (pre-)defined metric (e.g., L1-RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, or hypothetical BLER) under a certain (pre-)configured threshold, then TX UE physical layer may report a beam failure indication to higher layer for indicating this link (e.g., link i) failure.]).
Regarding claims 3, 14, 20, TSAI discloses all the recited subject matter in claims 1, 12, 18 and further discloses wherein detecting a beam failure of the mmWave link includes: receiving a plurality of packets from the second wireless MLD over the mmWave link (see Figure 13 [PSSCH received]); and determining that consecutive packets of the plurality of packets have a received signal strength, relative to a preceding packet of the plurality of packets, that is less than a predetermined threshold (see Figure 13 and paragraph 0069 [PSSCH decoded multiple times during T1; TX UE may monitor feedback channel PSFCH(s) quality. The measurement may be based on a (pre-)defined metric (e.g., L1-RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, or hypothetical BLER) under a certain (pre-)configured threshold, then TX UE physical layer may report a beam failure indication to higher layer for indicating this link (e.g., link i) failure.]).
Regarding claims 4, 15, TSAI et al. discloses all the recited subject matter of claims 1, 12 and further discloses receiving, via the non-mmWave link, a response frame from the second wireless MLD to confirm the request frame for a candidate beam training procedure (paragraph 0100 [BFRQ feedback; MPEP 2111.04]); receiving, via the non-mmWave link, an announcement frame from the second wireless MLD to initiate the candidate beam training procedure (paragraph 0170-0172 [discovery announcement procedure; For case 2, UE 241 and UE 242 are having (at least) two links, e.g., one link is on FR1 and the other is on FR2. In this case, if one of the links fails, for example, the link on FR2 fails due to beam failing then UE may decide whether to restore the link on FR2 or not. If UE want to restore the link on FR2, then UE may exchange signaling via the link on FR1 to recover the FR2 link if the link on FR1 is still functionable; MPEP 2111.04]); and transmitting, via the non-mmWave link, an acknowledgement frame for the announcement frame (paragraph 0079 [receiving PSFCH ACK/NACK from UE 242]).
Regarding claim 7, TSAI et al. discloses all the recited subject matter of claim 1 and further discloses wherein the beam training feedback information includes at least one of an indication of a Tx beam with a highest received signal strength or a ranking of candidate Tx beams based on received signal strength (paragraph 0093 [RX UE may monitor SL-CSI-RS(s) for candidate beam identification when the measured SL-CSI-RS L1-RSRP exceeds a certain (pre-) configured Q.sub.in,SL. Once a candidate beam is identified, RX UE may report the following to higher layer: 1) SL-CSI-RS configuration indices only, or 2) SL-CSI-RS configuration indices and the corresponding L1-RSRP/RSRQ or SINR measurements to higher layer]).
Regarding claims 11, 16, TSAI et al. discloses all the recited subject matter of claims 1, 12 and further discloses wherein the non-mmWave link comprises a 2.4 GHz link, a 5 GHz link or a 6 GHz link (paragraph 0188 [ Frequency region 1 (sub 6 GHz)]), and wherein the mmWave link comprises a 45 GHz link or a 60 GHz link (paragraph 0188 [inherent; Frequency region 2 (mm Wave)]).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TSAI et al. (US 2022/0399927) in view of Lou et al. (US 2026/0172996).
Regarding claim 6, TSAI et al. discloses all the recited subject matter in claim 2, but does not explicitly disclose wherein the candidate beam training procedure utilizes at least one of: up to a max number of receive (Rx) beams advertised in a mmWave link capabilities element transmitted by the wireless MLD; or up to a max number of transmit (Tx) beams advertised in a mmWave link capabilities element received by the wireless MLD from the second wireless MLD.
However, Lou et al. discloses wherein the candidate beam training procedure utilizes at least one of: up to a max number of receive (Rx) beams advertised in a mmWave link capabilities element transmitted by the wireless MLD; or up to a max number of transmit (Tx) beams advertised in a mmWave link capabilities element received by the wireless MLD from the second wireless MLD (paragraph 0148 [A number of sectors/beams field may be carried in the mmW Capabilities element. This field may indicate the total/maximum number of sectors/beams the STA/AP may use for sector sweep training or total/maximum number of Short Beacon frames in a Short Beacon frame set.]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to recognize the UE could send a message with a mmW Capabilities element to indicate the max number of beams in order to begin beam recovery.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 8-10 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.
The prior art of record does not explicitly disclose or make obvious:
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the announcement frame includes a number of transmit (Tx) beams, and wherein the acknowledgement frame indicates whether Rx beam training is required and, if Rx beam training is required, a number of receive (Rx) beams.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying one or more packets of the candidate beam training packets having a highest received signal strength; comparing the highest received signal strength to a predetermined threshold; and determining that the highest received signal strength is less than the predetermined threshold, wherein the beam training feedback information regarding the candidate beam training packets includes at least one of: a request to switch data transfer from the mmWave link to the non-mmWave link; or a request for a new beam training procedure that includes a sector level sweep procedure.
9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: receiving, over the non-mmWave link, an acknowledgement from the second wireless MLD in response to the beam training feedback information, the acknowledgment including an indication to switch data transfer from the mmWave link to the non-mmWave link.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the request frame for a candidate beam training procedure includes an indication of at least one candidate Tx beam based on a previous beam training report or feedback, the method further comprising: receiving, via the non-mmWave link, a response frame to confirm receipt of the request frame, the response frame including a request for reverse direction candidate beam training; transmitting, via the non-mmWave link, an announcement frame for the reverse direction candidate beam training; and transmitting, via the mmWave link, second candidate beam training packets following receipt of the candidate beam training packets from the second wireless MLD.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER T WYLLIE whose telephone number is (571)270-3937. The examiner can normally be reached 4pm-11:30pm.
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/CHRISTOPHER T WYLLIE/Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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