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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 5, 9, 10, and 16-20 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.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 6-8, 13-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Haija et al. (US 2024/0429971) (“Haija”).
For claims 1 and 14; Haija discloses: receiving first configuration information from a network side device, wherein the first configuration information comprises reference operating state information corresponding to a reference beam (paragraph 191-193: from the measurements received from the UE 1020, the base station 1010 determines a coarse AoD estimation. Based on the coarse AoD estimate, the base station 1010 may determine the phase difference between adjacent RIS elements to allow the RIS 1030 to redirect a signal to the UE 1020. The base station 1010 can then determine a preferred beam to send the RS to be used for the OTA interferometer. The beam may be associated with a particular index value used to identify the beam… the base station 1010 sends to the RIS 1030 configuration information to enable the RIS 1030 to redirect beams in a manner that can be used to implements the OTA interferometer. The RIS configuration information may include one or more of the following types of information: phase shifts at RIS elements (e.g. phase difference between consecutive RIS elements) in different portions, how the RIS is virtually divided into multiple RIS parts (e.g. into two parts); and phases shifts of RIS elements in each of the virtually divided parts for each time slot), the reference beam is a corresponding beam used by the wireless auxiliary device in a reference operating state to forward a signal of a first cell, and the first cell is a serving cell or a neighboring cell corresponding to the wireless auxiliary device (paragraph 194: the base station 1010 sends reference signals in each of multiple time slot that are redirected by the RIS 1030 to the UE 1020); and determining target operating state information of the wireless auxiliary device according to the first configuration information and first parameter information (paragraph 193: base station 1010 sends to the RIS 1030 configuration information…how the RIS is virtually divided into multiple RIS parts), to form a target beam, wherein the target beam is a corresponding beam used by the wireless auxiliary device in a target operating state to forward the signal of the first cell (paragraph 196: the base station 1010, or the network, determines the phase difference between the reference signals based on the UE feedback received in step 1075. The phase difference information determined by the base station 1010 may then be used to determine a more accurate AoA for the RIS 1030 that results in an AoD at the RIS 1030 that provides a stronger signal arriving at the UE 1020. The phase difference information may be used to generate new updated RIS configuration information).
For claims 2; Haija discloses: determining mask information according to the first parameter information (paragraph 193: base station 1010 sends to the RIS 1030 configuration information…how the RIS is virtually divided into multiple RIS parts), wherein each element in the mask information corresponds to each hardware unit or hardware unit group in the wireless auxiliary device, the hardware unit group is an m*n hardware unit matrix, and m and n are positive integers; and determining the target operating state information of the wireless auxiliary device according to the reference operating state information of the wireless auxiliary device and the mask information (paragraph 193, 196: base station 1010 sends to the RIS 1030 configuration information…how the RIS is virtually divided into multiple RIS parts…The phase difference information determined by the base station 1010 may then be used to determine a more accurate AoA for the RIS 1030 that results in an AoD at the RIS 1030 that provides a stronger signal arriving at the UE 1020. The phase difference information may be used to generate new updated RIS configuration information).
For claims 3; Haija discloses: wherein the first parameter information comprises at least one of the following: the mask information; L mask patterns, wherein the mask pattern is an m*n mask sequence or mask matrix, the L mask patterns are selected from a mask pattern candidate set, the mask pattern candidate set is explicitly configured by the network side device or is predefined by a protocol or the wireless auxiliary device, and L is a positive integer; percentages of the L mask patterns in the mask information; or a target condition of the target beam (paragraph 193: base station 1010 sends to the RIS 1030 configuration information…how the RIS is virtually divided into multiple RIS parts).
For claims 6; Haija discloses: wherein before the determining mask information according to the first parameter information, the beam control method further comprises: receiving all or a part of the first parameter information from the network side device (paragraph 193: base station 1010 sends to the RIS 1030 configuration information…how the RIS is virtually divided into multiple RIS parts).
For claims 7; Haija discloses: wherein the mask information comprises at least one of the following: R-bit information corresponding to discrete phase control, wherein R is a positive integer; or a real number corresponding to continuous phase control (paragraph 84, 197: Different RIS panels may be designed with different types of phase adjusting capabilities that range from continuous phase control to discrete control with multiple levels… the base station 1010, or the network, sends the new updated RIS configuration information to the RIS 1030 that may be used to update AoD information or the phase difference between two RIS elements at RIS 1030 resulting in a more accurate redirection of the signal towards the UE).
For claims 8; Haija discloses: wherein the target operating state information of the wireless auxiliary device comprises a target state corresponding to each hardware unit i in the wireless auxiliary device, and the target state corresponding to the hardware unit i is obtained through calculation according to a reference state of the hardware unit i in the reference operating state information and mask information corresponding to the hardware unit i in the mask information (paragraph 193, 196: base station 1010 sends to the RIS 1030 configuration information…how the RIS is virtually divided into multiple RIS parts…The phase difference information determined by the base station 1010 may then be used to determine a more accurate AoA for the RIS 1030 that results in an AoD at the RIS 1030 that provides a stronger signal arriving at the UE 1020. The phase difference information may be used to generate new updated RIS configuration information) (paragraph 193: base station 1010 sends to the RIS 1030 configuration information…how the RIS is virtually divided into multiple RIS parts) (paragraph 84, 197: Different RIS panels may be designed with different types of phase adjusting capabilities that range from continuous phase control to discrete control with multiple levels… the base station 1010, or the network, sends the new updated RIS configuration information to the RIS 1030 that may be used to update AoD information or the phase difference between two RIS elements at RIS 1030 resulting in a more accurate redirection of the signal towards the UE).
For claims 13; Haija discloses: wherein the wireless auxiliary device is a reconfigurable intelligent surface device (paragraph 193, 196: base station 1010 sends to the RIS 1030 configuration information…how the RIS is virtually divided into multiple RIS parts…The phase difference information determined by the base station 1010 may then be used to determine a more accurate AoA for the RIS 1030 that results in an AoD at the RIS 1030 that provides a stronger signal arriving at the UE 1020. The phase difference information may be used to generate new updated RIS configuration information).
For claims 15; Haija discloses: sending all or a part of first parameter information to the wireless auxiliary device (paragraph 193: base station 1010 sends to the RIS 1030 configuration information…how the RIS is virtually divided into multiple RIS parts), wherein the first parameter information is used to enable the wireless auxiliary device to determine target operating state information, and the first parameter information comprises at least one of the following: mask information, wherein each element in the mask information corresponds to each hardware unit or hardware unit group in the wireless auxiliary device, the hardware unit group is an m*n hardware unit matrix, and m and n are positive integers; L mask patterns, wherein the mask pattern is an m*n mask sequence or mask matrix, and L, m, and n are positive integers; percentages of the L mask patterns in the mask information; or a target condition of a target beam (paragraph 193, 196: base station 1010 sends to the RIS 1030 configuration information…how the RIS is virtually divided into multiple RIS parts…The phase difference information determined by the base station 1010 may then be used to determine a more accurate AoA for the RIS 1030 that results in an AoD at the RIS 1030 that provides a stronger signal arriving at the UE 1020. The phase difference information may be used to generate new updated RIS configuration information).
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.
Claim(s) 11 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Haija in view of Sahraei et al. (US 2026/0163609) (“Sahraei”).
For claim 11; Haija discloses the subject matter in claim 1 as described above in the office action.
Haija does not expressly disclose, but Sahraei from similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein before the receiving first configuration information from a network side device, the beam control method further comprises: receiving second configuration information from the network side device, wherein the second configuration information is used to configure, for the wireless auxiliary device, a related parameter for performing wireless auxiliary device-based beam sweeping, and a measurement result of the beam sweeping is used to determine the reference beam, wherein the second configuration information comprises at least one of the following: candidate beam information of the wireless auxiliary device; or configuration information of a to-be-measured reference signal of the first cell (paragraph 129: the base station 105-a may use beam sweeping techniques to identify a beam for communication between the base station and the UEs 115. With respect to the UE 115-b, during beam-sweeping, the base station 105-a may transmit a set of reference signals associated with one or more beams (e.g., beams 205-a and 205-b) directed toward the RIS 225, and the RIS 225 may perform beam sweeping). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the beam optimization as described by Sahraei in the RIS system as described by Haija. The motivation is to improve beamforming from the RIS.
For claim 12; Haija discloses the subject matter in claim 11 as described above in the office action.
Haija does not expressly disclose, but Sahraei from similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the candidate beam information of the wireless auxiliary device comprises at least one of the following: a set of candidate beams; execution time of each candidate beam and execution time of state switching of each candidate beam; or control information, of the wireless auxiliary device, corresponding to each candidate beam; or wherein the configuration information of the to-be-measured reference signal of the first cell comprises at least one of the following: an identifier of the first cell; a port number of the to-be-measured reference signal; beam configuration information of the to-be-measured reference signal; or time-frequency resource configuration information of the to-be-measured reference signal (paragraph 156-158: the base station 105-f may also transmit a message to the UE 115-i and the RIS 225-e indicating a set of SSB indices, and each of the reference signals may be a respective SSB associated with a respective SSB index). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the beam optimization as described by Sahraei in the RIS system as described by Haija. The motivation is to improve beamforming from the RIS.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Takahashi et al. (US 2025/0039685); Takahashi discloses a plurality of CSI-RSs may be allocated for the RIS, and the RIS may perform reflection or re-radiation by using a plurality of narrow beams. When connecting to the base station 10, the RIS may report at least one of the transmission pattern, reflection pattern, or the number of beams of the RIS itself to the base station 10 as a capability. The base station 10 may allocate the CSI-RSs, based on the report of the RIS.
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/JOHN D BLANTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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