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
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.
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 non-obviousness.
Claims 1, 12m and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wan et al. (US 2010/0120441 A1) in view of Hiltunen et al. (US. 2007/0249340 A1)
Regarding claim 1, Wan discloses a method for dynamically reconfiguring a radio unit (RU) coupled to a cellular network, “a radio unit (RU) coupled to a cellular site of a cellular network” - Wan teaches in paragraph [0034] that the antenna array may be “arranged at an antenna site in an antenna tower”' and may be associated with “a Radio Remote Unit (RRU)”. This provides the claimed RRU and cellular-site environment, the method comprising:.
“initially deploying the RU with a default configuration having a plurality of radio frequency (RF) paths coupling the RU to a multi-port antenna that serves a particular sector of a cell” - Wan states in paragraph [0034] that “The antenna array 120 is deployed with a first sectorization”. Paragraph [0038] states that “The antenna elements 201-208 are arranged for a geographical coverage of a first sector” and that “the antenna array 120 serves a cell 150”. Paragraph [0039] further states that “The network node 130 comprises a first number n of signal connections” and that the connections "may be connected to the number n of antenna elements of the antenna array 120." The signal connections correspond to the RF paths, and the multiple antenna elements provide the closest teaching of a multi-port antenna, and .
“reconfiguring the RU by splitting the RU into a plurality of logical sub-sectors” – ( paragraph [0055] that “The first step of the method is for the network node 130 to perform splitting of the first number n of connections into a number k of groups. Each one of the respective connection groups corresponds to one respective virtual sector”. Paragraph [0058] further states that “The eight connections 301-308 are split into two groups 321 and 322” and that the original sector "may be split into two virtual sectors 411, 412")
“each logical sub-sector of the RU having a respective subset of the plurality of RF paths coupled to a respective subset of ports of the multi-port antenna” – (paragraph [0058] states that “The first connection group 321 may comprise the four connections 311-314 and the second connection group 322 may comprise the four connections 315-318.” Paragraph [0074] explains that the first virtual sector uses antenna elements 201-204, while the second virtual sector uses antenna elements 205-208. This teaches separate subsets of signal connections and antenna elements for the respective virtual sectors.
Wan fails to explicitly teach that the reconfiguring of the RU by splitting the RU into a plurality of logical sub-sectors is due detecting an increased demand for capacity within a particular sector.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Hiltunen discloses a method for controlling resources in a cellular network in which upon detecting increased demand for capacity within a particular sector ([0018] increasing or decreasing the sizes of cells in response to monitored demand levels), reconfiguring the RU by splitting the RU into a plurality of logical sub-sectors ([0011] increased or decreased by combining and/or splitting existing cells, [0018]), each logical sub-sector of the RU having a respective subset of the plurality of RF paths coupled to a respective subset of ports of the multi-port antenna ([0011], [0042] sub-area selection is changed dynamically throughout the active connection, and new sub-areas are added and old ones removed or replaced with new ones).
It would therefore have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Hiltunen’s dynamic service-based splitting of logical cells method with Wan’s sectorization system for the benefit of improving network or system capacity and coverage when required as network traffic changes as taught by Hiltunen.
Regarding claims 12 and 19, Wan discloses a system to facilitate dynamically reconfiguring “a radio unit (RU) coupled to a cellular site of a cellular network” - Wan teaches in paragraph [0034] that the antenna array may be “arranged at an antenna site in an antenna tower”' and may be associated with “a Radio Remote Unit (RRU)”. This provides the claimed RRU and cellular-site environment, the system comprising:
one or more processing devices; and memory (one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media) communicatively coupled with and readable by the one or more processing devices and having stored therein processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processing devices, cause the one or more processing devices to perform operations (inherent features of Network node 130 and base station 140, Fig. 3) comprising:
“initially deploying the RU with a default configuration having a plurality of radio frequency (RF) paths coupling the RU to a multi-port antenna that serves a particular sector of a cell” - Wan states in paragraph [0034] that “The antenna array 120 is deployed with a first sectorization”. Paragraph [0038] states that “The antenna elements 201-208 are arranged for a geographical coverage of a first sector” and that “the antenna array 120 serves a cell 150”. Paragraph [0039] further states that “The network node 130 comprises a first number n of signal connections” and that the connections "may be connected to the number n of antenna elements of the antenna array 120." The signal connections correspond to the RF paths, and the multiple antenna elements provide the closest teaching of a multi-port antenna, and .
“reconfiguring the RU by splitting the RU into a plurality of logical sub-sectors” – ( paragraph [0055] that “The first step of the method is for the network node 130 to perform splitting of the first number n of connections into a number k of groups. Each one of the respective connection groups corresponds to one respective virtual sector”. Paragraph [0058] further states that “The eight connections 301-308 are split into two groups 321 and 322” and that the original sector "may be split into two virtual sectors 411, 412")
“each logical sub-sector of the RU having a respective subset of the plurality of RF paths coupled to a respective subset of ports of the multi-port antenna” – (paragraph [0058] states that “The first connection group 321 may comprise the four connections 311-314 and the second connection group 322 may comprise the four connections 315-318.” Paragraph [0074] explains that the first virtual sector uses antenna elements 201-204, while the second virtual sector uses antenna elements 205-208. This teaches separate subsets of signal connections and antenna elements for the respective virtual sectors.
Wan fails to explicitly teach that the reconfiguring of the RU by
splitting the RU into a plurality of logical sub-sectors is due detecting an increased demand for capacity within a particular sector.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Hiltunen discloses a method for
controlling resources in a cellular network in which upon detecting increased demand for capacity within a particular sector ([0018] increasing or decreasing the sizes of cells in response to monitored demand levels), reconfiguring the RU by splitting the RU into a plurality of logical sub-sectors ([0011] increased or decreased by combining and/or splitting existing cells, [0018]), each logical sub-sector of the RU having a respective subset of the plurality of RF paths coupled to a respective subset of ports of the multi-port antenna ([0011], [0042] sub-area selection is changed dynamically throughout the active connection, and new sub-areas are added and old ones removed or replaced with new ones).
It would therefore have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art
before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Hiltunen’s dynamic service-based splitting of logical cells method with Wan’s sectorization system for the benefit of improving network or system capacity and coverage when required as network traffic changes as taught by Hiltunen.
Claims 8 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wan in view of Hiltunen et al as applied to claim 1 and 13 above, and further in view of Dhanapal et al. (US 2026/0213425 A1).
Regarding claims 8 and 9 Wan in view of Hiltunen fails to explicitly discloses wherein the default configuration for the RU is 4T4R and a sectorization manager splits the reconfigured RU into two logical sub-sectors.
In a similar filed of endeavor, Dhanapal discloses a multibeam sector-
splitting base antenna system that enables multiple antenna beams which are designed to split a sector into a plurality of sub-sectors ([0004]. According to Dhanapal, multibeam antennas of the 2T2R antennas configuration supports 2XMIMO operation and that two multibeam antennas may be stacked in the same housing to provide multi-beam antennas having 4T2R capabilities [0113], which demonstrates the feasibility of both starting with a 4T4R default configuration and splitting into two 2T2R logical sub-sectors.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Dhanapal with those of Wan and Hiltunen in order to enhance the flexibility of deploying radio units in response to varying capacity and coverage requirements.
Claims 10 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wan in view of Hiltunen et al as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of He et al. (CN 106341167A).
Regarding claims 10 and11 Wan in view of Hiltunen fails to explicitly disclose
wherein the default configuration for the RU is 8T8R and a sectorization manager splits the reconfigured RU into a plurality logical sub-sectors in one of the following ways: two 4T4R logical sub-sectors, four 2T2R logical sub-sectors, or, one 4T4R and 2T2R logical sub-sectors.
He discloses a method and device for multi-antenna cell splitting in a sector of communication system in which the antennas corresponding an eNB sector are grouped to obtain multiple antenna groups where each antenna group corresponds to a sub-sector (see [0019]-[0020], wherein the default configuration for the RU is 8T8R and a sectorization manager splits the reconfigured RU into a plurality logical sub-sectors in one of the following ways: two 4T4R logical sub-sectors, four 2T2R logical sub-sectors, or, one 4T4R and 2T2R logical sub-sectors ([0028] Furthermore, when an eNB sector corresponds to eight antennas, the present invention provides a 4-antenna 2×4T4R separation mode that supports eight antennas in one eNB sector of LTE or LTE-A).
He teaches that splitting a sector into four sub-sectors, the sector can support four times the number of carriers (see [0105]-0106].
It would therefore have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of He with those of Wan and Hiltunen in order to enhance the flexibility of deploying radio units with support for increased carriers for varying capacity and coverage requirements.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7, 13-18 and 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
With respect to claim 2, the most pertinent prior art of record Wan et al. (US 2010/0120441 A1), Hiltunen et al. (US. 2007/0249340 A1), Dhanapal et al. (US 2026/0213425 A1) and He et al. (CN 106341167A), fails to disclose or fairly suggest alone or in combination dynamically reconfiguring a radio unit coupled to a cellular network, wherein the reconfiguring the RU further comprises: adding a respective new spectrum block to existing spectrum blocks in one or more of the RF paths in at least one of the logical sub-sectors such that a transmit power of the reconfigured RU meets the increased demand for capacity without compromising coverage within the particular sector.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Chen et al. (US 2021/0266076 A1) discloses an antenna adaptation system for adjusting the number of active transmit antennas and/or the number of receive antennas in a communication node in order to reduce interference.
Carneal et al. (US 6,982,969) a method for dynamically allocating portions of the assigned frequency spectrum to remote ratio units in response to changes in the demand of each radio unit.
Reudink et al. (US 5,889,494) discloses a system and method for dynamically sizing sectors of a multi-sectored radiation pattern used in a telecommunication system.
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/CHARLES N APPIAH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2641
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