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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Examiner’s Note
Examiner notes issues with claim construction where a significant portion of the claims are either in the alternate or not required. For example, Independent claim 1 only requires one of the following limitations be met A) obtaining measurement configuration information or B) obtaining reporting configuration information. The dependent claims further narrow only one of the two options. Because the independent claim held the parent limitation from which the dependent claim as in the alternate, then the dependent claim would also be in the chain of alternate and not have any weight. The examiner has tried to provide extra customer service by providing a citation for most limitations, even though they may be in the alternate.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-14 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim(s) recite(s) obtaining one of two parameters. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the parameters are tantamount to data gathering and could be done with general computing equipment or in the mind. The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. It should be noted that although claims 3, 5, 6 and the like do contain a performing, transmitting, or sending step, those steps may be in the alternate given the construction of claim 1 (see examiner’s note above).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wanuga (WO 2021030685 A1).
As to claim 1, Wanuga teaches a measurement processing method, comprising:
obtaining, by a terminal (¶¶ [0107]-[0108] describe RS configuration and activation; ¶¶ [0121]-[0123] describe WTRU receipt of Rx beam-selection and JCS-RS configurations; ¶¶ [0138]-[0141] describe JCS-RS and reporting configurations), at least one of the following:
measurement configuration information, wherein the measurement configuration information is used for channel measurement between a network side device and a backscatter communication device (¶¶ [0101]-[0103] define JCS; ¶¶ [0107]-[0112] describe RS transmission and backscatter measurement; ¶¶ [0163]-[0168] describe estimating backscatter channel parameters); or
reporting configuration information, wherein the reporting configuration information is used to report a measurement result obtained by the channel measurement (¶¶ [0113]-[0115] describe beam-blockage reporting configuration; ¶¶ [0119]-[0123] describe reporting resources and blockage-rate reports; ¶¶ [0138]-[0141] describe JCS measurement reporting configurations).
As to claim 2, Wanuga teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the measurement configuration information comprises at least one of the following:
first configuration information, wherein the first configuration information is used by the terminal to perform the channel measurement (¶¶ [0124]-[0131] describe multiple RS resource sets and selection based on measurement conditions; ¶¶ [0138]-[0141] describe JCS-RS configuration and terminal measurement); or
second configuration information, wherein the second configuration information is used by the network side device to perform the channel measurement (¶¶ [0120]-[0123] describe network use of blockage reports to determine CSI-RS/SRS resources; ¶¶ [0146]-[0150] describe network-directed activation/update of RS configurations).
As to claim 3, Wanuga teaches the method according to claim 2, further comprising: performing, by the terminal, the channel measurement on a corresponding measurement resource based on the first configuration information by receiving a reference signal sent by the network side device (¶¶ [0107]-[0111] identify RS configuration parameters and backscatter measurement; ¶¶ [0122]-[0123] describe transmission on configured resources and measurement using corresponding Rx beams; ¶ [0138] describes measurement on configured JCS-RS resources).
As to claim 4, Wanuga teaches the method according to claim 3, further comprising: reporting, by the terminal, the measurement result obtained by the channel measurement to the network side device (¶¶ [0112]-[0119] describe reporting number of blocked beams, blockage rate, and Rx signal strength; ¶¶ [0123]-[0123] describe transmission of a beam blockage report; ¶¶ [0144]-[0145] describe reporting after a triggering event).
As to claim 5, Wanuga teaches the method according to claim 4, wherein the reporting, by the terminal, the measurement result obtained by the channel measurement to the network side device comprises: transmitting, by the terminal, the measurement result on a corresponding first reporting resource based on the reporting configuration information (¶¶ [0113]-[0115] identify PUCCH/PUSCH resources and reporting parameters; ¶ [0119] describes sending reports on configured resources; ¶¶ [0133]-[0135] describe report transmission and acknowledgments; ¶¶ [0148]-[0149] describe use of updated resources); or
transmitting, by the terminal, the measurement result on a second reporting resource, wherein the second reporting resource is used by the terminal to report backscatter-related information (¶¶ [0110]-[0112] identify backscatter power as the measured quantity; ¶¶ [0119]-[0123] describe reporting blockage statistics; ¶¶ [0138]-[0141] describe JCS measurement reporting resources).
As to claim 6, Wanuga teaches the method according to claim 2, further comprising: sending, by the terminal, a reference signal to the network side device based on the second configuration information (¶¶ [0107]-[0110] describe WTRU transmission of RSs for sensing; ¶¶ [0121]-[0123] describe WTRU transmission of JCS-RSs on configured resources; ¶¶ [0152]-[0155] describe uplink RS configuration for backscatter measurements).
As to claim 7, Wanuga teaches the method according to claim 3, further comprising: obtaining, by the terminal, a transmission strategy adjustment indication of the network side device (¶¶ [0120]-[0123] describe network determination of CSI-RS/SRS resources based on blockage reports; ¶¶ [0138]-[0141] describe gNB/WTRU configuration change; ¶¶ [0146]-[0150] describe explicit network activation/deactivation of new configurations); and
adjusting, by the terminal, a transmission parameter of backscatter communication according to the transmission strategy adjustment indication, wherein the transmission strategy adjustment indication is determined by the network side device based on the measurement result (¶¶ [0120]-[0123] and [0146]-[0150] teach changing RS resource numbers, resource sets, and timing based on blockage statistics; ¶¶ [0161]-[0162] describe resource selection based on blockage rate).
As to claim 8, Wanuga teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the measurement configuration information comprises at least one of the following: a measurement resource; a measurement metric; a periodicity type; a periodicity length; or reference signal-related configuration information (¶¶ [0107]-[0108] list periodicity, offsets, PRBs, REs, ports, and power-control parameters; ¶¶ [0122]-[0124] describe JCS-RS resource sets; ¶¶ [0113]-[0115] disclose periodic, semi-persistent, and aperiodic reporting; ¶¶ [0124]-[0131] disclose configured periodicities and thresholds; ¶¶ [0148]-[0149] disclose timing offsets).
As to claim 9, Wanuga teaches the method according to claim 8, wherein the periodicity type comprises at least one of the following: periodic; semi-static; or aperiodic (¶¶ [0113]-[0115] expressly disclose periodic, semi-persistent, and aperiodic reporting; ¶¶ [0124]-[0131] disclose selectable periodicities).
As to claim 10, Wanuga teaches the method according to claim 8, wherein the reference signal comprises at least one of the following: a carrier wave; a control command; or a preamble (¶¶ [0073], [0085]-[0090] discuss communication/radar waveforms; ¶¶ [0107]-[0110] identify JCS-RS, SRS, and other RSs and inherent in signals).
As to claim 11, Wanuga teaches the method according to claim 8, wherein the reference signal-related configuration information comprises at least one of the following: time domain resource information; frequency domain resource information; transmit power information; a modulation scheme; a coding scheme; a mapping scheme; resource density; or a signaling format (¶¶ [0107]-[0108] disclose periodicity, offset, starting symbol, and symbol offset; ¶¶ [0124]-[0131] disclose symbol timing and timing offsets; ¶ [0107] discloses starting PRB, number of PRBs, PRB offset, RE offset, and RE density; ¶¶ [0111]-[0114] disclose sub-band/PRB measurement configuration; ¶ [0107] expressly lists power-control parameters).
As to claim 12, Wanuga teaches the method according to claim 8, wherein the measurement metric comprises at least one of the following: reference signal received power (RSRP); reference signal received quality (RSRQ); received signal strength indication (RSSI); a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR); or a channel quality indicator (CQI) (¶¶ [0110]-[0112] disclose backscatter power and Rx signal strength; ¶¶ [0152]-[0156] disclose Rx signal strength and blockage statistics).
As to claim 13, Wanuga teaches the method according to claim 12, wherein the RSRP is received signal power on a resource that carries a reference signal within first bandwidth and centered on a first frequency; the RSSI is received signal power within second bandwidth and centered on a second frequency; the RSRQ is obtained based on the RSRP and the RSSI; the SINR is obtained based on received power of a useful signal, interference power, and noise power; and the CQI is obtained based on at least one of the following: reception of a single antenna, a rank indicator being equal to 1, or a preset precoding matrix indication (these are in the alternate per parent claim and are mostly definitions; ¶¶ [0152]-[0157] and [0168] disclose Rx signal strength and blockage statistics).
As to claim 14, Wanuga teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the reporting configuration information comprises at least one of the following: a periodicity type; a periodicity length; or reporting resource information, or wherein a frequency at which the terminal performs the channel measurement is larger than or equal to a frequency at which the measurement result is reported based on the channel measurement (¶¶ [0113]-[0115], [0142]-[0149]).
As to claim 15, Wanuga teaches a measurement processing method, comprising: sending, by a network side device (¶¶ [0108], [0121]-[0123], [0124]-[0126], [0138]-[0141]), at least one of the following: measurement configuration information, wherein the measurement configuration information is used for channel measurement between the network side device and a backscatter device (¶¶ [0113]-[0115], [0122], [0125]-[0126], [0138]-[0141]); or reporting configuration information, wherein the reporting configuration information is used to report a measurement result obtained by the channel measurement (¶¶ [0119]-[0123], [0138]-[0141], [0144]-[0145]).
As to claim 16, Wanuga teaches the method according to claim 15, wherein the measurement configuration information comprises at least one of the following: first configuration information, wherein the first configuration information is used by a terminal to perform the channel measurement (¶¶ [0124]-[0131] describe multiple RS resource sets and selection based on measurement conditions; ¶¶ [0138]-[0141] describe JCS-RS configuration and terminal measurement); or
second configuration information, wherein the second configuration information is used by the network side device to perform the channel measurement ((¶¶ [0120]-[0123] describe network use of blockage reports to determine CSI-RS/SRS resources; ¶¶ [0146]-[0150] describe network-directed activation/update of RS configurations).).
As to claim 17, Wanuga teaches the method according to claim 16, further comprising: sending, by the network side device, a reference signal to the terminal based on the first configuration information (¶¶ [0107]-[0111], [0122]-[0123], and [0138]).
As to claim 18, Wanuga teaches the method according to claim 17, further comprising: receiving, by the network side device, a measurement result reported by the terminal (¶¶ [0112]-[0119]; ¶¶ [0123]-[0123]; ¶¶ [0144]-[0145]).
As to claim 19, Wanuga teaches the method according to claim 16, further comprising: determining, by the network side device, a transmission strategy adjustment indication based on the measurement result; and performing, by the network side device, at least one of the following: instructing to adjust a transmission parameter of backscatter communication according to the transmission strategy adjustment indication; or sending the transmission strategy adjustment indication to the terminal (¶¶ [0120]-[0123] and [0146]-[0150] teach changing RS resource numbers, resource sets, and timing based on blockage statistics; ¶¶ [0161]-[0162] describe resource selection based on blockage rate).
As to claim 20, Wanuga teaches a terminal, comprising a processor and a memory storing instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising: obtaining at least one of the following: measurement configuration information, wherein the measurement configuration information is used for channel measurement between a network side device and a backscatter communication device (¶¶ [0101]-[0103] define JCS; ¶¶ [0107]-[0112] describe RS transmission and backscatter measurement; ¶¶ [0163]-[0168] describe estimating backscatter channel parameters); or
reporting configuration information, wherein the reporting configuration information is used to report a measurement result obtained by the channel measurement (¶¶ [0113]-[0115] describe beam-blockage reporting configuration; ¶¶ [0119]-[0123] describe reporting resources and blockage-rate reports; ¶¶ [0138]-[0141] describe JCS measurement reporting configurations).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Asad M Nawaz whose telephone number is (571)272-3988. The examiner can normally be reached 8:15-4:45 M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Deborah Reynolds. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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ASAD M. NAWAZ
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2468
/ASAD M NAWAZ/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2463
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