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) submitted on February 27th, 2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on May 6th, 2026 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 § 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 non-obviousness.
Claims 1 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kong (U.S. Publication No. US 20210242948 A1) in view of Shikida (U.S. Publication No. US 20210021446 A1).
Regarding claim 1,
Kong teaches a method performed by a wireless device, comprising:
transmitting an antenna calibration (AC) signal in at least one antenna of an advanced antenna system (AAS); receiving the AC signal from the AAS via mutual coupling
("According to an aspect, there is provided an array antenna calibration method including measuring a signal loop including mutual coupling between antennas included in an array antenna, calculating a ratio of a reception (RX) signal received by each antenna to an RX signal received by a reference antenna of the array antenna based on a result of the measuring, and performing calibration of the array antenna based on the ratio." [Paragraph 8])
Shikida ‘446 teaches identifying at least one interference signal in the received AC signal in a beam space
("Specifically, firstly, a signal including a reference signal transmitted by another radio apparatus is received and, for each antenna, a temporary frequency response is estimated by dividing the received signal by the reference signal." [Paragraph 5])
and suppressing the at least one interference signal in the received AC signal in the beam space
("…noise components are removed by replacing the values of frequency responses of beams in which noise components seem to be dominant by zero, so that the estimation accuracy of the frequency response of the channel is improved." [Paragraph 5])
Therefore, as Kong teaches receiving a transmitted AC signal via mutual coupling, and as Shikida ‘446 teaches identifying the interference signal from the AC signal and suppressing the interference signal, to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would be obvious to combine Kong's method of transmitting and receiving AC signals with Shikida's method of identifying and suppressing interference signals. The motivation to combine is to have a method by which the accuracy of a received AC signal is improved.
Regarding claim 18, Kong-Shikida ‘446 teaches all the limitations and motivations of claim 1.
Kong also teaches calibrating the AAS based on the received AC signal after interference suppression.
("The array antenna system 500 may perform calibration based on a ratio between RX signals." [Paragraph 94])
Claims 2-7, 9-15, 18-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kong-Shikida ‘446 in further view of Shikida (U.S. Publication No. US 20210384930 A1).
Regarding claim 2, Kong-Shikida ‘446 teaches all the limitations and motivations of claim 1.
Kong-Shikida ‘446 does not directly teach the at least one interference signal in the received AC signal comprises at least one of: an external interference signal, a reflected signal from an outside object, or a leakage signal.
In an analogous art, Shikida ‘930 teaches the at least one interference signal in the received AC signal comprises at least one of: an external interference signal, a reflected signal from an outside object, or a leakage signal
("For example, in the case of an uplink through which data is transmitted from a radio terminal to a radio apparatus, as a signal transmitted by the radio terminal reaches another radio apparatus other than the radio apparatus with which the radio terminal is communicating, the signal causes interference for communication performed by the other radio apparatus and hence the communication quality in the other radio apparatus may deteriorate." [Paragraph 2])
Therefore, as Kong-Shikida ‘446 teaches a method of reducing interference in received AC signals, and as Shikida ‘930 teaches further limitations on interferences for which the method may be adapted to, to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would be obvious to combine Kong-Shikida ‘446’s method with Shikida ‘930’s limitations. The motivation to combine is to have a method that may be adjusted such that the accuracy of AC signals containing particular types of interference is improved.
Regarding claim 3, Kong-Shikida ‘446 teaches all the limitations and motivations of claim 1.
Shikida ‘446 also teaches suppressing the at least one interference signal in the received AC signal in the beam space comprises: suppressing at least one interference beam non-overlapped with at least one AC beam in the received AC signal in the beam space
("Specifically, firstly, a signal including a reference signal transmitted by another radio apparatus is received and, for each antenna, a temporary frequency response is estimated by dividing the received signal by the reference signal." [Paragraph 5]), and
"…noise components are removed by replacing the values of frequency responses of beams in which noise components seem to be dominant by zero, so that the estimation accuracy of the frequency response of the channel is improved." [Paragraph 5],
i.e. general interference suppression, including non-overlapped interference suppression.)
Shikida ‘446 does not directly teach suppressing at least one interference beam overlapped with the at least one AC beam in the received AC signal in the beam space.
Shikida ‘930 teaches suppressing at least one interference beam overlapped with the at least one AC beam in the received AC signal in the beam space.
("For example, in the case of an uplink through which data is transmitted from a radio terminal to a radio apparatus, as a signal transmitted by the radio terminal reaches another radio apparatus other than the radio apparatus with which the radio terminal is communicating, the signal causes interference for communication performed by the other radio apparatus and hence the communication quality in the other radio apparatus may deteriorate. Therefore, a technique for lowering interference in an uplink has been studied (e.g., Patent Literature 1)" [Paragraph 2],
i.e. An example for overlapped interference.)
Regarding claim 4, Kong-Shikida ‘446-Shikida ‘930 teaches all the limitations and motivations of claim 3.
Shikida ‘446 also teaches suppressing at least one interference beam non-overlapped with at least one AC beam in the received AC signal in the beam space comprises: converting the received AC signal from an antenna space to the beam space to obtain a first converted AC signal
("Next, in a step S103, the spatial transformation unit 133 calculates a beam-space channel vector by performing a spatial transformation process on the antenna-space channel vector input from the padding unit 132." [Paragraph 75])
identifying at least one AC beam in the first converted AC signal; identifying at least one interference beam in the first converted AC signal
("Therefore, in order to prevent all the elements from being selected as the elements to be suppressed, the noise suppression unit 134 may perform a process for excluding at least one element from the elements to be suppressed in the step S104." [Paragraph 79]
i.e. distinguishing the converted signals from the elements to be suppressed (interference beam))
removing the at least one interference beam from the first converted AC signal; and
("Next, in a step S104, the noise suppression unit 134 suppresses at least one element included in the beam-space channel vector input from the spatial transformation unit 133" [Paragraph 78])
converting the first converted AC signal removing the at least one interference beam from the beam space to the antenna space.
("Next, in a step S105, the inverse spatial transformation unit 135 calculates an antenna-space channel vector by performing an inverse spatial transformation process, which is a spatial transformation process in the direction reverse to that of the process performed by the spatial transformation unit 133, on the beam-space channel vector input from the noise suppression unit 134." [Paragraph 80],
i.e. converting, from the bream space to the antenna spaced, the converted AC signal with the interference beam removed.)
Regarding claim 5, Kong-Shikida ‘446-Shikida ‘930 teaches all the limitations and motivations of claim 5.
Shikida ‘446 also teaches the received AC signal is converted from the antenna space to the beam space by a spatial-domain Fourier transform (SDFT) matrix
("The spatial transformation unit 133 may use, for example, a Discrete Fourier transform (DFT) as the spatial transformation process." [Paragraph 75])
Regarding claim 6, Kong-Shikida ‘446-Shikida ‘930 teaches all the limitations and motivations of claim 4.
Shikida ‘446 also teaches identifying at least one AC beam in the first converted AC signal comprises: obtaining a first mapping between an AC beam index in the beam space and AC signal transmission antenna index; and identifying the at least one AC beam in the first converted AC signal based on the first mapping.
("The transmission signal generation unit 14 performs processing such as encrypting, encoding, modulating, mapping onto radio resources, and the like for transmission data input from a core network (not shown). Then, the transmission signal generation unit 14 performs precoding on the modulation signal mapped onto radio resources by using the estimated value of the channel response input from the channel estimation unit 13, and outputs the generated signal to the radio transmission/reception unit 12." [Paragraph 55])
Regarding claim 7, Kong-Shikida ‘446-Shikida ‘930 teaches all the limitations and motivations of claim 6.
Shikida ‘446 also teaches the first mapping is pre- characterized during a production of the AAS or stored in the wireless device.
("The transmission signal generation unit 14 performs processing such as encrypting, encoding, modulating, mapping onto radio resources, and the like for transmission data input from a core network (not shown). Then, the transmission signal generation unit 14 performs precoding on the modulation signal mapped onto radio resources by using the estimated value of the channel response input from the channel estimation unit 13, and outputs the generated signal to the radio transmission/reception unit 12." [Paragraph 55])
Regarding claim 9, Kong-Shikida ‘446-Shikida ‘930 teaches all the limitations and motivations of claim 4.
Shikida ‘446 also teaches identifying at least one interference beam in the first converted AC signal comprises: constructing a first signal by removing the at least one AC beam from the first converted AC signal; and
("Next, in a step S104, the noise suppression unit 134 suppresses at least one element included in the beam-space channel vector input from the spatial transformation unit 133." [Paragraph 78])
when a signal strength of a beam in the first signal is larger than a threshold, identifying the beam as an interference beam.
("The noise suppression unit 134 may select an element(s) of the beam-space channel vector of which the value(s) is lower than a predetermined threshold as the element(s) to be suppressed." [Paragraph 78])
Regarding claim 10, Kong-Shikida ‘446-Shikida ‘930 teaches all the limitations and motivations of claim 3.
Shikida ‘930 also teaches suppressing at least one interference beam overlapped with the at least one AC beam in the received AC signal in the beam space comprises: adding at least one weight on at least one receiving branch of at least one antenna close to the at least one antenna of the AAS to shift the at least one AC beam to another position in the beam space to enable the at least one interference beam does not overlap with the shifted at least one AC beam
("The interference suppression synthesis unit 133 generates a reception weight by using the estimated covariance matrix, and detects a desired signal transmitted by the radio terminal 20 based on the generated reception weight and the beam-space received signal vector generated by the beam selecting unit 132." [Paragraph 57])
Shikida ‘446-Shikida’930 also teach converting the received AC signal from the antenna space to the beam space to obtain a second converted AC signal
("Next, in a step S103, the spatial transformation unit 133 calculates a beam-space channel vector by performing a spatial transformation process on the antenna-space channel vector input from the padding unit 132." [Paragraph 75, Shikida '930]), also
("Firstly, the spatial transformation unit 131 transforms an antenna-space received signal vector having a received signal for each of the antennas 11-1 to 11-N as a respective element into a vector in a beam space, and thereby calculates a beam-space received signal vector (step S101)." [Paragraph 59, Shikida '446])
identifying the shifted at least one AC beam in the second converted AC signal; identifying the at least one interference beam in the second converted AC signal
("Therefore, in order to prevent all the elements from being selected as the elements to be suppressed, the noise suppression unit 134 may perform a process for excluding at least one element from the elements to be suppressed in the step S104." [Paragraph 79, Shikida '930]
i.e. distinguishing the converted signals from the elements to be suppressed (interference beam)), also
("Next, each of the interference suppression synthesis units 153-1 to 153-L detects the desired signal to be detected instructed from the control unit 151 while suppressing the interference signal (step S203)." [Paragraph 101, Shikida '446])
removing the at least one interference beam from the second converted AC signal
("Next, in a step S104, the noise suppression unit 134 suppresses at least one element included in the beam-space channel vector input from the spatial transformation unit 133" [Paragraph 78, Shikida '930]), also
("Next, each of the interference suppression synthesis units 153-1 to 153-L detects the desired signal to be detected instructed from the control unit 151 while suppressing the interference signal (step S203)." [Paragraph 101, Shikida '446])
Shikida ‘446 also teaches converting the second converted AC signal removing the at least one interference beam from the beam space to the antenna space to obtain a third converted AC signal
("Next, in a step S105, the inverse spatial transformation unit 135 calculates an antenna-space channel vector by performing an inverse spatial transformation process, which is a spatial transformation process in the direction reverse to that of the process performed by the spatial transformation unit 133, on the beam-space channel vector input from the noise suppression unit 134." [Paragraph 80],
i.e. converting, from the bream space to the antenna spaced, the converted AC signal with the interference beam removed.)
Kong also teaches compensating a phase shift of the third converted AC signal
("The phase shifter may adjust the phase by a phase difference θ obtained based on the ratio between RX signals." [Paragraph 98])
Regarding claim 11, Kong-Shikida ‘446-Shikida ‘930 teaches all the limitations and motivations of claim 10.
Shikida ‘446-Shikida ‘930 also teach identifying the shifted at least one AC beam in the second converted AC signal comprises: obtaining a second mapping between a position in the beam space and the at least one weight; and identifying the shifted at least one AC beam in the second converted AC signal based on the second mapping.
("The transmission signal generation unit 14 performs processing such as encrypting, encoding, modulating, mapping onto radio resources, and the like for transmission data input from a core network (not shown). Then, the transmission signal generation unit 14 performs precoding on the modulation signal mapped onto radio resources by using the estimated value of the channel response input from the channel estimation unit 13, and outputs the generated signal to the radio transmission/reception unit 12." [Paragraph 55, Shikida ‘930]), also
("The interference suppression synthesis unit 133 generates a reception weight by using the estimated covariance matrix, and detects a desired signal transmitted by the radio terminal 20 based on the generated reception weight and the beam-space received signal vector generated by the beam selecting unit 132." [Paragraph 57, Shikida ‘446])
Regarding claim 12, Kong-Shikida ‘446-Shikida ‘930 teaches all the limitations and motivations of claim 11.
Shikida ‘446 also teaches the second mapping is pre- characterized during a production of the AAS
("The transmission signal generation unit 14 performs processing such as encrypting, encoding, modulating, mapping onto radio resources, and the like for transmission data input from a core network (not shown). Then, the transmission signal generation unit 14 performs precoding on the modulation signal mapped onto radio resources by using the estimated value of the channel response input from the channel estimation unit 13, and outputs the generated signal to the radio transmission/reception unit 12." [Paragraph 55])
Regarding claim 13, Kong-Shikida ‘446-Shikida ‘930 teaches all the limitations and motivations of claim 11.
Shikida ‘446 also teaches the second mapping is stored in the wireless device.
("The radio terminal 20 may be, for example, a mobile station, a UE (User Equipment), a WTRU (Wireless Transmit/Receive Unit), or a relay apparatus having a relaying function. The radio terminal 20 includes an antenna 21. The radio terminal 20 connects to and communicates with the radio apparatus 10 through the antenna 21." [Paragraph 49], and
"The transmission signal generation unit 14 performs processing such as encrypting, encoding, modulating, mapping onto radio resources, and the like for transmission data input from a core network (not shown). Then, the transmission signal generation unit 14 performs precoding on the modulation signal mapped onto radio resources by using the estimated value of the channel response input from the channel estimation unit 13, and outputs the generated signal to the radio transmission/reception unit 12." [Paragraph 55],
i.e., The second mapping is pre-characterized during production of AAS, and the wireless device stores the mapping.)
Regarding claim 14, Kong-Shikida ‘446-Shikida ‘930 teaches all the limitations and motivations of claim 10.
Shikida ‘446 also teaches identifying the at least one interference beam in the second converted AC signal comprises: constructing a second signal by removing the shifted at least one AC beam from the second converted AC signal
("Next, in a step S104, the noise suppression unit 134 suppresses at least one element included in the beam-space channel vector input from the spatial transformation unit 133." [Paragraph 78])
when a signal strength of a beam in the second signal is larger than a threshold, identifying the beam as an interference beam
("The noise suppression unit 134 may select an element(s) of the beam-space channel vector of which the value(s) is lower than a predetermined threshold as the element(s) to be suppressed." [Paragraph 78])
Regarding claim 15, Kong-Shikida ‘446 teaches all the limitations and motivations of claim 1.
Kong-Shikida ‘446 does not directly teach performing a calibration on multiple receiving branches of the AAS.
Shikida ‘930 teaches performing a calibration on multiple receiving branches of the AAS
("…performing a spatial transformation on a received signal including a desired signal and an interference signal received by a plurality of antennas, and thereby calculating a first beam-space received signal vector" [Paragraph 14])
Therefore, as Kong-Shikida ‘446 teaches a method of reducing interference in received AC signals and transmitting the converted signals, and as Shikida ‘930 teaches further limitations on transmitting the converted signals for which the method may be adapted to, to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would be obvious to combine Kong-Shikida ‘446’s method with Shikida ‘930’s limitations. The motivation to combine is to have a method that may be adjusted such that the accuracy of AC signals across multiple branches is improved.
Regarding claim 19, Kong-Shikida ‘446 also teaches all the limitations and motivations of claim 19 in claim 1, in method mode rather than device mode. Shikida ‘446 also teaches a processor (“a processor 1203” [Paragraph 122]) and a memory (“a memory 1204” [Paragraph 122]). Therefore, claim 19 is rejected for the same reasons as claim 1.
Regarding claim 20, Kong-Shikida ‘446 teaches all the limitations and motivations of claim 19. Kong-Shikida ‘446-Shikida ‘930 also teaches all the limitations of claim 20 in claim 2, in method mode rather than device mode. Therefore, claim 20 is rejected for the same reasons as claim 2.
Regarding claim 21, Kong-Shikida ‘446 also teaches all the limitations and motivations of claim 21 in claim 1, with claim 1 claiming the method executed by the computer-readable medium in claim 21. Shikida ‘446 also teaches a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which when executed by at least one processor (“The processor 1203 may load software (a computer program) from the memory 1204 and execute the loaded software” [Paragraph 123]). Therefore, claim 21 is rejected for the same reasons as claim 1.
Claims 16 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kong-Shikida ‘446 in further view of Liu (Chinese Publication No. CN 100553243 C using English machine translation).
Regarding claim 16, Kong-Shikida ‘446 teach all the limitations and motivations of claim 1.
Kong-Shikida ‘446 does not directly teach determining a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the received AC signal, wherein when the SINR of the received AC signal is smaller than a threshold, the at least one interference signal in the received AC signal is suppressed.
In an analogous art, Liu teaches determining a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the received AC signal, wherein when the SINR of the received AC signal is smaller than a threshold, the at least one interference signal in the received AC signal is suppressed.
("By solving the following generalized eigenvalue equation, the optimal beamspace weight vector…under the maximum signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio criterion is obtained" [Paragraph 33])
Therefore, as Kong-Shikida ‘446 teaches a method of reducing interference in received AC signals, and as Liu teaches a further limitation for the conversion of the AC signal to lower interference, to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would be obvious to Kong-Shikida ‘446’s method with Liu’s method. The motivation to combine is to have a method by which the accuracy of a received AC signal is improved.
Regarding claim 17, Kong-Shikida ‘446 teach all the limitations and motivations of claim 1.
Kong-Shikida ‘446 does not directly teach determining a SINR of the received AC signal after at least one interference beam non-overlapped with at least one AC beam in the received AC signal is suppressed, wherein when the SINR of the received AC signal after interference suppression is smaller than a threshold, at least one interference beam overlapped with the at least one AC beam in the received AC signal is suppressed.
In an analogous art, Liu teaches determining a SINR of the received AC signal after at least one interference beam non-overlapped with at least one AC beam in the received AC signal is suppressed, wherein when the SINR of the received AC signal after interference suppression is smaller than a threshold, at least one interference beam overlapped with the at least one AC beam in the received AC signal is suppressed.
("By solving the following generalized eigenvalue equation, the optimal beamspace weight vector…under the maximum signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio criterion is obtained" [Paragraph 33])
Therefore, as Kong-Shikida ‘446 teaches a method of reducing interference in received AC signals, and as Liu teaches a further limitation for the conversion of the AC signal to lower interference, to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would be obvious to Kong-Shikida ‘446’s method with Liu’s method. The motivation to combine is to have a method by which the accuracy of a received AC signal is improved.
Conclusion
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/FATIHA KAMAL/ Examiner, Art Unit 2647
/Alison Slater/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2647
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