DETAILED ACTION
Examiner acknowledges receipt of Applicant’s Request for Continued Examination (RCE) filed 11/14/2025.
In the RCE, Applicant amended claims 1 and 14 and cancelled claims 2 and 15.
Claims 1 and 14 are currently pending.
Response to Arguments
Examiner has fully considered Applicant's arguments, see page 4, filed 11/14/2025, with respect to the rejection of claims 1, 2, 14, and 15 under 35 U.S.C. 102 but they are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Examiner Comment
The objections and rejections of claims 1 and 14 below can be overcome by amending claims 1 and 14 as indicated below.
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Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 14 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 1, “wherein the first circuit is operable to select subbands” in line 14 should be removed. Instead, in line 2 of claim 1, “a first circuit operable to determine first and second” should be changed to “a first circuit operable to select a plurality of subbands, determine first and second” and in lines 4-5, “to determine a first and a second CQI vector associated with the selected plurality of subbands” should be changed to “to determine a first and a second CQI vector associated with a plurality of subbands”.
In line 2 of claim 14, “selecting subbands” should be changed to “selecting a plurality of subbands” and in lines 5-6 of claim 14, “determining a first and second channel quality indicator (CQI) vector associated with a plurality of subbands” should be changed to “determining a first and second channel quality indicator (CQI) vector associated with the selected plurality of subbands”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 14: the claim is indefinite for the following reasons (which are followed by suggestions to correct the issue):
In line 10, the phrase “generating a differential wideband CQI for the second codeword” is indefinite because it is unclear if the “differential wideband CQI” is a CQI value or a CQI vector. It is also unclear how this differential wideband CQI is generated. This phrase should be changed to “generating a second differential wideband CQI value for the second codeword based on the first wideband CQI value” to clarify the claim scope. The differential wideband CQI value is modified by “second” to more easily identify that it is for the second codeword.
Claim 1 is similar in scope to claim 14 and is thus indefinite for reasons similar to those discussed above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(a)
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement.
The claims contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 14: it appears that the claim is generally supported by the subject matter in Figure 16 of the specification (which finds support in Figure 8 of Applicant’s Provisional Application 61/013,380 filed on 12/13/2007). However, the claims filed 11/14/2025 differ in some ways from the subject matter of Figure 16 (and the associated description). In particular, the phrase “wherein the second differential subbands CQI vector includes at least one difference of at least one subband CQI in the second CQI vector pairwise relative to at least one subband CQI in the first CQI vector” does not appear to be supported by Applicant’s original disclosure. Therefore, the claim is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a). However, rewording lines 11-26 of claim 14 to the following would overcome this rejection.
-- generating a first differential subbands CQI vector for the first codeword, based on the first wideband CQI value;
generating a second differential subbands CQI vector for the second codeword, based on the second differential wideband CQI value;
forming one or more CQI reports derived from at least the second differential wideband CQI value and the second differential subbands CQI vector;
and initiating transmission of a signal communicating the CQI report,
wherein the first wideband CQI value includes a CQI for unselected subbands for the first spatial codeword and the second wideband CQI value includes a CQI for unselected subbands for the second spatial codeword, and
wherein forming the one or more CQI reports differential subbands CQI vector pairwise relative to at least one subband CQI in the first differential subbands CQI vector --.
Claim 1 is similar in scope to claim 14 and is rejected for failing to comply with the written description requirement for reasons similar to those discussed above.
Conclusion
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Robert C. Scheibel
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2467
/Robert C Scheibel/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467 December 10, 2025
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