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 .
Response to Arguments
Rejections under 35 USC 103
Applicant’s Argument: Applicant argues that Kim fails to teach the amended portion of claim 1 including “the information comprises a number M of resource indicator and reference signal received power (RSRP) pairs to be reported per candidate cell.” Kim’s teaching of a list of candidate cells cannot be equated to indicating “a number N” of candidate cells to be reported.
Examiner’s response: Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but 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. Applicant has amended the claim to incorporate subject matter that changes the scope of the invention. A new reference is applied after an updated search, see below.
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) 1, 3-4, 6, 9, 11-12, 14, 17, 19-20, 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (“Kim”) (US 20230318687 A1) in view of Luo et al. (“Luo”) (US 20150011167 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Kim teaches:
A user equipment (UE), comprising: a transceiver [Figure 20 100] configured to receive a channel state information (CSI) report configuration providing (i) a first set of one or more candidate cell identities (IDs), (ii) a second set of reference signals (RSs) resources for each of the one or more candidate cell IDs [¶0343, ¶0349 receive measurement object with list of plurality of cells including at least a cell, serving or non-serving (corresponding to i) and resource information for each of plurality of signals associated with the cells, the signals being SSB or CSI-RS, see further ¶0277-280 proposal #2 (corresponding to ii), ] and (iii) information related to content of a CSI report [¶0358 UE configured to report based on CSI-RS, including L1-RSRP being beam measurements, see ¶0277-80 where reporting is performed thus configured],
Wherein the information comprises:
A number N of candidate cells to be reported [¶0343, configuration indicates serving cell and non-serving cell, wherein there may only be one non-serving cell, or the serving cell may be considered the candidate cell, thus at least a single cell is configured corresponding to N candidate cells to be reported]; and
a processor operably coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to: measure one or more RSs resources from the first set [¶0352, ¶0358, measure CSI-RS to determine L1 measurements based on resources of the cells configured in ¶0343, see ¶0277-280 wherein candidate cell RSs used to measure CSI]; and determine, based on the CSI report configuration, the CSI report based on the measured one or more RSs resources [¶0352 respond with CSI measurements including beam measurement, corresponding to proposal 1-2 disclosed in ¶0277-280, where CSI measured based on CSI-RS from candidate cell transmissions thus corresponding metric for each of RSs for the candidate cell i.e. second set] wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit the CSI report [¶0352 respond with CSI measurements including beam measurement, corresponding to proposal 1-2, ¶0277-280, where CSI measured based on CSI-RS from candidate cell transmissions, including L1-RSRP beam metrics].
Kim teaches reporting CSI information for plurality of cells but does not specify indicating a quantity of metrics to report per candidate cell, and the CSI report comprises MxN resource indicators. Examiner notes that the claim language, herein there are “one or more candidate cells” means there may be only one candidate cell, thus M and N may be any value, and the serving cell may be considered a candidate cell.
Luo teaches the information comprises a number M of resource indicator and reference signal received power (RSRP) pairs to be reported per candidate cell [¶0041, device configured by network to report RSRP for each candidate cell (M RSRP per candidate, M=1), ¶0044, and measure CQI of each neighboring cell, at least N greater than 1] and wherein the CSI report comprises MxN resource indicators and MxN RSRP values [¶0041 receive RSRP of each neighbor cell being 1xN neighbor cells of information, ¶0045 reported CQI of each neighboring cell, 1xN neighbor cells ]
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to specify the configuration of a number of resource indicators and RSRP per candidate cell and the number of quantities reported as in Luo. Kim teaches CSI-RS used for calculation of channel parameters and it would have been obvious to specify the number of resource indicators per cell as in Luo in order to allow for maximizing the capacity of the first and second cells ¶0039.
Regarding claim 3, Kim-Luo teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more candidate cell IDs in the first set correspond one-to-one with the one or more RS resources in the second set based on their ordinal positions in their respective sets [Kim ¶0343, “the signal of the non-serving cell may include SSB or mobility CSI-RS. As described above, the measurement object information may include a list of a plurality of cells and time and frequency domain resource information for each of a plurality of signals associated with the plurality of cells” thus each RS resource corresponds one to one with plurality cells].
Regarding claim 6, Kim-Luo teaches:
The UE of claim 1, wherein, when the CSI report configuration includes a higher layer parameter, a single reporting instance includes resource indicators for both serving and non-serving cells [Kim ¶0348 of Kim, configuration information sent through higher layer signaling thus the indication of cells and measurements are higher layer parameters, ¶0283-285, ¶0293 UE reports each CSI information for each resource for serving and non-serving cell considered single instance, and the claim does not specify the report in a single instance, only that a single instance is defined in the way as recited in the claim].
Regarding claim 9, Kim teaches:
A base station (BS), comprising: a processor; and a transceiver [Figure 20 ¶0402] operably coupled to the processor, the transceiver configured to:
transmit a channel state information (CSI) report configuration indicating (i) a first set of one or more candidate cell identities (IDs), (ii) a second set of reference signals (RSs) resources for each of the one or more candidate cell IDs, [¶0343, ¶0349 receive measurement object with list of plurality of cells including at least a cell, serving or non-serving (corresponding to i) and resource information for each of plurality of signals associated with the cells, the signals being SSB or CSI-RS, see further ¶0277-280 proposal #2 (corresponding to ii), ] and (iii) information related to content of a CSI report [¶0358 UE configured to report based on CSI-RS, including L1-RSRP being beam measurements, see ¶0277-80 where reporting is performed thus configured],
Wherein the information comprises:
A number N of candidate cells to be reported [¶0343, configuration indicates serving cell and non-serving cell, wherein there may only be one non-serving cell, or the serving cell may be considered the candidate cell, thus at least a single cell is configured corresponding to N candidate cells to be reported]; and
and receive the CSI report including one or more information, each associated with a candidate cell ID from the first set, wherein the one or more information correspond to one or more RS resources from the second set [¶0352 UE sends CSI measurements including beam measurement, corresponding to proposal 1-2, ¶0280, where CSI measured based on CSI-RS from candidate cell transmissions].
Kim teaches reporting CSI information for plurality of non-serving cells but does not specify indicating a quantity of metrics to report per candidate cell, and the CSI report comprises MxN resource indicators. Examiner notes that the claim language, herein there are “one or more candidate cells” means there may be only one candidate cell, thus M and N may be any value, and the serving cell may be considered a candidate cell.
Luo teaches the information comprises a number M of resource indicator and reference signal received power (RSRP) pairs to be reported per candidate cell [¶0041, device configured to report RSRP for each candidate cell (M RSRP per candidate, M=1), ¶0044, measure CQI of each neighboring cell, at least N greater than 1] and wherein the CSI report comprises MxN resource indicators and MxN RSRP values [¶0041 receive RSRP of each neighbor cell being 1xN neighbor cells of information, ¶0045 reported CQI of each neighboring cell, 1xN neighbor cells ]
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to specify the configuration of a number of resource indicators and RSRP per candidate cell and the number of quantities reported as in Luo. Kim teaches CSI-RS used for calculation of channel parameters and it would have been obvious to specify the number of resource indicators per cell as in Luo in order to allow for maximizing the capacity of the first and second cells ¶0039.
Regarding claim 11, Kim-Luo teaches the BS of claim 9, wherein the one or more candidate cell IDs in the second set correspond one-to-one with the one or more RS resources in the first set based on their ordinal positions in their respective sets [Kim ¶0343, “the signal of the candidate cell may include SSB or mobility CSI-RS. As described above, the measurement object information may include a list of a plurality of cells and time and frequency domain resource information for each of a plurality of signals associated with the plurality of cells” thus each RS resource corresponds one to one with plurality cells].
Regarding claim 14, Kim-Luo teaches:
The BS of claim 9, wherein, when the CSI report configuration includes a higher layer parameter, a single reporting instance includes resource indicators for both serving and non-serving cells [Kim ¶0348 of Kim, configuration information sent through higher layer signaling thus the indication of cells and measurements are higher layer parameters, ¶0283-285, ¶0293 UE reports each CSI information for each resource for serving and non-serving cell considered single instance, and the claim does not specify the report in a single instance, only that a single instance is defined in the way as recited in the claim].
Regarding claim 17-19 see rejection for claim 1-3 respectively which teaches the physical structure performing the corresponding function.
Regarding claim 22 see rejection for claim 6 respectively which teaches the physical structure performing the corresponding function.
Claim(s) 2, 7, 10, 15, 18, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (“Kim”) (US 20230318687 A1) in view of Luo et al. (“Luo”) (US 20150011167 A1) and Zhang et al. (“Zhang”) (US 20220304036 A1).
Regarding claim 2, Kim-Luo teaches the UE of claim 1,
The UE of claim 1, wherein: the candidate cell ID in the second set is a physical cell ID (PCI) [¶0340 PCI indicated].
Kim teaches CSI report but not SSBRI.
Zhang teaches a RS resource in the first set is: a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block [¶0092, SSB/PBCH], and each of the MxN resource indicators is: an SSB resource indicator (SSBRI) [¶0092 SSBRI].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to specify the indicator is SSBRI based on SSB. Kim teaches CSI-RS used for calculation of channel parameters and it would have been obvious to specify SSBRI as in Zhang ¶0092 “For the at least 1 SSB resource indicator (SSBRI)/CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI) corresponding to neighbor cell as well as its corresponding L1-RSRP/L1-SINR, an indicator can be reported to indicate whether any resource from neighbor cell is valid. Further, the L1-RSRP/L1-SINR may be reported as a differential L1-RSRP/L1-SINR with one of the L1-RSRP/L1-SINR reported for serving cell as reference.”
Regarding claim 7, Kim-Luo teaches:
The UE of claim 1.
Kim-Luo teaches MxN reporting but not current cell.
Zhang teaches wherein: the one or more resource indicators in the CSI report are associated with a current cell, the current cell is associated with a serving cell physical cell ID (PCI) [¶0052 cell ID associated with cells, ¶0092 report for current and neighbor cell]; and each of the one or more resource indicators is: a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block resource indicator (SSBRI) [¶0092 report based on current and neighbor cell SSBRI]
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to specify the indicator is SSBRI based on SSB. Kim teaches CSI-RS used for calculation of channel parameters and it would have been obvious to specify SSBRI as in Zhang ¶0092 “For the at least 1 SSB resource indicator (SSBRI)/CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI) corresponding to neighbor cell as well as its corresponding L1-RSRP/L1-SINR, an indicator can be reported to indicate whether any resource from neighbor cell is valid. Further, the L1-RSRP/L1-SINR may be reported as a differential L1-RSRP/L1-SINR with one of the L1-RSRP/L1-SINR reported for serving cell as reference.”
Regarding claim 10, Kim-Luo teaches the BS of claim 9,
wherein: the candidate cell ID in the second set is a physical cell ID (PCI) [Kim ¶0340 PCI indicated].
Kim teaches CSI report but not SSBRI.
Zhang teaches a RS resource in the first set is: a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block [¶0092, SSB/PBCH]. and each of the one or more resource indicators is: an SSB resource indicator (SSBRI) [¶0092 SSBRI].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to specify the indicator is SSBRI based on SSB. Kim teaches CSI-RS used for calculation of channel parameters and it would have been obvious to specify SSBRI as in Zhang ¶0092 “For the at least 1 SSB resource indicator (SSBRI)/CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI) corresponding to neighbor cell as well as its corresponding L1-RSRP/L1-SINR, an indicator can be reported to indicate whether any resource from neighbor cell is valid. Further, the L1-RSRP/L1-SINR may be reported as a differential L1-RSRP/L1-SINR with one of the L1-RSRP/L1-SINR reported for serving cell as reference.”
Regarding claim 15, Kim-Luo teaches:
The BS of claim 14.
Kim teaches reporting neighbor cell but not current cell.
Zhang teaches wherein: the one or more resource indicators in the CSI report are associated with a current cell, the current cell is associated with a serving cell physical cell ID (PCI) [¶0052 cell ID associated with cells, ¶0092 report for current and neighbor cell]; and each of the one or more resource indicators is: a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block resource indicator (SSBRI) [¶0092 report based on current and neighbor cell SSBRI]
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to specify the indicator is SSBRI based on SSB. Kim teaches CSI-RS used for calculation of channel parameters and it would have been obvious to specify SSBRI as in Zhang ¶0092 “For the at least 1 SSB resource indicator (SSBRI)/CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI) corresponding to neighbor cell as well as its corresponding L1-RSRP/L1-SINR, an indicator can be reported to indicate whether any resource from neighbor cell is valid. Further, the L1-RSRP/L1-SINR may be reported as a differential L1-RSRP/L1-SINR with one of the L1-RSRP/L1-SINR reported for serving cell as reference.”
Regarding claim 18 see rejection for claim 2 respectively which teaches the physical structure performing the corresponding function.
Claim(s) 5, 13, 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (“Kim”) (US 20230318687 A1) in view of Luo et al. (“Luo”) (US 20150011167 A1) and Guo et al. (“Guo”) (US 20190190582 A1).
Regarding claim 5, Kim-Luo teaches:
The Ue of claim 1, wherein reporting is enabled when either N or M is greater than 1 [¶0343 of Kim triggers reporting for plurality of cells thus N is greater than 1, and Luo ¶0041 report a plurality of resource indicators M/N greater than 1 see rationale for combination as in claim 1]
Kim teaches reporting but does not teach a differential.
Guo teaches a portion of the RSRP values are differential RSRP values [¶0216-220, differential L1-RSRP values being 4-bits with 2 dB step size and “with a reference to the largest L1-RSRP” (corresponding to (ii)) reported].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to specify differential RSRP as in Guo who teaches ¶0029 this allows for efficient and unified radio resource acquisition or tracking mechanism which works for various use cases such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low latency (URLLC), massive machine type communication (mMTC), each corresponding to a different coverage requirement and frequency bands with different propagation losses.
Regarding claim 13, Kim-Luo teaches:
The BS of claim 9, wherein reporting is enabled when either N or M is greater than 1 [¶0343 of Kim triggers reporting for plurality of cells thus N is greater than 1, and Luo ¶0041 report a plurality of resource indicators M/N greater than 1 see rationale for combination as in claim 1]
Kim teaches reporting but does not teach a differential.
Guo teaches a portion of the RSRP values are differential RSRP values [¶0216-220, differential L1-RSRP values being 4-bits with 2 dB step size and “with a reference to the largest L1-RSRP” (corresponding to (ii)) reported].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to specify differential RSRP as in Guo who teaches ¶0029 this allows for efficient and unified radio resource acquisition or tracking mechanism which works for various use cases such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low latency (URLLC), massive machine type communication (mMTC), each corresponding to a different coverage requirement and frequency bands with different propagation losses.
Regarding claim 21 see rejection for claim 5 respectively which teaches the physical structure performing the corresponding function.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/JAY L VOGEL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478