DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 21 November 2025 has been entered.
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 .
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.
Claim Objections
Claim 18 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 18 recites the limitation “wherein the terminal reports” in line 9. The claim is directed to a base station. As such the claim limitations should be directed to the base station and/or its components. Therefore, it is recommended to change “wherein the terminal reports” in line 9 to “wherein the receiver receives from the terminal” or the like.
Appropriate correction is required.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 6-7, filed 11 June 2025, in view of the amendments with respect to claim 11 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The objection of the claim has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the 103 rejection claim(s) 10-13 and 17-19 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.
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.
Claim(s) 10-13 and 17-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huawei et al. 3GPP R2-2001486 “Discussion on under-reporting CSI-RS capabilities” (hereinafter referred to as “Huawei”) in view of Hao et al. US 2022/0271814 A1 (hereinafter referred to as “Hao”). Note: Huawei was cited by the applicant in the IDS received 6 October 2022.
As to claim 10, Huawei teaches a terminal comprising:
a processor that controls reporting of first capability information and second capability information regarding a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource for one or more codebooks per band and third capability information regarding a CSI-RS resource for one or more codebooks per band combination; and
a transmitter that transmits the first capability information, the second capability information, and the third capability information (§2: UE reports codebookParameters indicating codebooks and the corresponding list of supporting CSI-RS for each of Band A, Band B, and BC A+B, the BC A+B capability being reported with new per-BC capability signaling),
wherein the processor reports, as the third capability information regarding a CSI-RS resource per band combination, a maximum number N of CSI-RS resources and information regarding a maximum number of transmission ports per resource (§2: maxNumberTxPortsPerResource and maxNrofCSI-RS-Resources of SupportedCSI-RS-ResourcePerBC).
Although Huawei teaches “A terminal…a maximum number N of CSI-RS resources and information regarding a maximum number of transmission ports per resource,” Huawei does not explicitly disclose “simultaneously configured in same active BWPs across CCs” and “the maximum number…or equal to 64”.
However, Hao teaches the processor reports, as the third capability information regarding a CSI-RS resource per band combination, a maximum number N of CSI-RS resources simultaneously configured in same active BWPs across CCs and information regarding a maximum number of transmission ports per resource (¶63; figure 6C: UE reports per band-band combination capabilities including maxNumberSimultaneousNZP-CSI-RS-ActBWP-AllCC and totalNumberPortsSimultaneousNZP-CSI-RS-ActBWP-AllCC), and
the maximum number N of the CSI-RS resources simultaneously configured in the same active BWPs across the CCs is less than or equal to 64 (¶63; figure 6C: maxNumberSimultaneousNZP-CSI-RS-ActBWP-AllCC is an integer between 1 and 64).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the apparatus described in Huawei by including “simultaneously configured in same active BWPs across CCs” and “the maximum number…or equal to 64” as taught by Hao because it provides Huawei’s apparatus with the enhanced capability of the number of resources and the number of ports configured by the gNB to be subject to the capability of the UE (Hao, ¶¶60-64).
As to claim 11, Huawei in view of Hao teaches the terminal according to claim 10. Huawei further teaches wherein the processor supports reporting of different values as the first capability information and the second capability information (§2: supportedCSI-RS-ResourceList for Band A and supportedCSI-RS-ResourceList for Band B).
As to claim 12, Huawei in view of Hao teaches the terminal according to claim 10. Huawei further teaches wherein when the first capability information, the second capability information, and the third capability information are reported, a CSI-RS resource corresponding to band combination is determined based on the second capability information and the third capability information, without using the first capability information (§2: candidate report values for Band B and BC A+B).
As to claim 13, Huawei in view of Hao teaches the terminal according to claim 11. Huawei further teaches wherein when the first capability information, the second capability information, and the third capability information are reported, a CSI-RS resource corresponding to band combination is determined based on the second capability information and the third capability information, without using the first capability information (§2: candidate report values for Band B and BC A+B).
As to claim 17, claim 17 is rejected the same way as claim 10.
As to claim 18, Huawei teaches a base station comprising:
a receiver that receives from a terminal, reporting of first capability information and second capability information regarding a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource for one or more codebooks per band and third capability information regarding a CSI-RS resource for one or more codebooks per band combination; and
a processor that controls transmission of a CSI-RS resource based on at least one of the first capability information, the second capability information and the third capability information (§2: UE reports, to gNB, codebookParameters indicating codebooks and the corresponding list of supporting CSI-RS for each of Band A, Band B, and BC A+B, the BC A+B capability being reported with new per-BC capability signaling, and gNB configures CSI-RS accordingly),
wherein the terminal reports, as the third capability information regarding a CSI-RS resource per band combination, a maximum number N of CSI-RS resources and information regarding a maximum number of transmission ports per resource (§2: maxNumberTxPortsPerResource and maxNrofCSI-RS-Resources of SupportedCSI-RS-ResourcePerBC).
Although Huawei teaches “A base station…a maximum number N of CSI-RS resources and information regarding a maximum number of transmission ports per resource,” Huawei does not explicitly disclose “simultaneously configured in same active BWPs across CCs” and “the maximum number…or equal to 64”.
However, Hao teaches wherein the terminal reports, as the third capability information regarding a CSI-RS resource per band combination, a maximum number N of CSI-RS resources simultaneously configured in same active BWPs across CCs and information regarding a maximum number of transmission ports per resource (¶63; figure 6C: UE reports per band-band combination capabilities including maxNumberSimultaneousNZP-CSI-RS-ActBWP-AllCC and totalNumberPortsSimultaneousNZP-CSI-RS-ActBWP-AllCC), and
the maximum number N of the CSI-RS resources simultaneously configured in the same active BWPs across the CCs is less than or equal to 64 (¶63; figure 6C: maxNumberSimultaneousNZP-CSI-RS-ActBWP-AllCC is an integer between 1 and 64).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the apparatus described in Huawei by including “simultaneously configured in same active BWPs across CCs” and “the maximum number…or equal to 64” as taught by Hao because it provides Huawei’s apparatus with the enhanced capability of the number of resources and the number of ports configured by the gNB to be subject to the capability of the UE (Hao, ¶¶60-64).
As to claim 19, Huawei teaches a system comprising a terminal and a base station, wherein
terminal comprises:
a processor that controls reporting of first capability information and second capability information regarding a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource for one or more codebooks per band and third capability information regarding a CSI-RS resource for one or more codebooks per band combination; and
a transmitter that transmits the first capability information, the second capability information, and the third capability information (§2: UE reports codebookParameters indicating codebooks and the corresponding list of supporting CSI-RS for each of Band A, Band B, and BC A+B, the BC A+B capability being reported with new per-BC capability signaling),
wherein the processor reports, as the third capability information regarding a CSI-RS resource per band combination, a maximum number N of CSI-RS resources and information regarding a maximum number of transmission ports per resource (§2: maxNumberTxPortsPerResource and maxNrofCSI-RS-Resources of SupportedCSI-RS-ResourcePerBC); and
the base station comprises:
a receiver that receives the reporting of the first capability information and the second capability information, and the third capability information (§2: UE reports, to gNB, codebookParameters indicating codebooks and the corresponding list of supporting CSI-RS for each of Band A, Band B, and BC A+B, the BC A+B capability being reported with new per-BC capability signaling, and gNB configures CSI-RS accordingly).
Although Huawei teaches “A system…a maximum number N of CSI-RS resources and information regarding a maximum number of transmission ports per resource, and the base station…third capability information,” Huawei does not explicitly disclose “simultaneously configured in same active BWPs across CCs” and “the maximum number…or equal to 64”.
However, Hao teaches wherein the processor reports, as the third capability information regarding a CSI-RS resource per band combination, a maximum number N of CSI-RS resources simultaneously configured in same active BWPs across CCs and information regarding a maximum number of transmission ports per resource (¶63; figure 6C: UE reports per band-band combination capabilities including maxNumberSimultaneousNZP-CSI-RS-ActBWP-AllCC and totalNumberPortsSimultaneousNZP-CSI-RS-ActBWP-AllCC), and
the maximum number N of the CSI-RS resources simultaneously configured in the same active BWPs across the CCs is less than or equal to 64 (¶63; figure 6C: maxNumberSimultaneousNZP-CSI-RS-ActBWP-AllCC is an integer between 1 and 64).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the system described in Huawei by including “simultaneously configured in same active BWPs across CCs” and “the maximum number…or equal to 64” as taught by Hao because it provides Huawei’s system with the enhanced capability of the number of resources and the number of ports configured by the gNB to be subject to the capability of the UE (Hao, ¶¶60-64).
Conclusion
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/JUSTIN T VAN ROIE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469