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 .
The Examiner thanks the Applicant for the well-prepared amendment. The Examiner appreciates the Applicant’s effort to carefully analyze the Office action, and make appropriate arguments and amendments.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-30 responded on October 24, 2025 are pending, claims 1, 3, 5, 8-10, 15, 28 and 30 are amended and claims 2, 4, 7 and 29 are canceled.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 October 31, 2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claim 3 recites the limitation "and the second" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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 1, 3, 5-6, 8-12, 15-16, 18-21, 26, 28 and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bai et al. (US 11,856,432 A1, hereinafter "Bai") in view of Huang et al. (US 2019/0165896 A1, hereinafter "Huang").
Regarding claim 1, Bai discloses a first network node for wireless communication (Bai, Fig. 9 905), comprising:
at least one memory (Bai, Fig. 9 930); and
at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, the at least one processor (Bai, Fig. 9 940) configured to:
receive a plurality of reference signal including a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) (Bai, Col. 16 line 50-55 the base station 205 may, during the transmission interval, also transmit the reference signal(s) over the beamformed channels 215, 220, or 225. Examples of the reference signal include, but are not limited to, a DMRS, a CSI-RS, a position tracking reference signal, a beam management reference signal); and
cause uplink information to be transmitted to a second network node (Bai, Col. 20 line 57-58 the UE may transmit the feedback report over an ACK/NACK signal 350 (e.g., PUCCH) to the base station), wherein the uplink information includes first information indicative of:
first measurement information associated with the plurality of reference signals (Bai, Col. 21 line 3-5 the feedback report may include or otherwise provide an indication of a result of the channel state measurement procedure for beams 1 and 2); and
feedback information associated with a transmission that is associated with the DMRS (Bai, Col. 21 line 6-14 the feedback report may include an absolute value or a differential value, e.g., an absolute value for beam 1 and a relative value (e.g., the delta with respect to beam 1) for beam 2. In some examples, the feedback report (e.g., CQI, RSRP, and the like) may be based on the data transmissions 320/330 and the corresponding reference signals 325/335 (e.g., DMRS) for each beam).
Bai does not explicitly disclose first information comprising a single value.
Huang from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the uplink information includes first information comprising a single value (Huang, [0063] contains a single complex value representing data from a physical channel or signal).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified uplink disclosed by Bai and uplink control channel disclosed by Huang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve the reliability of the message, enabling correction for any bit errors that may occur due to the noise (Huang, [0056]).
Regarding claim 3, Bai discloses wherein the first information is first reference signal received power (RSRP) information or first signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) information (Bai, Col. 4 line 5-9 the feedback report indicates at least one of a SNR, a reference signal received power (RSRP), a channel quality indicator (CQI), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or a combination), and the second information is one or more bits (Bai, Col. 18 line 1-4 the UE 210 may configure one or more bits, fields, and the like within the ACK/NACK message to provide an indication of the results of the channel state measurement procedure).
Regarding claim 5, Bai discloses wherein the uplink information further includes second information indicative of second measurement information associated with a second reference signal of the plurality of reference signals (Bai, Col. 16 line 16-18 a feedback report indicating a result of the channel state measurement procedure for the one or more of the plurality of beamformed channels).
Regarding claim 6, Bai discloses wherein the second information is a differential value relative to the first information (Bai, Col. 19 line 45-47 feedback absolute values for one beamformed channel, and differential value(s) for the other beamformed channel(s)).
Regarding claim 8, Bai discloses wherein the first measurement information is a measurement value (Bai, Col. 2 line 37-39 The UE may transmit a feedback report indicating the result of the channel state measurement) and the feedback information is an acknowledgement, and wherein the single value is indicative of the acknowledgement (Bai, Col. 2 line 40-42 the UE may communicate the feedback report over an ACK/NACK signal in the PUCCH).
Regarding claim 9, Bai discloses wherein the feedback information is an acknowledgement (Bai, Col. 22 line 22-23 UE may transmit a feedback report over an ACK/NACK signal), but does not explicitly disclose wherein the acknowledgement is implicit based on the single value.
Huang from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the feedback information is an acknowledgement, and wherein the acknowledgement is implicit based on the single value (Huang, [0112] all of the reserved REs (depending on the actual HARQ-ACK payload size as 0, 1 or 2 bits)).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified uplink disclosed by Bai and uplink control channel disclosed by Huang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve the reliability of the message, enabling correction for any bit errors that may occur due to the noise (Huang, [0056]).
Regarding claim 10, Bai discloses wherein the feedback information is an acknowledgement (Bai, Col. 26 line 9-10 transmit, over an ACK/NACK signal), and wherein the single value is indicative of the first measurement information relative to a threshold (Bai, Col. 26 line 16-25 the feedback report indicates at least one of an indication of an absolute channel performance metric value for each of the one or more of the set of beamformed channels, a relative channel performance metric value for the one or more of the set of beamformed channels, an identifier for each of the one or more beamformed channels having a channel performance metric value satisfying a threshold, an identifier of at least one beamformed channel having a highest channel performance metric value, or a combination thereof).
Regarding claim 11, Bai discloses wherein the single value is one or more bits (Bai, Col. 18 line 1-4 the UE 210 may configure one or more bits, fields, and the like within the ACK/NACK message to provide an indication of the results of the channel state measurement procedure).
Regarding claim 12, Bai discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to receive information indicative of the threshold from the second network node (Bai, Col. 26 line 16-25 the feedback report indicates at least one of an indication of an absolute channel performance metric value for each of the one or more of the set of beamformed channels, a relative channel performance metric value for the one or more of the set of beamformed channels, an identifier for each of the one or more beamformed channels having a channel performance metric value satisfying a threshold, an identifier of at least one beamformed channel having a highest channel performance metric value, or a combination thereof).
Regarding claim 15, Bai discloses wherein the feedback information is a negative acknowledgement (Bai, Col. 26 line 9-10 transmit, over an ACK/NACK signal), and wherein the single value is indicative of the first measurement information relative to a threshold (Bai, Col. 26 line 16-25 the feedback report indicates at least one of an indication of an absolute channel performance metric value for each of the one or more of the set of beamformed channels, a relative channel performance metric value for the one or more of the set of beamformed channels, an identifier for each of the one or more beamformed channels having a channel performance metric value satisfying a threshold, an identifier of at least one beamformed channel having a highest channel performance metric value, or a combination thereof).
Regarding claim 16, Bai discloses wherein the single value is one or more bits (Bai, Col. 18 line 1-4 the UE 210 may configure one or more bits, fields, and the like within the ACK/NACK message to provide an indication of the results of the channel state measurement procedure).
Regarding claim 18, Bai discloses wherein the feedback information is Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) feedback information (Bai, Col. 13 line 24-26 HARQ feedback is one technique of increasing the likelihood that data is received correctly over a communication link).
Regarding claim 19, Bai discloses wherein the transmission is a PDSCH transmission (Bai, Col. 19 line 8-11 the channel state information metric may include any one of SNR, RSRP, CQI, and RSRQ, and the like, of the beamformed channels used for the PDSCH transmission).
Regarding claim 20, Bai discloses wherein the uplink information is a measurement report (Bai, Col. 19 line 8-11 the channel state information metric may include any one of SNR, RSRP, CQI, and RSRQ, and the like, of the beamformed channels used for the PDSCH transmission).
Regarding claim 21, Bai discloses wherein:
the first network node is a User Equipment (UE) (Bai, Fig. 2 210); and
the second network node is one of a base station, a next generation node B (gNB), or an evolved node B (eNB) (Bai, Fig. 2 205).
Regarding claim 26, Bai discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the uplink information to be transmitted using a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) or a Physical Uplink Communication Channel (PUCCH) (Bai, Col. 19 – Col 20 beamformed channel is best may be conveyed at least in part by beamformed channel is best may be conveyed at least in part by the choice of PUCCH beam for the ACK/NACK signal).
Regarding claims 28 and 30, these claims recite "a method of wireless communication performed by a first network node" that disclose similar steps as recited by the claims 1 and 3, thus are rejected with the same rationale applied against claims 1 and 3 as presented above.
Claims 13-14 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bai et al. (US 11,856,432 A1, hereinafter "Bai") in view of Huang et al. (US 2019/0165896 A1, hereinafter "Huang") as applied to claim above, and further in view of Fan et al. (US 2024/0089778, hereinafter "Fan").
Regarding claim 13, Bai in view of Huang does not explicitly disclose wherein the single value is a first value or a second value, wherein: the first value is indicative that the first measurement information is greater than the threshold; and the second value is indicative that the first measurement information is less than the threshold.
Fan from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the single value is a first value or a second value, wherein:
the first value is indicative that the first measurement information is greater than the threshold (Fan, [0084] an SINR value of the channel measurement resource with the interference of the interference measurement resource is greater than or equal to the third threshold, a value of a bit corresponding to the interference measurement resource may be 1); and
the second value is indicative that the first measurement information is less than the threshold (Fan, [0084] the SINR value of the channel measurement resource with the interference of the interference measurement resource is less than the third threshold, a value of a bit corresponding to the interference measurement resource may be 0).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Fan’s system for represents interference into Bai’s uplink control information as modified by Huang with a motivation to make this modification in order to resource utilization and transmission performance (Fan, [0006]).
Regarding claim 14, Bai in view of Huang does not explicitly disclose wherein the first measurement information is first reference signal received power (RSRP) information or first signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) information, and the second measurement information is second RSRP information or second SINR information.
Fan from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the first measurement information is first reference signal received power (RSRP) information or first signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) information, and the second measurement information is second RSRP information or second SINR information (Fan, [0081;84] the degree of the interference is represented by the RSRP value, and the second threshold is an RSRP threshold; the degree of the interference is represented by using an SINR value, and the third threshold is an SINR threshold).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Fan’s system for represents interference into Bai’s uplink control information as modified by Huang with a motivation to make this modification in order to resource utilization and transmission performance (Fan, [0006]).
Regarding claim 17, Bai in view of Huang does not explicitly disclose wherein the single value is a first value or a second value, wherein: the first value is indicative that the first measurement information is greater than the threshold; and the second value is indicative that the first measurement information is less than the threshold.
Fan from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the single value is a first value or a second value, wherein:
the first value is indicative that the first measurement information is greater than the threshold (Fan, [0084] an SINR value of the channel measurement resource with the interference of the interference measurement resource is greater than or equal to the third threshold, a value of a bit corresponding to the interference measurement resource may be 1); and
the second value is indicative that the first measurement information is less than the threshold (Fan, [0084] the SINR value of the channel measurement resource with the interference of the interference measurement resource is less than the third threshold, a value of a bit corresponding to the interference measurement resource may be 0).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Fan’s system for represents interference into Bai’s uplink control information as modified by Huang with a motivation to make this modification in order to resource utilization and transmission performance (Fan, [0006]).
Claims 22-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bai et al. (US 11,856,432 A1, hereinafter "Bai") in view of Huang et al. (US 2019/0165896 A1, hereinafter "Huang") as applied to claim above, and further in view of Davoli et al. (US 2023/0291442 A1, hereinafter "Davoli").
Regarding claim 22, Bai in view of Huang does not explicitly disclose wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the uplink information to be transmitted based on a time offset.
Davoli discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the uplink information to be transmitted based on a time offset (Davoli, [0042] configuring the UE with a CSI-RS for tracking (TRS) for time/frequency offset estimation).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Davoli’s system for represents time offset into Bai’s uplink control information as modified by Huang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve the reliability (Davoli, [0018]).
Regarding claim 23, Bai in view of Huang does not explicitly disclose wherein the time offset is based on one or more of a capability associated with the first network node.
Davoli discloses wherein the time offset is based on one or more of a capability associated with the first network node (Davoli, [0043, 89] where M is up to 128 in frequency range 2 (FR2) for the purpose of PDSCH reception
and up to 8 in FRI, depending on UE capability).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Davoli’s system for represents time offset into Bai’s uplink control information as modified by Huang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve the reliability (Davoli, [0018]).
Claims 24-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bai et al. (US 11,856,432 A1, hereinafter "Bai") in view of Huang et al. (US 2019/0165896 A1, hereinafter "Huang") as applied to claim above, and further in view of Kang et al. (US 2019/0319739 A1, hereinafter "Kang").
Regarding claim 24, Bai does not explicitly disclose wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the uplink information to be transmitted based on the time offset being less than a time threshold.
Kang from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the uplink information to be transmitted based on the time offset being less than a time threshold (Kang, Claim 7 only the CSI on the PUSCH when the first time is smaller than the second time and a value of the slot timing is greater than the second time and smaller than the first time).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Kang’s periodic reference signals into Bai’s uplink control information as modified by Huang with a motivation to make this modification in order to minimize latency of data transmission in a TDD system (Kang, [0137]).
Regarding claim 25, Bai does not explicitly disclose wherein the at least one processor is configured to receive information indicative of the time threshold from the second network node.
Kang from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to receive information indicative of the time threshold from the second network node (Kang, claim 7 first downlink control information (DCI) comprising control information for slot timing related to the uplink data transmission).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Kang’s periodic reference signals into Bai’s uplink control information as modified by Huang with a motivation to make this modification in order to minimize latency of data transmission in a TDD system (Kang, [0137]).
Claim 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bai et al. (US 11,856,432 A1, hereinafter "Bai") in view of Huang et al. (US 2019/0165896 A1, hereinafter "Huang") as applied to claim above, and further Fakoorian et al. (US 2021/0051600 A1, hereinafter "Fakoorian").
Regarding claim 27, Davoli does not explicitly disclose wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the uplink information to be transmitted using a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH).
Fakoorian from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the uplink information to be transmitted using a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH) (Fakoorian, [0016] the first UE may be scheduled to report the reference signal received power measurement and to transmit uplink data or uplink control information (UCI) to a base station in a same time interval, and reporting the reference signal received power measurements on a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) or a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) to the second UE based on the determining).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Fakoorian’s periodic reference signals into Bai’s uplink control information as modified by Huang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve link efficiency (Fakoorian, [0062]).
Conclusion
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/LUNA WEISSBERGER/ Examiner, Art Unit 2415