DETAILED ACTION
This Non-Final Office Action is in response to application number 17/998,414 filed on August 5th, 2025. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Request for Continued Examination (RCE) filed 03/02/2026 is acknowledged
Claims 1,15,25 and 28 have been amended
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed on November 10th,2022.
Information Disclosure Statements
The information disclosure statements (IDS), submitted on November 10th, 2022 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/09/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-8,10-19 and 21-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Faxer et al. (WO 2021228381 A1) in view of Ji et al. (US 20210143879 A1).
Regarding claims 1,15, 25 and 28, Faxer et al. disclose a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: a memory; and one or more processors, coupled to the memory, configured to: receive a first reference signal associated with a communication signal (Page 14 Lines 3-6 discloses “In particular, in some embodiments, the terminal device 300a is configured by the network node 200 to receive the first reference signal resource set and the second reference signal resource set using one and the same spatial receiver filter as during reception of data and/or control signaling, for example during PDSCH signaling and/or PDCCH signaling.”); and transmit, based at least in part on reception of the first reference signal and the second reference signal, a sensing interference report that indicates one or more parameters for reducing interference for the sensing signal (Page 12 lines 6-14 and page 13 lines 5-10 disclose the reporting by the terminal device to the network node channel measurements and interference measurements as a combined link quality metric not limited to CQI, SINR and RSRP, thus enabling the network node to choose a reliable transmission beam. Additionally page 1 lines 27-30 and page 2 lines1-8 discloses reporting facilitating interference nulling. Page 12 lines 4-5 discloses that the first set of reference signals and the second set of reference signals are associated as they are both transmitted by the same network node, further more page 9 lines 22-32 and page 10 lines 1-2 discloses that reference signals are CSI-RS, used to track changes in the radio propagation environment and hence is associated with the sensing signal)).
Faxer et al. fail to explicitly disclose receive a second reference signal associated with a sensing signal, wherein the second reference signal has one or more of a waveform type for the sensing signal different from a waveform type for the communication signal, a duty-cycle for the sensing signal different from a duty-cycle for the communication signal, a periodicity for the sensing signal different from a periodicity for the communication signal, or a power metric for the sensing signal different from a power metric for the communication signal;
However in an analogous art Ji et al. teaches receive a second reference signal associated with a sensing signal, wherein the second reference signal has one or more of a waveform type for the sensing signal different from a waveform type for the communication signal (Paragraphs 0162, 0163 and 0170 respectively disclose “In step 410, the receiver receives a CSI-RS from the transmitter, based on the CSI-RS information”, “In step 420, the receiver obtains channel feedback information, based on the channel feedback configuration information, the CSI-RS reception result, and the sensing result of the receiver.”, “The communication module 530 is a device for producing a waveform by modulating a signal produced by the signal generator and transmitting the same in a predetermined frequency band. The communication module may use all of the unlicensed band, the licensed band, and the exclusive radar band in millimeter wave bands, may use the unlicensed band and the licensed band for wireless mobile terminals, and may use all of the unlicensed band, the licensed band, and the exclusive radar band for sensing. The communication module may modulate a signal to be transmitted into one or more waveforms, and the waveforms may include OFDM, SC-FDMA, DFT-s-OFDM, a single carrier (SC), and a continuous wave (CW). In addition, the signal for communication and the waveform for sensing may be the same waveform or different waveforms.”) a duty-cycle for the sensing signal different from a duty-cycle for the communication signal, a periodicity for the sensing signal different from a periodicity for the communication signal, or a power metric for the sensing signal different from a power metric for the communication signal;
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Faxer et al. to incorporate the teachings of Ji et al, to receive a second reference signal associated with a sensing signal, wherein the second reference signal has one or more of a waveform type for the sensing signal different from a waveform type for the communication signal, in order to provide several technical advantages such as low peak to average power ratios, the elimination of data dependency and hardware simplicity at the receiver.
Regarding claims 2,16, 26 and 29, Faxer et al. disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the sensing interference report indicates the one or more parameters for reducing interference, for the sensing signal, based at least in part on the communication signal (Page 12 lines 6-14 and page 13 lines 5-10 disclose the reporting by the terminal device to the network node channel measurements and interference measurements as a combined link quality metric not limited to CQI, SINR and RSRP. SINR is an indication of the strength of the communication signal in comparison to the interference or noise. Additionally in page 14 lines 30-31 and page 15 lines 1-7 it is noted that the network node selects beams for data and control signaling to the terminal device base on the reporting by the terminal device).
Regarding claims 3,17, 27 and 30, Faxer et al. disclose he UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to one or more of: receive an indication of a sensing measurement resource associated with the second reference signal; or receive an indication of a sensing interference measurement resource associated with the second reference signal (Page 16 lines 9-11 discloses the terminal device receiving configuration to perform channel measurements from a first reference signal set and interference measurements from second reference signal set, whereby page 9 lines 22-32 and page 10 lines 1-2 discloses that the CSI-RS is associated with the sensing signal).
Regarding claim 4, Faxer et al. disclose the UE of claim 3, wherein the sensing measurement resource is associated with a configured sensing beam, wherein the sensing interference measurement resource is associated with a non- precoded communication signal, or some combination thereof (Page 12 lines 11-14 discloses the selection of the transmission beam for communication with the terminal device corresponding to the reference signal resources of the first reference signal resource set).
Regarding claim 5, Faxer et al. disclose the UE of claim 3, wherein the sensing measurement resource is associated with a channel state information measurement resource, wherein the sensing interference measurement resource is associated with a channel state information interference measurement resource, or some combination thereof (Page 21 lines 11-17 discloses that the reference signals are CSI-RS and thus the reference signal resources are CSI-RS resources. Further it is disclosed that the reference signals for channel measurements and interference measurements are configured on CSI-RS resources sets. Page 9 lines 22-32 and page 10 lines 1-2 discloses that CSI-RS reference signals are used to track changes in the radio propagation environment and hence is associated with the sensing signal).
Regarding claims 6 and 18, Faxer et al. disclose the UE of claim 3, wherein one or more of the sensing measurement resource or the sensing interference measurement resource is based at least in part on one or more of: the waveform type for the sensing signal; the duty-cycle for the sensing signal; the periodicity for the sensing signal; or the power metric for the sensing signal (Page 21 lines 18-32 discloses that the reference signal resources (associated with sensing) for channel measurements and interference measurements might be configured in a CSI-RS resource set with the parameter “repetition” equivalent to periodicity to either “on” or “off”).
Regarding claim 7, Faxer et al. disclose the UE of claim 3, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: determine the sensing interference report based at least in part on using the sensing interference measurement resource as an interference reference signal and using the sensing measurement resource as a sensing reference signal (Page 3 lines 21-32 discloses the terminal device performing and reporting the channel measurements for a first reference signal resource set and interference measurements for a second reference signal resource set. As stated in claim 3 the CSI-RS is associated with the sensing signal).
Regarding claims 8 and 19, Faxer et al. disclose the UE of claim 3, wherein the sensing interference measurement resource identifies multiple spatially different beams (Page 8 lines 7-21 discloses with regards to the terminal device that “signals might arrive and emanate from all different directions”).
Regarding claims 10 and 21, Faxer et al. disclose the UE of claim 3, wherein the second reference signal is associated with the sensing measurement resource via repeated transmissions using a single beam (Page 2 lines 16-29 discloses the repeated transmission of the reference signal on a given transmission beam).
Regarding claims 11 and 22, Faxer et al. disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the sensing interference report includes one or more of: an indication to avoid one or more spatial directions of the communication signal that may cause interference with the sensing signal, an indication of one or more preferred spatial directions for the communication signal, an indication of one or more power parameters to use for the communication signal, or an indication of a modulation order to use for the communication signal (Page 9 lines 9-21 discloses the terminal device reporting to the network device the best beams and their corresponding quality values such as reference signal received power).
Regarding claims 12 and 23, Faxer et al. disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters for reducing interference for the sensing signal includes a precoding matrix indicator that is based at least in part on one or more of: at least one restricted rank index; or an explicit channel state information feedback (Page 1 lines 27-30 and page 2 lines 1-8 discloses providing accurate CSI to the network node to facilitate interference nulling in the precoding).
Regarding claim 13, Faxer et al. disclose the UE of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the at least one restricted rank index based at least in part on one or more of: a reception capability of the UE, or configuration information received via a base station (Page 14 lines 15-18 discloses the terminal device confirming its capability to perform and report measurements as configured by the network node).
Regarding claim 14, Faxer et al. disclose the UE of claim 12, wherein the explicit channel state information feedback comprises one or more of: channel state information, between a base station and the UE, that is based at least in part on a sensing measurement resource, or channel state information, between the base station and the UE, that is based at least in part on a sensing interference measurement resource (Page 1 lines 27-30 and page 2 lines1-8 4 discloses providing accurate CSI to the network node. Whereby, page 3 lines 21-30 discloses the terminal device performing and reporting the channel measurements for a first reference signal resource set and interference measurements for a second reference signal resource set).
Regarding claim 24, Faxer et al. disclose the base station of claim 16, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: determine, based at least in part on the sensing interference report, one or more parameters for transmitting at least one additional signal; and transmit the sensing signal and the at least one additional signal (Page 14 lines 30-31 and page 15 lines 1-7 it is noted that the network node selects beams for data and control signaling to the terminal device base on the reporting by the terminal device).
Claims 9 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Faxer et al. (WO 2021228381 A1) in view of Ji et al.( US 20210143879 A1) further in view of Agee et al. (CA 2283859 C).
Regarding claims 9 and 20, Faxer et al. disclose he UE of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: receive at least one reference signal, of the one or more reference signals, that is associated with the sensing interference measurement resource via the multiple spatially different beams(Page 10 lines 26-13 and page 11 lines 2-7 discloses the terminal device receiving reference signals due to reflections in a spatial beam pattern).
Faxer et al. fails to explicitly disclose frequency division multiplexing or time division multiplexing of the reference signals.
However, in analogous art, Agee et al. teaches frequency division multiplexing or time division multiplexing of the reference signals (Page 1 lines 31-36 discloses Time Division Multiple Access. Page 4 lines 4-8 discloses frequency division multiple access).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Faxer et al. to incorporate the teachings of Agee et al. to implement frequency division multiplexing or time division multiplexing of a signal, in order to achieve optimal performance by adding another layer of separation in addition to spatial separation.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1,15,25 and 28 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.
Conclusion
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/Samuel Dilan Rutnam/
Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/MOHAMMAD S ADHAMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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