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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 December 8, 2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to rejection of claim(s) 1, 21, 25 and 28 over Park et al. (US 2020/0177252) 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's arguments filed December 8, 2025 with respect to rejection of claim(s) 1, 21, 25 and 28 over Nilsson et al. (US 2020/0228182) have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that Nilsson et al. do not disclose that frequency selective CRI/RSRP and wideband CRI/RSRP may be reported in a same report. Examiner respectfully disagrees. In paragraph 43, Nilsson et al. disclose what should be included in a beam report that the UE transmits to the TRP. In paragraph 67, Nilsson et al. disclose the UE reporting both to the TRP. These paragraphs indicate a same report for both frequency selective and wideband values. Furthermore, Kim et al. (US 2017/0141833), which is newly cited in the detailed rejection below, disclose a UE reporting both subband and wideband CSI together to a base station, even with large signaling overhead (See paragraph 370).
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, 3-6, 21, 23-25, 27, 28 and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (US 2017/0141833) in view of Nilsson et al. (US 2020/0228182).
Regarding claims 1 and 25, Kim et al. disclose a user equipment (UE) (Paragraph 428, UE apparatus) for wireless communication, comprising:
a memory (Paragraph 428, memory device); and
one or more processors, coupled to the memory (Paragraph 428, a controller of the…UE apparatus may perform the above described operations by reading and executing the program codes stored in the memory device through a processor or a central processing unit (CPU)), configured to:
receive configuration information for a beam report (Paragraph 63, configuration information for at least one subband may include at least one of information indicating the location of the at least one subband, information indicating the number of the at least one subband, and information indicating for which subband the UE should perform channel state information (CSI) reporting; Paragraph 362, The base station configures the UE as to whether to report wideband CSI or subband CSI, and notifies the UE of the configuration; Paragraph 367-369, UE follows wideband/subband CSI reporting options configured by the base station), wherein the configuration information indicates whether the beam report is associated with at least one of a subband granularity or a wideband granularity, a wideband granularity, or a combination of subband and wideband granularity (Paragraph 362, The base station configures the UE as to whether to report wideband CSI or subband CSI, and notifies the UE of the configuration), and wherein the beam report is based at least in part on a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) or a synchronization signal block (SSB) (Paragraphs 63, 362, 367-369, CSI reporting); and
transmit the beam report based at least in part on the configuration information (Paragraphs 367-369, UE feedback wideband/subband CSI to the bae station based on the configuration received from the base station).
Kim et al. do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Nilsson et al.: wherein the beam report is for a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) measurement of a wideband associated with the wideband granularity and a subband associated with the subband granularity (Nilsson et al., Paragraph 43, this UE reporting is configured by the TRP by transmitting information about frequency granularity, number of beams, and RSRP reporting; Paragraph 50, beam reporting configuration may include one or more parameters corresponding to one or more of frequency granularity of the different sub-bands, a number of beams usable by the network node, and Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) reporting) and the beam report including an indication of an RSRP quantity for the RSRP measurement or an SINR quantity for the SINR measurement of the wideband and an indication of the RSRP quanitity for the RSRP measurement or the SINR measurement of the subband (Nilsson et al., Paragraph 55, RSRP/CQI values; Paragraph 67, the UE 102 reports both frequency selective CRI/RSRP and wideband CRI/RSRP so that the TRP 106 has the option to choose between wideband or sub-band TX beam selection).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kim et al. with the cited disclosure from Nilsson et al. in order to determine preferred/best beam (Nilsson et al., Paragraphs 64-66).
Regarding claims 3 and 27, Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. disclose wherein a beam report format indicator of the configuration information indicates whether the beam report is associated with at least one of the subband granularity, the wideband granularity or the combination of subband and wideband granularity (Kim et al., Paragraph 63, configuration information for at least one subband may include at least one of information indicating the location of the at least one subband, information indicating the number of the at least one subband, and information indicating for which subband the UE should perform channel state information (CSI) reporting; Paragraph 362, The base station configures the UE as to whether to report wideband CSI or subband CSI, and notifies the UE of the configuration; Paragraph 367-369, UE follows wideband/subband CSI reporting options configured by the base station; Nilsson et al., Paragraph 43, this UE reporting is configured by the TRP by transmitting information about frequency granularity, number of beams, and RSRP reporting), and wherein a beam report metric of the beam report indicates whether the beam report is associated with at least one of the subband granularity, the wideband granularity, or a combination of subband and wideband granularity (Nilsson et al., Paragraph 50, transmitting a beam reporting message to the network node, where the beam reporting message indicates the preferred beam [report metric] for each of the different sub-bands. In some example embodiments, the beam reporting message further indicates a wideband preferred beam [report metric] for the system bandwidth as a whole; Also paragraphs 122 and 123).
Regarding claim 4, Kim et al. disclose wherein the beam report is associated with the subband granularity, and wherein a subband size for the beam report is defined as a contiguous set of physical resource blocks (PRBs) (Paragraph 362, A UE measures CSI by making reference to a CRS or CSI-RS transmitted by a base station, wherein the CSI may be divided into wideband CSI and subband CSI according to its measurement bandwidth. The base station configures the UE as to whether to report wideband CSI or subband CSI, and notifies the UE of the configuration; Paragraph 363, The measurement bandwidth 2104 of subband CSI is determined by the system transmission bandwidth. K RBs constituting a subband are consecutive to each other on the frequency axis).
Regarding claim 5, Kim et al. disclose wherein the subband size is based at least in part on a bandwidth of a bandwidth part of the UE (Paragraph 363, The measurement bandwidth 2104 of subband CSI is determined by the system transmission bandwidth. K RBs constituting a subband are consecutive to each other on the frequency axis, and the system transmission bandwidth may include a total of N subbands).
Regarding claim 6, Kim et al. disclose wherein the bandwidth of the bandwidth part of the UE is associated with multiple subband sizes (Paragraph 366, Subband indexes are applied in ascending order in the frequency domain, and when there is no integer multiple relationship between the transmission bandwidth and the subband size, some subband sizes may be different from k determined by Table 2. FIG. 21 illustrates an example where the system transmission bandwidth includes N subbands 2108, and each subband includes k consecutive RBs), and wherein the subband size for the beam report is indicated to the UE (Paragraph 411, UE acquires information on the sizes and the number of subbands constituting the system transmission bandwidth, etc. from the system transmission band width information).
Regarding claims 21 and 28, Kim et al. disclose a base station (Paragraph 428, base station) for wireless communication, comprising:
a memory (Paragraph 428, memory device); and
one or more processors, coupled to the memory (Paragraph 428, a controller of the base station…may perform the above described operations by reading and executing the program codes stored in the memory device through a processor or a central processing unit (CPU)), configured to:
transmit, to a user equipment (UE), configuration information for a beam report (Paragraph 63, configuration information for at least one subband may include at least one of information indicating the location of the at least one subband, information indicating the number of the at least one subband, and information indicating for which subband the UE should perform channel state information (CSI) reporting; Paragraph 362, The base station configures the UE as to whether to report wideband CSI or subband CSI, and notifies the UE of the configuration; Paragraph 367-369, UE follows wideband/subband CSI reporting options configured by the base station), wherein the configuration information indicates whether the beam report is associated with at least one of a subband granularity, a wideband granularity, or a combination of subband and wideband granularity (Paragraph 362, The base station configures the UE as to whether to report wideband CSI or subband CSI, and notifies the UE of the configuration), and wherein the beam report is based at least in part on a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) or a synchronization signal block (SSB) (Paragraphs 63, 362, 367-369, CSI reporting); and
receive the beam report based at least in part on the configuration information (Paragraphs 367-369, UE feedback wideband/subband CSI to the bae station based on the configuration received from the base station).
Kim et al. do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Nilsson et al.: wherein the beam report is for a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) measurement of a wideband associated with the wideband granularity and a subband associated with the subband granularity (Nilsson et al., Paragraph 43, this UE reporting is configured by the TRP by transmitting information about frequency granularity, number of beams, and RSRP reporting; Paragraph 50, beam reporting configuration may include one or more parameters corresponding to one or more of frequency granularity of the different sub-bands, a number of beams usable by the network node, and Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) reporting) and the beam report including an indication of an RSRP quantity for the RSRP measurement or an SINR quantity for the SINR measurement of the wideband and an indication of the RSRP quanitity for the RSRP measurement or the SINR quantity for the SINR measurement of the subband (Nilsson et al., Paragraph 55, RSRP/CQI values; Paragraph 67, the UE 102 reports both frequency selective CRI/RSRP and wideband CRI/RSRP so that the TRP 106 has the option to choose between wideband or sub-band TX beam selection).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kim et al. with the cited disclosure from Nilsson et al. in order to determine preferred/best beam (Nilsson et al., Paragraphs 64-66).
Regarding claims 23 and 30, Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. disclose wherein a beam report format indicator of the configuration information indicates whether the beam report is associated with at least one of the subband granularity, the wideband granularity or the combination of subband and wideband granularity (Kim et al., Paragraph 63, configuration information for at least one subband may include at least one of information indicating the location of the at least one subband, information indicating the number of the at least one subband, and information indicating for which subband the UE should perform channel state information (CSI) reporting; Paragraph 362, The base station configures the UE as to whether to report wideband CSI or subband CSI, and notifies the UE of the configuration; Paragraph 367-369, UE follows wideband/subband CSI reporting options configured by the base station; Nilsson et al., Paragraph 43, this UE reporting is configured by the TRP by transmitting information about frequency granularity, number of beams, and RSRP reporting)
Regarding claim 24, Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. disclose wherein a beam report metric of the beam report indicates whether the beam report is associated with at least one of the subband granularity or the wideband granularity (Nilsson et al., Paragraph 50, transmitting a beam reporting message to the network node, where the beam reporting message indicates the preferred beam [report metric] for each of the different sub-bands. In some example embodiments, the beam reporting message further indicates a wideband preferred beam [report metric] for the system bandwidth as a whole; Also paragraphs 122 and 123).
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) 2, 22, 26 and 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. as applied to claim 1, 21, 25 and 28 above, and further in view of Kundu et al. (US 2019/0239216).
Regarding claims 2, 22, 26 and 29, Kim et al. and Nilsson et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Kundu et al.: wherein the beam report comprises a Layer 1 beam report (Kundu et al., Paragraph 27, channel state information (CSI) report, e.g., channel quality indicator (CQI), pre-coding matrix indicator (PMI), CSI resource indicator (CRI) and rank indicator (RI) and/or beam related information (e.g., layer 1—reference signal received power (L1-RSRP)). In some embodiments, the CSI report includes multiple PUCCH based wideband or sub-band CSI reports).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Kim et al. and Nilsson et al. with the cited disclosure from Kundu et al. in order to further report CSI (Kundu et al., Paragraph 27).
Claim(s) 7-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Han et al. (US 2020/0068426).
Regarding claim 7, Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. disclose the claimed invention above as well as wherein the beam report is associated with subband granularity (Kim et al., Paragraph 63, configuration information for at least one subband may include at least one of information indicating the location of the at least one subband, information indicating the number of the at least one subband, and information indicating for which subband the UE should perform channel state information (CSI) reporting; Paragraph 362, The base station configures the UE as to whether to report wideband CSI or subband CSI, and notifies the UE of the configuration; Paragraph 367-369, UE follows wideband/subband CSI reporting options configured by the base station).
Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Han et al.: wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive information indicating a set of subbands for the beam report (Han et al., Paragraph 169, reporting subband configuration information or the reporting subband group configuration information may sent by using higher layer signaling such as RRC; Paragraph 235, subband selection for CSI reporting; Paragraph 236, a subband group subset used by current CSI reporting is indicated by using dynamic signaling).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Kim et al. and Nilsson et al. with the cited disclosure from Han et al. in order to perform dynamic switching/selection of subband (Han et al., Paragraph 236).
Regarding claim 8, Han et al. disclose wherein the set of subbands is indicated via a bitmap (Han et al., Paragraphs 211-212, 223, 236, 238, subband groups indicated in bitmap).
Regarding claim 9, Han et al. disclose wherein the information indicating the set of subband is including in the configuration information (Paragraph 169, reporting subband configuration information or the reporting subband group configuration information may sent by using higher layer signaling such as RRC; Paragraph 235, subband selection for CSI reporting; Paragraph 236, a subband group subset used by current CSI reporting is indicated by using dynamic signaling).
Claim(s) 10 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. in view of Han et al. as applied to claim 7 above, and further in view of Zhou et al. (US 2021/0028843)
Regarding claim 10, Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. in view of Han et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that art disclosed by Zhou et al.: wherein a resource associated with the CSI-RS is associated with a same frequency density as each CSI-RS port per physical resource block in each subband of the set of subbands (Zhou et al. Paragraph 396, The csi-ReportingBand indicates a contiguous or non-contiguous subset of subbands in the bandwidth part for which CSI shall be reported. A wireless device may not be expected to be configured with csi-ReportingBand which contains a subband where a CSI-RS resource linked to the CSI Report setting has the frequency density of each CSI-RS port per PRB in the subband less than the configured density of the CSI-RS resource).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. in view of Han et al. with the cited disclosure from Zhou et al. in order to further provide CSI reporting (Zhou et al., Paragraphs 393-396).
Regarding claim 11, Zhou et al. disclose wherein the beam report is based at least in part on a CSI interference measurement (CSI-IM) resource, and wherein each physical resource block in each subband of the set of subbands includes one or more CSI-IM resource elements (Paragraph 396, If a CSI-IM resource is linked to the CSI Report Setting, a wireless device may not be expected to be configured with csi-ReportingBand which contains a subband where not all PRBs in the subband have the CSI-IM REs present).
Claim(s) 12-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Chen et al. (WO 2020/155016, IDS Reference).
Regarding claim 12, Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Chen et al.: wherein the beam report indicates absolute measurement values for each subband of a set of subbands associated with the beam report (Chen et al., Paragraph 100, absolute phase value feedback).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Kim et al. and Nilsson et al. with the cited disclosure from Chen et al. in order to decrease CSI feedback overhead for a given granularity (Chen et al., Paragraph 100).
Regarding claim 13, Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Chen et al.: wherein the beam report indicates an absolute measurement value for a reference subband of a set of subbands associated with the beam report, and wherein the beam report indicates one or more differential measurement values for one or more other subbands, of the set of subbands, relative to the absolute measurement value (Chen et al., Paragraph 100, combination of absolute and differential phase feedback values. Absolute phase feedback may be feedback representing an absolute phase value while differential phase feedback may be feedback representing a phase value in relation to another phase value [e.g., a reference phase value]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Kim et al. and Nilsson et al. with the cited disclosure from Chen et al. in order to decrease CSI feedback overhead for a given granularity (Chen et al., Paragraph 100).
Regarding claim 14, Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Chen et al.: wherein the beam report indicates one or more absolute measurement values for each subband of a set of subbands associated with the beam report and an absolute measurement value for a wideband associated with the beam report (Chen et al., Paragraph 95, UE performs CSI measurements to determined wideband and sub-band coefficients; Paragraph 106, UE reporting for wideband implementations and UE reporting for sub-band implementations; Paragraphs 100-104, absolute phase value for sub-band).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Kim et al. and Nilsson et al. with the cited disclosure from Chen et al. in order to decrease CSI feedback overhead for a given granularity (Chen et al., Paragraph 100).
Regarding claim 15, Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Chen et al.: wherein the beam report indicates an absolute measurement value for a wideband associated with the beam report (Chen et al., Paragraph 95, UE performs CSI measurements to determined wideband and sub-band coefficients; Paragraph 106, UE reporting for wideband implementations and UE reporting for sub-band implementations), and wherein the beam report indicates one or more differential measurement values for one or more subbands, of a set of subbands associated with the beam report, relative to the absolute measurement value (Chen et al., Paragraph 100, combination of absolute and differential phase feedback values. Absolute phase feedback may be feedback representing an absolute phase value while differential phase feedback may be feedback representing a phase value in relation to another phase value [e.g., a reference phase value]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Kim et al. and Nilsson et al. with the cited disclosure from Chen et al. in order to decrease CSI feedback overhead for a given granularity (Chen et al., Paragraph 100).
Claim(s) 16-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. and Nilsson et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Xiao et al. (US 2022/0256387).
Regarding claim 16, Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Xiao et al.: wherein the configuration information indicates a single channel measurement resource (CMR), or a single CMR and interference measurement resource (IMR) pair (Xiao et al., Paragraph 122, Within the configured time duration of CSI measurement and report…a signal measurement over a CMR instance may pair with an interference measurement over any of the IMR instance; Paragraph 123, The one signal/channel measurement out of the n CMR instances is specified in a standard, in a RRC configuration, a MAC CE, or a DCI; Paragraphs 109-110, reporting configurations including CMRs and IMRs).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Kim et al. and Nilsson et al. with the cited disclosure from Xiao et al. in order to provide different reporting configurations (Xiao et al., Paragraph 109).
Regarding claim 17, Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Xiao et al.: wherein the configuration information indicates multiple channel measurement resource (CMRs), or multiple CMR and interference measurement resource (IMR) pairs, and wherein the beam report is based at least in part on a set of CMRs or a sect of CMR and IMR pairs (Xiao et al., Paragraph 122, multiple CMR instances and multiple IMR instances may present. For CSI reports based on both signal/channel measurement and interference measurement, a signal measurement over a CMR instance may pair with an interference measurement over any of the IMR instance. In an embodiment, in a situation with n CMR instances and m IMR instances present in the configured time duration of the CSI measurement and report, then n signal/channel measurements each over a CMR instance and m interference measurements each over an IMR instance can be paired to generate a CSI value which results in n times m CSI values. The reported CSI value is then selected from these n times m values according to the configured statistic for the report; Paragraph 123, in a situation with n CMR instances and m IMR instances present in the configured time duration of the CSI measurement and report, then one signal/channel measurement over the n CMR instances and m interference measurements each over an IMR instance can be paired to generate a CSI value which results in m CSI values; Paragraphs 109-110, reporting configurations including CMRs and IMRs).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Kim et al. and Nilsson et al. with the cited disclosure from Xiao et al. in order to provide different reporting configurations (Xiao et al., Paragraph 109).
Regarding claim 18, Kim et al. disclose measurement values for a wideband (See rejection of claim 1 above) while Xiao et al. disclose selection of the set of CMRs or the set of CMR and IMR pairs (Xiao et al., Paragraph 123, in a situation with n CMR instances and m IMR instances present in the configured time duration of the CSI measurement and report, then one signal/channel measurement over the n CMR instances and m interference measurements each over an IMR instance can be paired to generate a CSI value which results in m CSI values. The reported CSI value is then selected from these m values according to the configured statistic for the report).
Regarding claim 19, Kim et al. disclose measurement values for one or more subbands (See rejection of claim 1 above) while Xiao et al. disclose selection of the set of CMRs or the set of CMR and IMR pairs (Xiao et al., Paragraph 123, in a situation with n CMR instances and m IMR instances present in the configured time duration of the CSI measurement and report, then one signal/channel measurement over the n CMR instances and m interference measurements each over an IMR instance can be paired to generate a CSI value which results in m CSI values. The reported CSI value is then selected from these m values according to the configured statistic for the report).
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. in view of Xiao et al. as applied to claim 17 above, and further in view of Chen et al.
Regarding claim 20, Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. in view of Xiao et al. disclose the claimed invention above as well as a set of subbands or widebands (See rejection of claim 1 above over Kim et al.) correspond to the set of CMRs or the set of CMR and IMR pairs (Xiao et al., Paragraph 123, in a situation with n CMR instances and m IMR instances present in the configured time duration of the CSI measurement and report, then one signal/channel measurement over the n CMR instances and m interference measurements each over an IMR instance can be paired to generate a CSI value which results in m CSI values. The reported CSI value is then selected from these m values according to the configured statistic for the report).
Kim et al. in view of Nilsson et al. in view of Xiao et al. do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Chen et al.: wherein the beam report indicates an absolute measurement value for a reference subband or wideband (Chen et al., Paragraph 95, UE performs CSI measurements to determined wideband and sub-band coefficients; Paragraph 106, UE reporting for wideband implementations and UE reporting for sub-band implementations) and wherein the beam report indicates one or more differential measurement values for one or more other subbands and widebands, of the set of subbands or widebands relative to the absolute measurement value (Chen et al., Paragraph 100, combination of absolute and differential phase feedback values. Absolute phase feedback may be feedback representing an absolute phase value while differential phase feedback may be feedback representing a phase value in relation to another phase value [e.g., a reference phase value]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Kim et al., Nilsson et al. and Xiao et al. with the cited disclosure from Chen et al. in order to decrease CSI feedback overhead for a given granularity (Chen et al., Paragraph 100).
Conclusion
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/OTIS L THOMPSON, JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477
December 22, 2025