DETAILED ACTION
This office action is responsive to communications filed on December 30, 2025. Claims 1-7, 9-20, and 22-30 have been amended. Claims 8 and 21 have been canceled. Claims 1-7, 9-20, and 22-30 are pending in the application.
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 .
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.
Claims 1-4, 7, 14-17, 20, and 27-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo (US 2024/0389087) in view of Zhu et al. (US 2022/0295498) and Salem et al. (US 2022/0124796).
Regarding Claim 1, Luo teaches a method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE), comprising:
receiving a channel state information (CSI) measurement configuration, wherein: the CSI measurement configuration configures one or more CSI reporting configurations, and at least one of the one or more CSI reporting configurations specifies physical layer (L1) received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurement as a report quantity (“Step S801 includes receiving a preset aperiodic trigger state dedicated to L1-RSSI measurement and sent by the base station” – See [0119]; “the base station may send the preset aperiodic trigger state to the terminal in advance, and the preset aperiodic trigger state is dedicated to the L1-RSSI” – See [0123]; “the base station may send the preset aperiodic trigger state to the terminal in advance, and the preset aperiodic trigger state is dedicated to the L1-RSSI, for example, the preset aperiodic trigger state may be sent to the terminal through the RRC signaling” – See [0061]; See also Fig. 8; The UE receives RRC signaling indicating a configuration of an L1-RSSI trigger state for measuring and reporting L1-RSSI (physical layer RSSI));
performing L1 RSSI measurement of a CSI reference signal (RS) (“Step S803 includes measuring, in a case of determining that the DCI carries the preset aperiodic trigger state, the L1-RSSI of the channel” – See [0122]; The UE measures the L1-RSSI); and
reporting the RSSI to a network entity in accordance with the CSI reporting configuration (“Step S703 includes reporting an assessment result, obtained by assessing the channel corresponding to the second beam, to the base station” – See [0098]; “After obtaining the L1-RSSI by assessing, the terminal may report the L1-RSSI to the base station on an uplink resource scheduled by the DCI” – See [0065]; The UE reports the L1-RSSI to the base station).
Luo does not explicitly teach that the at least one of the one or more CSI reporting configurations includes a report configuration type information element (IE).
However, Zhu teaches that the CSI reporting configuration includes a report configuration type information element (IE) (“In one embodiment of A-CSI trigger state in Configuration-1, the A-CSI trigger state in Configuration-1 for CSI reporting setting(s) (configured with the higher layer parameter reportConfigType set to “aperiodic”)” – See [0101]; The higher layer/RRC CSI reporting configuration includes a reportConfigType IE set to aperiodic for aperiodic reporting).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Luo such that the CSI reporting configuration includes a report configuration type information element (IE). As disclosed by Zhu, the A-CSI trigger state for CSI reporting setting(s) configured with the higher layer parameter reportConfigType set to “aperiodic” (the same type of aperiodic reporting disclosed by Luo) is defined in the well-known 3GPP Rel. 15/16 standards (See Zhu, [0078]). Accordingly, modifying Luo’s CSI reporting configuration to include the well-known reportConfigType IE achieves the predictable result of enabling the network to specify that aperiodic CSI reporting should be performed by the UE.
Luo does not explicitly teach that the at least one of the one or more CSI reporting configurations includes a report quantity IE that specifies physical layer (L1) received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurement as a report quantity.
However, Salem teaches that the at least one of the one or more CSI reporting configurations includes a report quantity IE that specifies physical layer (L1) received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurement as a report quantity, wherein the L1 RSSI measurement is performed in response to the report quantity IE specifying L1 RSSI measurement as a report quantity (“In order to facilitate the reporting of the determined level of interference, the UE 110 may be configured, by higher layers, with a new IE providing configuration parameters for a new CSI report, e.g., CSI-ReportConfig-r17, including one or more of a report size in bits per sensed channel, a new report Quantity, a measurement duration, and an EDT threshold below which the channel is sensed to be idle. The new reportQuantity may be set to L1-RSSI” – See [0189]; The higher layer/RRC CSI reporting configuration includes a reportQuantity IE that specifies L1-RSSI reporting).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Luo such that the at least one of the one or more CSI reporting configurations includes a report quantity IE that specifies physical layer (L1) received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurement as a report quantity. As disclosed by Salem, the higher layer CSI report configuration message includes a new report quantity that is set to L1-RSSI. Accordingly, using the pre-existing reportQuantity IE from the CSI report configuration message defined in the well-known 3GPP standards achieves the predictable result of enabling the network to notify the specific type of measurements the UE should report.
Regarding Claim 2, Luo in view of Zhu and Salem teaches the method of Claim 1. Salem further teaches that the report quantity IE indicates the UE is to report physical layer RSSI measurement in response to the report configuration type EI indicating aperiodic CSI (A-CSI) (“In order to facilitate the reporting of the determined level of interference, the UE 110 may be configured, by higher layers, with a new IE providing configuration parameters for a new CSI report, e.g., CSI-ReportConfig-r17, including one or more of a report size in bits per sensed channel, a new report Quantity, a measurement duration, and an EDT threshold below which the channel is sensed to be idle. The new reportQuantity may be set to L1-RSSI” – See [0189]; The L1-RSSI is configured to be reported when aperiodic reporting is configured).
Regarding Claim 3, Luo in view of Zhu and Salem teaches the method of Claim 2. Zhu further teaches that the CSI measurement configuration further indicates a plurality of A-CSI trigger states (“One A-CSI trigger could indicate one candidate A-CSI trigger state in the list of A-CSI trigger states configured to the UE (e.g., via higher layer CSI-AperiodicTriggerStateList), and therefore, the corresponding CSI resource/reporting setting(s)” – See [0075]), further comprising:
receiving a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) activating a subset of the plurality of A-CSI trigger states and receiving downlink control information (DCI) indicating one of the activated subset of A-CSI trigger states, the indicated A-CSI trigger state being associated with the at least one CSI reporting configuration including the report quantity IE that specifies the L1 RSSI as the report quantity (“the UE receives from the network a MAC CE subselection command (A-CSI trigger state subselection MAC CE), which is used to map up to NS A-CSI trigger states to the codepoints of the CSI request field in DCI. In this case, the CSI request in DCI (i.e., the A-CSI trigger) would correspond to a codepoint, and therefore, a corresponding A-CSI trigger state, in the A-CSI trigger state subselection MAC CE containing a subset of all candidate A-CSI trigger states in the list of A-CSI trigger states” – See [0077]; The UE receives a MAC CE activating a subset of A-CSI trigger states and receives DCI indicating one of the A-CSI trigger states from the subset).
Regarding Claim 4, Luo in view of Zhu and Salem teaches the method of Claim 1. Zhu further teaches that the CSI measurement configuration further configures a plurality of CSI-RS resource sets, the plurality of CSI resource sets include at least one of: CSI-RS resources for channel measurement (CM), CSI-RS resources for interference measurement (IM), and non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resources for interference measurement (“For channel measurement, non-zero power CSI-RS (NZP CSI-RS) resources are used. For interference measurement reports (IMRs), CSI interference measurement (CSI-IM) resources associated with a zero power CSI-RS (ZP CSI-RS) configuration are used. A CSI process includes NZP CSI-RS and CSI-IM resources” – See [0054]; The CSI resources include channel measurement and interference measurement resources).
Luo further teaches that the at least one CSI reporting configuration includes an IE that indicates at least one CSI-RS resource of the plurality of CSI-RS resource sets for performing the L1 RSSI measurement (“Step S201 includes sending to the terminal a preset aperiodic trigger state dedicated to L1-RSSI measurement. The preset aperiodic trigger state is associated with at least one zero power-channel state information-reference signal (ZP-CSI-RS)” – See [0058]; “resource corresponding to the ZP-CSI-RS to obtain the L1-RSSI” – See [0060]; The report configuration includes a field/information element indicating a CSI-RS resource for performing the L1-RSSI measurement).
Regarding Claim 7, Luo in view of Zhu and Salem teaches the method of Claim 1. Luo further teaches that the UE is pre-configured to use a CSI-RS resource for channel measurement (CM) for performing the L1 RSSI measurement (“the terminal may be triggered to measure the L1-RSSI of the channel corresponding to the second beam on the resource corresponding to the ZP-CSI-RS associated with the preset aperiodic trigger state” – See [0062]; The L1-RSSI is measurement is performed on a resource for channel measurement).
Claims 14, 27, and 30 are rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 1.
Claims 15 and 28 are rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 2.
Claims 16 and 29 are rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 3.
Claim 17 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 4.
Claim 20 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 7.
Claims 5 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo (US 2024/0389087) in view of Zhu et al. (US 2022/0295498) and Salem et al. (US 2022/0124796) and further in view of Liu et al. (WO 2022/115026).
Regarding Claim 5, Luo in view of Zhu and Salem teaches the method of Claim 4. Luo, Zhu, and Salem do not explicitly teach that the UE is pre-configured to use a CSI-RS interference measurement (IM) resource for performing the L1 RSSI measurement.
However, Liu teaches that that the UE is pre-configured to use a CSI-RS interference measurement (IM) resource for performing the L1 RSSI measurement (“For CSI-IM based L1-RSSI measurement” – See p. 15, line 23; The UE uses a CSI-IM resource configuration for L1-RSSI (physical layer RSSI) measurement).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Luo such that that the UE is pre-configured to use a CSI-RS interference measurement (IM) resource for performing the L1 RSSI measurement. Motivation for doing so would be to enable simpler measurements to be performed on dedicated resources (See Liu, p. 16, lines 5-10).
Claim 18 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 5.
Claims 6, 9, 10, 19, 22, and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo (US 2024/0389087) in view of Zhu et al. (US 2022/0295498) and Salem et al. (US 2022/0124796) and further in view of Liu et al. (US 2019/0281487, hereinafter Liu ‘487).
Regarding Claim 6, Luo in view of Zhu and Salem teaches the method of Claim 4. Luo, Zhu, and Salem do not explicitly teach that the UE is pre-configured to use a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource for performing the L1 RSSI measurement; and further comprising performing cancellation on CSI-RS on the NZP CSI-RS resource.
However, Liu ‘487 teaches that the UE is pre-configured to use a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource for performing the L1 RSSI measurement; and further comprising performing cancellation on CSI-RS on the NZP CSI-RS resource (“the UE cancels NZP CSI-RS on the NZP CSI-RS REs, such that only interference is left on those REs” – See [0220]; The UE performs measurement on an NZP CSI-RS resource and performs cancellation on the CSI-RS transmitted on the NZP CSI-RS resource).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Luo such that the UE is pre-configured to use a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource for performing the L1 RSSI measurement; and further comprising performing cancellation on CSI-RS on the NZP CSI-RS resource. Motivation for doing so would be to provide more accurate estimation of dominant interference (See Liu ‘487, [0243]).
Regarding Claim 9, Luo in view of Zhu and Salem teaches the method of Claim 1. Luo, Zhu, and Salem do not explicitly teach performing cancellation on a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resources to compute the RSSI.
However, Liu ‘487 teaches performing cancellation on a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resources to compute the RSSI (“the UE cancels NZP CSI-RS on the NZP CSI-RS REs, such that only interference is left on those REs” – See [0220]; The UE performs measurement on an NZP CSI-RS resource and performs cancellation on the NZP CSI-RS transmitted on the NZP CSI-RS resource).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Luo to perform cancellation on a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resources to compute the RSSI for the same reasons as those given with respect to Claim 6.
Regarding Claim 10, Luo in view of Zhu and Salem teaches the method of Claim 1. Luo, Zhu, and Salem do not explicitly teach that the CSI reporting configuration indicates one or more time restrictions for reporting the L1 RSSI measurement.
However, Liu ‘487 teaches that the CSI reporting configuration indicates one or more time restrictions for reporting the L1 RSSI measurement (“measurement restriction (MR) may need to be applied in the time and/or frequency domains (independently or dependently)” – See [0175]; The report configuration indicates time restrictions for the measurement).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Luo such that the CSI reporting configuration indicates one or more time restrictions for reporting the L1 RSSI measurement. Motivation for doing so would be to provide enhanced measurement accuracy when beamforming/precoding are used (See Liu ‘487, [0208] and [0216]).
Claim 19 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 6.
Claim 22 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 9.
Claim 23 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 10.
Claims 11, 12, 24, and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo (US 2024/0389087) in view of Zhu et al. (US 2022/0295498) and Salem et al. (US 2022/0124796) and further in view of Niu et al. (US 2023/0299826).
Regarding Claim 11, Luo in view of Zhu and Salem teaches the method of Claim 1. Luo, Zhu, and Salem do not explicitly teach that the CSI reporting configuration indicates a range for reporting the L1 RSSI measurement.
However, Niu teaches that the CSI reporting configuration indicates a range for reporting the L1 RSSI measurement (“the L1-RSSI may reuse the L3-RSSI report range. For example, an information element (IE) such as RSSI-Range may specify the value range used in RSSI measurements and thresholds for operation (e.g., new radio (NR)) with shared spectrum channel access. More specifically, the L1-RSSI report range may be characterized as “RSSI-Range-r16 :: = INTEGER(0..76) ” where the reporting range of the measurements may be defined from -100 dBm to -25 dBm with a 1 dBm resolution. For example, a RSSI reported value of “RSSI 00” may correspond to a RSSI measured quantity value of less than -100 dBm, a RSSI reported value of “RSSI 01” may correspond to a RSSI measured quantity value greater than or equal to -100 dBm and less than -99 dBm, and a RSSI reported value of “RSSI 02” may correspond to a RSSI measured quantity value greater than or equal to -99 dBm and less than -98 dBm, according to some embodiments. Moreover, this characterization may continue for the L1-RSSI reporting range such that a RSSI reported value of “RSSI 75” may correspond to a RSSI measured quantity value greater than or equal to -26 dBm and less than -25 dBm and a RSSI reported value of “RSSI 76” may correspond to a RSSI measured quantity value greater than or equal to -25 dBm” – See [0195]; The report configuration includes a range for reporting L1-RSSI values).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Luo such that the CSI reporting configuration indicates a range for reporting the L1 RSSI measurement. Motivation for doing so would be to enable the measurement values to be reported according to a specified resolution (See Niu, [0195]).
Regarding Claim 12, Luo in view of Zhu, Salem, and Niu teaches the method of Claim 11. Niu further teaches that the range corresponds to: a range for Cross Link Interference (CLI) RSSI reporting; a range configured for L1 RSSI reporting; or a range for CSI-RS based physical layer reference signal received power (RSRP) (“the L1-RSSI may reuse the L3-RSSI report range. For example, an information element (IE) such as RSSI-Range may specify the value range used in RSSI measurements and thresholds for operation (e.g., new radio (NR)) with shared spectrum channel access. More specifically, the L1-RSSI report range may be characterized as “RSSI-Range-r16 :: = INTEGER(0..76) ” where the reporting range of the measurements may be defined from -100 dBm to -25 dBm with a 1 dBm resolution. For example, a RSSI reported value of “RSSI 00” may correspond to a RSSI measured quantity value of less than -100 dBm, a RSSI reported value of “RSSI 01” may correspond to a RSSI measured quantity value greater than or equal to -100 dBm and less than -99 dBm, and a RSSI reported value of “RSSI 02” may correspond to a RSSI measured quantity value greater than or equal to -99 dBm and less than -98 dBm, according to some embodiments. Moreover, this characterization may continue for the L1-RSSI reporting range such that a RSSI reported value of “RSSI 75” may correspond to a RSSI measured quantity value greater than or equal to -26 dBm and less than -25 dBm and a RSSI reported value of “RSSI 76” may correspond to a RSSI measured quantity value greater than or equal to -25 dBm” – See [0195]; The range corresponds to a range for L1-RSSI reporting).
Claim 24 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 11.
Claim 25 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 12.
Claims 13 and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo (US 2024/0389087) in view of Zhu et al. (US 2022/0295498) and Salem et al. (US 2022/0124796) and further in view of Zhang et al. (US 2019/0306924).
Regarding Claim 13, Luo in view of Zhu and Salem teaches the method of Claim 1. Luo, Zhu, and Salem do not explicitly teach using, for L1 RSSI measurement, a beam corresponding to an active transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state derived using rules used for L1 reference signal received power (RSRP) reporting.
However, Zhang teaches using, for L1 RSSI measurement, a beam corresponding to an active transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state derived using rules used for L1 reference signal received power (RSRP) reporting (“the quasi-co-location (QCL) information for resources used for RSSI can be configured by higher layer signaling so that UE can use the same beam to receive the RSSI as well as corresponding SSB and/or CSI-RS resource for RSRP measurement” – See [0216]; The UE uses a beam for RSSI measurement corresponding to QCL information (active TCI state) with the same rules as those used for RSRP).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Luo to include using, for L1 RSSI measurement, a beam corresponding to an active transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state derived using rules used for L1 reference signal received power (RSRP) reporting. Motivation for doing so would be to enable the UE to jointly measure the physical layer RSSI and physical layer RSRP (See Zhang, [0217]).
Claim 26 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 13.
Response to Arguments
On pages 11-12 of the remarks, Applicant argues in substance that Luo does not teach that the at least one CSI reporting configuration “includes a report configuration type information element (IE) and a report quantity IE”, as recited in independent claims 1, 14, 27, and 30. Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot based on the new grounds of rejection. In response to the amended limitations, the Examiner relies upon the newly-cited Zhu and Salem references.
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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/SCOTT M SCIACCA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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