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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted, IDS -07/28/2023, 04/24/2024, 02/25/2025 and 09/17/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Continued Examination (RCE)
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has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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
05/11/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 05/11/2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 3, 5-7, 10-11, 13, 15-17 and 20 remain pending in the application. Claims 1 and 11 were amended. Claims 2, 4, 8-9, 12, 14 and 18-19 were cancelled.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35
U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any
correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will
not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale
supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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
he 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:
• Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
• Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
• Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
• Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating
• obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the
claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any
evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to
point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly
owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to
consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2)
prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 3, 5-7, 10-11, 13, 15-17 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YUAN et al. (US-20240007166-A1) hereinafter “YUAN” in view of Khoshnevisan et al. (US-20230344578-A1) hereinafter “Khoshnevisan”.
Regarding Claim 1,
Yuan discloses, ‘An information processing method, comprising:
performing, by a terminal device, channel state information (CSI)’
that is a CSI-report ‘based on two channel measurement resource (CMR) sets configured by a network device, wherein the two CMR sets are comprised in a channel state information reference signal (CSI- RS) resource set used for channel measurement,
each of the two CMR set is used for the CSI measurement of one Transmission and Reception Point (TRP),
and the CMRs in the two CMR sets are different;’
Disclosure, terminal one/more CSI-reports to the network and the terminal configured to implement/execute the method disclosure Claim 1 and [0023];
Disclosure, the terminal device configured by higher layer signaling for an optimal measurement hypothesis CMR set and configured for CSI reporting [0080, 0302, 0353]. And, the higher layer signaling configures UE to select optimal measurement hypothesis for CSI reporting/report-settings to STRP/NC-JT includes: channel measurement resource set. The terminal device notify by setting CRI [0346-0348] and disclosure claim 4. CSI include measurement hypothesis for STRP or JT, a CSI-RS resource set and a quantity/number of channel measurement resources (CMR) that can be two CMR set. And, CSI-RS resources associated to the channel measurement [0079-0085]. The CMRs in the two CMR sets are not same as shown in Table-5 and Table-6 [0350, 0352].
Regarding each of sets represents single TRP - Yuan [0260] includes JT indicator field; when the user report the CRI0 for CMR1 and an single TRP hypothesis the JT indicator field 0. When the user reports CRI0 and a joint transmission hypothesis, the joint transmission indicator field is 1. CMR0 and CMR1 are configured in a CSI reporting setting CMR0 corresponds to TRP0 and a rank value that may be supported for STRP transmission is rank 1/2/3 (2 bits). CMR1 corresponds to TRP1 and a rank value that may be supported for STRP transmission is rank 2/3 (1 bit) [0353].
And didn’t disclose, ‘perform by terminal device the CSI-measurement’ and further ‘the CMR-set comprises NZP CSI-RS’,
Khoshnevisan in the relevant art discloses, implementation of the CSI-measurement resource-activation based on MAC-CE/DCI and the terminal perform/accurately measure CSI based on CSI measurement-resources [0047].
And, the CMR-sets comprises NZP-CSI-RS for the channel measurement [0091, 0121].
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of
the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of Yuan and to include
with that of Khoshnevisan to come up with the claim invention,
Yuan motive to perform by terminal device CSI-report based on the configuration of the CMR set and CSI-report. Includes motive to be implemented and executed/implemented by the terminal (disclosure claim 17) and receive configuration [0023, 0348]. Therefore would be obvious to perform the CSI measurement complemented by Khoshnevisan. And, YUAN discloses measurement hypothesis of the CSI includes wideband channel and non-zero wideband amplitude coefficient. And, the CSI-RS can include both zero/non-zero power. In addition, discloses both periodic and aperiodic CSI-RS measurements. Someone obvious to include NZP-CSI-RS. This would increase capability of wideband channel transmission and perform wideband to measure wideband CQI Yuan [0323] and a wideband CSI Khoshnevisan [0093].
Yuan discloses, ‘indicating, by a terminal device, a channel state information (CSI) measurement hypothesis through first information in a CSI report’ (Disclosure claim 1, CSI feedback method by a terminal device include: CSI Report comprises measurement hypothesis. CSI report includes first field corresponding to first measurement hypothesis. And, first field comprises a CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI) field, disclosure claim 1 to 4 and [0010-0018]. Further, measurement hypothesis indicated by the terminal device to a network device, disclosure Claim 5);
Yuan discloses, ‘and indicating, by the terminal device, a rank under the measurement hypothesis through rank indication (RI) information in the CSI report.’
Disclosure, CSI report includes first field corresponding to first measurement hypothesis is one of all single TRP (STRP) measurement hypotheses and joint measurement hypotheses. And first field is a rank indicator or rank indicator combinations. The method of measurement hypothesis indicating by a terminal device to the network device, disclosure claim 1 to 5.
Yuang discloses, ‘wherein the RI information comprises one RI, and the RI is used to indicate one rank or two ranks, when the measurement hypothesis is that the CSI measurement is based on a single CMR, the RI is used to indicate one rank, the rank is obtained from measurement based on the single CMR, and the single CMR is indicated from the two CMR sets by channel state information reference signal resource indication (CRI) information in the CSI report,
when the measurement hypothesis is that the CSI measurement is based on two CMRs, the RI is used to indicate a combination of two ranks, the two ranks are respectively obtained from measurement based on the two CMRs, and the two CMRs respectively come from the two CMR sets and are indicated by the CRI information in the CSI report’ (RI-field includes: one rank or two ranks based on STRP measurement or JT measurement for MTRP [0075-0076]. And, CRI-field in the CSI report is ┌log2(Ks+N)┐, where Ks represents a quantity of channel measurement resources associated with a reporting setting, and N represents a quantity of channel measurement resource (CMR) pairs associated with the reporting setting [0080].
When higher layer signaling configures UE to select an optimal measurement hypothesis for reporting, and CMR0 and CMR1 are configured in a CSI reporting setting, if the UE selects an STRP measurement hypothesis corresponds-to-CMR0 for reporting, the UE can notify, by setting a CRI field of a CSI report to CRI0 and setting an NCJT indicator field of the CSI report to 0 (adding 1 bit), a base station that the CSI report corresponds to an STRP measurement hypothesis; or if the UE selects an NCJT measurement hypothesis correspond-to-CMR0 and CMR2 for reporting, the UE can notify, by setting a CRI field of a CSI report to CRI0 or CRI1 and setting an NCJT indicator field of the CSI report to 1, a base station that the CSI report corresponds to an NCJT measurement hypothesis [0348].
The single CMR indicated from the CMR set, table-4 and table 5 [0341, 0350]. And, the RI-field uses combination includes the two CMR sets and the CRI in the CSI report [0350-0354] and table-4 to table-6.).
Regarding Claim 3,
‘The method according to claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Yuan discloses, ‘wherein the measurement hypothesis is a CMR or the number of CMRs on which the CSI measurement is based.’ (measurement hypothesis is one of STRP and JT measurement hypotheses that include a quantity or number of channel measurement resource pairs [0079-0080]. The UE selects an optimal measurement hypothesis for reporting, and channel measurement resources CMR0/CMR1/CMR2 configured in CSI report settings. And, the UE selects the measurement hypothesis corresponds-to-CMR [0348].)
Regarding Claim 5,
‘The method according to claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Yuan discloses, ‘wherein the indicating, by the terminal device, the CSI measurement hypothesis through the first information in the CSI report comprises that when the first information is CRI information, the CRI information indicates one or two CMRs in two CMR sets used for the CSI measurement, as the CSI measurement hypothesis.’ (CSI report includes CRI information of number/quantity of channel measurement resource (CMR) sets and pairs disclosed above in claim 4. Further, channel measurement resources associated with CSI report [0079] and disclosure claim 4; CSI report also include channel measurement hypothesis for STRP and JT. And, CSI report include: a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) granularity and a channel quality indicator (CQI) granularity in the CSI report are wideband; a CRI [0143-0148];)
Regarding Claim 6,
‘The method according to claim 5’ (disclosed above),
Yuan discloses, ‘wherein the number of bits of the CRI information is log2(K+N), wherein K is the total number of CMRs included in the two CMR sets used for the CSI measurement, and N is the number of CMR combinations used for NC-JT measurement in the two CMR sets used for the CSI measurement.’ ( Disclosure, claim 1-4:
A CSI feedback method[Wingdings font/0xE0] CSI report [Wingdings font/0xE0]
first field [Wingdings font/0xE0]
[Wingdings font/0xE0] measurement hypothesis [Wingdings font/0xE0] one of all STRP and JT [Wingdings font/0xE0] RI [Wingdings font/0xE0] total quantity of rank indicator supported by terminal
[Wingdings font/0xE0] CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI) field [Wingdings font/0xE0] log2(Ks+N) claim 4
[Wingdings font/0xE0] Ks represents a quantity of channel measurement resources
[Wingdings font/0xE0] N represents a quantity of channel measurement resource (CMR) pairs
Disclosure claim 4 [0079]: channel state information reference signal resource indicator (CRI) field; and measurement hypothesis is one of all the STRP measurement hypotheses and joint transmission measurement hypotheses, a bitwidth of the CRI field is log2(Ks+N), wherein Ks represents a quantity of channel measurement resources associated with a reporting setting, and N represents a quantity of channel measurement resource (CMR) pairs associated with the reporting setting.
Quantity of channel measurement resource pairs is a possible combinations [0050-0056]. Joint transmission include NC-JT [0049].)
Regarding Claim 7,
‘The method according to claim 5’ (disclosed above),
Yuan discloses, ‘wherein the CRI information indicates one of K CMRs, K being the total number of CMRs included in the two CMR sets used for the CSI measurement, or the CRI information indicates one of N CMR combinations, N being the number of CMR combinations used for NC-JT measurement in the two CMR sets used for the CSI measurement.’ (Disclosed claim 6 above and:
CSI-RS resource indicator, CRI field in the CSI report is log2(Ks+N), where Ks represents a quantity of channel measurement resources associated with a reporting setting, and N represents a quantity of channel measurement resource (CMR) pairs. One CMR pair is used to measure one JT measurement hypothesis, that is, N may represent a quantity of JT measurement hypotheses to be measured [0079-0080]. JT include coherent/non-coherent JT [0049].
if the UE selects an NCJT measurement hypothesis correspond-to-CMR0 and CMR2 for reporting, the UE can notify, by setting a CRI field of a CSI report to CRI0 or CRI1 and setting an NC-JT indicator field of the CSI report to 1, a base station that the CSI report corresponds to an NC-JT measurement hypothesis. a third RI field in Table 5 correspond-to-CMR0 and CMR1 correspond- to-one NC-JT measurement hypothesis [0348-0349].
The total quantity of rank indicators supported by the terminal may be understood as the quantity of rank indicators supported by the terminal for STRP transmission, and/or the quantity of rank indicators supported for joint transmission. The total quantity of rank indicator combinations supported by the terminal may be understood as the quantity of rank indicator combinations supported by the terminal for STRP transmission, and/or the quantity of rank indicator combinations supported for joint transmission [0364].)
Regarding Claim 10,
‘The method according to claim 9’ (disclosed above),
Yuan discloses, ‘wherein when the RI is used to indicate the combination of two ranks, values of the RI are mapped to the combination in the following order: {1,1},{1,2},{2,1},{2,2}, and the lowest RI value is mapped to {1,1}.’
Disclosure: [0114] TABLE 3
Between an index and a rank indicator
Index
Rank indicator
0
(1, 1)
1
(1, 2)
2
(2, 1)
3
(2, 2)
And, rank values Table-5 [0349]. CSI report first field and the higher layer signaling is one-to-one correspondence with a TRP or map between the higher layer signaling and a CMR or CMR group. Map of STRP/JT measurement: RI, layer indicator, PMI and CQI [0140-0143]. For single or JT rank values as shown inTable-2 index including the lowest rank in Table-2 [0079] and Table-3.
Regarding Claim 11,
‘A terminal device, comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing a computer program, wherein the processor is configured to call and run the computer program stored in the memory to:’
Similar to claim 1 disclosed above, ‘perform channel state information (CSI) based on two channel measurement resource (CMR) sets configured by a network device, wherein the two CMR sets are comprised in a channel state information reference signal (CSI- RS) resource set used for channel measurement,
each of the two CMR set is used for the CSI measurement of one Transmission and Reception Point (TRP),
indicate a channel state information (CSI) measurement hypothesis through first information in a CSI report; and indicate a rank under the measurement hypothesis through rank indication (RI) information in the CSI report.’
Regarding Claim 13,
‘The terminal device according to claim 11’ (disclosed above),
Similar to claim 3 disclosed above, ‘wherein the measurement hypothesis is a CMR or the number of CMRs on which the CSI measurement is based.’
Regarding Claim 15,
‘The terminal device according to claim 11’ (disclosed above),
Similar to claim 5 disclosed above, ‘wherein the processor is configured to indicate the CSI measurement hypothesis through the first information in the CSI report, comprising that when the first information is CRI information, the CRI information indicates one CMR or two CMRs in two CMR sets used for the CSI measurement, as the CSI measurement hypothesis.’
Regarding Claim 16,
‘The terminal device according to claim 15’ (disclosed above),
Similar to claim 6 disclosed above, ‘wherein the number of bits of the CRI information is log2(K+N), wherein K is the total number of CMRs included in the two CMR sets used for the CSI measurement, and N is the number of CMR combinations used for NC-JT measurement in the two CMR sets used for the CSI measurement.’
Regarding Claim 17,
‘The terminal device according to claim 15’ (disclosed above),
Similar to claim 7 disclosed above, ‘wherein the CRI information indicates one of K CMRs, K being the total number of CMRs included in the two CMR sets used for the CSI measurement, or the CRI information indicates one of N CMR combinations, N being the number of CMR combinations used for NC-JT measurement in the two CMR sets used for the CSI measurement.’
Regarding Claim 20,
‘The terminal device according to claim 19’ (disclosed above),
Similar to claim 10 disclosed above, ‘wherein when the RI is used to indicate the combination of two ranks, values of the RI are mapped to the combination in the following order: {1,1},{1,2},{2,1},{2,2}, and the lowest RI value is mapped to {1,1}.’
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 05/11/2026 have been fully considered but they are
not persuasive.
Arguments by the applicant and Examiners response:
With respect to applicant’s arguments/remarks, examiner provided relevant disclosures,
Regarding applicant argument in amended claim page-7 and page-8, “each of the two CMR sets is used for the CSI measurement of one Transmission and Reception Point (TRP)", recited in claim 1”,
Yuan [0260] includes JT indicator field; when the user report the CRI0 for resource set-CMR1 and an single TRP hypothesis the JT indicator field-0. When the user reports CRI0 and a joint transmission hypothesis, the joint transmission indicator field is 1. CMR0 and CMR1 are configured in a CSI reporting setting CMR0 corresponds to TRP0 and a rank value that may be supported for STRP transmission is rank 1/2/3 (2 bits). CMR1 corresponds to TRP1 and a rank value that may be supported for STRP transmission is rank 2/3 (1 bit) [0353]. And, page 4 to 8 of this OA for details.
Regarding applicant argument in page-8, “A quantity of N paired channel measurement resources, i.e., N CMR pairs, are different from and cannot be considered as two CMR sets. It is known in the art that for the CSI measurement, the network device may configure Channel Measurement Resources (CMRs) for the terminal, and the terminal performs measurements based on the configured CMRs to determine whether the current best CSI is obtained from the measurement based on a single TRP using a single CMR (i.e., measurement hypothesis of a single TRP) or from the measurement based on multiple TRPs using a combination or a pair of CMRs (i.e., measurement hypothesis of Joint Transmission (JT)).”
The clarity regarding the channel measurement resources i.e. CMR, single/multiple alternatively the two CMR sets, applicant spec [0058] provides the clarity, “the terminal performs measurements based on the two configured CMR sets to determine whether the current best CSI is obtained from the measurement based on a single TRP (that is, a single CMR set or a single CMR) or from the measurement based on multiple TRPs (that is, two CMR sets or two CMRs).” This is specific to disclosure Claim 1, 2, 4 and 13 of Yuan,
“A CSI feedback method/executed by the terminal comprises,
feeding back, by a terminal, one or more CSI reports to a network-side device, wherein the CSI report comprises,
[Wingdings font/0xE0] first measurement hypothesis -> X STRP(X=0,1…numbers) and one JT (disclosure claim 1)
[Wingdings font/0xE0] RI-one of all STRP and JT (disclosure claim 2)
+ bit-width determined by quantity-RI one/more quantity-RI of STRP/JT
[Wingdings font/0xE0] CSI-RI (CRI) one of all STRP and JT (disclosure claim 4)
represent a quantity-CMR to the CSI report setting
and a quantity-CMR-pairs
this is clarified Yuan [0348] configuration of the UE to select optimal measurement hypothesis and the UE selects an STRP-CMR0 setting CRI-field of the CSI report to 0 and setting NC-JT-field of the CSI report 0. And, when select the NC-JT includes CMR0 and CMR2 CRI-field and setting NC-JT indicator field to CSI report 1. Disclosure table 4 to 6.
Regarding the applicant argument page-11, "when the measurement hypothesis is that the CSI measurement is based on two CMRs, the RI is used to indicate a combination of two ranks, the two ranks are respectively…”
Disclosure [0353], “When higher layer signaling configures UE to report an optimal measurement hypothesis, and CMR0 and CMR1 are configured in a CSI reporting setting, there is one RI-field of a CSI report.” CMR0-to-TRP0 and rank value supported for STRP, and CMR1-to-TRP1 STRP transmission. A group of rank indicators supported by TRP0-to-CMR0 and TRP1-to-CMR1 for NC-JT transmission is <1,2> , a bit-width-RI-field in Table 6. This also clarifies, applicant argument in page-9, “each of the two CMR sets is used for the CSI measurement of one Transmission and Reception (TRP)…”
Regarding the applicant argument page-8, “It is known in the art that the network device configure CMRs for terminal perform measurement based on configured CMRs to determine current best…”, disclosure, the UE receives the higher layer signaling to report optimal measurement hypothesis to select the STRP/NC-JT measurement hypothesis uses CRI-field [0353-354] and includes parameters PMI and CQI [0163, 0173].
Regarding the applicant argument page-10, “Yuan does not disclose, “when the measurement hypothesis is that the CSI measurement
is based on two CMRs, the RI is used to indicate a combination of two ranks, the two ranks are respectively obtained from measurement based on the two CMRs, and the two CMRs respectively come from the two CMR sets and are indicated by the CRI information in the CSI report”,
This is clarified by the disclosure of Claim 1 to 4 Yuan, [0348] and table 1 to 6.
Examiner thanks applicant and attorney for their time and effort.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to
applicant's disclosure:
GAO el al. (US-20240063870-A1) “Methods for communication, terminal device, network device, and computer readable media”. A CSI report include one or both of CSI A and CSI B. For example, it is possible to report only one CRT in CSI A and/or CSI B (e.g. for the single TRP transmission), and the CRI correspond to one CSI-RS resource in the CSI-RS resource set. In some embodiments of the present application, the CSI is determined from N CSI-RS resources in the CSI-RS resource set and only the CSI, for example CSI A or CSI B [0063]. CSI to a STRP/MTRP [0162]. In Fig. 5 illustrates CSI resource set for CSI-reporting. And Fig. 10 illustrates CSI for the STRP and NC-JT.
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R1-2007650, vivo Title: Further discussion and evaluation on MTRP CSI and partial reciprocity (Year: 2021).
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/S.A./Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/CHRISTOPHER M CRUTCHFIELD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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