DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The Examiner thanks the Applicant for the well-prepared amendment. The Examiner appreciates the Applicant’s effort to carefully analyze the Office action, and make appropriate arguments and amendments.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-30 responded on January 27, 2026 are pending, claims 1, 16 and 25-30 are amended.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 February 25, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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 1-13 and 16-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Go et al. (US 2022/0166468 A1, hereinafter "Go") in view of Kang et al. (US 11,296,766 B2, hereinafter "Kang").
Regarding claim 1, Go discloses a method for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE), comprising:
receiving, from a base station, an indication of an antenna group at the UE that the UE is to use in measuring and reporting channel state information, the antenna group being one of a plurality of antenna groups configured at the UE (Go, [0250, 0465] receiving configuration information related to channel state information; the BS configures and/or controls whether to receive a DL RS (e.g., CSI-RS resource ID, SSB ID/index) corresponding to the higher layer parameter (e.g., RRC parameter spatialRelationInfo) value and/or transmission of a UR RS (e.g., SRS resource ID) corresponding to the higher layer parameter value, based on a specific antenna group unit of the UE);
measuring a reference signal transmitted by the base station and received at the UE using the antenna group at the UE in accordance with the indication (Go, [0475] the measurement result for the DL RS may be based on at least one specific panel among the plurality of panels); and
transmitting, to the base station, a channel state information report that is based at least in part on the measuring of the reference signal using the antenna group (Go, [0474-0475] the UE transmits CSI related to a measurement result for the DL RS to the base station; The CSI may include information indicating the at least one specific panel) but does not explicitly disclose using the one or more antennas of the antenna group.
Kang from the same field of endeavor discloses transmitting, to the base station, a channel state information report that is based at least in part on the measuring of the reference signal using the one or more antennas of the antenna group (Kang, Col. 9 line 22-25 The UE may be set as the following higher layer parameters for beam management. N≥1 reporting setting and M≥1 resource setting Links between reporting settings and resource settings are set in agreed CSI measurement settings).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified CSI feedback configuration disclosed by Go and CSI report configuration disclosed by Kang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve transmission and reception data efficiency by adopting multiple Tx antennas and multiple Rx antennas (Kang, Col. 17 line 63-65).
Regarding claim 2, Go discloses further comprising: transmitting, to the base station, a respective sounding reference signal using at least one antenna of each antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups, wherein the indication is received based at least in part on transmitting the respective sounding reference signal for each antenna group (Go, [0344] A UE may perform SRS transmission by using a corresponding panel ID with respect to an SRS resource set(s) for which a panel ID is (explicitly) configured).
Regarding claim 3, Go discloses further comprising: determining a precoding for the reference signal in accordance with a precoding that is used to transmit the respective sounding reference signal from the indicated antenna group (Go, [0267] the UE may determine a PUSCH transmission precoder based on an SRS resource indicator (SRI) ).
Regarding claim 4, Go discloses wherein receiving the indication comprises:
receiving, from the base station, a channel state information report configuration with the indication of the antenna group (Go, [0250] BS configures and/or controls whether to receive a DL RS (e.g., CSI-RS resource ID, SSB ID/index) corresponding to the higher layer parameter (e.g., RRC parameter spatialRelationInfo) value and/or transmission of a UR RS (e.g., SRS resource ID) corresponding to the higher layer parameter value, based on a specific antenna group unit of the UE).
Regarding claim 5, Go does not explicitly disclose further comprising: determining one or more reference signal resources to use for measuring the reference signal based at least in part on the channel state information report configuration (Go, [0249] The UE may determine, as the uplink transmission beam, a beam based on, i.e., determined (or identified) by the association information. As an example, it may be defined or limited that the association information based on the identifier of the CSI-RS resource and/or the identifier of the SSB is configured when a beam correspondence is established and association information based on the identifier of the SRS resource is configured when the beam correspondence of the UE is not completely supported); but does not explicitly disclose generating the channel state information report in accordance with the channel state information report configuration and that is based at least in part on the measuring of the reference signal using the one or more antennas and the one or more reference signal resources.
Kang from the same field of endeavor discloses determining one or more reference signal resources to use for measuring the reference signal based at least in part on the channel state information report configuration (Kang, Col. 2 line 39-42 the CSI-RS measurement may be performed on at least one CSI-RS resource, selected by the user equipment, among CSI-RS resources configured by the base station); and generating the channel state information report in accordance with the channel state information report configuration and that is based at least in part on the measuring of the reference signal using the one or more antennas and the one or more reference signal resources (Kang, Col. 2 line 44-53 a user equipment reporting channel state information (CSI) in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the disclosure, a user equipment includes a radio frequency (RF) unit for transmitting and receiving wireless signals and a processor controlling the RF unit. The processor may be configured to measure a CSI-reference signal (RS) transmitted through multi-panels from a base station and report, to the base station, CSI generated based on the CSI-RS measurement).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified CSI feedback configuration disclosed by Go and CSI report configuration disclosed by Kang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve transmission and reception data efficiency by adopting multiple Tx antennas and multiple Rx antennas (Kang, Col. 17 line 63-65).
Regarding claim 6, Go discloses wherein receiving the indication comprises: receiving, from the base station an indication of a channel state information trigger state (Go, [0149, 0228] Here, the DCI may include control information such as resource allocation information for the UE and formats (i.e. trigger state) ; The UE may receive an activation command by MAC CE signaling used for mapping up to eight TCI states to codepoint of DCI field "Transmission Configuration Indication); but does not explicit discloses determining the antenna group based at least in part on a mapping of the antenna group to one or more channel state information report configurations for the indication of the channel state information trigger state.
Kang from the same field of endeavor discloses determining the antenna group based at least in part on a mapping of the antenna group to one or more channel state information report configurations for the indication of the channel state information trigger state (Kang, Col. 27 line 5-10 If phase values to be applied between panels are different for each UE, the UE may be configured to feedback a phase optimized therefor. In this case, information related to the phase feedback of the UE needs to be defined in DCI for uplink).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified CSI feedback configuration disclosed by Go and CSI report configuration disclosed by Kang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve transmission and reception data efficiency by adopting multiple Tx antennas and multiple Rx antennas (Kang, Col. 17 line 63-65).
Regarding claim 7, Go discloses wherein receiving the indication of the channel state information trigger state comprises: receiving a downlink control information message, a medium access control layer control element message, or a combination thereof (Go, [0149, 0228] Here, the DCI may include control information such as resource allocation information for the UE and formats (i.e. trigger state) ; The UE may receive an activation command by MAC CE signaling used for mapping up to eight TCI states to codepoint of DCI field "Transmission Configuration Indication).
Regarding claim 8, Go discloses further comprising: receiving, from the base station, a first control message that maps a respective antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups to each trigger state of a set of trigger states, wherein the indication is received based at least in part on receiving an indication of a trigger state of the set of trigger states (Go, [0149, 0228] Here, the DCI may include control information such as resource allocation information for the UE and formats (i.e. trigger state) ; The UE may receive an activation command by MAC CE signaling used for mapping up to eight TCI states to codepoint of DCI field "Transmission Configuration Indication).
Regarding claim 9, Go discloses wherein receiving the first control message comprises: receiving a radio resource control message, a medium access control layer control element message, or a combination thereof (Go, [0015] reporting may be related to at least one of reporting after the initial report, update of the configuration information through medium access control control element (MAC-CE) signaling, or RRC reconfiguration).
Regarding claim 10, Go discloses further comprising: receiving, from the base station, a first control message that maps one or more antenna groups of the plurality of antenna groups to a respective antenna group index of a set of antenna group indexes (Go, [0025] SSB ID/index) corresponding to the higher layer parameter (e.g., RRC parameter spatialRelationInfo) value and/or transmission of a UR RS (e.g., SRS resource ID) corresponding to the higher layer parameter value, based on a specific antenna group unit of the UE), wherein the indication of the antenna group is received based at least in part on receiving an indication of an antenna group index of the set of antenna group indexes (Go, [0134-0135, 0215] Each element of the resource grid for the numerology μ and the antenna port p is called a resource element and is uniquely identified by an index pair (k, l); reference signal parameter represents a reference antenna port(s) which becomes a source of quasi co-location for a corresponding target antenna port(s) or a reference signaling including the same).
Regarding claim 11, Go discloses wherein receiving the first control message comprises: receiving a radio resource control message, a medium access control layer control element message, or a combination thereof (Go, [0194] the UE receives, from the eNB, NZP CSI-RS resource set IE including higher layer parameter repetition through RRC signaling).
Regarding claim 12, Go discloses receiving an indication of a trigger state of a set of trigger states and an indication of the antenna group index of the set of antenna group indexes, wherein the antenna group corresponding to the antenna group index is used for at least one channel state information report configuration corresponding to the trigger state (Go, [0250] the BS configures and/or indicates the uplink transmission beam of the corresponding UE in a specific antenna group unit of the UE. Further, a method may need to be considered in which the BS configures and/or controls whether to receive a DL RS (e.g., CSI-RS resource ID, SSB ID/index) corresponding to the higher layer parameter (e.g., RRC parameter spatialRelationInfo) value and/or transmission of a UR RS (e.g., SRS resource ID) corresponding to the higher layer parameter value, based on a specific antenna group unit of the UE).
Regarding claim 13, Go discloses transmitting, to the base station, an indication that the UE is capable of supporting the plurality of antenna groups, wherein the indication of the antenna group is received based at least in part on transmitting the indication that the UE is capable of supporting the plurality of antenna groups (Go, [0006] transmitting UE capability information related to a plurality of panels, receiving configuration information related to reporting of CSI, receiving a downlink reference signal (DL RS) based on the configuration information, and transmitting CSI related to a measurement result for the DL RS)
Regarding claims 25, 27 and 29, these claims recite "a user equipment (UE)" and "a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE)" that disclose similar steps as recited by the method of claims 1, thus are rejected with the same rationale applied against claims 1 as presented above.
Regarding claims 16-23, 26, 28 and 30, these claims recite "a base station" and "a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communications at a base station" that disclose similar steps as recited by the method of claims 1-10, thus are rejected with the same rationale applied against claims 1-10 as presented above.
Claims 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Go et al. (US 2022/0166468 A1, hereinafter "Go") in view of Kang et al. (US 11,296,766 B2, hereinafter "Kang") as applied to claim above, and further in view of Matsumura et al. (WO 2021166196 A1, hereinafter "Matsumura").
Regarding claim 14, Go does not explicitly disclose wherein each antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups includes a same number of antennas or each antenna.
Matsumura from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein each antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups includes a same number of antennas or each antenna (Matsumura, [0077] one antenna group may be configured for every four antenna points (i.e. same number)).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Matsumura’s system for antenna grouping into Go’s CSI report configuration process as modified by Kang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve communication speed and reliability of channels (Matsumura, [0012]).
Regarding claim 15, Go does not explicitly disclose wherein a first antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups includes a first quantity of antennas that is different from a second quantity of antennas of a second antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups.
Matsumura from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein a first antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups includes a first quantity of antennas that is different from a second quantity of antennas of a second antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups (Matsumura, [0078] Fig. 7B first antenna group (#0) has 6 antenna and second antenna group (#1) has 2 antenna (i.e. different)).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Matsumura’s system for antenna grouping into Go’s CSI report configuration process as modified by Kang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve communication speed and reliability of channels (Matsumura, [0012]).
Conclusion
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/LUNA WEISSBERGER/ Examiner, Art Unit 2415