DETAILED ACTION
This office action is a response to the application 18/275,839 filed on August 4th, 2023.
Claim Status
This office action is based upon claims received on 04/23/2026, which replace all prior or other submitted versions of the claims.
Claims 8, 15, and 27 are canceled.
Claims 1 – 7, 9 – 14, and 16 – 19 are pending.
Claims 1 – 7, 9 – 14, and 16 – 19 are rejected.
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 .
Response to Arguments/Remarks
Specification: The specification was objected to as failing to provide proper antecedent basis for the claimed subject matter. Corrections have been made to the claim limitation to remove the terminology that was not supported by the disclosure. The Specification objection is hereby withdrawn.
Claim Rejection under 35 USC § 112(a): Claims 1 – 11, 12 – 19, and 27 were rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. Corrections have been made to the claim limitations and are acknowledged. The claim rejection under 35 USC § 112(a) is hereby withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments, see pages 6 – 7 of the Remarks, filed 04/23/2026, with respect to the rejections of independent claims 1 and 12, and dependent claims 2 – 7, 9 – 11, 13 – 14, and 16 – 19, with the exception of newly canceled claims 8, 15, and 27, under applied prior art references of record in the office action dated 02/05/2026, particularly as regards the amended limitations, have been fully considered and are persuasive. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Maattanen et al. [US 20150016288 A1]. Therefore, the rejection has been revised as set forth below according to the amended claims. See office action below.
It should be noted that the amendments to the claim limitations necessitates a new grounds of rejection. As with any amendment to claim limitations, further search and or consideration is always required before determination of allowability can be made. Hence, although the claims were amended to include limitations from previously indicated allowable subject matter, this rejection is being made upon further search and consideration.
All remaining arguments presented by Applicant not specifically addressed herein and directed to various dependent claims are found unpersuasive for the same reasons as stated herein, with regard to independent claims. The rejection has been revised and set forth below according to the amended claims.
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.
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.
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 – 5, 9 – 12, 16 – 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. [US 20200274603 A1] hereinafter Zhang-R, and further in view of Zhang et al. [US 20170012684 A1] hereinafter Zhang-L, and Maattanen et al. [US 20150016288 A1] hereinafter Maattanen.
Regarding claim 1, Zhang-R teaches a method performed by a network device (Zhang-R: Fig. 2, ¶ 136 – 137; Access network device 20), comprising:
determining at least one channel parameter for a subband related to a terminal device (Zhang-R: Fig. 5, ¶ 170 – 176, Fig. 6a, ¶ 185 – 192, Fig. 6b, ¶ 193 – 201; wherein the access network device determines the M.sub.1 frequency domain subbands in the T frequency domain subbands based on the first frequency domain indication information (i.e., the first frequency domain indication information is generated by the terminal device), where the M.sub.1 frequency domain subbands include the L.sub.1 frequency domain subbands (i.e., both the M.sub.1 and the L.sub.1 are subbands within the T subbands), then the access network device determines the M.sub.1 first elements in the T first elements based on the M.sub.1 pieces of first precoding indication information (i.e., the first precoding indication information is the at least one channel parameter, hence the channel parameter is related to a terminal device), where the M.sub.1 first elements are in a one-to-one correspondence with the M.sub.1 frequency domain subbands),
wherein the at least one channel parameter for the subband is calculated based on at least one channel parameter for a frequency band (Zhang-R: Fig. 7, ¶ 214, ¶ 217; wherein “the adjacent subbands herein are adjacent frequency domain subbands in frequency domain subbands indicated by the first frequency domain indication information”, and in Fig. 7, the phase graph shows the subbands numbered in order from 0 – 12) comprising the subband (Zhang-R: Fig. 5, Fig. 6a, ¶ 170 – 176, ¶ 185 – 192; wherein a terminal device generates a first frequency domain indication (i.e., the first frequency domain indication information is used to indicate L.sub.1 frequency domain subbands (i.e., smaller subband(s)) in T frequency domain subbands (i.e., a larger frequency band comprising the subband(s)), the T frequency domain subbands are a system bandwidth or a part of the system bandwidth. The T frequency domain subbands are in a one-to-one correspondence with T precoding matrices (i.e., the at least one channel parameter for a larger frequency band comprising the subband) and M1 pieces of first precoding indication information, wherein the precoding matrix is recommended by the terminal device to the access network device by using precoding indication information (i.e., the precoding indication information is used to calculate and generate the precoding matrix indication (the channel parameter for a subband))), the frequency band being larger than the subband (Zhang-R: Fig. 7, ¶ 175, ¶ 201, ¶ 214, ¶ 217; wherein “the T frequency domain subbands are a system bandwidth” and “the system bandwidth includes 13 subbands, and the 13 subbands are numbered 0 to 12”, “the adjacent subbands herein are adjacent frequency domain subbands in frequency domain subbands indicated by the first frequency domain indication information”. Therefore, the T frequency domain subbands is a large system bandwidth that comprises multiple adjacent subbands);
Assuming arguendo that Zhang-R does not explicitly disclose or strongly suggest that the frequency band is a “frequency band comprising the subband, the frequency band being larger than the subband”, Zhang-L from the same or similar field of endeavor discloses a “frequency band comprising the subband, the frequency band being larger than the subband” (Zhang-L: Fig. 2 – Fig. 3, ¶ 146, ¶ 150 – 152; wherein the system transmission bandwidth is the large frequency band (i.e., the large frequency band that comprises subbands) comprising N first subbands (i.e., subbands 0 - 9) that are further divided into M second subbands (i.e., subbands A - D), and wherein bandwidths corresponding to each two neighboring first subbands included in each second subband of the subbands A, B, C and D are contiguous (as shown in Fig. 2), or they can also be non-contiguous (as shown in Fig. 3). Therefore, in a specific implementation process, after determining the value of M, the UE may divide the N first subbands into the M second subbands in a continuous bandwidth division manner or a discontinuous bandwidth division manner, where when the UE performs division in the continuous bandwidth division manner, frequencies corresponding to two neighboring first subbands in each second subband are contiguous; or when the UE performs division in the discontinuous bandwidth division manner, there is at least one group of two neighboring first subbands corresponding to non-contiguous frequencies in each second subband).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the system transmission bandwidth divided into a plurality of subbands teachings of Zhang-L into the T system bandwidth teachings of Zhang-R in order to achieve spectral efficiency, reduce latency, and increase data throughput.
Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L do not explicitly disclose wherein the worse the channel quality for the subband is, the larger the frequency band comprising the subband is.
Referring to the invention of Maattanen, Maattanen teaches that a UE sends feedback to the eNB for finer granularity CQI for secondary subbands that lie within the networks selected secondary sub-bands (Maattanen: Fig. 1, ¶ 29, ¶ 42 – 43; wherein two sizes of sub-bands are defined, with sub-band size 1 larger than sub-band size 2. For convenience and as illustrated at FIG. 1, the sub-bands of size 1 are named as primary sub-bands 110 and sub-bands of size 2 as secondary sub-bands 120… the eNB selects which of the primary sub-bands are to be subjected to finer granularity reporting, then the UE sends the feedback to the eNB, the feedback comprising the CSI feedback for the first/coarser frequency-domain granularity. The UE receives a request from the eNB to report CSI using the second/finer frequency-domain granularity, along with the indication of which sub-bands should be used…The UE then calculates further CSI feedback using the second/finer granularity for the selected sub-bands which the network identified to the UE. Finally the UE sends that further feedback to the eNB which is the second/finer granularity CQI for the secondary sub-bands that lie within/correspond to the network-selected primary sub-band(s). Therefore, from the primary sub-bands, which are the larger frequency bandwidths 110, with coarser frequency-domain granularity CQI, a selection of a few are made to apply the finer granularity process to and the UE is expected to calculate the CSI feedback and report the CQI to the eNB on the secondary sub-bands with the finer granularity CQI comprised within those selected primary sub-bands. Thus, the primary sub-bands that were not selected from the group of primary sub-bands comprise coarser (i.e. worse) channel quality and have larger frequency band when compared to the secondary sub-bands that have finer (i.e., better) channel quality and have smaller frequency band within the selected primary sub-bands).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the frequency band size based on channel quality teachings of Maattanen into the combined system bandwidth teachings of both Zhang-R and Zhang-L in order to provide the technical effect of enabling greater flexibility for high granularity feedback reporting, as well as improving performance without excessive additional uplink overhead or UE computational complexity (Maattanen: ¶ 46).
Regarding claim 2, Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L and Maattanen teaches the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
determining a precoder for the subband based on the at least one channel parameter for the subband (Zhang-R: Fig. 5, ¶ 170 – 176; wherein the precoding matrix is recommended by the terminal device to the access network device by using precoding indication information. When the access network device sends data to the terminal device on a frequency domain subband, the terminal device expects the access network device to precode the data by using a precoding matrix corresponding to the frequency domain subband, (and wherein the precoding matrix indication is the channel parameter for the subband)). Therefore, the access network device determines the precoder for the subband based on the channel parameter and sends data to the terminal device based on the precoder for the subband; and
transmitting data to the terminal device based on the precoder for the subband (Zhang-R: Fig. 5, ¶ 170 – 176; wherein when the access network device sends data to the terminal device on a frequency domain subband, the terminal device expects the access network device to precode the data by using a precoding matrix corresponding to the frequency domain subband).
Regarding claim 3, Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L and Maattanen teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein determining at least one channel parameter for a subband comprises:
receiving the at least one channel parameter for the subband from the terminal device (Zhang-R: Fig. 5, ¶ 170 – 176; wherein the precoding matrix is recommended by the terminal device to the access network device by using precoding indication information (and wherein the precoding matrix indication is the channel parameter for the subband)),
wherein the at least one channel parameter for the subband is calculated by the terminal device based on the at least one channel parameter for the frequency band comprising the subband (Zhang-R: Fig. 5, Fig. 6a, ¶ 170 – 176, ¶ 185 – 192; wherein a terminal device generates a first frequency domain indication (i.e., the first frequency domain indication information is used to indicate L.sub.1 frequency domain subbands (i.e., smaller subband(s)) in T frequency domain subbands (i.e., a larger frequency band comprising the subband(s)), the T frequency domain subbands are a system bandwidth or a part of the system bandwidth. The T frequency domain subbands are in a one-to-one correspondence with T precoding matrices (i.e., the at least one channel parameter for a larger frequency band comprising the subband)) and M1 pieces of first precoding indication information (i.e., the precoding indication information is used to calculate and generate the precoding matrix indication (the channel parameter for a subband))).
Regarding claim 4, Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L and Maattanen teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein determining at least one channel parameter for a subband comprises:
receiving the at least one channel parameter for the frequency band comprising the subband from the terminal device (Zhang-R: Fig. 5, Fig. 6a, ¶ 170 – 176, ¶ 185 – 192; wherein the terminal device generates a first frequency domain indication (i.e., the first frequency domain indication information is used to indicate L.sub.1 frequency domain subbands (i.e., smaller subband(s)) in T frequency domain subbands (i.e., a larger frequency band comprising the subband(s)), the T frequency domain subbands are a system bandwidth or a part of the system bandwidth. The T frequency domain subbands are in a one-to-one correspondence with T precoding matrices (i.e., the at least one channel parameter for a larger frequency band comprising the subband)) and M1 pieces of first precoding indication information (i.e., the precoding indication information is used to calculate and generate the precoding matrix indication (the channel parameter for a subband))); and
calculating the at least one channel parameter for the subband based on the at least one channel parameter for the frequency band comprising the subband (Zhang-R: Fig. 5, Fig. 6a, ¶ 170 – 176, ¶ 185 – 192; wherein the M1 pieces of first precoding indication information is used by the access network device to calculate and generate the precoding matrix indication (the channel parameter for a subband)).
Regarding claim 5, Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L and Maattanen teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein determining at least one channel parameter for a subband comprises:
receiving at least one reference signal for the frequency band comprising the subband from the terminal device (Zhang-R: Fig. 5, Fig. 6a, ¶ 160, ¶ 170 – 176, ¶ 185 – 192; wherein the terminal device generates a first frequency domain indication and M1 pieces of first precoding indication information and sends them to the access network device (i.e., the precoding indication information is a type of channel state information which is a reference signal))); and
calculating the at least one channel parameter for the subband based on the at least one reference signal for the frequency band comprising the subband (Zhang-R: Fig. 5, Fig. 6a, ¶ 170 – 176, ¶ 185 – 192; wherein the M1 pieces of first precoding indication information is used by the access network device to calculate and generate the precoding matrix indication (the channel parameter for a subband)).
Regarding claim 9, Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L and Maattanen teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the frequency band comprising the subband is determined based on at least one of:
downlink channel quality for the subband (Zhang-R: Fig. 5, Fig. 6a, ¶ 170 – 176, ¶ 185 – 192, ¶ 253 – 256; wherein the terminal device generates fourth frequency domain indication information and M.sub.3 CQIs (the T CQIs are in a one-to-one correspondence with the T frequency domain subbands), the fourth frequency domain indication information and the M.sub.3 CQIs are used to determine the T CQIs, then The terminal device sends the fourth frequency domain indication information and the M.sub.3 CQIs. After receiving the M.sub.3 CQIs sent by the terminal device, the access network device obtains the CQIs for all the T frequency domain subbands in an interpolation manner. And the terminal device obtains channel quality indicators (channel quality indicator, CQI) for the T frequency domain subbands. The CQIs for the T subbands are obtained based on the T precoding matrices corresponding to the T frequency domain subbands),
uplink signal-to-noise ratio, SNR, for the subband, or
rank indicator, RI, for the subband.
Regarding claim 10, Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L and Maattanen teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the subband is used for transmission from the network device to the terminal device (Zhang-R: ¶ 176; wherein the precoding matrix is recommended by the terminal device to the access network device by using precoding indication information. When the access network device sends data to the terminal device on a frequency domain subband, the terminal device expects the access network device to precode the data by using a precoding matrix corresponding to the frequency domain subband).
Regarding claim 11, Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L and Maattanen teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one channel parameter comprises at least one of:
channel quality indication, or
precoding matrix indication (Zhang-R: Fig. 5, Fig. 6a, ¶ 170 – 176, ¶ 185 – 192; wherein the T frequency domain subbands are in a one-to-one correspondence with T precoding matrices (i.e., the at least one channel parameter for a larger frequency band comprising the subband)) and M1 pieces of first precoding indication information (i.e., the precoding indication information is used to calculate and generate the precoding matrix indication (the channel parameter for a subband))).
Regarding claim 12, Zhang-R teaches a method performed by a terminal device (Zhang-R: Fig. 1, Fig. 5, ¶ 170; terminal device), comprising:
calculating at least one channel parameter for a subband based on at least one channel parameter for a frequency band (Zhang-R: Fig. 7, ¶ 214, ¶ 217; wherein “the adjacent subbands herein are adjacent frequency domain subbands in frequency domain subbands indicated by the first frequency domain indication information”, and in Fig. 7, the phase graph shows the subbands numbered in order from 0 – 12) comprising the subband (Zhang-R: Fig. 5, Fig. 6a, ¶ 170 – 176, ¶ 185 – 192; wherein a terminal device generates a first frequency domain indication (i.e., the first frequency domain indication information is used to indicate L.sub.1 frequency domain subbands (i.e., smaller subband(s)) in T frequency domain subbands (i.e., a larger frequency band comprising the subband(s)), the T frequency domain subbands are a system bandwidth or a part of the system bandwidth. The T frequency domain subbands are in a one-to-one correspondence with T precoding matrices (i.e., the at least one channel parameter for a larger frequency band comprising the subband) and M1 pieces of first precoding indication information, wherein the precoding matrix is recommended by the terminal device to the access network device by using precoding indication information (i.e., the precoding indication information is used to calculate and generate the precoding matrix indication (the channel parameter for a subband))), the frequency band being larger than the subband (Zhang-R: Fig. 7, ¶ 175, ¶ 201, ¶ 214, ¶ 217; wherein “the T frequency domain subbands are a system bandwidth” and “the system bandwidth includes 13 subbands, and the 13 subbands are numbered 0 to 12”, “the adjacent subbands herein are adjacent frequency domain subbands in frequency domain subbands indicated by the first frequency domain indication information”. Therefore, the T frequency domain subbands is a large system bandwidth that comprises multiple adjacent subbands); and
transmitting the at least one channel parameter for the subband to a network device (Zhang-R: Fig. 5, ¶ 184; wherein the terminal device sends the first frequency domain indication information and the M.sub.1 pieces of first precoding indication information to an access network device).
Assuming arguendo that Zhang-R does not explicitly disclose or strongly suggest that the frequency band is a “frequency band comprising the subband, the frequency band being larger than the subband”, Zhang-L from the same or similar field of endeavor discloses a “frequency band comprising the subband, the frequency band being larger than the subband” (Zhang-L: Fig. 2 – Fig. 3, ¶ 146, ¶ 150 – 152; wherein the system transmission bandwidth is the large frequency band (i.e., the large frequency band that comprises subbands) comprising N first subbands (i.e., subbands 0 - 9) that are further divided into M second subbands (i.e., subbands A - D), and wherein bandwidths corresponding to each two neighboring first subbands included in each second subband of the subbands A, B, C and D are contiguous (as shown in Fig. 2), or they can also be non-contiguous (as shown in Fig. 3). Therefore, in a specific implementation process, after determining the value of M, the UE may divide the N first subbands into the M second subbands in a continuous bandwidth division manner or a discontinuous bandwidth division manner, where when the UE performs division in the continuous bandwidth division manner, frequencies corresponding to two neighboring first subbands in each second subband are contiguous; or when the UE performs division in the discontinuous bandwidth division manner, there is at least one group of two neighboring first subbands corresponding to non-contiguous frequencies in each second subband).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the system transmission bandwidth divided into a plurality of subbands teachings of Zhang-L into the T system bandwidth teachings of Zhang-R in order to achieve spectral efficiency, reduce latency, and increase data throughput.
Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L do not explicitly disclose wherein the worse the channel quality for the subband is, the larger the frequency band comprising the subband is.
Referring to the invention of Maattanen, Maattanen teaches that a UE sends feedback to the eNB for finer granularity CQI for secondary subbands that lie within the networks selected secondary sub-bands (Maattanen: Fig. 1, ¶ 29, ¶ 42 – 43; wherein two sizes of sub-bands are defined, with sub-band size 1 larger than sub-band size 2. For convenience and as illustrated at FIG. 1, the sub-bands of size 1 are named as primary sub-bands 110 and sub-bands of size 2 as secondary sub-bands 120… the eNB selects which of the primary sub-bands are to be subjected to finer granularity reporting, then the UE sends the feedback to the eNB, the feedback comprising the CSI feedback for the first/coarser frequency-domain granularity. The UE receives a request from the eNB to report CSI using the second/finer frequency-domain granularity, along with the indication of which sub-bands should be used…The UE then calculates further CSI feedback using the second/finer granularity for the selected sub-bands which the network identified to the UE. Finally the UE sends that further feedback to the eNB which is the second/finer granularity CQI for the secondary sub-bands that lie within/correspond to the network-selected primary sub-band(s). Therefore, from the primary sub-bands, which are the larger frequency bandwidths 110, with coarser frequency-domain granularity CQI, a selection of a few are made to apply the finer granularity process to and the UE is expected to calculate the CSI feedback and report the CQI to the eNB on the secondary sub-bands with the finer granularity CQI comprised within those selected primary sub-bands. Thus, the primary sub-bands that were not selected from the group of primary sub-bands comprise coarser (i.e. worse) channel quality and have larger frequency band when compared to the secondary sub-bands that have finer (i.e., better) channel quality and have smaller frequency band within the selected primary sub-bands).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the frequency band size based on channel quality teachings of Maattanen into the combined system bandwidth teachings of both Zhang-R and Zhang-L in order to provide the technical effect of enabling greater flexibility for high granularity feedback reporting, as well as improving performance without excessive additional uplink overhead or UE computational complexity (Maattanen: ¶ 46).
Regarding claim 16, Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L and Maattanen teaches the method according to claim 12, wherein the frequency band comprising the subband is determined based on at least one of:
downlink channel quality for the subband (Zhang-R: Fig. 5, Fig. 6a, ¶ 170 – 176, ¶ 185 – 192, ¶ 253 – 256; wherein the terminal device generates fourth frequency domain indication information and M.sub.3 CQIs (the T CQIs are in a one-to-one correspondence with the T frequency domain subbands), the fourth frequency domain indication information and the M.sub.3 CQIs are used to determine the T CQIs, then The terminal device sends the fourth frequency domain indication information and the M.sub.3 CQIs. After receiving the M.sub.3 CQIs sent by the terminal device, the access network device obtains the CQIs for all the T frequency domain subbands in an interpolation manner. And the terminal device obtains channel quality indicators (channel quality indicator, CQI) for the T frequency domain subbands. The CQIs for the T subbands are obtained based on the T precoding matrices corresponding to the T frequency domain subbands); or
rank indicator, RI, for the subband.
Regarding claim 17, Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L and Maattanen teaches the method according to claim 12, wherein the at least one channel parameters comprises at least one of:
channel quality indication, or
precoding matrix indication (Zhang-R: Fig. 5, Fig. 6a, ¶ 170 – 176, ¶ 185 – 192; wherein the T frequency domain subbands are in a one-to-one correspondence with T precoding matrices (i.e., the at least one channel parameter for a larger frequency band comprising the subband)) and M1 pieces of first precoding indication information (i.e., the precoding indication information is used to calculate and generate the precoding matrix indication (the channel parameter for a subband))).
Regarding claim 18, Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L and Maattanen teaches the method according to claim 12, wherein the subband is used for transmission from the network device to the terminal device (Zhang-R: ¶ 176; wherein the precoding matrix is recommended by the terminal device to the access network device by using precoding indication information. When the access network device sends data to the terminal device on a frequency domain subband, the terminal device expects the access network device to precode the data by using a precoding matrix corresponding to the frequency domain subband).
Regarding claim 19, Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L and Maattanen teaches the method according to claim 12, wherein the at least one channel parameter for the subband is used for determination of a precoder for the subband (Zhang-R: Fig. 5, ¶ 170 – 176; wherein the precoding matrix is recommended by the terminal device to the access network device by using precoding indication information. When the access network device sends data to the terminal device on a frequency domain subband, the terminal device expects the access network device to precode the data by using a precoding matrix corresponding to the frequency domain subband, (and wherein the precoding matrix indication is the channel parameter for the subband)).
Claims 6 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang-R et al., Zhang-L et al., and Maattanen et al., as applied to claims 1 and 12 above, and further in view of Zhu et al. [US 20160329942 A1] hereinafter Zhu.
Regarding claim 6, Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L and Maattanen teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one channel parameter for the subband is calculated based on the at least one channel parameter for a frequency band comprising the subband.
Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L and Maattanen does not explicitly teach when a channel quality for the subband is smaller than a threshold.
Referring to the invention of Zhu, Zhu teaches when a channel quality for the subband is smaller than a threshold (Zhu: Fig. 1, Fig. 2, ¶ 41, ¶ 50; wherein after the parameter indicative of reception quality (i.e., channel quality for the subband) on the downlink channel from the base station to the UE is obtained, the obtained parameter is compared with a predetermined reception quality threshold, and the reception quality may be poor or the obtained parameter may be lower than the predetermined reception quality threshold (i.e., the reception quality is smaller than the threshold)).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the channel quality teachings of Zhu into the channel parameter teachings of Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L and Maattanen, in order to ensure a good reception quality for the UE and to help improve the system performance (Zhu: ¶ 42).
Regarding claim 13, Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L and Maattanen teaches the method according to claim 12, wherein the at least one channel parameter for the subband is calculated based on the at least one channel parameter for a frequency band comprising the subband.
Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L and Maattanen does not explicitly teach when a channel quality for the subband is smaller than a threshold.
Referring to the invention of Zhu, Zhu teaches when a channel quality for the subband is smaller than a threshold (Zhu: Fig. 1, Fig. 2, ¶ 41, ¶ 50; wherein after the parameter indicative of reception quality (i.e., channel quality for the subband) on the downlink channel from the base station to the UE is obtained, the obtained parameter is compared with a predetermined reception quality threshold, and the reception quality may be poor or the obtained parameter may be lower than the predetermined reception quality threshold (i.e., the reception quality is smaller than the threshold)).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the channel quality teachings of Zhu into the channel parameter teachings of Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L and Maattanen, in order to ensure a good reception quality for the UE and to help improve the system performance (Zhu: ¶ 42).
Claims 7 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang-R et al., Zhang-L et al., Maattanen et al., and Zhu et al., as applied to claims 6 and 13 above, and further in view of Kühne et al. [US 20180351690 A1] hereinafter Kühne.
Regarding claim 7, Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L, Maattanen, and Zhu teaches the method according to claim 6.
Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L, Maattanen, and Zhu does not explicitly teach wherein the threshold comprises a median of channel qualities of all subbands of a scheduling bandwidth.
Referring to the invention of Kühne, Kühne teaches that a threshold value can be calculated as the median value or the averaged value of a parameter of all frequency bins of the averaged received signals in a frequency domain (Kühne: ¶ 30, ¶ 106; wherein a threshold calculation unit may be e.g. be configured to calculate the predetermined threshold value as the median value or the averaged value of the energy level of all frequency bins of the averaged received signals in the frequency domain).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the threshold calculation based on median value of the frequency teachings of Kühne into the combined threshold teachings of Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L, Maattanen, and Zhu, in order to determine an effective threshold upon which to measure the channel quality against.
Regarding claim 14, Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L, Maattanen, and Zhu teaches the method according to claim 13.
Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L, Maattanen, and Zhu does not explicitly teach wherein the threshold comprises a median of channel qualities of all subbands of a scheduling bandwidth.
Referring to the invention of Kühne, Kühne teaches that a threshold value can be calculated as the median value or the averaged value of a parameter of all frequency bins of the averaged received signals in a frequency domain (Kühne: ¶ 30, ¶ 106; wherein a threshold calculation unit may be e.g. be configured to calculate the predetermined threshold value as the median value or the averaged value of the energy level of all frequency bins of the averaged received signals in the frequency domain).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the threshold calculation based on median value of the frequency teachings of Kühne into the combined threshold teachings of Zhang-R in view of Zhang-L, Maattanen, and Zhu, in order to determine an effective threshold upon which to measure the channel quality against.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Geirhofer et al. [US 20140204782 A1]: Interpolation-Based Channel State Information (CSI) Enhancements in Long-Term Evolution (LTE); Geirhofer teaches adaptive CSI granularity, CQIPMI/RI subband precision, showing larger frequency regions for lower precision and adapting reporting precision based on channel strength.
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