DETAILED ACTION
In response to communication filed on 5/21/2026.
Claims 7-11 are pending.
Claims 7-11 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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 5/21/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendments
This communication is in response to Applicant’s reply filed under 3 CFR 1.111 on 5/21/2026. Claims 7-11 were amended and claims 7-11 remain pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 7-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu et al. (US Pub. 2022/0216904)(Z1 hereafter) in view of Li et al. (US Pub. 2023/0189369)(L1 hereafter).
Regarding claims 7,9,10 and 11, Z1 teaches a system [refer Fig. 1] comprising a terminal [refer Fig. 1; 116] and a base station [refer Fig. 1; 103], the terminal comprises:
a receiver [refer Fig. 3; 310][paragraph 0098] that receives one channel state information (CSI) resource configuration [paragraph 0172] corresponding to both of a configuration of an SS/PBCH Block (SSB) of a serving cell and a configuration of an SSB of a plurality of non-serving cells (resource settings can be for a serving cell and for non-serving cells)[paragraph 0178]; and
a processor [refer Fig. 3; 340][paragraph 0098] that controls transmission of a CSI report (the UE is configured to report to the network CSI reporting for serving cell and non-serving cell)[paragraph 0178], and
the base station [refer Fig. 2] comprises:
a processor [refer Fig. 2; 225][paragraph 0089] that controls reception of the CSI report (the UE sends the CSI report to the network (i.e. the base station))[paragraph 0166], a plurality of indexes corresponding to the CSI resource configuration is configured [paragraph 0146], and the index indicates a serving cell (i.e. an index can identify the serving cell), and indicates any one of the plurality of non-serving cells (an index can be for an entry to a list of PCIs (i.e. physical cell identities))[paragraph 0246].
However, Z1 fails to explicitly disclose that the index indicates a serving cell when the index is set to 0, and indicates any one of the plurality of non-serving cells when the index is set to a value other than 0, the index is an integer and is distinct from a physical cell ID (PCI).
L1 discloses that for providing measurement results for a cell in which a cell can be identified by an index [paragraph 0189], an example of a serving cell and non-serving cells can be identified in which the serving cell is defined as index 0 and the non-serving cell can be identified by cell 1, cell 2, cell 3 and cell 4 (i.e. non-zero)[paragraph 0190][refer Table 3].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Z1 for configuring a UE to report to a network CSI reporting for serving cell and non-serving cell [refer Z1; paragraph 0178] using different types of valid identifiers/higher layer signaling index values [refer Z1; paragraph 0145][Provisional 63/166699; page 30; “They could correspond to different non serving cells' PCIs, e.g., in/from a non-serving cell PCIs list higher layer configured/indicated to the UE by the network, or any other valid identifiers/higher layer signaling index values”] to incorporate the use of a specific numbering of indexes to identify a serving cell and non-serving cell respectively as taught by L1. One would be motivated to do so to provide the use of a known technique in the field of endeavor when such alternatives for indexes [refer Z1; paragraph 0145] and other cell-specific information/ID/index are allowed [refer Z1; paragraph 0161].
Regarding claims 8, Z1 teaches when group-based beam reporting is applied [paragraph 0137], the CSI report includes both of reference signal received power (RSRP) corresponding to the SSB [paragraph 0139] of the serving cell and RSRP corresponding to the SSB of the plurality of non-serving cells (report format includes the reporting of one or more resource indicators/beam metrics associated with/for both serving cell and non-serving cell)[paragraph 0149].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 5-8, filed 5/21/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claims 7-11 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Li et al. (US Pub. 2023/0189369)(L1 hereafter) as noted in the above rejection.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Zhu et al. (US Pub. 2022/0046458) discloses the use of a one-bit flag/multi-bit indicator for CSI- reporting that indicates a non-serving cell or serving cell [paragraph 0426; “the UE could identify the non-serving (or neighboring) cell RS and/or CSI resource/reporting parameters/configurations from the indicated CSI resource/reporting setting(s) following the one-bit flag indicator in the CSI resource/reporting setting (e.g., in CSI-ResourceConfig/CSI-SSB-ResourceSet/NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet/CSI-IM-ResourceSet/CSI-ReportConfig) indicating the non-serving (or neighboring) cell RS and/or CSI resource/reporting parameters/configurations (e.g., “1”/“ON”/“true” for the non-serving (or neighboring) cell/TRP while “0”/“OFF”/“false” for the serving cell/TRP)”].
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RYAN C KAVLESKI whose telephone number is (571)270-3619. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30am-3pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles C Jiang can be reached on 571-270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Ryan Kavleski
/R.C.K/Examiner, Art Unit 2412
/CHARLES C JIANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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