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 Amendment
The amendment filed January 2, 2026 has been entered. Claims 15-18 are pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 15-18 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Landmann et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2022/0029674) in view of TS 38.214 v16.5.0 (publication: March 30, 2021; referred to herein as TS 38.214), further in view of Huawei (“Summary of CSI enhancements for MTRP and FDD,” R1-2101884, publication: January 27, 2021), and further in view of Hindy et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2023/0388080).
Regarding claim 15, Landmann teaches “[a] terminal comprising: . . . a processor that controls a channel state information (CSI) report including a precoding matrix indicator (PMI)” (see ¶¶ [0004], [0015], and [0020]; the UE (i.e., terminal) determines based on estimated channel matrix, a precoding matrix a predefined set of matrices called codebook; the selected precoding matrix is reported in the form of a precoding matrix identifier (PMI) and rank identifier (RI) to the gNB; user equipment (UE) (i.e., terminal) comprises a processor, configured to report channel state information (CSI) feedback and PMI (i.e., the reporting of CSI includes reporting the PMI); thus, the terminal comprises a processor that controls a CSI report including a PMI); and
Landmann further teaches “a transmitter that reports . . . coefficients within a matrix related to a Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI” (see ¶¶ [0005], [0008], [0015], [0017], [0020], and [0066]; UE (i.e., terminal) comprises a transmitter and the UE (terminal) reports channel state information (CSI) feedback and PMI; thus, the transmitter of terminal transmits/reports the CSI report including the PMI; there are two types (Type-I and Type-II) for CSI reporting, where for Type-II CSI reporting, a precoder W2 (i.e., a matrix related to Type-II) codebook, where W2 (matrix) contains coefficients for port selection, and where the matrix is calculated for a number of antenna ports; thus, the W2 (the matrix) codebook is related to the Type II CSI and for ports selection).
Landmann does not explicitly disclose “a receiver that receives higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks; . . . as part of the PMI, bitmap identifying which coefficients within” the matrix related to the Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI “are reported, wherein the processor controls to not report the bitmap based on pre-defined rule, and wherein the Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI corresponds to one of the plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks” of claim 15. However, the foregoing limitations are well known in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention. For example, TS 38.214 teaches “as part of the PMI, bitmap identifying which coefficients within a matrix related to a Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI are reported” (see Section 5.2.2.2.5, p. 89, lines 25-26, and Section 5.2.2.2.6, pp. 94 and 95, lines 1-9; “Enhanced Type II Port Selection Codebook”; UE is also configured with the higher layer bitmap parameter typeII-PortSelectionRI-Restriction-r16, which forms the bit sequence (i.e., bitmap) r_3, r_2, r_1, r_0, where r_0 is the LSB and r_3 is the MSB; the PMI value corresponds to the codebook (matrices) indices i_1 and i_2, and includes the bitmap indicator i_(1,7,l), where the non-zero bits of the bitmap indicate which coefficients are reported; therefore, the PMI includes a bitmap indication, which identifies coefficients within a matrix related to Type II port selection codebook). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the invention of Landmann to incorporate the teachings of TS 38.214 to have a bitmap identify coefficients that are reported. The suggestion to do so would have been enhance Type II port selection codebook (see p. 94, line 14 of TS 38.214).
The combination of Landmann and TS 38.214 does not explicitly disclose “a receiver that receives higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks; . . . wherein the processor controls to not report the bitmap based on pre-defined rule, and wherein the Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI corresponds to one of the plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks” of claim 15. However, the foregoing is known in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention. For example, Huawei teaches “wherein the processor controls to not report the bitmap based on pre-defined rule” (see p. 3; for CSI feedback with non-zero coefficients, when the codebook structure W = W1W2 (i.e., predefined rule), the bitmap is not reported; thus, the processor controls to not report the bitmap based on pre-defined rule). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the invention of Landmann in view of TS 38.214 to incorporate the teachings of Huawei to not report the bitmap based on pre-defined rule. The suggestion to do so would have been to support a codebook structure (see p. 3, line 31 of Huawei).
The combination of Landmann, TS 38.214, and Huawei does not explicitly disclose “a receiver that receives higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks; . . . and wherein the Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI corresponds to one of the plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks” of claim 15. However, the foregoing is known in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention. For example, Hindy teaches “a receiver that receives higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks; . . . and wherein the Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI corresponds to one of the plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks” (see ¶ [0119] and [0142], and FIG. 6; a new Codebook Configuration IE is introduced for Rel-17, e.g., CodebookConfig-r17, in which a new Type-II Port-Selection codebook is introduced, e.g., the higher-layer parameter codebookType (i.e., is set to ‘typeII-PortSelection-r17’ (i.e., higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks); thus, the UE via the IE (information element) is receiving higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks; furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6, the IE also includes two higher-layer parameters paramCombination-r17 and numberOfPMI-SubbandsPerCQI-Subband-r17 comprise a first parameter combination (i.e., codebook structure of the CSI) for the indicated codebook; thus, the indicated codebook structure of the CSI corresponds to one of the plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the invention of Landmann in view of TS 38.214 and further in view of Huawei to incorporate the teachings of Hindy to receive higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks and where the Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI corresponds to one of the plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks. The suggestion to do so would have been to improve resource consumption over reference signaling (see ¶ [0004] of Hindy).
Regarding claim 16, it is a method claim corresponding to the device claim of 15 that has been rejected above. Applicant’s attention directed to the rejection of claim 15. Claim 16 is rejected under the same rationale as claim 15.
Regarding claim 17, Landmann teaches “[a] base station comprising: . . . a receiver that receives a channel state information (CSI) report including a precoding matrix indicator (PMI)” (see ¶¶ [0004], [0015], [0020], [0048], and [0060]; a radio base station includes a receiver; and the base station receives from the UE a CSI feedback and/or a PMI (i.e., channel state information (CSI) report including a precoding matrix indicator (PMI); the UE determines based on estimated channel matrix, a precoding matrix a predefined set of matrices called codebook; the selected precoding matrix is reported in the form of a precoding matrix identifier (PMI) and rank identifier (RI) to the gNB); and
Landmann further teaches “a processor that identifies . . . coefficients within a matrix related to a Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI” (see ¶¶ [0005], [0008], [0015], [0017], [0020], and [0060]; base station comprises a processor; there are two types (Type-I and Type-II) for CSI reporting, where for Type-II CSI reporting, a precoder W2 (i.e., a matrix related to Type-II) codebook, where W2 (matrix) contains coefficients for port selection, and where the matrix is calculated for a number of antenna ports; thus, the processor, identifies coefficients within a matrix related to a Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI).
Landmann does not explicitly disclose “a transmitter that transmits higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks; . . . identifies which coefficients” within a matrix related to a Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI “are reported, based on bitmap reported as part of the PMI, wherein the bitmap is not reported based on pre-defined rule, and wherein the Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI corresponds to one of the plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks” of claim 17. However, the foregoing limitations are well known in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention. For example, TS 38.214 teaches “identifies which coefficients within a matrix related to a Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI are reported, based on bitmap reported as part of the PMI” (see Section 5.2.2.2.5, p. 89, lines 25-26, and Section 5.2.2.2.6, pp. 94 and 95, lines 1-9; “Enhanced Type II Port Selection Codebook”; UE is also configured with the higher layer bitmap parameter typeII-PortSelectionRI-Restriction-r16, which forms the bit sequence (i.e., bitmap) r_3, r_2, r_1, r_0, where r_0 is the LSB and r_3 is the MSB; the PMI value corresponds to the codebook (matrices) indices i_1 and i_2, and includes the bitmap indicator i_(1,7,l), where the non-zero bits of the bitmap indicate which coefficients are reported; therefore, the PMI includes a bitmap indication, which identifies coefficients within a matrix related to Type II port selection codebook). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the invention of Landmann to incorporate the teachings of TS 38.214 to have a bitmap identify coefficients that are reported. The suggestion to do so would have been enhance Type II port selection codebook (see p. 94, line 14 of TS 38.214).
The combination of Landmann and TS 38.214 does not explicitly disclose “a transmitter that transmits higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks; . . . wherein the bitmap is not reported based on pre-defined rule, and wherein the Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI corresponds to one of the plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks” of claim 17. However, the foregoing is known in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention. For example, Huawei teaches “wherein the bitmap is not reported based on pre-defined rule” (see p. 3; for CSI feedback with non-zero coefficients, when the codebook structure W = W1W2 (i.e., predefined rule), the bitmap is not reported; thus, the processor controls to not report the bitmap based on pre-defined rule). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the invention of Landmann in view of TS 38.214 to incorporate the teachings of Huawei to not report the bitmap based on pre-defined rule. The suggestion to do so would have been to support a codebook structure (see p. 3, line 31 of Huawei).
The combination of Landmann, TS 38.214, and Huawei does not explicitly disclose “a transmitter that transmits higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks; . . . and wherein the Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI corresponds to one of the plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks” of claim 17. However, the foregoing is known in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention. For example, Hindy teaches “a transmitter that transmits higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks; . . . and wherein the Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI corresponds to one of the plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks” (see ¶ [0119] and [0142], and FIG. 6; a new Codebook Configuration IE is introduced for Rel-17, e.g., CodebookConfig-r17, in which a new Type-II Port-Selection codebook is introduced, e.g., the higher-layer parameter codebookType (i.e., is set to ‘typeII-PortSelection-r17’ (i.e., higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks); thus, the UE via the IE (information element) is receiving higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks; furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6, the IE also includes two higher-layer parameters paramCombination-r17 and numberOfPMI-SubbandsPerCQI-Subband-r17 comprise a first parameter combination (i.e., codebook structure of the CSI) for the indicated codebook; thus, the indicated codebook structure of the CSI corresponds to one of the plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the invention of Landmann in view of TS 38.214 and further in view of Huawei to incorporate the teachings of Hindy to receive higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks and where the Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI corresponds to one of the plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks. The suggestion to do so would have been to improve resource consumption over reference signaling (see ¶ [0004] of Hindy).
Regarding claim 18, Landmann teaches “[a] system comprising a terminal and a base station, wherein the terminal comprises: . . . a processor that controls a channel state information (CSI) report including a precoding matrix indicator (PMI)” (see ¶¶ [0004], [0015], and [0020]; the UE (i.e., terminal) determines based on estimated channel matrix, a precoding matrix a predefined set of matrices called codebook; the selected precoding matrix is reported in the form of a precoding matrix identifier (PMI) and rank identifier (RI) to the gNB; user equipment (UE) (i.e., terminal) comprises a processor, configured to report channel state information (CSI) feedback and PMI (i.e., the reporting of CSI includes reporting the PMI); thus, the terminal comprises a processor that controls a CSI report including a PMI); and
Landmann further teaches “a transmitter that reports . . . coefficients within a matrix related to a Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI” (see ¶¶ [0005], [0008], [0015], [0017], [0020], and [0066]; UE (i.e., terminal) comprises a transmitter and the UE (terminal) reports channel state information (CSI) feedback and PMI; thus, the transmitter of terminal transmits/reports the CSI report including the PMI; there are two types (Type-I and Type-II) for CSI reporting, where for Type-II CSI reporting, a precoder W2 (i.e., a matrix related to Type-II) codebook, where W2 (matrix) contains coefficients for port selection, and where the matrix is calculated for a number of antenna ports; thus, the W2 (the matrix) codebook is related to the Type II CSI and for ports selection); and
Landmann also teaches “the base station comprises: a receiver that receives the CSI report” (see ¶¶ [0004], [0015], [0020], [0048], and [0060]; a radio base station includes a receiver; and the base station receives from the UE a CSI feedback and/or a PMI (i.e., channel state information (CSI) report including a precoding matrix indicator (PMI); the UE determines based on estimated channel matrix, a precoding matrix a predefined set of matrices called codebook; the selected precoding matrix is reported in the form of a precoding matrix identifier (PMI) and rank identifier (RI) to the gNB).
Landmann does not explicitly disclose “a receiver that receives higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks; . . . as part of the PMI, bitmap identifying which coefficients within” the matrix related to the Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI “are reported, wherein the processor controls to not report the bitmap based on pre-defined rule, and wherein the Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI corresponds to one of the plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks” of claim 18. However, the foregoing limitations are well known in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention. For example, TS 38.214 teaches “as part of the PMI, bitmap identifying which coefficients within a matrix related to a Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI are reported” (see Section 5.2.2.2.5, p. 89, lines 25-26, and Section 5.2.2.2.6, pp. 94 and 95, lines 1-9; “Enhanced Type II Port Selection Codebook”; UE is also configured with the higher layer bitmap parameter typeII-PortSelectionRI-Restriction-r16, which forms the bit sequence (i.e., bitmap) r_3, r_2, r_1, r_0, where r_0 is the LSB and r_3 is the MSB; the PMI value corresponds to the codebook (matrices) indices i_1 and i_2, and includes the bitmap indicator i_(1,7,l), where the non-zero bits of the bitmap indicate which coefficients are reported; therefore, the PMI includes a bitmap indication, which identifies coefficients within a matrix related to Type II port selection codebook). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the invention of Landmann to incorporate the teachings of TS 38.214 to have a bitmap identify coefficients that are reported. The suggestion to do so would have been enhance Type II port selection codebook (see p. 94, line 14 of TS 38.214).
The combination of Landmann and TS 38.214 does not explicitly disclose “a receiver that receives higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks; . . . wherein the processor controls to not report the bitmap based on pre-defined rule, and wherein the Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI corresponds to one of the plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks” of claim 18. However, the foregoing is known in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention. For example, Huawei teaches “wherein the processor controls to not report the bitmap based on pre-defined rule” (see p. 3; for CSI feedback with non-zero coefficients, when the codebook structure W = W1W2 (i.e., predefined rule), the bitmap is not reported; thus, the processor controls to not report the bitmap based on pre-defined rule). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the invention of Landmann in view of TS 38.214 to incorporate the teachings of Huawei to not report the bitmap based on pre-defined rule. The suggestion to do so would have been to support a codebook structure (see p. 3, line 31 of Huawei).
The combination of Landmann, TS 38.214, and Huawei does not explicitly disclose “a receiver that receives higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks; . . . and wherein the Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI corresponds to one of the plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks” of claim 15. However, the foregoing is known in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention. For example, Hindy teaches “a receiver that receives higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks; . . . and wherein the Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI corresponds to one of the plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks” (see ¶ [0119] and [0142], and FIG. 6; a new Codebook Configuration IE is introduced for Rel-17, e.g., CodebookConfig-r17, in which a new Type-II Port-Selection codebook is introduced, e.g., the higher-layer parameter codebookType (i.e., is set to ‘typeII-PortSelection-r17’ (i.e., higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks); thus, the UE via the IE (information element) is receiving higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks; furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6, the IE also includes two higher-layer parameters paramCombination-r17 and numberOfPMI-SubbandsPerCQI-Subband-r17 comprise a first parameter combination (i.e., codebook structure of the CSI) for the indicated codebook; thus, the indicated codebook structure of the CSI corresponds to one of the plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the invention of Landmann in view of TS 38.214 and further in view of Huawei to incorporate the teachings of Hindy to receive higher layer signaling for configuring one of a plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks and where the Type II port selection codebook structure of the CSI corresponds to one of the plurality of types of Type II port selection codebooks. The suggestion to do so would have been to improve resource consumption over reference signaling (see ¶ [0004] of Hindy).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SRIHARSHA REDDY VANGAPATY whose telephone number is (571)272-7655. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5 EST.
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/SRIHARSHA REDDY VANGAPATY/Examiner, Art Unit 2475
/KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475
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