Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/310,533

User Equipments (UEs) Correlation Matrix Estimation Based on Channel State Information-Reference Signals (CSI-RS)

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
May 01, 2023
Examiner
BALLOWE, CALEB JAMES
Art Unit
2419
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Parallel Wireless Inc.
OA Round
3 (Non-Final)
14%
Grant Probability
At Risk
3-4
OA Rounds
3y 1m
To Grant
61%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants only 14% of cases
14%
Career Allow Rate
2 granted / 14 resolved
-43.7% vs TC avg
Strong +46% interview lift
Without
With
+46.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 1m
Avg Prosecution
55 currently pending
Career history
69
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.8%
-35.2% vs TC avg
§103
62.0%
+22.0% vs TC avg
§102
11.3%
-28.7% vs TC avg
§112
21.9%
-18.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 14 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/20/2025 has been entered. Applicant’s submission overcomes prior objections to the specification and claims 13-18. The corresponding objections are withdrawn. Claims 1-20 are pending. 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 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. 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, 5-6, 8, 10-13, 16, and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kumagai et al. (US 2019/0199411), hereinafter "Kumagai", in view of Nam et al. (US 2019/0341976), hereinafter “Nam”, and further in view of Onggosanusi et al. (US 2020/0329392), hereinafter “Onggosanusi”. Regarding claims 1, 6, 13, Kumagai teaches: A method comprising: or a system comprising: a base station, including a memory and a processor, in communication with a plurality of UEs, wherein the base station is configured (see Kumagai, Fig. 1, items 200-1, 200-2, par. [0037], lines 1-8: The base station 100 is a wireless communication apparatus that performs wireless communication, for example, with the plurality of terminals 200-1 to 200-NUE. The base station 100 provides various services to the plurality of terminals 200-1 to 200-NUE located in a cover area (or a range within which a service may be provided) by performing wireless communication with the terminals 200-1 to 200-NUE, and see Fig. 4A, pars. [0074-0075]: The base station 100 depicted in FIG. 4A further includes a processor 120, a wireless processing circuit 121, a large-scale integration (LSI) 122, a network interface (NIF) circuit 123, and a storage apparatus 124. The processor 120 may read out, for example, a program stored in the storage apparatus 124, and execute the read out program to implement functions of the scheduling unit 105, user data generation unit 107, and digital precoding unit 108) to: or a non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions which, when executed, cause a base station to perform steps (see Kumagai, Fig. 4A, pars. [0074-0075]: The base station 100 depicted in FIG. 4A further includes a processor 120, a wireless processing circuit 121, a large-scale integration (LSI) 122, a network interface (NIF) circuit 123, and a storage apparatus 124. The processor 120 may read out, for example, a program stored in the storage apparatus 124, and execute the read out program to implement functions of the scheduling unit 105, user data generation unit 107, and digital precoding unit 108, and see par. [0084]: each of the storage apparatuses 124 and 224 may be a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a hard disk drive (HDD), or a combination thereof) comprising: transmitting the plurality of beamformed CSI-RSs using a corresponding plurality of beamforming precoders (see Kumagai, Fig. 1, par. [0048], lines 5-9: The base station 100 may form one or more analog beams #1 to #Nbeam having phases controlled to a certain direction by transmitting wireless signals having phases different from each other from the plurality of antennas 101-1 to 101-NANT, and see Kumagai, Fig. 2, par. [0060], lines 1-4: The channel multiplexing unit 110 multiplexes user data outputted from the digital precoding unit 108 and the reference signal outputted from the reference signal generation unit 109 into each channel, and see Kumagai, par. [0164], lines 2-5: it is possible to allocate one stream to one antenna by digital precoding so as to perform communication with a plurality of terminals 200, in parallel, and see par. [0059]: The reference signal generation unit 109 generates a reference signal and outputs the generated reference signal to the channel multiplexing unit 110. As the reference signal, for example, there are a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS); in this case, the digital precoding unit has multiple inputs and multiple outputs and corresponds to a plurality of beamforming precoders); receiving from each of a plurality of UEs signal quality measurements for at least a subset of the plurality of beamformed CSI-RSs (see Kumagai, par. [0167], lines 2-4: the base station 100 acquires candidate beam information and feedback information from the terminals 200, and see Kumagai, par. [0067], lines 1-10: The channel estimation unit 203 calculates a channel estimation value, based on a reference signal from among baseband signals, and measures the communication quality between the base station 100 and the terminal 200 by using the calculated channel estimation value. The communication quality may be represented, for example, as channel quality indicator (CQI) or may be represented as a received power value with respect to the reference signal, a signal to noise ratio (SNR), or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), and see Kumagai, par. [0068], lines 5-7: The channel estimation unit 203 outputs channel state information (CSI) including the RI, the CQI, and the PMI, as feedback signal, to the feedback signal generation unit 204, and see Kumagai, par. [0070], lines 1-4: The feedback signal generation unit 204 generates a feedback signal including feedback information and candidate beam information, and outputs the generated feedback signal to the RF unit 205, and see Kumagai, par. [0071], lines 1-6: The RF unit 205 performs, for example, a frequency conversion process and so forth on the feedback signal to convert (up convert) the feedback signal in the baseband to a wireless signal in the wireless band. The RF unit 205 outputs the wireless signal after the conversion to the antenna 201; in this case, the UE sends and the base station receives feedback information, including quality information); determining one or more scheduling groups of UEs from the plurality of UEs (see Kumagai, par. [0106], lines 1-3: the base station 100 subsequently decides whether or not there exists a terminal 200 of a scheduling target (S19), and see Kumagai, par. [0157], lines 24-26: the scheduling unit 105 decides whether or not the terminal 200-3 is a scheduling target (S153); in this case, the base station determines terminals which are a scheduling target (corresponding to a scheduling group)) and allocating a set of time-frequency resource elements to two or more UEs selected from one of the determined scheduling groups (see Kumagai, Fig. 9B, par. [0105], lines 1-5: the scheduling unit 105 allocates a wireless resource for the analog beam #1 to the terminal 200-1. Accordingly, as depicted in FIG. 9B, to the terminal 200-1 as the terminal 200 of g=1, a wireless resource for the analog beam #2 is allocated, and see Kumagai, par. [0154], lines 1-3: FIG. 9B is a view depicting an example of allocation by scheduling. To the analog beam #m, the four terminals 200-1, 200-4, 200-6 and 200-8 are allocated, and see Kumagai, par. [0106], lines 3-9: the scheduling unit 105 may make the decision depending upon whether or not there exists some remaining amount of wireless resources available for terminals, whose number is represented as a scheduling target terminal number, when a wireless resource is allocated to the terminal 200 selected at S18; in this case, wireless resources (corresponding to time-frequency resource elements) are allocated to terminals (corresponding to UEs) that are scheduling targets (corresponding to a scheduling group)). However, Kumagai does not teach: configuring a plurality of user equipments (UEs) to measure each of a plurality of beamformed channel state information-reference signals (CSI-RSs); determining a beam-specific cross-correlation for pairs of the plurality of UEs using the signal quality metrics; determining one or more scheduling groups of UEs from the plurality of UEs based on the beam-specific cross-correlation for pairs of the plurality of UEs; Nam, in the same field of endeavor, teaches: determining a beam-specific cross-correlation for pairs of the plurality of UEs using the signal quality metrics (see Nam, par. [0088]: In step S310, a base station can receive feedback of statistical channel information from one or more pieces of UE or measure the statistical channel information through an uplink sounding reference signal (SRS). The statistical channel information can include at least one of transmit correlation matrices, eigenvalues of the transmit correlation matrices, eigenvectors of the transmit correlation matrices, ASs, AoDs, and one or more long-term precoding matrix indicators (PMIs) that mean statistical channel information and are selected from a fixed codebook, and see pars. [0091-0092]: In step S330, group beamforming matrices for the respective divided groups are determined. At this time, in the fixed codebook-based procedure, group beamforming matrices are selected from among previously generated group beamforming matrices. On the other hand, in the adaptive codebook-based procedure, group beamforming matrices are generated on the basis of the received statistical channel information; in this case, determining beamforming matrices using correlation corresponds to determining beam-specific cross correlation); determining one or more scheduling groups of UEs from the plurality of UEs based on the beam-specific cross-correlation for pairs of the plurality of UEs (see Nam, par. [0090]: In step S320, the base station can classify the one or more pieces of UE into one or more classes and one or more groups subordinate to the classes on the basis of the statistical channel information, and see par. [0093]: In step S340, the base station performs group beamforming transmission based on the group beamforming matrices to the pieces of UE belonging to the groups according to the groups, and see par. [0097]: in step S350, the base station selects pieces of UE to service according to the respective groups through instantaneous channel information fed back from the pieces of UE and a scheduling algorithm, and transmits a control signal and data; in this case, scheduling communication is performed based on groups using beamforming matrices (i.e. beam-specific cross-correlation)); Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or system or non-transitory computer-readable medium of Kumagai with the cross-correlation and scheduling groups of Nam with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of reducing the complexity of scheduling (see Nam, par. [0005]). However, the combination of Kumagai in view of Nam does not teach: configuring a plurality of user equipments (UEs) to measure each of a plurality of beamformed channel state information-reference signals (CSI-RSs); Onggosanusi, in the same field of endeavor, teaches: configuring a plurality of user equipments (UEs) to measure each of a plurality of beamformed channel state information-reference signals (CSI-RSs) (see Onggosanusi, Fig. 1, par. [0089]: one or more of eNB 101, eNB 102, and eNB 103 transmit measurement reference signals to UEs 111-116 and configure UEs 111-116 for CSI reporting, and see par. [0140]: When an eNB configures a UE with a plurality of CSI-RS types, the eNB can differentiate between these CSI-RS types in several manners. A first possibility is to configure a UE with M CSI-RS resources and each of the M CSI-RS resources is associated (or carries) a configuration parameter indicating the CSI-RS type or level. This CSI-RS type will dictate UE CSI measurement behavior. A second possibility is to configure a UE with M CSI-RS resources without any parameter indicating the CSI-RS type or level. The coverage and penetration of each of the M CSI-RS resources are transparent to the UE. Either way, this CSI-RS configuration information (for each of the M CSI-RS resources) can be signaled to the UE either semi-statically via higher-layer (RRC) signaling); Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or system or non-transitory computer-readable medium of the combination of Kumagai in view of Nam with the configuring of Onggosanusi with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of efficient resource allocation (see Onggosanusi, par. [0188]). Regarding claims 3, 8, the combination of Kumagai in view of Nam, and further in view of Onggosanusi, teaches the method or system. Kumagai further teaches: wherein the signal quality measurements comprise a measurement selected from a group consisting of beam-specific signal strength, and another metric (see Kumagai, par. [0067], lines 5-10: The communication quality may be represented, for example, as channel quality indicator (CQI) or may be represented as a received power value with respect to the reference signal, a signal to noise ratio (SNR), or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), and see Kumagai, par. [0069], lines 4-7: The channel estimation unit 203 may measure, for example, for each of the beams formed by the base station 100, the communication quality based on a reference signal transmitted using the beam, and see Kumagai, par. [0068], lines 5-7: The channel estimation unit 203 outputs channel state information (CSI) including the RI, the CQI, and the PMI, as feedback signal, to the feedback signal generation unit 204). Regarding claims 5, 10, 16, the combination of Kumagai in view of Nam, and further in view of Onggosanusi, teaches the method or system or non-transitory computer-readable medium. The combination of Kumagai in view of Nam does not teach, but Onggosanusi teaches: wherein configuring a plurality of UEs to measure the plurality of beamformed CSI-RSs includes configuring the plurality of UEs to measure the plurality of beamformed CSI-RSs using a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message (see Onggosanusi, Fig. 1, par. [0089]: one or more of eNB 101, eNB 102, and eNB 103 transmit measurement reference signals to UEs 111-116 and configure UEs 111-116 for CSI reporting, and see par. [0140]: When an eNB configures a UE with a plurality of CSI-RS types, the eNB can differentiate between these CSI-RS types in several manners. A first possibility is to configure a UE with M CSI-RS resources and each of the M CSI-RS resources is associated (or carries) a configuration parameter indicating the CSI-RS type or level. This CSI-RS type will dictate UE CSI measurement behavior. A second possibility is to configure a UE with M CSI-RS resources without any parameter indicating the CSI-RS type or level. The coverage and penetration of each of the M CSI-RS resources are transparent to the UE. Either way, this CSI-RS configuration information (for each of the M CSI-RS resources) can be signaled to the UE either semi-statically via higher-layer (RRC) signaling). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or system or non-transitory computer-readable medium of the combination of Kumagai in view of Nam with the configuring of Onggosanusi with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of efficient resource allocation (see Onggosanusi, par. [0188]). Regarding claims 11, 17, 19, the combination of Kumagai in view of Nam, and further in view of Onggosanusi, teaches the method or system or non-transitory computer-readable medium. Kumagai further teaches: wherein the signal quality measurements comprise a measurement including at least one of a beam-specific precoding matrix indicator (PMI), beam-specific channel quality indicator (CQI), beam-specific rank indication (RI), or beam- specific reference signal received power (RSRP) (see Kumagai, par. [0067], lines 5-10: The communication quality may be represented, for example, as channel quality indicator (CQI) or may be represented as a received power value with respect to the reference signal, a signal to noise ratio (SNR), or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), and see Kumagai, par. [0069], lines 4-7: The channel estimation unit 203 may measure, for example, for each of the beams formed by the base station 100, the communication quality based on a reference signal transmitted using the beam, and see Kumagai, par. [0068], lines 5-7: The channel estimation unit 203 outputs channel state information (CSI) including the RI, the CQI, and the PMI, as feedback signal, to the feedback signal generation unit 204). Regarding claims 12, 18, 20, the combination of Kumagai in view of Nam, and further in view of Onggosanusi, teaches the method or system or non-transitory computer-readable medium. Kumagai further teaches: wherein the method or system or non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises calculating a correlation matrix (see Kumagai, Figs. 6, 9A, par. [0118]: the base station 100 calculates the correlation value ρA,m,n of the analog beam #n to the analog beam #m, and see pars. [0121-0122]: the correlation value ρA,m,n may be regarded as representing, for example, an index indicating a degree of the angle between the analog beam #m and the analog beam #n that is a candidate beam for the noticed terminal 200, in other words, an index indicating to what degree the analog beams #m and #n are close to or apart from each other. When the scheduling target slot is the pattern (2) (Yes at S13 of FIG. 5), the scheduling unit 105 sets the analog beam selected with g=1 as the analog beam #b=analog beam #m (or m=b). In the example of FIG. 7, the analog beam #m is the analog beam #2. Therefore, the scheduling unit 105 calculates the correlation value ρA,m,n between the analog beam #2 and the analog beam #2 (=analog beam #n) that is the candidate beam for the noticed terminal 200-2). Kumagai does not teach, but Nam teaches: calculating a correlation matrix based on the signal quality measurements (see Nam, par. [0088]: In step S310, a base station can receive feedback of statistical channel information from one or more pieces of UE or measure the statistical channel information through an uplink sounding reference signal (SRS). The statistical channel information can include at least one of transmit correlation matrices, eigenvalues of the transmit correlation matrices, eigenvectors of the transmit correlation matrices, ASs, AoDs, and one or more long-term precoding matrix indicators (PMIs) that mean statistical channel information and are selected from a fixed codebook, and see pars. [0091-0092]: In step S330, group beamforming matrices for the respective divided groups are determined. At this time, in the fixed codebook-based procedure, group beamforming matrices are selected from among previously generated group beamforming matrices. On the other hand, in the adaptive codebook-based procedure, group beamforming matrices are generated on the basis of the received statistical channel information; in this case, determining beamforming matrices using correlation corresponds to calculating a correlation matrix) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or system or non-transitory computer-readable medium of Kumagai with the correlation matrix of Nam with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of reducing the complexity of scheduling (see Nam, par. [0005]). Claims 2, 7, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kumagai in view of Nam, and further in view of Onggosanusi, as applied to claims 1, 3, 5-6, 8, 10-13, 16, and 17-20 above, and further in view of Sundararajan et al. (US 11,177,865), hereinafter “Sundararajan”. Regarding claims 2, 7, 14, the combination of Kumagai in view of Nam, and further in view of Onggosanusi, teaches the method or system or non-transitory computer-readable medium. However, the combination of Kumagai in view of Nam, and further in view of Onggosanusi, does not teach: wherein the method or system or non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises transmitting data to the two or more UEs selected from one of the scheduling groups by simultaneously using the set of time-frequency resource elements to encode data for each of the different UEs using different beamforming precoders. Sundararajan, in the same field of endeavor, teaches: wherein the method or system or non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises transmitting data to the two or more UEs selected from one of the scheduling groups by simultaneously using the set of time-frequency resource elements to encode data for each of the different UEs using different beamforming precoders (see Sundararajan, col. 12, lines 7-17: Spatial multiplexing may be used to transmit different streams of data, also referred to as layers, simultaneously on the same time-frequency resource. The data streams may be transmitted to a single UE to increase the data rate or to multiple UEs to increase the overall system capacity, the latter being referred to as multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO). This is achieved by spatially precoding each data stream (i.e., multiplying the data streams with different weighting and phase shifting) and then transmitting each spatially precoded stream through multiple transmit antennas on the downlink, and see Sundararajan, col. 13, lines 4-9: wireless communication may generally utilize a suitable error correcting block code. In a typical block code, an information message or sequence is split up into code blocks (CBs), and an encoder (e.g., a CODEC) at the transmitting device then mathematically adds redundancy to the information message, and see Sundararajan, col. 20, lines 60-66: the channel state feedback 1108 may include the PMI and CQI of the channel for each precoder resource group. The base station 1102 may then use this PMI/CQI report for its subsequent DL transmission 1110. For example, the base station (transmitter) may apply precoding to the DL transmission according to the PMI). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or system or non-transitory computer-readable medium of the combination of Kumagai in view of Nam, and further in view of Onggosanusi, with the simultaneous transmission to multiple UEs of Sundararajan with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of increasing network capacity and reducing transmission energy (see Sundararajan, col. 6, lines 13-17). Claims 4, 9, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kumagai in view of Nam, and further in view of Onggosanusi, as applied to claims 1, 3, 5-6, 8, 10-13, 16, and 17-20 above, and further in view of Nurmela et al. (US 2022/0377758), hereinafter "Nurmela". Regarding claims 4, 9, 15, the combination of Kumagai in view of Nam, and further in view of Onggosanusi, teaches the method or system or non-transitory computer-readable medium. However, the combination of Kumagai in view of Nam, and further in view of Onggosanusi, does not teach: wherein the method or system or non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises: identifying a set of UEs that have mutual pair-wise cross-correlation values below a predetermined threshold Nurmela, in the same field of endeavor, teaches: wherein the method or system or non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises: identifying a set of UEs that have mutual pair-wise cross-correlation values below a predetermined threshold (see Nurmela, par. [0087], lines 1-7: a threshold may be set for the scheduling metrics (e.g. m parameter), such that the time-frequency scheduler may use the threshold to make scheduling decisions. For example, the threshold may be set such that if spatial overlap between beams of a first and second UE is higher than the threshold, the first and second UEs may not be co-scheduled, and see Nurmela, Fig. 3, item 34, par. [0052], lines 1-4: at operation 34, scheduling metrics associated with the one or more combinations of the at least two user devices of the plurality of user devices are determined based on the estimated spatial overlap, and see Nurmela, par. [0079], lines 1-5: The determined scheduling metrics may then be provided to the time-frequency scheduler 55 (e.g. similar to the scheduler 21), such that the scheduler may use the scheduling metrics to determine user device group information; in this case, scheduling groups are determined based on scheduling metrics including a threshold for spatial overlap (corresponding to correlation). If the spatial overlap exceeds a threshold, the UEs are not co-scheduled (i.e. not in the same scheduling group). In the inverse case, if the spatial correlation is below a threshold, the UEs may be in a scheduling group). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the reference signal transmission of the combination of Kumagai in view of Nam, and further in view of Onggosanusi, with the determining of scheduling groups based on criteria of a threshold of Nurmela with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of predicting interference for both downlink and uplink transmission (see Nurmela, par. [0055], lines 1-10). Response to Arguments Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 6, and 13 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. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Chai et al. (US 2014/0362793) teaches a measurement method based on channel state information-reference signal CSI-RS resources, a base station, a user equipment UE, and a method for inter-cell CSI-RS resource sharing. Guo et al. (US 2018/0048375) teaches a method of user equipment (UE) for beam management in a wireless communication system. Maruta et al. (US 9,473,225) teaches a method according to the present invention is for selecting User Equipment (UE) for scheduling/precoding within the coverage area of a communications node having a predefined codebook. Zhu et al. (US 2016/0065290) teaches a technology for an enhanced node B (eNB) that is operable to perform beamforming using multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) in a cellular network. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CALEB J BALLOWE whose telephone number is (571)270-0410. The examiner can normally be reached MON-FRI 7:30-5. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nishant B. Divecha can be reached at (571) 270-3125. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /C.J.B./Examiner, Art Unit 2419 /Nishant Divecha/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2419
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Prosecution Timeline

May 01, 2023
Application Filed
Jan 13, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Jul 07, 2025
Response Filed
Jul 16, 2025
Final Rejection — §103
Jan 20, 2026
Request for Continued Examination
Jan 27, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Mar 12, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
14%
Grant Probability
61%
With Interview (+46.4%)
3y 1m
Median Time to Grant
High
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