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 .
Response to Arguments
In the response filed 12/16/25, Applicant has amended claim 38 to recite: “receive, from the network entity, a command in response to the antenna configuration report; transmitting, to the network entity, and triggered by the command, a set of sounding reference signals; and communicating with the network entity using an antenna configuration determined based at least in part on the set of sounding reference signals.” Claims 52 and 57 have been similarly amended. Applicant argues that the cited reference to Zhang fails to teach or suggest this limitation. Upon further review of the cited references, Zhang discloses, after transmitting information regarding antenna configuration in a UE capability report (Fig. 8, step 805), that UE 705 receives from network entity gNodeB 725, RRC configuration information at step 810, which configures each UE antenna panel (col. 16, ll. 26-28), and such configuration information includes SRS resources for beam management (col. 15, ll. 58-64). The UE then operates to perform UL communication (step 815), including transmitting SRS signals for selected antenna panels (col. 2, ll. 12-22). Accordingly, Zhang is considered to teach all the limitations of the claims, as amended, and the claims stand rejected, as detailed below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 38, 39, 41, 42, 46-54 and 57 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhang et al. U.S. Pat. No. 12,155,439.
Regarding claims 38, 52 and 57, Zhang discloses a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication (i.e. 106 – Fig. 3), comprising one or more memories (306/350); and one or more processors 302, coupled to the one or more memories, for performing a method, configured to, transmit, to a network entity, an antenna configuration report associated with a set of antenna panels of the UE, as the UE sends a capability report to a base station for each of a plurality of antenna panels (see col. 16, ll. 16-25; Fig. 8 – step 805); receive, from the network entity, a command in response to the antenna configuration report, as UE 705 receives, from network entity gNodeB 725, RRC configuration information at step 810, which configures each UE antenna panel (col. 16, ll. 26-28), and such configuration information includes SRS resources for beam management (col. 15, ll. 58-64); transmit to the network entity and triggered by the command, a set of sounding reference signals based at least in part on transmitting the antenna configuration report, as the UE transmits uplink signals, such as a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) for a selected antenna panel (col. 2, ll. 12-22; col. 16, ll. 29-31); and communicate with the network entity using an antenna configuration based at least in part on transmitting the set of sounding reference signals, as such signals are used for beam management (col. 15, ll. 15-18), and beam management is followed by communication (col. 2, ll. 8-22; step 1010 – Fig. 10).
Regarding claims 39 and 53, Zhang discloses that an antenna panel may be selected by the UE and reported to the base station antenna (col. 2, ll. 2-17).
Regarding claims 41 and 54, Zhang discloses that the antenna configuration report may be transmitted using pre-configured uplink resources, such as PUCCH, PUSCH, or MAC-CE (col. 2, ll. 2-7).
Regarding claim 42, Zhang further discloses that a change in antenna configuration may be determined, and the antenna configuration report based on the determination may be transmitted, as antenna panel selections change based on capabilities and/or signal conditions reported by the various antenna panels of the UE (col. 15, ll. 3-14, 39-48).
Regarding claim 46, Zhang further discloses that the antenna configuration is used for both uplink and downlink communication as UL beam quality may be measured/estimated during DL transmissions on the same antenna panel (col. 16, ll. 21-25), and thus there is a correspondence between an antenna configuration on both the UL and DL.
Regarding claim 47, Zhang further discloses predetermined capability information for an antenna panel is signaled (i.e. 23 dBm+23 dBm PA or 20 dBm+20 dBm PA architectures in different antenna panels – col. 15, ll. 8-38).
Regarding claim 48, Zhang further discloses that UL beam quality is determined prior to an antenna panel indication as the antenna panel with the currently best beam quality may be selected (col. 16, ll. 13-23).
Regarding claim 49, Zhang further discloses that the antenna configuration report is transmitted via an uplink control channel (col. 2, ll. 2-7).
Regarding claim 50, Zhang further discloses that the antenna configuration report may be transmitted periodically (col. 15, ll. 39-45).
Regarding claim 51, Zhang further discloses that the antenna configuration report may identify a first configuration for transmission and a second configuration for reception (i.e. 1T4R, 1T2R – col. 15, ll. 28-38).
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.
Claim 40 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. in view of Sevindik et al. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2020/0178089.
Regarding claim 40, Zhang discloses a UE for wireless communication where an antenna configuration report is provided to a base station, as described above, but does not expressly disclose that the UE receives a request for the antenna configuration report and transmits the configuration report in response to the request.
Sevindik discloses that antenna information may be requested of a UE for reporting from a base station (¶ [0071]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide an antenna configuration report in response to a request from a base station, as suggested by Sevindik, in the UE of Zhang, in order to enable the base station when an antenna configuration may be updated.
Claims 43 and 55 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. in view of Zander et al. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2022/0109977.
Regarding claims 43 and 55, Zhang discloses a UE for wireless communication where an antenna configuration report is provided to a base station and sounding reference signals are transmitted, as described above, but does not expressly disclose that the sounding reference signals includes signals transmitted using a plurality of polarization configurations.
Zander discloses that a UE has antenna panels with capabilities of multiple polarizations per antenna panel (¶¶ [0046]-[0047]), and discloses sending SRS based on various polarization properties (¶ [0013]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide SRSs using a plurality of polarization configurations, as suggested by Zander, in the UE of Zhang, in order to acquire information for different polarization capabilities of the UE antenna panels.
Claims 44 and 56 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. in view of Nilsson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 11,095,347.
Regarding claims 44 and 56, Zhang discloses a UE for wireless communication where an antenna configuration report is provided to a base station and sounding reference signals are transmitted, as described above, but does not expressly disclose that the UE is configured to align to a polarization of the network entity based on transmitting the sounding reference signals.
Nilsson disclose enabling reference signals, which may include SRS (col. 9, ll. 9-17), which include multiple polarizations in a beam management procedure to align polarizations between the UE and the base station (col. 3, ll. 35-41; col. 5, ll. 8-17). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to align polarization of the UE to a network entity using sounding reference signals, as suggested by Nilsson, in the UE of Zhang, in order to prevent polarization mis-matching, which might lead to wrong beam selection (col. 2, ll. 14-17; col. 3, ll. 38-41).
Claim 45 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. in view of Dutta U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2006/0111056.
Regarding claim 45, Zhang discloses a UE for wireless communication where an antenna configuration report is provided to a base station, as described above, but does not expressly disclose that the antenna configuration report includes a ranking of multiple antenna configurations evaluated by the UE.
Dutta discloses that antenna elements for selection may be ranked in an ordered list according to a signal quality parameter (¶ [0025]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to rank antenna elements as suggested by Dutta, in the UE of Zhang, in order to inform the base station of the preferred antenna configurations, thereby allowing for more efficient antenna selection.
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.
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/DAVID B LUGO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631
3/23/2026