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 .
The Examiner thanks the Applicant for the well-prepared amendment. The Examiner appreciates the Applicant’s effort to carefully analyze the Office action, and make appropriate arguments and amendments.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-28 responded on February 03, 2026 are pending, claims 1-2, 4, 6, 8, 10-11, 13, 15 and 17 are amended, claims 3, 5, 9, 12, 14, 16 and 18 are canceled and claims 19-28 are new.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 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.
Applicant’s arguments, see pg. 9, filed February 03, 2026, with respect to claims 16-17 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The objection of claims 16-17 has been withdrawn.
In light of specification, precoding on base station is based on SRS or uplink reference signal see [0152]. The term "uplink data stream" is vague. It is necessary to clarify why a base station can precodes downlink reference signals without receiving reference signals from UE first.
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.
Claims 1-2, 4, 6, 8, 10-11, 13, 15, 17, 19-20, 22-23, 25 and 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Groβmann et al. (US 2021/0143885 A1, hereinafter "Groβmann") in view of Zhang et al. (US 2020/0007291 A1, hereinafter "Zhang").
Regarding claim 1, Groβmann discloses a precoding method, comprising: receiving downlink control information indicating a quantity of repetitions and a quantity of at least one uplink data stream, wherein the quantity of repetitions indicates a quantity of downlink reference signals corresponding to each uplink data stream (Groβmann, [0231,0233] The UE is configured with a CSI reporting configuration via … a physical layer (via DCI) that also contains information for an evaluation of the CSI feedback parameters, such as CQI, RI and PMI, at the UE. The base station or gNB signals via…a physical layer at least five integer values for (N1,N2,P), S, and T, where (N1,N2,P) are used to configure a first codebook; The time-domain-repetition of the CSI-RS, in terms of the number of consecutive slots the CSI-RS is repeated);
receiving a plurality of first downlink reference signals corresponding to a first uplink data stream based on the quantity of repetitions and the quantity of at least one uplink data stream (Groβmann, [0222] transmitting, to a communication device, downlink reference signals (CSI-RS) according to a CSI-RS configuration comprising a number of CSI-RS antenna ports and a parameter, e.g., referred to as CSI-RS BurstDuration, indicating a time-domain-repetition of the downlink reference signals);
measuring the plurality of first downlink reference signals (Groβmann, [0264] the UE estimates an un-quantized explicit CSI using measurements on the down link CSI-RS on PRBs, where the CSI-RS is configured over T consecutive time instants/slots in the frequency domain).
Groβmann discloses downlink reference signals with parameters but does not explicitly disclose first precoded downlink reference signals to obtain a plurality of
uplink precoding vectors corresponding to the first uplink data stream, wherein each uplink precoding vector corresponding to the first uplink data stream is determined based on a corresponding first precoded downlink reference signal; and determining a first uplink precoding vector for transmitting the first uplink data stream based on the plurality of uplink precoding vectors corresponding to the first uplink data stream.
Zhang from the same field of endeavor discloses receiving first precoded downlink reference signals (Zhang, [0062] transmit the precoded CSI-RS to the UE), measuring the plurality of first precoded downlink reference signals to obtain a plurality of uplink precoding vectors corresponding to the first uplink data stream, wherein each uplink precoding vector corresponding to the first uplink data stream is determined based on a corresponding first precoded downlink reference signal (Zhang, [0058-59] The UE can thus obtain the uplink precoder V[k] from the precoded CSI-RS transmitted by the base station…The downlink channel that the UE measures from precoded CSI-RS) and determining a first uplink precoding vector for transmitting the first uplink data stream based on the plurality of uplink precoding vectors corresponding to the first uplink data stream (Zhang, [0062] allows UE 115 to measure Hu[k], the covariance matrix providing component 242 can precode the CSI-RS with Rnn −1/2 such that UE 115 can estimate the whitened UL channel with respect to the covariance matrix experienced at base station (e.g., gNB) receiver, e.g., Rnn −1/2 Hu[k]*).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified CSI-RS repetition disclosed by Groβmann and precoded CSI-RS disclosed by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve communication quality and reliability between base stations and UEs (Zhang, [0037]).
Regarding claim 2, Groβmann discloses receiving a plurality of second downlink reference signals corresponding to a second uplink data stream based on the quantity of repetitions and the quantity of at least one uplink data stream (Groβmann, [0222] transmitting, to a communication device, downlink reference signals (CSI-RS) according to a CSI-RS configuration comprising a number of CSI-RS antenna ports and a parameter, e.g., referred to as CSI-RS BurstDuration, indicating a time-domain-repetition of the downlink reference signals); measuring the plurality of second downlink reference signals (Groβmann, [0264] the UE estimates an un-quantized explicit CSI using measurements on the down link CSI-RS on PRBs, where the CSI-RS is configured over T consecutive time instants/slots in the frequency domain); but does not explicitly disclose precoded downlink reference signals and to obtain a plurality of uplink precoding vectors corresponding to the second uplink data stream, wherein each uplink precoding vector corresponding to the second uplink data stream is determined based on a corresponding second precoded downlink reference signal; and determining a second uplink precoding vector for transmitting the second uplink data stream based on the plurality of uplink precoding vectors corresponding to the second uplink data stream.
Zhang from the same field of endeavor discloses receiving second precoded downlink reference signals (Zhang, [0062, 0086-87] transmit the precoded CSI-RS to the UE), measuring the plurality of second precoded downlink reference signals to obtain a plurality of uplink precoding vectors corresponding to the second uplink data stream, wherein each uplink precoding vector corresponding to the second uplink data stream is determined based a corresponding second precoded downlink reference signal (Zhang, [0058-59] The UE can thus obtain the uplink precoder V[k] from the precoded CSI-RS transmitted by the base station…The downlink channel that the UE measures from precoded CSI-RS) and determining a second uplink precoding vector for transmitting the second uplink data stream based on the plurality of uplink precoding vectors corresponding to the second uplink data stream (Zhang, [0062] allows UE 115 to measure Hu[k], the covariance matrix providing component 242 can precode the CSI-RS with Rnn −1/2 such that UE 115 can estimate the whitened UL channel with respect to the covariance matrix experienced at base station (e.g., gNB) receiver, e.g., Rnn −1/2 Hu[k]*).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified CSI-RS repetition disclosed by Groβmann and precoded CSI-RS disclosed by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve communication quality and reliability between base stations and UEs (Zhang, [0037]).
Regarding claim 4, Groβmann does not explicitly disclose wherein each of the plurality of uplink precoding vectors is determined based on an equivalent downlink channel matrix or a normalized equivalent downlink channel matrix that is obtained by measuring a corresponding first precoded downlink reference signal.
Zhang from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein each of the plurality of uplink precoding vectors corresponding to the first uplink data stream is determined based on an equivalent downlink channel matrix or a normalized equivalent downlink channel matrix that is obtained by measuring a corresponding first precoded downlink reference signal (Zhang, [0062] allows UE 115 to measure Hu[k], the covariance matrix providing component 242 can precode the CSI-RS with Rnn −1/2 such that UE 115 can estimate the whitened UL channel with respect to the covariance matrix experienced at base station (e.g., gNB) receiver, e.g., Rnn −1/2 Hu[k]*).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified CSI-RS repetition disclosed by Groβmann and precoded CSI-RS disclosed by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve communication quality and reliability between base stations and UEs (Zhang, [0037]).
Regarding claim 6, Groβmann discloses a precoding method, comprising:
sending downlink control information indicating a quantity of repetitions and a quantity of at least one uplink data stream, wherein the quantity of repetitions indicates a quantity of downlink reference signals corresponding to each uplink data stream (Groβmann, [0231,0233] The UE is configured with a CSI reporting configuration via … a physical layer (via DCI) that also contains information for an evaluation of the CSI feedback parameters, such as CQI, RI and PMI, at the UE. The base station or gNB signals via…a physical layer at least five integer values for (N1,N2,P), S, and T, where (N1,N2,P) are used to configure a first codebook; The time-domain-repetition of the CSI-RS, in terms of the number of consecutive slots the CSI-RS is repeated);
sending the plurality of first downlink reference signals (Groβmann, [0222] transmitting, to a communication device, downlink reference signals (CSI-RS) according to a CSI-RS configuration comprising a number of CSI-RS antenna ports and a parameter, e.g., referred to as CSI-RS BurstDuration, indicating a time-domain-repetition of the downlink reference signals); and
receiving the first uplink data stream generated based on a first uplink precoding vector, wherein the first uplink precoding vector is determined based on the quantity of repetitions, the quantity of at least one uplink data stream and the plurality of first precoded downlink reference signals (Groβmann, [0235] the UE may calculate the CQI, RI and PMI according to the embodiments described below with a repetition of the CSI-RS resource(s) over multiple consecutive slots, and report them accordingly).
Groβmann discloses downlink reference signals with parameters but does not explicitly disclose first precoded downlink reference signals and precoding a plurality of first downlink reference signals corresponding to a first uplink data stream to obtain a plurality of first precoded downlink reference signals, the first uplink precoding vector is determined based on a plurality of uplink precoding vectors corresponding to the respective first precoded downlink reference signals, each of the plurality of uplink precoding vectors being obtained by measuring a corresponding first precoded downlink reference signal.
Zhang from the same field of endeavor discloses precoding a plurality of first downlink reference signals corresponding to a first uplink data stream to obtain a plurality of first precoded downlink reference signals (Zhang, [0062, 0086-87] transmit the precoded CSI-RS to the UE); sending the plurality of first precoded downlink reference signals (Zhang, [0058-59] The UE can thus obtain the uplink precoder V[k] from the precoded CSI-RS transmitted by the base station…The downlink channel that the UE measures from precoded CSI-RS), the first uplink precoding vector is determined based on a plurality of uplink precoding vectors corresponding to the respective first precoded downlink reference signals, each of the plurality of uplink precoding vectors being obtained by measuring a corresponding first precoded downlink reference signal (Zhang, [0062] allows UE 115 to measure Hu[k], the covariance matrix providing component 242 can precode the CSI-RS with Rnn −1/2 such that UE 115 can estimate the whitened UL channel with respect to the covariance matrix experienced at base station (e.g., gNB) receiver, e.g., Rnn −1/2 Hu[k]*).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified CSI-RS repetition disclosed by Groβmann and precoded CSI-RS disclosed by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve communication quality and reliability between base stations and UEs (Zhang, [0037]).
Regarding claim 8, Groβmann does not explicitly disclose wherein each of the plurality of uplink precoding vectors is determined based on an equivalent downlink channel matrix obtained by measuring the corresponding first precoded downlink reference signal.
Zhang from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein each of the plurality of uplink precoding vectors is determined based on an equivalent downlink channel matrix obtained by measuring the corresponding first precoded downlink reference signal (Zhang, [0062] allows UE 115 to measure Hu[k], the covariance matrix providing component 242 can precode the CSI-RS with Rnn −1/2 such that UE 115 can estimate the whitened UL channel with respect to the covariance matrix experienced at base station (e.g., gNB) receiver, e.g., Rnn −1/2 Hu[k]*).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified CSI-RS repetition disclosed by Groβmann and precoded CSI-RS disclosed by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve communication quality and reliability between base stations and UEs (Zhang, [0037]).
Regarding claim 19, Groβmann discloses wherein the first uplink precoding vector is an average of the plurality of uplink precoding vectors corresponding to the first uplink data stream (Groβmann, [0192] wherein the RI is selected with respect to the Doppler-delay-beam precoder matrix W(l) (l=1, ... ,L) and denotes an average number of layers supported by the Doppler-delay-beam precoded time-variant frequency-selective MIMO channel) or (Zhang, [0081] (SC-FDM), communicating component 340 may apply a single precoder on the PUCCH over various time periods (i.e. average) (e.g., a number of symbols) based on the measured uplink channel and/or on the covariance matrix).
Regarding claim 20, Groβmann discloses wherein the first uplink precoding vector is a sum of downlink precoding vectors corresponding to the plurality of downlink reference signals (Groβmann, [0319] When RI reporting is configured at the UE, the UE reports a rank indicator (total number of layers) for the transmission) or (Zhang, [0081] (SC-FDM), communicating component 340 may apply a single precoder on the PUCCH over various time periods (i.e. average) (e.g., a number of symbols) based on the measured uplink channel and/or on the covariance matrix).
Regarding claims 10-11, 13, 15, 17, 22-23, 25 and 27, these claims recite "an apparatus" that disclose similar steps as recited by the method of claims 1-2, 4, 6, 8 and 19-20, thus are rejected with the same rationale applied against claims 1-2, 4, 6, 8 and 19-20 as presented above.
Claims 21, 24, 26 and 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Groβmann et al. (US 2021/0143885 A1, hereinafter "Groβmann") in view of Zhang et al. (US 2020/0007291 A1, hereinafter "Zhang") as applied to claim above, and further in view of Hajri et al. (US 2023/0361842 A1, Provisional application No. 62/986,206, filed on Mar. 6, 2020, hereinafter "Hajri").
Regarding claim 21, Groβmann in view of Zhang does not explicitly disclose receiving the plurality of first precoded downlink reference signals corresponding to a first uplink data stream through a plurality of ports based on the quantity of repetitions and the quantity of at least one uplink data stream, wherein the plurality of ports are determined based on the quantity of repetitions and each first precoded downlink reference signal corresponds to one of the plurality of ports.
Hajri from the same field of endeavor discloses receiving the plurality of first precoded downlink reference signals corresponding to a first uplink data stream through a plurality of ports based on the quantity of repetitions and the quantity of at least one uplink data stream, wherein the plurality of ports are determined based on the quantity of repetitions and each first precoded downlink reference signal corresponds to one of the plurality of ports (Hajri, [0054,0090] precoding of the CSI-RS, transmission of the CSI-RS and the feedback of W 2 and/or H may be repeated M times to recover the whole space-time-frequency channel, based on the received UL SRS. Spatial precoding may comprise transmitting a CSI-RS symbol through a number of antenna ports with a given complex multiplicative factor (the set of these factors forming a precoding vector)).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Hajri’s system for precoding downlink reference signal into Groβmann’s CSI reporting as modified by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve communication throughput and reliability (Hajri, [0002]).
Regarding claims 24, 26 and 28, these claims recite "an apparatus" that disclose similar steps as recited by the method of claim 21, thus are rejected with the same rationale applied against claim 21 as presented above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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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/LUNA WEISSBERGER/Examiner, Art Unit 2415