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 .
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, 4-7, 10-12, 15-16, 18-21, 24-26 and 29-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park1 (US 20200351818 A1) in view of Park2 (US 20150003271 A1).
For claim 1, Park1 discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (FIG. 1, Wireless Device 110, such as Wireless Device 110A), comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and, based at least in part on information stored in the at least one memory, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination (the memory and processor of the Wireless Device), is configured to:
receive, from a network node (FIG. 1, gNB 122, such as gNB 122A), a channel state information (CSI) configuration, wherein the CSI configuration is indicative of a format associated with at least one CSI report (“[0096] … A CSI-RS configuration may comprise one or more parameters indicating at least a quantity/number of antenna ports …” and “[0115] A wireless device may use CSI-RS for estimating a beam quality of a link between a wireless device and a base station, for example, in the multi beam operation. A beam may be associated with a CSI-RS. A wireless device may (e.g., based on a RSRP measurement on CSI-RS) report a beam index, which may be indicated in a CRI for downlink beam selection and/or associated with an RSRP value of a beam. A CSI-RS may be sent (e.g., transmitted) on a CSI-RS resource, which may comprise at least one of: one or more antenna ports and/or one or more time and/or frequency radio resources. A CSI-RS resource may be configured in a cell-specific way such as by common RRC signaling, or in a wireless device-specific way such as by dedicated RRC signaling and/or L1/L2 signaling. …”);
receive multiple channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmissions during at least one CSI-RS occasion, wherein the multiple CSI-RS transmissions include a CSI-RS from each logically combined set of antenna modules of the network node (FIG. 9A shows 2 CSI-RS occasions 940 and 950, and each includes signals from a set of 4 antennas); and
provide, for the network node, the at least one CSI report based on the format associated with the at least one CSI report and based on the CSI-RS (FIGs. 1-9 and the associated text, such as “[0297] The wireless device may stop and/or refrain from transmitting, to the second network of the second base station (e.g., in/during the monitoring gap), at least one of: transport blocks; sounding reference signals; CSI reports; and/or the like. …”; suggesting CSI reports are transmitted to the first network).
Park1 is silent but Park2, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses wherein the at least one CSI report is indicative of at least one of a relative timing offset associated with the multiple CSI-RS transmissions or a relative phase offset associated with the multiple CSI-RS transmissions during the at least one CSI-RS occasion (“[0125] … the radio frame timing offset can be given as a relative offset value with respect to predetermined reference timing. The predetermined reference timing may be a radio frame timing offset of a serving cell.” and “[0157] … the timing offset value (i.e. .DELTA.n.sub.s) used for CSI-RS sequence generation and the parameter (i.e. resourceConfig) indicating an RE position in which a CSI-RS is present per CSI-RS configuration (or CSI-RS configuration group (i.e. a group of a plurality of CSI-RS configurations)), antenna port (or antenna port group), and/or subframe set have been described in the aforementioned examples. …”). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Park2 above to the CSI report by Park1 to yield a predictable result of determining time offset for synchronization.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine Park1 and Park2 for the benefit of improving synchronization ([0157] of Park2).
For claim 15, Park1 discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a network node (FIG. 1, gNB 122, such as gNB 122A), comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and, based at least in part on information stored in the at least one memory (the memory and processor of the gNB), the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to:
provide, for a user equipment (UE), a channel state information (CSI) configuration, wherein the CSI configuration is indicative of a format associated with at least one CSI report (“[0096] … A CSI-RS configuration may comprise one or more parameters indicating at least a quantity/number of antenna ports …” and “[0115] A wireless device may use CSI-RS for estimating a beam quality of a link between a wireless device and a base station, for example, in the multi beam operation. A beam may be associated with a CSI-RS. A wireless device may (e.g., based on a RSRP measurement on CSI-RS) report a beam index, which may be indicated in a CRI for downlink beam selection and/or associated with an RSRP value of a beam. A CSI-RS may be sent (e.g., transmitted) on a CSI-RS resource, which may comprise at least one of: one or more antenna ports and/or one or more time and/or frequency radio resources. A CSI-RS resource may be configured in a cell-specific way such as by common RRC signaling, or in a wireless device-specific way such as by dedicated RRC signaling and/or L1/L2 signaling. …”);
provide, for the UE, multiple channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmissions during at least one CSI-RS occasion, wherein the multiple CSI-RS transmissions include a CSI-RS from each logically combined set of antenna modules of the network node (FIG. 9A shows 2 CSI-RS occasions 950, and each includes signals from a set of 4 antenna); and
receive, from the UE, the at least one CSI report based on the format associated with the at least one CSI report and based on the CSI-RS (FIGs. 1-9 and the associated text, such as “[0297] The wireless device may stop and/or refrain from transmitting, to the second network of the second base station (e.g., in/during the monitoring gap),
Park1 is silent but Park2, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses wherein the at least one CSI report is indicative of at least one of a relative timing offset associated with the multiple CSI-RS transmissions or a relative phase offset associated with the multiple CSI-RS transmissions during the at least one CSI-RS occasion (“[0125] … the radio frame timing offset can be given as a relative offset value with respect to predetermined reference timing. The predetermined reference timing may be a radio frame timing offset of a serving cell.” and “[0157] … the timing offset value (i.e. .DELTA.n.sub.s) used for CSI-RS sequence generation and the parameter (i.e. resourceConfig) indicating an RE position in which a CSI-RS is present per CSI-RS configuration (or CSI-RS configuration group (i.e. a group of a plurality of CSI-RS configurations)), antenna port (or antenna port group), and/or subframe set have been described in the aforementioned examples. …”). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Park2 above to the CSI report by Park1 to yield a predictable result of determining time offset for synchronization.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine Park1 and Park2 for the benefit of improving synchronization ([0157] of Park2).
Claim 29 is rejected because it is a method performed by the apparatus of claim 1 and has the same subject matter.
Claim 30 is rejected because it is a method performed by the apparatus of claim 15 and has the same subject matter.
As to claims 2 and 16, Park1 in view of Park2 discloses claims 1 and 15, further discloses:
receive, from the network node, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) from the logically combined set of antenna modules (Park1: “[0092] FIG. 5B shows an example downlink channel mapping and downlink physical signals. … A DL-SCH 511 and a PCH 512 may be mapped to a Physical Downlink Shared CHannel (PDSCH) 514. …”), wherein at least one of a timing offset or a phase offset between the multiple antenna modules of the logically combined set of antenna modules is based on the at least one CSI report (Park1: “[0096] … A CSI-RS configuration may comprise one or more parameters indicating at least a quantity/number of antenna ports. …”); and
receive, from the network node, an indication of the at least one of the timing offset, the phase offset (as disclosed by the parent claims), or an index to a data structure that comprises at least one of discrete timing or phase offset values associated with a radio resource control (RRC) procedure (Park2: “[0166] … when the CSI feedback configuration is signaled to the UE through RRC signaling, a CSI-RS configuration related to CSI feedback information to be reported according to the CSI feedback configuration can be indicated to the UE. …”).
The motivation of combing Park1 and Park2 is the same as stated in the parent claims.
As to claims 4 and 18, Park1 in view of Park2 discloses claims 1 and 15, Park1 further discloses:
wherein the at least one CSI report is further indicative of a set of ports associated with the multiple CSI-RS transmissions (FIG. 9A shows a set of 4 ports with 4 CSI-RS transmissions).
As to claims 5 and 19, Park1 in view of Park2 discloses claims 1 and 15, further discloses:
wherein the at least one CSI-RS occasion includes a first CSI-RS occasion and a second CSI-RS occasion (Park1: FIG. 9A in view of “[0111] … A wireless device may measure quality of a beam pair link using one or more RSs. One or more SS blocks, or one or more CSI-RS resources (e.g., which may be associated with a CSI-RS resource index (CRI)), and/or one or more DM-RSs of a PBCH, may be used as an RS for measuring a quality of a beam pair link. …”; note that it would have been obvious to try to include a first CSI-RS occasion and a second CSI-RS occasion from 4 ports according to 2143(E));
wherein the CSI configuration is indicative of at least four ports (Park1: FIG. 9A shows 4 ports);
wherein to receive the multiple CSI-RS transmissions during the at least one CSI-RS occasion (Park1: FIG. 9A shows 4 ports), the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to:
receive a first CSI-RS from a first pair of antennas of the network node during the first CSI-RS occasion (Park1: FIG. 9A in view of [0111] and an obvious try according to 2143(E)),
receive a second CSI-RS from a second pair of antennas of the network node during the second CSI-RS occasion, wherein the second pair of antennas is different from the first pair of antennas (Park1: FIG. 9A in view of [0111] and an obvious try according to 2143(E)), and
measure at least one of the relative timing offset associated with the CSI-RS or the relative phase offset associated with the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS (Park2: “[0125] … the radio frame timing offset can be given as a relative offset value with respect to predetermined reference timing. The predetermined reference timing may be a radio frame timing offset of a serving cell. …”).
The motivation of combing Park1 and Park2 is the same as stated in the parent claims.
As to claims 6 and 20, Park1 in view of Park2 discloses claims 5 and 19, Park1 further discloses:
wherein the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS comprise additional instances of the CSI-RS, wherein each of the additional instances of the CSI-RS correspond to pairs of different antenna modules of the network node (FIGs. 5-9 and associated text, such as [0096] “… A CSI-RS configuration may comprise one or more parameters indicating at least a quantity/number of antenna ports. …”; note the number of antenna ports may be more than 4 as shown in FIG. 9A in view of obvious try according to 2143(E) or by design choice by 2143(F));
wherein the at least one CSI report includes a second number of CSI reports corresponding to each of the additional instances of the CSI-RS (FIGs. 5-9 and associated text, such as FIG. 9A in view of an obvious try according to 2143(E) or by design choice of 2143(F)).
As to claims 7 and 21, Park1 in view of Park2 discloses claims 5 and 19, Park1 further discloses:
wherein the CSI configuration is indicative of a number of CSI-RS ports associated with the UE (FIGs. 5-9 and associated text, such as [0096] “… A CSI-RS configuration may comprise one or more parameters indicating at least a quantity/number of antenna ports. …”; note the number of antenna ports may be more than 4 as shown in FIG. 9A in view of obvious try according to 2143(E) or by design choice by 2143(F)); and
wherein the second CSI-RS occasion is subsequent to the first CSI-RS occasion based on the number of CSI-RS ports associated with the UE being less than a number of antenna ports of the logically combined set of antenna modules of the network node (FIG 9A shows 4 CSI-RS ports, determining the first CSI-RS occasion and the second CSI-RS occasion from 4 CSI-RS ports by design choice according to 2143(F)), or
wherein the second CSI-RS occasion is a same CSI-RS occasion as the first CSI-RS occasion (FIG 9A shows 4 CSI-RS ports, with 2 CSI-RS ports as first and second occasion each by an obvious try according to 2143(E) or by design choice according to 2143(F)).
As to claims 10 and 24, Park1 in view of Park2 discloses claims 5 and 19, Park1 further discloses:
wherein the at least one CSI report is based on at least four ports for the multiple CSI-RS transmissions or the relative phase offset associated with the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to measure on each other port of the at least four ports than the one port of the at least four ports (FIG 9A shows 4 CSI-RS ports for the multiple CSI-RS transmissions), wherein one port of the at least four ports is a measurement reference port, wherein to measure at least one of the relative timing offset associated with the CSI-RS (FIG. 9A shows 4 CSI-RS ports in view of “[0111] … A wireless device may measure quality of a beam pair link using one or more RSs. …” in view of the parent claims).
As to claims 11 and 25, Park1 in view of Park2 discloses claims 1 and 15, Park1 further discloses:
wherein a number of ports associated with the multiple CSI-RS transmissions is at least two ports that include a first pair of ports and a second pair of ports, wherein the at least one CSI occasion includes a first CSI occasion and a second CSI occasion (FIG 9A shows 4 CSI-RS ports, determining that include a first pair of ports and a second pair of ports according to design choice by 2143(F));
wherein to receive the multiple CSI-RS transmissions during the at least one CSI-RS occasion, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to:
receive a first instance of the CSI-RS, by the first pair of ports of the number of ports and from a first pair of antennas of the network node, during the first CSI occasion (FIG 9A shows 4 CSI-RS ports, with 2 CSI-RS ports as first by an obvious try according to 2143(E) or by design choice according to 2143(F)), and
receive a second instance of the CSI-RS, by the second pair of ports of the number of ports and from a second pair of antennas of the network node, during the second CSI occasion subsequent to the first CSI occasion (FIG 9A shows 4 CSI-RS ports, with second occasion each by an obvious try according to 2143(E) or by design choice according to 2143(F)).
As to claims 12 and 26, Park1 in view of Park2 discloses claims 11 and 25, further discloses:
wherein the at least one CSI report includes at least two CSI reports, wherein the at least two CSI reports are respectively indicative of the relative timing offset associated with the CSI-RS at the first instance and at the second instance (FIG. 9A shows 4 CSI-RS ports, which may be divided into two pairs of antennas with each having two ports, according to 2143(E) with an obvious try, or according to 2143(F) with design choice); or
wherein the at least two ports are associated with different pairs of antennas included in a same antenna module of the network node (FIG. 9A shows 4 CSI-RS ports, which may be divided into two pairs of antennas with each having two ports, according obvious try by 2143(E), or design choice by 2143(F)).
Claims 3, 14, 17 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park1 (US 20200351818 A1) in view of Park2 (US 20150003271 A1), further in view of PAZ (US 20230309095 A1). As to claims 3 and 17, Park1 in view of Park2 discloses claims 2 and 16, and is silent but PAZ, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses: wherein the indication is comprised in a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE) of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) (“[0081] … MAC-CE 712 received over PDSCH 710 …”). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of PAZ above to the CSI reports by Park1 in view of Park2 to yield a predictable result of CB mapping.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application for the benefit of CB mapping ([0081] of PAZ).
As to claims 14 and 28, Park1 in view of Park2 discloses claims 1 and 15, further discloses:
wherein the at least one CSI report is further indicative of at least one of a delay spread associated with the multiple CSI-RS transmissions or a set of ports associated with the multiple CSI-RS transmissions (“[0086] In response to the indicator 630 from the UE … The network may consider additional information such as: a scheduling scenario, CSI based on a CSI report or SRS, operational MCS and RI, channel delay spread, Doppler spread, SNR measurements, and/or UE speed. Some of these considerations may involve additional information provided by the UE 104. The base station 102 may transmit a notification 760 of a new dynamic CB mapping type. …”). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of PAZ above to the CSI reports by Park1 in view of Park2 to yield a predictable result of providing base station signaling.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application for the benefit of providing dynamic mapping ([0086] of PAZ).
Claims 8-9, 13, 22-23 and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park1 (US 20200351818 A1) in view of Park2 (US 20150003271 A1), further in view of Eyuboglu (US 11140695 B1).
As to claims 8 and 22, Park1 in view of Park2 discloses claims 5 and 19, Park1 further discloses:
wherein the at least one CSI report is based on two layers and on four ports for the multiple CSI-RS transmissions (FIG 9A shows 4 CSI-RS ports, determining the first CSI-RS occasion and the second CSI-RS occasion from 4 CSI-RS ports by design choice according to 2143(F); and “… Information on a CSI-RS configuration can be defined as an information element (IE) CSI-RS-Config and provided to a UE through higher layer (e.g. radio resource control (RRC) layer) signaling. …” or “[0115] …. A CSI-RS resource may be configured in a cell-specific way such as by common RRC signaling, or in a wireless device-specific way such as by dedicated RRC signaling and/or L1/L2 signaling. …”);),
Park1 in view of Park2 is silent but Eyuboglu, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses: wherein the two layers are associated with a vertical polarization and a horizontal polarization (c23/l5-7, “…The antenna elements may use a single (e.g., vertical) polarization or they may use dual (vertical and horizontal) polarization. …”); or
wherein the at least one CSI report is indicative of an additional CSI metric associated with a precoding coefficient and the relative phase offset associated with the multiple CSI-RS transmissions (c62/l16-25, “…. CSI measurements include Channel Quality Indication (CQI), which the serving RF node uses to determine the data rate at which to serve the UE, Precoding Matrix Indication (PMI), which the serving RF node uses to determine the digital precoding matrix, Rank Indication (RI), which the serving RF node uses to determine the number of layers (5G NR currently supports up to 8 layers) to transmit to the UE in spatial multiplexing and CRI (CSI Resource Indicator), which the serving RF node uses to determine the preferred DL beam. …”; note that “precoding matrix” reads on precoding coefficient). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Eyuboglu above to the CSI reports by Park1 in view of Park2 to yield a predictable result of obtaining desired Channel Quality Indication (CQI).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application for the benefit of obtaining desired Channel Quality Indication (CQI) (c62/l14-16 of Eyuboglu).
As to claims 9 and 23, Park1 in view of Park2 discloses claims 5 and 19, Park1 further discloses:
wherein the at least one CSI report is based on a single layer and on four ports for the multiple CSI-RS transmissions (FIG 9A shows 4 CSI-RS ports on the physical layer).
Park1 in view of Park2 is silent wherein the single layer is associated with at least one of a vertical polarization, a horizontal polarization, or a circular polarization (c62/l16-25, “…. CSI measurements include Channel Quality Indication (CQI), which the serving RF node uses to determine the data rate at which to serve the UE, Precoding Matrix Indication (PMI), which the serving RF node uses to determine the digital precoding matrix, Rank Indication (RI), which the serving RF node uses to determine the number of layers (5G NR currently supports up to 8 layers) to transmit to the UE in spatial multiplexing and CRI (CSI Resource Indicator), which the serving RF node uses to determine the preferred DL beam. …”; note that “precoding matrix” reads on precoding coefficient). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Eyuboglu above to the CSI reports by Park1 in view of Park2 to yield a predictable result of obtaining desired Channel Quality Indication (CQI).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application for the benefit of obtaining desired Channel Quality Indication (CQI) (c62/l14-16 of Eyuboglu).
As to claims 13 and 27, Park1 in view of Park2 discloses claims 11 and 25, Park1 further discloses:
wherein the at least one CSI report is based on two layers and on two ports for the CSI-RS, wherein the two layers are associated (“[0122] A wireless device, configured for operation in one or more BWPs of a cell, may be configured by one or more higher layers (e.g., RRC layer). …”); or
wherein the at least one CSI report is based on a single layer and on four ports for the multiple CSI-RS transmissions (FIG 9A shows 4 CSI-RS ports on the physical layer)).
Park1 in view of Park2 is silent but Eyuboglu, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses: the one or two layers are associated with a vertical polarization and a horizontal polarization (c23/l5-7, “…The antenna elements may use a single (e.g., vertical) polarization or they may use dual (vertical and horizontal) polarization. …”). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Eyuboglu above to the CSI reports by Park1 in view of Park2 to yield a predictable result of obtaining desired Channel Quality Indication (CQI).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application for the benefit of obtaining desired Channel Quality Indication (CQI) (c62/l14-16 of Eyuboglu).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIANYE WU whose telephone number is (571)270-1665. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 8am-6pm.
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/JIANYE WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462