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.
Claim(s) 1-2,12-14, 16-18, 21, 24-25 and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Venugopal (US 20210194658) in view of Zhang (US 20230148159).
With respect to independent claims:
Regarding claim(s) 1/16/24/30, Venugopal teaches A user equipment (UE) ([Fig.3], UE 350), comprising:
one or more memories storing processor-executable code ([Fig.3]); and
one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:
receive ([0116], “the reporting configuration 522 may configure respective RSs on one or more beams ... from the base station 502.”) a set of resources ([0116], “the reporting configuration 522 may include information configuring the UE 504 to receive at least one CSI-RS and/or SSB on one or more TX beams of the base station 502 paired with a respective RX beam of the UE 504. Accordingly, each of the CSI-RSs and/or SSBs may be associated with a respective TX beam of the base station 502 ... each of the CSI-RSs and/or SSBs may be associated with a respective TX beam of the base station 502.” In other words, at least CSI-RS resource received by the UE.) in accordance with a channel state information reporting procedure ([Fig.5, step 522], “Reporting configuration”);
select a first resource ([0168], “at least one measurement value corresponding to the “best” resource ... may be reported as a measured value.” CSI-RS transmitted by a TX beam with highest value will be selected.) from the set of resources ([0169], “at least one resource 528 may include two TX beams of the base station 502 respectively paired with two RX beams of the UE 504 to form respective beam pairs via which the UE 504 receives CSI-RSs of the RSs 526.”) as a baseline resource ([0169], “The UE 504 may report the best individual RSRP value (e.g., highest dBm value) corresponding to one TX beam of the base station 502 as a measured number expressed in dBm.”) based at least in part on a criteria for the set of resources ([0164], “the UE 504 determines the at least one value of the at least one criteria, as shown at operation 525. For example, the UE 504 may include, in the group-based report 530, information indicating one or more values determined for the at least one criteria, such as the “best” (e.g., highest, greatest, etc.) measurement values.”); and
transmit ([Fig.5, step 530 and 0171], “The UE 504 may then transmit, to the base station 502, the group-based report 530.”), in accordance with the channel state information reporting procedure ([0171], “the group-based report 530 may include a CSI report for which group-based beam reporting is enabled. For example, the base station 502 may configure the UE 504 through the reporting configuration 522 to transmit the group-based report 530.”), a channel state information report comprising a baseline indicator associated with the baseline resource ([0169], “The UE 504 may report the best individual RSRP value (e.g., highest dBm value) corresponding to one TX beam of the base station 502 as a measured number expressed in dBm.”) and respective differential indicators for each other resource of the set of resources, wherein the respective differential indicators are relative to the baseline indicator ([0169], “the UE 504 may report the second (or next) best individual RSRP value corresponding to another TX beam of the base station 502 as a differential value relative to the measured number expressed in dBm corresponding to the best individual RSRP value.”),
wherein the baseline indicator is a channel measurement indicator ([0169], RSRP for measurement of a channel, a TX beam with the best RSRP value) and the respective differential indicators are each a respective differential channel measurement indicator ([0169], differential RSRP value), the baseline indicator is a rank indicator and the respective differential indicators are each a respective differential rank indicator, or the baseline indicator is a pre-coding matrix indicator and the respective differential indicators are each a respective differential pre-coding matrix indicator.
However, Venugopal does not teach wherein the baseline indicator is a channel quality indicator (CQI) and the respective differential indicators are each a respective differential CQI, the baseline indicator is a rank indicator and the respective differential indicators are each a respective differential rank indicator, or the baseline indicator is a pre-coding matrix indicator and the respective differential indicators are each a respective differential pre-coding matrix indicator.
In an analogous art, Zhang teaches transmit ([0091, 0096 and Fig.6, step 606], a base station may receive “a CSI report from the wireless device” based on “beam and CSI measurement configuration information.”), in accordance with the channel state information reporting procedure ([0091], “beam and CSI measurement configuration information.”), a channel state information report ([0096], “the CSI report may indicate an absolute CSI measurement result for a reference beam measurement reference signal resource and a differential CSI measurement result for each other beam measurement reference signal resource.” And [0101], “absolute CQI could be reported for the best SSB/CSI-RS, and differential CQI can be reported for the other N−1 SSBs/CSI-RSs.”) comprising a baseline indicator associated with the baseline resource ([0096], “an absolute CSI measurement result for a reference beam measurement reference signal resource ... The reference beam measurement reference signal resource may be ... the beam measurement reference signal resource with a highest measurement result (e.g., RSRP/SINR/CQI/etc.).”) and respective differential indicators for each other resource of the set of resources ([0096], “The differential CSI measurement result may include a difference between the CSI measurement value of a beam measurement reference signal resource and the CSI measurement value of the reference beam measurement reference signal resource.”), wherein the respective differential indicators are relative to the baseline indicators ([0101], “differential CQI can be reported for the other N−1 SSBs/CSI-RSs ... the differential CQI for a SSB/CSI-RS may be calculated as a difference between the CQI for that SSB/CSI-RS and the CQI for the reference SSB/CSI-RS.”),
wherein the baseline indicator is a channel quality indicator (CQI) and the respective differential indicators are each a respective differential CQI ([0101], “absolute CQI could be reported for the best SSB/CSI-RS, and differential CQI can be reported for the other N−1 SSBs/CSI-RSs.”),
the baseline indicator is a rank indicator and the respective differential indicators are each a respective differential rank indicator, or
the baseline indicator is a pre-coding matrix indicator and the respective differential indicators are each a respective differential pre-coding matrix indicator.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Venugopal to specify CQI as taught by Zhang. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to determine channel quality of a channel.
With respect to dependent claims:
Regarding claim(s) 2/18/25, Venugopal teaches measure a respective channel quality indicator for each resource of the set of resources, wherein selecting the first resource as the baseline resource is based at least in part on the first resource being associated with a highest channel quality indicator value out of the set of resources ([0169], “The UE 504 may report the best individual RSRP value (e.g., highest dBm value) corresponding to one TX beam of the base station 502 as a measured number expressed in dBm.”).
Regarding claim(s) 12/17, Venugopal teaches receive control signaling comprising an indication of the criteria ([0097], “base station ... transmitting information indicating ... criteria upon which determination of resources for reporting.”) for the set of resources to use for selecting the baseline resource ([0164], “the UE 504 determines the at least one value of the at least one criteria, as shown at operation 525. For example, the UE 504 may include, in the group-based report 530, information indicating one or more values determined for the at least one criteria, such as the “best” (e.g., highest, greatest, etc.) measurement values.”).
Regarding claim(s) 13, Venugopal teaches wherein the criteria for the set of resources to use for selecting the baseline resource is stored at the UE ([0143], “the at least one criteria may be preconfigured in the UE 504.”).
Regarding claim(s) 14/21, Venugopal teaches transmit, as part of the channel state information report, an indication of the criteria for the set of resources used for selecting the baseline resource ([0164], “the UE 504 may include, in the group-based report 530, information indicating one or more values determined for the at least one criteria, such as the “best” (e.g., highest, greatest, etc.) measurement values.”).
Claim(s) 3-5 and 26-28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Venugopal in view of Zhang, and further in view of Zhu (US 20130287139).
Regarding claim(s) 3/26, Venugopal teaches receive a respective rank indicator for each resource of the set of resources ([0085], “each RI corresponding to a TX beam of the base station.”).
However, Venugopal does not teach rest of claim limitation.
In an analogous art, Zhu teaches selecting the first resource as the baseline resource is further based at least in part on the first resource being associated with a highest rank indicator value out of the set of resources ([0041], “determining a best rank indicator to report.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Venugopal to specify rank as taught by Zhu. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to report to a base station to indicate the best rank.
Regarding claim(s) 4/27, Venugopal teaches receive a respective rank indicator for each resource of the set of resources ([0085], “each RI corresponding to a TX beam of the base station.”).
However, Venugopal does not teach rest of claim limitation.
In an analogous art, Zhu teaches selecting the first resource as the baseline resource is based at least in part on the first resource being associated with a highest rank indicator value out of the set of resources ([0041], “determining a best rank indicator to report.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Venugopal to specify rank as taught by Zhu. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to report to a base station to indicate the best rank.
Regarding claim(s) 5/28, Venugopal teaches measure a respective channel quality indicator for each resource of the set of resources, wherein selecting the first resource as the baseline resource is further based at least in part on the first resource being associated with a highest channel quality indicator value out of the set of resources ([0169], “The UE 504 may report the best individual RSRP value (e.g., highest dBm value) corresponding to one TX beam of the base station 502 as a measured number expressed in dBm.”).
Claim(s) 6 and 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Venugopal in view of Zhang, and further in view of Ding (US 20130077704).
Regarding claim(s) 6/29, Ma teaches wherein the baseline resource corresponds to a codebook that has a rank greater than four, the codebook being associated with a first codeword associated with a first indicator and a second codeword associated with a second indicator ([0153], “When RI=5, the codebook of W1 contains four codewords:”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Venugopal to specify rank as taught by Ding. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to indicate number of codewords.
Claim(s) 9-10 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Venugopal in view of Zhang, and further in view of Ma (US 20250106673).
Regarding claim(s) 9/20, Ma teaches wherein each resource of the set of resources is associated with a respective power offset value ([0031], “Each resource may associate with ... a power offset.”), and the criteria for the set of resources is based at least in part on a power offset value ([0043], “a wideband CQI index associated with ... maximum power offset, or largest resource is reported directly ... The wideband CQI index associated with the other ... power offset, or resource are reported via a differential.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Venugopal to specify power offset as taught by Ma. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to report the wideband CQI with the largest power offset.
Regarding claim(s) 10, Ma teaches wherein selecting the first resource as the baseline resource is further based at least in part on the first resource being associated with a highest power offset value out of the set of resources ([0043], “a wideband CQI index associated with ... maximum power offset, or largest resource is reported directly ... The wideband CQI index associated with the other ... power offset, or resource are reported via a differential.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Venugopal to specify power offset as taught by Ma. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to report the wideband CQI with the largest power offset.
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Venugopal in view of in view of Zhang, and further Zhang (US 20220303090), hereafter Zhang090..
Regarding claim(s) 19, Zhang090 teaches indicate for the UE to select the baseline resource as a resource from the set of resources being associated with a highest or lowest resource ID value out of the set of resources ([0034], “the UE 110 may select the CSI-RS to perform RLM or BFD for the CORESET based on the resource ID. In this example, the highest or lowest resource ID may be selected.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Venugopal to specify resource ID as taught by Zhang090. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to report to a base station using a highest resource ID.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-8, 11 and 22 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed on 09/04/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-30 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Zhang.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHIREN QIN whose telephone number is (571)272-5444. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9-6PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Derrick Ferris can be reached on 571-272-3123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ZHIREN QIN/ Examiner, Art Unit 2411
