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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 4/27/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments and amendments filed 04/27/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues Tidestav fails to teach a user equipment configured to "select, from the plurality
of beams, a downlink reception beam of the UE for downlink transmissions, the selection
being based on the CSI RS measurements and the downlink rank" as recited in
independent claim 1.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. In clarification, Tidestav discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), method for wireless communication at a user equipment and non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, comprising:
at least one memory (memory [0159]) comprising computer-executable instructions (instructions, [0159]); and one or more processors (see processors, [0159]) configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the apparatus to:
measure channel state information (CSI) reference signals (CSI-RS) ((see table 5, “encompasses at least CSI-RS - In each of the L links in CSI measurement setting”, interalia) associated with a plurality of beams (related to plurality of beams [0138] where CRI mentioned hear is CSI Resource Indicator, );
determine an uplink rank and a downlink rank (see [0084] “rank” for downlink and uplink, “DL/UL Rank”);
select (specifically disclose the rank and to “select” [0112]), from the plurality of beams (out of B1 or B2, or B2 instead of B1, here a plurality of beams), a downlink reception beam of the UE for processing downlink transmissions (see transmission /reception with UE), based on the CSI RS measurements (seen rank and CSI [0138]) and the downlink rank (see rank [0112]); and
select, from the plurality of beams (see [0112] select of a plurality of beams B1 or B2, see “select B2”, ), an uplink transmission beam of the UE (see [0112] “UL/DL” scheduling based on “rank”) for the selection being based on the CSI RS measurements (“the CRI/SSBRI for the reference signal, the network node can determine the best N transmit beams” [0139], where transmit beams are uplink beams ), the uplink rank (see [0140] “one DL and/or UL maximum rank is indicated per beam”), and the downlink rank (see [0140] “one DL and/or UL maximum rank is indicated per beam”).
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-4, 7-9, 11-12, 15-16 & 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Tidestav et al. (US 2024/0348302 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 9 and 17, Tidestav discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), method for wireless communication at a user equipment and non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, comprising:
at least one memory (memory [0159]) comprising computer-executable instructions (instructions, [0159]); and one or more processors (see processors, [0159]) configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the apparatus to:
measure channel state information (CSI) reference signals (CSI-RS) ((see table 5, “encompasses at least CSI-RS - In each of the L links in CSI measurement setting”, interalia) associated with a plurality of beams (related to plurality of beams [0138] where CRI mentioned hear is CSI Resource Indicator, );
determine an uplink rank and a downlink rank (see [0084] “rank” for downlink and uplink, “DL/UL Rank”);
select (specifically disclose the rank and to “select” [0112]), from the plurality of beams (out of B1 or B2, or B2 instead of B1, here a plurality of beams), a downlink reception beam of the UE for processing downlink transmissions (see transmission /reception with UE), based on the CSI RS measurements (seen rank and CSI [0138]) and the downlink rank (see rank [0112]); and
select, from the plurality of beams (see [0112] select of a plurality of beams B1 or B2, see “select B2”, ), an uplink transmission beam of the UE (see [0112] “UL/DL” scheduling based on “rank”) for the selection being based on the CSI RS measurements (“the CRI/SSBRI for the reference signal, the network node can determine the best N transmit beams” [0139], where transmit beams are uplink beams ), the uplink rank (see [0140] “one DL and/or UL maximum rank is indicated per beam”), and the downlink rank (see [0140] “one DL and/or UL maximum rank is indicated per beam”).
Regarding claims 3, 11, 19; Tidestav discloses the apparatus, method and non-transitory computer readable medium of claims 1, 9 & 17, wherein selecting the uplink transmission beam comprises selecting a same beam for the downlink reception beam and the uplink transmission beam if the downlink rank and uplink rank are a same rank (it means that the UE should transmit the UL channel or signal with the same beam used in receiving the DL RS previously, [0020]) that is greater than 1 (see [0144], “UE could be configured to either report one maximum DL and/or UL rank per report or one maximum DL and/or UL rank per reported beam. In case the UE uses the same UE panel for all DL-RS associated to the report”).
Regarding claims 4, 12, 20; Tidestav discloses the apparatus, method and non-transitory computer readable medium of claims 1, 9 & 17, wherein, if the uplink rank is 1, selecting the uplink transmission beam (see [0083], “For N antenna ports, there will be N CSI-RS signals, each associated with one antenna port.”) is based on which of one or more ports is used for the CSI-RS (see [0049], “For N antenna ports, there will be N CSI-RS signals, each associated with one antenna port.”).
Regarding claims 7 & 15, Tidestav discloses the apparatus of claim 1 and method of claim 9, wherein determining at least one of the uplink rank or the downlink rank is based on at least one of: a rank value indicated in at least one uplink grant (see [0057], “CSI reporting are dynamically allocated through uplink grants”); or a rank value indicated in at least one downlink grant.
Regarding claims 8 & 16, Tidestav discloses the apparatus of claim 7 and method of claim 15, wherein determining at least one of the uplink rank or the downlink rank is based on at least one of: an accumulation of rank values indicated in multiple uplink grants (see beam groups as part of a report: [0149] Beam group 1: CRI A, CRI S [0150] Beam group 2: CRI B, CRI T [0151] Beam group 3: CRI C, CRI U [0152] Beam group 4:); or an accumulation of rank values indicated in multiple downlink grants (see “beam groups as part of a report: [0149] Beam group 1: CRI A, CRI S [0150] Beam group 2: CRI B, CRI T [0151] Beam group 3: CRI C, CRI U [0152] Beam group 4:”).
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) 5 &13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tidestav et al. (US 2024/0348302 A1) in view of CN 1330821 A.
Regarding claims Tidestav et al. discloses claims 5 & 13, The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, if the uplink rank is 1, selecting the uplink transmission beam is based on whether port diversity is used for the CSI-RS (see page 1 of provided machine translation, “determined uplink port diversity”);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Tidestav et al. (US 2024/0348302 A1) in view of CN 1330821 A. Doing so would conform to well known standards in the field of invention.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 6, 10, 14, 18 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to K. WILFORD SHAHEED whose telephone number is (469) 295-9175. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9 am-6pm; CST; ALT Friday. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. The examiner’s Supervisor, Jinsong Hu, can be reached at (571)272-3965, where attempts to reach the examiner are unsuccessful.
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/KHALID W SHAHEED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643
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