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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 04/14/2026 has been entered.
Response to Remarks
This Office action is considered fully responsive to the amendments filed 04/14/2026.
Claims 1-4, 6-13, 15-22 and 24-30 are pending in the application. Claims 1-3, 10-12, 19-21, 28-30 have been amended and claims 4, 6-9, 13, 15-18, 22, and 24-27 were previously presented. Regarding claim interpretation, we have taken a note of your statement.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 04/14/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues in substance that:
Neither Guo nor Matsumura discloses or suggests one or more processors configured to "delay transmission of the second report based on the determination that the first priority is greater than the second priority, wherein a report type of the second report is a periodic report type or a semi-periodic report type." (Page 12, Remarks).
In response to A) the examiner respectfully disagrees. Matsumura teaches determine that the first priority is greater than the second priority: delay transmission of the second report based on the determination that the first priority is greater than the second priority, wherein a report type of the second report is a periodic report type or a semi-periodic report type (Page 1, Abstract states “a control unit that determines the priority for channel state information (CSI) reporting on the basis of a CSI report group index; and a transmission unit that transmits a CSI report selected, on the basis of the priority, from a plurality of conflicting CSI reports”. Page 3, Sec. “(Priority for CSI reporting)“ describe different formulas for determining the priority for the reports ( Eq. 1 - Eq. 6 in pages 4 and 6-7), that can be used to calculate the priority metrics for the first and second CSI reports, third, …., etc. Plugging these values for the first and second reports in the formulas to find the priority for each, then compare the resulting values of the priorities to decide which report should be transmitted or prioritized according these values (Page 8, paragraph 3.), if the value associated with the first CSI report is smaller than the second CSI report, then the first report may mean a higher priority than the second CSI report (Page 4, several paragraphs 4-5, and 10), that state “if the first resource includes PUCCH format 2 and there is a remaining resource in the one slot that does not overlap with the first resource, the UE has a CSI having a corresponding resource from the remaining resource. Of the reports, the CSI report with the highest priority is determined and the corresponding second resource is determined as an additional resource for the CSI report” and “the CSI report having the highest priority is determined from the resources of the above, and the corresponding second resource is determined as an additional resource for the CSI report.” And “The UE determines the CSI report having the highest priority , and determines the PUCCH resource corresponding to the CSI report as the first resource.” These parts imply that the UE can determine the priority of CSI reports and then send first the report with highest priority and then the second report depending on the available resources “ when the first resource includes PUCCH format 3 or PUCCH format 4, and there is a remaining resource including PUCCH format 2 in the above 1 slot that does not overlap with the first resource, the UE performs the remaining” and Page 6, paragraph 11 states “the UE may control the transmission of CSI reports (or PUCCH resources that send CSI reports) based on the priority corresponding to each CSI report.” Which implies the sequential transmission based on the priority, which means introducing delay for the lower priority CSI reports, this also stated in Page 4, paragraph 8, which clearly describe the mechanism of the reports transmission “The priority of the CSI report to be sent on each PUCCH resource (highest, second highest, third highest, fourth highest) is shown”). Moreover, Figure 1, please refer to the attached English translation of Figure 1, illustrates how the UE, by its processor unit, can schedule CSI reports according to the priorities and mapping them to the available PUCCH. Fig. 1C-1D show that all of PUCCH resources do not overlap Paras. 1-6 Page 5, the UE can assign the highest, second highest, third highest, and fourth highest priority CSI reports to each of the available four resources. Para. 6 Page 2 states ” CSI feedback methods include periodic CSI (Periodic CSI (P-CSI)) reports, aperiodic CSI(Aperiodic CSI (A-CSI)) reports, and semi-persistent CSI (Semi-Persistent CSI (SP)). -CSI))Reports are being considered.” That confirms the first, second, third and fourth CSI repot can be any of these types of reports. Therefore, the office action still teaches the limitations as currently claimed.
Applicant argues that the independent claims 10, 19, and 28 allowable for similar reasons (Page 13, Remarks).
Examiner respectfully disagrees, for at least the same reasons given in the response above, and as detailed in the Claim Rejections section below.
C) Applicant argues that the remaining claims, dependent claims, are allowable for similar reasons (Pages 13 and 14, Remarks).
Examiner respectfully disagrees, for at least the same reasons given in the response above. The
Claim Rejections Sections below detail the rejections of the instant claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1- 4, 6-7, 9-13, 15-16, 18-22, 24-25, 27-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guo et al. (US-20190190582-A1), in view of Matsumura et al. (WO-2021192310-A1), please refer to the attached English translated version.
Regarding claim 1 (Currently Amended), Guo teaches A user equipment (UE), comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, wherein the one or more processors are configured (Fig. 3, [0079]-[0080], as shown in FIG. 3, the UE includes an antenna , a radio frequency (RF) transceiver , TX processing circuitry , and receive (RX) processing circuitry . The UE also includes a processor , an input/output (I/O) interface (IF) and a memory which coupled to the processor to perform the method functions) to: measure a reference signal transmitted by a network node, wherein the network node is a candidate serving cell ([0029], “Once the UE is in the network and associated with a serving cell, the UE monitors several neighboring cells by attempting to detect their synchronization signals and/or measuring the associated cell-specific reference signals (RSs) “[0033], [0127], “After the UE 1111 is associated with the serving cell 1112, the UE 1111 is further associated with beam 1151” the UE measure reference signal RS that transmitted by the BS while the UE is in the network and associated with serving cell, “measuring the associated cell-specific RSs (for instance, by measuring their RSRPs)” ,[0118]); determine that a trigger condition for transmission of a first report is satisfied based on the measurement of the reference signal (Fig. 14, claim 8, lines 3-7, [0380], lines 10-14, [0481]-[0483], the network node can configure trigger conditions for the UE to detect beam failure events [0343] by a set of RS resources and can be defined by RRC signaling and may include thresholds for measurements, e.g., RSRP, SINR, [0480], Reference signal ID,[0397], measurement periodicity [0336], the UE compare the measured RS with configured thresholds [0483] , as the examples in [0224] and claim 15, 8-12, different types of reporting can be performed by the UE based on the measuring RS [0149]-[0151] and [0172]-[0180] for reporting to the BS [0241]); determine that a first resource for transmission of the first report overlaps with a second resource for transmission of a second report ([0175], to determine the overlap between the two report , the UE needs to evaluate the time- frequency resources allocated for both reports which included specific time interval in which report s are transmitted [0329], frequency resources [0100], and the symbol [0392], if one of these overlap, [0189], “When these two beam reports collide, the UE can be configured to determine whether to drop one beam report or merge two beam reports into one part according to the code rate and/or payload size if merging the beam reports.”); determine a first priority of the first report and a second priority of the second report (the priority of the first and second reports can be determined based on the following criteria or factors such as: type of reports: for example, periodic reports may have lower or higher priority depends on the network configuration [0176], [0178], while the aperiodic reports that triggered by specific event (have time sensitive) have often high priority, number of reported beams: for example, [0184], “ if a beam report N1 reported CRIs or SSBRIs collides with another beam report with N2 reported CRIs or SSBRIs, then the report with more reported CRIs or SSBRIs has priority. In one example, assuming N1>N2, then the UE can transmit the beam report with N1 reported CRIs or SSBRIs and the beam report with N2 reported CRIs or SSBRIs cannot be sent by the UE.”, content of the report: for example, [0183], “if a beam report with CRI/RSRP report collides with another beam report with SSBRI/RSRP report, the beam report with SSBRI/RSRP report can have priority and the beam report with CRI/RSRP report may not be sent by the UE”); and transmit the first report on the first resource based on the first priority, the second priority, and the determination that the trigger condition is satisfied ([0149]-[0150] and [0176]-[0185] and [0189]-[0194], all these paragraphs include examples confirm that the UE transmit the report on the resource based on the priority and the conditions described above which may configured by the network (e.g., gNB) , [0215]).
Guo fails to teach determine that the first priority is greater than the second priority: delay transmission of the second report based on the determination that the first priority is greater than the second priority, wherein a report type of the second report is a periodic report type or a semi-periodic report type;
However, Matsumura teaches determine that the first priority is greater than the second priority: delay transmission of the second report based on the determination that the first priority is greater than the second priority, wherein a report type of the second report is a periodic report type or a semi-periodic report type (Page 1, Abstract states “a control unit that determines the priority for channel state information (CSI) reporting on the basis of a CSI report group index; and a transmission unit that transmits a CSI report selected, on the basis of the priority, from a plurality of conflicting CSI reports”. Page 3, Sec. “(Priority for CSI reporting)“ describe different formulas for determining the priority for the reports ( Eq. 1 - Eq. 6 in pages 4 and 6-7), that can be used to calculate the priority metrics for the first and second CSI reports, third, …., etc. Plugging these values for the first and second reports in the formulas to find the priority for each, then compare the resulting values of the priorities to decide which report should be transmitted or prioritized according these values (Page 8, paragraph 3.), if the value associated with the first CSI report is smaller than the second CSI report, then the first report may mean a higher priority than the second CSI report (Page 4, several paragraphs 4-5, and 10), that state “if the first resource includes PUCCH format 2 and there is a remaining resource in the one slot that does not overlap with the first resource, the UE has a CSI having a corresponding resource from the remaining resource. Of the reports, the CSI report with the highest priority is determined and the corresponding second resource is determined as an additional resource for the CSI report” and “the CSI report having the highest priority is determined from the resources of the above, and the corresponding second resource is determined as an additional resource for the CSI report.” And “The UE determines the CSI report having the highest priority , and determines the PUCCH resource corresponding to the CSI report as the first resource.” These parts imply that the UE can determine the priority of CSI reports and then send first the report with highest priority and then the second report depending on the available resources “ when the first resource includes PUCCH format 3 or PUCCH format 4, and there is a remaining resource including PUCCH format 2 in the above 1 slot that does not overlap with the first resource, the UE performs the remaining” and Page 6, paragraph 11 states “the UE may control the transmission of CSI reports (or PUCCH resources that send CSI reports) based on the priority corresponding to each CSI report.” Which implies the sequential transmission based on the priority, which means introducing delay for the lower priority CSI reports, this also stated in Page 4, paragraph 8, which clearly describe the mechanism of the reports transmission “The priority of the CSI report to be sent on each PUCCH resource (highest, second highest, third highest, fourth highest) is shown”). Moreover, Figure 1, please refer to the attached English translation of Figure 1, illustrates how the UE, by its processor unit, can schedule CSI reports according to the priorities and mapping them to the available PUCCH. Fig. 1C-1D show that all of PUCCH resources do not overlap Paras. 1-6 Page 5, the UE can assign the highest, second highest, third highest, and fourth highest priority CSI reports to each of the available four resources. Para. 6 Page 2 states ” CSI feedback methods include periodic CSI (Periodic CSI (P-CSI)) reports, aperiodic CSI(Aperiodic CSI (A-CSI)) reports, and semi-persistent CSI (Semi-Persistent CSI (SP)). -CSI))Reports are being considered.” That confirms the first, second, third and fourth CSI repot can be any of these types of reports.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Guo to incorporate the teachings of Matsumura (in analogous art) by adding calculate a first priority metric for the first report based on a first report type of the first report; and calculate a second priority metric for the second report based on a second report type of the second for enabling efficient and flexible communication (Matsumura, Page 6, paragraphs 5-6).
Regarding claim 2 (Currently Amended), Guo and Matsumura teach the UE of claim 1.
Guo further teaches wherein to determine the first priority of the first report and the second priority of the second report the one or more processors are configured ([0031], lines 3-16 and claim 15, “The UE further comprises a processor operably connected to the transceiver, the processor configured to monitor at least a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) included…”, the processor determines the priority based on predefined criteria like report type and number of reporting beams [0176] and [0185]) to:
Guo fails to teach calculate a first priority metric for the first report based on a first report type of the first report; and calculate a second priority metric for the second report based on a second report type of the second report.
However, Matsumura teaches calculate a first priority metric for the first report based on a first report type of the first report; and calculate a second priority metric for the second report based on a second report type of the second report (Page 3, Sec. “(Priority for CSI reporting)“ describe different formulas, ( Eq. 1 - Eq. 6 in pages 4 and 7), that can be used to calculate the priority metrics for the first and second CSI reports based on report type (y), report content (k), (Page 3, paragraphs 8, 10), report setting ID (s), serving cell group index (c), report group index (p), (Page 7, paragraphs 8), maximum number of serving cells (N), and maximum number of report configurations (M), (Page 4, paragraphs 2). Plugging these values for the first and second reports in the formulas, then compare the resulting values of the priorities to decide which report should be transmitted or prioritized according to the priority metrics values (Page 8, paragraph 3.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Guo to incorporate the teachings of Matsumura (in analogous art) by adding calculate a first priority metric for the first report based on a first report type of the first report; and calculate a second priority metric for the second report based on a second report type of the second for enabling efficient and flexible communication (Matsumura, Page 6, paragraphs 5-6).
Regarding claim 3 (Currently Amended), Guo and Matsumura teach the UE of claim 2.
Guo further teaches wherein the first report type comprises at least one of an event triggered report type ([0130] describe an event triggered report type as beam failure detection “when a UE detects a beam failure event, the UE can be requested to transmit beam recovery request and then monitor for the beam recovery response from a TRP”), a periodic report type ([0331], for generating reports in regular periodic intervals “This value can be predefined, specified or configured; and a upper bound of the reporting periodicity.”), a semi-periodic report type, or an aperiodic report type.
Regarding claim 4 (Original), Guo and Matsumura teach the UE of claim 1.
Guo further teaches wherein the first report comprises a first channel state information (CSI) report , and wherein the second report comprises a second CSI report ([0192], lines 13-18, “When a first CSI report configured through a first CSI reporting collides with a second CSI report configured through a second CSI reporting configuration, the UE can be configured to assume a second CSI report has higher priority and a first CSI report may not be sent by the UE.”, which confirm both first and second reports include CSI reports).
Regarding claim 6 (Original), Guo and Matsumura teach the UE of claim 1.
Guo further teaches wherein the first report comprises an indication that transmission of the first report was triggered by satisfaction of the trigger condition ([0031], lines 16-19, [0414],[0461], [0479], [0326], [0385], claim 15, “monitoring at least a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) included in a first set of reference signals to detect a beam failure event based on a threshold” and “transmitting, to the BS, the beam failure recovery request over a physical random access channel (PRACH) based on detection of the beam failure event.” these paragraphs describe the UE can transmit failure recovery request over PRACH or PUCCH when the event beam failure is detected, this request is triggered by the satisfying of beam failure detection mention before which based on the monitoring RS by the UE and comparing their by the threshold).
Regarding claim 7 (Original), Guo and Matsumura teach the UE of claim 6.
Guo further teaches wherein the indication comprises at least one of: a bit field of the first report ( [0420]-[0421], describe the bit field included, as an indication, can be used to specified different information regarding the beam failure recovery or reporting process “each bit can be used to indicate the beam failure of an associated SCell.”); or a scrambling sequence of a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of the first report ([0098], [0134], “[0385]-[0388], “After the UE sends a beam failure recovery request in a uplink channel to the gNB, the UE can be requested to begin detect PDCCH in the search space A and the UE may assume the DM-RS associated with the PDCCH detection to be QCLed with the reference signal ID that is indicated through the transmission of the corresponding beam failure recovery request message.” and [0461],“ the UE detects a first DCI format scrambled with C-RNTI or MCS-C-RNTI in the search space provided by recoverySearchSpaceId at slot n.sub.1 (i.e., a first DCI format is the gNB's response to the beam failure recovery request sent by the UE”, these confirm including of scrambling sequence DMRS ).
Regarding claim 9 (Original), Guo and Matsumura teach the UE of claim 1.
Guo further teaches wherein the first report comprises at least one of: a cell identifier (ID) of the candidate serving cell ([0399], “In the MAC-CE message, the UE can report one serving cell ID (the candidate) and the reported serving cell ID is the ID of SCell where the UE declares beam failure”); a reference signal ID of the reference signal ( [0397], “This information can be the ID of one RS (for example, one CSI-RS resource or one SS/PBCH block index).” [0421], “one RS ID as the new candidate beam to the serving gNB. “);
a measured metric of the reference signal;
an indication of one or more beam pairs that the UE is configured to transmit and receive simultaneously; or
a sounding reference signal (SRS) port number associated with the reference signal ID of the reference signal.
As to claims 10-13, 15-16, 18 see similar rejections to claims 1-4, 6-7, 9 respectively. The apparatus teaches the methods.
Regarding claim 19 (Currently Amended), Guo teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a UE, cause the processor to perform steps comprising ([0036], “A non-transitory computer readable medium includes media where data can be permanently stored and media where data can be stored and later overwritten, such as a rewritable optical disc or an erasable memory device.” [0084], the computer includes a processor to perform method functions): measuring a reference signal transmitted by a network node, wherein the network node is a candidate serving cell ([0029], “Once the UE is in the network and associated with a serving cell, the UE monitors several neighboring cells by attempting to detect their synchronization signals and/or measuring the associated cell-specific reference signals (RSs) “[0033], [0127], “After the UE 1111 is associated with the serving cell 1112, the UE 1111 is further associated with beam 1151” the UE measure reference signal RS that transmitted by the BS while the UE is in the network and associated with serving cell, “measuring the associated cell-specific RSs (for instance, by measuring their RSRPs)” ,[0118]); determining that a trigger condition for transmission of a first report is satisfied based on the measurement of the reference signal (Fig. 14, claim 8, lines 3-7, [0380], lines 10-14, [0481]-[0483], the network node can configure trigger conditions for the UE to detect beam failure events [0343] by a set of RS resources and can be defined by RRC signaling and may include thresholds for measurements, e.g., RSRP, SINR, [0480], Reference signal ID,[0397], measurement periodicity [0336], the UE compare the measured RS with configured thresholds [0483] , as the examples in [0224] and claim 15, 8-12, different types of reporting can be performed by the UE based on the measuring RS [0149]-[0151] and [0172]-[0180] for reporting to the BS [0241]); determining that a first resource for transmission of the first report overlaps with a second resource for transmission of a second report ([0175], to determine the overlap between the two report , the UE needs to evaluate the time- frequency resources allocated for both reports which included specific time interval in which report s are transmitted [0329], frequency resources [0100], and the symbol [0392], if one of these overlap, [0189], “When these two beam reports collide, the UE can be configured to determine whether to drop one beam report or merge two beam reports into one part according to the code rate and/or payload size if merging the beam reports.”); determining a first priority of the first report and a second priority of the second report (the priority of the first and second reports can be determined based on the following criteria or factors such as: type of reports: for example, periodic reports may have lower or higher priority depends on the network configuration [0176], [0178], while the aperiodic reports that triggered by specific event (have time sensitive) have often high priority, number of reported beams: for example, [0184], “ if a beam report N1 reported CRIs or SSBRIs collides with another beam report with N2 reported CRIs or SSBRIs, then the report with more reported CRIs or SSBRIs has priority. In one example, assuming N1>N2, then the UE can transmit the beam report with N1 reported CRIs or SSBRIs and the beam report with N2 reported CRIs or SSBRIs cannot be sent by the UE.”, content of the report: for example, [0183], “if a beam report with CRI/RSRP report collides with another beam report with SSBRI/RSRP report, the beam report with SSBRI/RSRP report can have priority and the beam report with CRI/RSRP report may not be sent by the UE”); and transmitting the first report on the first resource based on the first priority, the second priority, and the determination that the trigger condition is satisfied ([0149]-[0150] and [0176]-[0185] and [0189]-[0194], all these paragraphs include examples confirm that the UE transmit the report on the resource based on the priority and the conditions described above which may configured by the network (e.g., gNB) , [0215]).
Guo fails to teach determining that the first priority is greater than the second priority: delaying transmission of the second report based on the determination that the first priority is greater than the second priority, wherein a report type of the second report is a periodic report type or a semi-periodic report type.
However, Matsumura teaches determining that the first priority is greater than the second priority: delaying transmission of the second report based on the determination that the first priority is greater than the second priority, wherein a report type of the second report is a periodic report type or a semi-periodic report type; (Page 1, Abstract states “a control unit that determines the priority for channel state information (CSI) reporting on the basis of a CSI report group index; and a transmission unit that transmits a CSI report selected, on the basis of the priority, from a plurality of conflicting CSI reports”. Page 3, Sec. “(Priority for CSI reporting)“ describe different formulas for determining the priority for the reports ( Eq. 1 - Eq. 6 in pages 4 and 6-7), that can be used to calculate the priority metrics for the first and second CSI reports, third, …., etc. Plugging these values for the first and second reports in the formulas to find the priority for each, then compare the resulting values of the priorities to decide which report should be transmitted or prioritized according these values (Page 8, paragraph 3.), if the value associated with the first CSI report is smaller than the second CSI report, then the first report may mean a higher priority than the second CSI report (Page 4, several paragraphs 4-5, and 10), that state “if the first resource includes PUCCH format 2 and there is a remaining resource in the one slot that does not overlap with the first resource, the UE has a CSI having a corresponding resource from the remaining resource. Of the reports, the CSI report with the highest priority is determined and the corresponding second resource is determined as an additional resource for the CSI report” and “the CSI report having the highest priority is determined from the resources of the above, and the corresponding second resource is determined as an additional resource for the CSI report.” And “The UE determines the CSI report having the highest priority , and determines the PUCCH resource corresponding to the CSI report as the first resource.” These parts imply that the UE can determine the priority of CSI reports and then send first the report with highest priority and then the second report depending on the available resources “ when the first resource includes PUCCH format 3 or PUCCH format 4, and there is a remaining resource including PUCCH format 2 in the above 1 slot that does not overlap with the first resource, the UE performs the remaining” and Page 6, paragraph 11 states “the UE may control the transmission of CSI reports (or PUCCH resources that send CSI reports) based on the priority corresponding to each CSI report.” Which implies the sequential transmission based on the priority, which means introducing delay for the lower priority CSI reports, this also stated in Page 4, paragraph 8, which clearly describe the mechanism of the reports transmission “The priority of the CSI report to be sent on each PUCCH resource (highest, second highest, third highest, fourth highest) is shown”). Moreover, Figure 1, please refer to the attached English translation of Figure 1, illustrates how the UE, by its processor unit, can schedule CSI reports according to the priorities and mapping them to the available PUCCH. Fig. 1C-1D show that all of PUCCH resources do not overlap Paras. 1-6 Page 5, the UE can assign the highest, second highest, third highest, and fourth highest priority CSI reports to each of the available four resources. Para. 6 Page 2 states ” CSI feedback methods include periodic CSI (Periodic CSI (P-CSI)) reports, aperiodic CSI(Aperiodic CSI (A-CSI)) reports, and semi-persistent CSI (Semi-Persistent CSI (SP)). -CSI))Reports are being considered.” That confirms the first, second, third and fourth CSI repot can be any of these types of reports. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Guo to incorporate the teachings of Matsumura (in analogous art) by adding calculate a first priority metric for the first report based on a first report type of the first report; and calculate a second priority metric for the second report based on a second report type of the second for enabling efficient and flexible communication (Matsumura, Page 6, paragraphs 5-6).
Regarding claim 20 (Currently Amended), Guo and Matsumura teach the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein determining the first priority of the first report and the second priority of the second report,
Guo fails to teach comprises: calculating a first priority metric for the first report based on a first report type of the first report; and calculating a second priority metric for the second report based on a second report type of the second report.
However, Matsumura teaches comprises: calculating a first priority metric for the first report based on a first report type of the first report; and calculating a second priority metric for the second report based on a second report type of the second report (Page 3, Sec. “(Priority for CSI reporting)“ describe different formulas, ( Eq. 1 - Eq. 6 in pages 4 and 7), that can be used to calculate the priority metrics for the first and second CSI reports based on report type (y), report content (k), (Page 3, paragraphs 8, 10), report setting ID (s), serving cell group index (c), report group index (p), (Page 7, paragraphs 8), maximum number of serving cells (N), and maximum number of report configurations (M), (Page 4, paragraphs 2). Plugging these values for the first and second reports in the formulas, then compare the resulting values of the priorities to decide which report should be transmitted or prioritized according to the priority metrics values (Page 8, paragraph 3.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Guo to incorporate the teachings of Matsumura (in analogous art) by adding calculate a first priority metric for the first report based on a first report type of the first report; and calculate a second priority metric for the second report based on a second report type of the second for enabling efficient and flexible communication (Matsumura, Page 6, paragraphs 5-6).
Regarding claim 21 (Original), Guo and Matsumura teach the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 20.
Guo further teaches wherein the first report type comprises at least one of an event triggered report type([0130] describe an event triggered report type as beam failure detection “when a UE detects a beam failure event, the UE can be requested to transmit beam recovery request and then monitor for the beam recovery response from a TRP”), a periodic report type, ([0331], for generating reports in regular periodic intervals “This value can be predefined, specified or configured; and a upper bound of the reporting periodicity.”), a semi-periodic report type, or an aperiodic report type.
Regarding claim 22 (Original), Guo and Matsumura teach the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19.
Guo further teaches wherein the first report comprises a first channel state information (CSI) report , and wherein the second report comprises a second CSI report ([0192], lines 13-18, “When a first CSI report configured through a first CSI reporting collides with a second CSI report configured through a second CSI reporting configuration, the UE can be configured to assume a second CSI report has higher priority and a first CSI report may not be sent by the UE.”, which confirm both first and second reports include CSI reports).
Regarding claim 24 (Original), Guo and Matsumura teach the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19.
Guo further teaches wherein the first report comprises an indication that transmission of the first report was triggered by satisfaction of the trigger condition ([0031], lines 16-19, [0414],[0461], [0479], [0326], [0385], claim 15, “monitoring at least a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) included in a first set of reference signals to detect a beam failure event based on a threshold” and “transmitting, to the BS, the beam failure recovery request over a physical random access channel (PRACH) based on detection of the beam failure event.” these paragraphs describe the UE can transmit failure recovery request over PRACH or PUCCH when the event beam failure is detected, this request is triggered by the satisfying of beam failure detection mention before which based on the monitoring RS by the UE and comparing their by the threshold).
Regarding claim 25 (Original), Guo and Matsumura teach the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 24.
Guo further teaches wherein the indication comprises at least one of: a bit field of the first report ( [0420]-[0421], describe the bit field included, as an indication, can be used to specified different information regarding the beam failure recovery or reporting process “each bit can be used to indicate the beam failure of an associated SCell.”); or a scrambling sequence of a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of the first report ([0098], [0134], “[0385]-[0388], “After the UE sends a beam failure recovery request in a uplink channel to the gNB, the UE can be requested to begin detect PDCCH in the search space A and the UE may assume the DM-RS associated with the PDCCH detection to be QCLed with the reference signal ID that is indicated through the transmission of the corresponding beam failure recovery request message.” and [0461],“ the UE detects a first DCI format scrambled with C-RNTI or MCS-C-RNTI in the search space provided by recoverySearchSpaceId at slot n.sub.1 (i.e., a first DCI format is the gNB's response to the beam failure recovery request sent by the UE”, these confirm including of scrambling sequence DMRS ).
Regarding claim 27 (Original), Guo and Matsumura teach the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19.
Guo further teaches wherein the first report comprises at least one of: a cell identifier (ID) of the candidate serving cell ([0399], “In the MAC-CE message, the UE can report one serving cell ID (the candidate) and the reported serving cell ID is the ID of SCell where the UE declares beam failure”); a reference signal ID of the reference signal ( [0397], “This information can be the ID of one RS (for example, one CSI-RS resource or one SS/PBCH block index).” [0421], “one RS ID as the new candidate beam to the serving gNB. “);
a measured metric of the reference signal;
an indication of one or more beam pairs that the UE is configured to transmit and receive simultaneously; or
a sounding reference signal (SRS) port number associated with the reference signal ID of the reference signal.
Regarding claim 28 (Currently Amended), Guo teaches a user equipment (UE), comprising ([0031], the UE in a wireless communication system is provided and comprises): means for measuring a reference signal transmitted by a network node, wherein the network node is a candidate serving cell ([0029], “Once the UE is in the network and associated with a serving cell, the UE monitors several neighboring cells by attempting to detect their synchronization signals and/or measuring the associated cell-specific reference signals (RSs) “[0033], [0127], “After the UE 1111 is associated with the serving cell 1112, the UE 1111 is further associated with beam 1151” the UE measure reference signal RS that transmitted by the BS while the UE is in the network and associated with serving cell, “measuring the associated cell-specific RSs (for instance, by measuring their RSRPs)” ,[0118]); means for determining that a trigger condition for transmission of a first report is satisfied based on the measurement of the reference signal (Fig. 14, claim 8, lines 3-7, [0380], lines 10-14, [0481]-[0483], the network node can configure trigger conditions for the UE to detect beam failure events [0343] by a set of RS resources and can be defined by RRC signaling and may include thresholds for measurements, e.g., RSRP, SINR, [0480], Reference signal ID,[0397], measurement periodicity [0336], the UE compare the measured RS with configured thresholds [0483] , as the examples in [0224] and claim 15, 8-12, different types of reporting can be performed by the UE based on the measuring RS [0149]-[0151] and [0172]-[0180] for reporting to the BS [0241]); means for determining that a first resource for transmission of the first report overlaps with a second resource for transmission of a second report ([0175], to determine the overlap between the two report , the UE needs to evaluate the time- frequency resources allocated for both reports which included specific time interval in which report s are transmitted [0329], frequency resources [0100], and the symbol [0392], if one of these overlap, [0189], “When these two beam reports collide, the UE can be configured to determine whether to drop one beam report or merge two beam reports into one part according to the code rate and/or payload size if merging the beam reports.”); means for determining a first priority of the first report and a second priority of the second report (the priority of the first and second reports can be determined based on the following criteria or factors such as: type of reports: for example, periodic reports may have lower or higher priority depends on the network configuration [0176], [0178], while the aperiodic reports that triggered by specific event (have time sensitive) have often high priority, number of reported beams: for example, [0184], “ if a beam report N1 reported CRIs or SSBRIs collides with another beam report with N2 reported CRIs or SSBRIs, then the report with more reported CRIs or SSBRIs has priority. In one example, assuming N1>N2, then the UE can transmit the beam report with N1 reported CRIs or SSBRIs and the beam report with N2 reported CRIs or SSBRIs cannot be sent by the UE.”, content of the report: for example, [0183], “if a beam report with CRI/RSRP report collides with another beam report with SSBRI/RSRP report, the beam report with SSBRI/RSRP report can have priority and the beam report with CRI/RSRP report may not be sent by the UE”); and means for transmitting the first report on the first resource based on the first priority, the second priority, and the determination that the trigger condition is satisfied ([0149]-[0150] and [0176]-[0185] and [0189]-[0194], all these paragraphs include examples confirm that the UE transmit the report on the resource based on the priority and the conditions described above which may configured by the network (e.g., gNB) , [0215]).
Guo fails to teach means for determining that the first priority is greater than the second priority: means for delaying transmission of the second report based on the determination that the first priority is greater than the second priority, wherein a report type of the second report is a periodic report type or a semi-periodic report type.
However, Matsumura teaches means for determining that the first priority is greater than the second priority: means for delaying transmission of the second report based on the determination that the first priority is greater than the second priority, wherein a report type of the second report is a periodic report type or a semi-periodic report type (Page 1, Abstract states “a control unit that determines the priority for channel state information (CSI) reporting on the basis of a CSI report group index; and a transmission unit that transmits a CSI report selected, on the basis of the priority, from a plurality of conflicting CSI reports”. Page 3, Sec. “(Priority for CSI reporting)“ describe different formulas for determining the priority for the reports ( Eq. 1 - Eq. 6 in pages 4 and 6-7), that can be used to calculate the priority metrics for the first and second CSI reports, third, …., etc. Plugging these values for the first and second reports in the formulas to find the priority for each, then compare the resulting values of the priorities to decide which report should be transmitted or prioritized according these values (Page 8, paragraph 3.), if the value associated with the first CSI report is smaller than the second CSI report, then the first report may mean a higher priority than the second CSI report (Page 4, several paragraphs 4-5, and 10), that state “if the first resource includes PUCCH format 2 and there is a remaining resource in the one slot that does not overlap with the first resource, the UE has a CSI having a corresponding resource from the remaining resource. Of the reports, the CSI report with the highest priority is determined and the corresponding second resource is determined as an additional resource for the CSI report” and “the CSI report having the highest priority is determined from the resources of the above, and the corresponding second resource is determined as an additional resource for the CSI report.” And “The UE determines the CSI report having the highest priority , and determines the PUCCH resource corresponding to the CSI report as the first resource.” These parts imply that the UE can determine the priority of CSI reports and then send first the report with highest priority and then the second report depending on the available resources “ when the first resource includes PUCCH format 3 or PUCCH format 4, and there is a remaining resource including PUCCH format 2 in the above 1 slot that does not overlap with the first resource, the UE performs the remaining” and Page 6, paragraph 11 states “the UE may control the transmission of CSI reports (or PUCCH resources that send CSI reports) based on the priority corresponding to each CSI report.” Which implies the sequential transmission based on the priority, which means introducing delay for the lower priority CSI reports, this also stated in Page 4, paragraph 8, which clearly describe the mechanism of the reports transmission “The priority of the CSI report to be sent on each PUCCH resource (highest, second highest, third highest, fourth highest) is shown”). Moreover, Figure 1, please refer to the attached English translation of Figure 1, illustrates how the UE, by its processor unit, can schedule CSI reports according to the priorities and mapping them to the available PUCCH. Fig. 1C-1D show that all of PUCCH resources do not overlap Paras. 1-6 Page 5, the UE can assign the highest, second highest, third highest, and fourth highest priority CSI reports to each of the available four resources. Para. 6 Page 2 states ” CSI feedback methods include periodic CSI (Periodic CSI (P-CSI)) reports, aperiodic CSI(Aperiodic CSI (A-CSI)) reports, and semi-persistent CSI (Semi-Persistent CSI (SP)). -CSI))Reports are being considered.” That confirms the first, second, third and fourth CSI repot can be any of these types of reports. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Guo to incorporate the teachings of Matsumura (in analogous art) by adding calculate a first priority metric for the first report based on a first report type of the first report; and calculate a second priority metric for the second report based on a second report type of the second for enabling efficient and flexible communication (Matsumura, Page 6, paragraphs 5-6).
Regarding claim 29 (Currently Amended), Guo and Matsumura teach the UE of claim 28.
Guo further teaches wherein the means for determining the first priority of the first report and the second priority of the second report (the priority of the first and second reports can be determined based on the following criteria or factors such as: type of reports: for example, periodic reports may have lower or higher priority depends on the network configuration [0176], [0178], while the aperiodic reports that triggered by specific event (have time sensitive) have often high priority, number of reported beams: for example, [0184], “ if a beam report N1 reported CRIs or SSBRIs collides with another beam report with N2 reported CRIs or SSBRIs, then the report with more reported CRIs or SSBRIs has priority. In one example, assuming N1>N2, then the UE can transmit the beam report with N1 reported CRIs or SSBRIs and the beam report with N2 reported CRIs or SSBRIs cannot be sent by the UE.”, content of the report: for example, [0183], “if a beam report with CRI/RSRP report collides with another beam report with SSBRI/RSRP report, the beam report with SSBRI/RSRP report can have priority and the beam report with CRI/RSRP report may not be sent by the UE”) comprises:
Guo fails to teach means for calculating a first priority metric for the first report based on a first report type of the first report; and means for calculating a second priority metric for the second report based on a second report type of the second report.
However, Matsumura teaches means for calculating a first priority metric for the first report based on a first report type of the first report; and means for calculating a second priority metric for the second report based on a second report type of the second report (Page 3, Sec. “(Priority for CSI reporting)“ describe different formulas, ( Eq. 1 - Eq. 6 in pages 4 and 7), that can be used to calculate the priority metrics for the first and second CSI reports based on report type (y), report content (k), (Page 3, paragraphs 8, 10), report setting ID (s), serving cell group index (c), report group index (p), (Page 7, paragraphs 8), maximum number of serving cells (N), and maximum number of report configurations (M), (Page 4, paragraphs 2). Plugging these values for the first and second reports in the formulas, then compare the resulting values of the priorities to decide which report should be transmitted or prioritized according to the priority metrics values (Page 8, paragraph 3.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Guo to incorporate the teachings of Matsumura (in analogous art) by adding calculate a first priority metric for the first report based on a first report type of the first report; and calculate a second priority metric for the second report based on a second report type of the second for enabling efficient and flexible communication (Matsumura, Page 6, paragraphs 5-6).
Regarding claim 30 (Currently Amended), Guo and Matsumura teach the UE of claim 29.
Guo further teaches wherein the first report type comprises at least one of an event triggered report type ([0130] describe an event triggered report type as beam failure detection “when a UE detects a beam failure event, the UE can be requested to transmit beam recovery request and then monitor for the beam recovery response from a TRP”), a periodic report type ([0331], for generating reports in regular periodic intervals “This value can be predefined, specified or configured; and a upper bound of the reporting periodicity.”), a semi-periodic report type, or an aperiodic report type.
Claims 8 ,17, 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guo et al. (US-20190190582-A1), in view of Matsumura et al. (WO-2021192310-A1), further in view of Faxér et al. (US-20190199420-A1).
Regarding claim 8 (Original), Guo and Matsumura teach the UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
Guo fails to teach determine that a size of the first report exceeds a maximum size for transmission on the first resource; determine that a third priority of a first entry of the first report is greater than a fourth priority of a second entry of the first report; and drop the second entry of the first report from the first report before transmitting the first report on the first resource based on the determination that the third priority of the first entry is greater than the fourth priority of the second entry.
However, Faxér teaches determine that a size of the first report exceeds a maximum size for transmission on the first resource (Fig. 17, claim 1, “receiving an indication of a resource allocation for an UL transmission; determining, from the indication, a maximum container size for a CSI report”, based on that , the UE can determine the Max. number of bits (container size) that allocated for transmitting the CSI report (first report), and according to claim 9, the device generates the CSI report bits based on the predefined order from the BS); determine that a third priority of a first entry of the first report is greater than a fourth priority of a second entry of the first report; and drop the second entry of the first report from the first report before transmitting the first report on the first resource based on the determination that the third priority of the first entry is greater than the fourth priority of the second entry (Fig. 4B, [0065], “ In the scenario illustrated in FIG. 4B, the CSI bits for subbands 9 and 10 are omitted” illustrate first example when the allocated resources for the CSI report insufficient, then the LSBs, a second part, may omitted (based on priority pattern and measured subband CQI) [0073]. Figs 5-6, [0116] and [0117], describe different examples on dropping different parts from the report based on priority to accommodate container size, “the per-subband interleaver may map subband CSIs where the corresponding subband CQI (which is reported in the first CSI part which has higher priority) have the largest value to the MSBs, the subband CSIs with the next largest subband CQI value to the subsequent bits, and so forth” [0119]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Guo in view of Matsumura to incorporate the teachings of Faxér (in analogous art) by adding determine that a size of the first report exceeds a maximum size for transmission on the first resource and drop the second entry of the first report from the first report before transmitting the first report on the first resource since the omitted CSI is spread out more evenly across the frequency band, which mitigates the CSI loss and allows for more reliable gNB interpolation across subbands, (Faxér, [0118], lines 8-12).
As to claim 17 see similar rejections to claim 8. The apparatus teaches the methods.
Regarding claim 26 (Original), Guo and Matsumura teach the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19.
Guo further teaches further storing instructions that, when executed by the processor of the UE, cause the processor to perform steps comprising (Fig. 3, [0079]-[0080], as shown in FIG. 3, the UE includes an antenna , a radio frequency (RF) transceiver , TX processing circuitry , and receive (RX) processing circuitry . The UE also includes a processor , an input/output (I/O) interface (IF) and a memory for storing instructions and the memory coupled to the processor to perform the method functions):
Guo fails to teach determining that a size of the first report exceeds a maximum size for transmission on the first resource; determining that a third priority of a first entry of the first report is greater than a fourth priority of a second entry of the first report; and dropping the second entry of the first report from the first report before transmitting the first report on the first resource based on the determination that the third priority of the first entry is greater than the fourth priority of the second entry.
However, Faxér teaches determining that a size of the first report exceeds a maximum size for transmission on the first resource; (Fig. 17, claim 1, “receiving an indication of a resource allocation for an UL transmission; determining, from the indication, a maximum container size for a CSI report”, based on that , the UE can determine the Max. number of bits (container size) that allocated for transmitting the CSI report (first report), and according to claim 9, the device generates the CSI report bits based on the predefined order from the BS); determining that a third priority of a first entry of the first report is greater than a fourth priority of a second entry of the first report; and dropping the second entry of the first report from the first report before transmitting the first report on the first resource based on the determination that the third priority of the first entry is greater than the fourth priority of the second entry. (Fig. 4B, [0065], “ In the scenario illustrated in FIG. 4B, the CSI bits for subbands 9 and 10 are omitted” illustrate first example when the allocated resources for the CSI report insufficient, then the LSBs, a second part, may omitted (based on priority pattern and measured subband CQI) [0073]. Figs 5-6, [0116] and [0117], describe different examples on dropping different parts from the report based on priority to accommodate container size, “the per-subband interleaver may map subband CSIs where the corresponding subband CQI (which is reported in the first CSI part which has higher priority) have the largest value to the MSBs, the subband CSIs with the next largest subband CQI value to the subsequent bits, and so forth” [0119]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Guo in view of Matsumura to incorporate the teachings of Faxér (in analogous art) by adding determine that a size of the first report exceeds a maximum size for transmission on the first resource and drop the second entry of the first report from the first report before transmitting the first report on the first resource since the omitted CSI is spread out more evenly across the frequency band, which mitigates the CSI loss and allows for more reliable gNB interpolation across subbands, (Faxér, [0118], lines 8-12).
Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's
disclosure.
Babaei et al. (US-20220077999-A1), SONG et al. (US-20210218453-A1), YANG et al. (US-20210105796-A1), Song et al. (US-20230066916-A1), ALFARHAN et al. (WO-2021163162-A1), teach methods for multi-beam operation in a wireless communication systems.
Conclusion
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/SANAA AL SAMAHI/Examiner, Art Unit 2463
/OMAR J GHOWRWAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
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