Detailed Action
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This is a Non-final action for application number 18/271,418 in response to an original application filed on 07/07/2023. Claims 1-30 are currently pending and have been considered below. Claims 1, 22, 27 and 29 are independent claims.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS), submitted on 03/03/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 1-15 and 22-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rahman et al. (US 2017/0134080 A) in view of Nammi et al. (US 2019/0280901 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 22, 27 and 29, an apparatus for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE), [Rahman et al., Figure 3 shows a UE], comprising:
at least one memory comprising instructions, [Rahman et al., Figure 3, Ref # 360 memory],
and one or more processors, [Rahman et al., Figure 3, Ref # 340 memory], individually or collectively, configured to execute the instructions and cause the apparatus to:
receive configuration information, [a UE is configured with a hybrid CSI-RS resource and CSI reporting for semi-open-loop based pre-coder cycling, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 156)], indicating that each symbol is pre-coded with at least one precoding matrix, [As shown in FIG. 22, the pre-coder cycling 2200 comprises OFDM symbols 2205 and subcarriers 2210, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 174)],
wherein the at least one precoding matrix is based on at least one beam and at least one co-phasing parameter associated with the at least one beam, [wherein a precoder comprises a beam and a co-phase, and the plurality of precoder cycling types including at least one of a beam cycling from the plurality of beams or a co-phase cycling from a plurality of co-phases, See Figure 16 and table 7, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 10)],
and wherein the pre-coded symbol is mapped to different resources associated with demodulation reference signal (DMRS) ports in a cycling set, [a UE is configured with multiple DMRS sequences depending on the specific pre-coder cycling type and Sub-RB. In this table, for pre-coder cycling types 2, one of beam and co-phase cycling is Sub-RB level and the other is fixed to RE level, See table 8, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 183)],
and receive multiple DMRSs from multiple resources, in accordance with the configuration information, [a UE is configured with multiple DMRS sequences depending on the specific pre-coder cycling type and Sub-RB, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 183)],
Rahman et al. fails to explicitly teach that the DMRS ports are associated with an antenna array,
Nammi et al. teaches that the BS device 102 can send one CSI-process with antenna ports 1 and 2, the BS device 102 can indicate DM-RS for ports 1 and 2 in the first DCI and schedule the mobile device 104 with rank 2 transmission, (Nammi et al., Paragraphs 64-66),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify Rahman et al. by including that the DMRS ports are associated with an antenna array, (Nammi et al., Paragraphs 64-66), in order to select the best mapping scheme, (Nammi et al., Paragraph 64).
Regarding claims 2 and 28, the apparatus wherein the one or more processors, individually or collectively, are configured to execute the instructions and cause the apparatus to estimate a channel between the UE and a network entity based on measurements associated with the multiple DMRSs and the at least one co-phasing parameter, [the PRB bundling for the DMRS channel estimation is configured by at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) signal received from the eNB or a pre-determined value, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 74)].
Regarding claim 3, the apparatus of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors, individually or collectively, are configured to execute the instructions and cause the apparatus to calculate a log likelihood ratio (LLR) value for each resource based on an estimated channel and the measurements associated with the multiple DMRSs, [After the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) operation, the MIMO detector can be used for reducing the multi antenna interference. The de-mapper computes the bit log likelihood ratios from the MIMO detector output which is in the symbol domain, (Nammi et al., Paragraph 45)].
Regarding claims 4 and 23, the apparatus wherein each resource corresponds to a resource element (RE) or a resource block (RB), [the beam cycling comprises the plurality of beams that is cycled across at least two consecutive RBs of the plurality of RBs, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 72)].
Regarding claims 5 and 24, the apparatus wherein the one or more processors, individually or collectively, are configured to execute the instructions and cause the apparatus to receive a configuration of a quantity of beams, [Rahman et al., Please see table 2, Paragraph 146].
Regarding claims 6 and 25, the apparatus wherein a quantity of DMRS ports is based on at least the quantity of beams, [Rahman et al., Please see table 1, Paragraph 140].
Regarding claims 7, 26 and 30, the apparatus wherein each DMRS port is associated with one precoding matrix and one polarization, [the transmission scheme for pre-coder cycling belongs to one of the following three types depending on whether one or both of beams and co-phase values (for the two polarizations) are cycled through TABLE 3. In one example of Type 0, L beams (reported by the UE) are cycled through by the eNB without any co-phase cycling. In this method, the co-phase (for the two polarizations) for each of L beams is either fixed, or is reported by the UE, where this reporting is WB, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 161)].
Regarding claim 8, the apparatus of claim 1, wherein a transmission rank number is equal to one and the at least one precoding matrix comprises a single precoding matrix, [the beam cycling comprises the plurality of beams that is cycled across at least one RB of the plurality of RBs, where in a given RB, beam cycling is in a single beam for rank 1 transmission or in a pair of beams for rank 2 transmission, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 70)].
Regarding claim 9, the apparatus of claim 1, wherein a transmission rank number is more than one, and wherein a quantity of DMRS ports is based on at least a quantity of precoding matrices and the transmission rank number, [the co-phase codebook for rank 1 and rank 2 pre-coder cycling depends on the number of beams (L value). For instance, for L=1, 2, and 4, the co-phase codebooks for rank 1 and rank 2 , (Rahman et al., Paragraph 163)].
Regarding claim 10, the apparatus of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors, individually or collectively, are configured to execute the instructions and cause the apparatus to receive downlink control information (DCI) indicating the transmission rank number, [the BS device 102 can indicate DM-RS for ports 1 and 2 in the first DCI and schedule the mobile device 104 with rank 2 transmission. Similarly, the other DCI indicates ports 3 and 4 with rank 2 transmission, (Nammi et al., Paragraph 66)].
Regarding claim 11, the apparatus of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors, individually or collectively, are configured to execute the instructions and cause the apparatus to receive radio resource control (RRC) signaling indicating the quantity of precoding matrices, [This configuration is via higher-layer RRC signaling for example. The UE derives SINR for CQI feedback based on the pre-coder cycling transmission scheme, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 176)].
Regarding claim 12, the apparatus of claim 9, wherein a first subset of the quantity of DMRS ports are pre-coded with a first precoding matrix of the quantity of precoding matrices on a first polarization type, [a UE is configured with multiple DMRS sequences depending on the specific pre-coder cycling type and Sub-RB. In this table, for pre-coder cycling types 2, one of beam and co-phase cycling is Sub-RB level and the other is fixed to RE level, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 183)], and wherein a number of the first subset of the quantity of DMRS ports is equal to the transmission rank number, [Note that the maximum number of DMRS sequences for pre-coder cycling types 0 and 1 is 4, however, that for pre-coder cycling type 2 is 16, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 184)].
Regarding claim 13, the apparatus of claim 12, wherein a second subset of the quantity of DMRS ports are pre-coded with a second precoding matrix of the quantity of precoding matrices on a second polarization type, [a UE is configured with multiple DMRS sequences depending on the specific pre-coder cycling type and Sub-RB. In this table, for pre-coder cycling types 2, one of beam and co-phase cycling is Sub-RB level and the other is fixed to RE level, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 183)], and wherein a number of the second subset of the quantity of DMRS ports is equal to the transmission rank number, [Note that the maximum number of DMRS sequences for pre-coder cycling types 0 and 1 is 4, however, that for pre-coder cycling type 2 is 16, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 184)].
Regarding claim 14, the apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one precoding matrix is further based on candidate precoding matrices for a first polarization type and a second polarization type, [the transmission scheme for pre-coder cycling belongs to one of the following three types depending on whether one or both of beams and co-phase values (for the two polarizations) are cycled through TABLE 3. In one example of Type 0, L beams (reported by the UE) are cycled through by the eNB without any co-phase cycling. In this method, the co-phase (for the two polarizations) for each of L beams is either fixed, or is reported by the UE, where this reporting is WB, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 161)].
Regarding claim 15, the apparatus of claim 14, wherein the candidate precoding matrices are different for different transmission rank numbers, [Note that the maximum number of DMRS sequences for pre-coder cycling types 0 and 1 is 4, however, that for pre-coder cycling type 2 is 16, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 184)].
Claims 16-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rahman et al. (US 2017/0134080 A) in view of Nammi et al. (US 2019/0280901 A1) and further in view of Abebe et al. (US 2023/0208493 A)
Regarding claim 16, the modified Rahman et al. teaches precoder comprises a beam and a co-phase, and the plurality of precoder cycling types including at least one of a beam cycling from the plurality of beams or a co-phase cycling from a plurality of co-phases, (Rahman et al., Abstract),
The modified Rahman et al. fails to explicitly teach wherein the antenna array comprises multiple antenna sub-arrays,
Abebe et al. teaches figure, 4 cross-polarized 401 antenna elements form a 4×1 subarray (402). 12 subarrays form a 2V3H MIMO antennas configuration consisting 2 and 3 subarrays in vertical (404) and horizontal (403) dimensions, (Abebe et al., Paragraph 82),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify Rahman et al. by including that the antenna array comprises multiple antenna sub-arrays, (Abebe et al., Paragraph 82), in order to account for the frequency-selectivity of a wideband channel, (Abebe et al., Paragraph 89).
Regarding claim 17, the apparatus of claim 16, wherein each antenna sub-array is pre-coded with the at least one precoding matrix and mapped to one or more DMRS ports, [a UE is configured with multiple DMRS sequences depending on the specific pre-coder cycling type and Sub-RB. In this table, for pre-coder cycling types 2, one of beam and co-phase cycling is Sub-RB level and the other is fixed to RE level, See table 8, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 183)].
Regarding claim 18, the apparatus of claim 16, wherein the configuration information indicates that one or more co-phasing parameters are cycled with a phase value across the multiple antenna sub-arrays, [wherein a precoder comprises a beam and a co-phase, and the plurality of precoder cycling types including at least one of a beam cycling from the plurality of beams or a co-phase cycling from a plurality of co-phases, See Figure 16 and table 7, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 10)].
Regarding claim 19, the apparatus of claim 16, wherein a quantity of DMRS ports is based on at least a quantity of precoding matrices, a transmission rank number, and a quantity of the multiple antenna sub-arrays, [the co-phase codebook for rank 1 and rank 2 pre-coder cycling depends on the number of beams (L value). For instance, for L=1, 2, and 4, the co-phase codebooks for rank 1 and rank 2 , (Rahman et al., Paragraph 163)].
Regarding claim 20, the apparatus of claim 19, wherein the one or more processors, individually or collectively, are configured to execute the instructions and cause the apparatus to receive downlink control information (DCI) indicating the transmission rank number, [the BS device 102 can indicate DM-RS for ports 1 and 2 in the first DCI and schedule the mobile device 104 with rank 2 transmission. Similarly, the other DCI indicates ports 3 and 4 with rank 2 transmission, (Nammi et al., Paragraph 66)].
Regarding claim 21, the apparatus of claim 19, wherein the one or more processors, individually or collectively, are configured to execute the instructions and cause the apparatus to receive radio resource control (RRC) signaling indicating the quantity of precoding matrices and the quantity of the multiple antenna sub-arrays, [This configuration is via higher-layer RRC signaling for example. The UE derives SINR for CQI feedback based on the pre-coder cycling transmission scheme, (Rahman et al., Paragraph 176)].
Conclusion
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/SHUKRI TAHA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478