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 .
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application, Provisional Application 63455122 filed 3-28-23, under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11-30-23. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 11-30-23. These drawings are acceptable.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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.
Claim(s) 9, 13 & 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fan (US 20180375545 A1) in view of Muruganathan (WO 2022009178 A1).
Regarding claim 9.
A user equipment (UE) {Fan (US 20180375545 A1): } comprising:
a processor {Fan: Controller/Processor 280-Fig.8} configured to generate precoding matrix indicator (PMI) reports; and
a transceiver {Fan: wireless radio 800-Fig.8} operably coupled to the processor {Fan: Controller/Processor 280-Fig.8}, the transceiver configured to:
transmit a sounding reference signal (SRS) {Fan: step 506-Fig.5b & ¶0089 wherein “At block 506, the UE transmits an uplink PSRS to the base stations of the CoMP group. The UE transmits the uplink PSRS, which may be an SRS.”}; and
for N iterations:
receive, via a first transmit-receive point (TRP) {Fan: base stations}, a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) with a first polarization {Fan: step 507-Fig.5b & ¶0090 wherein “At block 507, the UE receives a downlink PSRS from each of the base stations in the CoMP group. The downlink PSRS may correspond to CSI-RS transmitted by the base stations.”};
receive, via a second TRP {Fan: base stations}, the CSI-RS with a second polarization and a controlled phase offset {Fan: step 507-Fig.5b & ¶0090 wherein “At block 507, the UE receives a downlink PSRS from each of the base stations in the CoMP group. The downlink PSRS may correspond to CSI-RS transmitted by the base stations.” And Step 508-Fig.5B & ¶0091 wherein “UE 115 determines a wideband downlink co-phasing value (the claimed controlled phase offset) corresponding to an accumulation of downlink co-phasing values between each pair of the plurality of base stations over each tone of a plurality ones of whole spectrum band, wherein the downlink co-phasing values are based on the downlink PSRS from each pair”}; and
transmit a PMI report associated with the CSI-RS, generated by the processor, including co-phasing information between the first polarization and the second polarization {Fan: step 510-Fig.5b & ¶0093 wherein “At block 510, the UE reports the wideband downlink co-phasing value and the downlink slope value for the whole spectrum band. For example, after determining the wideband downlink co-phasing value and the downlink slope value, UE 115 may generate a feedback report that includes the wideband downlink co-phasing value (which is determined in step 508-Fig.5B & ¶0091) and the downlink slope value (¶0092) and transmit the feedback report via wireless radios 900a-r and antennas 252a-r.” and ¶0074 wherein “The UE then feeds back the co-phasing terms to the base station. The co-phasing term feedback may be wideband or per-subband depending on the symbol timing drift between the transmission points of base stations”; In other words, the report feedback from UE including co-phasing information termed to the base station and depended on the symbol timing drift between transmission of the base station (e.g. receiving first CSI-RS and second CSI-RS from the base station), emphasis added}.
Fan does not explicitly disclose the italic limitation in the following: the processor “configured to generate precoding matrix indicator (PMI) reports”; the transceiver configured to receive, via the first TRP, the channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) “with a first polarization” and via the second TRP, the channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) “with a second polarization” and to transmit the “PMI” report including co-phasing “between the first polarization and the second polarization”.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Muruganathan (WO 2022009178 A1) discloses the italic limitation in the following: the processor “configured to generate precoding matrix indicator (PMI) reports”{Muruganathan: ¶0020 wherein “When the CSI-RS resource set in a CSI reporting setting contains multiple CSI-RS resources, one of the CSI-RS resources is selected by a UE and a CRI is also reported by the UE to indicate to the gNB about the selected CSI-RS resource in the resource set, together with RI, PMI and CQI associated with the selected CSI-RS resource”; also ¶0032 wherein “the UE measures the received CSI-RS ports and then determines a type II CSI including RI, PMI for each layer and CQI. The precoding matrix indicated by the PMI includes the selected beams (e.g., the precoded CSI-RS ports) and the corresponding best phase and amplitude for co-phasing the selected beams. The phase and amplitude for each beam are quantized and feed-back to the gNB”}; the transceiver configured to receive, via the first TRP, the channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) “with a first polarization” and via the second TRP, the channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) “with a second polarization” {Muruganathan: ¶0031 wherein “the gNB precodes (e.g., beamforms) and transmits to the UE, one CSI- RS port per polarization according to the obtained angle and/or delay estimation} and to transmit the “PMI” report including co-phasing “between the first polarization and the second polarization”{Muruganathan: ¶0032 wherein “The precoding matrix indicated by the PMI includes the selected beams (e.g., the precoded CSI-RS ports) and the corresponding best phase and amplitude for co-phasing the selected beams.” See Fig.4}. Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to Muruganathan’s teaching to Fan’s system with the motivation being to “reduce complexity in the CSI calculation in the UE”{Muruganathan: ¶0034}.
Regarding claim 13. With the same reasons as set forth in the UE of claim 9, wherein: the processor is further configured to generate PMI reports that report only on rank=1 PMI; and the transmitted PMI report associated with the CSI-RS is generated by the processor based on the configuration to report only rank=1 PMI {Muruganathan: ¶0132 wherein “If the UE indicates an RI equal to either 1 or 2, then the UE will use all F.sub.}a~ FD basis vectors indicated in the MAC CE for type II port selection CSI feedback. Hence, in this case, the UE does not have to perform FD basis vector selection, and the UE does not have to feedback the selected FD basis vectors to the gNB. This means the UE does not have to report the index 7.sub.",e (which is reported as part of the PMI in the NR Rel-16 enhanced type II port selection codebook-based CSI report for N3>19).” Also ¶0133}.
Regarding claim 14. With the same reasons as set forth in the UE of claim 9, wherein transceiver is further configured to transmit an SRS for each iteration {Fan: ¶0008 wherein “transmitting, by a UE, an uplink PSRS to one or more base stations… receiving, at the UE, a downlink PSRS from each of the plurality of base stations in the CoMP group; and determining, by the UE, a wideband downlink co-phasing value corresponding to an accumulation of downlink co-phasing values between each pair of the plurality of base stations over each tone of a plurality of tones of a whole spectrum band, wherein the downlink co-phasing values are based on the downlink PSRS from each of the pair (the claimed each iteration). The method further includes computing a downlink slope value for the whole spectrum band based on the downlink co-phasing values between each pair of the plurality of base stations over each tone of a plurality of tones of the whole spectrum band; and reporting, by the UE, the wideband downlink co-phasing value and the downlink slope value”}.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fan (US 20180375545 A1) in view of Muruganathan (WO 2022009178 A1), as applied to claim 9 as above, and further in view of Faxer (US 2019/0007112 A1).
Regarding claim 10. With the same reasons as set forth in the UE of claim 9, Fan does not explicitly disclose wherein the CSI-RS is transmitted with the first polarization based on a first set of virtualization weights, and wherein the CSI-RS is transmitted with the second polarization based on a second set of virtualization weights.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Faxer (US 2019/0007112 A1) disclose wherein the CSI-RS is transmitted with the first polarization based on a first set of virtualization weights, and wherein the CSI-RS is transmitted with the second polarization based on a second set of virtualization weights {Faxer: Abstract wherein “the base station and comprising the steps of precoding (1101) a multi-dimensional channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS, with a precoding virtualization matrix such that each antenna element of the antenna array is associated with a non-zero weight in at least two precoders of the precoding virtualization matrix, transmitting (1102) the multi-dimensional channel state information reference signal to a UE”; also ¶0069, ¶0085, and ¶0089 wherein the UE “receiving 1301 a multi-dimensional channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS, precoded with a precoding virtualization matrix such that each antenna element of the antenna array is represented by a non-zero weight in” & step 1301-Fig.13}. Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to Faxer’s teaching to Fan’s system with the motivation being “for transmitting the reference signal, transmitting the multi-dimensional channel state information reference signal to a UE, receiving the identifier from the UE, using the selected precoder to identify a desired precoder, and transmitting a data signal to the UE using the desired precoder”{Faxer: ¶0029 & ¶0117} and for the “UE identifying 1302 from the multi-dimensional CSI-RS a particular dimension which is the most advantageous for the UE”{Faxer: ¶0089}.
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fan (US 20180375545 A1) in view of Muruganathan (WO 2022009178 A1), as applied to claim 9 as above, and further in view of Nilsson (WO 2024/175175 A1).
Regarding claim 15. With the same reasons as set forth in the UE of claim 9, Fan does not explicitly disclose wherein the transceiver is further configured to, during an iteration, based on an SRS periodicity: transmit an additional SRS, wherein the SRS periodicity is less than N .
However, in the same field of endeavor, Nilsson (WO 2024/175175 A1) disclose wherein the transceiver is further configured to, during an iteration, based on an SRS periodicity: transmit an additional SRS, wherein the SRS periodicity is less than N {Nilsson: page 13, lines 11-17 wherein “A UE can be configured with one or more SRS resource sets, each SRS resource set can contain one or more SRS resources. Each SRS resource can contain ^.sub.a.sup.S.sub.p.sup.RS ∈ {1,2,4} SRS antenna ports in a time-frequency resource with ^ SRS s.sub.ymb ∈ {1,2,4,8,10,12,14} consecutive OFDM symbols in a slot starting from OFDM symbol ^.sub.^ and a number Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) starting from subcarrier ^.sub.^. An SRS resource can be periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic. In case of periodic or semi- persistent SRS, a UE transmits SRS periodically at certain configured SRS slots. In case of aperiodic SRS, a UE transmits SRS only when it is requested by the data processing unit 140.” And Fig.5} Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to Nilsson’s teaching to Fan’s system with the motivation being to “support SRS in NR for UL channel sounding and to configure SRS with regard to density in frequency domain (e.g. comb levels) and/or in time domain (including multi-symbols SRS transmissions)”{Nilsson: page 13, lines 7-10}.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-12 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claims 11-12. The prior art fails to teach the UE of claim 9, wherein the CSI-RS is transmitted by a first TRP based on a determined precoder for each of a plurality of TXRUs comprised by the first TRP, and wherein the CSI-RS is transmitted by a second TRP based on a determined precoder and a controlled phase offset for each of a plurality of TXRUs comprised by the second TRP.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
-Claims 1-8 & 16-20 are allowable because the prior art fails to teach the italic limitations, which are considered in combination with other limitations, as specified as, in each independent claim as following:
Independent Claim 1.
A network entity comprising:
a memory; and
a processor operably coupled to the memory, the processor configured to:
receive, from a user equipment (UE), via a first transmit-receive point (TRP) and a second TRP, a sounding reference signal (SRS);
estimate a channel based on the received SRS; and
for N iterations:
transmit, via the first TRP, a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) with a first polarization;
transmit, via the second TRP, the CSI-RS with a second polarization and a controlled phase offset;
receive, from the UE, a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) report associated with the CSI-RS including co-phasing information between the first polarization and the second polarization; and
update the controlled phase offset, based on the co-phasing information; and
after the N iterations, based on the controlled phase offset and the co-phasing information, determine a phase mis-match for phase calibration between the first TRP and the second TRP.
Independent Claim 16.
A method of operating a network entity comprising:
receiving, from a user equipment (UE), via a first transmit-receive point (TRP) and a second TRP, a sounding reference signal (SRS);
estimating a channel based on the received SRS; and
for N iterations:
determining, based on the estimated channel, a precoder for each of a plurality of TXRUs comprised by the first TRP; and
determining, based on the estimated channel, a precoder and a controlled phase offset for each of a plurality of TXRUs comprised by the second TRP, transmitting, via the first TRP, based on the determined precoder for each of the plurality of TXRUs comprised by the first TRP, a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) with a first polarization;
transmitting, via the second TRP, based on the determined precoder and the controlled phase offset for each of the plurality of TXRUs comprised by the second TRP, the CSI-RS with a second polarization and a controlled phase offset;
receiving, from the UE, a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) report associated with the CSI-RS including co-phasing information between the first polarization and the second polarization; and
updating the controlled phase offset, based on the co-phasing information; and
after the N iterations, based on the controlled phase offset and the co-phasing information, determining a phase mis-match for phase calibration between the first TRP and the second TRP.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2-27-26 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 103 rejection of claim 9 has been withdrawn.
A/. With respect to 103 rejection of claim 9, the applicant argued that the different phases between the base stations resulting from the different clock jitter represents a control phase offset. Applicant further cited that jitter is any deviation in a clock signal from its ideal, periodic timing, typically caused by interference (see e.g., Digital Timing: Clock Signals, Jitter, Hysteresis, and Eye Diagrams, available at https://www.ni.com/en/shop/data-acquisition/measurement-fundamentals/digital-timing-clock-signals--jitter--hystereisis--and--eye-diag.html). Because jitter caused by interference, etc., a phase offset caused by jitter is an uncontrolled phase offset. Therefore, the jitter induced phase offset of Fan cannot represent the “controlled phase offset” of claim 9.
-In reply, since the previous rejection Fan indicated in ¶0070 that “The clocks of each of the base stations may have different jitter, such that at each listen before talk (LBT) opportunity, a different base station may reflect a different phase”, thus, the applicant’s argument is found persuasive.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHUONGCHAU BA NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-3148. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 7:30 AM -5:30 PM.
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/PHUONGCHAU BA NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464
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