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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 12/15/2023 and 06/19/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner.
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 § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 6, 8-11, 14, and 16-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Cha et al. (US 2021/0376894 A1), hereinafter referred to as Cha.
Regarding claim 1, Cha teaches a user equipment (UE) (Cha – Paragraph [0023], note a user equipment (UE) performing beam-related reporting in a wireless communication system), comprising:
a transceiver (Cha – Paragraph [0023], note a user equipment (UE) may include: one or more transceivers) configured to:
receive first information to enable transmission of an indicator indicating transmission of a beam report (Cha – Fig. 21; Paragraph [0530], note a UE may receive configuration information from a BS (S2110), the configuration information may include configuration information related to beam reporting, as an example, the configuration information may include information on a reporting periodicity or a reporting time of the measurement information),
transmit, based on the first information, the indicator (Cha – Paragraph [0438], note periodic/semi-persistent CSI reporting, configure/indicate the UE to report M (>0) TX beam(s) information to a specific BS), and
receive second information related to one or more channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources for the beam report (Cha – Fig. 21; Paragraph [0530], note a UE may receive configuration information from a BS (S2110), the configuration information may include resource information; Paragraph [0531], note the configuration information may include configuration information related to the reference signal (such as CSI-RS, see Paragraph [0438]), the configuration information may include information on a resource and/or a resource set in which the reference signal is transmitted); and
a processor operably coupled with the transceiver (Cha – Fig. 25; Paragraph [0533], note operation of the UE, one or more processors 202 may control one or more transceivers 206), the processor configured to measure, based on the second information, the one or more CSI-RS resources for the beam report (Cha – Fig. 21; Paragraph [0438], note the BS may configure/indicate, to the UE, measurement execution such as L1/L3-RSRP/RSRQ/SINR for a reference signal(s) (e.g., CSI-RS/SRS/SSB); Paragraph [0530], note the configuration information may include information on measurement information (e.g., CSI reporting for beam reporting); Paragraph [0536], note the UE may perform measurement based on the reference signal (S2130)),
wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit the beam report (Cha – Fig. 21; Paragraph [0543], note the UE may transmit, to the BS, measurement information (S2150), the measurement information may correspond to a CSI for beam reporting, the measurement information may include at least one of L1-RSRP, RSRQ, and SINR (beam reporting metrics, see Paragraph [0438])).
Regarding claim 2, Cha teaches wherein the first information corresponds to at least one of: a higher layer radio resource control (RRC) parameter ueInitiatedReporting; and a higher layer parameter reportQuantity provided by CSI-ReportConfig set to ‘none’ (Cha – Paragraph [0185], note UE is configured with CSI-ReportConfig in which reportQuantity is configured as ‘cri-RSRP’ or ‘none’; Paragraph [0532], note the configuration information may include a configuration (e.g., reportQuantity) related to the reporting of the measurement information, and the configuration related to the reporting may be an indication (e.g., no-report) of skipping the reporting of the measurement information).
Regarding claim 3, Cha teaches wherein:
the second information corresponds to at least one of:
a first configuration associated with a plurality of CSI-RS resources in a CSI resource set (Cha – Paragraph [0531], note the configuration information may include information on a resource and/or a resource set in which the reference signal (such as CSI-RS, see Paragraph [0438]) is transmitted); and
a second configuration associated with a plurality of CSI-RS resource sets in a CSI resource setting (Cha – Paragraph [0531], note the configuration information may include information on a resource and/or a resource set in which the reference signal (such as CSI-RS, see Paragraph [0438]) is transmitted), and
the CSI resource set comprises one or more CSI-RS resources (Cha – Paragraph [0555], note CSI-RS resource(s) of the CSI-RS resource set).
Regarding claim 6, Cha teaches wherein:
the transceiver is further configured to receive third information related to a CSI reporting setting for the beam report (Cha – Paragraph [0530], note the configuration information may include information on measurement information (e.g., CSI reporting for beam reporting), the configuration information may include information on a reporting periodicity or a reporting time of the measurement information);
the processor is further configured to determine, based on the third information and the measurement, the beam report (Cha – Paragraph [0543], note the UE may transmit, to the BS, measurement information (S2150), the measurement information may correspond to a CSI for beam reporting, the measurement information may include at least one of L1-RSRP, RSRQ, and SINR (beam reporting metrics, see Paragraph [0438])); and
the beam report includes one or more resource indicators and associated beam metrics (Cha – Paragraph [0438], note measurement execution such as L1/L3-RSRP/RSRQ/SINR for a reference signal(s) (e.g., CSI-RS/SRS/SSB) in which a time-domain behavior is configured to be “periodic” or “semi-persistent”, configure/indicate the UE to report M (>0) TX beam(s) information to a specific BS).
Regarding claim 8, Cha teaches wherein the indicator and the beam report are transmitted in at least one of:
a same transmission via a same set of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources; and different transmissions via different sets of PUCCH or PUSCH resources (Cha – Paragraph [0379], note SP CSI reporting is performed on short PUCCH, long PUCCH, or PUSCH).
Regarding claim 9, Cha teaches a base station (BS) (Cha – Paragraph [0609], note BS (base station) 200), comprising:
a processor (Cha – Fig. 25; Paragraph [0611], note the second wireless device 200 may include at least one processor 202); and
a transceiver operably coupled with the processor (Cha – Fig. 25; Paragraph [0611], note the processor(s) 202 may control the memory(s) 204 and/or the transceiver(s) 206), the transceiver configured to:
transmit first information to enable transmission of an indicator indicating transmission of a beam report (Cha – Fig. 21; Paragraph [0530], note a UE may receive configuration information from a BS (S2110), the configuration information may include configuration information related to beam reporting, as an example, the configuration information may include information on a reporting periodicity or a reporting time of the measurement information),
receive, based on the first information, the indicator (Cha – Paragraph [0438], note periodic/semi-persistent CSI reporting, configure/indicate the UE to report M (>0) TX beam(s) information to a specific BS),
transmit second information related to one or more channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources for the beam report (Cha – Fig. 21; Paragraph [0530], note a UE may receive configuration information from a BS (S2110), the configuration information may include resource information; Paragraph [0531], note the configuration information may include configuration information related to the reference signal (such as CSI-RS, see Paragraph [0438]), the configuration information may include information on a resource and/or a resource set in which the reference signal is transmitted), and
receive the beam report, the beam report based on the one or more CSI-RS resources (Cha – Fig. 21; Paragraph [0543], note the UE may transmit, to the BS, measurement information (S2150), the measurement information may correspond to a CSI for beam reporting, the measurement information may include at least one of L1-RSRP, RSRQ, and SINR (beam reporting metrics, see Paragraph [0438])).
Regarding claim 10¸ the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as claim 2 above.
Regarding claim 11¸ the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as claim 3 above.
Regarding claim 14¸ the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as claim 6 above.
Regarding claim 16¸ the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as claim 8 above.
Regarding claim 17, Cha teaches a method performed by a user equipment (UE) (Cha – Paragraph [0011], note a method for performing, by a user equipment (UE), beam-related reporting in a wireless communication system), the method comprising:
receiving first information to enable transmission of an indicator indicating transmission of a beam report (Cha – Fig. 21; Paragraph [0530], note a UE may receive configuration information from a BS (S2110), the configuration information may include configuration information related to beam reporting, as an example, the configuration information may include information on a reporting periodicity or a reporting time of the measurement information);
transmitting, based on the first information, the indicator (Cha – Paragraph [0438], note periodic/semi-persistent CSI reporting, configure/indicate the UE to report M (>0) TX beam(s) information to a specific BS);
receiving second information related to one or more channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources for the beam report (Cha – Fig. 21; Paragraph [0530], note a UE may receive configuration information from a BS (S2110), the configuration information may include resource information; Paragraph [0531], note the configuration information may include configuration information related to the reference signal (such as CSI-RS, see Paragraph [0438]), the configuration information may include information on a resource and/or a resource set in which the reference signal is transmitted);
measuring, based on the second information, the one or more CSI-RS resources for the beam report (Cha – Fig. 21; Paragraph [0438], note the BS may configure/indicate, to the UE, measurement execution such as L1/L3-RSRP/RSRQ/SINR for a reference signal(s) (e.g., CSI-RS/SRS/SSB); Paragraph [0530], note the configuration information may include information on measurement information (e.g., CSI reporting for beam reporting); Paragraph [0536], note the UE may perform measurement based on the reference signal (S2130)); and
transmitting the beam report (Cha – Fig. 21; Paragraph [0543], note the UE may transmit, to the BS, measurement information (S2150), the measurement information may correspond to a CSI for beam reporting, the measurement information may include at least one of L1-RSRP, RSRQ, and SINR (beam reporting metrics, see Paragraph [0438])).
Regarding claim 18, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as claim 2 above.
Regarding claim 19, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as claim 3 above.
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.
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.
Claims 7 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cha in view of Cheng et al. (US 2020/0322024 A1), hereinafter referred to as Cheng.
Regarding claim 7, Cha does not teach wherein the third information corresponds to at least one of: a CSI reporting identity (ID); a higher layer parameter csiReportForUeInitiatedReporting set to ‘enabled’; and a one-bit flag indicator set to ‘1’
In an analogous art, Cheng teaches wherein the third information corresponds to at least one of:
a CSI reporting identity (ID) (Cheng – Paragraph [0069], note the UE may associate the CSI request field in the SCI format directly with a CSI report ID, for example, if a value of the CSI request field in the SCI format is “11”, the UE may directly trigger a CSI report with ID #3); a higher layer parameter csiReportForUeInitiatedReporting set to ‘enabled’; and a one-bit flag indicator set to ‘1’ (Cheng – Paragraph [0074], note the UE may trigger/activate/deactivate a semi-persistent CSI report based on one or more specific bit fields in the first SCI format).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Cheng into Cha in order to allowing triggering CSI report/measurement based on specific bit fields (Cheng – Paragraph [0035]).
Regarding claim 15, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as claim 7 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5, 12-13, and 20 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:
Applicant’s dependent claims recite:
wherein: the first configuration corresponds to: a higher layer parameter csiResourceForUeInitiatedReporting set to ‘enabled’ for a first CSI-RS resource among the plurality of CSI-RS resources and the higher layer parameter csiResourceForUeInitiatedReporting set to ‘disabled’ for a second CSI-RS resource among the plurality of CSI-RS resources; or a one-bit indicator corresponding to the first CSI-RS resource among the plurality of CSI-RS resources is set to ‘1’ and a one-bit indicator corresponding to the second CSI-RS resource among the plurality of CSI-RS resources is set to ‘0’; and the beam report is transmitted based on the first CSI-RS resource; and
wherein: the second configuration corresponds to: a higher layer parameter csiResourceSetForUeInitiatedReporting set to ‘enabled’ for a first CSI-RS resource set among the plurality of CSI-RS resource sets and the higher layer parameter csiResourceSetForUeInitiatedReporting set to ‘disabled’ for a second CSI-RS resource set among the plurality of CSI-RS resource sets; or a one-bit indicator corresponding to the first CSI-RS resource set among the plurality of CSI-RS resource sets is set to ‘1’ and a one-bit indicator corresponding to the second CSI-RS resource set among the plurality of CSI-RS resource sets is set to ‘0’, and the beam report is transmitted based on the first CSI-RS resource set (as disclosed in Paragraphs [0108] and [0157]-[0158] of applicant’s specification, filed 12/15/2023), which are neither taught nor suggested by the prior art.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Onggosanusi et al. (US 2021/0022026 A1) discloses UE-initiated beam reporting and beam metric reporting indicator.
Guo (US 2022/0201626 A1) discloses UE downlink beam measurement and reporting, and CSI-ReportConfig with higher layer parameter reportQuantity.
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/BAILOR C HSU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461