Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 18, 2026
Application No. 18/551,575

ASSOCIATING BEAM INDICATION WITH A CHANNEL STATE INFORMATION (CSI) MEASUREMENT OR REPORT

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Sep 20, 2023
Examiner
SAIFUDDIN, AHMED
Art Unit
2475
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Qualcomm Incorporated
OA Round
2 (Final)
83%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
3y 0m
To Grant
98%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 83% — above average
83%
Career Allow Rate
24 granted / 29 resolved
+24.8% vs TC avg
Strong +16% interview lift
Without
With
+15.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 0m
Avg Prosecution
56 currently pending
Career history
85
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
2.3%
-37.7% vs TC avg
§103
65.6%
+25.6% vs TC avg
§102
29.7%
-10.3% vs TC avg
§112
2.3%
-37.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 29 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . 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, 4, 10, 13, 17-19, 22, 25, and 29-34are rejected are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHEN et al. (Patent No: US 2023/0328566 A1), hereinafter, CHEN, in view of Muruganathan et al. (Patent No: US 2024/0056247 A1), hereinafter, Muruganathan, and further in view of Rahman et al. (Patent No: US 2022/0022180 A1), hereinafter, Rahman. Regarding Claim 1, CHEN teaches, and transmitting a beam indication to the UE for triggering the UE to perform CSI measurement or CSI measurement and reporting associated with the beam. - Fig. 7; Paragraph [0157][0436-0437] ( [0157] further recites, “Since the terminal has antenna array panels, the terminal can only select one of antenna array panels randomly to receive and measure the CSI reference signal when receiving the CSI reference signal sent by the network-side device, and report the measurement result obtained from the measurement. Afterwards, the subsequent beam indications of the network-side device are all performed based on the measurement result reported in the CSI measurement process.” As explained above and also shown in Fig. 7 flow chart and paragraph [0436-0439] the network side transmits beam indication to the UE to perform CSI measurements associated with the beam and send feedback to the network.) wherein the beam is indicated in the CSI configuration by a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) identifier (ID), -Paragraph [0226] ([0226] recites, “the network-side device notifies the terminal that the network-side device uses the same antenna port set or Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) to send the CSI reference signal in at least one CSI resource element, or the network-side device uses different antenna port sets or TCIs to send the CSI reference signal in at least one CSI resource element.” As described above, the CSI configuration is sent by the network side to the terminal by one or more TCIs designated by the TCI ID.) and wherein a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) signaling is used to activate or deactivate an association between the TCI ID, -Paragraph [0226, 0217, 0234] ([0217] recites, “the network-side device sends the configuration information to the terminal through MAC Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling.” [0226] recites, “the network-side device notifies the terminal that the network-side device uses the same antenna port set or Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) to send the CSI reference signal in at least one CSI resource element, or the network-side device uses different antenna port sets or TCIs to send the CSI reference signal in at least one CSI resource element.” It is easily understandable to an ordinary person with the skill in the art that MAC-CE signaling can convey all the configuration information to the UE including activate/deactivate association between TCI ID and CSI report configuration etc. ) Although implicit, CHEN does not explicitly mention, A method for wireless communications by a network entity, comprising: transmitting signaling to a user equipment (UE) by transmitting a channel state information (CSI) configuration with an indication of a beam to associate at least one beam with a channel state information (CSI) measurement or report in the UE; However, in an analogous invention, Muruganathan teaches, A method for wireless communications by a network entity, comprising: transmitting signaling to a user equipment (UE) by transmitting a channel state information (CSI) configuration with an indication of a beam to associate at least one beam with a channel state information (CSI) measurement or report in the UE; -Paragraph [0100] ([0100] recites, “The network can use the SSB beam as an indication of which (narrow) CSI-RS beams (configuration) to try, i.e., the candidate set of narrow CSI-RS beams for beam management is based on the best SSB beam. Once CSI-RS is transmitted, the UE measures RSRP and reports the result to the network. If the network receives a CSI-RSRP report from the UE that indicates a new CSI-RS beam is better than the beam used to transmit PDCCH/PDSCH, the network updates the serving beam for the UE accordingly (and possibly also modifies the candidate set of CSI-RS beams).”) It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “CSI MEASUREMENT REPORTING METHOD, TERMINAL, AND NETWORK-SIDE DEVICE” proposed by CHEN to include the concept of “A method for wireless communications by a network entity, comprising: transmitting signaling to a user equipment (UE) by transmitting a channel state information (CSI) configuration with an indication of a beam to associate at least one beam with a channel state information (CSI) measurement or report in the UE” of Muruganathan. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the receiver's capability to recover the data payload [0072]. Although implicit, CHEN and Muruganathan does not explicitly mention, signaling is used to activate or deactivate an association between the TCI ID, and a CSI report configuration, a CSI triggering state, or a codepoint of a CSI request. However, in an analogous invention, Rahman teaches, signaling is used to activate or deactivate an association between the TCI ID, and a CSI report configuration, a CSI triggering state, or a codepoint of a CSI request. -Paragraph [0058] ([0058] recites, “…receiving configuration information including information on a set of transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states and information on reception of a beam indication; receiving the beam indication based on the configuration information; and determining whether the beam indication is used for (A) or (B), wherein: (A) corresponds to triggering a beam measurement and a beam report, and (B) corresponds to indicating at least one TCI state for downlink (DL) reception or uplink (UL) transmission.” As discussed above beam indication may trigger beam measurement (CSI) and UE sends beam report (CSI report)) It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “CSI MEASUREMENT REPORTING METHOD, TERMINAL, AND NETWORK-SIDE DEVICE” proposed by CHEN to include the concept of “signaling is used to activate or deactivate an association between the TCI ID, and a CSI report configuration, a CSI triggering state.” of Rahman. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order for gNB to able to select appropriate communication parameters to efficiently and effectively perform wireless data communication with the UE [0003]. Regarding Claim 4, CHEN, Muruganathan, and Rahman combination teach the limitations of Claim 1. Although implicit, however, CHEN does not explicitly teach, The method of claim 1, wherein the TCJID is at least one of: included in or associated with a CSI report configuration; included in or associated with a CSI triggering state; or included in or associated with a codepoint of CSI request in uplink (UL) downlink control information (DCI). However, In an analogous invention Rahman teaches, The method of claim 3, wherein the TCJID is at least one of: included in or associated with a CSI report configuration; included in or associated with a CSI triggering state; -Paragraph [0058] ([0058] recites, “…receiving configuration information including information on a set of transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states and information on reception of a beam indication; receiving the beam indication based on the configuration information; and determining whether the beam indication is used for (A) or (B), wherein: (A) corresponds to triggering a beam measurement and a beam report, and (B) corresponds to indicating at least one TCI state for downlink (DL) reception or uplink (UL) transmission.” As discussed above beam indication may trigger beam measurement (CSI) and UE sends beam report (CSI report)) or included in or associated with a codepoint of CSI request in uplink (UL) downlink control information (DCI). -Paragraph [0124] ([0124] recites, “…gNB/NW signaling to a UE an aperiodic CSI-RS (AP-CSI-RS) trigger or indication (step 1001). This trigger or indication can be included in a DCI (either UL-related or DL-related, either separately or jointly signaled with an aperiodic CSI request/trigger) and indicate transmission of AP-CSI-RS in a same (zero time offset) or later slot/sub-frame (>0 time offset). Upon receiving the AP-CSI-RS transmitted by the gNB/NW (step 1002), the UE measures the AP-CSI-RS and, in turn, calculates and reports a “beam metric” (indicating quality of a particular TX beam hypothesis)” It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “CSI MEASUREMENT REPORTING METHOD, TERMINAL, AND NETWORK-SIDE DEVICE” proposed by CHEN to include the concept of “included in or associated with a CSI report configuration; included in or associated with a CSI triggering state; or included in or associated with a codepoint of CSI request in uplink (UL) downlink control information (DCI).” of Rahman. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order for gNB to able to select appropriate communication parameters to efficiently and effectively perform wireless data communication with the UE [0003]. Claim 10 is similar to Claim 1, except for Claim 10 is viewed from UE perspective (e.g., UE receives) while Claim 1 is viewed from network perspective (e.g., network entity transmits). The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 1 which is rejected above. Claim 10 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 1. Claim 13 is similar to Claim 4. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 4 which is rejected above. Claim 13 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 4. Regarding Claim 17, CHEN, Muruganathan, and Rahman teach the limitations of Claim 10. Although implicit, CHEN does not explicitly mention, The method of claim 10, further comprising applying the CSI measurement or report when the UE receives a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carrying the beam indication. However, in an analogous invention Rahman teaches, The method of claim 10, further comprising applying the CSI measurement or report when the UE receives a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carrying the beam indication. -Paragraph [0007] [0187-0190] ([0007] recites, “ method for operating a UE is provided. The method comprises receiving configuration information including information on a set of TCI states and information on reception of a beam indication; receiving the beam indication based on the configuration information; and determining whether the beam indication is used for (A) or (B), wherein: (A) corresponds to triggering a beam measurement and a beam report, and (B) corresponds to indicating at least one TCI state for downlink (DL) reception or uplink (UL) transmission.” [0187-0190] recites, “the beam indication in time slot T.sub.1 can be for at least one of the following usages (purpose). (A) narrowing down (reducing) the number of reference RSs (beams) for beam measurement in later slot T.sub.2. (B) DL reception of PDCCH and/or PDSCH in another slot T.sub.3. Note T.sub.3 can be equal to T.sub.2. both (A) and (B).” beam measurement is CSI measurement) It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “CSI MEASUREMENT REPORTING METHOD, TERMINAL, AND NETWORK-SIDE DEVICE” proposed by CHEN to include the concept of “applying the CSI measurement or report when the UE receives a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carrying the beam indication.” of Rahman. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order for gNB to able to select appropriate communication parameters to efficiently and effectively perform wireless data communication with the UE [0003]. Regarding Claim 18, CHEN, Muruganathan, and Rahman teach the limitations of Claim 10. Although implicit, CHEN does not explicitly teach, The method of claim 10, further comprising applying the CSI measurement or report when the UE transmits an acknowledgement (ACK) to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carrying the beam indication. However, in an analogous invention Rahman teaches, The method of claim 10, further comprising applying the CSI measurement or report when the UE transmits an acknowledgement (ACK) to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carrying the beam indication. -Paragraph [0003] [0092] ([0003] recites, “the gNB may transmit a reference signal, e.g., CSI-RS, to the UE for DL channel measurement, and the UE may report (e.g., feedback) information about channel measurement, e.g., CSI, to the gNB.”[0092] recites, “ A UE transmits data information or UCI through a respective physical UL shared channel (PUSCH) or a Physical UL control channel (PUCCH). If a UE needs to transmit data information and UCI in a same UL subframe, the UE may multiplex both in a PUSCH. UCI includes Hybrid Automatic Repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information, indicating correct (ACK) or incorrect (NACK) detection for a data TB in a PDSCH or absence of a PDCCH detection (DTX), scheduling request (SR) indicating whether a UE has data in the UE's buffer, rank indicator (RI), and channel state information (CSI) enabling an eNodeB to perform link adaptation for PDSCH transmissions to a UE.” It is well known that CSI feedback data and ACK corresponding to the PDSCH can be multiplexed in PUSCH as explained above. Therefore, CSI measurement can be sent together with the ACK for PDSCH that carries beam indication) It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “CSI MEASUREMENT REPORTING METHOD, TERMINAL, AND NETWORK-SIDE DEVICE” proposed by CHEN to include the concept of “applying the CSI measurement or report when the UE transmits an acknowledgement (ACK) to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carrying the beam indication” of Rahman. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order for gNB to able to select appropriate communication parameters to efficiently and effectively perform wireless data communication with the UE [0003]. Regarding Claim 19, CHEN, Muruganathan and Rahman teach the limitations of Claim 18. Although implicit, CHEN does not explicitly teach, The method of claim 18, further comprising avoiding applying the CSI measurement or report when the UE transmits a negative acknowledgement (NACK) to the PDCCH or the PDSCH. However, in an analogous invention Rahman teaches, The method of claim 18, further comprising avoiding applying the CSI measurement or report when the UE transmits a negative acknowledgement (NACK) to the PDCCH or the PDSCH. -Paragraph [0003] [0092] ([0003] recites, “the gNB may transmit a reference signal, e.g., CSI-RS, to the UE for DL channel measurement, and the UE may report (e.g., feedback) information about channel measurement, e.g., CSI, to the gNB.”[0092] recites, “ A UE transmits data information or UCI through a respective physical UL shared channel (PUSCH) or a Physical UL control channel (PUCCH). If a UE needs to transmit data information and UCI in a same UL subframe, the UE may multiplex both in a PUSCH. UCI includes Hybrid Automatic Repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information, indicating correct (ACK) or incorrect (NACK) detection for a data TB in a PDSCH or absence of a PDCCH detection (DTX), scheduling request (SR) indicating whether a UE has data in the UE's buffer, rank indicator (RI), and channel state information (CSI) enabling an eNodeB to perform link adaptation for PDSCH transmissions to a UE.” It is easily understandable to an ordinary person with the skill in the art that if the PDCCH or PDSCH carrying beam indication is not received correctly, beam (CSI) measurement corresponding to the CSI-RS will not happen as the channel was not received correctly, and the UE will not send back CSI report and just send back NACK) It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “CSI MEASUREMENT REPORTING METHOD, TERMINAL, AND NETWORK-SIDE DEVICE” proposed by CHEN to include the concept of “avoiding applying the CSI measurement or report when the UE transmits a negative acknowledgement (NACK) to the PDCCH or the PDSCH.” of Rahman. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order for gNB to able to select appropriate communication parameters to efficiently and effectively perform wireless data communication with the UE [0003]. Claim 22 is the apparatus Claim corresponding to the method Claim 10. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 10 above which is rejected. Claim 22 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 10. CHEN further teaches, An apparatus for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled with the memory, the memory and the processor configured to: -Fig. 2; Paragraph [0259-0260] ([0259-0260] recites, “As shown in FIG. 2, a terminal according to an embodiment of the present application includes: a processor 200, a memory 201, a transceiver 202 and a bus interface. The processor 200 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 201 may store the data used by the processor 200 when performing the operations.“) Claim 25 is the apparatus Claim corresponding to the method Claim 13. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 13 above which is rejected. Claim 25 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 13. Claim 29 is the apparatus Claim corresponding to the method Claim 17. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 17 above which is rejected. Claim 29 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 17. Claim 30 is the form of apparatus Claim corresponding to the method Claim 10. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 10 above which is rejected. Claim 30 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 10. CHEN further teaches, A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that when executed by a user equipment (UE) cause the UE to: -Paragraph [0456-0457] ([0456-0457] recites, “….These computer program instructions can be provided to a general-purpose computer, a dedicated computer, an embedded processor, or a processor of another programmable data processing device to produce a machine, and an apparatus for implementing the functions specified in one or more processes of the flow charts and/or one or more blocks of the block diagrams is produced by the instructions executed by the computer or the processor of another programmable data processing device. These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer readable memory which may guide the computer or another programmable data processing device to operate in a particular way, and the instructions stored in the computer readable memory produce a manufacture including the instruction apparatus which implements the functions specified in one or more processes of the flow charts and/or one or more blocks of the block diagrams.”) Regarding Claim 31, CHEN, Muruganathan, and Rahman teach the limitations of Claim 1. CHEN further teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein the MAC-CE signaling is used to activate or deactivate the association between the TCI ID and the CSI report configuration. -Paragraph [0217, 0226]([0217] recites, “the network-side device sends the configuration information to the terminal through MAC Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling.” [0226] recites, “the network-side device notifies the terminal that the network-side device uses the same antenna port set or Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) to send the CSI reference signal in at least one CSI resource element, or the network-side device uses different antenna port sets or TCIs to send the CSI reference signal in at least one CSI resource element.” It is easily understandable to an ordinary person with the skill in the art that MAC-CE signaling can convey all the configuration information to the UE as recited above including activate/deactivate association between TCI ID and CSI report configuration etc. ) Claims 32-34 are configurations and as described in Claim 31 can be conveyed to the UE by means of MAC-CE signaling (CHEN [0217]). The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 31 above which is rejected. Claims 32-34 are rejected under the same rational as claim 31. Claims 8-9, and 20-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHEN, in view of Muruganathan, Rahman and further in view of YANG et al. (Patent No: US 2023/0030859 A1), hereinafter, YANG. Regarding Claim 8, CHEN, Muruganathan, and Rahman teach the limitations of Claim 1. CHEN does not explicitly mention, The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting an indication to the UE for configuring the UE with a number of one or more CSI processing units (CPUs) allowed to be occupied for CSI measurement or report, wherein the one or more CPUs are allowed to be occupied for a period of a reference timing of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carrying the beam indication. However, In an analogous invention YANG teaches, The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting an indication to the UE for configuring the UE with a number of one or more CSI processing units (CPUs) allowed to be occupied for CSI measurement or report, -Paragraph [0063] [ 0074]([0063] recites, “the beam report configuration includes at least one of a first or last configured resource or configuration, a frequency domain resource in the beam report resource or the beam report configuration, a time domain resource in the beam report resource or the beam report configuration, spatial relation information in the beam report resource or the beam report configuration, a transmission configuration indicator, or a reference signal in a transmission configuration indicator.”[0074] recites,” A capability of processing channel state information (Channel State Information, CSI) reporting by the UE, that is, the supported number N.sub.CPU of simultaneous calculations of CSI, needs to be reported to the network. If one UP supports N.sub.CPU simultaneous calculations of CSI, it means that the UE has N.sub.CPU CSI processing units (CSI processing unit, CPU) for processing CSI reports of all configured cells.” As explained above based on the UE capability, the network sends beam report configuration including number of CPUs for measurement report) wherein the one or more CPUs are allowed to be occupied for a period of a reference timing of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) -Paragraph [0078] ([0078] recites, “in a case of aperiodic CSI and first transmission of a physical uplink shared channel (Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH)-based semi-persistent CSI report activated by a physical downlink control channel (Physical downlink control channel, PDCCH) and in a case that a report parameter is not empty, a start symbol occupying a CPU is a first symbol after a PDCCH triggering a first CSI report of the group-based beam report, and/or an end symbol is a last symbol of a last PUSCH for transmitting the group-based beam report.”) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carrying the beam indication. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “CSI MEASUREMENT REPORTING METHOD, TERMINAL, AND NETWORK-SIDE DEVICE” proposed by CHEN to include the concept of “an indication to the UE for configuring the UE with a number of one or more CSI processing units (CPUs) allowed to be occupied for CSI measurement or report, wherein the one or more CPUs are allowed to be occupied for a period of a reference timing of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) “ of YANG. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve transmission reliability and throughput performance [0004]. Regarding Claim 9, CHEN, Muruganathan, and Rahman teach the limitations of Claim 1. CHEN does not explicitly mention, The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting an indication to the UE for configuring the UE with a number of one or more CSI processing units (CPUs) allowed to be occupied for CSI measurement or report, wherein the one or more CPUs are allowed to be occupied for a period of a reference timing of an acknowledgement (ACK) to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carrying the beam indication. However, in an analogous invention, YANG teaches, The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting an indication to the UE for configuring the UE with a number of one or more CSI processing units (CPUs) allowed to be occupied for CSI measurement or report, -Paragraph [0063] [ 0074]([0063] recites, “the beam report configuration includes at least one of a first or last configured resource or configuration, a frequency domain resource in the beam report resource or the beam report configuration, a time domain resource in the beam report resource or the beam report configuration, spatial relation information in the beam report resource or the beam report configuration, a transmission configuration indicator, or a reference signal in a transmission configuration indicator.”[0074] recites,” A capability of processing channel state information (Channel State Information, CSI) reporting by the UE, that is, the supported number N.sub.CPU of simultaneous calculations of CSI, needs to be reported to the network. If one UP supports N.sub.CPU simultaneous calculations of CSI, it means that the UE has N.sub.CPU CSI processing units (CSI processing unit, CPU) for processing CSI reports of all configured cells.” As explained above based on the UE capability, the network sends beam report configuration including number of CPUs for measurement report) wherein the one or more CPUs are allowed to be occupied for a period of a reference timing of an acknowledgement (ACK) to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) -Paragraph [0078] ([0078] recites, “in a case of aperiodic CSI and first transmission of a physical uplink shared channel (Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH)-based semi-persistent CSI report activated by a physical downlink control channel (Physical downlink control channel, PDCCH) and in a case that a report parameter is not empty, a start symbol occupying a CPU is a first symbol after a PDCCH triggering a first CSI report of the group-based beam report, and/or an end symbol is a last symbol of a last PUSCH for transmitting the group-based beam report.” It is well known that PUSCH can carry ACK/NACK and therefore, the occupancy time for CPUs is a period of time for ACK to PDCCH on PUSCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carrying the beam indication. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “CSI MEASUREMENT REPORTING METHOD, TERMINAL, AND NETWORK-SIDE DEVICE” proposed by CHEN to include the concept of “transmitting an indication to the UE for configuring the UE with a number of one or more CSI processing units (CPUs) allowed to be occupied for CSI measurement or report, wherein the one or more CPUs are allowed to be occupied for a period of a reference timing of an acknowledgement (ACK) to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) “ of YANG. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve transmission reliability and throughput performance [0004]. Claim 20 is similar to Claim 8, except for Claim 20 is viewed from UE perspective (e.g., UE receives) while Claim 8 is viewed from network perspective (e.g., network entity transmits). The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 8 which is rejected above. Claim 20 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 8. Claim 21 is similar to Claim 9, except for Claim 20 is viewed from UE perspective (e.g., UE receives) while Claim 8 is viewed from network perspective (e.g., network entity transmits). The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 8 which is rejected above. Claim 21 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 9. Response to Argument(s) Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection. Conclusion THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AHMED SAIFUDDIN whose telephone number is (703)756-4581. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30am-6:00pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, KHALED M KASSIM can be reached on 571-270-3770. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /AHMED SAIFUDDIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2475 /ABDULLAHI AHMED/Examiner, Art Unit 2475
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Sep 20, 2023
Application Filed
Dec 04, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Feb 25, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary
Feb 25, 2026
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Mar 06, 2026
Response Filed
Mar 26, 2026
Final Rejection — §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
83%
Grant Probability
98%
With Interview (+15.5%)
3y 0m
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 29 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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