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 .
A preliminary amendment received on 10/30/2023 canceling claims 1-24 and adding claims 25-44 has been entered by the examiner.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 10/30/2023, 11/08/2023, and 2/04/2025 have been entered and considered by the examiner.
35 USC 112 CLAIM REJECTIONS
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 28 and 40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 28 and 40, they recite “wherein the CQI report indicates that the sub-band has a SE value”. Therefore, it is not clear to the Examiner if this CQI report refers to the wideband or sub-band since all other dependent claims specifically refer to sub-band CQI report. Since the wideband CQI report and sub-band CQI report would be related, as discussed in paras. 29 and 30 of the published application, this CQI report could be either the wideband CQI report or sub-band CQI report but it appears Applicant is trying to refer to the sub-band CQI report.
For purposes of examination, Examiner interprets the claims to read “wherein the sub-band CQI report indicates that the sub-band has a SE value”.
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 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 25-26, 32-36, and 44 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Levitsky et al (US2021/0385818 A1).
Regarding claim 25, Levitsky teaches a user equipment (UE) (Abstract), comprising:
memory to store identified channel state information (CSI) for a wideband and one or more sub-bands of the wideband, wherein the CSI is related to a signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) of the wideband and respective SINRs of the one or more sub-bands; and one or more processors configured to (Paras. 0014-0015, 0027, 0074-0075, and 0120; generating a wideband channel quality indicator associated with the wideband demodulation reference signal configuration and one or more of sub-band channel quality indicators; a user equipment (UE), may use a CSI-RS to determine a set of characteristics and a link quality characteristic (e.g., SINR, such as post-processing SINR) for a channel):
facilitate transmission of a wideband channel quality index (CQI) report related to the CSI of the wideband (Paras. 0014-0015, 0027, 0074-0075, and 0120; Table 2 may represent spatial differential CQI values relative to a corresponding wideband CQI in a case where there is 2-bit differential CQI reporting for per-sub-band reporting. The wideband CQI, meanwhile, may have 4-bits for reporting);
identify, from the set of 2, 3, 4, and 5, a number of bits to use for a sub-band CQI report related to a sub-band of the one or more sub-bands (Paras. 0014-0015, 0027, 0074-0075, and 0120; Table 2 may represent spatial differential CQI values relative to a corresponding wideband CQI in a case where there is 2-bit differential CQI reporting for per-sub-band reporting. The wideband CQI, meanwhile, may have 4-bits for reporting); and
facilitate transmission of a sub-band CQI report based on the identified number of bits, wherein the sub-band CQI report is related to the CSI of the sub-band (Paras. 0014-0015, 0027, 0074-0075, and 0120; Table 2 may represent spatial differential CQI values relative to a corresponding wideband CQI in a case where there is 2-bit differential CQI reporting for per-sub-band reporting. The wideband CQI, meanwhile, may have 4-bits for reporting).
Regarding claim 26, Levitsky teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Levitsky further teaches wherein the identified number of bits is based on an indication received from a base station (Fig. 4; Paras. 0014-0015, 0027, 0074-0075, 0120, 0189-0195; i.e. Fig. 4 at step 420 shows the configuration).
Regarding claims 32 and 44, Levitsky teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Levitsky further teaches wherein the sub-band CQI report includes 2∧(identified number of bits) levels with respect to the wideband CQI report, and wherein the UE is further configured with A levels above a reported wideband CQI value and (2∧(identified number of bits)−A) levels below the reported wideband CQI value (Paras. 0014-0015, 0027, 0074-0075, 0120, 0189-0195; if the wideband CQI and a sub-band CQI are equal, a UE 115 may report differential CQI value 0; if the sub-band CQI is one greater than the absolute CQI, the UE 115 may report differential CQI value 1; if the sub-band CQI is two or more greater than the absolute CQI, the UE 115 may report differential CQI value 2; and if the sub-band CQI is minus one or less than the absolute CQI, the UE 115 may report differential CQI value 3).
Regarding claim 33, Levitsky teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Levitsky further teaches wherein the value of A is specified as a function of the identified number of bits for the sub-band CQI report (Paras. 0014-0015, 0027, 0074-0075, 0120, 0189-0195; if the wideband CQI and a sub-band CQI are equal, a UE 115 may report differential CQI value 0; if the sub-band CQI is one greater than the absolute CQI, the UE 115 may report differential CQI value 1; if the sub-band CQI is two or more greater than the absolute CQI, the UE 115 may report differential CQI value 2; and if the sub-band CQI is minus one or less than the absolute CQI, the UE 115 may report differential CQI value 3).
Regarding claim 34, Levitsky teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Levitsky further teaches wherein the value of A is a function of the identified number of bits of the sub-band CQI report and the reported wideband CQI value (Paras. 0014-0015, 0027, 0074-0075, 0120, 0189-0195; if the wideband CQI and a sub-band CQI are equal, a UE 115 may report differential CQI value 0; if the sub-band CQI is one greater than the absolute CQI, the UE 115 may report differential CQI value 1; if the sub-band CQI is two or more greater than the absolute CQI, the UE 115 may report differential CQI value 2; and if the sub-band CQI is minus one or less than the absolute CQI, the UE 115 may report differential CQI value 3).
Regarding claim 35, Levitsky teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Levitsky further teaches wherein all sub-bands are configured with 4-bit CQI reporting and a sub-band CQI value is determined as a sum of the value reported by the UE in the sub-band CQI report and a value reported by the UE in the wideband CQI report that is interpreted as an offset with a range of [−8 . . . +7] or [X . . . X+15], where the value of X is provided to the UE by higher layers from the integers {-15, . . . , 15} (Paras. 0014-0015, 0027, 0074-0075, 0120, 0189-0195; if the wideband CQI and a sub-band CQI are equal, a UE 115 may report differential CQI value 0; if the sub-band CQI is one greater than the absolute CQI, the UE 115 may report differential CQI value 1; if the sub-band CQI is two or more greater than the absolute CQI, the UE 115 may report differential CQI value 2; and if the sub-band CQI is minus one or less than the absolute CQI, the UE 115 may report differential CQI value 3).
Regarding claim 36, Levitsky teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Levitsky further teaches wherein, if the sub-band CQI value is less than 1 or greater than 15, a corresponding spectral efficiency (SE) is scaled (Paras. 0120, 0154, and 0232; the one or more parameters may include the sub-band size. In some such cases, the scaling component 745 may scale the sub-band size by an integer factor, where a total quantity of the one or more sub-bands, an effective sub-band size of the one or more sub-bands, or both is based on scaling the sub-band size by the integer factor).
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 of this title, 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 27-31 and 37-43 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Levitsky et al (US2021/0385818 A1) in view of Salem et al (US 2023/0283342 A1).
Regarding claims 27 and 39, Levitsky teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Levitsky further teaches wherein the sub-band CQI report indicates that the sub-band has a spectral efficiency (SE) value that is greater than the SE of a highest possible value that can be signaled by a CQI table (Paras. 0014-0015, 0027, 0074-0075, 0120, 0189-0195; the wireless device may select a DMRS configuration for a sub-band based on determining that a spectral efficiency for the sub-band achievable with the specific DMRS configuration is higher than a spectral efficiency achievable with the other DMRS configurations for the sub-band; Table 2 may represent spatial differential CQI values relative to a corresponding wideband CQI in a case where there is 2-bit differential CQI reporting for per-sub-band reporting. The wideband CQI, meanwhile, may have 4-bits for reporting).
However, while Levitsky teaches the wideband CQI report can be 4-bit (Para. 0120), he does not specifically disclose the sub-band CQI report indicates that the SE of a highest possible value that can be signaled by a 4-bit CQI table.
Salem teaches generating CSI reports include designating at least one of the reports as a reference and the other reports as dependent on the reference (Abstract). He further teaches the sub-band CQI report indicates that the SE of a highest possible value that can be signaled by a 4-bit CQI table (Paras. 0030-0038 and 0041; Each report in an IH may consist of a subset or all of the following CSI components: CQI: channel quality indicator, wideband or per sub-band.; Because generally for parameters in a CSI report, the differential quantity has a smaller range of values than the raw values of the CSI quantity, a quantization of the differential value of the CSI quantity will have fewer bits than the raw value; for example, for L1-RSRP, the raw value has 7 bits while the differential value has 4 bits; i.e. the CSI/CQI can be a range of bit values to include 4 bits).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Salem with the teachings as in Levitsky. The motivation for doing so would have been to exploit the correlation among the different CSI reports present in different interference hypotheses to reduce the amount of UL overhead (Salem at para. 0042).
Regarding claims 28 and 40, the combination of references Levitsky and Salem teach the limitations of the previous claims. Levitsky further teaches wherein the CQI report indicates that the sub-band has a SE value that is greater than the SE of the highest possible value that can be indicated by a 4-bit CQI table (Fig. 4; Paras. 0014-0015, 0027, 0074-0075, 0120, 0189-0195; the wireless device may select a DMRS configuration for a sub-band based on determining that a spectral efficiency for the sub-band achievable with the specific DMRS configuration is higher than a spectral efficiency achievable with the other DMRS configurations for the sub-band; Table 2 may represent spatial differential CQI values relative to a corresponding wideband CQI in a case where there is 2-bit differential CQI reporting for per-sub-band reporting. The wideband CQI, meanwhile, may have 4-bits for reporting) and Salem further teaches indicated by a 4-bit CQI table by at least Y bits/second/Hertz (Hz), where Y is pre-defined or provided to the UE via higher layer signalling (Paras. 0004, 0030-0038, and 0041; Each report in an IH may consist of a subset or all of the following CSI components: CQI: channel quality indicator, wideband or per sub-band.; Because generally for parameters in a CSI report, the differential quantity has a smaller range of values than the raw values of the CSI quantity, a quantization of the differential value of the CSI quantity will have fewer bits than the raw value; for example, for L1-RSRP, the raw value has 7 bits while the differential value has 4 bits; Various techniques have been used in attempt to address this challenge including obtaining more spectrum, having smaller cell sizes, and using improved technologies enabling more bits/s/Hz). Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Salem with the teachings as in Levitsky. The motivation for doing so would have been to exploit the correlation among the different CSI reports present in different interference hypotheses to reduce the amount of UL overhead (Salem at para. 0042).
Regarding claims 29 and 41, Levitsky teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Levitsky further teaches wherein the sub-band CQI report indicates that the sub-band has a spectral efficiency (SE) value that is smaller than the SE of a lowest possible valid CQI value that can be signaled by a CQI table (Paras. 0014-0015, 0027, 0074-0075, 0120, 0189-0195; the wireless device may select a DMRS configuration for a sub-band based on determining that a spectral efficiency for the sub-band achievable with the specific DMRS configuration is higher than a spectral efficiency achievable with the other DMRS configurations for the sub-band; Table 2 may represent spatial differential CQI values relative to a corresponding wideband CQI in a case where there is 2-bit differential CQI reporting for per-sub-band reporting. The wideband CQI, meanwhile, may have 4-bits for reporting).
However, while Levitsky teaches the wideband CQI report can be 4-bit (Para. 0120), he does not specifically disclose the sub-band CQI report indicates that the SE of a lowest possible value that can be signaled by a 4-bit CQI table.
Salem teaches generating CSI reports include designating at least one of the reports as a reference and the other reports as dependent on the reference (Abstract). He further teaches the sub-band CQI report indicates that the SE of a lowest possible value that can be signaled by a 4-bit CQI table (Paras. 0030-0038 and 0041; Each report in an IH may consist of a subset or all of the following CSI components: CQI: channel quality indicator, wideband or per sub-band.; Because generally for parameters in a CSI report, the differential quantity has a smaller range of values than the raw values of the CSI quantity, a quantization of the differential value of the CSI quantity will have fewer bits than the raw value; for example, for L1-RSRP, the raw value has 7 bits while the differential value has 4 bits; i.e. the CSI/CQI can be a range of bit values to include 4 bits, which would cause values to be above and below the range due to not have an infinite range of values).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Salem with the teachings as in Levitsky. The motivation for doing so would have been to exploit the correlation among the different CSI reports present in different interference hypotheses to reduce the amount of UL overhead (Salem at para. 0042).
Regarding claims 30 and 42, the combination of references Levitsky and Salem teach the limitations of the previous claims. Levitsky further teaches wherein the sub-band CQI report indicates that the sub-band has a SE value that is smaller than the SE of the smallest possible valid CQI value that can be indicated by a CQI table (Fig. 4; Paras. 0014-0015, 0027, 0074-0075, 0120, 0189-0195; the wireless device may select a DMRS configuration for a sub-band based on determining that a spectral efficiency for the sub-band achievable with the specific DMRS configuration is higher than a spectral efficiency achievable with the other DMRS configurations for the sub-band; Table 2 may represent spatial differential CQI values relative to a corresponding wideband CQI in a case where there is 2-bit differential CQI reporting for per-sub-band reporting. The wideband CQI, meanwhile, may have 4-bits for reporting) and Salem further teaches indicated by a 4-bit CQI table by at least Y bits/second/Hertz (Hz), where Y is pre-defined or provided to the UE via higher layer signalling (Paras. 0004, 0030-0038, and 0041; Each report in an IH may consist of a subset or all of the following CSI components: CQI: channel quality indicator, wideband or per sub-band.; Because generally for parameters in a CSI report, the differential quantity has a smaller range of values than the raw values of the CSI quantity, a quantization of the differential value of the CSI quantity will have fewer bits than the raw value; for example, for L1-RSRP, the raw value has 7 bits while the differential value has 4 bits; Various techniques have been used in attempt to address this challenge including obtaining more spectrum, having smaller cell sizes, and using improved technologies enabling more bits/s/Hz). Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Salem with the teachings as in Levitsky. The motivation for doing so would have been to exploit the correlation among the different CSI reports present in different interference hypotheses to reduce the amount of UL overhead (Salem at para. 0042).
Regarding claims 31 and 43, Levitsky teaches the limitations of the previous claims.
However, while Levitsky teaches the wideband CQI report can be 4-bit (Para. 0120), he does not specifically disclose wherein the sub-band CQI report indicates a measured CQI of 0 that corresponds to a spectral efficiency (SE) value of at least Z bits/second/Hertz (Hz) smaller than the CQI value=1.
Salem teaches generating CSI reports include designating at least one of the reports as a reference and the other reports as dependent on the reference (Abstract). He further teaches wherein the sub-band CQI report indicates a measured CQI of 0 that corresponds to a spectral efficiency (SE) value of at least Z bits/second/Hertz (Hz) smaller than the CQI value=1 (Paras. 0004, 0030-0038, and 0041; Each report in an IH may consist of a subset or all of the following CSI components: CQI: channel quality indicator, wideband or per sub-band.; Because generally for parameters in a CSI report, the differential quantity has a smaller range of values than the raw values of the CSI quantity, a quantization of the differential value of the CSI quantity will have fewer bits than the raw value; for example, for L1-RSRP, the raw value has 7 bits while the differential value has 4 bits; Various techniques have been used in attempt to address this challenge including obtaining more spectrum, having smaller cell sizes, and using improved technologies enabling more bits/s/Hz).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Salem with the teachings as in Levitsky. The motivation for doing so would have been to exploit the correlation among the different CSI reports present in different interference hypotheses to reduce the amount of UL overhead (Salem at para. 0042).
Regarding claim 37, Levitsky teaches a base station (Abstract), comprising:
one or more processors; and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, upon execution of the instructions by the one or more processors, are to cause the base station to (Para. 0035):
identify, from a user equipment (UE), a wideband channel quality index (CQI) report related to the wideband; process the wideband CQI report to identify channel state information (CSI) of the wideband, wherein the CSI of the wideband is related to a signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) of the wideband (Paras. 0014-0015, 0027, 0074-0075, and 0120; generating a wideband channel quality indicator associated with the wideband demodulation reference signal configuration and one or more of sub-band channel quality indicators; a user equipment (UE), may use a CSI-RS to determine a set of characteristics and a link quality characteristic (e.g., SINR, such as post-processing SINR) for a channel):
identify, from the UE, a sub-band CQI report related to a sub-band of one or more sub-bands, (Paras. 0014-0015, 0027, 0074-0075, and 0120; Table 2 may represent spatial differential CQI values relative to a corresponding wideband CQI in a case where there is 2-bit differential CQI reporting for per-sub-band reporting. The wideband CQI, meanwhile, may have 4-bits for reporting); and
process the sub-band CQI report to identify CSI of the sub-band, wherein the CSI of the sub-band is related to a SINR of the sub-band (Paras. 0014-0015, 0027, 0074-0075, and 0120; Table 2 may represent spatial differential CQI values relative to a corresponding wideband CQI in a case where there is 2-bit differential CQI reporting for per-sub-band reporting. The wideband CQI, meanwhile, may have 4-bits for reporting).
However, while Levitsky teaches the wideband CQI report can be 4-bit and suggests it can be any number of bits(Paras. 0120 and 0151), he does not specifically disclose wherein the sub-band CQI report is transmitted using 5 bits.
Salem teaches generating CSI reports include designating at least one of the reports as a reference and the other reports as dependent on the reference (Abstract). He further teaches wherein the sub-band CQI report is transmitted using 5 bits (Paras. 0030-0038 and 0041; Each report in an IH may consist of a subset or all of the following CSI components: CQI: channel quality indicator, wideband or per sub-band.; Because generally for parameters in a CSI report, the differential quantity has a smaller range of values than the raw values of the CSI quantity, a quantization of the differential value of the CSI quantity will have fewer bits than the raw value; for example, for L1-RSRP, the raw value has 7 bits while the differential value has 4 bits; i.e. the CSI/CQI can be a range of bit values to include 4 bits, which would cause values to be above and below the range due to not have an infinite range of values).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Salem with the teachings as in Levitsky. The motivation for doing so would have been to exploit the correlation among the different CSI reports present in different interference hypotheses to reduce the amount of UL overhead (Salem at para. 0042).
Regarding claim 38, the combination of references Levitsky and Salem teach the limitations of the previous claims. Salem further teaches wherein the instructions are further to transmit, to the UE, an indication that the sub-band CQI report is to be transmitted using a 5-bit CQI table (Paras. 0030-0038 and 0041; Each report in an IH may consist of a subset or all of the following CSI components: CQI: channel quality indicator, wideband or per sub-band.; Because generally for parameters in a CSI report, the differential quantity has a smaller range of values than the raw values of the CSI quantity, a quantization of the differential value of the CSI quantity will have fewer bits than the raw value; for example, for L1-RSRP, the raw value has 7 bits while the differential value has 4 bits; i.e. the CSI/CQI can be a range of bit values to include 4 bits, which would cause values to be above and below the range due to not have an infinite range of values). Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Salem with the teachings as in Levitsky. The motivation for doing so would have been to exploit the correlation among the different CSI reports present in different interference hypotheses to reduce the amount of UL overhead (Salem at para. 0042).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KENT KRUEGER whose telephone number is (303)297-4238. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00-5:00 MT.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Thier can be reached on (571) 272-2832. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KENT KRUEGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474