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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-6 and 11-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ko et al. (US
2013/0010745 A1, hereinafter Ko).
Regarding claim 1, Ko discloses a method in a network node in communication with a
wireless device, WD, the method comprising: receiving a precoder rank indication (¶[0127], wherein the rank is transmitted through control information , ¶[0152], wherein the rank is received from the UL grant); and selecting one of two precoders of different ranks one of cyclically and randomly
when the indicated precoder rank is greater than 1(¶[0160], wherein the precoder is selected randomly , rank-2 is the indicated precoder rank is greater than 1).
Regarding claim 2, Ko discloses wherein, the selecting is performed once per time slot (¶[0135], wherein only one precoding can be applied, ¶[0160] wherein the selected precoder is for transmission and retransmission,¶[0169] one codeword corresponds to the time slot) .
Regarding claim 3, Ko discloses selecting includes selecting one of a rank 1 precoder a rank 2 precoder when the precoder rank indication is 2 (¶[0159],¶[0160] wherein Rank1 and Rank2 includes the rank 1 and rank 2 precoders).
Regarding claim 4, Ko discloses selecting includes selecting one of a rank 2 precoder (¶[0159]) and a rank 3 precoder when the precoder rank indication is greater than 2 (.¶[0140])
Regarding claim 5, Ko discloses wherein selecting includes selecting one of a precoder of one rank and a precoder of a next-lowest rank (¶[0159],¶[0160]).
Regarding claim 6, Ko discloses wherein selecting includes selecting one of the two precoders based at least in part on which one of two precoder columns corresponding to respective ones of the two precoders produces a greater value of a performance function (¶[0206]).
Regarding claim 11, Ko discloses wireless device, WD, the network node (16) comprising:
a radio interface (configured to receive a precoder rank indication (¶[0127], wherein the rank is transmitted through control information , ¶[0152], wherein the rank is received from the UL grant); and
processing circuitry configured to select one of two precoders of different ranks
cyclically or randomly when the indicated precoder rank is greater than 1 (¶[0160], wherein the precoder is selected randomly , rank-2 is the indicated precoder rank is greater than 1)..
Regarding claim 12, Ko discloses wherein, the selecting is performed once per time slot(¶[0135], wherein only one precoding can be applied, ¶[0160] wherein the selected precoder is for transmission and retransmission,¶[0169] one codeword corresponds to the time slot) .
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Regarding claim 13, Ko discloses wherein selecting includes selecting one of a rank 1 precoder a rank 2 precoder when the precoder rank indication is 2 (¶[0159],¶[0160] wherein Rank1 and Rank2 includes the rank 1 and rank 2 precoders).
Regarding claim 14, Ko discloses wherein selecting includes selecting one of a rank 2 precoder and a rank 3 precoder when the precoder rank indication is greater than 2 (.¶[0140]).
Regarding claim 15, Ko discloses wherein selecting includes selecting one of a precoder of one rank and a precoder of a next-lowest rank(¶[0159],¶[0160]). .
Regarding claim 16, Ko discloses wherein selecting includes selecting one of the two precoders based at least in part on which one of two precoder columns corresponding to respective ones of the two precoders produces a greater value of a performance function (¶[0206]).
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.
Claim(s) 8 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ko in view of Khan et al.(US 2007/0165104 A1,hereinafter Khan).
Regarding claims 8 and 18, Ko discloses all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein the performance function includes a Shannon capacity formula. Khan discloses wherein the performance function includes a Shannon capacity formula (¶[0036]). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to make the proposed modification of the Shannon capacity formula (¶[0036]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to make the proposed modification of the Shannon capacity formula as disclosed by Khan along with the system of Ko. The Shannon capacity formula may be implemented through software to accommodate the transmission of high SINR (¶[0036], Khan).
Claim(s) 7,10,17, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khan in view of Mundarath (US US2008/0165875 A1, hereinafter Mundarath).
For claims 7 and 17, Khan discloses all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of “wherein the performance function is a function of a transpose of a precoder column times the precoder column.”
This is commonly known in the art as a zero-forcing beamforming function. Mundarath, , [0032] and Equation 7 teaches: “zero-forcing beamforming (ZFBF) (or variants thereof such as regularized zero-forcing beamforming) to design each transmit beamforming vector “
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Mundarath, [0009] explains “.sub.H” function is a complex conjugate transpose. In this case, X.sub.H is a transpose of a precoder vector and further multiplies X.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to include the teachings of Mundarath into that of Ko, to realize the benefits of MIMO communication through beamforming.
Regarding claims 10 and 20, Khan discloses all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein the performance function is based at least in part on a determinant over trace metric given by f(A)=|A|/(tr(A)), where A is a precoder column. These claims are similar to claims 7 and 17, where the function of a transpose of a precoder column times the precoder column is expressed mathematically. The claimed equation is the absolute value of A multiplied by the inverse transpose of A. In other words, inverse transpose of A is transpose of A to the -1 power.
Turning to the equation (7) of Mundarath, {tilde over (W)}=X(X.sup.H * X).sup.-1. This equation is nearly identical to the claimed equation. Mundarath's equation could be rewritten as X (X.sup.H).sup.-1 * (X).sup.-1 . In other words, Mundarath teaches x multiplied by inverse transpose of X, and further multiplied by inverse of X. . The key difference is e Mundarath has an extra inverse X.
However, when X is 1 or an identity function, then the two equations are the same. Furthermore, in this case, claims 1 and 11 recite transitory phrase comprising, which means including but not limited to. Although equation (7) of Mundarath has an extra computation, it still meets the limitations of the claim. Because the claim language does not prohibit extra steps.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to include the teachings of Mundarath into that of Ko, for the same reason as claims 7 and 17, to realize the benefits of MIMO communication through beamforming.
Claim(s) 9 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khan in view of Zhang (US 2023/0370127 A1, hereinafter Zhang).
Regarding claims 9 and 19, Khan does not disclose wherein the Shannon capacity formula is given by f(A)=|log (I+A)|, where A is a precoder column. While this deviates from traditional expression of Shannon theorem, nonetheless this is obvious modification. Since precoders are directed related to channel estimates and channel characteristics, one could easily replace signal to noise ratios, or SINR with a precoder matrix.
Zhang, , [0039] teaches “The UE may use CSI-RS signals from the base station (which may not have been precoded by the base station) to perform this calculation. For example, the UE estimates the channel based on the CSI-RS signals. Then the precoder associated with each of one or more individual layers is used with the channel estimation to determine the characteristics of that layer in the current channel (e.g., SINR, spectrum efficiency, received power, etc). Examples of a spectrum efficiency metric as discussed herein may be calculated, for example, using a Shannon equation, where the spectrum efficiency is log 2(1+SLNR). Other methods of calculating a spectrum efficiency are contemplated.”
Furthermore, Zhang, Fig. 7, Element 706, [0097-0098] teaches “The multi-rank precoder 706 may have been selected for being associated with the layer of the plurality of layers used to receive the multi-rank MIMO transmission with, e.g., a highest determined signal-to-noise ratio (SINR) of the plurality of layers used to receive the multi-rank MIMO transmission as determined relative to the multi-rank MIMO transmission.”
Zhang’s teaching is very similar to page 15 to 17 of the current application, i.e., rank 1 scenario.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to replace the Signal to Noise Ratio of a traditional Shannon Channel Capacity formula with a precoder vector, since both estimates channel quality, to implement multi-rank and multi-layer beamforming (Zhang, [0096]).
Conclusion
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/ANGEL T BROCKMAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2412