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 .
This action is response to the application filed on 08/19/2024. Claims 1-24 are cancelled. Claims 25-43 are pending and herein considered.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on PCT International Application No. PCT/CN2021/107887 filed on Jul. 22, 2021.
Oath/Declaration
The receipt of oath/declaration is acknowledged.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 01/16/2024. These drawings are reviewed and accepted by the Examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS), submitted on 01/16/2024, and 03/06/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CRR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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 25-27, 32-36, 41-42 and 43 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Levy et al. (U.S 2021/0344399) in view of Kim et al. (U.S 2023/0103697).
(Note: For citation purposes, hereinafter, Kim et al. (PCT/KR2021/002032 or (KR- 10- 2020-0020669) which the translation filed on Feb 17.2021 or Feb.19.2020, which qualifies as prior art date)
For claim 25:
Levy discloses a method performed by a network device (see Levy, at least Figure 1, 4, 5; performance a network device), comprising:
transmitting a first reference signal to a terminal device (see Levy, at least Figure 2, paragraph [0031]; BS may configure each UE with resources for non-zero power channel state information reference signal (NZP-CSI-RS) transmission);
receiving channel state information for a channel from the network device to a terminal device from the terminal device (see Levy, at least paragraph [0032]; the CSF report may include a channel state information reference signal resource indication (CRI), which is a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource index, indicating a CSI-RS preferred by the UE based on the UE's channel response estimation and/or interference estimation),
wherein the channel state information is determined based on the first reference signal and comprises channel quality indicator (CQI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), and rank indicator (RI) (see Levy, at least paragraph [0032]; CSF report may also include channel quality information (CQI), a rank indicator (RI), and a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) for the preferred CSI-RS resource indicated by the CRI. In some other examples, the CSF report may include RIs, PMIs, and/or CQIs for each configured CSI-RS resource);
receiving a second reference signal from the terminal device (see Levy, at least paragraph [0051]; a UE 115 may transmit sounding reference signals (SRSs) to enable a BS 105 to estimate a UL channel Control information may include resource assignments and protocol controls);
determining a new CQI for the channel based on the channel state information and the second reference signal (see Levy, at least abstract and paragraph [0119]; Multiple CSI-RSs are transmitted and multiple expected CQIs are determined and [0071]; [0080]; the transceiver is configured to transmit to a first UE of a plurality of UEs, a channel state report configuration indicating a set of one or more measurement resources and at least one of precoding information or rank indications associated with the set of one or more interference measurement resources. The transceiver 410 is further configured to receive, from the first UE, a channel state report including a plurality of expected CQIs over a time period based on the set of one or more interference measurement resources and the at least one of the precoding information or rank indications, and the processor 402 is configured to determine a link adaptation for the first UE based at least in part on the received channel state report);
updating the channel state information for the channel based on the new CQI; and transmitting a signal to the terminal device based on the updated channel state information for the channel (see Levy, at least figure 8, steps 802-816 and paragraph [0113]-[0125]; The BS 105 may update a PMI, RI, and/or MCS for the link with UE 115 during the link adaptation process, based on the data transmitted on the CSF report).
Levy does not explicitly disclose updating the channel state information for the channel based on the new CQI.
Kim, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, discloses Levy fails: based on the first interference-based CQI, the base station may update the second CSI
(e.g., the second CQI) for the second TRP (or based on the second CSI report configuration).
Therefore, it would have been obvious statement before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a system comprises a method as taught by Kim. The motivation for doing this is to provide a system networks in order to improve a probability of data reception through the same TB received from multiple TRPs in multiple slots.
For claims 26 and 35:
In addition to rejection in claims 26 and 35, Levy-Kim further discloses determining a new precoding matrix for the channel based on the second reference signal; and updating the channel state information for the channel further based on the new precoding matrix (see Levy, at least paragraph [0144]; determining the link adaptation, the channel state module 408 may determine an update for a precoding matrix indicator PMI, RI, and/or MCS for the first UE 115).
For claims 27 and 36:
In addition to rejection in claims 27 and 36, Levy-Kim further discloses determining a new RI for the channel based on the second reference signal; and updating the channel state information for the channel further based on the new RI (see Levy, at least paragraph [0039]; the BS may configure the UE with a list of RIs and/or a list of PMIs and the UE may report a recommended MCS for each PMI in the list, each RI in the list, and/or each combination of PMI and RI in the list. The BS may also configure the UE to report a history of CQI and corresponding RIs and/or PMIs).
For claims 32 and 41:
In addition to rejection in claims 32 and 41, Levy-Kim further discloses wherein the first reference signal comprises at least one of: channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS), or cell-specific reference signals (CSR) (see Levy, at least paragraph [0051]; Reference signals are predetermined signals that facilitate the communications between the BSs 105 and the UEs 115 and a BS 105 may transmit cell specific reference signals (CRSs) and/or channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) to enable a UE 115 to estimate a DL channel).
For claims 33 and 42:
In addition to rejection in claims 33 and 42, Levy-Kim further discloses wherein the second reference signal comprises sounding reference signal (SRS) (see Levy, at least paragraph [0051]; a UE 115 may transmit sounding reference signals (SRSs) to enable a BS 105 to estimate a UL channel Control information may include resource assignments and protocol controls).
For claim 34:
For claim 34, claim 34 is directed to a method performed by a terminal device which has similar scope as claim 1. Therefore, claim 34 remains un-patentable for the same reasons.
For claim 43:
For claim 43, claim 43 is directed to a network device which has similar scope as claim 1. Therefore, claim 43 remains un-patentable for the same reasons.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 28-29, 30-31, 37-38, 39-40 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, set forth in this Office action.
Conclusion
The prior arts made or record and not relied upon are considered pertinent to applicant's disclosures. Bai et al. (U.S 2023/0039220), discloses The transmit processor 220 may process system information (e.g., for semi-static resource partitioning information (SRPI)) and control information (e.g., CQI requests, grants, and/or upper layer signaling) and provide overhead symbols and control symbols. The transmit processor 220 may generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) or a DMRS) and synchronization signals (e.g., a PSS or an SSS).
Cao (U.S 2024/0030973), discloses an AP may send a training frame to help the station to estimate the CSI. The CSI refers to state information of an equivalent channel. The equivalent channel refers to a channel obtained by applying influence of a circuit of an AP transmitter and a station receiver on a signal to a spatial channel through which the transmitting signal passes.
Zhang et al. (U.S 10,284,352), discloses a method for configuring a User Equipment (UE) with a Channel Quality Index (CQI) table, the method includes: calculating a Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI) and Rank Indication (RI) according to a channel estimated result; determining a configured CQI index table according to received CQI index table indication information transmitted by a base station, the base station configuring the CQI index table by selecting the CQI index table from at least two CQI index tables; and calculating a CQI index according to the calculated PMI and the RI using the configured CQI index table.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAN HUONG TRUONG whose telephone number is (571)270-5829. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri (7:30AM-5:00PM).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, RICKY NGO can be reached on 571-272-3139. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Lan-Huong Truong/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit: 2464
01/10/2026