DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
2. This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 05/18/2026. Claims 1 and through 20 are presently pending and are presented for examination.
3. 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.
Response to Arguments
4. Applicant's arguments filed 05/18/2026have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argued that Li, Goransson, and Xiao, taken alone or combination, fail to teach or suggest “taking an action based on the receive and transmit phase difference data, wherein the taking of the action comprises estimating a phase calibration error based on the receive and transmit phase difference data, and applying the phase calibration error to correct sounding-reference-signal-based precoding used by the base station”.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Firstly, the specification fails to disclose “applying the phase calibration error to correct sounding-reference-signal-based precoding used by the base station”, there is no mention of correcting sounding-reference-signal-based precoding-therefore, correcting sounding-reference-signal-based precoding is a new matter. Secondly, correcting sounding-reference-signal-based precoding used by base station is intend use and does not carry any patentability weight. Thirdly, Li teaches “BS compensates the transmitted signals based on the estimated phase and delay error and gNB transmitted the compensated (corrected) signal to NR (UE(s)” (Fig. 3), wherein, the signal (a general signal) can be replaced by any other reference signals (e.g., RS, SRS, PTRS, CSI-RS, DM-RS, etc.).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
5. The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 5, 13, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 5, 13, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, because they recites the limitation “applying the phase calibration error to correct sounding-reference-signal-based precoding used by the base station”.
Claims 2-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, because of their dependance from claim 1.
Claims 14-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, because of their dependance from claim 13.
Claims 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, because of their dependance from claim 18.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (US 2023/0318717 A1) in view of Goransson et al. (US 2012/0033759 A1) and further in view of Xiao et al. (US 2024/0356588 A1).
For claim 1 Li teaches a network equipment (Fig. 10 “control system (network equipment) 1002)”), comprising:
at least one processor (Fig. 10 “processor 1004”); and
at least one memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor (Fig. 10 “memory 1006)”), facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
obtaining, via a base station, a group of reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators corresponding to an antenna coupled to a radio unit of the base station (Fig. 3 “UE provides PMI feedback based on RS”);
determining, based on user equipment sounding reference signal data received via the antenna, an estimated sounding reference signal-based precoding matrix indicator (Fig. 3 “UE provides PMI feedback based on RS and estimated the phase and delay error based on the PMI based RS”);
determining receive and transmit phase difference data for the antenna based on the user equipment-based precoding matrix indicator and the estimated sounding reference signal-based precoding matrix indicator (Fig. 3 “UE provides PMI feedback based on RS and estimated the phase and delay error based on the PMI based RS”); and
taking an action based on the receive and transmit phase difference data, wherein the taking of the action comprises estimating a phase calibration error based on the receive and transmit phase difference data (Fig. 3 “UE provides feedback based on the configured RSs, wherein different RSs are configured with different beamforming (e.g., SRS)…BS compensates the transmitted signals based on the estimated phase and delay error and gNB transmitted the compensated signal to NR (UE(s)” and Fig. 3 “UE estimates PMI based on RS (e.g., SRS)”), and applying the phase calibration error to correct sounding-reference-signal-based precoding used by the base station (intended-Use).
Li does not explicitly teach combining the group of reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators into a user equipment-based precoding matrix indicator.
However, Goransson teaches the channel characteristics between radio base station side and the UE side is typically measured at the receiver UE terminals 200-1, ... , 200-N, and appropriate feedback information is provided to the radio base station 100 through finite-rate feedback channel(s) (Goransson: Fig. 19 and paragraph 123).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to use the teachings of Goransson in the antenna calibration of Li in order for a base station to select a suitable precoding matrix using the received channel state information and/or the quantized precoding matrix representation (Goransson: paragraph 123).
Li in view of Goransson does not explicitly teach estimated sounding reference signal(SRS)-based precoding matrix indicator.
However, Xiao teaches in some examples, the UE may support either two
transmit chains or three transmit chains on the second carrier, and the base station may indicate a number of transmit chains for a given SRS resource based on a PMI index… The base station may indicate ( e.g., via DCI signaling), an SRS resource index and a PMI index for transmitting SRSs (Xiao: paragraph 6).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to use the teachings of Xiao in the combined antenna calibration of Goransson and Li in order for UE to determine the number of transmit chains (Xiao: paragraph 6).
For the claim 2 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches the network equipment, wherein the combining of the reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators comprises averaging the group of reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators to obtain the user equipment-based precoding matrix indicator (Goransson: Fig. 19 “UE 200-1 …UE 200-N are combined and averaged” and pargraph 81 “averaged over all users”).
For the claim 3 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches the network equipment, wherein the group of reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators is obtained from a single user equipment device via different channel state information reports received by the base station within a timeframe (Goransson: Fig. 19 “UE 200-1 …UE 200-N are grouped into a single UE”).
For the claim 4 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches the network equipment, wherein the group of reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators is obtained from at least two different user equipment devices via different channel state information reports received by the base station (Goransson: Fig. 19 “UE 200-1 …UE 200-N are grouped into a single UE”).
For the claim 5 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches the network equipment, wherein the determining of the estimated sounding reference signal-based precoding matrix indicator is based on a transmitter channel gain and a receiver channel gain (Li: paragraph 3 “beamforming gain based on the transmitter and receiver calibration”).
For the claim 6 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches the network equipment, wherein the taking of the action based on the receive and transmit phase difference data comprises determining phase difference calibration coefficient data, and applying, via the base station, phase difference coefficient calibration data to compensate for the receive and transmit phase difference data with respect to the antenna (Li: paragraph 3 “beamforming with correlated antennas requires that the phase difference between individual antenna elements”).
For the claim 7 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches the network equipment of claim 6, wherein the applying, via the base station, the phase difference coefficient calibration data to compensate for the receive and transmit phase difference data with respect to the antenna comprises adjusting, by a distributed unit coupled to the radio unit, a relative phase of transmitted data and received data (Li: paragraph 22 “compensating for the estimated phase and delay errors for the plurality of transmit antenna branches of the base station based on the plurality of CSI reports received from the UE…and transmitting a downlink signal while compensating for the estimated phase and delay errors for the plurality of transmit antenna branches of the base station”).
For the claim 8 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches the network equipment of claim 6, wherein the receive and transmit phase difference data corresponds to error data, and wherein the determining of the phase difference calibration coefficient data comprises determining a phase difference calibration coefficient that minimizes the error data (Li: paragraph 22 “receiving the plurality of CSI reports from the UE; estimating phase and delay errors for a plurality of transmit
antenna branches of the base station”).
For the claim 9 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches the network equipment, wherein the taking of the action based on the receive and transmit phase difference data comprises determining whether the receive and transmit phase difference data satisfies a phase difference error threshold value, and, in response to the receive and transmit phase difference data satisfying the phase difference error threshold value, determining phase difference calibration data, and applying, via the base station, the phase difference calibration data to compensate for the receive and transmit phase difference data with respect to the antenna (Li: paragraph 22 “receiving the plurality of CSI reports from the UE; estimating phase and delay errors for a plurality of transmit antenna branches of the base station; compensating for the estimated phase and delay errors for the plurality of transmit antenna branches of the base station based on the plurality of CSI reports received from the UE; and transmitting a downlink signal while compensating for the estimated phase and delay errors for the plurality of transmit antenna branches of the base station”).
For the claim 10 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches the network equipment, wherein the taking of the action based on the receive and transmit phase difference data further comprises determining whether the receive and transmit phase difference data satisfies a phase difference error, and, in response to the receive and transmit phase difference data satisfying the phase difference error, outputting data representative of the phase difference error to an operator associated with the base station (Li: paragraph 22 “receiving the plurality of CSI reports from the UE; estimating phase and delay errors for a plurality of transmit antenna branches of the base station; compensating for the estimated phase and delay errors for the plurality of transmit antenna branches of the base station based on the plurality of CSI reports received from the UE; and transmitting a downlink signal while compensating for the estimated phase and delay errors for the plurality of transmit antenna branches of the base station”).
For the claim 11 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches the network equipment, wherein the antenna is a first antenna, wherein the group of reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators is a first group of reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators corresponding to the first antenna, wherein the group of reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators is a first group, wherein the user equipment-based precoding matrix indicator is a first user equipment-based precoding matrix indicator, wherein the sounding reference signal data is first sounding reference signal, wherein the receive and transmit phase difference data is first receive and transmit phase difference data, wherein the action is a first action (LI: paragraph 61 “first iteration of antenna calibration” and as discussed in claim 1- claim 1 provides a first iteration of the steps, the following steps are repetition of the first iteration), wherein the operations further comprise:
obtaining, via the base station, a second group of reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators corresponding to a second antenna of the base station that is different from the first antenna (as discussed in claim 1);
combining the second group of reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators into a second user equipment-based precoding matrix indicator (as discussed in claim 1);
determining, based on second user equipment sounding reference signal data received via the second antenna, a second estimated sounding reference signal-based precoding matrix indicator (as discussed in claim 1);
determining second receive and transmit phase difference data for the second antenna based on the second user equipment-based precoding matrix indicator and the second estimated sounding reference signal-based precoding matrix indicator (as discussed in claim 1); and
taking a second action based on the second receive and transmit phase difference data (as discussed in claim 1).
For the claim 12 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches the network equipment, wherein the group of reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators is a first group of reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators corresponding to a first frequency sub-band, wherein the group of reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators is a first group, wherein the user equipment-based precoding matrix indicator is a first user equipment-based precoding matrix indicator, wherein the sounding reference signal data is first sounding reference signal, wherein the receive and transmit phase difference data is first receive and transmit phase difference data, wherein the action is a first action (LI: paragraph 22 “different subsets of a plurality of sub-bands within a downlink bandwidth of the base station
or different downlink bandwidth parts served by the base station” paragraph 61 “first iteration of antenna calibration” and as discussed in claim 1- claim 1 provides a first iteration of the steps, the following steps are repetition of the first iteration), wherein the operations further comprise:
obtaining, via the base station, a second group of reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators corresponding to a second frequency sub-band that is different from the first frequency sub-band (as discussed in claim 1);
combining the second group of reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators into a second user equipment-based precoding matrix indicator (as discussed in claim 1);
determining, based on second user equipment sounding reference signal data received in the second frequency sub-band, a second estimated sounding reference signal-based precoding matrix indicator (as discussed in claim 1);
determining second receive and transmit phase difference data for the second frequency sub-band based on the second user equipment-based precoding matrix indicator and the second estimated sounding reference signal-based precoding matrix indicator (as discussed in claim 1); and
taking a second action based on the second receive and transmit phase difference data (as discussed in claim 1).
For the claim 13 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches a method (as discussed in claim 1), comprising:
obtaining, by network equipment comprising at least one processor, respective groups of reported user equipment precoding matrix indicator data corresponding to respective antennas coupled to a radio unit of the base station (as discussed in claim 1);
determining, by the network equipment, respective user equipment-based precoding matrix indicators from the respective groups of the reported user equipment precoding matrix indicator data (as discussed in claim 1);
determining, by the network equipment based on respective user equipment sounding reference signal data received via the respective antennas, respective estimated sounding reference signal-based precoding matrix indicators (as discussed in claim 1);
determining, by the network equipment, respective receive and transmit phase difference data for the respective antennas based on the respective user equipment-based precoding matrix indicators and the respective estimated sounding reference signal-based precoding matrix indicators (as discussed in claim 1); and
initiating, by the network equipment, respective actions based on the respective receive and transmit phase difference data, wherein the respective actions comprises estimating respective phase calibration error based on the receive and transmit phase difference data, and applying the phase calibration error to correct sounding-reference-signal-based precoding used by the base station (as discussed in claim 1).
For the claim 14 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches the method, wherein the determining of the respective user equipment-based precoding matrix indicators from the respective groups of the reported user equipment precoding matrix indicator data comprises averaging the respective user equipment-based precoding matrix indicator data to determine the respective user equipment-based precoding matrix indicators (as discussed in claim 2).
For the claim 15 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches the method, wherein the respective actions further comprise determining respective phase difference calibration coefficients, and applying the respective phase difference calibration coefficients to recalibrate respective transmit-receive phase offsets with respect to the respective antennas (as discussed in claim 6).
For the claim 16 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches the method, wherein the respective actions further comprise at least one of: reporting respective error data based on the respective receive and transmit phase difference data for the respective antennas (LI: paragraph 19 “estimate the phase difference and delay between different polarizations”), or
For the claim 17 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches the method, wherein the respective actions further comprise, for each of the respective antennas, determining whether the respective receive and transmit phase difference data for the respective antenna satisfies a phase difference error threshold value, and, in response to the respective receive and transmit phase difference data satisfying the phase difference error threshold value, taking a respective corrective action with respect to the respective antenna (Li: paragraph 22 “receiving the plurality of CSI reports from the UE;
estimating phase and delay errors for a plurality of transmit antenna branches of the base station; compensating for the estimated phase and delay errors for the plurality of transmit antenna branches of the base station based on the plurality of CSI reports received from the UE; and transmitting a downlink signal while compensating for the estimated phase and delay errors for the plurality of transmit antenna branches of the base station”).
For the claim 18 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches a non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a base station, facilitate performance of operations (as discussed in claim 1), the operations comprising:
receiving, from reported user equipment, respective groups of reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators corresponding to respective antennas coupled to a radio unit of the base station (as discussed in claim 1);
receiving respective user equipment sounding reference signal data, associated with the reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators, via the respective antennas (as discussed in claim 1);
combining the respective user equipment-based precoding matrix indicators from the respective groups of the reported user equipment into respective precoding matrix indicator data (as discussed in claim 1);
determining, based on the respective user equipment sounding reference signal data, respective estimated sounding reference signal-based precoding matrix indicators (as discussed in claim 1);
estimating respective calibration coefficients for respective transmit-receive phases for the respective antennas based on the respective user equipment-based precoding matrix indicators and the respective estimated sounding reference signal-based precoding matrix indicators (Goransson: Fig. 4 “estimate a phase compensation value (coefficient) based the compiled statistics” and as discussed in claim 1); and
applying the respective calibration coefficients to correct sounding-reference-signal-based precoding used by the base station (Goransson: Fig. 4, pargraph 128 “The estimator/compensator unit 180 may then apply a corresponding phase calibration signal to one or more of the radio chains” and as discussed in claim 1).
For the claim 19 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches the non-transitory machine-readable medium, wherein the operations further comprise, prior to receiving the respective groups of reported user equipment precoding matrix indicators and receiving the respective user equipment sounding reference signal data, selecting respective user equipment for the respective groups, and configuring respective channel state information reference signals and respective sounding reference signals on respective common resource blocks for the respective user equipment.
For the claim 20 Li in view of Goransson and further in view of Xiao teaches the non-transitory machine-readable medium, wherein the determining of the respective estimated sounding reference signal-based precoding matrix indicators comprises determining respective sounding reference signal-based precoding matrix indicators that maximize respective throughput for the respective precoding matrix indicator data.
Conclusion
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: KIM et al. (US 2018/0006845 A1).
8. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to David M OVEISSI whose telephone number is (571)270-3127. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8Am-5PM.
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, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached at (571) 270 - 1215. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MANSOUR OVEISSI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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