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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I including claims 1-10, 19, and 20 in the reply filed on 5/27/26 is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 5/21/24 and 5/1/25 is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 3 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 3 recites “wherein to determine the Rx antenna panel and/or the Rx beam comprises to:” which is indefinite because there is no antecedent basis for “the Rx antenna panel and/or the Rx beam” or a determination thereof. Claim 3 also recites “the determined Tx antenna panel and/or the determined Tx beam” which also lacks antecedent basis and a determination thereof.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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) 1-4, 7-10, and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou et al. (US 2022/0116080) in view of Park et al. (US 2020/0382194).
Regarding claim 1, Zhou teaches an apparatus (UE), comprising,
at least one processor;
and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:
obtain a downlink (DL) reception (Rx) indicator (configuration of one or more antenna panels) for measuring DL transmission (Tx) beams (plurality of downlink beams), the DL Rx indicator indicative of a Rx antenna panel and a Rx beam to be used and used by the apparatus for reference signal measurements (see “Optionally, in block 402, the UE determines a configuration of one or more antenna panels to use to measure a plurality of downlink beams. In some implementations, panel configuring component 912…may determine the configuration of one or more antenna panels to use to measure the plurality of downlink beams from the base station” [0061] which suggests UE receives configuration of one or more antenna panels to be used for measuring a plurality of downlink beams, wherein the configured antenna panel reads on the claimed “Rx antenna panel and a Rx beam” since it may receive a plurality of Rx beams and thus encompasses both a Rx antenna panel and a Rx beam).
perform reference signal measurements on at least one received reference signal by using the Rx antenna panel and the Rx beam indicative in the DL Rx indicator, wherein a reference signal of the at least one received reference signal is associated with a respective Tx beam (downlink beam) (see “In method 400, at block 404, UE 104 may receive, from the base station, the plurality of downlink beams at the one or more antenna panels” [0063] and “In method 400, at block 406, UE 104 may perform, based on a configuration of one or more antenna panels to use to measure the plurality of downlink beams from a base station, a measurement of a signal metric of each downlink beam of the plurality of downlink beams received from the base station using each of the one or more antenna panels” [0064] which suggests UE performs measurement based on the configuration of one or more antenna panels, or “DL Rx indicator”, of the plurality of downlink beams, or respective “Tx beams”); and
report a measurement result (beam report) of the performed reference signal measurements (see “In method 400, at block 408, UE 104 may transmit, to the base station, a beam report including, for each downlink beam of the plurality of downlink beams, the signal metric measured of the downlink beam and an antenna panel identifier of one of the one or more antenna panels used to measure the downlink beam” [0065]).
Zhou does not explicitly teach that the DL Rx indicator is also for measuring DL transmission Tx-Rx beam pairs. In an analogous prior art reference, Park teaches a UE may be configured for measuring DL transmission Tx-Rx beam pairs (see “At 330, the UE 310 may measure one or more signal quality parameters associated with the reference signals 325. The signal quality parameters may be associated with a transmit-receive (Tx-Rx) beam pair and inter-beam interference between Tx-Rx beam pairs” [0110] and “In examples in which the UE 310 includes multiple antenna panels, multiple radio frequency chains, or combi nations thereof, the UE 310 may measure the signal quality parameter for each Tx-Rx beam pair for each antenna panel or radio frequency chain” [0111]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Zhou to allow the DL Rx indicator to also be for measuring DL transmission Tx-Rx beam pairs, as taught by Park, when Tx-Rx beam pairs are available from the base station in order to determine a beam to use for subsequent communications.
Regarding claim 2, Zhou and Park in combination teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the DL Rx indicator comprises reference signal RS resource related information (SRS resource set identifier) corresponding to a Tx antenna panel and a Tx beam (antenna panel) usable by the apparatus (see in Zhou “In addition, each antenna panel may have an associated antenna panel identifier. In some examples, the antenna panel identifier may include a SRS resource set identifier, an identifier associated to a reference signal resource or resource set, an identifier assigned for a target reference signal resource or resource set, an identifier additionally configured in spatial relation information, or the like” [0061]).
Regarding claim 3, Zhou and Park in combination teaches the apparatus according to claim 2, wherein to determine the Rx antenna panel and/or the Rx beam comprises to:
determine, based on the DL Rx indicator, the Tx antenna panel and the Tx beam (antenna panel) corresponding to the RS resource related information included in the DL Rx indicator (see in Zhou “In some implementations, panel configuring component 912…may determine the configuration of one or more antenna panels to use to measure the plurality of downlink beams from the base station…In addition, each antenna panel may have an associated antenna panel identifier. In some examples, the antenna panel identifier may include a SRS resource set identifier…” [0061] which suggests that UE may determine configuration of one or more antenna panels based on an antenna panel identifier which corresponds to SRS resources), and
determine the Rx antenna panel and/or the Rx beam in relation to the determined Tx antenna panel and the determined Tx beam (see in Zhou “In method 400, at block 406, UE 104 may perform, based on a configuration of one or more antenna panels to use to measure the plurality of downlink beams from a base station, a measurement of a signal metric of each downlink beam of the plurality of downlink beams received from the base station using each of the one or more antenna panels” [0064] which reads on the claimed “Rx antenna panel and/or the Rx beam” since a Rx antenna panel and/or Rx beam is used by the UE to receive and measure the downlink beams from the base station).
Regarding claim 4, Zhou and Park in combination teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to:
determine, based on the obtained DL Rx indicator, a Rx antenna panel and a Rx beam to be used by the apparatus for reference signal measurements, wherein to perform the reference signal measurements further comprises to perform the reference signal measurements on the at least one received reference signal by using the determined Rx antenna panel and the determined Rx beam (see in Zhou “In method 400, at block 406, UE 104 may perform, based on a configuration of one or more antenna panels to use to measure the plurality of downlink beams from a base station, a measurement of a signal metric of each downlink beam of the plurality of downlink beams received from the base station using each of the one or more antenna panels” [0064] which reads on the claimed “Rx antenna panel and a Rx beam” since a Rx antenna panel and a Rx beam is used by the UE to receive and measure the downlink beams from the base station);
wherein to obtain the DL Rx indicator comprises to determine the DL Rx indicator, wherein the Rx antenna panel and the Rx beam indicative in the DL Rx indicator is a Rx antenna panel and a Rx beam of at least one Rx antenna panel and at least one Rx beam used by the apparatus for the reference signal measurements (see citation above),
to perform the reference signal measurements comprises to perform the reference signal measurements by using the at least one Rx antenna panel and the at least one Rx beam (see citation above), and
to report a measurement result of the performed reference signal measurements comprises to report the determined DL Rx indicator (antenna panel identifier) (see in Zhou “In method 400, at block 408, UE 104 may transmit, to the base station, a beam report including, for each downlink beam of the plurality of downlink beams, the signal metric measured of the downlink beam and an antenna panel identifier of one of the one or more antenna panels used to measure the downlink beam” [0065]).
Regarding claim 7, Zhou and Park in combination teaches the apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to:
determine a Tx antenna panel and a Tx beam usable by the apparatus and related to the at least one Rx antenna panel and the at least one Rx beam used during the reference signal measurements (see in Zhou “For example, communicating component 198 may transmit the uplink transmissions simultaneously, or otherwise in overlapping time periods, using the one or more antenna panels (for example, multiple different antenna panels) and using the TPMI, codebook, or the like indicated for one or more antenna panels” 0070] which suggests the UE may determine antenna panel for uplink transmissions which reads on the claimed “Tx antenna panel and a Tx beam” from the antenna panel used for measurements),
wherein to determine the DL Rx indicator comprises to determine the DL Rx indicator to comprise RS resource related information (time periods) corresponding to the determined Tx antenna panel and the determined Tx beam (see above citation for time periods for uplink transmissions).
Regarding claim 8, Zhou and Park in combination teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the RS resource related information comprises a RS resource set indicator (SRS resource set identifier) for identifying at least one RS resource related to the Tx antenna panel and corresponding to the Rx antenna panel, and at least one RS resource related to the Rx beam (see in Zhou “In some implementations, panel configuring component 912…may determine the configuration of one or more antenna panels to use to measure the plurality of downlink beams from the base station…In addition, each antenna panel may have an associated antenna panel identifier. In some examples, the antenna panel identifier may include a SRS resource set identifier…” [0061]).
Regarding claim 9, Zhou and Park in combination teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the DL Rx indicator is separately configured for different types of reference signals, and
the DL Rx indicator is commonly configured for two or more types of reference signals (see in Zhou “The RS may include demodulation RS (DM-RS) (indicated as Rx for one particular configuration, where 1 0Ox is the port number, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) and channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) for channel estimation at the UE” [0045]).
Regarding claim 10, Zhou and Park in combination teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein to perform the reference signal measurements comprises to measure a DL L1- reference signal received power (RSRP) of the at least one received reference signal (see in Zhou “For example, beam measuring component 914 may measure the signal metric as a received signal strength or quality (for example, reference signal received power (RSRP)…” [0064]).
Claim 19 recites subject matter similar to claim 1 and is therefore rejected on the same basis.
Claim 20 recites subject matter similar to claim 3 and is therefore rejected on the same basis.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 and 6 would be allowable if claim 3 is rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Nam T Huynh whose telephone number is (571)272-5970. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-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, Alison Slater can be reached at 571-270-0375. 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.
/NAM T HUYNH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
Prosecution Insights