DETAILED ACTION
This communication is responsive to Application #18686615 filed 02/26/2024. Claim(s) 5, 7-10, 17, 25, and 27 amended; Claim(s) 6, 11-16, 19-20, 22-23, 26, and 31 canceled. Claim(s) 1-5, 7-10, 17-18, 21, 24-25, and 27-30 is/are subject to examination.
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 .
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.
Claim Objections
Claim 10 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 10 “a antenna-port-domain” should be “an antenna-port-domain”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claim 29 is 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. Claim 29 recites the limitation “transmitting the second reference signal configuration to the network device”. The specifications and the drawings to not reasonably convey who the network device receives the second reference signal configuration from, such as from another network device or from the terminal device. For the purpose of examination, the examiner will interpret the limitation as ““transmitting the second reference signal configuration to the terminal device”.
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.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7-10, 17-18, 21, 24-25, and 27-30 are 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(s) 1 and 27 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential steps, such omission amounting to a gap between the steps. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted steps are: transmitting, at a terminal device and to a network device, first information indicating a capability of a terminal device related to an artificial intelligence (AI) data processing model; receiving, by the terminal and from the network device, a second reference signal configuration; performing a training phase of the AI data processing model using the second reference signal configuration; receiving, by the terminal and from the network device, a first reference signal configuration based on the first information which is used during a first phase of the AI data processing model; performing the first phase of the AI data processing model using the first reference signal configuration; determining, by the terminal, an association between the first reference signal and the second reference signal configuration which is used during the training phase of the AI data processing model. Otherwise, it is unclear in which order and how the steps are performed. For the purpose of examination, the examiner will interpret the claim limitations in any order.
Claim 9 recites the limitation "the number of resource" in line 30. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For the purpose of examination, the examiner will interpret the limitation as “a number of resources”. Claims 2-5, 7-10, 17-18, 21, and 24-25 are rejected as being dependent on claim 1.
Claim(s) 24 and 25 recites the limitation "the number of…CSI RS". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For the purpose of examination, the examiner will interpret the limitation as “a number of CSI RS”.
Claim 28 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential steps, such omission amounting to a gap between the steps. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted steps are: receiving, at a network device and from a terminal device, first information indicating a capability of a terminal device related to a machine learning (AI) data processing model; generating, by the network device, second reference signal configuration; transmitting, by the network device and to the terminal, second reference signal configuration; performing a training phase of the AI data processing model using the second reference signal configuration; generating a first reference signal configuration; and in accordance with an association between a first reference signal configuration and a second reference signal configuration, transmitting the first reference signal configuration to the terminal device; performing a first phase of the AI data processing model using the first reference signal configuration, wherein the first reference signal configuration is used during the first phase of the AI data processing model and the second reference signal configuration is used during the training phase of the AI data processing model. Otherwise, it is unclear in which order and how the steps are performed. For the purpose of examination, the examiner will interpret the claim limitations in any order. Claims 29-30 are rejected as being depending on claim 28.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-5, 9, 17, 21, 25, 27-28, and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by WU et al. (US 20240313838 A1), hereby referred to as WU.
Claim 1:
WU teaches a communication method, comprising: transmitting, at a terminal device and to a network device, first information indicating a capability of a terminal device related to an artificial intelligence (AI) data processing model (WU: FIG. 2 item 220 and para 93-94 (“The uplink signaling 220 may include a CSI report 225…based at least in part on channel estimation performed…in accordance with various machine learning techniques…”) wherein a transmission related to AI data processing model is an indication of a capability); receiving, from the network device, a first reference signal configuration which is used during a first phase of the Al data processing model (WU: FIG. 4 item 410 (“Receive configuration for CSI compression schemes”) wherein the current phase is the first phase); and determining an association between the first reference signal configuration and a second reference signal configuration which is used during a training phase of the Al data processing model (WU: FIG. 4 item 430 (“Report channel estimation using compression scheme having lower error”), para 100 (“…second CSI compression scheme may be a neural network-based CSI compression scheme…is configured or trained…”), and para 121 (“…which may include a reference signal configuration and a machine learning CSI configuration…”) wherein the machine learning CSI configuration/compression scheme is the second reference signal configuration that was used and developed during a training phase, and determining the association can mean to determine the relationship, such as higher or lower, between the configuration/schemes or even determining that one configuration is machine learning and other configuration is not machine learning).
Claim 3:
WU teaches the method of claim 1, wherein receiving the first reference signal configuration comprises: receiving a channel state information reference signal (CSI RS) configuration from the network device (WU: FIG. 4 item 410 and para 121 (“…which may include a reference signal configuration and a machine learning CSI configuration…”) wherein the CSI RS configuration includes both the reference signal configuration and machine learning CSI configuration), the CSI RS configuration comprising a first set of values for a set of parameters associated with the first phase of the Al data processing model (WU: para 41 (“…at least a first CSI compression scheme and a second CSI compression scheme…corresponding to different encoders and decoders…”) and para 90 (“…codebook-based CSI compression scheme, a CSI compression scheme configured by parameters of a codebook…”) wherein CSI compression scheme configurations have a set of parameters and a configuration, such as for legacy CSI compression scheme, is associated with a current phase/first phase; wherein a set of value can be interpreted as the computed error based on the parameters or the parameters being assigned a value) and a second set of values for the set of parameters associated with the training phase of the Al data processing model (WU: para 100 (“…second CSI compression scheme may be a neural network-based CSI compression scheme…is configured or trained…”)wherein CSI compression scheme configurations have a set of parameters and a configuration, such as a neural network CSI compression scheme, is associated with the training phase; wherein a set of value can be interpreted as the computed error based on the parameters or the parameters being assigned a value), the first set of values being lower than the second set of values (WU: para 124 (“…computing an error for each of the CSI compression schemes for which a configuration was received…the error may correspond to an error (e.g., an MSE) or other difference between a channel after decompression…and a channel before compression…use the legacy codebook for CSI calculation and compute the MSE verses an ideal channel…”) and para 125 (“…reporting channel estimation using a compression scheme having a lower error…”) wherein one set of parameters has a lower error than the other set of values); and determining the first reference signal configuration which comprises the first set of values (WU: para 125 (“…reporting channel estimation using a compression scheme having a lower error…”) wherein it is determined to use one of the configurations with the lowest error, such as the first configuration with its set of values).
Claim 4:
WU teaches the method of claim 1, wherein determining the association comprises: receiving, from the network device, second information indicating the association (WU: FIG. 2 item 250); and determining the association based on the second information (WU: para 121 (“…which may include a reference signal configuration and a machine learning CSI configuration…”) wherein the association can mean to determine the relationship, such as higher or lower, between the configuration/schemes or even determining that one configuration is machine learning and other configuration is not machine learning; wherein indicating the association can merely be indicating the two configurations to be associated or indicating the type of each configuration).
Claim 5:
WU teaches The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the network device, a start indication to apply the first reference signal configuration (WU: FIG. 4 item 410 and para 124 (“…computing an error for each of the CSI compression schemes for which a configuration was received at 410…”) wherein compression schemes are applied to determine error based on receiving the indication of configurations); and applying the first reference signal configuration based on the start indication during the first phase of the Al data processing model (WU: FIG. 4 item 410 wherein the current phase is the first phase).
Further limitations are considered optional.
Claim 9:
WU teaches The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of:
the first information comprises a capability for time-domain, and wherein the capability for time-domain indicates at least one of: a support of a periodicity of channel state information reference signal (CSI RS) (WU: para 88 (“…CSI reports…may be performed according to a periodic interval…”));
the first information comprises a capability for frequency-domain, and wherein the capability for frequency-domain indicates at least one of: a frequency occupancy range where the terminal device is able to perform inference (WU: para 84 (“The UE 115 may report feedback…across a system of bandwidth…”)) or whether the terminal device supports a transmission of the CSI RS on a carrier during the first phase of the AI data processing model (WU: FIG. 4 item 430 wherein a report of the CSI-RS is support of receiving a transmission of CSI RS on a carrier during the current/first phase);
the first information comprises a capability for antenna-port-domain, and wherein the capability for antenna-port-domain indicates at least one of: which antenna port is used during the first phase of the AI data processing model (WU: para 84 (“The UE 115 may provide feedback…a port selection type codebook…”));
or the first information comprises a capability for beam-domain, and wherein the capability for beam-domain indicates at least one of: the number of resource for beam management during the first phase of the data processing model (WU: The UE 115 may provide feedback for beam selection…(PMI) or codebook-based feedback…”) wherein a number of resources for beam management are indicated).
Further limitations are considered optional.
Claim 17:
WU teaches the method of claim 1, but does not explicitly disclose further comprising at least one of: determining a time domain reference point for generating CSI report based on the capability of the terminal device (WU: para 88 (“…generation of CSI reports…according to periodic interval…”) wherein the time period for generating CSI report is based on what the terminal is able to do).
Claim 21:
WU teaches The method of claim 1, further comprising one of: generating the CSI report based on a measurement of the CSI RS (WU: FIG. 4 item 430 reporting CSI based on measured CSI RS).
Claim 25:
WU teaches The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a beam reference signal based on the associated reference signal during the training phase of the AI data processing model (WU: Fig. 4 item 420 and 430 wherein CSI-RS is determined/measured in the current/first phase based on neural network compression scheme for CSI RS).
Claim 27:
WU teaches a terminal device comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions thereon (WU: FIG. 10 item 1040 (“Processor”) and item 1030 (“Memory”)).
For further limitations, see rejection for claim 1 above.
Claim 28:
WU teaches a communication method, comprising: receiving, at a network device and from a terminal device, first information indicating a capability of a terminal device related to a machine learning (AI) data processing model (WU: FIG. 2 item 220 and para 93-94 (“The uplink signaling 220 may include a CSI report 225…based at least in part on channel estimation performed…in accordance with various machine learning techniques…”) wherein a transmission related to AI data processing model is an indication of a capability); and in accordance with an association between a first reference signal configuration and a second reference signal configuration (WU: para 121 (“…which may include a reference signal configuration and a machine learning CSI configuration…”) wherein determining the association can mean determining that one configuration is machine learning and other configuration is not machine learning), transmitting the first reference signal configuration to the terminal device (WU: FIG. 4 item 410 (“Receive configuration for CSI compression schemes”) wherein the current phase is the first phase), wherein the first reference signal configuration is used during a first phase of the AI data processing model and the second reference signal configuration is used during a training phase of the AI data processing model (WU: FIG. 4 item 410 (“Receive configuration for CSI compression schemes”) and para 100 (“…second CSI compression scheme may be a neural network-based CSI compression scheme…is configured or trained…”)wherein the neural network based CSI compression scheme/configuration is used during the training phase).
Claim 30:
WU teaches the method of claim 28. For further limitations, see rejection for claim 3 above.
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) 2, 18, 24, and 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WU in view of ABDELGHAFFAR et al. (US 20210067220 A1), hereby referred to as ABDEL.
Claim 2:
WU teaches The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving the second reference signal configuration from the network device (WU: para 100 (“…second CSI compression scheme may be a neural network-based CSI compression scheme…is configured or trained…”) and para 121 (“…which may include a reference signal configuration and a machine learning CSI configuration…”) wherein the second RS configuration is the machine learning CSI configuration); and wherein the first reference signal configuration is associated with the first phase of the Al data processing model, and the second reference signal configuration is associated with the training phase of the Al data processing model (WU: para 100 (“…second CSI compression scheme may be a neural network-based CSI compression scheme…is configured or trained…”), and para 121 (“…which may include a reference signal configuration and a machine learning CSI configuration…”) wherein the reference signal configuration of the current/first phase is the first reference signal configuration and the machine learning CSI configuration/compression scheme is the second reference signal configuration that was used and developed during a training phase).
However, WU does not explicitly disclose wherein the first reference signal configuration comprises a first identity and the second reference signal configuration comprises a second identity.
ABDEL, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the first reference signal configuration comprises a first identity and the second reference signal configuration comprises a second identity (ABDEL: para 43 (“…the CSI reports are prioritized based on a report configuration identifier (reportConfigID)…”) wherein reference signal configurations are known to have identity).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to have modified the reference signal configurations of WU with the identity of ABDEL for the benefit of avoiding ambiguities in which CSI report is to be transmitted (ABDEL: para 53).
Claim 18:
WU teaches the method of claim 1, channel state information reference signal during the first phase of the AI and channel state information reference signal during the training phase of the AI data processing model (WU: para 100 (“…second CSI compression scheme may be a neural network-based CSI compression scheme…is configured or trained…”), and para 121 (“…which may include a reference signal configuration and a machine learning CSI configuration…”) wherein the CSI RS of the reference signal configuration is associated with the current/first phase and the CSI RS of the machine learning CSI configuration/compression scheme was used and developed during a training phase), but does not explicitly disclose wherein a first priority of channel state information reference is lower than second priority of channel state information reference signal.
ABDEL, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein a first priority of channel state information reference signal is lower than second priority of channel state information reference signal (ABDEL: para 135 (“…a first priority of the first CSI report configuration being higher than a second priority of the second CSI report configuration, to report the first CSI and drop the second CSI.”)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to have modified the reference signal configurations of WU with the priorities of ABDEL for the benefit of avoiding ambiguities in which CSI report is to be transmitted (ABDEL: para 53).
Claim 24:
WU teaches the method of claim 1, an associated CSI RS resource during the training phase of the AI data processing model (WU: para 100 (“…second CSI compression scheme may be a neural network-based CSI compression scheme…is configured or trained…”) wherein CSI RS resource during the training phase is the neural network-based CSI compression scheme resources), but does not explicitly disclose further comprising: determining a channel quality indicator based on the number of channel state information reference signal (CSI RS) ports configured in an associated CSI RS resource.
ABDEL, in the same field of endeavor, teaches determining a channel quality indicator based on the number of channel state information reference signal (CSI RS) ports configured in an associated CSI RS resource (ABDEL: para 90 (“…the UE may compute the PMI, RI and/or CQI based on the union set of all layers and/or ports contained…”)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to have modified the reference signal configurations of WU with the priorities of ABDEL for the benefit of reducing power consumption (ABDEL: para 6).
Claim 29:
WU teaches the method of claim 28 (see 112(a) above). For further limitations, see rejection for claim 2 above.
Claim(s) 7 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WU in view of REN et al. (US 20240040404 A1), hereby referred to as REN.
Claim 7:
WU teaches the method of claim 5, but does not explicitly disclose further comprising: receiving, from the network device, an indication to end an application of the first reference signal configuration; and causing an end of the application of the first reference signal configuration based on the indication.
REN, in the same field of endeavor, teaches receiving, from the network device, an indication to end an application of the first reference signal configuration; and causing an end of the application of the first reference signal configuration based on the indication (REN: FIG. 2 item 220 and para 117 (…determining when to transmit OOD event…may include a first condition-based triggering, such that when there is an OOD event detected, UE 115-a may stop a task model application…”) wherein the indication is the configuration of the OOD event which causes the application to end).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to have modified WU with REN for the benefit of improved reliability, reduced latency, improved user experience, reduced power consumption, effective utilization of resources, and improved coordination (REN: para 198).
Claim 8:
WU teaches the method of claim 5, wherein the condition comprises a difference between an output from the AI data processing model and a measured value exceeds the threshold value (WU: para 103 (“a condition for evaluating or selecting between a first CSI compression scheme and a second CSI compression scheme may involve a calculation or comparison of differences of errors associated…mean-squared error…power availability…power consumption…processor availability…processor load…”) wherein ending one configuration for another configuration is based on the condition comprising a difference between measured values, such as MSE; wherein the configuration difference not meeting the threshold/exceeding the threshold causes the ending of one configuration for another configuration), but does not explicitly disclose further comprising: in accordance with a determination that a condition for ending an application of the first reference signal configuration is met, causing an end of the application of the first reference signal configuration.
REN, in accordance with a determination that a condition for ending an application of the first reference signal configuration is met, causing an end of the application of the first reference signal configuration (REN: para 117 (…determining when to transmit OOD event…may include a first condition-based triggering, such that when there is an OOD event detected, UE 115-a may stop a task model application…”) wherein the condition is an OOD event).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to have modified WU with REN for the benefit of improved reliability, reduced latency, improved user experience, reduced power consumption, effective utilization of resources, and improved coordination (REN: para 198).
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WU in view of ECHIGO et al. (US 20240187186 A1), hereby referred to as ECHIGO.
Claim 10:
WU teaches the method of claim 1, but does not explicitly disclose wherein at least one of:
the first reference signal configuration comprises a time-domain configuration, and wherein the time-domain configuration indicates a transmission of channel state information reference signal (CSI RS) with less time-domain occupancies than the second reference signal configuration;
the first reference signal configuration comprises a frequency-domain configuration, and wherein the frequency-domain configuration indicates a transmission of channel state information reference signal (CSI RS) with less frequency-domain occupancies than the second reference signal configuration;
the first reference signal configuration comprises a antenna-port-domain configuration, and wherein the antenna-port-domain configuration indicates a transmission of channel state information reference signal (CSI RS) with less antenna-port-domain occupancies than the second reference signal configuration;
or the first reference signal configuration comprises a beam-domain configuration, and wherein the beam-domain configuration indicates a transmission of channel state information reference signal with less beam-domain occupancies than the second reference signal configuration.
ECHIGO, in the same field of endeavor, teaches the first reference signal configuration comprises a frequency-domain configuration, and wherein the frequency-domain configuration indicates a transmission of channel state information reference signal (CSI RS) with less frequency-domain occupancies than the second reference signal configuration (ECHIGO: FIG. 8 (“Difference Between Densities of Training CSI-RS and Test CSI-RS”) and para 254 (“Density of the CSI-RS of the second configuration may be lower than density of the CSI-RS of the first configuration”) wherein the frequency-domain configuration of one reference signal configuration results/indicates lower density/frequency-domain occupancy). Further limitations are considered optional.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to have modified WU with ECHIGO for the benefit of high-accuracy channel estimation and efficient utilization of resources (ECHIGO: para 7).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
ZHANG et al. (US 20210345364 A1).
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/A.T.N./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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