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 § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 39 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claim(s) is/are directed to a signal per se, mere information in the form of data.
Paragraph [0210] of applicant’s specification suggests “the computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access, or a data storage device such as a server including one or more available media integrations or a data center. The available media can be a magnetic media (such as a floppy disk, a hard drive, a magnetic tape), an optical media (such as a high- density digital video disc (DVD)), or a semiconductor media (such as a solid state disk (SSD)), etc.” However, the term computer readable medium in the specification is not explicitly limited to hardware devices only, which is open ended to transitory signal properties. By incorporating the term non-transitory in front of computer-readable storage medium would make the claim 35 USC 101 compliant.
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) 1-6, 11-18, 28 and 39 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Raghavan et al., US2022/0322317 A1, and further in view of Elshafie et al., US2024/0171249 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Raghavan teaches A method for adjusting a number of multiple in multiple out (MIMO) transmission layers of a terminal (Fig. 2, par. 0095; a wireless communications system 200 that supports techniques for indicating beam switching capability), comprising: receiving, by a network device, switching reporting information of an antenna switching configuration sent by a terminal device (par. 0135; the UE 115-a to report multiple beam switching capabilities with a finer granularity, such as on a per-antenna module basis and/or a per-antenna subarray basis. Enabling the UE 115-a to report multiple beam switching capabilities at a finer granularity may enable the network (e.g., base station 105-a) to schedule communications at the UE 115-a over beams and time periods which account for individual RF settling times and beam switching times at the respective antenna modules and/or antenna arrays of the UE 115-a.).
Raghavan fails to teach the following recited limitation. However, Elshafie teaches reconfiguring, by the network device, a maximum number of MIMO transmission layers supported by the terminal device according to the switching reporting information (par. 0068; in order to enable partial spatial sounding, the UE may report an SRS grouping capability to the base station (e.g., together with reporting an SRS antenna switching capability), and the UE and the base station may coordinate an antenna grouping structure to configure a number of antenna groups and/or a number of antennas per antenna group, where the antenna grouping structure may be uniform (e.g., an equal number of antennas per antenna group) or the antenna grouping structure may be non-uniform (e.g., where different antenna groups have different numbers of antennas).). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Raghavan’s teachings with Elshafie’s teachings in order to estimate a channel matrix for the multiple antenna groups associated with the UE based at least in part on the inter-group correlation and measurements of an SRS that is transmitted by the UE using one or more antennas in the reference group (Elshafie, par. 0008).
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Raghavan and Elshafie teach all the limitations in claims 1 and 11. Raghavan further teaches wherein the switching reporting information comprises at least one of following information: an antenna switching configuration to be triggered by the terminal device; or event information of the antenna switching configuration (par. 0094; beam switching capabilities of the UE 115).
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Raghavan and Elshafie teach all the limitations in claims 2 and 12. Raghavan further teaches wherein, the event information is a trigger level comprising a first level and a second level, and the second level is smaller than the first level; or the event information is a reporting cause comprising a first type of cause and a second type of cause (par. 0195).
Regarding claims 4, 14 and 15, Raghavan and Elshafie teach all the limitations in claims 3 and 13. Elshafie further teaches wherein the trigger level is the first level, or the reporting cause is the first type of cause, and reconfiguring the maximum number of MIMO transmission layers supported by the terminal device according to the switching reporting information comprises at least one of following steps: determining a first number of sending channels of the antenna switching configuration, and determining a maximum number of uplink MIMO transmission layers supported by the terminal device according to the first number of sending channels and a preset maximum number of uplink MIMO transmission layers supported by the terminal device; or, determining a first number of receiving channels of the antenna switching configuration, and determining a maximum number of downlink MIMO transmission layers supported by the terminal device according to the first number of receiving channels and a preset maximum number of downlink MIMO transmission layers supported by the terminal device (par. 0077). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Raghavan’s teachings with Elshafie’s teachings in order to estimate a channel matrix for the multiple antenna groups associated with the UE based at least in part on the inter-group correlation and measurements of an SRS that is transmitted by the UE using one or more antennas in the reference group (Elshafie, par. 0008).
Regarding claims 5 and 16, Raghavan and Elshafie teach all the limitations in claims 4 and 15. Elshafie further teaches wherein determining the maximum number of uplink MIMO transmission layers supported by the terminal device according to the first number of sending channels and the preset maximum number of uplink MIMO transmission layers supported by the terminal device comprises: determining a minimum value between the first number of sending channels and the preset maximum number of uplink MIMO transmission layers as the maximum number of uplink MIMO transmission layers supported by the terminal device (par. 0077).
Regarding claims 6 and 17, Raghavan and Elshafie teach all the limitations in claims 4 and 15. Elshafie further teaches wherein determining the maximum number of downlink MIMO transmission layers supported by the terminal device according to the first number of receiving channels and the preset maximum number of downlink MIMO transmission layers supported by the terminal device comprises: determining a minimum value between the first number of receiving channels and the preset maximum number of downlink MIMO transmission layers as the maximum number of downlink MIMO transmission layers supported by the terminal device (par. 0077).
Regarding claim 11, Raghavan teaches A method for adjusting a number of multiple in multiple out (MIMO) transmission layers of a terminal (Fig. 2, par. 0095; a wireless communications system 200 that supports techniques for indicating beam switching capability), comprising: sending, by a terminal device, switching reporting information of an antenna switching configuration of the terminal device to a network device (par. 0135; the UE 115-a to report multiple beam switching capabilities with a finer granularity, such as on a per-antenna module basis and/or a per-antenna subarray basis. Enabling the UE 115-a to report multiple beam switching capabilities at a finer granularity may enable the network (e.g., base station 105-a) to schedule communications at the UE 115-a over beams and time periods which account for individual RF settling times and beam switching times at the respective antenna modules and/or antenna arrays of the UE 115-a.).
Raghavan fails to teach the following recited limitation. However, Elshafie teaches receiving, by the terminal device, a maximum number of MIMO transmission layers supported by the terminal device configured by the network device according to the switching reporting information (par. 0068; in order to enable partial spatial sounding, the UE may report an SRS grouping capability to the base station (e.g., together with reporting an SRS antenna switching capability), and the UE and the base station may coordinate an antenna grouping structure to configure a number of antenna groups and/or a number of antennas per antenna group, where the antenna grouping structure may be uniform (e.g., an equal number of antennas per antenna group) or the antenna grouping structure may be non-uniform (e.g., where different antenna groups have different numbers of antennas).). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Raghavan’s teachings with Elshafie’s teachings in order to estimate a channel matrix for the multiple antenna groups associated with the UE based at least in part on the inter-group correlation and measurements of an SRS that is transmitted by the UE using one or more antennas in the reference group (Elshafie, par. 0008).
Regarding claim 18, Raghavan teaches A network device (Fig. 12 item 1205, par. 0221; the device 105 is a base station), comprising a processor and a memory having a computer program stored thereon (par. 0221; the device 1205 may include a memory 1230, code 1235, a processor 1240.), wherein the processor is configured to: a transceiver unit, configured to receive switching reporting information of an antenna switching configuration sent by a terminal device (par. 0135; the UE 115-a to report multiple beam switching capabilities with a finer granularity, such as on a per-antenna module basis and/or a per-antenna subarray basis. Enabling the UE 115-a to report multiple beam switching capabilities at a finer granularity may enable the network (e.g., base station 105-a) to schedule communications at the UE 115-a over beams and time periods which account for individual RF settling times and beam switching times at the respective antenna modules and/or antenna arrays of the UE 115-a.).
Raghavan fails to teach the following recited limitation. However, Elshafie teaches a processing unit, configured to reconfigure a maximum number of MIMO transmission layers supported by the terminal device according to the switching reporting information (par. 0068; in order to enable partial spatial sounding, the UE may report an SRS grouping capability to the base station (e.g., together with reporting an SRS antenna switching capability), and the UE and the base station may coordinate an antenna grouping structure to configure a number of antenna groups and/or a number of antennas per antenna group, where the antenna grouping structure may be uniform (e.g., an equal number of antennas per antenna group) or the antenna grouping structure may be non-uniform (e.g., where different antenna groups have different numbers of antennas).). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Raghavan’s teachings with Elshafie’s teachings in order to estimate a channel matrix for the multiple antenna groups associated with the UE based at least in part on the inter-group correlation and measurements of an SRS that is transmitted by the UE using one or more antennas in the reference group (Elshafie, par. 0008).
Regarding claim 28, Raghavan and Elshafie teach all the limitations in claim 11. Raghavan further teaches A terminal device (Fig. 8 item 805; a device 805 is a UE 115), a processor and a memory having a computer program stored thereon, wherein the processor is configured to perform the method according claim 11 (par. 0189; The device 805 may include components such as a communications manager 820, an input/output (I/O) controller 810, a transceiver 815, an antenna 825, a memory 830, code 835, and a processor 840.).
Regarding claim 39, Raghavan and Elshafie teach all the limitations in claim 1. Raghavan further teaches A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein, the method according to claim l is implemented when the instructions are executed (par. 0279; A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a first wireless device, the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to perform a method of any of aspects 1 through 14.).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-10 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. Applicant is requested to incorporate the claim limitations of claim 7 into independent claims 1, 11 and 18, because none of the references teach the claimed wherein the trigger level is the second level, or the reporting cause is the second type of cause, and reconfiguring the maximum number of MIMO transmission layers supported by the terminal device according to the switching reporting information comprises: determining the maximum number of MIMO transmission layers supported by the terminal device based on a configured antenna switching configuration that is adjusted by the network device.
Conclusion
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/AYODEJI O AYOTUNDE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649
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