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 .
Response to Amendment/Arguments
With the reply filed 6/12/26, Applicant has amended claims 1 and 14 to include the limitations of claims 6 and 18 respectively, which are both now canceled. Claims 7 and 19 have also been amended to depend from claims 1 and 14, respectively, new claims 21 and 22 have been added, and claims 8 and 20, although withdrawn, have also been amended.
With respect to Applicant's arguments filed 6/12/26 regarding the rejection of claims 1 and 14 as amended, the remarks have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that the cited combination of Schmidt and Zhang fail to teach the amended claim limitations. In particular, Applicant submits that the combination of cited references fails to teach the steps where: (1) the network indicates the UE to measure and report crosstalk; (2) the UE measures and reports the first parameter; (3) the network determines second indication information based on the reported first parameter; and (4) the network sends the second indication information to the UE indicating whether to use polarization multiplexing for downlink reception (Remarks, p. 15). In response, it is noted that the subject matter that forms the amended claim language for claims 1 and 14 are taken from prior claims 6 and 18, which were rejected based on the combination of Schmidt and Zhang and further in view of Xu. The Xu reference was relied upon to teach the amended limitations from claims 6 and 18 now included in claims 1 and 14. Accordingly, the claims stand rejected, as indicated below.
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.
Claims 1-4, 7, 14-16 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schmidt et al. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2024/0014883 in view of Zhang et al. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2024/0007164 and Xu et al. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2023/0112997.
Regarding claim 1, Schmidt disclose a method, comprising: receiving, by a first communication apparatus (i.e. UE – Fig. 1) from a network device (i.e. base station), a first reference signal and a second reference signal transmitted on a first time domain resource, a first frequency domain resource, and a first space domain resource, as they are sent using polarization division multiplexing using the same physical resources (¶¶ [0027], [0034] [0040], the first reference signal transmitted in a first polarization direction and the second reference signal transmitted in a second polarization direction, and the first polarization direction and the second polarization direction are two mutually orthogonal polarization directions for a polarization multiplexing mechanism (¶¶ [0061], [0063]); measuring the first reference signal and the second reference signal to obtain a first parameter, the first parameter indicating a degree of crosstalk between the first and second reference signals (i.e. XPD – ¶¶ [0101]-[0103]); and sending, by the first communication apparatus, the first parameter to the network device (¶¶ [0109]-[0112]).
Schmidt does not expressly disclose that the feedback is provided in response to a first indication to feed back a parameter. Zhang discloses that a base station may send indication information to a communication device indicating the device to feed back a parameter associated with reference signals in the form of a CSI report configuration, and report a parameter associated with received reference signals based on the indication information (¶ [0194]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide an indication to a UE to feedback a measurement parameter, as suggested by Zhang, in the method of Schmidt, to inform the UE of reporting requirements.
Further, Schmidt and Zhang do not disclose receiving second indication information from the network device, the second indication information determined based on the first parameter and indicates whether the communication apparatus receives downlink information using the polarization multiplexing mechanism, and determining, based on the second information, whether to receive the downlink information using the polarization multiplexing mechanism.
Xu discloses that a base station may indicate a polarization to a UE, where the UE would process a downlink transmission based on the indication (¶¶ [0044]-([045]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide an indication of a polarization of a subsequent downlink transmission, as taught by Xu, based on a parameter associated with polarization measurements as performed by the base station in the method of Schmidt and Zhang, as it would reduce the amount of processing time performed at a UE to detect the polarization (see Xu, ¶ [0044]).
Regarding claim 2, Xu further discloses that a UE may generate an indication of a UE capability for switching polarizations and transmit the capability indication to a network entity (¶ [0048]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide information regarding UE polarization switching capability to a network entity, as suggested by Xu, in the method of the proposed combination, to ensure that the UE is provided with sufficient time to switch polarizations (¶ [0048]).
Regarding claim 3, Schmidt further discloses that measuring the first and second reference signals comprises at least measuring first signal energy and fourth signal energy, wherein the first signal energy is energy of the first reference signal (RSc,h) in the first polarization direction (i.e. h: Sc,hh) and the fourth signal energy is energy of the first reference signal in the second polarization direction (i.e. Sc,hv) (see ¶ [0102]).
Regarding claim 4, the first parameter [i.e. XPDh(i)] comprises first cross-polarization discrimination corresponding to the first reference signal, wherein the first XPD is determined based on a ratio of the first signal energy to the fourth signal energy (see ¶ [0102], eq. 2).
Regarding claim 7, in the proposed combination, one skilled in the art would recognize that indication information may be transmitted using one of the first polarization or second polarization as it is a dual polarization system employing one of two orthogonal polarization states (see Schmidt, ¶ [0043]), and the second indication would be sent using the polarization in use in order to indicate to the UE to switch to the other of the polarizations (see Xu, ¶ [0048]).
Regarding claim 14, Schmidt disclose a method, comprising: sending, by a second communication apparatus (i.e. base station – Fig. 1) to a terminal device (i.e. UE), a first reference signal and a second reference signal transmitted on a first time domain resource, a first frequency domain resource, and a first space domain resource, as they are sent using polarization division multiplexing using the same physical resources (¶¶ [0027], [0034] [0040], the first reference signal transmitted in a first polarization direction and the second reference signal transmitted in a second polarization direction, and the first polarization direction and the second polarization direction are two mutually orthogonal polarization directions for a polarization multiplexing mechanism (¶¶ [0061], [0063]); and receiving, by the second communication apparatus, a first parameter from the UE (¶¶ [0109]-[0112]), the first parameter indicating a degree of crosstalk between the first and second reference signals (i.e. XPD – ¶¶ [0101]-[0103]).
Schmidt does not expressly disclose that the feedback is provided in response to first indication information indicating the terminal device to feed back the parameter. Zhang discloses that a base station may send indication information to a communication device indicating the device to feed back a parameter associated with reference signals in the form of a CSI report configuration, and report a parameter associated with received reference signals based on the indication information (¶ [0194]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide an indication to a UE to feedback a measurement parameter, as suggested by Zhang, in the method of Schmidt, to inform the UE of reporting requirements.
Further Schmidt and Zhang do not expressly disclose sending, by the second communication apparatus, second indication information to the terminal device, the second indication information determined based on the first parameter and indicates whether the terminal device receives downlink information using the polarization multiplexing mechanism.
Xu discloses that a base station may indicate a polarization to a UE, where the UE would process a downlink transmission based on the indication (¶¶ [0044]-([045]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide an indication of a polarization of a subsequent downlink transmission, as taught by Xu, based on a parameter associated with polarization measurements as performed by the base station in the method of Schmidt and Zhang, as it would reduce the amount of processing time performed at a UE to detect the polarization (see Xu, ¶ [0044]).
Regarding claim 15, Xu further discloses that a UE may generate an indication of a UE capability for switching polarizations and transmit the capability indication to a network entity (¶ [0048]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide information regarding UE polarization switching capability to a network entity, as suggested by Xu, in the method of the proposed combination, to ensure that the UE is provided with sufficient time to switch polarizations (¶ [0048]).
Regarding claim 16, in the proposed combination, Schmidt discloses that the first parameter [i.e. XPDh(i)] comprises first cross-polarization discrimination corresponding to the first reference signal, wherein the first XPD is determined based on a ratio of first signal energy corresponding to energy of the first reference signal (RSc,h) in a first polarization direction (i.e. h: Sc,hh) to fourth signal energy corresponding to energy of the first reference signal in the second polarization direction (i.e. Sc,hv) (see ¶ [0102], eq. 2).
Regarding claim 19, in the proposed combination, one skilled in the art would recognize that indication information may be transmitted using one of the first polarization or second polarization as it is a dual polarization system employing one of two orthogonal polarization states (see Schmidt, ¶ [0043]), and the second indication would be sent using the polarization in use in order to indicate to the UE to switch to the other of the polarizations (see Xu, ¶ [0048]).
Claims 5 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schmidt et al. in view of Zhang et al. and Xu et al. as applied to claims 1 and 14 above, and further in view of Lee et al. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2023/0269696 and Okamoto et al. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2020/0028586.
Regarding claim 5, Schmidt in combination with Zhang and Xu disclose a method for measuring and feeding back a parameter based on polarization-based reference signals, as described above. While as a matter of claim construction, limitations in the “wherein” clause indicating how the first reference signal and the second reference signal are generated are not considered to limit the claimed method, Schmidt et al. do not expressly disclose that the first and second reference signals are generated based on a pseudo-random sequence signal pair, and sequence initialization values corresponding to the first reference signal and the second reference signal are different from sequence initialization values corresponding to the pseudo-random sequence signal pair.
Lee discloses that a pseudorandom generator is initialized with an initial value in the generating of reference signals (see ¶ [0207], Table 7, p. 12), where Okamoto discloses that a pair of pseudo random sequence generators are employed for a pair of orthogonal polarization signals (see Fig. 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use pseudo-random sequence generators having unique initialization values to provide reference signals, as suggested by Lee and Okamoto, in the method of Schmidt, Zhang and Xu, as use of a pseudo random sequence generator is a known technique to generate reference signals (see MPEP § 2143.I.A.).
Regarding claim 17, Schmidt in combination with Zhang and Xu disclose a method for sending reference signals and receiving a feedback parameter indicating a degree of crosstalk between reference signals, as described above. While as a matter of claim construction, limitations in the “wherein” clause indicating how the first reference signal and the second reference signal are generated are not considered to limit the claimed method, Schmidt et al. do not expressly disclose that the first and second reference signals are generated based on a pseudo-random sequence signal pair, and sequence initialization values corresponding to the first reference signal and the second reference signal are different from sequence initialization values corresponding to the pseudo-random sequence signal pair.
Lee discloses that a pseudorandom generator is initialized with an initial value in the generating of reference signals (see ¶ [0207], Table 7, p. 12), where Okamoto discloses that a pair of pseudo random sequence generators are employed for a pair of orthogonal polarization signals (see Fig. 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use pseudo-random sequence generators having unique initialization values to provide reference signals, as suggested by Lee and Okamoto, in the method of Schmidt, Zhang and Xu, as use of a pseudo random sequence generator is a known technique to generate reference signals (see MPEP § 2143.I.A.).
Claims 21 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schmidt et al. in view of Zhang et al. and Xu et al. as applied to claims 1 and 14 above, and further in view of Seo et al. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2013/0235756.
Regarding claim 21, Schmidt in combination with Zhang and Xu disclose a method for measuring and feeding back a first parameter based on polarization-based reference signals, as described above, but do not expressly disclose sending the first parameter by using a newly added field in a CSI-Report, wherein the newly added field is indicated by the network device or preconfigured by the network device.
Seo discloses that a network device can configure a newly added field for a CSI-Report for use by the UE (¶¶ [0256]-[0257]), where the newly added field is indicated by the network device (see Fig. 14). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to configure a new field for a CSI-Report for UE usage, as suggested by Seo, in the method of Schmidt, Zhang and Xu, in order to provide added functionality for CSI reporting.
Regarding claim 22, Schmidt in combination with Zhang and Xu disclose a method for sending reference signals and receiving a first feedback parameter indicating a degree of crosstalk between reference signals, as described above, but do not expressly disclose receiving the first parameter by using a newly added field in a CSI-Report, wherein the newly added field is indicated or preconfigured by the second communication device.
Seo discloses that a network device can configure a newly added field for a CSI-Report for use by the UE (¶¶ [0256]-[0257]), where the newly added field is indicated by a second device (see Fig. 14). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to configure a new field for a CSI-Report for UE usage, as suggested by Seo, in the method of Schmidt, Zhang and Xu, in order to provide added functionality for CSI reporting.
Conclusion
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to David B. Lugo whose telephone number is 571-272-3043. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 9-6.
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/DAVID B LUGO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631 7/25/2026
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