Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 01, 2026
Application No. 18/771,058

METHODS AND APPARATUS OF MACHINE LEARNING BASED CHANNEL STATE INFORMATION (CSI) MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Jul 12, 2024
Priority
Jan 14, 2022 — provisional 63/266,816 +1 more
Examiner
STRANGE, AARON N
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp., Ltd.
OA Round
2 (Final)
68%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
2y 8m
Est. Remaining
84%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 68% — above average
68%
Career Allowance Rate
360 granted / 529 resolved
+8.1% vs TC avg
Strong +15% interview lift
Without
With
+15.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
4y 10m
Avg Prosecution
15 currently pending
Career history
531
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
13.2%
-26.8% vs TC avg
§103
50.4%
+10.4% vs TC avg
§102
13.1%
-26.9% vs TC avg
§112
14.3%
-25.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 529 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
CTNF 18/771,058 CTNF 80192 Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status Claims 1–20 are pending and examined herein. 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. The Examiner recommends filing a written authorization for Internet communication in response to the present action. Doing so permits the USPTO to communicate with Applicant using Internet email to schedule interviews or discuss other aspects of the application. Without a written authorization in place, the USPTO cannot respond to Internet correspondence received from Applicant. The preferred method of providing authorization is by filing form PTO/SB/439, available at: https://www.uspto.gov/PatentForms. See MPEP § 502.03 for other methods of providing written authorization. Claim Objections 07-29-01 AIA Claim 20 is objected to because of the following informalities: there appears to be a typographical error “one and instruction” in lines 1–2 . Appropriate correction is required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 1, 2, 8–12, and 17–20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang. et al. (US 2023/0109063) in view of Farmanbar et al. (US 2021/0067297) . With regard to claim 1, Wang discloses a method for machine learning based Channel State Information (CSI-RS) measurement and reporting, comprising: receiving, by a terminal device, configuration information of a set of “N” CSI-RS resources (network device sends configuration information of a CSI-RS; may include a normal density of the reference signal, which is representative of a set of “N” resources (e.g., 32 transmit ports))(¶262–263; ¶265-; ¶278); receiving, by the terminal device, “M” CSI RS resources out of the “N” CSI RS resources(terminal device receives a first reference signal with less density that the second reference signal, which is representative of a set of “M” resources (e.g., 16 transmit ports))(¶292–298); performing, by the terminal device, a determination on the “M” CSI-RS resources (the first CSI is obtained based on the first reference signal)(¶308); and generating, by the terminal device, a determined result for the “N” CSI-RS resources by applying a first neural network on a result of the determination on the “M” CSI-RS resources (the second CSI is obtained by inputting the first CSI into a neural network model to generate the second CSI)(¶309–312). Wang fails to specifically disclose that the determination on the “M” resources is a measurement or generating a beam measurement result. Farmanbar discloses a similar system for performing channel estimation and prediction based on sparse reference signaling and applying a neural network model (Abstract; ¶68). Farmanbar teaches measuring a subset of CSI-RS resources and generating a beam measurement result based on applying a neural network model to the measurement results (¶47–49; ¶54–55). This would have been an advantageous addition to the system disclosed by Wang since it would have allowed a beam measurement report to be generated using reduced measurements, decreasing workload of the terminal device and the quantity of signaling required in the network. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to perform a measurement operation on a subset of CSI-RS resources and generate a beam measurement result for the complete set using a neural network, in order to generate the report faster and to reduce load on the terminal device and the overall network. With regard to claim 2, the combination of Wang and Farmanbar collectively disclose reporting, by the terminal device, the beam measurement result (Farmanbar, ¶54–55) for the “N” CSI-RS resources to a base station (the second CSI is provided to the network device)(Wang, ¶312). With regard to claim 8, Wang further discloses receiving, by the terminal device, configuration information of the first neural network for beam measurement and reporting (neural network is trained based on the third CSI obtained based on the second reference signal)(¶278–280). With regard to claim 9, Wang further discloses calculating, by the terminal device, configuration information of the first neural network for beam measurement and reporting based on the result of the measurement on the “M” CSI-RS resources (the second CSI is obtained by inputting the first CSI into a neural network model to generate the second CSI)(¶309–312). With regard to claim 10, Wang further discloses receiving, by the terminal device, assistance information of the first neural network for the terminal device to calculate the configuration information of the first neural network (neural network is trained based on the third CSI obtained based on the second reference signal)(¶278–280). Claims 11, 12, and 17–20 are rejected under the same rationale as claims 1, 2, and 8–10, since they recite substantially identical subject matter. Any differences between the claims do not result in patentably distinct claims and all of the limitations are explicitly or inherently taught by the above cited art . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 3, 4, 6, 7, 13, 14, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Farmanbar further in view of Ingale et al. (US 2020/0053607) . With regard to claims 3 and 4, while the system disclosed by Wang in view of Farmanbar shows substantial features of the claimed invention (discussed above), it fails to specifically disclose reporting, by the terminal device, an indicator indicating “K” CSI-RS resources of the “N” CSI-RS resources to the base station or that the “K” CSI-RS resources are selected by the terminal device according to a predetermined threshold. Ingale discloses a similar wireless communication system (¶2). Ingale teaches generating a beam quality report indicating a set of resources to a base station, where the set of resources are selected according to a predetermined threshold (e.g., a set of qualified/suitable beams may be selected based on a signal strength threshold)(¶83). This would have been an advantageous addition to the system disclosed by Wang in view of Farmanbar since it would have included a list of suitable beams in the measurement report to notify the base station of the information without requiring the base station to determine the suitable beams independently. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to select the suitable beams and indicate the set of resources corresponding to those beams to the base station to notify the base station of the information without requiring the base station to determine the suitable beams independently. With regard to claims 6 and 7, while the system disclosed by Wang in view of Farmanbar shows substantial features of the claimed invention (discussed above), it fails to specifically disclose that the measurement on the “M” CSI-RS resources includes at least one of: a Layer-1 Reference Signal Received Power (L1-RSRP) measurement, or a Layer-1 Reference Signal Received Quality (L1-RSRQ) measurement or further disclose that the measurement on the “M” CSI-RS resources includes at least one of: a Layer-1 Signal to Interference Noise Ratio (L1-SINR) measurement, a hypothetical Block Error Rate (BLER) measurement, or corresponding transmission (Tx) beams for the “M” CSI-RS resources. Ingale discloses a similar wireless communication system (¶2). Ingale teaches generating a measurement report based on measurements including RSRP, RSRQ, and corresponding transmission beams for the measured resources (¶83). These types of measurements were well known in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention and performing them would have been a predictable variation of the measurements performed by Wang in view of Farmanbar. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to measure, RSRP, RSRQ, and/or corresponding transmission beams for the measured resources to collect and report these well-known statistics to the base station and determine which resources were most suitable. Claims 13, 14, and 16 are rejected under the same rationale as claims 3, 4, 6, and 7, since they recite substantially identical subject matter. Any differences between the claims do not result in patentably distinct claims and all of the limitations are explicitly or inherently taught by the above cited art . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 5 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Farmanbar further in view of Yi et al. (US 2021/0352492) . With regard to claim, while the system disclosed by Wang in view of Farmanbar shows substantial features of the claimed invention (discussed above), it fails to specifically disclose reporting, by the terminal device, a time stamp associated with the “N” CSI-RS resources to a base station. Yi discloses a similar system for performing beam measurement (Abstract). Yi teaches generating a measurement report including a time stamp in addition to various measurement information associated with a particular resource (¶68). This would have been an advantageous addition to the system disclosed by Wang in view of Farmanbar since it would have provided the base station with the time when the measurements were taken to ensure they are reflective of recent or current conditions. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a time stamp in addition to various measurement information associated with a particular resource to notify the base station of the time the measurements were taken and help ensure they reflect recent or current information. Claim 15 is rejected under the same rationale as claim 5, since they recite substantially identical subject matter. Any differences between the claims do not result in patentably distinct claims and all of the limitations are explicitly or inherently taught by the above cited art . Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. For example: Chavva et al. (US 2021/0351885) discloses a similar system that uses machine learning to predict CSI measurements (e.g., ¶149–159). Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AARON N STRANGE whose telephone number is (571)272-3959. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-5:00. 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, Matthew Sked can be reached at 571-272-7627. 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. /AARON N STRANGE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 6221 Application/Control Number: 18/771,058 Page 2 Art Unit: 6221 Application/Control Number: 18/771,058 Page 3 Art Unit: 6221 Application/Control Number: 18/771,058 Page 4 Art Unit: 6221 Application/Control Number: 18/771,058 Page 5 Art Unit: 6221 Application/Control Number: 18/771,058 Page 6 Art Unit: 6221 Application/Control Number: 18/771,058 Page 7 Art Unit: 6221
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Prosecution Timeline

Jul 12, 2024
Application Filed
May 12, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Aug 06, 2026
Response Filed
Sep 24, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
68%
Grant Probability
84%
With Interview (+15.4%)
4y 10m (~2y 8m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 529 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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