DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is a response to an application filed on August 8, 2024. Claims 1-16 are currently pending and ready for 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 .
Relevant Technical Information Submittal Requirement
Requirement — Overview
The applicant is required to submit copies of non-patent literature and relevant technical information as set forth below.
Basis for Requirement
35 U.S.C. § 131 provides:
The Director shall cause an examination to be made of the application and the alleged new invention; and if on such examination it appears that the applicant is entitled to a patent under the law, the Director shall issue a patent therefor.
37 C.F.R. § 1.105(a) provides:
In the course of examining or treating a matter in a pending or abandoned application filed under 35 U.S.C. 111 or 371 (including a reissue application), in a patent, or in a reexamination proceeding, the examiner or other Office employee may require the submission, from individuals identified under § 1.56(c), or any assignee, of such information as may be reasonably necessary to properly examine or treat the matter, for example:
….
(iii) Related information: A copy of any non-patent literature, published application, or patent (U.S. or foreign), by any of the inventors, that relates to the claimed invention.
(iv) Information used to draft application: A copy of any non-patent literature, published application, or patent (U.S. or foreign) that was used to draft the application.
(v) Information used in invention process: A copy of any non-patent literature, published application, or patent (U.S. or foreign) that was used in the invention process, such as by designing around or providing a solution to accomplish an invention result.
…
(viii) Technical information known to applicant. Technical information known to applicant concerning the related art, the disclosure, the claimed subject matter, other factual information pertinent to patentability, or concerning the accuracy of the examiner’s stated interpretation of such items.
Background
The applicant has stated in a publicly available European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) record that the published international patent application, WO2025036259 A1, which is a priority parent application of the present application, Application No. 18/798,554 (“the Application”), “may be or may become ESSENTIAL in relation to at least the ETSI Work Item(s), STANDARD(S) and/or TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION(S) identified in the attached IPR Information Statement Annex.”1
Necessity for this Requirement.
This Requirement is issued pursuant to the Director’s duty and authority to examine patent applications. See 35 U.S.C. § 131; 37 C.F.R. § 1.105(a). The ETSI record indicates the applicant likely possesses information relating to the ETSI Work Item(s), STANDARD(S) and/or TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION(S) that is necessary for a more complete understanding of the invention and its context. See MPEP § 704.11. Such information may include non-patent literature and technical materials (e.g., contribution papers or Tdocs) authored, generated, or submitted by the applicant or others that form the basis of, or resulted from, the claimed invention.
Applicant is Required to Submit:
Copies of any non-patent literature relating to the ETSI Work Item(s), STANDARD(S) and/or TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION(S) identified in the ETSI record for the Application, which satisfies any of the following criteria:
Authored by any of the inventors and related to the claimed invention,
Used to draft the present application, or
Used in the invention process (for example, used to design around prior art or to provide a solution that enabled the claimed invention); and
Any technical information known to the applicant relating to the ETSI Work Item(s), STANDARD(S) and/or TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION(S) identified in the ETSI record for the Application, which concerns the related art, the disclosure, the claimed subject matter, other factual information pertinent to patentability, or the accuracy of the examiner’s stated interpretation of such items.
Instructions to Applicant
A complete reply to this Requirement is a reply to each enumerated requirement for information giving either the information required or a statement that the information required to be submitted is unknown and/or is not readily available to the applicant. There is no requirement for the applicant to show that the required information was not, in fact, readily attainable, but the applicant is required to make a good faith attempt to obtain the information and to make a reasonable inquiry once the information is requested. See MPEP § 704.12(b).
This Requirement is subject to the provisions of 37 CFR §§ 1.134, 1.135 and 1.136 and is accorded the same period for reply as the action on the merits sent with this Requirement. See MPEP § 704.13 (third paragraph). EXTENSIONS OF THIS TIME PERIOD MAY BE GRANTED UNDER 37 CFR 1.136 (a).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on January 6, 2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section151, 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
Claims 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhu et al. (US Published Patent Application No. US 2026/0074764) (hereinafter “Zhu”).
Regarding claim 1, Zhu discloses a method (Figs. 3 and 4) performed by a User Equipment (UE) (See, Fig. 1, #102; ¶[0052], “terminal equipments 102, 103;” Fig. 3, “terminal Equipment;” and Fig. 9, #900), for enhancing Network Energy Saving (NES) (See, ¶[0079], “The inventor finds that in order to achieve network energy saving,…..the network device obtains CSI timely and accurately”. See, also, ¶¶[0126]-[0127]), the method comprising:
receiving (Fig. 3, #301; and Fig. 4, #401), from a Base Station (BS) (Fig. 4, “Network Device”), a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message (See, ¶[0055], “In the embodiments of the present disclosure, higher layer signaling may be e.g., radio resource control (RRC) signaling; for example, is called an RRC message”) comprising a trigger state list (See, ¶[0069], “a network device configures a set of trigger states for a terminal equipment via an RRC higher-layer parameter CSI-AperiodicTriggerStateList, and each trigger state may correspond to multiple CSI reporting settings”) and a Channel State Information (CSI) report configuration (See, Figs. 3 and 4, #301and #401, “CSI report configuration;” and ¶[0101], “the channel state information (CSI) report configuration may be configured via radio resource control (RRC) signaling”) that comprises one or more CSI report sub-configurations (See, Fig. 3, #301; and ¶[0080], “a terminal equipment receives a channel state information (CSI) report configuration, the channel state information (CSI) report configuration being related to L pieces of CSI, the channel state information (CSI) report configuration including S sub-configurations, where 1≤S≤L, one of the S sub-configurations corresponds to at least one piece of channel state information (CSI)”);
receiving (Fig. 3, #302; and Fig. 4, #402, the “indication information”), from the BS (Fig. 4, “Network Device”), a Downlink Control Information (DCI) format (See, ¶[0101], “the indication information may be DCI or an MAC CE”) indicating a trigger state (See, ¶[0070], “Each codepoint of the DCI field “CSI request” is associated with one trigger state”) in the trigger state list (See, ¶[0070], CSI-AperiodicTriggerStateList IE is used to configure an aperiodic trigger state list for the terminal equipment. Each codepoint of the DCI field “CSI request” is associated with one trigger state”), wherein the trigger state is associated with the CSI report configuration (See, e.g., ¶[0070], “When receiving a value associated with a trigger state, the terminal equipment will perform CSI-RS, CSI-IM and/or SSB (reference signal) measurements, and perform non-periodical reporting on L1 according to all entries in associatedReportConfigInfoList of the trigger state”) and indicates a subset of CSI report sub-configurations (See, ¶[0082], “the terminal equipment receives indication information, the indication information being used to trigger/indicate/activate at least one of the S sub-configurations;” and ¶[0102], “the indication information being used to trigger (indicate/activate) at least one of the S sub-configurations.” That is, a subset is ‘n’ sub-configurations, where 1 < n < S.) in the one or more CSI report sub-configurations (i.e., ‘S’ sub-configurations. See, ¶[0080], “the channel state information (CSI) report configuration including S sub-configurations”); and
applying the subset of CSI report sub-configurations (See, Fig. 4, #403; and ¶[0106], “the terminal equipment performs channel measurement according to triggered/indicated/activated M sub-configurations in S sub-configurations”) to perform a CSI reporting procedure on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) (See, Fig. 4, #404; and ¶[0107], “the terminal equipment transmits a channel state information (CSI) report;” and ¶[0058], “In a CSI report framework of the NR,….. an aperiodic CSI report (AP-CSI): transmitted only on a PUSCH.”).
Regarding claim 2/1, Zhu discloses a method comprising all elements recited in claim 1 as discussed above.
Zhu further discloses that the CSI report configuration is associated with one or more CSI Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resources (See, ¶[0080], “the channel state information (CSI) report configuration including S sub-configurations;” and ¶[0091], “the sub-configuration includes at least one of the following information: …the port information being used to indicate partial ports of channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources associated with the channel state information (CSI) report configuration;”) and one or more CSI-RS antenna ports (See, ¶[0080], “the channel state information (CSI) report configuration including S sub-configurations;” ¶[0091], the sub-configuration includes at least one of the following information: …. the port information being used to indicate partial ports of channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources associated with the channel state information (CSI) report configuration;” and ¶[0092], “the port information indicates partial ports or port subsets”) and a CSI report sub-configuration (one of the n sub-configurations, see the above rejection of Claim 1 for the discussion of the n number of sub-configurations being the subset.) in the subset (i.e., n sub-configurations, n < S) of CSI report sub-configurations (the ‘S’ sub-configuration) comprises at least one of the following:
a first field indicating a sub-configuration Identifier (ID) (See, ¶[0098], “The CSI report configuration includes P sub-configurations, which may be that a CSI reporting configuration includes P-1 sub-configurations/codebook configuration indices/identifiers/information”),
a second field indicating a subset of CSI-RS resources in the one or more CSI-RS resources that is configured for a channel measurement (See, ¶[0121], “The sub-configuration may be … a CSI-RS resource index;” and ¶[0106], “the terminal equipment performs channel measurement according to triggered/indicated/activated M sub-configurations in S sub-configurations”), or
a third field indicating a subset of CSI-RS antenna ports in the one or more CSI-RS antenna ports (See, ¶[0121], The sub-configuration may be … port subset indication information (index)”).
Regarding claim 3/2, Zhu discloses a method comprising all elements recited in claim 2 as discussed above.
Zhu further discloses that the third field comprises a bit string and each bit in the bit string corresponds to a CSI-RS antenna port of the one or more CSI-RS antenna ports (See, ¶0092], “the port information indicates partial ports or port subsets in the form of a bitmap, wherein each bit in the bitmap represents a port, … or a predefined port group”), the method further comprising:
in response to determining that a bit in the bit string is set to a first value (‘1’), enabling a CSI-RS antenna port that corresponds to the bit for calculating CSI in the CSI reporting procedure (See, ¶0092], “the port information indicates partial ports or port subsets in the form of a bitmap, wherein each bit in the bitmap represents a port,;” and ¶[0080], the channel state information (CSI) report configuration being related to L pieces of CSI, the channel state information (CSI) report configuration including S sub-configurations, where 1≤S≤L.” Thus, Zhu discloses that each port can be individually enabled/disabled for measurement, i.e., by S=L. See, also, e.g., ¶[0086], “one CSI report configuration includes P CSI sub-configurations, one of the CSI sub-configurations corresponds to one piece of CSI, for example, corresponds to one spatial domain/energy domain adjustment mode;” and ¶[0005], “Spatial-domain energy saving for example is dynamical adjustment of the number of antennas”. See, e.g., ¶¶[0355]-[0356], “wherein bits from the Most Significant Bit (MSB) to the Least Significant Bit (LSB) of the bitmap correspond to the first to the last trigger/indication/activation states respectively;” “wherein 1 indicates triggering/indication/activation of a sub-configuration, and 0 indicates releasing/stopping/deactivation of a sub-configuration.”); and
in response to determining that the bit in the bit string is set to a second value (‘0’), disabling the CSI-RS antenna port corresponding to the bit for calculating the CSI in the CSI reporting procedure (See, the above discussion of the immediately preceding claim limitation).
Regarding claim 4/3, Zhu discloses a method comprising all elements recited in claim 3 as discussed above.
Zhu further discloses that the method further comprising:
identifying the subset of CSI-RS antenna ports according to the third field by determining which bits in the bit string are set to the first value (See, ¶0092], “the port information indicates partial ports or port subsets in the form of a bitmap, wherein each bit in the bitmap represents a port, … or a predefined port group;” and ¶¶[0355]-[0356], “wherein bits from the Most Significant Bit (MSB) to the Least Significant Bit (LSB) of the bitmap correspond to the first to the last trigger/indication/activation states respectively;” “wherein 1 indicates triggering/indication/activation of a sub-configuration, and 0 indicates releasing/stopping/deactivation of a sub-configuration.” See, also, ¶¶[0087]-[0089], the sub-configurations 1-4 corresponding to 32 ports, 16 ports, 8 ports and 4 ports, respectively. That is, the “port information” for the sub-configuration 1 identifies all 32 out of the 32 ports by setting all bits in the bitmap to ‘1’ (or if grouped in to the 4 subsets, the bitmap would have the size of two bits, in which case the bits will be set to ‘11’). In the 2 bit bitmap example, the value of ‘00’ may identify, e.g., the 4 ports.).
Regarding claim 5/1, Zhu discloses a method comprising all elements recited in claim 1 as discussed above.
Zhu further discloses that the CSI report configuration further comprises a first field indicating a report Identifier (ID) (See, e.g., ¶[0065], “the terminal equipment obtains a CSI report config ID according to a CSI trigger state corresponding to a codepoint in the CSI request field; the terminal equipment determines a CSI report that needs to be activated.”) and a second field indicating the one or more CSI report sub-configurations (See, ¶[0098], “The CSI report configuration includes P sub-configurations, which may be that a CSI reporting configuration includes P-1 sub-configurations/codebook configuration indices/identifiers/information”).
Regarding claim 6/1, Zhu discloses a method comprising all elements recited in claim 1 as discussed above.
Zhu further discloses that the CSI reporting procedure is one of an Aperiodic CSI (A-CSI) reporting procedure (See, e.g., ¶[0058], “The CSI report may be configured as the following three types: an aperiodic CSI report (AP-CSI): transmitted only on a PUSCH”) and a Semi-Persistent CSI (SP-CSI) reporting procedure (See, e.g., ¶[0058], The CSI report may be configured as the following three types: a semi-persistent CSI report (SP-CSI): transmitted on a PUCCH or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)”).
Regarding claim 7, Zhu discloses a User Equipment (UE) (See, Fig. 1, #102; ¶[0052], “terminal equipments 102, 103;” Fig. 3, “terminal Equipment;” and Fig. 9, #900) for enhancing Network Energy Saving (NES) (See, ¶[0079], “The inventor finds that in order to achieve network energy saving,…..the network device obtains CSI timely and accurately”. See, also, ¶¶[0126]-[0127]), the UE comprising:
at least one processor (Fig. 9, #910); and
at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium (Fig. 9, #920) coupled to the at least one processor and storing one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the UE to (See, ¶[0303], “the memory 920 stores data and programs, and is coupled to the processor 910;” and ¶[0304], “the processor 910 may be configured to execute a program to implement the method for indicating channel state information as described in the embodiments”):
receive (Fig. 3, #301; and Fig. 4, #401), from a Base Station (BS) (Fig. 4, “Network Device”), a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message (See, ¶[0055], “In the embodiments of the present disclosure, higher layer signaling may be e.g., radio resource control (RRC) signaling; for example, is called an RRC message”) comprising a trigger state list (See, ¶[0069], “a network device configures a set of trigger states for a terminal equipment via an RRC higher-layer parameter CSI-AperiodicTriggerStateList, and each trigger state may correspond to multiple CSI reporting settings”) and a Channel State Information (CSI) report configuration (See, Figs. 3 and 4, #301and #401, “CSI report configuration;” and ¶[0101], “the channel state information (CSI) report configuration may be configured via radio resource control (RRC) signaling”) that comprises one or more CSI report sub-configurations (See, Fig. 3, #301; and ¶[0080], “a terminal equipment receives a channel state information (CSI) report configuration, the channel state information (CSI) report configuration being related to L pieces of CSI, the channel state information (CSI) report configuration including S sub-configurations, where 1≤S≤L, one of the S sub-configurations corresponds to at least one piece of channel state information (CSI)”);
receive (Fig. 3, #302; and Fig. 4, #402, the “indication information”), from the BS (Fig. 4, “Network Device”), a Downlink Control Information (DCI) format (See, ¶[0101], “the indication information may be DCI or an MAC CE”) indicating a trigger state (See, ¶[0070], “Each codepoint of the DCI field “CSI request” is associated with one trigger state”) in the trigger state list (See, ¶[0070], CSI-AperiodicTriggerStateList IE is used to configure an aperiodic trigger state list for the terminal equipment. Each codepoint of the DCI field “CSI request” is associated with one trigger state”), wherein the trigger state is associated with the CSI report configuration (See, e.g., ¶[0070], “When receiving a value associated with a trigger state, the terminal equipment will perform CSI-RS, CSI-IM and/or SSB (reference signal) measurements, and perform non-periodical reporting on L1 according to all entries in associatedReportConfigInfoList of the trigger state”) and indicates a subset of CSI report sub-configurations (See, ¶[0082], “the terminal equipment receives indication information, the indication information being used to trigger/indicate/activate at least one of the S sub-configurations;” and ¶[0102], “the indication information being used to trigger (indicate/activate) at least one of the S sub-configurations.” That is, a subset is ‘n’ sub-configurations, where 1 < n < S.) in the one or more CSI report sub-configurations (i.e., ‘S’ sub-configurations. See, ¶[0080], “the channel state information (CSI) report configuration including S sub-configurations”); and
apply the subset of CSI report sub-configurations (See, Fig. 4, #403; and ¶[0106], “the terminal equipment performs channel measurement according to triggered/indicated/activated M sub-configurations in S sub-configurations”) to perform a CSI reporting procedure on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) (See, Fig. 4, #404; and ¶[0107], “the terminal equipment transmits a channel state information (CSI) report;” and ¶[0058], “In a CSI report framework of the NR,….. an aperiodic CSI report (AP-CSI): transmitted only on a PUSCH.”).
Regarding claim 8/7, Zhu discloses a UE comprising all elements recited in claim 7 as discussed above.
Zhu further discloses that the CSI report configuration is associated with one or more CSI Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resources (See, ¶[0080], “the channel state information (CSI) report configuration including S sub-configurations;” and ¶[0091], “the sub-configuration includes at least one of the following information: …the port information being used to indicate partial ports of channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources associated with the channel state information (CSI) report configuration;”) and one or more CSI-RS antenna ports (See, ¶[0080], “the channel state information (CSI) report configuration including S sub-configurations;” ¶[0091], the sub-configuration includes at least one of the following information: …. the port information being used to indicate partial ports of channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources associated with the channel state information (CSI) report configuration;” and ¶[0092], “the port information indicates partial ports or port subsets”) and a CSI report sub-configuration (one of the n sub-configurations, see the above rejection of Claim 1 for the discussion of the n number of sub-configurations being the subset.) in the subset (i.e., n sub-configurations, n < S) of CSI report sub-configurations (the ‘S’ sub-configuration) comprises at least one of the following:
a first field indicating a sub-configuration Identifier (ID) (See, ¶[0098], “The CSI report configuration includes P sub-configurations, which may be that a CSI reporting configuration includes P-1 sub-configurations/codebook configuration indices/identifiers/information”),
a second field indicating a subset of CSI-RS resources in the one or more CSI-RS resources that is configured for a channel measurement (See, ¶[0121], “The sub-configuration may be … a CSI-RS resource index;” and ¶[0106], “the terminal equipment performs channel measurement according to triggered/indicated/activated M sub-configurations in S sub-configurations”), or
a third field indicating a subset of CSI-RS antenna ports in the one or more CSI-RS antenna ports (See, ¶[0121], The sub-configuration may be … port subset indication information (index)”).
Regarding claim 9/8, Zhu discloses a UE comprising all elements recited in claim 8 as discussed above.
Zhu further discloses that the third field comprises a bit string and each bit in the bit string corresponds to a CSI-RS antenna port of the one or more CSI-RS antenna ports (See, ¶0092], “the port information indicates partial ports or port subsets in the form of a bitmap, wherein each bit in the bitmap represents a port, … or a predefined port group”), the method further comprising:
in response to determining that a bit in the bit string is set to a first value (‘1’), enabling a CSI-RS antenna port that corresponds to the bit for calculating CSI in the CSI reporting procedure (See, ¶0092], “the port information indicates partial ports or port subsets in the form of a bitmap, wherein each bit in the bitmap represents a port,;” and ¶[0080], the channel state information (CSI) report configuration being related to L pieces of CSI, the channel state information (CSI) report configuration including S sub-configurations, where 1≤S≤L.” Thus, Zhu discloses that each port can be individually enabled/disabled for measurement, i.e., by S=L. See, also, e.g., ¶[0086], “one CSI report configuration includes P CSI sub-configurations, one of the CSI sub-configurations corresponds to one piece of CSI, for example, corresponds to one spatial domain/energy domain adjustment mode;” and ¶[0005], “Spatial-domain energy saving for example is dynamical adjustment of the number of antennas”. See, e.g., ¶¶[0355]-[0356], “wherein bits from the Most Significant Bit (MSB) to the Least Significant Bit (LSB) of the bitmap correspond to the first to the last trigger/indication/activation states respectively;” “wherein 1 indicates triggering/indication/activation of a sub-configuration, and 0 indicates releasing/stopping/deactivation of a sub-configuration.”); and
in response to determining that the bit in the bit string is set to a second value (‘0’), disabling the CSI-RS antenna port corresponding to the bit for calculating the CSI in the CSI reporting procedure (See, the above discussion of the immediately preceding claim limitation).
Regarding claim 10/9, Zhu discloses a UE comprising all elements recited in claim 9 as discussed above.
Zhu further discloses that the one or more computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the UE to:
identify the subset of CSI-RS antenna ports according to the third field by determining which bits in the bit string are set to the first value (See, ¶0092], “the port information indicates partial ports or port subsets in the form of a bitmap, wherein each bit in the bitmap represents a port, … or a predefined port group;” and ¶¶[0355]-[0356], “wherein bits from the Most Significant Bit (MSB) to the Least Significant Bit (LSB) of the bitmap correspond to the first to the last trigger/indication/activation states respectively;” “wherein 1 indicates triggering/indication/activation of a sub-configuration, and 0 indicates releasing/stopping/deactivation of a sub-configuration.” See, also, ¶¶[0087]-[0089], the sub-configurations 1-4 corresponding to 32 ports, 16 ports, 8 ports and 4 ports, respectively. That is, the “port information” for the sub-configuration 1 identifies all 32 out of the 32 ports by setting all bits in the bitmap to ‘1’ (or if grouped in to the 4 subsets, the bitmap would have the size of two bits, in which case the bits will be set to ‘11’). In the 2 bit bitmap example, the value of ‘00’ may identify, e.g., the 4 ports.).
Regarding claim 11/7, Zhu discloses a UE comprising all elements recited in claim 7 as discussed above.
Zhu further discloses that the CSI report configuration further comprises a first field indicating a report Identifier (ID) (See, e.g., ¶[0065], “the terminal equipment obtains a CSI report config ID according to a CSI trigger state corresponding to a codepoint in the CSI request field; the terminal equipment determines a CSI report that needs to be activated.”) and a second field indicating the one or more CSI report sub-configurations (See, ¶[0098], “The CSI report configuration includes P sub-configurations, which may be that a CSI reporting configuration includes P-1 sub-configurations/codebook configuration indices/identifiers/information”).
Regarding claim 12/7, Zhu discloses a UE comprising all elements recited in claim 7 as discussed above.
Zhu further discloses that the CSI reporting procedure is one of an Aperiodic CSI (A-CSI) reporting procedure (See, e.g., ¶[0058], “The CSI report may be configured as the following three types: an aperiodic CSI report (AP-CSI): transmitted only on a PUSCH”) and a Semi-Persistent CSI (SP-CSI) reporting procedure (See, e.g., ¶[0058], The CSI report may be configured as the following three types: a semi-persistent CSI report (SP-CSI): transmitted on a PUCCH or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)”).
Regarding claim 13, Zhu discloses a Base Station (BS) (Fig. 4, “Network Device;” and Fig. 8, #800) for enhancing Network Energy Saving (NES) (See, ¶[0079], “The inventor finds that in order to achieve network energy saving,…..the network device obtains CSI timely and accurately”. See, also, ¶¶[0126]-[0127]), the BS comprising:
at least one processor (Fig. 8, #810); and
at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium (Fig. 8, #820) coupled to the at least one processor and storing one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the BS to (See, ¶[0299], “the memory 820 is coupled to the processor 810;” and ¶[0300], “the processor 810 may be configured to execute a program to implement the method for indicating channel state information as described in the embodiments”):
transmit (Fig. 5, #501; and Fig. 4, #401), to a User Equipment (UE) (Fig. 4, “Terminal equipment”), a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message (See, ¶[0055], “In the embodiments of the present disclosure, higher layer signaling may be e.g., radio resource control (RRC) signaling; for example, is called an RRC message”) comprising a trigger state list (See, ¶[0069], “a network device configures a set of trigger states for a terminal equipment via an RRC higher-layer parameter CSI-AperiodicTriggerStateList, and each trigger state may correspond to multiple CSI reporting settings”) and a Channel State Information (CSI) report configuration (See, Figs. 3 and 4, #301and #401, “CSI report configuration;” and ¶[0101], “the channel state information (CSI) report configuration may be configured via radio resource control (RRC) signaling”) that comprises one or more CSI report sub-configurations (See, Fig. 3, #301; and ¶[0080], “a terminal equipment receives a channel state information (CSI) report configuration, the channel state information (CSI) report configuration being related to L pieces of CSI, the channel state information (CSI) report configuration including S sub-configurations, where 1≤S≤L, one of the S sub-configurations corresponds to at least one piece of channel state information (CSI)”); and
transmit (Fig. 5, #502; and Fig. 4, #402), to the UE (Fig. 4, “Terminal equipment”), a Downlink Control Information (DCI) format (See, ¶[0101], “the indication information may be DCI or an MAC CE”) indicating a trigger state (See, ¶[0070], “Each codepoint of the DCI field “CSI request” is associated with one trigger state”) in the trigger state list (See, ¶[0070], CSI-AperiodicTriggerStateList IE is used to configure an aperiodic trigger state list for the terminal equipment. Each codepoint of the DCI field “CSI request” is associated with one trigger state”) in the trigger state list(See, ¶[0070], CSI-AperiodicTriggerStateList IE is used to configure an aperiodic trigger state list for the terminal equipment. Each codepoint of the DCI field “CSI request” is associated with one trigger state”), thereby enabling the UE to apply a subset of CSI report sub-configurations (See, Fig. 4, #403; and ¶[0106], “the terminal equipment performs channel measurement according to triggered/indicated/activated M sub-configurations in S sub-configurations”) in the one or more CSI report sub-configurations (i.e., ‘S’ sub-configurations. See, ¶[0080], “the channel state information (CSI) report configuration including S sub-configurations”) to perform a CSI reporting procedure on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) (See, Fig. 4, #404; and ¶[0107], “the terminal equipment transmits a channel state information (CSI) report;” and ¶[0058], “In a CSI report framework of the NR,….. an aperiodic CSI report (AP-CSI): transmitted only on a PUSCH.”), wherein the trigger state is associated with the CSI report configuration (See, e.g., ¶[0070], “When receiving a value associated with a trigger state, the terminal equipment will perform CSI-RS, CSI-IM and/or SSB (reference signal) measurements, and perform non-periodical reporting on L1 according to all entries in associatedReportConfigInfoList of the trigger state”) and indicates the subset of CSI report sub-configurations (See, ¶[0082], “the terminal equipment receives indication information, the indication information being used to trigger/indicate/activate at least one of the S sub-configurations;” and ¶[0102], “the indication information being used to trigger (indicate/activate) at least one of the S sub-configurations.” That is, a subset is ‘n’ sub-configurations, where 1 < n < S.) in the one or more CSI report sub-configurations (i.e., ‘S’ sub-configurations. See, ¶[0080], “the channel state information (CSI) report configuration including S sub-configurations”).
Regarding claim 14/13, Zhu discloses a BS comprising all elements recited in claim 13 as discussed above.
Zhu further discloses that the CSI report configuration is associated with one or more CSI Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resources (See, ¶[0080], “the channel state information (CSI) report configuration including S sub-configurations;” and ¶[0091], “the sub-configuration includes at least one of the following information: …the port information being used to indicate partial ports of channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources associated with the channel state information (CSI) report configuration;”) and one or more CSI-RS antenna ports (See, ¶[0080], “the channel state information (CSI) report configuration including S sub-configurations;” ¶[0091], the sub-configuration includes at least one of the following information: …. the port information being used to indicate partial ports of channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources associated with the channel state information (CSI) report configuration;” and ¶[0092], “the port information indicates partial ports or port subsets”) and a CSI report sub-configuration (one of the n sub-configurations, see the above rejection of Claim 1 for the discussion of the n number of sub-configurations being the subset.) in the subset (i.e., n sub-configurations, n < S) of CSI report sub-configurations (the ‘S’ sub-configuration) comprises at least one of the following:
a first field indicating a sub-configuration Identifier (ID) (See, ¶[0098], “The CSI report configuration includes P sub-configurations, which may be that a CSI reporting configuration includes P-1 sub-configurations/codebook configuration indices/identifiers/information”),
a second field indicating a subset of CSI-RS resources in the one or more CSI-RS resources that is configured for a channel measurement (See, ¶[0121], “The sub-configuration may be … a CSI-RS resource index;” and ¶[0106], “the terminal equipment performs channel measurement according to triggered/indicated/activated M sub-configurations in S sub-configurations”), or
a third field indicating a subset of CSI-RS antenna ports in the one or more CSI-RS antenna ports (See, ¶[0121], The sub-configuration may be … port subset indication information (index)”).
Regarding claim 15/14, Zhu discloses a BS comprising all elements recited in claim 14 as discussed above.
Zhu further discloses that the third field comprises a bit string and each bit in the bit string corresponds to a CSI-RS antenna port of the one or more CSI-RS antenna ports (See, ¶0092], “the port information indicates partial ports or port subsets in the form of a bitmap, wherein each bit in the bitmap represents a port, … or a predefined port group”).
Regarding claim 16/13, Zhu discloses a BS comprising all elements recited in claim 13 as discussed above.
Zhu further discloses that the CSI report configuration further comprises a first field indicating a report Identifier (ID) (See, e.g., ¶[0065], “the terminal equipment obtains a CSI report config ID according to a CSI trigger state corresponding to a codepoint in the CSI request field; the terminal equipment determines a CSI report that needs to be activated.”) and a second field indicating the one or more CSI report sub-configurations (See, ¶[0098], “The CSI report configuration includes P sub-configurations, which may be that a CSI reporting configuration includes P-1 sub-configurations/codebook configuration indices/identifiers/information”).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure.
Nimbalker et al. (US 20260149993): Fig. 21 and the description thereof;
Ma et al. (US 20260066972): Figs. 6 and 7 and the description thereof;
Zhu et al. (US 20250024294): Figs. 12 – 17 and the description thereof;
Jeon et al. (US 20250038810): Figs. 12 and 13 and the description thereof;
Hindy et al. (US 20240414652): Title, Figs. 8 and 9 and the description thereof;
Jeon et al. (US 20240340054): Figs. 10-14 and 16 and the description thereof;
Jeon et al. (US 20240284223): Figs. 12 -14 and 16 and the description thereof;
Sun et al. (US 20220360306): Figs. 4, 8 and 9 and the description thereof; and
Madadi et al. (US 20220338189): Figs. 4 and 6-8 and the description thereof.
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/K.S.K./Examiner, Art Unit 2418 July 10, 2026
/Moo Jeong/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2418
1 See Sharp Corporation’s IPR Information Statement and IPR Licensing Declaration and IPR
Information Statement Annex, ISLD-202503-027, pp 1 & 32 (listing the Application as “WO2025036259 A1”), Retrieved from the Internet<URL: https://ipr.etsi.org/IPRDetails.aspx?IPRD_ID=9168&IPRD_TYPE_ID=2&MODE=2&sessionkey=fed4da> (Year: 2025). A copy of the ISLD-202503-027 is being provided herewith.
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