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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of the invention of Group I, claims 1-8 and 15-20, in the reply filed on 6/12/26 is acknowledged.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 6-8, 15, 16, 21 and 23-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2022/0174592 in view of Ang et al. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2023/0086772.
Regarding claims 1 and 15, Zhang discloses a computing system comprising: a transceiver (i.e. included in radio network interface 1304 – Fig. 13, ¶ [0134]); and one or more processors 1302, the one or more processors configured to cause the transceiver to receive a first indication from user equipment (UE), the first indication corresponding to a message indicating a preference to reduce a number of MIMO layers (step 902 – Fig. 9), such an indication corresponding to a desired power difference corresponding to one or more antennas of the UE as the message is a power saving message indicating a difference between a current power and a future power utilized in the MIMO system (¶ [0071]); and configure uplink resources associated with the UE using a power saving mode (see Fig. 3) via a data layer based on the first indication (step 904; ¶ [0071]). Zhang does not expressly disclose that the UE is configured to use a SMSL mode via the first data layer, and that the transceiver sends, via the uplink resources, a second indication of the SMSL mode and the first data layer to the UE.
Ang discloses that a UE may switch to a spatial multiplexing single layer (SMSL) based on communication conditions to reduce power consumption (¶ [0061]). 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 UE to use a SMSL mode via a first data layer, as suggested by Ang, in the system of Zhang, in order to effect reduction in power consumption.
Regarding claim 6, in the proposed combination, Ang further discloses the transmission of a power headroom report (PHR) to provide control information (¶ [0048]).
Regarding claim 7, in the proposed combination, Ang further discloses the provision of user equipment assistance information (UAI) indicative of transmission power difference information (¶[0062]).
Regarding claim 8, in the proposed combination, Zhang discloses that the SRS configuration information (step 906 – Fig. 9) provided to the UE includes information regarding spatial resources to be used including a periodicity for the resources, a beam, and/or a spatial reference, and mappings of SRS resources to antenna ports, which correspond to information regarding the first data layer (see ¶ [0027]).
Regarding claim 16, Zhang further discloses that indication information is provided to the base station via a first SRS combination (¶ [0061]).
Regarding claim 21, Zhang discloses a computing system comprising: a transceiver (i.e. included in radio network interface 1304 – Fig. 13, ¶ [0134]); and one or more processors 1302, the one or more processors configured to cause the transceiver to receive a first indication from user equipment (UE), the first indication corresponding to a message indicating a preference to reduce a number of MIMO layers (step 902 – Fig. 9), such an indication corresponding to a desired power difference corresponding to one or more antennas of the UE as the message is a power saving message indicating a difference between a current power and a future power utilized in the MIMO system (¶ [0071]); and configure uplink resources associated with the UE using a power saving mode (see Fig. 3) via a data layer based on the first indication (step 904; ¶ [0071]). Zhang does not expressly disclose that the UE is configured to use a SMDL mode via the first data layer, and that the transceiver sends, via the uplink resources, a second indication of the SMSL mode and the first data layer to the UE.
Ang discloses that a UE may use a spatial multiplexing dual layer (SMSL) based on power considerations (¶ [0061]). 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 UE to use a SMDL mode via a first data layer, as suggested by Ang, in the system of Zhang, in order to optimize data throughput in consideration of power consumption.
Regarding claim 23, in the proposed combination, Ang discloses that the UE may autonomously select a SMSL mode and signal such an indication to the base station (¶¶ [0061]-[0062]).
Regarding claim 24, in the proposed combination, Ang discloses that the base station may not be obligated to act in accordance with the UE’s preference (¶ [0062]), where one skilled din the art would recognize that a corresponding indication would need to be provided to the UE to apprise the UE of such a determination, where accordingly, SMDL/second rank communications may instead be assigned.
Regarding claim 25, in the proposed combination, Zhang further discloses that indication information is provided to the base station via a first SRS combination from one or more unmuted antennas of the UE (¶ [0061]).
Regarding claim 26, in the proposed combination, Ang discloses that the UE may make SMSL/SMDL selections and indicate such to the base station (¶¶ [0061]-[0062]).
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. in view of Ang et al. as applied to claim 15 above, and further in view of Chin et al. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2021/0385735.
Regarding claim 20, Zhang in combination with Ang disclose a method for providing indication information to a UE, where Ang suggests the use of a SMSL mode on a first data layer to reduce power consumption, as described above, but the proposed combination do not disclose that a voice-over-New Radio (VoNR) protocol indication is provided.
Chin discloses provision of a VoNR protocol indication from a base station to a UE (¶ [0119]). 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 to a UE including a VoNR protocol indication, as suggested by Chin, in the method of Zhang and Ang, in order to indicate support for 5G voice calls (see Chin, ¶ [0119]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5, 17-19 and 22 are 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.
Conclusion
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
6/27/2026
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