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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 3-4, 11-12, 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 3-4 (and parallel) are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the elements. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted elements are: the definition (and related scope) of “enableCurrentBeamInReport”. This parameter appears to be proprietary in nature and not part of any nomenclature, and there appears to be no difference between this and any other flag to indicate enable/disable. Further, it is unclear as to “report includes” vs “determining whether to include”, i.e. does it indicate whether the report quantity exists or does it make the report mandatory vs optional.
The examiner will interpret the limitation generically and under broadest reasonable interpretation to the best of the ability. Any response must provide an explanation of the flag and evidence that there is someone besides Samsung that uses it. Please note that it is considered a 103 by official notice if a particular flag is replaced with a flag, so long as the claimed structure and function remains intact.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, 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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-11, 13-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhou (12,531,614).
For claims 1, 9, 17, Zhou teaches a user equipment (UE) (col. 5, lines 45-55) in communication with a Base Station (BS) (col. 5, lines 55-65), comprising:
a transceiver (col. 38, lines 10-30) configured to:
receive first information related to inclusion in a report of at least one first report quantity (col. 48, lines 10-50) associated with a first reference signal (RS) resource (col. 14, lines 20-40), and
receive second information (col. 25, line 50 – col. 26, line 10) related to at least one second RS resource (col. 13, lines 20-35); and
a processor operably coupled with the transceiver (col. 38, lines 30-45), the processor configured to:
determine, based on the first RS resource, the at least one first report quantity (col. 48, lines 10-50),
determine, based on the at least one second RS resource, at least one second report quantity (col. 64, lines 15-30), and
determine, based on (i) the first information and (ii) the at least one second report quantity, the report (col. 65, lines 5-40),
wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit the report (col. 11, lines 40-60).
For claims 2, 10, 18, Zhou teaches that the report includes at least one of the at least one second report quantity (col. 65, lines 5-40).
For claims 3, 11, 19, Zhou teaches wherein:
the first information includes a higher layer parameter enableCurrentBeamInReport (col. 15, lines 15-45), and
when enableCurrentBeamInReport is present or set to 'enabled', the report includes the at least one first report quantity (col. 71, lines 5-30).
For claims 5, 13, Zhou teaches wherein:
when the report includes the at least one first report quantity, the report further includes at least one indicator associated with the at least one first report quantity, respectively (col. 15, lines 15-45), and
when an indicator is present or set to '1' in the report, a report quantity associated with the indicator corresponds to one of the at least one first report quantity (col. 71, lines 5-30).
For claims 6, 14, Zhou teaches wherein:
the transceiver is further configured to receive a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state (col. 49, lines 15-30), and
the first RS resource corresponds to at least one of:
a channel state information RS (CSI-RS) resource (col. 48, lines 10-50) indicated in the TCI state (col. 49, lines 15-30), and
a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel block (SSB) quasi-co-located with the CSI-RS resource indicated in the TCI state(col. 48, lines 10-50).
For claims 7, 15, Zhou teaches wherein:
each of the at least one second RS resource corresponds to one or more of:
a channel state information RS (CSI-RS) resource (col. 48, lines 10-50), and
a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel block (SSB) (col. 48, lines 10-50),
the second information provides at least (i) a number of the at least one second RS resource (col. 11, lines 30-45) and (ii) at least one identifier (ID) of the at least one second RS resource (col. 14, line 65 – col. 15, line 25), respectively, and
the second information is associated with a CSI reporting setting provided for UE-initiated beam reporting (col. 11, lines 40-60).
For claims 8, 16, Zhou teaches wherein the at least one first report quantity or the at least one second report quantity corresponds to at least one of:
a channel state information reference signal resource indicator (CRI) (col. 48, lines 10-50),
a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel resource indicator (SSBRI) (col. 48, lines 10-50),
an absolute or differential layer-1 reference signal receive power (L1-RSRP) (col. 48, lines 10-50), and
an absolute or differential L1 signal to interference and noise ratio (L1-SINR) (col. 48, lines 10-50).
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) 4, 12, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou as applied to claims 3, 11, 19 above, and further in view of Yang (12,549,987).
For claims 4, 12, 20, Zhou does not expressly disclose the use of disabling. Yang teaches a method and system (abstract) in the relevant art (background, summary and claims) wherein:
the first information comprises a higher layer parameter enableCurrentBeamInReport (col. 5, lines 10-50), and
when enableCurrentBeamInReport is absent or set to 'disabled', the processor is further configured to determine whether to include the at least one first report quantity in the report (col. 5, lines 50-60).
At the time of filing, one of ordinary skill in the art would have added Yang in order to provide improvements to handling reference signal resources (col. 1, lines 25-50).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MELVIN H POLLACK whose telephone number is (571)272-3887. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Oscar Louie can be reached at (571)270-1684. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MELVIN H POLLACK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2445
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