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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Noh (US 20210014931) in view of Tosato (US 20220321175).
With respect to independent claims:
Regarding claim(s) 1, Noh teaches A user equipment (UE), comprising:
a transceiver; and
a processor configured to,
receive ([0209], “The serving BS may transfer a UE capability enquiry message requesting the UE to perform a capability report to the UE in a connected state.”), via the transceiver, a UE capability request ([0209], “UE capability enquiry message”); and
transmit ([0297], “The UE reports, to the BS, UE capability”), via the transceiver and in response to the UE capability request ([0209], “the report by the UE is called a UE capability report”, the capability report is response to the UE capability enquiry message request.), UE capability information for 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) ... enhanced channel state information (CSI) reporting for a single downlink control information (DCI) multiple transmission and reception point (Multi-TRP) non-coherent joint transmission (NCJT) scheme ([0297], “the BS may support joint transmission by using at least one of two methods that are ... NC-JT via one PDCCH (single-DCI based multi-TRP operation, sDCI based mTRP). The UE reports, to the BS, UE capability about whether or not the UE supports the two methods.” In other words, the UE reports UE capability of single DCI based mTRP NCJT.).
However, Noh does not specifically disclose new radio (NR) Release 17 (Rel-17).
In an analogous art, Tosato discloses for 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) new radio (NR) Release 17 (Rel-17) enhanced channel state information (CSI) reporting for a single downlink control information (DCI) multiple transmission and reception point (Multi-TRP).([0046], “In Rel 17, enhanced support for multi-TRP CSI measurement and reporting is currently being introduced. See 3GPP TS 38.214. In RAN1 #104-e (Sec. 8.1.4 of “3GPP RAN1 #104-e Chairman's Notes”, January-February 2021), it was agreed that a CSI reporting setting (CSI-ReportConfig) for multi-TRP CSI reporting.”)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Noh to specify NR Release 17 as taught by Tosato. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to configure CSI reporting setting for multi-TRP CSI reporting.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Noh in view of Tosato, and further in view of Matsummura (US 20250106667).
Regarding claim(s) 2, Matsummura teaches wherein the UE capability information includes an indication of whether the UE supports an enhanced CSI reporting ([0079], “in CSI report configuration for multi-TRP in Rel. 17 by a CSI report configuration.”) of:
Mode 1 X = 0 ([0079], “Option 1 (X=0): measurement of only CSI of NCJT.”); Mode 1 X = 1; Mode 1X= 2; or Mode 2. .
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Nho to specify options of CSI reporting as taught by Matsummura. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to report the best measurement.
Regarding claim(s) 3, Matsummura teaches the UE capability information includes an indication that the UE supports an enhanced CSI reporting Mode 1 X = n, where n is an integer greater than or equal to 1; and the UE is configured to support each CSI reporting Mode 1 X ≤ n ([0079], “Option 1 (X=1): measurement of CSI of NCJT and CSI of a single TRP (one TRP).”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Nho to specify options of CSI reporting as taught by Matsummura. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to report the best measurement.
Regarding claim(s) 4, Matsummura teaches the UE is configured to support an enhanced CSI reporting Mode 1 X ≥ 1; and the UE capability information includes an indication that the UE supports an enhanced CSI reporting Mode 1 X = n, where n ≥ 1 ([0079], “Option 1 (X=2): measurement of CSI of NCJT and pieces of CSI of single TRPs (two TRPs).”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Nho to specify options of CSI reporting as taught by Matsummura. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to report the best measurement.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Noh in view of Tosato, and further in view of Zhao (US 20250055532).
Regarding claim(s) 8, Zhao teaches wherein the UE capability information includes an indication of a maximum number of active CSI-RS resources/ports the UE can process in a slot ([0011], “wherein the UE capability information indicates a maximum number of CSI-RS resources the UE can be configured to report on.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Nho to specify maximum number of CSI-RS resources as taught by Zhao. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to process CSI reports.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Noh in view of Tosato, and further in view of VENUGOPAL (US 20210153129).
Regarding claim(s) 13, VENUGOPAL teaches wherein the UE capability information includes an indication of a maximum number of CSI processing units (CPUs) the UE can process in a slot ([0024], “the UE indicates a maximum number (max N.sub.CPU) of CSI processing units for processing CSI reports.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Nho to specify maximum number of CPU as taught by VENUGOPAL. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to process CSI reports.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 5-7, 9-12 and 14-20 is/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 ZHIREN QIN whose telephone number is (571)272-5444. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9-6 PM.
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/ZHIREN QIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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