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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-30 received on 8/26/2024 have been examined, of which claims 1 and 22 are independent.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-13, 20-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to abstract idea without significantly more. The claim(s) 1 and 22 recite(s) obtaining CSI report associated with DL reference signal indicating quantity of measurement, and counting number of processing units is calculation based on provided information, which is considered mental process. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the claims are directed to obtaining information and counting number of units, but do not perform any practical application of receiving, transmitting, managing, reporting, measuring or communicating information based on the determined processing units. The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because apparatus with processor and memory is general purpose device and do not amount to significant more. The limitation of report quantity associated with doppler measurement is considered in broadest reasonable interpretation as value /quantity stored into and obtained from internal database or memory, and not measured. Dependent claims 2- 8, 11, 13 are directed to the number CPUs (CSI processing unit), Claims 9-10, 12 – further defines report or signal, Claims 20-21 – counts number of resources or ports, Claims 23-30 correspond to claims 2-9 above – the dependent claim limitations do not amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
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 1-4, 7-25, 28-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Muruganathan et al. (US 20230269612) in view of Zhang et al. (US 20220376855)
Regarding claim 1, Muruganathan teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (wireless communication device 2000, fig 20), comprising:
a memory (memory 2004, fig 20); and
one or more processors (processors 2002, fig 20), coupled to the memory (fig 20, para 230-231), configured to:
obtain a channel state information (CSI) report that is associated with a downlink reference signal (para 49-51: the CSI report occupies as many CPUs as the number of CSI-RS resources in the CSI-RS resource set for channel measurement) and that indicates a report quantity associated with a Doppler shift measurement, a per-path Doppler measurement, or a per-beam-per-path Doppler measurement (para 85: these signals can have the same large-scale properties, for instance in terms of Doppler shift/spread, average delay spread, or average delay, when measured at the receiver, these antenna ports are then said to be QCL, if the UE knows that two antenna ports are QCL with respect to a certain parameter (e.g., Doppler spread), the UE can estimate that parameter based on a reference signal transmitted from one of the antenna ports, the first antenna port is represented by a measurement reference signal such as CSI-RS); and
count a number of CSI processing units (CPUs) for processing the CSI report based at least in part on the report quantity (para 48-51: when calculation of a CSI report is about to proceed (e.g., either when the UE gets triggered with an A-CSI report or when the computation starts for a periodic or semi-persistent CSI report) the CSI report is allocated to one or multiple available CPU(s), the number of CPUs is equal to the number of simultaneous CSI calculations supported by the UE, the number of CPUs occupied by a certain CSI report depends on the content of the report).
Muruganathan teaches UE capability of number of CSI reports and number of CSI calculations with CSI processing Unit (CPU). The reference teaches CSI-RS and TRS (para 51) as downlink reference signals for CSI processing. However, the reference does not tech that the reference signal is multi-symbol downlink reference signal. Zhang is directed to tracking reference signal enhancement, TRS base doppler offset measurement and reports (e.g. abstract, para 86).
Zhang further teaches a channel state information (CSI) report (fig 10, 1045, 1050, Doppler offset report measured from TRS1 and TRS2) that is associated with a multi- symbol downlink reference signal (fig 4 shows tracking reference signal TRS in two slots with multiple symbols 445a-445l and 495a-495l; para 3: gNB can transmit a periodic Tracking Reference Signal (TRS) in a Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) to a user equipment (UE) that uses the periodic TRS to determine a Doppler offset.). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine CSI processing unit based CSI reporting for downlink reference signal as taught by Muruganathan with multi-symbol downlink reference signal for reporting as taught by Zhang for the benefit of supporting high speed use cases of 5G communications as taught by Zhang in abstract.
Regarding claim 22, Muruganathan teaches a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) (para 102: a method is performed by a User Equipment (UE) of reporting CSI to a network), comprising:
obtaining a channel state information (CSI) report that is associated with a downlink reference signal (para 49-51: the CSI report occupies as many CPUs as the number of CSI-RS resources in the CSI-RS resource set for channel measurement) and that indicates a report quantity associated with a Doppler shift measurement, a per-path Doppler measurement, or a per-beam-per-path Doppler measurement (para 85: these signals can have the same large-scale properties, for instance in terms of Doppler shift/spread, average delay spread, or average delay, when measured at the receiver, these antenna ports are then said to be QCL, if the UE knows that two antenna ports are QCL with respect to a certain parameter (e.g., Doppler spread), the UE can estimate that parameter based on a reference signal transmitted from one of the antenna ports, the first antenna port is represented by a measurement reference signal such as CSI-RS); and
counting a number of CSI processing units (CPUs) for processing the CSI report based at least in part on the report quantity (para 48-51: when calculation of a CSI report is about to proceed (e.g., either when the UE gets triggered with an A-CSI report or when the computation starts for a periodic or semi-persistent CSI report) the CSI report is allocated to one or multiple available CPU(s), the number of CPUs is equal to the number of simultaneous CSI calculations supported by the UE, the number of CPUs occupied by a certain CSI report depends on the content of the report).
Muruganathan teaches UE capability of number of CSI reports and number of CSI calculations with CSI processing Unit (CPU). The reference teaches CSI-RS and TRS (para 51) as downlink reference signals for CSI processing. However, the reference does not tech that the reference signal is multi-symbol downlink reference signal. Zhang is directed to tracking reference signal enhancement, TRS base doppler offset measurement and reports (e.g. abstract, para 86).
Zhang further teaches a channel state information (CSI) report (fig 10, 1045, 1050, Doppler offset report measured from TRS1 and TRS2) that is associated with a multi- symbol downlink reference signal (fig 4 shows tracking reference signal TRS in two slots with multiple symbols 445a-445l and 495a-495l; para 3: gNB can transmit a periodic Tracking Reference Signal (TRS) in a Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) to a user equipment (UE) that uses the periodic TRS to determine a Doppler offset). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine CSI processing unit based CSI reporting for downlink reference signal as taught by Muruganathan with multi-symbol downlink reference signal for reporting as taught by Zhang for the benefit of supporting high speed use cases of 5G communications as taught by Zhang in abstract.
Regarding claim 2 and 23, Muruganathan further teaches wherein the number of CPUs is a fixed number (para 61: fig. 3, the UE is assumed to have two CPUs available; para 48: the UE can indicate support for 4 configured CSI report settings but only support a single simultaneous CSI calculation (e.g., supporting a single CPU)).
Regarding claim 3 and 24, Muruganathan further teaches wherein the fixed number is based at least in part on a number of paths associated with the per-path Doppler measurement (para 51: the number of CPUs OCPU occupied by a certain CSI report depends on the content of the report, for non-beam related CSI reports, the CSI report occupies as many CPUs as the number of CSI-RS resources in the CSI-RS resource set for channel measurement; para 85: signals can have the same large-scale properties, for instance in terms of Doppler shift/spread, when measured at the receiver, the UE can estimate that parameter based on a reference signal transmitted from one of the antenna ports; here, the number of CSI-RS resources are considered paths and CPU number is based on number of resources/ paths and the channel measurement parameter is doppler shift/spread).
Regarding claim 4 and 25, Muruganathan further teaches wherein the fixed number is based at least in part on a number of paths (para 51: the number of CPUs OCPU occupied by a certain CSI report depends on the content of the report, for non-beam related CSI reports, the CSI report occupies as many CPUs as the number of CSI-RS resources in the CSI-RS resource set for channel measurement; here, the number of CSI-RS resources are considered paths and CPU number is based on number of resources/ paths).
Regarding claim 7 and 28, Muruganathan further teaches wherein the one or more processors, to count the number of CPUs (para 51: the number of CPUs OCPU occupied by a certain CSI report depends on the content of the report), are configured to use a first counting process if the report quantity is associated with the Doppler shift measurement (para 51: for non-beam related CSI reports, the CSI report occupies as many CPUs as the number of CSI-RS resources in the CSI-RS resource set for channel measurement) or a second counting process if the report quantity is associated with the per-path Doppler measurement or the per-beam-per-path Doppler measurement (para 51: for beam-related reports, on the other hand, the required computations are not as complex and only a single CPU (OCPU=1) is occupied, even if multiple CSI-RS resources are included in the CSI-RS resource set for channel measurement).
Regarding claim 8 and 29, Muruganathan further teaches wherein the one or more processors, to count the number of CPUs, are configured to count a number of CSI reference signal resources (para 51: the number of CPUs OCPU occupied by a certain CSI report depends on the content of the report, for non-beam related CSI reports, the CSI report occupies as many CPUs as the number of CSI-RS resources in the CSI-RS resource set for channel measurement).
Muruganathan fails to teach, but Zhang further teaches CSI reference signal resources within a tracking reference signal burst (para 3: gNB can transmit a periodic Tracking Reference Signal (TRS) in a Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) to a user equipment (UE) that uses the periodic TRS to determine a Doppler offset; para 28: the Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) is used to for transmitting the TRSs). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine CSI processing unit based CSI reporting for downlink reference signal as taught by Muruganathan with multi-symbol downlink reference signal for reporting as taught by Zhang for the benefit of supporting high speed use cases of 5G communications as taught by Zhang in abstract.
Regarding claim 9 and 30, Muruganathan fails to teach, but Zhang further teaches wherein the multi-symbol downlink reference signal is a tracking reference signal, or a CSI reference signal (fig 4 shows tracking reference signal TRS in two slots with multiple symbols 445a-445l and 495a-495l; para 3: gNB can transmit a periodic Tracking Reference Signal (TRS) in a Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) to a user equipment (UE) that uses the periodic TRS to determine a Doppler offset). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine CSI processing unit based CSI reporting for downlink reference signal as taught by Muruganathan with multi-symbol downlink reference signal for reporting as taught by Zhang for the benefit of supporting high speed use cases of 5G communications as taught by Zhang in abstract.
Regarding claim 10, Muruganathan further teaches wherein the CSI report is a periodic CSI report or a semi- persistent CSI report (para 49-50: when calculation of a CSI report is about to proceed (e.g., either when the UE gets triggered with an A-CSI report or when the computation starts for a periodic or semi-persistent CSI report) the CSI report is allocated to one or multiple available CPU(s), for periodic/semi-persistent reports, the UE can be assumed to start calculation of the CSI report as soon as it has received the latest occurrence of the measurement resource; fig 3).
Regarding claim 11, Muruganathan further teaches wherein the one or more processors, to count the number of CPUs (fig 3 illustrates CPU occupation), are configured to: count the number of CPUs based at least in part on the number of CPUs becoming occupied at a first CSI reference signal that is located in a last tracking reference signal burst prior to a CSI reference resource (fig 3; para 61: the UE is assumed to have two CPUs available, and where CPU #1 gets allocated by the Periodic CSI (P-CSI) report in slot 0, which is the slot of the latest NZP CSI-RS occurrence (no later than the CSI reference resource) used by the P-CSI report. While the P-CSI report is calculated, the UE gets triggered with two consecutive A-CSI reports, #1 and #2, which are allocated to CPU #2. After both CPUs are released, the UE gets triggered with two simultaneous A-CSI reports, #3 and #4, which respectively occupy CPU #1 and CPU #2; para 51: the gNB also has the possibility to trigger an aperiodic Tracking Reference Signal (TRS) using the triggering mechanisms of the CSI framework).
Regarding claim 12, Muruganathan further teaches wherein the CSI report is an aperiodic CSI report (para 108: the one or more conditions further comprise the CSI report being an Aperiodic CSI (A-CSI) report triggered to be carried on a PUSCH with payload data; fig 3, ACSI report).
Regarding claim 13, Muruganathan further teaches wherein the one or more processors, to count the number of CPUs (fig 3 illustrates CPU occupation), are configured to: count the number of CPUs based at least in part on the number of CPUs becoming occupied at an end of a last symbol of a physical downlink control channel carrying a CSI reference signal associated with the CSI report (fig 3; para 61: the UE is assumed to have two CPUs available, and where CPU #1 gets allocated by the Periodic CSI (P-CSI) report in slot 0, which is the slot of the latest NZP CSI-RS occurrence (no later than the CSI reference resource) used by the P-CSI report. While the P-CSI report is calculated, the UE gets triggered with two consecutive A-CSI reports, #1 and #2, which are allocated to CPU #2. After both CPUs are released, the UE gets triggered with two simultaneous A-CSI reports, #3 and #4, which respectively occupy CPU #1 and CPU #2; para 50: for A-CSI report, the starting allocation time of the CPU(s) is the last symbol of the PDCCH containing the DCI which triggered the report, while for periodic and semi-persistent CSI reports, the CPUs are allocated from the time of the occurrence of the latest CSI-RS/IM resource used to calculate the particular report).
Regarding claim 14, Muruganathan further teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to release one or more CPUs of the number of CPUs at an end of a last symbol of a physical uplink control channel or physical uplink shared channel carrying the CSI report (para 50: each CSI report that is committed for calculation by the UE thus occupies a number OCPU CPUs from a starting allocation time until the last symbol of the physical channel (i.e., PUCCH or PUSCH) carrying the CSI report to the gNB has finished transmitting from the UE, whereby the OCPU(n) CPUs are then released).
Regarding claim 15, Muruganathan further teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to release one or more CPUs of the number of CPUs (para 50: each CSI report that is committed for calculation by the UE thus occupies a number OCPU CPUs from a starting allocation time until the last symbol of the physical channel (i.e., PUCCH or PUSCH) carrying the CSI report to the gNB has finished transmitting from the UE, whereby the OCPU(n) CPUs are then released) between a first tracking reference signal (TRS) burst and a second TRS burst based at least in part on the first TRS burst and the second TRS burst being greater than a threshold distance apart (as shown in fig 3, the NZP CSI-RS occurrence is every 3 slots, and the trigger for ACSI report 2, 3 and 4 are after specific distance from the reporting PUSCH, wherein the CPU is release between these two time points).
Regarding claim 16, Muruganathan further teaches wherein the threshold distance is based at least in part on a number of slots or a number of symbols (fig 3; para 50: number of CPU are occupied until the last symbol of the physical channel (i.e., PUCCH or PUSCH) carrying the CSI report, for A-CSI report, the starting allocation time of the CPU(s) is the last symbol of the PDCCH containing the DCI which triggered the report, while for periodic and semi-persistent CSI reports, the CPUs are allocated from the time of the occurrence of the latest CSI-RS/IM resource used to calculate the particular report; thus the distance for releasing CPU is based on symbols).
Regarding claim 17, Muruganathan further teaches wherein the first TRS burst and the second TRS burst are greater than the threshold distance apart (fig 3 shows the NZP being 3 slots apart), and wherein another CSI report is obtained after the first TRS burst and prior to the second TRS burst (as shown in fig 3 and para 61, while the periodic CSI report is calculated by the CPU 1, UE gets trigger for two consecutive A-CSI reports which are allocated to CPU 2).
Regarding claim 18, Muruganathan further teaches wherein one or more CPUs of the number of CPUs are reserved for additional Doppler measurements and averaging (in fig 3, the CPU 1 is allocated/reserved for periodic CSI report; para 85: several signals can be transmitted from different antenna ports in a same location, these signals can have the same large-scale properties, for instance in terms of Doppler shift/spread, average delay spread, or average delay, when measured at the receiver, the UE can estimate that parameter based on a reference signal transmitted from one of the antenna ports and use that estimate when receiving another reference signal or physical channel the other antenna port).
Regarding claim 19, Muruganathan further teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to drop one or more Doppler measurements of a third TRS burst based at least in part on one or more CPUs associated with the other CSI report exceeding a maximum CPU count (para 61: before these CSI reports (3 and 4) have finished calculating, the UE gets triggered with another A-CSI report #5 in slot 9, however, since there are no more CPUs available, that CSI report is not computed by the UE and instead a stale or dummy CSI is reported for A-CSI report #5, the event of CSI report #5 being triggered while there are no unoccupied CPUs to process CSI report #5 is dented as ‘overflow’ in fig. 3 which starts in slot 9).
Regarding claim 20, Muruganathan further teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to count a number of CSI reference signal resources for a tracking reference signal (TRS) resource set toward a maximum number of active CSI reference signal resources (para 162: the ultra-low latency CSI timing requirement can be applied to a CSI report with at most C0 CSI-RS ports where C00 is larger than 4 CSI-RS ports; para 116-119: apply the ultra-low latency timing requirement to the following URLLC scenarios: CSI computation for URLLC while at least one CPU is occupied for another CSI computation (i.e., when L>0); and c) CSI computation for URLLC with more than 4 CSI-RS ports used for channel measurements).
Regarding claim 21, Muruganathan further teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to count a number of ports for a tracking reference signal (TRS) resource set toward a maximum number of ports (para 162: the ultra-low latency CSI timing requirement can be applied to a CSI report with at most C0 CSI-RS ports where C00 is larger than 4 CSI-RS ports; para 116-119: apply the ultra-low latency timing requirement to the following URLLC scenarios: CSI computation for URLLC while at least one CPU is occupied for another CSI computation (i.e., when L>0); and c) CSI computation for URLLC with more than 4 CSI-RS ports used for channel measurements).
Claims 5-6, 26, 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Muruganathan et al. (US 20230269612) in view of Zhang et al. (US 20220376855) in further view of Marcone et al. (US 20250088240)
Regarding claim 5 and 26, Muruganathan in view of Zhang teaches the limitations of the parent claim. The references do not teach the number of CSI processing is based on Doppler value of the per path measurement. Marcone is directed to measuring a first frequency offset value per receive beam on a plurality of receive beams by utilizing two or more resources of the first plurality of channel state information reference signal resources per receive beam (abstract).
Marcone further teaches wherein the fixed number is based at least in part on a number of Doppler values associated with the per-path Doppler measurement or the per-beam-per-path Doppler measurement (para 110-113: a base station such as a gNB configures 801 a UE via RRC with a TRS resource set and CSI reporting settings (CSI-ReportConfig) indicating PMI as a reporting quantity for CSI reporting, the UE utilizes the different TDMed NZP-CSI-RS resources in the first time slot to measure 803 the FO (frequency offset) per candidate beam and/or port for the PMI spatial support, multiple FO measurements per beam are obtained to refine the FO result; para 83: the measured FO value may indicate Doppler shift on the signal path). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine CSI processing unit based CSI reporting for downlink reference signal as taught by Muruganathan in view of Zhang with channel reporting based on Doppler value as taught by Marcone for the benefit of improving system and link performance in a high-speed scenario as taught by Marcone in para 70.
Regarding claim 6 and 27, Muruganathan in view of Zhang fail to teach, but Marcone further teaches wherein the number of Doppler values is a number of Doppler frequencies associated with the per-path Doppler measurement or the per-beam-per-path Doppler measurement (para 110-113: a base station such as a gNB configures 801 a UE via RRC with a TRS resource set and CSI reporting settings (CSI-ReportConfig) indicating PMI as a reporting quantity for CSI reporting, the UE utilizes the different TDMed NZP-CSI-RS resources in the first time slot to measure 803 the FO (frequency offset) per candidate beam and/or port for the PMI spatial support, multiple FO measurements per beam are obtained to refine the FO result; para 83: the measured FO value may indicate Doppler shift on the signal path, the gNB may transmit the two or more resources in a signal with a first center frequency (F1), and the Doppler effect may cause the signal to be received with a different center frequency (F2) at the UE. The FO may then be equal to F2−F1). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine CSI processing unit based CSI reporting for downlink reference signal as taught by Muruganathan in view of Zhang with channel reporting based on Doppler value as taught by Marcone for the benefit of improving system and link performance in a high-speed scenario as taught by Marcone in para 70.
Conclusion
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/RINA C PANCHOLI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477 8/5/2026
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