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 .
This action is in response to the application filed on 9/12/2024.
The IDS filed on 9/12/2024 is considered.
Claims 1-30 are examined and rejected.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 1-4, 7, 11-16, 19, 22-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Sun (US 20250293735 A1, hereinafter “Sun”).
Regarding claim 1, Sun teaches a method for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:
receiving an indication of a plurality of transmission-reception point (TRP) groups that comprise two or more TRPs (see para 97, FIG. 8, Flowchart for CSI Configuration Information in a Multi-TRP CJT (coherent joint transmission)), wherein the plurality of TRP groups are candidate TRP groups for communicating with the UE via joint transmission ((see FIG. 8, para 97, a method for a base station to provide CSI configuration information for use by a UE in providing a PMI in a multi-TRP CJT scenario; also see para 101, the wireless device may establish multiple wireless links, e.g., with multiple TRPs of the cellular network, according to a multi-TRP configuration … para 104, The CBSR configuration may indicate one or more permissible discrete Fourier transform (DFT) basis groups for the UE to indicate in a PMI for multi-TRP CJT);
transmitting, for each TRP that is included in one or more of the plurality of TRP groups, an indication of one or more respective single-TRP precoding matrix components (see para 108, The codebook subset restriction (CBSR) configuration independently indicate permissible DFT bases for each of a plurality of TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT, or a single set of indicated permissible DFT bases may be permissible for PMI reporting for each of the TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT); and
transmitting, for each TRP group that is included in the plurality of TRP groups, an indication of one or more respective multi-TRP precoding matrix components (see para 104, The CBSR configuration indicate one or more permissible discrete Fourier transform (DFT) basis groups for the UE to indicate in a PMI for multi-TRP CJT), wherein a precoding matrix for a TRP group of the plurality of TRP groups is based at least in part on a combination of the one or more respective multi- TRP precoding matrix components for the TRP group and the one or more respective single-TRP precoding matrix components for each TRP included in the TRP group (see para 105, the one or more permissible DFT basis groups may be permissible for PMI reporting for a subset or potentially for all of the plurality of TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT. For example, the CBSR configuration may indicate a single set of permissible DFT basis groups, and this set may be permissible for the UE in reporting a PMI for all of the TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT).
Regarding claims 2, 14, 25, 29, Sun teaches: transmitting the indication of the one or more respective single-TRP precoding matrix components comprises: transmitting, for each TRP that is included in one or more of the plurality of TRP groups, an indication of one or more respective spatial domain basis matrices, one or more respective frequency domain basis matrices, or any combination thereof (see FIG. 5., para 87, the Type II MIMO codebook is based on a structure as shown in the Equation illustrated in FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, M is the number of frequency bases, L is the number of spatial bases, N3 is the number of subbands in the frequency domain (i.e., the number of entries in each frequency basis), and/is the layer index. W1 is the spatial basis selection matrix, Wƒ is the frequency basis selection function, and W2 is the combination coefficient matrix).
Regarding claims 3, 15, 26, 30, Sun teaches: transmitting the indication of the one or more respective multi-TRP precoding matrix components comprises: transmitting, for each TRP group that is included in the plurality of TRP groups, an indication of one or more respective spatial-frequency coefficient matrices (see para 105, the one or more permissible DFT basis groups may be permissible for PMI reporting for a subset or potentially for all of the plurality of TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT. For example, the CBSR configuration may indicate a single set of permissible DFT basis groups, and this set may be permissible for the UE in reporting a PMI for all of the TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT).
Regarding claims 4, 16, 27, Sun teaches: transmitting the indication of the one or more respective single-TRP precoding matrix components further comprises: transmitting, for each TRP that is included in one or more of the plurality of TRP groups, an indication of one or more respective spatial-frequency coefficient matrices (see para 101, the wireless device may establish multiple wireless links, e.g., with multiple TRPs of the cellular network, according to a multi-TRP configuration … para 104, The CBSR configuration may indicate one or more permissible discrete Fourier transform (DFT) basis groups for the UE to indicate in a PMI for multi-TRP CJT).
Regarding claims 7, 19, Sun teaches: for each TRP that is included in one or more of the plurality of TRP groups, the one or more single-TRP precoding matrix components comprise at least one single-TRP precoding matrix component for each single-TRP spatial layer of each TRP (see para 122, calculating priorities for PMI entries is performed based at least in part on respective transmission reception point (TRP) indices, layer indices, spatial basis indices associated with the respective non-zero entries of the W.sub.2 matrices).
Regarding claims 11, 22, Sun teaches: communicating with the TRP group via joint transmission based at least in part on the precoding matrix (see para 93, In a multi-TRP CJT scenario, a base station (which may be one of the TRPs of the multi-TRP communication) provides CSI configuration information to the UE to restrict one or more aspects of the PMI that the UE will provide to the network).
Regarding claims 12, 23, Sun teaches: the indication of the plurality of TRP groups is received as part of a channel state information reporting configuration message (see FIG. 8, para 97, a method for a base station to provide CSI configuration information for use by a UE in providing a PMI in a multi-TRP CJT scenario; also see para 103, a CSI configuration is received from the base station. The CSI configuration may indicate a configuration for the UE to utilize in reporting a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) to the base station as part of a multi-TRP coherent joint transmission (CJT) communication scenario. The CSI configuration may include a codebook subset restriction (CBSR) configuration and/or a rank configuration); and the indications of the one or more respective single-TRP precoding matrix components and the indications of the one or more respective multi-TRP precoding matrix components are transmitted as part of a channel state information report (see paras 104-105, The CBSR configuration may indicate one or more permissible discrete Fourier transform (DFT) basis groups for the UE to indicate in a PMI/report for multi-TRP CJT... The CBSR configuration may independently indicate permissible DFT basis groups for each of a plurality of TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT. In other words, the CBSR configuration may separately indicate permissible DFT basis groups for separate TRPs).
Regarding claim 13, Sun teaches a method for wireless communication at a network entity, comprising:
transmitting an indication of a plurality of transmission-reception point (TRP) groups that comprise two or more TRPs, wherein the plurality of TRP groups are candidate TRP groups for communicating with a user equipment (UE) via joint transmission (see FIG. 8, para 97, a method for a base station to provide CSI configuration information for use by a UE in providing a PMI in a multi-TRP CJT scenario; also see para 103, a CSI configuration is received from the base station. The CSI configuration may indicate a configuration for the UE to utilize in reporting a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) to the base station as part of a multi-TRP coherent joint transmission (CJT) communication scenario. The CSI configuration may include a codebook subset restriction (CBSR) configuration and/or a rank configuration);
receiving, for each TRP that is included in one or more of the plurality of TRP groups, an indication of one or more respective single-TRP precoding matrix components (see para 108, The codebook subset restriction (CBSR) configuration independently indicate permissible DFT bases for each of a plurality of TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT, or a single set of indicated permissible DFT bases may be permissible for PMI reporting for each of the TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT);
receiving, for each TRP group that is included in the plurality of TRP groups, an indication of one or more respective multi-TRP precoding matrix components (see para 104, The CBSR configuration indicate one or more permissible discrete Fourier transform (DFT) basis groups for the UE to indicate in a PMI for multi-TRP CJT); and
determining a precoding matrix for a TRP group of the plurality of TRP groups based at least in part on a combination of the one or more respective multi-TRP precoding matrix components for the TRP group and the one or more respective single- TRP precoding matrix components for each TRP included in the TRP group (see para 105, the one or more permissible DFT basis groups may be permissible for PMI reporting for a subset or potentially for all of the plurality of TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT. For example, the CBSR configuration may indicate a single set of permissible DFT basis groups, and this set may be permissible for the UE in reporting a PMI for all of the TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT).
Regarding claim 24, Sun teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (see FIG. 3, UE), comprising: memory; a transceiver; and at least one processor of the UE, the at least one processor coupled with the memory and the transceiver, and the at least one processor configured to:
receive, via the transceiver, an indication of a plurality of transmission-reception point (TRP) groups that comprise two or more TRPs (see para 97, FIG. 8, Flowchart for CSI Configuration Information in a Multi-TRP CJT (coherent joint transmission)), wherein the plurality of TRP groups are candidate TRP groups for communicating with the UE via joint transmission ((see FIG. 8, para 97, a method for a base station to provide CSI configuration information for use by a UE in providing a PMI in a multi-TRP CJT scenario; also see para 101, the wireless device may establish multiple wireless links, e.g., with multiple TRPs of the cellular network, according to a multi-TRP configuration … para 104, The CBSR configuration may indicate one or more permissible discrete Fourier transform (DFT) basis groups for the UE to indicate in a PMI for multi-TRP CJT);
transmit, via the transceiver, for each TRP that is included in one or more of the plurality of TRP groups, an indication of one or more respective single-TRP precoding matrix components (see para 108, The codebook subset restriction (CBSR) configuration independently indicate permissible DFT bases for each of a plurality of TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT, or a single set of indicated permissible DFT bases may be permissible for PMI reporting for each of the TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT); and
transmit, via the transceiver, for each TRP group that is included in the plurality of TRP groups, an indication of one or more respective multi- TRP precoding matrix components (see para 104, The CBSR configuration indicate one or more permissible discrete Fourier transform (DFT) basis groups for the UE to indicate in a PMI for multi-TRP CJT), wherein a precoding matrix for a TRP group of the plurality of TRP groups is based at least in part on a combination of the one or more respective multi-TRP precoding matrix components for the TRP group and the one or more respective single-TRP precoding matrix components for each TRP included in the TRP group (see para 105, the one or more permissible DFT basis groups may be permissible for PMI reporting for a subset or potentially for all of the plurality of TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT. For example, the CBSR configuration may indicate a single set of permissible DFT basis groups, and this set may be permissible for the UE in reporting a PMI for all of the TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT).
Regarding claim 28, Sun teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a network entity (see FIG. 4. Base station), comprising: memory; and at least one processor of the network entity, the at least one processor coupled with the memory, and the at least one processor configured to:
transmit an indication of a plurality of transmission-reception point (TRP) groups that comprise two or more TRPs, wherein the plurality of TRP groups are candidate TRP groups for communicating with a user equipment (UE) via joint transmission (see FIG. 8, para 97, a method for a base station to provide CSI configuration information for use by a UE in providing a PMI in a multi-TRP CJT scenario; also see para 103, a CSI configuration is received from the base station. The CSI configuration may indicate a configuration for the UE to utilize in reporting a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) to the base station as part of a multi-TRP coherent joint transmission (CJT) communication scenario. The CSI configuration may include a codebook subset restriction (CBSR) configuration and/or a rank configuration);
receive, for each TRP that is included in one or more of the plurality of TRP groups, an indication of one or more respective single-TRP precoding matrix components (see para 108, The codebook subset restriction (CBSR) configuration independently indicate permissible DFT bases for each of a plurality of TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT, or a single set of indicated permissible DFT bases may be permissible for PMI reporting for each of the TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT);
receive, for each TRP group that is included in the plurality of TRP groups, an indication of one or more respective multi-TRP precoding matrix components (see para 104, The CBSR configuration indicate one or more permissible discrete Fourier transform (DFT) basis groups for the UE to indicate in a PMI for multi-TRP CJT); and
determine a precoding matrix for a TRP group of the plurality of TRP groups based at least in part on a combination of the one or more respective multi-TRP precoding matrix components for the TRP group and the one or more respective single- TRP precoding matrix components for each TRP included in the TRP group (see para 105, the one or more permissible DFT basis groups may be permissible for PMI reporting for a subset or potentially for all of the plurality of TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT. For example, the CBSR configuration may indicate a single set of permissible DFT basis groups, and this set may be permissible for the UE in reporting a PMI for all of the TRPs of the multi-TRP CJT).
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) 5-6, 8-10, 17-18, 20-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun in view of Sun* (US 20250192959 A1, hereinafter “Sun*”)
Regarding claims 5, 17, Sun does not teach details regarding: transmitting the indication of the one or more respective multi-TRP precoding matrix components comprises: transmitting, for each TRP group that is included in the plurality of TRP groups, an indication of one or more respective scalar coefficients.
Sun* teaches this limitation: see para 40, for multi-TRP CJT CSI reporting, when the codebook follows structure W=Σ.sub.t=1.sup.T c.sup.t.Math.W.sup.t, the UE selects and reports the combination coefficient c.sup.t to reduce overhead. For example, the UE reports only a single combination coefficient c.sup.t per TRP (i.e., combination coefficient c.sup.t is a scalar).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teaching of Sun to include the use of combination scalar coefficients for each TRP group, as taught by Sun*, the motivation being reducing the overhead (see Sun *, para 40).
Regarding claims 6, 18, Sun teaches the method of claim 5, but does not teach detials regarding: each of the one or more respective scalar coefficients comprises a respective amplitude and a respective phase, the method further comprising: receiving a control message indicating a first quantity of bits for encoding each of the respective amplitudes and a second quantity of bits for encoding each of the respective phases, wherein the indication of the one or more scalar coefficients is based at least in part on the encoding each of the respective amplitudes using the first quantity of bits and encoding each of the respective phases using the second quantity of bits.
Sun* teaches this limitation: see para 98, FIG. 6., illustrates the reporting structure used by the UE to report back to the base station, … Each subband has its own corresponding set of combination coefficients, and eventually the UE reports the combination coefficients/i.e., scalar coefficients. When considering the reporting by the UE, the Type II overhead is dominated by the subband combination coefficient. According to the information shown in FIG. 6, the total number of entries is 2L×N.sub.3, there are multi-bits for amplitude and there are multi-bits for phase. In one example, there may be 19 subbands, 32 transmit (TX) ports, and a CSI payload size of more than 1200 bits.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teaching of Sun to include the use of combination scalar coefficients for amplitude and phase with respective number of bits, as taught by Sun*, the motivation being to report CSI Type II feedback (see Sun *, para 40).
Regarding claims 8, 20, Sun does not teach detials regarding: the plurality of TRP groups comprises a first TRP group, and wherein each TRP that is included in the first TRP group supports at least a respective first single-TRP spatial layer and a respective second single-TRP spatial layers, the method further comprising: selecting a respective single-TRP spatial layer from each TRP that is included in the first TRP group, the selected single-TRP spatial layers corresponding to a first multi-TRP spatial layer of the first TRP group; and determining the one or more respective multi-TRP precoding matrix components for the first TRP group based at least in part on the selected single-TRP spatial layers.
Sun* teaches this limitation: see para 80, the multi-TRP CJT CSI report information comprises, for reporting the spatial basis selection matrix W.sub.1.sup.t, an oversampling selection that is independently reported for each TRP of the plurality of TRPs.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teaching of Sun to include the multi-TRP CJT CSI report information comprises, for reporting the spatial basis selection matrix as taught by Sun*, the motivation being both independent reporting of each TRP and multi-TRP (see Sun *, para 80).
Regarding claim 9, Sun teaches the method of claim 8, but does not teach detials regarding: transmitting an indication of the selected single-TRP spatial layers corresponding to the first multi-TRP spatial layer of the first TRP group.
Sun* teaches this limitation: see para 80, a same value or a different value is reported for the oversampling selection for different TRPs of the plurality of TRPs.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teaching of Sun to include the multi-TRP CJT CSI report information comprises, for reporting the spatial basis selection matrix as taught by Sun*, the motivation being both independent reporting of each TRP and multi-TRP (see Sun *, para 80).
Regarding claims 10, 21, Sun does not teach detials regarding: receiving a control message that indicates a procedure for reporting precoding matrix information, the indicated procedure included in a set of two or more candidate procedures for reporting the precoding matrix information that comprises a first procedure and a second procedure, wherein: responsive to the first procedure being indicated, transmitting the indication of the one or more respective multi-TRP precoding matrix components for each TRP group included in the plurality of TRP groups comprises transmitting an indication of one or more respective spatial-frequency coefficient matrices for each TRP group included in the plurality of TRP groups; and responsive to the second procedure being indicated, transmitting the indication of the one or more respective multi-TRP precoding matrix components for each TRP group included in the plurality of TRP groups comprises transmitting an indication of one or more respective scalar coefficients for each TRP group included in the plurality of TRP groups.
Sun* teaches this limitation: see para 57, FIG. 3. receiving, at the UE, signals from a plurality of transmission and reception points (TRPs). In block 304, the method 300 includes determining, at the UE, based on the signals, multiple TRP (multi-TRP) coherent joint transmission (CJT) channel state information (CSI) report information for a codebook configuration/i.e., control message received at the UE with codebook configuration … for a spatial basis selection matrix, a combination coefficient matrix, and a frequency basis selection matrix… reporting, from the UE to one or more of the plurality of TRPs, the multi-TRP CJT CSI report information.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teaching of Sun to include the multi-TRP CJT CSI report information comprises, for reporting the spatial basis selection matrix and combination matrix based on codebook configuration as taught by Sun*, the motivation being reporting both spatial and scalar/combination coefficients (see Sun *, para 80).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Yuan (US 20250055516 A1, foreign priority 4/25/2022) teaches determining, by a terminal based on target parameters configured by a network side for a plurality of TRPs permitting joint transmission, an orthogonal beam group set corresponding to each TRP; selecting, based on channel information of each TRP, a target orthogonal beam group corresponding to the TRP from the orthogonal beam group set corresponding to the TRP, and selecting a predetermined quantity of target orthogonal beams corresponding to the TRP from the target orthogonal beam group; determining a first feedback parameter for feeding back target orthogonal beam groups corresponding to the plurality of TRPs and a second feedback parameter for feeding back the predetermined quantity of target orthogonal beams; and sending, by the terminal, a PMI parameter, where the PMI parameter includes the first feedback parameter and the second feedback parameter.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEEPA BELUR whose telephone number is (571)270-3722. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 am - 4:30 pm.
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/DEEPA BELUR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472
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