DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority as a 371 of PCT/KR2023/005650 filed 4/26/2023 and to Korean Application KR10-2022-0052403 filed 4/27/2022 is acknowledged.
Preliminary Amendment filed 9/23/2024 is acknowledged.
Claims 13-15 have been cancelled.
No claims have been amended or added.
Claims 1-12 and 16 as originally filed remain pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 6/23/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 8 is objected to because of the following informalities: The limitation that “N is a natural number” is placed in parentheses “()”, making it unclear if the limitation is meant to be included within the scope of the claim. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1, 3, 9-12, 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over “Hao” et al. (US20230087003A1) in view of “Wang” et al. (US20230006793A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 12,
Hao (Title: Correlation of Multiple Channel State Information Reports for Multi-Layer Communication) discloses a UE (Fig. 1-2, UE 120) operating in a wireless communication system (Fig. 1-2, system 100/200) comprising at least one transceiver (Fig. 2, antennas 252) for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal and at least one processor (Fig. 2, processor 280) for controlling the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor configured to perform a method (i.e. Fig. 13-15) comprising receiving, from a base station, configuration information related to CSI (i.e. Fig. 13-15, steps 1310, 1410, 1510; receiving CSI report configuration).
Hao further shows calculating the CSI by deriving channel measurement and/or interference measurement based on one or more channel measurement resources (CMR) and/or one or more interference measurement resources (IMR) (paragraph 155-158; Fig. 12; CSI config includes CMR and IMR) determined based on a CSI reference resource (Abstract; Fig. 13-15, steps 1320-1330, 1420-1430, 1520; paragraph 148-163); and transmitting the CSI to the base station (Fig. 13, step 1340; paragraph 166).
Hao does not expressly disclose the CSI reference resource is determined to be a slot later than a slot in which the CSI is reported in a time domain.
Wang discloses analogous art (Title: CSI measurement and Computation for High Mobility) in which the CSI reference resource is determined to be a slot later than a slot in which the CSI is reported in a time domain (paragraph 29; Fig. 1, 4, 8, 9; UE configured to compute CSI on multiple occasions of CSI-RS, CSI reference slot for CSI computation configured the same or after the slot for CSI reporting).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filing to modify Hao by determining the CSI reference resource to be a slot later than a slot in which the CSI is reported in a time domain, as shown by Wang, thereby enabling extension of the CSI framework in NR to increase throughput for high mobility scenarios.
Regarding claim 16,
Hao discloses a base station (Fig. 1-2, base station 110) operating in a wireless communication system (Fig. 1-2, system 100/200) comprising at least one transceiver (Fig. 2, antennas 234) for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal; and at least one processor (Fig. 2, processor 240) for controlling the at least one transceiver, and configured to transmit, to a UE, configuration information related to CSI (Fig. 16, step 1610; transmit CSI report configurations to UE).
Hao further shows to receive the CSI from the UE (Fig. 16, step 1630), wherein the CSI is calculated by deriving channel measurement and/or interference measurement based on one or more channel measurement resources (CMR) and/or one or more interference measurement resources (IMR) determined based on a CSI reference resource (paragraph 155-158; Fig. 12; Fig. 16, step 1610; CSI config associated with one or more CSI reference resources including CMR and IMR).
Hao does not expressly disclose the CSI reference resource is determined to be a slot later than a slot in which the CSI is reported in a time domain.
Wang discloses analogous art (Title: CSI measurement and Computation for High Mobility) in which the CSI reference resource is determined to be a slot later than a slot in which the CSI is reported in a time domain (paragraph 29; Fig. 1, 4, 8, 9; UE configured to compute CSI on multiple occasions of CSI-RS, CSI reference slot for CSI computation configured the same or after the slot for CSI reporting).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filing to modify Hao by determining the CSI reference resource to be a slot later than a slot in which the CSI is reported in a time domain, as shown by Wang, thereby enabling extension of the CSI framework in NR to increase throughput for high mobility scenarios.
Regarding claim 3,
The combination of Hao and Wang discloses a value of the variable (M) is provided by downlink control information (DCI) that triggers reporting of the CSI or the configuration information (Hao: paragraph 145-147; DCI triggering CSI reporting based on an offset threshold).
Regarding claim 9,
The combination of Hao and Wang discloses information on a time at which the CSI is valid is transmitted together with the CSI (Wang: Fig. 5; paragraph 32; only valid sub-periods are reported comprising higher layer configured downlink or flexible symbol; compare to paragraph 320 of the instant application). See motivation above.
Regarding claim 10,
The combination of Hao and Wang discloses to calculate the CSI, a channel measurement and/or an interference measurement are derived based on the one or more CMRs and/or the one or more IMRs (Hao: paragraph 155-158; Fig. 12; Fig. 16, step 1610; CSI config associated with one or more CSI reference resources including CMR and IMR) prior to an uplink slot in which the CSI is reported or prior to an offset from an uplink slot in which the CSI is reported (Wang: Fig. 1, 4, 5; paragraph 30-32; CSI reference slot for CSI measurement prior to CSI reporting in slot n and offset K). See motivation above.
Regarding claim 11,
The combination of Hao and Wang discloses a number of CMRs and/or IMRs used to calculate the CSI is determined based on a measurement restriction level (paragraph 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 71, 74, 124, 153-155, 159; rank indication pair restriction indicates a combination of rank indication permitted to be measured and reported; CRI restriction to report only joint or independent CSI).
Claims 2 and 5-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hao and Wang as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of “Dai” et al. (US20250158787A1).
Regarding claim 2,
The combination of Hao and Wang discloses the CSI reference resource is determined based on a downlink slot n-nCSI_ref that is later than an uplink slot n' in which the CSI is reported (Wang: Fig. 1, 4, 8, 9; paragraph 29-32; UE configured to compute CSI on multiple occasions of CSI-RS, CSI reference slot for CSI computation configured the same or after the slot for CSI reporting) and wherein the nCSI_ref is determined so the CSI reference resource corresponds to a valid downlink slot (Wang: Fig. 5; paragraph 32; valid sub-periods comprise higher layer configured downlink or flexible symbol) but the combination of Hao and Wang does not expressly disclose validity related to a minimum value > a variable (M).
Dai discloses analogous art (Title: Time-Domain Channel Quality Information Reporting Relative to a Reference Resource) including determining a minimum value greater than or equal to a variable (M) so that the CSI reference resource corresponds to a valid downlink slot (paragraph 113-115).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to modify Hao and Wang by determining a minimum value greater than or equal to a variable (M) so that the CSI reference resource corresponds to a valid downlink slot, as shown by Dai, thereby aligning predictive CSI measurements across a set of valid time intervals.
Regarding claim 5,
The combination of Hao, Wang, and Dai discloses the variable (M) determined by the UE and channel prediction accuracy for a slot according to the variable (M) are transmitted together with the CSI (Dai: Fig. 4-5; paragraphs 148-152, 161-162; channel quality prediction/extrapolation included in CSI report of multiple CSI time intervals). See motivations above.
Regarding claim 6,
The combination of Hao, Wang, and Dai discloses a variable (M) for a slot having a channel prediction accuracy exceeding a threshold determined in advance or configured by the base station is transmitted together with the CSI (Hao: paragraph 145-146; offset threshold based on UE capabilities or fixed; Wang: paragraph 32; only valid sub-periods are reported; Dai: Fig. 4-5; paragraphs 148-152, 161-162; channel quality prediction/extrapolation included in CSI report of multiple CSI time intervals). See motivations above.
Regarding claim 7,
The combination of Hao, Wang, and Dai discloses transmitting, to the base station, information on a measurement window required to achieve a channel prediction accuracy of a slot according to a specific variable (M) above a specific level (i.e. threshold), wherein information on the measurement window includes a number of slots, a number of CMRs and/or IMRs (Hao: paragraph 155-158; Fig. 12; Fig. 16, step 1610; CSI config associated with one or more CSI reference resources including CMR and IMR; paragraph 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 71, 74, 124, 153-155, 159; rank indication pair restriction indicates a combination of rank indication permitted to be measured and reported; CRI restriction to report only joint or independent CSI).
Regarding claim 8,
The combination of Hao, Wang, and Dai discloses the CSI includes N CSIs for each of N CSI reference resources according to N variables (M), N is a natural number (each of Hao, Wang, and Dai relate to multi-CSI vs. single CSI measurement and reporting; Hao: Title, Fig. 4-12; Background; Wang: Fig. 5-7; paragraph 32; multiple valid sub-periods reported; Dai: Fig. 4-5; paragraphs 148-152, 161-162; channel quality prediction/extrapolation included in CSI report of multiple CSI time intervals). See motivations above.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hao and Wang as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Dai.
Regarding claim 4,
The combination of Hao and Wang discloses transmitting, to the base station, candidates of the variable (M) (Hao: paragraph 145-147; offset based on capabilities of the UE signaled to the network; Wang: paragraph 30 discusses offset K) but fails to expressly show channel prediction accuracy for each slot according to the candidates of the variable (M).
Dai discloses analogous art, as shown above, further candidates of the variable (M) (paragraph 79, 148; multiple control channel candidates/corresponding offsets/TTIs) and channel prediction accuracy for each slot according to the candidates of the variable (M) (Fig. 4-5; paragraphs 148-152, 161-162; channel quality prediction/extrapolation included in CSI report of multiple CSI time intervals).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to modify Hao and Wang by providing channel prediction accuracy for each slot according to the candidates of the variable (M), as shown by Dai, thereby aligning predictive channel quality measurements across a set of valid time intervals.
Conclusion
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/GREGORY B SEFCHECK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477