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 § 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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.
Claims 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Grobmann et al. US 20210143885 A1 (hereinafter Grobmann ) .
Regarding claim 7, Grobmann teaches
A method performed by a base station (transmitter 200) in a communication system, the method comprising: transmitting, to a user equipment (UE) (communication device 202), a plurality of channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) in an observation window (OW) (number of consecutive slots);
(“a transmitter 200 in a wireless communication system including a communication device 202…transmit, to the communication device 202.sub.1, 202.sub.2, downlink reference signals (CSI-RS) according to a CSI-RS configuration comprising a number of CSI-RS antenna ports and a parameter, e.g., referred to as CSI-RS BurstDuration, indicating a time-domain-repetition of the downlink reference signals, e.g., in terms of a number of consecutive slots the downlink reference signals are repeated in” [0201-0205])
receiving at least one basis coefficient (Doppler-delay-beam combining coefficients) of a channel projected at least one basis, wherein at least one channel (channel 204) is projected on to the at least one basis;
(“where the first PMI corresponds to the selected … and where the second PMI corresponds to … Doppler-delay-beam combining coefficients …from the communication device to the transmitter.”[0179-0181] “selecting, at the communication device, a Doppler-delay precoder matrix (W) for a composite Doppler-delay-beam three-stage precoder, the Doppler-delay-beam three-stage precoder being based on one or more codebooks, the one or more codebooks including one or more transmit-side spatial beam components of the composite Doppler-delay-beam three-stage precoder, one or more delay components of the composite Doppler-delay-beam three-stage precoder, and one or more Doppler-frequency components” [0214 - 0219]
“FIG. 2 shows schematically the base station 200, gNB, the user equipment, UE, 202 and the channel 204, like a radio channel for a wireless data communication between the base station 200 and the user equipment 202… The channel 204 may be described by the channel tensor/matrix 212.”[0009] “The two PMIs are reported to the gNB.”[0327] “The quantized combining coefficients are represented by i.sub.2, the second PMI. The two PMIs are reported to the gNB.”[0327])
predicting at least one pre-coder (precoder matrix prediction) for a downlink in a prediction window (PW) (QT future time instants) for the UE using the at least one basis coefficient for reconstructing the at least one channel;
(“The gNB, at step 262, reconstructs the Doppler-delay-beam composite three-stage precoder matrix (PMI report) to facilitate multi-user precoding matrix calculation and precoder matrix prediction for future time instants”[0262] “to facilitate precoder matrix prediction for QT future time instants, the Doppler-frequency DFT-vectors f.sub.p,u,d,v.sup.(l) may be cyclically extended to length-QT”[0330] “The predicted precoder matrix for the l-th layer and q-th (q=1, . . . , QT) time instant is given by” the disclosed expression using the selected spatial beam, delay, and Doppler frequency vectors and the corresponding combining coefficients. [0329] ] “The quantized combining coefficients are represented by i.sub.2, the second PMI. The two PMIs are reported to the gNB.”[0327])
and transmitting, to the UE, the downlink (downlink signals) in the PW (QT future time instants) using the predicted at least one pre-coder for at least one time instant.
(“The predicted precoding matrices may be used in predictive multi-user scheduling algorithms … using the knowledge of current and future precoder matrices of the users.” [0031] “the transmitter… determining, responsive to the constructed precoder matrix, beamforming weights for a precoder connected to an the antenna array of the transmitter.” [0226] “the precoder 200c to apply a set of beamforming weights to one or more antennas of the antenna array ANT.sub.T to form, by the antenna array ANT.sub.T, one or more transmit beams or one or more receive beams; a transceiver 200c configured to transmit, to the communication device … and downlink signals” [0203 -0204]” the transmitter applies the Doppler-delay-beam precoder to PDSCH signals”[0195] “y.sup.(t,u)(i) is the precoded symbol transmitted on antenna port u at time instant t, and W(t,i)=[W.sup.(1)(t,i), . . . , W.sup.(L)(t,i)] is the predicted precoder matrix,”[0199 -0200] “to facilitate precoder matrix prediction for QT future time instants, the Doppler-frequency DFT-vectors f.sub.p,u,d,v.sup.(l) may be cyclically extended to length-QT”[0330] “The predicted precoder matrix for the l-th layer and q-th (q=1, . . . , QT) time instant is given by” the disclosed expression using the selected spatial beam, delay, and Doppler frequency vectors and the corresponding combining coefficients.)
Regarding claim 8, claim 8 reflects an apparatus for implementing method in claim 7 and is rejected along the same rationale. Grobmann teaches a transceiver and a processor (“a transceiver 200c configured to transmit, to the communication device 202.sub.1, 202.sub.2, downlink reference signals (CSI-RS) according to a CSI-RS configuration comprising a number of CSI-RS antenna ports and a parameter, e.g., referred to as CSI-RS BurstDuration, indicating a time-domain-repetition of the downlink reference signals, e.g., in terms of a number of consecutive slots the downlink reference signals are repeated in, and downlink signals comprising the CSI-RS configuration; and receive uplink signals comprising a plurality of CSI reports from the communication device 202.sub.1, 202.sub.2; and a processor 200a” [0204 - 0207])
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) 1-4, 6-8, and 16 -18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Grobmann et al. US 20210143885 A1 (hereinafter Grobmann ) in view of Elshafie et al. US 20220131588 A1 (hereinafter Elshafie).
Regarding claim 1 , Grobmann teaches
A method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a communication system, the method comprising: receiving, from a base station, a plurality of channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) in an observation window (OW) (T consecutive time-instants/slots);
(“At a step 250, the gNB or base station sends a CSI-RS configuration and CSI report configuration to the UE.” [0232] “In response to the report configuration, the UE performs, at step 252, measurements on downlink CSI-RS over T consecutive time-instants/slots,” [0256 -0257])
estimating at least one basis (Doppler-frequency DFT-vectors and delay DFT-vectors) and at least one relevant basis coefficient (Doppler-delay-beam combining coefficients) of the predicted at least one channel (MIMO channel tensor) in the PW (future time instants);
( “In response to the report configuration, the UE … calculates, at step 258, a CQI value, a predicted CQI value, or predicted differential CQI values (if configured) for a future time instant or for a set of future time instants using the selected Doppler-delay-beam composite three-stage precoder matrix and at least one of the MIMO channel tensor custom-character and a prediction of the MIMO channel tensor for future time instants,”[0256] – [0260] “the UE selects the precoder matrix W that optimizes the mutual-information I(W; custom-character), which is a function of the Doppler-delay precoder matrix W and the multi-dimensional channel tensor custom-character, for each configured SB, PRB, or subcarrier.”[0315] “the UE selects three-tuples of Doppler-frequency DFT-vectors, delay DFT-vectors and Doppler-delay-beam combining coefficients” [0318])
projecting the predicted at least one channel (precoder matrix prediction) on to the estimated at least one basis;
Grobmann teaches (The UE selects the vectors that serve as the basis and the coefficients associated with those basis vectors “the UE selects three-tuples of Doppler-frequency DFT-vectors, delay DFT-vectors and Doppler-delay-beam combining coefficients”[0318] “to facilitate precoder matrix prediction for QT future time instants, the Doppler-frequency DFT-vectors f.sub.p,u,d,v.sup.(l) may be cyclically extended to length-QT”[0330] The predicted future precoder matrix is expressed using the selected basis vectors and the coefficients that weight those basis vectors “The predicted precoder matrix for the l-th layer and q-th (q=1, . . . , QT) time instant is given by” the disclosed expression using the selected vectors and associated coeffects [0329]“)
reporting, to the base station (UE to the gNB), the at least one relevant basis coefficient (Doppler-delay-beam combining coefficients) of the predicted channel (precoder matrix prediction for QT future time instants) projected on to at least one basis (Doppler-frequency DFT-vectors and delay DFT-vectors);
(“the UE selects three-tuples of Doppler-frequency DFT-vectors, delay DFT-vectors and Doppler-delay-beam combining coefficients”[0318]
“to facilitate precoder matrix prediction for QT future time instants, the Doppler-frequency DFT-vectors f.sub.p,u,d,v.sup.(l) may be cyclically extended to length-QT”[0330] “The predicted precoder matrix for the l-th layer and q-th (q=1, . . . , QT) time instant is given by” the disclosed expression using the selected spatial beam, delay, and Doppler frequency vectors and the corresponding combining coefficients. [0329]“to report … Doppler-delay-beam combining coefficients … from the UE to the gNB, the UE may quantize the coefficients using a codebook approach. The quantized combining coefficients are represented by i.sub.2, the second PMI. The two PMIs are reported to the gNB.”[0327])
Grobmann fails to expressly teach predicting at least one channel for each sub-band in selected time instants in a prediction window (PW) and receiving, from the base station, a downlink in the PW.
However, Elshafie teaches predicting at least one channel (channel response /channel matrix) for each sub-band (per-subband basis/ each subband k) in selected time instants in a prediction window (PW) (future time instants);
(“the UE may also predict a channel response (e.g., a channel matrix) or an signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the one or more future time instants” [0049] “the UE may determine a predicted channel matrix H.sub.ti of RE/tone for time ti and determine the predicted SINR based on the channel matrix H.sub.ti of RE/tone and the predicted interference covariance matrix C.sub.ti of tone for time ti (determined at block 630).”[0125] “the UE may determine predicted CSI on a per-subband basis… The UE may include a predicted CSI value for each subband k in the CSI repot”[0114] )
and receiving, from the base station, a downlink (downlink communication signal) in the PW
(“the BS may further transmit, to the UE, a scheduling grant for a downlink communication signal, the scheduling grant including a transmission parameter, the transmission parameter being based on at least a first predicted CSI value of the one or more predicted CSI values. The BS may further transmit, to the UE based on the transmission parameter, the downlink communication signal.”[0276]“the BS may transmit, to the UE, the scheduling grant scheduling the downlink communication signal in a time period between the a first future time instant and a second future time instant”[0279]).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person having of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the CSI prediction and reporting system of Grobmann with the per-subband future channel prediction and future downlink scheduling of Elshafie. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Grobmann teachings to use the basis vector and coefficient representation with the per-subband feature channel prediction of Elshafie because doing so would have provide the predictable advantage of efficiently representing and reporting predicted future channel information while enabling the base station to select more accurate precoding and scheduling parameters for a future downlink transmission. The combination would therefore have reduced CSI-feedback overhead and improved the accuracy and reliability of future downlink scheduling, with a reasonable expectation of success because both references concern CSI based channel prediction, feedback, precoding, and future downlink communication.
Regarding claim 2, Limitations of parent claim 1 have been discussed above. Grobmann teaches the downlink is based on at least one pre-coder for the downlink and for at least one time instant in the PW (precoder matrix prediction for future time instants) associated with the at least one relevant basis coefficient for reconstructing the at least one channel (predicted precoder matrix) in the PW.
(“The gNB, at step 262, reconstructs the Doppler-delay-beam composite three-stage precoder matrix (PMI report) to facilitate multi-user precoding matrix calculation and precoder matrix prediction for future time instants.”[0262] “to facilitate precoder matrix prediction for QT future time instants, the Doppler-frequency DFT-vectors f.sub.p,u,d,v.sup.(l) may be cyclically extended to length-QT”[0330] “The predicted precoder matrix for the l-th layer and q-th (q=1, . . . , QT) time instant is given by” the disclosed expression using the selected spatial beam, delay, and Doppler frequency vectors and the corresponding combining coefficients. [0329] ” The predicted precoding matrices may be used in predictive multi-user scheduling algorithms”[0331])
Regarding claim 3, Limitations of parent claim 1 have been discussed above. Grobmann teaches
wherein the at least one channel is predicted in a delay domain (delay DFT-vectors) over the PW (prediction for QT future time instants), wherein the at least one relevant basis coefficient (Doppler-delay-beam combining coefficients) for the at least one channel is reported in the delay domain over the PW, and wherein the predicted at least one channel (predicted precoder matrix) is a channel (channel 204) between the base station (base station 200) and the UE (user equipment 202) or elements of parts of precoder matrices (channel tensor/matrix 212) across time in the PW.
(“the UE selects three-tuples of Doppler-frequency DFT-vectors, delay DFT-vectors and Doppler-delay-beam combining coefficients”[0318] “to facilitate precoder matrix prediction for QT future time instants, the Doppler-frequency DFT-vectors f.sub.p,u,d,v.sup.(l) may be cyclically extended to length-QT”[0330] “The predicted precoder matrix for the l-th layer and q-th (q=1, . . . , QT) time instant is given by” the disclosed expression using the selected spatial beam, delay, and Doppler frequency vectors and the corresponding combining coefficients. [0329]“to report … Doppler-delay-beam combining coefficients … from the UE to the gNB, the UE may quantize the coefficients using a codebook approach. The quantized combining coefficients are represented by i.sub.2, the second PMI. The two PMIs are reported to the gNB.”[0327]” FIG. 2 shows schematically the base station 200, gNB, the user equipment, UE, 202 and the channel 204, like a radio channel for a wireless data communication between the base station 200 and the user equipment 202… The channel 204 may be described by the channel tensor/matrix 212.”[0009] “the UE performs, at step 252, measurements on downlink CSI-RS over T consecutive time-instants/slots, constructs, at step 254, the time-variant frequency-selective MIMO channel tensor”[0256-0258])
Regarding claim 4, Limitations of parent claim 1 have been discussed above. Grobmann teaches
wherein the plurality of CSI-RS are received across a plurality of sub-bands from the base station for various time instants in the OW (T consecutive time-instants/slots).
( “the UE performs, at step 252, measurements on downlink CSI-RS over T consecutive time-instants/slots” [0256-0257] “the UE estimates an un-quantized explicit CSI using measurements on the downlink CSI-RS on PRBs, where the CSI-RS is configured over T consecutive time instants/slots in the frequency domain (see step 252 in FIG. 4)” [0264] “The time-domain-repetition of the CSI-RS, in terms of the number of consecutive slots the CSI-RS is repeated in”[0233]“the explicit CSI is represented by a three-dimensional channel tensor … of dimension N×S×T with S being the number of configured sub-bands/PRBs, or subcarriers (see FIG. 7) …the first, second and third dimension of the channel tensor represent the space, frequency, and time component of the time-variant frequency-selective MIMO channel, respectively.”[0265] “At a step 250, the gNB or base station sends a CSI-RS configuration and CSI report configuration to the UE.” [0232])
Regarding claim 6, claim 6 reflects an apparatus for implementing method in claim 1 and is rejected along the same rationale. Grobmann teaches a transceiver and a processor (“The present invention provides a communication device 202 for providing a channel state information, CSI, feedback in a wireless communication system, the communication device 202 comprising: [0088] a transceiver 202b configured to receive, from a transmitter 200 a radio signal via a time-variant, frequency-selective MIMO channel 204, the radio signal including downlink reference signals according to a reference signal configuration comprising a number of antenna ports, and downlink signals comprising the reference signal configuration; and a processor (202a)”[0087])
Regarding claim 16,
Limitations of parent claim 6 have been discussed above. Claim 16 reflects an apparatus for implementing method in claim 2 and is rejected along the same rationale.
Regarding claim 17,
Limitations of parent claim 6 have been discussed above. Claim 17 reflects an apparatus for implementing method in claim 3 and is rejected along the same rationale.
Regarding claim 18,
Limitations of parent claim 6 have been discussed above. Claim 18 reflects an apparatus for implementing method in claim 4 and is rejected along the same rationale.
Claim(s) 5 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Grobmann et al. Us 20210143885A1 (hereinafter Grobmann ) in view of Elshafie et al. US 20220131588 A1A1 (hereinafter Elshafie ) and in further view of Ren et al. WO 2020164039 A1 (hereinafter Ren ).
Regarding claim 5, Limitations of parent claim 1 have been discussed above. Claim 5 recites wherein the at least one basis comprises at least one of a slepian (discrete prolate spheroidal sequence) basis, a fast fourier transform (FFT) basis, a discrete cosine transform (DCT) basis, a discrete fourier transform (DFT) basis, an oversampled DFT basis, a polynomial basis and other relevant basis, and wherein the oversampled DFT basis provides CSI feedback using a differential reporting of location and values of doppler frequency components, corresponding to the at least one channel in the sub-band or in a delay domain for various time instants in the PW.
The basis types compromising “at least one of” language requires anticipation of only a single listed type. Grobmann teaches a method compromising an oversampled DFT basis and wherein the oversampled DFT basis provides CSI feedback using a Doppler-delay-beam combining coefficients) of doppler frequency components, corresponding to the at least one channel in the sub-band or in a delay domain for various time instants in the PW.
(“The Doppler-frequency vectors f.sub.p,u,d,v.sup.(l) may be selected from an oversampled DFT-codebook matrix Ω.sub.3=[a.sub.0, a.sub.1, . . . , a.sub.TO.sub.3.sub.−1] of size T×TO.sub.3… Each entry in the codebook matrix is associated with a specific Doppler-frequency. The DFT-codebook matrix is parameterized by the oversampling factor”[0312] “contains 2 Σ.sub.u,d,lF.sub.d,u.sup.(l) indices of selected Doppler-frequency-vectors.”[0324] “The subset i.sub.1,3 of i.sub.1 represents the selected Doppler-frequency indices from the codebook Ω.sub.3” [0326] “to report the … Doppler-delay-beam combining coefficients γ.sub.p,u,d,v.sup.(l) from the UE to the gNB, the UE may quantize the coefficients using a codebook approach. The quantized combining coefficients are represented by i.sub.2, the second PMI. The two PMIs are reported to the gNB.”[0327] “The burst-CSI-RS across multiple consecutive slots enables the extraction of time-evolution information of the CSI and for reporting of the precoder matrix, e.g. as a part of the PMI… the UE may calculate the CQI, RI and PMI according to the embodiments described below with a repetition of the CSI-RS resource(s) over multiple consecutive slots, and report them accordingly.”[0235] “the gNB may use the two-component PMI feedback from the UE to construct the precoder matrix according to the codebook-based construction” [0329] )
Grobmann fails to expressly teach differential reporting. However, Ren teaches CSI feedback using a differential reporting (differential CSI feedback reports).
(“UE 120 may transmit a plurality of CSI feedback reports based at least in part on a differential CSI feedback reporting procedure. The differential CSI feedback reporting procedure may configure UE 120 to transmit a base CSI feedback report and one or more differential CSI reports in a particular reporting period and at a particular reporting interval. The reporting period may indicate the quantity of differential CSI feedback reports that are to be transmitted during the reporting period. The reporting interval may indicate a spacing (for example, in slots, in symbols, or the like, or a combination thereof) between CSI feedback reports in a reporting period… The complete CSI feedback may include an indication of a selection of one or more beams” [page 16] “the one or more differential CSI feedback reports may be relatively smaller than the base CSI feedback report, and may therefore reduce CSI feedback reporting overhead while providing increased CSI feedback resolution.”[page 18])
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person having of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the reference based differential CSI feedback reporting procedure of Ren to the CSI-feedback arrangement of Grobmann and Elshafie. Both Ren and Grobmann report selected DFT related CSI information and associated coefficient values from a UE to a base station. Ren teaches sending changes relative to a base or previous CSI report to reduce feedback overhead. Applying a known technique to the Doppler frequency indices and coefficients reported by Grobmann and Elshafie would predictably reduce feedback bits while retaining the information needed to reconstruct the Doppler frequency components.
Regarding claim 19, limitations of parent claim 6 have been discussed above. Claim 19 reflects an apparatus for implementing method in claim 5 and is rejected along the same rationale.
References Cited but Not Relied Upon
Below is prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
TIMO et al (WO 2020180221 A1 [page 12]) is pertinent to the disclosure as it expressly teaches projecting a channel matrix onto a DFT basis and reporting projection information as CSI feedback.
RAMIREDDY et al (US 20220029676 A1 [paragraphs [0335] [0346] [0350]) is pertinent to the disclosure as it teaches multidimensional CSI representation using delay and Doppler basis vectors, corresponding combining coefficients, future precoder prediction, and coefficient reporting.
Conclusion
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/F.O.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2646
/JEANETTE J PARKER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2646
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