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 .
Information Disclosure Statement (IDS)
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 14 October 2024, 04 June 2026 is being considered by the examiner.
Claims 1-14 and 18 are pending.
Figures 13 and 14 of the application illustrate the claimed invention.
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Claim Objections
Claim 13 is objected to because of the following informalities: line 3 should be corrected to “a physical uplink control channel . Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 13 recites the limitation "wherein the downlink channel is a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and the uplink channel is a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)." in 1-4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1-14 and 18 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-7 of U.S. Patent No. 11,121,754 B2. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the present application claimed invention directed to a method of reporting channel state information performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system while the patent 11,121,754 B2 claimed the same invention of a method of reporting channel state information (CSI) in a wireless communication performed by a base station.
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) 1-3, 5, 6-8, 10-11, 13 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as
being anticipated by KANG et al. (US 2020/0099435 A1).
The applied reference has a common inventor and applicant with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
Regarding claims 1, 14 and 18, KANG et al. discloses a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system (‘Method for Measuring and Reporting Channel State Information in wireless communication system and device for same’), the method comprising:
receiving, from a base station, configuration information related to a channel state information (CSI) report (Transmit CSI reporting setting information, S1305, figure 13);
receiving, from the base station, a downlink RS on a plurality of reference signal (RS) resources (Transmit CSI-RS) S1310, figure 13),
transmitting, to the base station, the CSI report including a report value calculated based on the downlink RS (“Receive CSI report generated based on measurement of CSI-RS, S1320, figure 13).
wherein the report value is derived based on the plurality of RS resource based on information indicating that one or more first RS resources are to-be-turned-on and/or information indicating that one or more second RS resources are to-be-turned-off (Transmit control information for triggering CSI report, S1315, figure 13); ([0339]: “In step S1310, the eNB may transmit a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) to the UE. Further, in step S1315, the eNB may transmit control information for triggering (or activating/deactivating) the CSI report. For example, the CSI-RS may be transmitted from a specific slot positioned before a slot in which control information for triggering the CSI report is transmitted. ([0341]: “Thereafter, in step S1320, the eNB may receive a CSI report generated based on measurement of the CSI-RS from the UE.”).
Regarding claim 2, KANG et al. teaches wherein the information indicating that the one or more first RS resources are to-be-turned-on and/or the information indicating that the one or more second RS resources are to-be-turned-off are included in resource configuration information with the configuration information. ([0263]: “for CSI-RS triggering, in a resource configuration set to RRC signaling”).
Regarding claim 3, KANG et al. teaches wherein the plurality of RS resources are determined based on the information indicating that the one or more first RS resources are to-be-turned-on and/or the information indicating that the one or more second RS resources. (see figure 9).
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Regarding claim 5, KANG et al. teaches wherein the to-be-turned-on information for all of the plurality of RS resource related to the CSI report is included in the configuration information. ([0219]: “a configuration for the CSI related procedure in the NR system may be defined by combining the CSI reporting setting, the resource setting, and the CSI measurement setting.”)
Regarding claim 6, KANG et al. teaches wherein turning-on time for the one or more first RS resource and/or turning-off time for the one or more second RS resources are respectively predetermined in association with a time at which the to-be-turned-on information and/or the to-be-turned-off information is transmitted. ([0011]: “the CSI-RS may be transmitted at a specific slot positioned before a slot in which control information for triggering the CSI report is transmitted. In this case, measurement of the CSI-RS may be performed before the terminal receives control information for triggering the CSI report.”)
Regarding claim 7, KANG et al. teaches wherein turning-on time for the one or more first RS resources and/or turning-off time for the one or more second RS resources are respectively provided by the base station together with or separately from the to-be-turned-on information and/or the to-be-turned-off information. ([0009]: “transmitted control information for triggering the CSI report to the terminal; and receiving a CSI report generated based on measurement of the CSI-RS from the terminal, wherein the CSI-RS is transmitted periodically or semi-persistently, when information indicating time offset for the CSI report is set to a value “0”.), ([0010]: “the time offset for the CSI report may be a time gap between a time point in which the terminal receives control information for triggering the CSI report and a time point in which the terminal transmits the CSI report.”).
Regarding claim 8, KANG et al. teaches wherein based on the information indicating that the one or more first RS resources are to-be-turned-on and/or the information indicating that the one or more second RS resources are to-be-turned-off being configured for the CSI report), i) a minimum required time from a last symbol of the plurality of RS resources to a start of the CSI report and/or
Regarding claim 10, KANG et al. teaches wherein information indicating that the one or more first RS resources are to-be-turned-on and/or the information indicating that the one or more second RS resources are to-be-turned-off is included in a medium access control (MAC) control element related to activation/deactivation of a RS resource or downlink control information (DCI) that triggers the CSI report. ([0247]: “First, in the case of the periodic CSI-RS (i.e., a case where transmission of the CSI-RS is periodically performed), semi-persistent CSI reporting may be activated/deactivated by MAC CE and/or downlink control information (DCI). Unlike this, the aperiodic CSI reporting may be triggered by the DCI, however, in this case, additional signaling configured to the MAC CE may be required.”).
Regarding claim 11, KANG et al. teaches wherein the report value is a pair of an identifier of an RS resource and a Layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) or a pair of an identifier of an RS resource and a Layer 1 signal to interference and noise ratio (L1-SNIR). ([0344]: “methods may be equally or similarly applied to general beam reporting (e.g., CRI, SSB-ID and/or L1-RSRP based beam reporting) as well as the CSI report.”).
Regarding claim 13, KANG et al. teaches wherein the downlink channel is a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and the uplink channel is a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PDSCH). see para.[0268], [0274], [0296] and [0306].
Claim(s) 1-2, 5, 10, 12-14 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kundargi et al. (US 2021/0111779 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 14 and 18, Kundargi et al. discloses a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system (‘A user equipment (UE) may support channel state information (CSI) operations, such as CSI reporting.’), the method comprising:
receiving, from a base station, configuration information related to a channel state information (CSI) report ([0017]: “the base station configures the EU the beam measurement resources to inform the UE when the CSI-RSs will be transmitted so that the UE can measure them. Additionally, the base station configured the UE for beam measurement reporting to instruct the UE when to report its measurement of the reference signals. The base station may configure the UE for periodic beam measurement and reporting, may trigger the UE for aperiodic beam measurement and recording, and/or may both configure the UE for semi-persistent periodic beam measurement and reporting that is triggered (activated) and untriggered (deactivated) by the base station.”;
receiving, from the base station, a downlink RS on a plurality of reference signal (RS) resources ([0021]: “the base station continuously transmits reference signals on transmit beams and the UE receives the reference signals on receive beams.”; and
transmitting, to the base station, the CSI report including a report value calculated based on the downlink RS ([0017]: “the UE to report its measurement and reporting.”), (“wherein the UE reports the beam coherence interval metric in a message on a control channel.” See Kundargi et al. claim 2).
wherein the report value is derived based on the plurality of RS resource based on information indicating that one or more first RS resources are to-be-turned-on and/or information indicating that one or more second RS resources are to-be-turned-off ([0017]: ‘The base station may configure the UE for periodic beam measurement and reporting, may trigger the UE for aperiodic beam measurement and recording, and/or may both configure the UE for semi-persistent period beam measurement and reporting that is triggered (activated) and untriggered (deactivated) by the base station.”). See figure 2.
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Regarding claim 2, Kundargi et al. teaches wherein the information indicating that the one or more first RS resources are to-be-turned-on and/or the information indicating that the one or more second RS resources are to-be-turned-off are included in resource configuration information associated with the configuration information. ([0017]: ‘The base station may configure the UE for periodic beam measurement and reporting, may trigger the UE for aperiodic beam measurement and recording, and/or may both configure the UE for semi-persistent periodic beam measurement and report that is triggered (activated) and untriggered (deactivated) by the base station.”).
Regarding claim 5, Kundargi et al. teaches wherein to-be-turned-on information for all of the plurality of RS resources related to the CSI report is included in the configuration information. (‘to receive from the base station beam measurement resource and/or reporting configurations generated by the base station based on the received beam coherence interval metric.’), see Kundargi et al. claim 33.
Regarding claim 10, Kundargi et al. discloses wherein the information indicating that the one or more first RS resources are to-be-turned-on and/or the information indicating that the one or more second RS resources are to-be-turned off is included in a medium access control (MAC) information (DCI) that triggers the CSI report. (‘receiving, by the UE, a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) over a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) that includes a hysteresis value useable by the UE to decide to switch from an active receive beam to a different receive beam that has a signal quality higher than the active receive beam”).
Regarding claim 12, Kundargi et al. teaches wherein the downlink RS corresponds to one of a synchronization signal block (SSB) and a CSI-RS. ([0021]: ‘Examples of the reference signals may include synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS)”).
Regarding claim 13, Kundargi et al. teaches wherein the downlink channel is a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and the uplink channel is a physical uplink control channel (PUSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). (‘transmitting uplink control information (UCI) over a short physical uplink control channel (PUCCH); transmitting UCI over a long PUCCH; transmitting UCI over a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); and transmitting a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) over a PUSCH.”), see Kundargi et al., claim 3.
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 3 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kundargi et al. (US 2021/0111779 A1) in view of Kim et al. (US 11,546,034 B2).
Regarding claim 4, Kundargi et al. fails to explicitly teach wherein a priority for deriving the report value within the plurality of RS resource is determined based on the information indicating that the one or more first RS resource are to-be-turned-on and/or the information indicating that the one or more second RS resources.
Kim et al. in the same field of invention, discloses method and apparatus for transmitting channel state information.
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Kim et al. teaches (164) “In the case of CSI reporting, a priority may be determined according to various factors. For example, when periodic CSI reporting and aperiodic CSI reporting etc. are transmitted in various schemes, a priority of CSI report may be set according to a specific rule, and through this, the CSI reporting can be effectively transmitted using a limited resource.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to those having ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement a priority of CSI reporting, such as teaching in Kim et al. for effectively transmitting CSI report.
Regarding claim 3, Kim et al. teaches wherein the plurality of RS resource are determined based on the information indicating that the one or more first RS resources are to-be-turned-on and/or the information indicating that the one or more second RS resource. (“For example, when periodic CSI reporting and aperiodic CSI reporting etc. are transmitted in various schemes, a priority of CSI report may be set according to a specific rule, and through this, the CSI reporting can be effectively transmitted using a limited resource.”)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art made of record fails to teach or fairly suggest in combination the limitation “wherein based on the information indicating that the one or more first RS resource are to-be-turned-on and/or the information indicating that the one or more second RS resources are to-be-turned-off being configured for the CSI report .
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRENDA H PHAM whose telephone number is (571)272-3135. The examiner can normally be reached 571-272-3135.
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BRENDA H. PHAM
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2412
/BRENDA H PHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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