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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed May 19, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicants submit that Liu's operative signaling is directed to selecting a particular codeword (or a TPMI identifying that codeword), not to indicating a codebook whose contents are limited only to one coherence class.
Examiner submits that Lui teaches of “when indicating the codeword or the TPMI, the network device may select, based on a maximum coherent capability of the terminal device, a codeword that matches a coherent capability of the terminal device.” (Paragraph 0417). For a full-coherent UE, the basestation may select to use a fully coherent type codeword or a partially coherent type codeword. The signaling indicate an uplink codebook subset which consists only of a set of candidate transmit precoding matrices associated with a fully coherent user equipment (Table 3, Paragraph 0421) or an uplink codebook subset which consists only of a set of candidate transmit precoding matrices associated with a partially-coherent user equipment (Table 3, Paragraph 0421). Therefore, Lui teaches of signaling indicating an uplink codebook which consists only of a set of candidate transmit precoding matrices associated with a fully coherent user equipment or which consists only of a set of candidate transmit precoding matrices associated with a partially coherent user equipment.
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 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 45 – 47, 51 – 54, 58 – 61, 65 and 67 – 68 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et al (US 2025/0330218) in view of Liu et al (US 2022/0167199).
Re claim 45, Yang teaches of a method performed by a user equipment configured for use in a communication network, the method comprising: transmitting, for each of one or more antenna port groups into which antenna ports of the user equipment are grouped, information characterizing the antenna port group (the UE may report its capability to BS, Paragraph 0054, With a notation as CC (x,y) to denote the U coherence capability, where x is the number of coherent antenna ports per group, and y the number of groups, the signaling of CC (2,4) and/or CC (4,2) can be reported by the UE, Paragraph 0054), wherein the information characterizing the antenna port group includes information indicating a coherence capability of one or more antenna ports included in the antenna port group as being fully coherent or as being partially coherent (the UE may report whether it supports full-coherent, partially-coherent transmission and level of partial coherence, or non-coherent transmission, Paragraph 0054); and receiving, from the communication network, signaling (precoding information, #310, Fig.3 and Paragraphs 0047 and 0052, TPMI, Paragraph 0053) indicating an uplink codebook associated with a fully coherent user equipment or associated with a partially coherent user equipment (separate codebooks, e.g. one for coherent antenna configurations and another for non-coherent antenna configurations, yet another for partially coherent antenna configurations, Paragraphs 0043 and 0047). However, Yang does not specifically mention of the signaling indicating an uplink codebook which consists only of a set of candidate transmit precoding matrices associated with the user equipment.
Liu teaches of signaling indicating an uplink codebook which consists only of a set of candidate transmit precoding matrices associated with the user equipment (a TPMI index value indicating an uplink codebook which consists only of a set of candidate TPMI indexes associated with the user equipment, Paragraphs 0416 – 0421, codebooks as shown in Tables 1 – 7).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the uplink codebook consist a set of candidate TPMI index values associated with the user equipment so as to allow the transmitted TPMI value of Yang to perform the selection of the corresponding precoding matrix for uplink transmission.
Re claim 52, Yang teaches of a user equipment (UE 101, Fig.1 and Fig.3) configured for use in a communication network, the user equipment comprising: communication circuitry (#110, #115, Fig.1); and processing circuitry (#105, Fig.1) configured to: transmit, via the communication circuitry, for each of one or more antenna port groups into which antenna ports of the user equipment are grouped, information characterizing the antenna port group (the UE may report its capability to BS, Paragraph 0054, With a notation as CC (x,y) to denote the U coherence capability, where x is the number of coherent antenna ports per group, and y the number of groups, the signaling of CC (2,4) and/or CC (4,2) can be reported by the UE, Paragraph 0054), wherein the information characterizing the antenna port group includes information indicating a coherence capability of one or more antenna ports included in the antenna port group as being fully coherent or as being partially coherent (the UE may report whether it supports full-coherent, partially-coherent transmission and level of partial coherence, or non-coherent transmission, Paragraph 0054), and receive, from the communication network, signaling (precoding information, #310, Fig.3 and Paragraphs 0047 and 0052, TPMI, Paragraph 0053) indicating an uplink codebook associated with a fully coherent user equipment or associated with a partially coherent user equipment (separate codebooks, e.g. one for coherent antenna configurations and another for non-coherent antenna configurations, yet another for partially coherent antenna configurations, Paragraphs 0043 and 0047). However, Yang does not specifically teach of the signaling indicating an uplink codebook which consists only of a set of candidate transmit precoding matrices associated with the user equipment.
Liu teaches of signaling indicating an uplink codebook which consists only of a set of candidate transmit precoding matrices associated with the user equipment (a TPMI index value indicating an uplink codebook which consists only of a set of candidate TPMI indexes associated with the user equipment, Paragraphs 0416 – 0419, codebooks as shown in Tables 1 – 7).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the uplink codebook consist a set of candidate TPMI index values associated with the user equipment so as to allow the transmitted TPMI value of Yang to perform the selection of the corresponding precoding matrix for uplink transmission.
Re claim 59, Yang teaches of a method performed by a network node (BS, Figures 1 and 3) configured for use in a communication network, the method comprising: receiving, for each of one or more antenna port groups into which antenna ports of a user equipment are grouped, information characterizing the antenna port group (the UE may report its capability to BS, Paragraph 0054, With a notation as CC (x,y) to denote the U coherence capability, where x is the number of coherent antenna ports per group, and y the number of groups, the signaling of CC (2,4) and/or CC (4,2) can be reported by the UE, Paragraph 0054), wherein the information characterizing the antenna port group includes information indicating a coherence capability of one or more antenna ports included in the antenna port group as being fully coherent or as being partially coherent (the UE may report whether it supports full-coherent, partially-coherent transmission and level of partial coherence, or non-coherent transmission, Paragraph 0054); and based on the received information, transmitting, to the user equipment, signaling (precoding information, #310, Fig.3 and Paragraphs 0047 and 0052, TPMI, Paragraph 0053) indicating an uplink codebook associated with a fully coherent user equipment or associated with a partially coherent user equipment (separate codebooks, e.g. one for coherent antenna configurations and another for non-coherent antenna configurations, yet another for partially coherent antenna configurations, Paragraphs 0043 and 0047). However, Yang does not specifically teach of the signaling indicating an uplink codebook which consists only of a set of candidate transmit precoding matrices associated with the user equipment.
Liu teaches of signaling indicating an uplink codebook which consists only of a set of candidate transmit precoding matrices associated with the user equipment (a TPMI index value indicating an uplink codebook which consists only of a set of candidate TPMI indexes associated with the user equipment, Paragraphs 0416 – 0419, codebooks as shown in Tables 1 – 7).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the uplink codebook consist a set of candidate TPMI index values associated with the user equipment so as to allow the transmitted TPMI value of Yang to perform the selection of the corresponding precoding matrix for uplink transmission.
Re claims 46, 53 and 60, Yang teaches of wherein the information characterizing an antenna port group includes information indicating a coherence capability of one or more antenna ports included in the antenna port group as being fully coherent, meaning that the one or more antenna ports included in the antenna port group are capable of being configured with an uplink codebook which consists of a set of candidate transmit precoding matrices associated with a fully coherent user equipment and which excludes candidate transmit precoding matrices associated with a partially coherent user equipment and excludes candidate transmit precoding matrices associated with a non-coherent user equipment, and wherein the received signaling indicates an uplink codebook which consists only of a set of candidate transmit precoding matrices associated with a fully coherent user equipment (separate codebooks, e.g. one for coherent antenna configurations and another for non-coherent antenna configurations, yet another for partially coherent antenna configurations, Paragraph 0043).
Re claims 47, 54 and 61, Yang teaches of wherein the information characterizing an antenna port group includes information indicating a coherence capability of one or more antenna ports included in the antenna port group as being partially coherent, meaning that the one or more antenna ports included in the antenna port group are capable of being configured with an uplink codebook which consists of a set of candidate transmit precoding matrices associated with a partially coherent user equipment and which excludes candidate transmit precoding matrices associated with a fully coherent user equipment and excludes candidate transmit precoding matrices associated with a non-coherent user equipment, and wherein the received signaling indicates an uplink codebook which consists only of a set of candidate transmit precoding matrices associated with a partially coherent user equipment (separate codebooks, e.g. one for coherent antenna configurations and another for non-coherent antenna configurations, yet another for partially coherent antenna configurations, Paragraph 0043).
Re claims 51 and 58, Yang teaches further comprising transmitting information indicating into how many antenna port groups the antenna ports of the user equipment are grouped (x is the number of antenna ports per group, y is the number of groups, Paragraph 0054).
Re claims 65 and 67, Yang and Liu teach all the limitations of claims 45 and 52, as well as Yang teaches of wherein the one or more antenna port groups comprise multiple antenna port groups, wherein each antenna port group includes a proper subset of the antenna ports of the user equipment (Paragraph 0054). Lui teaches of wherein antenna elements in each antenna port group are configurable with different sets of valid transmit precoder matrix indicators (TPMIs) (different sets of TPMIs for different sets of antenna ports for different UE types (coherent, partial-coherent, non-coherent), Paragraph 0417).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the antenna elements in each antenna port group configurable with different sets of valid transmit precoder matrix indicators to optimize antenna port usage for full power transmission and maximize spectral efficiency.
Re claim 68, Yang and Liu teach all the limitations of claims 52, as well as Lui teaches of antenna elements in an antenna port group having a coherence capability (Paragraphs 0091 and 0114) indicated as fully coherent are configurable with a set of valid TPMIs that include TPMIs associated with a fully coherent user equipment (TPMI index values 12 – 27, Table 3 associated with fully coherent UE, Paragraph 0421) but exclude TPMIs associated with a partially coherent user equipment (TPMIs associated with a partially coherent UE are excluded because it does not support fully coherent UE) and exclude TPMIs associated with a non-coherent user equipment (TPMIs associated with a non-coherent UE are excluded because it does not support fully coherent UE); and antenna elements in an antenna port group having a coherence capability indicated as partially coherent are configurable with a set of valid TPMIs that include TPMIs associated with a partially coherent user equipment (TPMI index values 4 – 11, Table 3 associated with partially coherent UE, Paragraph 0421) but exclude TPMIs associated with a fully coherent user equipment (TPMIs associated with a fully coherent UE are excluded because it does not support fully coherent UE) and exclude TPMIs associated with a non-coherent user equipment (TPMIs associated with a partially coherent UE are excluded because it does not support non-coherent UE).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have antenna elements in an antenna port group have a coherence capability configurable with a corresponding set of valid TPMIs to optimize antenna port usage for full power transmission and maximize spectral efficiency.
Claims 48, 55 and 62 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang and Liu in view of Gao et al (US 2024/0137091).
Re claims 48, 55 and 62, Yang and Liu teach all the limitations of claims 45, 52 and 59 except of wherein the information characterizing the antenna port group further includes one or more of: information indicating into how many columns antenna ports in the antenna port group are arranged; information indicating into how many rows antenna ports in the antenna port group are arranged ;information indicating a maximum oversampling factor supported by the antenna port group; information indicating how many transmit chains are associated with the antenna port group; and/or information indicating into how many orthogonal polarizations antenna ports in the antenna port group are arranged.
Gao teaches of the information characterizing the antenna port group further includes one or more of: information indicating into how many columns antenna ports in the antenna port group are arranged; information indicating into how many rows antenna ports in the antenna port group are arranged; information indicating a maximum oversampling factor supported by the antenna port group; information indicating how many transmit chains are associated with the antenna port group; and/or information indicating into how many orthogonal polarizations antenna ports in the antenna port group are arranged (information comprising at least one of: the number of port groups, the number of ports per port group, the number of horizontal antenna elements on one polarization, the number of vertical antenna elements on one polarization, information related to distance between two antenna elements or two port groups, coherent type, number of antenna ports for a port group, combination of one or more port groups, number of ranks, number of ranks for a port group, combination of ranks, granularity of precoding information, number of precoding information, number of subbands, size of a subband, or codebook type, Paragraph 0006).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the information include specific information characterizing the antenna port group for improved signal reliability, capacity and speed.
Claims 49, 56 and 63 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang and Liu in view of Li et al (US 2025/0038817).
Re claims 49, 56 and 63, Yang and Liu teach all the limitations of claims 45, 52 and 59, except of wherein the information characterizing the antenna port group further comprises: information indicating whether one or more antenna ports included in the antenna port group are arranged in a non-linear array or a non-planar array; and/or information indicating whether or not antenna ports included in the antenna port group are arranged in a linear or planar equidistance way.
Li teaches of: information indicating whether one or more antenna ports included in the antenna port group are arranged in a non-linear array or a non-planar array (the antenna array information meets at least one of the following: if the antenna panel is a uniform linear array or planar array, Paragraph 0197 – 0198); and/or information indicating whether or not antenna ports included in the antenna port group are arranged in a linear or planar equidistance way.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the information further indicate whether one or more antenna ports included in the antenna port group are arranged in a non-linear array or a non-planar array for determining how radio waves are directed, shaped, and amplified for improved antenna performance.
Claims 50, 57, 64 and 66 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang and Liu in view of Park et al (US 2020/0267661).
Re claims 50, 57 and 64, Yang and Liu teach all the limitations of claims 45, 52 and 59, except of wherein the information characterizing the antenna port group further comprises information indicating a set of precoding weights supported by the antenna port group.
Park teaches of information characterizing the antennas comprises information indicating a set of precoding weights supported by the antennas (Paragraphs 0517 – 0518, 0537 – 0541, 0547 – 0553, Table 23).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have information indicate a set of precoding weights supported by the antenna port group so as to optimize uplink performance.
Re claim 66, Yang, Liu and Park teach all the limitations of claim 64, as well as Lui teaches of antenna elements in an antenna port group having a coherence capability (Paragraphs 0091 and 0114) indicated as fully coherent are configurable with a set of valid TPMIs that include TPMIs associated with a fully coherent user equipment (TPMI index values 12 – 27, Table 3 associated with fully coherent UE, Paragraph 0421) but exclude TPMIs associated with a partially coherent user equipment (TPMIs associated with a partially coherent UE are excluded because it does not support fully coherent UE) and exclude TPMIs associated with a non-coherent user equipment (TPMIs associated with a non-coherent UE are excluded because it does not support fully coherent UE); and antenna elements in an antenna port group having a coherence capability indicated as partially coherent are configurable with a set of valid TPMIs that include TPMIs associated with a partially coherent user equipment (TPMI index values 4 – 11, Table 3 associated with partially coherent UE, Paragraph 0421) but exclude TPMIs associated with a fully coherent user equipment (TPMIs associated with a fully coherent UE are excluded because it does not support fully coherent UE) and exclude TPMIs associated with a non-coherent user equipment (TPMIs associated with a partially coherent UE are excluded because it does not support non-coherent UE).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ARISTOCRATIS FOTAKIS whose telephone number is (571)270-1206. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30am-5:00pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sam K Ahn can be reached at (571) 272-3044. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ARISTOCRATIS FOTAKIS/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633
Prosecution Insights