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
The information disclosure statements submitted on October 23, 2024 and August 19, 2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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)(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 1, 2, 8, 16-18, 20, 22, 25, and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by U.S. Pub. No. 2023/0361842 (hereinafter “Hajri”).
Hajri discloses or teaches:
regarding claims 1 and 25, a method for determining channel state information (CSI), performed by a network device (see at least Fig. 3, Fig. 5, and paragraph 48, methods performed by a network node, such as a gNB), wherein the method and the network device comprises:
one or more processors (see at least Fig. 6 and paragraph 169, control circuitry 12 as a processor); and
a memory that stores a computer program (see at least Fig. 6 and paragraph 169, memory 14),
wherein the one or more processors execute the computer program stored in the memory to cause the network device to (see at least paragraph 169):
receive uplink pilot signals sent by a terminal at T consecutive moments (see at least paragraph 49, the gNB receives an UL reference signal from a UE, where the UL reference signal comprises a sounding reference signal (SRS), where the UE transmits periodic or semi-persistent uplink reference signal to the gNB, where the periodic or semi-persistent transmission occurs at a plurality of consecutive moments in a periodic or semi-persistent manner);
perform uplink channel estimation on the uplink pilot signals to determine uplink channel information at each moment, wherein T is an integer greater than 1 (see at least paragraphs 50-53, the gNB estimates delay information regarding a delay profile and spatial information regarding the communication channel based on the received UL reference signal);
determine a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) beam according to the uplink channel information (see at least paragraphs 54 and 55, the gNB applies both the delay information and the spatial information in precoding of at least one DL reference signal comprising a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), where the precoders for the DL reference signal are based on both spatial domain beams (e.g., selected from an oversampled grid of beams) and frequency domain components (e.g., selected from a codebook, typically DFT/IDFT based, that may be oversampled));
send a beamformed CSI-RS to the terminal according to the CSI-RS beam (see at least paragraph 56, the gNB transmits the at least one precoded DL reference signal to the UE, where the gNB beamforms each CSI-RS port (also called CSI-RS signal) with the frequency-domain precoder); and
receive CSI reported by the terminal (see at least paragraph 61, the gNB receives, from the UE, channel information indicating at least one non-zero channel coefficients of at least one channel transmission layer between the UE and the gNB);
regarding claim 2, after receiving the CSI reported by the terminal, the method further comprises:
determining precoding information of the terminal according to the CSI (see at least paragraph 66, as a result of receiving such CSI from the UE, the gNB determines a precoder matrix and/or a downlink channel matrix needed for beamforming a data transmission to the UE); and
sending a downlink signal to the terminal according to the precoding information (see at least paragraph 66, the gNB applies beamforming for data transmission to the UE based on either or both of the matrices); and
regarding claim 8, the CSI comprises at least one of: port selection indication information, combination coefficient information, frequency domain basis vector indication information, or time domain basis vector indication information (see at least paragraph 61, the gNB receives, from the UE, channel information indicating at least one non-zero channel coefficients of at least one channel transmission layer between the UE and the gNB, where the channel information comprises the channel coefficients in time domain and/or the channel coefficients in frequency domain).
Hajri discloses or teaches:
regarding claim 16, a method for determining channel state information (CSI), performed by a terminal, wherein the method comprises:
sending uplink pilot signals to a network device at T consecutive moments, wherein T is an integer greater than 1 (see at least paragraph 49, the gNB receives an UL reference signal from a UE, where the UL reference signal comprises a sounding reference signal (SRS), where the UE transmits periodic or semi-persistent uplink reference signal to the gNB, where the periodic or semi-persistent transmission occurs at a plurality of consecutive moments in a periodic or semi-persistent manner);
receiving a beamformed CSI-RS sent by the network device (see at least paragraph 56, the gNB transmits the at least one precoded DL reference signal, which is received by the UE, where the gNB beamforms each CSI-RS port (also called CSI-RS signal) with the frequency-domain precoder), wherein a CSI-RS beam for sending the beamformed CSI-RS of the network device is determined by the network device according to uplink channel information (see at least paragraphs 54 and 55, the gNB applies both the delay information and the spatial information in precoding of at least one DL reference signal comprising a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), where the precoders for the DL reference signal are based on both spatial domain beams (e.g., selected from an oversampled grid of beams) and frequency domain components (e.g., selected from a codebook, typically DFT/IDFT based, that may be oversampled)), and the uplink channel information is determined by performing an uplink channel estimation on the uplink pilot signals by the network device (see at least paragraphs 50-53, the gNB estimates delay information regarding a delay profile and spatial information regarding the communication channel based on the received UL reference signal);
determining CSI according to the beamformed CSI-RS (see at least paragraphs 60 and 61, upon reception of the beamformed DL reference signals that are precoded in spatial and frequency domains, the UE processes the measured channel coefficients of the received signal through a summation over all configured subbands to derive at least one non-zero coefficient of at least one channel transmission layer between the UE and the gNB); and
sending the CSI to the network device (see at least paragraph 61, the gNB receives, from the UE, channel information indicating at least one non-zero channel coefficients of at least one channel transmission layer between the UE and the gNB);
regarding claim 17, the CSI comprises at least one of: port selection indication information, combination coefficient information, frequency domain basis vector indication information, or time domain basis vector indication information (see at least paragraph 61, the gNB receives, from the UE, channel information indicating at least one non-zero channel coefficients of at least one channel transmission layer between the UE and the gNB, where the channel information comprises the channel coefficients in time domain and/or the channel coefficients in frequency domain);
regarding claim 18, the combination coefficient information comprises non-zero coefficients and/or non-zero coefficient positions, wherein a maximum value of a number of the non-zero coefficients is determined by being configured by the network device, or determined by the terminal according to downlink channel information, or determined by being predefined by the terminal and the network device (see at least paragraphs 60 and 61, upon reception of the beamformed DL reference signals that are precoded in spatial and frequency domains, the UE processes the measured channel coefficients of the received signal through a summation over all configured subbands to derive at least one non-zero coefficient of at least one channel transmission layer between the UE and the gNB, where the estimation of the channel coefficients is based on the received at least one precoded DL reference signals);
regarding claim 20, the T moments correspond to T uplink pilot signal symbols; or the T moments correspond to T slots at which the uplink pilot signals are sent; wherein the uplink pilot signals sent on different OFDM symbols within one slot or the T slots are a same or different (see at least paragraph 49, the gNB receives an UL reference signal from a UE, where the UL reference signal comprises a sounding reference signal (SRS), which corresponds to uplink pilot signal symbols, where the UE transmits periodic or semi-persistent uplink reference signal to the gNB, where the periodic or semi-persistent transmission occurs at a plurality of consecutive moments in a periodic or semi-persistent manner);
regarding claim 22, sending the uplink pilot signals to the network device comprises at least one of:
sending the uplink pilot signals at a same bandwidth and in a same frequency domain position; sending the uplink pilot signals at a same bandwidth and in a different frequency domain position; sending the uplink pilot signals at different bandwidths and in the same frequency domain position; or sending the uplink pilot signals at different bandwidths and in different frequency domain positions (see at least paragraph 51, both quantities may be defined in a DFT-transformed domain with respect to subcarrier domain where both SRS and CSI-RS are defined, where the periodic or semi-persistent SRS transmission are transmitted at a same or different bandwidths and in a same or different frequency domain positions); and
regarding claim 28, a terminal comprising:
one or more processors (see at least Fig. 7 and paragraph 175, control circuitry 52 as a processor); and
a memory that stores a computer program, wherein the one or more processors execute the computer program stored in the memory to cause the terminal to perform the method for determining channel state information (CSI) according to claim 16 (see at least Fig. 7 and paragraph 175, memory 54 including a computer program code configured, with the processor, to cause the apparatus to carry out the method for channel information determination).
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.
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.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hajri in view of U.S. Pub. No. 2022/0368485 (hereinafter “Levitsky”).
Regarding claim 3, Hajri discloses or teaches that the uplink channel information comprises angle information and delay information, where the angle information is denoted by a spatial domain basis vector and the delay information is denoted by a frequency domain basis vector (see at least paragraphs 50-53, delay information denoted by frequency domain components or frequency domain basis vector and the spatial information indicating an angle-of-arrival) but Hajri does not explicitly disclose that the uplink channel information comprises Doppler shift information denoted by phase shift or a time domain basis vector.
However, in an analogous art, Levitksy discloses or teaches that uplink channel information comprises Doppler shift information denoted by phase shift or a time domain basis vector (see at least paragraphs 30 and 76, the base station estimates an uplink Doppler shift based on an SRS transmission from the UE, where Doppler shift refers to a shift in a frequency of a signal between a transmitter and a receiver).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement the Doppler shift estimation as taught by Levitsky in to the invention of Hajri in order to effectively configure downlink communications with the UE.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-7, 9-12, and 14 are 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Pub. No. 2019/0312705 (Takano) discloses beamformed CSI-RSs based on channel information obtained from uplink SRS transmission.
U.S. Pub. No. 2020/0304182 (Ibrahim et al.) discloses multi-user precoders based on partial reciprocity.
U.S. Patent Number 11,405,930 (Tong et al.) discloses CSI-RS transmission using beamforming weight based on uplink channel matrix of an uplink sounding reference signal.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Pawaris Sinkantarakorn whose telephone number is (571)270-1424. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:00pm.
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, Hadi Armouche can be reached at (571) 270-3618. 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.
/PAO SINKANTARAKORN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409 08/27/2026
Prosecution Insights