DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 .
Priority
The provisional application PRO 63/334,927, 63/395,953 and 63/445,674 filed on 04/26/2022, 08/08/2022 and 02/14/2023 are acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/25/2024 and 07/22/2026 are acknowledged.
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 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 of this title, 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 22-41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rahman et al. (US 20230283349 A1), hereinafter referenced as Rahman, in view of GAO et al. (US 20240137091 A1), hereinafter referenced as Gao.
Regarding claims 22 and 32, Rahman teaches a method implemented in a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) (Para. [0004-0007]-Rahman discloses apparatuses and methods for uplink transmission … The method includes receiving information about an UL transmission based on N antenna ports and receiving a first indicator (I) indicating G groups of antenna ports, g.sub.1, . . . , g.sub.G. Group g.sub.i includes n.sub.i antenna ports selected from the N antenna ports. The method further includes identifying, based on the information and the first indicator (I), the G groups and transmitting the UL transmission based on the identified G groups. Fig. 2, Para. [0037]-Rahman discloses gNB 102 includes multiple antennas 205a-205n, multiple transceivers 210a-210n, a controller/processor 225, a memory 230, and a backhaul or network interface 235. Fig. 3, Para. [0046]-Rahman discloses the UE 116 includes antenna(s) 305, a transceiver(s) 310, and a microphone 320. The UE 116 also includes a speaker 330, a processor 340, an input/output (I/O) interface (IF) 345, an input 350, a display 355, and a memory 360. The memory 360 includes an operating system (OS) 361 and one or more applications 362), the method comprising:
transmitting capability information indicating a number of antenna port groups (Para. [0205-0206]-Rahman discloses UE is indicated with multiple groups/subsets of antenna ports selected from a total of N antenna ports at the UE, each group/subset includes the same number (n) of antenna ports. In one example, group/subset g.sub.i includes n.sub.i antenna port, where i is the index of the i-the group/subset g.sub.i, n.sub.i is the number of antenna ports in the i-th group, and i∈{1, . . . , G}, where G is the number of groups, and n.sub.i value for different i can be the same or different ... the UE reports its capability about the supported value(s) of G);
receiving configuration information indicating at least one codebook (Para. [0071]-Rahman discloses for codebook-based transmission, the UE determines its codebook subsets based on TPMI and upon the reception of higher layer parameter codebookSubset in pusch-Config for PUSCH associated with DCI format 0_1 and codebookSubsetDCI-0-2 in pusch-Config for PUSCH associated with DCI format 0_2 which may be configured with ‘fullyAndPartialAndNonCoherent’, or ‘partialAndNonCoherent’, or ‘nonCoherent’ depending on the UE capability);
receiving scheduling information for a transmission (Para. [0070]-Rahman discloses for codebook based transmission, PUSCH can be scheduled by DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2 ... If this PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2, ..., the UE determines its PUSCH transmission precoder based on SRI, TPMI and the transmission rank, where the SRI, TPMI and the transmission rank are given by DCI fields of SRS resource indicator and Precoding information and number of layers ... for DCI format 0_1 and 0_2 or given by srs-ResourceIndicator and precodingAndNumberOfLayers),
the scheduling information comprises precoding information associated with a number of precoders (Para. [0070]-Rahman discloses for codebook based transmission, PUSCH can be scheduled by DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2 ... If this PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2, ..., the UE determines its PUSCH transmission precoder based on SRI, TPMI and the transmission rank, where the SRI, TPMI and the transmission rank are given by DCI fields of SRS resource indicator and Precoding information and number of layers ... for DCI format 0_1 and 0_2 or given by srs-ResourceIndicator and precodingAndNumberOfLayers ... The TPMI is used to indicate the precoder to be applied over the layers {0 . . . v−1} and that corresponds to the SRS resource selected by the SRI when multiple SRS resources are configured, or if a single SRS resource is configured TPMI is used to indicate the precoder to be applied over the layers {0 . . . v−1} and that corresponds to the SRS resource. The transmission precoder is selected from the uplink codebook that has a number of antenna ports equal to higher layer parameter nrofSRS-Ports in SRS-Config),
the number of antenna port groups is equal to the number of precoders (Para. [0099]-Rahman discloses in one example, only one (N.sub.1, N.sub.2) is supported for each value of P. Tables 1-6, Para. [0085]-Rahman discloses for codebook-based UL transmission, the precoding matrix W is given by W=1 for single-layer transmission on a single antenna port. Para. [0070]-Rahman discloses the TPMI is used to indicate the precoder to be applied over the layers {0 . . . v−1} and that corresponds to the SRS resource selected by the SRI when multiple SRS resources are configured, or if a single SRS resource is configured TPMI is used to indicate the precoder to be applied over the layers {0 . . . v−1} and that corresponds to the SRS resource. The transmission precoder is selected from the uplink codebook that has a number of antenna ports equal to higher layer parameter nrofSRS-Ports in SRS-Config. Para. [0117]-Rahman discloses the group/subset of n antenna ports is selected independently/specifically for each layer-pair (i.e., layer-pair-specific group), hence each layer pair (l, l+1) is transmitted from its specific (independent) group/subset of antenna ports. Para. [0172]-Rahman discloses the indicator I indicates one group/subset of antenna ports for each layer. When the number of layers>1, the same group or different groups can be indicated across layers), and
determining the precoders for the antenna port groups based on the at least one codebook and the precoding information (Para. [0070]-Rahman discloses for codebook based transmission, PUSCH can be scheduled by DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2 ... If this PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2, ..., the UE determines its PUSCH transmission precoder based on SRI, TPMI and the transmission rank, where the SRI, TPMI and the transmission rank are given by DCI fields of SRS resource indicator and Precoding information and number of layers ... for DCI format 0_1 and 0_2 or given by srs-ResourceIndicator and precodingAndNumberOfLayers ... The TPMI is used to indicate the precoder to be applied over the layers {0 . . . v−1} and that corresponds to the SRS resource selected by the SRI when multiple SRS resources are configured, or if a single SRS resource is configured TPMI is used to indicate the precoder to be applied over the layers {0 . . . v−1} and that corresponds to the SRS resource. The transmission precoder is selected from the uplink codebook that has a number of antenna ports equal to higher layer parameter nrofSRS-Ports in SRS-Config),
a precoder is determined for each antenna port group (Para. [0070]-Rahman discloses for codebook based transmission, PUSCH can be scheduled by DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2 ... If this PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2, ..., the UE determines its PUSCH transmission precoder based on SRI, TPMI and the transmission rank, where the SRI, TPMI and the transmission rank are given by DCI fields of SRS resource indicator and Precoding information and number of layers ... for DCI format 0_1 and 0_2 or given by srs-ResourceIndicator and precodingAndNumberOfLayers ... The TPMI is used to indicate the precoder to be applied over the layers {0 . . . v−1} and that corresponds to the SRS resource selected by the SRI when multiple SRS resources are configured, or if a single SRS resource is configured TPMI is used to indicate the precoder to be applied over the layers {0 . . . v−1} and that corresponds to the SRS resource. The transmission precoder is selected from the uplink codebook that has a number of antenna ports equal to higher layer parameter nrofSRS-Ports in SRS-Config); and
transmitting the transmission using the antenna port groups and the determined precoders (Para. [0070]-Rahman discloses for codebook based transmission, PUSCH can be scheduled by DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2 ... If this PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2, ..., the UE determines its PUSCH transmission precoder based on SRI, TPMI and the transmission rank, where the SRI, TPMI and the transmission rank are given by DCI fields of SRS resource indicator and Precoding information and number of layers ... for DCI format 0_1 and 0_2 or given by srs-ResourceIndicator and precodingAndNumberOfLayers ... The TPMI is used to indicate the precoder to be applied over the layers {0 . . . v−1} and that corresponds to the SRS resource selected by the SRI when multiple SRS resources are configured, or if a single SRS resource is configured TPMI is used to indicate the precoder to be applied over the layers {0 . . . v−1} and that corresponds to the SRS resource. The transmission precoder is selected from the uplink codebook that has a number of antenna ports equal to higher layer parameter nrofSRS-Ports in SRS-Config).
Rahman fails to explicitly teach each precoder is associated with a different antenna port group.
However, Gao teaches each precoder is associated with a different antenna port group (Para. [0071]-Gao discloses precoding/codebook can be provided per port group of the wireless communication device. Para. [0106]-Gao discloses precoding information can be provided per port group. Para. [0006]-Gao discloses each of the plurality of precoding information can be associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of port groups, according to an order).
Rahman and Gao are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of wireless communications, dealing with systems and methods for selectively precoding an uplink (UL) frequency.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the Rahman to incorporate the teachings of Gao on precoder, with a motivation for each precoder to be associated with different antenna port group, and guarantee increased capacity, new waveform (e.g., a new radio access technology (RAT)) to flexibly accommodate various services/applications with different requirements, new multiple access schemes to support massive connections, and so on, (Rahman, Para. [0003]).
Regarding claims 23 and 33, Rahman teaches the method of claim 22 and the WTRU of claim 32 respectively,
Rahman further teaches antenna ports within an antenna port group are fully coherent (Para. [0081-oo84]-Rahman discloses ‘full-coherence’ (FC) implies all antenna ports at the UE that can be used to transmit a layer coherently ... UE is configured with codebookSubset=‘fullAndPartialAndNonCoherent’, the UL codebook includes all three types (FC, PC, NC) of precoding matrices. Para. [0071]-Rahman discloses for codebook-based transmission, the UE determines its codebook subsets based on TPMI and upon the reception of higher layer parameter codebookSubset in pusch-Config for PUSCH associated with DCI format 0_1 and codebookSubsetDCI-0-2 in pusch-Config for PUSCH associated with DCI format 0_2 which may be configured with ‘fullyAndPartialAndNonCoherent’, or ‘partialAndNonCoherent’, or ‘nonCoherent’ depending on the UE capability).
Regarding claims 24 and 34, Rahman teaches the method of claim 22 and the WTRU of claim 32 respectively,
Rahman further teaches the antenna port groups are antenna panels (Fig. 7, Para. [0100]-Rahman discloses ‘antenna panel’ refers to a group of antenna ports or a group of antenna elements or a subset of antenna ports associated with a resource (e.g., SRS resource, CSI-RS resource, SSB block)).
Regarding claims 25 and 35, Rahman teaches the method of claim 22 and the WTRU of claim 32 respectively,
Rahman further teaches the precoding information comprises a plurality of transmit precoding matrix indicators (TPMIs) (Para. [0112]-Rahman discloses the TPMI/TRI is indicated via a DCI field, e.g., a field Precoding information and number of layers in DCI format 0_1 and 0_2. In one example, the TPMI/TRI is indicated via a higher layer parameter, e.g., precodingAndNumberOfLayers. In one example, the TPMI/TRI is indicated via a MAC CE. Tables 7-8, Para. [0087-0088]-Rahman discloses precoding matrix W for 2 antenna ports ... TPMIs Full-Coherent (FC) TPMIs).
Regarding claims 26 and 36, Rahman teaches the method of claim 22 and the WTRU of claim 32 respectively,
Rahman fails to explicitly teach transmitting the transmission comprises using each precoder for transmission of a different codeword.
However, Gao teaches teaches transmitting the transmission comprises using each precoder for transmission of a different codeword (Para. [0009]-Rahman discloses one or more of the port groups may be associated with a corresponding uplink codeword. Para. [0071]-Gao discloses precoding/codebook can be provided per port group of the wireless communication device. Para. [0106]-Gao discloses precoding information can be provided per port group. Para. [0006]-Gao discloses each of the plurality of precoding information can be associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of port groups, according to an order).
Gao is considered to be analogous because it is in the same field of wireless communications, dealing with systems and methods for selectively precoding an uplink (UL) frequency.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the Rahman to incorporate the teachings of Gao on codework and precoder, with a motivation to use each precoder on a different codeword, and guarantee increased capacity, new waveform (e.g., a new radio access technology (RAT)) to flexibly accommodate various services/applications with different requirements, new multiple access schemes to support massive connections, and so on, (Rahman, Para. [0003]).
Regarding claims 27 and 37, Rahman teaches the method of claim 22 and the WTRU of claim 32 respectively,
Rahman further teaches each precoder corresponds to a different codebook (Para. [0084]-Rahman discloses when the UE is configured with codebookSubset=‘fullAndPartialAndNonCoherent’, the UL codebook includes all three types (FC, PC, NC) of precoding matrices; when the UE is configured with codebookSubset=‘partialAndNonCoherent’, the UL codebook includes two types (PC, NC) of precoding matrices; and when the UE is configured with codebookSubset=‘nonCoherent’, the UL codebook includes only one type (NC) of precoding matrices).
Regarding claims 28 and 38, Rahman teaches the method of claim 22 and the WTRU of claim 32 respectively,
Rahman further teaches the antenna port groups are associated with a coherence capability (Para. [0123-0126]-Rahman discloses an example of a full-coherent (FC) UL transmission, and the indicator J indicates a FC precoding matrix, i.e., all N antenna ports can be used to transmit a transmission layer. [0125] In one example, n=1, i.e., only 1 (out of N) antenna ports is selected (G=N), hence the indicator I indicates a port selection vector (comprising all 0s and only one 1 at the location of the selected antenna port) ... an example of a non-coherent (NC) UL transmission, and the indicator J indicates a fixed value 1, hence there is no need for indication of the indicator J. In this case, only 1 antenna port is used to transmit a transmission layer. Alternatively, the indicator I can be considered to be equal to the indicator J. Hence, only one of the two needs reporting ... in one example, n is a value from {2, . . . , N−1}, i.e., at least 2 and at most N−1 (not all N) antenna ports are selected, hence the indicator I indicates the group/subset of selected n antenna ports).
Regarding claims 29 and 39, Rahman teaches the method of claim 28 and the WTRU of claim 38 respectively,
Rahman further teaches the coherence capability associated with the antenna port groups is indicated in the capability information implicitly or explicitly (Para. [0123-0126]-Rahman discloses an example of a full-coherent (FC) UL transmission, and the indicator J indicates a FC precoding matrix, i.e., all N antenna ports can be used to transmit a transmission layer. [0125] In one example, n=1, i.e., only 1 (out of N) antenna ports is selected (G=N), hence the indicator I indicates a port selection vector (comprising all 0s and only one 1 at the location of the selected antenna port) ... an example of a non-coherent (NC) UL transmission, and the indicator J indicates a fixed value 1, hence there is no need for indication of the indicator J. In this case, only 1 antenna port is used to transmit a transmission layer. Alternatively, the indicator I can be considered to be equal to the indicator J. Hence, only one of the two needs reporting ... in one example, n is a value from {2, . . . , N−1}, i.e., at least 2 and at most N−1 (not all N) antenna ports are selected, hence the indicator I indicates the group/subset of selected n antenna ports).
Regarding claims 30 and 40, Rahman teaches the method of claim 22 and the WTRU of claim 32 respectively,
Rahman further teaches the transmission is an uplink transmission (Para. [0123-0126]-Rahman discloses an example of a full-coherent (FC) UL transmission, and the indicator J indicates a FC precoding matrix, i.e., all N antenna ports can be used to transmit a transmission layer. [0125] In one example, n=1, i.e., only 1 (out of N) antenna ports is selected (G=N), hence the indicator I indicates a port selection vector (comprising all 0s and only one 1 at the location of the selected antenna port) ... an example of a non-coherent (NC) UL transmission, and the indicator J indicates a fixed value 1, hence there is no need for indication of the indicator J. In this case, only 1 antenna port is used to transmit a transmission layer. Alternatively, the indicator I can be considered to be equal to the indicator J. Hence, only one of the two needs reporting ... in one example, n is a value from {2, . . . , N−1}, i.e., at least 2 and at most N−1 (not all N) antenna ports are selected, hence the indicator I indicates the group/subset of selected n antenna ports).
Regarding claims 31 and 41, Rahman teaches the method of claim 30 and the WTRU of claim 40 respectively,
Rahman further teaches the uplink transmission is a physical uplink shared channel transmission (Para. [0070]-Rahman discloses for codebook based transmission, PUSCH can be scheduled by DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2 ... If this PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2, ..., the UE determines its PUSCH transmission precoder based on SRI, TPMI and the transmission rank, where the SRI, TPMI and the transmission rank are given by DCI fields of SRS resource indicator and Precoding information and number of layers ... for DCI format 0_1 and 0_2 or given by srs-ResourceIndicator and precodingAndNumberOfLayers ... The TPMI is used to indicate the precoder to be applied over the layers {0 . . . v−1} and that corresponds to the SRS resource selected by the SRI when multiple SRS resources are configured, or if a single SRS resource is configured TPMI is used to indicate the precoder to be applied over the layers {0 . . . v−1} and that corresponds to the SRS resource. The transmission precoder is selected from the uplink codebook that has a number of antenna ports equal to higher layer parameter nrofSRS-Ports in SRS-Config).
Conclusion
Listed below are the prior arts made of record and not relied upon but are considered pertinent to applicant`s disclosure.
PARK et al. (US 20210050891 A1)-discloses Para. [0475]-Park discloses modulated symbols of each transport layer may be mapped to a corresponding antenna port(s) by the precoder. In this case, mapping the modulated symbols of each transport layer to the antenna port(s) corresponds to precoding. Para. [0714]-Park discloses a complex modulated symbol sequence may be mapped to one or more transport layers by the layer mapper 1030. Modulated symbols of each transport layer may be mapped to a corresponding antenna port(s) by the precoder 1040 (precoding). Output z of the precoder 1040 may be obtained by multiplying output y of the layer mapper 1030 by precoding matrix W of N*M. Here, N represents the number of antenna ports and M represents the number of transport layers. Here, the precoder 1040 may perform precoding after performing transform precoding (e.g., DFT transform) for complex modulated symbols. Further, the precoder 1040 may perform the precoding without performing the transform precoding …. …Fig. 1-2
PARK et al. (WO 2022060089 A1)-discloses Page 20, Lines [34-37]-Park discloses the precoding matrices included in the existing full-coherent codebook subset (ie, the codebook subset for rank 1), some of TPMIs indicating precoding matrices having a phase rotation relationship between antenna port groups can be reconfigured to indicate the precoding matrices for the rank 2 …. …Fig. 1-3
Rahman et al. (US 11706718 B2)-discloses method of a user equipment (UE) for an uplink power control is provided. The method comprises transmitting, to a base station (BS), UE capability information including a full power transmission capability of the UE, receiving, from the BS, downlink control information (DCI) including a transmit precoding matrix indicator (TPMI), determining a power level for each antenna port at the UE based on the full power transmission capability of the UE and the TPMI, and transmitting, to the BS, UL data via physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) based on the determined power level for each antenna port at the UE and the TPMI wherein the TPMI indicates a precoding matrix and a number of layers used to transmit the UL data via the PUSCH .… …Fig. 1-5
Zhang et al. (US 20150381249 A1)-discloses method for feeding back a precoding matrix indicator, a receive end and a transmit end, where the method includes: selecting, by a receive end, a precoding matrix W from a codebook based on a reference signal …. …Fig. 1-2
Park et al. (US 20200177261 A1)-discloses method of transmitting an uplink signal based on a codebook in a wireless communication system. More specifically, the method performed by a UE includes receiving, from a base station, downlink control information (DCI) including a first transmit precoding matrix indicator (TPMI), determining a codebook subset related to the transmission of the uplink signal based on the first TPMI, and transmitting, to the base station, the uplink signal based on the determined codebook subset …. …Fig. 1-5
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/OLADIRAN GIDEON OLALEYE/Examiner, Art Unit 2472
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