DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . The instant First Office Action on the merits is in response to claims filed on 9/20/2024.
Claims 1-20 are pending. Claims 1, 18 and 19 are the base independent claims.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) is acknowledged.
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copies of papers required under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) have been filed.
Claim Objections
Claim 18 is objected to because of the following informality: “… is channel feature information” should be --is a first channel feature information--. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 / 103
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.
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.
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 1-2, 4 10-12 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as anticipated by LIU et al (US 2025/0070910) or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over LIU et al (US 2025/0070910) and LI et al (US 2025/0159522)
Regarding claim 1, LIU discloses a channel feature information transmission method, comprising:
receiving, by a terminal, first indication information (fig. 3 & par 288; e.g. downlink signal), and generating first channel feature information (par 293; different pieces of channel information may be encoded using the network model) based on a first artificial intelligence (AI) network model (par 291; e.g. first network model; also par 285);
determining, by the terminal, target channel feature information based on the first indication information and the first channel feature information (par 304; e.g. determining the first channel information according to the downlink reference signal; par 291 optionally if the downlink signal is a downlink reference signal, the terminal can select one network model), wherein the first channel feature information comprises the target channel feature information (par 295; optionally the terminal may quantize and send some or all elements in the encoded data to the network device); and
reporting, by the terminal, the target channel feature information (par 294; sending data resulting from the processing of the encoded data to the network device).
Regarding claim 2, the reference does not disclose a feature of the target channel feature information, however, LI discloses:
wherein the first indication information is used to indicate at least one of the following (examining note: since the claim shows a limitation in an alternative form, the prior art may teach either or both limitations, and this notice applies to subsequent occurrences of claim limitations that are in the alternative form):
a length of the target channel feature information;
a length range of the target channel feature information;
a table index of a length of the target channel feature information; or
a location of the target channel feature information (par 92; e.g. UE receives MAC-CE or DCI… dynamically provide codebook information or location information regarding one or more additional reference signals).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of communication protocol configured for the electronic system of LI with the electronic system of LIU. One is motivated as such for reporting of measurement result (LI, par 90).
Regarding claim 4, the reference does not disclose a feature of the first indication information, however, LI discloses:
wherein the first indication information comprises at least one of the following:
radio resource control (RRC) signaling; medium access control control element (MAC CE) signaling; or downlink control information (DCI) (par 92; e.g. UE receives MAC-CE or DCI… dynamically provide codebook information or location information regarding one or more additional reference signals).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of communication protocol configured for the electronic system of LI with the electronic system of LIU. One is motivated as such for reporting of measurement result (LI, par 90).
Regarding claim 10, LIU discloses:
wherein the reporting, by the terminal, the target channel feature information comprises:
reporting, by the terminal, information content of the target channel feature information and a length of the target channel feature information (par 301-302; e.g. indication information of the quantity of elements and the element position reported by the terminal; also par 366).
Regarding claim 11, LIU discloses:
wherein the first indication information is further used to indicate the terminal to report the length of the target channel feature information (par 312; e.g. N1 can be determined according to the quantity L of channel information and the quantity I of network models; also par 306).
Regarding claim 12, LIU discloses:
wherein the terminal comprises L first AI network models, and L is a positive integer, wherein
any one of the L first AI network models corresponds to at least one length of the target channel feature information; or the L first AI network models are in a one-to-one correspondence with L length ranges of the target channel feature information, and the L length ranges of the target channel feature information are different (par 306; e.g. when there is L> 1 channel information to be transmitted, and the L pieces of channel information are encoded and/or decoded using different network models, the terminal can select at least two/L network models, etc. from the I network models; par 312; e.g. N1 can be determined according to the quantity L of channel information and the quantity I of network models).
Regarding claim 18, LIU discloses a channel feature information transmission method, comprising:
sending, by a network-side device, first indication information to a terminal (fig. 3 & par 288; e.g. downlink signal); and
receiving, by the network-side device, target channel feature information reported by the terminal (par 294; sending data resulting from the processing of the encoded data to the network device), wherein
the target channel feature information is channel feature information (par 293; different pieces of channel information may be encoded using the network model) determined by the terminal based on the first indication information and first channel feature information (par 304; e.g. determining the first channel information according to the downlink reference signal; par 291 optionally if the downlink signal is a downlink reference signal, the terminal can select one network model) generated based on a first AI network model (par 291; e.g. first network model; also par 285), and the first channel feature information comprises the target channel feature information (par 295; optionally the terminal may quantize and send some or all elements in the encoded data to the network device).
Regarding claims 19 and 20, LIU also discloses a processor and a memory for processing the methods of claims 1 and 18 (see par 475).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 5-9 and 13-17 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YAOTANG WANG whose telephone number is (571)272-4023. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00-18:00 ET (M, W, TH & alternate F).
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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.
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/YAOTANG WANG/SCE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409
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