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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 8-15 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 8, line 6, it is suggested that “antenna panel is in response to” be replaced with “antenna panel in response to”.
Claims 9-15 are depending on claim 8.
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 1-4, 17-26, 29 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (US 2023/0155655 A1) in view of Kang et al. (US 2022/0217746 A1).
Consider claims 1, 23, 29 and 30:
Zhang discloses an apparatus for wireless communications (see Fig. 7 and paragraph 0097, where Zhang describes a wireless communication system that includes a base station and a user equipment (UE), the user equipment includes a first antenna panel and a second antenna panel; see paragraph 0031, where Zhang describes implantation using non-transitory computer readable memory medium), the apparatus comprising:
memory having executable instructions stored thereon (see paragraph 0059, where Zhang describes that the user equipment (UE) includes a memory which stores executable program instructions); and
one or more processors configured to, individually or collectively, execute the executable instructions (see paragraph 0059, where Zhang describes that the user equipment (UE) may include a processor that is configured to execute program instructions stored in the memory) to cause the apparatus to:
transmit, to a network entity, a report including information associated with an antenna panel selected for communications between the user equipment and the network entity (see paragraph 0121, where Zhang describes that the user equipment may transmit to the base station a capability report for each of a plurality of antenna panels that are used for communication between the user equipment and the base station),
wherein the information associated with the antenna panel includes a maximum number of sounding reference signal (SRS) ports (see paragraph 0125, where Zhang describes that the capability report for each of a plurality of antenna panels comprises an indication of a maximum number of ports available per Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource); and
apply the information associated with the selected antenna panel for communicating with the network entity (see paragraph 0103, where Zhang describes that based on the capability report, the user equipment may select a new antenna panel for uplink (UL) transmission to the base station).
Zhang does not specifically disclose: a maximum number of SRS ports applicable to a plurality of component carriers (CCs).
Kang teaches: a maximum number of SRS ports applicable to a plurality of component carriers (CCs) (see paragraph 0336, where Kang describes a wireless system in which the maximum number of SRS resources per antenna panel may be reported, which is to be commonly applied to specific component carrier (CC) indexes; see paragraph 0229, where Kang describes that one SRS port is configured for each SRS resource).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: a maximum number of SRS ports applicable to a plurality of component carriers (CCs), as taught by Kang to modify the method of Zhang in order to improve reliability of uplink channel transmission, as discussed by Kang (see paragraph 0035).
Consider claims 2 and 24:
Zhang in view of Kang discloses the invention of claims 1 and 23 above. Zhang does not specifically disclose: apply the information in multiple of the plurality of CCs.
Kang teaches: apply the information in multiple of the plurality of CCs (see paragraph 0339, where Kang describes that the panel related information is applied to the component carrier (CC) indexes).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: apply the information in multiple of the plurality of CCs, as taught by Kang to modify the method of Zhang in order to improve reliability of uplink channel transmission, as discussed by Kang (see paragraph 0035).
Consider claims 3 and 25:
Zhang in view of Kang discloses the invention of claims 1 and 23 above. Zhang does not specifically disclose: different subcarrier spacing (SCS) are configured for at least two of the plurality of CCs.
Kang teaches: different subcarrier spacing (SCS) are configured for at least two of the plurality of CCs (see paragraph 0122, where Kang describes that multiple subcarrier spacing (SCS) are supported in NR system; see paragraph 0312, where Kang describes that the NR system includes CCs).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: different subcarrier spacing (SCS) are configured for at least two of the plurality of CCs, as taught by Kang to modify the method of Zhang in order to support various 5G services, as discussed by Kang (see paragraph 0122).
Consider claims 4 and 26:
Zhang in view of Kang discloses the invention of claims 1 and 23 above. Zhang does not specifically disclose: apply the information in each of the plurality of CCs at a same time instance.
Kang teaches: apply the information in each of the plurality of CCs at a same time instance (see paragraph 0316, where Kang describes that the user equipment performs simultaneous transmission within the same component carrier).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: apply the information in each of the plurality of CCs at a same time instance, as taught by Kang to modify the method of Zhang in order to improve reliability of uplink channel transmission, as discussed by Kang (see paragraph 0035).
Consider claim 17:
Zhang in view of Kang discloses the apparatus of claim 1 above. Zhang discloses: receive an acknowledgment message from the network entity in response to transmitting the report, wherein the acknowledgment message comprises an antenna panel configuration selected by the network entity and a reserved index carried in a downlink control information (DCI) field, a value of the reserved index corresponding to the selected antenna panel (see Fig. 9 and paragraph 0109, step 910, where Zhang describes that in response to receiving the capability report from the user equipment, the base station transmits a RRC configuration information to the user equipment corresponding to the antenna panel indicated by the initial antenna panel index; see paragraph 0104, where Zhang describes that the base station transmits the configuration information in Downlink Control Information (DCI)).
Consider claim 18:
Zhang in view of Kang discloses the apparatus of claim 1 above. Zhang discloses: receive an acknowledgment message from the network entity in response to transmitting the report, wherein the acknowledgment message comprises an antenna panel configuration selected by the network entity and a configuration command (see Fig. 9 and paragraph 0109, step 910, where Zhang describes that the user equipment receives RRC configuration information from the base station in response to transmitting the capability report, and the RRC configuration information corresponds to the antenna panel indicated by the initial antenna panel index).
Consider claim 19:
Zhang in view of Kang discloses the apparatus of claim 18 above. Zhang discloses: the configuration command comprises a command associating one or more of a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (RS) (CSI-RS) identifier, a synchronization signal block (SSB) identifier, or a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state identifier with the selected antenna panel (see paragraph 0105, where Zhang describes that the user equipment may receive a number of Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resources).
Consider claim 20:
Zhang in view of Kang discloses the apparatus of claim 1 above. Zhang does disclose: receive an acknowledgment message from the network entity in response to transmitting the report (see Fig. 9 and paragraph 0109, where Zhang describes that the user equipment receives RRC configuration information from the base station in response to transmitting the capability report), wherein the acknowledgment message comprises an antenna panel configuration selected by the network entity and a command to deactivate one or more specified antenna panels at the UE (see Fig. 9 and paragraph 0109, where Zhang describes that the RRC configuration information corresponds to antenna panel indicated by the initial antenna panel index reported by the user equipment).
Consider claim 21:
Zhang in view of Kang discloses the apparatus of claim 1 above. Zhang does disclose: the information associated with the antenna panel comprises information associated with a resource index (see Fig. 8 and paragraph 0109, where Zhang describes that the user equipment may transmit an initial antenna panel index report to the base station), and wherein the selected antenna panel is valid until a next instance at which the information associated with the resource index is reported (see Fig. 8 and paragraph 0109, where Zhang describes that the base station transmits a reconfiguration to the user equipment to configure the antenna panel).
Consider claim 22:
Zhang in view of Kang discloses the apparatus of claim 1 above. Zhang discloses: the report is associated with one of a beam reporting instance or a beam failure request message transmitted to the network entity (see paragraph 0100, where Zhang describes that the user equipment (UE) may report a number of RX/TX beams).
Claims 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 14, 27 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (US 2023/0155655 A1) in view of Kang et al. (US 2022/0217746 A1), as applied to claims 4 and 26 above, and further in view of Tsai (US 2019/0313407 A1).
Consider claims 5 and 27:
Zhang in view of Kang discloses the invention of claims 4 and 26 above. Zhang does not specifically disclose: the time instance is associated with a smallest subcarrier spacing (SCS) among a plurality of SCSs configured for the plurality of CCs.
Tsai teaches: a time instance is associated with a smallest subcarrier spacing (SCS) among a plurality of SCSs configured for a plurality of CCs (see paragraph 0058, where Tsai describes a user equipment which initially determines a reference symbol period that is calculated using a subcarrier spacing that is the smallest among subcarrier spacings for the uplink component carriers in timing advance group).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: the time instance is associated with a smallest subcarrier spacing (SCS) among a plurality of SCSs configured for the plurality of CCs, as taught by Tsai to modify the method of Zhang and Kang in order to have a reference symbol period, as discussed by Tsai (see paragraph 0058).
Consider claims 6 and 28:
Zhang in view of Kang discloses the invention of claims 1 and 23 above. Zhang does not specifically disclose: separately determine a plurality of respective time instance to apply the information in each respective CC of the plurality of CCs.
Tsai teaches: separately determine a plurality of respective time instance to apply information in each respective CC of a plurality of CCs (see paragraph 0007, where Tsai describes that a first uplink component carrier (CC) has a first time slot, and a second uplink component carrier (CC) has a second time slot).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: separately determine a plurality of respective time instance to apply the information in each respective CC of the plurality of CCs, as taught by Tsai to modify the method of Zhang and Kang in order to have a reference symbol period, as discussed by Tsai (see paragraph 0058).
Consider claim 8:
Zhang in view of Kang discloses the apparatus of claim 1 above. Zhang discloses: determine a starting time for the applying the information associated with the selected antenna panel (see paragraph 0103, where Zhang describes that after transmitting the capability report, the user equipment may select a new antenna panel for uplink (UL) transmission to the base station).
Zhang does not specifically disclose: determine a wait time for the applying the information associated with the selected antenna panel; activate an update timer based on the starting time and the wait time; and apply the information associated with the selected antenna panel is in response to expiry of the update timer.
Tsai teaches: determine a wait time for the applying the information associated with the selected antenna panel; activate an update timer based on the starting time and the wait time; and apply the information associated with the selected antenna panel is in response to expiry of the update timer (see Fig. 7 and paragraph 0060, where Tsai describes that the user equipment (UE) can determine the duration of wait time period 726 and consequently determine the time slot from which the update carried in the command is applied).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: determine a wait time for the applying the information associated with the selected antenna panel; activate an update timer based on the starting time and the wait time; and apply the information associated with the selected antenna panel is in response to expiry of the update timer, as taught by Tsai to modify the method of Zhang and Kang in order to have a reference symbol period, as discussed by Tsai (see paragraph 0058).
Consider claim 9:
Zhang in view of Kang and Tsai discloses the apparatus of claim 8 above. Zhang does not specifically disclose: the starting time comprises a time at which an acknowledgment message from the network entity is received in response to transmitting the report.
Tsai teaches: the starting time comprises a time at which an acknowledgment message from the network entity is received in response to transmitting the report (see Fig. 7 and paragraph 0057, where Tsai describes that the wait time period 726 is a time duration allocated to the user equipment for preparing corresponding acknowledgment (ACK)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: the starting time comprises a time at which an acknowledgment message from the network entity is received in response to transmitting the report, as taught by Tsai to modify the method of Zhang and Kang in order to have a reference symbol period, as discussed by Tsai (see paragraph 0058).
Consider claim 11:
Zhang in view of Kang and Tsai discloses the apparatus of claim 8 above. Zhang discloses: the starting time comprises a time of the transmitting the report including the information associated with the selected antenna panel to the network entity (see paragraph 0103, where Zhang describes that based on transmission of the capability report, the user equipment may select a new antenna panel for uplink (UL) transmission to the base station).
Consider claim 14:
Zhang in view of Kang and Tsai discloses the apparatus of claim 8 above. Zhang discloses: receive, from the network entity, a request to retransmit the report; and reset the update timer in response to receiving the request to retransmit the report, wherein the report comprises an aperiodic report (see Fig. 9 and paragraph 0109, step 920, where Zhang describes that user equipment receives a reconfiguration message from the base station; see paragraph 0103, where Zhang describes that the capability reports may be transmitted to the base station a-periodically in response to triggering of configuration).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (US 2023/0155655 A1) in view of Kang et al. (US 2022/0217746 A1) and Tsai (US 2019/0313407 A1), as applied to claim 8 above, and further in view of Moore (US 2003/0001725 A1).
Consider claim 10:
Zhang in view of Kang and Tsai discloses the apparatus of claim 8 above. Zhang does not specifically disclose: determine the wait time based on the selected antenna panel and a panel identified in an antenna panel configuration.
Moore teaches: determine a wait time based on a selected antenna panel and a panel identified in an antenna panel configuration (see claim 1, where Moore describes a wireless device which has a wait time that is determined based on voltage in a selected sensing antenna).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: determine the wait time based on the selected antenna panel and a panel identified in an antenna panel configuration, as taught by Moore to modify the method of Zhang, Kang and Tsai in order to have a more accurate tracking system, as discussed by Moore (see paragraph 0014).
Claims 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (US 2023/0155655 A1) in view of Kang et al. (US 2022/0217746 A1) and Tsai (US 2019/0313407 A1), as applied to claim 8 above, and further in view of Makipaa (US 2009/0100093 A1).
Consider claim 12:
Zhang in view of Kang and Tsai discloses the apparatus of claim 8 above. Zhang does not specifically disclose: receive signaling from the network entity including the starting time.
Makipaa teaches: receive signaling from a network entity including a starting time (see paragraph 0013, where Makipaa describes a wireless device which is configured to receive, from the network entity, a start time).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: receive signaling from the network entity including the starting time, as taught by Makipaa to modify the method of Zhang, Kang and Tsai in order to identify a representative portion, as discussed by Makipaa (see paragraph 0013).
Consider claim 13:
Zhang in view of Kang, Tsai and Makipaa discloses the apparatus of claim 12 above. Zhang discloses: transmit a capability report to the network entity (see paragraph 0121, where Zhang describes that the user equipment may transmit to the base station a capability report), and a signaling is received in response to the capability report (see Fig. 8 and paragraph 0108, where Zhang describes that the user equipment receives a configuration information in response to the capability report).
Zhang does not specifically disclose: the signaling including the starting time.
Makipaa teaches: receive a signaling including a starting time (see paragraph 0013, where Makipaa describes a wireless device which is configured to receive, from the network entity, a start time).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: the signaling including the starting time, as taught by Makipaa to modify the method of Zhang, Kang and Tsai in order to identify a representative portion, as discussed by Makipaa (see paragraph 0013).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, 15 and 16 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 LIHONG YU whose telephone number is (571)270-5147. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00 am-6:00 pm EST Monday-Friday.
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/LIHONG YU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631