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 .
1. (Currently Amended) A first apparatus, comprising: a processor, and a communication circuit, and a memory coupled to the processor to store instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the first apparatus to perform operations, the operations comprising:
sending first information to a second apparatus, wherein the first information indicates a sparsity characteristic of a channel between the first apparatus and the second apparatus; and receiving second information from the second apparatus, wherein the second information indicates a first processing parameter, and the first processing parameter is for processing channel information.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 11 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 11 recites the limitation "the processing parameter". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 20 recites the limitation "the processing parameter". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 5-7, 10, 11, 14, 15, 19 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO2022/099671 herein Hu.
Claim 1, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 10. Hu discloses a first apparatus (Summary, Apparatus), and comprising:
a processor (0071, The processing system includes a processor);
a communication circuit (0071, The transceiver is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communications device); and
a memory coupled to the processor to store instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the first apparatus to perform operations (0072, a processor coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory; the computer-readable medium/memory is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the operations).
Claim 2, Hu discloses the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first processing parameter comprises one or more of: a quantization parameter, an encoding/decoding parameter for compression, or a time-frequency resource parameter (0053, The CSI-RS patterns that leverage the channel sparsity characteristic may ... utilize frequency densities other than the currently known densities of 1 or 0.5 per resource block (RB)).
Claim 5, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 14.
Claim 6, Hu discloses the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sending first information to the second apparatus comprises:
receiving third information from the second apparatus, wherein the third information indicates the first apparatus to feed back the sparsity characteristic of the channel (0060, a BS may configure a wideband CSI-RS ... for a UE to process in order for the UE to estimate the wideband channel condition; 0061, the BS configures and transmits a wideband CSI-RS); and
sending the first information to the second apparatus (0061, the UE feeds back the channel sparsity condition to the BS).
Claim 7, Hu discloses the apparatus according to claim 1, the operations further comprising:
processing the channel information based on the first processing parameter to obtain channel state information (0061, the UE estimates CSI for the channel based on the CSI-RS ... and the pattern); and
sending the channel state information to the second apparatus (0061, The UE transmits the CSI report to the BS).
Claim 10, Hu discloses a second apparatus (Summary, Apparatus), the second apparatus comprising:
a processor (00073-0074, The processing system includes a processor);
a communication circuit (0073, The transceiver is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communications device); and
a memory couple to the processor to store instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the second apparatus to perform operations, the operations comprising (0074, a processor coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory; the computer-readable medium/memory is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the operations):
receiving first information from a first apparatus, wherein the first information indicates a sparsity characteristic of a channel between the first apparatus and the second apparatus (0098, the processor is further configured to: receive, from the UE, the indication of the channel sparsity condition; 0060, upon processing a wideband CSI-RS, a UE may report (e.g., signal) the estimated channel sparsity condition to the BS);
determining a first processing parameter of channel information based on the first information (0060, the BS may determine a CSI-RS pattern based on the UE feedback (that is, based on the channel sparsity condition); FIG. 5 description, step 514, the UE estimates CSI for the channel based on the CSI-RS ... and the pattern); and
sending second information to the first apparatus, wherein the second information indicates the first processing parameter (0107, the processor is further configured to: transmit to the UE an indication of the CSI-RS pattern prior to transmitting the CSI-RSs using the CSI-RS pattern).
Claim 11, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 2.
Claim 14, Hu discloses the apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the receiving first information from the first apparatus comprises: periodically receiving information from the first apparatus indicating the sparsity characteristic of the channel, wherein the first information is information received by the second apparatus in one period (0061, the BS may transmit the wideband CSI-RS periodically or aperiodically; 0061, the UE feeds back the channel sparsity condition to the BS).
Claim 15, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 6.
Claim 19, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 10. Hu discloses a channel information transmission method (Summary, Method).
Claim 20, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 2.
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.
Claim(s) 3 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu in view of US 2025/0039725.
Claim 3, Hu discloses the apparatus according to claim 1.
Hu may not explicitly disclose wherein the first information comprises P energy proportions respective proportions of energy of P paths with strongest energy on the channel in total energy of the channel.
Yang discloses P energy proportions respective proportions of energy of P paths with strongest energy on the channel in total energy of the channel (0176, the main path is one or several paths with the strongest energy in the channel time domain response, and the ratio of the main path energy to the total energy exceeds a predefined threshold). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hu to include, in the reported channel sparsity condition, the ratio of the energy of the one or more strongest paths to the total energy of the channel, as taught by Yang, so as to determine whether the channel has a main path whose energy ratio to the total energy exceeds a predefined threshold (0176).
Claim 12, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 3.
Claim(s) 4 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu in view of US 2008/0318613 A1 herein Balachandran.
Claim 4, Hu discloses the apparatus according to claim 1.
Hu may not explicitly disclose wherein the first information comprises a quantity N of paths, N is a positive integer, and a proportion of a sum of energy of at least N paths with strongest energy on the channel in total energy of the channel is greater than or equal to a target energy proportion.
Balachandran discloses a quantity N of paths, N is a positive integer, and a proportion of a sum of energy of at least N paths with strongest energy on the channel in total energy of the channel is greater than or equal to a target energy proportion (0047, the highest energy taps whose cumulative energies sum to exceed a predetermined percentage threshold (e.g., 70%) of the total energy may be reported; 0064, the number of taps L in the subset is less than the total number M of taps). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hu to include, in the reported channel sparsity condition, the number of highest energy taps whose cumulative energy exceeds a percentage threshold of the total energy, as taught by Balachandran, so as to achieve a compromise between reducing the amount of information fed back and maintaining the quality of transmitted signals at a satisfactory level (0043).
Claim 13, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 4.
Claim(s) 8 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu in view of US 2021/0195462 A1 herein Pezeshki.
Claim 8, Hu discloses the apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the processing the channel information based on the first processing parameter to obtain the channel state information comprises:
sending the channel state information to the second apparatus (0061-0062, The UE transmits the CSI report to the BS).
Hu may not explicitly disclose determining a first encoding model based on the first processing parameter; and inputting the channel information into the first encoding model, to obtain the channel state information output by the first encoding model.
Pezeshki discloses determining a first encoding model based on the first processing parameter (0063, the BS may indicate to the UE which Al module to use for encoding the measurements corresponding to the reference signal; 0052, the BS may determine the indication of the Al module based on a type of the reference signal); and
inputting the channel information into the first encoding model, to obtain the channel state information output by the first encoding model (0057, the UE compresses the measurements using an Al encoder via one of the Al modules to generate a codeword transmitted to the BS; 0046, the autoencoder is used for CSI feedback). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hu to include compressing the channel measurements with an Al encoder module indicated by the base station based on the reference signal, as taught by Pezeshki, so as to reduce overhead associated with CSI feedback (0046).
Claim 9, Hu discloses the apparatus according to claim 7.
Hu may not explicitly disclose obtaining, through training, a plurality of encoding models corresponding to a plurality of processing parameters, wherein the plurality of processing parameters comprise the first processing parameter; and determining a first encoding model based on the first processing parameter comprises: determining, based on the first processing parameter, the first encoding model corresponding to the first processing parameter from the plurality of encoding models.
Pezeshki discloses the operations further comprising obtaining, through training, a plurality of encoding models corresponding to a plurality of processing parameters, wherein the plurality of processing parameters comprise the first processing parameter (0062, multiple Al modules are associated with different indices and correspond to different compression ratios; 0064, one Al module may be trained for compression of CSI measurements while another is trained for different purposes); and
determining a first encoding model based on the first processing parameter comprises: determining, based on the first processing parameter, the first encoding model corresponding to the first processing parameter from the plurality of encoding models (0062, the configuration indicates one of the indices associated with the Al modules; 0052, the BS may determine the indication of the Al module based on a type of the reference signal). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hu to include compressing the channel measurements with an Al encoder module indicated by the base station based on the reference signal, as taught by Pezeshki, so as to reduce overhead associated with CSI feedback (0046).
Claim(s) 16-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu in view of US 2021/0067294 A1 herein Farmanbar.
Claim 16, Hu discloses the apparatus according to claim 10, the operations further comprising:
receiving channel state information from the first apparatus (0097-0098, receive, from a user equipment (UE), a CSI report determined based on the CSI-RSs).
Hu may not explicitly disclose processing channel state information based on the first processing parameter to obtain the channel information.
Farmanbar discloses processing channel state information based on the first processing parameter to obtain the channel information (0062, the UE transmits sparse CSI feedback corresponding to the sparse CSI-RS signaling; 0063, the BS reconstructs the full channel from the sparse CSI feedback using a channel predictor; 0135, a predictor to be used with the current sparse signaling pattern is determined based on that pattern). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hu to include reconstructing the channel from received CSI feedback using a predictor determined based on the current sparse signaling pattern, as taught by Farmanbar, so as to reduce CSI-RS overhead, or equivalently increase channel estimation or prediction performance given the same pilot overhead (0095).
Claim 17, Hu in view of Farmanbar discloses the apparatus according to claim 16.
Hu may not explicitly disclose determining a first decoding model based on the first processing parameter; and inputting the channel state information into the first decoding model, to obtain the channel information output by the first decoding model.
Farmanbar discloses determining a first decoding model based on the first processing parameter (0135, determining, based on a current sparse signaling pattern, a predictor to be used with that pattern); and
inputting the channel state information into the first decoding model, to obtain the channel information output by the first decoding model (0086, the BS uses the channel estimates fed back by the UE to predict channel coefficients at other grid locations using a trained ML module; 0084, channel coefficients corresponding to Ap serve as inputs and channel coefficients corresponding to Anp serve as outputs of each ML module). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hu to include reconstructing the channel from received CSI feedback using a predictor determined based on the current sparse signaling pattern, as taught by Farmanbar, so as to reduce CSI-RS overhead, or equivalently increase channel estimation or prediction performance given the same pilot overhead (0095).
Claim 18, Hu in view of Farmanbar discloses the apparatus according to claim 17.
Hu may not explicitly disclose obtaining, through training, a plurality of decoding models corresponding to a plurality of processing parameters comprising the first processing parameter; and the determining the first decoding model based on the first processing parameter comprises: determining, based on the first processing parameter, the first decoding model corresponding to the first processing parameter from the plurality of decoding models.
Farmanbar discloses obtaining, through training, a plurality of decoding models corresponding to a plurality of processing parameters comprising the first processing parameter (0084, the BS trains one ML module for each sparse CSI-RS configuration; 0134, multiple patterns are associated with respective predictors); and
the determining the first decoding model based on the first processing parameter comprises: determining, based on the first processing parameter, the first decoding model corresponding to the first processing parameter from the plurality of decoding models (0135 and 0178, determining, based on a current sparse signaling pattern, a predictor to be used for that pattern). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hu to include reconstructing the channel from received CSI feedback using a predictor determined based on the current sparse signaling pattern, as taught by Farmanbar, so as to reduce CSI-RS overhead, or equivalently increase channel estimation or prediction performance given the same pilot overhead (0095).
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 12506643 B2 – Radio channel estimation in a radio node is provided. The radio node is configured to receive a number of wideband reference symbols corresponding to a wideband radio channel having a wideband bandwidth and convert the wideband reference symbols into a number of wideband taps each having a complex value and associated with a respective beam direction and a respective tap delay. The radio node dynamically determines a wideband power threshold based on channel information related to the wideband channel. Accordingly, the radio node determines a subset of the wideband taps based on the wideband power threshold and generates a channel estimate for the wideband radio channel based on the subset of wideband taps. As a result, the radio node may create a more accurate channel estimation across the wider channel bandwidth over a large span of SNR conditions..
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mehmood B. Khan whose telephone number is (571)272-9277. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 am-6:30 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Asad Nawaz can be reached at (571) 272-3988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Mehmood B. Khan/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
MEHMOOD B. KHAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2463
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