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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the amendment filed 5/18/2026 in which Claims 1-20 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 11, 20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
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) 1-5, 8-9, 11-15, 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication 2025/0167954 to Lim et al (“Lim”) in view of U.S. Patent Publication 2024/0380451 to Ye et al (“Ye”).
As to Claim 1, Lim teaches an apparatus for wireless communications, comprising a processing system that includes one or more processors and one or more memories coupled with the one or more processors (The instructions executed by a processor of a computer or other programmable data processing apparatuses generate a means for executing functions described in blocks of a flowchart. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer usable or computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to implement a function in a particular manner, see ¶ 0038), the processing system configured to cause a user equipment (UE) to: send capability information associated with a plurality of antennas of the UE, the capability information including a field that indicates whether each antenna group, of a plurality of antenna groups associated with the plurality of antennas, is coherent (For uplink codebooks up to NR Release 17, a UE capability is reported to a base station to support one of ‘fullCoherent’, ‘partialCoherent’, or ‘nonCoherent’ according to antenna coherency supportable by the UE [UE sends capability information associated with a plurality of antenna associated with whether the antennas are coherent...Here, a value of the higher layer parameter may be configured to be one of ‘fullyAndPartialAndNonCoherent’, where the subset of codebooks is available for full coherent codebooks, ‘partialAndNonCoherent’, where partial coherent or non-coherent codebooks are available, or ‘nonCoherent’, where only non-coherent codebooks are available [capability information including a field that indicates whether an antenna group is coherent], see ¶ 0348; The new or existing UE capability report that may be associated may include a UE report regarding whether coherent transmission through the uplink transmission antenna of the UE is possible (e.g., select one of full, partial, or noncoherent transmissions) or regarding an antenna group through which new coherent transmission is possible described above, see ¶ 0391),
communicate using the first antenna group and the second antenna group using an indicated precoder in accordance with the capability information (The indicated codebook subset may signify that, when full coherent transmission is supported based on four uplink transmission antennas, the corresponding layer of PUSCH is transmitted using all four antennas (e.g., signify that a precoding matrix with four non-zero values is used in the columns of the precoding matrix representing the precoders for each layer, and precoding matrices for Releases 15 to 17 in this disclosure signify precoding matrices defined in 3GPP standard document TS38.211 Clause 6.3.1.5). The indicated codebook subset may signify that the corresponding layer of PUSCH is transmitted using two antennas through which coherent transmission is possible (e.g., signify that a precoding matrix with two non-zero values is used in the columns of the precoding matrix representing the precoders for each layer), when partial coherent transmission is supported. The indicated codebook subset may signify that, when non-coherent transmission is supported, one antenna is utilized (e.g., signify that a precoding matrix with one non-zero value is used in the column of the precoding matrix that represents the precoder for each layer) to support the selection of the antenna port of transmitting the corresponding layer of PUSCH, see ¶ 0348).
Lim does not explicitly disclose wherein a first antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups is coherent and a second antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups is not coherent, wherein the second antenna group includes antennas other than antennas of the first antenna group, wherein the antennas of the first antenna group are not coherent with the antennas of the second antenna group.
Ye teaches wherein a first antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups is coherent and a second antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups is not coherent (a partially-coherent configuration can be used to describe a set of antenna ports that include some coherent antenna ports [first antenna group] and some non-coherent antenna ports [second antenna group], see ¶ 0069), wherein the second antenna group includes antennas other than antennas of the first antenna group, wherein the antennas of the first antenna group are not coherent with the antennas of the second antenna group (a partially-coherent configuration can be used to describe a set of antenna ports that include some coherent antenna ports [first antenna group] and some non-coherent antenna ports [second antenna group]. For example, within the context of codebook based transmission, a partially coherent codebook configuration can be applicable to a UE with antenna ports (e.g., four antenna ports) grouped into groups (e.g., pairs). The antenna ports within a particular grouping, or pair, are coherent, but one pair is not necessarily coherent with the other, see ¶ 0069).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Lim with Ye to teach wherein a first antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups is coherent and a second antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups is not coherent, wherein the second antenna group includes antennas other than antennas of the first antenna group, wherein the antennas of the first antenna group are not coherent with the antennas of the second antenna group. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to reduce a total number of precoders without significantly impacting performance (see ¶ 0069).
As to Claim 2, Lim and Ye depending from Claim 1, Lim teaches wherein the field indicates one coherent antenna group and one non-coherent antenna group (For uplink codebooks up to NR Release 17, a UE capability is reported to a base station to support one of ‘fullCoherent’, ‘partialCoherent’, or ‘nonCoherent’ according to antenna coherency supportable by the UE [UE sends capability information associated with a plurality of antenna associated with whether the antennas are coherent...Here, a value of the higher layer parameter may be configured to be one of ‘fullyAndPartialAndNonCoherent’, where the subset of codebooks is available for full coherent codebooks, ‘partialAndNonCoherent’, where partial coherent or non-coherent codebooks are available, or ‘nonCoherent’, where only non-coherent codebooks are available [capability information including a field that indicates whether an antenna group is coherent], see ¶ 0348; receiving, from a terminal supporting 8 antenna ports, terminal capability information including information about a number of layers supported by the terminal and information about coherent supported by the terminal, wherein the maximum number of layers supported by the terminal is four or eight, transmitting, in case that the terminal supports partial coherent, to the terminal, configuration information for a coherent group based on a combination of two or four of the antenna ports supported by the terminal, see ¶ 0429. For a partial coherent terminal, first antenna group includes two coherent antenna ports and two non-coherent antenna ports, i.e. one coherent group and one non-coherent group).
As to Claim 3, Lim and Ye depending from Claim 1, Lim teaches wherein the field indicates a plurality of coherent antenna groups and one non-coherent antenna group (For uplink codebooks up to NR Release 17, a UE capability is reported to a base station to support one of ‘fullCoherent’, ‘partialCoherent’, or ‘nonCoherent’ according to antenna coherency supportable by the UE [UE sends capability information associated with a plurality of antenna associated with whether the antennas are coherent...Here, a value of the higher layer parameter may be configured to be one of ‘fullyAndPartialAndNonCoherent’, where the subset of codebooks is available for full coherent codebooks, ‘partialAndNonCoherent’, where partial coherent or non-coherent codebooks are available, or ‘nonCoherent’, where only non-coherent codebooks are available [capability information including a field that indicates whether an antenna group is coherent], see ¶ 0348; receiving, from a terminal supporting 8 antenna ports, terminal capability information including information about a number of layers supported by the terminal and information about coherent supported by the terminal, wherein the maximum number of layers supported by the terminal is four or eight, transmitting, in case that the terminal supports partial coherent, to the terminal, configuration information for a coherent group based on a combination of two or four of the antenna ports supported by the terminal, see ¶ 0429. For a partial coherent terminal with 8 antennas, first antenna group includes four coherent antenna ports, second antenna group includes two coherent antenna ports and a third antenna group includes two non-coherent antenna ports, i.e. plurality of coherent groups and one non-coherent group).
As to Claim 4, Lim and Ye depending from Claim 1, Lim teaches wherein the field indicates a first number of coherent antenna groups and a second number of non-coherent antenna groups, wherein the first number is equal to the second number (For uplink codebooks up to NR Release 17, a UE capability is reported to a base station to support one of ‘fullCoherent’, ‘partialCoherent’, or ‘nonCoherent’ according to antenna coherency supportable by the UE [UE sends capability information associated with a plurality of antenna associated with whether the antennas are coherent...Here, a value of the higher layer parameter may be configured to be one of ‘fullyAndPartialAndNonCoherent’, where the subset of codebooks is available for full coherent codebooks, ‘partialAndNonCoherent’, where partial coherent or non-coherent codebooks are available, or ‘nonCoherent’, where only non-coherent codebooks are available [capability information including a field that indicates whether an antenna group is coherent], see ¶ 0348; receiving, from a terminal supporting 8 antenna ports, terminal capability information including information about a number of layers supported by the terminal and information about coherent supported by the terminal, wherein the maximum number of layers supported by the terminal is four or eight, transmitting, in case that the terminal supports partial coherent, to the terminal, configuration information for a coherent group based on a combination of two or four of the antenna ports supported by the terminal, see ¶ 0429. For a partial coherent terminal, first antenna group includes two coherent antenna ports and two non-coherent antenna ports, i.e. one coherent group and one non-coherent group).
As to Claim 5, Lim and Ye depending from Claim 1, Lim teaches wherein the field indicates one coherent antenna group and a plurality of non-coherent antenna groups (For uplink codebooks up to NR Release 17, a UE capability is reported to a base station to support one of ‘fullCoherent’, ‘partialCoherent’, or ‘nonCoherent’ according to antenna coherency supportable by the UE [UE sends capability information associated with a plurality of antenna associated with whether the antennas are coherent...Here, a value of the higher layer parameter may be configured to be one of ‘fullyAndPartialAndNonCoherent’, where the subset of codebooks is available for full coherent codebooks, ‘partialAndNonCoherent’, where partial coherent or non-coherent codebooks are available, or ‘nonCoherent’, where only non-coherent codebooks are available [capability information including a field that indicates whether an antenna group is coherent], see ¶ 0348; receiving, from a terminal supporting 8 antenna ports, terminal capability information including information about a number of layers supported by the terminal and information about coherent supported by the terminal, wherein the maximum number of layers supported by the terminal is four or eight, transmitting, in case that the terminal supports partial coherent, to the terminal, configuration information for a coherent group based on a combination of two or four of the antenna ports supported by the terminal, see ¶ 0429. For a partial coherent terminal with 8 antennas, first antenna group includes four non-coherent antenna ports, second antenna group includes two non-coherent antenna ports and a third antenna group includes two coherent antenna ports, i.e. plurality of non-coherent groups and one coherent group).
As to Claim 8, Lim and Ye depending from Claim 1, Lim teaches wherein to cause the UE to communicate in accordance with the indicated precoder, the processing system is configured to cause the UE to receive a precoder from a network entity (The TPMI may be used to indicate a precoder applied to the PUSCH transmission. When the UE receives a configuration of one SRS resource, the TPMI may be used to indicate a precoder to be applied to the one configured SRS resource, see ¶ 0210); and transmit from the plurality of antennas of the UE according to the indicated precoder (The precoder to be used for the PUSCH transmission may be selected from an uplink codebook having the number of antenna ports which is the same as a value of nrofSRS-Ports within SRS-Config which is higher-layer signaling, see ¶ 0211).
As to Claim 9, Lim and Ye depending from Claim 1, Lim teaches wherein an uplink sounding reference signal (SRS) for a first antenna in the first antenna group and a second antenna in the first antenna group has a first phase difference, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) for the first antenna in the first antenna group and the second antenna in the first antenna group has a second phase difference (The indicated codebook subset may signify that, when non-coherent transmission is supported, one antenna is utilized (e.g., signify that a precoding matrix with one non-zero value is used in the column of the precoding matrix that represents the precoder for each layer) to support the selection of the antenna port of transmitting the corresponding layer of PUSCH. In this case, as described in Clause 6.4D.4 of 3GPP standard document 38.101-1, the requirements for coherent uplink transmission may be allowed for coherent uplink MIMO if, for different antenna ports, the difference between the relative power and phase error, which are measured at a predetermined slot within a specific time window (e.g., a time window of Table 36) from the most recently transmitted SRS to the same antenna port as the antenna ports, and the values measured by the most recently transmitted SRS (e.g., relative power and phase error) is less than or equal to a value defined in standard document TS 38.101-1, as shown in Table 36, see ¶ 0348), and a difference between the first phase difference and the second phase difference is less than or equal to 40 degrees (Table 6 illustrates the difference of relative phase error as 40 degrees).
As to Claim 11, Lim teaches An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising a processing system that includes one or more processors and one or more memories coupled with the one or more processors (The instructions executed by a processor of a computer or other programmable data processing apparatuses generate a means for executing functions described in blocks of a flowchart. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer usable or computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to implement a function in a particular manner, see ¶ 0038), the processing system configured to cause a network entity to: receive capability information associated with a plurality of antennas of a user equipment (UE), the capability information including a field that indicates whether each antenna group, of a plurality of antenna groups associated with the plurality of antennas, is coherent (For uplink codebooks up to NR Release 17, a UE capability is reported to a base station to support one of ‘fullCoherent’, ‘partialCoherent’, or ‘nonCoherent’ according to antenna coherency supportable by the UE [UE sends capability information associated with a plurality of antenna associated with whether the antennas are coherent...Here, a value of the higher layer parameter may be configured to be one of ‘fullyAndPartialAndNonCoherent’, where the subset of codebooks is available for full coherent codebooks, ‘partialAndNonCoherent’, where partial coherent or non-coherent codebooks are available, or ‘nonCoherent’, where only non-coherent codebooks are available [capability information including a field that indicates whether an antenna group is coherent], see ¶ 0348; The new or existing UE capability report that may be associated may include a UE report regarding whether coherent transmission through the uplink transmission antenna of the UE is possible (e.g., select one of full, partial, or noncoherent transmissions) or regarding an antenna group through which new coherent transmission is possible described above, see ¶ 0391);
select a precoder from a multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) codebook based on the field; and communicate in accordance with the selected precoder (The indicated codebook subset may signify that, when full coherent transmission is supported based on four uplink transmission antennas, the corresponding layer of PUSCH is transmitted using all four antennas (e.g., signify that a precoding matrix with four non-zero values is used in the columns of the precoding matrix representing the precoders for each layer, and precoding matrices for Releases 15 to 17 in this disclosure signify precoding matrices defined in 3GPP standard document TS38.211 Clause 6.3.1.5). The indicated codebook subset may signify that the corresponding layer of PUSCH is transmitted using two antennas through which coherent transmission is possible (e.g., signify that a precoding matrix with two non-zero values is used in the columns of the precoding matrix representing the precoders for each layer), when partial coherent transmission is supported. The indicated codebook subset may signify that, when non-coherent transmission is supported, one antenna is utilized (e.g., signify that a precoding matrix with one non-zero value is used in the column of the precoding matrix that represents the precoder for each layer) to support the selection of the antenna port of transmitting the corresponding layer of PUSCH, see ¶ 0348).
Lim does not explicitly disclose wherein a first antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups is coherent and a second antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups is not coherent, wherein the second antenna group includes antennas other than antennas of the first antenna group, wherein the antennas of the first antenna group are not coherent with the antennas of the second antenna group.
Ye teaches wherein a first antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups is coherent and a second antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups is not coherent (a partially-coherent configuration can be used to describe a set of antenna ports that include some coherent antenna ports [first antenna group] and some non-coherent antenna ports [second antenna group], see ¶ 0069), wherein the second antenna group includes antennas other than antennas of the first antenna group, wherein the antennas of the first antenna group are not coherent with the antennas of the second antenna group (a partially-coherent configuration can be used to describe a set of antenna ports that include some coherent antenna ports [first antenna group] and some non-coherent antenna ports [second antenna group]. For example, within the context of codebook based transmission, a partially coherent codebook configuration can be applicable to a UE with antenna ports (e.g., four antenna ports) grouped into groups (e.g., pairs). The antenna ports within a particular grouping, or pair, are coherent, but one pair is not necessarily coherent with the other, see ¶ 0069).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Lim with Ye to teach wherein a first antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups is coherent and a second antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups is not coherent, wherein the second antenna group includes antennas other than antennas of the first antenna group, wherein the antennas of the first antenna group are not coherent with the antennas of the second antenna group. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to reduce a total number of precoders without significantly impacting performance (see ¶ 0069).
As to Claim 12, Lim and Ye depending from Claim 11, Lim teaches wherein the field indicates one coherent antenna group and one non-coherent antenna group (For uplink codebooks up to NR Release 17, a UE capability is reported to a base station to support one of ‘fullCoherent’, ‘partialCoherent’, or ‘nonCoherent’ according to antenna coherency supportable by the UE [UE sends capability information associated with a plurality of antenna associated with whether the antennas are coherent...Here, a value of the higher layer parameter may be configured to be one of ‘fullyAndPartialAndNonCoherent’, where the subset of codebooks is available for full coherent codebooks, ‘partialAndNonCoherent’, where partial coherent or non-coherent codebooks are available, or ‘nonCoherent’, where only non-coherent codebooks are available [capability information including a field that indicates whether an antenna group is coherent], see ¶ 0348; receiving, from a terminal supporting 8 antenna ports, terminal capability information including information about a number of layers supported by the terminal and information about coherent supported by the terminal, wherein the maximum number of layers supported by the terminal is four or eight, transmitting, in case that the terminal supports partial coherent, to the terminal, configuration information for a coherent group based on a combination of two or four of the antenna ports supported by the terminal, see ¶ 0429. For a partial coherent terminal, first antenna group includes two coherent antenna ports and two non-coherent antenna ports, i.e. one coherent group and one non-coherent group).
As to Claim 13, Lim and Ye depending from Claim 11, Lim teaches wherein the field indicates a plurality of coherent antenna groups and one non-coherent antenna group (For uplink codebooks up to NR Release 17, a UE capability is reported to a base station to support one of ‘fullCoherent’, ‘partialCoherent’, or ‘nonCoherent’ according to antenna coherency supportable by the UE [UE sends capability information associated with a plurality of antenna associated with whether the antennas are coherent...Here, a value of the higher layer parameter may be configured to be one of ‘fullyAndPartialAndNonCoherent’, where the subset of codebooks is available for full coherent codebooks, ‘partialAndNonCoherent’, where partial coherent or non-coherent codebooks are available, or ‘nonCoherent’, where only non-coherent codebooks are available [capability information including a field that indicates whether an antenna group is coherent], see ¶ 0348; receiving, from a terminal supporting 8 antenna ports, terminal capability information including information about a number of layers supported by the terminal and information about coherent supported by the terminal, wherein the maximum number of layers supported by the terminal is four or eight, transmitting, in case that the terminal supports partial coherent, to the terminal, configuration information for a coherent group based on a combination of two or four of the antenna ports supported by the terminal, see ¶ 0429. For a partial coherent terminal with 8 antennas, first antenna group includes four coherent antenna ports, second antenna group includes two coherent antenna ports and a third antenna group includes two non-coherent antenna ports, i.e. plurality of coherent groups and one non-coherent group).
As to Claim 14, Lim and Ye depending from Claim 11, Lim teaches wherein the field indicates a first number of coherent antenna groups and a second number of non-coherent antenna groups, wherein the first number is equal to the second number (For uplink codebooks up to NR Release 17, a UE capability is reported to a base station to support one of ‘fullCoherent’, ‘partialCoherent’, or ‘nonCoherent’ according to antenna coherency supportable by the UE [UE sends capability information associated with a plurality of antenna associated with whether the antennas are coherent...Here, a value of the higher layer parameter may be configured to be one of ‘fullyAndPartialAndNonCoherent’, where the subset of codebooks is available for full coherent codebooks, ‘partialAndNonCoherent’, where partial coherent or non-coherent codebooks are available, or ‘nonCoherent’, where only non-coherent codebooks are available [capability information including a field that indicates whether an antenna group is coherent], see ¶ 0348; receiving, from a terminal supporting 8 antenna ports, terminal capability information including information about a number of layers supported by the terminal and information about coherent supported by the terminal, wherein the maximum number of layers supported by the terminal is four or eight, transmitting, in case that the terminal supports partial coherent, to the terminal, configuration information for a coherent group based on a combination of two or four of the antenna ports supported by the terminal, see ¶ 0429. For a partial coherent terminal, first antenna group includes two coherent antenna ports and two non-coherent antenna ports, i.e. one coherent group and one non-coherent group).
As to Claim 15, Lim and Ye depending from Claim 11, Lim teaches wherein the field indicates one coherent antenna group and a plurality of non-coherent antenna groups (For uplink codebooks up to NR Release 17, a UE capability is reported to a base station to support one of ‘fullCoherent’, ‘partialCoherent’, or ‘nonCoherent’ according to antenna coherency supportable by the UE [UE sends capability information associated with a plurality of antenna associated with whether the antennas are coherent...Here, a value of the higher layer parameter may be configured to be one of ‘fullyAndPartialAndNonCoherent’, where the subset of codebooks is available for full coherent codebooks, ‘partialAndNonCoherent’, where partial coherent or non-coherent codebooks are available, or ‘nonCoherent’, where only non-coherent codebooks are available [capability information including a field that indicates whether an antenna group is coherent], see ¶ 0348; receiving, from a terminal supporting 8 antenna ports, terminal capability information including information about a number of layers supported by the terminal and information about coherent supported by the terminal, wherein the maximum number of layers supported by the terminal is four or eight, transmitting, in case that the terminal supports partial coherent, to the terminal, configuration information for a coherent group based on a combination of two or four of the antenna ports supported by the terminal, see ¶ 0429. For a partial coherent terminal with 8 antennas, first antenna group includes four non-coherent antenna ports, second antenna group includes two non-coherent antenna ports and a third antenna group includes two coherent antenna ports, i.e. plurality of non-coherent groups and one coherent group).
As to Claim 18, Lim and Ye depending from Claim 11, Lim teaches wherein to cause the network entity to communicate in accordance with the selected precoder, the processing system is configured to cause the network entity to transmit an indication of the selected precoder to the UE (The TPMI may be used to indicate a precoder applied to the PUSCH transmission. When the UE receives a configuration of one SRS resource, the TPMI may be used to indicate a precoder to be applied to the one configured SRS resource, see ¶ 0210).
As to Claim 19, Lim and Ye depending from Claim 11, Lim teaches wherein an uplink sounding reference signal (SRS) for a first antenna in the first antenna group and a second antenna in the first antenna group has a first phase difference, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) for the first antenna in the first antenna group and the second antenna in the first antenna group has a second phase difference (The indicated codebook subset may signify that, when non-coherent transmission is supported, one antenna is utilized (e.g., signify that a precoding matrix with one non-zero value is used in the column of the precoding matrix that represents the precoder for each layer) to support the selection of the antenna port of transmitting the corresponding layer of PUSCH [PUSCH has a second phase difference]. In this case, as described in Clause 6.4D.4 of 3GPP standard document 38.101-1, the requirements for coherent uplink transmission may be allowed for coherent uplink MIMO if, for different antenna ports, the difference between the relative power and phase error, which are measured at a predetermined slot within a specific time window (e.g., a time window of Table 36) from the most recently transmitted SRS to the same antenna port as the antenna ports [SRS has a first phase difference], and the values measured by the most recently transmitted SRS (e.g., relative power and phase error) is less than or equal to a value defined in standard document TS 38.101-1, as shown in Table 36, see ¶ 0348) , and a difference between the first phase difference and the second phase difference is less than or equal to 40 degrees (Table 6 illustrates the difference of relative phase error as 40 degrees).
As to Claim 20, Lim teaches a method for wireless communications by a network entity, comprising: receiving capability information associated with a plurality of antennas of a user equipment (UE), the capability information including a field that indicates whether each antenna group of a plurality of antenna groups associated with the plurality of antennas, is coherent
(For uplink codebooks up to NR Release 17, a UE capability is reported to a base station to support one of ‘fullCoherent’, ‘partialCoherent’, or ‘nonCoherent’ according to antenna coherency supportable by the UE [UE sends capability information associated with a plurality of antenna associated with whether the antennas are coherent...Here, a value of the higher layer parameter may be configured to be one of ‘fullyAndPartialAndNonCoherent’, where the subset of codebooks is available for full coherent codebooks, ‘partialAndNonCoherent’, where partial coherent or non-coherent codebooks are available, or ‘nonCoherent’, where only non-coherent codebooks are available [capability information including a field that indicates whether an antenna group is coherent], see ¶ 0348; The new or existing UE capability report that may be associated may include a UE report regarding whether coherent transmission through the uplink transmission antenna of the UE is possible (e.g., select one of full, partial, or noncoherent transmissions) or regarding an antenna group through which new coherent transmission is possible described above, see ¶ 0391);
selecting a precoder from a multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) codebook based on the field; and communicating in accordance with the selected precoder (The indicated codebook subset may signify that, when full coherent transmission is supported based on four uplink transmission antennas, the corresponding layer of PUSCH is transmitted using all four antennas (e.g., signify that a precoding matrix with four non-zero values is used in the columns of the precoding matrix representing the precoders for each layer, and precoding matrices for Releases 15 to 17 in this disclosure signify precoding matrices defined in 3GPP standard document TS38.211 Clause 6.3.1.5). The indicated codebook subset may signify that the corresponding layer of PUSCH is transmitted using two antennas through which coherent transmission is possible (e.g., signify that a precoding matrix with two non-zero values is used in the columns of the precoding matrix representing the precoders for each layer), when partial coherent transmission is supported. The indicated codebook subset may signify that, when non-coherent transmission is supported, one antenna is utilized (e.g., signify that a precoding matrix with one non-zero value is used in the column of the precoding matrix that represents the precoder for each layer) to support the selection of the antenna port of transmitting the corresponding layer of PUSCH, see ¶ 0348).
Lim does not explicitly disclose wherein a first antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups is coherent and a second antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups is not coherent, wherein the second antenna group includes antennas other than antennas of the first antenna group, wherein the antennas of the first antenna group are not coherent with the antennas of the second antenna group.
Ye teaches wherein a first antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups is coherent and a second antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups is not coherent (a partially-coherent configuration can be used to describe a set of antenna ports that include some coherent antenna ports [first antenna group] and some non-coherent antenna ports [second antenna group], see ¶ 0069), wherein the second antenna group includes antennas other than antennas of the first antenna group, wherein the antennas of the first antenna group are not coherent with the antennas of the second antenna group (a partially-coherent configuration can be used to describe a set of antenna ports that include some coherent antenna ports [first antenna group] and some non-coherent antenna ports [second antenna group]. For example, within the context of codebook based transmission, a partially coherent codebook configuration can be applicable to a UE with antenna ports (e.g., four antenna ports) grouped into groups (e.g., pairs). The antenna ports within a particular grouping, or pair, are coherent, but one pair is not necessarily coherent with the other, see ¶ 0069).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Lim with Ye to teach wherein a first antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups is coherent and a second antenna group of the plurality of antenna groups is not coherent, wherein the second antenna group includes antennas other than antennas of the first antenna group, wherein the antennas of the first antenna group are not coherent with the antennas of the second antenna group. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to reduce a total number of precoders without significantly impacting performance (see ¶ 0069).
Claim(s) 6, 7, 16, 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication 2025/0167954 to Lim et al (“Lim”) in view of U.S. Patent Publication 2024/0380451 to Ye et al (“Ye”) in further view of U.S. Patent Publication 2022/0329307 to Yao et al (“Yao”).
As to Claim 6, Lim and Ye depending on Claim 1, Lim and Ye do not expressly disclose wherein the indicated precoder comprises a matrix with a first portion corresponding to the first antenna group and a second portion corresponding to the second group. Yao teaches wherein the indicated precoder comprises a matrix with a first portion corresponding to the first antenna group and a second portion corresponding to the second group (A TPMI of 4 layers refers to a precoding matrix corresponding to a TPMI index in Table 10, see ¶ 0042; Table 10 illustrates a first portion corresponding to a first antenna group as
1
0
0
1
and a second portion corresponding to a second antenna group as
1
0
0
1
).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Lim and Ye with Yao to teach wherein the indicated precoder comprises a matrix with a first portion corresponding to the first antenna group and a second portion corresponding to the second group. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to represent contents of the field of precoding information and number of layers (see ¶ 0034).
As to Claim 16, Lim and Ye depending on Claim 11, Lim and Ye do not expressly disclose wherein the selected precoder comprises a matrix with a first portion corresponding to the first antenna group and a second portion corresponding to the second antenna group. Yao teaches wherein the selected precoder comprises a matrix with a first portion corresponding to the first antenna group and a second portion corresponding to the second antenna group (A TPMI of 4 layers refers to a precoding matrix corresponding to a TPMI index in Table 10, see ¶ 0042; Table 10 illustrates a first portion corresponding to a first antenna group as
1
0
0
1
and a second portion corresponding to a second antenna group as
1
0
0
1
).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Lim and Ye with Yao to teach wherein the selected precoder comprises a matrix with a first portion corresponding to the first antenna group and a second portion corresponding to the second antenna group. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to represent contents of the field of precoding information and number of layers (see ¶ 0034).
As to Claim 7, Lim, Ye and Yao depending on Claim 6, Yao teaches wherein the first portion is diagonally concatenated with the second portion (A TPMI of 4 layers refers to a precoding matrix corresponding to a TPMI index in Table 10, see ¶ 0042; Table 10 illustrates a first portion corresponding to a first antenna group as
1
0
0
1
is diagonally concatenated with a second portion corresponding to a second antenna group as
1
0
0
1
).
As to Claim 17, Lim, Ye and Yao depending on Claim 16, Yao teaches wherein the first portion is diagonally concatenated with the second portion (A TPMI of 4 layers refers to a precoding matrix corresponding to a TPMI index in Table 10, see ¶ 0042; Table 10 illustrates a first portion corresponding to a first antenna group as
1
0
0
1
is diagonally concatenated with a second portion corresponding to a second antenna group as
1
0
0
1
).
Claim(s) 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication 2025/0167954 to Lim et al (“Lim”) in view of U.S. Patent Publication 2024/0380451 to Ye et al (“Ye”) in further view of WIPO Patent Publication 2022/188087 to Cao et al (“Cao”).
As to Claim 10, Lim and Ye depending from Claim 1, Lim and Ye do not expressly disclose wherein an uplink sounding reference signal (SRS) for a first antenna in the first antenna group and a second antenna in the first antenna group has a first phase difference, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) for the first antenna in the first antenna group and the second antenna in the first antenna group has a second phase difference, and a difference between the first phase difference and the second phase difference is more than 40 degrees. Cao teaches wherein an uplink sounding reference signal (SRS) for a first antenna in the first antenna group and a second antenna in the first antenna group has a first phase difference, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) for the first antenna in the first antenna group and the second antenna in the first antenna group has a second phase difference, and a difference between the first phase difference and the second phase difference is more than 40 degrees (For coherent UL MIMO, there may be a threshold difference between the measured relative power and a threshold phase errors between different antenna ports in any slot within the specified time window from the last transmitted sounding reference signal (SRS) on the same antenna ports [SRS has a first phase difference], for the purpose of UL transmission (i.e., codebook or non-codebook usage) and those measured at that last SRS [PUSCH has a second phase difference]. For example, a threshold difference of relative power error may be 1 decibel (dB), 2 dB, 4 dB, 5 dB, or other values. A threshold difference of relative phase error may be 10 degrees, 20 degrees, 40 degrees, 50 degrees [difference between the first phase difference and second phase difference is more than 40 degrees], or other values, see ¶ 0070).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Lim and Ye with Cao to teach wherein an uplink sounding reference signal (SRS) for a first antenna in the first antenna group and a second antenna in the first antenna group has a first phase difference, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) for the first antenna in the first antenna group and the second antenna in the first antenna group has a second phase difference, and a difference between the first phase difference and the second phase difference is more than 40 degrees. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order for the coherence capability of the UL TX chain may be indicated as fully coherent or partially coherent, depending on the phase and/or power error after the switching (see ¶ 0068).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/EBONI N GILES/ Examiner, Art Unit 2622
/PATRICK N EDOUARD/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2622
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