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 .
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 1, 4, 8, 12, 18 and 39 is/are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites "a configuration for Doppler domain channel state information (CSI) reporting" and thereafter recites "measuring channel state information (CSI)." The term is spelled out and abbreviated twice. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 4 recites "wherein report indicates." An article appears to be omitted. Claim 4 further recites "the bundled CSI-RS occasions," while claim 1 recites "a bundle of CSI reference signal (CSI-RS) occasions.”
Claim 8 recites "a time block subband CQI," which is recited in claim 6 and is re-introduced with an indefinite article.
Claim 12 recites "CQI," which is not spelled out in claim 1 or claim 11.
Claim 18 recites "a configuration for Doppler domain channel state information (CSI) reporting" and thereafter recites "a bundle of channel state information (CSI) reference signals (CSI-RS) on a bundle of CSI-RS occasions." The term is spelled out and abbreviated twice, the term "bundle" is recited twice for two different elements, and "parameters that indicate time domain variations of measured CSI" appears to omit an article.
Claim 39 recites "a configuration for Doppler domain channel state information (CSI) reporting" and thereafter recites "measure channel state information (CSI)." The term is spelled out and abbreviated twice. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1-18 and 39 is/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.
Claims 1, 18 and 39 each recite "Doppler domain CSI." The term is not defined in the specification and no definition is set forth for it. The specification describes a Doppler or time domain basis vector and a discrete Fourier transform based time domain codebook at paragraphs 0088 through 0094, but that subject matter is not recited in the claims. The metes and bounds of "Doppler domain CSI" therefore cannot be determined. Claims 2 through 17 are rejected as depending from an indefinite claim, and claims 11 and 16 are further rejected for reciting the same term.
Claim 6 recites "a time block subband CQI calculated based on a block subband CQI and a second differential term." Claim 6 earlier recites "a reference block subband CQI." It cannot be determined whether "a block subband CQI" is the previously recited reference block subband CQI, a time block subband CQI associated with a different time index, or a further element. Claims 7 through 10 are rejected as depending from an indefinite claim.
Claim 8 recites that the second differential term "represents a difference between a time block subband CQI calculated for the corresponding frequency index and a previous time index." Only one channel quality indicator value is recited. Under one reading, the quantity subtracted is a time index, which is not a channel quality indicator value. Under another reading, the recitation "calculated for the corresponding frequency index and a previous time index" modifies the single recited channel quality indicator value, leaving a difference with one operand and no second term. It cannot be determined what quantity the second differential term represents. Claims 9 and 10 are rejected as depending from an indefinite claim.
Claim 12 recites "a parameter for generating the time grid size for time domain bundling CQI." The term "time domain bundling CQI" is not defined in the specification, and its relationship to the bundle of CSI-RS occasions recited in claim 1 cannot be determined. Claims 13 and 14 are rejected as depending from an indefinite claim.
Claim 16 recites that the report includes Doppler domain CSI with a first resolution "when the report is transmitted within the CSI-RS measurement time," or that the report includes Doppler domain CSI with a second resolution "when the report is transmitted within the CSI-RS measurement time." Both alternatives are conditioned on the identical circumstance while requiring different report content. It cannot be determined which resolution the report carries. Claim 17 is rejected as depending from an indefinite 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) 1-3, 11-16, 18 and 39 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by anticipated by US 2022/0029676 A1 herein Ramireddy.
Claim 1, Ramireddy discloses a method for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE) (0034, Method by communication device), the method comprising:
receiving, from a network entity, a configuration for Doppler domain channel state information (CSI) reporting (0244, the gNB or base station sends a CSI-RS configuration and CSI report configuration to the UE; 0262, PMIDr-PMI values including only the Doppler-frequency component configuration, 0249-0261, 0266);
measuring channel state information (CSI) based on a bundle of CSI reference signal (CSI-RS) occasions (0245, the time-domain-repetition of the CSI-RS, in terms of the number of consecutive slots the CSI-RS is repeated in, is provided by the higher layer parameter CSI-RS-BurstDuration; 0269, performs measurements on downlink CSI-RS over T consecutive time-instants/slots, 0247, 0277); and
transmitting, in accordance with the configuration, a report for Doppler domain CSI that includes parameters that indicate time domain variations of the measured CSI (0369, the K predicted CQI values may be used to calculate differential predicted CQI values by reducing the K predicted CQI values by the average CQI value; the predicted K differential CQI values are reported to the gNB, 0344, 0328).
Claim 2, Ramireddy discloses the method of claim 1.
Ramireddy discloses wherein the parameters also indicate frequency domain variation of the measured CSI (0341, a CQI (multiple CQI reporting) for each configured SB may be reported using the selected composite Doppler-delay-beam precoder matrix and a given multi-dimensional channel tensor for the T time instances; 0327, the delay vectors may be selected from an oversampled OFT-codebook matrix of size S x SO2, where S refers to the number of configured sub-bands/PRBs, or subcarriers).
Claim 3. Ramireddy discloses the method of claim 1.
Ramireddy discloses wherein the report also indicates the CSI-RS occasions that were measured and on which the report is based (0344, i1,3 contains indices of selected Doppler-frequency-vectors; 0328, the third codebook comprises a third oversampled OFT-codebook matrix of size T x TO3, where T refers to the number of time instances during the observation time, 0462).
Claim 11, Ramireddy discloses the method of claim 1.
Ramireddy discloses determining a time grid size for reporting the Doppler domain CSI (0328, the third codebook comprises a third oversampled OFT-codebook matrix of size T x TO3, where T refers to the number of time instances during the observation time; 0462, the UE is configured to report the codebook parameter T that may be used to achieve a specific resolution of the channel Doppler components, 0245).
Claim 12, Ramireddy discloses the method of claim 11.
Ramireddy discloses wherein the time grid size is determined based on a scaling factor and a parameter for generating the time grid size for time domain bundling CQI (0328, a third oversampled OFT-codebook matrix of size T x T03, where T refers to the number of time instances during the observation time, and 03 refers to the oversampling factor; 0329, the oversampled factors of the OFT-codebook matrices may be configured via a higher layer signaling or as a part of the DCI).
Claim 13, Ramireddy discloses the method of claim 12.
Ramireddy discloses wherein at least one of the scaling factor or parameter is configured by the network entity (0452, the UE receives from the gNB or another network entity a higher layer or physical layer parameter oversampling factor 03 for the configuration of the Doppler codebook; 0459, the UE receives from the gNB or another network entity the codebook parameter T used for the configuration of the Doppler codebook).
Claim 14, Ramireddy discloses the method of claim 12.
Ramireddy discloses wherein at least one of the scaling factor or parameter is reported by the UE to the network entity (0456, the UE selects the oversampling factor O3 for the configuration of the Doppler codebook, and reports the selected oversampling factor O3 to the gNB; 0462, the UE is configured to report to the gNB the codebook parameter T).
Claim 15, Ramireddy discloses the method of claim 1.
Ramireddy discloses wherein the configuration indicates whether the report is to be transmitted within a CSI-RS measurement time (0263, a parameter CQI-PredictionTime assigned with the value K for CQI prediction; 0358, the UE may be configured to predict a CQI value for time-instant/slot n+K, where n denotes the current time-instant/slot, and K denotes the relative time difference with respect to the current time-instant/slot n).
Claim 16, Ramireddy discloses the method of claim 15.
Ramireddy discloses wherein: the report includes Doppler domain CSI with a first resolution when the report is transmitted within the CSI-RS measurement time (0462, to increase the Doppler-frequency resolution of the radio channel, the UE is configured to report the codebook parameter T that may be used to achieve a specific resolution of the channel Doppler components; 0328, a third oversampled OFT-codebook matrix of size T x T03, where T refers to the number of time instances during the observation time); or the report includes Doppler domain CSI with a second resolution when the report is transmitted within the CSI-RS measurement time.
Claim 18, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 1.
Ramireddy discloses a method for wireless communication by a network entity (0032, Method by network node, base station), comprising: transmitting a bundle of channel state information (CSI) reference signals (CSI-RS) on a bundle of CSI-RS occasions (0227, transmitting, to a communication device, downlink reference signals (CSI-RS) according to a CSI-RS configuration comprising a parameter, referred to as CSI-RS BurstDuration, indicating a time-domain-repetition of the downlink reference signals in terms of a number of consecutive slots the downlink reference signals are repeated in, 0607).
Claim 39, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 1.
Ramireddy discloses a user equipment (UE) (Abstract, Communication device), comprising: one or more memories comprising executable instructions (0229, a user equipment comprising a processor and a memory, said memory containing instructions executable by said processor); and one or more processors individually or collectively configured to execute the executable instructions to cause the UE to (0229, instructions executable by said processor; 0619, the computer program, when executed, enables the processor to implement the processes of the present invention, 0618).
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) 4-10 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ramireddy in view of US 2011/0299626 A1 herein Kim.
Claim 4, Ramireddy discloses the method of claim 1.
Ramireddy discloses wherein report indicates: an average channel quality indicator (CQI) that is an average of CQI calculated individually for the bundled CSI-RS occasions (0341, a CQI (multiple CQI reporting) for each configured SB may be reported using the selected composite Doppler-delay-beam precoder matrix and a given multi-dimensional channel tensor for the T time instances; 0340, the CQI value represents an average CQI supported by the Doppler-delay-beam precoded time-variant frequency-selective MIMO channel, 0369).
Ramireddy may not explicitly disclose for each time and frequency CQI index associated with the report, a differential CQI term.
Kim discloses for each time and frequency CQI index associated with the report, a differential CQI term (0108, the CQI values may be differentially encoded across the multiple spatial channels and the multiple subbands in each time interval to obtain differential CQI values for that time interval; 0103, this reference CQI value may be a CQI value for a designated spatial channel on a designated subband, an average CQI value for all spatial channels on the designated subband, an average CQI value for all spatial channels and all subbands, 0047). 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 Ramireddy to include differentially encoding the CQI values across the multiple subbands in each time interval with respect to a reference CQI value, as taught by Kim, so as to convey differences between values instead of actual values using fewer bits than the actual values and thereby reduce signaling overhead (0046).
Claim 5, Ramireddy in view of Kim discloses the method of claim 4.
Ramireddy may not explicitly disclose wherein the differential CQI term represents a difference between the average CQI and a CQI calculated for a corresponding time and frequency CQI index.
Kim discloses wherein the differential CQI term represents a difference between the average CQI and a CQI calculated for a corresponding time and frequency CQI index (0093, if the average channel state information is reported, then differential CQI information may be obtained with respect to the average CQI information; 0103, the CQI values may be differentially encoded with respect to a reference CQI value). 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 Ramireddy to include differentially encoding the CQI values across the multiple subbands in each time interval with respect to a reference CQI value, as taught by Kim, so as to convey differences between values instead of actual values using fewer bits than the actual values and thereby reduce signaling overhead (0046).
Claim 6, Ramireddy discloses the method of claim 1.
Ramireddy may not explicitly disclose wherein the report indicates: a reference time block wideband channel quality indicator (CQI) calculated for a reference time index; for each frequency CQI index associated with the report, a reference block subband CQl calculated based on the reference time block wideband CQI and a first differential term; and for each time CQI index associated with the report, a time block subband CQI calculated based on a block subband CQI and a second differential term.
Kim discloses wherein the report indicates: a reference time block wideband channel quality indicator (CQI) calculated for a reference time index; for each frequency CQI index associated with the report, a reference block subband CQI calculated based on the reference time block wideband CQI and a first differential term; and for each time CQI index associated with the report, a time block subband CQI calculated based on a block subband CQI and a second differential term (0048, a full CQI value may be provided for the designated subband, and a differential CQI value may be provided for each non-designated subband; 0108, for each non-designated time interval, differences between the differential CQI values for that non-designated time interval and the differential CQI values for a preceding time interval may be determined, 0093). 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 Ramireddy to include differentially encoding the CQI values across the multiple subbands in each time interval with respect to a reference CQI value, as taught by Kim, so as to convey differences between values instead of actual values using fewer bits than the actual values and thereby reduce signaling overhead (0046).
Claim 7, Ramireddy in view of Kim discloses the method of claim 6.
Ramireddy may not explicitly disclose wherein: the first differential term, for a corresponding frequency index, represents a difference between the reference time block wideband CQI and a CQI calculated for the reference time index and the corresponding frequency index.
Kim discloses wherein: the first differential term, for a corresponding frequency index, represents a difference between the reference time block wideband CQI and a CQI calculated for the reference time index and the corresponding frequency index (0084, differential CQI information for a non-designated subband n may include differential CQI values between designated subband I and non-designated subband n; 0052, the difference between a CQI value obtained on a designated subband and a CQI value obtained on a non-designated subband). 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 Ramireddy to include differentially encoding the CQI values across the multiple subbands in each time interval with respect to a reference CQI value, as taught by Kim, so as to convey differences between values instead of actual values using fewer bits than the actual values and thereby reduce signaling overhead (0046).
Claim 8, Ramireddy in view of Kim discloses the method of claim 7.
Ramireddy may not explicitly disclose wherein: the second differential term, for a corresponding frequency index and time index, represents a difference between a time block subband CQI calculated for the corresponding frequency index and a previous time index.
Kim discloses wherein: the second differential term, for a corresponding frequency index and time index, represents a difference between a time block subband CQI calculated for the corresponding frequency index and a previous time index (0108, for each non-designated time interval, differences between the differential CQI values for that non-designated time interval and the differential CQI values for a preceding time interval may be determined; 0047, the difference in differential CQI values for two time intervals). 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 Ramireddy to include differentially encoding the CQI values across the multiple subbands in each time interval with respect to a reference CQI value, as taught by Kim, so as to convey differences between values instead of actual values using fewer bits than the actual values and thereby reduce signaling overhead (0046).
Claim 9, Ramireddy in view of Kim discloses the method of claim 8.
Ramireddy may not explicitly disclose wherein the UE calculates different second differential terms for different frequency indexes.
Kim discloses wherein the UE calculates different second differential terms for different frequency indexes (0090, the temporal differential CQI information may comprise differential CQI values for the designated subband and differences in differential CQI values for each non-designated subband being reported). 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 Ramireddy to include differentially encoding the CQI values across the multiple subbands in each time interval with respect to a reference CQI value, as taught by Kim, so as to convey differences between values instead of actual values using fewer bits than the actual values and thereby reduce signaling overhead (0046).
Claim 10, Ramireddy in view of Kim discloses the method of claim 8.
Ramireddy discloses wherein the UE calculates a common second differential term for different frequency indexes (0369, the K predicted CQI values may be used to calculate differential predicted CQI values by reducing the K predicted CQI values by the average CQI value; 0358, the UE may be configured to predict a CQI value for time-instant/slot n+K, where n denotes the current time-instant/slot).
Claim 17, Ramireddy in view of Kim discloses the method of claim 16.
Ramireddy may not explicitly disclose wherein: the first resolution corresponds to subband channel quality indicator (CQI) in the report; and the second resolution corresponds to wideband CQI in the report.
Kim discloses wherein: the first resolution corresponds to subband channel quality indicator (CQI) in the report; and the second resolution corresponds to wideband CQI in the report (0098, in the scheduled mode, the terminal may generate a full CQI value and a differential CQI value on the basis of the overall or average channel characteristics of the allocated subbands; 0099, in the unscheduled mode, the terminal may generate CQI information for all or many of the subbands, 0113). 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 Ramireddy to include differentially encoding the CQI values across the multiple subbands in each time interval with respect to a reference CQI value, as taught by Kim, so as to convey differences between values instead of actual values using fewer bits than the actual values and thereby reduce signaling overhead (0046).
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20120020230 A1 – Techniques for supporting channel measurement and reporting in a wireless communication system are described. In one design, a cell transmits a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) used for channel estimation and coherent demodulation and a channel spatial information reference signal (CSI-RS) used for channel measurement and channel feedback reporting. The cell may transmit the CSI-RS less frequently than the CRS, or from more antenna ports than the CRS, or on fewer resource elements than the CRS, or a combination thereof. In one design, a user equipment (UE) determines at least one bandwidth part configured for the UE, with each bandwidth part covering at least one subband. The UE receives the CRS and CSI-RS from the cell, determines channel feedback information for the at least one bandwidth part based on the CSI-RS, sends the channel feedback information to the cell, and receives data transmitted by the cell based on the channel feedback information.
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.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
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
