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 .
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claims 4-6 and 14-20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
4. (Proposed Amendment) A device comprising:
one or more processors configured to execute program instructions stored in the device to cause the device to:
transmit a polarization direction indication indicating a polarization direction for user equipment (UE) beam measurement in symbols carrying reference signals for beam measurement, or for UE data communication in symbols carrying reference signals for beam measurement.
14. (Proposed Amendment) A device comprising:
one or more processors configured to execute program instructions stored in the device to cause the device to:
receive a polarization direction indication indicating a polarization direction for user equipment (UE) beam measurement in symbols carrying reference signals for beam measurement, or for UE data communication in symbols carrying reference signals for beam measurement.
17. (Proposed Amendment) The device of claim 14, wherein executing the program instructions further cause the device to:
receive an indication to configure the UE to an alternate polarization direction used for receiving UE data among first and second polarization directions of antennas at a base station or first and second polarization directions relative to a reference plane, over even and odd-indexed periods for reference signals for beam measurement.
18. (Proposed Amendment) The device of claim 14, wherein executing the program instructions further cause the device to:
receive an indication to configure the UE to an alternate polarization direction used for UE beam measurement among first and second polarization directions of antennas at a base station or first and second polarization directions relative to a reference plane, over even and odd-indexed periods for reference signals for beam measurement.
19. (Proposed Amendment) The device of claim 14, wherein executing the program instructions further cause the device to:
receive UE data in symbols carrying a first reference signal for beam measurement, wherein the UE data is in quasi-co-location (QCL) with a second reference signal for beam measurement.
Claims 5 and 6 depend from claim 4, therefore they are also objected.
Claims 15, 16, and 20 depend from claim 14, therefore they are also objected.
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.
Claims 10-11, 13, 17-18, 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.
The phrase “reference signals for beam measurement” recited in last line of claims 10-11 and 17-18 is already recited in the independent claim 7 (lines 4-5) and claim 14 (lines 6-7). Clarification is required to clarify the difference.
The phrase “symbols carrying reference signals for beam measurement” recited in line 2 of both claims 13 and 20 is also recited in the independent claim 7 (lines 4-5) and claim 14 (lines 6-7). Clarification is required. Without clarifying the difference, claim 13 is not tie to any of the claim subject matters of claim 7, and claim 20 is not tie to any of the claim subject matters of claim 14.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 4-5, 7-8, 12-15, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Takeda et al. (US 2019/0356373 A1), hereinafter “Takeda”.
Takeda relates to 5G/NR MIMO communication systems to use beamforming for both transmission and reception. For example, FIG. 7 shows an example of a schematic structure of a radio communication system; each of FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 shows an example of an overall structure of a radio base station; and each of FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 shows an example of a functional structure of a user terminal.
FIG. 4 illustrates the radio base station 10 or the user terminal 20 of Figures 8-11 for reading predetermined software (program) on hardware such as the processor 1001 and the memory 1002, and by controlling the calculations in the processor 1001, the communication in the communication apparatus 1004, the reading and/or writing of data in the memory 1002 and the storage 1003, an input apparatus 1005 is an input device for receiving input from the outside (for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a switch, a button, a sensor and so on), and an output apparatus 1006 is an output device for allowing sending output to the outside (for example, a display, a speaker, an LED (Light Emitting Diode) lamp and so on).
Takeda also teaches in paragraph [0041] that FIGS. 1A and 1B show examples where (N1, N2)=(2, 8) holds, while FIG. 1C shows an example where (N, N2)=(4, 4) holds. Here, N1 and N2 each indicate the number of antenna ports that are used to transmit predetermined signals (for example, reference signals), per polarization, in a given direction. Here, N1 is the number of antenna ports in the vertical direction (“vertical”), and N2 is the number of antenna ports in the horizontal direction (“horizontal”), but the directions of polarization are not limited to these.
Regarding claims 4 and 14, as shown in FIG. 4, the base station 10 or the user equipment 20 comprising: one or more processors (1001), wherein when the one or more processors execute program instructions stored in the device, the device is caused to: transmit and/or receive a polarization direction indication indicating a polarization direction.
Although Takeda does not provide the exactly same language as recited in claims 4 and 14, configuring antenna port arrangements (N1, N2) per polarization inherently supports or applies to the claims reciting the transmission and/or reception of a polarization direction indication, because the spatial port configurations structurally define and distinguish the polarization dimensions utilized.
Parameters N1 (vertical ports) and N2 (horizontal ports) are defined per polarization, meaning the antenna architecture fundamentally relies on knowing or signaling the active polarization direction to properly map and interpret the reference signals.
Transmitting port configurations across multi-dimensional arrays logically entails signaling or indicating which polarization axes or directions are active or assigned for transmission/reception.
Takeda clearly teaches that polarization directions are not limited to simple vertical/horizontal definitions, reinforcing that a dynamic polarization direction indication is required to generalize the port mapping.
Applicant noted that the claim limitations of “for user equipment (UE) beam measurement in symbols carrying reference signals for beam measurement, or for UE data communication in symbols carrying reference signals for beam measurement” give no patentable weight because they recite an intended use.
Regarding method claims 1 and 7, the recited steps are coextensive with the features of apparatus claims 4 and 14 for the same reasons discussed above.
Regarding claims 2, 5, 8, and 15, specifying that beam measurement reference signals can be an SSB, CSI-RS, TRS, or PRS is not new over conventional 5G/NR networks, such as Takeda’s 5G/NR MIMO communication system. The 3GPP specifications for 5G New Radio (Rel-15, Rel-16, and later) already explicitly define SSBs, CSI-RSs, TRSs, and PRSs as the standard pilot or reference structures capable of supporting spatial filtering and layer-1/layer-3 beam measurements (such as beam RSRP/RSRQ). Also see paragraph [0112].
Regarding claims 12 and 19, the capability for user equipment (UE) data to share quasi-co-location (QCL) or spatial assumptions with beam measurement reference signals is a foundational mechanism established in 3GPP Release 15/16 specifications via Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) states. They are well known over conventional 5G New Radio (NR) prior art, such as Takeda’s 5G/NR MIMO communication system. For example, under standard 5G specifications, a UE assumes that target data symbols and reference signals (like CSI-RS or SSB) share large-scale properties (such as Doppler shift, delay spread, and spatial receive parameters) when they are indicated as quasi-co-located. Further, standard specifications allow network configurations where demodulation reference signals (DMRS) for data channels are QCL-ed with specific beam measurement reference signals, enabling the UE to reuse spatial filter weights across overlapping or adjacent time symbols.
Regarding claims 13 and 20, restricting the maximum number of layers (rank) to one for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) during symbols that carry beam measurement reference signals is well known in the art and an established rule in modern cellular specifications like 5G NR, such as Takeda’s 5G/NR MIMO communication system. For example, beam measurement and tracking reference signals require clean, unpreceded or dedicated single-port channel estimations to evaluate directional signal quality accurately. When data symbols overlap or share time-domain symbols with specific reference signals, restricting the data transmission to a single layer prevents power and channel estimation ambiguity at the receiver.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 9 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 6 and 16 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the objection(s) set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 10-11 and 17-18 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
YANG et al. (US 2021/0152447 A1) relates to a beam measurement processing method for a network side device includes: when Beam Pair Link (BPL) quality is measured in a first mode, determining a first completion time at which a beam sweeping for all reception beams has been completed by a User Equipment (UE) corresponding to a current transmission beam, and transmitting a next transmission beam after the first completion time; and/or when the BPL quality is measured in a second mode, determining a second completion time at which a beam sweeping for all transmission beams has been completed by a network side device corresponding to a current reception beam, and performing a next beam sweeping for all the transmission beams after the second completion time.
CAO (US 2021/0391899 A1) relates to an electronic device on user device side, comprising a processing circuitry configured to: receive, from a control device, configuration on an association between a first reference signal and a second reference signal; receive, from the control device, an indication for the first reference signal; and in response to the indication for the first reference signal, implement reception of a third reference signal by using spatial reception parameters for the second reference signal based on the association between the first reference signal and the second reference signal.
ZHANG et al. (US 2022/0376880 A1) relates to one or more universal transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states can include applicability information to identify which control channels, such as the PDCCH and the PUCCH to provide some examples, data channels, such as the PDSCH and/or the PUSCH to provide some examples, and/or signals, such as the DMRS, the PTRS, the SRS, and/or the CSI-RS to provide some examples, are to utilize the communication beams identified by the one or more universal TCI states.
ZHOU et al. (US 2023/0319591 A1) relates to methods and apparatuses for transmitting and receiving a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) for a joint downlink/uplink beam. A base station (BS) may transmit the TCI that indicates one or more reference signals providing a user equipment (UE) with properties for the beam used by the UE to transmit data or control information on an uplink as well as used by the UE to receive data or control information on a downlink. Accordingly, the UE and the BS may reduce signaling and network overhead by using a single TCI to indicate quasi-co-location (QCL) rules for both uplink and downlink.
XIAO et al. (US 2024/0372588 A1) relates to a method for feeding back channel state information, including: determining a neural network parameter, and constructing an encoder according to the neural network parameter; compressing channel information with the encoder to obtain channel state information; and feeding back the channel state information. Further provided in the present disclosure are a method for receiving channel state information, and a terminal, a base station, and a computer-readable storage medium.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Young T. Tse whose telephone number is (571)272-3051. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10:30am-7pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh M Fan can be reached at 571-272-3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Young T. Tse/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632
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