DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to the application filed on 11 February 2025 and the preliminary amendment received on 17 April 2025.
Claims 1-27 are cancelled.
Claims 28-38 are presented for examination.
Claim Objections
Claims 28,32,36 are objected to because of the following elements of “[[wherein the first type [[of]] uplink transmission scheme comprises:
a first scheme in which different layers or demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) ports of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) are separately precoded and transmitted from different antenna groups simultaneously;
a second scheme in which at different PUSCH transmission occasions different redundancy versions (RV) of the same transport block (TB) are transmitted from different antenna groups ]]” (instant [70], [[138]-[140]) are omitted in instant independent claims 28,32,36 because the instant independent claims 28,32,36 disclose only the claimed elements of “wherein the second type of the uplink transmission scheme comprises: a third scheme…, a fourth scheme…., a fifth scheme…” (instant [71]) in which do not have any technical sense.
Appropriate correction is required.
Specification
The specification is objected to as failing to provide proper antecedent basis for the claimed subject matter. See 37 CFR 1.75(d)(1) and MPEP § 608.01(o). Correction of the following is required:
The highlighted underlined claimed elements of “obtain a plurality of measurement values of a reference signal over two or more antenna groups of the terminal device” in the instant new independent claims 28,32,36 and the instant Figure 2, step 202 and [61] describe that, “In the process 200, a terminal device 110 obtains 202 at least one measurement value of a reference signal over two or more antenna groups of the terminal device 110”.
The highlighted underlined claimed elements of “report an indication to a network device based on the measurement value, wherein the indication comprises a first type [[of]] uplink transmission scheme that can be used”; and “provide, to the network device, beam information indicating available beams for the first uplink transmission scheme, where the beam information comprises:…” in the instant new independent claims 28,32,36; the instant Figure 4 and associated paragraphs illustrate in step 440 that, “report an indication to a network device based on the measurement value, wherein the indication indicates at least one uplink transmission scheme that can be used” and instant [79] describes that, “the terminal device 110 may provide to the network device 120 with beam information indicating available beams for the uplink transmission scheme”.
There are no proper antecedent basis for highlighted underlined claimed elements in the instant new independent claims 28,32,36.
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 28,32,36 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 28,32,36 and 29,33,37 recite the underlined red limitations of “report an indication to a network device based on the measurement value, wherein the indication indicates comprises a first type uplink transmission scheme that can be used; and provide, to the network device, beam information indicating available beams for the first uplink transmission scheme, …” and “wherein the indication further comprises a second type of uplink transmission scheme based on a determination that the measurement value is not below the first threshold, wherein the second type of the uplink transmission scheme comprises:” in instant independent claims 28,32,36 and of “wherein the indication is determined based on the measurement value and a threshold for determining the uplink transmission scheme” in dependent claims 29,33,37. There are multiple claimed elements of “a first measurement value”, “a second measurement value”, “a third measurement value”.
There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the new independent claims 28,32,36 and the new dependent claims 29,33,37.
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.
Claims 28-38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHOU et al. WO 2021/227055 A1.
As to claim 28, ZHOU discloses substantially the invention as claimed, including a terminal device comprising:
one or more transceivers; and
one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more transceivers, wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the terminal device to:
obtain a plurality of measurement values of a reference signal over two or more antenna groups of the terminal device , wherein the reference signal comprises a downlink reference signal (in light of instant Figure 2 and [61], ZHOU discloses in [81] that, “the UE may measure the Reference Signal received Power (RSRP) on each of the downlink transmit beams using one or more downlink receive beams on the UE and transmit a beam measurement report to the Base Station indicating the RSRP of each of the measured downlink transmit beams”), and wherein the plurality of measurement values comprises: a first measurement value with a measurement difference between the downlink reference signal over the two or more antenna group, a second measurement value of an interference level of a second uplink reference signal transmitted from a second antenna group of the two or more antenna groups to a first antenna group of two or more antenna groups, and a third measurement value of an interference level of a first uplink reference signal transmitted from the first antenna group to the second antenna group (It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the wireless communication art to understand during the measurement of antenna performance using the first and second interference level measurements),
wherein the measurement difference comprises:
a first measurement difference between a first measurement and a second measurement, wherein the first measurement comprises a measurement of a first downlink reference signal associated with a first of the two or more antenna groups over the first antenna group, and the second measurement comprises a measurement of the first downlink reference signal over a second of the two or more antenna groups; and
a second measurement difference between a third measurement and a fourth measurement, wherein the third measurement comprises a measurement of a second downlink reference signal associated with the second antenna group over the second antenna group, and the fourth measurement comprises a measurement of the second downlink reference signal over the first antenna group (It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the wireless communication art to understand the well-known features of reporting a measurement difference between downlink reference signals over two or more antenna groups);
report an indication (a selection) to a network device (Figure 2, the Network Device 120) based on the measurement value, wherein the indication comprises a first type [[of]] uplink transmission scheme that can be used, (in light of instant Figure 15 and [155], ZHOU discloses in [155] that, “In some examples, the uplink beam refinement circuitry 1546 may further be configured to select an uplink transmission scheme to utilize for one or more selected uplink beam(s) selected during the uplink beam refinement. For example, the selected uplink transmission scheme may be used to transmit an uplink signal (e.g., PUSCH, PUSCCH, SRS or PRACH) on the selected uplink beams. In this example, the beam refinement parameters 1520 may include at least one uplink transmission parameter 1522 associated with the uplink transmission scheme”); and
provide, to the network device, beam information indicating available beams for the first uplink transmission scheme, wherein the beam information comprises:
two or more reference signals;
two or more TCI states;
two or more beams each having a lowest interference level from other beams;
two or more beams each having a highest interference level from other beams;
pairs of beam each pair including one beam of two or more best beam and another beam of the two or more beams having a lowest interference to other beams; and
pairs of beam, wherein each pair includes one beam of two or more best beams, and another beam of the two or more best beams having a highest interference to other beams (Zhou, claims 1-5, 7-17); and
wherein the indication further comprises a second type of uplink transmission scheme based on a determination that the measurement value is not below the first threshold, wherein the second type of the uplink transmission scheme comprises:
a third scheme in which a same physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) is transmitted from different antenna groups using different transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states;
a fourth scheme in which at a same PUSCH transmission occasion, a same PUSCH is transmitted from different antenna groups using different parts of frequency domain resource; and
a fifth scheme in which different PUSCH repetitions with same/different RV of the same transport block (TB) are performed from different antenna groups on non-overlapped frequency domain resources (in light of instant Figures 3-5, and [86]-[92], ZHOU discloses the transmission DMRS. It would have been obvious to one or ordinary skills in the wireless communication art to use the defined the first scheme, second scheme as a first type of uplink transmission scheme in ZHOU’s [86]-[92] as a design choice. Then, the one of ordinary skills in the wireless communication art to be expected to choose from, to use the defined third, fourth, fifth scheme as a second type of uplink communication scheme).
As to claim 29, ZHOU discloses, wherein the indication is determined based on the measurement value and a threshold for determining the uplink transmission scheme (Figures 3-5 and associated paragraphs, [155], [156], It would been obvious to one of ordinary skills that configuring and using the thresholds to determining the transmission schemes are well-known techniques in the wireless communication art).
As to claim 30, ZHOU discloses, wherein the threshold is configured by the network device (Figures 3-5 and associated paragraphs, [155], [156], It would been obvious to one of ordinary skills that technically configuring and using the thresholds to determining the transmission schemes are well-known techniques in the wireless communication art).
As to claim 31, ZHOU discloses, wherein the terminal device is further caused to: transmit, to the network device, an uplink transmission using an uplink transmission scheme indicated by the indication (Figures 3-5 and associated paragraphs, [155], [156] and claims 1-10).
Claims 32-35 correspond to the system claims of the terminal device claims 28-31; therefore, they are rejected under the same rationale as in the terminal device claims 28-31 as shown above.
Claims 36-38 correspond to the method claims of the terminal device claims 28,29,31; therefore, they are rejected under the same rationale as in the terminal device claims 28,29,31 as shown above.
The prior art cited in this Office action is ZHOU et al. WO 2021/227055 A1.
Conclusion
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/HAI V NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649
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