Ex Parte Tsai et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Dec 16, 2016

12757598 (P.T.A.B. Dec. 16, 2016)

United States Patent and Trademark Office
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
P.O.Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
www.uspto.gov
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
12/757,598 04/09/2010 Jiann-An Tsai 2009.07.008.WS0 3039
106809 7590
Docket Clerk - SAMS
P.O. Drawer 800889
Dallas, TX 75380
12/20/2016 EXAMINER
LIAO, HSINCHUN
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2649
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
12/20/2016 ELECTRONIC
Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the
following e-mail address(es):
patents @ munckwilson. com
munckwilson @ gmail. com
patent, srad @ samsung.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte JIANN-AN TSAI and ZHOUYUE PI
Appeal 2016-000618
Application 12/757,598
Technology Center 2600
Before DEBRA K. STEPHENS, JOSEPH P. LENTIVECH, and
KARA L. SZPONDOWSKI, Administrative Patent Judges.
SZPONDOWSKI, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner’s
Final Rejection of claims 1, 2, 9—11, 22, 23, and 30. Claims 12—21 have
been cancelled. Claims App’x. Claims 3—8 and 24—29 are not subject to
any rejection based upon prior art, but instead are objected to as being
dependent upon a rejected base claim, and are thus not before us on appeal.
Final Act. 5. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We REVERSE.
Appeal 2016-000618
Application 12/757,598
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Appellants’ invention is directed to beamforming in wireless
communication systems. Spec. 13. Claim 1, reproduced below with the
disputed limitation in italics, is illustrative of the claimed subject matter:
1. A wireless communications network comprising a plurality of
base stations, each one of the base stations capable of wireless
communications with a plurality of subscriber stations, at least one of
the plurality of base stations comprising:
a receiver configured to receive a precoding vector index (PVI)
from a subscriber station;
a controller configured to:
update a transmit covariance matrix using the precoding
vector index, and
transform a codebook using the updated transmit
covariance matrix; and
a transmitter configured to perform transmit beamforming to
the subscriber station using the transformed codebook.
REJECTIONS
Claims 1, 9-11, 23, and 30 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as
anticipated by Wang et al. (US 2007/0174038 Al; published July 26, 2007)
(“Wang”).
Claims 2 and 22 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
unpatentable over the combination of Wang and Roy (US 2007/0142089 Al;
published June 21, 2007) (“Roy”).
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Application 12/757,598
ANALYSIS
Dispositive Issue: Did the Examiner err in finding Wang discloses
“update a transmit covariance matrix using the precoding vector index,” as
recited in independent claim 1 and commensurately recited in independent
claims 10 and 11?
Wang describes a system that facilitates estimating transmit
covariance from evaluation of a channel to be utilized in linear precoding.
Abstract. Wang discloses that mobile devices may utilize vector and/or
scaler quantization to generate feedback and “[t]he feedback may be
transmitted over a reverse link channel to base station 102. Wang 140. In
addition, “an index associated with an updated matrix from the modified
codebook may be transmitted from one of the mobile devices 116 and 122 to
base station 102[,]” (Wang 140), and that index may be sent as feedback
over the reverse link channel. Wang 160. Therefore, “[b]ase station 102
may obtain channel related feedback from mobile devices 116 and 122.”
Wang 141. Wang also describes that “base station 102 may analyze
covariance (e.g., transmit covariance, correlation,. . .) from each of the
reverse links 120 and 126, and thereafter the covariance may be used to alter
a predefined codebook retained by base station 120.” Wang 141.
The Examiner finds Wang’s index discloses the precoding vector
index. Ans. 4. The Examiner further finds “[sjince Wang’s index is part of
the feedback and the feedback is used to generate/estimate/alter/adjust
covariance matrix R, . . ., Wang’s index is necessarily used to ‘estimate or
generate’ covariance matrix R.” Ans. 3^4.
Appellants contend Wang does not disclose the transmit covariance is
updated using a precoding vector index. App. Br. 15. Specifically,
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Appeal 2016-000618
Application 12/757,598
Appellants argue the Examiner has not shown the “index” in Wang is a
precoding vector index. App. Br. 17; see also Reply Br. 4. Appellants
further argue Wang does not state what information is used to “estimate or
generate” Wang’s transmit covariance matrix, or that it is generated or
estimated based on the feedback. App. Br. 16—18; Reply Br. 5—6.
We are persuaded by Appellants’ arguments. “To anticipate a claim,
a prior art reference must disclose every limitation of the claimed invention,
either explicitly or inherently.” In re Schreiber, 128 F.3d 1473, 1477 (Fed.
Cir. 1997). We agree with Appellants that Wang does not expressly disclose
the covariance matrix is updated using the index. Rather, Wang merely
describes the covariance may be analyzed from each of the reverse links.
Wang 141; see also 142 (“covariance evaluator 202 that estimates
covariance”); 142 (“covariance . . . may be estimated from ... a reverse link
channel”); 1 52 (“[c]ovariance evaluator 306 may . . . generate a transmit
covariance matrix R”); 1 53 (“covariance evaluators 306 and 312 enable
both base station 302 and mobile device 304 to estimate covariance
associated with the reverse link channel and the forward link channel”).
While we acknowledge Wang’s index is transmitted over a reverse link to a
base station as feedback (Wang H 40, 57, 60), Wang does not expressly
disclose that the feedback or the index is used to analyze, estimate, or
generate the transmit covariance matrix.
“Inherent anticipation requires that the missing descriptive material is
‘necessarily present,’ not merely probably or possibly present, in the prior
art.” Trintec Indus., Inc. v. Top-U.S.A. Corp., 295 F.3d 1292, 1295 (Fed.
Cir. 2002). The Examiner finds “since Wang’s index is part of the feedback
and the feedback is used to generate/estimate/alter/adjust covariance matrix
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Appeal 2016-000618
Application 12/757,598
R,. . Wang’s index is necessarily used to ‘estimate or generate’ covariance
matrix R.” Ans. 3^4. As discussed above, we disagree Wang discloses the
feedback is used to generate/estimate/alter/adjust the covariance matrix.
Further, the Examiner has not provided a sufficient factual basis to support a
finding of inherency.
Because we agree with at least one of the arguments advanced by
Appellants, we need not reach the merits of Appellants’ other arguments.
Accordingly, we do not sustain the Examiner’s 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) rejection
of independent claims 1,10, and 11. For the same reasons, we do not
sustain the Examiner’s 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) rejection of dependent claims 9,
23, and 30 and the Examiner’s 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) rejection of dependent
claims 2 and 22.
DECISION
For the above reasons, the Examiner’s rejection of claims 1, 2, 9—11,
22, 23, and 30 is reversed.
REVERSED
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