PTAB

IPR2025-00900

Apple Inc v. Apex Beam Technologies LLC

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Petition
petition

1. Case Identification

2. Patent Overview

  • Title: Method and Device in UE and Base Station for Multi-Antenna System
  • Brief Description: The ’727 patent relates to methods for multi-antenna wireless communication. It describes a user equipment (UE) jointly utilizing two types of downlink reference signals—a periodic "first reference signal" and an aperiodic "second reference signal"—to perform channel estimation and report channel state information (CSI) to a base station.

3. Grounds for Unpatentability

Ground 1: Anticipation/Obviousness over Park - Claims 1-2, 5-7, 10-12, 15-17, and 20 are anticipated by and/or obvious over Park.

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Park (Patent 10,720,972).
  • Core Argument for this Ground:
    • Prior Art Mapping: Petitioner argued that Park, which is directed to transmitting and receiving channel state information, discloses all limitations of the independent claims. Park teaches a "hybrid CSI process" that combines two types of beamformed reference signals: a periodic signal ("Alt 1" Class B CSI-RS) transmitted over a plurality of subframes and an aperiodic signal ("Alt 4" Class B CSI-RS) transmitted in a single measurement subframe. Petitioner asserted these correspond directly to the ’727 patent’s "first reference signal" and "second reference signal," respectively. Park further discloses that a UE reports "hybrid CSI" based on measurements of both signals, which corresponds to the claimed "first channel information" that is a sum of the antenna ports (Q1+Q2) for both signals.
    • Motivation to Combine (for §103 grounds): To the extent any limitation was not explicitly disclosed, Petitioner argued it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art (POSITA). For instance, Park’s disclosure of a "hybrid CSI report" combining information from both periodic and aperiodic signals makes it obvious that the resulting channel information corresponds to a set of antenna ports consisting of the sum of the ports from both configurations.
    • Expectation of Success: Park’s detailed description of combining periodic and aperiodic CSI processes within a single framework provided a clear roadmap, ensuring a POSITA would have a high expectation of success in implementing the claimed method.

Ground 2: Obviousness over Park and Shin - Claims 1-2, 5-7, 10-12, 15-17, and 20 are obvious over Park in view of Shin.

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Park (Patent 10,720,972) and Shin (Application # 2016/0142189).

  • Core Argument for this Ground:

    • Prior Art Mapping: This ground supplemented Park’s disclosure, particularly for the limitation that the "second signaling is used to determine the Q2 antenna port(s)." While Park taught that a Downlink Control Information (DCI) format (the "second signaling") triggers the aperiodic CSI report, Shin explicitly taught that such a DCI format can include a "CSI request field." This field contains information indicating the specific antenna port group to be used for the aperiodic CSI report, thereby "determining" the Q2 ports.
    • Motivation to Combine: A POSITA would combine Park's hybrid CSI system with Shin's DCI format teaching to achieve more precise network control. Integrating Shin's explicit CSI request field into Park's system was a well-understood technique to allow a base station to directly configure a UE's reporting behavior for specific channels, thereby improving system efficiency and resource management.
    • Expectation of Success: The combination was predictable. It involved applying a known signaling feature (Shin's CSI request field) to a known reporting mechanism (Park's DCI-triggered aperiodic reporting) to achieve the expected benefit of enhanced control over CSI feedback.

  • Additional Grounds: Petitioner asserted additional obviousness challenges based on similar design modification theories, including: (1) combining Park with Rahman (Patent 10,659,118) to teach receiving RRC signaling ("second information") that indicates the specific Q1 antenna ports out of the L1 antenna ports for periodic reporting; and (2) combining Park with Yu (Application # 2014/0177561) to teach using beamforming vectors derived from the periodic Q1 report to determine the beamforming vectors for transmitting the "second signaling."

4. Arguments Regarding Discretionary Denial

  • Petitioner argued that discretionary denial is unwarranted. It further stated its intent to use the bifurcated briefing process contemplated by the March 26, 2025, Stewart Memorandum to rebut any contrary contentions offered by the Patent Owner.

5. Relief Requested

  • Petitioner requests institution of an inter partes review and cancellation of claims 1-20 of the ’727 patent as unpatentable.