DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA Status
The present Application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
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.
Additionally, if the Application becomes subject to AIA 35 USC 102 and 103, the independent claims would be anticipated by Aiba (US 20150189630) as provided below:
Regarding claim 1, Aiba teaches a method comprising:
determining, at a user equipment (UE), whether downlink control information (DCI) in a subframe has a DCI format 1A or a first DCI format (Aiba, ¶¶96-102 – various DCI formats),
the first DCI format including a two-bit field indicative of one out of four sets of cell-specific reference signal (CRS) resource elements (CRS REs) (Aiba, ¶¶157-158 – a field of two bits defined in a DCI format; Aiba, figures 5, 7 and ¶¶127, 138 – Ri is a CRS RE), each of the four sets of CRS REs being configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling (Aiba, ¶¶154-156 – higher layer signaling used to indicate the positions of CRS; Aiba, ¶¶122, 124 – RRC is a type of higher layer signaling), the four sets of CRS REs including a first set of CRS REs that corresponds to the two- bit field having a value of zero (Aiba, ¶159 – “00” indicates the CRS RE positions of the serving cell; see also id. at ¶158 for the 3 other sets of CRS RE positions),
the DCI format 1A not including the two-bit field (Aiba, ¶161 – DCI format 1A may not include the first control information; Aiba, ¶157 – first control information is the positions of CRS REs);
in response to determining that the DCI has the DCI format 1A, selecting the first set of CRS REs from the four sets of CRS REs configured by the RRC signaling (Aiba, ¶¶168, 171 – UE assumes the positions of CRS REs; Aiba, ¶¶169, 172 – assumption is CRS REs are in the same position as the CRS REs of the serving cells [which is indicated by “00”])); and
receiving a data transmission based on the selected first set of CRS REs. Aiba, ¶184-186 and figures 5-7 (UE receives data on PDSCH transmitted by rate-matching around CRS REs).
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 16 Jun 2026 has been entered.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. In particular, this Application claims a domestic benefit to a US provisional application, filed 28 Aug 2012.
Information Disclosure Statements
The information disclosure statements, submitted on 6 Jan 2014, 31 May 2017, 5 Dec 2017, 7 Aug 2025, and 26 Nov 2025, are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 69-70 and 78-79 are objected to and may be allowable if incorporated with all intermediate claims into the independent claims.
Response to Arguments
The Reply disputes the written description rejections. Reply, 6-8. As noted by the Reply, the disclosure states the DCI format 1A “carries no information regarding the CRS for PDSCH rate-matching.” Spec., ¶36. Not carrying information on the CRS in the describe invention appears to be a “selection” of the value “00.” Spec., ¶¶36, 40. This constitutes the claimed “selecting” of a CRS pattern when DCI format 1A is determined. Thus, the written description rejections are overcome.
The Reply alleges the combination of Gaal and Yue fails to teach the “in response to” limitation of claims 1 and 64. Reply, 8. Gaal teaches a UE capable of detecting a DCI format 1A. Format 1A configures the “fallback operation” for all downlink transmission modes. Gaal, ¶59. Gaal also teaches the downlink communication mode being configured by RRC signaling. Id. at ¶60. In one embodiment, shown in figure 8, Gaal teaches rate-matching around REs reserved for special purposes. Gaal, ¶70. One type of RE for a special purpose are CRS REs. Gaal, figure 8 (marked with “R”). This creates a “set of CRS REs” which are defined by the transmission/communication mode (i.e. information provided via the DCI and RRC). The discounting of CSI-RS REs and muted REs creates multiple “sets” of REs (i.e. discounting CSI-RS REs and muted REs in figure 8 creates a different set than when those REs are not discounted).
Gaal does not explicitly teach selecting one “set of CRS REs from the four sets of CRS REs.” Supra. However, Yue teaches a network informing the UE of a CRS pattern using one of four two-bit indices. Yue, ¶151 and table 4. Yue also teaches a 1-bit index for informing the UE to either use the CRS pattern of the serving cell or a union of all CRS REs of all TRPs. Yue, ¶138 and table 2; see additionally id. at ¶354 for a 3-bit indicator. In the described invention, during fallback indicated by DCI format 1A, the “PDSCH is rate-matched around the serving cell CRS.” Spec., ¶36. A value of “0” as the mapping indicator in Yue does the same thing. Yue, ¶138 and table 2 (RE mapping “according to that of the serving cell”).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 4, 6-7, 64-67, and 71-76 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Gaal (US 20120113917 A1) in view of Yue (US 20140044061 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Gaal teaches a method comprising:
determining, at a user equipment (UE), whether downlink control information (DCI) in a subframe has a DCI format IA or a first DCI format (Gaal, ¶¶55-57 – UE monitors two or more DCI formats, including format 1A),
the first DCI format including a . . . field indicative of . . . cell-specific reference signal (CRS) resource elements (CRS REs) (Gaal, figure 3 and ¶¶62 – a downlink DCI format associated with a PDSCH transmission scheme that may be a CRS-based one; Gaal, ¶70 and figure 8 – UE is signaled the PDSCH resource configuration shown in figure 8, where REs marked with an “R” are CRS REs);
. . . [downlink transmission modes] being configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling (Gaal, ¶60),
in response to determining that the DCI has the DCI format 1A, selecting the first set of CRS REs . . . configured by the RRC signaling (Gaal, ¶¶54, 56 – UE processes resource elements used for reference signals in the common search space if DCI 1A is used [DCI 1A in all downlink modes]); and
receiving a data transmission based on the selected first set of CRS REs. Gaal, ¶55-56 (UE receives PDSCH based on DCI).
Gaal does not explicitly teach (1) “each of the four sets of CRS REs,” (2) “the four sets of CRS REs including a first set of CRS REs that corresponds to the two-bit field having a value of zero,” (3) a “two-bit” field indicative of “one out of four sets” of cell-specific reference signal (CRS) resource elements (CRS REs), (4) the DCI format. . . not including the two-bit field; or (5) selecting “from the four sets of CRS REs.”
However, Yue teaches
(1) “each of the four sets of CRS REs” (Yue, ¶118 – four antenna ports support CRS, where CRS RE positions are specified in the subframe; Yue, ¶153 and table 4 – each mapping indicator creates a “set” of CRS REs),
(2) the four sets of CRS REs including a first set of CRS REs that corresponds to the two-bit field having a value of zero (Yue, ¶¶25, 15 and tables 3 and 4 – “00” is a zero value),
(3) the first DCI format including a “two-bit” field indicative of “one out of four sets” of cell-specific reference signal (CRS) resource elements (CRS REs) (Yue, claim 6 – the mapping indicator is conveyed in a DCI; Yue, ¶¶150, 321, 361 and tables 3 and 4 – 2-bit indicator for CRS REs),
(4) the DCI format . . . not including the two-bit field (Yue, ¶¶139, 375 and table 2 – 1 bit, instead of 2 bits, may be used to signal mapping indicator, which is conveying in a DCI); and
(5) selecting “from the four sets of CRS REs.” Yue, ¶21 (one of the four mapping indicators is transmitted to the UE).
At the time of the invention (pre-AIA ) or at the effective filing date of the invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to use the 1-bit mapping indicator, instead of the 2-bit mapping indicator, as taught by Yue, for DCI format 1A, as taught by Gaal, in order to reduce overhead signaling when only two CRS patterns need to be accommodated. Yue, ¶357; see also id., ¶47 (fallback from CoMP to non-CoMP single cell transmissions).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Gaal and Yue also teaches wherein each of the four sets of CRS REs correspond to a respective transmission point of a CoMP transmission system(Yue, ¶118 and table – where each mapping indicator is associated with a different TP).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Gaal and Yue also teaches selecting a second set of CRS REs from the four sets of CRS REs based on a value of the two-bit field in response to receiving a second DCI having the first DCI format( Yue, Table 3-4, [0025], [0150], CRS pattern, “01” corresponding to a second set); and receiving a second data transmission based on the selected second set of CRS REs (Yue, Table 3-4, [0154]-[0155], UE would receive CRS based on the PDSCH mapping).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Gaal and Yue also teaches wherein the first set of CRS REs is a default CRS RE set corresponding to a cell other than a serving cell for the UE (Yue, Table 3-4, [0295], the first set , e.g. “10”, or “11” would be considered as default PDSCH mapping approach).
Regarding claim 65, the combination of Gaal and Yue also teaches wherein receiving the data transmission includes performing physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) rate-matching based on the selected first set of CRS REs ( Gaal, [0086]-[0088], PDSCH rate matched for transmissions scheduled via different DCI; Yue, Table 3-4, [0335]-[0336], PDSCH rate-matching around the indicated CRS patterns).
Regarding claim 66, the combination of Gaal and Yue also teaches wherein receiving the second data transmission includes performing physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) rate-matching for the second data transmission based on the selected second set of CRS REs ( Gaal, [0086]-[0088], PDSCH rate matched for transmissions scheduled via different DCI; Yue, Table 3-4, [0335]-[0336], PDSCH rate-matching around the indicated CRS patterns).
the combination of Gaal and Yue is obvious for the same reasons applied to the claim 1.
Regarding claim 67, the combination of Gaal and Yue also teaches wherein receiving the first data transmission includes performing physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) rate-matching for the first data transmission based on the selected first set of CRS REs ( Gaal, [0086]-[0088], PDSCH rate matched for transmissions scheduled via different DCI; Yue, Table 3-4, [0335]-[0336], PDSCH rate-matching around the indicated CRS patterns).
Claims 64, 71, 72-73, 74-76 are the device claims corresponding to method claims 1, 4, 6-7, 65-67 respectively, and rejected under the same rationale set forth in connection with the rejection of claims 1, 4, 6-7, 65-67 respectively, above. In addition, Gaal teaches UE device with controller and processor (Fig 6).
Claims 68 and 77 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Gaal (US 20120113917 A1) in view of Yue (US 20140044061 A1) and Davydov (US 20140086221 A1).
Regarding claims 68 and 77, the combination of Gaal and Yue teaches the parent claims 1 and 64 as outlined above and the two-bit field (Yue, Table 3-4, [0150], [0321], [0361], 2-bit indicator, 00, 01, 10, 11, for CRS REs) and different codepoints in the two-bit field corresponding to different respective timing information. Yue, ¶121 (different PDSCH starting points among TPs); Yue, ¶150 (network informs UE of starting point of PDSCH and CRS pattern for PDSCH mapping using indicators in table 4).
The combination of Gaal and Yue also teaches does not explicitly disclose “wherein the field is further indicative of timing information for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).”
However, the teaching of wherein the field is further indicative of timing information for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) is well known in the art as evidenced by Davydov. Specifically, Davydov discloses wherein the field is further indicative of timing information for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) ( [0022], [0024], timing synchronization uses the CRS, PDSCH timing with CSI-RS timing).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to combine the teaching of Davydov as mentioned above as a modification to the combination of Gaal and Yue, such that the combination would allow to use CRS timing estimations generated from node specific reference signals of a CoMP measurement set, in order to calculate timing for PDSCH and carry timing synchronization by using cell specific reference signals (CRS).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure, including paragraph 60 of Xiao, which teaches a pre-defined set of REs for CRS, and paragraph 225 of Zirwas, which teaches CRSs for antenna ports 0 and 1 being transmitted continuously for fall-back.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN S LAMONT whose telephone number is (571)270-7514 and email address is benjamin.lamont@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7am to 3pm EST.
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/Benjamin Lamont/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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