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 .
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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 17 March 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding claims 1, 4-7, 10-17, 20, 23, and 25-27, the applicant argued, “…in both of these cases, the BS indicates/configures a single precoder/sequence of beams for PUSCH transmissions. However, Bae in view of Yuan are silent on a UE receiving a plurality of DMRS patterns from a BS, and selecting a DMRS pattern from the plurality of patterns based on a received IE…” on pages 7-8.
In response to applicant’s argument, the examiner respectfully disagrees with the above argument.
In ¶¶281-282 and 362 Bae clearly teaches cause the UE to receive reference signal pattern information provided by the base station, the reference signal pattern information indicating a plurality of different DMRS patterns (¶¶281-282 and 362: UE receives, from base station, a plurality of predefined/configured DMRS patterns for PUSCH).
Bae ¶362 states that the base station configures the UE with sequence/pattern of a plurality of precoders/beams for PUSCH transmission. ¶362 further states that when the plurality of precoders/sequence of beams is configured, the base station indicates, via TPMI field of DCI, a single precoder/sequence of beams. As such, Bae clearly teaches that the base station first configures the UE with a plurality of patterns and then indicates a single pattern via L1 signaling. This is identical to the claimed invention.
The applicant’s arguments also refer to Bae ¶280. Bae ¶280 discusses the “conventional system” and is not relied upon for the rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4-7, 10-17, 20, 23, and 25-27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yuan et al. US 2023/0045134 A1 (hereinafter referred toa s “Yuan”) in view of Bae et al. US 2021/0385036 A1 (hereinafter referred to as “Bae”).
As to claim 1, Yuan teaches a baseband processor (¶¶47-48; figure 2) comprising:
memory configured to store information (¶¶47-48; figure 2); and
processing circuitry coupled with the memory and configured to (¶¶47-48; figure 2):
cause a User Equipment (UE) to receive, in downlink control information (DCI) from the base station, an information element (IE) corresponding to a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) to be included in an uplink transmission of the UE scheduled by the DCI (¶¶69-70, 72-74, and 114; figures 4 and 9: UE receives, from base station, DCI including IEs scheduling PUSCH including DMRS);
cause the UE to receive reference signal pattern information provided by the base station (¶¶69-70, 72-74: UE receives, from base station, DMRS port information indicating time-frequency resources for transmitting DMRS);
determine, based at least on the received IE and the received reference signal pattern information, time occasions (TOs) during which to transmit the DMRS in the uplink transmission, wherein to determine the TOs the processing circuitry is further configured to select a DMRS pattern from the plurality of different DMRS patterns according to the received IE (¶¶69-70, 72-74; figure 4: received DCI includes specific DMRS port index, and UE determines, based on the received DMRS port index and the received time-frequency resources associated with the DMRS port, PUSCH TOs during which to transmit the DMRS); and
cause the UE to transmit the DMRS during the determined TOs in the uplink transmission (¶¶69-70, 72-74, and 116; figures 4 and 9: UE transmits the DMRS during the determined PUSCH TOs).
Although Yuan teaches “A baseband…by the base station; determine, based…uplink transmission,” Yuan does not explicitly disclose “the reference signal pattern information indicating a plurality of different DMRS patterns”.
However, Bae teaches cause the UE to receive reference signal pattern information provided by the base station, the reference signal pattern information indicating a plurality of different DMRS patterns (¶¶281-282 and 362: UE receives, from base station, a plurality of predefined/configured DMRS patterns for PUSCH).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the apparatus described in Yuan by including “the reference signal pattern information indicating a plurality of different DMRS patterns” as taught by Bae because it provides Yuan’s apparatus with the enhanced capability of reducing signaling overhead (Bae, ¶¶281-282 and 362).
As to claim 4, Yuan in view of Bae teaches the baseband processor of claim 1.
Bae further teaches wherein the reference signal pattern information is received via higher layer signaling (¶362: higher layer signaling).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the apparatus described in Yuan in view of Bae by including “wherein the reference signal pattern information is received via higher layer signaling” as further taught by Bae for the same rationale as set forth in claim 1 (Bae, ¶¶281-282 and 362).
As to claim 5, Yuan in view of Bae teaches the baseband processor of claim 1.
Bae further teaches wherein the plurality of different DMRS patterns includes one or more of:
DMRS patterns from a predefined table (¶362: predefined); or
DMRS patterns configured specifically for the UE (¶362: configured to).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the apparatus described in Yuan in view of Bae by including “wherein the…the UE” as further taught by Bae for the same rationale as set forth in claim 1 (Bae, ¶¶281-282 and 362).
As to claim 6, Yuan in view of Bae teaches the baseband processor of claim 1.
Bae further teaches at least one of the plurality of different DMRS patterns corresponds to a transmit time interval bundle that does not include a reference signal transmission (¶¶281-290: DMRS transmitted in a PUSCH bundle corresponds to a different PUSCH bundle that is not transmitted with a reference signal).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the apparatus described in Yuan in view of Bae by including “at least one of the plurality of different DMRS patterns corresponds to a transmit time interval bundle that does not include a reference signal transmission” as further taught by Bae for the same rationale as set forth in claim 1 (Bae, ¶¶281-282 and 362).
As to claim 7, Yuan in view of Bae teaches the baseband processor of claim 1.
Bae further teaches the reference signal pattern information includes, for each DMRS pattern of the plurality of different DMRS patterns:
a first parameter indicative of a transmit time interval (TTI) bundle length for the uplink transmission; and
a second parameter indicative of which TO of a TTI bundle is to include the DMRS (¶¶308-312: according to slot format and TDD-UL-DL configuration by the BS, the PUSCH TTI bundle length and which TO the DMRS is included in are indicated).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the apparatus described in Yuan in view of Bae by including “the reference signal pattern information includes, for each DMRS pattern of the plurality of different DMRS patterns: a first parameter indicative of a transmit time interval (TTI) bundle length for the uplink transmission; and a second parameter indicative of which TO of a TTI bundle is to include the DMRS” as further taught by Bae for the same rationale as set forth in claim 1 (Bae, ¶¶281-282 and 362).
As to claim 10, Yuan in view of Bae teaches the baseband processor of claim 1. Yuan further teaches wherein the uplink transmissions include transmission of a physical uplink shared channel (¶¶69-70, 72-74, 114, and 116; figures 4 and 9: PUSCH).
As to claim 11, Yuan in view of Bae teaches the baseband processor of claim 1. Yuan further teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
cause the UE to receive, in a second DCI from the base station, a second IE corresponding to a second DMRS to be included in a second uplink transmission of the UE scheduled by the second DCI; and
(a) determine, based at least on the received second IE, second TOs for each repetition of a number of repetitions in the second uplink transmission individually, when the second IE has a first value; and
(b) determine the second TOs for the number of repetitions considered aggregately, when the second IE has a second value (¶¶69-74, 114, and 116; figures 4 and 9: second DCI indicating second DMRS port for second DMRS on second PUSCH TOs).
As to claim 12, Yuan in view of Bae teaches the baseband processor of claim 11.
Bae further teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
wherein (a) comprises using a DMRS pattern defined for a transmission length matching a length of a single repetition; and
wherein (b) comprises using a DMRS pattern defined for a transmission length matching a length of the number of repetitions considered aggregately (¶¶285-286, 290, 308-312, 321, 326, 347, 362, 366-367, and 371-374; figure 10: DMRS pattern indicated by DCI for a repetition or for all repetitions).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the apparatus described in Yuan in view of Bae by including “wherein (a)…considered aggregately” as further taught by Bae for the same rationale as set forth in claim 1 (Bae, ¶¶281-282 and 362).
As to claim 13, Yuan in view of Bae teaches the baseband processor of claim 11.
Bae further teaches wherein the number of repetitions is:
defined to include all repetitions within a single slot of the second uplink transmission; or
configured via higher layer signaling (¶¶285-286, 290, 308-312, 321, 326, 347, 362, 366-367, and 371-374; figure 10: configured/indicated repetitions).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the apparatus described in Yuan in view of Bae by including “wherein the…layer signaling” as further taught by Bae for the same rationale as set forth in claim 1 (Bae, ¶¶281-282 and 362).
As to claim 14, Yuan in view of Bae teaches the baseband processor of claim 1. Yuan further teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
cause the UE to receive, in a second DCI from the base station, a second IE corresponding to a second DMRS to be included in a second uplink transmission of the UE scheduled by the second DCI (¶¶69-74, 114, and 116; figures 4 and 9: second DCI indicating second DMRS port for second DMRS on second PUSCH TOs).
As to claim 15, Yuan in view of Bae teaches the baseband processor of claim 14.
Bae further teaches the DMRS pattern defines one or more of:
a number of transmissions of the DMRS per repetition in the TTI bundle;
respective locations of the DMRS in the TTI bundle; or
a total number of transmissions of the DMRS in the TTI bundle (¶¶308-313: number of DMRS per PUSCH repetition in the TTI bundle, symbol location of DMRS in the TTI bundle, and/or number of DMRS in the TTI bundle).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the apparatus described in Yuan in view of Bae by including “the DMRS…TTI bundle” as further taught by Bae for the same rationale as set forth in claim 1 (Bae, ¶¶281-282 and 362).
As to claim 16, Yuan in view of Bae teaches the baseband processor of claim 14. Yuan further teaches the DMRS pattern is defined based at least on one or more of:
a reference signal position configuration parameter;
a time domain resource allocation length; or
a number of repetitions in the TTI bundle (¶¶69-70, 72-74, and 116; figures 4 and 9: DMRS port index, time-frequency resource allocation, etc.).
As to claim 17, claim 17 is rejected the same way as claim 1.
As to claim 20, claim 20 is rejected the same way as claim 1.
As to claim 23, claim 23 is rejected the same way as claim 5.
As to claim 25, claim 25 is rejected the same way as claim 4.
As to claim 26, claim 26 is rejected the same way as claim 5.
As to claim 27, claim 27 is rejected the same way as claim 4.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yuan in view of Bae as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Abdelghaffar et al. US 2023/0361957 A1 (hereinafter referred to as “Abdelghaffar”).
As to claim 8, Yuan in view of Bae teaches the baseband processor of claim 1.
Although Yuan in view of Bae teaches “The baseband processor of claim 1,” Yuan in view of Bae does not explicitly disclose “the DCI is received in a UE specific search space”.
However, Abdelghaffar teaches the DCI is received in a UE specific search space (¶125: UE-specific DCI).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the apparatus described in Yuan in view of Bae by including “the DCI is received in a UE specific search space” as taught by Abdelghaffar because it provides Yuan in view of Bae’s apparatus with the enhanced capability of receiving specific UE scheduling with less decoding time (Abdelghaffar, ¶125).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN T VAN ROIE whose telephone number is (571)270-0308. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm.
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/JUSTIN T VAN ROIE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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