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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/12/2026 has been entered.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 1, “the first transmission” should be “a first transmission”
In claim 1, “the second transmission” should be “a second transmission”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 5, 7, 10 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ge et al. (US 2014/0369283).
Regarding claim 1, Ge teaches a method for enhancing downlink link adaptation (DLLA) for spectral efficiency maximization, comprising (FIG. 4; Paragraphs [0073]; [0076] method for DLLA):
providing an outer loop link adaptation (OLLA) routine with a first path for a transmit diversity (TD) transmission mode and a second path for a spatial multiplexing (SM) transmission mode (Fig. 1, step S310, Paragraphs [0009]; [0027]; [0086] describes two separate paths, one for SU-MIMO (analogous to TD as a single-stream or reliability focused mode) and one for MU-MIMO (analogous to SM as a multi-stream/throughput-focused mode.) SU-MIMO (first transmission mode) uses a single user’s spatial resources, prioritizing reliability. MU-MIMO (second transmission mode) uses spatial multiplexing across multiple users/layers simultaneously),
wherein the TD transmission mode is a first transmission mode and wherein the SM transmission mode is a second transmission mode (Fig. 1, step S310, Paragraphs [0009]; [0027]; [0086] describes SU-MIMO (TD) is a first transmission mode and MU-MIMO (SM) is a second transmission mode);
identifying, upon receiving a retransmit message for a transmission, whether the retransmit message for the transmission reflects the first transmission mode or the second transmission mode (Paragraphs [0046]-[0048]; [0051] describes upon receiving an ACK/NACK message (retransmit message), the system identifies whether the message corresponds to the SU-MIMO (first) or MU-MIMO (second) transmission mode and routes processing accordingly);
modifying a first modulation and coding scheme (MCS) offset for the first transmission based on a retransmit message for the first transmission and on identification of the first transmission mode (Paragraphs [0042]; [0050]-[0051] describes modifying the SU-MIMO OLLA offset (first MCS offset for first transmission mode) based on ACK/NACK (retransmit message) after identifying that the message is associated with the SU-MIMO mode (identification of first transmission mode). The step sizes D_step_UP and D_step_down are the mechanism for modifying the offset);
and modifying a second MCS offset for the second transmission based on a retransmit message for the second transmission and on identification of the second transmission mode (Paragraphs [0027]; [0037]; [0047] describes modifying the MU-MIMO OLLA offset (second MCS offset for second transmission mode) based on ACK/NACK messages (retransmit messages) received after identifying that transmission is in MU-MIMO mode. The extra offset α_r, which forms the basis of the MU-MIMO OLLA offset, is updated based on MU-MIMO mode ACK/NACK feedback (modifying a second MCS offset)).
Regarding claim 5, Ge teaches wherein the OLLA routine is for a 4G LTE radio access technology or a 5G radio access technology (Paragraph [0084] discloses that the OLA routine is applicable to 3GPP, LTE and LTE-Advanced).
Regarding claim 7, Ge teaches further comprising providing a MCS offset to an inner loop link adaptation (ILLA) routine (Fig. 1, Paragraph [0085]-[0086]; [0089] describes (ILLA) routine for real-time adjustments of transmission parameters).
Regarding claim 10, Ge teaches further comprising subtracting a specific stepdown quantity from the MCS offset if a NACK is received (Paragraphs [0041]; [0050]-[0051]; [0054]-[0055]; [0057] describes the downward adjustment mechanism of the OLLA feedback loop when a packet fails (NACK), the MCS offset is decremented).
Regarding claim 11, Ge teaches further comprising adding a specific stepup quantity from the MCS offset if an ACK is received ( Paragraphs [0041]-[0042]; [0051]; [0054] teaches adding a specific step up quantity to an offset when an ACK is received).
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) 4, 6 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ge in view of Oteri et al. (US20100284454).
Regarding claim 4, Ge teaches further comprising calculating a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) offset based on an ACK/NACK (Paragraphs [0041]-[0042]; [0051]; [0054] teaches a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) offset based on an ACK/NACK)
Ge doesn’t teach and a number of code words that were sent
Oteri teaches and a number of code words that were sent (FIG. 10 and FIG. 7; paragraph [0106]-[0107] teaches calculating offset modification based on ACK/NACK feedback (“successful reception” = ACK, “not all codewords are successfully received” = NACK) and the number of codewords (“all codewords in a layer”). The SINR offset calculation depends on both the ACK/NACK status and whether all codewords were successfully received).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ge to incorporate the teachings of Oteri’s method of whether all codewords were successfully received to improve downlink throughput (Oteri, Paragraph [0108]).
Regarding claim 6, Oteri in view of Ge, Oteri teaches wherein a transmission mode is reported by a user equipment (UE) (Paragraph [0138] discloses that UE reports SINR and other channel conditions to the network, which is essential for determining the transmission mode).
Regarding claim 9, Oteri in view of Ge, Oteri teaches further comprising reporting, a preferred transmission mode to a scheduler (FIG. 19 and FIG. 20; [0073]; [0182]- [0183] describes the UE reports SINR information to the NB which the NB uses for link adaptation decisions).
Claim(s) 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ge in view of Oteri in further view of Weng et al. (US 2018/0026688).
Regarding claim 2, Oteri in view of Ge, Oteri teaches wherein the retransmit message is an HARQ ACK/NACK (Paragraphs [0077]; [0106] describes HARQ NACK indicated by a retransmit is needed)
Oteri and Ge don’t teach and a first offset coefficient is an offsetTD.
In analogous art Weng teaches and a first offset coefficient is an offsetTD (Paragraph [0057] describes the first offset corresponds to the SINR offset used for transmit diversity mode).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Oteri’s method of providing an outer loop link adaptation (OLLA) routine with different processing paths and offset modifications based on retransmission feedback and Ge in view of Weng’s method of providing different operational paths specifically for transmit diversity (TD) transmission mode and spatial multiplexing (SM) transmission mode with adaptive switching between these modes based on performance criteria to improve downlink throughput (Weng, Paragraph [0008]).
Regarding claim 3, Oteri in view of Ge, Oteri teaches wherein the second retransmit message is an HARQ ACK/NACK (Paragraph [0108] describes where offset modifications are based on successful reception of all codewords or if not all codewords are successfully received. This reception feedback is provided through HARQ ACK/NACK messages, where unsuccessful reception (requiring retransmission))
Weng teaches and a second offset coefficient is an offsetsM (Paragraph [0052] the second offset corresponds to the SINR offset used for spatial multiplexing mode).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MEHERET WOLDEGEBREAL KIDANE whose telephone number is (571)270-3642. The examiner can normally be reached M-F8:30-5.
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/Chandrahas B Patel/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464
/M.W.K./Examiner, Art Unit 2464