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 .
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed 04/07/2025 has been entered. Claims 1-2, 4- 5, 9, 11, 14, 17-18 and 43 have been amended. Claims 3, 6-8, 10, 12-13, 15-16, 19-42 and 44-45 are canceled. Claims 46-50 are added. Claims 1-2, 4- 5, 9, 11, 14, 17-18, 43 and 46-50 are pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 04/07/2025, have been fully considered and entered but they are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-2, 4-5, 9, 11, 14, 17-18, 43 and 46-50 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claims 1, 43 and 50 recite “wherein the first and second sets of time and frequency resources … are interleaved in frequency in the OFDM symbol”.
Regarding claims 2, 4-5, 9, 11, 14, 17-18 and 46-49, dependent claims are rejected based on their dependency from the rejected claims 1 and 43.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1-2, 4-5, 9, 11, 14, 17-18, 43 and 46-50 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable by Pelletier et al. (US 20130322276 A1) hereinafter Pelletier, in view of Zhao et al. (US 20150215903 A1) hereinafter Zhao, and in further view of LEE (US 20210400677 A1), hereinafter LEE.
Regarding claim 1,
Pelletier discloses an electronic device (FIG. 1A, #114 base station), comprising: processing circuitry configured to:
pre-configure a reference signal for a plurality of devices under measurement in a cell ([0091] The devices may be pre-configured with a subset of the aperiodic reference signal parameters (e.g., sequence root, cyclic shift for the case of Zadoff-Chu sequences, transmission power, etc.), e.g., via RRC signaling. & [0106] The measuring device (e.g., the receiving device or the transmitting device) may perform calculation, for example, based on measurements of the reference signals. Calculations may rely on the eNB taking into account other D2D links in the proximity of the cell);
instruct the plurality of devices under measurement to transmit the reference signal using predetermined time and frequency resources, generate interference measurement configuration information ([0091] The measuring device may be configured to measure the channel and/or interference based on aperiodic triggers. The transmitting device may be configured to transmit reference signals based on aperiodic triggers. For example, the transmitting device and the measuring device may be configured with a set of reference signal parameters, including, for example, the reference signal length and/or bandwidth, root sequence and/or cyclic shift (in the case of Zadoff-Chu sequences). … [0128] D2D resource allocation or scheduling may be provided. D2D communications may be scheduled or configured on a set of semi-static subcarriers. The eNB may not control D2D link adaptation parameters. It may be impractical for the eNB to dynamically schedule the D2D resources to take advantage of the frequency selective fading. In case of multi-user scheduling, the eNB may change the D2D frequency allocation(s) so that other WTRUs may be scheduled over that set of resources (e.g., to improve performance)….);
and transmit the interference measurement configuration information to a D2D receiver that multiplexes wireless communication resources with the plurality of devices under measurement in the cell ([0091] The transmitting device may be configured to transmit reference signals based on aperiodic triggers. For example, the transmitting device and the measuring device may be configured with a set of reference signal parameters, including, for example, the reference signal length and/or bandwidth, root sequence and/or cyclic shift (in the case of Zadoff-Chu sequences & [0138] In another example, to reduce latency, the WTRU may be configured to multiplex the D2D-CI with one or both DM-RS symbols. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 7, on an UL-like subframe 702, the control information (D2D-CI) may be multiplexed with the first DM-RS symbol and transmitted on 704.” The transmitting device disclosed by Pelletier is interpreted by the examiner as the electronic device/base station generating and transmitting interference measurement configuration reference signals that the receiver of the D2D device under measurement (the measuring device), with which resources are multiplexed within the cell). The reference signals are interpreted by the examiner as the interference measurement configuration information);
receive an interference measurement report from the D2D receiver, the interference measurement report being obtained by measuring, by the D2D receiver according to the interference measurement configuration information, as interference to the D2D receiver, reception signals at the D2D receiver of the reference signals transmitted by the plurality of devices under measurement ([0096] It should be appreciated that, while examples described herein may use the receiving device as the measuring device, the examples may be applicable to other contexts. The reference signal request may be received from the receiving device, e.g., where the reference signal may be transmitted from the transmitting device; the transmitting device, e.g. where the reference signal may be transmitted from the receiving device, thereby exploiting reciprocity in the link; or the controlling device, e.g., an eNB from the downlink. & [0102] The measuring device may measure and report the CSI for the D2D related subbands when the reference signal from the SRS is known to be transmitted in the set of D2D subbands.” & [0128] “The measuring device may be configured to report to the eNB or controlling device directly, for instance, using the PUCCH or the PUSCH, with the appropriate power level and timing advance (e.g., those associated to the eNB/controlling device)” This is interpreted by the examiner as the base station receives a report on the interference measurement done by the D2D WTRU device based on the reference signal received. When the reference states that the measuring device "reports to the eNB", it is interpreted as the base station receiving the report);
wherein the reference/interference measurement configuration information identifies time and frequency resources ([0091] The devices may be pre-configured with a subset of the aperiodic reference signal parameters (e.g., sequence root, cyclic shift for the case of Zadoff-Chu sequences, transmission power, etc.), e.g., via RRC signaling. [0106] The measuring device (e.g., the receiving device or the transmitting device) may perform calculation, for example, based on measurements of the reference signals. Calculations may rely on the eNB taking into account other D2D links in the proximity of the cell.” & [0123] “The entity (e.g., an WTRU or an eNB) transmitting the link information (e.g., partial or complete) may be configured to transmit the link information. The link information may be transmitted on a periodic basis or following one or more triggers.” The examiner interprets these periodic and/or aperiodic transmissions of preconfigured link information as being preconfigured to identify time and frequency resources).
wherein the resources share a common orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol ([0022]The communications system 100 may enable multiple wireless users to access such content through the sharing of system resources, including wireless bandwidth. For example, the communications systems 100 may employ one or more channel access methods, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), see also [0019] and Fig. 6),
Pelletier does not explicitly disclose a first pair of devices under measurement that are assigned to share a first set of resources, and a second pair of devices under measurement that are assigned to share a second set of resources different from the first set of resources; wherein the orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol are interleaved in frequency in the OFDM symbol.
However Pelletier teaches a plurality of devices 102a-102d, and that 102a-102c uses different resources with base 114a and 102c-102d uses different resources to communicate with base station 114b; Zhao discloses a detailed examples of a first pair of devices under measurement that are assigned to share a first set of resources, and a second pair of devices under measurement that are assigned to share a second set of resources different from the first set of resources (Figs. 2-6 and [0077]-[0079] and how to share/allocate resources).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of Zhao to the teachings of Pelletier. The motivation for such an addition would be to achieve optimum selection of resource pool/set (Zhao [0016][0017]).
Pelletier and Zhao do not explicitly disclose the orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol are interleaved in frequency in the OFDM symbol.
LEE discloses the orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol are interleaved in frequency in the OFDM symbol ([0298] resource-wise corresponding resources may be configured to be frequency domain multiplexed in an interleaved manner on the same OFDM symbol in the frequency domain).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of LEE to the teachings of Pelletier and Zhao. The motivation for such an addition would be to achieve accurate beam selection with advantageous in terms of received power (LEE [0300][0301]).
Regarding claim 2, Pelletier and Zhao and LEE disclose the device according to claim 1 (discussed above).
Pelletier further wherein the wireless communication resources multiplexed by the D2D receiver with the plurality of devices under measurement include uplink communication resources ([0073] The measuring device (e.g., assuming that the receiving device is the measuring device) and the transmitting device may be configured with a set of channel measurements resources, e.g., via RRC configuration. The set of channel measurement resources may include a set of subframes, slots, and resource elements (REs), etc. The transmitting device may transmit the reference signal on the channel measurement resources. The reference signal may be a signal or a combination of a number of signals. For example, the reference signal may include a reference signal defined for an LTE uplink (UL), such as SRS or UL DM-RS, based on a Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence. The devices being disclosed have the ability to multiplex (via slots, subframes, resources elements, etc.) communication resources via uplink and downlink);
and wherein the plurality of devices under measurement comprise uplink cellular user equipment ([0023] As shown in FIG. 1A, the communications system 100 may include wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, a radio access network (RAN) 104, a core network 106, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the Internet 110, and other networks 112, though it will be appreciated that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and/or network elements. Each of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to operate and/or communicate in a wireless environment. By way of example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals and may include user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a pager, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a netbook, a personal computer, a wireless sensor, consumer electronics, and the like. The WTRUs disclosed are interpreted as uplink cellular user equipment).
Regarding claim 4, Pelletier and Zhao and LEE disclose the device according to claim 2 (discussed above).
Pelletier further discloses wherein the plurality of devices under measurement each further includes a D2D transmitter other than a D2D transmitter corresponding to a subject D2D receiver ([FIG. 1A #102a-d] features multiple D2D devices in communication with the base stations and each other & [0037] In addition, although the transmit/receive element 122 is depicted in FIG. 1B as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include any number of transmit/receive elements 122. More specifically, the WTRU 102 may employ MIMO technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit/receive elements 122 (e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the air interface 116.” The multiple devices in communication with each other as well as the statement that the WTRU may contain multiple transmitter elements is interpreted by the examiner as there being a D2D transmitter other than the one corresponding to a subject D2D receiver).
Regarding claim 5, Pelletier and Zhao and LEE disclose the device of claim 1 (discussed above).
Pelletier further discloses wherein the D2D receiver and the plurality of devices under measurement respectively use specific beams for communication ([0113] The WTRU may avoid or mitigate interference through D2D link coordination. For example, this may involve precoding or beamforming with appropriate receiver filters in the case of multiple antennas and feedback of the best and worst D2D link pair choices. CSI independent precoding may be used to pre-assign D2D links assisted with low overhead CSI dependent precoding and power control. The D2D link coordination may involve inter-D2D link interference rejection techniques. A receiver (e.g., an advanced receiver) may be used to reject interference and to amplify a desired signal by weighted signals in combining to increase or maximize SINR. Precoding or beamforming and CIS information from multiple D2D links may be accessible through controlling entities. This coordination may occur in a centralized or a decentralized manner. Using beamforming for D2D link coordination to mitigate interference is interpreted by the examiner as the receiver and device under measurement as using specific beams for communication).
Regarding claim 9, Pelletier and Zhao and LEE disclose the device according to claim 7,
Pelletier further discloses wherein the interference measurement configuration information includes: specific measurement configuration information, for indicating time and frequency resources of the reference signal of the under measurement; and overall measurement configuration information, for indicating a union of time and frequency resources of the reference signals of the polarity of devices under measurement ([0091] The measuring device may be configured to measure the channel and/or interference based on aperiodic triggers. The transmitting device may be configured to transmit reference signals based on aperiodic triggers. For example, the transmitting device and the measuring device may be configured with a set of reference signal parameters, including, for example, the reference signal length and/or bandwidth, root sequence and/or cyclic shift (in the case of Zadoff-Chu sequences). For example, the reference signal may be configured to span a larger bandwidth than what the controlling device or the eNB may have configured for D2D communications (e.g., wideband reference signal). This may allow the controlling device or eNB to determine how to schedule D2D communications over different sets of subbands for example to improve system throughput. The devices may be configured with one or more reference signal parameters in a message from the eNB. The devices may be pre-configured with a subset of the aperiodic reference signal parameters (e.g., sequence root, cyclic shift for the case of Zadoff-Chu sequences, transmission power, etc.), e.g., via RRC signaling. The devices may be indicated the parameters for transmission and/or reception of the reference signal (e.g., index to set of PRBs, or other parameters), e.g., as part of L1/L2 signaling. In an example, the devices may be indicated an index corresponding to a predefined set of parameters (e.g., set of subcarriers, PRBs, etc.) completing the parameters to use for transmitting/receiving the reference signal.” The examiner interprets that the information included in the interference measurement configuration as taught by Pelletier may include a specific measurement. The time and frequency resources are reflected in the reference signal parameters, i.e. the cyclic shift and signal length and/or bandwidth. It is also understood that multiple devices are receiving configuration information as discussed previously. It is therefore understood that this is an overall measurement configuration information of all devices being given).
Pelletier does not explicitly disclose identifying an expected high-interference device from among the plurality of devices under measurement
Zhao discloses identifying an expected high-interference device from among the plurality of devices under measurement ([0105] The level of interference generated may be a function of the distance between the transmitting WTRUs that generate the collision on the concerned resource and/or as a function of the relative distance of a receiving WTRU to such transmitting WTRUs (e.g., when the signal power received from the WTRUs has a ratio that trends towards).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of Zhao to the teachings of Pelletier and LEE. The motivation for such an addition would be to achieve optimum selection of resource pool/set (Zhao [0016][0017]).
Regarding claim 11, Pelletier and Zhao and LEE disclose the device of claim 9 (discussed above).
Pelletier further discloses wherein the received interference measurement report comprises at least: a first part for indicating whether the D2D receiver receives interference from the device under measurement ([0129] The measuring device may be configured to report periodically or following an aperiodic request. The measuring device may be configured to measure the reference signal and calculate one or more metrics indicative of the channel quality (e.g., over a set of predefined subcarriers or resource blocks (RB)). In an example, the WTRU may report an index pointing to an entry in a table of metrics. The metric may include an average throughput, e.g., the measuring device may estimate the average throughput expected from this link assuming a pre-defined transmit power and/or other pre-defined link parameters. The metric may include a transport block size, e.g., the measuring device may estimate the transport block size it could receive with a predefined BLER (e.g., 0.1 BLER at first transmission), under specific reception conditions (e.g., similar to CQI). The metric may include a regular CQI, e.g., the measuring device may be configured to report the CQI as in the legacy mode of operations. The metric may include a D2D Reference signal receive power (D2D-RSRP), e.g., the power of the reference signal as received by the measuring device, averaged over the reporting measurement bandwidth. The metric may include a D2D Reference signal receive quality (D2D-RSRQ), for example, the ratio N.times.D2D-RSRP/(D2D-RSSI), where N is the number of RBs of the D2D-RSSI measurement bandwidth. The D2D-RSSI in this case may consist of the total received power averaged over the reference signal resources. The metric may include any combination of these metrics, as well as other measurements, such as SINR, SNR, interference power, noise power, etc. It is taught that metrics indicating interference are included in the report, i.e. D2D Reference signal receive quality (D2D-RSRQ), average throughput, transmit power differences, etc.);
and a second part for indicating whether the D2D receiver receives interference from any device of the plurality of devices under measurement other than the device under measurement ([0026] The base stations 114a, 114b may communicate with one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d over an air interface 116, which may be any suitable wireless communication link” & [0097] “The transmitting device may be configured to initiate transmission of the reference signal, for example, in order to obtain CSI for the D2D data transmission from the receiving device. FIG. 5 illustrates an example 500 for transmitting an aperiodic reference signal. Transmission of an aperiodic reference may involve one or more of the actions depicted in FIG. 5. The actions may be in any order or combination. At 502, the aperiodic reference signal transmission may be initialized or triggered. The initiation of the transmission of the aperiodic reference signal may be triggered by the controlling device or by the eNB. This may be used for allowing the controlling device to obtain a measurement of the D2D channel for scheduling radio resources on a system level. The initiation of the transmission of the aperiodic reference signal may be triggered by the transmitting device, e.g., when one or more of the conditions for activating the reference signal periodic transmission is met.” It is described in the citations that the base station may communicate with multiple WTRUs (D2D devices) and the transmitting device (base station) may receive multiple CSI (channel state information) reports upon its request. This is interpreted by the examiner as a base station receiving other measurement reports other than from an expected high-interference device).
Regarding claim 14, Pelletier and Zhao and LEE disclose the device of claim 9 (discussed above)
Pelletier does not explicitly disclose determining the expected high-interference device from among the plurality of devices under measurement based on at least one standard of determination selected from a predetermined set of standards, wherein the predetermined set of standards comprises: a first standard comprising a determination that a distance between the D2D receiver and a device of the plurality of devices under measurement is less than a predetermined threshold, a second standard comprising a determination that a transmission beam of the device of the plurality of devices under measurement covers a position of the D2D receiver, a third standard comprising that a reception beam of the D2D receiver covers a position of the device of the plurality of devices under measurement.
Zhao discloses determine the expected high-interference device from among the plurality of devices under measurement based on at least one standard of determination selected from a predetermined set of standards, wherein the predetermined set of standards comprises: a first standard comprising a determination that a distance between the D2D receiver and a device of the plurality of devices under measurement is less than a predetermined threshold, a second standard comprising a determination that a transmission beam of the device of the plurality of devices under measurement covers a position of the D2D receiver, a third standard comprising that a reception beam of the D2D receiver covers a position of the device of the plurality of devices under measurement ([0105] The level of interference generated may be a function of the distance between the transmitting WTRUs that generate the collision on the concerned resource and/or as a function of the relative distance of a receiving WTRU to such transmitting WTRUs (e.g., when the signal power received from the WTRUs has a ratio that trends towards).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of Zhao to the teachings of Pelletier and LEE. The motivation for such an addition would be to achieve optimum selection of resource pool/set (Zhao [0016][0017]).
Regarding claims 17 and 18, are rejected under the same reasoning as claim 14, where Zhao presented at least two factors or standards to determine the interference, and used “and/or” where “and” will cover claim 17 to use more than one factor/standard and “or” will cover claim 18 of using only one factor to determine the interference (Zhao [0105]).
Regarding claims [43 and 46-49] “method” and claim 50 “CRM” are rejected under the same reasoning as claims [1, 9, 14 and 17-18] “device”, where Pelletier teaches a method/device/CRM for wireless communication [0065].
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 AYMAN A ABAZA whose telephone number is (571)270-0422. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8-5. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Deborah Reynolds, can be reached at 571-272-0734. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/AYMAN A ABAZA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465