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 .
Applicant’s amendment filed 2/4/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-3,15-17,29, and 30 are amended.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
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 (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.
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) 1-3,6,8,15-17,20,22,29, and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 20240063857) in view of Zourob (US 20250024343).
Re claim 1:
Zhang discloses a apparatus of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and, based at least in part on first information stored in the memory, the at least one processor is configured to (Fig. 10):
transmit information associated with a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS) density for each panel of a set of panels associated with the UE,(Para.[0084] In option 3, the UE 120 may report to the BS 110 how to determine the time domain density of the PT-RS. For example, the UE 120 may report whether to apply option 1 or option 2 for determining the time domain density of the PT-RS and Para.[0004] determining a density of a Phase Tracking-Reference Signal (PT-RS) to be transmitted from a first panel of a plurality of panels of the user equipment);
receive, from a network entity based on the information, a configuration associated with the PTRS density for each panel of the set of panels (Para.[0083] For both option 1 and option 2, the threshold used by the UE 120 to determine the time domain density may be configured by a higher layer signaling, for example, a RRC signaling. The threshold may be common or dedicated for different multiplexing schemes for different panels. Alternatively, the UE 120 may report one or more recommend thresholds according to the capability of the UE 120); and
communicate, based on the configuration, downlink data via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or uplink data via a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) based on the PTRS density for one panel in the set of panels (Para.[0087] Upon determining the density of PT-RS, at block 320 the UE 120 may map the PT-RS to physical resources. In other words, the UE 120 may map the PT-RS to be transmitted from each panel to corresponding physical resources and Para.[0100] In the overlapped time period, different types of signals may be transmitted from different panels. For example, signals such as PUSCH),
wherein the PTRS density for the one panel of the set of panels is based on at least one of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) or a number of scheduled resource blocks (RBs) associated with a PDSCH reception or PUSCH transmission through the one panel (Para.[0081] In option 1, the time domain density of the PT-RS may be determined based on the threshold and the MCS indicated per panel).
Zhang does not explicitly disclose wherein each panel of the set of panels is associated with a different UE in a set of UEs that includes the UE.
Zourob discloses wherein each panel of the set of panels is associated with a different UE in a set of UEs that includes the UE (Para.[0136] The first UEs 100 may transmit their first data directly to the NW, through the master, or alternatively partially directly and partially through the master. The network thus obtains both the first data and the second data and Para.[0053] Meaning that the second User Equipment will report to the BS the number of first User Equipments on board, and the BS may treat the second User Equipment and its identified first User Equipments as a one single UE with a big demand of resources; virtual UE… Other parameters that are considered in establishing the dependency includes, but not limited to, device HW, antennas, receivers, decoders, . . . etc).
As shown above, Zourob discloses a set of UEs operating as a virtual UE and sending their capability information, including information on their antenna, to a network entity. Zourob does not explicitly disclose a panel; however, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed to use panels as the specific type of antenna in Zourob in order to use a well-known type of antenna that provides stronger reception, greater range, and reduced interference. Zhang also shows the usage of panel antennae.
Zhang and Zourob are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhang to include a virtual UE as taught by Zourob in order to improve radio resource management (Zourob Para.[0001]).
Re claim 2:
As discussed above, Zhang in view of Zourob meets all the limitations of the parent claim.
Zhang does not explicitly disclose the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the set of UEs includes a set of relay UEs.
Zourob discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the set of UEs includes a set of relay UEs (Fig.4E Para.[0136] The first UEs 100 may transmit their first data directly to the NW, through the master, or alternatively partially directly and partially through the master. The network thus obtains both the first data and the second data).
Zhang and Zourob are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhang to include a virtual UE as taught by Zourob in order to improve radio resource management (Zourob Para.[0001]).
Re claim 3:
As discussed above, Zhang in view of Zourob meets all the limitations of the parent claim.
Zhang does not explicitly disclose the apparatus of claim 2, wherein the set of UEs is a virtual UE.
Zourob discloses the apparatus of claim 2, wherein the set of UEs is a virtual UE (Para.[0053] Meaning that the second User Equipment will report to the BS the number of first User Equipments on board, and the BS may treat the second User Equipment and its identified first User Equipments as a one single UE with a big demand of resources; virtual UE).
Zhang and Zourob are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhang to include a virtual UE as taught by Zourob in order to improve radio resource management (Zourob Para.[0001]).
Re claim 6:
Zhang discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the PDSCH or the PUSCH communicated via the one panel includes at least a portion of the PDSCH or the PUSCH, respectively (Para.[0087] Upon determining the density of PT-RS, at block 320 the UE 120 may map the PT-RS to physical resources. In other words, the UE 120 may map the PT-RS to be transmitted from each panel to corresponding physical resources and Para.[0100] In the overlapped time period, different types of signals may be transmitted from different panels. For example, signals such as PUSCH).
Re claim 8:
Zhang discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein each panel in the set of panels is respectively specified by at least one of an explicit panel identifier (ID), a beam group ID, a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state group ID, an association with a control resource set (CORESET) group, an association with a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set, one or more port numbers associated with the communication, a code division multiplexed (CDM) group of one or more demodulation reference signal (DMRS) port numbers, an association with a time advance group (TAG) ID, or a radio network temporary ID (RNTI) (Para.[0065] In some embodiments, the UE 120 may generate sequences corresponding to the PT-RS samples in the PT-RS groups based on an identity (ID) of the respective panel. The ID of the respective panel may be configured by the BS 110. For example, the ID may be configured by higher layer signaling. The IDs of different panels may be different. Alternatively, the IDs of all the plurality of panels may be the same. In this case, the UE 120 may generate the sequences corresponding to the PT-RS samples in the PT-RS groups based on a common ID).
Re claim 15: Claim 15 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 1 from the perspective of the network entity.
Re claim 16: Claim 16 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 2.
Re claim 17: Claim 17 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 3.
Re claim 20: Claim 20 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 6.
Re claim 22: Claim 22 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 8.
Re claim 29: Claim 29 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 1.
Re claim 30: Claim 30 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 1 from the perspective of the network entity.
Claim(s) 4,5,18, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 20240063857) in view of Zourob (US 20250024343) as applied to claims 1 and 15 above, and further in view of Xu (US 20200021412).
Re claim 4:
As discussed above, Zhang in view of Zourob meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Zhang discloses the apparatus of claim 1, (Para.[0080] The UE 120 may determine the time domain density of the PT-RS based on a threshold and a MCS indicated for at least one of the plurality of panels 105).
Zhang does not explicitly disclose wherein the information includes a threshold associated with the PTRS density.
Xu discloses wherein the information includes a threshold associated with the PTRS density (Para.[0215] the first resource is used by the terminal device to send, to the network device, at least one of a modulation and coding scheme threshold that is corresponding to a pattern of a phase tracking reference signal and requested by the terminal device and Para.[0145] Optionally, the determining, by the network device, a time domain density of the phase tracking reference signal based on the modulation and coding scheme threshold that is corresponding to the pattern of the phase tracking reference signal and requested by the terminal device and the currently scheduled modulation and coding scheme includes).
Zhang and Xu are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhang to include sending a threshold associated with PTRS density as taught by Xu in order to flexibly configure a PTRS (Xu Para.[0045]).
Re claim 5:
As discussed above, Zhang in view of Zourob and Xu meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Zhang discloses the apparatus of claim 4, wherein the threshold, associated with the PTRS density that is included in the information, is a UE recommendation threshold for each panel of the set of panels, and wherein the configuration includes a configured threshold for each panel of the set of panels that is associated with the UE recommendation threshold, and the at least one processor is further configured to: determine the PTRS density according to the configuration based on the comparison (Para.[0081] In some embodiments, option 1 may be applied. In option 1, the time domain density of the PT-RS may be determined based on the threshold and the MCS indicated per panel and Para.[0083] Alternatively, the UE 120 may report one or more recommend thresholds according to the capability of the UE 120).
Re claim 18: Claim 18 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 4.
Re claim 19: Claim 19 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 5.
Claim(s) 7 and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 20240063857) in view of Zourob (US 20250024343) as applied to claims 1 and 15 above, and further in view of Xu2 (US 20240039668).
Re claim 7:
As discussed above, Zhang in view of Zourob meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Zhang disclose the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine at least one resource element (RE) based on the PTRS density; and wherein to communicate, based on the configuration, the downlink data via the PDSCH or the uplink data via the PUSCH, the at least one processor is configured to: respectively receive or transmit PTRS information in the determined at least one RE.
Zhang does not explicitly disclose the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: resource (Para.[0087] Upon determining the density of PT-RS, at block 320 the UE 120 may map the PT-RS to physical resources. In other words, the UE 120 may map the PT-RS to be transmitted from each panel to corresponding physical resources and Para.[0100] In the overlapped time period, different types of signals may be transmitted from different panels. For example, signals such as PUSCH).
Xu2 discloses determine at least one resource element (RE) based on the PTRS density; receive or transmit in the determined at least one RE (Para.[0019] According to a third aspect, a method for determining a resource element is provided. The method may be performed by a terminal device, or may be performed by a chip or a circuit disposed in the terminal device. This is not limited in this application. The method includes: The terminal device determines a first overhead of a PTRS, where the first overhead of the PTRS is determined based on a total quantity of modulation symbols of the PTRS, a quantity of resource blocks scheduled for the terminal device, and a symbol-level time domain density of the PTRS, and the total quantity of modulation symbols of the PTRS is a product of a quantity of PTRS groups and a quantity of modulation symbols in the PTRS group, and when the first overhead of the PTRS is greater than a second threshold, determines a second overhead of the PTRS based on the first overhead of the PTRS. The terminal device determines, based on an overhead of a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a comprehensive overhead of a higher layer signaling configuration, and the second overhead of the PTRS, a quantity of first resource elements to which data is mapped).
Zhang and Xu2 are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhang to include determining resource elements based on a PTRS density as taught by Xu2 in order to improve spectral efficiency (Xu2 Para.[0005]).
Re claim 21: Claim 21 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 7.
Claim(s) 9,10,12,13,23,24,26, and 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 20240063857) in view of Zourob (US 20250024343) as applied to claims 1 and 15 above, and further in view of Huang (US 20220070899).
Re claim 9:
As discussed above, Zhang in view of Zourob meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Zhang discloses wherein the PTRS density for the physical resource on the one panel and another PTRS density for the another physical resource on the another panel are independent of each other (Para.[0087] Upon determining the density of PT-RS, at block 320 the UE 120 may map the PT-RS to physical resources. In other words, the UE 120 may map the PT-RS to be transmitted from each panel to corresponding physical resources and Para.[0081] In option 1, the time domain density of the PT-RS may be determined based on the threshold and the MCS indicated per panel).
Zhang does not explicitly disclose the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the communicated downlink data includes the downlink data via the PDSCH received on the one panel and other downlink data via another PDSCH received on another panel of the set of panels, wherein the PDSCH and the another PDSCH are fully-overlapping, partially-overlapping, or non-overlapping with respect to each other in at least one of time or frequency.
Huang discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the communicated downlink data includes the downlink data via the PDSCH received on the one panel and other downlink data via another PDSCH received on another panel of the set of panels, wherein the PDSCH and the another PDSCH are fully-overlapping, partially-overlapping, or non-overlapping with respect to each other in at least one of time or frequency (Para.[0133] For a UE supporting multiple-PDCCH based multi-TRP/panel transmission and each PDCCH schedules one PDSCH, at least for eMBB with non-ideal backhaul, support following restrictions: [0134] The UE may be scheduled with fully/partially/non-overlapped PDSCHs at time and frequency domain by multiple PDCCHs).
Zhang and Huang are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhang to include fully/partially/non-overlapped PDSCHs as taught by Xu2 in order to improve reliability and robustness (Huang Para.[0547]).
Re claim 10:
As discussed above, Zhang in view of Zourob meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Zhang does not explicitly disclose the apparatus of claim 9, wherein the communicated downlink data is based on a multiple downlink control information (multi-DCI) based multiple transmission and reception point (mTRP) PDSCH transmission framework, and wherein the PDSCH and the another PDSCH are each associated with a corresponding control resource set (CORESET) pool index that respectively represents the one panel and the another panel.
Huang discloses the apparatus of claim 9, wherein the communicated downlink data is based on a multiple downlink control information (multi-DCI) based multiple transmission and reception point (mTRP) PDSCH transmission framework, and wherein the PDSCH and the another PDSCH are each associated with a corresponding control resource set (CORESET) pool index that respectively represents the one panel and the another panel (Para.[0131] For multi-DCI based multi-TRP/panel transmission, the total number of CWs in scheduled PDSCHs, each of which is scheduled by one PDCCH, is up to 2 and Para.[0285] For a DL serving cell configured with multi-PDCCH based multi-TRP/panel transmission, in the case of PDCCH overbooking for PDCCH candidates monitoring for primary cell, if maximum number of BD/CCE per slot requiring a UE to monitor over CORESETs with same CORESETPoolIndex value is the same maximum number of BD/CCE over all configured CORESETs, Rel-15 overbooking is followed; otherwise [0286] Overbooking is only applicable to USS sets associated with the CORESET(s) that are configured with CORESETPoolIndex =0 if CORESETPoolIndex is configured).
Zhang and Huang are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhang to include multi-DCI mTRP as taught by Xu2 in order to improve reliability and robustness (Huang Para.[0547]).
Re claim 12: Claim 12 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 9. Claim 9 is directed towards a PDSCH, but claim 12 is directed towards a PUSCH. The system of Huang also applies to PUSCH (Para.[0545-0547] The work item aims to specify the further enhancements identified for NR MIMO. The detailed objectives are as follows: [0546] 2. Enhancement on the support for multi-TRP deployment, targeting both FR1 and FR2: [0547] a. Identify and specify features to improve reliability and robustness for channels other than PDSCH (that is, PDCCH, PUSCH, and PUCCH) using multi-TRP and/or multi-panel, with Rel.16 reliability features as the baseline).
Re claim 13: Claim 13 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 10. Claim 10 is directed towards a PDSCH, but claim 13 is directed towards a PUSCH. The system of Huang also applies to PUSCH (Para.[0545-0547] The work item aims to specify the further enhancements identified for NR MIMO. The detailed objectives are as follows: [0546] 2. Enhancement on the support for multi-TRP deployment, targeting both FR1 and FR2: [0547] a. Identify and specify features to improve reliability and robustness for channels other than PDSCH (that is, PDCCH, PUSCH, and PUCCH) using multi-TRP and/or multi-panel, with Rel.16 reliability features as the baseline).
Re claim 23: Claim 23 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 9.
Re claim 24: Claim 24 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 10.
Re claim 26: Claim 26 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 12.
Re claim 27: Claim 27 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 13.
Claim(s) 11,14,25, and 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 20240063857) in view of Zourob (US 20250024343) as applied to claims 1 and 15 above, and further in view of Frenne (US 20210143964).
Re claim 11:
As discussed above, Zhang in view of Zourob meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Zhang discloses the apparatus of claim 1, (Para.[0087] Upon determining the density of PT-RS, at block 320 the UE 120 may map the PT-RS to physical resources. In other words, the UE 120 may map the PT-RS to be transmitted from each panel to corresponding physical resources and Para.[0081] In option 1, the time domain density of the PT-RS may be determined based on the threshold and the MCS indicated per panel and Para.[0073] The frequency domain density of the PT-RS may refer to the density of PT-RS across different RBs. The time domain density of the PT-RS may refer to the density of PT-RS across different symbols).
Zhang does not explicitly disclose the apparatus of claim 1,
Frenne discloses wherein the communicated downlink data includes the downlink data via the PDSCH, wherein the PDSCH includes a first portion received on the one panel and includes a second portion received on another panel of the set of panels, and wherein the first portion and the second portion respectively include at least one of: a first set of layers and a second set of layers of the PDSCH for spatial division multiplexing (SDM), wherein the PTRS density of the first set of layers and the another PTRS density of the second set of layers are associated respectively with two sets of PTRS ports that are independent of each other with respect to at least one of a time domain or a frequency domain; a first set of RBs and a second set of RBs of the PDSCH for frequency division multiplexing (FDM), wherein the PTRS density of the first set of RBs and the another PTRS density of the second set of RBs are independent of each other with respect to at least one of the time domain or the frequency domain; a first set of symbols and a second set of symbols of the PDSCH for time division multiplexing (TDM), wherein the PTRS density of the first set of symbols and the another PTRS density of the second set of symbols are independent of each other with respect to at least one of the time domain or the frequency domain; or a same set of layers, RBs, or symbols of the PDSCH for a system frame number (SFN) implementation, wherein the PTRS density of the same set of layers, RBs, or symbols and the another PTRS density of the same set of layers, RBs, or symbols are independent of each other with respect to at least one of the time domain or the frequency domain (Figs.8-10 and Para.[0094] In scheme 2b, the PT-RS resource element mapping is established for each of the two PDSCH independently (i.e. to the scheduled resources of the PDSCH). The communication device should not use PT-RS of one PDSCH as the PT-RS for the other PDSCH and Para.[0538] For multi-DCI based multi-TRP/panel transmission, the UE shall rate match PDSCH around configured CRS patterns from multiple TRPs).
Zhang and Frenne are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhang to include RBs of PDSCH as taught by Frenne in order to enhance performance (Frenne Para.[0028]).
Re claim 14: Claim 14 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 11. Claim 11 is directed towards a PDSCH, but claim 14 is directed towards a PUSCH. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the system of Frenne to also apply to PUSCH. Huang (US 20220070899) is evidence relied upon (Para.[0545-0547] The work item aims to specify the further enhancements identified for NR MIMO. The detailed objectives are as follows: [0546] 2. Enhancement on the support for multi-TRP deployment, targeting both FR1 and FR2: [0547] a. Identify and specify features to improve reliability and robustness for channels other than PDSCH (that is, PDCCH, PUSCH, and PUCCH) using multi-TRP and/or multi-panel, with Rel.16 reliability features as the baseline).
Re claim 25: Claim 25 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 11.
Re claim 28: Claim 28 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 14.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 and 15 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
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/MOHAMMAD S ADHAMI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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