DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 2, 7, 9, 11, 13, 16, 18, 20, 22, 26-31, and 33-61 have been cancelled.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
2. 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/05/2026 has been entered.
Status of Claims
3. This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 02/05/2026. Claims 1, 3-6, 8, 10, 12, 14-15, 17, 19, 21, 23-25, and 32 are presently pending and are presented for examination.
4. 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
Claims 1, 3-6, 8, 10, 12, 14-15, 17, 19, 21, 23-25, and 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #102-e e-Meeting, August 17th - 28th, 2020, R102005862 Intel Corporation “On HST SFN enhancements”-hereafter D1 in view of Zhang et al. (US 2020/0119882 A1).
Claims 1, 3-6, 8, 10, 12, 14-15, 17, 19, 21, 23-25, and 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #102-e e-Meeting, August 17th - 28th, 2020, R102005862 Intel Corporation “On HST SFN enhancements”-hereafter D1.
For claim 1 D1 teaches signal communications method, comprising:
receiving a first reference signal (Fig. 4C “TRS”);
receiving a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), wherein the DMRS is transmitted via at least N DMRS ports (Fig. 4C “DMRS” and section 2.7 “TRS/DM-RS the association of DM-RS antenna ports with PDSCH transmission port is required”); and
performing at least one of the following: determining a reception parameter of a first signal according to channel characteristics of the first reference signal (Fig.4C “TRS and PDSCH (first signal)” section 2.5, and section 2.7 “PDSCH channel estimation”),
wherein each layer of the first signal is associated with N DMRS ports corresponding to the DMRS (Fig.4C”), the N DMRS ports associated with one layer of the first signal are in one-to-one correspondence with N first reference signals (Fig. 4C and section 2.7 “k-th DM-RS antenna port, s(l)(i) is l-th MIMO layer of PDSCH…one-to-one mapping between PDSCH antenna ports and DMRS antenna ports”) and there is a quasi co-location (QCL) relationship between each of the N DMRS ports and the corresponding first reference signal, N being an integer greater than 1 (introduction “Identify and specify solution(s) on QCL assumption for DMRS, e.g. multiple QCL assumptions for the same DMRS port(s)”, section 2.6 “QCL configuration options can be considered to support transmission scheme based distributed TRS”, and section 2.7 “QCL relation with TSI”),
wherein the first signal comprises a plurality of layers, and DMRS ports associated with one layer of the plurality of layers are different from DMRS ports associated with another layer of the plurality of layers (2.7 “In the current NR specification, there is one-to-one mapping between PDSCH antenna ports and DM-RS antenna ports, i.e., v=p, there is a one-to-one mapping between PDSCH (signal) and DM-RS antenna ports in
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where d (k)(i) is k-th DM-RS antenna port, s(l)(i) is l-th MIMO layer of PDSCH and W(i) is inter-RRH precoder that includes possible co-phasing diversity across TRPs”).
D1 does not explicitly teaches a one-to-one relation between reference N first reference signals and N DMRS ports.
However, Zhang teaches It should be understood that, the mapping relationship may be a one-to-one correspondence or a one-to-multiple correspondence, DMRS port numbers may be in a one-to-one correspondence with PTRS port numbers, a DMRS port quantity is usually greater than or equal to a PTRS port quantity (Zhang: paragraph 122).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to use the teachings of Zhang in the TRS/DMRS orthogonal DM-RS antenna ports of D1 in order to map DMRS ports to PTRS ports in a one-to-one correspondence or a one-to-multiple correspondence for a particular design requirements (Zhang: paragraph 122).
For claim 3 D1 teaches the method, wherein the performing the channel estimation for the first signal according to the channel characteristics of the first reference signal comprises:
determining, according to channel measurement information of first DMRS ports and channel characteristics of second reference signals, a channel estimation value of a first layer of the first signal (Fig. 4C “distributed reference signals (TRS), DMRS, and PDSCH(first signal)” and section 2.5 “PDSCH”),
wherein, the first DMRS ports are DMRS ports associated with the first layer of the first signal, the second reference signals are the first reference signals having the QCL relationship with the first DMRS ports, and the first layer of the first signal is any one layer of the first signal (section 2.6 and 2.7 “k-th DM-RS antenna port, s(l)(i) is l-th MIMO layer of PDSCH…one-to-one mapping between PDSCH antenna ports and DMRS antenna ports”, section 2.6 “QCL configuration options can be considered to support transmission scheme based distributed TRS”, and section 2.7 “QCL relation with TSI”).
For claim 4 D1 teaches the method according to claim 3, wherein the determining, according to the channel measurement information of the first DMRS ports and the channel characteristics of the second reference signals, the channel estimation value of the first layer of the first signal (as discussed in claim 3) comprises:
determining, according to the channel measurement information of each of the first DMRS ports and the channel characteristics of the second reference signal corresponding to the each first DMRS port, a first channel estimation value of the first layer of the first signal; and
obtaining the channel estimation value of the first layer of the first signal by summing all the first channel estimation values corresponding to the first DMRS ports (as discussed in claim 3).
For claim 5 D1 teaches the method, further comprising:
sending or receiving the QCL relationship between the DMRS ports and the first reference signals through a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state (introduction QCL assumption for DMRS” and QCL/QCL-like for TCI framework”).
For claim 6 D1 teaches the method according to claim 5, wherein the sending or receiving the QCL relationship between the DMRS ports and the first reference signals through the TCI state (as discussed in claim 1) comprises:
sending or receiving N TCI states corresponding to the first signal, wherein each TCI state of the N TCI states is used for indicating a QCL relationship between one or more DMRS ports of the DMRS ports and a third reference signal, the third reference signal comprises the first reference signal, and different TCI states of the TCI states correspond to different DMRS ports (Introduction and section 2.6 Multiple TCI states”); or
For claim 8 D1 teaches the method, wherein transmission of each layer of the first signal is performed through at least two transmission reception points (TRPs), and transmission of a signal corresponding to one DMRS port of the DMRS ports is performed through one TRP of the at least two TRPs or a group of TRPs of the at least two TRPs (Fig. 4C “two TRPs”).
For claim 10 D1 teaches the method, wherein the channel characteristics comprise a first large-scale property, the QCL relationship is a QCL relationship related to the first large-scale property, and the first large-scale property comprises at least one of a delay property, a Doppler property, or a spatial property (section 3 “scenario with single TRS, the frequency offset due to Doppler shift”); and/or,
wherein the first reference signal comprises (Fig. 4C “PDSCH and TRS”) at least one of:
a tracking reference signal (TRS) (Fig. 4C “PDSCH and TRS”);
or,
For claim 12 D1 in view of Zhang teaches a signal communications method (as discussed in claim 1), comprising:
transmitting a first reference signal (as discussed in claim 1); and
transmitting a first signal and a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) associated with the first signal, wherein the DMRS is transmitted via at least N DMRS ports (as discussed in claim 1),
wherein each layer of the first signal is associated with N DMRS ports corresponding to the DMRS, the N DMRS ports associated with one layer of the first signal are in one-to-one correspondence with N first reference signals and there is a QCL relationship between each of the N DMRS ports and the corresponding first reference signal, N being an integer greater than 1 (as discussed in claim 1),
wherein the first signal comprises a plurality of layers, and DMRS ports associated with one layer of the plurality of layers are different from DMRS ports associated with another layer of the plurality of layers (as discussed in claim 1).
For claim 14 D1 teaches the method, further comprising:
sending or receiving the QCL relationship between the DMRS ports and the first reference signals through a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state (as discussed in claim 5).
For claim 15 D1 teaches the method according to claim 14, wherein the sending or receiving the QCL relationship between the DMRS ports and the first reference signals through the TCI state (as discussed in claim 6) comprises:
sending or receiving N TCI states corresponding to the first signal, wherein each TCI state of the N TCI states is used for indicating a QCL relationship between one or more DMRS ports of the DMRS ports and a third reference signal, the third reference signal comprises the first reference signal, and different TCI states of the TCI states correspond to different DMRS ports (Introduction and section 2.6 Multiple TCI states” and as discussed in claim 6); or
For claim 17 D1 teaches the method, wherein transmission of each layer of the first signal is performed through at least two TRPs, and transmission of a signal corresponding to one DMRS port of the DMRS ports is performed through one TRP of the at least two TRPs or a group of TRPs of the at least two TRPs (as discussed in claim 8).
For claim 19 D1 teaches the method, wherein the QCL relationship is a QCL relationship related to a first large-scale property, and the first large-scale property comprises at least one of a delay property, a Doppler property, or a spatial property (as discussed in claim 10); and/or,
wherein the first reference signal comprises (as discussed in claim 8) at least one of:
a tracking reference signal (TRS) (as discussed in claim 10);
or,
For claim 21 D1 in view of Zhang teaches a signal transmission apparatus, comprising a memory, a transceiver and a processor, wherein the memory is configured to store a computer program, the transceiver is configured to send and receive data under the control of the processor, and the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory to implement following steps (as discussed in claim 1):
controlling the transceiver to receive a first reference signal(as discussed in claim 1);
controlling the transceiver to receive a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), wherein the DMRS is transmitted via at least N DMRS ports (as discussed in claim 1); and
performing at least one of the following: determining a reception parameter of a first signal according to channel characteristics of the first reference signal or performing a channel estimation for the first signal according to the channel characteristics of the first reference signal(as discussed in claim 1);
wherein each layer of the first signal is associated with N DMRS ports corresponding to the DMRS, the N DMRS ports associated with one layer of the first signal are in one-to-one correspondence with N first reference signals and there is a QCL relationship between each of the N DMRS ports and the corresponding first reference signal, N being an integer greater than 1 (as discussed in claim 1),
wherein the first signal comprises a plurality of layers, and DMRS ports associated with one layer of the plurality of layers are different from DMRS ports associated with another layer of the plurality of layers (as discussed in claim 1).
For claim 23 D1 teaches the signal transmission apparatus, wherein the performing at least one of the following: determining the reception parameter of the first signal according to the channel characteristics of the first reference signal (as discussed in claim 3) comprises:
determining, according to channel measurement information of first DMRS ports and channel characteristics of second reference signals, a channel estimation value of a first layer of the first signal, wherein, the first DMRS ports are DMRS ports associated with the first layer of the first signal, the second reference signals are the first reference signals having the QCL relationship with the first DMRS ports, and the first layer of the first signal is any one layer of the first signal (as discussed in claim 3).
For claim 24 D1 teaches the signal transmission apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the determining, according to the channel measurement information of the first DMRS ports and the channel characteristics of the second reference signals, the channel estimation value of the first layer of the first signal (as discussed in claim 3)comprises:
determining, according to the channel measurement information of each of the first DMRS ports and the channel characteristics of the second reference signal corresponding to the each first DMRS port, a first channel estimation value of the first layer of the first signal (as discussed in claim 3); and
obtaining the channel estimation value of the first layer of the first signal by summing all the first channel estimation values corresponding to the first DMRS ports (as discussed in claim 3).
For claim 25 D1 teaches the signal transmission apparatus, wherein the transceiver is further configured to implement the following step (as discussed in claim 5):
sending or receiving the QCL relationship between the DMRS ports and the first reference signals through a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state (as discussed in claim 5).
For claim 32 D1 teaches a signal transmission apparatus, comprising a memory, a transceiver and a processor, wherein the memory is configured to store a computer program, the transceiver is configured to send and receive data under the control of the processor, and the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory to implement steps of the method according to claim 12 (as discussed in claim 12).
Conclusion
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: KHOSHNEVISAN et al. (US 2020/0228263 A1), “QCL RELATIONSHIP AND/OR DMRS PORT IDENTIFICATION” and Matsumura et al. (US 2023/0199763 A1).
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to David M OVEISSI whose telephone number is (571)270-3127. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8Am-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached at (571) 270 - 1215. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MANSOUR OVEISSI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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