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 .
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3-6, 10-11, 17-18 and 20-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Ly (US 20240007247).
With respect to independent claims:
Regarding claim(s) 1/11/20/21, Ly teaches A communication method comprising:
Reporting ([0089 and Fig.9, step 906], “The UE may transmit a capability information message 906 to the base station.”), by a terminal ([Fig.9], UE 904), demodulation reference signal (DMRS) bundling capability information supported by the terminal as a terminal capability ([0089], “The capability information message may indicate a capability of supported DMRS bundling window sizes.”), wherein the DMRS bundling capability information indicates whether the terminal supports DMRS bundling across slots ([0088], “the UE may report in a capability information message to the base station that the UE is capable of performing DMRS bundling ... in a specified number of slots.”) or across repeated transmissions ([0088], “the UE may inform the base station that the UE is capable of transmitting DMRS in different PUSCH transmissions within a DMRS bundling window of ten slots ... with the same MCS, with the same TDD or FDD duplexing scheme ... or with the same transmit power.” And [Fig.8], DMRS 804 is repeatedly transmitted during the DMRS bundling window 810.);
receiving, by the terminal, configuration information of a DMRS bundling from a network device ([0090], “The base station 904 may provide a DMRS bundling configuration 908 to the UE 902.”), wherein the configuration information comprises time range information of the DMRS bundling required for the terminal ([0090], “the DMRS bundling configuration 908 may be a configuration indicating or enabling the UE to perform DMRS bundling for joint channel estimation across dynamically scheduled PUSCH transmissions carrying different transport blocks.”); and
performing, by the terminal, an uplink channel transmission ([0094] “The UE 902 may transmit uplink data 916 on PUSCH in different transport blocks including the bundled DMRS.”) based on the configuration information of the DMRS bundling ([0092], “the UE 902 determines a DMRS bundling window based on the DMRS bundling configuration.”).
With respect to dependent claims:
Regarding claim(s) 3/17, Ly teaches reporting DMRS bundling capability information supported by the terminal ([0089], “The UE may transmit a capability information message 906 to the base station. The capability information message may indicate a capability of supported DMRS bundling window sizes.”), wherein the DMRS bundling capability information is configured for a network device to determine the configuration information ([0090], “the base station 904 may provide a DMRS bundling configuration 908 to the UE 902.”) of the joint channel estimation ([0090], “the DMRS bundling configuration 908 may be a configuration indicating or enabling the UE to perform DMRS bundling for joint channel estimation.”).
Regarding claim(s) 4, Ly teaches indication information of whether DMRS bundling capability of the terminal ([0089], “The UE may transmit a capability information message 906 to the base station. The capability information message may indicate a capability of supported DMRS bundling window size.”) supports the joint channel estimation ([0090], “the DMRS bundling configuration 908 may be a configuration indicating or enabling the UE to perform DMRS bundling for joint channel estimation across dynamically scheduled PUSCH transmissions.”).
Regarding claim(s) 5, Ly teaches wherein the method further comprises: determining the indication information of whether the DMRS bundling capability of the terminal supports the joint channel estimation based on protocol agreement ([0088], “the UE may report in a capability information message to the base station that the UE is capable of performing DMRS bundling (e.g., maintaining power consistency and phase continuity) in a specified number of slots.”).
Regarding claim(s) 6, Ly teaches wherein the DMRS bundling capability comprises one or more of:
power consistency of the terminal; or
phase continuity of the terminal ([0088], “the UE may report in a capability information message to the base station that the UE is capable of performing DMRS bundling (e.g., maintaining power consistency and phase continuity) in a specified number of slots.”).
Regarding claim(s) 10, Ly teaches performing the joint channel estimation based on the received configuration information of the joint channel estimation ([0086], “the base station may perform joint channel estimation (e.g., by identifying an average RSRP of the DMRS 804 in the slots 802 within DMRS bundling window 810.”).
Regarding claim(s) 18, Ly teaches determining, in response to the DMRS bundling capability information indicating that the terminal meets a condition for the joint channel estimation([0089], “The UE may transmit a capability information message 906 to the base station. The capability information message may indicate a capability of supported DMRS bundling window sizes.”), determining the configuration information for the terminal to perform the joint channel estimation ([0090], “the DMRS bundling configuration 908 may be a configuration indicating or enabling the UE to perform DMRS bundling for joint channel estimation.”); or
determining whether the DMRS bundling capability information meets a threshold range agreed in a protocol; in response to the DMRS bundling capability information meeting the threshold range predetermined by agreed in the protocol, determining the configuration information for the terminal to perform the joint channel estimation.
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) 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ly in view of Ke (US 20210153038).
Regarding claim(s) 8, Ly teaches reporting the DMRS bundling capability information ([0089], “The UE may transmit a capability information message 906 to the base station. The capability information message may indicate a capability of supported DMRS bundling window sizes.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Ly to specify reporting UE capability as taught by Ly. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need for a BS to determine DMRS bundling configuration.
However, Ly does not teach auxiliary information.
In an analogous art, Ke discloses auxiliary information ([0123], “Send at least one of the following based on the first indication information: the terminal capability identification related information and first information.” And [0137], “The terminal capability identification information may include at least one of the following: terminal model information, capability indication auxiliary information, and a terminal capability identifier.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Xu to specify capability auxiliary information as taught by Ke. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to perform an operation based on UE’s capability.
Regarding claim(s) 9, Ke teaches explicitly reporting dedicated information carrying the auxiliary information ([0123], “Send at least one of the following based on the first indication information: the terminal capability identification related information and first information.” And [0137], “The terminal capability identification information may include at least one of the following: terminal model information, capability indication auxiliary information, and a terminal capability identifier.”); or
implicitly reporting predetermined information carrying the auxiliary information.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Xu to specify capability auxiliary information as taught by Ke. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to perform an operation based on UE’s capability.
Claim(s) 13-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ly in view of Xu (US 20230027316).
Regarding claim(s) 13, Xu teaches wherein the delivered configuration information comprises N sets, wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 1 the downlink resource configuration includes a set of PDCCH monitoring occasions, each of which includes a set of symbols or slots in which the base station transmits a PDCCH DMRS.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Ly to specify number of sets as taught by Xu. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to provide multiple resources for data transmission.
Regarding claim(s) 14, Xu teaches wherein the method further comprises: delivering activation information for activating the configuration information ([0041], “the UE may receive, information indicating that DMRS time domain bundling is enabled.”), wherein the activation information is configured for activating the terminal to support M sets of the configuration information, wherein M is a positive integer less than or equal to N ([0041], “the time domain bundling configuration may include a semi-static and/or dynamic time domain bundling configuration that indicate a bundling of PDCCH DMRSs across different UE-specific PDCCH monitoring occasions.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Ly to specify activation information as taught by Xu. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to activate dynamic time domain bundling configuration.
Regarding claim(s) 15, Xu teaches wherein the delivering the activation information for activating the configuration information comprises:
delivering the activation information of the configuration information through downlink control information (DCI) or medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) ([0041], “the information indicating that DMRS time domain bundling is enabled may include a time domain bundling configuration provided in semi-static downlink signaling, such as ... a medium access control (MAC) control element (MACS-CE).”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Ly to specify activation information as taught by Xu. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to activate dynamic time domain bundling configuration.
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ly in view of TAHERZADEH (US 20220240261).
Regarding claim(s) 19, TAHERZADEH teaches scheduling, in response to the terminal meeting one or more predetermined conditions, an uplink channel transmission of the terminal ([0066], “base station may transmit ... an uplink grant (e.g., scheduling for a PUSCH).”), wherein the terminal performs the joint channel estimation based on the configuration information during the uplink channel transmission ([0065], “demodulation reference signal (DMRS) bundling may be applied to PUCCH repetitions ... Under DMRS bundling, joint channel estimation may be performed at UE side, which may improve the performance of channel estimation and thus coverage.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Ly to specify allocating uplink resource as taught by TAHERZADEH. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to transmit control information to a UE.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims filed on 01/20/2026 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection in instant Office action does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the Applicant’s arguments.
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.
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/ZHIREN QIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2411