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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on October 3, 2023, and January 4, 2024, were filed before the mailing of a first Office action on the merits. The submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
3. Claims 1, 4, 7, 9-11, 18, and 21 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 (line 8), claim 18 (line 8), and claim 21 (line 9) recite “the NR data” and it should be - - NR data - -, as “the NR data” lacks antecedent basis.
Claim 4 (line 6) recites “said at least one symbol” and it should be - - at least one symbol - -, as “said at least one symbol” lacks antecedent basis.
Claim 7 (line 4) recites “the specified range of PRBs” and it should be - - a specified range of PRBs - -, as “the specified range of PRBs” lacks antecedent basis.
Examiner suggests replacing “when” in claim 9 (line 7), claim 10 (line 7), claim 11 (line 1), and claim 21 (line 3) with - - in response to - -.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. Claims 1-2, 5-6, 18, and 20-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Sun ‘303 (US 2018/0279303, “Sun ‘303”), in view of Tsai ‘440 (US 2020/0366440, “Tsai ‘440”).
Regarding claims 1 and 18, Sun ‘303 discloses a network node for transmission of a New Radio (NR) downlink data channel in a slot (FIG. 1, para 35-36, 39-41, and 48-49; a NR base station in a radio access network sends downlink data to user equipment (UE) in time slots),
the network node comprising processing circuitry (FIG. 6, para 77-79; the base station is a scheduling entity that includes processors implemented as hardware circuits), the processing circuitry being configured to cause the network node to:
establish a network connection for an NR user equipment over an NR air interface (FIG. 1, para 48-49 and 51; the NR base station communicates with the NR UE via a radio access network connection, over the NR air interface) and
configuring the NR user equipment with less than full Long Term Evolution-Common Reference Signals (LTE-CRS) rate matching (para 3-4 and 73-76; NR downlink transmission shares a carrier with a LTE multi-broadcast single-frequency network (MBFSN) subframe, where NR slots are transmitted during MBFSN subframes when LTE traffic is not transmitted; it is an undesirable and unnecessarily complex solution for NR signal design to rate match around symbols that contain LTE cell-specific – i.e., common to different UEs - reference signal (CRS); instead, a solution for carrier sharing is for NR data to be transmitted to the NR UE in configurable NR slots when the legacy LTE MBSFN subframe is empty; thus, the solution is for the NR UE to be configured with no LTE-CRS rate matching, and instead to perform the alternative solution);
configure resource elements for NR transmission, wherein the NR data is allocated to the resource elements for NR transmission that correspond to the NR downlink data channel (FIG. 1, para 48-49; NR base station performs downlink data transmission using resource elements (REs); thus, resource elements are configured for NR transmission, and the REs for NR transmission correspond to the NR downlink data channel),
wherein any LTE transmission that correspond to the NR downlink data channel are to be muted (para 97; NR downlink transmission occurs during a punctured portion of the LTE subframe during which LTE CRS is not transmitted; thus, LTE transmission that corresponds to the NR downlink data channel is muted); and
initiate transmission of the slot (FIG. 1, para 35-36, 39-41, and 48-49; NR base station transmits downlink data to the NR UE in time slots).
However, Sun ‘303 does not specifically disclose configure resource elements for Long Term Evolution (LTE) transmission in the slot.
Tsai ‘440 teaches configure resource elements for Long Term Evolution (LTE) transmission in the slot (para 61-63; indication of location and pattern of LTE CRS REs within NR slots is provided).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Sun ‘303’s network node for transmission of a New Radio (NR) downlink data channel in a slot, to include Tsai ‘440’s indication of location and pattern of LTE CRS REs within NR slots. The motivation for doing so would have been to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, and to advance and enhance the user experience with mobile communications (Tsai ‘440, para 6).
Regarding claims 2 and 20, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 discloses all the limitations with respect to claims 1 and 18, respectively, as outlined above.
Further, Sun ‘303 teaches wherein the less than full LTE-CRS rate matching corresponds to no LTE-CRS rate matching (para 3-4 and 73-76; NR downlink transmission shares a carrier with a LTE multi-broadcast single-frequency network (MBFSN), where NR slots are transmitted during MBFSN subframes when LTE traffic is not transmitted; it is an undesirable and unnecessarily complex solution for NR signal design to rate match around symbols that contain LTE cell-specific – i.e., common to different UEs - reference signal (CRS); instead, a solution for carrier sharing is for NR data to be transmitted to the NR UE in configurable NR slots when the legacy LTE MBSFN subframe is empty; thus, the solution is for the NR UE to be configured with no LTE-CRS rate matching, and instead to perform the alternative; examiner notes the use of alternative language; for rejection purposes, only one of the alternative limitations must be disclosed by prior art) or
LTE-CRS rate matching in less than all available physical resource blocks, PRBs.
Regarding claim 5, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 1, as outlined above.
Further, Sun ‘303 teaches wherein the slot is part of a non-multicast-broadcast single-frequency network (non-MBSFN) subframe (para 101; NR slot structure is configured to puncture the end portion of a previous non-MBSFN subframe, so that the slot can be used for transmission in the end portion of the non-MBSFN subframe).
Regarding claim 6, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 1, as outlined above.
Further, Sun ‘303 teaches wherein the NR downlink data channel is an NR Physical Downlink Shared CHannel (PDSCH) (para 61-62; downlink NR traffic is transmitted via PDSCH).
Regarding claim 21, Sun ‘303 discloses a non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a computer program for transmission of a New Radio (NR) downlink data channel in a slot, the computer program comprising computer code which, when run on processing circuitry of a network node (FIGS. 1 and 6, para 35-36, 39-41, 48-49, 77-81; a NR base station in a radio access network sends downlink data to UE in time slots; the base station is a scheduling entity that includes processors implemented as hardware circuits; further, the base station includes a computer-readable medium storing software, where the software is executed for performance of functions), causes the network node to:
establish a network connection for an NR user equipment over an NR air interface (FIG. 1, para 48-49 and 51; the NR base station communicates with the NR UE via a radio access network connection, over the NR air interface) and
configuring the NR user equipment with less than full Long Term Evolution-Common Reference Signals (LTE-CRS) rate matching (para 3-4 and 73-76; NR downlink transmission shares a carrier with a LTE multi-broadcast single-frequency network (MBFSN) subframe, where NR slots are transmitted during MBFSN subframes when LTE traffic is not transmitted; it is an undesirable and unnecessarily complex solution for NR signal design to rate match around symbols that contain LTE cell-specific – i.e., common to different UEs - reference signal (CRS); instead, a solution for carrier sharing is for NR data to be transmitted to the NR UE in configurable NR slots when the legacy LTE MBSFN subframe is empty; thus, the solution is for the NR UE to be configured with no LTE-CRS rate matching, and instead to perform the alternative solution);
configure resource elements for NR transmission, wherein the NR data is allocated to the resource elements for NR transmission that correspond to the NR downlink data channel (FIG. 1, para 48-49; NR base station performs downlink data transmission using resource elements (REs); thus, resource elements are configured for NR transmission, and the REs for NR transmission correspond to the NR downlink data channel),
wherein any LTE transmission that correspond to the NR downlink data channel are to be muted (para 97; NR downlink transmission occurs during a punctured portion of the LTE subframe during which LTE CRS is not transmitted; thus, LTE transmission that corresponds to the NR downlink data channel is muted); and
initiate transmission of the slot (FIG. 1, para 35-36, 39-41, and 48-49; NR base station transmits downlink data to the NR UE in time slots).
However, Sun ‘303 does not specifically disclose configure resource elements for Long Term Evolution (LTE) transmission in the slot.
Tsai ‘440 teaches configure resource elements for Long Term Evolution (LTE) transmission in the slot (para 61-63; indication of location and pattern of LTE CRS REs within NR slots is provided).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Sun ‘303’s network node for transmission of a New Radio (NR) downlink data channel in a slot, to include Tsai ‘440’s indication of location and pattern of LTE CRS REs within NR slots. The motivation for doing so would have been to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, and to advance and enhance the user experience with mobile communications (Tsai ‘440, para 6).
6. Claims 3 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Sun ‘303, in view of Tsai ‘440, and further in view of Moroga ‘135 (US 2020/0351135, “Moroga ‘135”).
Regarding claim 3, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 1, as outlined above.
Further, Sun ‘303 teaches information of the configured resource elements for the NR transmission of the NR transmission (FIG. 1, para 48-49; NR base station performs downlink data transmission using resource elements (REs); thus, resource elements are configured for NR transmission).
Furthermore, Tsai ‘440 teaches information of the configured resource elements for the LTE transmission of the LTE transmission (para 61-63; indication of location and pattern of LTE CRS REs within NR slots is provided).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined network node of Sun ‘303 and Tsai ‘440, to further include Tsai ‘440’s indication of location and pattern of LTE CRS REs within NR slots. The motivation for doing so would have been to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, and to advance and enhance the user experience with mobile communications (Tsai ‘440, para 6).
Although Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 discloses information of the configured resource elements for the NR transmission of the NR transmission, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 does not specifically disclose wherein initiating the transmission of the slot comprises: providing information of the configured resource elements for the transmission to a scheduler of the transmission. Further, although Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 discloses information of the configured resource elements for the LTE transmission of the LTE transmission, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 does not specifically disclose providing information of the configured resource elements for the transmission to a scheduler of the transmission.
Moroga ‘135 teaches wherein initiating the transmission of the slot comprises:
providing information of the configured resource elements for the transmission to a scheduler of the transmission (FIG. 1, para 28-30; base station includes a scheduler, where the scheduler selects configuration for resource elements, from two configuration types; thus, the scheduler is provided with two configuration types for the resource elements); and
providing information of the configured resource elements for the transmission to a scheduler of the transmission (FIG. 1, para 28-30; base station includes a scheduler, where the scheduler selects configuration for resource elements, from two configuration types; thus, the scheduler is provided with two configuration types for the resource elements).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined network node of Sun ‘303 and Tsai ‘440, to include Moroga ‘135’s scheduler that is provided with two configuration types for the resource elements. The motivation for doing so would have been to prevent deterioration of quality of a radio link signal due to phase noise (Moroga ‘135, para 9).
Regarding claim 4, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 1, as outlined above.
Further, Sun ‘303 teaches wherein the slot comprises symbols (para 48; a slot carries symbols), and
wherein initiating the transmission of the slot comprises:
initiating, for a transmitter of the NR transmission, transmission of the NR data in the NR downlink data channel (FIG. 1, para 35-36, 39-41, 48-49, and 61-62; NR base station transmits downlink data to the NR UE in time slots, over PDSCH); and
initiating, for a transmitter of the LTE transmission, muting of LTE control information in said at least one symbol (para 48 and 97; a slot consists of symbols; NR downlink transmission occurs during a punctured portion of the LTE subframe during which LTE CRS is not transmitted; thus, LTE transmission that corresponds to the NR downlink data channel is muted in a portion of the subframe, which contains at least one symbol).
Although Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 discloses initiating, for a transmitter of the NR transmission, transmission of the NR data in the NR downlink data channel, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 does not specifically disclose transmission in at least one resource block corresponding to the NR downlink data channel.
Moroga ‘135 teaches transmission in at least one resource block corresponding to the NR downlink data channel (para 36 and 159; transmission using DL resources, where resources are in units of resource blocks).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined network node of Sun ‘303 and Tsai ‘440, to include Moroga ‘135’s transmission using DL resources, where resources are in units of resource blocks. The motivation for doing so would have been to prevent deterioration of quality of a radio link signal due to phase noise (Moroga ‘135, para 9).
7. Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Sun ‘303, in view of Tsai ‘440, further in view of Moroga ‘135, and further in view of Takeda ‘940 (US 2016/0269940, “Takeda 940”).
Regarding claim 7, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 1, as outlined above.
Further, Sun ‘303 teaches wherein the resource elements for LTE transmission that correspond to the NR downlink data channel are to be muted (para 97; NR downlink transmission occurs during a punctured portion of the LTE subframe during which LTE CRS is not transmitted; thus, LTE transmission that corresponds to the NR downlink data channel is muted).
However, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 does not specifically disclose wherein the NR downlink data channel covers a range of physical resource blocks (PRBs).
Moroga ‘135 teaches wherein the NR downlink data channel covers a range of physical resource blocks (PRBs) (para 36 and 159; transmission using DL resources, where resources are in units of physical resource blocks (PRBs)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined network node of Sun ‘303 and Tsai ‘440, to include Moroga ‘135’s transmission using DL resources, where resources are in units of resource blocks. The motivation for doing so would have been to prevent deterioration of quality of a radio link signal due to phase noise (Moroga ‘135, para 9).
Although Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 and Moroga ‘135 discloses wherein the resource elements for LTE transmission that correspond to the NR downlink data channel are to be muted, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 and Moroga ‘135 does not specifically disclose muted only for the specified range of PRBs.
Takeda ‘940 teaches muted only for the specified range of PRBs (para 34; radio resources are muted in a PRB).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined network node of Sun ‘303, Tsai ‘440, and Moroga ‘135, to include Takeda ‘940’s radio resources that are muted in a PRB. The motivation for doing so would have been to prevent the decrease of system performance when coordinated multipoint transmission is carried out to user terminals (Takeda ‘940, para 8).
8. Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Sun ‘303, in view of Tsai ‘440, further in view of Chatterjee ‘936 (US 2016/0127936, “Chatterjee ‘936”), and further in view of Frenne ‘817 (US 2016/0105817, “Frenne ‘817”).
Regarding claim 8, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 1, as outlined above.
However, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 does not specifically disclose wherein the method further comprises: receiving a channel state information report from an LTE user equipment over an LTE air interface, wherein the channel state information report is based on measurements in the slot.
Chatterjee ‘936 teaches wherein the method further comprises: receiving a channel state information report from an LTE user equipment over an LTE air interface, wherein the channel state information report is based on measurements in the slot (FIG. 5, para 29 and 52-54; LTE UE takes measurements in slots, to calculate channel state information (CSI), and sends the CSI to the eNB).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined network node of Sun ‘303 and Tsai ‘440, to include Chatterjee ‘936’s LTE UE that takes measurements in slots, to calculate channel state information (CSI), and sends the CSI to the eNB. The motivation for doing so would have been for a network to enable a UE, and the UE, to provide system reports using a limited bandwidth range (Chatterjee ‘936, para 4).
However, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 and Chatterjee ‘936 does not specifically disclose modifying the channel state information report.
Frenne ‘817 teaches modifying the channel state information report (para 41; base station discards a CSI report received from the wireless device).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined network node of Sun ‘303, Tsai ‘440, and Chatterjee ‘936, to include Frenne ‘817’s base station that discards a CSI report received from the wireless device. The motivation for doing so would have been to enable improved CSI-RS configuration, particularly for cellular communications networks that utilize beam forming and/or multi-layer radio access networks (Frenne ‘817, para 28).
9. Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Sun ‘303, in view of Tsai ‘440, and further in view of You ‘602 (US 2019/0297602, “You ‘602”).
Regarding claim 12, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 1, as outlined above.
Further, Sun ‘303 teaches LTE control information in at least one resource element for LTE transmission in the slot that does not correspond to the NR downlink data channel (FIG. 12, para 48 and 136; segment 1202 of LTE subframe contains LTE control information, and it does not share the corresponding frequency resources with the NR downlink data channel).
Although Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 discloses LTE control information in at least one resource element for LTE transmission in the slot that does not correspond to the NR downlink data channel, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 does not specifically disclose wherein initiating the transmission of the slot comprises: initiating boosting transmission power of LTE control information.
You ‘602 teaches wherein initiating the transmission of the slot comprises: initiating boosting transmission power of LTE control information (FIG. 8, para 52, 115, and 117-119; boosting of transmission power of LTE physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined network node of Sun ‘303 and Tsai ‘440, to include You ‘602’s boosting of transmission power of LTE physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). The motivation for doing so would have been to efficiently transmit/receive data occurring at a low frequency (You ‘602, para 9).
10. Claim 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Sun ‘303, in view of Tsai ‘440, further in view of You ‘602, and further in view of Papasakellariou ‘465 (US 2007/0004465, “Papasakellariou ‘465”).
Regarding claim 13, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 and You ‘602 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 12, as outlined above.
However, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 and You ‘602 does not specifically disclose wherein how much the transmission power of the LTE control information is boosted is proportional to how much the transmission power of the resource elements for LTE transmission that correspond to the NR downlink data channel is muted.
Papasakellariou ‘465 teaches wherein how much the transmission power of the LTE control information is boosted is proportional to how much the transmission power of the resource elements for LTE transmission that correspond to the NR downlink data channel is muted (para 67; total transmit power in a subframe is kept constant by the boost in pilot power being proportional to the decrease in data power).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined network node of Sun ‘303, Tsai ‘440, and You ‘602, to include Papasakellariou ‘465’s total transmit power in a subframe that is kept constant by the boost in pilot power being proportional to the decrease in data power. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a transmission scheme which can increase performance of the communication system without increasing user equipment complexity (Papasakellariou ‘465, para 4).
11. Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Sun ‘303, in view of Tsai ‘440, and further in view of Maaref ‘404 (US 2018/0192404, “Maaref ‘404”).
Regarding claim 14, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 1, as outlined above.
However, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 does not specifically disclose wherein that the NR downlink data channel is allocated to the resource elements for NR transmission that correspond to the NR downlink data channel is a result of a scheduling decision taken for the LTE transmission and the NR transmission.
Maaref ‘404 teaches wherein that the NR downlink data channel is allocated to the resource elements for NR transmission that correspond to the NR downlink data channel is a result of a scheduling decision taken for the LTE transmission and the NR transmission (para 29; unused resources of a downlink LTE subframe are re-allocated to carry NR downlink data).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined network node of Sun ‘303 and Tsai ‘440, to include Maaref ‘404’s unused resources of a downlink LTE subframe that are re-allocated to carry NR downlink data. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide techniques for a unifying message to support signaling indication for flexible NR-LTE coexistence (Maaref ‘404, para 3-4).
12. Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Sun ‘303, in view of Tsai ‘440, further in view of Van ‘996 (US 2020/0336996, “Van ‘996”), and further in view of Frenne ‘196 (US 2018/0091196, “Frenne ‘196”).
Regarding claim 15, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 1, as outlined above.
Further, Sun ‘303 teaches wherein the resource elements for NR transmission are to be transmitted from antennas (FIG. 1, para 35-36, 39-41, and 48-49; a NR base station in a radio access network sends downlink data to user equipment (UE) in time slots, over antennas).
However, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 does not specifically disclose teaches wherein the resource elements for LTE transmission are to be transmitted from antennas.
Van ‘996 teaches wherein the resource elements for LTE transmission are to be transmitted from antennas (para 123; LTE transmission antenna).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined network node of Sun ‘303 and Tsai ‘440, to include Van ‘996’s LTE transmission antenna. The motivation for doing so would have been to address a problem that the harmonic component of the first band signal may cause reception sensitivity degradation ( e.g., desense) of the second band signal (Van ‘996, para 5-6).
However, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440 and Van ‘996 does not specifically disclose wherein transmission of the slot is initiated from co-sited antennas, and transmitted from the co-sited antennas.
Frenne ‘196 teaches wherein transmission of the slot is initiated from co-sited antennas (para 19, 25, 80, and 88; the same signal is transmitted via multiple co-located antennas, with different adaptive phase shifts to steer the transmit beam in the desired direction), and
transmitted from the co-sited antennas (para 19, 25, 80, and 88; the same signal is transmitted via multiple co-located antennas, with different adaptive phase shifts to steer the transmit beam in the desired direction).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined network node of Sun ‘303, Tsai ‘440, and Van ‘996, to include Frenne ‘196’s same signal is transmitted via multiple co-located antennas. The motivation for doing so would have been to address a problem of insufficient discovery reference signal (DRS) resources (Frenne ‘196, para 6 and 82).
13. Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Sun ‘303, in view of Tsai ‘440, further in view of Van ‘996, further in view of Frenne ‘196, and further in view of Kowalski ‘990 (US 2008/0074990, “Kowalski ‘990”).
Regarding claim 16, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440, Van ‘996, and Frenne ‘196 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 15, as outlined above.
However, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440, Van ‘996, and Frenne ‘196 does not specifically disclose wherein the resource elements of LTE transmission and the resource elements for NR transmission are combined on each antenna of the co-sited antennas.
Kowalski ‘990 teaches wherein the resource elements of LTE transmission and the resource elements for NR transmission are combined on each antenna of the co-sited antennas (para 20; combined signal is transmitted with a single antenna).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined network node of Sun ‘303, Tsai ‘440, Van ‘996, and Frenne ‘196, to include Kowalski ‘990’s combined signal transmitted with a single antenna. The motivation for doing so would have been to reduce the peak to average power ratio (PAPR) (Kowalski ‘990, para 5-6).
14. Claim 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Sun ‘303, in view of Tsai ‘440, further in view of Van ‘996, further in view of Frenne ‘196, and further in view of Cai ‘898 (US 2016/0211898, “Cai ‘898”).
Regarding claim 17, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440, Van ‘996, and Frenne ‘196 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 15, as outlined above.
However, Sun ‘303 in combination with Tsai ‘440, Van ‘996, and Frenne ‘196 does not specifically disclose wherein the resource elements for LTE transmission are transmitted from a first antenna of the co-sited antennas and the resource elements for NR transmission are transmitted from a second antenna of the co-sited antennas.
Cai ‘898 teaches wherein the resource elements for LTE transmission are transmitted from a first antenna of the co-sited antennas and the resource elements for NR transmission are transmitted from a second antenna of the co-sited antennas (para 86; different signals are transmitted from different antennas in an antenna array).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined network node of Sun ‘303, Tsai ‘440, Van ‘996, and Frenne ‘196, to include Cai ‘898’s different signals re transmitted from different antennas in an antenna array. The motivation for doing so would have been to use beamforming to improve the efficiency of the communication system and to increase the ability to service more user devices, and to further provide an improved fundamental approach to beamforming in 5G or any other industry standard (Cai ‘898, para 9-10).
Allowable Subject Matter
15. Claims 9-11 are objected to as being dependent upon rejected base claims, but would be allowable if amended to overcome the above claim objections related to informalities, and rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claims and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/NEVENA ZECEVIC SANDHU/Examiner, Art Unit 2474
/Michael Thier/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2474
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