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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This office action is a response to application no. 18/332,729 filed on 06/10/2023.
Claims 1 – 20 are pending and ready for examination.
Priority
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent Application Number 18/054,577 filed on November 11, 2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/20/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP §§ 706.02(l)(1) - 706.02(l)(3) for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
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Claims 1, 5 – 13, and 17 – 20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting (ODP) as being unpatentable over claims 1 – 20 of application no. 18/054,577 (NOA is issued on 6/24/2025) in view of LEE et al. (US 2025/0175220 A1). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because both inventions are directed towards method and apparatus to configure adaptive delay diversity. With respect to the independent claims of the instant application and to be patent application, please see the direct claim comparison in the Table 1 below.
Table 1: Independent claim comparison between instant application and to be Patent
Instant application no. 18/332,729
to be patent application no. 18/054,577
1. A communication device comprising:
a communications subsystem having more than one transmit chains comprising at least a first transmit chain and a second transmit chain configurable to perform multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and transmit diversity uplink transmissions; and
a controller communicatively coupled to the communications subsystem, and which:
in response to receiving, via the communications subsystem from a base station, an uplink configuration for single data layer uplink full power transmission (ULFPTx) mode 1:
accesses a precoding matrix codebook for MIMO configuring of antennas of the first and the second transmit chains;
sequentially configures the first and the second transmit chains to transmit an uplink signal with one of: (i) cyclic delay diversity (CDD); or (ii) linear delay diversity (LDD) that delays the uplink signal transmitted by the second transmit chain with each of more than one phase shift or time delay values;
transmits the uplink signal using transmit diversity with sequentially changed phase shift or time delay values for the one of CCD or LDD using the precoding matrix codebook;
monitors at least one of a direct measure and an indirect measure of uplink signal quality at a network node for each of the sequentially changed phase shift or time delay values;
determines an optimal phase shift or time delay value for current channel conditions of the more than one phase shift or time delay values associated with a higher measure of uplink signal quality than other ones of the more than one phase shift or time delay values; and
transmits the uplink signal via transmit diversity using the optimal phase shift or time delay value for the one of CDD or LDD.
1. A communication device comprising:
a communications subsystem having more than one transmit chains comprising at least a first transmit chain and a second transmit chain configurable to perform transmit diversity; and
a controller communicatively coupled to the communications subsystem, and which:
in response to determining a requirement to increase transmit power of an uplink signal that is more than an individual capacity of either one of the first and the second transmit chains:
sequentially configures the first and the second transmit chains to transmit the uplink signal with one of: (i) cyclic delay diversity (CDD); or (ii) linear delay diversity (LDD) that delays the uplink signal transmitted by the second transmit chain with each of more than one phase shift or time delay values;
transmits the uplink signal using transmit diversity with sequentially changed phase shift or time delay values for the one of CCD or LDD;
monitors at least one of a direct measure and an indirect measure of uplink signal quality at a network node for each of the sequentially changed phase shift or time delay values;
determines an optimal phase shift or time delay value for current channel conditions of the more than one phase shift or time delay values associated with a higher measure of uplink signal quality than other ones of the more than one phase shift or time delay values; and
transmits the uplink signal via transmit diversity using the optimal phase shift or time delay value for the one of CDD or LDD.
As can be seen from the direct claim comparison of Table 1, claim 1 of instant application is narrower version of the counterpart claim. The dissimilar part of the claims are underlined.
The to be patented claim does not recite
“multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and
receiving, via the communications subsystem from a base station, an uplink configuration for single data layer uplink full power transmission (ULFPTx) mode 1:
accesses a precoding matrix codebook for MIMO configuring of antennas of the first and the second transmit chains;
transmits the uplink signal using transmit diversity using the precoding matrix codebook”.
Secondary reference LEE teaches (Title, PRECODING MATRICES FOR FULL-POWER UPLINK TRANSMISSIONS):
multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) ([0127], UE 120 is configured to use an NC 8Tx MIMO codebook subset) and
receiving, via the communications subsystem from a base station, an uplink configuration for single data layer ([0088], A rank of a codebook correspond to a quantity of transmission layers to be transmitted by the UE 120; E.g. a rank 1 codebook is for one layer (e.g., one data stream)) uplink full power transmission (ULFPTx) mode 1 ([0108], network entity configures the UE 120 to use a full-power mode using a full-power uplink transmission parameter (ULFPTx), and further configures the UE 120 to use a particular mode (e.g., mode 0, mode 1, or mode 2) using a full-power uplink transmission mode parameter):
accesses a precoding matrix codebook for MIMO configuring of antennas of the first and the second transmit chains (Fig.9A, 9B and [0127], UE 120 is configured to use the NC 8Tx MIMO codebook subset by a codebook subset parameter; the UE 120 is configured to use the additional precoding matrices shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B when the UE 120 is configured to use full-power mode (e.g., ULFPTx is enabled and ULFPTxModes=mode 1));
transmits the uplink signal using transmit diversity using the precoding matrix codebook ([0084], base station 110 selects a precoding matrix for the UE 120 to use when transmitting uplink communications, such as physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) communications. Precoding is a technique that exploits transmit diversity by multiplying a data stream (layer) with beamforming weights for each antenna prior to transmission).
Therefore, combination of the to be patent and LEE teaches all limitations of the instant claim 1. The motivation of adding LEE with the to be patent application is to provide techniques and apparatuses for precoding matrices for full-power uplink transmissions, to improve cell edge coverage (Abstract and [0106]).
Similar comparison can be shown for instant claims 13, 20 vs. the to be patented claims 10, 19, respectively. Table 2 shows claims of the instant application that are rejected against the to be patented claims.
Table 2: Claims of the instant application vs. Application no. 18/054,577
Instant application no. 18/332,729
Application no. 18/054,577
1
1
5
2
6
3
7
4
8
5
9
6
10
7
11
8
12
9
13
10
17
11+12+13
18
14+15
19
16+17+18
20
19
Therefore, claims 1, 5 – 13, and 17 – 20 of the instant application are rejected on the ground of ODP as being unpatentable over claims 1 – 19 of the to be Patent in view of LEE.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is
directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim does not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter.
Claim 20 recites
“a computer program product comprising:
a computer readable storage device; and
program code on the computer readable storage device ..….”.
Here, the term “computer readable storage device” with broadest reasonable interpretation falls within transitory or non-transitory device. The specification ¶ [0042] recites “Data storage subsystem 109 of communication device 100 can include one or more non-transitory computer readable storage devices or computer readable storage devices, such as removable storage device (RSD) …” Here, the statement does not exclude the computer readable storage device being a signal per se. Therefore, the claim 20 does not fall within at least one of the four categories of statutory subject matter as a process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter and therefore, it is considered non-statutory. Accordingly, claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1 – 20 are allowable over prior arts; but ODP rejection needs to be overcome by filing TD for US application no. 18/054,577 and overcoming 35 U.S.C. 101 rejection.
Conclusion
The prior arts made of record and not relied upon are considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Matsumura et al. (Pub. No. US 2025/0253905 A1) – “TERMINAL, RADIO COMMUNICATION METHOD, AND BASE STATION” discloses a terminal includes a control section that determines a precoder, based on a codebook for transmission using more than four antenna ports, when a codebook subset indicating “non coherent” or “partial coherent” is configured, and a transmitting section that performs uplink full power transmission, based on the precoder. Here, maximum rank is configured and uplink full power transmission is configured to full power mode 1 .
GAO et al. (Pub. No. US 2023/0072983 A1) – “METHOD FOR PORT INDICATION FOR UPLINK DATA CHANNELS” discloses a mobile station receives a command to trigger transmission of an uplink data channel and determines one or more ports according to a port parameter associated with the uplink data channel. The mobile station, when configured with UL_FullPower_Tx (or ULFPTx), the mobile station is configured to have the first mode (full mode 1) enabled or the second mode (full mode 2) enabled.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROWNAK ISLAM whose telephone number is (571)272-8009. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 8:30 am - 6 pm (EST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Thier can be reached on 571-272-2832. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ROWNAK ISLAM/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474