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 .
The Examiner thanks the Applicant for the well-prepared amendment. The Examiner appreciates the Applicant’s effort to carefully analyze the Office action, and make appropriate arguments and amendments.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-24 filed on December 08, 2025 are pending, claims 1, 7, 13 and 19 are amended, claims 2, 8, 14 and 20 are canceled and claims 21-24 are new.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 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.
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.
Claims 1, 3-7, 9-13, 15-19 and 21-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ren et al. (US 2020/0336275 A1, WO 2019/029329 A1 published in February 14 2019, hereinafter "Ren") in view of Zhang et al. (US 2015/0341931 A1, hereinafter "Zhang") and Zewail et al. (US 2021/0359811 A1, Provisional application No. 63/024,262, filed on May 13, 2020 hereinafter "Zewail").
Regarding claim 1, Ren discloses a communication method, comprising:
receiving indication information, wherein the indication information indicates a scheduled demodulation reference signal (DMRS) port (Ren, [0014, 0064] In LTE, all of the information is indicated by using downlink control information (DCI); the DMRS indication information indicates DMRS antenna port set information, the DMRS antenna port set information indicates a status of an occupied DMRS antenna port group based on an actual quantity of DMRS layers that are scheduled in a current system), wherein the scheduled DMRS port belongs to a DMRS port set out of a first DMRS port set and a second DMRS port set, wherein each DMRS port set comprises DMRS ports (Ren, [0064, 0239] For example, a port group 1 is {1, 2, 3, 4}, and a port group 2 is {5, 6, 7, 8}; The DMRS configuration information table shown in Table 1 is applicable to an orthogonal DMRS implementing a maximum of four streams/layers of data transmission or a pattern corresponding to FIG. 7 (for example, config. 1-1 symbol in a left part or config. 1-2 symbols in a right part, but time-domain repetition is used, e.g., TD-OCC {(1, 1), (1, 1)}); and
sending a DMRS on the scheduled DMRS port (Davydov, [0052] a physical shared channel (e.g., PDSCH) may be transmitted on the indicated DM-RS antenna ports) (Ren, [0039] DMRS transmission scheme indication information indicating current DMRS transmission scheme);
wherein the DMRS ports comprised in the first DMRS port set and the second DMRS port set are partially the same and partially different (Ren, [0236] Fig. 7 the DMRS configuration information table is a DMRS configuration information table designed based on a maximum supported orthogonal-port quantity of a single terminal (UE) being 4 in SU-MIMO or MU-MIMO).
Ren does not explicitly disclose the first time domain position is different from the second time domain position.
Zhang from the same field of endeavor the first time domain position is different from the second time domain position (Zhang, [0013-0014]
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p is the number of the ports; l is a time domain serial number of the RE where the DMRS is present).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified DMRS disclosed by Ren and DMRS disclosed by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve performance of channel estimation based on DMRSs (Zhang, [0008]).
Ren discloses DMRS port set can use TDM but does not explicitly disclose wherein the DMRS ports are mapped to a first time domain position and a second time domain position different from the fast time domain position, wherein the first DMRS port set corresponds to the first time domain position and is different from the second DMRS port set that corresponds to the second time domain position.
Zewail from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the DMRS ports are mapped to a first time domain position and a second time domain position different from the fast time domain position, wherein the first DMRS port set corresponds to the first time domain position and is different from the second DMRS port set that corresponds to the second time domain position (Zewail, [0099] First set of DMRSs 562 and second set of DMRSs 564 may each be transmitted using one or more DMRS ports. For example, transmitting node 550 may transmit first set of DMRSs 562 using a first DMRS port (or a first group of DMRS ports), and transmitting node 550 may transmit second set of DMRSs 564 using a second DMRS port (or a second group of DMRS ports) that is different from the first DMRS port. To illustrate, a staggered DMRS pattern may be formed by sending DMRSs over different symbols according to resource element (RE) allocations of different configuration ports).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Zewail’s system for transmission DMRS port in TDM scheme into Ren’s DMRS port set process as modified by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to provide sending DMRSs over different symbols according to resource element (RE) allocations of different configuration ports, such that effectively one port is transmitted (Zewail, [0099]).
Regarding claim 3, Ren discloses the first time domain position and the second time domain position are located in a same slot (Ren, [0239]) FIG. 7 (for example, config.1-1 symbol in a left part or config. 1-2 symbols in a right part, but time-domain repetition is used, e.g., TD-OCC {(1,1), (1,1)} (i.e. same slot))); and the first time domain position is used to send a front-loaded -DMRS, and/or the second time domain position is used to send an additional DMRS (Ren, [0266] the DMRS configuration information table may include symbol information of a front-loaded (FL) DMRS).
Regarding claim 4, Ren does not explicitly disclose wherein the first time domain position and the second time domain position are located in the different slots, and the first time domain position and the second time domain position each are used to send a front-loaded DMRS.
Zhang from the field of endeavor wherein the first time domain position and the second time domain position are located in the different slots, and the first time domain position and the second time domain position each are used to send a front-loaded DMRS (Zhang, [0108] configuring four groups of DMRSs in each PRB pair, and keeping densities and positions of the four groups of DMRSs in the time domain constant (that is, being based on the time domain positions of the existing DMRS patterns, or being based on the time domain positions of the DMRS patterns of the implementations of Embodiment 1); preferably, two groups of DMRSs of the four groups of DMRSs are configured at an intermediate group of three groups of positions in a frequency domain, and the other two groups of DMRSs of the four groups of DMRSs are configured at the first and third groups of the three groups of positions in the frequency domain, with the DMRSs configured at the first group of positions and the DMRSs configured at the third group of positions being positioned at different slots of the PRB pair).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified DMRS disclosed by Ren and DMRS disclosed by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve performance of channel estimation based on DMRSs (Zhang, [0008]).
Regarding claim 5, Ren discloses wherein a predefined rule is
satisfied between (i) a configuration of the first DMRS port set and/or a configuration of the second DMRS port set and (ii) a slot (Ren, [0271] the receive end and the transmit end may predefine some values to correspond to a I-symbol FL DMRS pattern. However, some values correspond to the 2-symbol FL DMRS pattern).
Regarding claim 6, Ren does not explicitly disclose the predefined rule comprises:
only the first DMRS port set is configured in the slot that satisfies mod(m, 2)=1, and/or only the second DMRS port set is configured in the slot that satisfies mod(m, 2)=0, wherein m is an mth slot in a plurality of slots corresponding to a scheduled uplink physical shared channel (PUSCH); or
only the first DMRS port set is configured in the slot that satisfies mod(m, 2)=0, and/or only the second DMRS port set is configured in the slot that satisfies mod(m, 2)=1, wherein m is an index of the slot.
Zhang from the same field of endeavor discloses only the first DMRS port set is configured in the slot that satisfies mod(m, 2)=1, and/or only the second DMRS port set is configured in the slot that satisfies mod(m, 2)=0, wherein m is an mth slot in a plurality of slots corresponding to a scheduled uplink physical shared channel (PUSCH) (Zhang, [0013]
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).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified DMRS disclosed by Ren and DMRS disclosed by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve performance of channel estimation based on DMRSs (Zhang, [0008]).
Regarding claim 7, Ren discloses a communication method, comprising:
sending indication information, wherein the indication information indicates a scheduled demodulation reference signal (DMRS) port (Ren, [0014, 0064] In LTE, all of the information is indicated by using downlink control information (DCI); the DMRS indication information indicates DMRS antenna port set information, the DMRS antenna port set information indicates a status of an occupied DMRS antenna port group based on an actual quantity of DMRS layers that are scheduled in a current system), wherein the scheduled DMRS port belongs to a DMRS port set out of a first DMRS port set and a second DMRS port set, wherein each DMRS port set comprises DMRS ports (Ren, [0064, 0239] For example, a port group 1 is {1, 2, 3, 4}, and a port group 2 is {5, 6, 7, 8}; The DMRS configuration information table shown in Table 1 is applicable to an orthogonal DMRS implementing a maximum of four streams/layers of data transmission or a pattern corresponding to FIG. 7 (for example, config. 1-1 symbol in a left part or config. 1-2 symbols in a right part, but time-domain repetition is used, e.g., TD-OCC {(1, 1), (1, 1)}); and
receiving a DMRS on the scheduled DMRS port (Davydov, [0052] a physical shared channel (e.g., PDSCH) may be transmitted on the indicated DM-RS antenna ports) (Ren, [0039] DMRS transmission scheme indication information indicating current DMRS transmission scheme).
wherein the DMRS ports comprised in the first DMRS port set and the second DMRS port set are partially the same and partially different (Ren, [0236] Fig. 7 the DMRS configuration information table is a DMRS configuration information table designed based on a maximum supported orthogonal-port quantity of a single terminal (UE) being 4 in SU-MIMO or MU-MIMO).
Ren does not explicitly disclose the first time domain position is different from the second time domain position.
Zhang from the same field of endeavor the first time domain position is different from the second time domain position (Zhang, [0013-0014]
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p is the number of the ports; l is a time domain serial number of the RE where the DMRS is present).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified DMRS disclosed by Ren and DMRS disclosed by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve performance of channel estimation based on DMRSs (Zhang, [0008]).
Ren discloses DMRS port set can use TDM but does not explicitly disclose wherein the DMRS ports are mapped to a first time domain position and a second time domain position different from the fast time domain position, wherein the first DMRS port set corresponds to the first time domain position and is different from the second DMRS port set that corresponds to the second time domain position.
Zewail from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the DMRS ports are mapped to a first time domain position and a second time domain position different from the fast time domain position, wherein the first DMRS port set corresponds to the first time domain position and is different from the second DMRS port set that corresponds to the second time domain position (Zewail, [0099] First set of DMRSs 562 and second set of DMRSs 564 may each be transmitted using one or more DMRS ports. For example, transmitting node 550 may transmit first set of DMRSs 562 using a first DMRS port (or a first group of DMRS ports), and transmitting node 550 may transmit second set of DMRSs 564 using a second DMRS port (or a second group of DMRS ports) that is different from the first DMRS port. To illustrate, a staggered DMRS pattern may be formed by sending DMRSs over different symbols according to resource element (RE) allocations of different configuration ports).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Zewail’s system for transmission DMRS port in TDM scheme into Ren’s DMRS port set process as modified by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to provide sending DMRSs over different symbols according to resource element (RE) allocations of different configuration ports, such that effectively one port is transmitted (Zewail, [0099]).
Regarding claim 9, Ren discloses the first time domain position and the second time domain position are located in a same slot (Ren, [0239]) FIG. 7 (for example, config.1-1 symbol in a left part or config. 1-2 symbols in a right part, but time-domain repetition is used, e.g., TD-OCC {(1,1), (1,1)} (i.e. same slot))); and the first time domain position is used to send a front-loaded -DMRS, and/or the second time domain position is used to send an additional DMRS (Ren, [0266] the DMRS configuration information table may include symbol information of a front-loaded (FL) DMRS).
Regarding claim 10, Ren does not explicitly disclose wherein the first time domain position and the second time domain position are located in the different slots, and the first time domain position and the second time domain position each are used to send a front-loaded DMRS.
Zhang from the field of endeavor wherein the first time domain position and the second time domain position are located in the different slots, and the first time domain position and the second time domain position each are used to send a front-loaded DMRS (Zhang, [0108] configuring four groups of DMRSs in each PRB pair, and keeping densities and positions of the four groups of DMRSs in the time domain constant (that is, being based on the time domain positions of the existing DMRS patterns, or being based on the time domain positions of the DMRS patterns of the implementations of Embodiment 1); with the DMRSs configured at the first group of positions and the DMRSs configured at the third group of positions being positioned at different slots of the PRB pair).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified DMRS disclosed by Ren and DMRS disclosed by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve performance of channel estimation based on DMRSs (Zhang, [0008]).
Regarding claim 11, Ren discloses wherein a predefined rule is
satisfied between (i) a configuration of the first DMRS port set and/or a configuration of the second DMRS port set and (ii) a slot (Ren, [0271] the receive end and the transmit end may predefine some values to correspond to a I-symbol FL DMRS pattern. However, some values correspond to the 2-symbol FL DMRS pattern).
Regarding claim 12, Ren does not explicitly disclose the predefined rule comprises:
only the first DMRS port set is configured in the slot that satisfies mod(m, 2)=1, and/or only the second DMRS port set is configured in the slot that satisfies mod(m, 2)=0, wherein m is an mth slot in a plurality of slots corresponding to a scheduled uplink physical shared channel (PUSCH); or
only the first DMRS port set is configured in the slot that satisfies mod(m, 2)=0, and/or only the second DMRS port set is configured in the slot that satisfies mod(m, 2)=1, wherein m is an index of the slot.
Zhang from the same field of endeavor discloses only the first DMRS port set is configured in the slot that satisfies mod(m, 2)=1, and/or only the second DMRS port set is configured in the slot that satisfies mod(m, 2)=0, wherein m is an mth slot in a plurality of slots corresponding to a scheduled uplink physical shared channel (PUSCH) (Zhang, [0013]
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).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified DMRS disclosed by Ren and DMRS disclosed by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve performance of channel estimation based on DMRSs (Zhang, [0008]).
Regarding claims 13 and 15-19, these claims recite "a communication apparatus" that disclose similar steps as recited by the method of claims 1, 3-7 and 9-12, thus are rejected with the same rationale applied against claims 1, 3-7 and 9-12 as presented above.
Regarding claim 21, Ren in view of Zhang does not explicitly disclose wherein the first time domain position and the second time domain position are consecutive in a time domain.
Zewail from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the first time domain position and the second time domain position are consecutive in a time domain (Zewail, [0098] The DMRSs 560 may include a first set of DMRSs 562 allocated to a first DMRS symbol and a first subset of subcarriers, as well as a second set of DMRSs 564 allocated to a second DMRS symbol and a second subset of subcarriers. For example, transmitting node 550 may allocate one or more DMRSs to a first OFDM symbol (referred to as a first DMRS symbol due to the allocation of DMRS to the OFDM symbol) across a first subset of subcarriers …the first DMRS symbol and the second DMRS symbol are consecutive symbols).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Zewail’s system for transmission DMRS port in TDM scheme into Ren’s DMRS port set process as modified by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to provide sending DMRSs over different symbols according to resource element (RE) allocations of different configuration ports, such that effectively one port is transmitted (Zewail, [0099]).
Regarding claim 22, Ren in view of Zhang does not explicitly disclose wherein the first time domain position and the second time domain position are nonconsecutive in a time domain.
Zewail from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the first time domain position and the second time domain position are nonconsecutive in a time domain (Zewail, [0098] The DMRSs 560 may include a first set of DMRSs 562 allocated to a first DMRS symbol and a first subset of subcarriers, as well as a second set of DMRSs 564 allocated to a second DMRS symbol and a second subset of subcarriers. For example, transmitting node 550 may allocate one or more DMRSs to a first OFDM symbol (referred to as a first DMRS symbol due to the allocation of DMRS to the OFDM symbol) across a first subset of subcarriers … , the first DMRS symbol and the second DMRS symbol are non-consecutive DMRS symbols).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Zewail’s system for transmission DMRS port in TDM scheme into Ren’s DMRS port set process as modified by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to provide sending DMRSs over different symbols according to resource element (RE) allocations of different configuration ports, such that effectively one port is transmitted (Zewail, [0099]).
Regarding claim 23, Ren in view of Zhang does not explicitly disclose the slot occupied by the first time domain position and the slot occupied by the second time domain position are consecutive in a time domain.
Zewail from the same field of endeavor discloses the slot occupied by the first time domain position and the slot occupied by the second time domain position are consecutive in a time domain (Zewail, [0098] The DMRSs 560 may include a first set of DMRSs 562 allocated to a first DMRS symbol and a first subset of subcarriers, as well as a second set of DMRSs 564 allocated to a second DMRS symbol and a second subset of subcarriers. For example, transmitting node 550 may allocate one or more DMRSs to a first OFDM symbol (referred to as a first DMRS symbol due to the allocation of DMRS to the OFDM symbol) across a first subset of subcarriers …, the first DMRS symbol and the second DMRS symbol are non-consecutive DMRS symbols).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Zewail’s system for transmission DMRS port in TDM scheme into Ren’s DMRS port set process as modified by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to provide sending DMRSs over different symbols according to resource element (RE) allocations of different configuration ports, such that effectively one port is transmitted (Zewail, [0099]).
Claim(s) 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ren et al. (US 2020/0336275 A1, WO 2019/029329 A1 published in February 14 2019, hereinafter "Ren") in view of Zhang et al. (US 2015/0341931 A1, hereinafter "Zhang") and Zewail et al. (US 2021/0359811 A1, hereinafter "Zewail") as applied to claim above, and further in view of Hasegawa et al. (US 2023/0291523 A1, Provisional application No. 63/061,397, filed on Aug. 5, 2020, provisional application No. 63/091,454, filed on Oct. 14, 2020, hereinafter "Hasegawa").
Regarding claim 24, Ren in view of Zhang and Zewail does not explicitly disclose the slot occupied by the first time domain position and the slot occupied by the second time domain position are nonconsecutive in a time domain.
Hasegawa from the same field of endeavor discloses the slot occupied by the first time domain position and the slot occupied by the second time domain position are nonconsecutive in a time domain (Hasegawa, Fig. 3B mixed slot #3 and #7 are not consecutive slot).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Hasegawa’s system for transmission DMRS port in non consecutive slots into Ren’s DMRS port set process as modified by Zhang with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve performance (Hasegawa, [0093]).
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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/LUNA WEISSBERGER/Examiner, Art Unit 2415