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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 27 is objected to because of the following informalities: “DMNRS” in line 4 should be replaced with “DMRS”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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, 5-9, 21, 22 and 25-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US Pub. 2019/0349158) in view of Xiong et al. (US Pub. 2022/0078767).
Regarding claims 1 and 26, Wang teaches a network entity for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, wherein the network entity is configured to: receive a configured shared demodulation reference signal (DMRS) (“shared DMRS between PDCCH and PDSCH” in [0051]); determine, based on the configured shared DMRS, blind channel estimation information (“perform channel estimation based on PDCCH DMRS” in [0051]); receive, based on the blind channel estimation information, control information (see “PDCCH PRBs” in [0055] and “perform channel estimation based on PDCCH DMRS” in [0051]); and receive, based on the blind channel estimation information, the scheduled downlink data transmission, wherein the scheduled downlink data transmission is received using the blind channel estimation information corresponding to the configured shared DMRS (see “PDSCH PRBs” in [0055] and “the channel DMRS reuse can comprise a PDCCH DMRS being reused for PDSCH estimation” in [0033]). Wang, however, does not explicitly teach control information indicative of a scheduled downlink data transmission wherein the scheduled downlink data transmission is received based on the control information. Xiong teaches control information indicative of a scheduled downlink data transmission wherein the scheduled downlink data transmission is received based on the control information (PDCCH corresponds to the control information and PDSCH corresponds to the scheduled downlink data transmission, see “The PDCCH carries information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel” in [0081]). It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang to have control information indicative of a scheduled downlink data transmission wherein the scheduled downlink data transmission is received based on the control information as taught by Xiong in order to send downlink resource assignment information on the PDCCH [0081].
Regarding claim 2, Wang teaches to receive the scheduled downlink data transmission, the network entity is configured to receive the scheduled downlink data transmission based on reuse of the blind channel estimation information determined based on the configured shared DMRS to demodulate and decode the scheduled downlink data transmission (“the channel DMRS reuse can comprise a PDCCH DMRS being reused for PDSCH estimation” in [0033]).
Regarding claim 3, Wang teaches the configured shared DMRS is associated with the control information and the scheduled downlink data transmission (“shared DMRS between PDCCH and PDSCH” in [0051]).
Regarding claim 5, Wang teaches the control information is a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission, and wherein the scheduled downlink data transmission is a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission (see “PDCCH PRBs” and “PDSCH PRBs” in [0055]).
Regarding claim 6, Wang teaches to receive the control information, the network entity is configured to: demodulate and decode the PDCCH transmission based on the blind channel estimation information (“perform channel estimation based on PDCCH DMRS” in [0051]).
Regarding claim 7, Wang teaches to receive the scheduled downlink data transmission, the network entity is configured to: demodulate and decode the PDSCH transmission based on the blind channel estimation information (“the channel DMRS reuse can comprise a PDCCH DMRS being reused for PDSCH estimation” in [0033]).
Regarding claim 8, Wang teaches the control information comprises a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission associated with a first set of Resource Elements (REs) (“PDCCH PRBs” in [0055]); and the scheduled downlink data transmission comprises a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission scheduled by the PDCCH and associated with a second set of REs (“PDSCH PRBs” in [0055]), wherein the second set of REs is adjacent to the first set of REs (see PDCCH PRBs 302 and PDSCH PRBs 304 in Figure 3).
Regarding claim 9, Wang teaches the control information includes at least a first Downlink Control Information (DCI) indicative of a downlink (DL) grant corresponding to the scheduled downlink data transmission (“DCI indicates the PDSCH duration information” in [0047]).
Regarding claim 21, Wang teaches a bandwidth associated with the configured shared DMRS is equal to a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) bandwidth associated with the scheduled downlink data transmission (“the PDCCH DMRS is transmitted with the same bandwidth of PDSCH resource allocation” in [0051]).
Regarding claim 22, Wang teaches the PDSCH bandwidth associated with the scheduled downlink data transmission is equal to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) bandwidth associated with the control information (see PDCCH PRBs 302 and PDSCH PRBs 304 in Figure 3).
Regarding claim 25, Wang teaches the network entity is a user equipment (UE) (see Mobile Device 104 in Figure 1).
Regarding claim 27, Wang teaches receiving the scheduled downlink data transmission comprises: reusing the blind channel estimation information determined based on the configured shared DMNRS, wherein reusing the blind channel estimation information includes demodulating and decoding the scheduled downlink data transmission based on the blind channel estimation information (“the channel DMRS reuse can comprise a PDCCH DMRS being reused for PDSCH estimation” in [0033]).
Regarding claim 28, Wang teaches a network entity for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, wherein the network entity is configured to: transmit a configured shared demodulation reference signal (DMRS) (“shared DMRS between PDCCH and PDSCH” in [0051]); transmit control information, wherein the control information is modulated based on the configured shared DMRS (see “PDCCH PRBs” in [0055] and “perform channel estimation based on PDCCH DMRS” in [0051]); and transmit the scheduled downlink data transmission, wherein the scheduled downlink data transmission is modulated based on the configured shared DMRS (see “PDSCH PRBs” in [0055] and “the channel DMRS reuse can comprise a PDCCH DMRS being reused for PDSCH estimation” in [0033]). Wang, however, does not explicitly teach control information indicative of a scheduled downlink data transmission. Xiong teaches control information indicative of a scheduled downlink data transmission (PDCCH corresponds to the control information and PDSCH corresponds to the scheduled downlink data transmission, see “The PDCCH carries information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel” in [0081]). It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang to have control information indicative of a scheduled downlink data transmission as taught by Xiong in order to send downlink resource assignment information on the PDCCH [0081].
Regarding claim 29, Wang teaches the control information includes a downlink (DL) grant indicative of a plurality of time-frequency resources allocated for the scheduled downlink data transmission (“DCI indicates the PDSCH duration information” in [0047]); and the configured shared DMRS is allocated a subset of the plurality of time-frequency resources allocated for the scheduled downlink data transmission (“the channel DMRS reuse can comprise a PDCCH DMRS being reused for PDSCH estimation” in [0033]).
Regarding claim 30, Wang teaches the control information is a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission configured for demodulation by a user equipment (UE) based on channel estimation information corresponding to the configured shared DMRS (“perform channel estimation based on PDCCH DMRS” in [0051]); and the scheduled downlink data transmission is a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission configured for demodulation by the UE based on the channel estimation information corresponding to the configured shared DMRS (“the channel DMRS reuse can comprise a PDCCH DMRS being reused for PDSCH estimation” in [0033]).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. in view of Xiong et al. and further in view of Yi et al. (US Pub. 2018/0160361).
Regarding claim 11, Wang in view of Xiong teaches the limitations in claim 9 as shown above. Wang in view of Xiong, however, does not teach the control information further includes one or more additional DCIs, and wherein the one or more additional DCIs and the first DCI are multiplexed in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission. Yi teaches the control information further includes one or more additional DCIs, and wherein the one or more additional DCIs and the first DCI are multiplexed in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission (“multiple DCIs of multiple UEs may be multiplexed in a PDCCH” in [0083]). It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang in view of Xiong to have the control information further includes one or more additional DCIs, and wherein the one or more additional DCIs and the first DCI are multiplexed in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission as taught by Yi in order to schedule multiple UEs together [0083].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 10, 12-20, 23 and 24 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/CLEMENCE S HAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414