DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . This action is in response to the communication filed on 4/4/2024. Claims 1-20 are pending.
Examiner Note
The examiner is here to serve, to assist, and to help applicant to the very best of his ability. The Primary Patent Examiner position is a position of serving and it is an honor to externally serve the applicant and attorney and to internally serve junior examiners and supervisors. The goal of the examiner is to work with and assist applicant to move cases along as efficiently as possible.
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Priority
This application claims priority of KR10-2022-0189793, filed 12/29/2022. The assignee of record is ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE. The listed inventor(s) is/are: SHIN, Woo Ram; KIM, Kyeong Pyo; KO, Young Jo; CHANG, Kap Seok.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 12/28/2023 & 7/22/2024 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6, 8-11, 15-16, 18-19 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 provided that all other rejections under 35 USC 101/112 (if any) are obviated upon upcoming amendments/arguments without raising new issues that necessitate further consideration/search.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1, 7, 12-14, 17, & 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP (3GPP TS 32.211 V17.3.0 2022-09; hereinafter 3GPP211) in view of Kim et al. (US 20180324005 A1, published 11/8/2018; hereinafter Kim).
For Claim 1, 3GPP211 teaches a method of a terminal, comprising: receiving configuration information of a block reference signal (3GPP211 Section 4.4.2 For each numerology and carrier, a resource grid of
PNG
media_image1.png
25
65
media_image1.png
Greyscale
subcarriers and
N
symb
subframe
,
μ
OFDM symbols is defined, starting at common resource block
PNG
media_image2.png
25
43
media_image2.png
Greyscale
indicated by higher-layer signalling. There is one set of resource grids per transmission direction (uplink, downlink, or sidelink) with the subscript
x
set to DL, UL, and SL for downlink, uplink, and sidelink, respectively. When there is no risk for confusion, the subscript
x
may be dropped. There is one resource grid for a given antenna port
p
, subcarrier spacing configuration
μ
, and transmission direction (downlink, uplink, or sidelink).);
receiving a modulated data channel including the block reference signal according to the configuration information (3GPP211 Section 7.3.1.2 For each codeword
q
, the UE shall assume the block of scrambled bits
b
~
q
0
,
…
,
b
~
q
(
M
bit
q
-
1
)
are modulated as described in clause 5.1 using one of the modulation schemes in Table 7.3.1.2-1, resulting in a block of complex-valued modulation symbols
d
q
0
,
…
,
d
q
(
M
symb
q
-
1
)
.
Table 7.3.1.2-1: Supported modulation schemes.
Modulation scheme
Modulation order
PNG
media_image3.png
20
21
media_image3.png
Greyscale
QPSK
2
16QAM
4
64QAM
6
256QAM
8
1024QAM
10
Please also see Section 7.4.1.1.2 the resource elements are within the common resource blocks allocated for PDSCH transmission); and
demodulating the block reference signal in the received data channel to estimate a channel for resources in a two-dimensional domain, to which the block reference signal is allocated (3GPP211 Section 4.4.3 Each element in the resource grid for antenna port
p
and subcarrier spacing configuration
μ
is called a resource element and is uniquely identified by
(
k
,
l
)
p
,
μ
where
PNG
media_image4.png
17
12
media_image4.png
Greyscale
is the index in the frequency domain and
PNG
media_image5.png
17
9
media_image5.png
Greyscale
refers to the symbol position in the time domain relative to some reference point. Resource element
(
k
,
l
)
p
,
μ
corresponds to a physical resource and the complex value
a
k
,
l
(
p
,
μ
)
. When there is no risk for confusion, or no particular antenna port or subcarrier spacing is specified, the indices
p
and
μ
may be dropped, resulting in
a
k
,
l
(
p
)
or
a
k
,
l
.
Please also see Section 7.2 For DM-RS associated with a PDSCH, the channel over which a PDSCH symbol on one antenna port is conveyed can be inferred from the channel over which a DM-RS symbol on the same antenna port is conveyed only if the two symbols are within the same resource as the scheduled PDSCH, in the same slot, and in the same PRG as described in clause 5.1.2.3 of [6, TS 38.214].ow l
3GPP211 does not explicitly use the term base station.
However, Kim teaches a base station (Kim ¶ 0100 the base station estimates and equalizes the channel through the corresponding DMRS symbols, and then demodulates the data symbols of the terminal through proper post-processing (e.g., matched filtering) for the pre-engaged spectrum shaping after channel estimation and equalization through the corresponding DMRS symbols. However, if this method is used when the base station does not know the spectrum shaping coefficient used by the terminal, the performance may deteriorate due to an effective channel change caused by the spectrum shaping. Accordingly, if the terminal transmits the DMRS symbols through application of the spectrum shaping even to the DMRS symbols, the base station performs channel estimation and equalization based on the spectrum shaping as an effective channel coupled to an actual channel, and can obtain a great help in demodulating the data symbols.)
3GPP211 and Kim are analogous art because they are both related to wireless data traffic.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the base station channel estimation and equalization techniques of Kim with the system of 3GPP211 for effectively reducing a peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of a signal in a wireless communication system (Kim ¶ 0009) and obtaining help in demodulating the data symbols (Kim ¶ 0100).
For Claim 7, 3GPP211-Kim teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the configuration information of the block reference signal is received from the base station through at least one of radio resource control (RRC), medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or downlink control information (DCI) signaling (Kim ¶ 0061, 0072, 0098).
For Claim 12, 3GPP211-Kim teaches the method according to claim 1, further comprising: estimating a channel for a data symbol region using channel estimation for the resources to which the block reference signal is allocated (Kim ¶ 0100); and detecting data in the data channel using the channel estimated for the data symbol region (Kim ¶ 0100).
For Claim 13, 3GPP211 teaches a method comprising: transmitting configuration information of a block reference signal to a terminal (3GPP211 Sections 4.4.2, 7.3.1.2); and transmitting a modulated data channel including the block reference signal according to the configuration information to the terminal (3GPP211 Sections 4.4.2, 7.3.1.2).
3GPP211 does not explicitly use the term base station. However, Kim teaches a base station (Kim ¶ 0100)
3GPP211 and Kim are analogous art because they are both related to wireless data traffic.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the base station channel estimation and equalization techniques of Kim with the system of 3GPP211 for effectively reducing a peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of a signal in a wireless communication system (Kim ¶ 0009) and obtaining help in demodulating the data symbols (Kim ¶ 0100).
For Claim 14, 3GPP211-Kim teaches the method according to claim 13, wherein the configuration information of the block reference signal is transmitted to the terminal through at least one of radio resource control (RRC), medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or downlink control information (DCI) signaling (Kim ¶ 0061, 0072, 0098).
For Claim(s) 17, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 1 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim(s) 20, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 12 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is listed below, thank you:
i. EP 3258730 A1, METHOD FOR COMMUNICATING DOWNLINK CONTROL SIGNAL, BASE STATION, AND USER EQUIPMENT
Please see PTO-892 for additional listing of relevant prior art made of record but not relied upon, thank you.
Conclusion
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/MICHAEL A KELLER/
Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2446