DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
2. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
3. Claims 5-7, 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 5, the claim recites the limitation “a preset matrix W.” There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It is not clear how the “a preset matrix W” is related to claim 1. Examiner assumed the claim depends on claim 2.
Regarding claim 7, the claim recites the limitation "a column vector
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19
17
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”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It is not clear how the “a column vector
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19
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Greyscale
” is related to claim 1. Examiner assumed the claim depends on claim 2.
Regarding claim 12, the claim recites the limitation “a preset matrix W.” There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It is not clear how the “a preset matrix W” is related to claim 9. Examiner assumed the claim depends on claim 10.
Claims 6 and 13 are rejected for being dependent on a rejected base claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
4. 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.
5. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
6. Claims 1, 9 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kuchi et al. (US 2012/0014476 A1, hereinafter “Kuchi”).
Regarding claim 1, Kuchi teaches a pilot signal transmission method, comprising: determining, by a first device, a first frequency band to which a discrete resource unit (RU) allocated to the first device belongs (figs. 24, 25, 26, 30, 31, ¶ [0084], ¶ [0086], In FIG. 25 the basic CDR resource unit is one PRU and the complex and complex conjugate data pair denoted as [D, D*] is mapped to any two subcarriers within that PRU. Certain subcarriers are reserved for pilot tones. ¶ [0087], In FIG. 26 the basic CDR resource unit is a PRU pair and a set of data subcarriers are transmitted in the first PRU and the complex-conjugate copies of the data contained the first PRU1 2601 are transmitted in the second PRU2 2602.. The first and second PRUs may also be distributed anywhere in the time-frequency grid.); and sending, by the first device to a second device, a first pilot signal of the first device on all pilot subcarriers comprised in the first frequency band (figs. 14-20, 24, 25, 26, 30, 31, ¶ [0086], If pilots use complex modulation, the pilots are also transmitted in conjugate pairs to facilitate interference covariance estimation at the receiver. ¶ [0092], In COFIP mode, if pilots are transmitted in conjugate pairs, covariance estimation step uses the complex and complex conjugate copies of the interference samples for estimation. CDR receiver generally suppresses 2Nr-1 interferers in a distributed mode. ¶ [0087], ¶ [0090]).
Regarding claim 9, Kuchi teaches a pilot signal demodulation method, comprising: receiving, by a second device, second pilot signals of at least two first devices on all pilot subcarriers comprised in a first frequency band (figs. 29, 30, ¶ [0006], ¶ [0089], the receiver receives a CDR encoded desired signal and several CDR encoded interferers. After collecting the received signal from multiple subcarriers and performing the conjugation operation in those subcarriers used to send conjugated data, the signal received on each receiver antenna contains two copies of signal and interference data undergoing distinct channels. ¶ [0090], figs. 14-20, 24, 25, 26, 31, ¶ [0086], ¶ [0087], ¶ [0090]), wherein the first frequency band is a frequency band to which discrete resource units (RUs) allocated to the at least two first devices belong (figs. 24, 25, 26, ¶ [0084], ¶ [0086], In FIG. 25 the basic CDR resource unit is one PRU and the complex and complex conjugate data pair denoted as [D, D*] is mapped to any two subcarriers within that PRU. Certain subcarriers are reserved for pilot tones. ¶ [0087], In FIG. 26 the basic CDR resource unit is a PRU pair and a set of data subcarriers are transmitted in the first PRU and the complex-conjugate copies of the data contained the first PRU1 2601 are transmitted in the second PRU2 2602.. The first and second PRUs may also be distributed anywhere in the time-frequency grid); and processing, by the second device, the second pilot signals of the at least two first devices, to obtain first pilot signals sent by the at least two first devices (figs. 29-31, ¶ [0090] FIG. 30 illustrates the receiver structure for 2-receiver antenna case. In the figure the symbol ( ) 3001 denotes complex conjugation operation. Since pilot tones use real-valued modulation, at each receiver antenna, collecting the complex valued received pilots, and the complex conjugate of the received pilot signal generates two distinct copies of signal and interference. Collecting the pilot samples from all receiver antennas provides 4 copies altogether. The pilot samples are used to estimate the channel state information and the covariance of the thermal noise plus total interference and the information is used to obtain the filter weights as well as CQI.)
Regarding claim 16, Kuchi teaches a first device comprising: a processor; and
a memory coupled to the processor to store instructions, which when executed by the processor (figs. 2, 4, 24-30, ¶ [0018], ¶ [0020], where it is implicit that the transmitter device/Base Station/Mobile Station comprises a processor and a memory to store instructions) and, cause the first device to determine a first frequency band to which a discrete resource unit (RU) allocated to the first device belongs (figs. 24, 25, 26, ¶ [0084], ¶ [0086], In FIG. 25 the basic CDR resource unit is one PRU and the complex and complex conjugate data pair denoted as [D, D*] is mapped to any two subcarriers within that PRU. Certain subcarriers are reserved for pilot tones. ¶ [0087], In FIG. 26 the basic CDR resource unit is a PRU pair and a set of data subcarriers are transmitted in the first PRU and the complex-conjugate copies of the data contained the first PRU1 2601 are transmitted in the second PRU2 2602.. The first and second PRUs may also be distributed anywhere in the time-frequency grid. Figs. 14-20, 30, 31. ¶ [0088], ¶ [0090].); and send a first pilot signal of a-the first device to a second device on all pilot subcarriers comprised in the first frequency band (figs. 14-20, 24, 25, 26, 30, 31, ¶ [0086], If pilots use complex modulation, the pilots are also transmitted in conjugate pairs to facilitate interference covariance estimation at the receiver. ¶ [0092], In COFIP mode, if pilots are transmitted in conjugate pairs, covariance estimation step uses the complex and complex conjugate copies of the interference samples for estimation. CDR receiver generally suppresses 2Nr-1 interferers in a distributed mode. ¶ [0087], ¶ [0090]).
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 2-4, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15, 17-20, 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.
8. Claims 5-7, 12 and 13 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
9. Applicant's arguments filed on March 19, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
10. Applicant argues “…Paragraph 86 of Kuchi discloses pilot signal modulated using BPSK or transmitted as conjugate pairs. Specifically, Kuchi discloses that certain subcarriers are reserved for pilot tones and these pilot signals are moduled using BPSK or transmitted in conjugate pairs. Kuchi, para. 86. Paragraph 92 of Kuchi discloses interference covariance estimation to quantify the interference signals. Specifically, Kuchi discloses when in the Collision Free Interlaced Pilot (COFIP) mode and if the pilot signals are transmitted in conjugate pairs, covariance estimation step uses the complex and complex conjugate copies of the interference samples for interference estimation… This interferer suppression, the BPSK modulation, and conjugate pairing, however, is silent regarding "sending, by the first device to a second device, a first pilot signal of the first device on all pilot subcarriers comprised in the first frequency band." Thus, Kuchi fails to disclose at least these feature. Therefore, in view of above, Applicants respectfully submit that claim 1 is patentable over the cited references. Similar arguments can be applied to independent claims 9 and 16 similar to those recited for claim 1…”
Examiner respectfully disagrees and submits that Kuchi teaches sending, by the first device to a second device, a first pilot signal of the first device on all pilot subcarriers comprised in the first frequency band (figs. 4, 5, 14-20, 26, 30, 31, ¶ [0005], resources are allocated in a time-frequency grid called a resource block (RB) or physical resource unit (PRU) that consists of P subcarriers and Q OFDM symbols or multiples of P subcarriers and Q OFDM symbols. ¶ [0010], In every PRU, certain subcarriers are reserved for pilot tones and the pilot tones used for estimating the channel between the transmitter and receiver. ¶ [0018], The transmission, of predefined (known) sequences on the pilot subcarriers in the downlink is necessary for enabling channel estimation, measurements of channel quality indicators (CQI) such as the SINR, frequency offset estimation, etc. ¶ [0086], If pilots use complex modulation, the pilots are also transmitted in conjugate pairs to facilitate interference covariance estimation at the receiver. ¶ [0087], the basic CDR resource unit is a PRU pair and a set of data subcarriers are transmitted in the first PRU and the complex-conjugate copies of the data contained the first PRU1 2601 are transmitted in the second PRU2 2602. Pilot tones may also be transmitted in conjugate pairs. A first set of pilot tones are transmitted in the first PRU, and its complex-conjugated copy is transmitted in the second PRU. ¶ [0088], ¶ [0090], Since pilot tones use real-valued modulation, at each receiver antenna, collecting the complex valued received pilots, and the complex conjugate of the received pilot signal generates two distinct copies of signal and interference. Collecting the pilot samples from all receiver antennas provides 4 copies altogether. ¶ [0092], In COFIP mode, if pilots are transmitted in conjugate pairs, covariance estimation step uses the complex and complex conjugate copies of the interference samples for estimation. CDR receiver generally suppresses 2Nr-1 interferers in a distributed mode. Therefore, it is implicit that in a given PRU all allocated pilot subcarriers are used to transmit a pilot signal).
Conclusion
11. THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
12. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MANDISH RANDHAWA whose telephone number is (571)270-5650. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday (9 AM-7 PM).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chirag Shah can be reached at 571-272-3144. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MANDISH K RANDHAWA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477
Prosecution Insights