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 .
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 5/7/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-5, 8-11, 14, 15 and 20-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Manolakos et al. (US Publication 2020/0389284 A1).
In regards to claims 1, 14, 15 and 20, Manolakos et al. (US Publication 2020/0389284 A1) teaches a method comprising: receiving, by a wireless communication device from a wireless communication node, a message that includes an indication, wherein the indication is to indicate a plurality of demodulation reference signal (DMRS) ports (see paragraph 115; The example resource configuration 200 of FIG. 2 shows DMRS resources 205 that are configured for transmitting and receiving DMRSs of a first type (e.g., Type 1) with a length of one symbol 215 (e.g., a single-symbol length), that is, a “single-symbol Type 1” DMRS configuration. According to the resource configuration 200, the base station may transmit DMRSs over the DMRS resources 205 using up to four antenna ports; the indication is implied from the configuration since the base station sends the configuration information to the UE; see paragraph 118; The resource configuration 300 shows a set of DMRS resources 305 (e.g., a set time-frequency resources) and a mapping to a number of antenna ports that a base station may use to transmit DMRSs to a UE) associated with an orthogonal cover code (OCC) having a length of 4 (see paragraph 114; The example resource configuration 200 of FIG. 2 shows two orthogonal resource blocks 210. The two resource blocks 210 may be orthogonalized using an orthogonal cover code (OCC) (e.g., a length-4 OCC); see paragraph 119; The example resource configuration 300 of FIG. 3 shows four orthogonal resource blocks 310. The four resource blocks 310 may be orthogonalized using an OCC (e.g., a length-4 OCC)) in one code division multiplex (CDM) group (see figure 2, CDM group 230; see figure 3 CDM group 330), mapping on a plurality of non-continuous resources (see paragraph 113; The resource configuration 200 shows a set of DMRS resources 205 (e.g., a set time-frequency resources) and a mapping to a number of antenna ports that a base station may use to transmit DMRSs to a UE; see that the resources 205 are non-continuous; see paragraph 120; The example resource configuration 300 of FIG. 3 shows DMRS resources 305 that are configured for transmitting and receiving DMRSs of a first type (e.g., Type 1) with a length of two symbols 515 (e.g., a double-symbol length), that is, a “double-symbol Type 1” DMRS configuration), wherein the plurality of non-continuous resources comprise: two groups of resource elements comprised in the plurality of non-continuous resources, wherein the two groups of resource elements are non-continuous with respect to each other over one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) (OFDM) symbol, each of the two groups of resource elements comprising two resource elements (see figure 2, the resource groups are non-continuous over symbol number 2); or four resource elements comprised in the plurality of non-continuous resources, wherein the four resource elements are non-continuous with respect to each other over one OFDM symbol (see figure 3, the resource elements although continuous over two symbols (e.g. symbol 2 and 3), are non-continuous over just symbol 2 or just symbol 3), and wherein the plurality of DMRS ports in the one CDM group comprise up to 4 DMRS ports over 4 resource elements and over the one OFDM symbol (see CDM groups 330a, 330b in figure 3).
In regards to claims 2 and 16, Manolakos teaches receiving, by the wireless communication device from the wireless communication node, the DMRS that is modulated according to a length of the OCC (see paragraph 115; DMRS resources 205 that are configured for transmitting and receiving DMRSs of a first type (e.g., Type 1) with a length of one symbol 215 (e.g., a single-symbol length), that is, a “single-symbol Type 1” DMRS configuration; see paragraph 121; The antenna ports may be orthogonalized using a length-4 OCC, resulting in two CDM groups 330).
In regards to claims 3 and 17, Manolakos transmitting, by the wireless communication device to the wireless communication node, the DMRS that is modulated according to a length of the OCC (see paragraph 121; The DMRSs are thus transmitted using six resource elements 325 per port during the symbols 315 allocated for the DMRS resources 205. The antenna ports may be orthogonalized using a length-4 OCC, resulting in two CDM groups 330).
In regards to claims 4 and 18, Manolakos teaches, modulating, by the wireless communication device based on the indication, the plurality of DMRS ports according to the OCC having the length of 4, in the one CDM group; and mapping, by the wireless communication device, the modulated plurality of DMRS ports associated with the OCC in the one CDM group on the plurality of non-continuous resources, wherein the plurality of non-continuous resources comprises the two groups of resource elements that are non-continuous with respect to each other (see figure 2, the two groups are non-continuous with respect to the subcarriers over symbol 2).
In regards to claims 5 and 19, Manolakos teaches, wherein resources in each of the two groups of resource elements are continuous with respect to each other, the resources comprising the two resource elements (see figure 4, the two REs over symbol 2 for each group are continuous).
In regards to claim 8, Manolakos teaches, wherein for DMRS type-1 over one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol of the DMRS, a CDM group is mapped across at least two resource blocks (RBs) (see paragraph 115; The example resource configuration 200 of FIG. 2 shows DMRS resources 205 that are configured for transmitting and receiving DMRSs of a first type (e.g., Type 1) with a length of one symbol 215 (e.g., a single-symbol length), that is, a “single-symbol Type 1” DMRS configuration; the ports are mapped across at least two resource blocks).
In regards to claim 9, Manolakos teaches, wherein the at least two RBs include at least two continuous physical RBs (see figure 4, the each port is mapped across at least two resource blocks that are continuous across symbol 2).
In regards to claim 10, Manolakos teaches, wherein for DMRS type-1 over one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol of the DMRS, a number of scheduled resource blocks (RBs) for one continuous scheduling over frequency domain is even (see paragraph 115; The example resource configuration 200 of FIG. 2 shows DMRS resources 205 that are configured for transmitting and receiving DMRSs of a first type (e.g., Type 1) with a length of one symbol 215 (e.g., a single-symbol length), that is, a “single-symbol Type 1” DMRS configuration; the ports are mapped across at least two resource blocks).
In regards to claim 11, Manolakos teaches, wherein the indication is conveyed to the wireless communication device by at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) signaling or a downlink control information (DCI) signaling (see paragraph 158; DCI or an RRC command to the UE that initially configures the bundling configuration; see paragraph 161; the base station may configure the UE (via, e.g., RRC signaling) with a first bundling sequence given by {1, 2, 4, 8} and a second bundling sequence given by {2, 4, 16}. Then, a time after configuring the UE with the first and second bundling sequences, the UE may transmit control signaling (e.g., the first DCI in a PDSCH) to the UE that triggers the UE to select either the first bundling sequence or the second bundling sequence, as the base station may have determined to be preferable at that time).
In regards to claim 21, Manolakos teaches, wherein the plurality of DMRS ports in the one CDM group comprise up to the 4 DMRS ports over the 4 resource elements and over the one OFDM symbol based on a DMRS being over single orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM, symbol (see figure 4, over symbol 405, there is group of four subcarriers), and wherein the plurality of DMRS ports in the one CDM group comprise up to 8 DMRS ports over 8 REs based on a DMRS being over two continuous OFDM symbols (see figure 5 bottom portion, over two continuous symbol 505 and four subcarriers).
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.
Claim(s) 6, 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Manolakos as stated above further in view of Yu et al. (EP 4262122 A1).
In regards to claims 6 and 12-13, Manolakos teaches all the limitations of the parent claims as stated above.
Yu however teaches, wherein the OCC, when having a length of 4, comprises at least one of:[1,1,1,1];[1,1,-i,- 1];[1,-1,1,-1]; or [1,-i,- 1,1] (see table 1), the indication of the plurality of DMRS ports is conveyed by the DCI signaling, by one bit on a field (see paragraph 246; a value of M may be indicated by one bit in the DCI. For example, when a bit value is 0, it indicates that N=4; or when a bit value is 1, it indicates that N=8) and wherein the RRC signaling configures: an enable of the DMRS ports to apply the OCC in the one CDM group mapping on the plurality of non-continuous resources (see paragraph 231; a value of N may be configured by using radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) signaling or downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI). Alternatively, a value set may be configured by using RRC signaling, and a specific value of N in the value set is indicated by DCI. For example, different values of N are indicated by different status values of a field. For example, if the value set configured by using the RRC signaling is {4, 8}, a value of M may be indicated by one bit in the DCI. For example, when a bit value is 0, it indicates that N=4; or when a bit value is 1, it indicates that N=8).
Manolakos and Yu both deal with DMRS signaling.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate DCI and RRC signaling as taught by Yu into the teachings of Manolakos. The motivation to do so would be make signaling more efficient by decreasing the overhead.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the Yu reference and the rejection under 35 USC 102 filed on 6/7/2026 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.
Conclusion
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/JAY P PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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