DETAILED ACTION
This Non-Final Office Action is in response to application number 18/553,097 filed on September 28th 2023. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statements
The Information Disclosure Statements (IDS), submitted on October 2nd 2025 and May 13th 2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 18 is objected to because of the following informalities: The assumed intended reference to claim 1 has been deleted. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. Claim 19 is directed to a computer storage medium, which is non-statutory unless claimed as a non-transitory computer storage medium. (See In re Nuijten, 500 F.3d 1346,1356-57 (Fed. Cir. 2007) and Interim Examination Instructions for Evaluating Subject Matter Eligibility Under 35 USC 101, Aug. 24, 2009; p.2.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1,7-9,12 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) as being anticipated by Zhang et al. (US 20220303097 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 17, Zhang et al. disclose a method for transmitting information, performed by user equipment (UE), and comprising: obtaining a target demodulation reference signal (DMRS) port associated with uplink transmission for phase-tracking reference signal (PT-RS), wherein the target DMRS port is used for PT-RS transmission at a first transmission occasion of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) (US 20220303097 Paragraph 0044 discloses “The association between a PTRS port and a DMRS port may be provided through control signaling that provides the grant information. For example, for DG-PUSCH, the association between a PTRS and a DMRS port may be indicated by a DCI field PTRS-DMRS association with reference to Table 1 for one PTRS port and Table 2 for two PTRS ports.”); determining a target DMRS port associated with each subsequent transmission occasion for a PT-RS transmission, wherein one PT-RS port corresponds to one target DMRS port at each transmission occasion, the target DMRS port is comprised in a DMRS port group associated with the corresponding PT-RS port, and target DMRS ports corresponding to two adjacent transmission occasions are different (US 20220303097 Paragraph 0102 discloses “configuration information may indicate that the PTRS-to-DMRS association is to be based on PTRS port cycling. For example, if the DG-PUSCH transmission is associated with N DMRS ports, where N is an integer, the PTRS-to-DMRS association may be determined for each repetition of a repetition set based on a repetition index (k) among the one or more repetitions. For example, a PTRS port may be associated with DMRS port k mod N. In this embodiment, k=0 for a first repetition of particular repetition set and is incremented by one for subsequent repetitions of the repetition set.” Additionally paragraph 0160); and mapping a PT-RS port to a corresponding target DMRS port at each transmission occasion for the PT-RS transmission (US 20220303097 Paragraph 0045 discloses “… if one PTRS port is enabled, and value ‘0’ is indicated in DCI, then, based on Table 1, the one PTRS port, e.g., PTRS port 0, is associated with the first scheduled DMRS port.”)
Regarding claim 7, Zhang et al. disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein obtaining the target DMRS port associated with uplink PT-RS transmission comprises: obtaining downlink control information (DCI) sent by a base station, wherein the DCI comprises the target DMRS port (US 20220303097 Paragraph 0044 discloses “The association between a PTRS port and a DMRS port may be provided through control signaling that provides the grant information. For example, for DG-PUSCH, the association between a PTRS and a DMRS port may be indicated by a DCI field PTRS-DMRS association with reference to Table 1 for one PTRS port and Table 2 for two PTRS ports.”)
Regarding claim 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the PT-RS is used for repeated transmission based on a scheduled PUSCH and/or repeated transmission based on a non-scheduled PUSCH (US 20220303097 Paragraph 0052 discloses “A first option may include using only a single port PTRS port for PUSCH scheduled with repetitions…”)
Regarding claim 9, Zhang et al. disclose a method for transmitting information, performed by a base station, and comprising: sending a target DMRS port associated with uplink transmission for phase-tracking reference signal (PT-RS) to UE, wherein the target DMRS port is used for PT-RS transmission of a PUSCH at a first transmission occasion (US 20220303097 Paragraph 0044 discloses “The association between a PTRS port and a DMRS port may be provided through control signaling that provides the grant information. For example, for DG-PUSCH, the association between a PTRS and a DMRS port may be indicated by a DCI field PTRS-DMRS association with reference to Table 1 for one PTRS port and Table 2 for two PTRS ports.”)
Regarding claim 12, Zhang et al. disclose the method according to claim 9, wherein sending the target DMRS port associated with uplink transmission for PT-RS to the UE comprises: sending DCI to the UE, wherein the DCI comprises the target DMRS port (US 20220303097 Paragraph 0044 discloses “The association between a PTRS port and a DMRS port may be provided through control signaling that provides the grant information. For example, for DG-PUSCH, the association between a PTRS and a DMRS port may be indicated by a DCI field PTRS-DMRS association with reference to Table 1 for one PTRS port and Table 2 for two PTRS ports.”)
Regarding claim 18, Zhang et al. disclose a base station, comprising: a transceiver; a memory; and a processor, connected with the transceiver and the memory, configured to control wireless signal transceiving of the transceiver and execute computer-executable instructions stored in the memory to implement the method according to (Paragraph 0135).
Regarding claim 19, Zhang et al. disclose a computer storage medium, storing computer-executable instructions, wherein the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor to implement the method according to claim 1 (Paragraph 0122).
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 may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 2-6 ,10-11,13-14 and 20-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (US 20220303097 A1) in view of Moles et al. (CA 3082587 A1).
Regarding claims 2 and 20, Zhang et al. disclose the method according to claim 1, further comprising: obtaining an alternate mapping configuration instruction sent by the base station (US 20220303097 Paragraph 0102 discloses “configuration information may indicate that the PTRS-to-DMRS association is to be based on PTRS port cycling. For example, if the DG-PUSCH transmission is associated with N DMRS ports, where N is an integer, the PTRS-to-DMRS association may be determined for each repetition of a repetition set based on a repetition index (k) among the one or more repetitions. For example, a PTRS port may be associated with DMRS port k mod N. In this embodiment, k=0 for a first repetition of particular repetition set and is incremented by one for subsequent repetitions of the repetition set.” Additionally paragraph 0160).
Zhang et al. fail to explicitly disclose sending UE capability information to a base station, wherein the UE capability information is used for indicating whether the UE has a sending capability supporting PT-RS alternate mapping;
However in an analogous art Moles et al. teaches sending UE capability information to a base station, wherein the UE capability information is used for indicating whether the UE has a sending capability supporting PT-RS alternate mapping (CA 3082587 A1 Page 49 Bullet 3 discloses “UE to report the desired maximum number of UL PTRS ports as UE capability”);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Zhang et al. to incorporate the teachings of Moles et al. to indicate whether the UE has a sending capability supporting PT-RS alternate mapping, in order provide the base station with flexibility to manage interference.
Regarding claims 3 and 21, Zhang et al. disclose the method according to claim 1, further comprising: obtaining an alternate mapping configuration instruction sent by the base station when the UE capability information indicates that the UE has the sending capability supporting PT-RS alternate mapping, the alternate mapping configuration instruction being used for indicating the UE to transmit the PT-RS according to PT-RS alternate mapping; at the same time, obtaining an alternate mapping parameter K and/or a port selecting rule configured by the base station, wherein the alternate mapping parameter K is used for indicating a number of alternate mapping DMRS ports supported by the UE on each PT-RS port, K is a positive integer, and 2≤K≤a number of DMRS ports in the DMRS port group associated with the corresponding PT-RS port; and determining, by the UE, the corresponding target DMRS port used for transmitting the PT-RS at each subsequent transmission occasion according to the alternate mapping configuration instruction and according to the port selecting rule and the alternate mapping parameter K (US 20220303097 Paragraph 0102 discloses “configuration information may indicate that the PTRS-to-DMRS association is to be based on PTRS port cycling. For example, if the DG-PUSCH transmission is associated with N DMRS ports, where N is an integer, the PTRS-to-DMRS association may be determined for each repetition of a repetition set based on a repetition index (k) among the one or more repetitions. For example, a PTRS port may be associated with DMRS port k mod N. In this embodiment, k=0 for a first repetition of particular repetition set and is incremented by one for subsequent repetitions of the repetition set.” Additionally paragraph 0160).
Zhang et al. fail to explicitly disclose sending UE capability information to a base station, wherein the UE capability information is used for indicating whether the UE has a sending capability supporting PT-RS alternate mapping;
However in an analogous art Moles et al. teaches sending UE capability information to a base station, wherein the UE capability information is used for indicating whether the UE has a sending capability supporting PT-RS alternate mapping (CA 3082587 A1 Page 49 Bullet 3 discloses “UE to report the desired maximum number of UL PTRS ports as UE capability”);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Zhang et al. to incorporate the teachings of Moles et al. to indicate whether the UE has a sending capability supporting PT-RS alternate mapping, in order provide the base station with flexibility to manage interference.
Regarding claims 4 and 22, Zhang et al. disclose the method according to claim 3, wherein the alternate mapping parameter K and/or the port selecting rule are/is configured by the base station through high-layer signaling (US 20220303097 Paragraph 0102 discloses “configuration information may indicate that the PTRS-to-DMRS association is to be based on PTRS port cycling. For example, if the DG-PUSCH transmission is associated with N DMRS ports, where N is an integer, the PTRS-to-DMRS association may be determined for each repetition of a repetition set based on a repetition index (k) among the one or more repetitions. For example, a PTRS port may be associated with DMRS port k mod N. In this embodiment, k=0 for a first repetition of particular repetition set and is incremented by one for subsequent repetitions of the repetition set.”.
Regarding claims 5 and 13, Zhang et al. disclose the method according to claim 2, wherein the UE comprises a single PT-RS port, and the PT-RS port is associated with a group of DMRS ports scheduled and assigned for the UE (US 20220303097 Paragraph 0095 discloses “ In particular, one or more PTRS ports may be associated with one or more scheduled DMRS ports.” )
Regarding claims 6 and 14, Zhang et al. disclose the method according to claim 2, wherein the UE comprises a plurality of PT-RS ports, and each PT-RS port is associated with a DMRS port group, wherein the DMRS port group associated with each PT-RS port is configured by the base station through high-layer signaling (US 20220303097 Paragraph 0095 discloses “ In particular, one or more PTRS ports may be associated with one or more scheduled DMRS ports.”; and each PT-RS port corresponds to an alternate mapping parameter K that is predefined or is configured by the base station Paragraph 0093 discloses “The one or more DCI may include the indications of the association values in one or more fields.” )
Regarding claim 10, Zhang et al. disclose the method according to claim 9, further comprising: sending an alternate mapping configuration instruction to the UE when the UE capability information received by the base station indicates that the UE has the sending capability supporting PT-RS alternate mapping, wherein the alternate mapping configuration instruction is used for indicating the UE to transmit the PT-RS according to PT-RS alternate mapping (US 20220303097 Paragraph 0102 discloses “configuration information may indicate that the PTRS-to-DMRS association is to be based on PTRS port cycling. For example, if the DG-PUSCH transmission is associated with N DMRS ports, where N is an integer, the PTRS-to-DMRS association may be determined for each repetition of a repetition set based on a repetition index (k) among the one or more repetitions. For example, a PTRS port may be associated with DMRS port k mod N. In this embodiment, k=0 for a first repetition of particular repetition set and is incremented by one for subsequent repetitions of the repetition set.” Additionally paragraph 0160).
Zhang et al. fail to explicitly disclose receiving UE capability information sent by the UE, wherein the UE capability information is used for indicating whether the UE has a sending capability supporting PT-RS alternate mapping;
However in an analogous art Moles et al. teaches receiving UE capability information sent by the UE, wherein the UE capability information is used for indicating whether the UE has a sending capability supporting PT-RS alternate mapping (CA 3082587 A1 Page 49 Bullet 3 discloses “UE to report the desired maximum number of UL PTRS ports as UE capability”);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Zhang et al. to incorporate the teachings of Moles et al. to indicate whether the UE has a sending capability supporting PT-RS alternate mapping, in order provide the base station with flexibility to manage interference.
Regarding claim 11, Zhang et al. disclose the method according to claim 10, further comprising: sending an alternate mapping parameter K and/or a port selecting rule to the UE through high-layer signaling (US 20220303097 Paragraph 0102 discloses “configuration information may indicate that the PTRS-to-DMRS association is to be based on PTRS port cycling. For example, if the DG-PUSCH transmission is associated with N DMRS ports, where N is an integer, the PTRS-to-DMRS association may be determined for each repetition of a repetition set based on a repetition index (k) among the one or more repetitions. For example, a PTRS port may be associated with DMRS port k mod N. In this embodiment, k=0 for a first repetition of particular repetition set and is incremented by one for subsequent repetitions of the repetition set.” Additionally paragraph 0160).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Samuel Dilan Rutnam whose telephone number is 703-756-1374. The examiner can normally be reached between 8:30am-5:00pm Mon-Fri.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy Kundu can be reached on 571-272-8586.
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/Samuel Dilan Rutnam/
Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/MOHAMMAD S ADHAMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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