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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 2/29/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 1-6, 8, 17, 20, and 22-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoon et al. (US 20170086153 A1, hereinafter, Yoon) in view of Park et al. (US 10779176 B2, hereinafter, Park) further in view of 3GPP TSG-RAN WG1 Meeting #105-e (R1-2105912, May 10th – 27th, 2021; 8.5.5; (Title: Potential enhancements of information reporting from UE and gNB for multipath/NLOS mitigation), hereinafter, Meeting #105, as mentioned in EPO report)
Regarding Claim 1, Yoon disclose a method for purpose-dependent determination of start of a receiver symbol processing window ("...the placement of the FFT window utilized for OFDM modulation may be selected based on the initial timing reference point of the serving cell. The placement of CPs immediately preceding OFDM symbols may alleviate potential adverse effects of positive timing offset, as the beginning FFT window may merely fall within the cyclic prefix of the desired OFDM symbol..." [¶0071]) the method being performed by a wireless transceiver unit ("...FIG. 14, mobile terminal device may further include antenna 1402, which may receive and/or transmit wireless radio frequency signals..." [¶0247]), the method comprising:
receiving, from another wireless transceiver unit, a reference signal based on which the start of the receiver symbol processing window is to be determined, wherein the reference signal is to be processed for a processing purpose ("Accordingly, DMRS-aided NZP-CSI-RS-based timing offset estimates may be utilized to select a suitable FFT window placement, thereby potentially improving the effectiveness of FFT window placement selection due to the increased range of DMRS-aided NZP-CSI-RS-based timing offset estimation." [¶0225]) ; and
determining a synchronization time offset to from measurements on the reference signal according to an estimation process that is a function of the processing purpose ("TM10 UE type-B may perform timing synchronization tracking for each PQI index by receiving and processing the respective NZP-CSI-RS configuration transmitted by the TP(s) of each PQI index. As previously indicated, a TM10 UE type-B perform timing synchronization by tracking an NZP-CSI-RS-based timing offset estimate based on PQI indices specified by the network for each CoMP subframe. A TM10 UE type-B may thus identify and update an NZP-CSI-RS-based timing offset estimate for each PQI index in a CoMP scheme, thereby maintaining a CSI-RS-based timing offset estimate for each TP without explicit knowledge of the identity of each TP. A UE may then execute downlink reception during each CoMP subframe by utilizing the NZP-CSI-RS-based timing offset estimate associated with the PQI index specified by the network in relation to the current CoMP subframe, such as e.g. by selecting the related NZP-CSI-RS-based timing offset estimate based on the specified PQI index and applying the selected NZP-CSI-RS-based timing offset estimate in phase de-rotation for demodulation of PDSCH data." [¶0055- ¶0056]).
Yoon doesn’t explicitly disclose, wherein the synchronization time offset to defines placement of the start of the receiver symbol processing window, and
selected from a set of at least two different processing purposes; and
wherein, according to the estimation process, the start of the receiver symbol processing window is placed differently with respect to the at least two different processing purposes.
Park in analogous art teaches, wherein the synchronization time offset to defines placement of the start of the receiver symbol processing window ("...wherein the at least one processor is configured to: control the at least one transceiver to receive, from a base station (BS), DRS Measurement Timing Configuration (DMTC) for a DRS measurement window via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling; control the at least one transceiver to receive, from the BS, Indication of DRS Measurement Symbol (IDMS) information related to a DRS measurement symbol, the IDMS information being expressed in a bitmap form; control the at least one transceiver to receive a synchronization signal from a plurality of small BSs; control the at least one transceiver to receive the DRS from the plurality of small BSs; and perform a measurement of the DRS in the DRS measurement window based on the DMTC information and the IDMS information, wherein the period and offset information includes offset information related to a starting point of the DRS measurement window and period information related to a period of the DRS measurement window..." [Claim 11]), and
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of Yoon with the teaching of having synchronization time offset (t0) defines the start of the receiver symbol processing window as disclosed by Park. The rationale for doing so is to help describes a purpose-dependent determination of the start of a receiver symbol processing window.
Meeting #105 teaches, selected from a set of at least two different processing purposes; and wherein, according to the estimation process, the start of the receiver symbol processing window is placed differently with respect to the at least two different processing purposes (Para 2.5 discloses that "the first path can be missed due to using an FFT window which are typically used for communication purposes also being used for computing CIR for positioning purposes. It is important to ensure that right CIR is used in doing NLOS detection using CIR peaks.", see also, “Fig.7 shows a NLOS impulse response where the start of impulse response, the first path falls within the FFT window. However, Fig.8 shows the case when the first path is missed as it may fall out of the FFT window. This can happen when a FFT window is placed to capture maximum energy of an impulse response, which is typically the case while placing FFT windows for communication purposes.” [Page 11-12]. This is a clear to the skilled person not to use the same FFT window for positioning and communication purposes. It is also clear from D1 (para 2.5) that for communication demodulation purposes the FFT window is typically placed to capture maximum energy of an impulse response, whereas for positioning, it is essential to capture the first path during the multipath scenario. Thus it is clear to the skilled person that the start of the receiver symbol processing window should be placed differently according to whether positioning or communication is selected the processing purpose.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of Yoon with the teaching of having a receiver determines a synchronization time offset based on measurements on the reference signal as disclosed by Meeting #105. This approach addresses the need to optimize the receiver processing, for example, to handle multipath environments differently based on the required operation (such as signal demodulation versus location measurement).
Regarding Claim 2, combination of Yoon, Park and Meeting #105 disclose the method according to claim 1.
Yoon doesn’t explicitly disclose, wherein the method further comprises: obtaining information of for which of the at least two different processing purposes the reference signal is to be processed; and
selecting the processing purpose according to the information before determining the synchronization time offset to.
Meeting #105 teaches, wherein the method further comprises: obtaining information of for which of the at least two different processing purposes the reference signal is to be processed and
selecting the processing purpose according to the information before determining the synchronization time offset to (Para 2.5 discloses, ”The first path can be missed due to using an FFT window which are typically used for communication purposes also being used for computing CIR for positioning purposes. It is important to ensure that right CIR is used in doing NLOS detection using CIR peaks.”) [Page 11]; Here, it is clear that two different FFT window is used differently for communication and processing purpose.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of Yoon with the idea of selecting the processing purpose according to the information before determining the synchronization time offset as disclosed by Meeting #105. The motivation of obtaining information on the intended purpose before calculation, the receiver can adapt its synchronization algorithm to prioritize either accuracy (positioning) or speed.
Regarding Claim 3, combination of Yoon, Park and Meeting #105 disclose the method according to claim 1.
Yoon doesn’t explicitly disclose, wherein one of the at least two different processing purposes pertains to wireless communication between the wireless transceiver unit and said another wireless transceiver unit
Meeting #105 teaches, wherein one of the at least two different processing purposes pertains to wireless communication between the wireless transceiver unit and said another wireless transceiver unit (Para 2.5 discloses that "the first path can be missed due to using an FFT window which are typically used for communication purposes also being used for computing CIR for positioning purposes. It is important to ensure that right CIR is used in doing NLOS detection using CIR peaks.").
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of Yoon with the teaching of having one of the at least two processing purposes pertains to wireless communication between the wireless transceiver unit and another transceiver as disclosed by Meeting #105. The motivation for doing this is that a wireless transceiver unit could improves its timing synchronization by differentiating between multiple processing purposes for a received reference signal.
Regarding Claim 4, combination of Yoon, Park and Meeting #105 disclose the method according to claim 1.
Yoon doesn’t explicitly disclose, wherein the estimation process involves estimating an impulse response for the reference signal, and wherein, according to the estimation process, the start of the receiver symbol processing window is placed with an object to maximize signal energy of the impulse response within the receiver symbol processing window.
Meeting #105 teaches, wherein the estimation process involves estimating an impulse response for the reference signal, and wherein, according to the estimation process, the start of the receiver symbol processing window is placed with an object to maximize signal energy of the impulse response within the receiver symbol processing window (Para 2.5 discloses, “Fig.8 shows the case when the first path is missed as it may fall out of the FFT window. This can happen when a FFT window is placed to capture maximum energy of an impulse response, which is typically the case while placing FFT windows for communication purposes. Higher numerologies can be more prone to such issue as the length of cyclic prefix shrinks while the geometries of scenarios and the corresponding time of arrival delay remains same.” [Page 11])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of Yoon with the idea of having a receiver which optimizes the timing of its processing window based on the intended use of the received signal as disclosed by Meeting #105. This approach addresses an idea where instead of simply picking the first path (first arrival), the estimation process determines the optimal placement of the receiver window (start time) to capture the maximum signal energy of the channel impulse response within the processing window.
Regarding Claim 5, combination of Yoon, Park and Meeting #105 disclose the method according to claim 1.
Yoon disclose, wherein one of the at least two different processing purposes pertains to positioning of the wireless transceiver unit ("Accordingly, method 500 and block system 600 may be utilized to adjust FFT window placement based on timing or phase offset estimates for a plurality of different transmission locations, such as e.g. in order to prevent ISI caused by negative timing or phase offset estimates." [¶0113]).
Regarding Claim 6, combination of Yoon, Park and Meeting #105 disclose the method according to claim 1.
Yoon doesn’t explicitly disclose, wherein the estimation process involves estimating an impulse response for the reference signal, wherein the reference signal arrives along at least two multipaths, and
wherein, according to the estimation process, the start of the receiver symbol processing window is placed with an object to retain a tap of the impulse response corresponding to the time-wise first arriving multipath within the receiver symbol processing window.
Meeting #105 teaches, wherein the estimation process involves estimating an impulse response for the reference signal, wherein the reference signal arrives along at least two multipaths (Para 2.5 discloses, “Selecting right Channel Impulse Response (CIR) to detect NLOS using first path/peak”), and
wherein, according to the estimation process, the start of the receiver symbol processing window is placed with an object to retain a tap of the impulse response corresponding to the time-wise first arriving multipath within the receiver symbol processing window (Para 2.5 discloses, "Observation 20: Observation 20: It is important to ensure that CIR used in NLOS detection is not missing the first peak.")
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of Yoon with the teaching where the receiver analyzes the received signal to determine multiple taps of the channel impulse response, identifying at least a first arriving path and subsequent, delayed paths as disclosed by Meeting #105. The motivation for doing this is to ensure that the primary energy of the channel taps is contained within the processing window.
Regarding Claim 8, combination of Yoon, Park and Meeting #105 disclose the method according to claim 1.
Yoon teaches, wherein the reference signal is of a type that is independent from the processing purpose it is to be processed for or is of a type that corresponds to the processing purpose it is to be processed for.("FIG. 13 shows method 1300, which is a method of processing signals. In 1302, method 1300 may determine a transmission offset estimate for each of a plurality of transmission locations based on a plurality of reference signal patterns to generate a plurality of transmission offset estimates, wherein each of the plurality of reference signal patterns corresponds to a respective transmission location of the plurality of transmission locations..." [¶0240]).
Regarding Claim 20, Yoon disclose, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium ("Mobile terminal device 1400 may include further internal components not explicitly pictured in FIG. 14. For example, mobile terminal device 1400 may further include additional components, including hardware, processors, memory, and other specialty or generic..." [¶0248]) storing a computer program for purpose-dependent determination of start of a receiver symbol processing window, the computer program comprising computer code ("...The core CPU may be configured to execute applications, such as e.g. applications corresponding to program code stored in a memory component of mobile terminal 1400..."[ ¶0240]) which, when run on processing circuitry [Element 1406] of a wireless transceiver unit, causes the wireless transceiver unit to ("As shown in FIG. 14, mobile terminal device may further include antenna 1402, which may receive and/or transmit wireless radio frequency signals. Receiver 1404 may be connected with antenna 1404 such that receiver 1404 may control the reception and transmission of wireless radio frequency signals." [¶0247]):
receive, from another wireless transceiver unit, a reference signal based on which the start of the receiver symbol processing window is to be determined, wherein the reference signal is to be processed for a processing purpose selected from a set of at least two different processing purposes; and
determine a synchronization time offset to from measurements on the reference signal according to an estimation process that is a function of the processing purpose,
wherein the synchronization time offset to defines placement of the start of the receiver symbol processing window, and
wherein, according to the estimation process, the start of the receiver symbol processing window is placed differently with respect to the at least two different processing purposes.
Regarding claim 17 “Wireless Transceiver”, are rejected under the same reasoning as claim 1 “Method-UE”, where “Yoon/Park/Meeting#105” teach “Wireless Transceiver”/Method-UE/ CRM.
Regarding claims 20 “Wireless Transceiver”, are rejected under the same reasoning as claim 1 “Method-UE”, where “Yoon/Park/Meeting#105” teaches “Wireless Transceiver”/ Method-UE/CRM.
Regarding claims 22-24 “Wireless Transceiver”, are rejected under the same reasoning as claims [2-4] “Method-UE”, where “Yoon/Park/Meeting#105” teach “Wireless Transceiver”/ Method-UE/CRM.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoon in view of Park in view of Meeting #105 further in view of CAPOZIO PIERGIORGIO (EP1624636B1, hereinafter, Capozio)
Regarding Claim 12, combination of Yoon, Park and Meeting #105 disclose the method according to claim 1.
Yoon doesn’t explicitly disclose, wherein the reference signal has a cyclic prefix with a time length TCP, and wherein the method further comprises: processing blocks extracted from the reference signal according to the processing purpose, starting in time from the block at time to + TCP + δ, where δ> 0 is a delay factor.
Capozio discloses, wherein the reference signal has a cyclic prefix with a time length TCP, and wherein the method further comprises: processing blocks extracted from the reference signal according to the processing purpose, starting in time from the block at time to + TCP + δ, where δ> 0 is a delay factor ("As is well known to those skilled in the art, the cyclic prefix is inserted by the transmitter Tx during a phase known as Cyclic Prefix Insertion. By using the cyclic prefix with OFDM systems, the so-called "multipath" phenomenon (being caused by multiple reflections), which is inherently due to the radio channel CH, can be countered. Being the cyclic prefix a redundant part of the transmitted signal, the receiver 100 will provide to remove it (Cyclic Prefix Removal) in the course of the receiving process. In the description of the receiver 100 and the functioning thereof, the cyclic prefix removal phase being carried out by the serial-to-parallel conversion stage 14, is not described in detail because it can be carried out by conventional techniques." [Section II]. This is the very basic of Communication Theory and is not a new feature. It is well known in the field of communication that cyclic prefix is attached to OFDM to take care of multipath delay and maintain orthogonality. Therefore, if OFDM reference symbol is transmitted of symbol time to, the receiver can only start processing when the symbol with cyclic prefix is received, i.e., to+TCP. Additional delay factor might account for prep time for the processing block and any additional delay from transmitter to receiver.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of Yoon with the idea, instead of starting the processing (such as FFT) exactly at the end of the CP, the processing begins with a delay δ( δ>0), as disclosed by Capozio. The motivation for using this delay factor is to ensure that the processed block is extracted from the "useful part" of the symbol, completely avoiding interference from previous symbols caused by multipath delay spread.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoon in view of Park in view of Meeting #105 further in view of Marinier et al. (US 20190007181 A1, hereinafter, Marinier)
Regarding Claim 13, combination of Yoon, Park and Meeting #105 disclose the method according to claim 1.
Yoon doesn’t explicitly disclose, wherein at least two estimation processes are applied to the same reference signal, one for each of the at least two different processing purposes.
Marinier in related art relates, wherein at least two estimation processes are applied to the same reference signal, one for each of the at least two different processing purposes ("...For example, a DCI and/or a precoding process may indicate that a set of demodulation reference signals over multiple TTIs use a same precoding process, a same precoding state, a same precoder set, and/or the like. The DCI may indicate that a set of demodulation reference signals over multiple TTIs may be used in combination. The combination of the set of demodulation reference signals over multiple TTIs may enable channel estimation for demodulation..." [¶0239].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of Yoon with the teaching of having two estimation processes that are applied to the same reference signal, one for each of the at least two different processing purposes as disclosed by Marinier. The motivation for doing this, by utilizing the same reference signal, the method reduces the overhead required for pilots, improving spectral efficiency, as opposed to requiring a dedicated pilot signal for every single purpose.
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoon in view of Park in view of Meeting #105 further in view of Sahlin et al. (US 20150365975 A1, hereinafter, Sahlin)
Regarding Claim 16, combination of Yoon, Park and Meeting #105 disclose the method according to claim 1.
Yoon doesn’t explicitly teach, wherein the receiver symbol processing window has a length in time equal to symbol time of the reference signal.
Sahlin in similar art teaches, wherein the receiver symbol processing window has a length in time equal to symbol time of the reference signal ("Turning again to FIG. 3, a preamble sequence 110, or preamble format, is proposed herein in which FFT windows 111 of the same size as used for other uplink channels, e.g., PUSCH, and reference signals, e.g., DMRS, SRS, can be used during detection of the preamble. Thus, no special FFT window needs to be implemented in order to detect the preamble sequence." [¶0065]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teaching of Yoon with the teaching of aligning the processing window to the exact duration of the symbol as disclosed by Sahlin. The motivation for doing this is that the receiver aims to capture the entire signal energy of that specific symbol for processing.
Objection to Claims, Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, 10-11, 14-15 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
References cited but not used: Vrcelj et al. (US-20060233097) - can be used for independent claims 1, 17, and 20 in addition to the one used.
References cited but not used: Jia; Yongkang (US 20100067632 A1)- can be used for independent claims 1, 17, and 20 in addition to the one used.
References cited but not used: Iwai et al. (US 20210392022 A1)- can be used for independent claims 1, 17, and 20 in addition to the one used.
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/MUHAMMAD AINUL HUDA/Examiner, Art Unit 2467
/HASSAN A PHILLIPS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2467
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