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 .
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
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.
Claims 1-20 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.
Claims 1 and 15 recite the limitation "the operating action" in lines 12-13. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claims. Claims 1 and 15 recite "operating a first signal..." then proceed to recite "the operating action is receiving, or, the operating action is transmitting." In the interest of compact prosecution, the examiner will examine “the operating action” as the operation of the first signal.
Claim 8 recites the limitation "the executing action" in lines 12-13. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. In the interest of compact prosecution, the examiner will examine “the executing action” as the execution of the first signal. Appropriate corrections are required.
Dependent claims 2-7, 9-14, and 16-20 are rejected because they depend on a rejected base claim.
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.
Claims 1, 8, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over QIN et al. (US 20200014515, hereinafter, “QIN”) in view of GAO et al. (US 20210184742, hereinafter, “GAO”), and further in view of LIU et al. (US 20230344585, hereinafter, “LIU”).
Claim 1. QIN teaches: A first node for wireless communications, comprising: - See Fig. 1,
a first receiver, receiving a first signaling, - See Fig. 13, ¶ [0161], (“The receiver is configured to receive a signal…”) the first signaling being used to indicate a first reference signal resource; - See Fig. 8, ¶ [0121], (“in step 801, a base station 110 sends an indication of a plurality of reference signal resources…to the terminal 120.”); ¶ [0123], (“Information about a reference signal resource includes one or more types of the following: an indication of mapping the reference signal to a time-frequency resource, a reference signal period, a reference signal port”, The indication of reference signal resources is equated to first signaling.) and
a first transceiver, - See Fig. 13, ¶ [0161], (“transceiver 131”) operating a first signal in a first time-frequency resource set, - See Fig. 8, ¶ [0122], (“In step 802, the terminal 120 sends a reference signal based on the first indication information and the indication of the plurality of reference signal resources…¶ [0123] A reference signal resource is a part of a resource in a slot…an indication of mapping the reference signal to a time-frequency resource”, reference signal resources mapped to time-frequency (eq. time-frequency resource set)) the first reference signal resource being used to determine spatial parameters of the first signal; - See Fig. 8, ¶ [0121], (“base station 110 sends an indication of a plurality of reference signal resources…the indication indicates that the plurality of reference signal resources belong to a first group…indicates a quasi co-location (QCL) relationship between antenna ports of a reference signal transmitted on the plurality of reference signal resources in the first group.”); ¶ [0125], (“The parameter may be…an angle of departure (AOD)…a receive antenna spatial correlation parameter…”)
wherein the first signaling is used to indicate the first time-frequency resource set; - See Fig. 8, ¶ [0122], (“In step 802, the terminal 120 sends a reference signal based on the first indication information and the indication of the plurality of reference signal resources…¶ [0123] A reference signal resource is a part of a resource in a slot…an indication of mapping the reference signal to a time-frequency resource”, reference signal resources mapped to time-frequency (eq. time-frequency resource set))
the first reference signal resource is one of K1 candidate reference signal resources, - See Fig. 8, ¶ [0121], (“in step 801, a base station 110 sends an indication of a plurality of reference signal resources…to the terminal 120.”) K1 is a positive integer greater than 1, - See Fig. 8, ¶ [0121], (“…a plurality of reference signal resources…”) and the first signaling indicates the first reference signal resource from the K1 candidate reference signal resources; - in ¶ [0150 - 0151], (“configuration information includes an identifier of the first resource…an identifier in a candidate set of first resources…the candidate set of first resources includes one or more first resources that are configured by the base station…”)
time-domain resources occupied by the first time-frequency resource set are used to determine the target reference signal resource set from the M1 reference signal resource sets; the operating action is receiving, or, the operating action is transmitting. - See Fig. 8, ¶ [0121], (“in step 801, a base station 110 sends an indication of a plurality of reference signal resources…to the terminal 120.”); ¶ [0122], (“In step 802, the terminal 120 sends a reference signal based on the first indication information…”)
QIN does not explicitly teach:
a target reference signal resource set comprises K1 candidate reference signal resources, and the target reference signal resource set is one of M1 reference signal resource sets, where M1 is a positive integer greater than 1;
However, GAO teaches:
a target reference signal resource set comprises K1 candidate reference signal resources, - See Fig. 4, ¶ [0111], (“one reference signal resource set includes K reference signal resources…where N, M, K and L are integers greater than or equal to 1.”) and the target reference signal resource set is one of M1 reference signal resource sets, where M1 is a positive integer greater than 1; - See Fig. 4, ¶ [0111], (“one reference signal resource setting includes M reference signal resource sets, one reference signal resource set includes K reference signal resources…where N, M, K and L are integers greater than or equal to 1.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified QIN with GAO to include a target reference signal resource set comprises K1 candidate reference signal resources and is one of M1 reference signal resource sets, as taught by GAO. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to improve wireless communication and reduce signaling overhead by using specific indexes, as suggested by GAO, improving communication robustness. - ¶ [0004]
Combination of QIN and GAO does not explicitly teach:
time-domain resources occupied by the first time-frequency resource set are used to determine the target reference signal resource set from the M1 reference signal resource sets; the operating action is receiving, or, the operating action is transmitting
However, LIU teaches:
time-domain resources occupied by the first time-frequency resource set are used to determine the target reference signal resource set from the M1 reference signal resource sets; the operating action is receiving, or, the operating action is transmitting. – See Fig. 2-3, ¶ [0003], (“sounding reference signal (SRS)”); ¶ [0194], (“Different SRS resource sets correspond to different time-frequency resources occupied by PUSCH…the PUSCH occupies two OFDM symbol groups. Each OFDM symbol group corresponds to one SRS resource set…PUSCH occupies a slot 0 and a slot 1…two SRS resource sets (an SRS resource set 0 and an SRS resource set 1)…the slot 0 corresponds to…SRS resource set 0, and the slot 1 corresponds to…SRS resource set 1.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified QIN and GAO with LIU to include time-domain resources occupied by the first time-frequency resource set are used to determine the target reference signal resource set from the M1 reference signal resource sets, as taught by LIU. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to reduce signaling overhead, as suggested by LIU, This application provides an indication method, to reduce signaling overheads. - ¶ [0004]
Claims 8, 15 are rejected under the same rationale as Claim 1 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claims 4-5, 11-12, and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over QIN et al. (US 20200014515, hereinafter, “QIN”) in view of GAO et al. (US 20210184742, hereinafter, “GAO”), and further in view of LIU et al. (US 20230344585, hereinafter, “LIU”) and LIU et al. (US 20240007246, hereinafter, “LIU’246”).
Claim 4. Combination of QIN, GAO, and LIU teaches The first node according to claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Combination of QIN, GAO, and LIU does not explicitly teach:
wherein the first receiver receives a first information block; the first information block is used to indicate a format adopted by a symbol comprised in the time-domain resources occupied by the first time-frequency resource set.
However, LIU’246 teaches:
wherein the first receiver receives a first information block; - See Fig. 5, ¶ [0239], (“The first information block is received in operation S512…¶ [0241], (“the first information block is generated by measuring the first reference signal group.“) the first information block is used to indicate a format adopted by a symbol – in ¶ [0300 – 0301], (“the first reference resource block occupies a positive integer of multiple carrier symbols in one time slot in the time domain…the time domain resources occupied by the first information block are used to determine the time domain resources occupied by the first reference resource block.”) comprised in the time-domain resources occupied by the first time-frequency resource set. - See Fig. 6, ¶ [0026], (“a time domain position of a first reference resource block associated with a time domain resource occupied by a first information block”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified QIN, GAO, and LIU with LIU’246 to include the first information block, as taught by LIU’246. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to reduce latency, as suggested by LIU’246, (NR) system supports a more diverse range of application scenarios, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC). - ¶ [0003]
Claim 5. Combination of QIN, GAO, and LIU teaches The first node according to claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
LIU’246 further teaches:
wherein the first receiver receives a second information block; - See Fig. 5, ¶ [0240], (“the second information block is received in operation S5201.”) the second information block is used to indicate the M1 reference signal resource sets. - in ¶ [0239], (“the second information block is transmitted in operation S5101. The first reference signal group is transmitted in operation S511. The signal is transmitted in the second reference signal resource in operation S5102. The signal is transmitted in M reference signal resources in operation S5103.”); ¶ [0252], (“The second information block indicates the first reporting configuration, the first reporting configuration indicates a set of first reporting quantities and a set of first reference signals”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified QIN, GAO, and LIU with LIU’246 to include the second information block, as taught by LIU’246. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to reduce latency, as suggested by LIU’246, (NR) system supports a more diverse range of application scenarios, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC). - ¶ [0003]
Claims 11, 18 are rejected under the same rationale as Claim 4 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claims 12, 19 are rejected under the same rationale as Claim 5 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Shima Wasel whose telephone number is (703)756-4725. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 5:00 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, Khaled Kassim can be reached at (571) 270-3770. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SHIMA WASEL/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2475
/KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475
Prosecution Insights