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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This is a reply to the application filed on 4/3/2024, in which, claim(s) 1-16 are pending.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 8/12/2024, has been reviewed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the examiner is considering the information disclosure statement.
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.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 4/3/2024 is/are accepted 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6-7, 9-13 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (US 20190393937 A1; hereinafter Kim) in view of Gao et al. (US 20220312334 A1; hereinafter Gao).
Regarding claims 1 and 9, Kim discloses a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
receiving, from a base station (BS), downlink control information (DCI) scheduling [[a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)]] of two codewords (CWs), the DCI including information on an association between a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS) and a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) (the base station transmits, to the terminal, DCI including the following information. The DCI is for transmission using a single antenna port and includes one antenna port of each of DMRS and PCRS allocated to the terminal, and information indicating whether the same precoding is applied to both reference signals, DMRS and PCRS ports. The base station performs scrambling and modulation mapping for a codeword or each of two codewords, performs RE mapping of a modulated symbol of one layer associated with an antenna port, perform OFDM signal generation and transmits the OFDM signal. At this time, the base station transmits DMRS and PCRS together with the data, and both reference signals are transmitted with antenna port numbers indicated by the DCI. The antenna port numbers of both reference signals may be the same [Kim; ¶134-138; Claim 1; Figs. 4s, 9s and associated texts]).
Kim discloses transmitting and receiving a phase compensation reference signal (PCRS) to compensate for phase noise using DCI with PTRS port. Kim does not explicilty discloses a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); however, in a related and analogous art, Liu teaches this feature.
In particular, Liu teaches the first PTRS may be associated to the data signaling and/or control signaling and/or communication signaling of the first signaling. The second PTRS may be associated to the data signaling and/or control signaling and/or communication signaling of the second signaling. The payload of the first and second signaling may be the same in some variants, e.g. when scheduled with a single DCI, and/or may be associated to the same channel or channel type, e.g. data channel or control channel, e.g. PDSCH or PUSCH or PUCCH or PDCCH, when scheduled with one codeword, the PT-RS antenna port is associated with the lowest indexed DM-RS antenna port among the DM-RS antenna ports assigned for the PDSCH. If a UE is scheduled with two codewords (two independent transmissions), the PT-RS antenna port is associated with the lowest indexed DM-RS antenna port among the DM-RS antenna ports assigned for the codeword with the higher MCS. If the MCS indices of the two codewords are the same, the PT-RS antenna port is associated with the lowest indexed DM-RS antenna port assigned for codeword 0. [Gao; ¶31, 54-56]). It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kim in view of Gao PUSCH of two codewords with the motivation to reduced power consumption and preventing overlapping [Gao; ¶11-12].
identifying a PTRS port based on the information (identifying a number of a PTRS antenna port associated with uplink based on the DCI [Kim; ¶134-138; Claim 1; Figs. 4s, 9s and associated texts]); and
transmitting, to the BS, the PUSCH and the PTRS for the PUSCH, wherein the PTRS is transmitted on the PTRS port (transmitting, to the base station, a DMRS and a PTRS based on the DMRS antenna port associated with uplink and the PTRS antenna port associated with uplink [Kim; ¶43, 134-138; Claim 1; Figs. 4s, 9s and associated texts]).
Regarding claims 2 and 10, Kim-Gao combination discloses wherein a number of the PTRS port is configured by information on a maximum number of PTRS ports, and wherein the information on the association between the PTRS and the DMRS includes 2 bits, in case that the number of PTRS port is one, and includes 4 bits, in case that the number of PTRS port is two (Using one bit contained in the DCI, the base station may indicate that the same precoding is applied to the associated DMRS and PCRS ports allocated by the corresponding DCI, up to m-th bit [Kim; ¶112-118]).
Regarding claims 3 and 11, Kim-Gao combination discloses wherein, in case that the number of PTRS port is one, identifying the PTRS port comprises:
in case that modulation and coding scheme (MCS) values for the two CWs are different, identifying a CW with a higher MCS value among the two CWs; in case that the MCS values for the two CWs are same, identifying a first CW among the two CWs; and identifying a DMRS port of the identified CW for the PTRS port based on the information (Through the RRC signaling or the MAC CE setting, the terminal may know which DMRS port group includes each of the DMRS ports. If a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) level of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) allocated through the DCI is greater than a specific threshold value, the terminal may know PCRS allocation information according to the following methods even through the DCI has no allocation information for the PCRS port. The threshold value of the MCS level of the PDSCH may be set in advance in the terminal by the base station through the RRC signaling or the MAC CE. In the following description, it is presumed that the MCS level of the PDSCH allocated by the DCI is greater than a specific threshold value [Kim; ¶124], the PT-RS antenna port is associated with the lowest indexed DM-RS antenna port among the DM-RS antenna ports assigned for the codeword with the higher MCS. If the MCS indices of the two codewords are the same, the PT-RS antenna port is associated with the lowest indexed DM-RS antenna port assigned for codeword 0. [Gao; ¶31, 54-56]). The motivation to reduced power consumption and preventing overlapping [Gao; ¶11-12].
Regarding claims 4 and 12, Kim-Gao combination discloses method of claim 2, wherein, in case that the number of PTRS port is two, identifying the PTRS port comprises: identifying a first DMRS port for a first PTRS port based on two most signification bits (MSBs) of the information; and identifying a second DMRS port for a second PTRS port based on two least significant bits (LSBs) of the information (using value to indicates “0” for PTRS port and “1” for DMRS port. Alternatively, such an indication may be applied in reverse. [Kim; ¶112-117].
Regarding claims 6 and 14, Kim discloses a method performed by a base station (BS) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), downlink control information (DCI) scheduling [[a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)]] of two codewords (CWs), the DCI including information on an association between a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS) and a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) (the base station transmits, to the terminal, DCI including the following information. The DCI is for transmission using a single antenna port and includes one antenna port of each of DMRS and PCRS allocated to the terminal, and information indicating whether the same precoding is applied to both reference signals, DMRS and PCRS ports. The base station performs scrambling and modulation mapping for a codeword or each of two codewords, performs RE mapping of a modulated symbol of one layer associated with an antenna port, perform OFDM signal generation and transmits the OFDM signal. At this time, the base station transmits DMRS and PCRS together with the data, and both reference signals are transmitted with antenna port numbers indicated by the DCI. The antenna port numbers of both reference signals may be the same [Kim; ¶134-138; Claim 2; Figs. 4s, 9s and associated texts]).
Kim discloses transmitting and receiving a phase compensation reference signal (PCRS) to compensate for phase noise using DCI with PTRS port. Kim does not explicilty discloses a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); however, in a related and analogous art, Liu teaches this feature.
In particular, Liu teaches the first PTRS may be associated to the data signaling and/or control signaling and/or communication signaling of the first signaling. The second PTRS may be associated to the data signaling and/or control signaling and/or communication signaling of the second signaling. The payload of the first and second signaling may be the same in some variants, e.g. when scheduled with a single DCI, and/or may be associated to the same channel or channel type, e.g. data channel or control channel, e.g. PDSCH or PUSCH or PUCCH or PDCCH, when scheduled with one codeword, the PT-RS antenna port is associated with the lowest indexed DM-RS antenna port among the DM-RS antenna ports assigned for the PDSCH. If a UE is scheduled with two codewords (two independent transmissions), the PT-RS antenna port is associated with the lowest indexed DM-RS antenna port among the DM-RS antenna ports assigned for the codeword with the higher MCS. If the MCS indices of the two codewords are the same, the PT-RS antenna port is associated with the lowest indexed DM-RS antenna port assigned for codeword 0. [Gao; ¶31, 54-56]). It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kim in view of Gao PUSCH of two codewords with the motivation to reduced power consumption and preventing overlapping [Gao; ¶11-12].
receiving, from the UE, the PUSCH and the PTRS for the PUSCH, wherein the PTRS is received on a PTRS port which is based on the information (receiving, from the terminal, a DMRS and a PTRS based on a DMRS antenna port associated with uplink and a PTRS antenna port associated with uplink, wherein a number of the PTRS antenna port associated with uplink is identified based on the DCI, the DMRS antenna port associated with uplink is identified based on the DCI, and, and the PTRS antenna port associated with uplink is identified based on the DCI and the number of the PTRS antenna port [Kim; ¶134-138; Claim 2; Figs. 4s, 9s and associated texts]).
Regarding claims 7 and 15, Kim-Gao combination discloses wherein a number of PTRS port is configured according to information for a maximum number of PTRS ports configured by higher layer signaling, and wherein the information related to the association between the PTRS and the DMRS port is 2 bits size for one PTRS port or 4 bits size for two PTRS ports (Using one bit contained in the DCI, the base station may indicate that the same precoding is applied to the associated DMRS and PCRS ports allocated by the corresponding DCI, up to m-th bit [Kim; ¶112-118]).
Claim(s) 5, 8, 14 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim-Gao combination in view of Huang et al. (US 20240056254 A1; hereinafter Huang).
Regarding claims 5, 8, 14 and 16, Kim-Gao combination discloses wherein, in case that the plurality of antenna port is [[8 antenna ports based on the DCI, antenna ports of 1000, 1001, 1004, and 1005 are associated with a first PTRS port and antenna ports of 1002, 1003, 1006, and 1007 are associated with a second PTRS port]] (the information related to the association between the PTRS and the DMRS port [Kim; ¶112-118]). Kim does not explicilty discloses the plurality of antenna port is 8 antenna ports based on the DCI, antenna ports of 1000, 1001, 1004, and 1005 are associated with a first PTRS port and antenna ports of 1002, 1003, 1006, and 1007 are associated with a second PTRS port; however, in a related and analogous art, Huang teaches this feature.
In particular, Huang teaches a most significant bit (MSB) of the DCI field of the field in the DCI may indicate that PTRS antenna port 0 is associated with either PUSCH, DMRS, or SRS, while a least significant bit (LSB) of the same field in the DCI may indicate whether the PTRS antenna port 1 is associated with the PUSCH, DMRS, or SRS. PTRS antenna port (e.g., antenna port 0, port 1, port 2, and port 3) and eight antenna ports for PUSCH, SRS, or DMRS transmissions (e.g., antenna port 1000, antenna port 1002, antenna port 1001, antenna port 1003, antenna port 1004, antenna port 1006, antenna port 1005, and antenna port 1007) [Huang; ¶124-129; Fig. 4 and associated text]. It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kim-Gao combination in view of Huang port mapping with the motivation to supports eight transmit chains for faster uplink shared channels and preventing overlapping.
Internet Communications
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Conclusion
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/DAO Q HO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2432