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 .
Introduction
The claims 1-20 are pending in this application. This is a non-final office action in response to Application Number 18/650,388 filed on 30 April 2024 with a preliminary amendment filed on 23 May 2024 in which claims 1-3, 5-9, 11-13, and 15-18 are amended, no claims are canceled, and no claims are added.
The instant application is a continuation of PCT/CN2022/129598 filed on 3 November 2022 and also claims foreign priority to Chinese Application CN202111301685.X filed on 4 November 2021.
The applicant of record is Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. and the inventors of record are Weilin Qu, Yiling Wu, Zhe Jin, Jun Chen, and Zhihu Luo.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 30 July 2024, 27 January 2025, and 17 March 2025 were filed after the filing date of the application on 30 April 2024 and before the mailing date of the first office action on the merits. The submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Interpretation
The claims have been considered according to the latest Patent Eligibility Guidelines and are considered eligible.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Si et al. (U.S. Patent Publication 2018/0123849).
Regarding claim 1, Si disclosed a method, comprising:
generating a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) time domain signal (see Si [0152]: “In one embodiment, the NR-PSS is mapped in time domain, which means the NR-PSS sequence is mapped across the OFDM samples in time domain.” | [0225]: “In another embodiment, NR-PSS, NR-SSS and NR-PBCH can be multiplexed in frequency domain. For example, each of the NR-PSS, NR-SSS and NR-PBCH occupied a predefined part of the transmission bandwidth and transmitted using the same symbol duration. In yet another embodiment, NR-PSS, NR-SSS and NR-PBCH can be multiplexed in a hybrid pattern consisted of both time domain and frequency domain multiplexing.”), wherein the first OFDM time domain signal comprises N first modulation symbols arranged in time domain (see Si Fig. 4, [0095]: “…Serial-to-parallel block 410 converts (i.e., de-multiplexes) the serial modulated symbols to parallel data to produce N parallel symbol streams where N is the IFFT/FFT size used in BS 102 and UE 116. Size N IFFT block 415 then performs an IFFT operation on the N parallel symbol streams to produce time-domain output signals. Parallel-to-serial block 420 converts (i.e., multiplexes) the parallel time-domain output symbols from Size N IFFT block 415 to produce a serial time-domain signal. Add cyclic prefix block 425 then inserts a cyclic prefix to the time-domain signal…” | Fig. 5, [0107]: “As shown in FIG. 5, information bits 510 are encoded by encoder 520, such as a turbo encoder, and modulated by modulator 530, for example using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation. A serial to parallel (S/P) converter 540 generates M modulation symbols that are subsequently provided to a mapper 550 to be mapped to REs selected by a transmission BW selection unit 555 for an assigned PDSCH transmission BW, unit 560 applies an Inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), the output is then serialized by a parallel to serial (P/S) converter 570 to create a time domain signal, filtering is applied by filter 580, and a signal transmitted 590. Additional functionalities, such as data scrambling, cyclic prefix insertion, time windowing, interleaving, and others are well known in the art and are not shown for brevity.”), and the first modulation symbol is an amplitude shift keying modulation symbol (see Si [0422]: “In some embodiments of component XII, amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation for NR-SSS, amplitude shift keying (ASK) schemes use modulation signals with different amplitudes to represent different sets of bits. Several options of ASK for NR-SSS modulation are considered here, which take one or more binary bits in the input bit stream, denoted by b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 (m(i) is number of bits mapped to one modulated symbol for codeword i, and b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 are segment of the long sequence e.sub.0.sup.(i), . . . , e.sub.E(i)-1.sup.(i) (1707 in FIG. 17)), to output a complex-valued modulation symbol s=I+jQ, where I (inphase component) and Q (quadrature component) are real numbers.”); and
sending the first OFDM time domain signal (see Si Fig. 5, [0107]: “…create a time domain signal, filtering is applied by filter 580, and a signal transmitted 590…”), wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 2 (see Si [0094]: “…It may be appreciated that for DFT and IDFT functions, the value of the N variable may be any integer number (i.e., 1, 4, 3, 4, etc.), while for FFT and IFFT functions, the value of the N variable may be any integer number that is a power of two (i.e., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.).” | [0422]: “In some embodiments of component XII, amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation for NR-SSS, amplitude shift keying (ASK) schemes use modulation signals with different amplitudes to represent different sets of bits. Several options of ASK for NR-SSS modulation are considered here, which take one or more binary bits in the input bit stream, denoted by b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 (m(i) is number of bits mapped to one modulated symbol for codeword i, and b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 are segment of the long sequence e.sub.0.sup.(i), . . . , e.sub.E(i)-1.sup.(i) (1707 in FIG. 17)), to output a complex-valued modulation symbol s=I+jQ, where I (inphase component) and Q (quadrature component) are real numbers.”).
Regarding claim 2, Si disclosed the method according to claim 1, wherein generating the first OFDM time domain signal further comprises:
generating a first frequency domain sequence (see Si Fig. 4, [0095]: “In transmit path circuitry 400, channel coding and modulation block 405 receives a set of information bits, applies coding (e.g., LDPC coding) and modulates (e.g., quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)) the input bits to produce a sequence of frequency-domain modulation symbols…”), wherein there is a mapping relationship between the first frequency domain sequence and the N first modulation symbols (see Si Fig. 5, [0107]: “As shown in FIG. 5, information bits 510 are encoded by encoder 520, such as a turbo encoder, and modulated by modulator 530, for example using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation. A serial to parallel (S/P) converter 540 generates M modulation symbols that are subsequently provided to a mapper 550 to be mapped to REs selected by a transmission BW selection unit 555 for an assigned PDSCH transmission BW, unit 560 applies an Inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), the output is then serialized by a parallel to serial (P/S) converter 570 to create a time domain signal, filtering is applied by filter 580, and a signal transmitted 590. Additional functionalities, such as data scrambling, cyclic prefix insertion, time windowing, interleaving, and others are well known in the art and are not shown for brevity.” | [0422]: “In some embodiments of component XII, amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation for NR-SSS, amplitude shift keying (ASK) schemes use modulation signals with different amplitudes to represent different sets of bits. Several options of ASK for NR-SSS modulation are considered here, which take one or more binary bits in the input bit stream, denoted by b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 (m(i) is number of bits mapped to one modulated symbol for codeword i, and b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 are segment of the long sequence e.sub.0.sup.(i), . . . , e.sub.E(i)-1.sup.(i) (1707 in FIG. 17)), to output a complex-valued modulation symbol s=I+jQ, where I (inphase component) and Q (quadrature component) are real numbers.”); and
generating the first OFDM time domain signal based on the first frequency domain sequence (see Si Fig. 4, [0095]: “…Serial-to-parallel block 410 converts (i.e., de-multiplexes) the serial modulated symbols to parallel data to produce N parallel symbol streams where N is the IFFT/FFT size used in BS 102 and UE 116. Size N IFFT block 415 then performs an IFFT operation on the N parallel symbol streams to produce time-domain output signals. Parallel-to-serial block 420 converts (i.e., multiplexes) the parallel time-domain output symbols from Size N IFFT block 415 to produce a serial time-domain signal. Add cyclic prefix block 425 then inserts a cyclic prefix to the time-domain signal…”).
Regarding claim 3, Si disclosed the method according to claim 2, wherein generating the first frequency domain sequence further comprises:
generating the first frequency domain sequence based on a second frequency domain sequence, wherein a time domain signal mapped to the first frequency domain sequence comprises a part of or all time domain signals mapped to the second frequency domain sequence (see Si Fig. 5, [0107]: “As shown in FIG. 5, information bits 510 are encoded by encoder 520, such as a turbo encoder, and modulated by modulator 530, for example using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation. A serial to parallel (S/P) converter 540 generates M modulation symbols that are subsequently provided to a mapper 550 to be mapped to REs selected by a transmission BW selection unit 555 for an assigned PDSCH transmission BW, unit 560 applies an Inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), the output is then serialized by a parallel to serial (P/S) converter 570 to create a time domain signal, filtering is applied by filter 580, and a signal transmitted 590. Additional functionalities, such as data scrambling, cyclic prefix insertion, time windowing, interleaving, and others are well known in the art and are not shown for brevity.” | [0231]: “In one embodiment of interleaving of NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH in frequency domain, if NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH, and/or their replicates (if applicable) are multiplexed in frequency domain within the same symbol, the sequences can be interleaved in the frequency domain. In one sub-embodiment, NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH can be interleaved with an empty sequence, such that a comb structure is utilized in frequency domain (equivalent as time domain repetition within an OFDM symbol)…” | [0244]: “As shown in FIG. 18B, 1807 is an example of interleaving of the NR-PSS, NR-SSS, and NR-PBCH in frequency domain within a SS block (1807 can also be combined with 1804, 1805, and 1806 to support repetition and interleaving at the same time in frequency domain). 1808 is an example of multiplexing the NR-PSS, NR-SSS, and NR-PBCH in a hybrid pattern of time-domain and frequency-domain multiplexing. 1809 and 1810 are examples of combination of repetition of NR-PSS, interleaving of NR-SSS and NR-PBCH in frequency domain, and hybrid multiplexing method, where repetition of NR-PSS is performed in time domain and frequency domain correspondingly. 1811 is an example of repetition of NR-PSS in frequency domain, but using shorter NR-PSS sequences. 1812 is an example of repetition of NR-PSS in both time and frequency domain, and using different numerologies.”).
Regarding claim 4, Si disclosed the method according to claim 3, wherein the time domain signal mapped to the second frequency domain sequence comprises N second modulation symbols, the second modulation symbol is an amplitude shift keying modulation symbol, and the N second modulation symbols comprise at least one amplitude shift keying modulation symbol 1 and one amplitude shift keying modulation symbol 0 (see Si Fig. 5, [0107]: “As shown in FIG. 5, information bits 510 are encoded by encoder 520, such as a turbo encoder, and modulated by modulator 530, for example using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation. A serial to parallel (S/P) converter 540 generates M modulation symbols that are subsequently provided to a mapper 550 to be mapped to REs selected by a transmission BW selection unit 555 for an assigned PDSCH transmission BW, unit 560 applies an Inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), the output is then serialized by a parallel to serial (P/S) converter 570 to create a time domain signal, filtering is applied by filter 580, and a signal transmitted 590. Additional functionalities, such as data scrambling, cyclic prefix insertion, time windowing, interleaving, and others are well known in the art and are not shown for brevity.” | [0422]: “In some embodiments of component XII, amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation for NR-SSS, amplitude shift keying (ASK) schemes use modulation signals with different amplitudes to represent different sets of bits. Several options of ASK for NR-SSS modulation are considered here, which take one or more binary bits in the input bit stream, denoted by b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 (m(i) is number of bits mapped to one modulated symbol for codeword i, and b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 are segment of the long sequence e.sub.0.sup.(i), . . . , e.sub.E(i)-1.sup.(i) (1707 in FIG. 17)), to output a complex-valued modulation symbol s=I+jQ, where I (inphase component) and Q (quadrature component) are real numbers.”).
Regarding claim 5, Si disclosed the method according to claim 3, wherein generating the first frequency domain sequence based on the second frequency domain sequence further comprises:
generating M third frequency domain sequences based on the second frequency domain sequence (see Si Fig. 5, [0107]: “As shown in FIG. 5, information bits 510 are encoded by encoder 520, such as a turbo encoder, and modulated by modulator 530, for example using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation. A serial to parallel (S/P) converter 540 generates M modulation symbols that are subsequently provided to a mapper 550 to be mapped to REs selected by a transmission BW selection unit 555 for an assigned PDSCH transmission BW, unit 560 applies an Inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), the output is then serialized by a parallel to serial (P/S) converter 570 to create a time domain signal, filtering is applied by filter 580, and a signal transmitted 590. Additional functionalities, such as data scrambling, cyclic prefix insertion, time windowing, interleaving, and others are well known in the art and are not shown for brevity.” | [0231]: “In one embodiment of interleaving of NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH in frequency domain, if NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH, and/or their replicates (if applicable) are multiplexed in frequency domain within the same symbol, the sequences can be interleaved in the frequency domain. In one sub-embodiment, NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH can be interleaved with an empty sequence, such that a comb structure is utilized in frequency domain (equivalent as time domain repetition within an OFDM symbol)…” | [0244]: “As shown in FIG. 18B, 1807 is an example of interleaving of the NR-PSS, NR-SSS, and NR-PBCH in frequency domain within a SS block (1807 can also be combined with 1804, 1805, and 1806 to support repetition and interleaving at the same time in frequency domain). 1808 is an example of multiplexing the NR-PSS, NR-SSS, and NR-PBCH in a hybrid pattern of time-domain and frequency-domain multiplexing. 1809 and 1810 are examples of combination of repetition of NR-PSS, interleaving of NR-SSS and NR-PBCH in frequency domain, and hybrid multiplexing method, where repetition of NR-PSS is performed in time domain and frequency domain correspondingly. 1811 is an example of repetition of NR-PSS in frequency domain, but using shorter NR-PSS sequences. 1812 is an example of repetition of NR-PSS in both time and frequency domain, and using different numerologies.”); and
generating the first frequency domain sequence based on the M third frequency domain sequences (see Si [0284]: “In one embodiment of option 3, long M-sequence without multiplexing or interleaved with other sequences (including zero sequence), the sequence d.sub.PSS(n) used for NR-PSS is generated from a frequency-domain M-sequence d.sub.M(m) with length 255 (0≤m≤254)…”), wherein there is a cyclic shift relationship between the second frequency domain sequence and each of the M third frequency domain sequences in time domain (see Si [0314]: “In some embodiments of component VIII, the functionality of SSS sequence is to detect the other part of cell ID based on the coarse time-domain and frequency-domain synchronization detection from PSS. CP size and duplexing mode information are also detected by SSS. The construction of SSS sequences are based on the maximum length sequences (also known as M-sequences). Each SSS sequence is constructed by interleaving two length-31 BPSK modulated subsequences in frequency domain, where the two subsequences are constructed from the same M-sequence using different cyclic shifts…” | [0244]: “As shown in FIG. 18B, 1807 is an example of interleaving of the NR-PSS, NR-SSS, and NR-PBCH in frequency domain within a SS block (1807 can also be combined with 1804, 1805, and 1806 to support repetition and interleaving at the same time in frequency domain). 1808 is an example of multiplexing the NR-PSS, NR-SSS, and NR-PBCH in a hybrid pattern of time-domain and frequency-domain multiplexing. 1809 and 1810 are examples of combination of repetition of NR-PSS, interleaving of NR-SSS and NR-PBCH in frequency domain, and hybrid multiplexing method, where repetition of NR-PSS is performed in time domain and frequency domain correspondingly. 1811 is an example of repetition of NR-PSS in frequency domain, but using shorter NR-PSS sequences. 1812 is an example of repetition of NR-PSS in both time and frequency domain, and using different numerologies.”).
Regarding claim 6, Si disclosed the method according to claim 5, wherein generating the first frequency domain sequence based on the M third frequency domain sequences further comprises:
adding the M third frequency domain sequences to obtain the first frequency domain sequence (see Si [0231]: “In one embodiment of interleaving of NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH in frequency domain, if NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH, and/or their replicates (if applicable) are multiplexed in frequency domain within the same symbol, the sequences can be interleaved in the frequency domain. In one sub-embodiment, NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH can be interleaved with an empty sequence, such that a comb structure is utilized in frequency domain (equivalent as time domain repetition within an OFDM symbol). For example, if two copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH are concatenated in frequency domain within one OFDM symbol, one of them can be multiplied by −1 before concatenation. For another example, if N copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH are concatenated in frequency domain within one OFDM symbol, N copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH can be multiplied by e.sup.jn.Math.2π/N or e.sup.−jn.Math.2π/N, where 0≤n≤N−1, correspondingly.”).
Regarding claim 7, Si disclosed the method according to claim 5, wherein the generating the M third frequency domain sequences based on the second frequency domain sequence further comprises:
generating the M third frequency domain sequences based on the second frequency domain sequence and M phase factors (see Si [0231]: “In one embodiment of interleaving of NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH in frequency domain, if NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH, and/or their replicates (if applicable) are multiplexed in frequency domain within the same symbol, the sequences can be interleaved in the frequency domain. In one sub-embodiment, NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH can be interleaved with an empty sequence, such that a comb structure is utilized in frequency domain (equivalent as time domain repetition within an OFDM symbol). For example, if two copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH are concatenated in frequency domain within one OFDM symbol, one of them can be multiplied by −1 before concatenation. For another example, if N copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH are concatenated in frequency domain within one OFDM symbol, N copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH can be multiplied by e.sup.jn.Math.2π/N or e.sup.−jn.Math.2π/N, where 0≤n≤N−1, correspondingly.” | [0284]: “In one embodiment of option 3, long M-sequence without multiplexing or interleaved with other sequences (including zero sequence), the sequence d.sub.PSS(n) used for NR-PSS is generated from a frequency-domain M-sequence d.sub.M(m) with length 255 (0≤m≤254)…”), wherein
an ith frequency domain sequence in the M third frequency domain sequences is generated based on the second frequency domain sequence and an ith phase factor ejφ1 in the M phase factors (see Si [0231]: “In one embodiment of interleaving of NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH in frequency domain, if NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH, and/or their replicates (if applicable) are multiplexed in frequency domain within the same symbol, the sequences can be interleaved in the frequency domain. In one sub-embodiment, NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH can be interleaved with an empty sequence, such that a comb structure is utilized in frequency domain (equivalent as time domain repetition within an OFDM symbol). For example, if two copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH are concatenated in frequency domain within one OFDM symbol, one of them can be multiplied by −1 before concatenation. For another example, if N copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH are concatenated in frequency domain within one OFDM symbol, N copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH can be multiplied by e.sup.jn.Math.2π/N or e.sup.−jn.Math.2π/N, where 0≤n≤N−1, correspondingly.”), and after being cyclically shifted by a length of Tᵢ amplitude shift keying modulation symbols in time domain, the time domain signal mapped to the second frequency domain sequence is a time domain signal mapped to the ith frequency domain sequence (see Si [0422]: “In some embodiments of component XII, amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation for NR-SSS, amplitude shift keying (ASK) schemes use modulation signals with different amplitudes to represent different sets of bits. Several options of ASK for NR-SSS modulation are considered here, which take one or more binary bits in the input bit stream, denoted by b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 (m(i) is number of bits mapped to one modulated symbol for codeword i, and b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 are segment of the long sequence e.sub.0.sup.(i), . . . , e.sub.E(i)-1.sup.(i) (1707 in FIG. 17)), to output a complex-valued modulation symbol s=I+jQ, where I (inphase component) and Q (quadrature component) are real numbers.” | Fig. 5, [0107]: “As shown in FIG. 5, information bits 510 are encoded by encoder 520, such as a turbo encoder, and modulated by modulator 530, for example using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation. A serial to parallel (S/P) converter 540 generates M modulation symbols that are subsequently provided to a mapper 550 to be mapped to REs selected by a transmission BW selection unit 555 for an assigned PDSCH transmission BW, unit 560 applies an Inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), the output is then serialized by a parallel to serial (P/S) converter 570 to create a time domain signal, filtering is applied by filter 580, and a signal transmitted 590. Additional functionalities, such as data scrambling, cyclic prefix insertion, time windowing, interleaving, and others are well known in the art and are not shown for brevity.” | [0314]: “In some embodiments of component VIII, the functionality of SSS sequence is to detect the other part of cell ID based on the coarse time-domain and frequency-domain synchronization detection from PSS. CP size and duplexing mode information are also detected by SSS. The construction of SSS sequences are based on the maximum length sequences (also known as M-sequences). Each SSS sequence is constructed by interleaving two length-31 BPSK modulated subsequences in frequency domain, where the two subsequences are constructed from the same M-sequence using different cyclic shifts…” | [0244]: “As shown in FIG. 18B, 1807 is an example of interleaving of the NR-PSS, NR-SSS, and NR-PBCH in frequency domain within a SS block (1807 can also be combined with 1804, 1805, and 1806 to support repetition and interleaving at the same time in frequency domain). 1808 is an example of multiplexing the NR-PSS, NR-SSS, and NR-PBCH in a hybrid pattern of time-domain and frequency-domain multiplexing. 1809 and 1810 are examples of combination of repetition of NR-PSS, interleaving of NR-SSS and NR-PBCH in frequency domain, and hybrid multiplexing method, where repetition of NR-PSS is performed in time domain and frequency domain correspondingly. 1811 is an example of repetition of NR-PSS in frequency domain, but using shorter NR-PSS sequences. 1812 is an example of repetition of NR-PSS in both time and frequency domain, and using different numerologies.”); and
ejφ1 and Tᵢ satisfy the following formula: ejφ1 = e j (2π / N ) * Tᵢ (see Si [0231]: “In one embodiment of interleaving of NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH in frequency domain, if NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH, and/or their replicates (if applicable) are multiplexed in frequency domain within the same symbol, the sequences can be interleaved in the frequency domain. In one sub-embodiment, NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH can be interleaved with an empty sequence, such that a comb structure is utilized in frequency domain (equivalent as time domain repetition within an OFDM symbol). For example, if two copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH are concatenated in frequency domain within one OFDM symbol, one of them can be multiplied by −1 before concatenation. For another example, if N copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH are concatenated in frequency domain within one OFDM symbol, N copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH can be multiplied by e.sup.jn.Math.2π/N or e.sup.−jn.Math.2π/N, where 0≤n≤N−1, correspondingly.”)
Regarding claim 8, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 1 above, however examiner notes that the method in claim 8 is from the opposite perspective as the method of claim 1. Si disclosed, as recited in claim 8:
A method comprising:
receiving a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) time domain signal (see Si Fig. 5, [0107]: “…create a time domain signal, filtering is applied by filter 580, and a signal transmitted 590…”; Fig. 6, [0109]: “As shown in FIG. 6, a received signal 610 is filtered by filter 620, REs 630 for an assigned reception BW are selected by BW selector 635, unit 640 applies a fast Fourier transform (FFT), and an output is serialized by a parallel-to-serial converter 650…” | [0152]: “In one embodiment, the NR-PSS is mapped in time domain, which means the NR-PSS sequence is mapped across the OFDM samples in time domain.” | [0225]: “In another embodiment, NR-PSS, NR-SSS and NR-PBCH can be multiplexed in frequency domain. For example, each of the NR-PSS, NR-SSS and NR-PBCH occupied a predefined part of the transmission bandwidth and transmitted using the same symbol duration. In yet another embodiment, NR-PSS, NR-SSS and NR-PBCH can be multiplexed in a hybrid pattern consisted of both time domain and frequency domain multiplexing.”); and
determining that the first OFDM time domain signal comprises N first modulation symbols arranged in time domain (see Si Fig. 4, [0095]: “…Serial-to-parallel block 410 converts (i.e., de-multiplexes) the serial modulated symbols to parallel data to produce N parallel symbol streams where N is the IFFT/FFT size used in BS 102 and UE 116. Size N IFFT block 415 then performs an IFFT operation on the N parallel symbol streams to produce time-domain output signals. Parallel-to-serial block 420 converts (i.e., multiplexes) the parallel time-domain output symbols from Size N IFFT block 415 to produce a serial time-domain signal. Add cyclic prefix block 425 then inserts a cyclic prefix to the time-domain signal…” | Fig. 5, [0107]: “As shown in FIG. 5, information bits 510 are encoded by encoder 520, such as a turbo encoder, and modulated by modulator 530, for example using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation. A serial to parallel (S/P) converter 540 generates M modulation symbols that are subsequently provided to a mapper 550 to be mapped to REs selected by a transmission BW selection unit 555 for an assigned PDSCH transmission BW, unit 560 applies an Inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), the output is then serialized by a parallel to serial (P/S) converter 570 to create a time domain signal, filtering is applied by filter 580, and a signal transmitted 590. Additional functionalities, such as data scrambling, cyclic prefix insertion, time windowing, interleaving, and others are well known in the art and are not shown for brevity.”), wherein the first modulation symbol is an amplitude shift keying modulation symbol (see Si [0422]: “In some embodiments of component XII, amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation for NR-SSS, amplitude shift keying (ASK) schemes use modulation signals with different amplitudes to represent different sets of bits. Several options of ASK for NR-SSS modulation are considered here, which take one or more binary bits in the input bit stream, denoted by b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 (m(i) is number of bits mapped to one modulated symbol for codeword i, and b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 are segment of the long sequence e.sub.0.sup.(i), . . . , e.sub.E(i)-1.sup.(i) (1707 in FIG. 17)), to output a complex-valued modulation symbol s=I+jQ, where I (inphase component) and Q (quadrature component) are real numbers.”), wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 2 (see Si [0094]: “…It may be appreciated that for DFT and IDFT functions, the value of the N variable may be any integer number (i.e., 1, 4, 3, 4, etc.), while for FFT and IFFT functions, the value of the N variable may be any integer number that is a power of two (i.e., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.).” | [0422]: “In some embodiments of component XII, amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation for NR-SSS, amplitude shift keying (ASK) schemes use modulation signals with different amplitudes to represent different sets of bits. Several options of ASK for NR-SSS modulation are considered here, which take one or more binary bits in the input bit stream, denoted by b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 (m(i) is number of bits mapped to one modulated symbol for codeword i, and b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 are segment of the long sequence e.sub.0.sup.(i), . . . , e.sub.E(i)-1.sup.(i) (1707 in FIG. 17)), to output a complex-valued modulation symbol s=I+jQ, where I (inphase component) and Q (quadrature component) are real numbers.”).
Regarding claim 9, Si disclosed the method according to claim 8, comprising:
receiving indication information (see Si [0255]: “In yet another embodiment, the NR-PSS sequence(s) can be utilized to indicate the combination of CP length/type and subcarrier spacing of data multiplexed with NR-SS. For example, each NR-PSS sequence is utilized to indicate one combination of CP length/type and subcarrier spacing of multiplexed data. In a sub-embodiment, if the NR-PSS is using ZC-sequence and there are two combinations of CP length/type and subcarrier spacing of multiplexed data to be indicated, one ZC-sequence with root k can be utilized to indicate the first combination of CP length/type and subcarrier spacing of multiplexed data, and another ZC-sequence with root l-k can be utilized to indicate the second combination of CP length/type and subcarrier spacing of multiplexed data, where l is the length of ZC-sequence (also means that the two ZC-sequences are conjugated). For example, the first combination can be normal CP with 15 kHz subcarrier spacing, or normal CP with 30 kHz subcarrier spacing for ≤6 GHz carrier frequency, and normal CP with 60 kHz subcarrier spacing, or normal CP with 120 kHz subcarrier spacing for >6 GHz carrier frequency, and the second combination can be extended CP with 60 kHz subcarrier spacing for ≤6 GHz carrier frequency and extended CP with 240 kHz subcarrier spacing for >6 GHz carrier frequency.”; [0256]: “Note that the indication of other parameters can be combined with the indication of part of the NR cell ID, and also combined with other design aspects in the aforementioned embodiment of component I. For example, M.Math.N sequences can be utilized to indicate the combinations of part of the NR cell ID (N hypotheses) and the CP length and/or subcarrier spacing (M hypotheses). For instance, N=3 and M=2. In one sub-embodiment, if ZC-sequence is utilized for constructing NR-PSS, sequences indicating different CP length and/or subcarrier spacing with the same NR cell ID indication can be conjugated ZC-sequences.”; [0257]: “Note that if there are multiple combinations of the part of the NR cell ID, and/or CP length, and/or subcarrier spacing to be indicated, the NR-PSS sequence(s) can be utilized to indicate part of the combinations, and other signal(s) and/or channel(s) can be utilized to indicate the remaining combinations. Note that the above mentioned root pair of ZC-sequences (e.g. k and l-k) can be chosen based on the correlation property. For example, if l=63, then the root pair can be (29, 34) or (34, 29). For another example, if l=127, then the root pair can be (29, 98) or (98, 29). For yet another example, if l=255, then the root pair can be (29, 226) or (226, 29).”), wherein the indication information indicates at least one of the following (examiner notes that there are six options listed below and two of them appear to be substantially similar (“N” and “at least one of N”).):
N (see Si [0256]: “Note that the indication of other parameters can be combined with the indication of part of the NR cell ID, and also combined with other design aspects in the aforementioned embodiment of component I. For example, M.Math.N sequences can be utilized to indicate the combinations of part of the NR cell ID (N hypotheses) and the CP length and/or subcarrier spacing (M hypotheses). For instance, N=3 and M=2. In one sub-embodiment, if ZC-sequence is utilized for constructing NR-PSS, sequences indicating different CP length and/or subcarrier spacing with the same NR cell ID indication can be conjugated ZC-sequences.”), a relationship between a duration of each of the N first modulation symbols and a duration of the first OFDM time domain signal, or a subcarrier spacing corresponding to the duration of the first OFDM time domain signal; or
at least one of N, a relationship between a duration of each of the N first modulation symbols and a duration of the first OFDM time domain signal, and a subcarrier spacing corresponding to the duration of the first OFDM time domain signal is predefined.
Regarding claim 10, Si disclosed the method according to claim 8, wherein the first OFDM time domain signal indicates one of the following identifiers: an identifier of a terminal device; an identifier of a terminal device group to which the terminal device belongs; a part of the identifier of the terminal device; or a part of the identifier of the terminal device group to which the terminal device belongs (see Si [0070]: “In some embodiments, the controller/processor 225 is capable of determining a number of PSS sequences corresponding to a number of cell ID hypotheses carried by PSS, respectively and a number of SSS sequences corresponding to the number of cell ID hypotheses carried by the PSS and SSS, respectively.” | [0155]: “In some embodiments of whether to include part of the physical cell ID, the indication of physical cell ID can be combined with other system parameters, e.g. CP type (normal CP or extended CP if supported) or numerology of data multiplexed with synchronization signals (see some embodiments of component VI).”; [0156]: “In one embodiment, the NR-PSS sequence includes part of the physical cell IDs, as in LTE system. For example, if utilizing the ZC-sequences for NR-PSS, multiple roots corresponding to the number of part of the physical cell IDs are needed.”; [0171]: “In some embodiments of whether to include part of or entire physical cell ID, the NR-SSS sequence includes part of the physical cell IDs, as in LTE system. For example, NR-SSS carries the cell ID information not included in NR-PSS. In another embodiment, the NR-SSS sequence includes the entire physical cell ID information.”).
Regarding claim 11, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 1 above. Examiner notes that claim 11 describes a communication apparatus whereas claim 1 describes a method. Si disclosed, as recited in claim 11: A communication apparatus comprising:
at least one processor (see Si Fig. 3 #340 UE processor | Fig. 2 #225 eNB controller/processor); and
a memory coupled to the at least one processor and having program instructions stored thereon (see Si Fig. 3 #340 UE processor, #360 memory, #361 operating system, #362 applications | Fig. 2 #225 eNB controller/processor, #230 memory) which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the communication apparatus to:
generate a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) time domain signal (see Si [0152]: “In one embodiment, the NR-PSS is mapped in time domain, which means the NR-PSS sequence is mapped across the OFDM samples in time domain.” | [0225]: “In another embodiment, NR-PSS, NR-SSS and NR-PBCH can be multiplexed in frequency domain. For example, each of the NR-PSS, NR-SSS and NR-PBCH occupied a predefined part of the transmission bandwidth and transmitted using the same symbol duration. In yet another embodiment, NR-PSS, NR-SSS and NR-PBCH can be multiplexed in a hybrid pattern consisted of both time domain and frequency domain multiplexing.”), wherein the first OFDM time domain signal comprises N first modulation symbols arranged in time domain (see Si Fig. 4, [0095]: “…Serial-to-parallel block 410 converts (i.e., de-multiplexes) the serial modulated symbols to parallel data to produce N parallel symbol streams where N is the IFFT/FFT size used in BS 102 and UE 116. Size N IFFT block 415 then performs an IFFT operation on the N parallel symbol streams to produce time-domain output signals. Parallel-to-serial block 420 converts (i.e., multiplexes) the parallel time-domain output symbols from Size N IFFT block 415 to produce a serial time-domain signal. Add cyclic prefix block 425 then inserts a cyclic prefix to the time-domain signal…” | Fig. 5, [0107]: “As shown in FIG. 5, information bits 510 are encoded by encoder 520, such as a turbo encoder, and modulated by modulator 530, for example using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation. A serial to parallel (S/P) converter 540 generates M modulation symbols that are subsequently provided to a mapper 550 to be mapped to REs selected by a transmission BW selection unit 555 for an assigned PDSCH transmission BW, unit 560 applies an Inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), the output is then serialized by a parallel to serial (P/S) converter 570 to create a time domain signal, filtering is applied by filter 580, and a signal transmitted 590. Additional functionalities, such as data scrambling, cyclic prefix insertion, time windowing, interleaving, and others are well known in the art and are not shown for brevity.”), and the first modulation symbol is an amplitude shift keying modulation symbol (see Si [0422]: “In some embodiments of component XII, amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation for NR-SSS, amplitude shift keying (ASK) schemes use modulation signals with different amplitudes to represent different sets of bits. Several options of ASK for NR-SSS modulation are considered here, which take one or more binary bits in the input bit stream, denoted by b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 (m(i) is number of bits mapped to one modulated symbol for codeword i, and b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 are segment of the long sequence e.sub.0.sup.(i), . . . , e.sub.E(i)-1.sup.(i) (1707 in FIG. 17)), to output a complex-valued modulation symbol s=I+jQ, where I (inphase component) and Q (quadrature component) are real numbers.”); and
send the first OFDM time domain signal (see Si Fig. 5, [0107]: “…create a time domain signal, filtering is applied by filter 580, and a signal transmitted 590…”), wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 2 (see Si [0094]: “…It may be appreciated that for DFT and IDFT functions, the value of the N variable may be any integer number (i.e., 1, 4, 3, 4, etc.), while for FFT and IFFT functions, the value of the N variable may be any integer number that is a power of two (i.e., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.).” | [0422]: “In some embodiments of component XII, amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation for NR-SSS, amplitude shift keying (ASK) schemes use modulation signals with different amplitudes to represent different sets of bits. Several options of ASK for NR-SSS modulation are considered here, which take one or more binary bits in the input bit stream, denoted by b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 (m(i) is number of bits mapped to one modulated symbol for codeword i, and b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 are segment of the long sequence e.sub.0.sup.(i), . . . , e.sub.E(i)-1.sup.(i) (1707 in FIG. 17)), to output a complex-valued modulation symbol s=I+jQ, where I (inphase component) and Q (quadrature component) are real numbers.”).
Regarding claim 12, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 2 above. Si disclosed, as recited in claim 12: The communication apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the communication apparatus to:
generate a first frequency domain sequence (see Si Fig. 4, [0095]: “In transmit path circuitry 400, channel coding and modulation block 405 receives a set of information bits, applies coding (e.g., LDPC coding) and modulates (e.g., quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)) the input bits to produce a sequence of frequency-domain modulation symbols…”), wherein there is a mapping relationship between the first frequency domain sequence and the N first modulation symbols (see Si Fig. 5, [0107]: “As shown in FIG. 5, information bits 510 are encoded by encoder 520, such as a turbo encoder, and modulated by modulator 530, for example using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation. A serial to parallel (S/P) converter 540 generates M modulation symbols that are subsequently provided to a mapper 550 to be mapped to REs selected by a transmission BW selection unit 555 for an assigned PDSCH transmission BW, unit 560 applies an Inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), the output is then serialized by a parallel to serial (P/S) converter 570 to create a time domain signal, filtering is applied by filter 580, and a signal transmitted 590. Additional functionalities, such as data scrambling, cyclic prefix insertion, time windowing, interleaving, and others are well known in the art and are not shown for brevity.” | [0422]: “In some embodiments of component XII, amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation for NR-SSS, amplitude shift keying (ASK) schemes use modulation signals with different amplitudes to represent different sets of bits. Several options of ASK for NR-SSS modulation are considered here, which take one or more binary bits in the input bit stream, denoted by b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 (m(i) is number of bits mapped to one modulated symbol for codeword i, and b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 are segment of the long sequence e.sub.0.sup.(i), . . . , e.sub.E(i)-1.sup.(i) (1707 in FIG. 17)), to output a complex-valued modulation symbol s=I+jQ, where I (inphase component) and Q (quadrature component) are real numbers.”); and
generate the first OFDM time domain signal based on the first frequency domain sequence (see Si Fig. 4, [0095]: “…Serial-to-parallel block 410 converts (i.e., de-multiplexes) the serial modulated symbols to parallel data to produce N parallel symbol streams where N is the IFFT/FFT size used in BS 102 and UE 116. Size N IFFT block 415 then performs an IFFT operation on the N parallel symbol streams to produce time-domain output signals. Parallel-to-serial block 420 converts (i.e., multiplexes) the parallel time-domain output symbols from Size N IFFT block 415 to produce a serial time-domain signal. Add cyclic prefix block 425 then inserts a cyclic prefix to the time-domain signal…”).
Regarding claim 13, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 3 above. Si disclosed, as recited in claim 13: The communication apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the communication apparatus to:
generate the first frequency domain sequence based on a second frequency domain sequence, wherein a time domain signal mapped to the first frequency domain sequence comprises a part of or all time domain signals mapped to the second frequency domain sequence (see Si Fig. 5, [0107]: “As shown in FIG. 5, information bits 510 are encoded by encoder 520, such as a turbo encoder, and modulated by modulator 530, for example using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation. A serial to parallel (S/P) converter 540 generates M modulation symbols that are subsequently provided to a mapper 550 to be mapped to REs selected by a transmission BW selection unit 555 for an assigned PDSCH transmission BW, unit 560 applies an Inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), the output is then serialized by a parallel to serial (P/S) converter 570 to create a time domain signal, filtering is applied by filter 580, and a signal transmitted 590. Additional functionalities, such as data scrambling, cyclic prefix insertion, time windowing, interleaving, and others are well known in the art and are not shown for brevity.” | [0231]: “In one embodiment of interleaving of NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH in frequency domain, if NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH, and/or their replicates (if applicable) are multiplexed in frequency domain within the same symbol, the sequences can be interleaved in the frequency domain. In one sub-embodiment, NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH can be interleaved with an empty sequence, such that a comb structure is utilized in frequency domain (equivalent as time domain repetition within an OFDM symbol)…” | [0244]: “As shown in FIG. 18B, 1807 is an example of interleaving of the NR-PSS, NR-SSS, and NR-PBCH in frequency domain within a SS block (1807 can also be combined with 1804, 1805, and 1806 to support repetition and interleaving at the same time in frequency domain). 1808 is an example of multiplexing the NR-PSS, NR-SSS, and NR-PBCH in a hybrid pattern of time-domain and frequency-domain multiplexing. 1809 and 1810 are examples of combination of repetition of NR-PSS, interleaving of NR-SSS and NR-PBCH in frequency domain, and hybrid multiplexing method, where repetition of NR-PSS is performed in time domain and frequency domain correspondingly. 1811 is an example of repetition of NR-PSS in frequency domain, but using shorter NR-PSS sequences. 1812 is an example of repetition of NR-PSS in both time and frequency domain, and using different numerologies.”).
Regarding claim 14, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 4 above. Si disclosed, as recited in claim 14: The communication apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the time domain signal mapped to the second frequency domain sequence comprises N second modulation symbols, the second modulation symbol is an amplitude shift keying modulation symbol, and the N second modulation symbols comprise at least one amplitude shift keying modulation symbol 1 and one amplitude shift keying modulation symbol 0 (see Si Fig. 5, [0107]: “As shown in FIG. 5, information bits 510 are encoded by encoder 520, such as a turbo encoder, and modulated by modulator 530, for example using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation. A serial to parallel (S/P) converter 540 generates M modulation symbols that are subsequently provided to a mapper 550 to be mapped to REs selected by a transmission BW selection unit 555 for an assigned PDSCH transmission BW, unit 560 applies an Inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), the output is then serialized by a parallel to serial (P/S) converter 570 to create a time domain signal, filtering is applied by filter 580, and a signal transmitted 590. Additional functionalities, such as data scrambling, cyclic prefix insertion, time windowing, interleaving, and others are well known in the art and are not shown for brevity.” | [0422]: “In some embodiments of component XII, amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation for NR-SSS, amplitude shift keying (ASK) schemes use modulation signals with different amplitudes to represent different sets of bits. Several options of ASK for NR-SSS modulation are considered here, which take one or more binary bits in the input bit stream, denoted by b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 (m(i) is number of bits mapped to one modulated symbol for codeword i, and b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 are segment of the long sequence e.sub.0.sup.(i), . . . , e.sub.E(i)-1.sup.(i) (1707 in FIG. 17)), to output a complex-valued modulation symbol s=I+jQ, where I (inphase component) and Q (quadrature component) are real numbers.”).
Regarding claim 15, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 5 above. Si disclosed, as recited in claim 15: The communication apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the communication apparatus to:
generate M third frequency domain sequences based on the second frequency domain sequence (see Si Fig. 5, [0107]: “As shown in FIG. 5, information bits 510 are encoded by encoder 520, such as a turbo encoder, and modulated by modulator 530, for example using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation. A serial to parallel (S/P) converter 540 generates M modulation symbols that are subsequently provided to a mapper 550 to be mapped to REs selected by a transmission BW selection unit 555 for an assigned PDSCH transmission BW, unit 560 applies an Inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), the output is then serialized by a parallel to serial (P/S) converter 570 to create a time domain signal, filtering is applied by filter 580, and a signal transmitted 590. Additional functionalities, such as data scrambling, cyclic prefix insertion, time windowing, interleaving, and others are well known in the art and are not shown for brevity.” | [0231]: “In one embodiment of interleaving of NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH in frequency domain, if NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH, and/or their replicates (if applicable) are multiplexed in frequency domain within the same symbol, the sequences can be interleaved in the frequency domain. In one sub-embodiment, NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH can be interleaved with an empty sequence, such that a comb structure is utilized in frequency domain (equivalent as time domain repetition within an OFDM symbol)…” | [0244]: “As shown in FIG. 18B, 1807 is an example of interleaving of the NR-PSS, NR-SSS, and NR-PBCH in frequency domain within a SS block (1807 can also be combined with 1804, 1805, and 1806 to support repetition and interleaving at the same time in frequency domain). 1808 is an example of multiplexing the NR-PSS, NR-SSS, and NR-PBCH in a hybrid pattern of time-domain and frequency-domain multiplexing. 1809 and 1810 are examples of combination of repetition of NR-PSS, interleaving of NR-SSS and NR-PBCH in frequency domain, and hybrid multiplexing method, where repetition of NR-PSS is performed in time domain and frequency domain correspondingly. 1811 is an example of repetition of NR-PSS in frequency domain, but using shorter NR-PSS sequences. 1812 is an example of repetition of NR-PSS in both time and frequency domain, and using different numerologies.”); and
generate the first frequency domain sequence based on the M third frequency domain sequences (see Si [0284]: “In one embodiment of option 3, long M-sequence without multiplexing or interleaved with other sequences (including zero sequence), the sequence d.sub.PSS(n) used for NR-PSS is generated from a frequency-domain M-sequence d.sub.M(m) with length 255 (0≤m≤254)…”), wherein there is a cyclic shift relationship between the second frequency domain sequence and each of the M third frequency domain sequences in time domain (see Si [0314]: “In some embodiments of component VIII, the functionality of SSS sequence is to detect the other part of cell ID based on the coarse time-domain and frequency-domain synchronization detection from PSS. CP size and duplexing mode information are also detected by SSS. The construction of SSS sequences are based on the maximum length sequences (also known as M-sequences). Each SSS sequence is constructed by interleaving two length-31 BPSK modulated subsequences in frequency domain, where the two subsequences are constructed from the same M-sequence using different cyclic shifts…” | [0244]: “As shown in FIG. 18B, 1807 is an example of interleaving of the NR-PSS, NR-SSS, and NR-PBCH in frequency domain within a SS block (1807 can also be combined with 1804, 1805, and 1806 to support repetition and interleaving at the same time in frequency domain). 1808 is an example of multiplexing the NR-PSS, NR-SSS, and NR-PBCH in a hybrid pattern of time-domain and frequency-domain multiplexing. 1809 and 1810 are examples of combination of repetition of NR-PSS, interleaving of NR-SSS and NR-PBCH in frequency domain, and hybrid multiplexing method, where repetition of NR-PSS is performed in time domain and frequency domain correspondingly. 1811 is an example of repetition of NR-PSS in frequency domain, but using shorter NR-PSS sequences. 1812 is an example of repetition of NR-PSS in both time and frequency domain, and using different numerologies.”).
Regarding claim 16, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 6 above. Si disclosed, as recited in claim 16: The communication apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the communication apparatus to:
add the M third frequency domain sequences to obtain the first frequency domain sequence (see Si [0231]: “In one embodiment of interleaving of NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH in frequency domain, if NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH, and/or their replicates (if applicable) are multiplexed in frequency domain within the same symbol, the sequences can be interleaved in the frequency domain. In one sub-embodiment, NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH can be interleaved with an empty sequence, such that a comb structure is utilized in frequency domain (equivalent as time domain repetition within an OFDM symbol). For example, if two copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH are concatenated in frequency domain within one OFDM symbol, one of them can be multiplied by −1 before concatenation. For another example, if N copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH are concatenated in frequency domain within one OFDM symbol, N copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH can be multiplied by e.sup.jn.Math.2π/N or e.sup.−jn.Math.2π/N, where 0≤n≤N−1, correspondingly.”).
Regarding claim 17, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 7 above. Si disclosed, as recited in claim 17: The communication apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the communication apparatus to:
generate the M third frequency domain sequences based on the second frequency domain sequence and M phase factors (see Si [0231]: “In one embodiment of interleaving of NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH in frequency domain, if NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH, and/or their replicates (if applicable) are multiplexed in frequency domain within the same symbol, the sequences can be interleaved in the frequency domain. In one sub-embodiment, NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH can be interleaved with an empty sequence, such that a comb structure is utilized in frequency domain (equivalent as time domain repetition within an OFDM symbol). For example, if two copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH are concatenated in frequency domain within one OFDM symbol, one of them can be multiplied by −1 before concatenation. For another example, if N copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH are concatenated in frequency domain within one OFDM symbol, N copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH can be multiplied by e.sup.jn.Math.2π/N or e.sup.−jn.Math.2π/N, where 0≤n≤N−1, correspondingly.” | [0284]: “In one embodiment of option 3, long M-sequence without multiplexing or interleaved with other sequences (including zero sequence), the sequence d.sub.PSS(n) used for NR-PSS is generated from a frequency-domain M-sequence d.sub.M(m) with length 255 (0≤m≤254)…”), wherein an ith frequency domain sequence in the M third frequency domain sequences is generated based on the second frequency domain sequence and an ith phase factor ejφ1 in the M phase factors (see Si [0231]: “In one embodiment of interleaving of NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH in frequency domain, if NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH, and/or their replicates (if applicable) are multiplexed in frequency domain within the same symbol, the sequences can be interleaved in the frequency domain. In one sub-embodiment, NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH can be interleaved with an empty sequence, such that a comb structure is utilized in frequency domain (equivalent as time domain repetition within an OFDM symbol). For example, if two copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH are concatenated in frequency domain within one OFDM symbol, one of them can be multiplied by −1 before concatenation. For another example, if N copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH are concatenated in frequency domain within one OFDM symbol, N copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH can be multiplied by e.sup.jn.Math.2π/N or e.sup.−jn.Math.2π/N, where 0≤n≤N−1, correspondingly.”), and after being cyclically shifted by a length of Tᵢ amplitude shift keying modulation symbols in time domain, the time domain signal mapped to the second frequency domain sequence is a time domain signal mapped to the ith frequency domain sequence (see Si [0422]: “In some embodiments of component XII, amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation for NR-SSS, amplitude shift keying (ASK) schemes use modulation signals with different amplitudes to represent different sets of bits. Several options of ASK for NR-SSS modulation are considered here, which take one or more binary bits in the input bit stream, denoted by b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 (m(i) is number of bits mapped to one modulated symbol for codeword i, and b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 are segment of the long sequence e.sub.0.sup.(i), . . . , e.sub.E(i)-1.sup.(i) (1707 in FIG. 17)), to output a complex-valued modulation symbol s=I+jQ, where I (inphase component) and Q (quadrature component) are real numbers.” | Fig. 5, [0107]: “As shown in FIG. 5, information bits 510 are encoded by encoder 520, such as a turbo encoder, and modulated by modulator 530, for example using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation. A serial to parallel (S/P) converter 540 generates M modulation symbols that are subsequently provided to a mapper 550 to be mapped to REs selected by a transmission BW selection unit 555 for an assigned PDSCH transmission BW, unit 560 applies an Inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), the output is then serialized by a parallel to serial (P/S) converter 570 to create a time domain signal, filtering is applied by filter 580, and a signal transmitted 590. Additional functionalities, such as data scrambling, cyclic prefix insertion, time windowing, interleaving, and others are well known in the art and are not shown for brevity.” | [0314]: “In some embodiments of component VIII, the functionality of SSS sequence is to detect the other part of cell ID based on the coarse time-domain and frequency-domain synchronization detection from PSS. CP size and duplexing mode information are also detected by SSS. The construction of SSS sequences are based on the maximum length sequences (also known as M-sequences). Each SSS sequence is constructed by interleaving two length-31 BPSK modulated subsequences in frequency domain, where the two subsequences are constructed from the same M-sequence using different cyclic shifts…” | [0244]: “As shown in FIG. 18B, 1807 is an example of interleaving of the NR-PSS, NR-SSS, and NR-PBCH in frequency domain within a SS block (1807 can also be combined with 1804, 1805, and 1806 to support repetition and interleaving at the same time in frequency domain). 1808 is an example of multiplexing the NR-PSS, NR-SSS, and NR-PBCH in a hybrid pattern of time-domain and frequency-domain multiplexing. 1809 and 1810 are examples of combination of repetition of NR-PSS, interleaving of NR-SSS and NR-PBCH in frequency domain, and hybrid multiplexing method, where repetition of NR-PSS is performed in time domain and frequency domain correspondingly. 1811 is an example of repetition of NR-PSS in frequency domain, but using shorter NR-PSS sequences. 1812 is an example of repetition of NR-PSS in both time and frequency domain, and using different numerologies.”); and
ejφ1 and Tᵢ satisfy the following formula: ejφ1 = e j (2π / N ) * Tᵢ (see Si [0231]: “In one embodiment of interleaving of NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH in frequency domain, if NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH, and/or their replicates (if applicable) are multiplexed in frequency domain within the same symbol, the sequences can be interleaved in the frequency domain. In one sub-embodiment, NR-PSS, and/or NR-SSS, and/or NR-PBCH can be interleaved with an empty sequence, such that a comb structure is utilized in frequency domain (equivalent as time domain repetition within an OFDM symbol). For example, if two copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH are concatenated in frequency domain within one OFDM symbol, one of them can be multiplied by −1 before concatenation. For another example, if N copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH are concatenated in frequency domain within one OFDM symbol, N copies of NR-PSS/NR-SSS/NR-PBCH can be multiplied by e.sup.jn.Math.2π/N or e.sup.−jn.Math.2π/N, where 0≤n≤N−1, correspondingly.”)
Regarding claim 18, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 8 above. Examiner notes that claim 18 describes a communication apparatus whereas claim 8 describes a method. Si disclosed, as recited in claim 18: A communication apparatus comprising:
at least one processor (see Si Fig. 3 #340 UE processor | Fig. 2 #225 eNB controller/processor); and
a memory coupled to the at least one processor and having program instructions stored thereon (see Si Fig. 3 #340 UE processor, #360 memory, #361 operating system, #362 applications | Fig. 2 #225 eNB controller/processor, #230 memory) which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the communication apparatus to:
receive a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) time domain signal (see Si Fig. 5, [0107]: “…create a time domain signal, filtering is applied by filter 580, and a signal transmitted 590…”; Fig. 6, [0109]: “As shown in FIG. 6, a received signal 610 is filtered by filter 620, REs 630 for an assigned reception BW are selected by BW selector 635, unit 640 applies a fast Fourier transform (FFT), and an output is serialized by a parallel-to-serial converter 650…” | [0152]: “In one embodiment, the NR-PSS is mapped in time domain, which means the NR-PSS sequence is mapped across the OFDM samples in time domain.” | [0225]: “In another embodiment, NR-PSS, NR-SSS and NR-PBCH can be multiplexed in frequency domain. For example, each of the NR-PSS, NR-SSS and NR-PBCH occupied a predefined part of the transmission bandwidth and transmitted using the same symbol duration. In yet another embodiment, NR-PSS, NR-SSS and NR-PBCH can be multiplexed in a hybrid pattern consisted of both time domain and frequency domain multiplexing.”); and
determine that the first OFDM time domain signal comprises N first modulation symbols arranged in time domain (see Si Fig. 4, [0095]: “…Serial-to-parallel block 410 converts (i.e., de-multiplexes) the serial modulated symbols to parallel data to produce N parallel symbol streams where N is the IFFT/FFT size used in BS 102 and UE 116. Size N IFFT block 415 then performs an IFFT operation on the N parallel symbol streams to produce time-domain output signals. Parallel-to-serial block 420 converts (i.e., multiplexes) the parallel time-domain output symbols from Size N IFFT block 415 to produce a serial time-domain signal. Add cyclic prefix block 425 then inserts a cyclic prefix to the time-domain signal…” | Fig. 5, [0107]: “As shown in FIG. 5, information bits 510 are encoded by encoder 520, such as a turbo encoder, and modulated by modulator 530, for example using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation. A serial to parallel (S/P) converter 540 generates M modulation symbols that are subsequently provided to a mapper 550 to be mapped to REs selected by a transmission BW selection unit 555 for an assigned PDSCH transmission BW, unit 560 applies an Inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), the output is then serialized by a parallel to serial (P/S) converter 570 to create a time domain signal, filtering is applied by filter 580, and a signal transmitted 590. Additional functionalities, such as data scrambling, cyclic prefix insertion, time windowing, interleaving, and others are well known in the art and are not shown for brevity.”), wherein the first modulation symbol is an amplitude shift keying modulation symbol (see Si [0422]: “In some embodiments of component XII, amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation for NR-SSS, amplitude shift keying (ASK) schemes use modulation signals with different amplitudes to represent different sets of bits. Several options of ASK for NR-SSS modulation are considered here, which take one or more binary bits in the input bit stream, denoted by b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 (m(i) is number of bits mapped to one modulated symbol for codeword i, and b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 are segment of the long sequence e.sub.0.sup.(i), . . . , e.sub.E(i)-1.sup.(i) (1707 in FIG. 17)), to output a complex-valued modulation symbol s=I+jQ, where I (inphase component) and Q (quadrature component) are real numbers.”), wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 2 (see Si [0094]: “…It may be appreciated that for DFT and IDFT functions, the value of the N variable may be any integer number (i.e., 1, 4, 3, 4, etc.), while for FFT and IFFT functions, the value of the N variable may be any integer number that is a power of two (i.e., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.).” | [0422]: “In some embodiments of component XII, amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation for NR-SSS, amplitude shift keying (ASK) schemes use modulation signals with different amplitudes to represent different sets of bits. Several options of ASK for NR-SSS modulation are considered here, which take one or more binary bits in the input bit stream, denoted by b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 (m(i) is number of bits mapped to one modulated symbol for codeword i, and b.sub.0, b.sub.1, . . . , b.sub.m(i)-1 are segment of the long sequence e.sub.0.sup.(i), . . . , e.sub.E(i)-1.sup.(i) (1707 in FIG. 17)), to output a complex-valued modulation symbol s=I+jQ, where I (inphase component) and Q (quadrature component) are real numbers.”).
Regarding claim 19, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 9 above. Si disclosed, as recited in claim 19: The communication apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the communication apparatus to:
receive indication information (see Si [0255]: “In yet another embodiment, the NR-PSS sequence(s) can be utilized to indicate the combination of CP length/type and subcarrier spacing of data multiplexed with NR-SS. For example, each NR-PSS sequence is utilized to indicate one combination of CP length/type and subcarrier spacing of multiplexed data. In a sub-embodiment, if the NR-PSS is using ZC-sequence and there are two combinations of CP length/type and subcarrier spacing of multiplexed data to be indicated, one ZC-sequence with root k can be utilized to indicate the first combination of CP length/type and subcarrier spacing of multiplexed data, and another ZC-sequence with root l-k can be utilized to indicate the second combination of CP length/type and subcarrier spacing of multiplexed data, where l is the length of ZC-sequence (also means that the two ZC-sequences are conjugated). For example, the first combination can be normal CP with 15 kHz subcarrier spacing, or normal CP with 30 kHz subcarrier spacing for ≤6 GHz carrier frequency, and normal CP with 60 kHz subcarrier spacing, or normal CP with 120 kHz subcarrier spacing for >6 GHz carrier frequency, and the second combination can be extended CP with 60 kHz subcarrier spacing for ≤6 GHz carrier frequency and extended CP with 240 kHz subcarrier spacing for >6 GHz carrier frequency.”; [0256]: “Note that the indication of other parameters can be combined with the indication of part of the NR cell ID, and also combined with other design aspects in the aforementioned embodiment of component I. For example, M.Math.N sequences can be utilized to indicate the combinations of part of the NR cell ID (N hypotheses) and the CP length and/or subcarrier spacing (M hypotheses). For instance, N=3 and M=2. In one sub-embodiment, if ZC-sequence is utilized for constructing NR-PSS, sequences indicating different CP length and/or subcarrier spacing with the same NR cell ID indication can be conjugated ZC-sequences.”; [0257]: “Note that if there are multiple combinations of the part of the NR cell ID, and/or CP length, and/or subcarrier spacing to be indicated, the NR-PSS sequence(s) can be utilized to indicate part of the combinations, and other signal(s) and/or channel(s) can be utilized to indicate the remaining combinations. Note that the above mentioned root pair of ZC-sequences (e.g. k and l-k) can be chosen based on the correlation property. For example, if l=63, then the root pair can be (29, 34) or (34, 29). For another example, if l=127, then the root pair can be (29, 98) or (98, 29). For yet another example, if l=255, then the root pair can be (29, 226) or (226, 29).”), wherein the indication information indicates at least one of the following (examiner notes that there are six options listed below and two of them appear to be substantially similar (“N” and “at least one of N”).):
N (see Si [0256]: “Note that the indication of other parameters can be combined with the indication of part of the NR cell ID, and also combined with other design aspects in the aforementioned embodiment of component I. For example, M.Math.N sequences can be utilized to indicate the combinations of part of the NR cell ID (N hypotheses) and the CP length and/or subcarrier spacing (M hypotheses). For instance, N=3 and M=2. In one sub-embodiment, if ZC-sequence is utilized for constructing NR-PSS, sequences indicating different CP length and/or subcarrier spacing with the same NR cell ID indication can be conjugated ZC-sequences.”), a relationship between a duration of each of the N first modulation symbols and a duration of the first OFDM time domain signal, or a subcarrier spacing corresponding to the duration of the first OFDM time domain signal; or
at least one of N, a relationship between a duration of each of the N first modulation symbols and a duration of the first OFDM time domain signal, and a subcarrier spacing corresponding to the duration of the first OFDM time domain signal is predefined.
Regarding claim 20, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 10 above. Si disclosed, as recited in claim 20: The communication apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the first OFDM time domain signal indicates one of the following identifiers: an identifier of a terminal device; an identifier of a terminal device group to which the terminal device belongs; a part of the identifier of the terminal device; or a part of the identifier of the terminal device group to which the terminal device belongs (see Si [0070]: “In some embodiments, the controller/processor 225 is capable of determining a number of PSS sequences corresponding to a number of cell ID hypotheses carried by PSS, respectively and a number of SSS sequences corresponding to the number of cell ID hypotheses carried by the PSS and SSS, respectively.” | [0155]: “In some embodiments of whether to include part of the physical cell ID, the indication of physical cell ID can be combined with other system parameters, e.g. CP type (normal CP or extended CP if supported) or numerology of data multiplexed with synchronization signals (see some embodiments of component VI).”; [0156]: “In one embodiment, the NR-PSS sequence includes part of the physical cell IDs, as in LTE system. For example, if utilizing the ZC-sequences for NR-PSS, multiple roots corresponding to the number of part of the physical cell IDs are needed.”; [0171]: “In some embodiments of whether to include part of or entire physical cell ID, the NR-SSS sequence includes part of the physical cell IDs, as in LTE system. For example, NR-SSS carries the cell ID information not included in NR-PSS. In another embodiment, the NR-SSS sequence includes the entire physical cell ID information.”).
Conclusion
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/ANGELA WIDHALM DE RODRIGUEZ/ Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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