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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 10 is objected to because of the following informalities: “the-at” in line 6 should be replaced with “the at”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 6 and 13-18 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.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the receiving" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the first RU-adapted portion" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the second part" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Regarding claim 13, the phrase "a BBU" in line 3 renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether it is the same BBU recited in line 1 or not.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1-18, 25, 42 and 43 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 and 29 of copending Application No. 18/719,992. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because both describes the same invention in different direction of data stream (Uplink in the instant application vs. Downlink in copending application No. 18/719,992).
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented.
Claim 1 of Instant Application
Claim 1 of 18/719,992
A method performed by a first radio unit, RU, of a distributed base station system,
the first RU comprising N1 antennas, the distributed base station system further comprising a first aggregation unit, AU, connected to the first RU via a first AU fronthaul, FH, link and a second RU connected to the first AU via a second AU FH link, the second RU comprising N2 antennas, the distributed base station system further comprising a baseband unit, BBU, connected to the first AU over a first BBU FH link, the method comprising:
A method performed by a first radio unit, RU, of a distributed base station system,
the first RU comprising N1 antennas, the distributed base station system further comprising a first aggregation unit, AU, connected to the first RU via a first AU fronthaul, FH, link and a second RU connected to the first AU via a second AU FH link, the second RU comprising N2 antennas, the distributed base station system further comprising a baseband unit, BBU, connected to the first AU over a first BBU FH link, the method comprising:
receiving, at the N1 antennas and from a first number of UEs, uplink, UL, data streams comprising first user layers K1 of the first number of UEs;
and transmitting the beamformed DL data streams of the first user layers K1 to the first number of UEs.
obtaining a first uplink, UL, channel estimate Ĥ1 of a communication channel between the first number of UEs and the first RU;
obtaining a first downlink, DL, channel estimate Ĥ1 of a communication channel between the first RU and a first number of UEs;
determining first intermediate beamforming weights, BFW, C1 to be used for centralized interference mitigation, based on the first UL channel estimate Ĥ1;
determining first intermediate beamforming weights, BFW, C1 to be used for centralized interference mitigation, based on the first DL channel estimate Ĥ1;
sending, to the first AU, at least a part of the determined first intermediate BFW C1; and
sending, to the first AU, at least a part of the determined first intermediate BFW C1;
obtaining first part of BFW WRU1 based on the first UL channel estimate Ĥ1.
receiving, from the first AU, one of: intermediately-beamformed DL data streams of first user layers K1 of the first number of UEs intermediately beamformed based on first part of BFW WBBU determined based on an inverse calculation of at least a combination Ccom of the first intermediate BFW C1 and second intermediate BFW C2, determined to be used for centralized interference mitigation based on a second DL channel estimate Ĥ2 of a communication channel between the second RU and a second number of UEs, obtaining second part of BFW based on the first DL channel estimate Ĥ1, and beamforming the received intermediately-beamformed DL data streams of the first user layers K1 based on the second part of BFW into beamformed DL data streams for the first user layers K1, and DL data streams of the first user layers K1 and receiving first part of BFW WBBU,1 for the first user layers K1 comprising an inverse calculation of at least the combination Ccom of the first intermediate BFW C1 and the second intermediate BFW C2, and determining final BFW based on the first part of BFW WBBU,1 for the first user layers and based on the first DL channel estimate, and beamforming the received DL data streams of the first user layers K1 based on the determined final BFW into beamformed DL data streams for the first user layers K1;
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-5, 7-12, 25, 42 and 43 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under Double Patenting, set forth in this Office action.
Claims 6 and 13-18 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph and under Double Patenting, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art in the record (in particular, US Pub. 2021/0111930 to Davydov et al. (hereinafter “Davydov”)) does not disclose, with respect to claim 1, determining first intermediate beamforming weights, BFW, C1 to be used for centralized interference mitigation, based on the first UL channel estimate Ĥ1; sending, to the first AU, at least a part of the determined first intermediate BFW C1; and obtaining first part of BFW WRU1 based on the first UL channel estimate Ĥ1 as claimed. Rather, Davydov teaches a distributed MMSE-IRC process 200 in accordance with various embodiments. The process 200 may be distributed between an RRU 202 and a BBU 204 [0026]. Davydov does not teach the aggregation unit, AU, connected to the BBU and the RU and receiving the intermediate beamforming weights. Another prior art, Lu et al. (US Pub. 2020/0389880), teaches a distributed base station system 100, which in turn comprises a BBU 110 and a first RRU 120 (Figure 2) wherein the BBU comprises a first precoder 412 and the RRU comprises a second precoder 421 (Figure 5). Lu also does not teach the aggregation unit, AU, connected to the BBU and the RU and receiving the intermediate beamforming weights. There are prior arts teaching the aggregation unit, AU, connected to the BBU and the RU. For example, Huang et al. (US Pub. 2018/0359770) teaches the cloud-RAN comprises the RCC and a plurality of radio remote systems (RRS) coupled to the RCC, wherein each RRS comprises a radio aggregation unit (RAU) coupled to a plurality of remote radio units (RRUs) ([0015], see Figure 1) and Long et al. (US Pub. 2025/0024483) teaches the hardware architecture including a Baseband Unit Box (BBU), a remote aggregation unit (e.g., a pico-Bridge (pBridge)) and a remote radio unit (e.g., a pico-Remote Radio Unit (pRRU)) ([0022], see Figure 2). However, their AU does not receive the intermediate beamforming weights to be used for centralized interference mitigation, determined based on the UL channel estimate. The prior art in the record also does not disclose, with respect to claim 7, receiving, from the first RU over the first AU FH link, at least a part of first intermediate BFW C1 determined to be used for centralized interference mitigation based on a first UL channel estimate Ĥ1 of a communication channel between a first number of UEs and the first RU; receiving, from the second RU over the second AU FH link, at least a part of second intermediate BFW C2 determined to be used for centralized interference mitigation based on a second UL channel estimate Ĥ2 of a communication channel between a second number of UEs and the second RU; combining the at least part of first intermediate BFW C1 with the at least part of second intermediate BFW C2 into combined intermediate BFW Ccom; sending, to the BBU over the first BBU FH link, the combined intermediate BFW Ccom; and one of: receiving, from the first RU, intermediately-beamformed UL data streams of first user layers K1 originating from the first number of UEs, intermediately beamformed based on first part of BFW for the first RU WRU1 obtained based on the first UL channel estimate Ĥ1, receiving, from the second RU, intermediately-beamformed UL data streams of second user layers K2 originating from the second number of UEs, intermediately beamformed based on first part of BFW for the second RU WRU2 obtained based on the second UL channel estimate Ĥ2, combining the received intermediately-beamformed UL data streams of the first user layers originating from the first RU with the received intermediately-beamformed UL data streams of the second user layers originating from the second RU, and sending the combined intermediately-beamformed UL data streams to the BBU, and receiving, from the BBU, at least a portion of a second part of BFW WBBU determined based on an inverse calculation of at least the combined intermediate BFW Ccom, sending, to the first RU, at least a first RU-adapted portion of the second part of BFW WBBU,1, sending, to the second RU, at least a second RU-adapted portion of the second part of BFW WBBU,2, receiving, from the first RU, completely beamformed UL data streams of the first user layers, beamformed based on final BFW for the first RU determined based on the first part of BFW for the first RU WRU1 and the first RU-adapted second part of BFW WBBU,1, receiving, from the second RU, completely beamformed UL data streams of the second user layers, beamformed based on final BFW for the second RU determined based on the first part of BFW for the second RU WRU2 and the second RU-adapted second part of BFW WBBU,2, combining the completely beamformed UL data streams of the first user layers received from the first RU with the completely beamformed UL data streams of the second user layers received from the second RU, and sending the combined completely beamformed UL data streams to the BBU as claimed. The prior art in the record also does not disclose, with respect to claim 13, receiving, from the first AU, combined intermediate BFW Ccom comprising at least part of first intermediate BFW C1 combined with at least part of second intermediate BFW C2, the at least part of first intermediate BFW C1 originating from the first RU and being determined to be used for centralized interference mitigation based on a first UL channel estimate Ĥ1 of a communication channel between a first number of UEs and the first RU, the at least part of second intermediate BFW C2 originating from the second RU and being determined to be used for centralized interference mitigation based on a second UL channel estimate Ĥ2 of a communication channel between a second number of UEs and the second RU; determining second part of BFW WBBU based on an inverse calculation of at least the received combined intermediate BFW Ccom; and one of: receiving, from the first AU, combined intermediately-beamformed UL data streams, combined of intermediately-beamformed UL data streams of first user layers K1 originating from the first number of UEs, intermediately beamformed by the first RU based on first part of BFW for the first RU WRU1 obtained based on the first UL channel estimate Ĥ1, and of intermediately-beamformed UL data streams of second user layers K2 originating from the second number of UEs, intermediately beamformed by the second RU based on first part of BFW for the second RU WRU2 obtained based on the second UL channel estimate Ĥ2, and beamforming the received combined intermediately-beamformed UL data streams based on the determined second part of BFW WBBU, and sending, to the first AU at least a portion of the second part of BFW WBBU, and receiving, from the first AU, combined completely beamformed UL data streams combined from completely beamformed UL data streams of the first user layers beamformed based on final BFW for the first RU determined based on a first part of BFW for the first RU WRU1 and a first RU-adapted portion of the second part of BFW WBBU,1 and from completely beamformed UL data streams of the second user layers beamformed based on final BFW for the second RU determined based on a first part of BFW for the second RU WRU2 and a second RU-adapted portion of the second part of BFW WBBU,2 as claimed. The prior art in the record also does not disclose, with respect to claim 25, receiving, from the first RU over the first AU FH link, at least a part of first intermediate BFW C1 determined to be used for centralized interference mitigation based on a first UL channel estimate Ĥ1 of a communication channel between a first number of UEs and the first RU; receiving, from the second RU over the second AU FH link, at least a part of second intermediate BFW C2 determined to be used for centralized interference mitigation based on a second UL channel estimate Ĥ2 of a communication channel between a second number of UEs and the second RU; combining the at least part of first intermediate BFW C1 with the at least part of second intermediate BFW C2 into combined intermediate BFW Ccom; sending, to the BBU over the first BBU FH link, the combined intermediate BFW Ccom; receiving, from the first RU, intermediately-beamformed UL data streams of first user layers K1 originating from the first number of UEs, intermediately beamformed based on first part of BFW for the first RU WRU1 obtained based on the first UL channel estimate Ĥ1, receiving, from the second RU, intermediately-beamformed UL data streams of second user layers K2 originating from the second number of UEs, intermediately beamformed based on first part of BFW for the second RU WRU2 obtained based on the second UL channel estimate Ĥ2, combining the received intermediately-beamformed UL data streams of the first user layers originating from the first RU with the received intermediately-beamformed UL data streams of the second user layers originating from the second RU, sending the combined intermediately-beamformed UL data streams to the BBU, or receiving, from the BBU, at least a portion of a second part of BFW WBBU determined based on an inverse calculation of at least the combined intermediate BFW Ccom, sending, to the first RU, at least a first RU-adapted portion of the second part of BFW WBBU,1, sending, to the second RU, at least a second RU-adapted portion of the second part of BFW WBBU,2, receiving, from the first RU, completely beamformed UL data streams of the first user layers, beamformed based on final BFW for the first RU determined based on the first part of BFW for the first RU WRU1 and the first RU-adapted second part of BFW WBBU,1, receiving, from the second RU, completely beamformed UL data streams of the second user layers, beamformed based on final BFW for the second RU determined based on the first part of BFW for the second RU WRU2 and the second RU-adapted second part of BFW WBBU,2, combining the completely beamformed UL data streams of the first user layers received from the first RU with the completely beamformed UL data streams of the second user layers received from the second RU, sending the combined completely beamformed UL data streams to the BBU as claimed.
Conclusion
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/CLEMENCE S HAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414
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