DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
SPECIFICATION
The specification is objected to because the title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. The Examiner notes that the title is the title of the invention. See 37 CRF 1.5 and MPEP 606. The Examiner further notes that the term “invention” means invention or discovery. See 35 U.S.C. 100. Here, the invention is not a “COMMUNICATION METHOD AND COMMUNICATION APPARATUS” in itself since Communication method and communication apparatus are known and were not discovered by the Applicant. The present invention, if anything, appears to be an improvement thereof, particularly with respect to uplink precoding. The title should be descriptive of the discovery or improvement for purposes of indexing, classifying, searching, etc. See MPEP 606.01.
PRIOR ART
The following references are prior art:
1. Appl. No.: 18/688,344 is prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) since it published as US 2025/0125841 A1, names another inventor (Yi HUANG of QUALCOMM Incorporated), and was effectively filed Nov. 1, 2021 before Dec. 30, 2021 the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
CLAIM REJECTIONS — 35 U.S.C. 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:
35 U.S.C. 102 Conditions for patentability; novelty.
(a) NOVELTY; PRIOR ART.—A person shall be entitled to a patent unless—
(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
CLAIMS 1-20
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Huang (US 2025/0125841 A1) for the reasons given below.
Claim 1
With respect to claim 1, Huang disclosed:
A communication method, comprising: receiving first indication information, the first indication information indicating a quantity of bits occupied by second indication information, the second indication information indicating uplink precoding information of P resource block (RB) sets, each RB set in the P RB sets comprising one or more RBs, different RB sets in the P RB sets corresponding to different uplink precoding information, and P being greater than or equal to 2 ([0068] base station (e.g., 102, 180, or 310) may indicate to a [user equipment] UE (e.g., 104 or 350) to use a particular transmission precoding matrix indicator (TPMI) to transmit a [physical uplink shared channel] PUSCH. [0070] The base station may signal the [uplink] UL TPMIs for sub-band precoding to the UE in the [downlink control information] DCI scheduling the PUSCH transmission. The base station may signal one TPMI for each sub-band needs one TPMI. [0069] FIG. 5B illustrates an example 550 of a PUSCH with sub-band dependent decoding in which different precoders are applied to different sub-band of the PUSCH transmission… The ability to have a different precoder in different sub-band of the PUSCH enables the use of a precoder that is more aligned with the conditions of a particular sub-band for the PUSCH. FIG. 5B illustrates an example in which the subbands may span 8 RBs. As an example, the DCI scheduling the PUSCH may instruct the UE to transmit the PUSCH on 32 RBs and to partition the RBs into four subbands. The base station may also indicate to the UE to use different precoders for the different sub-bands. For example, the DCI scheduling the PUSCH may indicate for the UE to use precoder 1 for sub-band 1, precoder 2 for sub-band 2, precoder 3 for sub-band 3, and precoder 4 for sub-band 4. [0072] If the DCI includes B bits to indicate each TPMI the total number of bits to indicate all of the TPMIs for the PUSCH is a function of the number of RBs for the scheduled PUSCH, and may be written as: Total number of bits in DCI to indicate the TPMIs=B*ceiling(Y/X). [0074] FIG. 6 illustrates an example 600 showing interpolation based sub-band precoding in which the base station may indicate a fixed number of precoders when scheduling PUSCH (e.g., P0, Pl, P2, and P3 in the example in FIG. 6). The fixed number may help to reduce the processing at the UE to attempt to decode the DCI because there may be less variability in the DCI size. Instead of indicating a TPMI for each sub-band, the network may indicate a fixed number of precoders for certain resource grids, e.g., independent of the PUSCH assignment… In the example in FIG. 6, the base station may RRC configure the UE with an indication that L=4, so that the UE knows that a scheduled PUSCH will have a particular precoder at 4 tones of the PUSCH. The base station may then indicate the four precoders for the 4 tones to the UE. As an example, the base station may indicate the four precoders to the UE in the DCI scheduling the PUSCH. As the UE will know that the base station will send 4 TPMIs in the DCI, the UE may reduce the number of hypotheses to be attempted to decode the DCI. The example of L=4 is merely one example, and may L may be any integer number of 2 or more. [0077] Although the example for FIG. 6 describes an example with L tones, in order to illustrate the concept, the concept may also be applied to other granularities for L. As an example, L may be for an RB, and the base station may indicate L precoders to be applied to L RBs. The Examiner finds that Huang disclosed a communication method, comprising: receiving first indication information (i.e., the base station provides the UE with a fixed number of precoders when scheduling PUSCH), the first indication information indicating a quantity of bits occupied by second indication information (the DCI includes B bits to indicate each TPMI precoder), the second indication information indicating uplink precoding information of P resource block (RB) sets, each RB set in the P RB sets comprising one or more RBs (As an example, the DCI scheduling the PUSCH may instruct the UE to transmit the PUSCH on 32 RBS and to partition the RBs into four subbands.), different RB sets in the P RB sets corresponding to different uplink precoding information, and P being greater than or equal to 2 (The base station may also indicate to the UE to use different precoders for the different sub-bands. For example, the DCI scheduling the PUSCH may indicate for the UE to use precoder 1 for sub-band 1, precoder 2 for sub-band 2, precoder 3 for sub-band 3, and precoder 4 for sub-band 4.));
receiving downlink control information (DCI) [0070] The base station may signal the UL TPMIs for sub-band precoding to the UE in the DCI scheduling the PUSCH transmission.);
determining the second indication information in the DCI based on the quantity of bits ([0070] The base station may signal the UL TPMIs for sub-band precoding to the UE in the DCI scheduling the PUSCH transmission. [0074] FIG. 6 illustrates an example 600 showing interpolation based sub-band precoding in which the base station may indicate a fixed number of precoders when scheduling PUSCH (e.g., P0, Pl, P2, and P3 in the example in FIG. 6). The fixed number may help to reduce the processing at the UE to attempt to decode the DCI because there may be less variability in the DCI size… the concepts presented herein may be applied for other sizes of resource grids, e.g., one or more REs, or one or more RBs… the base station may RRC configure the UE with an indication that L=4, so that the UE knows that a scheduled PUSCH will have a particular precoder at 4 tones of the PUSCH. The base station may then indicate the four precoders for the 4 tones to the UE. As an example, the base station may indicate the four precoders to the UE in the DCI scheduling the PUSCH. As the UE will know that the base station will send 4 TPMIs in the DCI, the UE may reduce the number of hypotheses to be attempted to decode the DCI. The example of L=4 is merely one example, and may L may be any integer number of 2 or more.);
and sending uplink information based on the uplink precoding information of the P RB sets ([0075] As illustrated in the example in FIG. 6, the UE may apply the first precoder 604 at a tone 602 at a frequency edge PUSCH, and the other tones may be equally spaced within the PUSCH transmission. The UE may apply a last precoder 610 at a tone 607 that is at the opposite frequency edge of the PUSCH from the tone 602. FIG. 6 illustrates the tone 603 (e.g., to which the precoder 606 is applied) and the tone 605 (e.g., to which the precoder 608 is applied) being equally spaced within the PUSCH.).
Claim 2
With respect to claim 2, Huang disclosed:
The method according to claim 1 (see rejection above),
wherein RBs comprised in the P RB sets are uplink resources scheduled for a terminal device ([0050] A resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each time slot includes a resource block (RB) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs)) that extends 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into multiple resource elements (REs ). [0068] DCI scheduling resources for a [physical uplink shared channel] PUSCH transmission may include information that indicates a TPMI (e.g., indicating a single precoder) for the UE to use for the whole bandwidth of the scheduled PUSCH transmission. [0069] the DCI scheduling the PUSCH may instruct the UE to transmit the PUSCH on 32 RBS and to partition the RBs into four subbands. The base station may also indicate to the UE to use different precoders for the different sub-bands… a granularity of the sub-bands having different precoders may be a set of multiple RBs. [0077] Although the example for FIG. 6 describes an example with L tones, in order to illustrate the concept, the concept may also be applied to other granularities for L. As an example, L may be for an RB, and the base station may indicate L precoders to be applied to L RBs. The UE may interpolate the precoder for each RB between the RBs with the indicated precoders. In another example, the granularity of L may be a set of RBs.).
Claim 3
With respect to claim 3, Huang disclosed:
The method according to claim 2 (see rejection above),
further comprising: receiving third indication information, wherein the third indication information indicates that each RB set in the P RB sets comprises one or more RBs in the uplink resources scheduled for the terminal device ([0069] the DCI scheduling the PUSCH may instruct the UE to transmit the PUSCH on 32 RBS and to partition the RBs into four subbands. The base station may also indicate to the UE to use different precoders for the different sub-bands. For example, the DCI scheduling the PUSCH may indicate for the UE to use precoder 1 for sub-band 1, precoder 2 for sub-band 2, precoder 3 for sub-band 3, and precoder 4 for sub-band 4. The granularity of the sub-bands may be different in other examples. For example, a granularity of the sub-bands having different precoders may be a set of multiple RBs. In other aspects, the sub-bands having different precoders may each be a single RB. In other aspects, the sub-bands having different precoders may be a set of tones (e.g., a set of subcarriers). In other aspects, the sub-bands having different precoders may be a single tone (e.g., a single subcarrier). For example, the granularity of the sub-bands may be one or more RBs or one or more tones (e.g., subcarriers). The network may define, or indicate, the granularity for the sub-bands.).
Claim 4
With respect to claim 4, Huang disclosed:
The method according to claim 1 (see rejection above),
wherein RBs comprised in the P RB sets are frequency domain resources corresponding to an uplink bandwidth part (BWP) of a terminal device ([0069] FIG. 5B illustrates an example in which the subbands may span 8 RBs. As an example, the DCI scheduling the PUSCH may instruct the UE to transmit the PUSCH on 32 RBS and to partition the RBs into four subbands. The base station may also indicate to the UE to use different precoders for the different sub-bands. For example, the DCI scheduling the PUSCH may indicate for the UE to use precoder 1 for sub-band 1, precoder 2 for sub-band 2, precoder 3 for sub-band 3, and precoder 4 for sub-band 4. The granularity of the sub-bands may be different in other examples. For example, a granularity of the sub-bands having different precoders may be a set of multiple RBs. In other aspects, the sub-bands having different precoders may each be a single RB. In other aspects, the sub-bands having different precoders may be a set of tones (e.g., a set of subcarriers)).
Claim 5
With respect to claim 5, Huang disclosed:
The method according to claim 4 (see rejection above),
further comprising: receiving fourth indication information, wherein the fourth indication information indicates that each RB set in the P RB sets comprises one or more RBs in the frequency domain resources corresponding to the uplink BWP of the terminal device [0069] FIG. 5B illustrates an example in which the subbands may span 8 RBs. As an example, the DCI scheduling the PUSCH may instruct the UE to transmit the PUSCH on 32 RBS and to partition the RBs into four subbands. The base station may also indicate to the UE to use different precoders for the different sub-bands. For example, the DCI scheduling the PUSCH may indicate for the UE to use precoder 1 for sub-band 1, precoder 2 for sub-band 2, precoder 3 for sub-band 3, and precoder 4 for sub-band 4. The granularity of the sub-bands may be different in other examples. For example, a granularity of the sub-bands having different precoders may be a set of multiple RBs. In other aspects, the sub-bands having different precoders may each be a single RB. In other aspects, the sub-bands having different precoders may be a set of tones (e.g., a set of subcarriers).
Claim 6
With respect to claim 6, Huang disclosed:
The method according to claim 1 (see rejection above),
wherein the uplink precoding information of the P RB sets is determined based on a first codebook, and the first codebook comprises: a preconfigured codebook; a codebook determined in at least two codebooks based on a value of P; or a codebook corresponding to a discrete Fourier transform DFT oversampling matrix generated based on a value of P ([0068] a base station (e.g., 102, 180, or 310) may indicate to a UE (e.g., 104 or 350) to use a particular transmission precoding matrix indicator (TPMI) to transmit a PUSCH. The precoder may be a codebook based precoding matrix. [0094] As an example, the base station may signal, at 907, a phase rotation matrix codebook, which includes a set of orthonormal matrices Q, that the UE may use to do phase rotation. In some aspects, the base station 904 may signal the phase rotation matrix codebook via RRC signaling or in a MAC-CE. [0096] In other aspects, the base station may indicate to the UE in DCI, e.g., 910, the Q, to use to pair with each P,. The base station may signal two set of indices, L indices for precoders P, and L or L-1 indices for the phase rotation matrices Q,, for example.).
Claim 7
Claim 7 recites limitations similar to claim 1 except that it additionally recites “A communication apparatus, comprising at least one processor and one or more memories coupled to the at least one processor and storing programming instructions for execution by the at least one processor, the programming instructions when executed by the at least one processor enable the apparatus to” perform functionality similar to that of claim 1. Huang [0107] disclosed the additional limitations. Claim 7 is rejected for this reasons along with the reasoning given for claim 1.
Claim 8
Claim 8 recites limitations similar to claim 2 and is rejected by similar reasoning.
Claim 9
Claim 9 recites limitations similar to claim 3 and is rejected by similar reasoning.
Claim 10
Claim 10 recites limitations similar to claim 4 and is rejected by similar reasoning.
Claim 11
Claim 11 recites limitations similar to claim 5 and is rejected by similar reasoning.
Claim 12
Claim 12 recites limitations similar to claim 6 and is rejected by similar reasoning.
Claim 13
With respect to claim 13, Huang disclosed:
The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the uplink precoding information of the P RB sets is determined based on a first codebook; and the programming instructions when executed by the at least one processor further enable the apparatus to: receive fifth indication information, wherein the fifth indication information indicates that the first codebook comprises: a preconfigured codebook; a codebook determined in at least two codebooks based on a value of P; or a codebook corresponding to a DFI oversampling matrix generated based on a value of P ([0068] a base station (e.g., 102, 180, or 310) may indicate to a UE (e.g., 104 or 350) to use a particular transmission precoding matrix indicator (TPMI) to transmit a PUSCH. The precoder may be a codebook based precoding matrix. [0094] As an example, the base station may signal, at 907, a phase rotation matrix codebook, which includes a set of orthonormal matrices Q, that the UE may use to do phase rotation. In some aspects, the base station 904 may signal the phase rotation matrix codebook via RRC signaling or in a MAC-CE. [0096] In other aspects, the base station may indicate to the UE in DCI, e.g., 910, the Q, to use to pair with each P,. The base station may signal two set of indices, L indices for precoders P, and L or L-1 indices for the phase rotation matrices Q,, for example.).
Claim 14
Claim 14 recites limitations similar to claim 7 except that it is claimed from the perspective of an apparatus (e.g., the base station) sending the DCI, and is rejected by similar reasoning.
Claim 15
Claim 15 recites limitations similar to claim 8 and is rejected by similar reasoning.
Claim 16
Claim 16 recites limitations similar to claim 9 and is rejected by similar reasoning.
Claim 17
Claim 17 recites limitations similar to claim 10 and is rejected by similar reasoning.
Claim 18
Claim 18 recites limitations similar to claim 11 and is rejected by similar reasoning.
Claim 19
Claim 19 recites limitations similar to claim 13 and is rejected by similar reasoning.
Claim 20
With respect to claim 20, Huang disclosed:
The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the second indication information comprises P pieces of information, the P pieces of information respectively indicate the uplink precoding information of the P RB sets, and different information in the P pieces of information occupies a same quantity of bits in the DCI; or the second indication information comprises P pieces of information, the P pieces of information respectively indicate the uplink precoding information of the P RB sets, and at least two pieces of information in the P pieces of information occupy different quantities of bits in the DCI ([0069] FIG. 5B illustrates an example 550 of a PUSCH with sub-band dependent decoding in which different precoders are applied to different sub-band of the PUSCH transmission… The ability to have a different precoder in different sub-band of the PUSCH enables the use of a precoder that is more aligned with the conditions of a particular sub-band for the PUSCH. FIG. 5B illustrates an example in which the subbands may span 8 RBs. As an example, the DCI scheduling the PUSCH may instruct the UE to transmit the PUSCH on 32 RBs and to partition the RBs into four subbands. The base station may also indicate to the UE to use different precoders for the different sub-bands. For example, the DCI scheduling the PUSCH may indicate for the UE to use precoder 1 for sub-band 1, precoder 2 for sub-band 2, precoder 3 for sub-band 3, and precoder 4 for sub-band 4. [0072] If the DCI includes B bits to indicate each TPMI the total number of bits to indicate all of the TPMIs for the PUSCH is a function of the number of RBs for the scheduled PUSCH, and may be written as: Total number of bits in DCI to indicate the TPMIs=B*ceiling(Y/X). [0074] FIG. 6 illustrates an example 600 showing interpolation based sub-band precoding in which the base station may indicate a fixed number of precoders when scheduling PUSCH (e.g., P0, Pl, P2, and P3 in the example in FIG. 6). The fixed number may help to reduce the processing at the UE to attempt to decode the DCI because there may be less variability in the DCI size. Instead of indicating a TPMI for each sub-band, the network may indicate a fixed number of precoders for certain resource grids, e.g., independent of the PUSCH assignment… In the example in FIG. 6, the base station may RRC configure the UE with an indication that L=4, so that the UE knows that a scheduled PUSCH will have a particular precoder at 4 tones of the PUSCH. The base station may then indicate the four precoders for the 4 tones to the UE. As an example, the base station may indicate the four precoders to the UE in the DCI scheduling the PUSCH. As the UE will know that the base station will send 4 TPMIs in the DCI, the UE may reduce the number of hypotheses to be attempted to decode the DCI. The example of L=4 is merely one example, and may L may be any integer number of 2 or more.).
PERTINENT PRIOR ART
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
1. US 2020/0275416 (Hag) is prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) since it published on Aug. 27, 2020 before Dec. 30, 2021 the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Hag disclosed [0320] The number of bits used for TPMI(s) indication in an uplink grant (DCI) may be fixed (e.g., notwithstanding that the number of scheduled RBs and/or the number of subbands corresponding to the scheduled RBs may change from grant to grant). In such case, codebook subsampling may be used for one or more (e.g., each) subband. For example, the reference number of subbands may be defined, configured, or determined as a value, Nsub; if the number of subbands within the scheduled bandwidth is equal to or smaller than Nsub, all codewords in the codebook may be used for subband TPMI(s). If the number of subbands within the scheduled bandwidth is larger than Nsub, codebook subsampling may be used for subband TPMI(s), and the number of codewords in the codebook for subband TPMI(s) may be limited.
CONCLUSION
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Christopher Davis whose telephone number is 703-756-1832. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri from 11AM to 7PM ET. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayaz Sheikh, can be reached at telephone number 571-272-3795. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER R DAVIS/ Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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