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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-20 are pending in the instant application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 02/18/2025 was filed before the mailing of a First Office Action on the Merits. The information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abdoli et al. [Abdoli] (US 2023/0155864 A1) in view of Ahmed et al. [Ahmed] (US 2022/0021423 A1).
Regarding claim 11, Abdoli discloses a system for optimizing uplink performance of Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) in at least one of an energy-efficient and fronthaul-bandwidth-efficient manner, said O-RAN implementing O-RAN split option 7-2x-based uplink (UL) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) operation (Abdoli: ¶ 0007, One of the most common splits that are standardized recently by the O-RAN alliance is split option 7-2x (Intra-PHY split). This split has multiple advantages such as simplicity, transport bandwidth scalability, beamforming support, interoperability, support for advanced receivers and inter-cell coordination, lower O-RU complexity, future proof-ness, and interface and functions symmetry. ¶ 0068, Implementations as described herein address the aforementioned issues of performance degradation of the O-RAN 7-2x based UL MIMO), said system comprising:
a radio unit (RU) of the O-RAN configured to obtain at least one of DMRS symbols and DMRS measurements, wherein the DMRS symbols are DMRS symbols from multiple antenna streams before digital beamforming operation, and the DMRS measurements are measurements derived from the DMRS symbols (Abdoli: ¶ 0144, O-RU Cat C1 (FIG. 3A): O-RU performs a first level of DM-RS channel estimation on PUSCH/PUCCH and uses the result of this channel estimation to calculate the combining/digital beamforming matrix, and after performing precoding/digital beamforming on the received signal, transfers the resulting signal to O-DU for the rest of processing. ¶¶ 0151-152, As shown in FIG. 4A, at 1-1), prior to slot n, O-DU transfers "DM-RS information" to O-RU so that O-RU can obtain the DM-RS signal and perform channel estimation…Option 1-1-A: "DM-RS configuration parameters" of the scheduled or paired UEs/layers. O-RU generates the "DM-RS sequence" using the "DM-RS configuration parameters" received from O-DU.); and
a distributed unit (DU) of the O-RAN configured to implement the O-RAN 7-2x-based UL MIMO operation in conjunction with the RU (Abdoli: ¶ 0195, FIG. 4D, at 1-8, O-DU performs DMRS channel estimation on the signal of slot n transferred from O-RU and subsequently performs UL MIMO processing by equalizing the channel using the estimated channel (with optional inter-cell interference rejection). Afterward, O-DU performs the rest of L1/L2 processing on the resulting signal. ¶ 0147, DL processing follows the O-RAN split 7-2x (either Cat A or Cat B) to balance the tradeoff between O-RU complexity and fronthaul throughput, where the UL processing follows a new split architecture);
wherein at least one of the RU and the DU is configured to utilize at least one of the DMRS symbols and the DMRS measurements to mitigate performance degradation of the O-RAN 7-2x-based UL MIMO in conditions leading to performance degradation (Abdoli: ¶ 0009, the system performance may degrade in certain scenarios, such as UL mMIMO for high-speed UEs and/or interference-limited scenarios, where there is significant inter-cell interference (ICI) from neighboring cells contaminating the UL signal from the desired UEs. ¶ 0010, The reason for such degradation in high-speed UEs scenarios is channel aging. ¶ 0144, O-RU performs a first level of DM-RS channel estimation on PUSCH/PUCCH and uses the result of this channel estimation to calculate the combining/digital beamforming matrix.).
Abdoli does not explicitly disclose “selectively” … “non-port reduced”.
However, in the analogous field of endeavor, Ahmed teaches “selectively” … “non-port reduced” (Ahmed: ¶ 0129, Since the MU-MIMO combiner is calculated (generated) based on DMRS 206, channel aging problem would not happen (DMRS is transmitted every slot). ¶¶ 0130-133, O-RAN operation … include the following…a new combining mode via M-plane…Default mode can be: existing SRS-based method…New mode provided: DMRS-based split combining mode. ¶ 0152, The O-RU sends the pre-processed DMRS signal (across all antennas) for a given TTI to DU, as represented by the process arrow 501…The O-DU calculates, at block 503, the combiner matrix based on the DMRS signal and sends the combiner matrix to the O-RU, e.g., to the combining matrix buffer 504. [Examiner’s Note: Ahmed teaches that the RU selectively operates between a default SRS-based mode and a DMRS-based mode via M-plane configuration. Ahmed further teaches sending pre-processed DMRS across all antennas before combining, which corresponds to “non-port reduced” DMRS symbols, i.e., Demodulation Reference Signals occupying fewer OFDM symbols to minimize overhead.]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Abdoli by further including, “selectively” and “non-port reduced”, as taught by Ahmed, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of mitigating channel aging (degradation of signal quality over time) and improving channel estimation accuracy.
Regarding claim 12, Abdoli in view of Ahmed teach the system according to claim 11.
Abdoli teaches wherein: the RU is configured to transmit the DMRS measurements to the DU (Abdoli: ¶ 0077, the ORU calculates the combining/digital beamforming matrix. In an implementation, the O-RU applies the calculated combining/digital beamforming matrix to a received signal and transfers the calculated combining/digital beamforming matrix to the O-DU); and the DU is configured to transmit at least one of combining and digital beamforming matrix elements to the RU for at least one of combining and digital beamforming matrix application (Abdoli: ¶ 0176, Option 1-3-B: "Combining/digital beamforming matrix enhancement information" includes preliminary combining/digital beamforming matrix elements corresponding to the scheduled or paired UEs/layers. This preliminary combining/digital beamforming matrix is calculated at O-DU prior to slot n using SRS channel estimates.).
Abdoli does not explicitly disclose “non-port reduced”.
However, in the analogous field of endeavor, Ahmed teaches “non-port reduced” (Ahmed: ¶ 0152, The O-RU sends the pre-processed DMRS signal (across all antennas) for a given TTI to DU, as represented by the process arrow 501…The O-DU calculates, at block 503, the combiner matrix based on the DMRS signal and sends the combiner matrix to the O-RU, e.g., to the combining matrix buffer 504. [Examiner’s Note: Ahmed teaches sending pre-processed DMRS across all antennas before combining, which corresponds to “non-port reduced” DMRS symbols, i.e., Demodulation Reference Signals occupying fewer OFDM symbols to minimize overhead.]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Abdoli by further including, “non-port reduced”, as taught by Ahmed, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of mitigating channel aging (degradation of signal quality over time) and improving channel estimation accuracy.
Regarding claim 13, Abdoli in view of Ahmed teach the system according to claim 12.
Abdoli teaches wherein: the RU is configured to report the capability of the RU for at least one of obtaining the DMRS symbols and transmitting the DMRS measurements to the DU (Abdoli: ¶ 0283, O-RU exposes its ability to support category C1, category C2, or category C3 to the SMO or the O-RU controller in the O-RAN module-cap.yang. ¶¶ 0285-288, If feature DMRS-BASED-CHANNEL-ESTIMATION-SUPPORTED is true, the O-RU reports its support for the following dependent features: dmrs-based-channel-estimation-configuration-type, static-dmrs-based-channel-estimation-configuration-type, dynamic-dmrs-based-channel-estimation-configuration-type).
Abdoli does not explicitly disclose “dynamically deselect” the capability of the RU … “non-port reduced”.
However, in the analogous field of endeavor, Ahmed teaches “dynamically deselect” the capability of the RU …“non-port reduced” (Ahmed: ¶¶ 0130-133, O-RAN operation … include the following…a new combining mode via M-plane…Default mode can be: existing SRS-based method…New mode provided: DMRS-based split combining mode. ¶ 0135, If yes, DU can configure the O-RU to use this method/mode. ¶ 0152, The O-RU sends the pre-processed DMRS signal (across all antennas) for a given TTI to DU, as represented by the process arrow 501…The O-DU calculates, at block 503, the combiner matrix based on the DMRS signal and sends the combiner matrix to the O-RU, e.g., to the combining matrix buffer 504. [Examiner’s Note: Ahmed teaches that the RU reports whether it supports the DMRS-based mode, and the DU configures the RU to use this mode or revert to the default SRS-based method. This selection between modes constitutes dynamic deselection of the DMRS-based capability. Ahmed further teaches sending pre-processed DMRS across all antennas before combining, which corresponds to “non-port reduced” DMRS symbols, i.e., Demodulation Reference Signals occupying fewer OFDM symbols to minimize overhead.]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Abdoli by further including, “dynamically deselect” the capability of the RU …“non-port reduced”, as taught by Ahmed, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of mitigating channel aging (degradation of signal quality over time) and improving channel estimation accuracy.
Regarding claim 14, Abdoli in view of Ahmed teach the system according to claim 12.
Abdoli teaches wherein: i) the DU is configured to send DMRS information used for obtaining at least one of the DMRS symbols and the DMRS measurements; and ii) the RU is configured to transmit the DMRS symbols to the DU (Abdoli: ¶ 0151, As shown in FIG. 4A, at 1-1), prior to slot n, O-DU transfers "DM-RS information" to O-RU so that O-RU can obtain the DM-RS signal and perform channel estimation.).
Abdoli does not explicitly disclose “non-port reduced”.
However, in the analogous field of endeavor, Ahmed teaches “non-port reduced” (Ahmed: ¶ 0152, The O-RU sends the pre-processed DMRS signal (across all antennas) for a given TTI to DU, as represented by the process arrow 501…The O-DU calculates, at block 503, the combiner matrix based on the DMRS signal and sends the combiner matrix to the O-RU, e.g., to the combining matrix buffer 504. [Examiner’s Note: Ahmed teaches sending pre-processed DMRS across all antennas before combining, which corresponds to “non-port reduced” DMRS symbols, i.e., Demodulation Reference Signals occupying fewer OFDM symbols to minimize overhead.]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Abdoli by further including, “non-port reduced”, as taught by Ahmed, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of mitigating channel aging (degradation of signal quality over time) and improving channel estimation accuracy.
Regarding claim 15, Abdoli in view of Ahmed teach the system according to claim 11.
Abdoli teaches wherein: the RU is configured to perform i) a first DMRS channel estimation based on the DMRS symbols, and ii) a calculation of at least one of combining and digital beamforming matrix (Abdoli: ¶ 0144, O-RU Cat C1 (FIG. 3A): O-RU performs a first level of DM-RS channel estimation on PUSCH/PUCCH and uses the result of this channel estimation to calculate the combining/digital beamforming matrix. ¶ 0179, As shown in FIG. 4B, at 1-4 O-RU estimates the UL channels of the UE(s) and/or layer(s) transmitted at the current slot n using the "DM-RS information" obtained in Step 1-1. ¶ 0190, As shown in FIG. 4C, at 1-6 O-RU calculates the "combining/digital beamforming matrix" either based on the calculation method provided by O-DU in Step 1-5 (if Step 1-5 is executed) or based on a pre-configured method (if Step 1-5 is not executed)).
Abdoli does not explicitly disclose “non-port reduced”.
However, in the analogous field of endeavor, Ahmed teaches “non-port reduced” (Ahmed: ¶ 0152, The O-RU sends the pre-processed DMRS signal (across all antennas) for a given TTI to DU, as represented by the process arrow 501…The O-DU calculates, at block 503, the combiner matrix based on the DMRS signal and sends the combiner matrix to the O-RU, e.g., to the combining matrix buffer 504. [Examiner’s Note: Ahmed teaches sending pre-processed DMRS across all antennas before combining, which corresponds to “non-port reduced” DMRS symbols, i.e., Demodulation Reference Signals occupying fewer OFDM symbols to minimize overhead.]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Abdoli by further including, “non-port reduced”, as taught by Ahmed, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of mitigating channel aging (degradation of signal quality over time) and improving channel estimation accuracy.
Regarding claim 16, Abdoli in view of Ahmed teach the system according to claim 11.
Abdoli teaches wherein: the DU is configured to transmit at least one of combining and digital beamforming matrix elements to the RU for at least one of combining and digital beamforming matrix application (Abdoli: ¶ 0176, Option 1-3-B: "Combining/digital beamforming matrix enhancement information" includes preliminary combining/digital beamforming matrix elements corresponding to the scheduled or paired UEs/layers. This preliminary combining/digital beamforming matrix is calculated at O-DU prior to slot n using SRS channel estimates.).
Regarding claim 17, Abdoli in view of Ahmed teach the system according to claim 15.
Abdoli teaches wherein: the RU is configured to transmit the DMRS measurements to the DU (Abdoli: ¶ 0077, O-RU applies the calculated combining/digital beamforming matrix to a received signal and transfers the calculated combining/digital beamforming matrix to the O-DU).
Abdoli does not explicitly disclose “non-port reduced”.
However, in the analogous field of endeavor, Ahmed teaches “non-port reduced” (Ahmed: ¶ 0152, The O-RU sends the pre-processed DMRS signal (across all antennas) for a given TTI to DU, as represented by the process arrow 501…The O-DU calculates, at block 503, the combiner matrix based on the DMRS signal and sends the combiner matrix to the O-RU, e.g., to the combining matrix buffer 504. [Examiner’s Note: Ahmed teaches sending pre-processed DMRS across all antennas before combining, which corresponds to “non-port reduced” DMRS symbols, i.e., Demodulation Reference Signals occupying fewer OFDM symbols to minimize overhead.]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Abdoli by further including, “non-port reduced”, as taught by Ahmed, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of mitigating channel aging (degradation of signal quality over time) and improving channel estimation accuracy.
Regarding claim 18, Abdoli in view of Ahmed teach the system according to claim 11.
Abdoli teaches wherein: the RU is configured to transmit the DMRS measurements to the DU (Abdoli: ¶ 0078, O-RU calculates a supplementary demodulation information and transfers the supplementary demodulation information along with an equalized signal stream to the O-DU).
Abdoli does not explicitly disclose “non-port reduced”.
However, in the analogous field of endeavor, Ahmed teaches “non-port reduced” (Ahmed: ¶ 0152, The O-RU sends the pre-processed DMRS signal (across all antennas) for a given TTI to DU, as represented by the process arrow 501…The O-DU calculates, at block 503, the combiner matrix based on the DMRS signal and sends the combiner matrix to the O-RU, e.g., to the combining matrix buffer 504. [Examiner’s Note: Ahmed teaches sending pre-processed DMRS across all antennas before combining, which corresponds to “non-port reduced” DMRS symbols, i.e., Demodulation Reference Signals occupying fewer OFDM symbols to minimize overhead.]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Abdoli by further including, “non-port reduced”, as taught by Ahmed, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of mitigating channel aging (degradation of signal quality over time) and improving channel estimation accuracy.
Regarding claim 19, Abdoli in view of Ahmed teach the system according to claim 17.
Abdoli teaches wherein: the DU is configured to perform a second DMRS channel estimation (Abdoli: ¶ 0144, O-RU Cat C1 (FIG. 3A): O-RU performs a first level of DM-RS channel estimation. ¶ 0195, As shown in FIG. 4D, at 1-8, O-DU performs DMRS channel estimation on the signal of slot n transferred from O-RU and subsequently performs UL MIMO processing by equalizing the channel using the estimated channel (with optional inter-cell interference rejection). [Examiner’s Note: Abdoli discloses a two-stage estimation: The O-RU performs a “first level of DM-RS channel estimation” (¶ 0143) and the O-DU subsequently performs its own “DM-RS channel estimation on the signal of slot n transferred from O-RU” (¶ 0195).]).
Regarding claim 20, Abdoli in view of Ahmed teach the system according to claim 18.
Abdoli teaches wherein: the DU is configured to perform a second DMRS channel estimation (Abdoli: ¶ 0144, O-RU Cat C1 (FIG. 3A): O-RU performs a first level of DM-RS channel estimation. ¶ 0195, As shown in FIG. 4D, at 1-8, O-DU performs DMRS channel estimation on the signal of slot n transferred from O-RU and subsequently performs UL MIMO processing by equalizing the channel using the estimated channel (with optional inter-cell interference rejection). [Examiner’s Note: Abdoli discloses a two-stage estimation: The O-RU performs a “first level of DM-RS channel estimation” (¶ 0143) and the O-DU subsequently performs its own “DM-RS channel estimation on the signal of slot n transferred from O-RU” (¶ 0195).]).
Features of claims 1-10 correspond to features of claims 11-20, respectively, and are therefore rejected using the same rationale(s) and same prior art(s) applied to claims 1-10, above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sriram et al. (US 2023/0106249 A1); Sriram et al. teaches to make the C-RAN self-adapt to available hardware by dividing RAN functions into containers and assigning them to suitable nodes and cores. The system determines the hardware configuration and then selects a compatible split, thread layout, and channel configuration. It can place L1 and L2 on the same node or different nodes, with nFAPI used for communication and timing alignment. The result is a configurable C-RAN that can run on heterogeneous cloud resources instead of requiring uniform high-end servers. See, [¶¶ 0023-27, 86-94, 101-107].
GOPAL et al. (US 2021/0320697A1); GOPAL et al. teaches the UE selects among multiple antenna sets and RF communication paths using ASDiv criteria that take into account SRS interruption, front-end path loss, and cascaded cross-switches. Instead of blindly switching, the UE searches for paths that avoid or minimize interference with the other carrier, including selecting a path with fewer switch hops or a direct path to an antenna. The UE may also measure blockage or channel quality and adjust the criteria dynamically. This lets one carrier continue operating while the other carrier performs antenna switching, preserving diversity without unnecessary interruption. See, [¶¶ 0010, 44-51, 67, 101].
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/M.A./Examiner, Art Unit 2465
/John Pezzlo/
Primary Patent Examiner, AU 2465B
29 June 2026
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