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 Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 17 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Bagheri et al., US 2018/0048441 A1 (Bagheri hereinafter).
Here is how the reference teaches the claims.
Regarding claim 1, Bagheri discloses a method for determining a reference signal (Bagheri, paragraph [0001], The subject matter disclosed herein relates to reference signal locations and more particularly relates to determining reference signal locations), comprising:
indicating, in a preset manner (Bagheri, paragraph [0077], the reference signal locations 145 are determined 510 to be in predetermined TTI instances 135 of the plurality of TTI 135 and a number of predetermined TTI instances 135 is less than the number of the plurality of TTI), that the reference signal exists in at least one of N scheduled transmission time intervals (TTIs) (Bagheri, paragraph [0077], In response to one TTI 135 in the scheduled transmission 165, the one or more reference signal locations 145 may be determined 505 to be in a first predetermined TTI instance 135 at the first TTI 135a of the plurality of TTI 135 (i.e., at least one of the N scheduled TTIs), such as is illustrated in FIG. 3A), wherein N is a positive integer (Bagheri, paragraph [0077], wherein the reference signal 155 is present only in the predetermined TTI instances 135).
Regarding claim 2, Bagheri discloses wherein in response to determining that the reference signal has a fixed position in the N TTIs (Bagheri, paragraph [0085], a fixed value for a field in multi-TTI Grant indicates the number of TTI 135 and/or one or more reference signal locations 145. In a certain embodiment, a function of a time and/or frequency wherein the multi-TTI grant is transmitted indicates the one or more reference signal locations 145 and/or the number of TTI 135), indicating, in the preset manner (Bagheri, paragraph [0077], the reference signal locations 145 are determined 510 to be in predetermined TTI instances 135 of the plurality of TTI 135 and a number of predetermined TTI instances 135 is less than the number of the plurality of TTI), that the reference signal exists in at least one of the N TTIs (Bagheri, paragraph [0077], In response to one TTI 135 in the scheduled transmission 165, the one or more reference signal locations 145 may be determined 505 to be in a first predetermined TTI instance 135 at the first TTI 135a of the plurality of TTI 135 (i.e., at least one of the N scheduled TTIs), such as is illustrated in FIG. 3A) comprises at least one of:
in a manner one, indicating that the reference signal exists in a first TTI and there is no reference signal in the rest of the N TTIs;
in a manner two, indicating one TTI comprising the reference signal among the N scheduled TTIs;
in a manner three, indicating whether each of the N scheduled TTIs comprises the reference signal;
in a manner four, indicating, among the N scheduled TTIs, at most K TTIs each comprising the reference signal, wherein K is a positive integer less than N;
in a manner five, indicating whether the reference signal is carried in the rest of the N scheduled TTIs except the first TTI and a position for carrying the reference signal,
wherein the first TTI comprises the reference signal, and whether another TTI comprises the reference signal and a position of the another TTI comprising the reference signal are indicated; or
in a manner six, indicating a reference signal pattern in the N TTIs (Bagheri, paragraph [0102], The method 800 starts, and in one embodiment, the processor 405 generates 805 a reference signal location pattern of reference signal locations 145. The reference signal location pattern may include a plurality of predetermined TTI instances 135),
wherein the reference signal pattern is a set of patterns for a number x of TTIs scheduled (Bagheri, paragraph [0101], FIG. 5B is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating one embodiment of a pattern assignment method 800. The method 800 may generate patterns of reference signal locations 145 and assign the patterns to sub bands 140. Also see paragraph [0062], FIG. 31 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of allocating data 150 in scheduled TTI 135. Some of the scheduled TTI 135 may include a reference signal 155 as well as data), or
the reference signal pattern simultaneously carries information about a number of TTIs scheduled; or
the reference signal pattern simultaneously carries timing information for an acknowledgement (ACK)/non-acknowledgement (NACK) feedback.
Regarding claim 17, Bagheri discloses a device for determining a reference signal (Bagheri, paragraph [0064], FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a computer 400. The computer 400 may be embodied in the user equipment 110 and/or the base station 105), comprising:
a processor and at least one memory storing programs (Bagheri, paragraph [0064], In the depicted embodiment, the computer 400 includes a processor 405, a memory 410, and communication hardware 415), wherein when executing the programs (Bagheri, paragraph [0064], The memory 410 may store code and data. The processor 405 may execute the code and process the data), the processor is caused to implementing indicating, in a preset manner (Bagheri, paragraph [0077], the reference signal locations 145 are determined 510 to be in predetermined TTI instances 135 of the plurality of TTI 135 and a number of predetermined TTI instances 135 is less than the number of the plurality of TTI), that the reference signal exists in at least one of N scheduled transmission time intervals (TTIs) (Bagheri, paragraph [0077], In response to one TTI 135 in the scheduled transmission 165, the one or more reference signal locations 145 may be determined 505 to be in a first predetermined TTI instance 135 at the first TTI 135a of the plurality of TTI 135 (i.e., at least one of the N scheduled TTIs), such as is illustrated in FIG. 3A), wherein N is a positive integer (Bagheri, paragraph [0077], wherein the reference signal 155 is present only in the predetermined TTI instances 135).
Regarding claim 19, Bagheri discloses a non-transitory storage medium, comprising stored programs (Bagheri, paragraph [0022], Any combination of one or more computer readable medium may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium may be a storage device storing the code), wherein, when executed, the programs execute the method of claim 1 (Bagheri, paragraph [0064], The memory 410 may store code and data. The processor 405 may execute the code and process the data).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bagheri et al., US 2018/0048441 A1 (Bagheri hereinafter), as applied to the claims above and further in view of SOLANO ARENAS et al., US 2021/0227512 A1 (Solano hereinafter).
Here is how the references teach the claims.
Regarding claim 7, Bagheri discloses the method of claim 1. Bagheri do not explicitly disclose wherein in a downlink transmission process, supporting a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) to use a resource unused by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) comprises at least one of:
among the N TTIs, only a first TTI supports the PDSCH to use the resource unused by the PDCCH;
in a case where N>1, not supporting the PDSCH to use the resource unused by the PDCCH;
in a case where N=1, supporting the PDSCH to use the resource unused by the PDCCH; or
among the N TTIs, the N TTIs reuses the same resource unused by the PDCCH with the first TTI.
In the same field of endeavor (e.g., communication system) Solano discloses a method related to wireless communication that comprises wherein in a downlink transmission process, supporting a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) to use a resource unused by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) (Solano, paragraph [0066], Use configured sPDCCH resources after the wireless device's sDCI for sPDSCH, i.e., unused sCCE resources. The wireless device knows the sCCE resources location of the sPDCCH PRB set and knows which resources after its present sDCI are used for data transmission targeted to this wireless device) comprises at least one of:
among the N TTIs, only a first TTI supports the PDSCH to use the resource unused by the PDCCH;
in a case where N>1, not supporting the PDSCH to use the resource unused by the PDCCH;
in a case where N=1, supporting the PDSCH to use the resource unused by the PDCCH; or
among the N TTIs, the N TTIs reuses the same resource unused by the PDCCH with the first TTI (Solano, paragraph [0351], To schedule sTTI, a sPDCCH needs to be included in each sTTI In some embodiments, it is described in a way to achieve dynamic adaptation of the sPDCCH region, more specifically to efficiently reuse for sPDSCH resources left unused by sPDCCH).
Thus, 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 system of Bagheri by using the features, as taught by Solano, in order to support a method related to flexible resource allocation for short Transmission Time Interval (TTI) (see Solano, paragraph [0001]).
Examiner’s Note
Following prior arts are made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
1. Shalin et al., US 2020/0112981 A1: discloses a method for generating a scheduling grant for a wireless device supporting variable TTI lengths to be transmitted in one TTI (see abstract and paragraph [0099]).
2. Kuchibhotla et al., US 2017/0223687 A1: discloses a method for providing low latency transmission, where the reference signals can be transmitted in a flexible location (see abstract and paragraph [0099]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6 and 8-13 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OBAIDUL HUQ whose telephone number is (571)270-7199. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:00-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kwang Bin Yao can be reached at 571-272-3182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/OBAIDUL HUQ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473 Dated: 10/02/2026
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