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 § 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.
Claims 1-5, 8, 11-13, 16, 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang (CN 107743059 A, the quoted recitation are of the attached translated copy of CN107743059 A) in view of Mohamed Shokr (US 2021/0099325 A1, hereinafter as Mohamed).
(1) Regarding claim 1:
Wang discloses an operating method of a wireless communication device operating in a narrowband Internet of things (IoT) communication standalone mode (narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), abstract), the operating method comprising:
calculating a noise value (P(N) in last paragraph of page 2) of a target subframe based on signals received through unused resource elements in the target subframe (as shown in figure 1, space carrier, abstract) (page 2, step 3, the power of empty resource element P(N)), the target subframe being among a plurality of subframes included in a downlink signal, and the downlink signal being received from an external device (the method is performed by a UE as mentioned in page 2, step 1, therefore it is a downlink signal from the base station); and
estimating a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the target subframe based on the noise covariance (calculate the power ratio of the NPSS signal and the empty subcarrier on a resource element RE, as Approximate signal-to-noise ratio SNR, page 2, step 3).
Wang fails to disclose using a noise covariance as a noise value for determining a SNR.
However, Mohamed teaches in figure 9 using resource elements reserved to be unused for generating a noise covariance as a noise value (para. 0012, determine a background noise of a system, 0021,0063-0064).
It is desirable to use a noise covariance as a noise value for determining a SNR because it obtain the noise value without additional filtering operation after the channel estimate (para. 0064). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Mohamed in the method of Wang for the benefit of simplifying the method of obtaining a noise value (para. 0021).
(2) Regarding claim 2:
Wang and Mohamed disclose all subject matter of claim 1, and Mohamed further discloses determining a type of the target subframe; and determining the unused resource elements based on the type of the target subframe (other numbers of symbols may be used depending on the RAT and/or communication protocol standard, para. 0054; the terminal device may start to demodulate and decode the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) to obtain the Downlink Control Information (DCI) 704. Once the DCI is detected, the terminal device is able to determine information indicating PDSCH DMRS types and the antenna configuration index, para. 0055; Based on the DMRS types and antenna configuration determined in 704, the terminal device can determine whether there are REs which are not used for DMRS transmission in the respective reserved CDM group 706, para. 0057-0058).
It is desirable to determine a type of the target subframe; and determining the unused resource elements based on the type of the target subframe because it provides the noise value without additional filtering operation after the channel estimate (para. 0064). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Mohamed in the method of Wang for the benefit of simplifying the method of obtaining a noise value (para. 0021).
(3) Regarding claim 3:
Wang and Mohamed disclose all subject matter of claim 2, and Mohamed further discloses determining the type of the target subframe based on a frame structure corresponding to a radio access technology used by the wireless communication device (other numbers of symbols may be used depending on the RAT and/or communication protocol standard, para. 0054; the terminal device may start to demodulate and decode the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) to obtain the Downlink Control Information (DCI) 704. Once the DCI is detected, the terminal device is able to determine information indicating PDSCH DMRS types and the antenna configuration index, para. 0055; Based on the DMRS types and antenna configuration determined in 704, the terminal device can determine whether there are REs which are not used for DMRS transmission in the respective reserved CDM group 706, para. 0057).
(4) Regarding claim 4:
Wang and Mohamed disclose all subject matter of claim 3, and Wang further discloses the type of the target subframe is one of:
a first type in which the target subframe includes narrowband physical broadcast channel (NPBCH) resource elements;
a second type in which the target subframe includes narrowband primary synchronization signal (NPSS) resource elements (The antenna port number in the NB-IoT system is implied in a narrow-band physical broadcast channel (NPBCH) through the cyclic redundancy mask (CRC mask); a narrow-band reference signal (NRS) under the 1/2 antenna port situation is read from the received signal, the signal-to-noise ratio SNR estimation is performed by using the narrow-band primary synchronization signal (NPSS) and a space carrier, abstract; NPBCH with NPSS, page 2, 3rd paragraph);
a third type in which the target subframe includes narrowband secondary synchronization signal (NSSS) resource elements; or
a fourth type in which the target subframe includes narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) resource elements or narrowband physical downlink shared channel (NPDSCH) resource elements.
(5) Regarding claim 5:
Wang and Mohamed disclose all subject matter of claim 2, and Mohamed further discloses determining the unused resource elements based on a resource grid corresponding to the type of the target subframe (the resource block is split in the time direction into a plurality of symbols, e.g. 7 symbols are shown in resource block 600, but it is appreciated that other numbers of symbols may be used depending on the RAT and/or communication protocol standard. For example, 6 symbols may be used if an extended cyclic prefix (CP) is inserted to each symbol in scenarios with a higher delay spread, para. 0054; the terminal device may start to demodulate and decode the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) to obtain the Downlink Control Information (DCI) 704. Once the DCI is detected, the terminal device is able to determine information indicating PDSCH DMRS types and the antenna configuration index. Two examples of reserved CDM groups without DMRS data transmitted in every RE are shown in FIG. 8, wherein REs in each ODFM symbol of the different DMRS types without an Antenna Port (AP) assigned for transmission are located in the CDM group reserved for unused REs (i.e. white boxes). Table I below shows examples of reserved CDM groups for DMRS types with different antenna configuration indices (maxLen is a parameter that indicates the maximum number of front-loaded DMRS symbols for PDSCH and is given by the DMRS-DownlinkConfig), Table I, para. 0056).
(6) Regarding claim 8:
Wang and Mohamed disclose all subject matter of claim 2, and Mohamed further discloses calculating the noise covariance based on the signals received through the unused resource elements in response to determining that the target subframe is of a type that includes the unused resource elements (Based on the DMRS types and antenna configuration determined in 704, the terminal device can determine whether there are REs which are not used for DMRS transmission in the respective reserved CDM group 706. If there is DMRS data transmitted in all the REs of the reserved CDM group, the terminal device may continue with a conventional noise estimation approach, i.e. with channel and noise filtering. However, if there are REs with no DMRS data transmitted in the reserved CDM group, the terminal device may select the unused REs over all the OFDM symbols 708 and store samples taken for these REs in a buffer. Then, the device may execute an outer product on the selected REs stored in the buffer to compute a noise covariance matrix 710. para. 0057-0058).
(7) Regarding claim 11:
Wang discloses a wireless communication device operating in a narrowband Internet of things (IoT) communication standalone mode, the wireless communication device comprising:
processing circuitry (it is inherently a UE comprises processing circuitry, page 2, step 1 recites the method is performed by a UE) configured to
determine unused resource elements in a target subframe and calculate a noise value of the target subframe based on signals received through the unused resource elements (in the wireless frame where the received NPBCH is located, determine the position where the narrowband primary synchronization signal NPSS is mapped, then extract the narrowband primary synchronization signal NPSS signal and the empty subcarrier, and calculate the power ratio of the NPSS signal and the empty subcarrier on a resource element RE, as Approximate signal-to-noise ratio SNR, page 2, step 3, since the method steps are performed by a UE (as discloses in page 2, step 1), the signal is a downlink signal from an external device).
Wang fails to disclose determine unused resource elements in a target subframe based on a type of the target subframe, and calculate a noise value of the target subframe based on signals received through the unused resource elements.
However, Mohamed teaches determine unused resource elements in a target subframe based on a type of the target subframe (other numbers of symbols may be used depending on the RAT and/or communication protocol standard, para. 0054; the terminal device may start to demodulate and decode the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) to obtain the Downlink Control Information (DCI) 704. Once the DCI is detected, the terminal device is able to determine information indicating PDSCH DMRS types and the antenna configuration index, para. 0055; Based on the DMRS types and antenna configuration determined in 704, the terminal device can determine whether there are REs which are not used for DMRS transmission in the respective reserved CDM group 706, para. 0057-0058), and calculate a noise covariance of the target subframe based on signals received through the unused resource elements (Mohamed teaches in figure 9 using resource elements reserved to be unused for generating a noise covariance as a noise value (para. 0012, determine a background noise of a system, 0021,0063-0064)).
It is desirable to determine unused resource elements in a target subframe based on a type of the target subframe, and calculate a noise value of the target subframe based on signals received through the unused resource elements because it obtain the noise value without additional filtering operation after the channel estimate (para. 0064). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Mohamed in the device of Wang for the benefit of simplifying the method of obtaining a noise value (para. 0021).
(8) Regarding claim 12:
Wang and Mohamed disclose all subject matter of claim 11, and Mohamed further discloses determining the type of the target subframe based on a frame structure corresponding to a radio access technology used by the wireless communication device (other numbers of symbols may be used depending on the RAT and/or communication protocol standard, para. 0054; the terminal device may start to demodulate and decode the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) to obtain the Downlink Control Information (DCI) 704. Once the DCI is detected, the terminal device is able to determine information indicating PDSCH DMRS types and the antenna configuration index, para. 0055; Based on the DMRS types and antenna configuration determined in 704, the terminal device can determine whether there are REs which are not used for DMRS transmission in the respective reserved CDM group 706, para. 0057).
(9) Regarding claim 13:
Wang and Mohamed disclose all subject matter of claim 11, and Mohamed further discloses determining the unused resource elements based on a resource grid corresponding to the type of the target subframe (the resource block is split in the time direction into a plurality of symbols, e.g. 7 symbols are shown in resource block 600, but it is appreciated that other numbers of symbols may be used depending on the RAT and/or communication protocol standard. For example, 6 symbols may be used if an extended cyclic prefix (CP) is inserted to each symbol in scenarios with a higher delay spread, para. 0054; the terminal device may start to demodulate and decode the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) to obtain the Downlink Control Information (DCI) 704. Once the DCI is detected, the terminal device is able to determine information indicating PDSCH DMRS types and the antenna configuration index. Two examples of reserved CDM groups without DMRS data transmitted in every RE are shown in FIG. 8, wherein REs in each ODFM symbol of the different DMRS types without an Antenna Port (AP) assigned for transmission are located in the CDM group reserved for unused REs (i.e. white boxes). Table I below shows examples of reserved CDM groups for DMRS types with different antenna configuration indices (maxLen is a parameter that indicates the maximum number of front-loaded DMRS symbols for PDSCH and is given by the DMRS-DownlinkConfig), Table I, para. 0056).
(10) Regarding claim 16:
Wang and Mohamed disclose all subject matter of claim 11, and Mohamed further discloses calculating the noise covariance based on the signals received through the unused resource elements in response to determining that the target subframe is of a type that includes the unused resource elements (Based on the DMRS types and antenna configuration determined in 704, the terminal device can determine whether there are REs which are not used for DMRS transmission in the respective reserved CDM group 706. If there is DMRS data transmitted in all the REs of the reserved CDM group, the terminal device may continue with a conventional noise estimation approach, i.e. with channel and noise filtering. However, if there are REs with no DMRS data transmitted in the reserved CDM group, the terminal device may select the unused REs over all the OFDM symbols 708 and store samples taken for these REs in a buffer. Then, the device may execute an outer product on the selected REs stored in the buffer to compute a noise covariance matrix 710. para. 0057-0058).
(11) Regarding claim 18:
Wang discloses an operating method of a wireless communication device operating in a narrowband Internet of things (IoT) communication standalone mode, the operating method comprising:
determining unused resource elements in the target subframe (in the wireless frame where the received NPBCH is located, determine the position where the narrowband primary synchronization signal NPSS is mapped, then extract the narrowband primary synchronization signal NPSS signal and the empty subcarrier, and calculate the power ratio of the NPSS signal and the empty subcarrier on a resource element RE, as Approximate signal-to-noise ratio SNR, page 2, step 3, since the method steps are performed by a UE (as discloses in page 2, step 1);
calculating a noise value of the target subframe based on signals received through the unused resource elements (extract the narrowband primary synchronization signal NPSS signal and the empty subcarrier, and calculate the power ratio of the NPSS signal and the empty subcarrier on a resource element RE, page 2, step 3, the power of the empty subcarrier as the noise value); and
estimating a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the target subframe based on the noise value (calculate the power ratio of the NPSS signal and the empty subcarrier on a resource element RE, page 2, step 3, the power of the empty subcarrier as the noise value).
Wang fails to disclose determining a type of a target subframe among a plurality of subframes, the plurality of subframes being included in a downlink signal received from an external device; determining unused resource elements in the target subframe based on the type of the target subframe; and estimate a noise covariance of the target subframe based on signals received through the unused resource elements as a noise value.
However, Mohamed discloses determining a type of a target subframe among a plurality of subframes (other numbers of symbols may be used depending on the RAT and/or communication protocol standard, para. 0054; the terminal device may start to demodulate and decode the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) to obtain the Downlink Control Information (DCI) 704. Once the DCI is detected, the terminal device is able to determine information indicating PDSCH DMRS types and the antenna configuration index, para. 0055; Based on the DMRS types and antenna configuration determined in 704, the terminal device can determine whether there are REs which are not used for DMRS transmission in the respective reserved CDM group 706, para. 0057-0058), the plurality of subframes being included in a downlink signal received from an external device ()the terminal device may start to demodulate and decode the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), para. 0055, 0053), determining unused resource elements in the target subframe based on the type of the target subframe (Once the DCI is detected, the terminal device is able to determine information indicating PDSCH DMRS types and the antenna configuration index, para. 0055; Based on the DMRS types and antenna configuration determined in 704, the terminal device can determine whether there are REs which are not used for DMRS transmission in the respective reserved CDM group 706, para. 0057-0058); and estimate a noise covariance of the target subframe based on signals received through the unused resource elements as a noise value (Mohamed teaches in figure 9 using resource elements reserved to be unused for generating a noise covariance as a noise value (para. 0012, determine a background noise of a system, 0021,0063-0064)).
It is desirable to determine a type of a target subframe among a plurality of subframes, the plurality of subframes being included in a downlink signal received from an external device; determining unused resource elements in the target subframe based on the type of the target subframe; and estimate a noise covariance of the target subframe based on signals received through the unused resource elements as a noise value because it obtain the noise value without additional filtering operation after the channel estimate (para. 0064). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Mohamed in the device of Wang for the benefit of simplifying the method of obtaining a noise value (para. 0021).
(12) Regarding claim 19:
Wang and Mohamed disclose all subject matter of claim 18, and Mohamed further discloses determining the unused resource elements based on a resource grid corresponding to the type of the target subframe (the resource block is split in the time direction into a plurality of symbols, e.g. 7 symbols are shown in resource block 600, but it is appreciated that other numbers of symbols may be used depending on the RAT and/or communication protocol standard. For example, 6 symbols may be used if an extended cyclic prefix (CP) is inserted to each symbol in scenarios with a higher delay spread, para. 0054; the terminal device may start to demodulate and decode the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) to obtain the Downlink Control Information (DCI) 704. Once the DCI is detected, the terminal device is able to determine information indicating PDSCH DMRS types and the antenna configuration index. Two examples of reserved CDM groups without DMRS data transmitted in every RE are shown in FIG. 8, wherein REs in each ODFM symbol of the different DMRS types without an Antenna Port (AP) assigned for transmission are located in the CDM group reserved for unused REs (i.e. white boxes). Table I below shows examples of reserved CDM groups for DMRS types with different antenna configuration indices (maxLen is a parameter that indicates the maximum number of front-loaded DMRS symbols for PDSCH and is given by the DMRS-DownlinkConfig), Table I, para. 0056).
Claims 9 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang (CN 107743059 A) in view of Mohamed Shokr (US 2021/0099325 A1, hereinafter as Mohamed) as applied in claim 2, and further in view of Lee et al. (US 2020/0196318 A1).
(1) Regarding claim 9:
Wang and Mohamed discloses all subject matter of claim 2, but fail to disclose performing channel estimation on the target subframe based on the SNR.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Lee teaches a base station channel estimator 950 may estimate a channel of each subframe received in a pre-configured interval by the base station antenna, configure a weight or window of a channel of each subframe received in the pre-configured interval, based on a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a channel of each subframe received in the pre-configured interval, and estimate a channel of each subframe in the TTI group, based on a weight or window of a channel of each subframe received in the pre-configured interval, para. 0078.
It is desirable to perform channel estimation on the target subframe based on the SNR because it prevent performance deterioration and enables signal demodulation even in a low signal-to-noise ratio environment (para. 0011). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Lee in the method of Wang and Mohamed for the benefit of prevent performance deterioration and enables signal demodulation even in a low signal-to-noise ratio environment.
(2) Regarding claim 17:
Wang and Mohamed discloses all subject matter of claim 11, and Wang further discloses estimate a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the target subframe based on the noise covariance (extract the narrowband primary synchronization signal NPSS signal and the empty subcarrier, and calculate the power ratio of the NPSS signal and the empty subcarrier on a resource element RE, as Approximate signal-to-noise ratio SNR, page 2, step 3 by replacing the noise calculating method of Wang by the noise covariance method of Mohamed); but fails to disclose perform at least one of symbol detection of the target subframe based on the SNR, or channel estimation on the target subframe based on the SNR.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Lee teaches a base station channel estimator 950 may estimate a channel of each subframe received in a pre-configured interval by the base station antenna, configure a weight or window of a channel of each subframe received in the pre-configured interval, based on a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a channel of each subframe received in the pre-configured interval, and estimate a channel of each subframe in the TTI group, based on a weight or window of a channel of each subframe received in the pre-configured interval, para. 0078.
It is desirable to perform channel estimation on the target subframe based on the SNR because it prevent performance deterioration and enables signal demodulation even in a low signal-to-noise ratio environment (para. 0011). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Lee in the method of Wang and Mohamed for the benefit of prevent performance deterioration and enables signal demodulation even in a low signal-to-noise ratio environment.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang (CN 107743059 A) in view of Mohamed Shokr (US 2021/0099325 A1, hereinafter as Mohamed) as applied in claim 1, and further in view of Kang et al. (US 2015/0043682 A1).
Wang and Mohamed discloses all subject matter of claim 1, but fails to disclose performing symbol detection of the target subframe based on the SNR.
However, Ray teaches the symbol detection is based on an estimated SNR (para. 0089).
It is desirable to perform symbol detection of the target subframe based on the SNR because it enhanced the integrity of the detected symbol. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Kang in the method of Wang and Mohamed for the benefit of increasing the integrity of the detected symbol.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-7, 14-15, 20 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yablonka et al. (US 2023/0269124 A1) discloses system and method for using low complexity maximum likelihood decoder in a MIMO decoder.
Levitsky et al. (US 2021/0376898 A1) discloses demodulation reference signal configuration selection and reporting.
Borgstrom et al. (US 2021/0074282 A1) discloses systems and methods for improving model-based speech enhancement with neural networks.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SIU M LEE whose telephone number is (571)270-1083. The examiner can normally be reached M-T 8:30-7:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh M Fan can be reached at 571-272-3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SIU M LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632 6/22/2026
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