DETAILED ACTION
This communication is responsive to Application #18833929 filed 07/29/2024. Claim(s) 1 and 6-8 amended; No Claim(s) canceled; Claim(s) 9-12 added. Claim(s) 1-12 is/are subject to examination.
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 .
Specification
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.
Claim Objections
Claims 7 and 8 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 7 and Claim 8 “a lower PAPR” should be “a lower peak to average power ratio (PAPR)”. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2 and 7-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PAZ et al. (US 20230246657 A1), hereby referred to as PAZ, in view of DALY (US 6748021 B1) and BAULER et al. (US 9807571 B1), hereby referred to as BAULER.
Claim 1:
PAZ teaches a wireless communication method using a wireless transmitter and a wireless receiver that support at least two multi- level modulation schemes, the at least two multi-level modulation schemes including a first modulation scheme and a second modulation scheme, and the wireless transmitter having a function of controlling a power amplifier to change transmission power (PAZ: para 25 (“The transmitting device may then transmit, to the receiving device, using one or more power amplifiers…in the non-linear regions…”) and para 26 (“…operations performed by a transmitting device may enable an increase in transmission power because the transmitting device operates its power amplifiers in non-linear regions…”) wherein a transmitter controls a power amplifier to change transmission power to a non-linear region from a linear region), the wireless communication method comprising: determining, by the wireless transmitter, the transmission power (PAZ: para 25 (“The transmitting device may then transmit, to the receiving device, using one or more power amplifiers…in the non-linear regions…”) and para 26 (“…operations performed by a transmitting device may enable an increase in transmission power because the transmitting device operates its power amplifiers in non-linear regions…”) wherein the transmitter can determine to have a transmission power to be in a non-linear region); comparing, by the wireless transmitter, the transmission power with a threshold value set on the basis of a boundary point at which a linear region and a nonlinear region of the power amplifier are switched (PAZ: FIG. 3A and para 111 (“The power amplifier curves…may be divided into three separate regions, a linear region, a non-linear region, and a saturation region…”) wherein if the power is in the non-linear region, it is above the threshold that sets it apart from the linear region; selecting, by the wireless transmitter, the second modulation scheme as a multi-level modulation scheme used for communication when the transmission power is greater than the threshold value (PAZ: para 92 (“in some examples, the base station 105-a may enable the UE 115-a to operate in the non-linear region of the power amplifier curves for certain situations, or configurations, such as up to an indicated MCS or modulation order…”) wherein certain modulation schemes are used for non-linear transmissions which are above the threshold); and communicating, by the wireless receiver, with the wireless transmitter using the commanded modulation scheme (PAZ: FIG. 4 item 430).
While, PAZ teaches a first modulation scheme and a second modulation scheme having a lower peak to average power ratio (PAPR) than the first modulation scheme (PAZ: para 24 (“Different modulation configurations may result in different operating points on the power amplifier characteristic curve…a linear region, corresponding to a lower transmission power, a non-linear region…corresponding to higher transmission power…”) wherein a variety of modulation configurations can be chosen from and para 73 (“…with low PAPR constellations such as…PSK…APSK…) wherein some modulation schemes used for the nonlinear region have lower PAPR), PAZ does not explicitly disclose a second modulation scheme having a shorter minimum Euclidean distance on a constellation than the first modulation scheme
BALUER teaches a second modulation scheme having a shorter minimum Euclidean distance on a constellation (BAULER: FIG. 3A-B QAM and FIG. 4A-B APSK; and col 7 line 53-57 (“The larger numbers of power levels associated with QAM…compared to corresponding APSK…implies larger peak to average power ratios for QAM…compared to APSK…”) wherein APSK has shorter minimum Euclidean distance and lower PAPR than QAM).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to have modified the threshold between the linear and non-linear region of PAZ with the difference in modulation schemes of BAULER, the combination hereby referred to as PAZ-BAULER, for the benefit of lower peak to average power ratios (BAULER: col 7 line 53-57).
However, PAZ-BAULER does not explicitly disclose selecting, by the wireless transmitter, the first modulation scheme as a multi-level modulation scheme used for communication when the transmission power is not greater than the threshold value.
DALY teaches selecting, by the wireless transmitter, the first modulation scheme as a multi-level modulation scheme used for communication when the transmission power is not greater than the threshold value (DALY: col 6 line 15-50 (“Signals modulated using GMSK or MLCAM are non-linearly amplified before transmission by an amplifier operating in its non-linear higher gain region…when QPSK, 16-QAM or 64-QAM modulation is used …shift the amplifier operating point to operate the amplifier in its linear region…”) wherein the first modulation scheme (such as QPSK and QAM) are used for the linear region which is below the threshold point between linear and non linear).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to have modified the threshold between linear and non-linear region of PAZ-BAULER with the modulation schemes for specific regions of DALY, the combination hereby referred to as PAZ-BAULER-DALY, for the benefit of increased radio link availability and maximizing tolerance to noise and interference (DALY: COL 6 line 50-56).
Claim 2:
PAZ-BAULER-DALY teaches The wireless communication method according to claim 1, wherein the threshold value is a value obtained by applying back-off corresponding to a first PAPR, which is a PAPR of the first modulation scheme, to transmission power corresponding to the boundary point (PAZ: para 5 (“…a set of power backoff values for each of one or more modulation configurations of the first device…”), para 25 (“The set of power backoff values are selected so as to allow for power amplifier operation in the non-linear region…”) wherein the threshold to operate in the non-linear region is obtained by apply a backoff value corresponding to a modulation scheme; and para 73 (“…with low PAPR constellations such as…PSK…APSK…”) wherein each modulation scheme has its own PAPR).
Claim 7:
PAZ teaches a wireless communication system comprising a wireless transmitter and a wireless receiver (PAZ: para 25 (“The transmitting device may then transmit, to the receiving device, using one or more power amplifiers…in the non-linear regions…”)). For further limitations, see rejection for claim 1 above.
Claim 8:
PAZ teaches a wireless transmitter that supports at least two multi-level modulation schemes and has a function of communicating with a wireless receiver that supports the at least two multi-level modulations schemes (PAZ: para 25 (“The transmitting device may then transmit, to the receiving device, using one or more power amplifiers…in the non-linear regions…”)).
For further limitations, see rejection for claim 1 above.
Claim 9:
PAZ-BAULER-DALY teaches the wireless communication method according to claim 2, wherein the first modulation scheme and the second modulation scheme are QAM and APSK having the same number of symbols (BAULER: FIG. 3A and FIG. 4A wherein a QAM and APSK have the same number of symbols).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to have modified the threshold between the linear and non-linear region of PAZ and DALY with the difference in modulation schemes of BAULER, the combination hereby referred to as PAZ-BAULER, for the benefit of lower peak to average power ratios (BAULER: col 7 line 53-57).
Claim(s) 5 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PAZ in view of BAULER and DALY, the combination hereby referred to as PAZ-BAULER-DALY, and in further view of PAZ et al. (US 20220400044 A1), hereby referred to as PAZ044, and MA et al. (US 20240171437 A1), hereby referred to as MA.
Claim 5:
PAZ-BAULER-DALY teaches the wireless communication method according to claim 2, but does not explicitly disclose wherein the first PAPR is calculated on the basis of a plurality of symbols generated within a range divided by a predetermined rule, and is updated at a predetermined cycle.
PAZ044, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the first PAPR is calculated on the basis of a plurality of symbols generated within a range divided by a predetermined rule, and is updated at a predetermined cycle (PAZ044: para 101 (“…the radii of the APSK rings may be associated with PAPR performance, such that modulating the radii may increase (or decrease) PAPR performance…the PAPR performance associated with constellation diagram 400 according to Equation (1).”) wherein PAPR is calculated on the basis of the constellation symbols within a range/radii divided).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to have modified PAZ-BAULER-DALY with PAZ044, the combination hereby referred to as modified-PAZ, for the benefit of improvements to phase noise resiliency, non-linearity resiliency, higher energy efficiency, and improved coverage (PAZ044: para 47).
However, modified-PAZ does not explicitly disclose updated at a predetermined cycle.
MA, in the same field of endeavor, teaches updated at a predetermined cycle (MA: para 234 (“That is, to measure the PAPR, observation is to be performed…a plurality of consecutive periodicities…”)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to have modified modified-PAZ with MA for the benefit of improving the accuracy of PAPR measurements (MA: para 234).
Claim 12:
Modified-PAZ-MA teaches the communication method according to claim 5. For further limitations, see rejection to claim 9 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 is 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. Claims 4, 10, and 11 are rejected as being dependent on claim 3.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
KUSASHIMA et al. (US 20220400470 A1) teaches selection modulation scheme based on PAPR level (para 276-277)
WANG et al. (US 20230362048 A1) teaches PAPR performance threshold being a probability (para 323)
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/A.T.N./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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