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
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:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 6, 7, 11, 12-14, 16, 21, 22 and 26-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tahir et al (US 2014/0269873). a) Regarding claims 1 and 16, Tahir et al disclose an apparatus for wireless communication (420 in Fig. 4), comprising:
a transceiver; a memory configured to store instructions; and one or more processors communicatively coupled with the transceiver and the memory (902 and 906 in Fig. 9; Pub [0090]), wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
receive an indication to measure a gain adapt reference signal (620 in Fig. 6; “a gain adapt reference signal” is interpreted as a reference signal in OFDM that adapting the transmission properties for each carrier; Pub [0028], [0065]),
measure, based at least in part on the indication, a signal metric of the gain adapt reference signal received from a network node (630 in Fig. 6; Pub [0065]; “a signal metric” is interpreted as SNR); and
apply, based at least in part on the signal metric of the gain adapt reference signal, an upfade for receiving a downlink signal from the network node (640 in Fig. 6; Pub [0065]; “an upfade” is interpreted as tone map message for modulation and power level adjusting; Fig. 8). b) Regarding claims 11 and 26, Tahir et al disclose an apparatus for wireless communication (410 in Fig. 4), comprising:
a transceiver; a memory configured to store instructions; and one or more processors communicatively coupled with the transceiver and the memory (902 and 906 in Fig. 9; Pub [0090]), wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
transmit an indication to measure a gain adapt reference signal (“a gain adapt reference signal” is interpreted as a reference signal in OFDM that adapting the transmission properties for each carrier; Pub [0028]; 412 in Fig. 4, the first and the second device establish communications; Pub [0058]);
transmit the gain adapt reference signal in a slot (720 in Fig.7; Pub [0068]); and
transmit a high order modulation downlink signal in the slot (760 and 770 in Fig. 7; Pub [0068], [0072], 1024-QAM is a higher order modulation).
c) Regarding claims 6, 14, 21 and 29, Tahir et al disclose wherein the downlink signal is of a high order modulation that is at least 1024-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) ([0072]). d) Regarding claims 7 and 22, Tahir et al disclose wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine, from a control channel signal received from the network node in a slot during which the downlink signal is received, the high order modulation of the downlink signal (Pub [0025]; PHY layer indicates a control channel). e) Regarding claims 12 and 27, Tahir et al disclose wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit, before the gain adapt reference signal, a control channel signal in the slot (Fig. 8; Pub [0071]). f) Regarding claims 13 and 28, Tahir et al disclose wherein the control channel signal indicates the high order modulation (Fig. 8; Pub [0072]).
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 8 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tahir et al (US 2014/0269873) in view of Jung et al (US 2018/0205516). a) Regarding claims 8 and 23, Tahir et al disclose adjusting modulation and power level in a communication system, but did not exility teach the reference signal is a Zadoff-Chu sequence. However, Jung et al disclose that reference signal such as a Zadoff-Chu sequence can maintain orthogonality and lower inter-carrier interference (Pub [0039]). Therefore, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to apply the Zadoff-Chu sequence of Jung et al as the reference signal in Tahir et al disclose. By doing so, reduce inter-carrier interference and achieve optimum communication quality between communication devices.
Claims 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tahir et al (US 2014/0269873) in view of Hsu et al (US 2017/0208600). a) Regarding claim 19, Tahir et al disclose adjusting modulation and power level in a communication system, but did not exility teach based at least in part of a Doppler estimation.
However, Hsu et al disclose a communication device for estimating a Doppler frequency shift (S302 in Fig. 3) in order to enhance quality in a high-speed scenario. A higher order modulation scheme will be used (Pub [0005]). Therefore, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the Doppler frequency estimation of Hsu et al with the higher order modulation of Tahir et al. By doing so, enhance radio transmission quality in a high speed environment.
b) Regarding claim 20, Tahir et al disclose adjusting modulation and power level in a communication system, but did not exility teach based at least in part of a speed.
However, Hsu et al disclose a communication device for estimating a Doppler frequency shift (S302 in Fig. 3) in order to enhance quality in a high-speed scenario. A higher order modulation scheme will be used (Pub [0005]). The Doppler effect is relative to speed. The greater the relative speed, the greater the effective. Therefore, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the Doppler frequency estimation of Hsu et al with the higher order modulation of Tahir et al. By doing so, enhance radio transmission quality in a high-speed environment.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5, 9, 10, 15, 17, 18, 24, 25 and 30 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. US 2023/0389018 Nimbalker et al disclose enabling 1024-QAM.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Eva Y Puente whose telephone number is 571-272-3049. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F, 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh Fan can be reached on 571-272-3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
October 22, 2025
/EVA Y PUENTE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632