DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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 Application
2 This instant Office Action is in response to Original Filing filed on 8/7/2024.
3. This Office Action is made Non-Final.
4. Claims 58-75 are pending.
5. Claims 1-57 are currently cancelled prior to examination.
6. Claims 59-63, 65-69, and 71-75 are objected to for allowable subject matter.
Information Disclosure Statement
7. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 8/7/24, 1/26/26, 6/22/26 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
8. The title of the invention “METHODS, DEVICES, AND MEDIUM FOR COMMUNICATION” is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Allowable Subject Matter
1. Claims 59-63, 65-69, 71-75 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.
In addition, the prior arts in combination do not render the limitations obvious the claim elements recited in the dependent claims 59-63, 65-69, 71-75 for example: determining a plurality of resources for a sounding reference signal (SRS) with eight antenna ports with indexes {1000, 1001, 1002, 1003, 1004, 1005, 1006, 1007}, based on eight comb offset values; and transmitting, to the network device, the SRS based on the plurality of resources, wherein: a comb offset value applied for the antenna ports with indexes {1001, 1003, 1005, 1007} is (kTC + Kτᶜ/2) mod KTC and a comb offset value applied for the antenna ports with indexes {1000, 1002, 1004, 1006} is kTC in a case where a maximum number of cyclic shifts is 8, wherein KTCis a comb value, KTC E {2,4,8}, ₖτC E {0,1, KτC - 1}.
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)(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.
2. Claims 58, 64, and 70 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by JÖNGREN et al. US 20230036989 hereafter Jongren.
As to Claim 58. (new) Jongren discloses a method performed by a terminal device [i.e. Wireless Device/UE/Measurement Device], the method comprising [Fig. 18, Sections 0001, 0004: Embodiments described herein relate to methods and apparatuses for providing transmit/receive relative radio alignment utilizing reference signals. Terminology such as gNodeB/gNB (i.e. base station) and user equipment (UE) are two devices that communicate with each other over radio channel in the downlink and the uplink]:
determining, a plurality of resources [i.e. Resource Elements (REs)/Frequency or Time] for a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of configuration type 1 with sixteen antenna ports, based on sixteen vectors respectively corresponding to the sixteen antenna ports [Fig. 11, Sections 0015, 0018, 0025, 0043: The mapping of DM-RS to resource elements (REs) is configurable with mapping types in the configuration type 1 in the both frequency/time domains. A DM-RS antenna port is mapped to the resource elements (REs). NR defines transmit antenna or antenna port used by a UE and each of its receive antenna ports with supported number of antenna ports in NR are 16 (sixteen) and up to 32. The information carrying symbol vector S corresponding to N antenna ports dimensional vector space. Note: S and N represents any number or integer in which vector and antenna ports corresponds respectively],
wherein the sixteen antenna ports comprise a first subset of antenna ports with indexes {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7} and a second subset of antenna ports with indexes {8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15} [Sections 0015, 0019, 0064: NR defines transmit antenna or antenna port used by a UE and each of its receive antenna ports with supported number of antenna ports in NR are 16 (sixteen). In NR Rel-15, the mapping of DM-RS sequence r(m), m=0, 1, . . . on antenna port p.sub.j and subcarrier k in OFDM symbol L for the numerology index μ is specified in TS38.211. The method comprises a first subset of the plurality of antennas and a second subset of the plurality of antennas. Note: Psub or M refers to index of antenna ports in which each antenna port corresponds to an index number/value starting with m=0, 1….up to any maximum amount such as 15 or 16. Moreover, this is disclosed in Applicant’s specification i.e. section 0094];
and performing, transmission [i.e Uplink-UL/PUSCH/PUCCH] or reception [i.e. Downlink-DL/PDSCH/PDCCH] of the DMRS with a network device [i.e. Base Station-BS], based on the plurality of resources [Sections 0014, 0122, 0131: Demodulation reference signals (DM-RS) are used for PDSCH (DL) and PUSCH (UL); the DM-RS is confined to resource blocks and is mapped on allocated resource elements of the OFDM time-frequency. The method comprises receiving downlink reference signals from the base station in time instances (i.e. resources); and base station transmit DM-RS over the antennas of the array. The base station transmit DM-RS to the wireless device in subsets of the antennas; within that subset, each DM-RS could have a one-to-one mapping to antennas; and the subset of antennas can then be altered during the progression of time slots],
wherein: a vector applied for the first subset of antenna ports is [1, 1, 1, 1] or [1, -1, 1, 1]; a vector applied for the second subset of antenna ports is [1,j,-1,-j] or [1, -j, -1, j], or a vector applied for the second subset of antenna ports is [1, 1, -1, -1] or [1, -1, -1, 1] [Fig. 11 (Depicts Nt Antenna Ports and Vector S), Fig. 14 (Depicts Subset Vectors), Table 1 (Depicts parameters for antennas/subarray/subsets of for example +1, 1, 1, 1 and 1, -1, 1, 1 and 1,-1,1-1), Sections 0020, 0043, 0064, 0141: Reference signal mapped on antenna ports includes parameters of 1’s and -1s patterns (that can be associated with different subsets and instances see 0124). The information carrying symbol vector S corresponding to N antenna ports dimensional vector space. The method comprises a first subset of the plurality of antennas and a second subset of the plurality of antennas. As previously described, downlink comprises estimates of a plurality of subset vector channels].
As to Claim 64. (new): Jongren discloses a method performed by a network device [i.e. Base Station-BS], the method comprising [Fig. 18, Sections 0001, 0004: Embodiments described herein relate to methods and apparatuses for providing transmit/receive relative radio alignment utilizing reference signals. Terminology such as gNodeB/gNB (i.e. base station) and user equipment (UE) are two devices that communicate with each other over radio channel in the downlink and the uplink]:
determining [Sections 0128: A multi-antenna base station comprising a plurality of antennas in communication with a wireless device], a plurality of resources [i.e. Resource Elements (REs)/Frequency or Time] for a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of configuration type 1 with sixteen antenna ports, based on sixteen vectors respectively corresponding to the sixteen antenna ports [Fig. 11, Sections 0015, 0018, 0025, 0043: The mapping of DM-RS to resource elements (REs) is configurable with mapping types in the configuration type 1 in the both frequency/time domains. A DM-RS antenna port is mapped to the resource elements (REs). NR defines transmit antenna or antenna port used by a UE and each of its receive antenna ports with supported number of antenna ports in NR are 16 (sixteen) and up to 32. The information carrying symbol vector S corresponding to N antenna ports dimensional vector space. Note: S and N represents any number or integer in which vector and antenna ports corresponds respectively],
wherein the sixteen antenna ports comprise a first subset of antenna ports with indexes {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7} and a second subset of antenna ports with indexes {8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15} [Sections 0015, 0019, 0064: NR defines transmit antenna or antenna port used by a UE and each of its receive antenna ports with supported number of antenna ports in NR are 16 (sixteen). In NR Rel-15, the mapping of DM-RS sequence r(m), m=0, 1, . . . on antenna port p.sub.j and subcarrier k in OFDM symbol L for the numerology index μ is specified in TS38.211. The method comprises a first subset of the plurality of antennas and a second subset of the plurality of antennas. Note: Psub or M refers to index of antenna ports in which each antenna port corresponds to an index number/value starting with m=0, 1….up to any maximum amount such as 15 or 16. Moreover, this is disclosed in Applicant’s specification i.e. section 0094];
and performing, transmission [i.e. Downlink-DL/PDSCH/PDCCH] or reception [i.e Uplink-UL/PUSCH/PUCCH] of the DMRS with a terminal device [i.e. Wireless Device/UE/Measurement Device], based on the plurality of resources [Sections 0014, 0122, 0131: Demodulation reference signals (DM-RS) are used for PDSCH (DL) and PUSCH (UL); the DM-RS is confined to resource blocks and is mapped on allocated resource elements of the OFDM time-frequency. The method comprises receiving downlink reference signals from the base station in time instances (i.e. resources); and base station transmit DM-RS over the antennas of the array. The base station transmit DM-RS to the wireless device in subsets of the antennas; within that subset, each DM-RS could have a one-to-one mapping to antennas; and the subset of antennas can then be altered during the progression of time slots],
wherein: a vector applied for the first subset of antenna ports is [1, 1, 1, 1] or [1, -1, 1, -1]; a vector applied for the second subset of antenna ports is [1,j, -1, -j] or [1, -j, -1, j], or a vector applied for the second subset of antenna ports is [1, 1, -1, -1] or [1, -1, -1, 1] [Fig. 11 (Depicts Nt Antenna Ports and Vector S), Fig. 14 (Depicts Subset Vectors), Table 1 (Depicts parameters for antennas/subarray/subsets of for example +1, 1, 1, 1 and 1, -1, 1, 1 and 1,-1,1-1), Sections 0020, 0043, 0064, 0141: Reference signal mapped on antenna ports includes parameters of 1’s and -1s patterns (that can be associated with different subsets and instances see 0124). The information carrying symbol vector S corresponding to N antenna ports dimensional vector space. The method comprises a first subset of the plurality of antennas and a second subset of the plurality of antennas. As previously described, downlink comprises estimates of a plurality of subset vector channels].
As to Claim 70. (new): Jongren discloses a terminal device [i.e. Wireless Device/UE/Measurement Device], comprising [Fig. 18, Sections 0001, 0004: Embodiments described herein relate to methods and apparatuses for providing transmit/receive relative radio alignment utilizing reference signals. Terminology such as gNodeB/gNB (i.e. base station) and user equipment (UE) are two devices that communicate with each other over radio channel in the downlink and the uplink]:
a processor configured to cause the terminal device to [Fig. 18, Section 0167: As illustrated, wireless device includes antenna processing circuitry-1820]:
determine, a plurality of resources [i.e. Resource Elements (REs)/Frequency or Time] for a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of configuration type 1 with sixteen antenna ports, based on sixteen vectors respectively corresponding to the sixteen antenna ports [Fig. 11, Sections 0015, 0018, 0025, 0043: The mapping of DM-RS to resource elements (REs) is configurable with mapping types in the configuration type 1 in the both frequency/time domains. A DM-RS antenna port is mapped to the resource elements (REs). NR defines transmit antenna or antenna port used by a UE and each of its receive antenna ports with supported number of antenna ports in NR are 16 (sixteen) and up to 32. The information carrying symbol vector S corresponding to N antenna ports dimensional vector space. Note: S and N represents any number or integer in which vector and antenna ports corresponds respectively],
wherein the sixteen antenna ports comprise a first subset of antenna ports with indexes {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7} and a second subset of antenna ports with indexes {8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15} [Sections 0015, 0019, 0064: NR defines transmit antenna or antenna port used by a UE and each of its receive antenna ports with supported number of antenna ports in NR are 16 (sixteen). In NR Rel-15, the mapping of DM-RS sequence r(m), m=0, 1, . . . on antenna port p.sub.j and subcarrier k in OFDM symbol L for the numerology index μ is specified in TS38.211. The method comprises a first subset of the plurality of antennas and a second subset of the plurality of antennas. Note: Psub or M refers to index of antenna ports in which each antenna port corresponds to an index number/value starting with m=0, 1….up to any maximum amount such as 15 or 16. Moreover, this is disclosed in Applicant’s specification i.e. section 0094];
and perform, transmission [i.e Uplink-UL/PUSCH/PUCCH] or reception [i.e. Downlink-DL/PDSCH/PDCCH] of the DMRS with a network device [i.e. Base Station-BS], based on the plurality of resources [Sections 0014, 0122, 0131: Demodulation reference signals (DM-RS) are used for PDSCH (DL) and PUSCH (UL); the DM-RS is confined to resource blocks and is mapped on allocated resource elements of the OFDM time-frequency. The method comprises receiving downlink reference signals from the base station in time instances (i.e. resources); and base station transmit DM-RS over the antennas of the array. The base station transmit DM-RS to the wireless device in subsets of the antennas; within that subset, each DM-RS could have a one-to-one mapping to antennas; and the subset of antennas can then be altered during the progression of time slots],
wherein: a vector applied for the first subset of antenna ports is [1, 1, 1, 1] or [1, -1, 1, -1]; a vector applied for the second subset of antenna ports is [1,j, -1, -j] or [1, -j, -1,j], or a vector applied for the second subset of antenna ports is [1, 1, -1, -1] or [1, -1, -1, 1] [Fig. 11 (Depicts Nt Antenna Ports and Vector S), Fig. 14 (Depicts Subset Vectors), Table 1 (Depicts parameters for antennas/subarray/subsets of for example +1, 1, 1, 1 and 1, -1, 1, 1 and 1,-1,1-1), Sections 0020, 0043, 0064, 0141: Reference signal mapped on antenna ports includes parameters of 1’s and -1s patterns (that can be associated with different subsets and instances see 0124). The information carrying symbol vector S corresponding to N antenna ports dimensional vector space. The method comprises a first subset of the plurality of antennas and a second subset of the plurality of antennas. As previously described, downlink comprises estimates of a plurality of subset vector channels].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Park et al. US 20160212643 and Wang et al. US 20200350965.
Furthermore, each additional prior arts cited on PTO-892 but not applied in rejection contains a disclosed description related to the claimed subject matter found either in the Figures, description summary and/or disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAEL M ULYSSE whose telephone number is (571)272-1228. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chirag G. Shah can be reached at (571)272-3144. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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July 17, 2026
/JAEL M ULYSSE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477
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