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)(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.
Claim(s) 1-7 and 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nakamura et al. (US Publication 2019/0312714 A1).
In regards to claims 1 and 19, Nakamura et al. (US Publication 2019/0312714 A1) teaches, a communication device comprising a transmission unit (see figure 1, terminal 102) that transmits at least a first reference signal (see paragraph 31, transmission of reference signals by terminal 102) with a first subcarrier spacing out of the first reference signal and a second reference signal with a second subcarrier spacing different from the first subcarrier spacing (see paragraph 32; that the terminal apparatus 102-A performs the transmission using the narrow subcarrier spacing (that is, the long OFDM symbol length) and therefore applies IFFT with a large number of points (for example, 2048 points). Meanwhile, the terminal apparatus 102-B performs the transmission using the wide subcarrier spacing (that is, the short OFDM symbol length) and therefore applies IFFT with a small number of points (for example, 512 points)), wherein the first reference signal and the second reference signal are signals multiplexed in a device or on a propagation channel (see paragraph 41; Since the reference signals transmitted by the terminal apparatus 102-A and the terminal apparatus 102-B need to be separated, the reference signals are configured to be separable in FDMA, TDMA, CDMA, or the like. For example, in a case of CDMA, it is only necessary to provide spreading codes (cyclic delay and/or a Walsh matrix) different depending on each terminal apparatus. The spatially-multiplexed reference signals are separated in LTE, and therefore Cyclic Shift (CS) and Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) are used to perform separation), and the transmission unit inserts a zero subcarrier signal into the first reference signal or into both the first reference signal and the second reference signal so that a ratio between a subcarrier interval number of a non-zero subcarrier signal of the second reference signal and a subcarrier interval number of a non-zero subcarrier signal of the first reference signal is to be a ratio of the first subcarrier spacing and the second subcarrier spacing (see paragraph 39; the method applies IFFT of which size is half of that for other OFDM symbols in IFFT processing of the signal generation unit, repeats the generated signal twice, and adds CP. This method only needs to perform FFT with the small size once, thus allowing the amount of computation to be reduced. The second method is a method of inserting zeros (null carriers) into the output to the resource element mapping unit. For example, with the input signals of a, b, c, d . . . , z, the resource element mapping unit generates a, 0, b, 0, c, 0, d, 0 . . . 0, z, 0, and maps the generated signal in the predetermined resources. The signal generation unit can generate a signal to be repeated twice by performing IFFT of which size is the same as that for other OFDM symbols. Note that all the input signals a, b, c, d . . . z may be the reference signals, or only some of the input signals may be the reference signals and the remaining signals may be the data signals and control information signals).
In regards to claim 2, Nakamura teaches, wherein the subcarrier spacing of the first reference signal and the second reference signal is 15 kHz to a power of 2 (see paragraph 37; In a case that the terminal apparatus at SCS of 15 kHz and the terminal apparatus at SCS of 30 kHz are spatially-multiplexed, information indicative of 1024, which is an IFFT size of the terminal apparatus at SCS of 30 kHz, may be notified to the terminal apparatus at SCS of 15 kHz.).
In regards to claim 3, Nakamura teaches, wherein the transmission unit transmits the first reference signal and the second reference signal in different MIMO layers (see paragraph 7; The application of MU-MIMO allows the multiple terminal apparatuses to share identical time/frequency resources (radio resources)).
In regards to claim 4, Nakamura teaches, wherein the second reference signal is a signal transmitted by another communication device, and the transmission unit transmits the first reference signal (see paragraph 41; reference signals transmitted by terminal 102-A and 102-B).
In regards to claim 5, Nakamura teaches, wherein the communication device is a terminal device (see figure 1, terminal 102-A) that communicates with a base station (see figure 1, base station 101), receives, from the base station, information related to a reference signal transmission means (see paragraph 37; The base station apparatus notifies the terminal apparatus 102-A of the number of repetitions according to SCS used by a terminal apparatus spatially-multiplexed with the terminal apparatus 102-A), and transmits the first reference signal (see paragraph 41; reference signal transmitted by terminal 102-A) or both the first reference signal and the second reference signal based on the received information related to the reference signal transmission means.
In regards to claim 6, Nakamura teaches, wherein the information related to the reference signal transmission means includes information related to the ratio of the first subcarrier spacing and the second subcarrier spacing (see paragraph 37; in a case that SCS of the terminal apparatus 102-A is 15 kHz and SCS of the terminal apparatus 102-B is 30 kHz, the base station apparatus 101 notifies to the terminal apparatus 102-A that the number of repetitions is two).
In regards to claim 7, Nakamura teaches, wherein the information related to the reference signal transmission means includes information related to a guard interval or a cyclic prefix of the first reference signal or both the first reference signal and the second reference signal (see paragraph 36; the later part of the former half (A) in which the reference signal is transmitted may be copied to the period of CP (C) or the later part of the latter half (B) may be copied to the period of CP(C), that is, the period of CP(C) may be caused to be a period in which no signal is transmitted. Furthermore, CP (C) may be determined in accordance with the terminal apparatus 102-B, that is, a CP length and an OFDM length of another terminal apparatus, regardless of another OFDM symbol and a predetermined OFDM symbol).
In regards to claims 16 and 20, Nakamura teaches, a communication device comprising a reception unit (see figure 1, terminal 102) that receives at least a first reference signal with a first subcarrier spacing out of the first reference signal (see paragraph 31, transmission of reference signals by terminal 102) and a second reference signal with a second subcarrier spacing different from the first subcarrier spacing (see paragraph 32; that the terminal apparatus 102-A performs the transmission using the narrow subcarrier spacing (that is, the long OFDM symbol length) and therefore applies IFFT with a large number of points (for example, 2048 points). Meanwhile, the terminal apparatus 102-B performs the transmission using the wide subcarrier spacing (that is, the short OFDM symbol length) and therefore applies IFFT with a small number of points (for example, 512 points)), wherein the first reference signal and the second reference signal are signals multiplexed in a device or on a propagation channel (see paragraph 41; Since the reference signals transmitted by the terminal apparatus 102-A and the terminal apparatus 102-B need to be separated, the reference signals are configured to be separable in FDMA, TDMA, CDMA, or the like. For example, in a case of CDMA, it is only necessary to provide spreading codes (cyclic delay and/or a Walsh matrix) different depending on each terminal apparatus. The spatially-multiplexed reference signals are separated in LTE, and therefore Cyclic Shift (CS) and Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) are used to perform separation), and the first reference signal, or each of the first reference signal and the second reference signal, is a signal into which a zero subcarrier signal has been inserted so that a ratio between a subcarrier interval number of a non-zero subcarrier signal of the second reference signal and a subcarrier interval number of a non-zero subcarrier signal of the first reference signal is to be a ratio of the first subcarrier spacing and the second subcarrier spacing (see paragraph 39; the method applies IFFT of which size is half of that for other OFDM symbols in IFFT processing of the signal generation unit, repeats the generated signal twice, and adds CP. This method only needs to perform FFT with the small size once, thus allowing the amount of computation to be reduced. The second method is a method of inserting zeros (null carriers) into the output to the resource element mapping unit. For example, with the input signals of a, b, c, d . . . , z, the resource element mapping unit generates a, 0, b, 0, c, 0, d, 0 . . . 0, z, 0, and maps the generated signal in the predetermined resources. The signal generation unit can generate a signal to be repeated twice by performing IFFT of which size is the same as that for other OFDM symbols. Note that all the input signals a, b, c, d . . . z may be the reference signals, or only some of the input signals may be the reference signals and the remaining signals may be the data signals and control information signals).
In regards to claim 17, Nakamura teaches, wherein the reception unit receives both the first reference signal and the second reference signal, and demodulates both a data signal with the first subcarrier spacing and a data signal with the second subcarrier spacing based on a result of channel estimation using the first reference signal and the second reference signal (see paragraph 45; FIGS. 8A to 8C describe examples of the channel estimation method by the channel estimator 709. As illustrated in FIG. 8A, in a case that another terminal apparatus is present, the channel estimator 709 performs the channel estimation with the number of FFT points smaller than that of a data part. In a case that the channel estimation is performed by FFT with the number of FFT points half of the original number of FFT points, 0 is inserted as in FIG. 8B to double the number of frequency indices. Here, in a case of four times the original number of FFT points, three Os are inserted into one spectrum, thus quadrupling the number of frequency indices. Afterward, an interpolation process is applied by using odd spectra of FIG. 8B, and the channel estimation is performed in all frequency indices as in FIG. 8C. Here, existing interpolation methods, such as a linear interpolation and an MMSE interpolation, are usable as the interpolation method. While the example of the channel estimation by using the former half of the OFDM symbol, that is, only the part of A in FIG. 6 has been described above, B also includes the reference signal; therefore, the channel estimation may be performed by using B).
In regards to claim 18, Nakamura teaches, wherein the second reference signal is a signal received by another communication device, and the reception unit receives the first reference signal, and demodulates a data signal with the first subcarrier spacing based on a result of channel estimation using the first reference signal (see paragraph 43; The signals transmitted from the terminal apparatus 102-A and the terminal apparatus 102-B are received by a receive antenna 701-1 and a receive antenna 701-2. Here, although the description is given assuming that the number of receive antennas is two, the number of receive antennas may be one, or equal to or more than three. A signal receiving unit 702-1 and a signal receiving unit 702-2 perform a down-conversion, A/D conversion, a removal of CP, an application of FFT, and similar processing on the signals received at the receive antennas. While demodulation of the terminal apparatus 102-A is described here, to demodulate the terminal apparatus 102-B, FFT is performed with the number of points of IFFT used in the transmitter in the terminal apparatus 102-B).
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) 8-9 and 11-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakamura as stated above, and further in view of Zhang et al. (US Publication 2023/0292273 A1).
In regards to claims 8-9 and 11-14, Nakamura teaches all the limitations of the parent claims as stated above.
With regards to claim 11, Nakamura teaches wherein the communication device is a terminal device that communicates with a base station (see figure 1, terminal 102 communicating with base station 101).
Nakamura however fails to teach, wherein the transmission unit switches a reference signal transmission means between a first case of multiplexing data signals with different subcarrier spacings and a second case of multiplexing and transmitting data signals with same subcarrier spacings or transmitting data signals without multiplexing and wherein, in the first case, the transmission unit increases number of symbols of the reference signal with a wideband subcarrier spacing so that the reference signal with a narrowband subcarrier spacing and the reference signal with the wideband subcarrier spacing have a same time interval and the transmission unit switches the reference signal transmission means based on an explicit notification from the base station and wherein the transmission unit switches the reference signal transmission means based on subcarrier spacing information regarding data to be transmitted and wherein the transmission unit switches the reference signal transmission means between a case of transmitting data on a predetermined frequency resource or a predetermined time resource and a case of not transmitting data on the predetermined frequency resource or the predetermined time resource and wherein the transmission unit switches the reference signal transmission means between a case of transmitting data on a semi-statically configured transmission resource and a case of transmitting data on a dynamically configured transmission resource.
In regards to claims 8-9 and 11-13, Zhang et al. (US Publication 2023/0292273 A1) teaches, wherein the transmission unit switches a reference signal transmission means between a first case of multiplexing data signals with different subcarrier spacings and a second case of multiplexing and transmitting data signals with same subcarrier spacings or transmitting data signals without multiplexing and wherein (see paragraph 98; FIG. 8 illustrates an example table 432, which may be stored in memory at base station 170. Column 434 of the table indicates, for each frequency range and SCS, the propagation distance (in meters) that a UE may change, relative to the base station, before the uplink timing error will become unacceptably large. The TA value needs to be updated before the change in propagation distance exceeds the value in the table 432. For example, if UE 110 uses a current TA value that is based on a 200 meter propagation distance from the base station 170, and the UE 110 operates in frequency range 1 with a SCS of SSB signals of 30 kHz and a SCS of uplink signals of 60 kHz), in the first case, the transmission unit increases number of symbols of the reference signal with a wideband subcarrier spacing so that the reference signal with a narrowband subcarrier spacing and the reference signal with the wideband subcarrier spacing have a same time interval (see paragraph 98; special or different handling may be implemented for TA value computation/update on handover or cell reselection. For example, UE tracking on handover or cell-reselection may require special handling. In such embodiments, beam selection may also require special handling if narrow beams are used. Sending a TA value in a wideband beam may be preferred) and the transmission unit switches the reference signal transmission means based on an explicit notification from the base station (see figure 11, steps 524, 526 and steps 530 and 532; updating based on messages from the base station) and wherein the transmission unit switches the reference signal transmission means based on subcarrier spacing information regarding data to be transmitted (see figure 8, the SCS of uplink signals based on the propagation distance and the velocity) and wherein the transmission unit switches the reference signal transmission means between a case of transmitting data on a predetermined frequency resource or a predetermined time resource and a case of not transmitting data on the predetermined frequency resource or the predetermined time resource (see figure 8, the SCS changes to 120 kHz and 240 kHz in frequency range 2 from 15 kHz to 30 kHz in frequency range 1) and wherein the transmission unit switches the reference signal transmission means between a case of transmitting data on a semi-statically configured transmission resource and a case of transmitting data on a dynamically configured transmission resource (see paragraph 134; the message transmitted in step 624 may include a configuration of the time-frequency resource at which the unicast message carrying the TA-related information is to be received, e.g. possibly including how often the UE is to monitor for the TA-related information, which is referred to as the monitoring occasion. The configuration message transmitted in step 624 can be transmitted in semi-static or dynamic signaling, e.g., via RRC or DCI signaling).
Nakamura and Zhang both relate to updating SCS values.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application to incorporate the use of the SCS change as taught by Zhang into the teachings of Nakamura. The motivation to do so would be improve transmission by choosing an optimal SCS based on propagation and speed changes of the UE.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10, 13-15 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
In regards to claim 10, the cited prior art fails to teach, shifting a time domain of the reference signal with a wideband subcarrier spacing so as not to allow a data signal with a narrowband subcarrier spacing and a data signal with the wideband subcarrier spacing to collide with each other.
In regards to claim 15, the cited prior art fails to teach wherein, when transmitting a reference signal in two or more consecutive time symbols, the transmission unit inserts a guard interval at a front in a first symbol and inserts a guard interval at a rear in a second symbol out of two consecutive symbols among consecutive reference signal time sequences.
Prior art Kimura et al. (US Publication 2022/0385523 A1) teaches in figure 25, the communication device that performs signal processing (transmission process) of the present embodiment includes an analog/RF processing block 1011, a waveform demodulation block 1012, a resource element de-mapping and constellation de-mapping block 1013, a de-interleaving and de-scrambling block 1014, and a rate de-matching and FEC decoding block 1015 (see paragraph 270).
Prior art Kwak et al. (US Publication 2022/0417911 A1) teaches, a UE 115 that may be configured to perform all communications according to a single SCS value, or the UE 115 may be configured to communicate with different devices, or in different operating modes, according to different SCS values. For example, the UE 115 may be configured to use a SCS of 15 kilohertz (kHz) in a first operating mode and to use a SCS of 30 kHz in a second operating mode (see paragraph 75).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAY P PATEL whose telephone number is (571)272-3086. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-6.
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/JAY P PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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