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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Amendment, filed 1/15/26, with respect to the rejections of clams 1-15 and 17-21 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made.
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.
Claims 1, 14, 15, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Sun et al (US 2025/0247188).
a) Regarding claims 1 and 15, Sun et al disclose a user equipment (UE)/processor for wireless communication (110 in Fig. 2), comprising: at least one memory (210); and at least one processor (205) is coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to:
receive a configuration for a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) that includes a DMRS type (905 in Fig. 9), wherein a maximum number of DMRS ports supported by DMRS type 1 is eight for single-symbol DMRS and sixteen for double-symbol DMRS (Pub [0062]), and the maximum number of DMRS ports supported by DMRS type 2 is twelve for single-symbol DMRS and twenty-four for double-symbol DMRS (Pub [0115]); and
receive a downlink control information (DCI) indicating one or more DMRS ports for a scheduled transmission (Pub [0086], Pub [0088]), wherein the scheduled transmission is a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission (Pub [0090]), and the PUSCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission is with a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) scheme (Pub [0015], [0017]), and wherein a scheduled number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) is a multiple of four and scheduled resource blocks (RBs) of the PDSCH transmission is according to an even number of different transmission configuration indication (TCI) states (the PUSCH and PDSCH are optional by “or”, and therefore the underlined portion for PDSCH is also optional and not given any patentable weights).
b) Regarding claims 14 and 21, Sun et al disclose a base station (BS) for wireless communication (300 in Fig. 3), comprising: at least one memory (310); and at least one processor is coupled with the at least one memory (305) and configured to cause the BS to (Fig. 9):
transmit a configuration for a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) that includes a DMRS type (905 in Fig. 9), wherein a maximum number of DMRS ports supported by DMRS type 1 is eight for single-symbol DMRS and sixteen for double-symbol DMRS (Pub [0062]), and the maximum number of DMRS ports supported by DMRS type 2 is twelve for single-symbol DMRS and twenty-four for double-symbol DMRS (Pub [0115]); and
transmit a downlink control information (DCI) indicating one or more DMRS ports for a scheduled transmission (Pub [0086], Pub [0088]), wherein the scheduled transmission is a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission (Pub [0090]), and the PUSCH transmission or the PDSCH transmission is with a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) scheme (Pub [0015], [0017]), and wherein a scheduled number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) is a multiple of four and scheduled resource blocks (RBs) of the PDSCH transmission is according to an even number of different transmission configuration indication (TCI) states (the PUSCH and PDSCH are optional by “or”, and therefore the underlined portion for PDSCH is also optional and not given any patentable weights).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-13 and 17-20 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
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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). March 17, 2026
/EVA Y PUENTE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632