835DETAILED 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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1 and 15 define a "channel separation method or system", however, it is not clear if the channel is a physical propagation channel, or a logical data / control channel, nor if the separation refers to a spatial, temporal or frequency separation. Moreover, it is unclear if the separation is performed at the IRS, a BS or a UE, thus further rendering the subject-matter of claims 1 and 15 indefinite. Note: based on the description page 6, last paragraph "It is assumed that a quantity of logic channels on the intelligent reflecting surface is Nrow X Ncol. The channels here can be an actual physical array, or the entire intelligent reflecting surface may be divided into several logic channels, where Nrow and Ncol represent a quantity of channels in a longitudinal dimension and a quantity of channels in a horizontal dimension of the intelligent reflecting surface, respectively. As shown in Fig. 1, an actual quantity of physical arrays shown in the figure is 12 x 16. If 2 X 2 physical matrixes are used as one sub-array (i.e. logic channel), each sub-array has a same codebook. There are 6x8 logic channels in total.", it appears that the channel separation refers to a dividing of a physical array of the IRS into sub-arrays (which are referred to as logical channels) for measuring channel states and should be clarified by the applicant according to the description. Therefore, claims 2-14 and 16-20 depend on claims 1 and 15 are indefinite.
Claims 2 and 16 define "parameters used for separating logic channels of the IRS or repeater". The term logic channel leads the reader at first to logical data/control channels, however, from the description page 6, last paragraph as above, it appears that the logical channels correspond in fact to physical sub-arrays of the IRS, which renders the subject-matter of claims 2 and 16 indefinite, and should be amended by the applicant according to the description.
Claim 18 depends on claim 16, thus is indefinite.
Claims 3-4, and 6, 13-14 depend on claim 2 are therefore indefinite.
Claim 5 defines "wherein each logic channel codebook is represented using 1 bit information", however, in the context of multiple logical channel codebooks it is unclear how a logical channel codebook can be represented only using 1 bit, thus rendering the subject-matter of claim 5 is indefinite. Note: based on the description page 10, last para. "The base station needs to configure a codebook set, regarding logic channels, for the intelligent reflecting surface. Each codebook only includes the logic channel quantity of codebook elements. Each element may be represented by 1 [b]it information.", it appears that each codebook element is represented by 1 bit information, and that each codebook only includes the logic channel quantity of codebook elements, and should be clarified by the applicant according to the description.
Claims 7 and 12 refer to an "initial" amplitude and phase of the reference signal, however, it is unclear to what this "initial" refers (e.g. during initial attachment / PRACH, an initial synchronization or something else), thus rendering the subject-matter of claims 7 and 12 are indefinite. Note: the description page 11, line 21: "In this embodiment, assuming that a receiving end can obtain an initial amplitude and phase of each reference signal, it can be considered that a transmission state of each reference signal is known. For example, for a plurality of consecutive reference signals, each
reference signal occupies an OFDM symbol, and the initial phase of each reference signal is known." and page 12, last para. to page 13, 2nd para. "In this embodiment, it is assumed that a receiving end cannot obtain an initial amplitude and phase of each reference signal, and there may be a random amplitude and phase hop between the reference signals of a transmission end (for example, for reference signals distributed on a plurality of slots, there may be a random amplitude and phase hop between different slots). Therefore, during channel separation, the amplitude and phase hop between the reference signals needs to be compensated for first, to ensure that the various reference signals have the same initial states.", appear to define the term with respect to a known transmission state or a random hop between different slots, and should be clarified by the applicant.
Claim 8-11, 17, 19, and 20, Regarding "a step in which the base station arranges a plurality of reference signals, wherein the number of the reference signals is equal to an integer multiple of a logical channel codebook" recited in Claim 8, first, the operation of "arranging the reference signals" is unclear, and even if the recitation of "arranging" is clear, it is unclear on what the reference signals are arranged. In addition, the meaning of the state that "the number of reference signals" is "an integer multiple of the codebook" is also unclear (it is not recognized that "codebook" represents "number"). In addition, the same applies to the recitation of "the arranged reference signal" recited in Claims 10 and 17. The same applies to the claim 9, 11, 19, 20 Therefore, the invention according to Claim 8 - 11, 17, 19, 20 is not clear.
Claims 19 and 20 recite “steps the method” but it is not clear what steps are pointed to in claim 1. Thus, the claims are indefinite.
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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Changsheng et al. (Channel Estimation and Passive Beamforming for Intelligent Reflecting Surface: Discrete Phase Shift and Progressive Refinement", ARXIV.ORG, CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, 201 OLIN LIBRARY CORNELL UNIVERSITY ITHACA, NY 14853, 23 December 2019 (2019-12-23), XP081626440, hereinafter “D1”).
Regarding claims 1, 15, 19 and 20, D1 discloses a channel separation method (see page 1, Abstract "To address them, we consider in this paper an IRS-aided single-user communication system with discrete phase shifts and design the IRS training reflection matrix for channel estimation ...A novel hierarchical training reflection design is proposed to progressively estimate IRS elements' channels over multiple blocks by exploiting IRS-elements grouping and partition.", the IRS elements grouping
and partitioning for estimating the channel from the IRS corresponding to a channel separation method, see also clarity objection above).
comprising when a plurality of reference signals are reflected through an intelligent reflecting surface or repeater, switching, by the intelligent reflecting
surface or repeater, a codebook of each reference signal to a
corresponding intelligent reflecting surface codebook (page 2, fig.1, the
IRS reflecting the signals from the UE, fig.2, channel training in M slots of each,
block, and page 5, left column, 2nd para. "1) Channel Training: Consider each block i E I, {1, 2, , 10}. During the channel training in this block, the user consecutively sends M pilot symbols to the AP, where the IRS reflection coefficients are properly set to assist the channel estimation at the AP. Let xₜ[m] E C denote the transmitted training symbol (common for all blocks of i), [m])ᴴ E F¹xN denote the element-wise IRS training reflection vector in the m-th symbol duration of block i with m E M = {1, 2, ,M}," and page 6, lest column, "Per-group effective channel estimation: According to (6), the AP estimates M per-group effective channels in block i, h(i), from the received signal vector, y(i)t, with the given basis training reflection matrix Θₛ, i.e.,"), wherein each reference signal corresponds to a different intelligent reflecting surface or repeater codebook (page 8, formula 20, showing that each [Θₛ]ₘ,ₘ m,m E M is different, thus for each timeslot in the M channel training timeslots of fig.2 the IRS switches to a different reflecting surface matrix /codebook Θₛ).
Regarding claims 2 and 16, D1 discloses wherein before the switching, by the intelligent reflecting surface or repeater, a codebook of each reference signal to a corresponding intelligent reflecting surface codebook, the method further comprises: configuring or appointing, for the intelligent reflecting surface or repeater by a base station, parameters used for separating logic channels of the intelligent reflecting surface or repeater, wherein the parameters comprise: a first parameter, used for indicating a quantity of logic channels needing to be separated; a second parameter, used for indicating a codebook set configured for the logic channels of the intelligent reflecting surface or repeater, wherein the codebook set comprises logic channel codebooks corresponding to the quantity of the logic channels; and a third parameter, used for indicating a sub-array codebook configured for a physical array of each logic channel (see D1, page 5, left column, line 32: However, in practice, we
have M « N and thus we propose to divide the N IRS elements into M groups,
each consisting of L = N/M adjacent elements (assumed to be an integer for
convenience) by exploiting the potential channel correlation among them M
being the quantity of logic channels to be separated;
- page 8, right column, chapter B: "Proposed Basis Training Reflection Matrix
Design First, it can be easily verified that problem (P1) is always feasible, since
there exists a naive basis training reflection matrix that satisfies all the
constraints in (19a)-(19c), regardless of the phase-shifter resolution and the pilot length. We denote it by Os, whose entries are given by.. (20)", whereby the set of all M basis training reflection matrix Θₛ corresponds to the codebook set, which also depends on M; - page 5, right column, last para. "..In particular, it can be observed from (3) that for each symbol m in each block i, the training reflection vector of each group is the superposition of a common basis training reflection coefficient for this group for symbol m to the intra-group training reflection vector in block i.", the intra- group training reflection vector for block i corresponding to the subarray codebook, see also fig.3a, block 1 for example. Further receiving a configuration from the BS with the above parameters would be an obvious implementation measure for a person skilled in the art, hinted by the AP to IRS controller link in fig.1).
Regarding claims 3 and 6, D1 discloses wherein the intelligent reflecting surface codebook is a Kronecker product of a logic channel codebook and a corresponding sub-array codebook (see page 2, left column, last para. The key idea is to decompose each training reflection vector, which consists of the reflection coefficients of all IRS elements in a given pilot symbol duration, into the Kronecker product of two vectors, called the (group-wise) basis training reflection vector and the intra-group training reflection vector (common for all groups), respectively).
Regarding claim 4, D1 discloses wherein the first parameter comprises: a quantity of logic channels needing to be separated in an azimuth dimension and a pitching dimension of the intelligent reflecting surface or repeater, or a quantity of azimuth-dimension and pitching-dimension physical arrays contained in each logic channel (see fig. 3a for the horizontal and vertical dimension of the IRS elements in the groups).
Regarding claims 5, D1 discloses wherein each logic channel codebook is represented using 1 bit information; a sequence of the logic channel codebooks in the codebook set is indicated based on an appointment or through a signaling of the base station; and the quantity of the logic channel codebooks in the codebook set is greater than or equal to the quantity of the logic channels (see page 8, formula (20) for the m-th element in the m-th codebook being 180 degrees (-1 vs 1) compared to other elements, and formula (19a) for the same amplitude. Further using a 1 bit information per
element to indicate the "-1" or "1" for the phase would be a straightforward
implementation measure for a person skilled in the art).
Regarding claims 7 and 13, D1 discloses wherein in a case that the base station obtains an initial amplitude and phase of the reference signal, each logic channel corresponds to one logic channel codebook; and in a case that the base station does not obtain an initial amplitude and phase of the reference signal, at least one logic channel corresponds to a plurality of logic channel codebooks (see page 8, formula 17 the BS determining each of the separate logic channels / per-group effective channels h, the initial amplitude and phase being interpreted as the known pilot signal X, and formula (20) for each logic channel corresponding to one logic channel codebook).
Regarding claims 8 and 14, D1 discloses wherein before the switching, by the intelligent reflecting surface or repeater, a codebook of each reference signal to a corresponding intelligent reflecting surface codebook, the method further comprises:
configuring, by the base station, the plurality of reference signals, wherein a quantity of the reference signals is equal to an integral multiple of the quantity of the logic channel codebooks (see page 5, left column, line 32:' However, in practice, we have M
« N and thus we propose to divide the N IRS elements into M groups, each
consisting of L = N/M adjacent elements (assumed to be an integer for
convenience) by exploiting the potential channel correlation among them", and
fig.2 for M channel training slots, which is thus an integer=1 multiple of the M
codebooks).
Regarding claim 9, D1 discloses wherein the reference signals configured on each Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OMDF) symbol occupy a same Resource Block (RB), and quantities of Resource Element (RE) occupied on various RBs are the equal (see D1 fig.2, whereby further configuring and using multiple OFDM symbols with same occupied RB and REs would be customary means in the art, hinted by D1, page 3, right column, last para: "The proposed designs in this paper can be directly applied to the downlink communication by switching the roles of the user and AP, as well as the broadband communication over frequency-selective channels by employing OFDM).
Regarding claim 10, D1 discloses wherein after the configuring, by the base station, the plurality of reference signals, the method further comprises: informing, by the base station through a signaling, the intelligent reflecting surface or repeater of a slot where the reference signals are located and a position of an OFDM symbol where the reference signals are located (see fig.2, whereby further configuring and using multiple OFDM symbols with same occupied RB and REs would be customary means in
the art, hinted by D1, page 3, right column, last para: "The proposed designs in this paper can be directly applied to the downlink communication by switching the roles of the user and AP, as well as the broadband communication over frequency-selective channels by employing OFDM).
Regarding claim 11, and 17, D1 discloses the switching, by the intelligent reflecting surface or repeater, a codebook of each reference signal to a corresponding intelligent reflecting surface codebook comprises: switching, by the intelligent reflecting surface or repeater, the codebook of each reference signal to the corresponding intelligent reflecting surface codebook based on the slot where the reference signal is located and the position of the OFDM symbol where the reference signal is located. (see fig.2, whereby further configuring and using multiple OFDM symbols with same occupied RB and REs would be customary means in the art, hinted by D1, page 3, right column, last para: "The proposed designs in this paper can be directly applied to the downlink communication by switching the roles of the user and AP, as well as the broadband communication over frequency-selective channels by employing OFDM).
Regarding claims 12 and 18, D1 discloses wherein after the switching, by the intelligent reflecting surface or repeater, a codebook of each reference signal to a corresponding intelligent reflecting surface codebook, the method further comprises: after a base station receives the reference signals, separating logic channels of the intelligent reflecting surface or repeater according to the codebooks switched from the reference signals (As is clear from Fig. 3, the invention described in prior art separates the logical channel of the intelligent reflecting surface based on the codebook after the reference signal is switched, and as discussed above, a person skilled in the art could have easily conceived that the operation is performed by the base station. Therefore, the invention, according to Claim 12, 18 of the present application could have been easily conceived by a person skilled in the art based on the invention described in the prior art).
Regarding claim 14, D1 discloses wherein the quantity of the logic channels needing to be separated is N; the codebook set comprises N logic channel codebooks; and each logic channel codebook comprises N elements with the same amplitudes, wherein a difference between an Mth element in an Mth codebook and another element is 180 degrees, wherein N is an integer greater than 1 and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to N.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMAD S ANWAR whose telephone number is (571)270-5641. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6-5 EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Asad Nawaz can be reached at 571-272-3988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
MOHAMMAD S. ANWAR
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2463
/MOHAMMAD S ANWAR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
Prosecution Insights