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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 5 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu et al. (US 2023/0413197, hereinafter “Zhu”) in view of Ji et al. (US 2023/0308242, hereinafter “Ji”).
For Claims 1 and 5, Zhu discloses A terminal (FIG. 2 depicts one embodiment of an apparatus 200 that may be used for Doppler shift frequency determination and compensation. The apparatus 200 includes one embodiment of the remote unit 102; see Zhu par. 0039 and Fig. 2) comprising:
a receiving section that receives information related to a reference carrier (the receiver 212 may receive a first reference signal transmitted from a first transmission reception point on a third frequency; see Zhu par. 0045, 0081 and Figs. 2 and 7); and
a control section (The processor 202, in one embodiment, may include any known controller capable of executing computer- readable instructions and/or capable of performing logical operations; see Zhu par. 0040 and Fig. 2) that performs, based on the information, first Doppler compensation in the reference carrier (wherein a first Doppler shift frequency is determined by the first transmission reception point using the first frequency and a second frequency on which the second reference signal is received by the first transmission reception point 0081) and that performs, based on the information and the first Doppler compensation, second Doppler compensation in a carrier other than the reference carrier (if the UE 502 has frequency offset information (-AF1), the UE 502 may derive Doppler shift and/or Doppler spread at a new frequency (e.g., Fc-AF1). The Doppler shift and/or Doppler spread may be derived from TRS1 514 even though TRS1 514 is transmitted at Fc. In various embodiments, the frequency difference may be signaled by TRP1 to the UE 502 to assist the UE 502 to better receive CSI-RS1 520. This enables another way to define a QCL type between TRS1 514 and CSI-RS1 520. In addition to average delay and delay spread, this QCL relation may also include Doppler shift and Doppler spread considering the change of transmission frequency; see Zhu par. 0065, 0070-0072).
Zhu does not explicitly disclose a reference carrier. Ji discloses a reference carrier (the terminal determines, based only on a Doppler shift of a TRS 1, a receiving frequency of receiving a DMRS, and performs frequency offset compensation on a sending frequency fc. When a TRP 2 sends a DMRS through frequency offset compensation, this helps the terminal obtain a correct reference frequency offset fd1; see Ji par. 0601). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Ji's arrangement in Zhu's invention to help avoid performance deterioration caused by receiving the DMRSs by using a wrong reference frequency offset, therefore, the method helps improve multi-station transmission performance (see Ji par. 0009).
For Claim 6, Zhu discloses A base station (FIG. 3 depicts one embodiment of an apparatus 300 that may be used for Doppler shift frequency determination and compensation. The apparatus 300 includes one embodiment of the network unit 104; see Zhu par. 0047 and Fig. 3) comprising:
a transmitting section (a transmitter 310; see Zhu par. 0047 and Fig. 3) that transmits information related to a reference carrier (The method 600 may include transmitting 602, from a first transmission reception point, a first reference signal to a user equipment (e.g., remote unit 102) on a first frequency; see Zhu par. 0074, 0081 and Figs. 2 and 6); and
a control section that indicates, by using the information, first Doppler compensation in the reference carrier (the processor 302 may determine a first Doppler shift frequency using the first frequency and the second frequency; see Zhu par. 0048), and that indicates, by using the information and a result of the first Doppler compensation, second Doppler compensation in a carrier other than the reference carrier (if the UE 502 has frequency offset information (-AF1), the UE 502 may derive Doppler shift and/or Doppler spread at a new frequency (e.g., Fc-AF1). The Doppler shift and/or Doppler spread may be derived from TRS1 514 even though TRS1 514 is transmitted at Fc. In various embodiments, the frequency difference may be signaled by TRP1 to the UE 502 to assist the UE 502 to better receive CSI-RS1 520. This enables another way to define a QCL type between TRS1 514 and CSI-RS1 520. In addition to average delay and delay spread, this QCL relation may also include Doppler shift and Doppler spread considering the change of transmission frequency; see Zhu par. 0065, 0070-0072).
Zhu does not explicitly disclose a reference carrier. Ji discloses a reference carrier (the terminal determines, based only on a Doppler shift of a TRS 1, a receiving frequency of receiving a DMRS, and performs frequency offset compensation on a sending frequency fc. When a TRP 2 sends a DMRS through frequency offset compensation, this helps the terminal obtain a correct reference frequency offset fd1; see Ji par. 0601). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Ji's arrangement in Zhu's invention to help avoid performance deterioration caused by receiving the DMRSs by using a wrong reference frequency offset, therefore, the method helps improve multi-station transmission performance (see Ji par. 0009).
Claim(s) 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu and Ji, and further in view of Manolakos et al. (US 2023/0216546, hereinafter “Manolakos”).
For Claim 2, the combination of Zhu and Ji does not explicitly disclose The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the reference carrier is a carrier with a lowest frequency, from among a plurality of carriers configured for the terminal. Manolakos discloses The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the reference carrier is a carrier with a lowest frequency, from among a plurality of carriers configured for the terminal (The capability indication 210 may provide capability reporting for each of a number of frequency bands, for one or more combinations of frequency bands, for low-band ( e.g., frequency range 1 (FRI) or sub-6 GHz) and high-band (e.g., FR2 or above 6 GHz) communications, or any combinations thereof; see Manolakos par. 0087; the capability indication manager 1110 may receive, from the UE, one or more of a capability indication for Doppler pre-compensating one or more frequency bands, a capability indication for Doppler pre-compensating one or more combinations of frequency bands, a capability indication for Doppler pre-compensating one or more high band or low band frequency ranges, or any combinations thereof; see Manolakos par. 0152). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Manolakos's arrangement in Zhu's invention to provide improvements to reliability and efficiency in receiving and decoding communications with one or multiple TRPs, in which Doppler pre-compensation may help reduce the likelihood of decoding errors due to uncompensated frequency offsets (see Manolakos par. 0039).
For Claim 3, the combination of Zhu and Ji does not explicitly disclose The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the reference carrier is a combination of at least two carriers of a plurality of carriers configured for the terminal. Manolakos discloses The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the reference carrier is a combination of at least two carriers of a plurality of carriers configured for the terminal (the Doppler compensation capability indication indicates that the UE supports multiple concurrent Doppler pre-compensations for multiple transmission-reception points, a number of concurrent Doppler pre-compensations that are supported by the UE, whether the capability is per component carrier or across component carriers, or per band or across a band combination, or per UE, or any combinations thereof. In some cases, the Doppler compensation capability indication further indicates that the UE supports receiving multiple downlink reference signals from the multiple transmission-reception points that are associated with a same uplink reference signal; see Manolakos par. 0153). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Manolakos's arrangement in Zhu's invention to provide improvements to reliability and efficiency in receiving and decoding communications with one or multiple TRPs, in which Doppler pre-compensation may help reduce the likelihood of decoding errors due to uncompensated frequency offsets (see Manolakos par. 0039).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu and Ji, and further in view of Jung et al. (US 2012/0281655, hereinafter “Jung”).
For Claim 4, the combination of Zhu and Ji does not explicitly disclose The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the receiving section receives information related to presence or absence of configuration of the reference carrier. Jung discloses The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the receiving section receives information related to presence or absence of configuration of the reference carrier (In particular, for the component carrier indicated by the component carrier addition command, the user equipment checks whether a stored component carrier configuration information exists [S830]. In this case, the component carrier addition command may include minimum component carrier identification information. This component carrier identification information may include a frequency and a physical cell identifier (PCI) and the like. Though the comparison between the received component carrier identification information and the component carrier identification information in the component carrier configuration information stored in the user equipment, the user equipment may check a presence or non-presence of the component carrier configuration information stored in the user equipment; see Jung par. 0079-0080). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Jung's arrangement in Zhu's invention so that the demand for a more efficient component carrier configuring or adding method is rising to increase efficiency in using radio resources (see Jung par. 0004).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
-Gao et al. (US 2022/0393809): see par. 0172, 0186, 0197, 0219-0226;
-Abdelghaffar et al. (US 2023/0179260): see par. 0080, 0085;
-Ji et al. (US 2023/0344569): see par. 0335-0351.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHAE S LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-8236. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30AM - 5:00PM.
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, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached at (571) 270-1215. 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.
/CHAE S LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
Prosecution Insights