DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 .
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.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. In particular, this Application is the national stage application of an international application that claims foreign priority to a Japanese application, filed on 6 Jul 2022.
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement, submitted on 11 Nov 2024, is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 1-7 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, 6, and 7 recite, in part, limitations similar to “performing, by a base station, processing for wireless transmission after [i] a reference signal is phase-rotated and then [ii] multiplexed on a frequency axis in a first symbol of a downlink signal included in two symbols to be transmitted; performing, by a base station, the processing for wireless transmission after [iii] the reference signal is multiplexed in a second symbol on the frequency axis.” Emphasis added. These limitations appear to define a timeline of functions performed by the base station that consists of four events: elements [i]-[iii] and “processing for wireless transmission.” However, it is unclear where “processing for wireless transmission” needs to occur within the timeline. While it is clearly “after” elements [i] and [iii], the use of “then” before element [ii] creates ambiguity as to whether the “processing for wireless transmission” is before or after element [ii]. Additionally, “processing for wireless transmission” is such a broad concept that defining which elements are not a part of that function in the timeline becomes unclear. All other claims are indefinite due to their dependence upon an indefinite claim.
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.
Claims 1-3 and 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US 20230239112) in view of Shimezawa (US 20110305286).
Regarding claims 1, 6, and 7, Lee teaches a base station, a wireless communication method, and a wireless communication system comprising:
a base station (Lee, figure 1 and ¶64 – electronic device 101 may be a base station); and
a terminal (Lee, ¶64 – terminal in communication with base station),
wherein the base station includes at least one memory storing instructions, and at least one processor (Lee, figure 1 and ¶71 – electronic device 101 includes a controller and memory) configured to execute the method comprising:
performing, by a base station (Lee, ¶¶82-83 – figure 2 is included in the base station [electronic device 101] and transmits RIM RS), processing for wireless transmission (Lee, figure 2 – IFFT 240/242) after a reference signal is phase-rotated . . . and included in two symbols to be transmitted (Lee, ¶¶89, 121 – phase rotator 230 of the electronic device rotates the phase of a first OFDM symbol of at least one subcarrier before the data passes through IFFTs 240 and 242; Lee, figure 9 and ¶148 – two OFDM symbols of an RIM RS are to be transmitted, where the first symbol is phase-rotated, but the second symbol is not); and
wirelessly transmitting a downlink signal of two symbols generated by the processing for wireless transmission. Lee, ¶94 and figure 2 (output of antennae 255 and 257 are downlink when the electronic device is a base station).
Lee does not explicitly teach data that is rotated in phase and “then multiplexed on a frequency axis in a first symbol of a downlink signal” or “performing, by a base station, the processing for wireless transmission after the reference signal is multiplexed in a second symbol on the frequency axis.” However, Shimizawa teaches a transmitter that includes a multiplexing section a30, which precedes an IFFT section a40. Shimizawa, figure 1. The multiplexing section multiplexes or superimposes symbols in the frequency domain. Id. at ¶93. A portion of the data that is multiplexed was previously phase-controlled. Id., figure 1 (section a22) and ¶92. At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to implement the symbol multiplexing, taught by Shimizawa, within the base station, taught by Lee, in order to narrow the occupied bandwidth of the downlink OFDM transmission. Shimizawa, ¶96 (orthogonal subcarriers can be superimposed).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Lee and Shimizawa also teaches wherein the reference signal is a remote interference management reference signal (RIM-RS) signal. Lee, e.g. ¶72.
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Lee and Shimizawa also teaches wherein the processing for wireless transmission includes processing of converting a signal on the frequency axis into a signal on a time axis and adding a cyclic prefix (CP). Lee, figure 2 (CP generators 245 and 247 follow IFFTs 240 and 242) and ¶¶61, 91-92.
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Lee and Shimizawa also teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to rotate a phase of the reference signal according to a length of a cyclic prefix (CP) with respect to the downlink signal of two symbols. Lee, ¶¶121, 137-138 (phase of first symbol is rotated based on the CP length of the second symbol).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US 20230239112) in view of Shimezawa (US 20110305286) and further in view of Nakashima (US 20140241301).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Lee and Shimizawa teaches the base station according to claim 3 and processing for wireless transmission (Lee, figure 2 – IFFT), but does not explicitly teach wherein the processing for wireless transmission “is the same as processing for at least one of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).” However, Nakashima teaches an IFFT module in a transmitter. Nakashima, figure 2 (element 209). The IFFT module processes for wireless communication both PDSCH and PDCCH data. Id., figure 2 (201-1 and 203-1 generate PDSCH and PDCCH data) and ¶127. At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to use the same IFFT, which processes PDSCH or PDCCH data in Nakashima, to process the OFDM symbols, taught by the combination of Lee and Shimizawa, in order to arrange the data in the time domain. Nakashima, ¶64. One skilled in the art would understand that a PDSCH or PDCCH is a wireless transmission. In this sense, the claimed invention requires the processing of a genus, “wireless transmission,” to be the same as at least one species, PDSCH or PDCCH. Nakashima teaches that IFFT can explicitly be used in either species. The combination of Lee and Shimizawa already teaches IFFT in the genus. As a result, IFFT can be used for the same purpose of converting frequency domain data to the time domain.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN S LAMONT whose telephone number is (571)270-7514 and email address is benjamin.lamont@uspto.gov (see MPEP 502.03 for using EFS or mail, but not email to authorize electronic communications). The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7am to 3pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Huy Vu can be reached at 571-272-3155. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Benjamin Lamont/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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