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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. IN 202241032000, filed on 06/03/2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/25/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-3, and 6-11, objected to because of the following informalities:
Physical Broadcast Channel is shortened to PECH instead of the commonly used PBCH. Examiner has treated the acronym as such but recommends correction.
Claim 16 is objected to because of the following informalities:
The claim limitation describes “a function of the SSS sequence number along and the PSS ID”, Examiner interprets this to be “along with the PSS ID”, however if Applicant meant an alternate meaning, such correction should be made and Examiner will consider this definition.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim 19 is 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.
Applicant claims “wherein the predefined number is one of 1, 2, 4 or more”. The inclusion of “or more” herein provides an undefined upper bounds that follows a defined list. While a person having ordinary skill in the art would be able to ascertain the integer for repetition being one of the defined integers, the limitation “or more” could potentially contain infinite variations to the claim language, which does not adequately define the metes and bounds of the subject matter which is being claimed.
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)(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.
Claims 1-6, and 12-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kuchi; Kiran (2020/0374081), hereinafter Kuchi.
Re. Claim 1, Kuchi teaches a method for transmitting synchronization signal (SS) Block Orthogonal time frequency-division multiplexing (OTFDM) symbol, comprising: time-multiplexing, by the transmitter, at least one of a primary synchronization signal (PSS) sequence, a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) sequence and a physical broadcast channel (PECH ) sequence to generate a multiplexed sequence (¶0007 - wherein the multiplexed block is configured by performing a TDM (time division multiplexing) scheme on the PSS, the SSS, and the PBCH signal, and transmitting the multiplexed block to a receiving side device); and processing, by the transmitter, the multiplexed sequence to generate a SS Block OTFDM symbol (¶0007 - configuring a multiplexed block by multiplexing a PSS (primary synchronization signal), an SSS (secondary synchronization signal), and a PBCH (physical broadcast channel) signal in time frequency domain).
Re. Claim 2, Kuchi teaches Claim 1
Additionally, Kuchi further teaches wherein the SS Block OTFDM symbol IS ONE OF A PSS OTFDM symbol comprising of only PSS sequence, a SSS OTFDM symbol comprising of only SSS sequence, a PECH OTFDM symbol comprising of only PECH sequence; and OTFDM symbol comprising of the PSS sequence, the SSS sequence and the PECH Sequence (¶0007 - wherein the multiplexed block is configured by performing a TDM (time division multiplexing) scheme on the PSS, the SSS, and the PBCH signal, and transmitting the multiplexed block to a receiving side device. Additionally, Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features needs to be mapped because of the presence of “is one of a”).
Re. Claim 3, Kuchi teaches Claim 1
Additionally, Kuchi further teaches wherein the length of the PSS sequence, the SSS sequence and the PECH sequence are same (Fig. 1 – PSS, SSS, and PBCH are all the same length) or different.
Re. Claim 4, Kuchi teaches Claim 1
Additionally, Kuchi further teaches wherein the PSS sequence includes one of a PSS cyclic prefix (CP) (¶0037 - An SS consists of a PSS and an SSS and corresponds to a signal for performing cell search. In case of using a normal CP and an extended CP, FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 illustrates a frame structure for transmitting an SS and a PBCH. Additionally, Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features needs to be mapped because of the presence of “is one of a”), and a PSS CP along with a PSS cyclic suffix (CS).
Re. Claim 5, Kuchi teaches Claim 1
Additionally, Kuchi further teaches, wherein the SSS sequence includes one of a SSS CP (¶0037 - An SS consists of a PSS and an SSS and corresponds to a signal for performing cell search. In case of using a normal CP and an extended CP, FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 illustrates a frame structure for transmitting an SS and a PBCH. Additionally, Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features needs to be mapped because of the presence of “is one of a”), and a SSS CP along with a SSS CS.
Re. Claim 6, Kuchi teaches Claim 1
Additionally, Kuchi further teaches wherein the PECH sequence comprises at least one of a PECH data (¶0006 - it is necessary for the UE to acquire a synchronization signal (SS) for obtaining synchronization and a cell ID and the aforementioned PBCH signal for transmitting essential system information. Additionally, Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features needs to be mapped because of the presence of “is one of a”) and a PECH data CP.
Re. Claim 12, Kuchi teaches Claim 1
Additionally, Kuchi further teaches wherein the PSS sequence provides sector id (¶0037 - The SS can transmit 504 physical cell IDs in total via a combination of 3 PSSs and 168 SSSs. Additionally, Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features needs to be mapped because of the presence of “OR”) OR Base station id.
Re. Claim 13, Kuchi teaches Claim 1
Additionally, Kuchi further teaches wherein the PSS sequence is one sequence for all sectors OR one of N possible sequences, wherein N is an integer (¶0041 - In order to define 3 PSSs in total, it may use values such as u=25, 29, and 34 in the equation 1. In this case, since the values 29 and 34 have a conjugate symmetry relationship, it may be able to perform two correlations at the same time. Additionally, Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features needs to be mapped because of the presence of “OR”).
Re. Claim 14, Kuchi teaches Claim 1
Additionally, Kuchi further teaches wherein the PSS sequence IS ONE OF pi/2 BPSK and ZC (¶0040 - A PSS code defines a ZC (Zadoff-Chu) sequence of a length of 63 in frequency domain and uses the ZC sequence as a sequence of a PSS. Additionally, Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features needs to be mapped because of the presence of “is one of a”).
Re. Claim 15, Kuchi teaches Claim 1
Additionally, Kuchi further teaches wherein the SSS sequence IS ONE OF pi/2 BPSK and ZC (¶0039 - In the following, an encoding procedure of a PSS and an SSS is explained, & ¶0040 - A PSS code defines a ZC (Zadoff-Chu) sequence of a length of 63 in frequency domain and uses the ZC sequence as a sequence of a PSS. Examiner interprets the same encoding procedure is performed for both the primary and the secondary. Additionally, Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features needs to be mapped because of the presence of “is one of”).
Re. Claim 16, Kuchi teaches Claim 1
Additionally, Kuchi further teaches wherein gNB ID OR sector ID is a function of the SSS sequence number along and the PSS ID (¶0037 - The SS can transmit 504 physical cell IDs in total via a combination of 3 PSSs and 168 SSSs. The SS and the PBCH are transmitted in the center 6 RBs of a system bandwidth to make a UE detect or decode the SS and the PBCH irrespective of a transmission bandwidth.)
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 7-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuchi in view of Kim et al. (KR 102933118), hereinafter Kim.
Re. Claim 7, Kuchi teaches Claim 1
However, Kuchi does not expressly teach wherein the PECH sequence includes a PECH DMRS
Yet, Kim explicitly teaches wherein the PECH sequence includes a PECH DMRS (Pg. 24, Line 8 - Transmitting an SS/PBCH (Synchronization Signal/Physical Broadcast Channel) block, wherein the SS/PBCH block includes the PBCH and a DMRS (Demodulation Reference signal) for the PBCH).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Kim to the teaching of Kuchi. The motivation for such would be to improve multiplexing efficiency as Kim provides that the PECH includes a DMRS (Pg. 24, Line 8, Kim). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 8, Kuchi teaches Claim 1
However, Kuchi does not expressly teach wherein the PECH DMRS includes at least one of a PECH DMRS CP and DFT-s-OFDM (Discrete Fourier Transform-spread-OFDM) method.
Yet, Kim explicitly teaches wherein the PECH DMRS includes at least one of a PECH DMRS CP (Pg. 24, Line 10 - The above multiple WF methods include at least CP-OFDM (Cyclic Prefix Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) method and DFT-s-OFDM (Discrete Fourier Transform-spread-OFDM) method. Additionally, Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features needs to be mapped because of the presence of “at least one of a”) and a PECH DMRS CS.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Kim to the teaching of Kuchi. The motivation for such would be to improve multiplexing efficiency as Kim provides that the PECH DMRS includes a cyclic prefix (Pg. 24, Line 10, Kim). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 9, Kuchi teaches Claim 1
However, Kuchi does not expressly teach wherein the PECH DMRS is one of a pi/2 BPSK, a QPSK, and a ZC.
Yet, Kim explicitly teaches wherein the PECH DMRS IS ONE OF A pi/2 BPSK, a QPSK (Pg. 6, Line 12 - The DMRS sequence consists of a QPSK-modulated Gold sequence. Additionally, Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features needs to be mapped because of the presence of “is one of a”), and a ZC.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Kim to the teaching of Kuchi. The motivation for such would be to improve multiplexing efficiency as Kim provides that the PECH DMRS includes a QPSK sequence (Pg. 6, Line 12, Kim). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 10, Kuchi teaches Claim 1
However, Kuchi does not expressly teach wherein the PECH data is one of a pi/2 BPSK and a QPSK.
Yet, Kim explicitly teaches wherein the PECH data IS ONE OF A pi/2 BPSK and a QPSK (Pg. 6, Line 12 - The DMRS sequence consists of a QPSK-modulated Gold sequence. Additionally, Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features needs to be mapped because of the presence of “is one of a”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Kim to the teaching of Kuchi. The motivation for such would be to improve multiplexing efficiency as Kim provides that the PECH data includes a QPSK (Pg. 6, Line 12, Kim). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 11, Kuchi teaches Claim 1
However, Kuchi does not expressly teach wherein the PECH sequence comprises one of a PECH CP and a PECH CP along with PECH CS
Yet, Kim explicitly teaches wherein the PECH sequence comprises one of a PECH CP (Pg. 24, Line 10 - The above multiple WF methods include at least CP-OFDM (Cyclic Prefix Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) method and DFT-s-OFDM (Discrete Fourier Transform-spread-OFDM) method. Additionally, Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features needs to be mapped because of the presence of “comprises one of a”) and a PECH CP along with PECH CS.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Kim to the teaching of Kuchi. The motivation for such would be to improve multiplexing efficiency as Kim provides that the PECH includes a cyclic prefix (Pg. 24, Line 10, Kim). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Claims 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuchi in view of Timo et al. (BR 112015017099), hereinafter Timo.
Re. Claim 17, Kuchi teaches Claim 1
However, Kuchi does not expressly teach wherein the PSS sequence comprises a base sequence repeated for a predefined number of times, wherein each of the repeated based sequence is multiplied with an element of a code cover sequence.
Yet, Timo explicitly teaches wherein the PSS sequence comprises a base sequence repeated for a predefined number of times, wherein each of the repeated based sequence is multiplied with an element of a code cover sequence (¶0159 - PSS/SSS and CRS signals consisting of a break (a predefined number of repeats with a certain binding cycle) are used for the discovery of neighboring cells to obtain a fast and efficient search for cells during the process).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Timo to the teaching of Kuchi. The motivation for such would be to improve multiplexing efficiency as Timo provides that the synchronization signals are repeated a set amount of times (¶0159, Timo). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 18, Kuchi teaches Claim 1
However, Kuchi does not expressly teach wherein the SSS sequence comprises a base sequence repeated for a predefined number of times, wherein each of the repeated based sequence is multiplied with an element of a code cover sequence.
Yet, Timo explicitly teaches wherein the SSS sequence comprises a base sequence repeated for a predefined number of times, wherein each of the repeated based sequence is multiplied with an element of a code cover sequence (¶0159 - PSS/SSS and CRS signals consisting of a break (a predefined number of repeats with a certain binding cycle) are used for the discovery of neighboring cells to obtain a fast and efficient search for cells during the process).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Timo to the teaching of Kuchi. The motivation for such would be to improve multiplexing efficiency as Timo provides that the synchronization signals are repeated a set amount of times (¶0159, Timo). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 19, Kuchi and Timo teach Claim 17
However, Kuchi does not expressly teach wherein the predefined number is one of 1, 2, 4 or more.
Yet, Timo explicitly teaches wherein the predefined number is one of 1, 2, 4 or more (¶0023 - The set of frames can be repeated X times to provide a burst, where X is an integer).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Timo to the teaching of Kuchi. The motivation for such would be to improve multiplexing efficiency as Timo provides that the synchronization signals are repeated a set amount of times (¶0023, Timo). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Claims 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuchi in view of Ko et al. (2019/0173628), hereinafter Ko.
Re. Claim 20, Kuchi teaches Claim 1
However, Kuchi does not expressly teach wherein generating the OTFDM symbol by processing the multiplexed sequence comprising: transforming the multiplexed sequence using a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) to generate a transformed multiplexed sequence; performing padding operation by prefixing the transformed multiplexed sequence with a first predefined number (N1) of subcarriers and post-fixing the transformed multiplexed sequence with a second predefined number (N2) of subcarriers to obtain an extended bandwidth transformed multiplexed sequence; mapping the extended bandwidth transformed multiplexed sequence with at least one of localized and distributed subcarriers to generate a mapped extended bandwidth transformed multiplexed sequence; shaping the mapped extended bandwidth transformed multiplexed sequence using a filter to obtain a shaped extended bandwidth transformed multiplexed sequence; performing an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) on the shaped extended bandwidth transformed multiplexed sequence to produce a time domain sequence; processing the time domain sequence to generate the OTFDM symbol.
Yet, Ko explicitly teaches wherein generating the OTFDM symbol by processing the multiplexed sequence comprising: transforming the multiplexed sequence using a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) to generate a transformed multiplexed sequence (Abstract - a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) operation is performed on the multiplexed sequence to generate a DFT-spread-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM) symbol that is further processed for transmitting over a channel); performing padding operation by prefixing the transformed multiplexed sequence with a first predefined number (N1) of subcarriers and post-fixing the transformed multiplexed sequence with a second predefined number (N2) of subcarriers to obtain an extended bandwidth transformed multiplexed sequence (¶0052 - The subcarrier mapping module 302 performs subcarrier mapping on the DFT multiplexed data to generate mapped DFT multiplexed data. The IFFT module 303 performs an inverse transform of the mapped DFT multiplexed data to generate a time domain signal. An output module (not shown in the FIG. 4) performs at least one of addition of cyclic prefix, cyclic suffix, windowing, windowing with overlap and adding operation (WOLA) and filtering of the time domain signal to generate output sequence); mapping the extended bandwidth transformed multiplexed sequence with at least one of localized and distributed subcarriers to generate a mapped extended bandwidth transformed multiplexed sequence (¶0047 - The sub-carrier mapping unit 302 maps the pulse shaped DFT-s-OFDM symbol to orthogonal sub-carriers of the DFT-s-OFDM symbol); shaping the mapped extended bandwidth transformed multiplexed sequence using a filter to obtain a shaped extended bandwidth transformed multiplexed sequence (¶0047 - the shaping filter 301 performs the shaping in frequency domain without bandwidth expansion i.e., shaping is done over the DFT output without adding additional subcarriers); performing an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) on the shaped extended bandwidth transformed multiplexed sequence to produce a time domain sequence (¶0047 - the mapped signal is provided to the IFFT unit 303. The IFFT unit 303 performs IFFT on the mapped signal for generating a time domain signal from the frequency domain signal); and processing the time domain sequence to generate the OTFDM symbol (¶0047 - Thereafter, the DAC 204 converts the time domain signal into corresponding analog signals for transmitting).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Ko to the teaching of Kuchi. The motivation for such would be to improve multiplexing efficiency as Ko provides a structure that uses a DFT to map a bandwidth sequency, shape the sequence, and perform an IFFT on the shaped sequence (¶0047, Ko). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Ko et al. (2022/0006679) - ¶0024-0115
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/N.J.S./Examiner, Art Unit 2475
/HASHIM S BHATTI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2475
