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 lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claims 6-9 and 11-14 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 6, lines 2 and 3, the phrases “an equation below” and “[Equation]” should be deleted; and lines 10 and 11, “'n'” should be changed to “n”.
Claim 7, lines 2 and 3 should be deleted; and line 5, the phrase “an equation above” should be replaced with the equation recited in line 3.
Claim 8, lines 2-4, the phrases “an equation below”, “[Equation]”, and “phase value =” should be deleted; and lines 10 and 11, “'n'” should be changed to “n”.
Claim 9, line 2, the phrases “an equation below” should be replaced with the equation recited in line 5; line 3, “:” should be “,”; and lines 4 and 5 should be deleted.
The claim limitations of claims 11-14 are same as the claim limitations recited in claims 6-9, similar amendments are suggested by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1-16 and 18 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.
The phrase “each of at least one access point (AP)” recited in each of claims 1, 16, and 18 and “one AP of the at least one AP” recited in claim 15 are vague and indefinite. For example, “each” implies a plural group of distinct items, whereas “at least one” encompasses a scenario where there is only a single AP. It cannot logically select “each” from a single item. The phrase(s) fails to inform a person of ordinary skill in the art about the exact boundaries of the invention with reasonable certainty. It confuses whether the subsequent steps or acts apply to a single entity or a plural group.
Claims 6 and 11, the phrases “a carrier phase of the UE”, “a phase of transmission channel between the UE and the AP”, and “a carrier phase of the AP” recited in the claims are vague and indefinite because the same phrases are already recited in the precedent claim 4 and the phrases “the carrier phase of the UE” and “the carrier phase of the AP” recited in the claims lack antecedent basis. Clarification is required to clarify the differences.
The phrase “phase value” recited in claims 7-9 and 12-14 is also vague and indefinite because it is unclear which of the phase value is reference to as recited in one or more of the precedent claims 3, 7, 8, 12, and 13.
The term “(Δn, UL = ΦUE, t - Φn, r)” recited in the equation of claim 11 and the term “(Δn, DL = Φn, t - ΦUE, r)” recited in the equation of claim 13 are not clear and they appear to be not parts of the equations. Clarification is required.
Claims 2-5, 10, and 15 depend either directly or indirectly from claim 1, therefore they are also rejected.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-16 and 18 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claims 6-9 and 11-14 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the objection(s) set forth in this Office action.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Du (US 2009/0196163 A1) relates to a communication system comprising a plurality of terminals each having an uplink transmission unit for transmitting radio frequency OFDM signals at a radio frequency and an access point having an uplink receiving unit for concurrently receiving the radio frequency OFDM signals from at least two terminals, the OFDM signals being Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) modulated, wherein the bandwidth of the uplink transmission units and of the transmitted radio frequency OFDM signals is smaller than the bandwidth of the7 uplink receiving unit, that the bandwidth of at least two uplink transmission units and of their transmitted radio frequency OFDM signals is different and that the uplink transmission unit is adapted to assign different connections for concurrently transmitting radio frequency OFDM signals to different sub-carriers in the same time slots or to the same or different sub-carriers in different time slots.
Dhakal et al. (US 2016/0337066 A1) relates to a system comprising: a network interface component configured to receive, from a UE in an LTE communications system, an estimate of a phase difference at the UE between estimated downlink channels obtained from signals sent over two or more BS transmitter chains; a phase comparator component configured to determine, at a BS, a phase difference between estimated uplink channels obtained from signals received over two or more BS receiver chains; and a calibration component configured to determine, based on the received estimate of phase difference between estimated downlink channels and the determined phase difference between estimated uplink channels, a relative phase distortion induced by two or more BS transceiver chains including the two or more BS transmitter chains and the two or more BS receiver chains.
NIESEN et al. (US 2019/0373416 A1) relates to a method comprises: receiving one or more downlink signals transmitted from a base station (BS) during a downlink period, wherein the downlink signals are modulated using a downlink carrier wave; measuring, during the downlink period, a first carrier phase associated with the downlink carrier wave; estimating, during an uplink period subsequent to the downlink period, an integer ambiguity (IA) change; and measuring, during a later downlink period subsequent to the uplink period, a second carrier phase based on the resolved first carrier phase and the estimated IA change.
Patil et al. (US 2021/0014911 A1) relates to methods and apparatuses for associating a wireless communication device such as a wireless station (STA) of a STA multi-link device (MLD) with an access point (AP) MLD that includes a first AP associated with a first communication link of the AP MLD and includes one or more secondary APs associated with one or more respective secondary communication links of the first AP MLD. The first AP includes one or more virtual APs, and the first AP and the one or more virtual APs of the first AP belong to a first multiple basic service set identifier (BSSID) set associated with the first communication link. The AP MLD transmits a frame including a first element carrying discovery information for the first AP and the one or more virtual APs belonging to the first multiple BSSID set, and including a second element carrying discovery information for the one or more secondary APs of the first AP MLD associated with the one or more respective secondary communication links of the first AP MLD.
Da et al. (US 2022/0236362 A1) relates to a method and device for determining information, which are used to implement terminal positioning based on carrier signal phase measurement values and improve terminal positioning accuracy. The method for determining information includes: receiving the carrier signal discontinuously sent by a network side; and determining the carrier signal phase measurement value for positioning the terminal based on the carrier signal discontinuously sent by the network side.
Horn et al. (US 2022/0385507 A1) relates to a communication device configured to receive control signaling indicating a downlink reference signal configuration, for example, a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) configuration. The communication device may receive a downlink reference signal (e.g., a DMRS) over a downlink control channel (e.g., a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)) during an initial symbol duration of a transmission time interval (TTI). The downlink reference signal may include a set of bits including a first subset of bits including network temporary identifier bits and a second subset of bits including constellation bits associated with a downlink data channel (e.g., a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)). The communication device may process the downlink reference signal (e.g., a DMRS) based on the downlink reference signal configuration (e.g., a DMRS configuration).
GAO et al. (US 2009/0196163 A1) relates to a method comprises: determining, at a network device, first information about a first resource for communication of a reference signal and second information about a modification of the first resource; transmitting the first and second information to a terminal device for determination of a second resource for performance of the communication of the reference signal; receiving, at the terminal device, the first and second information; determining a second resource based on the first and second information; and performing the communication of the reference signal based on the second resource.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Young T. Tse whose telephone number is (571)272-3051. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10:30am-7pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh M Fan can be reached at 571-272-3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Young T. Tse/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632
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