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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 1-20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
(i) Claims 1, 11, and 20 recites "wherein the first signal is generated precoding ... and then transforming ...," which seems to be "wherein the first signal is generated by precoding ... and then transforming ....".
(ii) Claim 11 recites only receiving step, the preamble of claim 11 should have been "A method for receiving information," instead of "A method for transmitting information." 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 1-20 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.
(i) In claim 8, line 2 recites, “a first device”. It is not clear if “a first device, is the same one recited in claim1;
(ii) In claim 12, line 2 recites, “a second device”. It is not clear if “a second device, is the same one recited in claim 11.
(iii) In claims 1, 11 and 20, it is unclear whether the wherein clause is part of the claimed method or merely further specify specifics of "the first signal" (see MPEP 2111.04 for a wherein clause in a method claim).
Since, the wherein clause is drafted to be a positive active step(s) as part of the claimed method, for examining purposes, it has been interpreted as not a method step.
(iv) Similar issue with claim 20
(v) Dependent claims 2-10 and 12-19 fail to cure the deficiency and thus have been rejection for the same reason. Clarification is required.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph, because the claim purports to invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, but fails to recite a combination of elements as required by that statutory provision and thus cannot rely on the specification to provide the structure, material or acts to support the claimed function. As such, the claim recites a function that has no limits and covers every conceivable means for achieving the stated function, while the specification discloses at most only those means known to the inventor. Accordingly, the disclosure is not commensurate with the scope of the claim.
Specifically, per claim 1, since there is only one positive active step (see claim interpretation in 112b rejection above), claim 1 recites generic placeholder "device" coupled with functional language, “transmitting a first signal to a first device” without sufficient structure, so it seems claim 1 intends to invoke to 112f.
A single means/element claim which covers every conceivable means for achieving the stated purpose is held nonenabling for the scope of the claim because the specification disclosed at most only those means known to the inventor (See MPEP 2181, Section V, “single means claims that do not recite a combination cannot invoke section 112(f) or pre-AIA section 112, sixth paragraph. As such, they are not limited to the structure, material or act disclosed in the specification that performs the claimed function. Thus, a single means limitation that is properly construed will cover all means of performing the claimed function. The long-recognized problem with a single means claim is that it covers every conceivable means for achieving the stated result, while the specification discloses at most only those means known to the inventor. In re Hyatt, 708 F.2d 712, 218 USPQ 195 (Fed. Cir. 1983). A claim of such breadth reads on subject matter that is not enabled by the specification, and therefore, should be rejected under section 112(a) or pre-AIA section 112, first paragraph. See also MPEP § 2164.08(a).”) (also see MPEP 2164.08(a)).
claims 11 and 20 have similar issues as discussed in claim 1 above, and thus are rejected under 112a.
Dependent claims 2-10 and 12-19 don’t recite another element/function to form a combination with the single element in claims 1 and 11. Dependent claims 2-10 and 12-19 are also rejected for the same reason.
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 1-15 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sathyanarayan et al (US 2020/0389268A1)(see IDS) in view of Mohammed et al (WO 2020/095101A1)(see IDS)
With regards to claim 1, Sathyanarayan et al discloses a method for transmitting information (see, abstract, Device, methods and systems for implementing aspects of orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) modulation in wireless systems fig. 10), comprising:
transmitting, by a second device a first signal to a first device (a transmitter and receiver block diagram, see fig. 10), wherein the first signal is generated precoding a signal mapped on N sub-blocks of a first signal domain corresponding to the sub-blocks, and then transforming the precoded signal into a time-frequency domain, wherein the first signal domain is a delay-Doppler domain, (see fig. 3, fig. 80, fig. 125, [0014], a method for wireless communication using an OTFS signal comprising one or more OTFS frames in a two-dimensional delay-Doppler domain grid includes receiving the OFTS signal- - -“, [0365] The OTFS modulation is defined using the delay Doppler domain, which is relating to the standard time frequency domain by the two-dimensional Fourier transform).
Sathyanarayan et al discloses all of the subject matter discussed, but does not.
the first signal domain is divided into the N sub-blocks, and N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2.
However, Mohammed et al explicitly discloses in in fig. 3 and in [0057], the time- frequency signal of each terminal is allocated a different subset of the time-frequency domain.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, modify Sathyanarayan et al’s technique as taught by Mohammed et al technique’s to come out with applicant’s invention. For this combination, the motivation would have been to improve system throughput in current communication systems
With regards to claim 2, modified Sathyanarayan et al as taught by Mohammed et al discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein all ports on a same sub-block have a same number of layers (See Mohammed et al. figs 2 and 3, [0072], UT's are allocated distinct DDRBs in the Delay Doppler domain as well as distinct TFRBs in the time frequency domain).
With regards to claim 3, modified Sathyanarayan et al as taught by Mohammed et al discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the precoding is performed on all ports on a same sub-block with a same codeword (See Mohammed et al. figs 2 and 3, [0072], UT's are allocated distinct DDRBs in the Delay Doppler domain as well as distinct TFRBs in the time frequency domain).
With regards to claim 4, modified Sathyanarayan et al as taught by Mohammed et al discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein a codeword for the precoding is determined through one of the following methods: stipulation in a protocol; indication through signaling; or selection from a codeword set for precoding (See Sathyanarayan et al [0284] Introduction to Precoding, [0285] Precoding may be implemented in four steps: channel acquisition, channel extrapolation, filter construction, filter application).
With regards to claim 5, modified Sathyanarayan et al as taught by Mohammed et al discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein first guard intervals are configured between the N sub-blocks in a delay domain direction and a Doppler domain direction (see Sathyanarayan et al discloses in figs. 13, 14A, 14B, Guard Grid, also discloses in fig. 17).
With regards to claim 6, modified Sathyanarayan et al as taught by Mohammed et al discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein pilot signals are configured in at least some of the N sub-blocks of the first signal domain (see Sathyanarayan et al fig. 10, [0217], RS insertion, reference signal (RS) insertion may also occur before the OTFS transform, also see [0314] Pilot transmission: for each time and frequency bin the UEs transmits a pilot signal).
With regards to claim 7, modified Sathyanarayan et al as taught by Mohammed et al discloses the method according to claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, by the second device, at least one of the following information to the first device: pilot configuration information; and precoding information corresponding to each sub-block (see Sathyanarayan et al fig. 10, Doppler DFT precoding and RS insertion, also see [0314] Pilot transmission: for each time and frequency bin the UEs transmits a pilot signal ).
With regards to claim 8, modified Sathyanarayan et al as taught by Mohammed et al discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein after the transmitting, by the second device, the first signal to a first device, the method further comprises: receiving, by the second device, feedback information of precoding corresponding to a target sub-block from the first device, wherein the target sub-block is all or some of the N sub-blocks(see Sathyanarayan et al, [0302] in explicit feedback, the UEs measure the channel and then transmit the measured channel back to the hub in a packet of data. claim 14, [0762] A method of wireless communication, comprising: [0763] generating, from a received signal, data bits wherein the signal corresponds to an output of transmitter-side operations of: precoding by applying a Doppler dimension transform to the data bits, thereby producing precoded data; mapping the precoded data to transmission resources in one or more Doppler dimensions, along a delay dimension; generating transformed data by transforming the precoded data using an orthogonal time frequency space transform; and converting the transformed data into a time-domain waveform.
With regards to claim 9, modified Sathyanarayan et al as taught by Mohammed et al discloses the method according to claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, by the second device, a sub-block division scheme of the first signal domain to the first device (see Sathyanarayan et al [0216], the transmitter and receiver structures are shown in FIG. 10. Also see Mohammed et al, figs 7 and 8)
With regards to claim 10, modified Sathyanarayan et al as taught by Mohammed et al discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein after the transmitting, by the second device, the first signal to the first device, the method further comprises: receiving, by the second device, first information from the first device, wherein the first information comprises channel information of a channel between the second device and the first device(see Sathyanarayan et al [0216], the transmitter and receiver structures are shown in FIG. 10. [0201], control channel contains information regarding the aspect ratio of an upcoming uplink frame. This information is contained in a downlink control information message part of the common control channel, to be received by all UEs. Also see Mohammed et al, figs 7 and 8)
With regards to claim 11, the combination of Sathyanarayan et al and Mohammed et al discloses a method for transmitting information, comprising: receiving, by a first device, a first signal from a second device, wherein the first signal is generated precoding a signal mapped on N sub-blocks of a first signal domain corresponding to the sub-blocks, and then transforming the precoded signal into a time-frequency domain, wherein the first signal domain is a delay-Doppler domain, the first signal domain is divided into the N sub-blocks, and N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2.(claim 11 recites the receiver side and claim 1 recites the transmitter side. The receiver does the exact opposite of what the transmitter does. Sathyanarayan et al [0216], the transmitter and receiver structures are shown in FIG. 10. Mohammed et al also discloses a transmitter and a receiver in, figs 7 and 8. Claim 11 is rejected similarly as in claim 1, but the receiver side doing the opposite of what was done in the transmitter).
With regards to claim 12, the combination of Sathyanarayan et al and Mohammed et al discloses the method according to claim 11, wherein after the receiving, by the first device, the first signal from a second device, the method further comprises: detecting, by the first device, the first signal, and determining quality information of the precoding corresponding to the N sub-blocks (see Receiver in fig. 10, steps of Demodulation, OTFS inverse transform, doppler de-mapping Doppler IDFT).
With regards to claim 13, the combination of Sathyanarayan et al and Mohammed et al discloses the method according to claim 11, wherein all ports on a same sub-block have a same number of layers (see similar rejection as in claim 2 above).
With regards to claim 14, the combination of Sathyanarayan et al and Mohammed et al discloses the method according to claim 11, wherein the precoding is performed on all ports on a same sub-block with a same codeword (see similar rejection as in claim 3 above).
With regards to claim 15, the combination of Sathyanarayan et al and Mohammed et al discloses the method according to claim 11, wherein a codeword for the precoding is determined through one of the following methods: stipulation in a protocol; indication through signaling; or selection from a codeword set for precoding. (see similar rejection as in claim 4 above).
With regards to claim 20, the combination of Sathyanarayan et al and Mohammed et al discloses a terminal, comprising a processor and a memory storing instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations (see Sathyanarayan et al fig. 132, [0156], a wireless communication apparatus). comprising:
transmitting a first signal to a first device, wherein the first signal is generated precoding a signal mapped on N sub-blocks of a first signal domain corresponding to the sub-blocks, and then transforming the precoded signal into a time-frequency domain, wherein the first signal domain is a delay-Doppler domain, the first signal domain is divided into the N sub-blocks, and N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2.(the rest of the claim 20 recites similar limitations as in claim 1 above, see rejection as in claim 1 above)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Akoum et al (US 11184074 B2 ) discloses Facilitating sparsity adaptive feedback in the delay doppler domain in advanced networks (e.g., 4G, 5G, 6G, and beyond).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HELENE E TAYONG whose telephone number is (571)270-1675. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm.
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, Hannah S Wang can be reached at 571-272-9018. 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.
/HELENE E TAYONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631 April 21, 2026
Prosecution Insights