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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s preliminary amendment, filed 15 November 2024, has been entered and carefully considered.
Claims 1-20 are canceled.
Claims 21-40 are newly added and currently pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 31 January 2025 and 22 July 2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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 21-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sahraei et al (United States Pre-Grant Publication 20210344537), hereinafter Sahraei.
Regarding Claim 31, Sahraei discloses an apparatus (Figure 2 – UE 120), comprising at least one processor and one or more memories coupled to the at least one processor (Figure 2 – UE 120 comprises controller/processor 280 coupled to memory 282), wherein the one or more memories store programming instructions for execution by the at least one processor (paragraph 0046 – the memory stores program code for wireless communication) to:
receive, by a first device, first information (Figure 3 – the UE receives resource allocation 302 from the base station; paragraph 0063; Figure 4 at step 410 for receiving the resource allocation);
determine, by the first device, a target tone reservation (TR) pattern based on the first information, wherein the target TR pattern comprises a sub-pattern of a longest TR pattern, and the longest TR pattern comprises a set of sub-carriers used as one or more reserved tones (Figure 3 and paragraph 0063 - the resource allocation may indicate a plurality of transmission tones. The set 304 of transmission tones (longest TR pattern) may include a plurality of data tones 306 (shown by the longer vertical bars) and a plurality of peak reduction tones PRTs 308 (shown by the shorter vertical bars) (target TR pattern). The resource allocation may indicate a plurality of data tone locations 310 within a particular bandwidth (shown as “BW”). The resource allocation may indicate a plurality of PRT locations 312 within the particular bandwidth); and
based on the target TR pattern: send, by the first device, information (Figure 4 at step 420 – the UE transmits based on the received resource allocation); or demodulate received information (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation).
Claim 21 is directed to a method comprising the same steps performed by the apparatus of Claim 31. Accordingly, Claim 21 is rejected for the same reasons as presented above for Claim 31.
Regarding Claim 36, Sahraei discloses an apparatus (Figure 2 – base station 110), comprising at least one processor and one or more memories coupled to the at least one processor (Figure 2 – base station 110 comprises controller/processor 240 coupled to memory 242), wherein the one or more memories store programming instructions for execution by the at least one processor (paragraph 0046 – the memory stores program code for wireless communication) to:
determine, by a second device, first information, wherein the first information is used to determine a target tone reservation (TR) pattern from a longest TR pattern, the target TR pattern comprises a sub-pattern of the longest TR pattern, and the longest TR pattern comprises a set of sub-carriers used as one or more reserved tones (Figure 4 at step 410 for receiving the resource allocation; paragraph 0063 - the resource allocation may indicate a plurality of transmission tones. The set 304 of transmission tones (longest TR pattern) may include a plurality of data tones 306 (shown by the longer vertical bars) and a plurality of peak reduction tones PRTs 308 (shown by the shorter vertical bars) (target TR pattern). The resource allocation may indicate a plurality of data tone locations 310 within a particular bandwidth (shown as “BW”). The resource allocation may indicate a plurality of PRT locations 312 within the particular bandwidth); and
send, by the second device, the first information to a first device (Figure 3 – the base station transmits resource allocation 302 to the UE).
Claim 26 is directed to a method comprising the same steps performed by the apparatus of Claim 36. Accordingly, Claim 26 is rejected for the same reasons as presented above for Claim 36.
Regarding Claims 22, 27, 32 and 37, Sahraei discloses wherein the sub-carriers in the longest TR pattern are sorted based on a peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) suppression performance (paragraphs 0055-0056 and 0059 – PRT location selection can be performed in order to satisfy a PAPR threshold; see also paragraph 0065).
Regarding Claims 23, 28, 33 and 38, Sahraei discloses wherein the longest TR pattern comprises a first TR sub-pattern and a second TR sub-pattern (refer to Figure 3 for sequences 314 and 316), a first sub-carrier set corresponding to the first TR sub-pattern comprises a second sub-carrier set corresponding to the second TR sub-pattern (paragraphs 0063 and 0064 - A universal PRT sequence is a PRT sequence that is used for an entire available bandwidth (e.g., a 100 MHz bandwidth, and/or the like) and is used to allocate PRTs to multiple UEs. Another universal PRT sequence 316 is shown in FIG. 3. In some aspects, any number of universal PRT sequences 314, 316 may be configured for use in tone selection. As shown, the resource allocation may indicate a PRT subsequence 318 of the universal PRT sequence 314. In some aspects, the PRT subsequence 318 corresponds to a sub-band of the particular bandwidth, and is allocated to the UE (i.e., each set of tones comprises particular patterns that are part of the universal PRT sequence); paragraph 0077 – each PRT subsequence corresponds to a sub-band of the particular bandwidth), and a first carrier bandwidth corresponding to the first TR sub-pattern is larger than a second carrier bandwidth corresponding to the second TR sub-pattern (paragraphs 0063-0064 – each UE may use all of the PRT subsequences or selected PRT subsequences, which have respective amounts of associated bandwidth).
Regarding Claims 24, 29, 34, and 39, Sahraei discloses wherein a sub-carrier in the first sub-carrier set other than the second sub-carrier set is located outside the second carrier bandwidth (paragraph 0077 – each PRT subsequence corresponds to a sub-band of the particular bandwidth; paragraphs 0063-0064 – each UE may use all of the PRT subsequences or selected PRT subsequences, which have respective amounts of associated bandwidth).
Regarding Claims 25, 30, 35 and 40, Sahraei discloses wherein a plurality of sub-carriers in the first sub-carrier set other than the second sub-carrier set comprise a first part of sub-carriers and a second part of sub-carriers, the first part of sub-carriers are located in the second carrier bandwidth, and the second part of sub-carriers are located outside the second carrier bandwidth (paragraph 0077 – each PRT subsequence corresponds to a sub-band of the particular bandwidth; paragraphs 0063-0064 – each UE may use all of the PRT subsequences or selected PRT subsequences, which have respective amounts of associated bandwidth).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Han et al (“Investigation of Tone Reservation-based PAPR Techniques for Improving Power Amplifier Efficiency”) is directed to potential improvement in peak-to-average efficiency and RF energy savings achieved through tone reservation-based PAPR reduction methods.
Li et al (“Improved Tone Reservation Method Based on Deep Learning for PAPR Reduction in OFDM System”) is directed to deep learning (DL) in tone reservation (TR) to reduce the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM).
Lal (“The Relative Study of Peak-to-Average Power Ratio Reduction Techniques for LTE OFDM System”) is directed to various procedures proposed for PAPR reduction schemes for actualizing the low computational complexity which is necessary for real time applications in wireless communication systems.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW W. CHRISS whose telephone number is (571)272-1774. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8am-4pm ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kevin Bates can be reached at (571) 272-3980. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANDREW W CHRISS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472
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