Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
2. This communication is responsive to Application No. 19/131,847 filed on May 21, 2025. Claims 2, 9-11, 13 and 15 have been cancelled. Claims 1, 3-4, 6-7, 12 and 14 have been amended. Accordingly, claims 1, 3-8, 12 and 14 are subject to examination.
Information Disclosure Statement (IDS)
3. The IDS submitted on 09/09/25 has been entered and considered by the Examiner.
Specification
4. 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.
For example, in paragraph 39 “FIGS. 10A show a flowchart” should have been “FIG. 10A shows a flowchart” and in paragraph 40 “FIGS. 10B show a flowchart” should have been “FIG. 10B shows a flowchart”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections/Suggestions
5. Following claims are objected to because of the following informalities:
in claim 1, “Signal, SRS and” (line 5) should be replaced with “Signal, SRS, and”, “SRS period” (line 8) should be replaced with “SRS time period” and “the first and second UE-specific un-precoded SRS” (lines 8-9) should be replaced with “the first and second UE-specific un-precoded SRSs”; similar objection applies to claims 12 and 14; and
in claims 4 and 6-7 the term/s “using/used” should be replaced with “utilizing/utilized”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
6. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 101 that forms the basis for all patent non-eligibility rejection(s) set forth in this Office Action:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
In regard to the non-statutory subject matter, the claimed invention is directed to a computer program comprising instructions for causing an apparatus to perform a method comprising, construed and considered to include embodiments covering software per se. The claimed invention being directed to an embodiment covering only software is considered non-statutory subject matter. See MPEP 2106.03.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
7. 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.
8. Claims 1, 3-8, 12 and 14 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 pre-AIA the Applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites limitation “the at least one precoded DMRS” (lines 10-11). There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. In addition, since in claim 1 between lines 9 and 10 (the limitations: “receiving, from the UE by the base station, via the radio channel and during the scheduled…” [and/or?] “generating a channel estimation for the radio channel…”) a coordinator (e.g., and, or) is missing, it is not clear whether the limitations in claim 1 is referring to all the limitations or just one of them. Hence, renders claim 1 and its dependent claims indefinite. Similar rejection applies to claims 12 and 14.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the precoding matrix" in lines 2-3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 8 recites limitations “the difference” (line 3), “the application” (line 4) and “the concerned candidate precoding matrix” (lines 4-5). There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
Reason for Allowance
9. Ly (US 2020/0153591 A1) teaches in Figure 10 a user equipment (110 “UE”) configured to generates a channel estimation (154); Figure 11 a base station (105); and in Figure 2C demodulated reference signals (DM-RS) and sounding reference signals (SRS). Bharadwaj (US 2020/0029327 A1) teaches in Figure 5C demodulated reference signals (DMRS) and sounding reference signals (SRS) within a period. Huang (US 2018/0097595 A1) teaches in Figure 5A un-precoded sounding reference signals (506). Kakishima (US 2017/0257864 A1) teaches in Figure 6 precoded demodulated reference signals (PRECODED DMRS), un-precoded demodulated reference signals (NON-PRECODED DMRS) and sounding reference signals (SRS). However, the prior art of record when implemented, would not produce said method as claimed in claim 1, said apparatus as claimed in claim 12 and said CRM as claimed in claim 14.
Conclusion
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to SHAWKAT M. ALI whose telephone number is (571) 270-1639. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday 8:30AM-3:30PM ET.
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 AIR at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s Supervisor, SAM K. AHN can be reached on (571) 272-3044. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SHAWKAT M ALI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633
Prosecution Insights