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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 02/17/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 12/03/2025 have been fully considered. Applicant’s arguments and Examiner’s response are provided below.
Applicant argues: Rico does not disclose the feature of “the target reference CC is not configured for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmissions”.
Examiner’s response: Applicant arguments are rendered moot in view of new ground of rejection presented in this office action, which better addresses the claims as amended and relies on TANG et al. (US 20220116172 A1) for explicitly teaching an SRS component carrier not configured for PUSCH/PUCCH. Furthermore, Rico at least implies/ suggests such a carrier configuration in [0078], and its disclosure of not transmitting SRS pertains only to a conditional conflict scenario based on UE capability, which does not teach away from the claimed feature.
Applicant argues: Bae only teaches two different uplink channels on two carriers, and does not disclose what kinds of contents are transmitted in the uplink channel, fails to teach or suggest an “SRS transmission from the UE on the target reference CC”, and further fails to teach or suggest “the target reference CC is not configured for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmissions” as inherited from claim 1.
Examiner’s response: Bae teaches simultaneous transmission of uplink signals on different carriers when simultaneous transmission is supported, and does not need to explicitly disclose SRS. SRS is a well-known uplink signal transmitted on uplink resources, and thus falls within the scope of uplink transmissions as taught by Bae. Rico already teaches conflict resolution rules in case of possible collisions between UL transmissions and SRS transmissions where simultaneous transmission is not supported, and applying various rules to determine whether to prioritize an uplink transmission or a carrier-switched SRS transmission, (Rico [0072-0073]). Accordingly, it would have been obvious to modify the system of Rico to allow simultaneous transmission of uplink transmissions on different carriers, including transmitting an uplink transmission on a first CC and an SRS transmission on a second CC as claimed, in order to efficiently support various services with different requirements and improve transmission efficiency. Applicant’s argument regarding the feature of “the target reference CC is not configured for PUSCH or PUCCH transmissions” is moot in view of new ground of rejection presented in this office action as explained above.
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.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over RICO ALVARINO et al.
(US 20230246765 A1) hereinafter RICO in view of TANG et al. (US 20220116172 A1).
Regarding claim 18,
RICO discloses “A method for a base station, comprising: generating a first Downlink
Control Information (DCI) to schedule a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission from
a user equipment (UE) on a target reference CC selected from a plurality of CCs; and
generating a second DCI to schedule an uplink (UL) transmission from the UE on a
transmission CC” (See Fig. 11, ¶ [0089] a UE receives a PDCCH 1102 from a base station at
reception time 1104. The PDCCH 1102 may include a DCI that schedules or triggers a
PUSCH 1106 including A-CSI, which includes RI or CRI. The UE also receives a grant (not
shown) from the base station that schedules a carrier-switched SRS 1108 (e.g., an aperiodic
SRS). The carrier-switched SRS 1108 is scheduled to be transmitted on a different carrier
than the A-CSI. ¶ [0040] The base stations 102/UEs 104 may use spectrum up to Y
megahertz (MHz) bandwidth per carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to a total of
Yx MHz (x component carriers) used for transmission in each direction) “that has a priority
higher than the SRS transmission on the target reference CC” (See ¶ [0072] it is possible for
collisions between such uplink transmissions and carrier-switched SRS to occur. ¶ [0073] To
handle these collisions, the UE may apply various rules to determine whether to prioritize a
source carrier's uplink transmission over a carrier-switched SRS. ¶ [0090] the conflict resolution rules indicate the UE to drop the carrier-switched SRS 1108 in favor of
the uplink transmission (the A-CSI). Note: This means that the uplink transmission has a
higher priority than the SRS transmission), “transmitting the first DCI and the second DCI to
the UE” (See ¶ [0089] a UE receives a PDCCH 1102 from a base station at reception
time 1104. The PDCCH 1102 may include a DCI that schedules or triggers a
PUSCH 1106 including A-CSI, which includes RI or CRI. The UE also receives a grant (not
shown) from the base station that schedules a carrier-switched SRS 1108); “wherein the UL
transmission on the transmission CC overlaps in time with the SRS transmission” (See ¶
[0090] the UE may determine that the A-CSI illustrated in the example of FIG. 11 will be
scheduled to occur during at least one symbol within the carrier-switched SRS 1108 or
switching time 1112), “and wherein a start symbol of the SRS transmission is separated by
a time gap from an end symbol of the second DCI, and the time gap is greater than or
equal to a processing time for the UE to switch the SRS transmission to the target
reference CC from a source CC” (See Fig. 11, ¶ [0089] SRS decision time 1114 may be
N.sub.2 symbols 1116 prior to switching time 1110 and thus N.sub.2+switchingTime symbols
prior to the carrier-switched SRS 1108. ¶ [0090] In this example, the reception time 1104 for
the PDCCH 1102 scheduling the PUSCH 1106 is prior to (more than zero symbols before)
the SRS decision time 1114. Note: The switching time is the processing time for the UE to
switch the SRS transmission from a source CC to a target CC), “wherein the source CC is
different from the transmission CC for the UL transmission and different from the target
reference CC” (See ¶ [0071] The UE may also transmit aperiodic SRS on a different carrier
than that of an uplink transmission scheduled by the DCI (e.g. a carrier switched SRS). For
instance, if the UE receives a PDCCH on a component carrier that schedules an uplink
transmission on another component carrier, the UE may switch to a different component carrier to transmit SRS. Note: This means that the uplink transmission is on a different
carrier than that used for SRS transmission, and the SRS is switched between two different
carriers (a source CC and a target CC) that are separate from the uplink transmission CC).
RICO implies a component carrier configuration not configured for PUSCH/PUCCH in [0078], and its disclosure of not transmitting SRS pertains only to a conditional conflict scenario based on UE capability.
However, TANG explicitly discloses “and the target reference CC is not configured for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmissions” (See [0041] To improve DL beamforming performance in the TDD carrier not configured for PUSCH/PUCCH transmission, an SRS can be transmitted on the TDD carrier that is not configured for PUSCH/PUCCH transmission. The electronic device can switch from a TDD carrier configured with PUSCH/PUCCH/SRS (‘switch-from’ carrier) to a TDD carrier that is not configured for PUSCH/PUCCH transmission (‘switch-to’ carrier) and transmit an SRS on the ‘switch-to’ carrier. [0086] the UE can receive higher layer signaling, such as SRS carrier switching command, to configure an SRS transmission on a carrier (or a ‘switch-to’ carrier) without PUSCH/PUCCH (e.g., a carrier that is not configured for PUSCH/PUCCH). The carrier is one of the set of carriers activated for the UE).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of RICO with the teachings of TANG, and the motivation to do so would have been to improve downlink beamforming performance (TANG [0041]).
Claims 1, 3-5, 7, 9, 11 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
RICO ALVARINO et al. (US 20230246765 A1) hereinafter RICO in view of Chatterjee et al. (US 20210168848 A1) and further in view of TANG et al. (US 20220116172 A1).
Regarding claim 1,
RICO discloses “A base station, comprising: a transceiver configured to enable wireless
communication with a user equipment (UE) through a plurality of component carriers
(CCs); and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to” (See
Fig. 3, Base station 310. ¶ [0040] The base stations 102/UEs 104 may use spectrum up to Y megahertz (MHz) bandwidth per carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to a total of
Yx MHz (x component carriers) used for transmission in each direction): “generate a
Downlink Control Information (DCI) to schedule a sounding reference signal (SRS)
transmission from the UE on a target reference CC selected from the plurality of CCs” (See Fig. 16, ¶ [0099] a UE receives a PDCCH 1602 from a base station at reception time 1604.
The PDCCH 1602 schedules or triggers a carrier-switched SRS 1606. The carrier-switched SRS
may be aperiodic. The carrier-switched SRS 1606 is scheduled to be transmitted on a
different carrier than the uplink transmission 1608), “wherein an end symbol of the DCI is
separated by a time gap from a start symbol of a uplink (UL) transmission on a
transmission CC that overlaps in time with the SRS transmission, wherein the UL
transmission on the transmission CC has a lower priority than the SRS transmission on the
target reference CC” (See Fig. 16, ¶ [0099] SRS decision time 1610 may be N.sub.2
symbols 1612 prior to the uplink transmission 1608. ¶ [0100] the reception time 1604 for
the PDCCH 1602 scheduling the carrier-switched SRS 1606 is prior to (more than zero
symbols before) the SRS decision time 1610. [0100] the UE may determine that the uplink
transmission illustrated in the example of FIG. 16 will be scheduled to occur during at least
one symbol within a switching time for the carrier-switched SRS 1606. In such case, the
conflict resolution rules indicate the UE to drop the uplink transmission in favor of carrier-
switched SRS 1606. ¶ [0072] it is possible for collisions between such uplink transmissions
and carrier-switched SRS to occur. [0073] To handle these collisions, the UE may apply
various rules to determine whether to prioritize a source carrier's uplink transmission over a
carrier-switched SRS. Note: The uplink transmission overlaps with the SRS, and the conflict
resolution rule indicates dropping the uplink transmission in favor of the SRS, which means that the uplink transmission has lower priority), “wherein the target reference CC for the
SRS transmission is switched from a source CC that is different from the target reference
CC and different from the transmission CC for the UL transmission” (See ¶ [0071] The UE
may also transmit aperiodic SRS on a different carrier than that of an uplink transmission
scheduled by the DCI (e.g. a carrier switched SRS). For instance, if the UE receives a PDCCH
on a component carrier that schedules an uplink transmission on another component
carrier, the UE may switch to a different component carrier to transmit SRS. Note: This
means that the uplink transmission is on a different carrier than that used for SRS
transmission, and the SRS is switched between two different carriers (a source CC and a
target CC) that are separate from the uplink transmission CC); “and transmit, using the
transceiver, the DCI to the UE” (See ¶ [0099] a UE receives a PDCCH 1602 from a base
station at reception time 1604. The PDCCH 1602 schedules or triggers a carrier-switched SRS
1606).
RICO discloses in [0121] the value of N.sub.2 may be calculated based on μ of Tables 1 and 2
for UE processing capability 1 and 2 respectively, where μ corresponds to one of a subcarrier
spacing of the downlink with which the PDCCH was transmitted or a subcarrier spacing of
the uplink with which the PUSCH is to be transmitted that results in the largest UE PUSCH
preparation procedure time (Tproc,2).
It is implied that the PUSCH preparation procedure time (Tproc,2) includes the processing
time for the UE to cancel the uplink transmission, for the UE to have enough time to cancel
the uplink transmission.
However, Chatterjee explicitly discloses “and the time gap is greater than or equal to a
processing time for the UE to cancel the UL transmission on the transmission CC” (See ¶
[0067] When a high priority UL transmission overlaps with a low priority UL transmission in a
slot and if the UE is configured with the feature and/or reported the capability that UE
would drop low priority transmission, the UE is expected to cancel the low-priority UL
transmission starting from a specified cancelation time after the end of PDCCH scheduling
the high priority transmission, where the cancelation time is function of UE processing time
capability and other UE capability parameters. [0077] If the first PUSCH is associated with
low priority and second PUSCH is associated with high priority, the UE cancels the first
PUSCH transmission at latest starting M symbols after the end of the last symbol of the
PDCCH carrying the DCI scheduling the second PUSCH, and transmits the second PUSCH
scheduled by the PDCCH, where [0078] M=T.sub.proc,2+d.sub.1, where T.sub.proc,2 is given
by clause 6.4 (see TS 38.214) for the corresponding PUSCH timing capability assuming
d.sub.2,1=0 and d.sub.1 is determined by the reported UE capability).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of RICO with
the teachings of Chatterjee, and the motivation to do so would have been for the UE to have
enough time to cancel the low priority transmission and thereby improving the UE power
efficiency.
RICO in view of Chatterjee implies a component carrier configuration not configured for PUSCH/PUCCH in RICO [0078], and its disclosure of not transmitting SRS pertains only to a conditional conflict scenario based on UE capability.
However, TANG explicitly discloses “and the target reference CC is not configured for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmissions” (See [0041] To improve DL beamforming performance in the TDD carrier not configured for PUSCH/PUCCH transmission, an SRS can be transmitted on the TDD carrier that is not configured for PUSCH/PUCCH transmission. The electronic device can switch from a TDD carrier configured with PUSCH/PUCCH/SRS (‘switch-from’ carrier) to a TDD carrier that is not configured for PUSCH/PUCCH transmission (‘switch-to’ carrier) and transmit an SRS on the ‘switch-to’ carrier. [0086] the UE can receive higher layer signaling, such as SRS carrier switching command, to configure an SRS transmission on a carrier (or a ‘switch-to’ carrier) without PUSCH/PUCCH (e.g., a carrier that is not configured for PUSCH/PUCCH). The carrier is one of the set of carriers activated for the UE).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of RICO and Chatterjee with the teachings of TANG, and the motivation to do so would have been to improve downlink beamforming performance (TANG [0041]).
Regarding claim 3,
RICO in view of Chatterjee and TANG discloses “The base station of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: receive, using the transceiver, the SRS transmission from the UE on the target reference CC, without receiving the UL transmission from the UE on the transmission CC” (See RICO, Fig. 16, [0100] the conflict resolution rules indicate the UE to drop the uplink transmission (the A-CSI with only CQI/PMI) in favor of carrier-switched
SRS 1606. Fig. 17, [0104] The UE may then transmit (at 1716) either the carrier-switched SRS
or the uplink transmission to the base station 1704 based on the determination at 1714.
Note: The UE determined based on the rules to drop the uplink transmission in favor of the
SRS, and according to step 1716, that means the base station receives SRS without receiving
the uplink transmission).
Regarding claim 4,
RICO in view of Chatterjee and TANG discloses “The base station of claim 1, wherein the SRS transmission is an aperiodic SRS signal transmission triggered by the DCI” (See RICO, ¶
[0099] a UE receives a PDCCH 1602 from a base station at reception time 1604. The
PDCCH 1602 schedules or triggers a carrier-switched SRS 1606. The carrier-switched SRS
may be aperiodic).
Regarding claim 5,
RICO in view of Chatterjee and TANG discloses “The base station of claim 1, wherein the time gap is greater than or equal to the processing time for the UE to cancel the UL transmission on the transmission CC plus a constant determined based on a capability of the UE” (See Chatterjee ¶ [0077] the UE cancels the first PUSCH transmission at latest starting M symbols after the end of the last symbol of the PDCCH carrying the DCI scheduling the second PUSCH, and transmits the second PUSCH scheduled by the PDCCH, where [0078] M=T.sub.proc,2+d.sub.1, where T.sub.proc,2 is given by clause 6.4 (see TS 38.214) for the corresponding PUSCH timing capability assuming d.sub.2,1=0 and d.sub.1 is determined by the reported UE capability. Note: d.sub.1 is based on the UE capability).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of RICO with
the teachings of Chatterjee, and the motivation to do so would have been for the UE to have
enough time to cancel the low priority transmission and thereby improving the UE power
efficiency.
Regarding claim 7,
RICO in view of Chatterjee and TANG discloses “The base station of claim 1, wherein the DCI is a first DCI, and the UL transmission is a first UL transmission, and the processor is further configured to: generate a second DCI to schedule a second UL transmission from the UE on a second transmission CC” (See RICO Fig. 11, ¶ [0089] a UE receives a PDCCH 1102 from a base station at reception time 1104. The PDCCH 1102 may include a DCI that schedules or triggers a PUSCH 1106 including A-CSI, which includes RI or CRI. The UE also receives a grant (not shown) from the base station that schedules a carrier-switched SRS 1108 (e.g., an aperiodic SRS). The carrier-switched SRS 1108 is scheduled to be transmitted on a different carrier than the A-CSI) “that has a priority higher than the SRS transmission on the target reference CC” (See RICO ¶ [0072] it is possible for collisions between such uplink transmissions and carrier-switched SRS to occur. ¶ [0073] To handle these collisions, the UE may apply various rules to determine whether to prioritize a source carrier's uplink
transmission over a carrier-switched SRS. ¶ [0090] the conflict resolution rules indicate the
UE to drop the carrier-switched SRS 1108 in favor of the uplink transmission (the A-CSI). Note: This means that the uplink transmission has a higher priority than the SRS
transmission), “wherein the second UL transmission on the second transmission CC
overlaps in time with the SRS transmission” (See RICO ¶ [0090] the UE may determine that
the A-CSI illustrated in the example of FIG. 11 will be scheduled to occur during at least one
symbol within the carrier-switched SRS 1108 or switching time 1112), “wherein a start
symbol of the SRS transmission is separated by a second time gap from an end symbol of
the second DCI, and the second time gap is greater than or equal to a processing time for
the UE to switch the SRS transmission to the target reference CC from a source CC” (See
RICO Fig. 11, ¶ [0089] SRS decision time 1114 may be N.sub.2 symbols 1116 prior to
switching time 1110 and thus N.sub.2+switchingTime symbols prior to the carrier-switched
SRS 1108. ¶ [0090] In this example, the reception time 1104 for the PDCCH 1102 scheduling
the PUSCH 1106 is prior to (more than zero symbols before) the SRS decision time 1114.
Note: The switching time is the processing time for the UE to switch the SRS transmission
from a source CC to a target CC).
Regarding claim 9,
RICO in view of Chatterjee and TANG discloses “The base station of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to: receive, using the transceiver, the second UL transmission from the UE on the second transmission CC, without receiving the UL transmission from the UE on the transmission CC” (See Chatterjee [0077] If the first PUSCH is associated with low priority and second PUSCH is associated with high priority, the UE cancels the first PUSCH transmission at latest starting M symbols after the end of the last symbol of the PDCCH carrying the DCI scheduling the second PUSCH, and transmits the second PUSCH scheduled by the PDCCH. Note: The higher priority PUSCH is transmitted and the lower priority PUSCH is canceled).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of RICO with
the teachings of Chatterjee, and the motivation to do so would have been to optimize the
network performance.
Regarding claim 11,
RICO discloses “A User Equipment (UE), comprising: a transceiver configured to enable
wireless communication with a base station through a plurality of component carriers
(CCs); and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to” (See
Fig. 3, UE 350. ¶ [0040] The base stations 102/UEs 104 may use spectrum up to Y megahertz
(MHz) bandwidth per carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to a total of Yx MHz
(x component carriers) used for transmission in each direction): “receive, using the
transceiver, a Downlink Control Information (DCI) to schedule a sounding reference signal
(SRS) transmission from the UE on a target reference CC selected from the plurality of CCs”
(See Fig. 16, ¶ [0099] a UE receives a PDCCH 1602 from a base station at reception
time 1604. The PDCCH 1602 schedules or triggers a carrier-switched SRS 1606. The carrier-
switched SRS may be aperiodic. The carrier-switched SRS 1606 is scheduled to be
transmitted on a different carrier than the uplink transmission 1608), “wherein the time
constraint is a time gap between an end symbol of the DCI and a start symbol of a uplink
(UL) transmission on a transmission CC that overlaps in time with the SRS transmission,
wherein the UL transmission on the transmission CC has a lower priority than the SRS
transmission on the target reference CC” (See Fig. 16, ¶ [0099] SRS decision time 1610 may be N.sub.2 symbols 1612 prior to the uplink transmission 1608. ¶ [0100] the reception
time 1604 for the PDCCH 1602 scheduling the carrier-switched SRS 1606 is prior to (more
than zero symbols before) the SRS decision time 1610. [0100] the UE may determine that
the uplink transmission illustrated in the example of FIG. 16 will be scheduled to occur
during at least one symbol within a switching time for the carrier-switched SRS 1606. In such
case, the conflict resolution rules indicate the UE to drop the uplink transmission in favor
of carrier-switched SRS 1606. ¶ [0072] it is possible for collisions between such uplink
transmissions and carrier-switched SRS to occur. [0073] To handle these collisions, the UE
may apply various rules to determine whether to prioritize a source carrier's uplink
transmission over a carrier-switched SRS. Note: The uplink transmission overlaps with the
SRS, and the conflict resolution rule indicates dropping the uplink transmission in favor of
the SRS, which means that the uplink transmission has lower priority); “wherein the target
reference CC for the SRS transmission is switched from a source CC that is different from
the target reference CC and different from the transmission CC for the UL transmission”
(See ¶ [0071] The UE may also transmit aperiodic SRS on a different carrier than that of an
uplink transmission scheduled by the DCI (e.g. a carrier switched SRS). For instance, if the UE
receives a PDCCH on a component carrier that schedules an uplink transmission on another
component carrier, the UE may switch to a different component carrier to transmit SRS.
Note: This means that the uplink transmission is on a different carrier than that used for SRS
transmission, and the SRS is switched between two different carriers (a source CC and a
target CC) that are separate from the uplink transmission CC), “transmit, using the
transceiver, a SRS signal in the SRS transmission scheduled by the DCI” (See Fig. 16, [0100]
the conflict resolution rules indicate the UE to drop the uplink transmission (the A-CSI with
only CQI/PMI) in favor of carrier-switched SRS 1606. Fig. 17, [0104] The UE may then transmit (at 1716) either the carrier-switched SRS or the uplink transmission to the base
station 1704 based on the determination at 1714. Note: The UE determined based on the
rules to drop the uplink transmission in favor of the SRS, and according to step 1716, that
means the UE transmits SRS without the uplink transmission).
RICO discloses a time gap between the end symbol of the PDCCH scheduling the SRS and the
start of the PUSCH transmission, but it does not explicitly disclose the UE determining the
time gap/constraint is satisfied, and canceling the low priority uplink transmission based on
the determination.
However, Chatterjee discloses “determine whether a time constraint is satisfied, and in
response to a determination that the time constraint is satisfied, transmit, using the
transceiver, a SRS signal in the SRS transmission scheduled by the DCI” (See [0067] When a
high priority UL transmission overlaps with a low priority UL transmission in a slot and if the
UE is configured with the feature and/or reported the capability that UE would
drop low priority transmission, the UE is expected to cancel the low-priority UL transmission
starting from a specified cancelation time after the end of PDCCH scheduling the high
priority transmission, where the cancelation time is function of UE processing time
capability and other UE capability parameters. [0077] If the first PUSCH is associated with
low priority and second PUSCH is associated with high priority, the UE cancels the first
PUSCH transmission at latest starting M symbols after the end of the last symbol of the
PDCCH carrying the DCI scheduling the second PUSCH, and transmits the second PUSCH
scheduled by the PDCCH, where [0078] M=T.sub.proc,2+d.sub.1, where T.sub.proc,2 is given
by clause 6.4 (see TS 38.214) for the corresponding PUSCH timing capability assuming d.sub.2,1=0 and d.sub.1 is determined by the reported UE capability). Note: The specified
cancelation time is the time constraint that needs to be satisfied for the UE to be able to
cancel the low priority transmission and transmit the high priority transmission.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of RICO with
the teachings of Chatterjee, and the motivation to do so would have been for the UE to have
enough time to cancel the low priority transmission and thereby improving the UE power
efficiency.
RICO in view of Chatterjee implies a component carrier configuration not configured for PUSCH/PUCCH in RICO [0078], and its disclosure of not transmitting SRS pertains only to a conditional conflict scenario based on UE capability.
However, TANG explicitly discloses “and the target reference CC is not configured for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmissions” (See [0041] To improve DL beamforming performance in the TDD carrier not configured for PUSCH/PUCCH transmission, an SRS can be transmitted on the TDD carrier that is not configured for PUSCH/PUCCH transmission. The electronic device can switch from a TDD carrier configured with PUSCH/PUCCH/SRS (‘switch-from’ carrier) to a TDD carrier that is not configured for PUSCH/PUCCH transmission (‘switch-to’ carrier) and transmit an SRS on the ‘switch-to’ carrier. [0086] the UE can receive higher layer signaling, such as SRS carrier switching command, to configure an SRS transmission on a carrier (or a ‘switch-to’ carrier) without PUSCH/PUCCH (e.g., a carrier that is not configured for PUSCH/PUCCH). The carrier is one of the set of carriers activated for the UE).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of RICO and Chatterjee with the teachings of TANG, and the motivation to do so would have been to improve downlink beamforming performance (TANG [0041]).
Regarding claim 15,
RICO in view of Chatterjee and TANG discloses “The UE of claim 11, wherein the time gap is greater than or equal to a processing time for the UE to cancel the UL transmission on the
transmission CC” (See Chatterjee ¶ [0067] When a high priority UL transmission overlaps
with a low priority UL transmission in a slot and if the UE is configured with the feature
and/or reported the capability that UE would drop low priority transmission, the UE is
expected to cancel the low-priority UL transmission starting from a specified cancelation
time after the end of PDCCH scheduling the high priority transmission, where the
cancelation time is function of UE processing time capability and other UE capability
parameters. [0077] If the first PUSCH is associated with low priority and second PUSCH is
associated with high priority, the UE cancels the first PUSCH transmission at latest starting
M symbols after the end of the last symbol of the PDCCH carrying the DCI scheduling the
second PUSCH, and transmits the second PUSCH scheduled by the PDCCH, where [0078]
M=T.sub.proc,2+d.sub.1, where T.sub.proc,2 is given by clause 6.4 (see TS 38.214) for the corresponding PUSCH timing capability assuming d.sub.2,1=0 and d.sub.1 is determined by
the reported UE capability).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of RICO with
the teachings of Chatterjee, and the motivation to do so would have been for the UE to have
enough time to cancel the low priority transmission and thereby improving the UE power
efficiency.
Claims 2, 8 and 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over RICO
ALVARINO et al. (US 20230246765 A1) hereinafter RICO in view of Chatterjee et al. (US
20210168848 A1) and further in view of TANG et al. (US 20220116172 A1) and further in view of BAE et al. (US 20230035066 A1).
Regarding claim 2,
RICO in view of Chatterjee and TANG discloses “The base station of claim 1”, but does not explicitly disclose simultaneous transmission.
However, BAE discloses “wherein the processor is further configured to: receive, using the
transceiver, the UL transmission from the UE on the transmission CC; and receive, using
the transceiver, the SRS transmission from the UE on the target reference CC, wherein the
UL transmission on the transmission CC and the SRS transmission on the target reference
CC are transmitted simultaneously” (See [0009] determining that transmission of a first
uplink channel of a first priority on a first carrier and transmission of a second uplink
channel of a second priority different from the first priority on a second carrier different from the first carrier overlap in time; and performing the transmission of the first uplink
channel of the first priority and the transmission of the second uplink channel of the
second priority, which overlap in time, on the first carrier and the second carrier,
respectively, based on the simultaneous transmission being allowed by the higher layer
signal).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of RICO,
Chatterjee and TANG with the teachings of BAE to be able to simultaneously transmit two uplink transmissions with different priorities, and the motivation to do so would have been to efficiently support various services with different requirements in a wireless communication system (BAE [0006]).
Regarding claim 8,
RICO in view of Chatterjee and TANG discloses “The base station of claim 7”, but does not explicitly disclose simultaneous transmission.
However, BAE discloses “wherein the processor is further configured to: receive, using the
transceiver, the second UL transmission from the UE on the second transmission CC; and
receive, using the transceiver, the SRS transmission from the UE on the target reference
CC, wherein the second UL transmission on the second transmission CC and the SRS
transmission on the target reference CC are transmitted simultaneously” (See [0009]
determining that transmission of a first uplink channel of a first priority on a first carrier and
transmission of a second uplink channel of a second priority different from the first priority on a second carrier different from the first carrier overlap in time; and
performing the transmission of the first uplink channel of the first priority and the
transmission of the second uplink channel of the second priority, which overlap in time, on
the first carrier and the second carrier, respectively, based on the simultaneous
transmission being allowed by the higher layer signal).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of RICO,
Chatterjee and TANG with the teachings of BAE to be able to simultaneously transmit two uplink transmissions with different priorities, and the motivation to do so would have been to efficiently support various services with different requirements in a wireless communication system (BAE [0006]).
Regarding claim 12,
RICO in view of Chatterjee and TANG discloses “The UE of claim 11”, but does not explicitly disclose simultaneous transmission.
However, BAE discloses “wherein the processor is further configured to: determine
whether the UE has a capability to transmit the UL transmission on the transmission CC
and the SRS transmission on the target reference CC simultaneously; and based on a
determination that the UE has the capability, transmit, using the transceiver, the UL
transmission on the transmission CC to the base station” (See [0009] determining that
transmission of a first uplink channel of a first priority on a first carrier and transmission of a
second uplink channel of a second priority different from the first priority on a second carrier different from the first carrier overlap in time; and performing the transmission of
the first uplink channel of the first priority and the transmission of the second uplink
channel of the second priority, which overlap in time, on the first carrier and the second
carrier, respectively, based on the simultaneous transmission being allowed by the higher
layer signal. [0367] the UE may provide, as a UE capability, information about whether the
UE is capable of simultaneously transmitting the plural UL channels (resources) on different
carriers to the BS. [0368] Based on the UE capability, the BS may configure, for the UE,
through the higher layer signal, simultaneous transmission of UL channels of different
priorities on different carriers).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of RICO,
Chatterjee and TANG with the teachings of BAE to be able to simultaneously transmit two uplink transmissions with different priorities, and the motivation to do so would have been to efficiently support various services with different requirements in a wireless communication system (BAE [0006]).
Regarding claim 13,
RICO in view of Chatterjee, TANG and BAE discloses “The UE of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to: based on determination that the UE does not have the capability, cancel the UL transmission on the transmission CC to the base station after receiving the DCI” (See BAE [0016] the transmission of the second uplink channel of the second priority, which overlaps in time, may be cancelled and the transmission of the first uplink channel of the first priority may be allowed, based on: the simultaneous transmission being not allowed and the second priority being lower than the first priority. [0367] the UE may provide, as a UE capability, information about whether the UE is capable of
simultaneously transmitting the plural UL channels (resources) on different carriers to the
BS. [0368] Based on the UE capability, the BS may configure, for the UE, through the higher
layer signal, simultaneous transmission of UL channels of different priorities on different
carriers).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of RICO,
Chatterjee and TANG with the teachings of BAE to be able to simultaneously transmit two uplink transmissions with different priorities, and the motivation to do so would have been to efficiently support various services with different requirements in a wireless communication system (BAE [0006]).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over RICO ALVARINO et al. (US
20230246765 A1) hereinafter RICO in view of Chatterjee et al. (US 20210168848 A1) and further in view of TANG et al. (US 20220116172 A1) and further in view of Hosseini et al. (US 20200322972 A1).
Regarding claim 6,
RICO in view of Chatterjee and TANG discloses “The base station of claim 1”, but does not explicitly disclose the end symbol of the DCI separated by a time gap that is an earliest symbol between the start symbol of the first and second UL transmissions.
However, Hosseini discloses “wherein the UL transmission is a first UL transmission transmitted on a first transmission CC, and the UE is scheduled to transmit a second UL
transmission on a second transmission CC that has a priority lower than the SRS
transmission on the target reference CC, wherein the second UL transmission on the
second transmission CC overlaps in time with the SRS transmission” (See ¶ [0116] UE may
be scheduled for at least two colliding low priority channels and at least one colliding high
priority channel. For example, the UE may be scheduled for low priority uplink channels 220-
a and 220-b and high priority uplink channel 230. Each of these uplink channels may overlap
with at least one of the other channels in time and collide), “wherein the end symbol of the
DCI is separated by at least a second time gap from a symbol that is an earliest symbol
between the start symbol of the first UL transmission and a start symbol of the second UL
transmission” (See [0127] A first timing gap 325 shown here may be an example of a
difference of N1+X symbols between a first symbol of the low priority PUCCH 315 (e.g.,
the earliest of the overlapping channels) and a last symbol of the low priority PDSCH 320.
The joint timeline may also include that the first symbol of the earliest PUCCH or PUSCH
among all the overlapping channels starts no earlier than a second timing gap 340 (e.g., of
N2+Y symbols) after the last symbol of physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs)
scheduling uplink transmissions (e.g., including HARQ-ACK feedback and PUSCH) for a slot.
As shown, both the first timing gap 325 and the second timing gap 340 may be based on a
starting point 345 relative to the first symbol of the earliest uplink channel), “and the
second time gap is greater than or equal to a processing time that is greater than or equal
to a first processing time for the UE to cancel the first UL transmission on the first
transmission CC, and a second processing time for the UE to cancel the second UL
transmission on the second transmission CC” (See [0129] The UE 115 may determine
whether to multiplex or drop the low priority channels first based on if the high priority grant is received before or after a multiplexing timeline deadline (e.g., a latest
deadline 350 or an earlier deadline 355). In some examples, the multiplexing timeline
deadline may be based on processing timelines of the channels (e.g., N1 or N2
corresponding to the timing gaps 325 and 340), SCS configurations for the channels (e.g.,
one or more of the high priority channel, one or more of the low priority channels, or any
combination thereof), and a timing capability of the UE 115 (e.g., the duration of N1, N2, or
both, may be a function of UE capabilities).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of RICO,
Chatterjee and TANG with the teachings of Hosseini, and the motivation to do so would have been to support the UE to meet stringent reliability and latency conditions for some types of communications (e.g., URLLC) while still providing high throughput for other types of communications, as well as improving power utilization (Hosseini [0120]).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over RICO ALVARINO et al.
(US 20230246765 A1) hereinafter RICO in view of Chatterjee et al. (US 20210168848 A1) and further in view of TANG et al. (US 20220116172 A1) and further in view of RICO ALVARINO et al. (US 20240147468 A1) hereinafter RICO ‘468.
Regarding claim 10,
RICO in view of Chatterjee and TANG discloses “The base station of claim 1”, but does not explicitly disclose receiving a UE capability indicating simultaneous transmission capability and SRS carrier switching capability.
However, RICO ‘468 discloses “wherein the processor is further configured to: receive,
using the transceiver, a UE capability report from the UE to indicate a capability of the UE
for transmitting the UL transmission on the transmission CC and the SRS transmission on
the target reference CC simultaneously, and a capability of the UE to use a specific
component carrier (CC) as a target carrier for SRS carrier switching” (See Fig. 8, step 805, ¶
[0105] the UE 115 may transmit the capability message indicating support for simultaneous
transmission in connection with SRS carrier switching, and the network entity 105 may
determine that the UE 115 supports operations in the enhanced uplink carrier aggregation
mode based on the UE capability).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of RICO,
Chatterjee and TANG with the teachings of RICO ‘468, and the motivation to do so would have been to reduce power consumption while maintaining efficient communications (RICO ‘468 [0122]).
Claim 14 is rejected 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over RICO ALVARINO et al. (US
20230246765 A1) hereinafter RICO in view of Chatterjee et al. (US 20210168848 A1) and further in view of TANG et al. (US 20220116172 A1) and further in view of Li et al. (US 20230292310 A1).
Regarding claim 14,
RICO in view of Chatterjee and TANG discloses “The UE of claim 11”, but does not explicitly disclose transmitting lower priority UL transmission when the time constraint is not satisfied.
However, Li discloses “wherein the processor is further configured to: in response to a determination that the time constraint is not satisfied, transmit the UL transmission on the
transmission CC using the transceiver to the base station, without transmitting the SRS
transmission when the UE does not have a capability to transmit the UL transmission on
the transmission CC and the SRS transmission on the target reference CC, simultaneously” (See ¶ [0020] it is agreed to allow the prioritization of CG PUSCH transmission over DG
PUSCH transmission under some conditions in case of collision. In detail, if the PDCCH
containing the dynamic grant ends less than N.sub.2 symbols before the start of a valid CG
PUSCH transmission with a different HARQ process ID, the CG PUSCH transmission will not
be cancelled. Note: It is implied that the DG PUSCH is the higher priority transmission, and
that under some conditions, the low priority CG PUSCH is prioritized. See Fig. 8, ¶ [0139]
When a DG PUSCH transmission overlaps with two CG PUSCHs in multi-DCI based multi-TRP
scenario, every CG PUSCH has a dedicated duration from the end of the PDCCH scheduling
the DG PUSCH to the beginning of the corresponding CG PUSCH. The following
prioritizations are proposed: [0140] If both of these durations are less than N.sub.2 symbols,
UE does not expect to transmit the DG PUSCH transmission by a PDCCH. [0141] If one of
these durations is more than N.sub.2 symbols, UE does not expect to transmit the CG PUSCH
transmission with a longer duration. [0142] As shown in FIG. 8, a DG PUSCH overlaps with
two CG PUSCHs. Both duration 1 and duration 2 are less than N.sub.2 symbols,
UE cancels the DG PUSCH and transmits these two CG PUSCHs. [0125] The value N.sub.2 in
symbols is determined according to the UE processing capability defined in section 6.4 of
38.214 V16.1.0).
Note: It is implied that simultaneous transmission is not supported in Li. Also, in RICO [0072]
the UE may indicate that it does not support simultaneous transmission.
Li discloses that if the time gap is less than processing time for canceling the low priority transmission, then the low priority transmission is transmitted and the high priority
transmission is not.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of RICO,
Chatterjee and TANG with the teachings of Li, and the motivation to do so would have been to prioritize the ongoing transmission to reduce signaling overhead.
Claims 16-17 is rejected 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over RICO ALVARINO et al. (US
20230246765 A1) hereinafter RICO in view of Chatterjee et al. (US 20210168848 A1) and further in view of TANG et al. (US 20220116172 A1) and further in view of Bae (US 20210306916 A1).
Regarding claim 16,
RICO in view of Chatterjee and TANG discloses “The UE of claim 11, wherein the DCI is a first DCI, the time constraint is a first time constraint, and the processor is configured to: receive, using the transceiver, a second DCI to schedule a second UL transmission from the UE on a second transmission CC” (See RICO Fig. 11, ¶ [0089] a UE receives a PDCCH 1102 from a base station at reception time 1104. The PDCCH 1102 may include a DCI that schedules or triggers a PUSCH 1106 including A-CSI, which includes RI or CRI. The UE also receives a grant (not shown) from the base station that schedules a carrier-switched SRS 1108 (e.g., an aperiodic SRS). The carrier-switched SRS 1108 is scheduled to be transmitted on a different carrier than the A-CSI) “that has a priority higher than the SRS transmission on the target reference CC” (See RICO ¶ [0072] it is possible for collisions between such uplink transmissions and carrier-switched SRS to occur. ¶ [0073] To handle these collisions, the UE may apply various rules to determine whether to prioritize a source carrier's uplink
transmission over a carrier-switched SRS. ¶ [0090] the conflict resolution rules indicate the
UE to drop the carrier-switched SRS 1108 in favor of the uplink transmission (the A-CSI).
Note: This means that the uplink transmission has a higher priority than the SRS
transmission), “wherein the second UL transmission on the second transmission CC
overlaps in time with the SRS transmission” (See RICO ¶ [0090] the UE may determine that
the A-CSI illustrated in the example of FIG. 11 will be scheduled to occur during at least one
symbol within the carrier-switched SRS 1108 or switching time 1112); “determine whether a
second time constraint is satisfied, wherein the second time constraint is a second time
gap between a start symbol of the SRS transmission and an end symbol of the second DCI”
(See RICO Fig. 11, ¶ [0089] SRS decision time 1114 may be N.sub.2 symbols 1116 prior to
switching time 1110 and thus N.sub.2+switchingTime symbols prior to the carrier-switched
SRS 1108. ¶ [0090] In this example, the reception time 1104 for the PDCCH 1102 scheduling
the PUSCH 1106 is prior to (more than zero symbols before) the SRS decision time 1114.
Note: The switching time is the processing time for the UE to switch the SRS transmission
from a source CC to a target CC).
RICO in view of Chatterjee and TANG does not explicitly disclose transmitting the SRS transmission in response to determining that a time constraint is satisfied.
However, Bae discloses “in response to a determination that the second time constraint is
satisfied, transmit the SRS signal in the SRS transmission scheduled by the first DCI” (See ¶
[0021] The switching duration may correspond to an extended preparation time for
switching the first transmission chain between the first carrier and the second carrier based on a transmission type of the transmission, and the UE may be configured to determine a
preparation time or a timeline condition corresponding to the transmission type of
the transmission including a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission or an uplink
control information (UCI) multiplexing on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH),
determine the extended preparation time to be equal to or greater than the
preparation time plus the length of the switching gap, or to be equal to or greater than the
timeline condition plus the length of the switching gap, and switch the first transmission
chain within the extended preparation time).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of RICO,
Chatterjee and TANG with the teachings of Bae, and the motivation to do so would have been to reduce a network waste and/or power consumption by improving switching efficiencies (Bae [0027]).
Regarding claim 17,
RICO in view of Chatterjee, TANG and Bae discloses “The UE of claim 16, wherein the second time gap is greater than or equal to a processing time for the UE to switch the SRS transmission to the target reference CC from a source CC” (See RICO Fig. 11, ¶ [0089] SRS decision time 1114 may be N.sub.2 symbols 1116 prior to switching time 1110 and thus
N.sub.2+switchingTime symbols prior to the carrier-switched SRS 1108. ¶ [0090] In this
example, the reception time 1104 for the PDCCH 1102 scheduling the PUSCH 1106 is prior to
(more than zero symbols before) the SRS decision time 1114. Note: The switching time is
the processing time for the UE to switch the SRS transmission from a source CC to a target CC).
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over RICO ALVARINO et al.
(US 20230246765 A1) hereinafter RICO in view of TANG et al. (US 20220116172 A1) and further in view of BAE et al. (US 20230035066 A1).
Regarding claim 19,
RICO in view of TANG discloses “The method of claim 18”, but does not explicitly disclose simultaneous transmission.
However, BAE discloses “further comprising: receiving the UL transmission from the UE on
the transmission CC; and receiving the SRS transmission from the UE on the target
reference CC, wherein the UL transmission on the transmission CC and the SRS
transmission on the target reference CC are transmitted simultaneously” (See [0009]
determining that transmission of a first uplink channel of a first priority on a first carrier and
transmission of a second uplink channel of a second priority different from the
first priority on a second carrier different from the first carrier overlap in time; and
performing the transmission of the first uplink channel of the first priority and the
transmission of the second uplink channel of the second priority, which overlap in time, on
the first carrier and the second carrier, respectively, based on the simultaneous
transmission being allowed by the higher layer signal).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of RICO and TANG with the teachings of BAE to be able to simultaneously transmit two uplink transmissions with different priorities, and the motivation to do so would have been to efficiently support various services with different requirements in a wireless communication system (BAE [0006]).
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over RICO ALVARINO et al.
(US 20230246765 A1) hereinafter RICO in view of TANG et al. (US 20220116172 A1) and further in view of RICO ALVARINO et al. (US 20240147468 A1) hereinafter RICO ‘468.
Regarding claim 20,
RICO in view of TANG discloses “The method of claim 18”, but does not explicitly disclose receiving a UE capability indicating simultaneous transmission capability and SRS carrier switching capability.
However, RICO ‘468 discloses “further comprising: receiving a UE capability report from
the UE to indicate a capability of the UE for transmitting the UL transmission on the
transmission CC and the SRS transmission on the target reference CC simultaneously, and a
capability of the UE to use a specific component carrier (CC) as a target carrier for SRS
carrier switching” (See Fig. 8, step 805, ¶ [0105] the UE 115 may transmit
the capability message indicating support for simultaneous transmission in connection
with SRS carrier switching, and the network entity 105 may determine that the
UE 115 supports operations in the enhanced uplink carrier aggregation mode based on the
UE capability).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of RICO and TANG with the teachings of RICO ‘468, and the motivation to do so would have been to reduce power consumption while maintaining efficient communications (RICO ‘468 [0122]).
Conclusion
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/SALMA AYAD/Examiner, Art Unit 2462 /YEMANE MESFIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2462
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