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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 07/21/2026 have been fully considered, but they are moot in view of new ground of rejection presented in this office action, which is necessitated by applicant’s amendments.
Claim Objections
Claim12 is objected to because of the following informalities:
The claim has a typographical error in line 3 reciting “the ULE” instead of “the UE”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over RICO ALVARINO et al. (US 20230246765 A1) hereinafter RICO in view of Cao et al. (US 20240080838 A1), and further in view of Chen et al. (US 20220278784 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 does not explicitly disclose that the target reference CC is a downlink carrier that is not configured for PUSCH/ PUCCH transmissions.
However, Cao discloses “and the target reference CC is a downlink carrier that is not configured for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmissions” (See [0095] For example, some carriers may only be configured for downlink communications. Because downlink and uplink carriers are reciprocal in TDD cells, it may be helpful for channel estimation to configure the UE to transmit SRS on such a TDD cell (referred to herein as a “SRS-SCell” or a “TDD serving cell without PUSCH/PUCCH transmission”) configured only for downlink. SRS carrier switching may be used for sounding carriers for which PUCCH/PUSCH is not configured, but on which uplink symbols can be sent).
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 Cao, and the motivation to do so would have been to allow SRS transmission on the downlink carrier, thereby enabling the network to obtain channel information for that carrier for downlink beamforming (Cao [0095]).
RICO in view of Cao does not explicitly disclose the UE capability report indicating that the UE supports parallel uplink transmissions besides the SRS transmission.
However, Chen discloses “and the UE only switches to the target reference CC for the SRS transmission based on a UE capability report” (See [0065] capability indicating component can transmit the indication to support the carrier switching time for switching between the multiple CCs in transmitting the at least one of the multiple uplink channels. In an example, the capability can relate to a carrier switching time for each of multiple combinations of the multiple CCs. For example, the capability can be in terms of carrier switching time when UE switches PUSCH/PUCCH/SRS/PRACH across CCs in an intra/inter-band CA band combination, which can be defined in ‘CA-ParametersNR’ in Physical layer parameters), “wherein the UE capability report further indicates the UE supports parallel uplink transmissions besides the SRS transmission” (See [0057] capability indicating component can transmit UE capability information in an RRC message that is sent to network to inform of certain capabilities of the UE. In an example, capability indicating component can indicate capability of whether the UE supports parallel transmission of sounding reference signal (SRS) and physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)/physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) across CCs in an inter-band CA band combination through a parameter “parallelTxSRS-PUCCH-PUSCH” in CA-ParametersNR. [0058] In an example, the capabilities can relate to a set of multiple uplink channels, such as PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, and PRACH. In an example, capability indicating component can transmit the indication of the capability as applying to all uplink channels in the set (e.g., to all of PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, and PRACH, in one example). For example, the indication may include an indication of supporting concurrent or TDM uplink transmissions for all of the multiple uplink channels over one or more combinations of the multiple CCs).
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 Cao with the teachings of Chen, and the motivation to do so would have been to enable the network to more efficiently configure and schedule uplink transmissions based on the UE’s reported capabilities.
Regarding claim 19,
RICO in view of Cao and Chen discloses “The method of claim 18, 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 Chen, Fig. 4, block 402, [0058] the capabilities can relate to a set of multiple uplink channels, such as PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, and PRACH. In an example, capability indicating component 252 can transmit the indication of the capability as applying to all uplink channels in the set (e.g., to all of PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, and PRACH, in one example). For example, the indication may include an indication of supporting concurrent or TDM uplink transmissions for all of the multiple uplink channels over one or more combinations of the multiple CCs. See Chen [0077] at Block 416, a configuration to transmit over the at least one of the multiple uplink channels over the multiple CCs using concurrent or TDM transmission can be received based on the one or more indications. See Chen [0078] at Block 418, the at least one of the multiple uplink channels can be transmitted over, based on the configuration, over the multiple CCs using concurrent or TDM 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, Chatterjee and Cao with the teachings of Chen, and the motivation to do so would have been to enable the network to more efficiently configure and schedule uplink transmissions based on the UE’s reported capabilities.
Regarding claim 20,
RICO in view of Cao and Chen discloses “The method of claim 18, further comprising: receiving the 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” (See Chen [0058] In an example, capability indicating component can transmit the indication of the capability as applying to all uplink channels in the set (e.g., to all of PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, and PRACH, in one example). For example, the indication may include an indication of supporting concurrent or TDM uplink transmissions for all of the multiple uplink channels over one or more combinations of the multiple CCs), “and a capability of the UE to use a specific component carrier (CC) as a target carrier for SRS carrier switching” (See Cao [0105] the UE 120 may transmit, and the base station 110 may receive, a message (e.g., a capability message) indicating a capability of the UE 120. The capability of the UE 120 may be associated with uplink transmit switching and/or SRS carrier switching. See Cao [0107] The capability of the UE 120 to support multiple flexible Tx chains for uplink transmit switching and/or SRS carrier switching may indicate that the UE 120 is capable of performing uplink transmit switching (e.g., between a first component carrier of the UE 120 and a second component carrier of the UE 120) and SRS carrier switching (e.g., between the second component carrier of the UE 120 and a third component carrier of the UE 120) at the same 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 with the teachings of Cao and Chen, by indicating the UE capabilities regarding parallel uplink transmissions besides SRS as taught by Chen and the capability to use a specific CC for SRS switching as taught be Cao, and the motivation to do so would have been to enable the network to more efficiently configure and schedule uplink transmissions based on the UE’s reported capabilities.
Claims 1-5, 7-11 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 Cao et al. (US 20240080838 A1), and further in view of Chen et al. (US 20220278784 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 does not explicitly disclose that the target reference CC is a downlink carrier that is not configured for PUSCH/ PUCCH transmissions.
However, Cao discloses “and the target reference CC is a downlink carrier that is not configured for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmissions” (See [0095] For example, some carriers may only be configured for downlink communications. Because downlink and uplink carriers are reciprocal in TDD cells, it may be helpful for channel estimation to configure the UE to transmit SRS on such a TDD cell (referred to herein as a “SRS-SCell” or a “TDD serving cell without PUSCH/PUCCH transmission”) configured only for downlink. SRS carrier switching may be used for sounding carriers for which PUCCH/PUSCH is not configured, but on which uplink symbols can be sent).
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 Cao, and the motivation to do so would have been to allow SRS transmission on the downlink carrier, thereby enabling the network to obtain channel information for that carrier for downlink beamforming (Cao [0095]).
RICO in view of Chatterjee and Cao does not explicitly disclose the UE capability report indicating that the UE supports parallel uplink transmissions besides the SRS transmission.
However, Chen discloses “and the UE only switches to the target reference CC for the SRS transmission based on a UE capability report” (See [0065] capability indicating component can transmit the indication to support the carrier switching time for switching between the multiple CCs in transmitting the at least one of the multiple uplink channels. In an example, the capability can relate to a carrier switching time for each of multiple combinations of the multiple CCs. For example, the capability can be in terms of carrier switching time when UE switches PUSCH/PUCCH/SRS/PRACH across CCs in an intra/inter-band CA band combination, which can be defined in ‘CA-ParametersNR’ in Physical layer parameters), “wherein the UE capability report further indicates the UE supports parallel uplink transmissions besides the SRS transmission” (See [0057] capability indicating component can transmit UE capability information in an RRC message that is sent to network to inform of certain capabilities of the UE. In an example, capability indicating component can indicate capability of whether the UE supports parallel transmission of sounding reference signal (SRS) and physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)/physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) across CCs in an inter-band CA band combination through a parameter “parallelTxSRS-PUCCH-PUSCH” in CA-ParametersNR. [0058] In an example, the capabilities can relate to a set of multiple uplink channels, such as PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, and PRACH. In an example, capability indicating component can transmit the indication of the capability as applying to all uplink channels in the set (e.g., to all of PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, and PRACH, in one example). For example, the indication may include an indication of supporting concurrent or TDM uplink transmissions for all of the multiple uplink channels over one or more combinations of the multiple CCs).
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 Cao with the teachings of Chen, and the motivation to do so would have been to enable the network to more efficiently configure and schedule uplink transmissions based on the UE’s reported capabilities.
Regarding claim 2,
RICO in view of Chatterjee, Cao and Chen discloses “The base station of claim 1, 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 Chen, Fig. 4, block 402, [0058] the capabilities can relate to a set of multiple uplink channels, such as PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, and PRACH. In an example, capability indicating component 252 can transmit the indication of the capability as applying to all uplink channels in the set (e.g., to all of PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, and PRACH, in one example). For example, the indication may include an indication of supporting concurrent or TDM uplink transmissions for all of the multiple uplink channels over one or more combinations of the multiple CCs. See Chen [0077] at Block 416, a configuration to transmit over the at least one of the multiple uplink channels over the multiple CCs using concurrent or TDM transmission can be received based on the one or more indications. See Chen [0078] at Block 418, the at least one of the multiple uplink channels can be transmitted over, based on the configuration, over the multiple CCs using concurrent or TDM 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, Chatterjee and Cao with the teachings of Chen, and the motivation to do so would have been to enable the network to more efficiently configure and schedule uplink transmissions based on the UE’s reported capabilities.
Regarding claim 3,
RICO in view of Chatterjee, Cao and Chen 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, Cao and Chen 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, Cao and Chen 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).
Regarding claim 7,
RICO in view of Chatterjee, Cao and Chen 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 8,
RICO in view of Chatterjee, Cao and Chen 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; 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 Chen, Fig. 4, block 402, [0058] the capabilities can relate to a set of multiple uplink channels, such as PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, and PRACH. In an example, capability indicating component 252 can transmit the indication of the capability as applying to all uplink channels in the set (e.g., to all of PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, and PRACH, in one example). For example, the indication may include an indication of supporting concurrent or TDM uplink transmissions for all of the multiple uplink channels over one or more combinations of the multiple CCs. See Chen [0077] at Block 416, a configuration to transmit over the at least one of the multiple uplink channels over the multiple CCs using concurrent or TDM transmission can be received based on the one or more indications. See Chen [0078] at Block 418, the at least one of the multiple uplink channels can be transmitted over, based on the configuration, over the multiple CCs using concurrent or TDM 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, Chatterjee and Cao with the teachings of Chen, and the motivation to do so would have been to enable the network to more efficiently configure and schedule uplink transmissions based on the UE’s reported capabilities.
Regarding claim 9,
RICO in view of Chatterjee, Cao and Chen 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).
Regarding claim 10,
RICO in view of Chatterjee, Cao and Chen discloses “The base station of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: receive, using the transceiver the 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” (See Chen [0058] In an example, capability indicating component can transmit the indication of the capability as applying to all uplink channels in the set (e.g., to all of PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, and PRACH, in one example). For example, the indication may include an indication of supporting concurrent or TDM uplink transmissions for all of the multiple uplink channels over one or more combinations of the multiple CCs), “and a capability of the UE to use a specific component carrier (CC) as a target carrier for SRS carrier switching” (See Cao [0105] the UE 120 may transmit, and the base station 110 may receive, a message (e.g., a capability message) indicating a capability of the UE 120. The capability of the UE 120 may be associated with uplink transmit switching and/or SRS carrier switching. See Cao [0107] The capability of the UE 120 to support multiple flexible Tx chains for uplink transmit switching and/or SRS carrier switching may indicate that the UE 120 is capable of performing uplink transmit switching (e.g., between a first component carrier of the UE 120 and a second component carrier of the UE 120) and SRS carrier switching (e.g., between the second component carrier of the UE 120 and a third component carrier of the UE 120) at the same 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 and Chatterjee with the teachings of Cao and Chen, by indicating the UE capabilities regarding parallel uplink transmissions besides SRS as taught by Chen and the capability to use a specific CC for SRS switching as taught be Cao, and the motivation to do so would have been to enable the network to more efficiently configure and schedule uplink transmissions based on the UE’s reported capabilities.
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 an 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 does not explicitly disclose that the target reference CC is a downlink carrier that is not configured for PUSCH/ PUCCH transmissions.
However, Cao discloses “and the target reference CC is a downlink carrier that is not configured for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmissions” (See [0095] For example, some carriers may only be configured for downlink communications. Because downlink and uplink carriers are reciprocal in TDD cells, it may be helpful for channel estimation to configure the UE to transmit SRS on such a TDD cell (referred to herein as a “SRS-SCell” or a “TDD serving cell without PUSCH/PUCCH transmission”) configured only for downlink. SRS carrier switching may be used for sounding carriers for which PUCCH/PUSCH is not configured, but on which uplink symbols can be sent).
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 Cao, and the motivation to do so would have been to allow SRS transmission on the downlink carrier, thereby enabling the network to obtain channel information for that carrier for downlink beamforming (Cao [0095]).
RICO in view of Chatterjee and Cao does not explicitly disclose the UE capability report indicating that the UE supports parallel uplink transmissions besides the SRS transmission.
However, Chen discloses “and the UE only switches to the target reference CC for the SRS transmission based on a UE capability report” (See [0065] capability indicating component can transmit the indication to support the carrier switching time for switching between the multiple CCs in transmitting the at least one of the multiple uplink channels. In an example, the capability can relate to a carrier switching time for each of multiple combinations of the multiple CCs. For example, the capability can be in terms of carrier switching time when UE switches PUSCH/PUCCH/SRS/PRACH across CCs in an intra/inter-band CA band combination, which can be defined in ‘CA-ParametersNR’ in Physical layer parameters), “wherein the UE capability report further indicates the UE supports parallel uplink transmissions besides the SRS transmission” (See [0057] capability indicating component can transmit UE capability information in an RRC message that is sent to network to inform of certain capabilities of the UE. In an example, capability indicating component can indicate capability of whether the UE supports parallel transmission of sounding reference signal (SRS) and physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)/physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) across CCs in an inter-band CA band combination through a parameter “parallelTxSRS-PUCCH-PUSCH” in CA-ParametersNR. [0058] In an example, the capabilities can relate to a set of multiple uplink channels, such as PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, and PRACH. In an example, capability indicating component can transmit the indication of the capability as applying to all uplink channels in the set (e.g., to all of PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, and PRACH, in one example). For example, the indication may include an indication of supporting concurrent or TDM uplink transmissions for all of the multiple uplink channels over one or more combinations of the multiple CCs).
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 Cao with the teachings of Chen, and the motivation to do so would have been to enable the network to more efficiently configure and schedule uplink transmissions based on the UE’s reported capabilities.
Regarding claim 12,
RICO in view of Chatterjee, Cao and Chen discloses “The UE of claim 11, 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 Chen, Fig. 4, block 402, [0058] the capabilities can relate to a set of multiple uplink channels, such as PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, and PRACH. In an example, capability indicating component 252 can transmit the indication of the capability as applying to all uplink channels in the set (e.g., to all of PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, and PRACH, in one example). For example, the indication may include an indication of supporting concurrent or TDM uplink transmissions for all of the multiple uplink channels over one or more combinations of the multiple CCs. See Chen [0077] at Block 416, a configuration to transmit over the at least one of the multiple uplink channels over the multiple CCs using concurrent or TDM transmission can be received based on the one or more indications. See Chen [0078] at Block 418, the at least one of the multiple uplink channels can be transmitted over, based on the configuration, over the multiple CCs using concurrent or TDM 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, Chatterjee and Cao with the teachings of Chen, and the motivation to do so would have been to enable the network to more efficiently configure and schedule uplink transmissions based on the UE’s reported capabilities.
Regarding claim 15,
RICO in view of Chatterjee, Cao and Chen 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).
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 Cao et al. (US 20240080838 A1), and further in view of Chen et al. (US 20220278784 A1), and further in view of Hosseini et al. (US 20200322972 A1).
Regarding claim 6,
RICO in view of Chatterjee, Cao and Chen 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, Cao and Chen 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 13 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 Cao et al. (US 20240080838 A1), and further in view of Chen et al. (US 20220278784 A1), and further in view of BAE et al. (US 20230035066 A1).
Regarding claim 13,
RICO in view of Chatterjee, Cao and Chen discloses “The UE of claim 12”, but does not explicitly disclose canceling the UL transmission based on the determination that the UE does not have simultaneous capability.
However, BAE discloses “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 [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, Cao and Chen 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 14 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 Cao et al. (US 20240080838 A1), and further in view of Chen et al. (US 20220278784 A1), and further in view of Li et al. (US 20230292310 A1).
Regarding claim 14,
RICO in view of Chatterjee, Cao and Chen 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, Cao and Chen 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 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 Cao et al. (US 20240080838 A1), and further in view of Chen et al. (US 20220278784 A1), and further in view of Bae (US 20210306916 A1).
Regarding claim 16,
RICO in view of Chatterjee, Cao and Chen 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, Can and Chen 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, Cao and Chen 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, Cao, Chen 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).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/SALMA AYAD/Examiner, Art Unit 2462 /YEMANE MESFIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2462
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