Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim 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 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 [1, 11, 18 and 28] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Choi (US 20200235881 A1) in view of Kang (US 20190363911 A1).
In regards to claim 1 and 18 Choi teaches method implemented in a wireless device, the method comprising: [0010] According to an aspect of the present disclosure, provided herein is a method of transmitting a sounding reference signal (SRS) by a user equipment (UE), receiving a configuration from a network node configuring a sounding reference signal, SRS, pattern within a resource, [0010] including receiving first information on the number of SRS symbols configured in one slot and second information on the repetition number of symbols configured for SRS transmission from a base station (BS); determining whether the repetition number of symbols configured for SRS transmission is greater than the number of SRS symbols configured in the one slot; the SRS pattern being based at least in part on at least one of a comb size, at least one comb offset, at least one cyclic shift and a number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM, symbols within the resource, [0131] The BS transmits a subset of SRS sequence generation parameters among SRS sequence generation parameters (e.g., TC, TC offset, CS, root, etc.) configured for SRS resources in which frequency hopping (e.g., intra-slot hopping (or referred to as symbol-level hopping) or inter-slot hopping (or referred to as slot level hopping)) is enabled through radio resource control (RRC) signaling of Layer 3 and transmits the remaining subset of the SRS generation parameters configured for the allocated SRS resources through downlink control information (DCI) (or DCI format) of Layer 1, and transmitting a SRS to the network node using the SRS pattern, [0010] and transmitting the SRS based on the determined repetition number of symbols configured for SRS transmission. A wireless device configured to communicate with a network node, the wireless device comprising processing circuitry, the processing circuitry configured to cause the wireless device [0018] In another aspect of the present disclosure, provided herein is a user equipment (UE) for transmitting a sounding reference signal (SRS), including a receiver configured to receive first information on the number of SRS symbols configured in one slot and second information on the repetition number of symbols configured for SRS transmission from a base station (BS); a processor configured to determine whether the repetition number of symbols configured for SRS transmission is greater than the number of SRS symbols configured in the one slot.
Choi does not teach the SRS pattern being a flexible SRS pattern, each symbol of the flexible SRS pattern being configured to have a specific comb offset, the configuration specifying the SRS pattern is a radio resource control, RRC, configuration, and at least one symbol of the flexible SRS pattern being configured independently in the RRC configuration a maximum number of cyclic shifts and comb size independently configured at a resource set level.
However, Kang does teach the SRS pattern being a flexible SRS pattern, [0117] The network may support two SRS sequence generation schemes (Alt-1 method and Alt-2 method) each symbol of the flexible SRS pattern being configured to have a specific comb offset, [Table 1] Transmission comb k.sub.TC, as defined in subclause 5.5.3.2 of [3] for trigger type 0 and each configuration of trigger type 1 Starting physical resource block assignment n.sub.RRC, as defined in subclause 5.5.3.2 of [3] for trigger type 0 and each configuration of trigger type 1 duration: single or indefinite (until disabled) the configuration specifying the SRS pattern is a radio resource control, RRC, configuration, [0127] Upon receiving the RSRP or CQI report from the UE, the BS may determine whether the UE sending the report is a cell-edge UE or a cell-centered UE. The BS may semi-statically provide BW dependent SRS configuration or frequency position dependent SRS configuration, depending on the situation and at least one symbol of the flexible SRS pattern being configured independently in the RRC configuration a maximum number of cyclic shifts [Table 1] Cyclic shift n.sub.SRS.sup.cs, as defined in subclause 5.5.3.1 of [3] for trigger type 0 and each configuration of trigger type 1 Number of antenna ports N.sub.p for trigger type 0 and each configuration of trigger type 1 For trigger type 1 and DCI format 4 three sets of SRS parameters and comb size independently configured at a resource set level [Table 1] Transmission comb k.sub.TC, as defined in subclause 5.5.3.2 of [3] for trigger type 0 and each configuration of trigger type 1 Starting physical resource block assignment n.sub.RRC, as defined in subclause 5.5.3.2 of [3] for trigger type 0 and each configuration of trigger type 1 duration
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Choi and Kang before him or her, to modify the method of Choi to include SRS configurations as taught by Kang.
The motivation to do so would be improved network efficiency (0077 by Kang).
In regards to claim 11 and 28, Choi and Kang teaches the limitation of the parent claims.
Choi also teaches wherein, when the comb size is 2, the at least one cyclic shift includes up to 8 cyclic shifts, [0101] In this case, in order to represent 30 groups in the ZC sequence, the Golay sequence was generated using 30 CSs and 30 PN sequences were generated in Matlab. [0102] Evaluation was performed using TC=1, 2, and 4.
Claim [4, 8, 21 and 25] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Choi in view of Kang further in view of Zhou (US 20200145169 A1).
In regards to claim 4 and 21 Choi and Kang teaches the limitation of parent claims.
Choi and Kang do not teach wherein the configuration specifying the SRS pattern includes a vector, at least one vector element in the vector specifying a comb offset for a corresponding OFDM symbol within the resource.
However, Zhou does teach wherein the configuration specifying the SRS pattern includes a vector, [0312] A wireless device 2801 may transmit SRSs in SC-FDMA or OFDM symbols (e.g., last 1-3 symbols in a subframe or other quantity of symbols in a subframe)…. FIG. 28C shows an example of SP SRS transmission. A wireless device 2801 may receive one or more configuration parameters for SP SRS transmission. The configuration parameters may comprise at least one of: a periodicity of the SP SRS transmission; a time/frequency radio resource; cyclic shift parameters; and/or other radio parameters (e.g., bandwidth, frequency hopping, transmission comb and offset, frequency-domain position) at least one vector element in the vector specifying a comb offset for a corresponding OFDM symbol within the resource [0312] A wireless device 2801 may transmit SRSs in SC-FDMA or OFDM symbols (e.g., last 1-3 symbols in a subframe or other quantity of symbols in a subframe) in the configured subframes. FIG. 28B shows an example of aperiodic SRS transmission. A wireless device 2801 may transmit SRS aperiodically, for example, based on or in response to receiving DCI indicating the aperiodic SRS transmission.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Choi, Kang and Zhou before him or her, to modify the method of Choi and Kang to include SRS as taught by Zhou.
The motivation to do so would be improved latency of data transmissions. (0322 by Zhou).
In regards to claim 8 and 25 Choi and Kang teaches the limitation of parent claims. (10) Choi and Kang do not teach wherein the configuration specifying the SRS pattern is a radio resource control, RRC, configuration and the SRS pattern is shifted in frequency according to a comb offset parameter in the RRC configuration.
However, Zhou does teach wherein the configuration specifying the SRS pattern is a radio resource control, RRC, configuration and the SRS pattern is shifted in frequency according to a comb offset parameter in the RRC configuration. [0399] FIG. 39 shows an example of a periodic SRS transmission in which multiple UL BWPs are active concurrently (e.g., simultaneously). At time 3905, a base station 3902 may transmit one or more RRC messages to a wireless device 3901. The one or more RRC messages may comprise configuration parameters for SRS transmission on a plurality of UL BWPs in a cell. The configuration parameters may comprise at least one of: a periodicity of SRS transmission; a time/frequency radio resource; cyclic shift parameters; and/or other radio parameters (e.g., bandwidth, frequency hopping, transmission comb and offset, frequency-domain position). The SRS transmission may be performed as discussed above with respect to FIGS. 28A-28C. At time 3010, the wireless device 3901 may receive the one or more RRC messages from the base station 3902.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Choi, Kang and Zhou before him or her, to modify the method of Choi and Kang to include SRS as taught by Zhou.
The motivation to do so would be improved latency of data transmissions. (0322 by Zhou).
Claim [9, 10, 26 and 27] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Choi in view of Kang further in view of Ling (US 20190215110 A1).
In regards to claim 9 and 26 Choi and Kang teaches the limitation of parent claims.
Choi and Kang do not teach wherein, when the comb size is 6, a minimum SRS bandwidth is a multiple of 12 physical resource blocks, PRBs, up to 20 PRBs.
However, Ling does teach wherein, when the comb size is 6, [0393] A third method is to increase a transmission comb. In an embodiment, the SRS sequence starts from a lower position of the frequency domain. For example, the transmission comb may be 6, 8, 12 and the like a minimum SRS bandwidth is a multiple of 12 physical resource blocks, PRBs, up to 20 PRBs. [0401] The bandwidth of the SRS is 12 PRBs, it can be known according to the original transmission comb number 2 that the sequence length is 72 subcarriers and the 72 subcarriers are mapped onto a subcarrier interval where the PUSCH is located on the frequency domain according to a specific rule. The specific rule is that: the SRS is mapped according to a specific transmission comb in each PUSCH cluster (an SRS sequence length mapped in a cluster is determined by a size of the PUSCH cluster and a total number of transmission combs for SRS mapping) and a frequency-domain mapping starting point in a next cluster is obtained by adding 12*(PRB index number+1) to an original frequency-domain subcarrier index. Both of PRB and subcarrier index numbers start from 0.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Choi, Munier and Ling before him or her, to modify the method of Choi and Munier to include SRS as taught by Ling.
The motivation to do so would be improved SRS transmission (0025 by Ling).
In regards to claim 10 and 27 Choi and Kang teaches the limitation of parent claims.
Choi and Kang do not teach wherein, when the comb size is 12, a minimum SRS bandwidth is a multiple of 12 physical resource blocks, PRBs, up to 24 PRBs.
However, Ling does teach wherein, when the comb size is 12, [0393] A third method is to increase a transmission comb. In an embodiment, the SRS sequence starts from a lower position of the frequency domain. For example, the transmission comb may be 6, 8, 12 and the like a minimum SRS bandwidth is a multiple of 12 physical resource blocks, PRBs, up to 24 PRBs. [0402] The resources corresponding to the 10 clusters are spliced into 10 successive PRBs of which the indexes are recorded as PRB#0˜PRB#9 and then the corresponding SRS sequence is mapped onto the corresponding spliced PUSCH resources according to the formula in the existing protocol. After mapping is completed, the PRBs are recovered to the original discrete resource positions. The transmission comb K.sub.TC in the mapping formula in the embodiment is modified into K′.sub.TC=(a total number of the PUSCH clusters*cluster size (a total number of the PRBs)*a total number of subcarriers in an RB (i.e., 12)/M.sub.sc,b.sup.RS, where M.sub.sc,b.sup.RS=m.sub.SRS,bN.sub.sc.sup.RB/K.sub.TC. The frequency-domain starting position of the SRS in each PUSCH cluster is a fixed subcarrier position and is determined by notification through high-layer or physical-layer DCI or common DCI or predetermined by the base station and the UE or predefinition.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Choi, Munier and Ling before him or her, to modify the method of Choi and Munier to include SRS as taught by Ling.
The motivation to do so would be improved SRS transmission (0025 by Ling).
Response to Argument
Applicant’s amendments filed on 01/02/2026 have been fully considered but are moot in view of the new grounds for rejection stated above.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHEHAB A ALAWDI whose telephone number is (571)270-3203. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/SHEHAB A ALAWDI/Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/JAY P PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466