DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim status
Claims 1 and 11 are amended.
Claims 2-10 and 12-20 were previously canceled.
Claims 1 and 11 are pending for examination.
Response to arguments
Re: 35 U.S.C. §103 rejection
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 11 have been fully considered but are moot in view of claim amendments and introduction of new prior art.
35 U.S.C. §103 rejection is not withdrawn.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Harrison et al. (US 2019/0103949 A1), hereinafter “Harrison”, in view of Manolakos et al. (US 2020/0112970 A1), hereinafter “Manolakos”.
Regarding claim 1, Harrison teaches, a method performed by a user equipment (UE) for uplink (UL) transmission ([Abstract] “A method of identifying reference signal resources to be used in a transmission by a wireless device”), the method comprising:
receiving, from a base station (BS), a first Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration that indicates a first Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set and a second SRS resource set different from the first SRS resource set ([0025] “The SRS-Config also contains a list of SRS resource sets, which contains a list of SRS resources; [0077] “the TRP will configure the UE (using RRC signaling) with different SRS resource sets”);
receiving, from the BS, Downlink Control Information (DCI) comprising a specific field ([0025] “The SRS-Config also contains a list of SRS resource sets, which contains a list of SRS resources and an associated DCI trigger state. Thus, when a certain DCI state is triggered, it indicates that the SRS resources in the associated set shall be transmitted by the UE.”; trigger state of the disclosure may be equated with specific field of the claim, which is further discussed next), a first SRS Resource Indicator (SRI) field, and a second SRI field (Fig.8 discloses SRI indicator bit fields);
determining whether to apply both or only one of the first SRS resource set and the second SRS resource set during Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) transmission based on the specific field indicating whether to apply both or only one of the first SRS resource set and the second SRS resource set (implied by disclosure in [0078] “RRC configuring a mapping between SRI signaling bits and the possible SRI states for SRS resource sets that contains multiple SRS resource groups … SRS groups may be selected from the total set of SRS groups configured to a UE”; “transmitting an indication, in a control channel, of a selection of reference signal resources to be used includes transmitting a trigger associated with the plurality of reference signal resource groups and a resource indicator that indicates reference signal resources selected from among reference signal resources within the triggered plurality of reference signal resource groups.” (Clm.20); “The SRS-Config also contains a list of SRS resource sets, which contains a list of SRS resources and an associated DCI trigger state. Thus, when a certain DCI state is triggered, it indicates that the SRS resources in the associated set shall be transmitted by the UE.” ([0025]). SRI states will dictates which resource sets are selected, which includes the scenarios that either one or both of the resource groups are selected when considered only two resource sets.
Harrison does not expressly teach but in the same field of endeavor Manolakos, a relevant prior art teaching, determination of sounding reference signal (SRS) parameters when multiple SRS resource sets are configured for a same SRS transmission resource (see [abstract]), teaches the claim,
determining an order in which the first SRS resource set and the second SRS resource set are applied based on the specific field indicating the order in a case that both of the first SRS resource set and the second SRS resource set are applied during the PUSCH transmission, wherein
the order indicated by the specific field comprises a first order in which the first SRS resource set is initially applied prior to the second SRS resource set, or a second order in which the second SRS resource set is initially applied prior to the first SRS resource set (implied by disclosures in Manolakos, [0009] “In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the prioritization provides for alternating between the first SRS resource set and the second SRS resource set in consecutive SRS transmissions that may be associated with both the first SRS resource set and the second SRS resource set.”; and [0035] “a prioritization is used to determine which of the two or more SRS resource sets are to be used for a SRS transmission.”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine disclosure by Manolakos regarding priority of resource set with the disclosure by use of resource sets, and come up with the claimed invention so as to prioritize resource sets based on certain factor, e.g. usage parameter of the resource sets, as disclosed by Manolakos in [0009], “priority based on a usage parameter of each of the first SRS resource set and the second SRS resource set”.
Harrison teaches, a number of first SRS resources in the first SRS resource set is identical to a number of second SRS resources in the second SRS resource set ([0077] “one SRS resource set may consist of eight SRS resources, where SRS resources 1-4 belong to a first SRS resource group and SRS resource 5-8 belong to a second SRS resource group.”), the first SRI field indicates a first value associated with the first SRS resources, and the second SRI field indicates a second value associated with the second SRS resources ([0032] “In certain embodiments, determining the at least first and second SRS resources includes identifying the first and second SRS resources from among the plurality of SRS resources by a first and second index, respectively.”).
Claim 11 is a change in category with respect to claim 1. Claim elements are discussed in claim 1. Existence of a processor and non-transitory computer-readable medium are implied.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 11876742 B2 teaches bitmap structure for prioritizing SRS resource sets based on identifiers (Pg. 26, Col.2; Clm. 11 ).
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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/INTEKHAAB A SIDDIQUEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
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