CTFR 17/759,691 CTFR 85646 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 Amendment Applicant’s amendment, filed on 03/03/2026, has been entered and carefully considered. Claims 43, 61, 69 and 71 have been amended and Claims 43-72 are currently pending. Response to Arguments 07-37 AIA Applicant's arguments, filed 03/03/2026 , have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. With respect to Applicant’s argument that the prior art fails to disclose that the new limitation “wherein a second slot of the number of candidate slots is separated in time from a first slot of the number of candidates slots by one or more slots”. Examiner respectfully disagrees. Fig. 13 of Shimoda is copied for illustration purpose below: PNG media_image1.png 665 930 media_image1.png Greyscale Fig. 13 of Shimoda disclose A-SRS candidate in slot #0 and slot #3. The A-SRS candidate slot in slot #3 is clearly separated in time from a A-SRS candidate slot in slot #0 by one or more slots. Thus, Examiner believes that the 103 rejection should be maintained . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 43-49, 51-52, 55, 61-66, 69-72 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu, (WO 2019/061243 A1) in view of Shimoda et al (US 2021/0176096 A1) . Regarding claim 43, 69, Liu teaches a user equipment (UE)/method for wireless communication, comprising: a memory; and one or more processors, coupled to the memory ([0100]), configured to: receive, from a base station (BS), a sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration indicating a number of candidate slots for transmission of a multi-slot aperiodic SRS (A-SRS) ([0059], “before triggering the aperiodic SRS transmission using the DCI, one or more sets of parameters for SRS transmission (for example, sequence, cyclic shift, etc. ) may be configured via the RRC signaling”); receive, from the BS, an SRS trigger, the SRS trigger comprising an indication of an A-SRS resource set, the A-SRS resource set comprising a plurality of A-SRS resources corresponding to the number of candidate slots ([0074], “a gNB may send a trigger message (denoted as “DCI for a UE group” in Fig. 5) to trigger a SRS transmission of a UE group comprising UE 1, UE2 and UE3. The trigger message may indicate candidate transmission pattern spanning multiple slots (instead of one slot only for the SRS transmission of the UE group”); and transmit, in response to the SRS trigger, the multi-slot A-SRS in one or more of a plurality of candidate slots using at least a portion of the A-SRS resource set ([0074], “As such, a member of the UE group, such as UE1, UE2 and UE3, can get more opportunities to transmit SRSs”; also see [0059], “the aperiodic SRS transmission may be configured via the radio resource control (RRC) signaling and triggered by a SRS request flag in physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) DCI. Particularly, before triggering the aperiodic SRS transmission using the DCI, one or more sets of parameters for SRS transmission (for example, sequence, cyclic shift, etc. ) may be configured via the RRC signaling. In an exemplary embodiment, a SRS trigger message such as DCI may be scrambled in a UE-specific RNTI. In the licensed operation, upon detection of a positive SRS request, a UE configured for the aperiodic SRS transmission may commence the SRS transmission in the specified subframe according to the aperiodic SRS time domain configuration ”). Liu doesn’t explicitly teach that the received SRS configuration indicating a number of candidates slots for transmission of multi-slot aperiodic SRS, wherein a second slot of the number of candidate slots is separated in time from a first slot of the number of candidate slots by one or more slots; transmit A-SRS in one or more of a plurality of candidate slots. Shimoda teaches that the received SRS configuration indicating a number of candidates slots for transmission of multi-slot aperiodic SRS, wherein a second slot of the number of candidate slots is separated in time from a first slot of the number of candidate slots by one or more slots ([0182], “The base station notifies, in advance, the UE of candidates for the SRS transmission resources which are configured for the UEs being served thereby. The base station may give the notification dedicatedly to each UE. The base station may semi-statically give the notification. The base station may give the notification, for example, via the RRC signaling or the MAC signaling. Examples of the candidates for the SRS transmission resources may include all the resource configurations for the aperiodic SRS …”; also see Fig. 13, the A-SRS candidate resources of UE#3 span multiple slots; it’s noted that the A-SRS candidate slot in slot #3 is clearly separated in time from a A-SRS candidate slot in slot #0 by one or more slots); transmit A-SRS in one or more of a plurality of candidate slots (Fig. 13, element 908; A-SRS is transmitted in Slot #(n+2) which is one of a plurality of candidate slots). Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the teaching of Shimoda in the system disclosed by Liu for the reason of: candidate slots for aperiodic SRS define whether the UE is allowed to transmit after a trigger, giving the gNB low-latency, collision-free UL sounding without per-trigger full resource signaling. Regarding claims 61, 71, Liu teaches a base station/method for wireless communication, comprising: a memory; and one or more processors, coupled to the memory ([0100]), configured to: transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration indicating a number of candidate slots for transmission of a multi-slot aperiodic SRS (A-SRS) ([0059], “before triggering the aperiodic SRS transmission using the DCI, one or more sets of parameters for SRS transmission (for example, sequence, cyclic shift, etc. ) may be configured via the RRC signaling”); transmit, to the UE, an SRS trigger, the sounding reference signal (SRS) trigger comprising an indication of an A-SRS resource set, the A-SRS resource set comprising a plurality of A-SRS resources corresponding to the number of candidate slots ([0074], “a gNB may send a trigger message (denoted as “DCI for a UE group” in Fig. 5) to trigger a SRS transmission of a UE group comprising UE 1, UE2 and UE3. The trigger message may indicate candidate transmission pattern spanning multiple slots (instead of one slot only for the SRS transmission of the UE group”); and receive, in response to the SRS trigger, the multi-slot A-SRS in one or more of a plurality of candidate slots using at least a portion of the A-SRS resource set ([0074], “As such, a member of the UE group, such as UE1, UE2 and UE3, can get more opportunities to transmit SRSs”; also see [0059], “the aperiodic SRS transmission may be configured via the radio resource control (RRC) signaling and triggered by a SRS request flag in physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) DCI. Particularly, before triggering the aperiodic SRS transmission using the DCI, one or more sets of parameters for SRS transmission (for example, sequence, cyclic shift, etc. ) may be configured via the RRC signaling. In an exemplary embodiment, a SRS trigger message such as DCI may be scrambled in a UE-specific RNTI. In the licensed operation, upon detection of a positive SRS request, a UE configured for the aperiodic SRS transmission may commence the SRS transmission in the specified subframe according to the aperiodic SRS time domain configuration ”). Liu doesn’t explicitly teach that the transmitted SRS configuration indicating a number of candidates slots for transmission of multi-slot aperiodic SRS, wherein a second slot of the number of candidate slots is separated in time from a first slot of the number of candidate slots by one or more slots; transmit A-SRS in one or more of a plurality of candidate slots. Shimoda teaches that the transmitted SRS configuration indicating a number of candidates slots for transmission of multi-slot aperiodic SRS, wherein a second slot of the number of candidate slots is separated in time from a first slot of the number of candidate slots by one or more slots ([0182], “The base station notifies, in advance, the UE of candidates for the SRS transmission resources which are configured for the UEs being served thereby. The base station may give the notification dedicatedly to each UE. The base station may semi-statically give the notification. The base station may give the notification, for example, via the RRC signaling or the MAC signaling. Examples of the candidates for the SRS transmission resources may include all the resource configurations for the aperiodic SRS …”; also see Fig. 13, the A-SRS candidate resources of UE#3 span multiple slots; it’s noted that the A-SRS candidate slot in slot #3 is clearly separated in time from a A-SRS candidate slot in slot #0 by one or more slots); transmit A-SRS in one or more of a plurality of candidate slots (Fig. 13, element 908; A-SRS is transmitted in Slot #(n+2) which is one of a plurality of candidate slots). Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the teaching of Shimoda in the system disclosed by Liu for the reason of: candidate slots for aperiodic SRS define whether the UE is allowed to transmit after a trigger, giving the gNB low-latency, collision-free UL sounding without per-trigger full resource signaling. Regarding claim 44, 62, the aforementioned references further teach that the SRS trigger is carried in downlink control information (Liu, [0059], “the aperiodic SRS transmission may be configured via the radio resource control (RRC) signaling and triggered by a SRS request flag in physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) DCI”). Regarding claim 45, 63, the aforementioned references further teach that transmitting the multi-slot A-SRS in the plurality of slots is based at least in part on the A-SRS resource set (Liu, [0074], “a gNB may send a trigger message (denoted as “DCI for a UE group” in Fig. 5) to trigger a SRS transmission of a UE group comprising UE 1, UE2 and UE3. The trigger message may indicate candidate transmission pattern spanning multiple slots (instead of one slot only for the SRS transmission of the UE group”, also see Fig. 5). Regarding claim 46, the aforementioned references further teach that the one or more processors, to transmit the multi-slot A-SRS, are configured to use a subset of the plurality of A-SRS resources to transmit the multi-slot A-SRS in the plurality of slots (Liu, [0074], “a gNB may send a trigger message (denoted as “DCI for a UE group” in Fig. 5) to trigger a SRS transmission of a UE group comprising UE 1, UE2 and UE3. The trigger message may indicate candidate transmission pattern spanning multiple slots (instead of one slot only for the SRS transmission of the UE group”, also see Fig. 5). Regarding claims 47, 64, 70 and 72, the aforementioned references further teach that a set of parameters is preconfigured, and wherein the plurality of slots is based at least in part on one or more parameters of the set of parameters, the set of parameters comprising at least one of: an A-SRS duration indication that indicates a specified quantity of slots to be used for transmission of the multi- slot A-SRS (Liu, [0074], “the trigger message may indicate the SRS transmission of the UE group is allowable to span three slots”). Regarding claim 48 and 65, the aforementioned references further teach that the one or more processors are further configured to receive, from the BS, an A-SRS duration indication indicating a specified quantity of slots to be used for transmission of the multi-slot A-SRS, wherein the plurality of slots comprises the specified quantity of slots (Liu, [0074], “the trigger message may indicate the SRS transmission of the UE group is allowable to span three slots”). Regarding claim 49, the aforementioned references further teach that the A-SRS duration indication is carried in a radio resource control message, a medium access control (MAC) control element, or downlink control information (Liu, [0074], “a gNB may send a trigger message (denoted as “DCI for a UE group” in Fig. 5) to trigger a SRS transmission of a UE group comprising UE 1, UE2 and UE3. The trigger message may indicate candidate transmission pattern spanning multiple slots (instead of one slot only for the SRS transmission of the UE group”, also see Fig. 5). Regarding claim 51 and 66, the aforementioned references further teach that the one or more processors are further configured to receive, from the BS, a maximum duration indication indicating a maximum quantity of consecutive slots that can be used for transmitting the multi-slot A-SRS (Liu, [0074], “the trigger message may indicate the SRS transmission of the UE group is allowable to span three slots”; also see Fig. 5). Regarding claim 52, the aforementioned references further teach that the maximum duration indication is carried in a radio resource control message, a medium access control (MAC) control element, or downlink control information (Liu, [0059], “the aperiodic SRS transmission may be configured via the radio resource control (RRC) signaling and triggered by a SRS request flag in physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) DCI”). Regarding claim 55, the aforementioned references further teach that the periodicity indication is carried in a radio resource control message, a medium access control (MAC) control element, or downlink control information (Liu, [0059], “the aperiodic SRS transmission may be configured via the radio resource control (RRC) signaling and triggered by a SRS request flag in physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) DCI”) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 50, 53, 54 and 67 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu in view of Shimoda, further in view of Xi et al (US 2020/0288479 A1) . Regarding claim 50, 67, the aforementioned references teach all of the limitations, further teaches that the plurality of slots is based at least in part on the A-SRS duration indication (Liu, [0074], “the trigger message may indicate the SRS transmission of the UE group is allowable to span three slots”; also see Fig. 5). However, it fails to disclose that receiving, from the BS, a periodicity indication indicating a slot periodicity to be used for transmitting the multi-slot references signals, wherein the plurality of slots is based at least in part on the periodicity indication. In the analogous art, Xi teaches receiving, from the BS, a periodicity indication indicating a slot periodicity to be used for transmitting the multi-slot references signal, wherein the plurality of slots is based at least in part on the periodicity indication ([0170], “A WTRU may also be configured with multi-symbol and multi-slot CSI-RS transmissions. For periodic CSI-RS transmissions, a WTRU may be configured to measure a single CSI-RS resource set. For example, one or more resource sets may be configured to a WTRU where one resource set is measured at a time. The configuration of periodic CSI- RS transmission may include the transmission periodicity, such as once every X slots, symbol location, such as the 1st, 2nd symbol of each slot for the first CSI-RS resource until substantially all resources within a resource set are transmitted”). Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the teaching of Xi in the system disclosed by Liu in view of Shimoda. The benefit of the combination would provide a predefined time structure that allows fast triggering, feasible UE transmission across multiple slots, and efficient network coordination without heavy per-trigger signaling. Regarding claim 53, the aforementioned references further teach that the one or more processors are further configured to receive, from the BS, a periodicity indication indicating a slot periodicity to be used for transmitting (Xi, [0170]) the multi-slot A-SRS, wherein the plurality of slots is based at least in part on the maximum duration indication (Liu, [0074], “the trigger message may indicate the SRS transmission of the UE group is allowable to span three slots”; also see Fig. 5) and the periodicity indication (Xi, [0170]). Regarding claim 54, the aforementioned references further teach that the one or more processors are further configured to receive, from the base station, a periodicity indication indicating a slot periodicity to be used for transmitting the multi-slot A-SRS (Xi, [0170]) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 56, 68 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu in view of Shimoda, further in view of Yin et al (US 2020/0404692 A1) . Regarding claim 56, 68, the aforementioned references teach all of the limitations except that teaches transmit signal according to a priority associated with the signal, wherein the priority associated with the multi-slot signal is lower relative to a priority associated with a single-slot signal. However, Yin teaches that transmit signal according to a priority associated with the signal, wherein the priority associated with a longer duration transmission is lower relative to a priority associated with a shorter transmission ([0080]-[0081]; see Fig. 5-7). Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the teaching of Yin in the system disclosed by Liu in view of Shimoda because assigning a lower priority to multi-slot transmissions relative to single-slot transmissions reduce uplink latency, limits extended resource occupation, and improves robustness of uplink scheduling under dynamic traffic conditions . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 57-60 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu in view of Shimoda, further in view of Jeon et al (US 2020/0351801 A1) . Regarding claim 57, the aforementioned references teaches all of the limitations except that transmit the multi-slot A-SRS according to a priority associated with the multi-slot A-SRS, wherein the priority associated with the multi-slot A-SRS is lower relative to: a priority associated with a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission carrying a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement, a priority associated with a PUCCH transmission carrying a scheduling request, a priority associated with a PUCCH transmission carrying SP channel state information (CSI), a priority associated with a PUCCH transmission carrying periodic CSI, a priority associated with a PUCCH transmission carrying an SP Layer 1 Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) report, a priority associated with a PUCCH transmission carrying a periodic Layer 1 RSRP report, or a combination thereof. Jeon teaches the above limitation (Fig. 28 and [0483]-[0487], “FIG. 28 is an example of priority orders among different types of UL transmissions”). Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the teaching of Jeon in the system disclosed by Liu in view of Shimoda for the purpose of ensuring timely and reliable uplink measurements while minimizing disruption to latency-critical uplink transmissions and preserving scheduling flexibility. Regarding claim 58, the aforementioned references further teach that transmit the multi-slot A-SRS according to a priority associated with the multi-slot A-SRS, wherein the priority associated with the multi-slot A-SRS is higher relative to: a priority associated with a semi-persistent (SP) SRS, a priority associated with a periodic SRS (Jeon, Fig. 28; [0483] and [0487]). Regarding claim 59, the aforementioned references further teach that transmit the multi-slot A-SRS using carrier aggregation and according to a priority associated with the multi-slot A-SRS, wherein the priority associated with the multi-slot A-SRS is lower relative to: a priority associated with a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission carrying a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement, a priority associated with a PUSCH transmission carrying a positive scheduling request (SR), a priority associated with a PUSCH transmission carrying a rank indicator (RI), a priority associated with a PUSCH transmission carrying a channel state information reference signal resource indicator (CRI), a priority associated with a PUSCH transmission carrying aperiodic CSI,a priority associated with a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission carrying a positive SR, a priority associated with a PUCCH transmission carrying an RI, a priority associated with a PUCCH transmission carrying a CRI, a priority associated with a physical random access channel transmission, or a combination thereof (Jeon, Fig. 28; [0483] and [0487]). Regarding claim 60, the aforementioned references further teach that transmit the multi-slot A-SRS using carrier aggregation and according to a priority associated with the multi-slot A-SRS, wherein the priority associated with the multi-slot A-SRS is higher relative to: an SRS transmission on a serving cell configured for PUSCH and PUCCH transmission that is different from a serving cell on which the multi-slot A-SRS is transmitted (Jeon, Fig. 28; [0483] and [0488]; “A wireless device may prioritize power allocation for transmissions on the PCell over transmissions on the PSCell, e.g., in a case of same priority order and for operation with carrier aggregation”; if the SRS transmission is from a PScell, it would be given lower priority). Conclusion 07-39 AIA THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 SIMING LIU whose telephone number is (571)270-3859. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 8:30am-5:00pm. 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If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /SIMING LIU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411 Application/Control Number: 17/759,691 Page 2 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 17/759,691 Page 3 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 17/759,691 Page 4 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 17/759,691 Page 5 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 17/759,691 Page 6 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 17/759,691 Page 7 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 17/759,691 Page 8 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 17/759,691 Page 9 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 17/759,691 Page 10 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 17/759,691 Page 11 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 17/759,691 Page 12 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 17/759,691 Page 13 Art Unit: 2411 Application/Control Number: 17/759,691 Page 14 Art Unit: 2411
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