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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed June 22 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. In regards to the applicant’s arguments regarding amended claim 1, the examiner respectfully disagrees. For example, the applicant argues on (Pg. 12 of the remarks), that Kim, ETRI, Kumagai, and Tirola do not disclose each and every feature recited in amended claim 1. However the examiner respectfully disagrees as the combined teachings of Kim (Of Record) in view of ETRI (Of Record), and further in view of Kumagai (Of Record) discloses the claim features recited in amended claim 1. The reference of Tirola has been withdrawn in the rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 based on the claim amendment.
For example, the applicant argues on (Pg. 12 of the remarks) that the teachings of Kim do not disclose the claim features recited in amended claim 1 of “wherein the uplink grant indicates one or more parameters that indicate a listen before talk (LBT) type and information for determining a cyclic prefix extension for the SRS transmission… transmitting the SRS transmission with the cyclic prefix extension after performing the LBT procedure, wherein the cyclic prefix extension is based on a determination using the one or more parameters; and transmitting the PUSCH transmission after the SRS transmission”. However the applicant is arguing the teachings of Kim individually for not disclosing all of the recited claim features when the rejection of claim 1 is an obviousness rejection under 35 § U.S.C. 103.
In response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
The applicant further argues on (Pg. 12 of the remarks) Para’s [0133], [0136], [0009], [0154-0155], and [0164] of Kim and states that according to the above cited portions, Kim discloses that a terminal may perform an LBT procedure before transmitting an SRS, that DCI may indicate the type of LBT procedure and extended length of a cyclic prefix (CP) for a UL channel, and that, when the terminal fails to transmit the UL channel according to the LBT procedure (Kim i.e., Para [0164]), the extended length of the CP applied to the UL channel may be applied to the SRS resource. The applicant then states that Kim does not disclose “wherein the uplink grant indicates one or more parameters that indicate a listen before talk (LBT) type and information for determining a cyclic prefix extension for the SRS transmission… transmitting the SRS transmission with the cyclic prefix extension after performing the LBT procedure, wherein the cyclic prefix extension is based on a determination using the one or more parameters; and transmitting the PUSCH transmission after the SRS transmission”. However the applicant is again arguing the teachings of Kim individually for not disclosing such claim feature when the rejection of claim 1 relies on the combined teachings of Kim in view of ETRI, and further in view of Kumagai.
Para [0155] of Kim discloses i.e., “For example, in the case of the NR system, a specific field of the DCI may indicate an index value, and the index indicated by the DCI may indicate the type of LBT procedure and an extended length of a cyclic prefix (CP)…The terminal may transmit the first symbol constituting the UL channel by extending the CP of the first symbol by the value indicated by the index”. The examiner acknowledges that the extended length of a cyclic prefix value indicated in the DCI is applied by the terminal for the UL channel (i.e., PUSCH) as disclosed in Kim Para [0155] i.e., “The terminal may transmit the first symbol constituting the UL channel by extending the CP of the first symbol by the value indicated by the index” (Kim, see Fig. 13 & Para [0155]). The examiner explained in the office action that Kim does not disclose transmitting the SRS transmission with the cyclic prefix extension. However transmitting the SRS transmission with the cyclic prefix extension would be rendered obvious in view of the teachings of ETRI who discloses that the CP extension values used for PUSCH may be used for the SRS transmission (ETRI, see Pg. 2 Section 2.2 “Time resource for SRS transmission” i.e., CP extension values in agreement section…the field ChannelAccess-CPext-CAPC can be also applicable to the SRS transmission…the field ChannelAccess-CPext-CAPC is applied to the SRS transmission…For other CP extensions, the indicated value (C2 and C3) for PUSCH/PUCCH can be reused for SRS transmission…Proposal 2: The CP extension is supported for SRS transmission). Therefore it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art for the SRS transmission which occurs before the PUSCH transmission as disclosed in Kim to transmit the SRS transmission with the cyclic prefix extension based on the teachings of ETRI who discloses that the cyclic prefix extension used for the PUSCH transmission can be applicable or reused for the SRS transmission, because the motivation lies in ETRI that the cyclic prefix extension used for the PUSCH transmission can be applicable or reused for the SRS transmission to give more flexibility in the network system and for allowing more transmission opportunities for SRS resources (ETRI i.e., Pg. 2 Section 2.2). For the reasons explained the combined teachings of Kim in view of ETRI discloses the claim feature in claim 1 of “transmitting the SRS transmission with the cyclic prefix extension after performing the LBT procedure”.
Referring back to the applicant’s argument regarding Para [0164] of Kim which discloses that “According to an exemplary embodiment, when the terminal fails to transmit the UL channel according to the LBT procedure, the terminal may apply the extended length of the CP applied to the UL channel to the SRS resource as it is”. Therefore Para [0164] discloses that the CP applied to the SRS when the terminal fails to transmit the UL channel, is an exemplary embodiment. The examiner does not rely on the exemplary embodiment described in Para [0164] of Kim for applying the cyclic prefix extension to the SRS transmission, but rather relies on the combined teachings of Kim in view of ETRI as described above for teachings the claim feature of “transmitting the SRS transmission with the cyclic prefix extension”.
While Para [0164] was cited in the office action on Pg.’s 8-9 of the office action, Para [0164] was cited just to show that the cyclic prefix extension value is determined by the terminal based at least in part on the one or more parameters indicated in the DCI (i.e., “uplink grant”). Para [0155] of Kim also discloses that the terminal may determine the cyclic prefix extension value based at least in part on the one or more parameters indicated in the DCI.
The examiner also notes that based on the combined teachings of Kim in view of ETRI that the information in the uplink grant such as the information for determining the cyclic prefix extension as disclosed in Para [0155] of Kim results in the cyclic prefix extension to be for the SRS transmission.
In regards to the applicants argument on Pg. 13 of the remarks, the applicant states that “This is because, for example, the above cited portions of Kim do not disclose that the cyclic prefix extension is used for the SRS transmission in a configuration in which the PUSCH transmission is transmitted after the SRS transmission, as recited in amended claim 1”. However as previously explained, the examiner does not rely on the teachings of Kim individually for disclosing cyclic prefix extension is used for the SRS transmission in the configuration. For example Kim discloses with respect to Fig. 13 the configuration such as transmitting the PUSCH transmission after the SRS transmission (Kim, see Fig. 13 & Para’s [0153-0155] & [0157]). As previously explained above the combined teachings of Kim in view of ETRI discloses the claim feature of transmitting the SRS transmission with the cyclic prefix extension after performing the LBT procedure which results in the cyclic prefix extension used for the SRS transmission in the configuration in which the PUSCH transmission is transmitted after the SRS transmission.
In regards to the applicants arguments on (Pg. 14 of the remarks), regarding the teachings of ETRI, the applicant argues that ETRI relies on pre-configured, higher-layer RRC parameters (such as ChannelAccess-CPext-CAPC). However the examiner has not located in the ETRI reference of any description related to pre-configured higher-layer RRC parameters related to the described channelaccess-CPext_CAPC. Rather the examiner relies on the teachings of ETRI for disclosing that the channelaccess-CPext_CAPC which refers to the four CP extension values (ETRI, see Pg. 2, Section 2.2 i.e., Agreement section i.e., CP extension values) can be also used or applicable to the SRS transmission (ETRI, see Pg. 2, Section 2.2 “Time resource for SRS transmission” i.e., CP extension values in agreement section…the field ChannelAccess-CPext-CAPC can be also applicable to the SRS transmission…the field ChannelAccess-CPext-CAPC is applied to the SRS transmission…For other CP extensions, the indicated value (C2 and C3) for PUSCH/PUCCH can be reused for SRS transmission…Proposal 2: The CP extension is supported for SRS transmission). It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art for the CP extension values indicated in the DCI as disclosed in Para [0155] of Kim to be used for the SRS transmission based on the teachings of ETRI who discloses that the cyclic prefix extension values (i.e., Channelaccess-CPext_CAPC) used for the PUSCH transmission can be applicable or reused for the SRS transmission.
For the reasons explained the combination of Kim in view of ETRI and Kumagai are maintained for the rejection of amended claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. § 103. Independent claims 16 and 31 as amended, which recite similar features as amended claim 1, are also rejected over the combination of Kim in view of ETRI and Kumagai for the same reasons explained for claim 1. The dependent claims are also rejected over the prior art (Of Record) based on their dependence to independent claims 1, 16, and 31.
In regards to the applicants arguments regarding amended claim 12, a new ground(s) of rejection has been set forth for rejecting amended claim 12 over the combination of Kim in view of ETRI and Kumagai similarly to amended claim 1. The reference of Tirola has been withdrawn in claim 12. In regards to the applicants arguments regarding amended claim 12 with respect to the teachings of Kim which is the similar argument presented for Kim with respect to claim 1, the same reasons explained above regarding Kim for claim 1 also apply to independent claim 12. In regards to the applicants arguments regarding claim 12 and Kumagai (Of Record), the applicant argues that Kumagai discloses that an uplink grant may indicate an LBT type and information for determining a cyclic prefix extension (Kumagai, Para’s [0051] and [0061-0062]) and that a bit field may identify a symbol length (Kumagai, Table 3 & Para [0092]), however Kumagai’s disclosures are directed to PUSCH and PUCCH transmissions and are silent regarding SRS transmissions. However the teaching of Kumagai were relied upon in the rejection of claim 12 for using the bit field in the uplink grant DCI for indicating the one or more parameters including LBT type and information for determining the cyclic prefix (Kumagai, see Para’s [0061-0062], [0092-0094], & [0096]) to be used as bit field in the uplink grant of the DCI disclosed in Kim who discloses the uplink grant indicates one or more parameters for determining the CP extension and LBT type for indicating the parameters for the configuration of Fig. 13 which includes an SRS transmission scheduled by the DCI (Kim, see Fig. 13 & Para’s [0154-0155]). As previously explained, a new ground(s) of rejection has been set forth over the combination of Kim in view of ETRI and Kumagai for amended claim 12 which has been amended similar in scope to amended claim 1. The dependent claims are also rejected over the prior art (Of Record) based on their dependence to independent claim 12.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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, 12, 15-16, 31, 35-36, 38 and 44-49 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. US (2020/0280465) in view of ETRI “UL signals and channels”, 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #100, R1-2000770, and further in view of Kumagai et al. US (2023/0051403).
Regarding Claim 1, Kim discloses a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) (see Fig. 3 i.e., terminal), comprising: receiving an uplink grant (In light of the applicants specification in Para [0052] i.e., “the uplink grant may identify time domain resources and/or frequency domain resources in which to perform the PUSCH transmission and the SRS transmission. In some aspects, the uplink grant is included in DCI”…Kim, see Para [0154] i.e., Referring to Fig. 13, the base station may trigger the SRS transmission of the terminal through DCI (i.e., DL-DCI or UL-DCI). When the SRS transmissions is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information (i.e., “uplink grant”) on an SRS resource and resource(s) of UL channels (i.e., PUSCH and/or PUCCH))
and a downlink grant (see Para [0152] i.e., The base station may trigger SRS transmission of the terminal by transmitting DCI including a trigger signal. The DCI may be DL-DCI (i.e., downlink grant”) for assigning a PDSCH & [0154] i.e., the base station may trigger the SRS transmission of the terminal through DCI (i.e., DL-DCI))
the downlink grant corresponding to a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission (see Para’s [0135-0136], [0152] i.e., The base station may trigger SRS transmission of the terminal by transmitting DCI including a trigger signal. The DCI may be DL-DCI (i.e., downlink grant”) for assigning a PDSCH (i.e., the downlink grant (i.e., DL-DCI) corresponds to a SRS transmission since the DL-DCI triggers an SRS transmission) & [0154] i.e., Referring to Fig. 13, the base station may trigger the SRS transmission of the terminal through DCI (i.e., DL-DCI)). When the SRS transmission is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information on an SRS resource and resources of UL channels (i.e., PUSCH) & [0167] i.e., The terminal may multiplex an SRS resource triggered by the DL-DCI (i.e., “downlink grant”) ).
And the uplink grant corresponding to a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission, (see Para [0154] i.e., the base station may trigger the SRS transmission of the terminal through DCI (i.e., DL-DCI). When the SRS transmission is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information (i.e., “uplink grant”) on an SRS resource and resource(s) of UL channel(s) i.e., PUSCH)
Wherein the SRS transmission and the PUSCH transmission are scheduled consecutively without a timing gap (see Fig. 13 i.e., SRS transmission and PUSCH transmission are arranged adjacently in time without a timing gap & Para’s [0152-0154] i.e., When the SRS transmission is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information on an SRS resource and resource(s) of UL channel(s) (i.e., PUSCH and/or PUCCH). The SRS resource and the UL channel resource may be arranged adjacently (i.e., “without a timing gap”) in time, [0157], & [0167])
and wherein DCI indicates one or more parameters that indicate a listen before talk (LBT) type and information for determining a cyclic prefix extension, (see Para’s [0154-0155] i.e., For example, in case of the NR system, a specific field of the DCI may indicate an index value, and the index indicated by the DCI may indicate the type of LBT procedure and an extended length of a cyclic prefix (CP) (i.e., “one or more parameters”). The extended length of the CP may be one of four values)
performing an LBT procedure based on the LBT type (see Para [0136])
;
and transmitting the SRS transmission after performing the listen before talk (LBT) procedure, (see Para’s [0009] i.e., performing a channel sensing operation…and transmitting the SRS to the base station based on a result of the channel sensing (i.e., “LBT procedure”), [0133], [0136], [0153-0155], [0157], & [0175] i.e., The terminal may transmit the SRS through the first symbol of the SRS resource).
Wherein the cyclic prefix extension is based on a determination using the one or more parameters (see Para’s [0155] i.e., and the index indicated by the DCI may indicate the type of LBT procedure and an extended length of a cyclic prefix (CP)…The terminal may transmit the first symbol constituting the UL channel by extending the CP of the first symbol by the value indicated by the index & [0164] i.e., the terminal applies the extended length of the CP indicated by the DCI (i.e., cyclic prefix extension value is determined using the one or more parameters indicated by the DCI))
And transmitting the PUSCH transmission after the SRS transmission (see Fig. 13 i.e., the PUSCH transmission occurs after the SRS transmission & Para [0153-0155] & [0157] i.e., the terminal may transmit the PUSCH after transmitting the SRS).
While Kim suggests a LBT procedure may be performed prior to the SRS transmission (see Para’s [0009], [0133], & [0136]) and determining the cyclic prefix extension (see Para’s [0154-0155]), Kim does not explicitly disclose the claim feature of transmitting the SRS transmission with the cyclic prefix extension after performing the listen before talk (LBT) procedure. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of ETRI “UL signals and channels”, 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #100, R1-2000770.
ETRI discloses transmitting an SRS transmission with a cyclic prefix extension after performing a listen before talk (LBT) procedure (see Pg. 2 Section 2.2, “Time resource for SRS transmission” i.e., CP extension duration values C1-C3 (i.e., “cyclic prefix extension”) under Agreement… We would propose to give more flexibility, when SRS request is triggered by UE-specific DCI, the field ChannelAccess-CPext_CAPC (i.e., “cyclic prefix extension”) can be also applicable to the SRS transmission. The previous meeting (#99) has agreements applicable to PUSCH and PUCCH, i.e., the field ChannelAccess-CPext-CAPC (i.e., “cyclic prefix extension”) is applied to the SRS transmission…For other CP extensions, the indicated value (C2 and/or C3) (i.e., “cyclic prefix extension”) for PUSCH/PUCCH can be reused for SRS transmission, & Para 2 under Proposal 2 i.e., In order to allow more transmission opportunities for SRS resources, it has been considered to attempt SRS transmissions in a slot after slot n+k, where DCI is received as slot n and k is known beforehand. With the previous agreement that SRS resource can be transmitted on any symbol in the slot, the UE attempts LBT (i.e., “LBT procedure”) in slot n+k and takes the first available time resource)
(ETRI suggests the cyclic prefix extension used for the PUSCH transmission can be applicable or reused for the SRS transmission after performing an LBT procedure to give more flexibility in the network system and for allowing more transmission opportunities for SRS resources, (see Pg. 2 Section 2.2 Para 1 and Para 2 under Proposal 2)).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the SRS transmission which occurs before the PUSCH transmission without a timing gap between the SRS transmission and the PUSCH transmission as disclosed in the teachings of Kim to transmit the SRS transmission with the cyclic prefix extension after performing the LBT procedure as disclosed in the teachings of ETRI who discloses the cyclic prefix extension used for the PUSCH transmission can be applicable or reused for the SRS transmission after performing a LBT procedure, which results in the information for determining the cyclic prefix extension to be for the SRS transmission, because the motivation lies in ETRI that the cyclic prefix extension used for the PUSCH transmission can be applicable or reused for the SRS transmission after performing a LBT procedure to give more flexibility in the network system and for allowing more transmission opportunities for SRS resources.
While the combination of Kim in view of ETRI discloses the DCI including the uplink grant indicates the one or more parameters for determining a cyclic prefix extension which is for the SRS transmission (Kim, see Para’s [0154-0155]), the combination of Kim in view of ETRI does not explicitly disclose the claim feature of the uplink grant indicating the one or more parameters that indicates the listen before talk (LBT) type and information for determining the cyclic prefix extension. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Kumagai et al. US (2023/0051403).
Kumagai discloses an uplink grant indicating one or more parameters that indicates the listen before talk (LBT) type and information for determining the cyclic prefix extension (see Para [0051] i.e., LBT type, CP extension value, and CAPC may be jointly encoded to be included in the UL grant & [0061-0062] i.e., UL grant by the fallback DCI, LBT type, CP extension value, and CAPC may be jointly encoded in two bits, to be included in the UL grant)
(Kumagai suggests the UL grant including one or more bits indicates the CP extension value because it is necessary for the terminal to specify the period of the CP extension before RRC configuration is executed, and the CP extension value may be determined appropriately even before the RRC configuration is executed in order to appropriately apply the CP extension to the uplink transmission (see Para’s [0076-0077] & [0080-0082])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the uplink grant included in the DCI as disclosed in Kim in view of ETRI to indicate the one or more parameters that indicates the listen before talk (LBT) type and information for determining the cyclic prefix extension included in the uplink grant as disclosed in Kumagai which results in the determination of the cyclic prefix extension to be used for the SRS transmission, because the motivation lies in Kumagai that the UL grant including one or more bits indicates the CP extension value because it is necessary for the terminal to specify the period of the CP extension before RRC configuration is executed, and the CP extension value may be determined appropriately even before the RRC configuration is executed in order to appropriately apply the CP extension to the uplink transmission.
Regarding Claim 12, Kim discloses a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving a downlink grant (see Para [0152] i.e., The base station may trigger SRS transmission of the terminal by transmitting DCI including a trigger signal. The DCI may be DL-DCI (i.e., downlink grant”) for assigning a PDSCH & [0154] i.e., the base station may trigger the SRS transmission of the terminal through DCI (i.e., DL-DCI))
And an uplink grant (In light of the applicants specification in Para [0052] i.e., “the uplink grant may identify time domain resources and/or frequency domain resources in which to perform the PUSCH transmission and the SRS transmission. In some aspects, the uplink grant is included in DCI”…Kim, see Para [0154] i.e., Referring to Fig. 13, the base station may trigger the SRS transmission of the terminal through DCI (i.e., DL-DCI or UL-DCI). When the SRS transmissions is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information (i.e., “uplink grant”) on an SRS resource and resource(s) of UL channels (i.e., PUSCH and/or PUCCH))
the downlink grant corresponding to a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission (see Para’s [0135-0136], [0152] i.e., The base station may trigger SRS transmission of the terminal by transmitting DCI including a trigger signal. The DCI may be DL-DCI (i.e., downlink grant”) for assigning a PDSCH (i.e., the downlink grant (i.e., DL-DCI) corresponds to a SRS transmission since the DL-DCI triggers an SRS transmission) & [0154] i.e., Referring to Fig. 13, the base station may trigger the SRS transmission of the terminal through DCI (i.e., DL-DCI)). When the SRS transmission is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information on an SRS resource and resources of UL channels (i.e., PUSCH) & [0167] i.e., The terminal may multiplex an SRS resource triggered by the DL-DCI (i.e., “downlink grant”) ).
And the uplink grant corresponding to a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission, (see Para [0154] i.e., the base station may trigger the SRS transmission of the terminal through DCI (i.e., DL-DCI). When the SRS transmission is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information (i.e., “uplink grant”) on an SRS resource and resource(s) of UL channel(s) i.e., PUSCH)
and wherein a DCI indicates, based at least in part on a field, one or more parameters including a listen before talk (LBT) type and information for determining a cyclic prefix extension for the SRS transmission, (see Para’s [0155] i.e., For example, in case of the NR system, a specific field of the DCI may indicate an index value, and the index indicated by the DCI may indicate the type of LBT procedure and an extended length of a cyclic prefix (CP) (i.e., “one or more parameters”). The extended length of the CP may be one of four values & [0164])
performing an LBT procedure based on the LBT type (see Para [0136])
and transmit the SRS transmission after the listen before talk (LBT) procedure, (see Para’s [0009] i.e., performing a channel sensing operation…and transmitting the SRS to the base station based on a result of the channel sensing (i.e., “LBT procedure”), [0133], [0136], [0153-0155], [0157], & [0175] i.e., The terminal may transmit the SRS through the first symbol of the SRS resource).
Wherein the cyclic prefix extension is based on a determination using the one or more parameters (see Para’s [0155] i.e., and the index indicated by the DCI may indicate the type of LBT procedure and an extended length of a cyclic prefix (CP)…The terminal may transmit the first symbol constituting the UL channel by extending the CP of the first symbol by the value indicated by the index & [0164] i.e., the terminal applies the extended length of the CP indicated by the DCI (i.e., cyclic prefix extension value is determined using the one or more parameters indicated by the DCI))
And transmit the PUSCH transmission after the SRS transmission (see Fig. 13 i.e., the PUSCH transmission occurs after the SRS transmission & Para [0153-0155] & [0157] i.e., the terminal may transmit the PUSCH after transmitting the SRS).
While Kim suggests a LBT procedure may be performed prior to the SRS transmission (see Para’s [0009], [0133], & [0136]) and determining the cyclic prefix extension (see Para’s [0154-0155]), Kim does not explicitly disclose the claim feature of transmitting the SRS transmission with the cyclic prefix extension after performing the listen before talk (LBT) procedure. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of ETRI “UL signals and channels”, 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #100, R1-2000770.
ETRI discloses transmitting an SRS transmission with a cyclic prefix extension after performing a listen before talk (LBT) procedure (see Pg. 2 Section 2.2, “Time resource for SRS transmission” i.e., CP extension duration values C1-C3 (i.e., “cyclic prefix extension”) under Agreement… We would propose to give more flexibility, when SRS request is triggered by UE-specific DCI, the field ChannelAccess-CPext_CAPC (i.e., “cyclic prefix extension”) can be also applicable to the SRS transmission. The previous meeting (#99) has agreements applicable to PUSCH and PUCCH, i.e., the field ChannelAccess-CPext-CAPC (i.e., “cyclic prefix extension”) is applied to the SRS transmission…For other CP extensions, the indicated value (C2 and/or C3) (i.e., “cyclic prefix extension”) for PUSCH/PUCCH can be reused for SRS transmission, & Para 2 under Proposal 2 i.e., In order to allow more transmission opportunities for SRS resources, it has been considered to attempt SRS transmissions in a slot after slot n+k, where DCI is received as slot n and k is known beforehand. With the previous agreement that SRS resource can be transmitted on any symbol in the slot, the UE attempts LBT (i.e., “LBT procedure”) in slot n+k and takes the first available time resource)
(ETRI suggests the cyclic prefix extension used for the PUSCH transmission can be applicable or reused for the SRS transmission after performing an LBT procedure to give more flexibility in the network system and for allowing more transmission opportunities for SRS resources, (see Pg. 2 Section 2.2 Para 1 and Para 2 under Proposal 2)).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the SRS transmission which occurs before the PUSCH transmission as disclosed in the teachings of Kim to transmit the SRS transmission with the cyclic prefix extension after performing the LBT procedure as disclosed in the teachings of ETRI who discloses the cyclic prefix extension used for the PUSCH transmission can be applicable or reused for the SRS transmission after performing a LBT procedure, which results in the information for determining the cyclic prefix extension to be for the SRS transmission, because the motivation lies in ETRI that the cyclic prefix extension used for the PUSCH transmission can be applicable or reused for the SRS transmission after performing a LBT procedure to give more flexibility in the network system and for allowing more transmission opportunities for SRS resources.
While Kim discloses the DCI including the uplink grant indicates the one or more parameters for determining a cyclic prefix extension which is for the SRS transmission (Kim, see Para’s [0154-0155] & [0164]), the combination of Kim in view of ETRI does not disclose the claim features of the uplink grant indicating, based at least in part on a bit field, the one or more parameters including a listen before talk (LBT) type and information for determining the cyclic prefix extension, and wherein the bit field identifies a symbol length for a wireless access link on which the UE and a network node communicate. However the claim features would be rendered obvious in view of Kumagai et al. US (2023/0051403).
Kumagai discloses wherein an uplink grant indicates, based at least in part on a bit field, one or more parameters including a listen before talk (LBT) type and information for determining a cyclic prefix extension, (In light of the applicants specification in Para [0055] i.e., The one or more parameters may be indicated by a bit field that includes one or more bits (e.g., b1, b2). The value indicated by the bit field may index into a table such as Table 1. Para’s [0056-0057] of the applicants specification further discloses each possible value of the bit field may index into a row of the table. The one or more parameters may include an LBT type and information for determining the CP extension such as the CP extension equations. (see Kumagai, Table 3 i.e., Bit field mapped to indexes 0-3 which indexes a row of the table for indicating one or more parameters such as channel access type (LBT type) and CP extension equations & Para’s [0061-0062] i.e., in a UL grant by the fallback DCI, LBT type, CP extension value, and CAPC may be jointly encoded in two bits (i.e., “bit field”), to be included in the UL grant & [0092-0094] i.e., Indices 0-3 corresponding to one or more parameters such as channel access type/CP extension…Further, the length of the bit field may be configured to be 1 bit, and the index “2” or “3” may be indicated & [0096] i.e., the terminal 20 can obtain the CP extension value with a small bit length).
wherein the bit field identifies a symbol length (In light of the applicants specification in Para [0055] i.e., The one or more parameters may be indicated by a bit field that includes one or more bits (e.g., b1, b2). The value indicated by the bit field may index into a table such as Table 1. Para’s [0056-0057] of the applicants specification further discloses each possible value of the bit field may index into a row of the table. The one or more parameters may include an LBT type and information for determining the CP extension such as the CP extension equations. Therefore the “bit field identifies a symbol length” is interpreted in light of the applicants specification as the bit field indexing a row of table 1 which identifies a symbol length in the CP extension equations, (see Kumagai, Table 3 i.e., Bit field mapped to indexes 0-3 which indexes a row of the table for indicating CP extension equations which may include a symbol length & Para’s [0061-0062] i.e., in a UL grant by the fallback DCI, LBT type, CP extension value, and CAPC may be jointly encoded in two bits, to be included in the UL grant & [0092-0094] i.e., Indices 0-3 corresponding to one or more parameters such as channel access type/CP extension…Further, the length of the bit field may be configured to be 1 bit, and the index “2” or “3” may be indicated (i.e., index 2 indexes a row of table 3 which identifies a symbol length in the CP extension equation) & [0096] i.e., the terminal 20 can obtain the CP extension value with a small bit length) for a wireless access link on which the UE and a network node communicate, (see Fig. 1 i.e., DL/UL transmission over the downlink/uplink channels between the UE and the base station 10 may refer to the “wireless access link” & Para’s [0030-0031] i.e., Physical resources of a radio signal are defined in the time domain and in the frequency domain, where the time domain may be defined in terms of the number of OFDM symbols (i.e., symbols are communicated via the wireless access link), [0046],& [0160] i.e., PDSCH).
(Kumagai suggests the UL grant including the one or more bits indicates the CP extension value because it is necessary for the terminal to specify the period of the CP extension before RRC configuration is executed, and the CP extension value may be determined appropriately even before the RRC configuration is executed in order to appropriately apply the CP extension to the uplink transmission (see Para’s [0076-0077] & [0080-0082])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the uplink grant included in the DCI as disclosed in Kim in view of ETRI to indicate the one or more parameters including the LBT type and the information for determining the cyclic prefix extension according to the bit field in the uplink grant as disclosed in Kumagai, which results in the determination of the cyclic prefix extension to be used for the SRS transmission, because the motivation lies in Kumagai that the UL grant including one or more bits indicates the CP extension value because it is necessary for the terminal to specify the period of the CP extension before RRC configuration is executed, and the CP extension value may be determined appropriately even before the RRC configuration is executed in order to appropriately apply the CP extension to the uplink transmission.
Regarding Claim 15, Kim discloses the method of claim 12, wherein the downlink grant corresponds to the SRS transmission see Para’s [0135-0136], [0152] i.e., The base station may trigger SRS transmission of the terminal by transmitting DCI including a trigger signal. The DCI may be DL-DCI (i.e., downlink grant”) for assigning a PDSCH (i.e., the downlink grant (i.e., DL-DCI) corresponds to a SRS transmission since the DL-DCI triggers an SRS transmission) & [0154] i.e., Referring to Fig. 13, the base station may trigger the SRS transmission of the terminal through DCI (i.e., DL-DCI)). When the SRS transmission is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information on an SRS resource and resources of UL channels (i.e., PUSCH) & [0167] i.e., The terminal may multiplex an SRS resource triggered by the DL-DCI (i.e., “downlink grant”) ).
And is received via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), (see Para’s [0078] i.e., The base station may transmit the trigger signal to the terminal through some of DCI fields in a downlink control channel (i.e., “PDCCH”) for assigning a PDSCH or PUSCH & [0152] i.e., The base station may trigger SRS transmission of the terminal by transmitting DCI including a trigger signal. The DCI may be DL-DCI (i.e., “downlink grant”) for assigning a PDSCH)
Regarding Claim 16, Kim discloses a user equipment (UE) (see Fig. 2 & Fig. 3 i.e., terminal) for wireless communication, comprising: a memory (see Fig. 2 i.e., memory 220 & Para’s [0067-0068]); and one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory (see Fig. 2 i.e., processor 210 & Para’s [0067-0068]), the memory and the one or more processors (see Fig.’s 2-3 & Para’s [0067-0068]) configured to: receive an uplink grant (In light of the applicants specification in Para [0052] i.e., “the uplink grant may identify time domain resources and/or frequency domain resources in which to perform the PUSCH transmission and the SRS transmission. In some aspects, the uplink grant is included in DCI”…Kim, see Para [0154] i.e., Referring to Fig. 13, the base station may trigger the SRS transmission of the terminal through DCI (i.e., DL-DCI or UL-DCI). When the SRS transmissions is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information (i.e., “uplink grant”) on an SRS resource and resource(s) of UL channels (i.e., PUSCH and/or PUCCH))
and a downlink grant (see Para [0152] i.e., The base station may trigger SRS transmission of the terminal by transmitting DCI including a trigger signal. The DCI may be DL-DCI (i.e., downlink grant”) for assigning a PDSCH & [0154] i.e., the base station may trigger the SRS transmission of the terminal through DCI (i.e., DL-DCI))
the downlink grant corresponding to a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission (see Para’s [0135-0136], [0152] i.e., The base station may trigger SRS transmission of the terminal by transmitting DCI including a trigger signal. The DCI may be DL-DCI (i.e., downlink grant”) for assigning a PDSCH (i.e., the downlink grant (i.e., DL-DCI) corresponds to a SRS transmission since the DL-DCI triggers an SRS transmission) & [0154] i.e., Referring to Fig. 13, the base station may trigger the SRS transmission of the terminal through DCI (i.e., DL-DCI)). When the SRS transmission is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information on an SRS resource and resources of UL channels (i.e., PUSCH) & [0167] i.e., The terminal may multiplex an SRS resource triggered by the DL-DCI (i.e., “downlink grant”) ).
And the uplink grant corresponding to a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission, (see Para [0154] i.e., the base station may trigger the SRS transmission of the terminal through DCI (i.e., DL-DCI). When the SRS transmission is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information (i.e., “uplink grant”) on an SRS resource and resource(s) of UL channel(s) i.e., PUSCH)
Wherein the SRS transmission and the PUSCH transmission are scheduled consecutively without a timing gap (see Fig. 13 i.e., SRS transmission and PUSCH transmission are arranged adjacently in time without a timing gap & Para’s [0152-0154] i.e., When the SRS transmission is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information on an SRS resource and resource(s) of UL channel(s) (i.e., PUSCH and/or PUCCH). The SRS resource and the UL channel resource may be arranged adjacently (i.e., “without a timing gap”) in time, [0157], & [0167])
and wherein DCI indicates one or more parameters that indicate a listen before talk (LBT) type and information for determining a cyclic prefix extension, (see Para’s [0154-0155] i.e., For example, in case of the NR system, a specific field of the DCI may indicate an index value, and the index indicated by the DCI may indicate the type of LBT procedure and an extended length of a cyclic prefix (CP) (i.e., “one or more parameters”). The extended length of the CP may be one of four values)
perform an LBT procedure based on the LBT type (see Para [0136])
transmit the SRS transmission after performing the listen before talk (LBT) procedure, (see Para’s [0009] i.e., performing a channel sensing operation…and transmitting the SRS to the base station based on a result of the channel sensing (i.e., “LBT procedure”), [0133], [0136], [0153-0155], [0157], & [0175] i.e., The terminal may transmit the SRS through the first symbol of the SRS resource).
Wherein the cyclic prefix extension is based at least in part on the one or more parameters (see Para’s [0155] i.e., and the index indicated by the DCI may indicate the type of LBT procedure and an extended length of a cyclic prefix (CP)…The terminal may transmit the first symbol constituting the UL channel by extending the CP of the first symbol by the value indicated by the index & [0164] i.e., the terminal applies the extended length of the CP indicated by the DCI (i.e., cyclic prefix extension value is based on the one or more parameters indicated by the DCI))
And transmit the PUSCH transmission after the SRS transmission (see Fig. 13 i.e., the PUSCH transmission occurs after the SRS transmission & Para [0153-0155] & [0157] i.e., the terminal may transmit the PUSCH after transmitting the SRS).
While Kim suggests a LBT procedure may be performed prior to the SRS transmission (see Para’s [0009], [0133], & [0136]) and determining the cyclic prefix extension (see Para’s [0154-0155]), Kim does not explicitly disclose the claim feature of transmitting the SRS transmission with the cyclic prefix extension after performing the listen before talk (LBT) procedure. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of ETRI “UL signals and channels”, 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #100, R1-2000770.
ETRI discloses transmitting an SRS transmission with a cyclic prefix extension after performing a listen before talk (LBT) procedure (see Pg. 2 Section 2.2, “Time resource for SRS transmission” i.e., CP extension duration values C1-C3 (i.e., “cyclic prefix extension”) under Agreement… We would propose to give more flexibility, when SRS request is triggered by UE-specific DCI, the field ChannelAccess-CPext_CAPC (i.e., “cyclic prefix extension”) can be also applicable to the SRS transmission. The previous meeting (#99) has agreements applicable to PUSCH and PUCCH, i.e., the field ChannelAccess-CPext-CAPC (i.e., “cyclic prefix extension”) is applied to the SRS transmission…For other CP extensions, the indicated value (C2 and/or C3) (i.e., “cyclic prefix extension”) for PUSCH/PUCCH can be reused for SRS transmission, & Para 2 under Proposal 2 i.e., In order to allow more transmission opportunities for SRS resources, it has been considered to attempt SRS transmissions in a slot after slot n+k, where DCI is received as slot n and k is known beforehand. With the previous agreement that SRS resource can be transmitted on any symbol in the slot, the UE attempts LBT (i.e., “LBT procedure”) in slot n+k and takes the first available time resource)
(ETRI suggests the cyclic prefix extension used for the PUSCH transmission can be applicable or reused for the SRS transmission after performing an LBT procedure to give more flexibility in the network system and for allowing more transmission opportunities for SRS resources, (see Pg. 2 Section 2.2 Para 1 and Para 2 under Proposal 2)).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the SRS transmission which occurs before the PUSCH transmission without a timing gap between the SRS transmission and the PUSCH transmission as disclosed in the teachings of Kim to transmit the SRS transmission with the cyclic prefix extension after performing the LBT procedure as disclosed in the teachings of ETRI who discloses the cyclic prefix extension used for the PUSCH transmission can be applicable or reused for the SRS transmission after performing a LBT procedure, which results in the information for determining the cyclic prefix extension to be for the SRS transmission, because the motivation lies in ETRI that the cyclic prefix extension used for the PUSCH transmission can be applicable or reused for the SRS transmission after performing a LBT procedure to give more flexibility in the network system and for allowing more transmission opportunities for SRS resources.
While the combination of Kim in view of ETRI discloses the DCI including the uplink grant indicates the one or more parameters for determining a cyclic prefix extension which is for the SRS transmission (Kim, see Para’s [0154-0155]), the combination of Kim in view of ETRI does not explicitly disclose the claim feature of the uplink grant indicating the one or more parameters that indicates the listen before talk (LBT) type and information for determining the cyclic prefix extension. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Kumagai et al. US (2023/0051403).
Kumagai discloses an uplink grant indicating one or more parameters that indicates the listen before talk (LBT) type and information for determining the cyclic prefix extension (see Para [0051] i.e., LBT type, CP extension value, and CAPC may be jointly encoded to be included in the UL grant & [0061-0062] i.e., UL grant by the fallback DCI, LBT type, CP extension value, and CAPC may be jointly encoded in two bits, to be included in the UL grant)
(Kumagai suggests the UL grant including one or more bits indicates the CP extension value because it is necessary for the terminal to specify the period of the CP extension before RRC configuration is executed, and the CP extension value may be determined appropriately even before the RRC configuration is executed in order to appropriately apply the CP extension to the uplink transmission (see Para’s [0076-0077] & [0080-0082])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the uplink grant included in the DCI as disclosed in Kim in view of ETRI to indicate the one or more parameters that indicates the listen before talk (LBT) type and information for determining the cyclic prefix extension included in the uplink grant as disclosed in Kumagai which results in the determination of the cyclic prefix extension to be used for the SRS transmission, because the motivation lies in Kumagai that the UL grant including one or more bits indicates the CP extension value because it is necessary for the terminal to specify the period of the CP extension before RRC configuration is executed, and the CP extension value may be determined appropriately even before the RRC configuration is executed in order to appropriately apply the CP extension to the uplink transmission.
Regarding Claim 31, Kim discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one or more instructions for wireless communication (see Para’s [0022], [0068], & [0214-0215] i.e., The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented as program instructions executable by a variety of computers and recorded on a computer readable medium), the one or more instructions comprising: one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors (see Para’s [0022], [0068], & [0214-0215]) of a user equipment (UE) (see Fig.’s 2-3 i.e., terminal), cause the one or more processors (see Para’s [0022], [0068], & [0214-0215]) to: receive an uplink grant (In light of the applicants specification in Para [0052] i.e., “the uplink grant may identify time domain resources and/or frequency domain resources in which to perform the PUSCH transmission and the SRS transmission. In some aspects, the uplink grant is included in DCI”…Kim, see Para [0154] i.e., Referring to Fig. 13, the base station may trigger the SRS transmission of the terminal through DCI (i.e., DL-DCI or UL-DCI). When the SRS transmissions is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information (i.e., “uplink grant”) on an SRS resource and resource(s) of UL channels (i.e., PUSCH and/or PUCCH))
and a downlink grant (see Para [0152] i.e., The base station may trigger SRS transmission of the terminal by transmitting DCI including a trigger signal. The DCI may be DL-DCI (i.e., downlink grant”) for assigning a PDSCH & [0154] i.e., the base station may trigger the SRS transmission of the terminal through DCI (i.e., DL-DCI))
the downlink grant corresponding to a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission (see Para’s [0135-0136], [0152] i.e., The base station may trigger SRS transmission of the terminal by transmitting DCI including a trigger signal. The DCI may be DL-DCI (i.e., downlink grant”) for assigning a PDSCH (i.e., the downlink grant (i.e., DL-DCI) corresponds to a SRS transmission since the DL-DCI triggers an SRS transmission) & [0154] i.e., Referring to Fig. 13, the base station may trigger the SRS transmission of the terminal through DCI (i.e., DL-DCI)). When the SRS transmission is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information on an SRS resource and resources of UL channels (i.e., PUSCH) & [0167] i.e., The terminal may multiplex an SRS resource triggered by the DL-DCI (i.e., “downlink grant”) ).
And the uplink grant corresponding to a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission, (see Para [0154] i.e., the base station may trigger the SRS transmission of the terminal through DCI (i.e., DL-DCI). When the SRS transmission is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information (i.e., “uplink grant”) on an SRS resource and resource(s) of UL channel(s) i.e., PUSCH)
Wherein the SRS transmission and the PUSCH transmission are scheduled consecutively without a timing gap (see Fig. 13 i.e., SRS transmission and PUSCH transmission are arranged adjacently in time without a timing gap & Para’s [0152-0154] i.e., When the SRS transmission is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information on an SRS resource and resource(s) of UL channel(s) (i.e., PUSCH and/or PUCCH). The SRS resource and the UL channel resource may be arranged adjacently (i.e., “without a timing gap”) in time, [0157], & [0167])
and wherein DCI indicates one or more parameters including a listen before talk (LBT) type and information for determining a cyclic prefix extension, (see Para’s [0154-0155] i.e., For example, in case of the NR system, a specific field of the DCI may indicate an index value, and the index indicated by the DCI may indicate the type of LBT procedure and an extended length of a cyclic prefix (CP) (i.e., “one or more parameters”). The extended length of the CP may be one of four values)
performing an LBT procedure based on the LBT type (see Para [0136])
and transmit the SRS transmission after the listen before talk (LBT) procedure, (see Para’s [0009] i.e., performing a channel sensing operation…and transmitting the SRS to the base station based on a result of the channel sensing (i.e., “LBT procedure”), [0133], [0136], [0153-0155], [0157], & [0175] i.e., The terminal may transmit the SRS through the first symbol of the SRS resource).
Wherein the cyclic prefix extension is based at least in part on the one or more parameters (see Para’s [0155] i.e., and the index indicated by the DCI may indicate the type of LBT procedure and an extended length of a cyclic prefix (CP)…The terminal may transmit the first symbol constituting the UL channel by extending the CP of the first symbol by the value indicated by the index & [0164] i.e., the terminal applies the extended length of the CP indicated by the DCI (i.e., cyclic prefix extension value is based on the one or more parameters indicated by the DCI))
And transmit the PUSCH transmission after the SRS transmission (see Fig. 13 i.e., the PUSCH transmission occurs after the SRS transmission & Para [0153-0155] & [0157] i.e., the terminal may transmit the PUSCH after transmitting the SRS).
While Kim suggests a LBT procedure may be performed prior to the SRS transmission (see Para’s [0009], [0133], & [0136]) and determining the cyclic prefix extension (see Para’s [0154-0155]), Kim does not explicitly disclose the claim feature of transmitting the SRS transmission with the cyclic prefix extension after performing the listen before talk (LBT) procedure. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of ETRI “UL signals and channels”, 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #100, R1-2000770.
ETRI discloses transmitting an SRS transmission with a cyclic prefix extension after performing a listen before talk (LBT) procedure (see Pg. 2 Section 2.2, “Time resource for SRS transmission” i.e., CP extension duration values C1-C3 (i.e., “cyclic prefix extension”) under Agreement… We would propose to give more flexibility, when SRS request is triggered by UE-specific DCI, the field ChannelAccess-CPext_CAPC (i.e., “cyclic prefix extension”) can be also applicable to the SRS transmission. The previous meeting (#99) has agreements applicable to PUSCH and PUCCH, i.e., the field ChannelAccess-CPext-CAPC (i.e., “cyclic prefix extension”) is applied to the SRS transmission…For other CP extensions, the indicated value (C2 and/or C3) (i.e., “cyclic prefix extension”) for PUSCH/PUCCH can be reused for SRS transmission, & Para 2 under Proposal 2 i.e., In order to allow more transmission opportunities for SRS resources, it has been considered to attempt SRS transmissions in a slot after slot n+k, where DCI is received as slot n and k is known beforehand. With the previous agreement that SRS resource can be transmitted on any symbol in the slot, the UE attempts LBT (i.e., “LBT procedure”) in slot n+k and takes the first available time resource)
(ETRI suggests the cyclic prefix extension used for the PUSCH transmission can be applicable or reused for the SRS transmission after performing a LBT procedure to give more flexibility in the network system and for allowing more transmission opportunities for SRS resources, (see Pg. 2 Section 2.2 Para 1 and Para 2 under Proposal 2)).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the SRS transmission which occurs before the PUSCH transmission without a timing gap between the SRS transmission and the PUSCH transmission as disclosed in the teachings of Kim to transmit the SRS transmission with the cyclic prefix extension after performing the LBT procedure as disclosed in the teachings of ETRI who discloses the cyclic prefix extension used for the PUSCH transmission can be applicable or reused for the SRS transmission after performing a LBT procedure, which results in the information for determining the cyclic prefix extension to be for the SRS transmission, because the motivation lies in ETRI that the cyclic prefix extension used for the PUSCH transmission can be applicable or reused for the SRS transmission after performing a LBT procedure to give more flexibility in the network system and for allowing more transmission opportunities for SRS resources.
While the combination of Kim in view of ETRI discloses the DCI including the uplink grant indicates the one or more parameters for determining a cyclic prefix extension which is for the SRS transmission (Kim, see Para’s [0154-0155]), the combination of Kim in view of ETRI does not explicitly disclose the claim feature of the uplink grant indicating the one or more parameters that indicates the listen before talk (LBT) type and information for determining the cyclic prefix extension. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Kumagai et al. US (2023/0051403).
Kumagai discloses an uplink grant indicating one or more parameters that indicates the listen before talk (LBT) type and information for determining the cyclic prefix extension (see Para [0051] i.e., LBT type, CP extension value, and CAPC may be jointly encoded to be included in the UL grant & [0061-0062] i.e., UL grant by the fallback DCI, LBT type, CP extension value, and CAPC may be jointly encoded in two bits, to be included in the UL grant)
(Kumagai suggests the UL grant including one or more bits indicates the CP extension value because it is necessary for the terminal to specify the period of the CP extension before RRC configuration is executed, and the CP extension value may be determined appropriately even before the RRC configuration is executed in order to appropriately apply the CP extension to the uplink transmission (see Para’s [0076-0077] & [0080-0082])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the uplink grant included in the DCI as disclosed in Kim in view of ETRI to indicate the one or more parameters that indicates the listen before talk (LBT) type and information for determining the cyclic prefix extension included in the uplink grant as disclosed in Kumagai which results in the determination of the cyclic prefix extension to be used for the SRS transmission, because the motivation lies in Kumagai that the UL grant including one or more bits indicates the CP extension value because it is necessary for the terminal to specify the period of the CP extension before RRC configuration is executed, and the CP extension value may be determined appropriately even before the RRC configuration is executed in order to appropriately apply the CP extension to the uplink transmission.
Regarding Claim 33, the claim is directed towards a non-transitory computer-readable medium which performs the same claim features as claim 3. Therefore claim 33 is rejected as being obvious over the combination of Kim in view of ETRI, and further in view of Kumagai as in claim 3.
Regarding Claim 35, the combination of Kim in view of ETRI, and further in view of Kumagai discloses the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein the downlink grant is included in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), (Kim, see Para’s [0078] i.e., DCI is in a downlink control channel (i.e., “PDCCH”) & [0152] i.e., DL-DCI (i.e., “downlink grant”) for assigning a PDSCH)
Regarding Claim 36, the combination of Kim in view of ETRI, and further in view of Kumagai discloses the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein the SRS transmission is a periodic or semi-persistent SRS transmission, (Kim, see Para [0175] i.e., the SRS may be transmitted periodically)
Regarding Claim 38, the combination of Kim in view of ETRI discloses the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors of the UE to transmit the SRS transmission, cause the one or more processors to: transmit the SRS transmission with the cyclic prefix extension after performing the LBT procedure, (Kim, see Fig. 13 & Para [0091] i.e., the terminal may perform an LBT procedure before transmitting the SRS…In addition (i.e., another example of LBT being performed before SRS transmission), the terminal transmitting a PUSCH in an unlicensed band may perform an LBT procedure before transmitting the PUSCH. Accordingly, the terminal may transmit the SRS through resources allocated to the PUSCH. Particularly, the terminal may transmit the SRS through the same resources as the resources allocated to the DM-RS of the PUSCH. A symbol including the resources allocated to the PUSCH DM-RS may be located first among symbols of the PUSCH),
and wherein the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors of the UE, further cause the one or more processors to: transmit the PUSCH transmission without performing an additional LBT procedure based at least in part on the SRS transmission and the PUSCH transmission being scheduled consecutively without the timing gap, (Kim, see Fig. 13 i.e., SRS transmission and PUSCH transmission are arranged adjacently in time without a timing gap & Para [0091] i.e., In addition, the terminal transmitting a PUSCH in an unlicensed band may perform an LBT procedure before transmitting the PUSCH. Accordingly, the terminal may transmit the SRS through resources allocated to the PUSCH (i.e., only one LBT procedure is performed before SRS transmission which is included in PUSCH resources without performing an additional LBT procedure). Particularly, the terminal may transmit the SRS through the same resources as the resources allocated to the DM-RS of the PUSCH. A symbol including the resources allocated to the PUSCH DM-RS may be located first among symbols of the PUSCH, [0154] i.e., The SRS resource and the UL channel (i.e., “PUSCH”) resource may be arranged adjacently in time, [0157], & [0167])
The combination of Kim in view of ETRI does not disclose the claim feature of wherein the cyclic prefix extension is determined based at least in part on a symbol length for a wireless access link on which the UE and a network node communicate. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Kumagai et al. US (2023/0051403).
Kumagai discloses wherein the cyclic prefix extension is determined based at least in part on a symbol length (In light of the applicants specification in Para [0055] i.e., The one or more parameters may be indicated by a bit field that includes one or more bits (e.g., b1, b2). The value indicated by the bit field may index into a table such as Table 1. Para’s [0056-0057] of the applicants specification further discloses each possible value of the bit field may index into a row of the table. The one or more parameters may include an LBT type and information for determining the CP extension such as the CP extension equations. Therefore the “bit field identifies a symbol length” is interpreted in light of the applicants specification as the bit field indexing a row of table 1 which identifies a symbol length in the CP extension equations, (see Kumagai, Table 3 i.e., Bit field mapped to indexes 0-3 which indexes a row of the table for indicating CP extension equations which may include a symbol length & Para’s [0061-0062] i.e., in a UL grant by the fallback DCI, LBT type, CP extension value, and CAPC may be jointly encoded in two bits, to be included in the UL grant & [0092-0094] i.e., Indices 0-3 corresponding to one or more parameters such as channel access type/CP extension…Further, the length of the bit field may be configured to be 1 bit, and the index “2” or “3” may be indicated (i.e., index 2 indexes a row of table 3 which identifies a symbol length in the CP extension equation) & [0096] i.e., the terminal 20 can obtain the CP extension value with a small bit length)
for a wireless access link on which the UE and a network node communicate (see Fig. 1 i.e., DL/UL transmission over the downlink/uplink channels between the UE and the base station 10 may refer to the “wireless access link” & Para’s [0030-0031] i.e., Physical resources of a radio signal are defined in the time domain and in the frequency domain, where the time domain may be defined in terms of the number of OFDM symbols (i.e., symbols are communicated via the wireless access link), [0046],& [0160] i.e., PDSCH).
(Kumagai suggests the UL grant including the one or more bits indicates the CP extension value because it is necessary for the terminal to specify the period of the CP extension before RRC configuration is executed, and the CP extension value may be determined appropriately even before the RRC configuration is executed in order to appropriately apply the CP extension to the uplink transmission (see Para’s [0076-0077] & [0080-0082])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the cyclic prefix extension as disclosed in Kim in view of ETRI to be determined according to the cyclic prefix extension as disclosed in Kumagai who discloses wherein the cyclic prefix extension is determined based at least in part on a symbol length for a wireless access link on which the UE and a network node communicate, because the motivation lies in Kumagai that the UL grant including one or more bits indicates the CP extension value because it is necessary for the terminal to specify the period of the CP extension before RRC configuration is executed, and the CP extension value may be determined appropriately even before the RRC configuration is executed in order to appropriately apply the CP extension to the uplink transmission.
Regarding Claim 44, the combination of Kim in view of ETRI discloses the method of claim 1, but does not disclose the claim features of wherein the one or more parameters include a bit field in the uplink grant, and wherein a value indicated by the bit field indicates an index corresponding to one of a plurality of equations for determining the cyclic prefix extension. However the claim features would be rendered obvious in view of Kumagai et al. US (2023/0051403).
wherein the one or more parameters include a bit field in the uplink grant, (see Para [0051] i.e., LBT type, CP extension value, and CAPC may be jointly encoded to be included in the UL grant & [0061-0062] i.e., UL grant by the fallback DCI, LBT type, CP extension value, and CAPC may be jointly encoded in two bits, to be included in the UL grant & Para’s [0092-0093] i.e., bit field mapped to index in Table 3)
and wherein a value indicated by the bit field indicates an index corresponding to one of a plurality of equations for determining the cyclic prefix extension (see Table 3 i.e., bit field mapped to index values 0-3 which index which each correspond to CP extension equations & Para [0051] i.e., LBT type, CP extension value, and CAPC may be jointly encoded to be included in the UL grant & [0061-0062] i.e., UL grant by the fallback DCI, LBT type, CP extension value, and CAPC may be jointly encoded in two bits, to be included in the UL grant & Para’s [0092-0093] i.e., bit field mapped to index in Table 3)
(Kumagai suggests the UL grant including one or more bits indicates the CP extension value because it is necessary for the terminal to specify the period of the CP extension before RRC configuration is executed, and the CP extension value may be determined appropriately even before the RRC configuration is executed in order to appropriately apply the CP extension to the uplink transmission (see Para’s [0076-0077] & [0080-0082])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the uplink grant included in the DCI as disclosed in Kim in view of ETRI to indicate the one or more parameters that indicates the listen before talk (LBT) type and information for determining the cyclic prefix extension using the bit field included in the uplink grant as disclosed in Kumagai who discloses wherein the one or more parameters include a bit field in the uplink grant, and wherein a value indicated by the bit field indicates an index corresponding to one of a plurality of equations for determining the cyclic prefix extension, because the motivation lies in Kumagai that the UL grant including one or more bits indicates the CP extension value because it is necessary for the terminal to specify the period of the CP extension before RRC configuration is executed, and the CP extension value may be determined appropriately even before the RRC configuration is executed in order to appropriately apply the CP extension to the uplink transmission.
Regarding Claim 45, the combination of Kim in view of ETRI, and further in view of Kumagai discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the uplink grant is included in downlink control information (DCI) (Kim, see Para’s [0154-0155] i.e., UL-DCI), and wherein the information for determining the cyclic prefix extension comprises one or more variable values (Kim, see Para [0155] i.e., values C2 and C3 (i.e., “variable values”)), the one or more variable values being configured via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, (Kim, see Para [0155] i.e., the values C2 and C3 may be values (i.e., “variable values”) given to the terminal by higher layer signaling),
Regarding Claim 46, Kim discloses the method of claim 12, wherein the uplink grant schedules the SRS transmission to occur before the PUSCH transmission, (see Fig. 13, Para [0153-0155] & [0157] i.e., the terminal may transmit the PUSCH after transmitting the SRS)
and wherein the uplink grant schedules the SRS transmission and the PUSCH transmission without a timing gap between the SRS transmission and the PUSCH transmission, (see Fig. 13 i.e., SRS transmission and PUSCH transmission are arranged adjacently in time without a timing gap & Para’s [0152-0154] i.e., When the SRS transmission is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information on an SRS resource and resource(s) of UL channel(s) (i.e., PUSCH and/or PUCCH). The SRS resource and the UL channel resource may be arranged adjacently (i.e., “without a timing gap”) in time, [0157], & [0167])
Regarding Claim 47, the combination of Kim in view of ETRI, and further in view of Kumagai discloses the UE of claim 16, wherein the downlink grant corresponds to the SRS transmission and is received via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). (see Para’s [0078] i.e., The base station may transmit the trigger signal to the terminal through some of DCI fields in a downlink control channel (i.e., “PDCCH”) for assigning a PDSCH or PUSCH & [0152] i.e., The base station may trigger SRS transmission of the terminal by transmitting DCI including a trigger signal. The DCI may be DL-DCI (i.e., “downlink grant”) for assigning a PDSCH)
Regarding Claim 48, the combination of Kim in view of ETRI, and further in view of Kumagai discloses the UE of claim 16, wherein the uplink grant schedules the SRS transmission to occur before the PUSCH transmission, (see Fig. 13, Para [0153-0155] & [0157] i.e., the terminal may transmit the PUSCH after transmitting the SRS)
and wherein the uplink grant schedules the SRS transmission and the PUSCH transmission without a timing gap between the SRS transmission and the PUSCH transmission, (see Fig. 13 i.e., SRS transmission and PUSCH transmission are arranged adjacently in time without a timing gap & Para’s [0152-0154] i.e., When the SRS transmission is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information on an SRS resource and resource(s) of UL channel(s) (i.e., PUSCH and/or PUCCH). The SRS resource and the UL channel resource may be arranged adjacently (i.e., “without a timing gap”) in time, [0157], & [0167])
Regarding Claim 49, the combination of Kim in view of ETRI, and further in view of Kumagai discloses The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein the uplink grant is included in downlink control information (DCI) (Kim, see Para’s [0154-0155] i.e., UL-DCI), and wherein the information for determining the cyclic prefix extension comprises one or more variable values (Kim, see Para [0155] i.e., values C2 and C3 (i.e., “variable values”)), the one or more variable values being configured via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, (Kim, see Para [0155] i.e., the values C2 and C3 may be values (i.e., “variable values”) given to the terminal by higher layer signaling),
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. US (2020/0280465) in view of in view of ETRI “UL signals and channels”, 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #100, R1-2000770, and further in view of Kumagai et al. US (2023/0051403), as applied to claim 12 above, and further in view of Liu et al. US (2022/0159682).
Regarding Claim 14, the combination of Kim in view of ETRI, and further in view of Kumagai discloses the method of claim 12 including a transmission power determined for the SRS transmission (Kim, see Para [0156] i.e., a transmission power of the SRS and a transmission power of the PUSCH may be different from each other) and the downlink grant (Kim, see Para [0152] i.e., DL-DCI for assigning a PDSCH), but does not disclose the claim feature of wherein the downlink grant indicates a transmit power control (TPC) command for the SRS transmission. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Liu et al. US (2022/0159682).
Liu discloses wherein a DCl communication indicates a transmit power control (TPC) command for the SRS transmission (see Para [0074] i.e., DCI format 2_3 is used to transmit a group of TPC commands for transmission of sounding reference signals (SRSs) by one or multiple termina apparatuses 1).
(Liu suggests the DCI format transmits a TPC command in order for a UE to appropriately determine the transmit power for transmission of the SRS transmission based on the TPC command, (see Para [0074])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the transmission power configured for the SRS transmission including the downlink grant such as the DL-DCI as disclosed in Kim in view of ETRI, and further in view of Kumagai to be indicated by the downlink grant such as the DL-DCI, based on the teachings of Liu who discloses wherein a DCl communication indicates a transmit power control (TPC) command for an SRS transmission by a terminal, because the motivation lies in Liu that the DCI format transmits a TPC command in order for a UE to appropriately determine the transmit power for transmission of the SRS transmission based on the TPC command.
Claims 29-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. US (2020/0280465) in view of ETRI “UL signals and channels”, 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #100, R1-2000770, and further in view of Kumagai et al. US (2023/0051403) as applied to claims 1 and 16 above, and further in view of Salem US (2020/0275430).
Regarding Claims 29 and 30, the combination of Kim in view of ETRI, and further in view of Kumagai discloses the method and UE of claims 1 and 16, wherein the LBT procedure comprises a first LBT procedure (Kim, see Para’s [0009], [0133], [0136] i.e., LBT procedure for SRS transmission, & [0155]), but does not disclose and wherein a second LBT procedure is not needed for the PUSCH transmission. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Salem US (2020/0275430).
Salem discloses a first LBT procedure for a first UL transmission (see Fig. 16 i.e., step 522 i.e., UE LBT type 2 before PUCCH transmission 3 & Para [0130] i.e., LBT type 2 preceding the uplink transmission…In some embodiments, a cyclic prefix (CP) extension may be used to create a 25us gap so that LBT type 2 may be used, e.g. as shown at 522 in Fig. 16 using hatching)
wherein a second LBT procedure is not needed for a subsequent uplink transmission (see Fig. 16 i.e., determined CP extension 524 before PUCCH 4 transmission resulting in LBT procedure not needed & Para [0131] i.e., In some embodiments, CP extension may be used to create a 16us gap so that LBT sensing does not need to be used. E.g., as shown at 524 in Fig. 16 using hatching)
(Salem suggests the determined cyclic prefix extension may be used for creating a 16us time gap so that LBT sensing does not need to be used for flexibly determining whether to configure the LBT procedure based on the determined cyclic prefix extension, (see Fig. 16 & Para’s [0130-0131])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the cyclic prefix extension determined for the uplink transmission such as PUSCH after the SRS transmission in which a first LBT procedure is performed as disclosed in Kim in view of ETRI to be determined as a cyclic prefix extension such that a second LBT procedure is not needed for the PUSCH transmission based on the teachings of Salem who discloses determining a duration of a cyclic prefix extension for an uplink transmission such that a second LBT procedure is not needed for the uplink transmission, because the motivation lies in Salem that the determined cyclic prefix extension may be used for creating a 16us time gap so that LBT sensing does not need to be used for flexibly determining whether to configure the LBT procedure based on the determined cyclic prefix extension.
Claim 37 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. US (2020/0280465) in view of ETRI “UL signals and channels”, 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #100, R1-2000770, further in view of Kumagai et al. US (2023/0051403) as applied to claim 31 above, and further in view of Ookubo et al. US (2019/0116514).
Regarding Claim 37, the combination of Kim in view of ETRI, and further in view of Kumagai discloses the non-transitory medium of claim 31, but does not disclose the claim feature of wherein the SRS transmission is an aperiodic SRS transmission scheduled by the uplink grant. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Ookubo et al. US (2019/0116514).
Ookubo discloses wherein the SRS transmission is an aperiodic SRS transmission scheduled by an uplink grant (see Para [0043] i.e., a UL scheduling grant in which the aperiodic SRS is triggered).
(Ookubo suggests the UE may be configured to transmit either a periodic SRS transmission or an aperiodic SRS transmission in which the SRS is used for uplink reception quality measurement which is necessary for applying frequency scheduling, (see Para’s [0033-0034])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the SRS transmission as disclosed in Kim in view of ETRI, and further in view of Kumagai to be an SRS transmission which is an aperiodic SRS transmission scheduled by an uplink grant as disclosed in the teachings of Ookubo, because the motivation lies in Ookubo that the UE may be configured to transmit either a configured periodic SRS transmission or an aperiodic SRS transmission in which the SRS is used for uplink reception quality measurement which is necessary for applying frequency scheduling.
Claims 39 and 41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. US (2020/0280465) in view of ETRI “UL signals and channels”, 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #100, R1-2000770, and further in view of Kumagai et al. US (2023/0051403), as applied to claims 1 and 16 above, and further in view of Yang et al. US (2022/0070934).
Regarding Claims 39 and 41, the combination of Kim in view of ETRI, and further in view of Kumagai discloses the method and UE of claims 1 and 16, wherein the PUSCH transmission is transmitted based at least in part on the SRS transmission and the PUSCH transmission being scheduled consecutively without the timing gap. (see Fig. 13 i.e., SRS transmission and PUSCH transmission are arranged adjacently in time without a timing gap & Para’s [0152-0154] i.e., When the SRS transmission is triggered by the DCI, the DCI may include information on an SRS resource and resource(s) of UL channel(s) (i.e., PUSCH and/or PUCCH). The SRS resource and the UL channel resource may be arranged adjacently (i.e., “without a timing gap”) in time, [0157], & [0167]), but does not disclose the claim feature of without performing an additional LBT procedure. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Yang et al. US (2022/0070934).
Yang discloses a single LBT procedure is performed based on a PUSCH transmission and transmission of SRS adjacent to and before the PUSCH (see Para [0230]).
(Yang suggests the single LBT procedure is used for appropriately accessing the channel which results in less processing of the UE than performing an additional LBT procedure, (see Para [0090] & [0230])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the SRS transmission and the PUSCH transmission being scheduled consecutively without the timing gap as disclosed in Kim in view of ETRI, and further in view of Kumagai to be configured to use a single LBT procedure prior to the SRS transmission without performing an additional LBT procedure based on the teachings of Yang discloses a single LBT procedure is configured based on a PUSCH transmission and transmission of SRS adjacent to and before the PUSCH, because the motivation lies in Yang that the single LBT procedure is used for appropriately accessing the channel which results in less processing of the UE than performing an additional LBT procedure.
Conclusion
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.
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/ADNAN BAIG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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