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 .
DETAILED ACTION
a. A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 04/17/2026 has been entered.
Claims 30-47 in the present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, are being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
- claims 30, 33-34, 36-40, and 43-47 are amended
- claims 31, 35, 41, are canceled
b. This is a first action on the merits based on Applicant’s claims submitted on 04/17/2026.
Response to Arguments
Regarding claims 30, 32-34, 36-40, 42-47 previously rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b), claims 30, 32-34, 36-40, 42-47 have been amended according to the examiner's recommendation and thus the previous rejection has been withdrawn.
Regarding claims 30, 32, 36-38, 40, and 42-44 previously rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103, Applicant's arguments, see “Therefore, [0035] of Yoo does not teach or suggest "receiving, from a network device in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, configuration information indicating a resource for sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, wherein the resource corresponds to an SRS bandwidth, and wherein the configuration information comprises: a first parameter related to a partial set of resource blocks (RBs)," as recited in claim 30.” on page 14, filed on 04/17/2026, with respect to Yoo et al. US Pub 2022/0264575, claiming foreign application priority 2017-09-29 (hereinafter "Yoo"), have been fully considered but are moot, over the limitations of “a first parameter related to a partial set of resource blocks (RBs)”, and “determining, based on the first parameter, a first set of RBs in the SRS bandwidth”. Said limitations are newly added to the amended Claims 30, 40, and 44 and have been addressed in instant office action, as shown in section 35 USC 103 rejection below, with newly identified prior art teachings from newly found reference Natarajan et al. US Pub 2013/0229989 (hereinafter “Natarajan”), in combination with previously applied reference Park, thus rendering said Applicant’s arguments moot.
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 of this title, 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.
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Claims 30, 32, 36-38, 40, and 42-44 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Natarajan et al. US Pub 2013/0229989 (hereinafter “Natarajan”), and in view of Park et al. US Pub 2021/0203528 (hereinafter “Park”).
Regarding claim 30 (Currently Amended)
Natarajan discloses a method (“Sounding Reference Signals (SRS) are transmitted by UEs to enable an eNB to perform, e.g., frequency-selective scheduling (FSS) in the uplink or TM 7/8 beamforming in TDD downlink.” [0021]) performed by a terminal device (“UE 110-1” in Fig. 1; [0038]), the method comprising:
receiving, from a network device (“network 100”in Fig. 1; [0038]) in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, configuration information indicating a resource for sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission (“any SRS reconfiguration (e.g., due to change in SRS BW or location) is conveyed through RRC to the UE” [0043]), wherein the resource corresponds to an SRS bandwidth (“The bandwidth (BW) of the SRS transmitted by a UE is determined based on the UE's transmission power capability, path loss and channel coherence time.” [0021]), and wherein the configuration information comprises:
a first parameter related to a partial set of resource blocks (RBs); and a transmission comb number (“the SRS bandwidth in a single transmission opportunity is at least 4 RBs. Note that each RB corresponds to 12 contiguous subcarriers (out of which only 6 of them--either even or odd subcarriers as determined by the comb--are used for SRS transmission in a SRS resource) in this example.” [0051]),
determining, based on the first parameter, a first set of RBs in the SRS bandwidth, wherein the first set of RBs corresponds to a partial set of RBs within the SRS bandwidth (“In block 420, the eNB 190 partitions the number of SRS resources for each possible SRS bandwidth in approximately the same ratio of the user BW.sub.PL distribution. For example, let the possible SRS bandwidths configured in the cell be 4, 8, 16, and 48 RBs. Let the corresponding UE distribution be in the ratio of 2:1:1:1 respectively. Let the SRS transmission period be set to 5 ms for all UEs. Since there are five possible subframe offsets with two transmission combs each, there are a total of 5*2=10 possible orthogonal SRS BW allocations of 48 RBs each (ignoring cyclic shifts as only the same BW UEs can overlap, in an exemplary embodiment, in a SRS resource, each of them using a different cyclic shift).” [0056]);
Natarajan does not specifically teach determining, based on a transmission comb number applied to the at least one SRS bandwidth, a first SRS sequence; and transmitting, to the network device, the first SRS sequence on the first set of RBs.
In an analogous art, Park discloses determining, based on a transmission comb number applied to the at least one SRS bandwidth, a first SRS sequence (“In particular, in the Rel-8 LTE system, the minimum resource allocation number of the SRS is 4 RBs and, when the transmission comb is 2, 24 subcarriers are present in the minimum SRS resource size, thereby configuring a 24-length SRS sequence.” [0303]); and
transmitting, to the network device, the first SRS sequence on the first set of RBs (“However, as shown in FIGS. 22 to 24, when the SRS is transmitted according to the block-IFDMA method, the minimum resource allocation size of the SRS is changed and thus setting of a new L value is necessary. For example, when 10 interlaces of 100 RBs within 20 MHz are supported, the minimum resource allocation size for the SRS becomes 10 RBs and, even in this case, the length of the SRS sequence is set to 30 in order to support four transmission combs.” [0305]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Natarajan’s method for resource allocation for sounding reference signals, to include Park’s method for transmitting/receiving SRS, in order to efficiently facilitate SRS transmissions (Park [0007-0009]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Park’s method for transmitting/receiving SRS into Natarajan’s method for resource allocation for sounding reference signals since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 32
Natarajan, as modified by Park, previously discloses the method of claim 30,
Park further discloses wherein a length of the first SRS sequence is a multiple of 6 (“In particular, in the Rel-8 LTE system, the minimum resource allocation number of the SRS is 4 RBs and, when the transmission comb is 2, 24 subcarriers are present in the minimum SRS resource size, thereby configuring a 24-length SRS sequence (i.e. 24 is a multiple of 6)” [0303]).
Regarding claim 36 (Currently Amended)
Natarajan, as modified by Park, previously discloses the method of claim 30, further comprising:
Park further discloses determining, based on a transmission comb number applied to the SRS bandwidth, a maximum number of cyclic shifts supported in the SRS bandwidth (“In the present invention, when the SRS is transmitted using one of N interlace resources (according to the block-IFDMA method) and the cyclic shift (CS) applied to the SRS is represented by α=2π.Math.n.sub.CS/L (where, n.sub.CS is a cyclic shift parameter), the L value of the CS to be applied to the SRS is differently set according to a repetition factor (RPF) applied in the interlace resources.” [0306]).
Regarding claim 37 (Currently Amended)
Natarajan, as modified by Park, previously discloses the method of claim 30, wherein transmitting the SRS sequence comprises:
Park further discloses determining, based on a transmission comb number applied to the SRS bandwidth, a plurality of subcarriers in the first set of RBs (“In particular, in the Rel-8 LTE system, the minimum resource allocation number of the SRS is 4 RBs and, when the transmission comb is 2, 24 subcarriers are present in the minimum SRS resource size, thereby configuring a 24-length SRS sequence.” [0303]); and
transmitting, to the network device, the first SRS sequence on the plurality of subcarriers (“Considering this, the CS applied to the SRS may be defined as α=2π.Math.n.sub.CS/8, and the base station may indicate the CS applied to the SRS among 8 different CSs through the cyclic shift parameter.” [0303]).
Regarding claim 38 (Currently Amended)
Natarajan, as modified by Park, previously discloses the method of claim 30,
Natarajan further discloses wherein a bandwidth configured as the resource for the SRS transmission corresponds to B RBs, wherein a number of RBs within the SRS bandwidth is (N+G), and the first set of RBs is applied to B/(N+G) SRS bandwidths within the resource for the SRS transmission, and wherein B is a positive integer, N is a positive integer, and G is a positive integer (“An example is presented in FIG. 5, which is an illustration of a (partitioned) SRS resource space 500 and how a UE is mapped into the resource space based on the flowchart of FIG. 4. SRS resource spaces 300 and 500 are similar, and only differences are described herein. Each 48-RB SRS resource 510-1, 510-2, 510-3, and 510-4 (corresponding to subframe offset and transmission combs of (0,0), (0,1), (1,0), and (1,1), respectively) in this example is reserved for (e.g., partitioned to) each of the four possible SRS bandwidths (4, 8, 16, and 48 RBs respectively). That is, the 48-RB SRS resource 510-1 is reserved for SRS BW of 4; the 48-RB SRS resource 510-2 is reserved for SRS BW of 8; the 48-RB SRS resource 510-3 is reserved for SRS BW of 16; and the 48-RB SRS resource 510-4 is reserved for SRS BW of 48.” [0062]).
Regarding claim 40 (Currently Amended)
Natarajan discloses a method (“the eNB 190 partitions the number of SRS resources for each possible SRS bandwidth” [0056]) performed by a network device (“network 100”in Fig. 1; [0038]), comprising:
transmitting, to a terminal device (“UE 110-1” in Fig. 1; [0038]) in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, configuration information indicating a resource for sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission,
wherein the resource corresponds to an SRS bandwidth,
wherein the configuration information comprises:
a first parameter related to a partial set of resource blocks (RBs); and
a transmission comb number,
wherein a first set of RBs in the SRS bandwidth is determined based on the first parameter, and
wherein the first set of RBs corresponds to a partial set of RBs within the SRS bandwidth, and wherein a first SRS sequence is determined based on the transmission comb number applied to the SRS bandwidth; and
receiving, from the terminal device, the first SRS sequence on the first set of RBs.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 40 are reciprocal to the scope and subject matter as claimed in method claim 30. Therefore method claim 40 corresponds to method claim 30 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 30 rejection above.
Regarding claim 42
The method of claim 40, wherein a length of the first SRS sequence is a multiple of 6.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 42 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in method claim 32. Therefore method claim 42 corresponds to method claim 32 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 32 rejection above.
Regarding claim 43 (Currently Amended)
The method of claim 40, wherein a bandwidth configured as the resource for the SRS transmission corresponds to B RBs, wherein a number of RBs within the SRS bandwidth is (N+G), and the first set of RBs is applied to B/(N+G) SRS bandwidths within the resource for the SRS transmission, and wherein B is a positive integer, N is a positive integer, and G is a positive integer.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 43 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in method claim 38. Therefore method claim 43 corresponds to method claim 38 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 38 rejection above.
Regarding claim 44 (Currently Amended)
Natarajan discloses a terminal device (“UE 110-1” in Fig. 1; [0038]) comprising:
a processor (“one or more processors 120” in Fig. 1; [0038]) configured to cause the terminal device to:
receive, from a network device (“network 100”in Fig. 1; [0038]) in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, configuration information indicating a resource for sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, wherein the resource corresponds to an SRS bandwidth,
wherein the configuration information comprises:
a first parameter related to a partial set of resource blocks (RBs); and
a transmission comb number, and
determine, based on the first parameter, a first set of RBs in the SRS bandwidth,
wherein the first set of RBs corresponds to a partial set of RBs within the SRS bandwidth;
determine, based on the transmission comb number applied to the SRS bandwidth, a first SRS sequence; and
transmit, to the network device, the first SRS sequence on the first set of RBs.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 44 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 30. Therefore apparatus claim 44 corresponds to method claim 30 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 30 rejection above.
Claims 33, 34, and 45-47 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Natarajan, in view of Park, and further in view LG NPL “On SRS design and related operations”, 3GPP R1-1710298, June 27-30, 2017 (hereinafter “LG”).
Regarding claim 33 (Currently Amended)
Natarajan, as modified by Park, previously discloses the method of claim 30,
Natarajan and Park do not specifically teach wherein the SRS bandwidth comprises a first number of continuous RBs, wherein the first set of RBs comprises a second number of continuous RBs, and wherein the second number is less than the first number.
In an analogous art, LG discloses wherein the SRS bandwidth comprises a first number of continuous RBs, wherein the first set of RBs comprises a second number of continuous RBs, and wherein the second number is less than the first number (“For evaluation of the combination of concatenated block ZC and truncation ZC base sequence generation, a block length is formed by 20 RB length (i.e. a first number of continuous RBs). Which block would be truncated is determined with respect to the SRS BW. For example, if SRS BW is 35RB, then number of block for the SRS BW is 2 and ZC base sequence is generated for the each block. After all, 2nd block would have 15 RB length (i.e. a second number of continuous RBs) by getting rid of the last 5RB sequence. Therefore, the 35RB SRS BW consists of 2 concatenated blocks of which first block has 20 RB length and second block has 15 RB length (i.e. the second number is less than the first number) by the truncation.” On page 3, section 2).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Natarajan’s method for resource allocation for sounding reference signals, as modified by Park, to include LG’s SRS sequence design, in order to provide more flexibility of using SRS resources (LG, Section 2 – Discussion on SRS sequence design). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate LG’s SRS sequence design into Natarajan’s method for resource allocation for sounding reference signals since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 34 (Currently Amended)
Natarajan, as modified by Park and LG, previously discloses the method of claim 33, wherein the configuration information indicates at least one of the following:
LG further discloses a number of the SRS bandwidth; the first number; and the second number (“For evaluation of the combination of concatenated block ZC and truncation ZC base sequence generation, a block length is formed by 20 RB length (i.e. a first number of continuous RBs). Which block would be truncated is determined with respect to the SRS BW. For example, if SRS BW is 35RB, then number of block for the SRS BW is 2 and ZC base sequence is generated for the each block. After all, 2nd block would have 15 RB length (i.e. a second number of continuous RBs) by getting rid of the last 5RB sequence. Therefore, the 35RB SRS BW consists of 2 concatenated blocks of which first block has 20 RB length and second block has 15 RB length (i.e. the second number is less than the first number) by the truncation.” On page 3, section 2).
Regarding claim 45 (Currently Amended)
Natarajan, as modified by Park, previously discloses the method of claim 30, further comprising:
Natarajan and Park do not specifically teach determining a second set of RBs in a second SRS bandwidth based on a second parameter related to the SRS transmission, wherein the second set of RBs corresponds to a part of RBs in the second SRS bandwidth, wherein the second SRS bandwidth is adjacent to the SRS bandwidth, and wherein the first set of RBs and the second set of RBs are separated by a third number of RBs; and transmitting, to the network device, a second SRS sequence on the second set of RBs.
In an analogous art, LG discloses determining a second set of RBs in a second SRS bandwidth (“The SRS BWs are 5, 10, 15, 20, 35 and 40 RB.” on page 3, section 2) based on a second parameter related to the SRS transmission (“However, selection of configurable SRS BWs should be restricted by multiple of configured block lengths.” On page 4, section 2), wherein the second set of RBs corresponds to a part of RBs in the second SRS bandwidth (“For evaluation of the combination of concatenated block ZC and truncation ZC base sequence generation, a block length is formed by 20 RB length. Which block would be truncated is determined with respect to the SRS BW. For example, if SRS BW is 35RB, then number of block for the SRS BW is 2 and ZC base sequence is generated for the each block. After all, 2nd block would have 15 RB length by getting rid of the last 5RB sequence. Therefore, the 35RB SRS BW consists of 2 concatenated blocks of which first block has 20 RB length and second block has 15RB length by the truncation.” On page 3, section 2), wherein the second SRS bandwidth is adjacent (i.e. “concatenated to”) to the first SRS bandwidth (“Therefore, the 35RB SRS BW consists of 2 concatenated blocks of which first block has 20 RB length and second block has 15RB length by the truncation.” On page 3, section 2), and wherein the first set of RBs and the second set of RBs (“For instance, minimum block length and target block length is respectively configured by 5 RB and 10 RB. The starting position of SRS resource is 15 RB and SRS BW is 35 RB. Therefore, the number of blocks is 2 and the parameter setting per a block is conducted. By the way the last 5RB in 2nd block generated over the target block length 10RB is ruled out and the 2 blocks are concatenated. After all, the SRS resource is allocated from 15RB to 50RB.” On page 5, section 2) are separated by a third number of RBs (i.e. “SRS frequency hopping” on pages 6-7, section 4); and transmitting (i.e. “UL”), to the network device (e.g. “gNB”), a second SRS sequence on the second set of RBs (“the UE is assumed to have different Tx beams, so that the value of P or related information may need to be initially delivered to gNB as UE capability signaling for proper configurations on SRS resource(s) (e.g. SRS sequence, RBs) for UL beam management.” On page 7, section 5).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Natarajan’s method for resource allocation for sounding reference signals, as modified by Park, to include LG’s SRS sequence design, in order to provide more flexibility of using SRS resources (LG, Section 2 – Discussion on SRS sequence design). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate LG’s SRS sequence design into Natarajan’s method for resource allocation for sounding reference signals since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 46 (Currently Amended)
The method of claim 40, wherein a second set of RBs in a second SRS bandwidth is determined based on a second parameter related to the SRS transmission, wherein the second set of RBs corresponds to a part of RBs in the second SRS bandwidth, wherein the second SRS bandwidth is adjacent to the SRS bandwidth, wherein the first set of RBs and the second set of RBs are separated by a third number of RBs, and wherein the method further comprises: transmitting, to the network device, a second SRS sequence on the second set of RBs.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 46 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in method claim 45. Therefore method claim 46 corresponds to method claim 45 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 45 rejection above.
Regarding claim 47 (Currently Amended)
The terminal device of claim 44, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the terminal device to: determine a second set of RBs in a second SRS bandwidth based on a second parameter related to the SRS transmission, wherein the second set of RBs corresponds to a part of RBs in the second SRS bandwidth, wherein the second SRS bandwidth is adjacent to the SRS bandwidth, and wherein the first set of RBs and the second set of RBs are separated by a third number of RBs; and transmit, to the network device, a second SRS sequence on the second set of RBs.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 47 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 45. Therefore apparatus claim 47 corresponds to method claim 45 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 45 rejection above.
Claim 39 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Natarajan, in view of Park, and further in view Choi et al. US Pub 2019/0200359 (hereinafter “Choi”).
Regarding claim 39 (Currently Amended)
Natarajan, as modified by Park, previously discloses the method of claim 30,
Natarajan and Park do not specifically teach wherein a minimum value of a number of RBs in the first set of RBs is based on a value of the transmission comb number, wherein the minimum value of the number of RBs in the first set of RBs is 1 in a case where the value of the transmission comb number is 2, wherein the minimum value of the number of RBs in the first set of RBs is 2 in a case where the value of the transmission comb number is 4, and wherein the minimum value of the number of RBs in the first set of RBs is 4 in a case where the value of the transmission comb number is 8.
In an analogous art, Choi discloses wherein a minimum value of a number of RBs in the first set of RBs is based on a value of the transmission comb number, wherein the minimum value of the number of RBs in the first set of RBs is 1 in a case where the value of the transmission comb number is 2, wherein the minimum value of the number of RBs in the first set of RBs is 2 in a case where the value of the transmission comb number is 4, and wherein the minimum value of the number of RBs in the first set of RBs is 4 in a case where the value of the transmission comb number is 8 (“In FIG. 10, it is assumed that an xSRS unit has a comb set to 4 (i.e., comb=4) and a length of 2 RBs. In addition, it is assumed that four UEs are allocated resources. If the length of the xSRS unit is changed to 1 RB (12 REs), a BS changes the comb to 2 (i.e., comb=2) and allocates resources for two UEs.” [103]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Natarajan’s method for resource allocation for sounding reference signals, as modified by Park, to include Choi’s method of allocating changed xSRS resources, in order to provide more flexibility of using SRS resources (Choi [0102-0103]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Choi’s method of allocating changed xSRS resources into Natarajan’s method for resource allocation for sounding reference signals since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHUONG M NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-8184. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00am - 6:30pm.
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/CHUONG M NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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