DETAILED ACTION
Applicant's submission filed on 3 April 2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 20, 27, and 46 are currently amended; claims 2-4, 6, 7, 10-14, 16, 18, 21-26, 28-30, 32-33, 36-40, 42, 44, and 47-53 are cancelled; claims 5, 8, 9, 15, 17, 19, 31, 34, 35, 41, 43, and 45 are previously presented; no claims have been added. Claims 1, 5, 8, 9, 15, 17, 19, 20, 27, 31, 34, 35, 41, 43, 45, and 46 are pending and ready for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 6 February 2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 20, 27, and 46 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sridharan et al. (US 2020/0099490 A1), hereafter referred Sridharan in view of Laghate et al. (US 2020/0112926 A1), hereafter referred Laghate, in view of Vintola et al. (US 2018/0368078 A1), hereafter referred Vintola, further in view of Park et al. (US 2022/0015118 A1), hereafter referred Park. Sridharan was cited by applicant’s IDS filed 28 March 2025.
Regarding claim 1, Sridharan teaches an apparatus for transmitting a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set for multiple usages, comprising:
a receiver configured to receive one or more configuration parameters of the SRS resource set from a wireless network node (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0053]-[0055]; a base station may configure a UE with one or more SRS resource sets to allocate resources for SRS transmissions by the UE, where a configuration for SRS resource sets may be indicated in a radio resource control (RRC) message such as an RRC configuration message);
a processor configured to determine, based on the one or more configuration parameters, one usage from the plurality of usages for the plurality of SRS resources within the SRS resource set (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0053]-[0056]; the configuration for an SRS resource set may indicate a use case (e.g. in an SRS-SetUse information element) for the SRS resource set which may have a use case of antenna switching, codebook, non-codebook, beam management, and/or the like), wherein:
the plurality of usages comprises an antenna switching usage, a codebook usage, a non-codebook usage, and a beam management usage (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0053]-[0056]; an SRS resource set may have a use case of antenna switching, codebook, non-codebook, beam management, and/or the like),
each SRS resource of the plurality of SRS resources has at least one SRS antenna port and is configured for the multiple usages, and the multiple usages are configured for the SRS resource set and are applied for each of the plurality of SRS resources within the SRS resource set (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0055]-[0060]; an SRS resource may include one or more antenna ports on which an SRS is to be transmitted, where the configuration for an SRS resource set may indicate one or more antenna ports on which the SRS is to be transmitted in the one or more time-frequency resources and also indicate a use case for the SRS resource set, and different SRS resource sets can be indicated to the UE (e.g. having different use cases)); and
a transmitter configured to transmit an SRS using the plurality of SRS resources configured for the multiple usages (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0057]-[0061]; examples of a first SRS resource set has an antenna switching use case and transmitted using SRS resource A (a first time-frequency resource using antenna port 0 and antenna port 1) and SRS Resource B (a second time-frequency resource using antenna port 2 and antenna port 3) based on the configuration of the SRS resource set).
Sridharan does not expressly teach determine, based on the one or more configuration parameters, multiple usages from the plurality of usages for each of SRS resources within the SRS resource set, wherein the multiple usages comprise two or more of the plurality of usages and are configured for the SRS resource set and are applied for each of the plurality of SRS resources within the SRS resource set.
However, Laghate teaches determine, based on the one or more configuration parameters, multiple usages from the plurality of usages for each of SRS resources within the SRS resource set, wherein the multiple usages comprise two or more of the plurality of usages and are configured for the SRS resource set and are applied for each of the plurality of SRS resources within the SRS resource set (Laghate, Fig. 8, [0141]-[0143] and [0147]-[0149]; different SRS resource sets indicated to the UE having different uses may overlap, such that a first SRS resource set 1 has antenna switching usage includes the first SRS resource A and the second SRS resource B. A second SRS resource set 2 may have codebook usage, and the codebook SRS resource set 2 includes only the first SRS resource A. This results in the first SRS resource A due to the overlap of the SRS resource sets having both antenna switching usage and codebook usage that can be transmitted using antenna port 0 and antenna port 1. The examiner contends that this example illustrates that though Laghate has them as two different SRS resource sets 1 and 2, SRS resource A can be in its own SRS resource set that has multiple usages of antenna switching usage and codebook usage based on the configurations indicating the SRS resource sets to the UE and how they may overlap in this type of manner that the overlapping SRS resources are in essence a SRS resource set with multiple usages for each SRS resource in that SRS resource set).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan to include the above recited limitations as taught by Laghate in order to implement distinct UE beam pairs to satisfy MPE constraints while permitting the base station to correctly perform channel estimation (Laghate, [0144]).
Sridharan in view of Laghate does not expressly teach the transmitter configured to transmit capability information indicating a ratio, less than or equal to 1, between a first transmit power corresponding to a first set of antenna ports and a second transmit power corresponding to a second set of antenna ports.
However, Vintola teaches the transmitter configured to transmit capability information indicating a ratio, less than or equal to 1, between a first transmit power corresponding to a first set of antenna ports and a second transmit power corresponding to a second set of antenna ports (Vintola, [0106]-[0110]; the network prefers for the UE to maintain the same power difference between antennas regardless of the power level until a maximum power is reached and the network entity may receive, from the UE, a second indication of whether the UE is capable of compensating for the power loss associated with transmitting at least one first SRS via at least one first antenna using an amplifier of a transmit chain configured for transmissions using a second antenna, where the network may know the power loss differences between the routing of signals to each of the antenna already such as the 3 dB set for using the Rx antennas in transmission compared to using the Tx antennas).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan in view of Laghate to include the above recited limitations as taught by Vintola in order to control power of SRS transmissions (Vintola, [0101]).
While Sridharan teaches the plurality of usages of SRS resources includes {‘antenna switching’, ‘codebook’, ‘non-codebook’, ‘beam management’} (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0053]-[0056]; an SRS resource set may have a use case of antenna switching, codebook, non-codebook, beam management, and/or the like), Sridharan in view of Laghate further in view of Vintola does not expressly teach wherein the one or more configuration parameters of the SRS resource set comprises a bitmap configured to map the plurality of usages to a plurality of SRS resources.
However, Park teaches wherein the one or more configuration parameters of the SRS resource set comprises a bitmap configured to map the plurality of usages to a plurality of SRS resources (Park, [0223]-[0227]; indicating an association relationship (and/or linkage) between the SRS resource sets for the usage of the codebook based and/or non-codebook based PUSCH transmission and the SRS resources within each SRS resource set in relation to the SRS resource sets according to the configuration of the SRS resource sets for the specific BM usage and the SRS resources within each SRS resource set, where signaling related to the linkage relationship between the SRS resource sets configured for the usage of the codebook and/or non-codebook and the SRS resource sets configured for the BM usage may be configured, defined, or indicated. The examiner contends that this illustrates signaling that indicates SRS resource sets that have usage in either codebook or non-codebook as well as BM usage which is beam management usage which indicates a plurality of usages for a single SRS resource set, where the signaling is effectively mapped as the claimed bitmap).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan in view of Laghate further in view of Vintola to include the above recited limitations as taught by Park in order to configure panel-specific UL transmission of the UE (Park, [0224]).
Regarding claim 20, Sridharan teaches an apparatus for receiving a sounding reference signal (SRS) from an SRS resource set configured for multiple usages, comprising:
a transmitter configured to transmit one or more configuration parameters of one or more SRS resource sets to a user equipment (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0053]-[0055]; a base station may configure a UE with one or more SRS resource sets to allocate resources for SRS transmissions by the UE, where a configuration for SRS resource sets may be indicated in a radio resource control (RRC) message such as an RRC configuration message); and
a receiver configured to receive the SRS in each of a plurality of SRS resources in the SRS resource set from the user equipment (UE) (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0057]-[0061]; examples of a first SRS resource set has an antenna switching use case and transmitted using SRS resource A (a first time-frequency resource using antenna port 0 and antenna port 1) and SRS Resource B (a second time-frequency resource using antenna port 2 and antenna port 3) based on the configuration of the SRS resource set), wherein each SRS resource of the plurality of SRS resources has at least one SRS antenna port and is configured for multiple usages from a plurality of usages comprising an antenna switching usage, a codebook usage, a non-codebook usage, and a beam management usage (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0053]-[0056]; an SRS resource set may have a use case of antenna switching, codebook, non-codebook, beam management, and/or the like).
Sridharan does not expressly teach wherein the multiple usages comprise two or more of the plurality of usages and are configured for the SRS resource set and are applied for each of the plurality of SRS resources within the SRS resource set.
However, Laghate teaches wherein the multiple usages comprise two or more of the plurality of usages and are configured for the SRS resource set and are applied for each of the plurality of SRS resources within the SRS resource set (Laghate, Fig. 8, [0141]-[0143] and [0147]-[0149]; different SRS resource sets indicated to the UE having different uses may overlap, such that a first SRS resource set 1 has antenna switching usage includes the first SRS resource A and the second SRS resource B. A second SRS resource set 2 may have codebook usage, and the codebook SRS resource set 2 includes only the first SRS resource A. This results in the first SRS resource A due to the overlap of the SRS resource sets having both antenna switching usage and codebook usage that can be transmitted using antenna port 0 and antenna port 1. The examiner contends that this example illustrates that though Laghate has them as two different SRS resource sets 1 and 2, SRS resource A can be in its own SRS resource set that has multiple usages of antenna switching usage and codebook usage based on the configurations indicating the SRS resource sets to the UE and how they may overlap in this type of manner that the overlapping SRS resources are in essence a SRS resource set with multiple usages for each SRS resource in that SRS resource set).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan to include the above recited limitations as taught by Laghate in order to implement distinct UE beam pairs to satisfy MPE constraints while permitting the base station to correctly perform channel estimation (Laghate, [0144]).
Sridharan in view of Laghate does not expressly teach capability information indicating a ratio, less than or equal to 1, between a first transmit power corresponding to a first set of antenna ports and a second transmit power corresponding to a second set of antenna ports.
However, Vintola teaches capability information indicating a ratio, less than or equal to 1, between a first transmit power corresponding to a first set of antenna ports and a second transmit power corresponding to a second set of antenna ports (Vintola, [0106]-[0110]; the network prefers for the UE to maintain the same power difference between antennas regardless of the power level until a maximum power is reached and the network entity may receive, from the UE, a second indication of whether the UE is capable of compensating for the power loss associated with transmitting at least one first SRS via at least one first antenna using an amplifier of a transmit chain configured for transmissions using a second antenna, where the network may know the power loss differences between the routing of signals to each of the antenna already such as the 3 dB set for using the Rx antennas in transmission compared to using the Tx antennas).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan in view of Laghate to include the above recited limitations as taught by Vintola in order to control power of SRS transmissions (Vintola, [0101]).
While Sridharan teaches the plurality of usages of SRS resources includes {‘antenna switching’, ‘codebook’, ‘non-codebook’, ‘beam management’} (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0053]-[0056]; an SRS resource set may have a use case of antenna switching, codebook, non-codebook, beam management, and/or the like), Sridharan in view of Laghate further in view of Vintola does not expressly teach wherein the one or more configuration parameters of the SRS resource set comprises a bitmap configured to map the plurality of usages to a plurality of SRS resources.
However, Park teaches wherein the one or more configuration parameters of the SRS resource set comprises a bitmap configured to map the plurality of usages to a plurality of SRS resources (Park, [0223]-[0227]; indicating an association relationship (and/or linkage) between the SRS resource sets for the usage of the codebook based and/or non-codebook based PUSCH transmission and the SRS resources within each SRS resource set in relation to the SRS resource sets according to the configuration of the SRS resource sets for the specific BM usage and the SRS resources within each SRS resource set, where signaling related to the linkage relationship between the SRS resource sets configured for the usage of the codebook and/or non-codebook and the SRS resource sets configured for the BM usage may be configured, defined, or indicated. The examiner contends that this illustrates signaling that indicates SRS resource sets that have usage in either codebook or non-codebook as well as BM usage which is beam management usage which indicates a plurality of usages for a single SRS resource set, where the signaling is effectively mapped as the claimed bitmap).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan in view of Laghate further in view of Vintola to include the above recited limitations as taught by Park in order to configure panel-specific UL transmission of the UE (Park, [0224]).
Regarding claim 27, Sridharan teaches a method for transmitting a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set for multiple usages, comprising:
receiving one or more configuration parameters of the SRS resource set from a wireless network node (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0053]-[0055]; a base station may configure a UE with one or more SRS resource sets to allocate resources for SRS transmissions by the UE, where a configuration for SRS resource sets may be indicated in a radio resource control (RRC) message such as an RRC configuration message);
determining, based on the one or more configuration parameters, multiple usages from a plurality of usages for a plurality of SRS resources within the SRS resource set (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0053]-[0056]; the configuration for an SRS resource set may indicate a use case (e.g. in an SRS-SetUse information element) for the SRS resource set which may have a use case of antenna switching, codebook, non-codebook, beam management, and/or the like)), wherein:
the plurality of usages comprises an antenna switching usage, a codebook usage, a non-codebook usage, and a beam management usage (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0053]-[0056]; an SRS resource set may have a use case of antenna switching, codebook, non-codebook, beam management, and/or the like),
each SRS resource of the plurality of SRS resources has at least one SRS antenna port and is configured for the multiple usages (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0055]-[0060]; an SRS resource may include one or more antenna ports on which an SRS is to be transmitted, where the configuration for an SRS resource set may indicate one or more antenna ports on which the SRS is to be transmitted in the one or more time-frequency resources and also indicate a use case for the SRS resource set, and different SRS resource sets can be indicated to the UE (e.g. having different use cases)); and
transmitting an SRS using each of the plurality of SRS resources configured for the multiple usages (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0057]-[0061]; examples of a first SRS resource set has an antenna switching use case and transmitted using SRS resource A (a first time-frequency resource using antenna port 0 and antenna port 1) and SRS Resource B (a second time-frequency resource using antenna port 2 and antenna port 3) based on the configuration of the SRS resource set).
Sridharan does not expressly teach wherein the multiple usages comprise two or more of the plurality of usages and are configured for the SRS resource set and are applied for each of the plurality of SRS resources within the SRS resource set.
However, Laghate teaches wherein the multiple usages comprise two or more of the plurality of usages and are configured for the SRS resource set and are applied for each of the plurality of SRS resources within the SRS resource set (Laghate, Fig. 8, [0141]-[0143] and [0147]-[0149]; different SRS resource sets indicated to the UE having different uses may overlap, such that a first SRS resource set 1 has antenna switching usage includes the first SRS resource A and the second SRS resource B. A second SRS resource set 2 may have codebook usage, and the codebook SRS resource set 2 includes only the first SRS resource A. This results in the first SRS resource A due to the overlap of the SRS resource sets having both antenna switching usage and codebook usage that can be transmitted using antenna port 0 and antenna port 1. The examiner contends that this example illustrates that though Laghate has them as two different SRS resource sets 1 and 2, SRS resource A can be in its own SRS resource set that has multiple usages of antenna switching usage and codebook usage based on the configurations indicating the SRS resource sets to the UE and how they may overlap in this type of manner that the overlapping SRS resources are in essence a SRS resource set with multiple usages for each SRS resource in that SRS resource set).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan to include the above recited limitations as taught by Laghate in order to implement distinct UE beam pairs to satisfy MPE constraints while permitting the base station to correctly perform channel estimation (Laghate, [0144]).
Sridharan in view of Laghate does not expressly teach capability information indicating a ratio, less than or equal to 1, between a first transmit power corresponding to a first set of antenna ports and a second transmit power corresponding to a second set of antenna ports.
However, Vintola teaches capability information indicating a ratio, less than or equal to 1, between a first transmit power corresponding to a first set of antenna ports and a second transmit power corresponding to a second set of antenna ports (Vintola, [0106]-[0110]; the network prefers for the UE to maintain the same power difference between antennas regardless of the power level until a maximum power is reached and the network entity may receive, from the UE, a second indication of whether the UE is capable of compensating for the power loss associated with transmitting at least one first SRS via at least one first antenna using an amplifier of a transmit chain configured for transmissions using a second antenna, where the network may know the power loss differences between the routing of signals to each of the antenna already such as the 3 dB set for using the Rx antennas in transmission compared to using the Tx antennas).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan in view of Laghate to include the above recited limitations as taught by Vintola in order to control power of SRS transmissions (Vintola, [0101]).
While Sridharan teaches the plurality of usages of SRS resources includes {‘antenna switching’, ‘codebook’, ‘non-codebook’, ‘beam management’} (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0053]-[0056]; an SRS resource set may have a use case of antenna switching, codebook, non-codebook, beam management, and/or the like), Sridharan in view of Laghate further in view of Vintola does not expressly teach wherein the one or more configuration parameters of the SRS resource set comprises a bitmap configured to map the plurality of usages to a plurality of SRS resources.
However, Park teaches wherein the one or more configuration parameters of the SRS resource set comprises a bitmap configured to map the plurality of usages to a plurality of SRS resources (Park, [0223]-[0227]; indicating an association relationship (and/or linkage) between the SRS resource sets for the usage of the codebook based and/or non-codebook based PUSCH transmission and the SRS resources within each SRS resource set in relation to the SRS resource sets according to the configuration of the SRS resource sets for the specific BM usage and the SRS resources within each SRS resource set, where signaling related to the linkage relationship between the SRS resource sets configured for the usage of the codebook and/or non-codebook and the SRS resource sets configured for the BM usage may be configured, defined, or indicated. The examiner contends that this illustrates signaling that indicates SRS resource sets that have usage in either codebook or non-codebook as well as BM usage which is beam management usage which indicates a plurality of usages for a single SRS resource set, where the signaling is effectively mapped as the claimed bitmap).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan in view of Laghate further in view of Vintola to include the above recited limitations as taught by Park in order to configure panel-specific UL transmission of the UE (Park, [0224]).
Regarding claim 46, Sridharan teaches a method for receiving a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set configured for multiple usages, comprising:
transmitting one or more configuration parameters to a user equipment (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0053]-[0055]; a base station may configure a UE with one or more SRS resource sets to allocate resources for SRS transmissions by the UE, where a configuration for SRS resource sets may be indicated in a radio resource control (RRC) message such as an RRC configuration message); and
receiving the SRS in each of a plurality of SRS resources in the SRS resource set from the user equipment (UE) (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0057]-[0061]; examples of a first SRS resource set has an antenna switching use case and transmitted using SRS resource A (a first time-frequency resource using antenna port 0 and antenna port 1) and SRS Resource B (a second time-frequency resource using antenna port 2 and antenna port 3) based on the configuration of the SRS resource set), wherein each SRS resource of the plurality of SRS resources has at least one SRS antenna port and is configured from a plurality of usages comprising an antenna switching usage, a codebook usage, a non-codebook usage, and a beam management usage (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0053]-[0056]; an SRS resource set may have a use case of antenna switching, codebook, non-codebook, beam management, and/or the like.
Sridharan does not expressly teach wherein the multiple usages are configured for the SRS resource set and are applied for each of the plurality of SRS resources within the SRS resource set.
However, Laghate teaches wherein the multiple usages are configured for the SRS resource set and are applied for each of the plurality of SRS resources within the SRS resource set (Laghate, Fig. 8, [0141]-[0143] and [0147]-[0149]; different SRS resource sets indicated to the UE having different uses may overlap, such that a first SRS resource set 1 has antenna switching usage includes the first SRS resource A and the second SRS resource B. A second SRS resource set 2 may have codebook usage, and the codebook SRS resource set 2 includes only the first SRS resource A. This results in the first SRS resource A due to the overlap of the SRS resource sets having both antenna switching usage and codebook usage that can be transmitted using antenna port 0 and antenna port 1. The examiner contends that this example illustrates that though Laghate has them as two different SRS resource sets 1 and 2, SRS resource A can be in its own SRS resource set that has multiple usages of antenna switching usage and codebook usage based on the configurations indicating the SRS resource sets to the UE and how they may overlap in this type of manner that the overlapping SRS resources are in essence a SRS resource set with multiple usages for each SRS resource in that SRS resource set).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan to include the above recited limitations as taught by Laghate in order to implement distinct UE beam pairs to satisfy MPE constraints while permitting the base station to correctly perform channel estimation (Laghate, [0144]).
Sridharan in view of Laghate does not expressly teach capability information indicating a ratio, less than or equal to 1, between a first transmit power corresponding to a first set of antenna ports and a second transmit power corresponding to a second set of antenna ports.
However, Vintola teaches capability information indicating a ratio, less than or equal to 1, between a first transmit power corresponding to a first set of antenna ports and a second transmit power corresponding to a second set of antenna ports (Vintola, [0106]-[0110]; the network prefers for the UE to maintain the same power difference between antennas regardless of the power level until a maximum power is reached and the network entity may receive, from the UE, a second indication of whether the UE is capable of compensating for the power loss associated with transmitting at least one first SRS via at least one first antenna using an amplifier of a transmit chain configured for transmissions using a second antenna, where the network may know the power loss differences between the routing of signals to each of the antenna already such as the 3 dB set for using the Rx antennas in transmission compared to using the Tx antennas).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan in view of Laghate to include the above recited limitations as taught by Vintola in order to control power of SRS transmissions (Vintola, [0101]).
While Sridharan teaches the plurality of usages of SRS resources includes {‘antenna switching’, ‘codebook’, ‘non-codebook’, ‘beam management’} (Sridharan, Fig. 4, [0053]-[0056]; an SRS resource set may have a use case of antenna switching, codebook, non-codebook, beam management, and/or the like), Sridharan in view of Laghate further in view of Vintola does not expressly teach wherein the one or more configuration parameters of the SRS resource set comprises a bitmap configured to map the plurality of usages to a plurality of SRS resources.
However, Park teaches wherein the one or more configuration parameters of the SRS resource set comprises a bitmap configured to map the plurality of usages to a plurality of SRS resources (Park, [0223]-[0227]; indicating an association relationship (and/or linkage) between the SRS resource sets for the usage of the codebook based and/or non-codebook based PUSCH transmission and the SRS resources within each SRS resource set in relation to the SRS resource sets according to the configuration of the SRS resource sets for the specific BM usage and the SRS resources within each SRS resource set, where signaling related to the linkage relationship between the SRS resource sets configured for the usage of the codebook and/or non-codebook and the SRS resource sets configured for the BM usage may be configured, defined, or indicated. The examiner contends that this illustrates signaling that indicates SRS resource sets that have usage in either codebook or non-codebook as well as BM usage which is beam management usage which indicates a plurality of usages for a single SRS resource set, where the signaling is effectively mapped as the claimed bitmap).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan in view of Laghate further in view of Vintola to include the above recited limitations as taught by Park in order to configure panel-specific UL transmission of the UE (Park, [0224]).
Claims 5 and 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park as applied to claims 1 and 27 above, and in view of Chen et al. (US 2020/0119953 A1), hereafter referred Chen, in view of Gong et al. (US 2020/0374814 A1), hereafter referred Gong, further in view of Maki et al. (US 2021/0400696 A1), hereafter referred Maki.
Regarding claims 5 and 31, Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park teaches the apparatus of claim 1 and the method of claim 27 above. Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park does not expressly teach wherein the processor is further configured to:
select a subset of the plurality of SRS resources.
However, Chen teaches wherein the processor is further configured to:
select a subset of the plurality of SRS resources (Chen, [0007]-[0012]; determining a target SRS from the DCI according to the length of the SRI and determining a target SRS subset corresponding to the target SRI in the at least one available SRS resource subset which is used to determine a transmission parameter used for uplink data transmission according to the target SRS resource subset).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park to include the above recited limitations as taught by Chen in order to each SRS resource in one SRS resource set to use different transmission parameters (Chen, [0003]-[0004]).
Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Chen does not expressly teach to configure the selected subset to have multiple usages from the plurality of usages.
However, Gong teaches to configure the selected subset to have multiple usages from the plurality of usages (Gong, [0073]-[0081]; a usage of an SRS resource set may be configured where the optional usage includes one or more of beam management, antenna switching, codebook-based uplink transmission, non-codebook-based uplink transmission, codebook-based uplink antenna selection transmission, and non-codebook-based uplink antenna selection transmission).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Chen to include the above recited limitations as taught by Gong in order to allocate SRS transmit power corresponding to the plurality of SRS resource sets appropriately (Gong, [0005]).
Sridharan Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola in view of Chen further in view of Gong does not expressly teach map the plurality of usages to the plurality of SRS resources based on a predefined rule, wherein the predefined rule selects a predetermined number of SRS resources from the SRS resource set having smallest identification numbers from the SRS resource set and maps the predetermined number of selected SRS resources to a first usage selected from the plurality of usages.
However, Maki teaches map the plurality of usages to the plurality of SRS resources based on a predefined rule, wherein the predefined rule selects a predetermined number of SRS resources from the SRS resource set having smallest identification numbers from the SRS resource set and maps the predetermined number of selected SRS resources to a first usage selected from the plurality of usages (Maki, [0175]-[0181]; mapping the SRS to the interlace with the number of the smallest number+N among the interlace numbers to which the PUSCH is allocated).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola in view of Chen further in view of Gong to include the above recited limitations as taught by Maki in order to allocate resources in unlicensed bands (Maki, [0021]).
Claims 8 and 34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park as applied to claims 1 and 27 above, and further in view of Kakishima et al. (US 2021/0314062 A1), hereafter referred Kakishima.
Regarding claims 8 and 34, Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park teaches the apparatus of claim 1 and the method of claim 27 above. Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park does not expressly teach wherein the processor is further configured to map each usage from the plurality of usages to resource IDs of the plurality of SRS resources.
However, Kakishima teaches wherein the processor is further configured to map each usage from the plurality of usages to resource IDs of the plurality of SRS resources (Kakishima, [0027]-[0029]; the SRS resource set configuration information include information on an SRS resource set ID, a list of SRS resource IDs used in the resource set, an SRS resource type, and SRS usage).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan in view of in view of Vintola further to include the above recited limitations as taught by Kakishima in order to improve communication throughput (Kakishima, [0008]).
Claims 9, 24, 35, and 50 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park as applied to claims 1, 20, 27, and 46 above, further in view of Wernersson et al. (US 2019/0312617 A1), hereafter referred Wernersson.
Regarding claims 9 and 35, Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park teaches the apparatus of claim 1 and the method of claim 27 above. Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park does not expressly teach wherein:
a first number of antenna ports in the first set of antenna ports is different from a second number of antenna ports in the second set of antenna ports; the first set of antenna ports is a subset of the second set of antenna ports; and the first set of antenna ports and the second set of antenna ports are associated with different usages.
However, Wernersson teaches wherein:
a first number of antenna ports in the first set of antenna ports is different from a second number of antenna ports in the second set of antenna ports; the first set of antenna ports is a subset of the second set of antenna ports; and the first set of antenna ports and the second set of antenna ports are associated with different usages (Wernersson, Fig. 15, [0197]-[0199]; determining a power scaling ratio R, the ratio R being a first number antenna ports divided by a second number of antenna ports (S1510) wherein the first number of antenna ports is a number of antenna ports with NZP and the second number of antenna ports being determined according to the multi-antenna transmission configuration as either a third number of ports used in a precoder indicated by the base station and a fourth number of spatial layers indicated by the base station).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park to include the above recited limitations as taught by Wernersson in order to increase data rates and reliability of a wireless communication system (Wernersson, [0004]).
Claims 15, 17, 41, and 43 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park as applied to claims 1 and 27 above, and further in view of CN110167168 A. Gong2 is a machine translation of CN110167168 A.
Regarding claims 15 and 41, Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park teaches the apparatus of claim 1 and the method of claim 27 above. Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park does not expressly teach wherein the processor is further configured to adjust a transmit power for transmission of each SRS resource within the SRS resource set by a predetermined factor if at least two SRS resources from the plurality of SRS resources of the SRS resource set have a least one of: a common time domain resource, a common frequency domain resource, a common antenna port, and a common sequence parameter, wherein:
the predetermined factor depends on characteristics of the plurality of SRS resources; and
the predetermined factor is equal to 1 when the at least two SRS resources from the plurality of SRS resources have at least one of: a common resource ID, a common time domain resource, a common frequency domain resource, a common antenna port, and a common sequence parameter.
However, Gong2 teaches wherein the processor is further configured to adjust a transmit power for transmission of each SRS resource within the SRS resource set by a predetermined factor if at least two SRS resources from the plurality of SRS resources of the SRS resource set have a least one of: a common time domain resource, a common frequency domain resource, a common antenna port, and a common sequence parameter (Gong2, Fig. 5, p. 30, paragraphs 1-5; the terminal device simultaneously transmitting a plurality of SRS one the same time domain resource can use S323 and S321, where determining the power adjustment factor and adjust the first transmit power for the SRS resource according to the power adjustment factor), wherein:
the predetermined factor depends on characteristics of the plurality of SRS resources; and the predetermined factor is equal to 1 when the at least two SRS resources from the plurality of SRS resources have at least one of: a common resource ID, a common time domain resource, a common frequency domain resource, a common antenna port, and a common sequence parameter (Gong2, p. 26, paragraph 2- p. 27, paragraph 7; determining the power adjust factor based on the time domain resource and size relation, where the power adjustment factor may be a value equal to one when a plurality of first transmission power is less than the power threshold value and the same time domain is used).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park to include the above recited limitations as taught by Gong2 in order to support a plurality of SRS at the same time transmission time allocation (Gong2, Abstract).
Regarding claims 17 and 43, Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park teaches the apparatus of claim 1 and the method of claim 27 above. Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park does not expressly teach wherein the processor is further configured to adjust a transmit power for transmission of each SRS resource within the SRS resource set by a predetermined factor if at least two SRS resources from the plurality of SRS resources of the SRS resource set have a least one of: a common time domain resource, a common frequency domain resource, a common antenna port, and a common sequence parameter, wherein:
the predetermined factor depends on characteristics of the plurality of SRS resources; wherein a first predetermined transmit power factor for a first SRS resource within the SRS resource set is less than or equal to a second predetermined transmit power factor and wherein the first and the second predetermined transmit power factors are less than or equal to 1; and a third predetermined transmit power factor for SRS resources non identical to the first and second SRS resources is equal 1.
However, Gong2 teaches wherein the processor is further configured to adjust a transmit power for transmission of each SRS resource within the SRS resource set by a predetermined factor if at least two SRS resources from the plurality of SRS resources of the SRS resource set have a least one of: a common time domain resource, a common frequency domain resource, a common antenna port, and a common sequence parameter (Gong2, Fig. 5, p. 30, paragraphs 1-5; the terminal device simultaneously transmitting a plurality of SRS one the same time domain resource can use S323 and S321, where determining the power adjustment factor and adjust the first transmit power for the SRS resource according to the power adjustment factor), wherein:
the predetermined factor depends on characteristics of the plurality of SRS resources; wherein a first predetermined transmit power factor for a first SRS resource within the SRS resource set is less than or equal to a second predetermined transmit power factor and wherein the first and the second predetermined transmit power factors are less than or equal to 1; and a third predetermined transmit power factor for SRS resources non identical to the first and second SRS resources is equal 1 (Gong2, p. 26, paragraph 2- p. 27, paragraph 7; determining the power adjust factor based on the time domain resource and size relation, where the power adjustment factor may be a value equal to one when a plurality of first transmission power is less than the power threshold value and the same time domain is used and when a plurality of first transmission power is equal to the power threshold the power adjustment factor is less than or equal to 1).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park to include the above recited limitations as taught by Gong2 in order to support a plurality of SRS at the same time transmission time allocation (Gong2, Abstract).
Claims 19 and 45 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park as applied to claims 1 and 27 above, and in view of Gong2, further in view of Wernersson.
Regarding claims 19 and 45, Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park teaches the apparatus of claim 1 and the method of claim 27 above. Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park does not expressly teach wherein the processor is further configured to adjust a transmit power for transmission of each SRS resource within the SRS resource set by a predetermined factor if at least two SRS resources from the plurality of SRS resources of the SRS resource set have a least one of: a common time domain resource, a common frequency domain resource, a common antenna port, and a common sequence parameter, wherein:
the predetermined factor depends on characteristics of the plurality of SRS resources; a first predetermined transmit power factor for a first SRS resource within the SRS resource set is less than or equal to a second predetermined transmit power factor and wherein the first and the second predetermined transmit power factors are less than or equal to 1.
However, Gong2 teaches wherein the processor is further configured to adjust a transmit power for transmission of each SRS resource within the SRS resource set by a predetermined factor if at least two SRS resources from the plurality of SRS resources of the SRS resource set have a least one of: a common time domain resource, a common frequency domain resource, a common antenna port, and a common sequence parameter (Gong2, Fig. 5, p. 30, paragraphs 1-5; the terminal device simultaneously transmitting a plurality of SRS one the same time domain resource can use S323 and S321, where determining the power adjustment factor and adjust the first transmit power for the SRS resource according to the power adjustment factor), wherein:
the predetermined factor depends on characteristics of the plurality of SRS resources; a first predetermined transmit power factor for a first SRS resource within the SRS resource set is less than or equal to a second predetermined transmit power factor and wherein the first and the second predetermined transmit power factors are less than or equal to 1 (Gong2, p. 26, paragraph 2- p. 27, paragraph 7; determining the power adjust factor based on the time domain resource and size relation, where the power adjustment factor may be a value equal to one when a plurality of first transmission power is less than the power threshold value and the same time domain is used and when a plurality of first transmission power is equal to the power threshold the power adjustment factor is less than or equal to 1).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Park to include the above recited limitations as taught by Gong2 in order to support a plurality of SRS at the same time transmission time allocation (Gong2, Abstract).
Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Gong2 does not expressly teach wherein the first predetermined transmit power factor is equal to a ratio of NP1/NP2 and the second predetermined transmit power factor is equal to 1 and wherein NP1 is a number of antenna ports in the first SRS resource, and NP2 is a number of antenna ports in a second SRS resource.
However, Wernersson teaches wherein the first predetermined transmit power factor is equal to a ratio of NP1/NP2 and the second predetermined transmit power factor is equal to 1 and wherein NP1 is a number of antenna ports in the first SRS resource, and NP2 is a number of antenna ports in a second SRS resource (Wernersson, Fig. 15, [0197]-[0199]; determining a power scaling ratio R, the ratio R being a first number antenna ports divided by a second number of antenna ports (S1510) wherein the first number of antenna ports is a number of antenna ports with NZP and the second number of antenna ports being determined according to the multi-antenna transmission configuration as either a third number of ports used in a precoder indicated by the base station and a fourth number of spatial layers indicated by the base station).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Sridharan in view of Laghata in view of Vintola further in view of Gong2 to include the above recited limitations as taught by Wernersson in order to increase data rates and reliability of a wireless communication system (Wernersson, [0004]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
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/R.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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