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 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/26/2026 has been entered. Claims 13, 15, 21, 23 and 29 have been amended; Claims 1-12, 14, 16, 19, 22, 24, and 27 were canceled; Claim 30 added. Claims 13, 15, 17-18, 20-21, 23, 25-26, and 28-30 are subject to examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
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.
Claim 13, 15, 18, 20-21, 23, 26, and 28-29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YUAN et al. (YUAN hereafter) (US 20230052449 A1) in view of YUAN et al. (YUAN-2 hereafter) (US 20230122357 A1) and in further view of YUAN et al. (YUAN-1 hereafter) (US 20230208568 A1).
Regarding claim 13, claim 21, and claim 29, YUAN teaches, A terminal, comprising:
circuitry, which, in operation, generates a first signal and a second signal (YUAN; the DCI may schedule a multi-panel transmission of the UE 120, such as a first PUSCH communication (e.g., of multiple layers) on a first antenna panel of the UE 120 and a second PUSCH communication (e.g., of multiple layers) on a second antenna panel of the UE 120, Par. 0059); and
a transmitter, which, in operation, transmits the first signal from a first panel antenna, and transmits the second signal from a second panel antenna based on a scheme selected from (YUAN; a spatial-division multiplexed manner … a frequency-division multiplexed manner, Par. 0050; a frequency resource splitting pattern is identified in a same field of the DCI, Par. 0070):
a first scheme with the first signal and the second signal mapped on different frequencies and with a same timing (YUAN; FDM 335, the UE 120 may transmit the first PUSCH communication 340 and the second PUSCH communication 345 in the same time resource and different frequency resources … the UE 120 may transmit the first PUSCH communication 340 using a first antenna panel 350, and the UE 120 may transmit the second PUSCH communication 345 using a second antenna panel 355, Par. 0077-0078),
a second scheme with the first signal and the second signal mapped on frequencies with a same timing (YUAN; frequency resource splitting patterns are shown in FIG. 4, Par. 0069), and
a third scheme with the first signal and the second signal mapped on a same frequency with a same timing (YUAN; the UE 120 may transmit the first PUSCH communication 340 (shown as a first layer) and the second PUSCH communication 345 (shown as a second layer) in a same time and frequency resource … the UE 120 may transmit the first PUSCH communication 340 using a first antenna panel 350, and the UE 120 may transmit the second PUSCH communication 345 using a second antenna panel 355, Par. 0077-0078), wherein,
the first signal transmitted from the first panel antenna is transmitted with a first beam (YUAN; the UE 120 may form a first beam on the first antenna panel 350 using a precoder identified by the first precoder indicator, Par. 0078),
the second signal arranged in the same time and transmitted from the second panel is transmitted with a second beam (YUAN; the UE 120 may transmit the first PUSCH communication 340 and the second PUSCH communication 345 in the same time resource … the UE 120 may form a second beam on the second antenna panel 355 using a precoder identified by the second precoder indicator, Par. 0078), and
information is received from a base station (YUAN; the UE 120 may transmit a multi-panel transmission based at least in part on the first precoder indicator and the second precoder indicator identified by the DCI, Par. 0073).
Although YUAN teaches in Par. 0079 that “a TPMI index per antenna panel may be identified by DCI, an uplink TCI per antenna panel may be identified by DCI … an SRI index per antenna panel may be identified by DCI” and beams are associated with panels, but failed to explicitly teach that precoder/TPMI/SRI/TCI are also indicator for beams. YUAN failed to explicitly teach,
information on the first beam and information on the second beam is received from a base station.
However, in the same field of endeavor, YUAN-2 teaches,
information on the first beam and information on the second beam is received from a base station (YUAN-2; Fig. 4B, 4C; the DCI may identify the first set of PUSCH occasions and second set of PUSCH occasions using respective beam indications (e.g., respective TCI identifiers, SRIs, SRS resource set indicators, and/or the like) associated with respective antenna panels, Par. 0054).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of YUAN to include the use of DCI as taught by YUAN-2 in order to transmit respective beam indicators (YUAN-2; Par. 0054).
Although YUAN- YUAN-2 teaches frequency resource splitting pattern, but failed to explicitly teach,
partially overlapping frequencies.
However, in the same field of endeavor, YUAN-1 teaches,
partially overlapping frequencies (YUAN-1; That is, a first resource that is to be used for the TB, and a second resource that is to be used for the repetition of the TB, may at least partially overlap (e.g., partially overlap or fully overlap) in a time domain and a frequency domain, Par. 0096).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of YUAN- YUAN-2 to include the use of partially overlapping in frequency domain as taught by YUAN-1 in order to transmit via plurality of antenna panels (YUAN-1; abstract).
Specifically for claim 21, YUAN teaches, A communication method, comprising (YUAN; the UE, Par. 0059).
Specifically for claim 29, YUAN teaches, An integrated circuit, comprising (YUAN; the UE, Par. 0059).
Regarding claim 15 and claim 23, YUAN- YUAN-2 -YUAN-1 teaches, The terminal according to claim 13 and The communication method according to claim 21 respectively, wherein when the third scheme is selected, the same frequency and the same time are resource is indicated by the base station (YUAN; the DCI may identify frequency resources that are to be used for the multi-panel transmission of the UE 120, Par. 0068 & YUAN-1; DCI messages may indicate respective resource allocations ... in a time domain and a frequency domain, Par. 0096).
Regarding claim 18 and claim 26, YUAN- YUAN-2 -YUAN-1 teaches, The terminal according to claim 13 and The communication method according to claim 21 respectively, wherein the first signal and the second signal are separately transmitted to two transmission and reception points (YUAN; the DCI may schedule an uplink multi-panel transmission to the first TRP and a second TRP (e.g., associated with the BS 110 or another BS), Par. 0059).
Regarding claim 20 and claim 28, YUAN- YUAN-2 -YUAN-1 teaches, The terminal according to claim 13 and The communication method according to claim 21 respectively, wherein each of the first panel antenna and the second panel antenna consists of one or more than one antenna (YUAN; The antenna panels may be a group of antenna ports or an antenna group, Par. 0050).
Claim 17 and 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YUAN- YUAN-2 -YUAN-1 in view of YUAN et al. (YUAN-3 hereafter) (US 20230127731 A1).
Regarding claim 17 and claim 25, YUAN- YUAN-2 -YUAN-1 teaches, The terminal according to claim 13 and The communication method according to claim 21 respectively.
Although YUAN teaches in Par. 0044 that “processed by modulators 254a through 254r (e.g., for DFT-s-OFDM, CP-OFDM, and/or the like)”, but YUAN- YUAN-2 -YUAN-1 failed to explicitly teach,
wherein the first signal is transmitted by an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), and the second signal is transmitted by a Discrete Fourier Transform-Spread-OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM).
However, in the same field of endeavor, YUAN-3 teaches,
wherein the first signal is transmitted by an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), and the second signal is transmitted by a Discrete Fourier Transform-Spread-OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) (YUAN-2; the first PUSCH configuration may indicate a first transform precoder (e.g., transformPrecoder) indication, and the second PUSCH configuration may indicate a second transform precoder indication (e.g., different from the first transform precoder indication) … DFT-s-OFDM may be used for a PUSCH transmission when a transform precoder is enabled for the PUSCH transmission, and CP-OFDM may be used for a PUSCH transmission when a transform precoder is disabled for the PUSCH transmission, Par. 0069).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of YUAN- YUAN-2 -YUAN-1 to include the use of different modulators as taught by YUAN-2 in order to transmit in different waveform (YUAN-3; Par. 0041).
Claim 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YUAN- YUAN-2 -YUAN-1 in view of Gao et al. (Gao hereafter) (US 20230171763 A1).
Regarding claim 30, YUAN- YUAN-2 -YUAN-1 teaches, The terminal according to claim 13.
YUAN- YUAN-2 -YUAN-1 fail to explicitly teach,
wherein the first signal and the second signal include data and control information.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Gao teaches,
wherein the first signal and the second signal include data and control information (Gao; UE always multiplex the UCI on PUSCH, Par. 0161; for a same TB or different TBs, a separate PUSCH is sent to each TRP, Par. 0146).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of YUAN- YUAN-2 -YUAN-1 to include the use of UCI as taught by Gao in order to multiplex on PUSCH (Gao; Par. 0161).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHARMIN CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)272-6419. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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/SHARMIN CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416