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 .
D1 QUALCOMM INCORPORATED: "Enhancements on SRS flexibility, switching, coverage and capacity", 3GPP DRAFT; R1-2006795, 3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT (8GPP), MOBILE COMPETENCE CENTRE ; 650, ROUTE DES LUCIOLES ; F-06921 SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS CEDEX ; FRANCE vol. RAN WG1, no. e-Meeting; 20200817 - 20200828 8 August 2020 (2020-08-08), XP051918245, Retrieved from the Internet: URL:https://ftp.3gpp.org/tsg_ran/WG1_RL1/TSGR1_102-e/Docs/ R1-2006795.zip R1-2006795 Enhancements on SRS flexibility, coverage and capacity.docx [retrieved on 2020-08-08] Form PCT/ISA/237 (Separate Sheet) (Sheet 1) (EPO-April 2005)
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(s) 1, 3, 5, 14, 16, 18, 20, and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Faxer US 20210409178 in view of Go US 20210367727 and Grant US 20220377619.
Regarding claims 1, 16, and 21, Faxer teaches a method of operating a user equipment (UE), comprising:
receiving a configuration for a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set that comprises a mapping between a set of downlink control information (DCI) codepoints to a set of slot offsets of a slot offset list (each codepoint of the SRS request field triggers one or more SRS resource set and each SRS resource set is associated with a nominal slot offset, which may be configured using an RRC field, [0169]);
receiving a downlink control information DCI communication that is configured to trigger transmission of an aperiodic (AP) SRS sounding reference signal (SRS)([0087]);
determining a slot offset from the DCI communication to an SRS resource set for the AP SRS based at least in part on a DCI codepoint of the DCI communication in accordance with the mapping ([0169]); and
transmitting the AP SRS on the SRS resource set in accordance with the determined slot offset ([0169]).
Faxar is silent on wherein the value configured to trigger transmission of the AP SRS is separate from the DCI codepoint used to determine the slot offset.
Go teaches wherein the value configured to trigger transmission of the AP SRS is separate from the DCI codepoint used to determine the slot offset ([0213, 0214]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the system of Faxar by wherein the value configured to trigger transmission of the AP SRS is separate from the DCI codepoint used to determine the slot offset, as shown by Go. This modification would benefit the system by providing a proven, reliable method for triggering transmission of the AP SRS.
Although Faxar teaches Rel-15 [0131, 0144] and in some situations, only 1 or 2 slot offsets are possible [0003]), the combination of Faxar and Go is silent on wherein the set of slot offsets numbers less than the set of DCI codepoints.
Like Faxar, Grant teaches Rel-15 [0357]. Furthermore, the reference teaches the option/possibility of the set of slot offsets numbers less than the set of DCI codepoints (In Rel-15, when a set of SRS resources is configured by RRC, a slot offset k is configured as part of the set configuration, Based on this preconfigured offset, if the PDCCH that triggers the aperiodic SRS is transmitted in slot n, then the SRS resource(s) in the set are actually transmitted in slot n+k. Since there are only a limited number of DCI codepoints in the 2-bit SRS request field (2 bits implies up to 4 DCI codepoints) in DCI for triggering SRS resource sets, there are only a limited number of triggering possibilities that can be preconfigured, Hence such rigid configuration of slot offsets, [0357]). Note, a rigid configuration of slot offsets exists.
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the system of the combination by wherein the set of slot offsets numbers less than the set of DCI codepoints, as shown by Grant. This modification would benefit the system by since adhering to Rel-15 will allow the system of the combination to be more easily integrated into larger systems.
Regarding claims 3, 18, the configuration is received via radio resource control (RRC) signaling (Faxar: RRC, [0169]).
Regarding claims 5, 20, receiving a command to modify the configuration (Faxar: RRC, [0169]).
Regarding claim 14, the mapping maps a given slot offset to multiple DCI codepoints (see Faxar: [0003], Grant: [0357]).
Claim(s) 4, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Faxer, Go, and Grant as applied to claims 1, 16 above, and further in view of Cheng US 20190222361.
Although Faxer teaches a slot offset list, the combination is silent on wherein the slot offset list supplements a slot offset field of the configuration associated with a default slot offset, or
wherein the slot offset list incorporates the slot offset field associated with the default slot offset.
Cheng teaches a default slot offset ([0069]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the system of the combination by wherein the slot offset list supplements a slot offset field of the configuration associated with a default slot offset, or wherein the slot offset list incorporates the slot offset field associated with the default slot offset, as suggested by Cheng. This modification would benefit the system by the UE may use a default slot offset when there is no slot offset received by the UE (Cheng ([0069]).
Claim(s) 6, 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination Faxer, Go, and Grant as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of D1.
Regarding claim 6, the combination is silent on the command commands the UE to add or remove one or more entries to or from the slot offset list, or
wherein the command commands the UE to add or remove at least one entry to or from the set of DCI codepoints, or
wherein the command commands the UE to modify a mapping between the set of DCI codepoints and the slot offset list, or
a combination thereof.
D1 teaches the command commands the UE to add or remove one or more entries to or from the slot offset list (same MAC CE command can update number of active SRS resources associated SRS resource set, section 2.1.1), or
wherein the command commands the UE to add or remove at least one entry to or from the set of DCI codepoints, or
wherein the command commands the UE to modify a mapping between the set of DCI codepoints and the slot offset list, or
a combination thereof.
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the system of the combination by the command commands the UE to add or remove one or more entries to or from the slot offset list, as shown by D1. This modification would benefit the system by providing a proven, reliable method for updating the mapping between the set of DCI codepoints and the slot offset list.
Regarding claim 8, the command corresponds to a medium access control command element (MAC-CE) (D1: section 2.1.1).
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Faxer, Go, and Grant as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Yiu US 20190044689.
The combination is silent on the command commands the UE to
modify the configuration for a particular bandwidth part (BWP) of a specific serving cell.
Yiu teaches a command commanding the UE to
modify the configuration for a particular bandwidth part (BWP) of a specific serving cell (RRC signaling can provide
modifications to the plurality of BWPs for the UE 401, [0105]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the system of the combination by the command commands the UE to modify the configuration for a particular bandwidth part (BWP) of a specific serving cell, as suggested by Yiu. This modification would benefit the system by selecting optimal BWPs for the UE.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 15 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the amended independent claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RONALD B ABELSON whose telephone number is (571)272-3165. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:30.
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/RONALD B ABELSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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