DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 3/17/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1-4, 7-11, and 14-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao 2024/0349198.
As to claim 1. (Currently Amended) Gao discloses A base station, comprising:
a transceiver (101) configured to enable wireless communication with a user equipment (UE); and
a processor (102) communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to:
control a first Transmission Reception Point (TRP) and a second TRP that are associated with the base station, ([0027]-[0036], Fig 1);
configure one or more Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) power control parameters, [0121]: “… processing unit 102 is configured to configure a power control parameter set for each TRP…”; and
transmit, using the transceiver, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message or an SRS-ResourceSet message comprising the one or more SRS power control parameters to the UE for the UE to determine an SRS transmission power for transmitting an SRS to the first TRP or the second TRP, [0035]-[0036]
wherein the one or more SRS power control parameters are configured per an SRS resource in an SRS resource set comprising one or more SRS resources, [0051]
wherein the one or more SRS power control parameters of the RRC message or the SRS-ResourceSet message comprise a first parameter for the first TRP for a first SRS resource in the SRS resource set and no additional parameter for the second TRP when the first parameter is also to be used for the second TRP, ([0066], [0072]) and
wherein the one or more SRS power control parameters of the RRC message or the SRS-ResourceSet message comprise the first parameter for the first TRP for the first SRS resource in the SRS resource set and an additional parameter for the second TRP in the SRS resource set compared to the first parameter when the additional parameter is to be used for the second TRP [0067]-[0068], [0074]. See Table 2, Fig 5.
As to claim 2. (Original) Gao discloses The base station of claim 1, wherein the one or more SRS power control parameters comprises one or more of an Open Loop Power Control (OPLC) pathloss compensation factor (alpha), an OLPC desired received power at the transceiver of the base station (p0), or OLPC pathloss estimate reference signals (pathlossReferenceRS). See [0081], etc.
As to claim 3. (Previously Presented) Gao discloses The base station of claim 1, wherein the one or more SRS power control parameters comprise a plurality of SRS power control parameters comprising the first parameter for the first TRP for the first SRS resource in the SRS resource set and a second parameter for the second TRP for a second SRS resource in the SRS resource set and wherein the first parameter is different from the second parameter. See table 2, etc.
As to claim 4. (Previously Presented) Gao discloses The base station of claim 3, wherein the first parameter for the first TRP enables the UE to determine a first SRS transmission power for the first TRP, and the second parameter for the second TRP enables the UE to determine a second SRS transmission power for the second TRP. See [0102]-[0105]
As to claim 7. (Original) Gao discloses The base station of claim 1, wherein the additional parameters for the second TRP comprise one or more of an Open Loop Power Control (OPLC) pathloss compensation factor (alpha), an OLPC desired received power at the transceiver of the base station (p0), or OLPC pathloss estimate reference signals (pathlossReferenceRS). See [0081], etc.
Claims 8-11 and 14 recite methods corresponding to the apparatus of claims 1-4 and 7, respectively.
Claims 15-18, Gao discloses corresponding UE (Fig 8) and Fig 6 as applied above to claims 1-4, respectively.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 5-6, 12-13, and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao as applied to claim 4/11/18 above, and further in view of WERNERSSON et al. (2022/0039028) hereinafter “WERNERSSON”.
Gao fail to explicitly recite, however in an analogous art, WERNERSSON discloses wherein the SRS transmission power is determined by the UE as a highest (claims 5/12/19) an average (claims 6/13/20) SRS transmission power between the first SRS transmission power and the second SRS transmission power. See [0164]: “For example, one or more priority rules may include transmitting SRS with the highest resulting power of the two or more powers, transmitting SRS with the lowest resulting power of the two or more powers, or transmitting SRS with the average value of the two or more powers, etc.”. Before the effective filing date of the instant application, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to further modify Gao by having the UE determine the transmission power as the highest (claims 5/12) or by averaging (claims 6/13) the first and second values as taught by WERNERSSON for the purpose of using a reliable method.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LESTER KINCAID whose telephone number is (571)272-7922. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th: 7-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yuwen Pan can be reached at 571-272-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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LESTER G. KINCAID
Primary Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2649
/LESTER G KINCAID/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649
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