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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 5/7/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 5/7/2026, with respect to the rejection of claim(s) 1, 2, 4 and 5 in view of Liu and Go 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.
That is, Applicant’s arguments that Liu fails to disclose the scheduling signaling comprises an indicator field and at least two independent coding fields, the indicator field is used to indicate the at least one SRS resource set, and the at least two independent coding fields are respectively used to indicate SRS resources in at least two SRS resource sets have been considered and appeared likely to be correct. However, in the course of searching, the reference of Khoshnevisan was discovered which provides a better teaching of the newly added elements to the independent claims. Therefore, Applicant’s arguments are now moot in view of the newly cited reference of Khoshnevisan.
Further, regrettably, upon review Khoshnevisan also taught the subject matter of previously objected claim 11, which is now further rejected under Khoshnevisan.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 21, the claim states wherein an overhead size of at least one of the following field types in the scheduling signaling is related to the at least one SRS resource set: an SRS resource indicator field, a Transmit Power Control (TPC) field, a Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator (TPMI) field, a redundancy version field, an SRS request field, or a Channel State Information (CSI) request field, wherein an overhead size of each TPMI field in at least one TPMI field is related to a quantity of SRS resource ports in the at least one SRS resource set. The claim is indefinite as is not clear if the italicized wherein clause applies in all cases of the group of alternatives listed or only in the case of the selection of the TPMI field in the group. In order to advance prosecution, the wherein clause is being treated as relevant only in the case that the TPMI filed is selected from the group, as this appeared to be most consistent with the intent of providing an alternative grouping.
Regarding claim 22, the claim depends from claim 21 and is rejected as incorporating the rejection of claim 21 under 35 USC 112(b) by dependency.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 2, 4 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Karamoose, et al (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2022/0045813 A1) in view of Go, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2023/0118905) and Khoshnevisan, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2023/0057080 A1; Note WO 2021/168599 A1, with identical disclosure, attached)
Regarding claim 1, Karmoose discloses a Physical Uplink Shared CHannel (PUSCH) transmission scheduling method, comprising:
receiving, by a terminal, scheduling signaling, wherein the scheduling signaling is used to schedule transmission of a PUSCH, and the scheduling signaling is further used to determine at least one Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set or SRS resource associated with the PUSCH; and (Karmoose discloses that scheduling signaling, such as DG-PUSCH and/or CG2-PUSCH is implicitly associated with a SRS resource ID of the smallest ID number that is used for SRS transmission on the PUSCH [paragraph 0142; note also 63138160, page 49; see also fig. 1 for PUSCH transmission].)
sending, by the terminal, the PUSCH according to the SRS resource set or SRS resource. (paragraph 0142; note also 63138160, page 49; see also fig. 1 for PUSCH transmission – see (a), supra).
Karmoose fails to disclose wherein the PUSCH comprises at least one transmission unit, and wherein the scheduling signaling indicates a plurality of SRS resource sets, the scheduling signaling is further used to indicate an order of the plurality of SRS resource sets, and the transmission unit is associated with the order of the plurality of SRS resource sets that is indicated by the scheduling signaling. In the same field of endeavor, Go discloses the PUSCH comprises at least one transmission unit, and wherein the scheduling signaling indicates a plurality of SRS resource sets, the scheduling signaling is further used to indicate an order of the plurality of SRS resource sets, and the transmission unit is associated with the order of the plurality of SRS resource sets that is indicated by the scheduling signaling. (Go discloses that when multiple SRS resource sets are configured for use, the use of a plurality of SRS resource sets are signaled in the DCI/scheduling signaling and the transmission unit/PUSCH TO is mapped in ascending order of linked codepoints indicated in the DCI to the SRS resource sets paragraph 0266].)
Therefore, since Go discloses the use of DCI based scheduling when multiple SRS sets are configured, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine the DCI scheduling of Go with the system of Karamoose by using the DCI to schedule SRS resource sets when more than one SRS resource set is present, such that the DCI indicates one or more configured SRS resource sets that are scheduled and which are then linked to the PUSCH TO in ascending order based on the linked codepoints of the DCI. The motive to combine is to use the DCI when too many resource sets are scheduled to use implicit signaling.
Karmoose as modified by Go fails to disclose the scheduling signaling comprises an indicator field and at least two independent coding fields, the indicator field is used to indicate the at least one SRS resource set, and the at least two independent coding fields are respectively used to indicate SRS resources in at least two SRS resource sets. In the same field of endeavor, Khoshnevisan discloses the scheduling signaling comprises an indicator field and at least two independent coding fields, the indicator field is used to indicate the at least one SRS resource set, and the at least two independent coding fields are respectively used to indicate SRS resources in at least two SRS resource sets (Khoshnevisan discloses the DCI/scheduling signaling may include a first field indicating one or more selected SRS resource sets [i.e. the at least one SRS resource set] and may further independently signal the resources for a first and second indicated SRS resource set in a respective second and third field [paragraph 0032; 177-0178 – note that the first and second selected SRS resources belong to the respective first and second selected SRS resource set].)
Therefore, since Khoshnevisan discloses indicator and independent coding fields, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the fields of Khoshnevisan with the system of Karmoose as modified by Go such that the scheduling includes an indicator field of one or more (in this case two) SRS resource sets and then includes two independent SRS resources in each resource set in the signed second and third independent coding fields. The motive to combine is to allow improved flexibility in DCI signaling by allowing on the fly indications of the selected SRS resource set.
Regarding claim 2, Karmoose discloses the PUSCH is implicitly associated with the SRS resource set or SRS resource, wherein a number of the SRS resource set or SRS resource is minimum or maximum (As discussed, in the independent claim, supra, the PUSCH scheduled by the DG-PUSCH and/or CG2-PUSCH is implicitly associated with the use of the smallest/minimum number SRS resource ID, at least for purposes of the dynamic/configured grant transmissions [paragraph 0142; note also 63138160, page 49.)
Regarding claim 4, Karmoose discloses the PUSCH comprises at least one transmission unit comprises one actual PUSCH repeat transmission one PUSCH transmission within a time domain unit; one PUSCH frequency hopping transmission (paragraph 0086 – PUSCH are in time blocks; note also 63138160, page 5)
Regarding claim 5, Karmoose discloses the scheduling signaling indicates one SRS resource set, and the transmission unit is associated with one SRS resource set. (As discussed in the independent claim, supra, a single SRS resource set is implicitly indicated and it is associated with the time based uplink transmission of at least one transmission unit [i.e. a PUSCH transmission].)
Claims 1, 7-11, 13-15, 17 and 19-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 102 (a) (2) as being anticipated by Liu, et al (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2023/0180134 A1; Note also PCT/CN2020/084325, with an identical disclosure only varying slightly in paragraph numbering) in view of Go, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2023/0118905) and Khoshnevisan, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2023/0057080 A1; Note WO 2021/168599 A1, with identical disclosure, attached)
Regarding claim 1, Liu discloses a Physical Uplink Shared CHannel (PUSCH) transmission scheduling method, comprising:
receiving, by a terminal, scheduling signaling, wherein the scheduling signaling is used to schedule transmission of a PUSCH, and the scheduling signaling is further used to determine at least one Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set or SRS resource associated with the PUSCH; and (Liu discloses that the UE receives DCI/RRC signing indicating multiple SRI fields, each indicating a different SRS resource/resource set used for PUSCH transmission or indicating multiple TPMI that indicate different SRS resource sets for PUSCH transmission [paragraphs 0235-0237 – SCI indication; 0176-0183 – TPMI indication, noting that each TPMI indicates an SRS group/set per paragraph 0078])
sending, by the terminal, the PUSCH according to the SRS resource set or SRS resource. (paragraphs 0235-0237, 0176-0183 – see (a), supra).
Liu fails to disclose wherein the PUSCH comprises at least one transmission unit, and wherein the scheduling signaling indicates a plurality of SRS resource sets, the scheduling signaling is further used to indicate an order of the plurality of SRS resource sets, and the transmission unit is associated with the order of the plurality of SRS resource sets that is indicated by the scheduling signaling. In the same field of endeavor, Go discloses the PUSCH comprises at least one transmission unit, and wherein the scheduling signaling indicates a plurality of SRS resource sets, the scheduling signaling is further used to indicate an order of the plurality of SRS resource sets, and the transmission unit is associated with the order of the plurality of SRS resource sets that is indicated by the scheduling signaling. (Go discloses that when multiple SRS resource sets are configured for use, the use of a plurality of SRS resource sets are signaled in the DCI/scheduling signaling and the transmission unit/PUSCH TO is mapped in ascending order of linked codepoints indicated in the DCI to the SRS resource sets.)
Therefore, since Go discloses the use of DCI based scheduling and ordering, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine the DCI scheduling of Go with the system of Liu by using the DCI to schedule and order SRS resource sets such that the DCI indicates one or more configured SRS resource sets that are scheduled and which are then linked to the PUSCH TO in ascending order based on the linked codepoints of the DCI. The motive to combine is to allow the order of the SRS resource sets in the TO to be specified to allow for easier decoding at the base station and to further allow assignment to particular TO occasions that have favorable channel conditions or timing requirements.
Liu as modified by Go fails to disclose the scheduling signaling comprises an indicator field and at least two independent coding fields, the indicator field is used to indicate the at least one SRS resource set, and the at least two independent coding fields are respectively used to indicate SRS resources in at least two SRS resource sets. In the same field of endeavor, Khoshnevisan discloses the scheduling signaling comprises an indicator field and at least two independent coding fields, the indicator field is used to indicate the at least one SRS resource set, and the at least two independent coding fields are respectively used to indicate SRS resources in at least two SRS resource sets (Khoshnevisan discloses the DCI/scheduling signaling may include a first field indicating one or more selected SRS resource sets [i.e. the at least one SRS resource set] and may further independently signal the resources for a first and second indicated SRS resource set in a respective second and third field [paragraph 0032; 177-0178 – note that the first and second selected SRS resources belong to the respective first and second selected SRS resource set]. Khoshnevisan further discloses that the size of the resource indication field is related to the size of the SRS resource set with one bit per resource [paragraph 0059]. [Note also that Liu discloses the size of the SRS resource indicator field/bit field mapped to index [see table 1] is related to the size of the SRS resource set, as resource set 3 is only associated with a 4 bit field [table 1, see also 0159].)
Therefore, since Khoshnevisan discloses indicator and independent coding fields, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the fields of Khoshnevisan with the system of Liu as modified by Go such that the scheduling includes an indicator field of one or more (in this case two) SRS resource sets and then includes two independent SRS resources in each resource set in the signed second and third independent coding fields each of a respective size required by the quantity of SRS resources in the respective SRS resource set. The motive to combine is to allow improved flexibility in DCI signaling by allowing on the fly indications of the selected SRS resource set.
Regarding claim 7, Liu discloses the PUSCH is associated with a plurality of SRS resource sets and any two SRS resource sets in the plurality of SRS resource sets meet at least one of the following having having different spatial beam configurations. (paragraph 0078 – two SRS resource sets with different power control parameters; paragraph 0050 n (number of TPMIs per paragraph 0038) corresponds to N (number of sub bands) and each N has a different power control parameters each different parameter associated with a different SRS resource set per 0078; paragraphs 225-0231, note that specifically , different path loss reference signal, ID 0 and ID1, identifiers for different N/sub bands/SRS resource sets. Note that the PUSCH is sent to different TRPs, but constitutes a single PUSCH, as it is based on PUSCH repetition across multiple TRPs [paragraphs 0208, 0222].)
Regarding claim 8, Liu discloses the PUSCH is associated with a first SRS resource set and a second SRS resource set and the first SRS resource set and the second SRS resource set meet at least one of the following the first SRS resource set and the second SRS resource set are configured with different power control parameter indexes, wherein the power control parameter indexes are used to distinguish the first SRS resource set from the second SRS resource set (paragraph 0078 – two SRS resource groups/sets configured with each group/set representing a different power control parameter; the power control parameters are indexes used for the different SRS resource groups/sets via the TPMI indications [paragraph 0183; see generally 0176-0183]. Note that the PUSCH is sent to different TRPs, but constitutes a single PUSCH, as it is based on PUSCH repetition across multiple TRPs [paragraph 0208, 0222])
Regarding claim 9, Liu discloses the PUSCH is associated with a first SRS resource second SRS resource and the second SRS resource are sorted from front to back or from back to front according to a configuration order of SRS resources. (The first and second SRS resource can be associated with the same PUSCH repetition across multiple TRPs [paragraph 0208, 0222]. Furthermore, the SRS resources can be sorted from front to back based on a configuration order of the associated parameter sets, with 0th SRS resource associated with a 0th parameter set and a 1st SRS resource associated with a 1st parameter set [paragraph 0159 and table 1].)
Regarding claim 10, Liu as modified by Go and Khoshnevisan discloses an overhead size of the following field type in the scheduling signaling is related to the SRS resource set an SRS resource indicator field. (As discussed in the independent claim, supra, Liu and the combination with Khoshnevisan teaches that the size of the SRS resource indicator field is based on the number of resources in the SRS resource set. Note also Liu - The size of the SRS resource indicator field/bit field mapped to index [see table 1] is related to the size of the SRS resource set, as resource set 3 is only associated with a 4 bit field [table 1, see also 0159].)
Regarding claim 11, Liu as previously modified by Go and Khoshnevisan fails to disclose wherein the at least one SRS resource set comprises a first SRS resource set but does not comprise a second SRS resource set, the at least one field type comprises an indicator field or a codepoint related to the second SRS resource set, and the method further comprises ignoring, by the terminal, the indicator field or the codepoint. In the same field of endeavor, another portion of Khoshnevisan discloses herein the at least one SRS resource set comprises a first SRS resource set but does not comprise a second SRS resource set, the at least one field type comprises an indicator field or a codepoint related to the second SRS resource set, and the method further comprises ignoring, by the terminal, the indicator field or the codepoint. (Khoshnevisan discloses that when that when less than the maximum number of SRS resource sets are indicated by the base station (for example, only a single resource set when the maximum is 2) the base station ignores all additional SRI fields associated with the non-signaled [i.e. second] SRS resource sets [paragraph 0131].)
Therefore, since another portion of Khoshnevisan discloses ignoring SRI associated with a non-signaled SRS resource set, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective fling date of the invention to, in the case that only the first SRS resource set is singled, to ignore the indicator field associated with the second SRS set. The motive to combine is to reduce unnecessary processing by not processing an irrelevant resource field.
Regarding claim 13, Liu discloses the PUSCH is associated with a first SRS resource set and a second SRS resource set, and the method further comprises receiving configuration information, wherein the configuration information is used to configure two power control parameter sequences, and the two power control parameter sequences are used to indicate power control parameters of PUSCH transmission units associated with the first SRS resource set and the second SRS resource set. (As discussed, supra, a first and second SRS resource set are formed from the SRSs associated with different power control parameters [paragraph 0078]. The associated power control parameters are a sequence of parameters [power control parameter sequence] [paragraphs 0108-0109] used for PUSCH transmission/repetition of the different SRS sets [paragraph 0208, 0222] and are configured via RRC [0158].)
Regarding claim 14, Liu discloses determining, according to an SRI field of the scheduling signaling, a power control parameter associated with transmission of the PUSCH. (The UE uses the SRI field to indicate the SRS resource which determines the power control parameter set [“parameter set”] used to send the PUSCH [paragraphs 0158-0159, table 1].)
Regarding claim 15, Liu discloses the scheduling signaling comprises an SRI field, and overheads of the SRI field meet one of the following being related to a quantity of SRS resource sets. (As discussed in the independent claim, supra, Liu and the combination with Khoshnevisan teaches that the size of the SRS resource indicator field is based on the number of resources in the SRS resource set. Note also Liu - The size of the SRS resource indicator field/bit field mapped to index [see table 1] is related to the size of the SRS resource set, as resource set 3 is only associated with a 4 bit field [table 1, see also 0159].)
Regarding claim 17, Liu discloses a Physical Uplink Shared CHannel (PUSCH) transmission scheduling method, comprising:
sending, by a network side divice, scheduling signaling, wherein the scheduling signaling is used to schedule transmission of a PUSCH, and the scheduling signaling is further used to determine at least one Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set or SRS resource associated with the PUSCH; and (Liu discloses that the UE receives DCI/RRC signing indicating multiple SRI fields as transmitted from the base station/gNB/network device, each indicating a different SRS resource/resource set used for PUSCH transmission or indicating multiple TPMI that indicate different SRS resource sets for PUSCH transmission from the UE that is received at the network side device/base station/gNB [paragraphs 0235-0237 – SCI indication; 0176-0183 – TPMI indication, noting that each TPMI indicates an SRS group/set per paragraph 0078])
receiving, by the network side device, the PUSCH according to the SRS resource set or SRS resource. (paragraphs 0235-0237, 0176-0183 – see (a), supra).
Liu fails to disclose wherein the PUSCH comprises at least one transmission unit, and wherein the scheduling signaling indicates a plurality of SRS resource sets, the scheduling signaling is further used to indicate an order of the plurality of SRS resource sets, and the transmission unit is associated with the order of the plurality of SRS resource sets that is indicated by the scheduling signaling. In the same field of endeavor, Go discloses the PUSCH comprises at least one transmission unit, and wherein the scheduling signaling indicates a plurality of SRS resource sets, the scheduling signaling is further used to indicate an order of the plurality of SRS resource sets, and the transmission unit is associated with the order of the plurality of SRS resource sets that is indicated by the scheduling signaling. (Go discloses that when multiple SRS resource sets are configured for use, the use of a plurality of SRS resource sets are signaled in the DCI/scheduling signaling and the transmission unit/PUSCH TO is mapped in ascending order of linked codepoints indicated in the DCI to the SRS resource sets.)
Therefore, since Go discloses the use of DCI based scheduling and ordering, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine the DCI scheduling of Go with the system of Liu by using the DCI to schedule and order SRS resource sets such that the DCI indicates one or more configured SRS resource sets that are scheduled and which are then linked to the PUSCH TO in ascending order based on the linked codepoints of the DCI. The motive to combine is to allow the order of the SRS resource sets in the TO to be specified to allow for easier decoding at the base station and to further allow assignment to particular TO occasions that have favorable channel conditions or timing requirements.
Liu as modified by Go fails to disclose the scheduling signaling comprises an indicator field and at least two independent coding fields, the indicator field is used to indicate the at least one SRS resource set, and the at least two independent coding fields are respectively used to indicate SRS resources in at least two SRS resource sets. In the same field of endeavor, Khoshnevisan discloses the scheduling signaling comprises an indicator field and at least two independent coding fields, the indicator field is used to indicate the at least one SRS resource set, and the at least two independent coding fields are respectively used to indicate SRS resources in at least two SRS resource sets (Khoshnevisan discloses the DCI/scheduling signaling may include a first field indicating one or more selected SRS resource sets [i.e. the at least one SRS resource set] and may further independently signal the resources for a first and second indicated SRS resource set in a respective second and third field [paragraph 0032; 177-0178 – note that the first and second selected SRS resources belong to the respective first and second selected SRS resource set]. Khoshnevisan further discloses that the size of the resource indication field is related to the size of the SRS resource set with one bit per resource [paragraph 0059]. [Note also that Liu discloses the size of the SRS resource indicator field/bit field mapped to index [see table 1] is related to the size of the SRS resource set, as resource set 3 is only associated with a 4 bit field [table 1, see also 0159].)
Therefore, since Khoshnevisan discloses indicator and independent coding fields, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the fields of Khoshnevisan with the system of Liu as modified by Go such that the scheduling includes an indicator field of one or more (in this case two) SRS resource sets and then includes two independent SRS resources in each resource set in the signed second and third independent coding fields each of a respective size required by the quantity of SRS resources in the respective SRS resource set. The motive to combine is to allow improved flexibility in DCI signaling by allowing on the fly indications of the selected SRS resource set.
Regarding claim 19, Liu discloses A terminal, comprising: a processor, a memory, and a program or an instruction that is stored in the memory and that is run on the processor, wherein when the program or the instruction is executed by the processor, the Physical Uplink Shared CHannel (PUSCH) transmission scheduling method according to claim 1 is implemented (paragraph 0285).
Regarding claim 20, Liu discloses a network side device, comprising: a processor, a memory, and a program or an instruction that is stored in the memory and that can be run on the processor, wherein when the program or the instruction is executed by the processor, the Physical Uplink Shared CHannel (PUSCH) transmission scheduling method according to claim 17 is implemented (paragraph 0291)
Regarding claim 21, Liu as modified by Go and Khoshnevisan discloses wherein an overhead size of at least one of the following field types in the scheduling signaling is related to the at least one SRS resource set: an SRS resource indicator field (As discussed in the independent claim, supra, Liu and the combination with Khoshnevisan teaches that the size of the SRS resource indicator field is based on the number of resources in the SRS resource set. Note also Liu - The size of the SRS resource indicator field/bit field mapped to index [see table 1] is related to the size of the SRS resource set, as resource set 3 is only associated with a 4 bit field [table 1, see also 0159].)
Regarding claim 22, Liu as previously modified by Go and Khoshnevisan fails to disclose wherein the at least one SRS resource set comprises a first SRS resource set but does not comprise a second SRS resource set, the at least one field type comprises an indicator field or a codepoint related to the second SRS resource set, and the method further comprises ignoring, by the terminal, the indicator field or the codepoint. In the same field of endeavor, another portion of Khoshnevisan discloses herein the at least one SRS resource set comprises a first SRS resource set but does not comprise a second SRS resource set, the at least one field type comprises an indicator field or a codepoint related to the second SRS resource set, and the method further comprises ignoring, by the terminal, the indicator field or the codepoint. (Khoshnevisan discloses that when that when less than the maximum number of SRS resource sets are indicated by the base station (for example, only a single resource set when the maximum is 2) the base station ignores all additional SRI fields associated with the non-signaled [i.e. second] SRS resource sets [paragraph 0131].)
Therefore, since another portion of Khoshnevisan discloses ignoring SRI associated with a non-signaled SRS resource set, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective fling date of the invention to, in the case that only the first SRS resource set is singled, to ignore the indicator field associated with the second SRS set. The motive to combine is to reduce unnecessary processing by not processing an irrelevant resource field.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu, et al (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2023/0180134 A1; Note also PCT/CN2020/084325, with an identical disclosure only varying slightly in paragraph numbering) as modified by Go, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2023/0118905) and Khoshnevisan, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 2023/0057080 A1; Note WO 2021/168599 A1, with identical disclosure, attached) as applied to claim 1 and further in view of Kang, et al. (WIPO Publication No. 2020197291; all citations to translation).
Regarding claim 6, Liu as modified by Go and Khoshnevisan fails to disclose determining a processing manner corresponding to an invalid codepoint, and the processing manner corresponding to the invalid codepoint comprises at least the terminal does not expect that an SRS resource set corresponding to a codepoint is an SRS resource set that is not configured. In the same field of endeavor, Kang discloses determining a processing manner corresponding to an invalid codepoint, and the processing manner corresponding to the invalid codepoint comprises at least the terminal does not expect that an SRS resource/resource set corresponding to a codepoint is an SRS resource/resource set that is not configured (Kang discloses mapping different TCI states to a DCI indicator [page 15 – “The UE may receive an activation command by MAC CE signaling used to map up to 8 TCI states to the codepoint of the DCI field Transmission Configuration Indication'; pages 24-25, Embodiment 3 – Invalid SRS resources are recognized as a malfunction)
Therefore, since Kang discloses an invalid SRS resource/resource set being treated as a malfunction, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the invention to combine the invalid SRS of Kang with the system of Liu as modified by Go and Khoshnevisan by indicating a single SRS resource/resource set and also placing a validity check on the resource/resource set to indicate an unexpected/invalid SRS resource/set that is not configured. The motive to combine is to allow for error handling of an invalid resource set to improve operation in edge cases.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12, 16 and 18 are 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.
The following are the reasons for indicating allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 12, the prior art fails to teach, suggest or disclose an overhead size or a deciphering manner of at least one of the following field types in the scheduling signaling is related to an indication of an SRI field in the scheduling signaling: a Transmit Power Control (TPC) field, a Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator (TPMI) field, a redundancy version field, an SRS request field, or a Channel State Information (CSI) request field, wherein the method further comprises: for the at least one field type, in a case that the at least one SRS resource set is a plurality of SRS resource sets, deciphering, by the terminal, each field type in the at least one field type; or for the at least one field type, in a case that the at least one SRS resource set is one SRS resource set, deciphering, by the terminal, only one indicator field in field types associated with an SRS resource set indicated by the SRI field. That is, Karamoose discloses ignoring a SRI field based on if there is one or a plurality of resource sets, but this does not result in a change in overhead size or deciphering manner of a Transmit Power Control (TPC) field, a Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator (TPMI) field, a redundancy version field, an SRS request field, or a Channel State Information (CSI) request field. Furthermore, no other art teaching these limitations could be located. Therefore, the prior art fails to teach suggest or disclose all elements of the claimed invention.
Regarding claims 16 and 18, the prior art fails to teach, suggest or disclose before the receiving, by a terminal, scheduling signaling, further comprising: receiving, by the terminal, an SRS configuration, wherein the SRS configuration comprises at least one SRS resource set, and each SRS resource set comprises at least one SRS resource, wherein a quantity of SRS resources comprised in a target SRS resource set is greater than or equal to a quantity of SRS resources comprised in another SRS resource set in the at least one SRS resource set, and the target SRS resource set is an SRS resource set with a minimum identifier in the at least one SRS resource set. That is, the art of Liu loosely suggests that it is possible that all SRS resource sets have the same length, such that any resource set (including the “target” resource set) would be less than or equal to any other when it discusses the “p” sounding resources [paragraph 0061, 0071] but it is not clear that “p” is universal for all SRS sets such that they would all be the same length and it is further not clear if “p” is signaled in before the schedule signaling. Furthermore, even if it was there is no teaching that the target SRS resource set with a minimum identifier. The system of Karamoose loosely suggests a SRS set having a minimum value (paragraph 0142) but this is a “default” allocation used in non-codebook transmission with DMRS bundling (paragraph 0002) this makes it nonsensical to combine with a system like that of Liu which relates to transmitting a repeated PUSCH using codebook transmission (paragraphs 0202, 0206). Given these differences, it was deemed that the combination of Liu and Karamoose could not be made. Finally, Khoshnevisan discloses considering the maximum length resource set when configuring the size of the SRI to match, but does not disclose how or why a larger SRS resources set with a larger quantity of SRS resources would be configured with a minimum identifier in the at least one SRS resource set.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/CHRISTOPHER M CRUTCHFIELD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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