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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 8/27/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding claim 1, Applicant argues that Karamoose is not prior art with respect to the present application, as the present application claims priority to CN202011391237, filed 12/02/2020 (See Applicant’s Arguments and Remarks, pages 9-10). However, applicant is not entitled to the priority of a foreign application filed in a foreign language until a certified translation is provided. Furthermore no translation of CN202110567553 or PCT/CN2021/135074 has been provided. Therefore, the earliest effective filing date of the present application is the US filing date of 5/31/2023. That is, per MPEP 215:
Applicant cannot rely upon the certified copy of the foreign priority application to overcome this rejection because a translation of said application has not been made of record in accordance with 37 CFR 1.55. When an English language translation of a non-English language foreign application is required, the translation must be that of the certified copy (of the foreign application as filed) submitted together with a statement that the translation of the certified copy is accurate. See MPEP §§ 215 and 216.
Note also MPEP 1895 – “A certified copy of the international application (and an English translation of the international application) may be required by the examiner to perfect the claim for benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120 and 365(c) if the international application did not originate in the United States and such is necessary, for example, where an intervening reference is found and applied in a rejection of one or more claims. If the international application was published by the International Bureau pursuant to PCT Article 21, then a certified copy would not normally be necessary.”
Applicant further argues that provisional 63138160 fails to support Karamoose, et al. The examiner maintains that support is present, however, the point is moot as the current earliest effective filing date of the present application is 5/31/2023, which is after the actual filing date of Karamose, which is 7/2/2021.
Applicant further argues that neither Karamose or Liu disclose the newly added claim limitations. Examiner agrees but notes that the newly applied art of Go teaches this limitation. Therefore, the prior art fails to teach, suggest or disclose all elements of the claimed invention.
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).
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.)
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.
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 5.)
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
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, 3, 7-10, 13-15, 17, 19 and 20 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)
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).
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.)
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 Karamoose 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.
Regarding claim 3, Liu discloses the scheduling signaling comprises an indicator field, and the indicator field is used to indicate the SRS resource set or SRS resource, wherein the scheduling signaling comprises at least two independent coding fields, and the at least two independent coding fields are respectively used to indicate SRS resources in at least two SRS resource sets ((paragraphs 0235-0237 in view of paragraph 0159 and table 1 – the indicator field is mapped to the SRS resource quantity, which indicates the resources per table 1 and the individual fields are then mapped to the different resources based on the correspondence in the table).
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 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. (The size of the SRS resource indicator field/bit field mapped to index [see table 1] is related to the SRS resource set, as resource set 3 is only associated with a 4 bit field [table 1, see also 0159].)
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. (The size of the SRI field is related to the number of SRS resource sets, with two relating to a two bit length, 3 a 3 bit, etc. [paragraphs 0158-0159, table 1] note that in the case of two resources sets, the UE is configured with two sets for each power control configuration [paragraphs 0078].)
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).
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.)
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 Karamoose 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.
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)
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable 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 applied to claim 1 and further in view of Kang, et al. (WIPO Publication No. 2020197291; all citations to translation).
Regarding claim 6, Liu 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 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 11, 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 11, the prior art fails to teach, suggest or disclose 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.
The closes prior art is that of Ji, et al. (US Pre Grant Publication No. 20210204288) which discloses that a UE may ignore extra bits in an SRS indicator (paragraphs 0197, 0206, 0212) however, this is related to singling a single SRS set and ignoring extra bits that are left when fewer than the maximum possible number of SRS sets are configured. Therefore it does not teach the claimed second resource set.
Furthermore, it is difficult to see how to modify the art of Liu to teach this limitation, since it automatically adjusts the size of the SRS resource set allocation based on the number of sets that may be allocated and therefore would not have a “blank” resource set, even if it did teach allocating only a single SRS resource set.
Furthermore, no other art in which a “blank” second SRS resource set occurs could be located, let alone one where the second resource set is ignored completely.
Therefore, the prior art fails to teach, suggest or disclose all elements of the claimed invention.
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, no art in which overhead or deciphering is based on the SRI field in the indicated manner could be determined.
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. Therefore, the prior art fails to teach, suggest or disclose all elements of the claimed invention.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER M CRUTCHFIELD whose telephone number is (571)270-3989. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm M-F.
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/CHRISTOPHER M CRUTCHFIELD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466