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 Amendment
This communication is in response to the amendment of 12/03/2025. All changes made to the claims have been entered. Accordingly, Claims 1-7, 9-10, 20-22 are currently pending in the application and claims 11-17, 19 are withdrawn,
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.
Claim 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.
Claim 21 recites the limitation DCI. However such limitation is not clearly defined and it is unclear on what is meant by such limitation. Examiner suggests defining such limitation.
Claim 22 recites the limitation DCI. However such limitation is not clearly defined and it is unclear on what is meant by such limitation. Examiner suggests defining such limitation.
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.
Claim(s) 1-7, 9-10, 20-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Muruganathan et al. (US 2025/0193889), in view of Ko et al. (US 2022/0304018).
Regarding claim 1, 20, Muruganathan discloses a method of uplink transmission with multiple panels, by a user equipment (UE)(Systems and methods for implicit associate between multiple Transmission Reception Point (TRP) Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) transmission and unified Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) states are provided and simultaneous transmission across multiple panels and UE may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc., [0082] and [0145] and [0162]-[0163] and figure 15), comprising:
being configured, by a base station, with a plurality of sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets, wherein the SRS resource sets comprise a first SRS resource set and a second SRS resource set (receiving a configuration comprising: a plurality of unified TCI states; and/or two Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource sets to be used for an uplink transmission and receiving (RRC) configuration from the network of (1) a plurality of unified TCI states, and (2) two SRS resource sets to be used, [0082] and [0091] and [0118] and [0128] and [0209] and [0217]);
being configured, by the base station, with a plurality of transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states associated with an uplink transmission, wherein the TCI states comprise a first TCI state and a second TCI state (receiving a configuration comprising: a plurality of unified TCI states…associating a first unified TCI state from the pair of unified TCI states to the first of the two SRS resource sets to be used for an uplink transmission, and associating a second unified TCI state from the pair of unified TCI states to the second of the two SRS resource sets to be used for uplink transmission, [0082] and [0091] and [0118] and [0128] and [0209] and [0217]); and
being indicated, by the base station, to transmit the uplink transmission with the first TCI state and/or the second TCI state (receiving a first Downlink Control Information (DCI) that activates/indicates a pair of unified TCI states; and associating a first unified TCI state from the pair of unified TCI states to the first of the two SRS resource sets to be used for an uplink transmission, and associating a second unified TCI state from the pair of unified TCI states to the second of the two SRS resource sets to be used for uplink transmission, [0082]-[0083] and [0086]-[0089] and [0091] and [0118] and [0130]) .
Muruganathan fails to disclose wherein the UE is provided with a high layer parameter to indicate that the UE is configured to transmit the uplink transmission with a multi-panel single frequency network (SFN) transmission. Muruganathan however discloses layers are transmitted simultaneously in STxMP (simultaneous transmission across multiple panels) fashion ([0145]). In a similar field of endeavor, Ko discloses the UE is provided with a high layer parameter to indicate that the UE is configured to transmit the uplink transmission with a multi-panel single frequency network (SFN) transmission (the base station configures/indicates/schedules, to the UE, panel switching UL transmission and/or multi-panel simultaneous UL transmission, and the UE performs it. This STxMP operation can obtain robustness of PUSCH transmission by transmitting the same transport block via/using the multi-panel upon UL data transmission (i.e., single frequency network (SFN) UL transmission) and a higher layer parameter in which…transmission panel configuration/indication for each UL channel/RS of the UE may be also performed via RRC configuration, [0293] and [0297] and [0381] and [0274] and [0313] and figure 15). It 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 to incorporate the concept of configuring a UE for multi-panel simultaneous UL transmission (SFN) via RRC/higher layer configuration as disclosed by Ko into the method for implicit associate between multiple Transmission Reception Point (TRP) Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) transmission and unified Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) states comprising STxMP (simultaneous transmission across multiple panels) as disclosed by Muruganathan in order to improve the system and efficiently configure a UE for panel transmissions.
Regarding claim 2, Muruganathan discloses wherein:
in a case where the UE is indicated, by the base station, to transmit the uplink transmission with the first TCI state, the uplink transmission is associated with the first SRS resource set; in a case where the UE is indicated, by the base station, to transmit the uplink transmission with the second TCI state, the uplink transmission is associated with the second SRS resource set; and/or
in a case where the UE is indicated, by the base station, to transmit the uplink transmission with the first TCI state and the second TCI state, the uplink transmission is associated with the first SRS resource set and the second SRS resource set simultaneous (PUSCH transmissions to be simultaneously transmitted…The PUSCH transmissions correspond to two SRS resource sets which were previously configured to the UE by the gNB and associating a first unified TCI state from the pair of unified TCI states to the first of the two SRS resource sets to be used for an uplink transmission, and associating a second unified TCI state from the pair of unified TCI states to the second of the two SRS resource sets to be used for uplink transmission and The SRS resource set indicator can for example indicate whether the PUSCH transmission is associated with the first SRS resource set, the 2.sup.nd SRS resource set, or both the first and second SRS resource set, [0140] and [0082]-[0083] and [0131] and [0086]-[0089] and [0091] and [0118]).
Regarding claim 3, Muruganathan discloses wherein: when the UE is indicated with one uplink SRS resource indicator (SRI) and/or one transmitted precoding matrix indicator (TPMI) for the uplink transmission through a downlink control information (DCI), the one SRI and/or the one TPMI is applied to the uplink transmission according to the first SRS resource set (a DCI field that indicates at least one SRS resource indicator (e.g., an SRI field in UL DCI) [0124] a DCI field that indicates a transmit precoder matrix indicator, TPMI, to be used by UE for PUSCH transmission (e.g., a Precoding Information field in UL DCI) and The SRS resource set indicator can for example indicate whether the PUSCH transmission is associated with the first SRS resource set, the 2.sup.nd SRS resource set, or both the first and second SRS resource set, [0120] and [0131]-[0133] and [0140]-[0142] and [0066]-[0069]).
Regarding claim 4, Muruganathan discloses wherein: when the UE is indicated with one SRI and/or one TPMI for the uplink transmission through a DCI, the one SRI and/or the one TPMI is applied to the uplink transmission according to the second SRS resource set (a DCI field that indicates at least one SRS resource indicator (e.g., an SRI field in UL DCI) [0124] a DCI field that indicates a transmit precoder matrix indicator, TPMI, to be used by UE for PUSCH transmission (e.g., a Precoding Information field in UL DCI) and The SRS resource set indicator can for example indicate whether the PUSCH transmission is associated with the first SRS resource set, the 2.sup.nd SRS resource set, or both the first and second SRS resource set, [0120] and [0131]-[0133] and [0140]-[0142] and [0066]-[0069]).
Regarding claim 5, Muruganathan discloses wherein: when the UE is indicated with a first SRI and a second SRI and/or a first TPMI and a second TPMI for the uplink transmission through a DCI, the first SRI and/or the first TPMI is applied to the uplink transmission according to the first SRS resource set, and the second SRI and/or the second TPMI is applied to the uplink transmission according to the second SRS resource set (two SRS resource indicators (SRIs) are indicated to a UE, each associated one of the two SRS resource sets…two Transmit Precoding Matrix Indicators (TPMIs) are also indicated to the UE, each associated one of the two SRS resource sets and a DCI field that indicates at least one SRS resource indicator (e.g., an SRI field in UL DCI) [0124] a DCI field that indicates a transmit precoder matrix indicator, TPMI, to be used by UE for PUSCH transmission (e.g., a Precoding Information field in UL DCI) and The SRS resource set indicator can for example indicate whether the PUSCH transmission is associated with the first SRS resource set, the 2.sup.nd SRS resource set, or both the first and second SRS resource set, [0066]-[0069] and [0120] and [0131]-[0133] and [0140]-[0142]).
Regarding claim 6, Muruganathan discloses wherein: the first TCI state and/or the second TCI state provides reference for determining an uplink transmission (Tx) spatial filter; and/or the first TCI state and/or the second TCI state is associated with a path loss-reference signal (PL-RS), at least one uplink power control parameter, an alpha, and/or a closed loop index for the uplink transmission (first/second configured SRS resource set are transmitted using transmit spatial filter indicated by the first/second activated/indicated unified TCI state and power control parameters associated with first/second activated/indicated unified TCI state, [0086]-[0089] and [0126]-[0127]).
Regarding claim 7, Muruganathan discloses wherein the first TCI state and/or the second TCI state comprises a joint TCI state or an uplink TCI state (a Unified TCI state as defined above (which can be either a Joint DL/UL TCI state or an UL TCI state), [0120] and [0147] and [0051]).
Regarding claim 9, Muruganathan discloses wherein when the UE is configured to transmit the uplink transmission with the first TCI state and the second TCI state simultaneously, the UE is requested to calculate a Tx power on the uplink transmission that is transmitted with both the first TCI state and the second TCI state ( the transmit power for the PUSCH transmission(s)/repetition(s) associated with the first configured SRS resource set is calculated according to a set of power control parameters associated with the first activated/indicated unified TCI state and the transmit power for the PUSCH transmission(s)/repetition(s) associated with the second configured SRS resource set is calculated according to a set of power control parameters associated with the second activated/indicated unified TCI state, [0087]-[0089] and [0126]-[0127] and [0140]-[0142] and [0066]-[0069] and [0120] and [0131]-[0133]).
Regarding claim 10, Muruganathan discloses wherein the uplink transmission comprises a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission (a TCI state may be activated/indicated to a UE and the common beam is applicable for multiple channels/signals such as PUCCH and PUSCH, [0050] and [0066] and [0082]-[0094]).
Regarding claim 21, Ko discloses wherein the UE is dynamically indicated via a DCI format to transmit the uplink transmission with a first panel, a second panel or with both the first panel and the second panel (an ID for a panel may be used for panel selective transmission of a PUSCH, a PUCCH, an SRS, and/or a PRACH among a plurality of activated panels and Information (e.g., panel ID, etc.) related to the above-described panel-specific transmission and reception can be transmitted through…lower layer signaling (e.g., L1 signaling, DCI, etc.), [0257]-[0261] and [0274]). It 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 to incorporate the concept of indicating a panel ID for uplink transmissions via DCI as disclosed by Ko into the method for implicit associate between multiple Transmission Reception Point (TRP) Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) transmission and unified Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) states comprising STxMP (simultaneous transmission across multiple panels) as disclosed by Muruganathan in order to improve the system and efficiently configure a UE for panel transmissions.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 22 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 claim(s) 1-10, 20 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 NGUYEN HOANG NGO whose telephone number is (571)272-8398. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kwang Yao can be reached at 571-272-3182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NGUYEN H NGO/Examiner, Art Unit 2473