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 .
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.
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.
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 non-obviousness.
Claims 1, 17, 19, 29, and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Pub. 2021/0359814 to Dinan in view of US Pub. 2020/0396760 to Yi et al. (hereinafter Yi).
In regard claim 1, Dinan teaches or discloses a method for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE) (see paragraph [0079], a wireless device), comprising:
receiving, from a base station, a radio resource control message comprising an indication of one or more available transmission time intervals for transmitting aperiodic sounding reference signals (see paragraphs [0079], and [0097], a wireless device may receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages comprising configuration parameters for a licensed assisted access (LAA) cell. The one or more RRC messages may comprise one or more consecutive uplink subframe allocation configuration parameters. A wireless device may receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages comprising configuration parameters for a licensed assisted access (LAA) cell. The configuration parameters may comprise an aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) subframe parameter);
receiving, from the base station, a first downlink control information message triggering a transmission of one or more aperiodic sounding reference signals on a sounding reference signal resource set (see paragraphs [0080], [0095], and [0097], a wireless device may receive a downlink control information (DCI) indicating uplink resources in a number of one or more consecutive uplink subframes of the LAA cell. The SRS request (e.g. 2 bits) may be used to trigger aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS));
transmitting, to the base station during a first available transmission time interval, the one or more aperiodic sounding reference signals on the sounding reference signal resource set (see paragraphs [0092], [0097], [0099], [0100], and [0102], a UE's access to the channel for SRS transmission may be subject to some LBT requirements and/or COT limitation. The wireless device may transmit, in the first subframe, the SRS on the LAA cell. The wireless device may transmit, in the first subframe, the SRS on the LAA cell when the wireless device is allowed to transmit in the first subframe according to an LBT procedure based on the LBT configuration parameter(s)),
wherein the transmitting during the first available transmission time interval is based at least in part on a first code point of the first downlink control information and the indication of the one or more available transmission time intervals (see paragraphs [0081], [0083], [0084], [0097], [0099], [0102], and [0114], the wireless device may perform a listen before talk procedure indicating that a channel is clear for a starting subframe of the one or more consecutive uplink subframes. The wireless device may transmit one or more transport blocks, via the plurality of resource blocks used across the one or more consecutive uplink subframes. At least one field included in a multi-subframe DCI may determine transmission parameters and resource blocks used across m consecutive subframes for transmission of one or more TBs. The DCI may comprise an assignment of a plurality of resource blocks for uplink transmissions. The wireless device may transmit, in the first subframe, the SRS on the LAA cell. The wireless device may transmit, in the first subframe, the SRS on the LAA cell when the wireless device is allowed to transmit in the first subframe according to an LBT procedure based on the LBT configuration parameter(s). A UE configured for Aperiodic SRS transmission upon detection of a positive SRS request in subframe #n may commence SRS transmission in the first subframe satisfying subframe #n+k, e.g. k≥4 and based, at least, on the aperiodic SRS time domain (subframe) radio resource configuration (RRC)).
Dinan may not explicitly teach or disclose the transmitting during the first available transmission time interval is based at least in part on a first code point of the first downlink control information.
However, Yi teaches or discloses the transmitting during the first available transmission time interval is based at least in part on a first code point of the first downlink control information (see paragraphs [0281], and [0537], a subframe with 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, 240 kHz and 480 kHz subcarrier spacing may comprise one, two, four, eight, sixteen and thirty-two slots, respectively. A subframe may be divided into two equally sized slots 603 with 0.5 ms duration. 10 subframes may be available for downlink transmission and 10 subframes may be available for uplink transmissions in a 10 ms interval. One or more DCI fields in the first-stage DCI may be set to one or more preconfigured values that indicate a first code point for activation and/or a second code point to release).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify sounding reference signal subframe position in a plurality of scheduded consecutive subframes of Dinan by including the transmitting during the first available transmission time interval is based at least in part on a first code point of the first downlink control information suggested by Yi. This modification provide advantages such as more efficient control information signaling, increased reliability of wireless communications, and/or reduced transmission latencies read in paragraph [0004].
In regard claim 17, Dinan teaches or discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the one or more available transmission time intervals comprises:
an indication of the first available transmission time interval and a second available transmission time interval (see paragraph [0030], other subframe durations such as 0.5 msec, 1 msec, 2 msec, and 5 msec may also be supported. Subframe(s) may consist of two or more slots (for example, slots 206 and 207). For the example of FDD, 10 subframes may be available for downlink transmission and 10 subframes may be available for uplink transmissions in each 10 ms interval).
In regard claim 19, Dinan teaches or discloses a method for wireless communications at a base station, comprising:
transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a radio resource control message comprising an indication of one or more available transmission time intervals for transmitting aperiodic sounding reference signals (see paragraph [0118], 1910, a base station may transmit one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages comprising configuration parameters for a licensed assisted access (LAA) cell. The configuration parameters may comprise an aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) subframe parameter);
transmitting, to the UE, a first downlink control information message triggering a transmission of one or more aperiodic sounding reference signals on a sounding reference signal resource set (see paragraphs [0092], and [0118], at 1920, the base station may transmit a downlink control information (DCI) indicating uplink resources in a number of one or more consecutive subframes of the LAA cell); and
receiving, from the UE during a first available transmission time interval, the one or more aperiodic sounding reference signals on the sounding reference signal resource set (see paragraphs [0092], [0100], [0118], [0120], and [0122], an eNB may transmit to a UE a MSFG DCI including an SRS request for an LAA cell. There is a need to implement mechanisms to determine timing of aperiodic SRS transmission(s) within an uplink MSFG burst. An eNB may transmit a DCI triggering an aperiodic SRS request for one or more LAA cells. Base station may transmit one or more RRC messages comprising an aperiodic SRS subframe parameter. At 2120, the base station may transmit a DCI triggering an SRS transmission and indicating uplink resources in one or more subframes. a base station may transmit one or more RRC messages comprising an aperiodic SRS subframe parameter. At 2320, the base station may transmit a DCI triggering an SRS transmission and indicating uplink resources in one or more subframes. The base station may receive, in the first subframe, the SRS on the LAA cell wherein a position of a first subframe in the one or more consecutive subframes depends, at least, on a value of the aperiodic SRS subframe parameter), wherein the receiving during the first available transmission time interval is based at least in part on a first code point of the first downlink control information message and the indication of the one or more available transmission time intervals (see paragraphs [0108], and [0109], if there are multiple SRS opportunities within duration of scheduled multi-subframe UL grant, the SRS may be transmitted once and in an earliest SRS opportunity within a duration of schedule subframes. This mechanism may allow the eNB to receive an SRS in an earliest opportunity. The eNB may process the SRS to obtain information on channel estimation and/or uplink transmission timing. The eNB may use the information for scheduling resources for downlink/uplink transmissions corresponding to a UE).
Dinan may not explicitly teach or disclose the receiving during the first available transmission time interval is based at least in part on a first code point of the first downlink control information message.
However, Yi teaches or discloses the receiving during the first available transmission time interval is based at least in part on a first code point of the first downlink control information message (see paragraphs [0281], and [0537], a subframe with 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, 240 kHz and 480 kHz subcarrier spacing may comprise one, two, four, eight, sixteen and thirty-two slots, respectively. A subframe may be divided into two equally sized slots 603 with 0.5 ms duration. 10 subframes may be available for downlink transmission and 10 subframes may be available for uplink transmissions in a 10 ms interval. One or more DCI fields in the first-stage DCI may be set to one or more preconfigured values that indicate a first code point for activation and/or a second code point to release).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify sounding reference signal subframe position in a plurality of scheduded consecutive subframes of Dinan by including the receiving during the first available transmission time interval is based at least in part on a first code point of the first downlink control information message suggested by Yi. This modification provides advantages such as more efficient control information signaling, increased reliability of wireless communications, and/or reduced transmission latencies read in paragraph [0004].
In regard claim 29, Dinan teaches or discloses an apparatus for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE) (see Fig. 4, element 406, paragraph [0036], a wireless device), comprising:
a processor (see Fig. 4, element 408);
memory coupled with the processor (see Fig. 4, elements 409 and 408); and
instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to (see Fig. 4):
receive, from a base station, a radio resource control message comprising an indication of one or more available transmission time intervals for transmitting aperiodic sounding reference signals (see paragraphs [0079], and [0097], a wireless device may receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages comprising configuration parameters for a licensed assisted access (LAA) cell. The one or more RRC messages may comprise one or more consecutive uplink subframe allocation configuration parameters. A wireless device may receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages comprising configuration parameters for a licensed assisted access (LAA) cell. The configuration parameters may comprise an aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) subframe parameter);
receive, from the base station, a first downlink control information message triggering a transmission of one or more aperiodic sounding reference signals on a sounding reference signal resource set (see paragraphs [0080], [0095], and [0097], a wireless device may receive a downlink control information (DCI) indicating uplink resources in a number of one or more consecutive uplink subframes of the LAA cell. The SRS request (e.g. 2 bits) may be used to trigger aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS)); and
transmit, to the base station during a first available transmission time interval, the one or more aperiodic sounding reference signals on the sounding reference signal resource set (see paragraphs [0092], [0097], [0099], [0100], and [0102], a UE's access to the channel for SRS transmission may be subject to some LBT requirements and/or COT limitation. The wireless device may transmit, in the first subframe, the SRS on the LAA cell. The wireless device may transmit, in the first subframe, the SRS on the LAA cell when the wireless device is allowed to transmit in the first subframe according to an LBT procedure based on the LBT configuration parameter(s)), wherein the transmitting during the first available transmission time interval is based at least in part on a first code point of the first downlink control information message and the indication of the one or more available transmission time intervals (see paragraphs [0081], [0083], [0084], [0097], [0099], [0102], and [0114], the wireless device may perform a listen before talk procedure indicating that a channel is clear for a starting subframe of the one or more consecutive uplink subframes. The wireless device may transmit one or more transport blocks, via the plurality of resource blocks used across the one or more consecutive uplink subframes. At least one field included in a multi-subframe DCI may determine transmission parameters and resource blocks used across m consecutive subframes for transmission of one or more TBs. The DCI may comprise an assignment of a plurality of resource blocks for uplink transmissions. The wireless device may transmit, in the first subframe, the SRS on the LAA cell. The wireless device may transmit, in the first subframe, the SRS on the LAA cell when the wireless device is allowed to transmit in the first subframe according to an LBT procedure based on the LBT configuration parameter(s). A UE configured for Aperiodic SRS transmission upon detection of a positive SRS request in subframe #n may commence SRS transmission in the first subframe satisfying subframe #n+k, e.g. k≥4 and based, at least, on the aperiodic SRS time domain (subframe) radio resource configuration (RRC)).
In regard claim 30, Dinan teaches or discloses an apparatus for wireless communications at a base station (see Fig. 4, element 401), comprising:
a processor (see Fig. 4, element 403);
memory coupled with the processor (see Fig. 4, elements 403 and 4040); and
instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to (see Fig. 4):
transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a radio resource control message comprising an indication of one or more available transmission time intervals for transmitting aperiodic sounding reference signals (see paragraph [0118], 1910, a base station may transmit one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages comprising configuration parameters for a licensed assisted access (LAA) cell. The configuration parameters may comprise an aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) subframe parameter);
transmit, to the UE, a first downlink control information message triggering a transmission of one or more aperiodic sounding reference signals on a sounding reference signal resource set (see paragraphs [0092], and [0118], at 1920, the base station may transmit a downlink control information (DCI) indicating uplink resources in a number of one or more consecutive subframes of the LAA cell); and
receive, from the UE during a first available transmission time interval, the one or more aperiodic sounding reference signals on the sounding reference signal resource set (see paragraphs [0092], [0100], [0118], [0120], and [0122], an eNB may transmit to a UE a MSFG DCI including an SRS request for an LAA cell. There is a need to implement mechanisms to determine timing of aperiodic SRS transmission(s) within an uplink MSFG burst. An eNB may transmit a DCI triggering an aperiodic SRS request for one or more LAA cells. Base station may transmit one or more RRC messages comprising an aperiodic SRS subframe parameter. At 2120, the base station may transmit a DCI triggering an SRS transmission and indicating uplink resources in one or more subframes. a base station may transmit one or more RRC messages comprising an aperiodic SRS subframe parameter. At 2320, the base station may transmit a DCI triggering an SRS transmission and indicating uplink resources in one or more subframes. The base station may receive, in the first subframe, the SRS on the LAA cell wherein a position of a first subframe in the one or more consecutive subframes depends, at least, on a value of the aperiodic SRS subframe parameter), wherein the receiving during the first available transmission time interval is based at least in part on a first code point of the first downlink control information message and the indication of the one or more available transmission time intervals (see paragraphs [0108], and [0109], if there are multiple SRS opportunities within duration of scheduled multi-subframe UL grant, the SRS may be transmitted once and in an earliest SRS opportunity within a duration of schedule subframes. This mechanism may allow the eNB to receive an SRS in an earliest opportunity. The eNB may process the SRS to obtain information on channel estimation and/or uplink transmission timing. The eNB may use the information for scheduling resources for downlink/uplink transmissions corresponding to a UE).
Dinan may not explicitly teach or disclose the receiving during the first available transmission time interval is based at least in part on a first code point of the first downlink control information message.
However, Yi teaches or discloses the receiving during the first available transmission time interval is based at least in part on a first code point of the first downlink control information message (see paragraphs [0281], and [0537], a subframe with 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, 240 kHz and 480 kHz subcarrier spacing may comprise one, two, four, eight, sixteen and thirty-two slots, respectively. A subframe may be divided into two equally sized slots 603 with 0.5 ms duration. 10 subframes may be available for downlink transmission and 10 subframes may be available for uplink transmissions in a 10 ms interval. One or more DCI fields in the first-stage DCI may be set to one or more preconfigured values that indicate a first code point for activation and/or a second code point to release).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify sounding reference signal subframe position in a plurality of scheduled consecutive subframes of Dinan by including the receiving during the first available transmission time interval is based at least in part on a first code point of the first downlink control information message suggested by Yi. This modification provide advantages such as more efficient control information signaling, increased reliability of wireless communications, and/or reduced transmission latencies read in paragraph [0004].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-16, 18, and 20-28 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHIRIN SAM whose telephone number is (571)272-3082. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri, 10:30am - 5pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayaz R. Sheikh can be reached at (571) 272 - 3795. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
Date: 12/22/2025
/PHIRIN SAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
Prosecution Insights