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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
This office action is in response to applicant’s amendment and RCE filed, 29 May 2026, of application filed, with the above serial number, on 21 July 2023 in which claims 1, 15, 29 have been amended. Claims 1-35 are pending in the application.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
Claims 29-35 having “means” limitations therein are interpreted substantially as indicated in the specification in exemplary paragraph 156.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 4, 18, 32 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. The claim recites subject matter introduced into amended independent claim 1, 15, 29 respectively. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1-35 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bagheri et al (hereinafter “Bagheri”, 2022/0312440) in view of Shimoda et al (hereinafter “Shimoda”, 2021/0176096).
As per Claim 1, Bagheri discloses a method of wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), comprising:
receiving a message to trigger transmission of at least one sounding reference signal (SRS) of at least one SRS resource set for sounding over an active bandwidth part (BWP) in an upcoming slot, the upcoming slot being offset by a number of available slots from a reference slot indicated by the message (at least paragraph 335-340, 367; a non-zero A-SRS triggering offset value can be configured per SRS resource set (TS 38.331, parameter slotOffset for resource Type: aperiodic in SRS-Config). If a cross-slot scheduling based power saving mode is configured and/or activated for a UE, the UE may perform procedures/actions described herein: In an embodiment, to adapt the minimum applicable value of aperiodic SRS triggering offset for an active UL BWP, implicit indication by defining the minimum applicable value to be the larger of the minimum applicable K2 value (K2_min) when indicated and the corresponding RRC parameter slotOffset; a slot-offset parameter associated with a sounding reference signal resource set, where the slot-offset parameter can indicate the number of slots between the sounding reference signal request and the corresponding sounding reference signal transmission); and
detecting a gap corresponding to a suspension of operation of the active BWP, and wherein the gap occurs before the transmission of the at least one SRS of the at least one SRS resource set is complete (at least paragraph 356; determined default minimum scheduling offset for the particular bandwidth part is applied 508. For the particular bandwidth part, a time gap between a scheduling of a transmission for the user equipment and a physical downlink control channel in unit of slots is equal to or larger than the default minimum scheduling offset).
Bagheri fails to explicitly disclose the gap comprising one or more consecutive slots during which uplink transmission on the active BWP is not permitted, the one or more consecutive slots being unavailable and excluded from the number of available slots used to determine the upcoming slot. However, the use and advantages for using such a system was well known to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention as evidenced by the teachings of Shimoda. Shimoda discloses, in an analogous art, the transmission band of the SRS to be transmitted during the measurement gap duration should be configured not to include the active BWP. The SRS can be transmitted in a band outside the active BWP. Shimoda discloses a measurement gap that is used to measure parameters of a downlink DL, not uplink, and using the UE may be configured not to transmit the SRS in the active BWP during the measurement gap duration and thus being unavailable for the UE to use for any uplink transmission including SRS (at least Shimoda paragraph 525-528, 538-540). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the use of Shimoda’s measurement gap with Bagheri as Shimoda discloses the problem being the UE cannot transmit the SRS in a band outside the active BWP with the measurement gap and the interference with transmission from the other UEs can be reduced.
As per Claim 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: wherein the gap comprises at least one of: a measurement gap associated with measurement reporting in frequency resources outside the active BWP, a first time period in which the active BWP is deactivated and another BWP is activated, a second time period for sounding over a set of component carriers outside of the active BWP, a third time period for sidelink communication on a sidelink BWP, a fourth time period in which no transmit (TX) chain is available for the transmission of the at least one SRS, or an off duration of a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle (at least Shimoda paragraph 525-528, 538-540; the transmission band of the SRS to be transmitted during the measurement gap duration should be configured not to include the active BWP. The SRS can be transmitted in a band outside the active BWP).
As per Claim 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting the at least one SRS of the at least one SRS resource set in the upcoming slot after the gap, the number of available slots comprising a sum of a first number of available slots from the reference slot up to the gap and a second number of available slots after the gap and up to the upcoming slot (at least paragraph 356-358; For the particular bandwidth part, a time gap between a scheduling of a transmission for the user equipment and a physical downlink control channel in unit of slots is equal to or larger than the default minimum scheduling offset 510).
As per Claim 4. The method of claim 3, wherein, for the UE, every slot that is available occurs outside of the gap, and every slot within the gap is unavailable (at least paragraph 356-358).
As per Claim 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: canceling the transmission of the at least one SRS based on the gap (at least paragraph 356-358; scheduled after time gap).
As per Claim 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising: determining whether a duration of the gap satisfies a threshold, the transmission of the at least one SRS being canceled upon determining that the duration satisfies the threshold (at least paragraph 356-358).
As per Claim 7. Bagheri fails to explicitly disclose wherein the gap occurs during the transmission of the at least one SRS of the at least one SRS resource set. However, the use and advantages for using such a system was well known to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention as evidenced by the teachings of Shimoda. Shimoda discloses, in an analogous art, UE may be configured to transmit the SRS in the active BWP during the measurement gap duration (at least Shimoda paragraph 525-532, 538-540, 585, 743; Fig. 24). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the use of Shimoda’s transmission during a measurement gap with Bagheri as Shimoda discloses this enables, for example, a sounding in a wide band in one measurement gap and thus, a sounding in a wide band can be promptly performed.
As per Claim 8. The method of claim 6, wherein the threshold comprises one of a threshold value defined by a wireless standard for an access network in which the UE operates or at least one of a threshold number of slots or a respective number of milliseconds that is based on a UE capability (at least paragraph 176, 285; the threshold is based on reported UE capability of W slots).
As per Claim 9. Bagheri fails to explicitly disclose further comprising: after detecting the gap, transmitting a first SRS of the at least one SRS in the upcoming slot; and canceling transmission of each additional SRS of the at least one SRS from a respective slot of a set of consecutive slots after the gap. However, the use and advantages for using such a system was well known to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention as evidenced by the teachings of Shimoda. Shimoda discloses, in an analogous art, a plurality of SRSs may be configured for one measurement gap. For example, transmission of the SRS with a plurality of timings may be configured in one measurement gap. The plurality of SRSs may have mutually different frequency bands (at least Shimoda paragraph 525-528, 538-540). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the use of Shimoda’s transmission timings with Bagheri, as Shimoda teaches even when a measurement gap duration is short and the UL band is wide, application of a plurality of measurement gaps enables transmission of the SRS in the entire UL band.
As per Claim 10. Bagheri fails to explicitly disclose further comprising: transmitting a first SRS of the at least one SRS in the upcoming slot, the gap occurring after the first SRS is transmitted; and transmitting each remaining SRS of the at least one SRS in a respective slot of a set of consecutive slots after the gap. However, the use and advantages for using such a system was well known to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention as evidenced by the teachings of Shimoda. Shimoda discloses, in an analogous art, the SRS configuration being transmitted in slots before and after gaps in consecutive active BWP slots (at least Shimoda Fig. 24, 27; see paragraph 525-528, 538-540 and respective figure descriptions). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the use of Shimoda’s transmission timings with Bagheri, as Shimoda teaches even when a measurement gap duration is short and the UL band is wide, application of a plurality of measurement gaps enables transmission of the SRS in the entire UL band.
As per Claim 11. The method of claim 1, wherein an available slot comprises a slot that satisfies a UE timing condition and has a set of uplink resources sufficient to accommodate all of the at least one SRS of the at least one SRS resource set (at least paragraph 107, 337-344; the UE will not transmit SRS corresponding to an SRS resource set that is triggered by an SRS request if the corresponding slotOffset parameter associated with the SRS resource set is smaller than K2_min; assist the eNB to schedule uplink transmission resources to different UEs in an appropriate way, it is important that the user equipment reports its available power headroom (PH) to eNB. The eNB can determine how much more uplink bandwidth per sub-frame a user equipment is capable of using).
As per Claim 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is included in downlink control information (DCI) (at least paragraph 361; downlink control information).
As per Claim 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the reference slot is different from the slot that includes the DCI (at least paragraph 361-365).
As per Claim 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the reference slot is offset from the slot that includes the DCI (at least paragraph 361-365).
Claims 15, 17-20, 22, 25-29, 31-34 do not, in substance, add or define any additional limitations over claims 1, 3-6, 8, 11 and therefore are rejected for similar reasons, supra.
Claims 16, 21, 23, 24, 30, 35 do not, in substance, add or define any additional limitations over claims 2, 7, 9-10 and therefore are rejected for similar reasons, supra.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 01 May 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Bagheri does not disclose the amendment to claim 1 of
detecting a gap corresponding to a suspension of operation of the active BWP, the gap comprising one or more consecutive slots during which uplink transmission on the active BWP is not permitted, the one or more consecutive slots being unavailable and excluded from the number of available slots used to determine the upcoming slot, and wherein the gap occurs before the transmission of the at least one SRS of the at least one SRS resource set is complete
Applicant argues that Bagheri teaches an offset for a scheduled rule for the gap rather than an active BWP that has a suspension of operation for which transmission is not permitted. Shimoda was relied on for teaching the gap composition of other claims including claim 2. Applicant briefly argues that Shimoda not disclose the limitation as Shimoda was not cited for the amended limitation only now introduced. However, as the new rejection above illustrates, Shimoda discloses a measurement gap that is used to measure parameters of a downlink DL and using the UE may be configured not to transmit the SRS in the active BWP during the measurement gap duration and thus being unavailable for the UE to use for any uplink transmission including SRS (at least paragraph 525, 530).
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 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.
Regarding the 112f Claim interpretation request, the claims impacted by the interpretation were, and are, listed at the bottom of the interpretation.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is indicated in PTO form 892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREGORY TODD whose telephone number is (303)297-4763. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30-5 MST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor Nicholas Taylor can be reached on 571-272-3889. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GREGORY TODD/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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